#but he butts heads with the gun guy because of gun guy's attitude and they remind me of cherry and joe if they were less mad at each other

[hoodie-prince-kid]

i think this is the first personified objects/concepts/whathaveyou anime ive watched that isnt problematic and is also super exciting and engaging and has l o r e and isnt flat-out parody

[randomshitwhore]

Affirmative Ghost(rider)

word count:2.5k

pairing: ghost x f!reader

summary: ghost made a promise to you on your mission to retrieve a flash drive, and he intends to keep it...

warnings: contains smut(its very bad so my apologizes),[unprotected sex, ghost being slightly dominate and a bottom for my own personal enjoyment LMAO, fingering]

AN: thank you all so much for all the love on Negative Ghost(rider), you guys have made it the most popular post on my page ever, possibly the top post on any of the ghost/Simon Riley hashtags! words can't express how much it truly means to me that you all enjoyed it! so please enjoy part two, Affirmative Ghost(rider). :)

Your mission was a success. You had successfully retrieved the flash drive and caught Hassan in the process. You boarded back onto the chopper with Soap and Ghost, greeted and congratulated by your superiors. You opened the flash drive and looked over the files with Ghost, him hovering just over your shoulder.

“You gonna stick to your word and keep your promise?”You asked, your voice just barely above a whisper. “You seriously asking that question now Eclipse?”Ghost countered, letting his eye burn into the side of your head. “Yes, now answer my question Lieutenant.” You said, skim-reading the files. “I told you, yes. Now copy those files and update me or Soap when you are finished, understood private?”He whisper-ordered, so as not to attract the attention of his and your superiors.

“Yes”

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, sir.”

You walked off the airspace and into the base, praised by Price for your bravery and attitude on your first mission, which you knew was total bullshit on your end. You were scared shitless, trying not to cry, and constantly complained about the amount of time you hung off the side of the building; but he didn’t need to know that.

“Thank you, sir” You smiled warmly, shaking his hand with a firm grip. He returned a warm smile to you. “I hope the gentlemen behind you are treating you well?”Price asked shooting a look to Soap and Ghost, standing behind you at a rest position. “Yes sir. They treat me wonderfully.” You answered, shooting a caring look at both of them. It was true. Those two treated you like gold; always helping you when you asked. It had been that way since you had first started training with them privately; a personal request from Ghost, but that was something you didn’t know.

“Ghost, I feel like I’m not doing this right..”You said, a gun butt placed in between your ribs and armpit. “That’s because you’re not holding it right Y/N,” Simon said, walking over to you and readjusting it to its correct position; the stock to your cheek first and then back to your shoulder. “You hold it like you just did, your ass would be on the ground” Soap laughed, monitoring a short distance away. Ghost took his boot and gently swept your feet apart to fix your stance. “Dont hold it too tight, and not too loose and when you feel ready, pull the trigger, got it?”Simon asked, his masked face just barely brushing against yours.

“Yes, sir” You answered, tightening your grip slighting. “She just call you sir Simon?”Soap asked, rocking back onto his heels and off the fence he was resting on. “Yes, Johnny now zip-” He started but was interrupted by the blast from your gun firing onto the target; just barely outside the first circle near the bullseye.

“Oh my god, I hit it! Ugh, I was so close to the bullseye too!”You said, setting the gun down and turning around to them with a huge smile on your face. “Goddamn, nice shot Y/N!”John said, honestly amazed at your shooting skills. “Did I do good, Simon?”You asked, your smile still plastered onto your face. “Affirmative was a very good shot” He answered. “What does that word mean? Affirmative?”You asked, looking at Soap. “Just his way of saying yes Y/N, he doesn’t act like a normal human being and just says yes or no. It’s Negative or Affirmative, nothing else” Soap answered, just laughing and shaking his head. You let out an amused noise, looking back at Ghost. Although you couldn’t see it, he slowly spread a smile across his face.

