#but I can’t do this. I need to relax. I am like a cheese mold getting squeezed with 60psi for 24 hours and all my juices r running out of me | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

equalstrashflavoredtrash · 5 years ago

Text

Gentle Max - 1

a/n: So this is a song fic! The song in question being The Salesman, Denver Max by Blood Brothers. It’s not a love song, it’s actually a song abt kidnapping a teenage girl and taking her to Mexico.... so yeeeah.... Anyway, I was listening to it and had a silly idea and then @rzrcrst and @whenimaunicorn encouraged me and now here we are. I have changed some of the lyrics a bit, most notably changing it from Denver Max to Gentle Max (but srsly for years listening to the song I always thought he was saying gentle max) Also this is the first of two parts and part two will be mostly smut

summary: There should be nothing to fear when you invite your crush from work over for tacos ...right?

warnings: None in this chapter, but there will be a lot more for the next

word count: 2,088

Max Phillips x female reader//Bloodsucking Bastards

Part 2 - The Meal

(gif by @elskay)

1. The Dinner

Through the screen door your thoughts are quarantined, By the way you smell I can tell that you're fitting. My name is gentle Max, I eat heart attacks. From your mouth to your hands to the floor you're bubbling syntax.

With a sigh you hit send before clicking your phone off. You felt a little bad sending a last minute explanation, but you already knew the earful you’d get if you had told Emma earlier that you’d invited Max over for dinner.

Max Phillips… he was the supervisor at work, a new boss who’d only started a few months ago. He was meant to shake things up at the small sales phone bank, help raise profits. From the get-go Emma, your friend and cubicle partner, was highly suspicious of Max.

“Something’s up with him, he’s just too likable. It’s weird.” She’d declared after his introduction to everyone on the floor. You’d just rolled your eyes and called her paranoid. Max couldn’t be as bad as she suggested, anyway he was always nice to you.

It started slow; he’d give little compliments—noticing small things like your new earrings—and then there was the evening last month when you were working late and ended up having an hour-long conversation with him about horror films from the 70s. You’d never guess by the way he looked that he’d share your interest in old films, but that helped to cement your crush.

Then this afternoon you were exchanging pleasantries when you were struck with the sudden urge to ask him to dinner. The words were out of your mouth, inviting him over to your place for tacos before you even realized what you were saying. But the way his face lit up at the question, the way he smiled as he said he’d love to, melted any worry you had.

It wasn’t until you got back to your cubicle that it really started to set in. You had asked Max—Max your supervisor—over for dinner and he said yes. There was no way you could tell Emma right now; she’d spend the afternoon listing all the ways that Max could kill you and dispose of the body before sunrise, something you did not have time for—especially since you suddenly needed to stop by the grocery store after work.

Setting your phone to do not disturb, you plugged in the charger and left it on the bedside table hoping you wouldn’t come back to find too many angry texts.

You couldn’t help but pace around your little kitchen as you waited for Max to arrive, constantly checking the stove clock and stirring the simmering meat a bit more often than needed. When the knock at the door finally came you nearly jumped out of your skin. Trying not to get too excited and run, you did an awkward half shuffle across the living room.

Swinging open the storm door, you glanced down and realized you still had your dirty apron on and swore at yourself for forgetting. Then you looked up and your eyes met his. There was something you found immensely comforting about Max’s presence—just being near him seemed to put you at ease. Whenever he smiled, you couldn’t help but smile back.

“Hey,” you said in a quiet voice, unable to tear yourself away from him, soaking in the fact that he was here, that he wanted to spend time with you outside of work. It’s not that he was out of your league or anything, no definitely not that. He was very attractive—with his straight white teeth and deep warm eyes—but there was something about him that drew you closer. The more time you spent with him the more you felt he was similar to you; hiding his interests and who he really was in order to fit into the cookie cutter mold of the corporate world. You felt a connection to him and you hoped he felt it, too.

Max said your name with a smile and the sound of his voice broke you from your daydream state. “So… are you going to invite me in?” He asked, his tone light and teasing as he did that little half smile you loved.

“Oh! Yeah, yes please come in,” You half mumbled as you stepped aside, making room for him to get by. You blushed, looking away before backing up a little bit further to avoid getting the pepper juice from your apron on his suit.

“Please excuse my attire, a meeting went long so I came here straight from the office.” You were paying attention as he talked, you really were, but you also couldn’t help noticing the way his shoulders moved as he shrugged off his jacket, and just how tight his waistcoat hugged his torso.

“Oh, no don’t worry, It’s fine. You can hang your coat by the door, I need to go check on the meat.” Stepping away from him and into the kitchen gave you a moment to gather your thoughts. You really liked Max, and wanted to make a good impression, but it was hard not to be a little intimidated by him. He seemed to have everything together and navigate life with ease, never even having a bad hair day. But you could do this—even if you felt like a schoolgirl with a crush on her teacher every time you were around him—you could have a pleasant evening. Anyway, he seemed to be into you, too.

Moving the pan off of the heat you placed it on a trivet before grabbing a spoon. Shuffling around the cramped space of your kitchen you made sure you had everything set out, cheese, lettuce, sour cream, peppers—all the usual fixing. So focused on double checking everything you barely noticed when Max entered the kitchen.

“Something smells delicious,” He hummed, suddenly standing right behind your shoulder.

You jumped a little in surprise, letting out a nervous laugh as you turned to face him. Trying to not stare, you noted that he now had his sleeves rolled up with his waistcoat unbuttoned and his tie loosened just a bit. Something small in the back of your head encouraged you to grab the bright red strip of silk that hung from his neck and yank him forward into a kiss. The thought was gone as quick as it came and you prayed the lingering heat in your face wasn’t a dead give away.

“Ok, yeah, so I figured we could do a build-your-own thing, make it however you want,” You explained, trying not to stammer or think about how close he was standing. “The shells are just over there if you want to grab some.”

“How ever I want, sounds perfect. I am honestly starving and can't wait to sink my teeth in.” Max pivoted and grabbed one of the plates before handing it off to you, his and brushing ever so slightly against your finger—the contact sending a chill up your arm

Dinner with Max was surprisingly easy. Soon as the two of you were sitting down and talking, the conversation just flowed, bouncing from one topic to the next without pause or awkward silences. He complimented your cooking, which you tried to downplay saying it wasn’t much more than prep but he insisted it was delicious. You didn’t even notice when the grandfather clock in your hallway chimed, counting the late hour as both of you stayed seated at the rickety IKEA table long after you’d cleared your plates.

“Last film I watched was Belladonna of Sadness,” you responded, thinking back to the other night as you swirled the little bit of wine at the bottom of your glass before tipping it back with a gulp. “It’s one of my favorites, the animation is just so expressive and there’s a whole sequence that can only be described as a hair orgy,” you smiled to yourself when you heard Max chuckle. Every time he laughed or agreed something in you felt light as air, and wanted to tell him more just so you could see the way the corner of his mouth curled up. “It's a really great film though, truly one of a kind.”

“It sounds fascinating.” Leaning forward Max reached to grab the wine bottle while keeping his gaze locked with yours. “Maybe you could show it to me some night.” Your heart jumped at his words, realizing he wanted to spend more time with you. “Uh-oh, out of wine.” His comment caught your attention and you quickly hopped up.

“Don’t worry, I have a back up!” You called over your shoulder as you hurried to the fridge. Pulling out the bottle of Merlot you spun around and found yourself face to face with Max. “I—uh, didn’t hear you follow me—,” you mumbled, voice trailing off as his finger stroked along your upper arm, feather light touches that barely made contact but still so perceptible even through the cotton of your blouse. A shiver went down your spine, and you felt yourself relaxing into his presence, wanting him closer than he already was.

“I was actually in the mood for some dessert,” Max stated, his words tinged with a low rumble that came from somewhere deep in his chest. As his eyes drifted from his fingers—now at your shoulder—to your eyes. His gaze held yours, keeping you from thinking about anything besides just how rich the brown of his iris were.

“I—I didn’t prepare any—,” you stammered, noticing the way his eyes flitted to your lips as you spoke.

“It’s a good thing I had something planned then,” his voice was low but steady as he spoke, slowly stepping closer, backing you up against the fridge before dropping his head forward. His lips were almost on yours when he stopped. “I’ve been wanting this.”

“Uh-huh,” you nodded, not able to form a coherent thought, let alone a single word with the promise of Max so near.

You felt like jelly as his lips met yours. He overwhelmed your senses until all that you could register was him and the cool press of his mouth. His hands came to you, one on your waist that pulled you against his firm chest as the other cradled your jaw. Your skin burned under his touch as he brushed his thumb against your cheek, his gentle caresses feeling almost icy in contrast.

All you could think about was wrapping your arms around him—and not the wine bottle you were still holding. Raising your arms to reach for Max’s shoulders, the glass slipped from your slack fingers and shattered as it met the tile floor.

The sound of the shards scattering across the room rang in your ears, drawing your attention away from the man in front of you. You could feel your stomach drop as you looked at the dark puddle of liquid splashing onto the floor. The reflections of the ceiling lights looked red as they danced with the ripples until all the debris lost its momentum. Panic was starting to creep forward from the back of your skull as the realization of all the clean up you suddenly needed to do set in. What if Max wanted to leave instead of wait for you to mop everything up?

Just as you were trying to parse together some kind of apology, his large hand came to cup the back of your neck. His grip cooled the hot sting of anxiety that was bubbling under your skin as you shifted to look up at him. As soon as your eyes met his you relaxed, no longer worried that he was going anywhere

“You don’t need to worry about that right now,” Max stated, his voice soft and soothing in your ears while his words held an unyielding presence to them that felt solid. His thumb continued to draw little circles against your skin, dancing along the side of your neck.

“Yeah, I don’t need to worry about that right now,” you echoed, watching the way he smiled as you agreed. Something inside you buzzed under his approval, wanting to do anything he asked. Biting your lip you tried to hide your grin as you felt the same little impulse from before, this time giving in and wrapping your fingers around his bright red neck tie.

“Why don’t you show me to your room?”

With a nod and a tug, you stepped to the side, pulling him along as you shuffled around the pool of Merlot, leading Max towards the door of your bedroom.

---

Part 2 - The Meal

@whenimaunicorn @captbvcks @no-droids @rzrcrst @readsalot73 @spacegayofficial @lannister-slings-and-arrows @libellule2001

#max phillips #max phillips x reader #max phillips x you #bloodsucking bastards #max phillips bloodsucking bastards #my writing

196 notes · View notes

queensdivas · 5 years ago

Text

Bubbles

This is for my boo boo @bonafiderocketqueen because she’s my best friend and I hope she enjoys it!

Enjoy!

@mexifangorl @leah-halliwell92 @i-live-for-queen @its-funny-til-its-not @brianmydear @painkiller80 @jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels @mayplantstarrwaters

Masterlist

It had been snowing in non stop since I arrived in England to spend a week with Ben. Dear God it has not stopped since my plane literally touched down on the runway! Yet it hasn’t bothered me except when Ben isn’t around because he’s off reading for another movie. Not that I’m not grateful he’s off getting into more movies for himself and making his career better. Hells yeah for him for wanting to further his career. But when you live across the pond and can only see each other every so often. It kind of bums you out.

Tossing my book down onto the couch as I wrapped myself up in my blanket counting down the minutes till he came home from his read through. Dinner was already made since I wanted tonight to be just relaxing. Homemade chicken and noodles was exactly going to warm us up from all this stupid snow.

His dog Frankie climbed up onto the couch with me as he curled up into the blanket then tucking himself into a large ball. My fingers began scratching the top of his head as I was beginning to fall asleep with his soft breathing and the sound of winter frost blowing outside.

Before I completely passed out on his couch. Ben came bursting through the doorway with a large paper bag in his hand. It scared Frankie and I as we both almost fell off the couch. Frankie ran to him as he jumped all over him as Ben scooped him up in his arms. I shook my head a little so I would wake up and see what he was so excited about.

“Anne you would not believe what just happened!” He was bouncing off the walls with excitement as he placed the paper bag down on the coffee table then sitting next to me. Frankie was still attacking him with kisses then bouncing over to me to give me all kinds of kisses to me!

“I got the role!” He cheered as I put Frankie down on the ground so I wouldn’t hurt him on what was coming next.

“AH BEN!” I jumped on top of him to pecking my lips all over him till we now fell off the couch. Frankie jumped all over us till Ben pulled him into our dog pile laughed as we sat up in front of the couch.

“Told you they would absolutely love you!”

“I knew they would.” He smirked as I scooted closer to him then wrapping myself around him. He had his hands on my hips as his soft lips pressed against mine. Stopping myself to get a hint of his..was he working out?

“Ben why do you smell like a gym?” Dear God he smells like a very sweaty old man! Phew! Dear God he really needs some sort of bath!

“Part of the role was being able to crazy stunts and I ended up climbing up and down ropes. So I got a really great workout today because of it.” God he really stinks!

“Ben dear God you stink! I love you but damn!” Climbing off to walk into the kitchen as he got a grumpy look on his face that quickly turned into a soft smile. Are we having bath time? Dear God his bath is one of the best since it’s got jets across the wall, a small tv that hangs on the wall so we can binge watch Letterkenny while we relax, and enough room for a cheese plate!

“I’ll get the bath ready.” Well I’m hungry so I will be eating while were in the tub. Just not homemade chicken and noodles. For obvious reasons. Getting into the fridge to grab a bunch of cheese slices, grapes, and then the bottle of pink moscato for celebration! We still have two wine glasses from the other night so this is absolutely perfect!

Before I carried the tray into the bathroom. Frankie stood directly under me with his tail wagging waiting for a piece of my cheese! It’s getting close to his dinner time anyhow so I think a little peanut butter will hold him over in the end. Placing the tray down on the counter to grab his small bone from the floor then the peanut butter from the cabinet. Scooping a little of his favorite peanut butter to stuff it in his bone as he began bouncing around in excitement around my feet.

“Ah. Now you sit!” He immediately sat down for me to place his bone right in front of him. He grabbed it to wander off into the living room to start chowing down on his peanut butter bone. Now time for bubble bath!

“SHIT!” Ben yelled as I grabbed the tray of goodies to walk into the bathroom. Oh no what did he do now!? Please tell me we don’t have to buy him another phone! He and Joe once thought it would be a really good fucking idea to go skinny dipping while they were drunk. Problem is that skinny dipping meant just jumping into the closest body of water. So his phone was destroyed.

“What happened?” Asking as I walked into the bathroom to see that the bubbles in the jacuzzi were really getting out of control. Oh my god it looks so beautiful!

“No. I dropped the bubble maker and now the bathtub is going to be extra full. Damn it at this point it’s probably going to flood the entire bathroom.” And? Now our bathroom is going to smell like, what is it honey? Yes honey!

“So? Now instead of nothing, the bathroom is going to be smelling like honey and soap. Is that such a bad thing?” Placing the tray down on top of the sink as I immediately threw off all my clothes on the floor. Ben watched me as I sunk into the bubble covered jacuzzi. The jets were on low as the water was a little hotter than how I usually like it. Ben stripped down until he grabbed the tray of goodies to put right on the large corner.

He climbed down into the water as our feet entwined with each other as he turned up the jets to medium. One of them was hitting my back making me moan a little because god damn these are some wonderful jets. The bubbles kept rising as it hit the bottom of my chin, Jesus how much of the bubble liquid got out? I felt the plastic bottle floating around next to me, lifting it up to Ben as he nodded.

“There it is!” I tossed the bottle out of the tub. Shit he put the tray on his side of the tub! Hope we won't mind if I sneak over to grab some grapes. Moving from my spot in the tub to start moving towards him to we were face to face with each other. Almost about to kiss him as I moved past him to grab a grape and a cheese wedge.

“You’re a brat.” He giggled as he pulled me into his lap as the bubbles bounced around us. Jesus the stupid bubbles are still forming oh my god! Grabbing a bunch to place on the top of his head then snapping it to look like a Hershey’s kiss.

“Wait wait!” I began molding a bubble beard on his face then styling it with a nice mustache. He looked absolutely stunning!

“Ben! Picture perfect!” Looking over the edge to see my phone so I could take a picture of him and all his glory!

“If you think you’re leaving this tub without a beard you’re wrong.” Ben told me before I could even grab my phone. Smirking as I stood still for him to grab a hand full of bubbles. He began placing them all over my face trying to avoid my eyes and lips to form a Santa Claus beard on my face.

“Am I pretty yet?” He shook his head to grab more bubbles from the tub to place on top of my head. Except no Hershey kiss style hair, more like 70s Afro kind of hair.

“Now you’re gorgeous. Wanna watch the office?” I just binged watched season four while he was gone so I’m kind of feeling something a little more stupid. Not saying that the office is stupid because Creed is my spirit animal for as little time he has on screen.

“Letterkenny?” Asking as he grabbed the remote from the corner along with a cheese slice to turn on hulu. Dear God do I love Letterkenny. It’s one of the shows that’s so damn stupid that you have to love. Yes a few of the characters are a little wow but it’s so great.

Turning myself so I could scoot back into him with my back pressing against him so we could cuddle. My hand reached back for a small vine of grapes to chow down on a little. Oh my god it’s the Canadian Goose episodes yes! My absolute favorite episode out of the entire show.

“IF YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH CANADA GOOSES YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH ME AND I SUGGEST YOU LET THAT MARINATE!” I yelled along with Wayne because dear god I love this show! Ben squeezed me a little to then start kissing the back of my neck which made me giggle.

“Does everyone in Canada feel the same about Canada gooses?”

“Gooses! They’re beautiful majestic birds that must be protected at all cost! Born leaders and heroes!” I think I just watch this show way too much now at this point. Oh well. We went back to start watching the show as he began kissing my neck again then giving me another tight squeeze to make me giggle.

“Anne. You know I love you right?”

“No Ben. I’m naked in a bathtub with you because I consider us friends.” I have very bad sarcasm and I think it gets out of control sometimes.

“Alright smartass. But seriously. I want to ask you something because I know if I don’t I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.” I stopped eating my grape to turn around completely ignoring the show now. Please don’t tell me he’s going to propose because we haven’t discussed this part of our lives yet and I’m not sure if I’m ready!

“Anne you’re my world now and I hate the fact that we live so stupidly far apart. Move in with me. Or I can move over to America with you. I don’t like the fact that we only see each other for one of two weeks out of the month. Your the person I wanna wake up in the morning and go to bed with you at night. When you’re gone. Frankie and I are just an absolute mess without you! Ask Gwil because I do nothing but bug the living hell out of him whenever you go back home! Poor Frankie crawls under my bed until you walk into my apartment and you can’t imagine the sad look on his face when you’re not around!” No I’m not crying you’re crying! But sadly I can’t take him serious with the bubbles on top of his head and around his beard! I started laughing a little in this very serious moment.

“Are you making fun of me?” His voice cracked as I placed my hands through his bubble beard to give him a kiss. My lips continuing to peck him till he stopped waiting for my answer.

“Yes Ben. I’ll be your roommate for life. Only for Frankie because poor Frankie shouldn’t be suffering!” Frankie came running into the bathroom as he began trying to get into the tub with us.

“No Frankie that’s weird!” Ben laughed till he jumped into the empty spot of the tub for water and bubbles to go all over the place! He began splashing around in the tub with the bubbles flying all over the place, in the food, and more on Ben and I! I grabbed Frankie to get him out of the tub so we could get back to our bath time. Once out he stayed right next to the tub staring us down.

“Gonna be honest with you Ben, really don’t feel comfortable with Frankie watching us in the tub.” He turned off the jets as I pulled the plug from the drain.

“Fair enough. Besides. We now have all the time in the world for those pleasantries since you’ll be here for now on. Or they. Where exactly are we going to live now?” Good question.

“We’ll figure that out later. Homemade chicken and noodles tonight for dinner with some carrots?”

“Sounds absolutely delicious.”

#Ben Hardy #Ben Hardy x reader #Ben Hardy x OC #ben hardy fluff #ben hardy x female reader #Joe Mazzello #Gwilym Lee #Rami Malek #Lucy Boynton #Bohrap #Bohrap Boys

74 notes · View notes

bubblemintkitten · 4 years ago

Text

Luca/Tan - excursion cont. 6 of X

Word count: 1562

Once they had ordered they had found a table inside. They lifted one of the chairs over to the next table, to easily make room for Luca.

“So, how’s work been lately?” Luca shrugged.

“Well, we all miss you.” Street shrugged, “Other than that, pretty normal. Deacon and Mumford are whipping recruits right now.”

Luca chuckled, “Any promising?”

Chris shrugged, “Well, they’re not SWAT yet. So we shouldn’t fully judge them yet… They might be able to mold some of them into SWAT officers.”

“But not super promising?”

“Definitely not…” Tan chuckled, “One of them has the worst gun control you can think of. If he doesn’t accidentally shoot himself or someone else while doing maintenance to some weapon throughout his career, it’ll be a miracle.”

“Oh no…” Luca shook his head, “So, how did he not get… Someone should have done something about that long ago…”

Street nodded, “He’s not the most likely to get picked, relax.”

“Well, that’s good.” Luca shrugged.

“And Hondo is planning a get together.” Chris added, “It’s still a few weeks out.”

“Yeah, he kinda wanted me to ask if you thought you’d be up for it…” Tan shrugged, “You know we all want you there.”

“Can I say yes, but only on the condition that I’m having a good pain day that day?”

“Sure.” Tan nodded.

“You’re still in pain?” Street asked, “I thought the break had healed?”

Luca shrugged, “Sometimes.”

“But… You’re…” Luca could see how little Street wanted to say the word, but he had also passed the point of no return, “Paralyzed…”

“Yeah. I am…” Luca sat back in his chair a little, “You know how people who has lost a limb has phantom pain?”

“Well, yeah… But…”

“I’ve got phantom pain, sometimes.” Luca explained as he started cracking his knuckles, “One of the doctors dumbed it down for me on one of the days I really didn’t feel good. She compared it to an amputation. Basically, my spinal cord is partially amputated. Some of it is cut, the rest got real squished. So there’s been a bunch of swelling as well, and it might have compressed the nerve fibers to a point where they won’t transmit correctly. I might end up feeling more below my waist than I do now, and I might not. But I’m getting side-tracked… Thing is, nerves that are cut, or injured beyond the point of full repair might play tricks on you. Doesn’t matter if the rest of the limb or limbs are there or not. Most of my central nervous system believes I’m amputated where the break injured my spinal cord.”

“For real?”

Luca nodded.

“So, can you feel anything?” Street asked, just as their food arrived.

“I can feel touch along the front of my thighs. And I’ve got this weird little area on the inside of my right ankle where I can feel touch. But I can’t really feel temperature, so most likely I wouldn’t feel if I bumped into something hard enough to supposedly feel pain due to it either. Some doctor or nurse explained that it’s the same kind of nerves which transmit those sensations. Actually, they sometimes use ice-cubes to check if someone’s spinal… Like, when they don’t knock someone completely out for surgery, but just does the spinal what’s-it-called?”

“Spinal or epidural anesthesia?” Tan offered up, shrugging his shoulders.

“That’s correct!” Luca nodded, “They often test with an ice-cube to see if the patient has enough effect of the anesthesia before they begin the surgeries. Because, if they feel the cold of the ice-cube, they’ll still feel pain.”

“I didn’t know…” Chis grinned, “That’s actually pretty interesting…”

Luca nodded, “Now, bear in mind, they did explain it a whole lot better than what I can. I’m just trying to gather a summary of it all for you guys.”

“So, life has really dealt you a crap set of cards…” Street frowned, “You’re paralyzed, but you’re still going to be in pain.”

“Sometimes.” Luca nodded, taking a sip of his milkshake, “Sometimes I’m without pain as well…”

“You are able to lift your knees a little though,” Tan shrugged, “At least when you’re laying on your back.”

“I’m able to do it while seated as well.” Luca informed and raised his thighs an inch off the seat, one by one, “Feels like I’m trying to lift my legs with someone sitting on top, but… It might get better?”

Then he readjusted his legs a bit, making sure that his feet were well rested on the foot rest, and that his knees weren’t in an awkward position as well, before he started on his bacon-cheese burger.

“Wow, that’s improvement!” Tan smiled.

Luca nodded proudly as he chewed the first bite of his burger.

* * *

They had eaten and chatted for a bit more when a question dropped into Street’s head. And before he had the good sense to clamp his mouth shut, the question was asked. “How’s sex going to be like? Do you still get it up?”

The quiet banter seemed to stop on a dime. Tan’s jaw dropped ridiculously low, while Luca almost choked on the mixture between the milkshake he was trying to drink and shock. Chris on the other hand looked like she was about to smack Street as hard as possible.

“Excuse me?” Luca frowned once he was able to swallow the milkshake without accidentally aspirating it, “Since when did my sex life become any of your business?”

Street blushed once he realized how awkward and inappropriate the question had been. “Sorry…”

“Let’s just set the ground rules…” Tan shrugged, then he fell silent for a bit longer than what seemed planned. “-Luca, help me out…”

“How about, if you didn’t have any right to know before, then you still have no right to know now…” Luca shrugged.

“I’ve got one… If I may…”

Luca nodded.

“How about, don’t ask anything you wouldn’t ask Deke…”

“That one’s actually pretty solid…” Tan nodded at her.

Luca nodded too, “Good ground rule, for the most part…”

“Guys, Luca… I’m sorry… I had no right…” Street almost groaned into his hands, “I’m sorry…”

Luca chuckled a bit, kinda satisfied with how embarrassed Street had turned, “No worries… Just, please keep off those topics, at least in public.”

Street nodded, “Sorry…”

* * *

They were just about finished when Tan tapped his fingers on the table to get everyone’s attention. “Hey, I’ve got an idea…”

The others nodded, waiting for him to reveal it.

“I mean, we’ve got the biggest sweet-tooth of the entire METRO devision in our midst,” casting a teasing but loving look over at Luca, “Why don’t we go somewhere for dessert as well?”

“Yeah?” Luca’s grin widened.

“First real outing…” Tan shrugged, “Why not do it properly?”

“He’s got a point…” Chris winked, “What do you want? Ice cream, cake, rolls, candy…?”

“Oh, that bakery we usually go to pretty often…” Luca looked over at Tan, “Those cinnamon buns with yellow cream and icing…”

“Custard?” Street tilted his head.

Luca nodded.

“Let’s drive over there afterwards…” Tan nodded.

* * *

When they reached the Jeep, Tan looked over at Luca. “Wanna try getting back in on your own?”

“Should be possible to do the same as I did to get out, but I’m reverse, right?”

“I don’t know…” Tan shrugged, “You’re the only one here who has any idea of what you can and can’t do right now…”

“Can I try, and if I need an assist, then you’ll help me?”

“Sure.” Tan nodded.

* * *

The result was, he needed a bit help. He would have made it just fine if he had any sort of extra handles to grab a hold of, but he just couldn’t get a good enough grip to lift himself up onto the seat.

And since helping him from the floor onto the seat would have resulted in a bad working position for Tan, Luca helped himself over to the chair, bracing himself for the lift he knew was about to come.

The second time around it was less awkward. Maybe because Luca was getting real tired from all the sitting, and his back was feeling worse. Or maybe just because he had gotten to try it his way first. It was hard to tell.

“Hey…” Luca whispered to Tan as Tan lifted him up and secured his hold of him, “when we get married, I’m carrying you across the threshold…”

“Yeah? You think?” Tan smirked a little.

“Pretty sure you can sit in my lap while I roll across it, so yeah…” Luca chuckled a bit.

Tan shrugged as much as he could with Luca in his arms, “That could work…”

“It could…” Luca nodded as Tan put him down in the passenger seat, “-And thank you…”

Tan winked in return, “Thanks for letting me help you…”

* * *

They went to the bakery, and then they went back to the clinic. They all agreed that it had been a great day, and that they had to repeat it really soon, maybe even make a weekly think out of it.

Luca opted for the bed once they made it to his room, but was happy that the other’s were willing to stick around for a while, even though his back needed some rest.

#luca #dominic luca #dominique luca #s.w.a.t #swat fanfiction #swat #chris #chris alonso #tan #victor tan #street #jim street #pride #gay #bi #tanuca

9 notes · View notes

blackcoffeeandblankpagess · 5 years ago

Note

Hiya chicky! I guess with all that is going on in your life I was wondering how you're doing with your ED recovery? Is intuitive eating going well? It seems like you've reached a place where you're much more relaxed around food and it's so incredibly inspiring. How did you get away from being rigid, measuring all your food, calorie counting, having strict labels, etc? What are the biggest pieces of advice you could giving someone who is trying to get to that place? What steps did you take?

Hello!! This message is sweet

I’m doing…so so. Always on a generally upward trajectory but currently in a little bit of a dip because…stress.

But tips! I gotchu

Literally the best advice I can give you is to pick like…one to three things to focus on at a time and don’t worry about the rest. Like at any given time there are approximately 239823498234923 things I could do better or be less strict about but if I just woke up and said “today i will stop counting calories and stop measuring and never step on a scale again and only move intuitively” my brain would probably explode. I’ve done all of those things pretty much but it was a long slow process to get there. But it works!

You can do this on a big scale like…january first what is my big ED recovery goal for the year or you can pick a few things each week or month. I like to pick like 3 things at the beginning of each month to focus on that month. So like for instance in March two of my goals were: Eat enough (as in, have that extra bedtime snack dammit) and Don’t worry so much about yesterday (as in, when you wake up instead of obsessing over the details of what you ate yesterday before choosing what to eat for breakfast today….just don’t!) If you tell yourself I’m just gonna try this for 30 days…if you ACTUALLY stick with it by the end of the month you’ll be like wow look I’m still alive and noting has changed! and then it seems less scary

Going off of that point, I think the best thing to do is to just force yourself to do things that make you uncomfy and realize over time that literally nothing bad will happen. For instance way back in the day I used to weigh myself every day which was BAD but I was terrified of giving that up because what if I gained a bunch of weight but didn’t check so I didn’t know??? I decided to only weigh myself every few months and realized my weight was basically the same every single time and I did not in fact need to micromanage it to do this. Your body likes homeostasis. Also, I had the astonishing realization that the number actually means nothing. Like if my clothes fit EXACTLY the same and I think I look exactly the same…what would it REALLY mean if the number on the scale was suddenly like 10 pounds more??? It wouldn’t really mean anything. So fuck it. I only know my weight from doctor’s appointments and I usually don’t let myself look at it until like months later so that I’m far enough removed that if it might affect me it won’t but really I just go based off of how my clothes feel etc. because that’s more meaningful than any arbitrary number.

The most recent and I guess one of the biggest hurdles is just letting myself eat whatever I want when I want it. This one is kinda weird because I feel like whenever I thought about eating freely I was like oh well but if I’m eating whatever I want whenever then shouldn’t I put like…27 spoonfuls of cream and sugar in my coffee instead of drinking it black because shouldn’t I theoretically like that more if I’m just doing whatever I want??? But it’s not like that. For me at least it’s more of like, if I go out to eat I expend zero mental energy on thinking about the nutritional content (numbers wise) in food and just get whatever sounds good. It means having a glass or 3 of wine and not worrying about it. It means going out for ice cream even if I’m a little full. What I realized is that (and again, I don’t want to make it sound like gaining weight is bad because it is totally healthy and fine, but I think I thought it was a lot easier to gain weight than it really is (at least for me) and I was holding so tightly onto this grip of “control” for literally no reason) every single time I’ve ever been stressed that I ate too much, etc. nothing ever happens. So then I was like…well wtf I should just do what I want and not stress because there is never ever ever any real impact on my “health” from a food decision so IT’S FINE!. And it is fine! In the fall I ate so much pizza, ice cream, and beer I can’t even tell you and my body stayed the same! Your body doesn’t want to change radically unless you are doing something radical! (this is not to say that if you are underweight you won’t gain weight because again, your body wants to find it’s healthy spot) but I think the current culture has brainwashed us into thinking if we eat 1 cookie that isn’t paleo-gluten free-insert more BS here- we will gain like 500 pounds over night or be “unhealthy” like wtf! eat what you want! it’s fine!

Maybe my opinion is skewed because 9 times out of 10 I am eating mostly veggies, fruit, oatmeal, whatever. But I never deprive myself of something if I’m craving it. I’ve eaten ice cream or cookies or brownies for dessert almost every night for the past few months just because. It’s fine!

I feel like I got off topic but my point is that you really need to just let yourself live the way you envision your ideal relationship with your food and body because even though that might sound terrifying, you will probably realize that you can actually eat the way you want and the world won’t end and then POOF! It becomes infinitely more easier to eat that way in the future because you have gone through it and seen first hand that nothing crazy happens and you don’t need to be super rigid! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, my stress fracture was really the game changer for me. I sat on my butt for months, drank more beer, ate more cheese fries at midnight with my friends, and my body didn’t change. I was like WTF! I could have been doing this all along!

And it makes me nervous to say that because I don’t want it to sound like it would have been bad if my body did change because that is okay but I think most people coming from an ED think if they deviate even the slightest bit from their rigid routine their body will change in some drastic way and it just isn’t true. I think this fear comes from the fact that a lot of people with EDs do live in extremes, with starving, binging, purging, etc. etc. so we are used to our bodies changing frequently but in reality if you aren’t living in an extreme way, your body is not going to keep fluctuating in extremes (**I understand this is a generalization I feel like it’s almost impossible to talk on this subject without generalizing to some extent so if you do not fit into this mold I see you! I’m just talk from personal experience)

Okay I just read this over and I feel like I was really harping on the idea of don’t worry! your body won’t change in an extreme way! and you could argue that maybe the more important thing to realize is that it’s okay if your body does change, and there are much more important things in life, etc. etc. but…I feel like most of us understand those things intuitively, it’s just that that fear is still there. idk! idk the right thing to say! also...it’s totally normal for your bod to change throughout your life, it’s okay! I just think that a lot of us have a deep fear that if we eat a little differently suddenly things are going to change like...over night which is just not the case. I feel like I literally need to write a novel to get this point across correctly *is stressed*

Two really good resources for this- 1. The book “The Fuck It Diet” 2. The blog The Real Life RD

Okay, that’s a lot. One step at a time.

#answered

9 notes · View notes

the-beastslayers-queen · 5 years ago

Text

A Dangerous Game: Chapter 5

Chapter 5 is hear. TRIGGER WARNING IS IN EFFECT: ABUSE AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! Tagging: @queenofthearchitect @biforbecky2belts @writtingrose @mrsambroserollinsacklesmgk and @jeffhardyenigmawwefan If you wish to be tagged, please feel free to hit my inbox. Enjoy!

Seth walked in and he looked like hell. His hair was pulled back messily and his eyes looked so tired and worn out. He came over to my bed and sat down beside me and took my hand. I was surprised by his actions and his close proximity to me. I mean he wasn’t very kind to me before I went out on the heist with the guys and now he was here to see me in my injured state.

“Why did you come,” I asked him.

“Anderson called me from your phone,” he answered looking me in my eyes, “He told me you had been shot and that you wanted him to call me before you blacked out. He said that usually if something went wrong during a job, you’d have him call Finn, but not this time. Why me?”

“Because I didn’t want to die and you have regrets with me,” I guessed, “We weren’t on the best of terms and I wanted him to bury our hatchet so you could go on without me weighing on your conscious. Seeing as I’m very much alive, I thought you’d not bother coming to see me.”

“Hearing you got shot brought me to my senses,” he grabbed and held onto my left hand, “I’m ready to hear you out. I want to know why you didn’t tell who you were, Cat.”

“I didn’t tell you I was Finn’s sister because I wanted a chance to be just Cat,” I told him, “You made me feel important and my own person. I didn’t feel like I was the lesser of the two Bálor siblings and I wasn’t about to be sold off to McIntyre for the sake of peace in Orlando. So when you found out, I was hurt because I was going to tell you eventually that I was a Bálor, but I hesitated too long and it blew up in my face.”

“Now I want to know why you were so offended that I found pictures of you when you were younger,” he asked, “Why hide your past and hold it so close to your chest so to speak.”

“Finn and I made a promise to each other to keep our family back in Ireland a secret from everyone,” I answered, “Our legal names here is Bálor to keep them safe. The last thing we wanted when we started out was to put them in danger. But I have pictures of our family back in Ireland in my secure server to preserve them and keep them close. I also have security cameras set up in Ireland I use to check up on our parents to make sure they’re okay and safe. So when you found my pictures from high school, I got scared you’d find them too and try to hurt me by getting to them.”

“I didn’t get into your folder named ‘Bray’,” he replied, “That folder is the one with the pictures of your parents, right?”

“Yeah,” I replied, “There’s also pictures of our sister and brother too. Maybe one day I’ll show you their pictures once I know I can trust with my life. But Finn has to trust you too.”

“Cat, I’m not going anywhere this time, okay,” he scooted over closer to me and I watched as his eyes darted between my eyes and my lips, “And I’ll be damned if I let McIntyre marry you. I will do whatever it takes to have you as my bride. You’re the one I want.”

Before I could reply, Seth closed the distance between us and kissed me hard. I resisted at first for a split second before I returned his kiss with fervor. I wrapped my left arm over his shoulder, holding him against me as I felt his strong hands grab hold of my waist. Our lips danced together, molding to each other like they belonged together. His nose brushed against mine with a tenderness I could get used to. This man has me hooked now more than ever. When the need for oxygen became too great and my shoulder started to throb in pain, we broke apart, breathing heavily.

“Whoa,” I sighed before groaning in pain from my shoulder, “I could get used to that.”

“Good,” Seth smirked before kissing me again, “Because I’m hooked on you, Cat.”

“We just have to be careful,” I warned him, “We can’t let Finn or Drew know about us. I can’t stand the thought of you being taken from me.”

“Likewise,” he replied before placing a chaste kiss on my lips and then forehead, “I’m going to go find Anderson to have him give Finn a call before I leave. I’ll meet up with you once you get home.”

“How do you know where I live,” I asked.

“You’re not the only hacker in this relationship, Cat,” he replied with a smirk, “Oracle got me your address when I broke into your servers. I’ll work with you to boost your firewalls and your defender program once you’re feeling a little better, okay.”

Finn ended up coming to get me from Shawn’s place and got me settled into my apartment, propping me up on my couch. I was given some Tylenol 3s for my pain and to call Shawn if I get worse. Finn was messing around in my kitchen as I looked for something to watch on my TV.

“So you are to take it easy, Catie,” Finn called as he worked on fixing me something to eat, “Do you need me to hang out with you for the day to keep you distracted?”

“No that’s okay Finn,” I replied, “And don’t worry about coming to help me with dinner. I’ll just order something for delivery. You have a nightclub and Bálor Club to run today. I’ll be okay. I already talked with Tama over the phone on what needs to be done at Coup De Grace this week.”

“Okay,” Finn came into my living room with a grilled cheese sandwich for me and a mug of tea, “I made you some tea with honey to help you relax and your favorite lunch of grilled cheese. If you need anything from me, give me a call okay. Love you, deirfiúr.”

“Love you too, deartháir,” I replied as he kissed my cheek before leaving.

I waited about ten minutes after Finn left before I texted Seth. I couldn’t risk Finn seeing him coming to stay with me for the day. Not this early into our fling if this is what we have going on.

Cat: Hey coast is clear. Come on by. The door is open.

Seth: I’m on my way. Be there in 5.