You talked with Price a little longer after he released Soap and Ghost back to their barracks about the rest of the mission; going over and encoding files before he sent you off to your barrick. You walked quietly across the base to your barrack until your phone buzzed in your pocket.

New Message from Lt. Ghost

You slid your phone open and tapped on the message.

My barrack hall. 10 minutes.

You clicked your phone off and turned on your heel to Simons’s barrick. You could feel your heart pounding against your chest. Sure, you had seen his face before. You both knew that your relationship was evolving, and you both knew that your relationship was on the border of being unprofessional, at least it would be if you were caught. You reached his barrick around the eight-minute mark and slowly turned the knob. You walked down a long hallway and stopped right in front of his room. You knocked softly on the door to be met with his voice.

“It’s open”

You turned the knob and entered the room. You pressed the door shut with your back, your hand still wrapped around the door knob. You looked up to see him in his black camo army pants, a form-fitting black muscle shirt, and of course; his mask. You could see his skin through the eye holes of his mask, none of his black eyeshadow was present.

“Hi” You whispered, as he walked to you closing the space in between you. “Hello” He returned, now practically pinning you into a corner against the door. He reached his hand just past your waist to push the lock into place. “We dont want any interruptions, now do we?”

You sucked your bottom lip in between your teeth and shook your head no. You watched as his fingers wrapped around the bottom of his mask. “Hey, you promised me..”You pouted. He held his hands up in the air and placed them behind his back. “Apologizes. Please, continue.”He said. You gently smiled as your fingers lifted his mask to show his plump lips; curved into a small smile. 

You gently traced the outline of his lips, slowly taking in his features. “What’s your next course of action, private?” He asked, his hands still in place behind his back. You pulled him closer to you, your lips just barely touching. “Permission to engage, Lieutenant?”You purred, making direct eye contact with him. You felt his smile grow wider against your lips. “Permission granted,” He answered. You pressed your lips against him, wrapping an arm around the back of his neck. You felt him shift and felt his hands fall onto your waist, grinding his hips into yours. 

This was the most beautiful thing about your relationship; nobody knew it had been going on for over a year and a half, you were honestly still shocked no one thought to ask questions, but you honestly were happy they didn’t. You and Him were able to give looks that only you two knew, and say something only you could understand. He loved that he wasn’t being pressed by questions about what you were going to do when you and he went out together; just saying you were going over plans for the next mission. You both could relax, knowing you were safe in each other presence. 

You took your hand wrapped around his neck and removed the rest of his mask, tossing somewhere across the room. You shifted your weight, leading him to his bed; pushing him down. He looked up at you, his eyes dark; filled with lust. You placed yourself on top of him, pressing your lips to the line of his jaw. His hand slipped up the back of your shirt, rubbing his rough hands up your back. You trailed your lips down to his neck, leaving love marks along the way. Lucky thing he has a mask, imagine trying to explain those to your superiors. 

“Y/N..” He said, letting a small low-pitched whine out of his mouth. You reached the base of his neck, forcing him gently down onto the bed. “Simon..”You teased, edging him on. “You look so beautiful from this angle,” He said, tucking a piece of hair behind your ear. You flashed him a smile that was quickly replaced by your eyes shooting wide open, him flipping you over; putting him on top.

“But you look even better from this one” He whispered, his lips grazing the bottom of your ear; sending a chill down your spine. He placed his lips on your neck, leaving as many marks as he could; he didn’t leave them too deep. He’s a gentleman after all. 

You pushed your hips up and into his, wanting to get even the littlest amount of friction. His lips molded into a smile on your neck, letting his hand trail down your side and to your cargo pants. His hand took two quick pinches to unbutton them and slip his hand down. “Permission to engage?”He teased, using your line from earlier. You let out a small laugh.