Sure enough, Seth was in the door within five minutes. I admired that he was so fast to come be with me. He came over to the back of the couch and bent over to place a tender, chaste kiss on my lips before coming around to sit next to me on the arm of my couch, playing with my hair once he was settled on his perch.

“How are you feeling,” he asked as he continued to play with my hair.

“As well as I can after being shot,” I replied, “Finn made me some tea and a grilled cheese before he left to manage Bullet Club for the night.”

“Is he going to come back tonight,” he asked, “Because I have an overnight bag in my car to stay overnight to keep an eye on you.”

“He won’t back tomorrow,” I reassured him, “He has a Bálor Club meeting with the guys in the morning and has a meeting with Drew to go over the wedding plans. I’m skipping that meeting because I refuse to marry the Scotsman.”

“I’m still confused on why you chased after me when you knew you’d be getting engaged to him,” Seth asked as he moved me around gently so I could lean against him, “I mean I like this, but we could get killed if he catches us.”

“Finn would declare war if McIntyre gets violent with me,” I informed him, “And because I met you first and I felt a spark when we shook hands that night weeks ago. You’ve been on my mind for far too long to give up on the idea that I could be with you instead of him.”

“I can work with Hunter to get Finn to renegotiate a deal to have you marry me instead of McIntyre,” Seth offered, “We can say that McIntyre is unstable and needs to see his gang ended before he disrupts the peace our groups forged to keep the city safe.”

“Maybe,” I replied, “But Finn is very stubborn might not see reason like you and I. For now we’ll have to play it safe and meet in secret. It’s not ideal, but I’d rather have you to myself in secret instead of going without you.”

“I agree,” Seth nodded and kissed me again, “Now what should we get for delivery later?”

I woke up the next morning to find Seth still sound asleep next to me. Last night I fell asleep in his arms as we watched some movies on Netflix after we ate dinner we had delivered. Seth must have put me to bed before getting himself to bed. I reached across as best as I could, staying on my back and using my left arm to try to brush his hair out of his face. This woke him up despite my best efforts not too.

“Morning,” he greeted me, sleep still weighing heavily on his voice, “Did you sleep alright? I brought you up here so you could be more comfortable.”

“Yeah I slept as fine as I could with my messed up shoulder,” I replied, “Are you heading back to your place after breakfast? Maybe I can see if I have enough energy to go out today and stretch my legs with a nice walk.”

“Yeah I have business to handle for Hunter,” he replied, “But I can try to come back tonight if you’re going to be here alone.”

“I’ll keep you posted okay,” I replied before I pulled him closer to me with my good arm before kissing him, “Have I mentioned how much I enjoy kissing you?”

“No,” he chuckled lightly, “But you could enlighten me.”

“I enjoy it so much,” I giggled and kissed him again, “Now how about breakfast?”

Man I am bored, stuck sitting at home due to my right shoulder. I spent my time working on my laptop on writing some code of a new drone I want to try to build that I could use on future heists to use as a signal booster to crack systems from a greater distance so I can be further away. That way I can avoid getting put into the line of fire again.

I was pulled out of my work by a knock at my door. I struggled to get up from my desk and padded my way over to the door. I peeked through my peep hole to find Drew, Baron, and Dolph standing at my door. I rolled my eyes before I opened the door for the trio.

“Drew,” I greeted him with my most convincing fake smile I could manage, “I’m surprised you came by. I wasn’t expecting you.”

“I thought I would come visit my apartment bound fiancée since she got shot,” he replied, laying on the charm heavily, “How has your shoulder been treatin’ ya, lass?”

“It hurts,” I replied simply, “But Michaels got me pain killers to help.”

“That’s good to hear, Cat,” Baron replied as he and Dolph followed Drew over to the couch, “So have you been working on anything in your free time since you can’t work for Finn?”

“I’m designing a drone that I can use on heists so I can hide away from the target and not be so close to crack into security systems,” I replied, “But it’s just diagrams and some pieces of the code to operate it.”

“Sounds boring,” Baron yawned.

“Only to a lug like you,” I quipped at him.

“No it does sound boring,” Dolph agreed.

“Why do I bother,” I groaned and sat down at my desk, “My genius is wasted between you two.”

“And I have to put up with them all day,” Drew chuckled as he came over to stand by me.

That was when he kissed me way too hard. I groaned and tried to push him off of me. I did not want him to kiss me at all. After everything I had done to get Seth back, I was not about to let Drew gain ground with me and think I was going to stay with him. Once he got the message, he got off of me and I glared at him.

“I did not ask you to kiss me,” I growled at him, “Don’t do that again.”

And that was when I felt his fist make contact with my face. He nailed me right in my right eye. I knew it was hard enough to leave me with a nasty shiner and a migraine for sure, but not strong enough to concuss me or break the orbital bone by my eye.

“You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do, bitch,” he yelled as he grabbed me by my throat, just tight enough to make me struggle to breathe.

I got out of my chair and broke his hold on my throat. I then grabbed my pistol I kept on the underside of my desk and I aimed it at the three of them.

“Get out of my apartment,” I ordered the trio before I disengaged the safety, “Now before I shoot all three of you with warning shots. Now move!”

Drew and his cronies took my warning and left. Once my apartment door was closed I ran over and locked it. I re-engaged the safety before I slammed my back against the door before sliding down it to the floor and began to cry in pain from the hard punch Drew planted on my face. I struggled to get back to my feet before I called Seth. I was going to text Finn later to have him come over.

“Seth,” I hiccupped once I heard him pick up his phone.

“Cat,” he sounded so concerned and worried for me, “What’s going on? What’s wrong?”

“It was Drew,” I tried to catch my breath as I kept crying, “He was here. I don’t feel safe. Can you come here?”

“Yeah I’ll be right over,” he took a deep breath, “I still have the copy of your key you gave me so keep your door locked until I get there.”

I was up on my bed, my pistol still near me as I heard my front doorknob jiggle and the sound of a key turning in the lock. I shot up from my bed and brought up my gun in paranoia, but dropped it the instant I saw Seth walk inside. I began to cry in earnest as Seth came running up the stairs to my bedroom and he took my pistol from my hands before pulling me to his chest.

“What did he do,” Seth sounded absolutely pissed.

“H-he kissed me against my will,” I hiccupped as I buried my face into his chest as I held onto him, “And I p-push him away. Then he…”

“What did he do,” Seth pulled me back by my arms and he saw my nasty black eye, “I’m going to kill him. I’m going to kill him.”

“Seth don’t,” I grabbed onto him tightly with my good arm, “Don’t start a war over me, please.”

“No one should lay hands on a woman,” he snarled in frustration, “You didn’t deserve to be hit like this. I want to end him so bad for touching my girl and leaving her with a black eye.”

“Your girl,” I asked him confused.

“Yeah,” he replied, “You’re my girl now. I’m not going to let Drew have you. If it takes all the breath from my lungs, I’m going to fight to take you away from the Scottish Psychopath. I’m going to work with Hunter to get Finn to go back on his deal with McIntyre so I can swoop in and take you for myself before declaring war on his damn gang.”

“I don’t think Finn will back out,” I told him, “But I’m sure once he sees my face he’ll consider it.”

“He better,” Seth warned, “Otherwise I’m running with you out of town and I’m going elope with you so Drew can’t take you away from me.”

“Seth,” I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, “Is breá liom tú, mo ailtire.”

“Was that Gaelic,” Seth asked, confused by what I said, “What does it mean?”

“It means,” I paused before I kissed him hard, “I love you, my architect.”

#seth rollins x oc #seth rollins fic #seth rollins fanfic #seth rollins fanfiction #wwe fic #wwe fanfic #wwe fanfiction #tw: abuse #tw: violence against women #A Dangerous Game

12 notes · View notes

kendrixtermina · 5 years ago

Text

Disclaimer For Potential Partners (f/m/x)

Writing this down as much to gather my thoughts and go into this with clear priorities as for possible future reference.

My mother always told me that if you wanted everyone to like you, you’d have to be a 50 dollar bill. I have come to accept that I’m more like licorice. Some people aren’t gonna like me but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t others who would appreciate me.

I’d rather you run away screaming NOW than in three years when we’re both invested so Let’s get all this out of the way:

I’m bisexual. Yes, I’ve dated dudes in the past. I’ve had a brief online flirt with an agender person and do think androgynous ppl are hot which I suppose would make me pan in some ppl’s books, at this point the choice in label is purely aesthetic. I’m looking for a female partner right now because I’ve always had a slight preference for girls anyways but a sufficiently compatible non-female would not be refused.

Because ppl have gotten this wrong in the past: Preference is about how likely you are to notice that someone is hot in the first place like in the early stages. It doesn’t mean my attachment to those dudes was any less “real” (or the other way around!) I just flat out don’t care whats in your pants there are other things to be picky about

From since I was young, the message I got from music, books etc is that it’s pretty bad to say “I love you” unless you truly mean it. So I don’t say “I love you” until I’m 100% sure I can do that it good conscience. It seems that it takes me a bit longer to be sure than most people, but it’s not like I’ve conducted statistics on this

I’m not vegan/vegetarian and I’m never going to be vegan/vegetarian

I’m not a pet person

I’m not a sporty person and I’m never going to be a sporty person

Go through my stuff, spy on me in any way or ask me to tell you where I am at all times and its over

I’m an antiprohibitionist and don’t think there’s anything morally wrong with taking recreational substances. Conversely, I’m not interested in that sort of thing as a full-on lifestyle either.

I try to keep an open mind and try everything once but im probably not gonna reorganize my life around new age woo-woo.

So far my folks have liked most my partners, but if our social circles don’t get along I’m comfortable with leaving them separate.

I believe in judging people as individuals first. I don’t wanna hear no paranoid shit about “the muslims” or other stereotypical carricatures but if you’re gonna be “europeans that europeans this” as if im not in the room its not gonna work.

Don’t be fooled by the foreign-sounding surname im a potato through and through. No exotic fanservice to be had here.

Barring unforseen dictatorships, I don’t want to move out of Europe. I like it here. Its full of frustrating dumbasses but so is the rest of the world. Yay for cheese and consumer protection laws! I would consider moving closer to the shore though.

It’s fine if you don’t speak German but you should not hate or dislike it. English is a plus because me, my friends and my family are into internet culture

I haven’t spoken to my father in five years. No, you’re not going to patch this up. You don’t have to ignore him too if you’re not comfortable but you’ll have to respect my choice instead of playing family therapist or throwing platitudes about forgiveness at me.

Im not counting and it depends on your definition but Ive fucked at least 15-20 people, which according to statistics is above average? Always used rubber unless it was long-term and exclusive tho. That might bother some ppl.

That said it has been my conclusion that fucking does nothing that a beer can’t do and that the real quality stuff is what you could already do as a grade schooler when you still thought of all the grownup stuff as mystical. Having ice cream together, exploring new places, having contemplative conversations in the rain, telling each other your fantasies? That’s The Stuff.

Hence while I wouldn’t turn down some fuckage along the way what im looking for at this point is someone to share life and grow old with, like there doesn’t need to be the expectation of further strings but the end goal RN is to find One That Sparks Joy(TM) that will get precedence

I’m not big on material gifts or the ritual part of dating if thats important to you I might not be the ideal candidate, but if its not thats probably good for your wallet

I’m a strong introvert. Sometimes I go weeks without talking to anyone other than my boss or maybe texting my relatives. If you’re very introverted or work alot this might be an advantage. Of course if I love you I will try my best to match up to your attention needs but if you need your partner to text you 15 times every day to feel good I might just not be your cup of tea

That doesn’t mean im not interested in going on or doing new experiences. I very much hope to do that together with you just not 5 days a week - if you can’t give new things wholehearted tries things might get uncomfortable

I like spicy food and all sort of asian cousine, but if you can’t stand the sight of cheese, asparagus and sausage it’s not gonna work either. I can obviously put less chili in your portion.

I tend to talk fast and I find it hard to stop it even if I try, if that bothers you look elsewhere

I cannot stand forced optimism OR over-the top misanthropy or snobbishness. I will gush about things, but I like my dark edgy content and I stand by it. It is an advantage if you like talking about art. If you don’t like morbid humor that might be a problem

No diet talk

No perfectionism

No passive aggressive ppl or ppl that are uncomfortable with direct confrontation. That won’t work, we’d just set each other off even without meaning to and it would just be sad. If Im doing something wrong don’t expect me to notice by magic, tell me to my face so I can fix it. Don’t be hostile out of nowhere and don’t beat around the bush.

im not religious or spiritual. I don’t mind if you are but if you want to have kids and bring them up strongly-immersed in some Abrahamic faith im not sure if this is the right adress

No anti-intellectualism (no snobbery, elitism or smartassery either - as a wise pig once said, “Knowledge is a horizon to strive for, not a prize to hold in your hand” It begins with realizing what you don’t know)

Indifferent about monogamy, but I wouldn’t say that I’m the sort of person who needs non-monogamy either. If you want to we can do it (write me out some list of where you draw the lines so there’s no misunderstandings) but if you don’t it’s no biggie. I don’t care if you fuck 10 other people - for me, respect, honor and loyalty are to do with other things, like, don’t make fun of me and don’t expect me to change because one (1) person said I’m weird or whatever.

Don’t give me diseases tho. I’ll take precautions to extend the same courtesy to you.

Potential character flaws: I can be a tad sensitive, disorganized and defensive sometimes, not gonna sugarcoat it. I have no filter and curse like a sailor. Also I have zero social skills and sometimes I come across as either angry or unemotional when its really the opposite. I find that just as confusing and contradictory as that sounds, I have like zero sense of how I come off. I try to be aware of all of these and do right to everyone to the best of my ability but if you’re sensitive about any of these point someone else might be a better fit

2 kids max. I’m not sure I’ll have ANY at this point, and most certainly not in the next 5 years. IF we decide to have some later I volunteer to carry them though, I probably have good genes, my mom popped out 4 babies in 6 years with nary a complication. Besides I’d rather it was me dealing with the gross pregnancy stuff than someone I love

My favorite bedroom stuff is fingers-in-front-cavity and butt stuff. Mild sleepsex fetish but nothing super pronounced. What I don’t like or just am not very good at is top/bottom play.

So far most my partners have had somewhat stronger sex drive than me but Id argue that I very much have one and ive never refused unless I was in physical pain, severely sleep-deprived or working on some important work-related thing that was due the next day.

It’s important - and science backs me up on this - that you can freely talk to each other in n open, natural and relaxed manner

If you think im weird just do us both the favor and stay away don’t come at me with the attitude that you’re gonna mold me to your desires - even just writing this comes off kinda touchy but im saying this because some people out there really don’t get it. Like my natural tendency is to be open, courious and realistic, but some people see that as free real estate and then it falls to me to be the reasonable one and End The Madness and im tired of that.

Like I want to be able to give love and pour out all my inner romantic shit without having to be afraid of being fucked over I want to be able to trust you with my inner harley quinn as well as my inner phantom of the opera

UGH that sounded a bit tryhard didn’t it? But its the best description i could come up with

Must remember to translate this into mordor speak later

#feelings #love #datefriend acquisition project

2 notes · View notes

winryofresembool · 6 years ago

Text

EdWin one-shot: A Food Fight (of sorts)

Summary: Ed and Winry are preparing to move in together a bit before their wedding, but of course things don’t go like planned. (could be canon ‘verse or whatever universe you want!)

A/N: my part of the fic-art trade with @mavistuffz! I was planning to finish this way earlier but sometimes life and writer’s block happens :/ Either way, I really hope you’ll enjoy this! It’s probably not quite what you had in mind, but hey, it’s EdWin, so that’s the main thing, right? :’) Let me know what you think!

Words: 2900+ (hey, at least it’s p long?)

Genre: fluff

Warnings: swearing and some sexual implications, I guess (nothing bad tho)

Ed and Winry had only one month left till their wedding, and that meant a lot needed to be done before the big day. The quests had been invited, dresses and suits bought, the venue and the theme colors chosen (to Ed’s surprise, Winry had even allowed a little bit of black in the decorations because it had been his wish), but that didn’t mean they were anywhere near done.

Perhaps one of the biggest tasks they needed to do before the wedding was moving into their own house. It had been decided they’d move to Rush Valley after returning their honeymoon, which meant their new home needed to be organized before the wedding. That only added pressure for the bride and groom who had been stressed even before the moving.

They had found a nice small place near Garfiel’s, something Winry was happy about despite her teacher’s playful accusations that one day she’d open her own automail shop and steal all his customers. While Winry was dreaming about opening her own shop at some point, she had a secret she had only told Ed so far, a secret that would affect her professional career quite a bit. That’s why she was perfectly happy to work with Garfiel until she was financially stable to start her own business. Ed would still continue doing his research, and he had also received an interesting offer from General Mustang. He had suggested Ed become an alchemy teacher in a nearby university that had been opened recently. The young man had been a bit reluctant, reminding Roy he couldn’t even perform alchemy anymore, but afterwards he had told Winry he might consider it. That way he could spread important information that could help them avoid the misuse of alchemy in the future.

The couple finished carrying the last pieces of furniture (Winry only carrying light clothes boxes because of her condition) and decided to take a breather before starting to organize the smaller objects into their shelves. They had decided to start with the kitchenware because they were planning to spend the night in their new home and cook something for their helpers, Al, Garfiel and Paninya.

“Whew, I thought we’d never get it finished,” Ed swept sweat from his forehead and took a couple of steps back to see the final results of his work.

“Can you believe it? Our first home together,” Winry marveled as she watched the view from the kitchen.

Ed walked right behind her and wrapped his arms around her belly. “Well, technically we have been living together for quite a while now…”

“You know what I mean,” Winry remarked. “This isn’t my granny’s place, this is yours, mine and the baby’s.”

When Winry said the last word, Ed’s hand automatically sought the still non-existent bump and rubbed it lightly through her shirt.

“Do you think she will be angry?” Ed asked worriedly.

“About the baby? She’ll probably say something like ‘you damn kids start way too early these days’ and then congratulate us. I’m pretty sure she and my grandfather weren’t married yet when they had my father…”

“The old hag is something else,” Ed snorted. “Remember what Dominic told us about her?”

“Hey, this is my granny we are talking about! Please have some respect, she let you live under her roof!” Winry reminded him and slapped his hands away from her belly.

“And while there, I also got her granddaughter pregnant,” Ed laughed and earned an elbow on his ribcage.

“Ouch!”

“Sometimes I don’t know what I see in you.” Winry shook her head and turned to stare at her fiancé judgingly.

“That’s too bad because I do recall you promising to give 85 per cent of your life to me.” Ed smirked at her smugly, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

“I might still change my mind about that, Mr. Elric.”

“Nah, you wouldn’t, future Mrs. Elric.”

“Oh, about the name…” Winry seemed to taste the word with her tongue, “how would you feel if I changed my last name to Rockbell-Elric instead?”

“That sounds good to me.” Ed nodded. “I know you are proud to be a Rockbell.”

“I am. But I’m also glad you have your mother’s last name because Rockbell-Hohenheim would be a monster to say.”

“I won’t disagree with you on that. Anyway, should we start organizing the kitchen?” Ed asked. “The others might come any minute now…”

“Sure thing. I’ll carry the dry foods here, you can set them where they belong.”

The work progressed rather peacefully, until…

“What?” Winry yelled suddenly. “The chocolate doesn’t need to be in the ice box! Why would you put it in there anyway? I was planning to eat it soon because the Truth knows I’m in need of something with a lot of sugar and fat right now.”

“Oh, here we go with the cravings…” Ed mumbled under his breath, but unfortunately for him, Winry heard him.

“Excuse you, mister, I would like to see you carry a child for 9 months and see how much chocolate you want to eat!”

“Relax, Winry, I didn’t mean… I was just going to put it in there because it’s hot outside and you really don’t want it to melt, do you?”

“Fine, then… just don’t make that mistake again!”

“I won’t!” Ed promised quickly, knowing it was dangerous to fight with Winry right now.