“Affirmative ghost rider, permission to engage,” You said, taunting with your line from earlier in the night. He let out a laugh into your ear. “You’re never going to let me hear the end of that, are you?”He said, his free hand brushing against your ribs. “Negati-Oh” You started but were interrupted by his digits slipping into your pussy.

You bit your lip to keep a moan from coming out, pressing your hand over your mouth as an extra precaution. You could feel his fingers moving in and out of you as you fought to not let him hear how much you were enjoying it. You felt his hand wrap around your wrist and pull it away from your mouth, letting a small moan escape your lips. “Doesn’t that feel better, darling?” He said, planting a kiss against your lips. You could feel your stomach tighten with every pump of his fingers. “Si-imon, I’m gonna…Oh my god,” You moan, your hand gripping his bicep with your palm as you felt your eye roll to the back of your head. “Let go Y/N, let it out” He whispered in your ear, placing a new mark onto your neck, and that was enough to send you over the edge. You felt yourself tighten around his fingers and let your nails dig deeper into his bicep as you let yourself go underneath his fingers.

You looked down at him to watch him slip his muscle shirt slowly off his body. You took the shape of his toned torso, curves, and scars; his biggest insecurity but the thing you loved most about him. You took your fingers and traced one on his waist. He had told you he got that one trying to save you from the apartment complex you were held hostage in.

He watched your hands smooth over his stomach, nothing but pure love and admiration behind your eyes. “You're so beautiful..”You breathed out as he sat back on the balls of his feet to slide your cargo pants and own shirt off, not breaking eye contact. He smiled warmly at you. Although he never admits it, and probably never will, he loves it when you call him beautiful. 

You dragged your hand down to his cargo pants and looped a finger into his belt loop, gently brushing your fingers against his own arousal. His breath hitched at your fingers brushed back and forward against him. He narrowed his eye at you, trying to figure out what your next plan of action was. You looked him in the eye as you warped the rest of your fingers quickly around his belt loop and yanked hard on them, pulling him down to your level and placing yourself on top of him.

“Tell me I look pretty from this angle again,” You said, your hands fidgeting with his belt loop. “You look pretty from this angle..”He breathed out, taking in the swollen shape of your breasts. “Just pretty?”You teased, lifting yourself up slightly to slide his cargos off; leaving him only in his boxers. “Gorgeous, Amazing, Breathtaking…”He named as you placed yourself back on top of him. 

"Do you think you deserve this after leaving me outside in the cold?" You said, playing with the waistband of his boxers. You could feel him squirming underneath you, wanting you to touch him; practically on the verge of begging. You loved seeing him helpless underneath you. It gave you a sense of power. “No," He weakly confessed, sliding his hands back and forth on your thighs. “How much do you want this?”You asked, edging him on. “So bad..”He answer quickly, his hands squeezing into your thighs as you dragged his boxers down to his own thighs. 

“Beg." "Please,"

“Please what?”

“Please ma’am,” He said, practically almost moaning it out. He was so weak under your touch and he knew it too. Again, he would never admit it, but he loved seeing you take control. He loved the way you felt as you were in control.

A blunt pressure stole the air from his lungs when you finally sank onto him, his cock spreading you wide open. He was so glad you were on the pill; it let him feel every part of you. Your throat let out a small whine, his fingers digging into the side of your hips, leaving you listening to his satisfied grunting. “Holy fucking..”He breathed out, looking up at you through his eyelashes. He could see a shit-eating grin on your face, just watching him unfurl underneath you. 

You started to rock your hips back and forth gently, making your pace faster with each thrust. You watched as Simon became pussy drunk completely under you; that sight brought a smile to your face. Your nails scratched down on his tattooed arm and your back arched in response as you heard possibly the most pornographic moan escape his lips. 

He watched as you continued to thrust yourself into him at a brutal, punishing pace, leaving him clinging to you helplessly, letting the moans escaping his mouth grow louder with every thrust. “You're such a...Oh, my fucking..” You moaned out, tangling your hand with his own, watching his eyes roll into the back of his head. You vaguely heard him curse out under his breath, his own end approaching much faster than he wanted. “You wanna cum, pretty boy?”You breathed out, feeling your own stomach beginning to tighten. He nodded in compliance, unable to form a coherent sentence. “Together, okay?”You said, watching him nod back again.

Both your hands gripped onto each other's bodies as you both came to your release. His hands definitely left a bruise from how tight they were gripping onto your hips. He could feel his back arching off the bed, your name leaving his mouth at least ten times, riding out his high. You watched as a smile spread across his face once he started coming down from his high, causing you to laugh a little.

“What?”He said, the smile still plastered across his face. You just shocked your head and laughed. “Just you being absolutely in love with me, I know that smile,” You said sliding out of him, laying down, and planting a kiss onto his swollen lips. He snaked his arms around your waist, pulling him closer to you. “I love you,” He said, placing a kiss on your ear. “I love you too, sweaty man” You giggled, wiping away the sweat on his forehead and planting a kiss there before he fell into a deep sleep on your chest.

[cheemscakecat]

Dream thing Emesis Blue

So you know how you have dreams, and someone that isn’t your mom or dad is called that and you go along with it? Because you aren’t awake? There’s situations where dream logic sounds right to your sleeping brain, and when you wake up you realize it doesn’t make sense.

The hand that drops Ma’s head could be a gloveless Medic.

The fingertips we see look grey like when Scout and Medic were in the ambulance. Except there’s one thing wrong with that theory.

Ma’s face is noticeably warmer toned than the fingers, next to the same unseen light.

But you know whose gloves have grey fingertips?

Still, that doesn’t explain why Scout is afraid of Medic/ seeing him as a monster when he’s rescued at the slaughterhouse.

So there’s one of two ways that could happen if Emesis Blue is a dream:

Scout cut away to being locked in the coffin and ��knew” it was Medic’s fault. The way dreams suddenly take you into a new scene or change the plot, but you don’t notice since you’re asleep. The problem is we can’t discount this theory since we have a big gap in Scout’s perspective.

Maybe it was an Engineer holding Ma’s head, but he saw “Medic” hunched over her body, like Ludwig did in his time loop.

But if it’s option two, there’s a secondary possibility. Look at how RED this scene is. Red enough that if this is the enemy Medic, you wouldn’t be able to tell. And what happened on BLU team that would warrant RED Medic showing up?

In addition to that, RED Medic joined Team Classic, which was hunting down the Admin’s mercenaries.

If BLU team’s been in hiding for 6 months, and Scout’s the youngest on the team trying to protect his Ma, his fear of getting found would still linger after the comic 7 resolution.

It was never actually BLU Medic that cut off Ma’s head; it was nightmare RED Medic. BLU is hallucinating his future car crash self like he hallucinated the plague doctor and being locked in a coffin. Scout didn’t realize he was accusing the wrong guy, since he was dreaming.

Decapitating someone unarmed and pulling out Scout’s teeth are both actions you’d expect from RED Medic if you were an enemy teammate hearing rumors about his crazy experiments.

Here’s the painful part:

If my shared nightmare theory is right, Scout’s going to wake up, check on Ma, calm down, and realize that he had the wrong Medic. And probably have a nasty gut feeling that he shouldn’t have accused the doctor, even if it was in a dream.

But Dr. Ludwig? The guy having a nightmare about his mental illness forcing him to hurt people out of spite? He’s going to think one of his personalities killed BLU Ma and kidnapped Scout. And that’s going to aggravate his already fearful and distrustful attitude towards them.

Electric Eye Medic immediately went to take the sentry gun to defend Ludwig and Scout when he got control of the body. And when he saw that he was too late to save Scout, he went into a revengeful rage and killed both Engineers. Maybe Scout doesn’t know it, but he’s met this personality before, and he sees the kid as a friend too.