The couple continued to fill the shelves and closets, but it wasn’t calm for long.

“Did you… did you buy blue cheese even though you know how much I hate it?” Ed nearly screamed when he opened the ice box again. “It’s even grosser than the milk it’s been made of! It has fucking mold on it!”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I try to remember that the next time we go do some grocery shopping. The same way you hopefully remember to not buy pickles! Even the smell of those things makes me throw up, Edward!”

“You never told me that!” he claimed. “Of course I wouldn’t have bought them if I had known!”

It was a half-truth; now that he thought of it, Winry might have mentioned something about pickles earlier, but he hadn’t remembered. If he had, there was no way he would have bought them.

“I most certainly did!” Winry argued. “Do you remember when I got sick the other day after seeing your sandwich? It was because it had pickles on it. And I remember clearly saying: ‘don’t ever eat those again near me’! You just never listen!”

“I do listen! It’s just, when you go ‘don’t do this, don’t do that’ all day, every day, some things are just easy to forget!”

“You know what, Edward? Fuck you. I really really don’t know why I’m gonna have a wedding with you in a month.” “Winry! I’m sor…”

Ed didn’t get to finish his apology before Winry marched out of the room, slamming the door angrily behind her.

“Oh, great,” Ed growled to himself. “I screwed it up again. Just when we were supposed to move in here too…”

Ed didn’t get to fume alone for a long while, because Al and Paninya chose that moment to return from their break.

“Why do you look so murderous? Not that you don’t always look a little bit scary, but isn’t this supposed to be a happy day?” Al asked, raising his eyebrow questioningly.

“If there was a moment when I wished I’d be able to hit myself, that would be now,” Ed stated, making the other two glance at each other with confusion.

“OK?” Al tried to get his brother to elaborate a bit.

“I got her mad again,” Ed said after a while. “And in the worst possible moment too. I know she’s been particularly sensitive lately, yet I couldn’t stop in time…”

“What do you mean when you say she’s been particularly sensitive lately? Is there any specific reason for that?” Paninya had become good at reading other people’s emotions and she could sense Ed was hiding something from her. He turned away from the other two, running his hand through his hair in frustration.

“I… uh… you guys weren’t supposed to know yet… she wanted to tell you herself. Oh man, she’s really gonna kill me when she finds out…”

“Brother? Could you please talk like a normal human being? I don’t understand a word you said.”

“I shouldn’t tell you!” he tried one more time, even though he knew he had already lost this battle.

“Wait a second…” Paninya had a moment of realization. “You said she’s been sensitive lately… she’s been spending a lot of time in the toilet, and… you guys didn’t tell us what you are going to do with that spare room… She’s pregnant, isn’t she?”

“I… Fine… Yes, she is.” Ed stuttered, seeing it was too late to deny it anymore.

“Way to go, guys!” Pan exclaimed and smacked Ed on his shoulder in a friendly manner. “Although, I admit I didn’t think you’d have it in you. Usually you blush when she’s simply in the same room with you. I gotta talk to her as soon as possible! But you, mister,” she pointed at Ed, “You need to talk to her first. I remember hearing something about a stupid argument earlier, and I won’t let you get away with it that easily. Go make it right. That’s what she’d tell me if I was in your situation.”

“I guess you’re right,” Ed sighed. “Why does it have to be so damn hard, though? Hey, Al?” Al hadn’t gotten a chance to say anything yet, he was just standing there, looking dumbfounded.

“You’re having… a baby? I’m… gonna become an uncle?”

“Yes,” Ed said carefully, scared of an explosion even though he should have known Al would never react like that.

“That’s… that’s so amazing, brother! I’m so happy for you!” the younger brother suddenly exclaimed and rushed to hug Ed.

“Take it easy, Al,” he tried to calm him down, although he was secretly very happy and relieved about his reaction. “I can’t breathe!”

When Al finally let go of him, he got an idea.

“Hey, before I go to talk to her… There’s something we could do.”

Ed dragged Al to a grocery store, and when they got to one of Ed’s favorite sections, he asked:

“Which flavor do you think she’d like? Nuts? Salt? Berries? Just regular?”

“Shouldn’t you be the one to know that?” Al asked back. “You’re the one who’s gonna get married to her.”

“Shut up, Al. Oh, look! There are even skeleton shaped ones! These are so cool!”

“Edward,” Al said with a warning tone, “remember that you are buying them for her, not for you. She would not like that.”

“Fine. What would you suggest then?”

“I say you should try to make them special. Something she can’t buy from this store. Hey,” he pointed at one shelf, “there are molds there! Look at this, don’t you think she’d like this?”

After buying the products for preparing the special gift, Ed and Al told Paninya to go and distract Winry while they’d be working in the kitchen. She was still sulking upstairs, and the boys didn’t want her to come down before they were finished with their work. Paninya agreed after hearing the brothers’ plan and climbed the stairs to the bedroom, stopping to knock the door.

“Who is it? Ed, if it’s you, I swear to Truth I’m in no mood to…”

“No, it’s me, Pan.” The dark-haired young woman said calmly.

“I guess come in then,” Winry replied. Paninya wondered if she had heard a bit of disappointment in her voice.

“I heard what happened,” she said. “You know, I don’t usually defend your idiot of a boyfriend, but he really is sorry.”

“If you came here to talk for him…”

“No, I came here because you’re my friend and of course I’m worried about you.”

“OK.” Winry calmed down and sat down on the bed, folding her arms on her lap.

“Uh, please don’t get mad,” Pan said after trying to decide how to tell her the news, “but… he accidentally revealed your secret. Or rather, I guessed it when he said some weird things.”

“Oh great. That idiot. I really didn’t want you to find out that way,” Winry sighed, understanding Paninya must have talked about her pregnancy. “I was supposed to tell you soon…”

“It doesn’t matter, Winry! I’m happy for you, I really am! It’s just, you guys seem to get into a fight over smallest things, and what if… what if it gets out of control and one of you says something you can’t fix?”

“Trust me, that thought has crossed my mind a few times. But don’t worry, at the end of the day, we still love each other. He may be an idiot, but… he’s still my idiot. And besides,” Winry blushed fiercely, “afterwards, making up is always fun.”

“That’s too much information, Win!”

“OK, OK, sorry. But it’s not just the sex, he’s always super sweet and thoughtful after a fight. Sometimes he cooks something good, and once he even let me use his favorite leather jacket… You know how he loves that thing.”

“Wow. Sounds like you have him totally wrapped around your finger.”

“Even though I hate to admit it at the moment, he does that same to me,” Winry’s face got even redder. “There’s a reason why I’m marrying him, after all. But what is taking him this long?” She suddenly got worried. “Usually he comes to find me a lot faster…”

“He’s… busy doing something.” Paninya said carefully, not wanting to reveal the secret Ed was preparing.

“OK. He’d better do it fast, though,” Winry complained. “I’m getting really hungry here.”

“You have already forgiven him, though, haven’t you?”

“When you are fighting with him as much as I am, you kinda have to learn to do it fast.” Winry smiled.

“You seem to enjoy the fighting, am I right?”

“I guess you are. I wouldn’t be able to be with someone who never challenges me.”

“Aww. Then you are definitely marrying the right person.”

“Hey! Only I have the right to insult him!” Winry exclaimed, pretending to be angry, but soon burst into laughter.

The girls changed the subject and started talking about baby related things, like the baby’s sex and name suggestions. At some point Al peeked into the bedroom and told Paninya Ed and he were ready.

“Where are you taking me?” Winry tried to pry when Al came in and tied a scarf around her head, so she couldn’t see what was happening around her.

“It’s a surprise. That’s why there’s a blindfold,” Al said and spun Winry around a couple of times so she wouldn’t be able to figure out their direction too easily.

“I don’t like surprises,” Winry tried to protest but followed Al when he dragged her forward.

“Are we there yet?” she asked impatiently when her future brother-in-law seemed to take her in and out of a lot of rooms.

“Soon, Winry, soon.”

They stepped into a room that had been empty before the fight because the couple had agreed that they still had plenty of time to organize it. When Al took the scarf off from Winry’s face, she didn’t recognize the space at first. There was a chest of drawers for the baby’s clothes Pinako had given for the couple (not knowing they’d be using it for this purpose, however), a shelf for toys and other things (a surprisingly cute dragon plush already sitting there), a table for changing the diapers, and…

“A crib?” Winry asked aloud when she saw the object she didn’t remember seeing earlier. “When did you have time to get this?”

“Just a little while ago… You know, Al helped a bit…” Ed said, referring to his alchemy. “But I added some things of my own in there. And I would have added more but Al didn’t let me.” Al rolled his eyes at his brother, knowing he had wanted to make the crib black and add some spikes and gargoyles here and there. He’d have to hide Ed’s drawing from Winry…

Winry pulled the blanket on the crib away and saw a huge bowl in there. And the bowl was full of…

“Chocolate wrenches!”

“If you want to throw me with them… go ahead.”

“No way!” Winry said and took one chocolate wrench into her hand excitedly. “I’m going to eat this right away!”

As she munched happily, Ed said: “I’m sorry about earlier. I know this moving in and the wedding and now the baby too have been stressing you… I shouldn’t be the one to add you even more stress. And I promise to listen to you more often now. By the way, I threw all the pickles away too.”

“That’s good. I shouldn’t have nagged you about the chocolate either. And you don’t have to eat the blue cheese if you don’t want to.”

“You know I don’t,” Ed snorted and went to hug his soon-to-be-wife.

“We’re a pair of idiots, aren’t we?” Winry murmured when she snuggled her head against his shoulder.

“I guess we are. Hey, we’re not skipping our favorite part of making up, though?” he whispered, trying to make sure Al and Paninya weren’t hearing.

“You give me some real food first, and we’ll see what happens after that,” Winry said with amusement, intertwining their fingers.

“It’s a deal.”

A/N: In case you missed it, I drew a picture of Ed’s version of the crib. Check it out!

#edwin #edward elric #winry rockbell #my fics #fullmetal alchemist #mavistuffz

32 notes · View notes

tilltheendwilliwrite · 7 years ago

Text

Balance on the Head of a Pin

Chapter Thirty-Six

Previous Chapter

Pairing: Loki Odinson x OFC | Word Count: 7301 Warnings: Swearing, smexy, angst, violence

Lauren stretched her arms up over her head as she walked into the kitchen and smiled back at Loki when he made an unintelligible noise. “Somethin’ wrong, peaches?”

“You know very well your shirt rides up when you do that, darling. Stop being coquettish,” he grumbled, pouting when she slipped out of reach of his grasping hands.

“None of that now. You know they’ll all be down here beggin’ for breakfast within the next hour. It’s your own fault, puttin’ me in this mess. You and Sadie,” she huffed. “Now not only am I cookin’ for the bottomless pits of the masses, but I’ve got to put a basket up for auction, too.” Already fretting, she yanked open the door to the fridge.

“Lauren,” Loki sighed and slipped up behind her to place his hands on her hips. “If you dislike it so much, why don’t we simply give Sadie and Marcus whatever monetary equivalent will satisfy them excusing you from this event?”

“Bite your tongue!” she huffed. “I already said I’d do it, and whether or not I hate it is beside the point. Participatin’ and showin’ my support for their foundation is. I can’t just back out.” Even if she did despise the idea of standing on a stage again. She preferred to be the assistant, the one who took the notes, answered the calls, and arranged events. Behind the scenes was a perfect place to be.

“My heart,” Loki murmured and pressed a kiss to the nape of her neck. “You do not have to do anything that makes you this anxious. Had I known it would upset you so, I would have rejected the idea wholeheartedly last night.”

She sighed and closed the fridge to turn and face him. “It’s not all the picnic. I’m nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockin’ chairs over the kids and these people and everythin’ with Samuel.” Lauren dropped her forehead to his polo shirt covered chest.

He was dressed as immaculately as always, the deep blue of his shirt a complement to his eyes, while she had refused to let him dress her just yet, preferring to tug on a pair of cutoffs and a tank top in sunshine yellow. She’d brought the clothes, she may as well wear them, and as she would be cooking on what was already announcing itself as a scorcher of a day, Lauren had no desire to be overdressed next to a hot stove. Even her signature ponytail had been exchanged for a messy loop to keep her hair off her neck.

“Elskan min,” he crooned, bringing her closer to his body by tightening his arms. “I told you. Everything is under control. The call which needed to be made has been. Soon the others will be caught up, and then this will be over. As for breakfast…” he flicked out his wrist, and the kitchen island was covered in enough food to stuff an elephant.

Plates of pancakes were piled high along with massive bowls of whip cream, mixed berries, and sliced peaches. The bowl with the strawberries sat separate, an omaĝe to Pepper’s allergy that turned Lauren’s heart over at Loki’s thoughtfulness. There were servers of bacon, eggs, and a platter of muffins still steaming as if she’d just taken them out of the oven.

“Loki!” Lauren gasped, “I think that’s cheatin’.” She couldn’t help but smile at his playful way around things.

“They will never know the difference. Now, about this basket…” He flicked his fingers a second time and had one appear at the end of the counter. “There. Fried chicken, the salad thing with the potatoes your Gran made, that delicious Hummingbird Cake, and a bottle of Asgard’s finest wine, along with fruits and cheeses of course.”

“Of course,” she snickered. “Have you left me anythin’ to do this mornin’?”

“You can make the coffee. Yours is always far superior to anything the others make.”

Lauren chuckled and tried to escape his hold only to find herself backed into the cold metal of the stainless steel refrigerator. She gasped in surprise and gave a breathy moan when Loki’s tongue slipped into her mouth.

His hand found its way beneath her top to cup and mould her satin encased breast. Even through the thicker padding of her bra he found her nipple and rubbed his thumb back and forth across it. “You can make it in a moment,” he said, grinding his pelvis into hers. “After I have my fill of you.”

“Insatiable,” she teased and wrapped her arms around his neck. He’d already had her when the sun had risen, rolling her beneath him to make slow, sweet love, and then again when they’d showered together, holding her up against the wall, taking her hard and fast. “I’m not havin’ sex with you in the kitchen, Loki.”

“That is what you think,” he growled and jerked her off the floor, forcing her to wrap her legs around his waist.

“That is what I think. I’ll do a lot of things with you, peaches, but fuckin’ in the open where any old soul can walk in on us? That’s a big ol’ no.” Sure he could hide them with magic, but she wasn’t taking the chance he’d get distracted.

“Fine,” he huffed and carried her toward the butler’s pantry where he plopped her butt down on the counter. “Better, wife?”

“Much, but I’m still not havin’ sex with you in the pantry.”

He growled from his position, his forehead now pressed to her chest in frustration. “You are impossible, woman.” Loki huffed before relaxing against her to look up. “Just what would constitute an acceptable place for me to seduce you, my heart if I cannot convince you to let me have my way with you in the kitchen?”

“I do have a new found appreciation for tack rooms. Also, offices hold a special place in my heart. Hidden gardens are nice.” She grinned when his hands flexed on her bottom.

“Temptress. The moment I have you alone and behind a locked door…”

He let the pseudo-threat hang and Lauren shivered, anticipation skimming up her spine. “Such promises,” she crooned and leaned in to kiss him. His bottom lip was a tasty pout she just had to sink her teeth into.

He gave a content sigh and slipped his hands beneath the hem of her shirt, but only to rest them on the skin of her lower back.

Lauren linked her fingers together and fell into the sweet, sultry kiss. He tasted ridiculously good, still that peppermint patty flavour, but beneath it now she recognized the ice and snow, the crisp bite of frost, and the thing which made him who he was. She could taste the zing and tingle of magic which flowed beneath the surface in his very blood.

She would never, could never, grow tired of having his marvellous taste to look forward to with each kiss. Even the smallest of pecks still left a hint of who he was on her lips. Add in the way he smelled like everything she loved about winter and Lauren was hooked for life.

“What is that devious little smirk for?” Loki asked.

“I was just thinkin’ how much I love the way you smell and taste. You’re like all the best parts of winter wrapped up together.” Lauren brushed her nose along his cheek and carded her fingers through his hair.

“And you are like a sultry jungle, pet. Warm and lush and laced with lilies.” He buried his nose in her neck where he dragged it along the length to close his teeth gently on her shoulder next to the strap of her top. His fingers dipped beneath the waist of her shorts to knead the swell of her ass cheeks, slowly rocking her forward and into the hard length wedged between them.

She knew what he was doing, and though she’d protested, Lauren revelled in his attention. Even with all that had happened in the last few days, it felt surreal and gave her a thrill to know he wanted her so badly. She felt powerful, strong, and loved in a way she’d always longed for.

He’d done so much for her self-esteem. He made her feel beautiful. He made he feel graceful and seductive. No, she wasn’t unaware of the face in the mirror. Yes, she knew most people thought her pretty, but it had been so hard to believe what others said after so many, many years of being pounded with a negative image of herself, her body, and her brain.

For the first time ever, Lauren finally felt free.

“Loki,” she whimpered as tears burned her eyes.

“My heart,” he whispered, kissing her cheek and holding her gently. “It’s alright, darling. I understand.” One of his hands left the back of her shirt to lift and press against the stone in the center of her torque. “You are so special, and beautiful, and amazing. It is time you felt it. It is time you found yourself.”

“Without you… I don’t know if I ever would have,” she sighed, letting their foreheads rest together.

“Perhaps that is why the Norns have brought us together. You make me whole, my love. It is only right I should do the same for you. We are meant to be.” He let his hand lay against her heart, an action Lauren mirrored. “My life beats here. I could not long live without you at my side.”

“Good thing you won’t have to then, hm?” she murmured, feeling so overfull of emotion she wanted to laugh and cry and love and just wallow in the feel of him. She wanted to fall into him and live beneath his skin. To wrap herself around his heart and hold it tight to her own so nothing and no one could ever injure it again, and in turn, find the protection, the love, and the understanding she’d longed for all her life.

Unable to physically do so, Lauren simply let her arms rest on his shoulders, her wrists crossed and hands dangling loosely as she wiggled impossibly closer. She turned her head to lay on her arm and just… held him. Chest to breast, belly to belly, heart to heart. “I never thought I could love someone the way I love you.”

“You two are ridiculously sappy.”

Lauren startled and opened her eyes to see Bucky leaning in the doorway. “If y’all weren’t spyin’ like a super sneaky assassin, you wouldn’t have to see it.” She stuck her tongue out at him. “You could have said somethin’, Loki.”

“As we were not in a compromising position, and I personally like this one quite a lot, I wasn’t about to ruin the moment because of Barnes’ sneaky feet.”

Bucky’s eyes widened before his face twisted. “No. No funny business in places where people eat.”

Loki grinned wickedly. “Of course not.”

The super soldier’s eyes widened further and darted around before returning his gaze to them. “You know what? I don’t want to know.”

“Wasn’t gonna tell you anyway,” Lauren snickered as Loki stepped back and helped her slide to the ground.

Bucky took in her appearance and his eyes crinkled when he smiled. “Looking good, doll face. You don’t usually dress so casual.”

A blush burned through Lauren’s cheeks while she played with the hem of her shirt. “Well, it’s already swelterin’, and what with you all demandin’ breakfast it was this or overheat.” She twisted the toes of her bare foot against the cold tile floor in an action which mirrored Sara’s from a few days ago.

“Ho, man. That smells amazing!” Steve’s voice rang out through the kitchen.

Bucky stepped out of the doorway, and Lauren linked her fingers through Loki’s, reached for the tin of coffee on a lower shelf, and smiled when Loki leaned over and kissed the back of her shoulder.

“As we do not want people to see your lovely adornment, my sweet, you may not want to stretch too high,” he murmured against her skin.

The hand with the can of coffee went right to her stomach, and Lauren eeped in surprise. “I forgot.”

“I don’t know how you could. Putting them back where they belong was incredibly memorable,” he chuckled.