That’s why I’m convinced he switched to being in control, stabbed Hoovy in the eye, and was the one crying in the elevator. Maybe he was already grieving internally, but had to take control again and Soldier/Demo saw the butt end of him crying, just when he decided to get more revenge.

The laugh/face of a man who’d burn that stupid briefcase in front of the whole cult if he could.

Funeral Medic’s hand was shaking from rage after he shot Spy. He probably witnessed Electric Eye crying and trying to explain how he failed to save Scout. Maybe it was the reason he waited for Spy to finish his speech; he was gonna shoot him anyway, but wanted that bozo to think he was safe and had gotten away with his lies.

That being said, I doubt that Medic’s other personalities are going to hold it against him if he accuses them of stuff they didn’t do. Definitely going to be upset, but at the same time they’d know he’s only saying it because he doesn’t know their intentions, and he’s equally disturbed and angry over what happened.

[voiddemon]

About the Kabastion puffball guys: How does each of them feel about the other two? I don't think it's on the ask game but fuck it we ball.

It isn't but it's such a good question actually. This got long and rambly and makes no sense so it all goes under the cut

Rupert and Kabastion originally had a very antagonistic relationship (Kabastion attempted to steal from Rupert), and this partially carries over into their friendship, where they are foils for each other. As Kabastion acts and asks questions later, and Rupert stops to think. They butt heads over a lot of small things because of this, due to their somewhat different morals and ideas, but are very open to what the other has to say.

However due to Rupert easily having the wind taken out of his sails, Kabastion has a big soft spot for the guy, so Kabastion likes to bolster his confidence and hype him up. Similarly Rupert knowing how to take life slow often helps Kabastion slow down and take in the moment instead of stressing out attempting to do and see everything at once.

Kabastion and Rupert are both also particularly greedy, though, and if they both want a big shiny thing they will go off and steal it together. Though they wont often agree on who REALLY owns it, they do enjoy a fun heist.

Rupert and Weed is a lot more chill, since Weed is a chill guy. Weed is sort of the mid-way point between Rupert and Kabastion's attitudes on life; He likes sitting back and letting life happen, but he also craves change to keep things interesting. Weed and Rupert are each other's mental reprieve a lot of the time, since they can chill out together and just enjoy being alive.

Rupert in general is a very safe person for Weed to be around. Since Weed REALLY cannot stand bad situations, and Rupert usually does not cause problems... usually. When he does, Weed will not stop Rupert but back him up (Since Rupert often expects to have to do things alone)

Weed is however a very honest guy, and he will give his blunt opinion regardless of circumstance. So while he lifts up Rupert, just as often he brings him back down. Which can at times put a strong strain on their friendship.

Weed and Kabastion are very different. Weed enjoys going along with Kabastion's ideas, despite their impulsivity and danger, due to Kabastion's attitude. He just gets caught up in that protagonist swag at times, and can't help but have a lot of fun.

Partially because Kabastion recognizes that Weed is the sort of person to try to blend into the background, and go with any situation. Which while Kabastion lets him do his thing, he makes sure Weed has a part to play in every crazy idea he has.

While everyone in this group has a significant amount of muscle, Weed brings the biggest guns, and is used to backing up Kabastion when he gets into too much trouble. However Weed still has his limits, and if shit gets too crazy Weed will try to force Kabastion to stop. He doesn't ever bail on him though.

[ageless-aislynn]

Okay, so I have a habit of talking out loud to my Halo game while I play. For example, in Halo 3 ODST, “Uplift Rising” there’s a point where one of the marines asks you (Dutch) to do something about the Wraiths and I inevitably say, “Well, pal, I’ll try but they’re probably going to kill me a few times first.” It’s just my thing. 😁

Then I got to thinking that I tend to call many of the characters by some sort of pet/nickname (except for my ODST team, oddly; I just call them by their names 🤷‍♀️). So here, for your reading pleasure (???) are the off-the-cuff things I call other characters in the Halo games:

*SPOILERS FOR ALL GAMES MENTIONED*

Halo: Combat Evolved

Captain Keyes - Dad (He started it by calling me son when he gave me his Magnum so that’s not on me 😇)

Cortana - Babe (She’ll say something like “Keep your head down, there’s two of us in here now, you know!” and I’ll say something back like, “I’m doing my best here, babe!”)

The Flood Infection forms - Cabbages (“Get away from me, you evil little cabbages!” Must be said with ABSOLUTE BLAZING SCORN as well. 😡😂)

All other Flood forms - Bozos (“Get away from me, you buncha Bozos!” Note: that’s referring to the clown, not the guy who started Amazon, a small but distinct difference in spelling. 🤷‍♀️😇)

Halo 2

Sgt Avery Johnson - Boss (He’ll complain that I made him trade his sniper rifle for whatever “lesser” gun I had and I’ll say, “Sorry, boss. Them’s the breaks.”)

The Elites who show up to help the Arbiter - My Good Dudes (They’ll be all “Look, it’s the Arbiter!” and I’ll say, “Thanks for coming, my good dudes! I appreciate it!”)

The Grunts who show up to help the Arbiter - My Good Little Dudes

Rtas ‘Vadum/Shipmaster - Bud (As in ”Good of you to show up, Bud!” or “Well, I’d rather you’d come down the elevator with me since you’re invincible, Bud, but stay here if that’s what you’ve gotta do.”)

Halo: Reach

Carter - Sir (Apparently the only member of Noble Team I respect??? 🤷‍♀️😇 Except I sometimes get a bit of an attitude about it. He’s all “Hurry up and get that AA gun offline, Six!” and I’ll say “I’m literally TRYING, sir. Like, right this second, I’m trying but they’re shooting at me.”)

Kat - Baby (I spend way too much time trying to coax her into getting into a Warthog with me: “Come on, baby, just get in the Warthog and we’ll go destroy the AA gun. It’ll be fun, I promise!!!”)

Jun - Pal (He’ll tell me I assassinated that Elite really nicely and I’ll give him a chipper, “Thanks, pal, that means a lot to me!”)

Emile - Baby Boy (I have no idea why I call him and only him this but I do it the entire game, lol. “Baby boy, I’m just trying to save your life here, trust me!”)

Jorge - I call him by his name but almost always add “I love you” to it. “Jorge, I love you, thanks for taking out that Skirmisher, he was about to shoot my butt off!” Occasionally might give him a “big man” but always with the ILU. Because I freakin’ love Jorge. 🥰

Halo 3

Cortana - Sweetheart (She has a rough go of things in this one so most of the time it’s a very sympathetic sweetheart, unless she interrupts me with a vision and I nearly die because of it. “Sweetheart, I appreciate that you’re hurting but you’re gonna get me killed if you keep doing that!”)

Sgt Avery Johnson - Bro (If you know this game, you know when I was saying, “No, bro, NOOOOOOO...” 😭😭😭 But previously, when he was up on the hill sniping the Flood for me, I kept saying, “Thanks, bro!”)

The Flood Stalker forms - Evil Spiders (Kinda self-explanatory if you’ve ever seen them skittering around. *shudder*)

The Flood Tank forms - TAAAAAAANK!!! (Very helpful to say out loud in order to warn, um, myself that one of them is coming at me. 😳🤷‍♀️)

Master Chief - Since this is, uh, me in all of the games, I usually just say something like “Chief’s coming, hang on!” but in this game, in the Cortana level where you rescue her and she’s all mentally wrecked and tells you she wants to get out of there, I hand-to-God blurted out, “Don’t worry, sweetheart, Big Daddy’s got you!” 😳😳😳 I have no idea where that came from. I just... Yeah. Whatever. Emotions were running high at the time, what can I say? 😳😳😳😇

Annnd that’s all that I can think of at the moment and I think that’s actually plenty, lol! Oh and as you might’ve noticed, I just finished Halo 3. My feelings were a little mixed as I was playing it, GOOD LAWD some of these levels are LONG, but I appreciate it more now that I’m done. I’m going to go back and explore the levels more, have some fun with them, now that I’m not *game on, face* trying to win, you know? 😣😉

Big Daddy, out.