The blush already present got even hotter. “Shush, you,” she huffed, but it was half-hearted at best. After all, he wasn’t wrong.

Her devious God of Mischief had pulled her beneath the shower spray and led her serpents back to their home around her belly button… with his mouth. He’d used his tongue, and they’d followed, sliding over her skin with the tiniest brush of sleek scales. Loki had put them back, then put his tongue to better use.

Just thinking about it made Lauren feel far too warm.

Loki brushed his hand down her spine, and it was icy. “You appear flushed, darling.”

She rolled her eyes and left the pantry to make the coffee. “Mornin’, Steve.”

“Lauren. Loki.” He grinned sheepishly as he jerked his hand away from the bowl of whipped cream.

Lauren chuckled. “Y’all can get started. I’m sure the others will be down soon enough. Eat while it’s hot. And, Steve?”

“Yeah, doll?” he said absently as he began to pile things on a plate.

“Happy birthday.”

Blue eyes darted up, and a red flush coloured his cheeks. “Um, thanks, Lauren.”

“See?” Bucky chuckled. “No one forgets your birthday.”

“The irony of being Captain America and being born on the same day this country celebrates its independence is both amusing and startling. Fate has a hand in all our lives it seems,” Loki said, handing Lauren a coffee filter. “Felicitations on your natal day, Captain.”

“Thanks,” Steve smiled and nodded.

“What is that smell?” Pepper breathed as she walked into the kitchen on Tony’s arm. “Oh, wow, Lauren! This is too much.”

A floaty peach wrap dress accentuated Pepper’s figure while Tony looked no different than the others in jeans and t-shirts. Seeing her dressed as if Pepper was heading to a ladies breakfast had Lauren suddenly feeling a little shabby, a little too underdressed, and she tugged on her shorts self consciously.

Loki’s hand captured hers, and he looked at her, his eyes so knowing before they slowly warmed with appreciation when he let his gaze drift down her body to her painted toes and back up.

It snapped Lauren instantly out of her head, and she smiled brightly at Pepper. “Considerin’ how much some of them eat? I don’t think so. Besides, I had help.” She gave Loki a wink. “Cookin’s a lot more fun when someone can do all the dishes with magic.”

“Does that mean you’ll do this again?” Bucky asked around a mouthful of pancakes.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, James,” Lauren scolded.

“Sorry.” He swallowed. “It’s just so damn good.”

“Seconded,” Steve mumbled, plowing through his own stack of pancakes.

“Coffee,” was all Tony said as he leaned against the counter and put on a pair of dark glasses.

Lauren tried not to smirk and bit her lip as she turned back to the coffee maker. “Did you indulge a little last night, boss?”

“Every time I finished a drink someone handed me a new one,” he grumbled. “I know you’re a lightweight. How the hell are you so chipper?”

“She’s of Asgard. It will take much more than a few glasses of Midgardian wine to make Lauren give that sweet giggle she makes when she is tipsy,” Loki informed them, his arm wrapped around her waist and made her shiver with the coolness radiating off him.

“I wager a horn of mead would do the trick,” Thor laughed wandering into the kitchen with Natasha.

Lauren glanced at the redhead, their gazes connected, and Nat smirked before casting an assessing eye toward Loki.

“Oh, my stars,” Lauren whispered and wrenched her face around, knowing it had turned a burning red.

“Mm, she is back to normal,” Loki whispered in Lauren’s ear. “And it appears they enjoyed themselves as much as we did.”

“Shut up, Laufeyson,” Lauren hissed and kicked him in the shin, trying not to die of embarrassment when Loki snickered.

“It’s Odinson, darling,” he teased and kissed her cheek.

“Do somethin’ useful and tell them about our visitor, peaches,” Lauren grumbled.

The atmosphere in the room changed so suddenly, Lauren felt it in the rise of the hair on the back of her neck.

“Excuse me?” Steve laid down his fork.

Loki waved a dismissive hand. “It was nothing I could not handle on my own. In fact, it shall work splendidly toward my plan for the ones who dared to come after Sara. Mario was quite helpful… once he stopped resisting.” The smile on Loki’s face was wicked.

“You’re gonna give ‘em a heart attack, elskan min. Just tell them what happened,” Lauren huffed, having gotten the full story earlier.

“You ruin all my fun,” he pouted but got on with it. “His name was Mario Gallo, one of the men from earlier, and was sent by Valentino to watch the house and inform on any changes to our circumstances. Apparently, they knew a handful of Avengers were in residence, myself and Thor, thanks to the ignorant man who had been hired last minute by the setup crew.”

“The one you threatened to skin, brother?” Thor asked.

“You threatened to skin someone?” Lauren gasped.

“Yes, but he was that man who made you uncomfortable while dealing with that horrid white-haired snot of a woman, darling.” He squeezed her waist where his hand still rested.

She nearly snorted at his description of Quinn. “Oh. Alright then.” Lauren made to reach for the mugs above her, only to have them appear on the countertop. “Thanks, hun.”

He hummed and continued. “While that man was not part of last night’s crew, he is part of Valentino’s operation. He knew the layout of the house and where the children would be housed during the party and relayed this back to Valentino. Apparently, they have been planning to use Sara or Benny, or both if they could take both, as collateral until Avirett returned the funds he’d stolen.”

A hardening of Loki’s jaw had Lauren reaching out and brushing her hand up and down his abdomen before returning to pouring the coffee. She didn’t notice how Bucky, Steve, Thor and Pepper all smiled teasingly at the act of affection, nor how Nat smirked at Thor, or how Tony’s grin grew smug, for they were all back to their stoic faces by the time she turned around to begin passing out coffee cups. “Eat for heaven’s sake! I didn’t slave over no stove for it all to run cold. Y’all can chew and listen,” she huffed placing a coffee in Tony’s hand and offering the other to Pepper.

“You’re a godsend,” Tony muttered, inhaling over his cup.

“Designed by the Norns,” Loki smirked and chuckled when Lauren patted his cheek. “Knowing Thor and I were here only made them more determined to succeed in removing the children out from under our noses. The plan has been in place for some time. Jimmy Johnson, the one helping with the setup, has been renting a farm outside town, making it appear as if he was new to Greenville, and asking about work. Hence the reason he was here without proper vetting. Bianci, too, has been to the house under the pretense of purchasing one of the Annandale’s horses.”

The thought of it gave Lauren the willies. A crime lord in the house, meeting her father, seeing the children.

Loki’s hand caressed her arm as she took more coffee to the island. “Avirett has made a very serious enemy, and so, apparently, have we.”

“What’s that mean?” Bucky asked.

“Valentino has had a run in with both Natasha and Barton. It appears you foiled an assassination he’d been sent to carry out. He quite thoroughly hates you. While the Captain and Barnes had a hand in destroying a rather important shipment of narcotics Bianci was counting on. So, when Valentino realized not just two but six Avengers were suddenly in-house and showed interest and affection with the children, well…” Loki shrugged.

“It’s now become a challenge. A way to stick it to us all,” Natasha murmured.

Lauren looked at her, and her eyes were a hard, sharp green full of anger.

“I’m feeling particularly inclined to kick a little ass. What did you do with this… Gallo?” Nat asked, biting a strawberry off the end of her fork with a snap of teeth.

“I gave him to Hill. He is out of the way, and I have been in contact with Valentino as Gallo to inform him there has been no change. The Avengers remained overnight.”

“So, the question is, do we stay and make it a challenge? Or pretend to leave and let them think it’s going to be easy to take the kids,” Steve asked.

“Neither,” Loki smiled his signature grin. “There is a third option I think we shall all enjoy.”

***

“You’re not staying.”

Lauren paused before she reached the doorway, having slipped out of the kitchen after Loki revealed his plan to go check on the children only to find Pepper and Tony arguing outside the powder room door.

“Tony.”

“Don’t start,” he huffed.

“It’s not like there will be any danger. Not after you take care of Valentino and his men. Then we can spend the day at the fair. We never get to do things like this. It will be fun.” Pepper stepped into his chest and placed her hand lightly against his cheek. “We can eat cotton candy. Ride the Ferris wheel…”

“We are not riding the Ferris wheel! Who knows what kind of third-rate hack last checked its mechanics.” His arms slipped around her waist.

“They’ll likely have corn dogs,” Pepper tempted.

Lauren had to bring her hand to her mouth to contain her giggle when Tony’s eyes lit up.

“Ya think?”

“And mini donuts. You know you love mini donuts.” Pepper smiled and stroked her fingers along his beard. “You can even try your hand at winning me a teddy bear.”

“Maybe you should win me one,” he teased.

Her brow arched. “You know I could. I bet I could win one faster than you could.”

“You’re on!” Tony smirked and drew Pepper in for a tender kiss.

Lauren slipped away before either noticed her, a smile playing on her lips with Pepper’s sleek manipulation. It didn’t surprise her at all, Tony’s protective nature. Though Lauren hadn’t been around when Pepper had been kidnapped and experimented on by Aldrich Killian, she had seen the files and knew in general what had happened.

Tony went out of his way to make sure Pepper was never again put in a position which could see her injured because of him, but this time, Lauren too thought he was being a little ridiculous when he’d tried to make Pepper leave. There was no point.

Mario Gallo had revealed to Loki, Valentino and his men were staying at the farm this Jimmy had rented, what turned out to be the old Taggart place. It had once been a rundown house and a handful of outbuildings, but Kipling Scott, a former high school buddy of Marcus, had ended up buying it and turning it into a rental investment.

Lauren remembered Kipling from school but had little dealings with him, and her memories of him were vague at best. She’d only ever seen him if she’d been out with Marcus and Sadie, or in passing in the halls.

Still, after the dust settled with this forthcoming encounter, she figured she should probably give him a call and let him know the Avengers would compensate him for whatever damages had occurred. She was not so naive as to think there would not be damages. Two gods, two super soldiers, an assassin, and a man in an iron suit were not going to tiptoe their way around like it was a china shop. They would be the damn bull and plow their way through it.

But, going in hard and fast was the only way to be sure all who were involved were rounded up without tipping off the Bianci’s. Hill and Fury were set to go, the SHIELD op intricate and multifaceted. It could all come tumbling down far too quickly if one of the bad guys caught wind of what they were doing.

Loki was running point, to everyone’s surprise, and his plan was both devious and effective. Sure he could waltz in and take them all out himself, but Mario had unwillingly informed him that Valentino had called in reinforcements. They had planned to cause a disturbance at the fair, something resulting in mass panic and injuries, pulling the team away and causing complete chaos. Then, in the confusion, they would have taken the children and whoever had been with them.

Lauren shuddered for when Mario had been speaking about it, they had mentioned her. The sweet little blonde, he’d said. The one they’d nearly caught. The one who’d escaped out from under Valentino’s nose.

By now they would know who she was. They would know her name and that the children were her niece and nephew.

Loki had remained absolutely calm throughout the whole explanation, but Lauren knew better. His hand had twitched toward his waist, and she could only imagine what he’d done. She was of no illusion that he wouldn’t have reacted… poorly to that revelation. By now she knew him and knew exactly what he was capable of when angry.

She gave her head a shake, preferring not to think about it. He would always do whatever he felt was needed to protect her. As they all would. This time was no different.

For this reason she, and now Pepper, would be staying at the house where it was safe while the team went to Kipling’s property. As Mario had not been back, he couldn’t tell them what the intended target at the fairgrounds was, nor whether Valentino’s backup had arrived, were on route, or were set up elsewhere. Hence Tony’s upcoming role.

He, with the help of Loki’s magic, would be playing Mario and walking into the lion’s den. When Steve had protested because Tony would be going in sans suit, Loki had only thrown him a look of exasperation and irritation. For one, Tony would not be in danger as it was simple enough to weave a protective shield into the magic he was using to disguise Tony as Gallo, and two, Tony was the only other person besides himself who could speak fluent Italian should he be required to. Yes, Loki could do it, but he was better situated on the outside, capable of moving locations should they need to do so quickly.

Steve had closed his mouth with an arched brow and assessing nod, seeming to see Loki from a new perspective.

It made Lauren happy. They were all seeing Loki in a new light, a different light. No longer the backup, they were allowing him to put his exceptional mind to work, and he was excelling at it.

Once Tony had gotten the lowdown on what the plan was, they would move in and take out Valentino and his cronies. If by chance, there was a second team elsewhere, Thor and Loki would deal with them. Between the God of Thunder and the God of Mischief, there would be little chance of anyone escaping. Once everyone was rounded up, Hill had transport on standby waiting to collect the criminals and take them off the team’s hands.

Yes, it made her heart trip a little. Every time the Avengers were called up for a mission she worried, but she didn’t let it show. This was their job, and they were very good at it. Still, she had more invested this time, both in the children they were working to protect, and the man who had stepped into the leadership role of the team for the very first time.

Lauren blew out a heavy breath when the sound of high, childish giggles resounded behind the closed door she approached and pasted on a smile which became real as soon as she pushed open the door. Sara and Benny were sitting on the floor in their jammies with Usun between them. The puppy rolled on his back, all four feet in the air, wriggling happily as they rubbed his belly.

“You’re such a good boy,” Sara cooed causing Usun’s tongue to loll happily from his mouth.

“He sure is,” Lauren said, walking into the room to settle to her knees on the floor.

“Aunt Lu!” Benny jumped up and threw his arms around her neck before plopping his bum down on her knee. “You’re takin’ us to the fair, right?”

She nodded. “I am. We’re gonna go as soon as the team gets back.”

“Where they goin’?” he asked, blinking up at her with big, innocent blue eyes.

Sara’s face paled, and she buried it in Usun’s fur when the pup crawled up on her and licked her face.

“They have to go deal with some bad people, but after that, there will be nothin’ more to worry about.” Lauren ran her hand down Sara’s hair. “Nothin’ at all,” she promised when Sara looked up in tentative hope. “Let’s get y’all dressed and fed, and maybe Miss Potts would like a tour of the grounds.”

“Why are you so stupid?”

The hiss of hatred had Usun growling and Lauren stiffening in both surprise and anger.

“I beg your pardon?” Lauren snapped, turning to see Marabeth standing in the doorway.

She looked ready to take on the world in what Lauren knew was one of her power suits. A deep blue, the pants and jacket were so crisp you never would have guessed it was hot and humid already.

“You should be beggin’ my pardon after what you’ve done.” She stormed into the room and jerked Benny from Lauren’s lap by the arm. “The both of you best be gettin’ off that filthy floor right this instant! Get up, Sara Marie and stop handlin’ that mongrel. It’s goin’ straight to the pound the moment y’all leave. I can’t believe you’d be stupid enough to think I’d let you keep that mangy curr!”

“But, mama!” Sara cried, squeezing Usun all the tighter as big tears rolled down her face.

“Don’t you go blubberin’, Sara Marie or so help me I’ll give you somethin’ to cry about!” Marabeth shouted, and Benny squealed in pain when she twisted his arm.

“Enough!” Lauren shouted lurching to her feet to tear Marabeth’s hand away from her son. “Leave them be, Marabeth! They’re just babies!”

“They’re my brats, and I’ll do as I please!” she screamed.

Lauren was prepared this time when the open palm came at her face and deflected the blow while using the momentum to spin her sister back toward the door and push her out of the room. “I warned you I wouldn’t allow you to hit me again, Marabeth, and I won’t let you hurt your kids because you’re mad at Samuel!”

Marabeth stumbled into the hall. “What do you know about it?” she hissed, face hard with narrowed eyes.

“I know he missed the party. I know you left in a hurry. I know you’re madder than a wet cat! If y’all are havin’ problems take it up with him, but you leave the kids outta it!”

“Or what, boo hoo? You’ll run off and tell daddy on me?” she simpered and took a threatening step forward.

A thunderous, deep growl came from behind Lauren, somewhere around thigh height and she smiled, cold, sharp, and deadly at her sister. It was Loki’s smile, but Lauren used it with glee. “No, Marabeth. I won’t need to.” Without looking, she set her hand on the brindled coat of the fully grown dyrehund. “Usun will not be going anywhere. He was a gift from Thor. Try and remove him at your peril. Come at the kids like that again at your peril. You won’t like the consequences.” She stroked her hand down his coat before the hound stretched his body out on the rug and glared at Lauren’s sister.

“You’ll regret this, Lauren Guillemin!”

“I don’t think so, Marabeth Augustine.” Lauren lifted her chin and stood her ground. Both kids cowered behind her, afraid of their own mother. It sickened her. “You should go. Deal with whatever has you dressed so fancy at this time of day. I’ll take the kids into town.”

“They’re coming with me,” she growled.

“No. They are not.” Lauren glared her down. “You’ve clearly got important business. I ain’t got a problem lookin’ after them for the day.”

“I have a problem with it!” Marabeth snapped.

“Marabeth.” Their father’s voice resonated down the hall. “Lauren always takes them. Let them go.”

“But, daddy!” Marabeth wailed.

“They’ll be bored and bothersome taggin’ along with whatever it is you got goin’ on. They hardly get to see Lauren. Let them go.”

Thunderous brows and a pinched face glared at her before Marabeth stormed away. Her father stepped into the doorway seconds later, and Lauren sagged in relief.

“Thank you,” she whispered before dropping down to hug both the children tightly to her. Both had silently started to cry, and Sara burst fully into tears against Lauren’s shoulder. “Hush now, sugar cube. It’s okay. Your mama’s having a tough day is all.”

Lauren looked imploringly at her father, now standing in the room. This couldn’t keep happening.

He cast a confused glance at Usun. “Last time I saw him he was a might bit… smaller.”

“Usun’s magic, pawpaw,” Benny said, holding his arm with the other. “He protects us.”

The dog, for he was no longer a puppy, wagged his tail happily against the floor with a hearty thumping that saw dust mites floating up and through the sunbeam streaming in the children’s open window.

“I see that,” Hoyt nodded slowly, his hands tucked in his pockets. “You hurt your arm, buddy?”

“No,” he pouted. “Mama did.”

Lauren’s heart broke at the resigned way he said it. As if this wasn’t the first time Marabeth had done so. She knew it wasn’t, that her sister had been getting rougher with them for a while now, but to hear it come from the mouth of a six-year-old who’d barely begun his life, was painful. “Oh, baby,” she whispered and cupped his little face.

“Mr. Loki could fix it,” Sara said, knuckling the tears from her eyes. “He fixed mine when mama…” She trailed off, her eyes growing wide and scared, darting up to where Hoyt stood watching. “Um…”

Lauren watched her father’s heart break as pain rippled across his face. Hoyt took the last few steps and knelt down beside Sara where he scooped her up into his arms and held on tight. “You don’t worry about that none. I know Loki fixed your arm, sweet peach. From now on, I want you both to know if you’re scared, or your mama hurts you, you come to me, okay?” He brushed Sara’s hair back and stroked her cheek.

“Really?” she whispered.

“Really.” He tapped her nose. “That’s what pawpaws are for. That and sneakin’ treats when meemaw ain’t lookin’.” He winked at her and smiled.

Sara threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. “Thank you, pawpaw.”

“Aww, I love you, sweet peach.” He kissed the top of her head and squeezed his eyes closed.

Lauren had seen the moisture present, the tears aching to fall, and reached out to squeeze his forearm. “Thanks, daddy.”

“We ain’t havin’ no more of this in this house. I promise, Lauren. I won’t stand for it.”

“That’s good.” Lauren smiled at him even as she wished he’d come to this conclusion sooner and turned her focus to Benny who still cradled his arm. “Let’s see it, hun.”

The boy held it out, and Lauren flinched. Black and purple bruises had formed in the shape of Marabeth’s fingers. “It hurts, Aunt Lu.”

His chin wobbled, and big, silent tears dripped down his cheeks. “Oh, baby.” Lauren cuddled him close and called out, “Loki!”

He appeared in the doorway. “Darling?”