[roamingaloneintheundercity]

I’m Alright

Silco • They/Them Pronouns • ANGST / SFW • Henchman!Reader

Working under Silco was nice and all. Even if the fists and bullets heading toward yea was the lowest part of the job.

I get food and shelter. Could careless what happens to me on a job.

“Have Y/N and Jinx go with you. The two even each other out well enough to make the negative outcome ratio less than just having one or the other”

“They’ll get the job done is what you want.”

“Precisely. And make sure Jinx doesn’t get hurt. She has enough on her plate”

“What about Y/N?”

“They’re part of your team. I don’t have to name drop them for you to know to make sure they don’t get hurt”

“Mhm. You just don’t want to admit it to me, sir” Sevika smirks on her way out as she tosses Y/N their rifle before gesturing them and Jinx to follow her out of the Last Drop.

Silco brought himself to the window of his office watching out into the alley seeing the three head out. Keeping an eye on them until they go out of view.

“So are we threatening?”

“Exploding a building?!”

“You shouldn’t get so excited about that” Y/N laughs a bit receiving an annoyed look from Jinx. “But seriously Sev, what are we doing?”

“Interrogation. If it comes to that”

“Oh damn” Y/N smirks loading their rifle. “Anything we should be prepared for?”

“A trap”

A trap indeed

“JINX. WE NEED TO GO” Sevika snaps holding the item they came to retrieve from who they interrogated. But they didn’t calculate them having connections with enforcers that weren’t on Silco’s side.

“IM JUST GETTING STARTED” Jinx laughs tossing a few more grenades as one of the enforcers had the perfect aim until Y/N kicked their gun down before knocking them out with the butt of their rifle.

“JINX WE NEED TO GO—-JINX—!” Y/N quickly ran toward the kid pushing them down to Sevika at the roof on the building below. Suddenly taking a hit to the skull.

“Y/N We—-“

“JUST FUCKING GO” Y/N yells slumping over the edge of the roof they stood on looking at Sevika holding Jinx who acted like an enraged cat that didn’t want to be held.

Then the narrow gaze pierced through Silco’s right hand as she quickly took Jinx and the item out of there. And the second they left their view, they did their best.

“We got the shit you wanted” Jinx announces her presence with annoyance in her tone as Sevika follows behind her into Silco’s office.

“Thank you for the lovely attitude. What happened?” Silco asks his kid as Sevika sets down the document.

“It was a trap! And we prepared for that yeahhh but then it started to get too much so we dipped” Jinx laid on his couch staring up into the ceiling. “More so Y/N got in my way because I wanted to to show those enforcers my dark side! Then they knocked me to the other building and yknow. I’m here now”

Silco quickly turns to Sevika as the pain in her expression was clear as day to him.

“The guy we originally came for to get the document. Didn’t cooperate. So we worked how we work just the three of us. Got what we came for”

“Then boom!” Jinx yells startling them both. “Enforcers breaking in at all sides that one bomb and a few hits later we got to the roof”

“And Jinx became the one that didn’t cooperate when the enforcers caught up. Y/N took out a few and…got knocked down a bit before they made the decision to push Jinx off onto the roof I achieved to get on to establish a clear way out”

“And where is Y/N.” Silco’s worry was in the right place but it didn’t match his enraged expression.

“Dead probably”

“Jinx. Leave” Sevika snaps as the kid didn’t listen.

“What? If you cared to pay attention…they took more hits of their weapons then you and me combined. Saved you from their termite. Me from a bullet. Then both of us in order to esca—-“

“LEAVE” Silco yells, slamming his fist onto his desk. “Both of you.” He states watching Jinx immediately leave to her hideout as Sevika gave her boss one last look before leaving to do what he silently asked of her.