She watched him take in the room in a single glance. His face instantly hardened when it landed on Benny’s arm.

“Why young Ben, you seem to have gotten injured. How painful it looks. May I?” He didn’t wait for Benny’s agreement, though the boy gave it with a rapid nod of his head, simply dropped to a knee at Lauren’s side. “What ghastly bruising. Might I inquire just who wrenched your arm to the point of nearly breaking the bones?”

Loki’s eyes were cold and hard when he glared at Hoyt as if to say now do you see? Her father nodded once sharply, and Lauren touched Loki’s shoulder. “It got handled, peaches.”

“It should not need to be handled,” he growled, continuing to glare at her father as he wrapped his fingers around Benny’s arm.

“Ooh, that’s cold!” Benny giggled as green and gold light gleamed from beneath Loki’s fingers.

Hoyt quietly cleared his throat. “Y’all will never guess who I saw at the party last night.”

“Who?” Sara chirped, her fear and sadness gone.

Lauren wondered if it was Loki’s arrival, or just that she now felt safe again thanks to having three adults around who she knew would stand up for her and protect her. Benny crawled onto Loki’s lap the instant her husband sat down, and Usun snuck his nose beneath her arm, prompting Lauren to wrap her arm around his neck and lean against his much bigger body. When he snuck a kiss to her chin with a flick of his tongue, she smiled, scratched his ear and murmured, “You’re such a good boy.” She didn’t notice the way he looked at her, or the look Loki gave them.

“I saw Angie last night,” Hoyt continued. “And she’s agreed to come back and look after y’all.”

“Really?” Benny squealed excitedly.

“She sure did.” Hoyt grinned.

“That’s great, daddy,” Lauren said. “She’s… okay with it?”

Hoyt nodded. “I assured her that wouldn’t happen again and that she’s bein’ hired on by me, not Marabeth. She’s gonna start tomorrow.”

“Yay!” Both kids yelled excitedly and leapt up to jump around.

“Oh, my. What a ruckus. What are y’all up to in- good gracious! When did he get so big?” Magnolia shied away from Lauren and Usun.

“He grew up, mama. Dogs and most people have a tendency to do that,” Lauren snapped, getting to her feet. “Kids, y’all get dressed then head down to the kitchen. The others are just finishin’ up breakfast and hopefully will have left you somethin’ to eat. I’m gonna go change, and then we’ll see if Miss Potts wants that tour.”

“Okay, Aunt Lu!” They called out as Lauren swept past her gaping mother and out into the hall. She only made it halfway back to her room before anger and hatred and disgust overwhelmed her, and she stopped to press a hand to the wall and the other to her mouth, praying she wouldn’t be violently ill.

“Just breathe, my love,” Loki whispered, turning her around to gather her close.

Lauren threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. “What is wrong’ with her? What sick, twisted thing snapped in her head to make her hurt her own babies? God! She’s even worse than mama. Mama may have hurt me, but she never hit me. What the hell is wrong’ with her?”

“I’m afraid things will only go from bad to worse when what her husband has been doing comes to light. Is there a way to take them from her? Can we get them away from her before then? Can it be done here, darling?” Loki asked urgently.

“I don’t know. Yes, children in abusive homes can be removed, but Marabeth is well respected. It would be tough to prove, and she’s so good at twistin’ things, I just… I don’t know. And if I tried and failed, she could take the kids away altogether. I might never see them again.” She didn’t want to cry, not again, and rubbed her nose beneath his jaw to breathe him in. It was beginning to feel like she’d spent half her time here bawling her eyes out or wrapped around Loki. “I don’t know what to do anymore. At least daddy’s gettin’ involved. Between him and Usun, I feel a little better about leavin’, but… she scares me, Loki. Marabeth scares me.”

“I know, my heart. Before we go, I will give the children a gift. If their need is great, they can use it to call for me directly. It will not matter where in the nine realms I am. I will hear and know they need me, and I will come.”

Shocked, Lauren pulled back to look at him. “You’d do that for them?”

“Lauren.” He released her but only to cup her face. His eyes were washed in green magic. “I would do it for you. You love them with everything you are. If I could take them from her and give them to you, I would do it, but your Midgardian laws are foreign to me. The others assure me this cannot be done so I will do what I must do to see they are safe.”

He had done so much for her already. Adding one more thing, one more step seemed like asking too much, even if it was for the children she loved so dearly. “You… you shouldn’t… not just for me…”

He smiled. “No, my darling. Not just for you but for me as well, for as they are the children of your heart, so have they become mine. If something were to harm them, what pain and sorrow you would feel, I would also feel. They are brave little darlings. No child should live in fear of pain or violence inflicted on them by their parents. I won’t stand for it. If giving them a way to contact me gives them peace of mind as well as you, what harm is there in it?”

Lauren wrapped her fingers around his wrists. “You’re too good, Loki. Too sweet and kind and genuine.”

“Only for you,” he whispered and brought her in for a tender kiss.

The slow brush of lips, the quiet understanding, and complete depth of his love was her undoing, and Lauren let the tears fall.

Loki swept her off her feet, wrapped them in magic, and sat with her before the empty fireplace on the makeshift throne in her room. “Do not fear, my love. They will be safe. Safe from the monsters who hunt them, and safe from the ones who live under the same roof. I swear it!”

His fist came down on the arm of the divan making her jolt, but Lauren only curled further into him. She needed to sink into his love and his comforting embrace for a few minutes before she locked it all up and spent the day with the children away from the drama which was about to unfold for Marabeth and her husband.

She didn’t notice the blood which dripped from Loki’s fingers onto the arm of the divan, nor the hard, sharp, calculating glare he levelled at the fireplace.

Next Chapter

#balance #loki #loki laufeyson #loki fanfiction #loki laufeyson fanfiction #god of mischief #god of mischief fanfiction #avengers #the avengers #avengers au #avengers fanfiction #southern belle

325 notes · View notes

axh9853-blog · 6 years ago

Text

Cabinet Refacing Suggestions And Tips

Be sure that the facility where the procedure will take place is itself accredited, or at least in the midst of the accrediting process. This technique will teach you to mold conversation that sounds completely ordinary to others into something much more intense for you and your subject; this in itself will take a grand amount of understanding and skill. 14. Ceiling fans gather a great amount of particles and dust. Dust, dust mites (which tend to congregate in the bedroom), and pollen can cause your baby's body to produce extra mucus to try to wash away the irritants that have been inhaled. The terpenes (pine scent) that trees exude have been found to relax not simply the body but especially the mind. Then there is the legacy of Indian art that shows through Gaitonde's modernism to those who have studied and enjoyed it. Fellow feeling Russia there are palaces and castles is not . For example, if you are planning to lose 40 pounds. This why, again, many are opting to go with a hemorrhoids remedy that is not a product of some pharmaceutical company gain. Then again, some basic symptoms are certain to happen on taking the medication. Then again, if uncommon symptoms like heart disappointment, midsection torment, hypertension, seizures, hives, spasmodic pulse, serious tiredness and so forth, canadian pharmacies online happen then consider the condition important and on the double run for restorative support. One cup of cottage cheese or Yogurt will look like a baseball. No wonder both of my dogs were itchy and one had a recurring ear infection. They say that pizza is the number one worst food you can possibly eat if you are dealing with piles. The basic idea of the natural hygiene food plan is based on a study made by scientists at Columbia University. Nevertheless, going into a major shift in food choices and in eating habits still entails a lot of advice and further suggestions. It then replaces those negative thoughts and bad habits with more positive approaches towards life, enabling you to you realize your true worth, bolster your self esteem and improve your self confidence. They believe that it is too low to be true. If you fall into a lake, with water over your head, and think you are finished - you will be. It doesn't take a lot of detective work and with these suggestions you may know what it is already and are ready to start doing what it takes to prevent more infections or sinusitis. You may find that you need to lower the volume on the telephone ringer, keep the television and the radio off, and keep all windows and doors shut in order to gain their complete attention. Authority strategy is a tactic that is required in order to be a successful hypnotist. A team of experts will initially assess the work that they need to do. It is harder to find good work. The good news is that we can take full control and prevent cancer from ever entering our bodies and give those with cancer a fighting chance. Break down the scheduled tasks to give them a breather. Let's say you are having a dinner party, but you are a vegetarian and you aren't sure what you want to include on your menu that will make everyone happy. It means when the person is hypnotized and in a hypnotic stage he is told when he awakens, although he is wide awake in every respect, he will do exactly what is told. Now to learn stage hypnosis, the next step is to talk to the subject and tell them your suggestions. However, what does it say about a culture that is to busy to talk or think about God? Provide sufficient time to talk to your child about his or her day and how he feels about it. Is it going to enhance your presentation? I am going to share with you some mind blowing tips on ways to get your man back. The following is a listing of the tips and strategies. And whereas nothing can totally eliminate them, you can significantly reduce their numbers with a combination of strategies. Perhaps the biggest benefit of therapy is that it can be easily used on a continual basis. What then do you look out for when considering a weight loss system? That's what really motivated me then and today. Today, choose life and reduce your risk of cancer. Do you really want to achieve positive change in your life? They want to connect with you, not your PowerPoint slides. Hypnotherapy sessions: Determine to see your hypnotherapist for the one to five sessions. And, you are the one who decides which road to drive, and not anyone else. If you are dedicated to improving your acne situation, follow these six suggestions. 5. NOT A DISTRACTION You are the presenter. They are the people dearest to you and you can't simply shove them aside. As a matter of fact antioxidants are usually able to reverse what the oxidants do. The key con is that it is impossible to hold the product and test out it. Keep the stuff out of your house.

1 note · View note

truthofherdreams · 7 years ago

Text

people can surprise you (or not)

Saturday (1)

also on ao3

Nervous, Dmitry? Never!

That is definitely not nerves twisting his stomach as he makes his way around Paris. His bike allows him not to be stuck in traffic for too long, but he feels like throwing up in his helmet every time he thinks about the events of the day for more than a second. Mainly, yes, how he’s going to meet Anya’s family today, and how he thought it was a fabulous idea last night. It was probably the wine talking, or the desperation not to lose her to his bullshit.

At least he doesn’t have to do any of this during the weekend. The email awaiting him in his inbox this morning was but a few lines long, straight to the point: his colleague got dumped last night (surprising) and the assignment is on pause until he can find another victim. Which, as awful as it sounds, is quite the relief for Dmitry. He doesn’t have to act like an arsehole in front of her entire family and can actually enjoy a weekend by Anya’s side, without anything getting in the way.

Anything but the fact that he’s meeting her family, and they might all know how much of a douche he’s been since they met. Dmitry is an only child, but he can only imagine what the combined wrath of three different sisters looks like and, well, it’s not pretty. He’s actually scared for his life, to be honest.

His worries fly away when he finds Anya on the side of the road, already waiting for him. She has a bag at her feet and her sunglasses on her nose, and she grins when he parks next to her. Dmitry is weak; he grins back.

“That’s not a lot,” he comments with a nod toward the very small bag she’s packed.

“How high maintenance do you think I am?” she shots back. A beat. “I have some clothes at my sister’s, okay.”

He grins again, before he pops open the trunk of his bike. His own overnight bag is small too – it’s only two days, he just needs a change of clothes and his toothbrush – so they don’t have to fight for space in the trunk. He hands her the second helmet then, and types the address on his GPS.

“I could give you directions, you know.”

“Not really doable on a bike,” he replies as he checks that her helmet is secured on her head. “You’d lose your voice before we even make it to the Périph.”

She pouts but doesn’t disagree, so Dmitry hops on the bike and lets her sit behind him. His breath hitches in his throat when she wraps her arms around his chest, so close to him despite his heavy leather jacket.

The journey takes a good hour and a half, taking them outside of Paris and into the countryside. Dmitry has to admit he’s not used to that kind of environment – from Petersburg to Lyon to Paris, he’s only ever known the buzzing life and noise of big cities, the restlessness and the bright lights. He might actually see the stars tonight; he can’t remember when it last happened.

One country road after another until they enter a small village in the middle of nowhere. It doesn’t quite look like the postcards of quirky little villages you see in souvenirs shops, but it has enough of a charm for Dmitry to understand why anyone would like to move away from the city for this. It’s not his style, but he understands, especially with how pretty Olga’s cottage looks, with its garden running all around the house. There even is a house in a tree and a set of swings for the children; a dream come true if there ever was any.

Anya excitedly gets rid of her helmet, and Dmitry does so too before he trades it for both their bags. He follows her to the front door; she doesn’t knock, simply enters like she owns the place. A child yells her name from across the living room, throwing himself at her into a hug, and she laughs as she squeezes him tightly.

“Auntie Nastya! Auntie Nastya! It’s my birthday today!”

“I knooow,” she cooes happily. “You’re such a big boy now!”

The boy must not be older than six, not that Dmitry knows anything about those things, one front teeth missing and unruly hair falling in front of his blue eyes. He looks up at Dmitry curiously, before tapping Anya’s arm softly. “Is that your boyfriend?” he asks in a stage whisper.

Anya only laughs. “Yeah. That’s Dmitry. He likes video games too.”

The boys grins happily, to which Dmitry only replies by an awkward wave of his hand. He’s saved from any other interaction with the child by a woman coming to greet them. Her hair is slightly darker than Anya’s but, with her features and the striking blue eyes they all seem to be sharing, there is no denying the fact that they are sisters.

“Nico, your manners! You could at least let them enter the house!” The boy offers his mother an innocent grin, before he runs away. She rolls her eyes even as she hugs Anya, then turns to Dmitry with a smile. “So this is the boyfriend,” she comments in a teasing voice.

Anya groans loudly. “Don’t even…”

“Oh I can and I will, Malenkaya!” She grins even more as she focuses back on Dmitry. “I’m Olga, nice to meet you. Want anything to drink?”

He shakes her hand, thrown off for a second or two. “Dmitry. A beer would be fine.”

“Straight away. Please, make yourself at home. God knows Nastya does.”

Anya groans one more time, even louder than before, and that finally gets a snort from Dmitry. He is not familiar with that kind of sibling banter himself but, from what he’s seen of Alexei too, it seems to be common practice for the Romanovs. This new aspect of Anya’s life fascinates him more than he cares to admit. She seems at ease in this house, closing the door behind her and throwing their bags in a corner before she leads him to the living room.

Everything is high windows and natural lights, with a big toy chest in a corner and family pictures everywhere. Even though Anya told him they grew up in their Nana’s hôtel particulier in Paris, Dmitry has a feeling that this, right there, is the family’s headquarters now.

“Bitter or lager, your beer, Dmitry?” Olga asks from the kitchen.

“Lager, please,” he answers dutifully.

It takes him a few seconds to notice Anya is silent and, when he turns around to check on her, it’s to find her staring at a massive backpack in a corner of the room. The kind that speaks of months trekking through the wilderness. “Olga?” she asks, her voice tense. “Is Tanya in town?”

Olga pops her head through the open door leading to the kitchen, a mischievous smile on her lips. “She came back last night. She’s at the corner shop buying…”

Whatever she’s buying, one may never know, for Anya’s scream of happiness is louder than anything else. She doesn’t need more to run out of the house, slamming the door behind her. Dmitry blinks at the space where she was standing a few seconds ago, lost and confused.

When Olga comes to his side, she’s holding out a beer for him. “Tatiana works for Doctors Without Borders,” she explains. “She hasn’t been home since Christmas.”

“Must be tough,” he comments, before taking a sip of his beer.

“It is. We were both part of it, but it got too much for me. I met my husband in Cambodia so it’s not all bad, but… We wanted to build a family, so we came back. Tanya, she likes the job more than I ever did. She likes to feel like she does something that really matters, you know?”

“Sounds familiar,” he answers with a smile.

Olga laughs. “Yeah. My little sisters sure want to save the world. Now, come, I need help preparing everything for the aperitif.”

Which is how Dmitry finds himself in the kitchen, cutting cheese into small cubes and chatting with Olga. The same topics that always come back between two Russian expats -- where they are from and the current political climate and don’t you just really miss vatrushkas? Considering everything, Olga is quite nice to him. Dmitry wonders if it’s hiding something, or Anya simply didn’t tell them what happened. Which would be weird, since they all seem to be so close, and surely Maria would have, if not Anya? It leaves Dmitry is a perpetual state of confusion.

The front door opens again, this time follows by the excited chatter and loud laughs between two women. They barge in the kitchen, the oldest and tallest of the two proudly slamming a brick of milk on the counter. Once again, it is obvious she comes from the same Romanov mold, even with her auburn hair and her eyes a slightly darker shade of blue. When they land on Dmitry, they are hard and unforgiving, and he immediately changes his mind about not being in trouble.

“The boyfriend,” Tatiana comments. Then, glancing at Anya, “I thought he would be taller.”

“Everyone is tall according to Nastya,” Olga jokes.

Anya throws her arms up in the air. “Is it going to be like this all weekend long?”

Both her older sisters over her twin grins, before Olga wraps an arm around her shoulders to hold her close. “That’s what happens when you bring a boy home. We make sure it’s as embarrassing as possible for you.”

“Wait until we show him the family albums too,” Tatiana adds.

“I hate you both. So much.”

Olga kisses her cheek soundly. “No you don’t, but thanks for trying.”

Dmitry looks between the three of them, confused and overwhelmed. He was nowhere near prepared for the hurricane that is more than two Romanovs together, that is for sure, no matter how adorable Anya is as the bratty little sister.

Thankfully for him, Olga’s mother senses must be tickling, because she notices his awkwardness straight away, and redirect everyone to the patio. Dmitry grabs his beer and the bowl of cheese cubes he just cut, before he follows them outside for drinks. It takes him a good fifteen minutes before he finally finds it in himself to relax and take part in the conversation. He learns that Olga’s oldest child is at a slumber party until tomorrow, and her husband working the Saturday shift at the hospital, which only leaves Nico running around and stealing snacks from his aunts.

The kid already is on a sugar rush, and his birthday party only starts in the afternoon, which leaves little to the imagination as to the kind of mess this is going to be. Especially because the party is at some kind of tree-climbing adventure course, something that doesn’t sound particularly safe to Dmitry but. Olga’s the mom. She knows better.

“So we have the house all to ourselves?” Anya asks, lying back in her garden chair and wiggling her eyebrows.

“First, gross,” Olga comments with a laugh. “But yeah, pretty much.”

“I’m meeting with Maria in town,” Tatiana adds. “We’ll only be back for lunch tomorrow.”

Anya blinks at her sister, barely able to hide her surprise. “Maria convinced you to go clubbing?”

Tatiana shrugs, before she takes another sip of her rosé. “Don’t act so surprised. I’m fun.”

“Your kind of fun involves books and traveling to the other side of the world,” Olga points out.

“Sounds like tons of fun to me,” Dmitry chimes in.

The look Tatiana offers him in unreadable, before she smiles. “See? Even BuzzClick here knows what’s right.”

He tips his beer to her, and winks at Anya when she laughs. Dmitry doesn’t even register people making fun of his job anymore -- it’s not like they’re wrong after all, and not like he’s going to do it for much longer anyway. It would be a waste of time to take offense, at this point.

Once their drinks are finished, Olga goes back to the kitchen to cook lunch -- steaks and a salad, nothing fancy, she says -- and she shows Dmitry to the bathroom. He stares at himself in the mirror for long seconds while he washes his hand, taking a deep breath before he runs his wet fingers through his hair to comb it back a little. It makes even more of a mess than anything else, but oh well.

He almost has a heart attack when Tatiana corners him against the wall as he gets out.

“We need to talk,” she tells him, voice and eyes hard. He has to admit, he’d almost believed he was safe, now, and he was terribly wrong. “My siblings are the kindest souls on the planet, and they take it from our father. But I am my mother’s daughter, you see.”

Dmitry swallows hard, and nods. She scares him into silence, leaning against the wall and listening intently to every word out of her mouth. He has the feeling than trying to make a case for himself would only upset her even more, so he lets her do her thing.

“My family has been through some deep shit, and Nastya? She may pretend she’s happy and carefree all the time, but she’s not. We’ve all been suffering. And I won’t let some loser journalist take advantage of my little sister just because she’s kind and smiling and beautiful.” She takes a step close, her fingers poking into his chest, and Dmitry cowers against the wall a little bit more. “So let me be really clear with you. If I hear that you’ve hurt her again, or you’re playing games, or whatever happened this week, well… Just be aware than I know at least five different techniques to kill someone and make it look like natural causes. Do we understand each other?”

His eyes wide and throat dry, Dmitry can only nod his agreement.

A sigh of relief escapes him, once Tatiana nods too and goes back to the kitchen. He doesn’t even blame her for it but… “Jesus,” he mutters.

#dimya #dimya fanfiction #anastasia the musical #anastasia romanov #dmitry sudayev #ff: anastasia #ff: people can surprise you (or not)#fanfic

30 notes · View notes

ponyjockey · 7 years ago

Text

Sky Court Secret Santa Nessian Fic

A Walk in the Garden.

Happy Holidays Fiona! @acomafxtog24-7 @the-sky-court

Nesta had been in the human lands conducting peace talks for five months and though she would never admit it out loud, she missed Velaris. Even thinking it gave her a weird feeling, like she was betraying her human self, finally becoming fully fae. No, the human lands are where she wanted to be. Sure the weather can get pretty miserable and blending in as human was exhausting, but these were still her people and she was honored Rhys had sent her to lead these peace talks, she was just a little lonely. No, Nesta doesn’t get lonely that’s not the right word. Bored. She was a little bored. She didn’t know when it happened, but somehow life by herself, life without seeing him every day had become a chore.

Today was her first day off since her arrival. The humans were celebrating a good harvest season and had taken the day off to prepare a feast. Until the feast though she was free, so she was using the time to catch up on her reading. Cassian had been sending her books each week since her arrival, but she hadn’t had a chance yet to read any of them. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the titles he sent were appalling, The Fae and the Girl from the Wrong Side of the Road, How to Make Her Scream, A Fae Guide to the Art of Love Making, but amidst the crap which Cassian probably thought were absolutely hilarious to box up and send her, were some of Nesta’s favorite novels. She had just settled into the best chair in the small cottage she was renting when someone knocked on the door. She ignored it. It was her day off and she did not feel like talking to anyone until the feast tonight.

Another knock, followed by a low growl of annoyance that Nesta only knew one male in the world to make.

“Nesta, let me in. I know you’re in there and it’s freezing out here.” Cassian said as he continued to slowly bang down the door with knocking.

Nesta, never one to show even the slightest hint of eagerness took a sip of tea, finished her page and marked her book before getting up and slowly walking to the door. WIth each passing second, Cassian’s knocks became more persistent and if she had put him off any longer the stupid bat would simply have taken the door of the hinges and let himself in.

“Hello Cassian, to what do I owe this pleasure”? Nesta said as she opened the door expertly hiding the grin that was bursting to come out of her. Cassian was here. He was here to see her and even after years of being together he still excited her every time he was within 10 feet of her.

“Come here, you” Cassian said, or rather growled pulling Nesta into a tight embrace and kissing her deeply. As always a little bit of her ice melted as Cassian’s lips met hers. She relaxed into his arms pulling his head closer to her wanting the kiss to be deeper, wanting more. Cassian pulled away first with glazed eyes and his ever present grin.

“So, I take it you’re happy to see me. May I come in then or are you going to make me stand here in the snow all day” said Cassian whose hunger and desire Nesta could read on every inch of his body.

“Actually, I was just thinking of going out for a walk in the garden, care to join me?” Nesta replied, never one to give in that easily. Games, that’s what made Cassian and Nesta’s relationship something she couldn't live without. Their friends and family sometime annoyed them about not embracing the mating bond and settling down to begin their lives together, but that just wasn’t them. Nesta and Cassian were too wild, too free spirited, each in their own way to give up the chase just yet. Sure they had been together for awhile and to any outsider the chase had been over for quite some time, but in their little world of two that just wasn’t true. Without push and pull, they just wouldn’t be them.

“A walk? Are you insane Nesta, it’s a freaking blizzard out here and I’ve been flying for hours. Don’t you want to cozy up by a fire, maybe help me out of these wet clothes?” Cassian said as he ambled closer to her, while surreptitiously trying to see into her little cottage.

“No, I think I would like a walk. Just a moment while I get my coat.” Nesta retorted and shut the door in his face. Nesta loved taking walks in the garden that stretched all the way to the woods behind her cottage. The cottage might have been small, but whoever had owned it previously had loved the outdoors. The garden had been lush when she arrived and had reminded her so much of Elain that she would sit in it for hours, but now that the end of autumn had come it was bare, but no less beautiful. The possibility or rebirth was lurching under the surface of frost and Nesta still enjoyed walking through the field to the little guest house at the end of the property, which little to Cassian’s knowledge was Nesta’s ultimate destination for this trip.

You see, Elain had sent Nesta a message a couple of days ago that she thought Cassian might be coming to visit her in the human lands. Elain knew that Nesta despised surprises and also knew that if Cassian showed up unannounced Nesta was just as likely to tell him to turn around and fly back to Velaris as she was to jump on top of him and have him right in her foyer. So despite the show of surprise and the butterflies, Nesta had already planned exactly how she would handle Cassian’s arrival. As Nesta pulled on her coat and grabbed the already packed picnic basket she smiled, she really had missed the big brute.

“Alright” she said as she opened the door, “Let’s go for a walk”.

“Whatever you say my dear” Cassian said giving her a peck on the top of the head. “If you want to walk around a desolate garden in the snow after I have flown five hours to see you and can barely stand for hunger, then that’s what we shall do. Oh, what’s in the box. I smell meet, is that meet? Is this walk a picnic? Nesta, why can’t we eat inside? It’s wet and gross out here.” “Shush you, jeez you’re worse than a dog. Yes, this basket contains meet, and yes you will get to have some, but after our walk. Also, the snow is beautiful. I love snow, don’t be so hard on it.”

“You’d be hard on it to if you had to fly here. The visibility conditions once I crossed into the human lands were abysmal and don’t get me started on the wind...” as Cassian continued to prattle on about meteorology and possibly harnessing some kind of power that would even out the seasons in the human lands Nesta just looked at him as they walked. This male was what she wanted to wake up to each morning. His ridiculous frantic energy was somehow the only thing that melted her icy exterior. She cooled down his fire and he heated her soul.

“Cassian, I know that you could talk about weather patterns all day, but I think you’re right, what we need right now is a little bit of coziness”. They had reached the end of the property and Nesta pulled a key from her coat and opened the door to the small guest house. If her cottage was small with it’s simple bedroom and combined kitchen and living area, the guest house was miniscule. It was really just a small room with a bed and a fireplace, no other furniture and for guest’s to bathe they had to walk to the main house, but Nesta loved it. She had laid a blanket down on the floor for them with plates and glasses and already made a fire an hour before Cassian arrived so the room was incredibly warm after the snowy garden.

Cassian took a look around and sighed, “Elain, she told you I was coming didn’t she? What’s with you Archeron sisters, can’t a male ever surprise his female?”

“Oh, your female am I?” Nesta retorted with a huff as she opened the picnic basket and pulled out the champagne, cheese, bread, and meets she had bought specially for Cassian. They weren’t anything compared to the food in Velaris, but Cassian didn’t have much of a refined palate. He would probably have eaten a stale sandwich covered in mold and then eaten two more before he noticed anything was amiss. Seriously, she had never seen anyone eat with as much fervor as Cassian.

So preoccupied with setting the picnic out Nesta didn’t notice as Cassian moved behind her to encircle her in his arms his wings wrapping around them like a cocoon.

“I missed you my love” he whispered in her ear trailing kisses down her neck.

“I missed you too” Nesta said as she leaned back into him and felt just how true that statement was. The picnic would have to wait Nesta thought as she turned to look at this beautiful male who was hers. They stood there staring at each other for a minute before Nesta grasped the back of Cassian’s head and pulled him into a deep, wild kiss.

#Sky Court #Sky Court Secret Santa #Nessian #Nessian fic #My Writing #bookclubgonwild

71 notes · View notes

gottalovetheletos · 7 years ago

Text

Bright Lights, Big City. Series. Chapter 3.

Authors note:

IF YOU WANT TO BE TAGGED LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW SAYING SO AND I WILL TAG YOU. 💖💖💖

Warnings: .Non consensual touching by stranger (Shannon gets him tho)

Word Count: 1,677.

Bright Lights, Big City. Chapter 3.

If you haven’t read it here’s: CHAPTER 2

From the beginning. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 3

After a hard day of work I most definitely needed a wash. I wanted a bubble bath, I needed to relax before a night of tension. After I was out of my relaxing bubble bath I had a couple of hours to get ready. I had dinner straight after I got home, it was mac and cheese. I needed the carbs because I needed it to soak up all the drinks I knew I was going to have. I looked through my closet and found a lilac dress I’d forgotten about. I decided to dig it out and show it some love.

It finally reached 9 pm and I was just leaving my house. The bar was only a few minutes from my house, so I called a cab. I arrived at 9:10 pm I walked in and saw them both sitting on the sofas talking to some beautiful women.

I felt a little self conscious so ordered a drink and two shots. I quickly threw them back and walked over to them. “Hey Y/N, sorry ladies but this is the woman we came to see” Jared called out. They shot me a dirty look and huffed. “What did you do that for, I was actually enjoying myself” Shannon hissed at his brother. Jared looked at his older sibling and calmly said “I asked Y/N to join us so we could learn more about her”. “Fine, what your poison?” Shannon asked.

“Double Jack and coke please” I answered. “Oh not a cosmo?” he sarcastically asked. “That stuff is like water. I like a drink I can taste” I confidently replied. He walked to the bar to get us our drinks. “Give me your phone, I want to put mine and Shan’s number in in case we loose each other tonight. I’ll put your number into our phones too” Jared said grabbing my unlocked phone off of the table. “So how did you find out about this place?” Jared asked as Shannon came back with the drinks. “Well, I found it when I moved here a few years ago. I actually worked here for a while, but there were different owners and staff at the time” “Why’s that?” Shannon took a sip from his drink and looked up at me. Actually interested. “Well, I’d never been a fan of school so didn’t go a lot. It was the fact that they were trying to mold you into people that fit into society. I’ve never been one of those people. Obviously didn’t graduate so I started working here then doing odd jobs for people. I found myself quite good at construction but I didn’t find it for filling enough so I traveled for a while until I found the Bright Lights, Big City charity where I started as a volunteer too. I had run out of money and became homeless so they decided to help me move back into the area. So here I am helping others and becoming one of the well know project managers of the charity that helped me. Before this job I had always misbehaved in nearly every way. In my younger years I’d be sneaking out with friends doing lord knows what until the early hours of the morning”. I told them the whole story of my life until now. “Wow so you were a bad girl” Shannon asked. “Not quite. But you know what they say. ‘Well behaved women don’t make history’. ” I laughed.

“That’s true. Hey Shan, that sounds like our story until we found the band” Jared nudged his brother. Shannon nodded. “I’m going to get another drink, can I bring in another round?” I asked pointing at the drinks on the table. “Yeah okay then” Shannon smiled. I got in another round of drinks and 2 tequila shots each and another of whatever they were drinking before. I took the tray back to the table. “Where’s Jared gone?” I looked around for him. “He’s gone to the bathroom” Shannon answered. “Y/N, I just wanna say I’m sorry for my behavior lately. I shouldn’t take it out on you or anyone to be honest, I mean I barely know you and you already probably think I’m a complete ass”. “Not a complete ass, just a bit of one” I laughed. “Well my girlfriend and I, we’re not getting on and to be honest she’s been making me miserable lately. She keeps guilt tripping me into staying in the relationship. But I cant do it. Plus you’re so gorgeous and I can’t do anything about it. You look beautiful tonight by the way” He admitted. I could feel my cheeks burning. “Well Shannon” I grabbed his hand “If you’re not happy, you don’t have to stay in the relationship. It’s a two way thing. You can leave. You have one life to live. Do you want to spend the rest of it miserable, wishing you had it differently? I mean if you’re worried about being alone, I for one can tell you that you are one of the most gorgeous men I’ve ever met. You’d have no trouble finding someone else” I gave him a reassuring smile and his thumb rubbed my upper hand as a, kind of, ‘thanks’. “You know my brother likes you too. When I end it with Hannah, he’s going to have some competition” Shannon whispered in my ear. Jared came back to us and seeing Shannon whisper in my ear he said “ so are you guys are getting along?” we nodded. We spent a couple of hours drinking and talking. I had a few too many drinks. “Sorry guys gotta pee” I got up and stumbled to the bathroom. I’d adjusted my hair and re-applied my make up. As I was walking back to the boys some intoxicated guy approached me and started touching me everywhere, a hand went under my dress. “Hey baby, what’s your number? I could show you a few things in the bedroom. Or in my car” he grabbed my arm and was forcing himself upon me. I was trying to get away from him begging him to get off of me, tears starting forming in my eyes. I was scared, he almost got me out of the door but before I knew it he landed on the floor. Shannon had punched him straight in the face. “Get the fuck off her” Shannon bellowed at the guy who was bleeding from his lip and nose. A bouncer came over to see what was going on. I was huddled into Shannon’s chest and Jared rubbing my shoulders and back. “This guy sexually assaulted my friend” Shannon told the bouncer who was now escorting the other guy out of the building. “Let’s take you home” Jared held my hand and called a cab. It arrived quickly. They jumped in with me. “Will you guys come in with me?” I asked them both as we pulled up to my house. They both nodded. “Make yourselves at home. I’m gonna get changed into some pajamas and take off my make up. I’ll be back down” I told them as they were playing with the dogs. Nellie followed me upstairs. She laid on the bed as I got changed. I threw on my satin pajamas, striped robe and so frilly socks. Took off my make up and threw up my hair.

I was really embarrassed about what had happened tonight so I tried to compose myself before making an apology to the guys downstairs. Nellie and I had a bit of a cuddle on the bed before I made my way down. I walked in to see the boys including the dogs cuddled up on the sofa talking. “Guys, can I just take a second to say I’m really sorry about tonight, I am really embarrassed about what happened”. I looked at the floor at tried not to cry again. “Y/N, it was not your fault someone sexually assaulted you . Don’t be embarrassed. If anyone should be it’s that dick head who tried to feel you up” Jared spoke. “At least he ended up on the floor. I should have given him a worse punishment” Shannon spat. “Thank you guys. Oh god Shannon, hows your fist?” I rushed over to him examining his hand. There was bruising and it was bleeding a little. “Let me get you some ice” I ran to the kitchen and scooped some ice out of the freezer and put it in a towel. I ran back to the living room to deliver the iced towel to Shannon. I turned on the TV and closed my eyes to the sound of them talking. I fell asleep. I woke up to an alarm that was pounding its way through my head. I was in my bed with the smallest of the three dogs by my side. I usually had all three of them squished on the bed. I walked into the bathroom and grabbed a couple Tylenol’s. I then stood at the top of the stairs where I could hear the TV was on. 'I must have left it on when I went to sleep. But how did I get upstairs?’ I walked into the living room where I saw Jared laying on the floor and Shannon on the sofa. They were quietly talking to one another. “You know I have a guest room right?” I chuckled. “We didn’t want to invade your home so we just stayed down here. The dogs kept us company. Tank is a really good hot water bottle. Shannon said giving Tank a good face rub. "So’s Blue” Jared said leaning on the big boy who was still half asleep. “Sorry guys I should have said about the guest room” I apologized. “How could you have? You were passed out” Jared laughed. “Good point. Coffee?” I offered. “Coffee!” they agreed and followed me into the kitchen.

_________________________________________

Chapter 4.

_________________________________________

Tag List:

@shannonfreakingleto

@meghan12151977

_________________________________________

#Bright Lights Big City Series #BLBCSeries #gottalovetheletos #jaredleto #jared leto #jared leto fanfic #jared leto fanfiction #jared leto imagine #shannonleto #shannon leto #shannon leto fanfic #shannon leto fanfiction #shannon leto imagine

28 notes · View notes

euphoric-melancholyy · 8 years ago

Text

On Sleepless Roads (2/3)

Summary: A S6 Canon divergence. There’s an irony, she supposes, that something created to pull one into eternal sleep, is now a barrier to any sleep. Her body fights against the maddening exhaustion. She’s just so tired, so fucking tired and she can’t keep going like this.

Ao3 FF Part 1 Part 3

The ice chills his hand as he presses it against where she says the pain is sharpest. But her body is warm as it curves into his, her head resting on his shoulder and arm slung across his middle.

“Thrown against the clock tower,” she answers without the question being presented. Earlier she had tried to reassure him that it just felt like a throbbing muscle soreness, no glass to show for the nonexistent incident. It didn't work, even if her pain was not quite as dire as the night before.

He kisses the crown of her head and pulls her tighter, wishing that it were easier for her to fulfil her promise that she would sleep for weeks. She’s given so much of herself, he isn’t sure what there is left to give, but the title of Savior continues to demand more, to take and take. Its cost her a childhood surrounded by love and robbed her of sleep for months. And now. . .

“Hey, I’m okay-”

“Swan, you’re in pain. You can’t sleep, you-”

“You.” she thumbs the outline of his jaw. “I have you. The pain is already going away and now it’s just you and me, alive. That’s all that matters. And in a few hours, I’m gonna go to the station and do my job. I've functioned on a lot less.”

“Emma, you need sleep.”

“I love you.” It isn’t the first time she’s said it without looking at him, yet his heart flutters just the same. She sounds so tired, but he thinks it adds to the sincerity, her voice cracking with the truth of her words. His lips capture hers in response, turning her body to where it rests atop his as her arms find their way around his neck. Their languid pace is slowed with her smile, so big he has to pull away with a chuckle. “I take it that means you love me, too?”

“Aye, Swan. I love you, too.”

-/-/-

She goes to work later, despite his protesting. It’s a great distraction from the exhaustion that’s taken hold, giving her something to focus on other than what she wants and dreads the most. Her parents are taking this new curse - that’s what she’s labeled the dilemma that has seemed to rob her of sanity and redden the whites of her eyes - in strides. They beg her to sleep, but it’s not a plea she’s willing to give into, not without Killian beside her and even then. . .

It’s better like this. She’s more productive awake than asleep.

She spends her break on the Jolly Roger, listening to the banter of her father and Killian. (Waiting for rain is not the proper way to clean a ship, Dave. There are procedures that must be taken to make sure she is in top shape.

It’s not a she -

Did you captain her for centuries? She shall be whatever the bloody hell I wish.

Still doesn't give an inanimate object a gender.)

Usually Emma would interject, but there's a smile on Killian’s face the moment he looks to her, bright, happy eyes speaking to the deepest parts of her soul. It's happened several times since returning to Storybrooke- an overwhelming calm rushing in at the sight of one another alive, putting a pause to the conversation and world around them as if they're the only people in it. For now it’s enough. It’s enough to push her through the rest of the day - these stolen quiet moments in the midst of chaos. And later, after the sun has set behind the clouds, blanketing them in darkness, she crawls under the covers. “I don’t want to sleep,” she whispers to the man lying next to her. He’s massaging the knots from her shoulders in a comfortable silence. But already she can feel her awareness fading, his reply lost to a world of green fields and wind blurred trees.

-/-/-

She buries her cheek in the dark of leather, welcoming the chill of wind that howls in her ear. Sitting astride a horse, she leans her weight into Killian, an infectious laugh escaping when Buttercup progresses past a gallop.

“Where are we going?” she asks, her voice probably a bit too loud as it combats the noise of the wind.

“That's the adventure of it, love.”

Everything around her looks of Camelot - gorgeous mountains outlined in streams, a nature untouched by man's inventions. instead preserved with magic that shines with color.

Yet, somehow it's not. For she knows their home is but a mile south of where they are, winding through thick wood. Somehow, they are in Storybrooke. And she doesn't question it as they ride through the forest, letting her eyelids shut as she soaks in the calm.

And really, she should have known better. Before she can act, Buttercup is rearing up, throwing both her and Killian in the air before smashing her once strong frame against a tree.

Throbbing. It’s the first thing she recognizes before the panic sets in. Before she turns her head to the bleeding form next to her. There’s blood pooling at her shoulder, coarse bark having slowed her descent to the ground. But it doesn’t matter, not when he’s drapped silently across the mud, unresponsive. She can almost reach him, fingertips lightly scratching at a hook doing nothing to rouse him.

She’s vaguely aware of the high pitched cry that escapes, a plea for him to be okay, and dammit wake up, but she can’t move, can’t reach him with paralysis seizing her muscles.

Ice. It’s the next thing she recognizes before reality comes back into focus. (Which reality, she isn’t sure. She’s been dancing on the line between the realm of dreams and where she finds herself now. An exhausting dance blurred by magic and Webster-defined insanity.) His voice is rough and soothing as he holds her to his chest and she hopes this is the world she can stay in, nightmare or not. Her shoulder still hurts, but he’s here and he’s safe.

“Emma?” He asks as her breathing slows, voice cracking with a fear she had caused.

“Are you okay?”

He flinches at her question, brows furrowing. “What do you mean am I okay? You’re the one who wakes up in agony every night!”

“Killian, I’m going insane. I can’t fix a wound that isn’t there and I can’t differentiate what is real and what is a part of this curse. It just hurts, everything just . . .You were hurt too and I can’t, I can’t…”

“What do you need?” It’s simple, less words than he would normally offer but better than any refute he could give.

“Can you just hold me?”

“Aye love.” She’s warm in his arms, head buried in the hair littering his chest and legs tangled together. Though she allows her body to relax, molding herself into him as his hand caresses her back and his lips plant kisses to the top of her head, her erratic heartbeat remains. A lingering anxiety that holds her captive. He tells stories and it helps. His voice a calming symphony of colorful vocabulary that she loses herself in. He tells of Liam, Milah, and Pan. Painting Neverland more eloquently than JM Barrie himself. She shares tales of her life as well, of school and foster homes, of a meaningless first boyfriend and the first time she wrecked a car. It’s not as well worded as his, but then again she never is.

-/-/-

He’s worried for her, his Swan, watching from the sidelines as she throws herself into work - combating crisis after crisis on nothing but coffee and Granny’s grilled cheese sandwiches. She needs to rest, to lay in their bed and think of nothing but herself. But she’s stubborn, as stubborn as he is himself, and they’re once again caught at a crossroads. They’re not fighting, but they aren’t agreeing either.

“Come on, love. I’m sure your father can handle it for one day. Just one day, the two of us on the water.” He knows what’s coming before she says it, her retort well practiced now. It’s a repeat of their previous conversation.

“But Hyde-”

“He can wait.” He sighs, exasperated, before grabbing her hand and interlocking their fingers. “You have to take care of yourself, too.”

“I will. I am. But people are counting on me.”

“Emma-”

“Soon, I promise.”

“Let me take care of you,” Killian whispers, dropping her hand from his and skimming his knuckles across the bruises under her eyes. She relents for a moment, leaning into his touch before righting herself with a shake of her head.

“I have to pick up Henry. Do you want to come?”

“Of course.”

He drops his head in defeat, letting her guide him out of the sheriff’s station and onto the bustling streets, his focus more on her sluggish steps and heavy shoulders than the direction they’re going. He’ll get her to rest, one way or another, her health more important to him than any villain claiming ownership of their quaint little town.

-/-/-

Coffee has become her preferred stimulant. More so than cinnamon coated cocoa, Killian’s flask that never seems to empty of rum, or the acidic monster drinks that taste like someone melted a battery and decided to drink it. No, coffee is much better to keep her pushing through Granny’s lunch crowd to meet her parents.

She finds them scanning the menu as if they've not memorized it over the last 30 years, and she slides in the booth behind Killian.

“Honey, you look exhausted. You both do.” Mary Margaret remarks.

“It’s nothing.” She pauses, distractedly glaring down a black speck of dust dirtying the corner of the table. The anxiety that she carries around like a second skin heightens at her mother's inquiry and she dodges the impending conversation best she can. “Henry just asked us today if he could walk with Violet to school. . .without us.”

“I’m sure he just wanted to kiss his lady love without prying eyes. I know the feeling quite well meself.” Killian quips and Emma’ eyes grow wide, smacking him lightly on the chest.

“Watch it, pirate. I don’t want to hear about your urges to kiss my daughter.” David warns.

“Those aren’t the only ones I have, mate.” His words are punctuated with a mischievous grin directed at Emma and her reddened cheeks.

“Killian!” She elbows him this time, smiling in victory when he grunts between closed teeth. “That’s what you get.”

Her yawn is what breaks the banter, a concern glossing over the faces of her family. Jumping foster home to foster home has made her all too familiar with the expressions. (Back then it had been pity and confusion for the friendless orphan girl who’s angry outburst was followed by tears that never seemed to stop. A temporary worry for the well-being of Emma Swan that no one acted on.) Now, the worry was genuine, but she could see the pity in the furrow of her mother’s and father’s brows. In hindsight, maybe the exhaustion was distorting her view. Feelings of never truly understanding one another buried at the expense of pretending to have the relationship she wants. “Please don't do this, guys.”

“Do what?”

“Look at me like I'm some sort of wounded animal.”

“We weren't! We aren't...we're worried about you.” Snow replies. The gentleness of her voice causes a twinge of guilt deep in Emma’s gut. It’s stupid to feel this way when she knows her mother is just. . .being a mother. So she pushes back the irrational feelings, deflects and hopes it’ll be enough to move the conversation elsewhere.

“I know and I appreciate that, but we have bigger fish to fry right now.”

“So the nightmares-”

“We'll deal with that later. We have to catch Hyde first-”

“I know what you’re going through and you can't run from this. When your father and I-”

“No, you don’t! I'm not you, mom! I don't need to know how you and dad conquered some battle that I am going to get through differently. Stop saying you understand when everything you do says otherwise. If you understood you'd stop bringing it up!” She stops as she realizes the room has cut silent to heed the yells of their exhausted savior and sheriff. Breathing in and exhaling with a sigh, she continues - tone harsh against her whispered frustrations “I'm the savior. Do you have any idea what that means? It makes you all a target. It means that anytime I fail, it puts everyone in danger. It could kill you. I don't need some hope speech to tell me how I need to open up about my feelings. Just because I'm not talking to you about it doesn't mean I'm not talking about it.” Her hand wraps around the ring that dangles from her neck, a silent comfort as she recalls the tear laced confessions she’s told Killian in the dead of night. It’s his hand instinctively wrapping around her shoulder and pulling her into him that keeps her from caving into herself, from a complete shut down at her public outburst.

He’s holding himself back, a silence between the four of them made all the more awkward by his absence of opinion. He has his thinking face on, brows furrowed and pursed lips as he sorts through and holds back from speaking his thoughts aloud. But the primary emotion on his face and her parents, is surprise.

“I’m sorry honey, I didn’t realize it upset you so much. . .Maybe a change of scenery will help? You can always come back to the loft. Your bed’s still there.”

“I have a bed and a new home, my first house, with Killian. I. . .feel safe with him.” She grants her aforementioned co-inhabitant a small smile, continuing, but her gaze not leaving his. “I don't want to wake up without him there. He helps.” She sighs, the words lifting an unknown burden from her chest, as if admitting that somehow made it ring with a greater truth. There was an agitation - distorted from sleep deprivation, maybe - that her parents still couldn’t see that. They couldn’t see the changed man Killian has become. She hopes he doesn’t feel it too. “I know that you’re trying to make everything better, but sometimes you can’t. Changing where I sleep is not going to keep the Sandman from distorting my dreams. You don’t want to be around me when I do fall asleep, trust me. So can we just drop it and order some damn food, please? I'm starved.” .

-/-/-

He asks her to do it, so she does. She drives the blade into his middle, feeling his insides scream around silver metal, hearing the slash of flesh tearing as the point emerges bloodstained on the other side. She watches through tears as 300 years of life drain from his eyes. He tells her he loves her, but he can barely breathe. So with one last kiss pressed to his lips, she withdraws her sword and his body plummets to the ground.

It doesn’t stop falling. Now, he’s wrapped in chains, more bloodied and broken than before. He’s suspended upon a murky green river, sinking slowly into its neverending depths and -

“Killian!” She screams, letting the smoke from the fire pits that light the basement turned cavern fill her lungs. Her feet smack against the rock as she runs, but the faster she accelerates, the faster he falls - a tortuous pursuit that causes panic to pool in her stomach as his feet drop out of sight. There’s an enchantment blocking her more supernatural attempts at rescue, magic that curls inward at her fingertips and pushes its way back to her core with no release. But it's too late now, her plea embedded into the rock it bounces off of. The chains rise from the river, prisoner absolved and his soul forever lost.

-/-/-

There’s a cry she hears somewhere in the distance. It increases in volume or proximity - she's not sure which. But it syncs to the chaos of her mind, the adrenaline and panic coursing through her bloodstream as it calls for, cries for, her deceased lover.

She tries to calm herself, pull the crumbling, shattered pieces of her heart back together when she realizes it’s her.

“Emma, it's just a dream. It's okay, you're okay. Wake up, love.” But her hysteria only grows with the sound of his voice, sobs racking her body as she seems to come to. His soft voiced reassurances are lost on deaf ears as he pulls her upright, hand smoothing over the ridges of her spine. They’re coated in darkness save for the crack of moonlight shining through the curtains, casting haunted shadows of the sleepless road they travel. So he reaches to turn the bedside lamp on, lighting the room to rouse her, to ground her back in this room with him. “Emma, I’m right here.” She shakes under his grip, several whispered no’s followed by a string of curses. His words do little, if any to comfort her, mind stuck in the terrors of her dream world. “Come back to me, love.”

But she doesn’t, not yet. Instead, she curls into herself, an inconsolable silhouette of revisted grief, oblivious to the departed’s presence and the hand that tries to coax her back.

He can see the moment she returns, a relieved shock overtaking her features as her arms wrap around him.

She buries her head in his neck, tears slipping past her cheek and onto his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Killian I’m so-”

“Shhh, it was just a dream. You’re here now.”

“No, no it wasn’t just a dream.” She sniffs, trying to get her breathing under control. It only worsens as he tries to comfort her.

As she tries to articulate the reality of her nightmare. “I killed you. . .I watched you die-”

“Emma-”

“They buried you! You still have a fucking tombstone in the graveyard. I failed and you-”

Calloused lips stop the quiver of her own, if only temporarily, as she takes the comfort he gives. If he was an ocean, then she was drowning - his touch overwhelming in its tenderness. The tears that still fall are caught with his mouth while his thumb caresses the outline of her jaw. But soon her worries fade with the clothes that are shed, his hand and tongue working in tandem to soothe the wounds of her nightmares. Of her reality. Their love coiling with the heat in her stomach as they come together.

She holds to that feeling as she comes down, tangling her limbs with his so that they somehow remain one. If she was a ship, then he was her anchor and compass alike - grounding and guiding through the treacherous sea that's become the wreckage of the Savior's duties .

“Let me take care of you,” he whispers. And this time she gives in, following him into the warmth of the shower’s downpour. The water washes away the last of morning haze, cleansing and clearing her mind before revisiting the nightmare that awoke her. Her body craves his touch; his hand massaging the shampoo to and from her hair as his stump rests against the curve of her waist making tears fall anew.

“I love you,” she breathes, a wonderment in her tone. It's not enough to express how she feels about him, words caught in her throat seem miniscule to the emotions that stir within her.

It's later, over chocolate chip pancakes and her third cup of coffee, that she gives him details. She tells of the heaviness of the blade in her hand, of the crunch of muscles as it drove through flesh. She tells of the blood and how it remained stained wet in her hands as his body fell into the river of lost souls. She tells and holds herself together, a saddened detachment that only allows a single tear to fall. She tells of the terror that seizes her still - that this happiness they share could merely be a hallucination. “When I woke up, at first, the dream it felt. . .more real.”

It’s the emotional weight, despite the coffee and sex that preceded and receded her confession, that leave her bone tired as she once again prepares to head to Granny’s. Makeup aids in masking the exhaustion that hides underneath - the baggy red rimmed eyes temporarily reprieved with coats of concealer and a layer of bottom eyeliner she would usually go without. It’s not a lot, but it’s noticeable.

It can’t conceal the drag in her step, however, nor the mental pause in her replies. She’s beyond tired, afraid of the terrors that falling into sleep’s arms will bring, but she pushes through..

She pushes through as she finds her son already sitting at a table scanning a copy of one of his storybooks.

“Hey kid!” Emma smiles before taking a seat across from him. “Looks like a full house for Granny. I guess everyone has untold stories that are ready to be played out.”

“Yeah, that or they discovered the best place for lunch.”

Emma laughs at that - a small chuckle that quickly dies when she glances at the pages opened before her. “So have you found anything new?”

“Other than people not dressed in Storybrooke, attire? Not yet. But I’m betting someone here can tell us.”

And he’s right. They’re still very oddly dressed. Although she guesses that’s relative to the realm they are in. But her leather jacket stands out next to the silks and fanciful dresses, strange hats and ancient styles, even Bollywood fashion. A man by the bar dons a cape. She wonders what his story in particular might be - possibly Dracula, but she isn’t entirely convinced vampires are real. Dracula, or whoever he actually is, stands tall next to a little girl dressed in colonial attire. They create a stark contrast to the mad looking scientist, old professor in a trench coat, and Chinese looking royalty. An eclectic, confused mix that’s dominated by a middle eastern man in a strange hat. He must notice her staring, because before she can successfully avert her gaze from the crowd, he’s walking over to her with cane in hand.

“I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Jafar.”

Scepter, she corrects her earlier assessment of his cane. It looks of rusted gold, frail magic worn with age. He sticks out from his companions, collections of other stories she’s heard throughout her life, as the more ominous of the bunch. And really, she should have known just by looking at him that he’s freaking Jafar. Villain. Evil. Sorcerer. His presence raises the hairs on the back of her neck, but it’s the tilt of his head and small smile he grants her, that creeps her out the most. (Not that she’ll show it; she makes a mental note to find the fate of Aladdin and Jasmine later, but for now she can make small talk. For now she’ll make Henry as comfortable as possible.) “Hi, I’m Emma. This is my son Henry.”

“It’s nice to make your acquaintance, Emma. I believe I’ve heard your name passed around a few times here.”

“She’s the Savior. She brings everyone their happy endings.” Henry chimes in.

“Ah, well what a noble pursuit.” She’s about to dismiss herself, dragging Henry back to the house for whatever bullshit reason she comes up with first, when Jafar continues. “I quite like this quaint town of yours. I’ve found the beds to be much more accommodating than those in Agrabah.”

“If you're talking about Granny’s beds, I can't say I agree.” She says with a forced smile, magic tingling through her blood as she clenches her fist to keep it at bay. As accustomed as she is to handling villains, there’s something simmering beneath the surface that she can’t quite place. It makes his every word more threatening and she pushes it down, tries to ignore the voice in her head that has the hairs on her neck still standing.

Jafar laughs - a small forced huff of air that does little to alleviate the tension. ”You'd be surprised.” He extends his hand for her to shake and she takes it, glad to have this opportunity to exit the situation. “Well I’m sure there are lines of people waiting to meet the savior. So if you’ll excuse me, I should get going.”

He turns on his heel and she directs her attention back to Henry. “Wanna get Granny’s to go? We’ll be more productive in the library anyway.”

“Yeah, let me text Violet first. She might know something about Jafar that could help us.”

“Sounds good.”

-/-/-

She’s past tired by the time they make it to the library, body sagging with the weight of her steps. Her eyes scan the same page for the sixth time and she can feel herself fading, lids fighting to stay open. It’s there that Killian finds her, drunk on sleep deprived delirium as she laughs about calligraphy and the idea of Dracula feeding off cat blood. (He’s seen her like this only twice, the first when rum was the culprit and the latter after a 36 hour shift when she refused to return home.) But she feels light now, the giggles that erupt alleviating the heaviness in her chest as she leans on Killian. She knows she’s being ridiculous, combing the stray hairs that hang at his forehead back behind his ear as she muses over if the sandman is made of sand, and the logistics of living in that state.

In the end, she decides that magic is the only answer.

The energy high only lasts until she reaches their bathroom, laughter turning into silence as the faucet fills in the lost noise. She cuddles into Killian when they reach the bed, mumbling that she’ll only rest for a minute. It's a lie the moment her eyes close, the mattress embracing her exhaustion as it lulls her to sleep with her body wrapped around Killian's.

She dreams of fire, skin burning and engulfed in pain. It’s from her mother, the evil version of Isaac's cursed world, that chars her shoulder before spreading down her arm.

The screams don't come this time - instead she's left gasping for air she can't find, the pain, new in its torture but routine in its presence, muting her airways. She can feel sand fall from her eyes when she sits up, the burning sensation not leaving even as the particles land on her bedsheets. Mouth agape, Emma attempts to quiet the quiver of her breath as she gathers the remnants in her hand to dispose of before escaping to the kitchen. Killian slumbers at the edge of the bed, finally sleeping through a nightmare. (It makes her own nightmare a little less harsh. His attempts at staying up with her have left him almost as restless as she.)

She grows numb to the pain even as the red blisters of her hallucination rise. Her magic, powerless to whisk it away, poofs a small tube of burn cream in front of her. She knows it won't help, but she also knows the pain will get worse before it disappears. It has to be better than nothing.

When Killian finds her a few hours later, she’s propped up on the couch, eyes scanning the pages of one of the books they had brought home from the library. His hair is stuck up at all sides, a shirtless sleep mused mess in navy pajama pants.

“I’m sorry, love. I didn’t mean to sleep through - what’s on your arm?”

“Burn cream. I know it can’t really do anything but I wanted to do something. I kinda forgot about it. And I’m glad you finally slept. You deserve it.”

He gives her this look sometimes, the same he’s giving her now, where his face softens and the lines of 300 years crinkle at his eyes the same as a child’s. Sometimes there’s a glistening in his eyes, his adoration so overwhelming that it doesn’t feel real. She watches his steps as he shuffles to the couch and interlaces their fingers together before bringing her hand up to his lips. “I love you, Emma.”

“I love you, too.”

“We’re going to defeat this.”

“I know.”

She knows, but sometimes she doubts, brief moments of wondering if this is how she will meet her end. Death by Sleep Deprivation. She’s heard about it before, through internet or textbook she’s not sure. Within three days of waking to the feeling of burning flesh, her body adjusts to the permanent insomnia, afraid of the perils sleep brings. Even when she tries to rest, her subconscious has decided that sleep is equal to pain. It's her body's way of protecting her, creating a lose-lose situation with whatever side wins out at night. There is no burst of energy to revive her, the next few days a reflection of her weakened state in Camelot when she took on the darkness.

Her family remains her hope, Killian her anchor as her frustration grows. And it’s Killian who comes to her with the first actual solution. “Emma, love.” he whispers when he runs through the door to find her half asleep on the couch. “The sandman is in your nightmares.”

-/-/-

Tagging @acrobat-elle, @lovebecomeshim @bromfieldhall, and @allons-y-to-hogwarts-713 upon request.

#cs ff #my writing #once upon a time #cs angst #captain swan fanfic #ouat fanfiction #once upon a time fanfiction #what even are the proper tags

74 notes · View notes