Find Y/N.

“Who do we got?”

“Don’t know their name sir, just knew they wanted something from a guy and their friends got away with it” one of the enforcers tells Marcus who finally arrived at the scene once notified. And of course he recognized who it was.

“It’s just another random from the streets that caught up in the mess”

“But sir, they could be in affiliation with—“

“Are you going to question your superior or follow orders by leaving them alone? By the looks of it they won’t be getting up any time soon. Just leave them. I’ll handle this alone”

“Sir—“

“That’s an order”

“Right…” The enforcer looked at their colleagues and gestured the way out for them to go leaving Marcus on the roof with Y/N who took a painful gasp when they were finally alone.

Marcus knelt down and accessed the injuries he saw. He carefully shrugged his coat off since he was asked to come after hours, and carefully covered Y/N before kneeling down and doing his best to be careful when picking them up.

They didn’t get far when Marcus noticed Sevika trying to sneak to the scene unnoticed when she found the two. She carefully walked over staying in the alley and finally seeing the condition they left Y/N in.

“I’ll kill your men if they come near them again.” Sevika threats, taking Y/N into her arms hearing them wince at the movement causing tears to fall off their cheeks.

“From what I saw, they were beaten near to death. Broke their right arm and most likely a few ribs. A through and through gunshot wound in the shoulder…Sevika, he better not—-“

“You follow your orders and I’ll follow mine.” She frowns taking Y/N back to the Last Drop.

Of course the walk was silent and Sevika entering the building at so called “after hours” only brought more of it. Y/N tried to keep their pain to themselves when it came to all the movement and jolting every now and then that caused painful sounds to come out of them.

“I’m going to put you on your bed, and then get the doc. You think you can stay awake that long for me?” Sevika enters their room in the ground level and said all of that as she acted. Gently laying Y/N down and propping their head up with a pillow. “Y/N? You’re still there right?”

Y/N took a harsh deep breath causing a stuttering exhale before nodding and trying to think of something else while in so much pain. Sevika left the door open as she left knowing someone was going to close the door on the inside.

“You’re reckless” The door shut harshly causing Y/N to flinch and the tears to fall more, but the apologizes quickly came after as Silco came out of the dark once turning on the lamp beside their bed. “You could’ve died. And there’s still a possibility that you can.”

“M-Mm…I-I Uhm…” Y/N frowns, holding their chest with their left hand trying their best to calm their breathing but the shock was all still there. “W-We got what w-w…wa..we came f-for”

“That doesn’t matter now. It doesn’t matter now. You matter in this moment.” Silco carefully sat on the bed with their laid out form seeing everything for himself. “I shouldn’t have let any of you go. Should’ve done this with more than just the three of you. Jinx…she shouldn’t have provoke anything like she always does. Then maybe you would’ve—-“ he stopped when he felt Y/N rest their hand on his chest to make him stop. The two stared at each other for what felt like eons and Silco knew to stop trying to put that blame on something or someone else when it was Y/N’s call to take the risk.

“We got…what we came for” and that’s the last thing they said for a while as the doctor came in with Sevika shortly after.

Arm snapped into place, heavily patched, and strapped to their chest that was also bandaged up tight enough to keep the ribs still for a bit. The gunshot wound cleaned and stitched. A few bandages hear and there. Bruises can’t really do much for. And Y/N was fine to rest for however long they needed.

Including the fact that they were sedated for who knows how long.

“What do you mean they might not wake up? I didn’t risk one of my own to get you from the topside—only to be told my person may not make it” Silco snaps at the doctor as he retracts his person before collecting himself.

“Their body took a beating. Enough that should’ve killed them instantly but something prevented that. I did my tests and it’s nothing regarding arcane or some form of drug. So whatever god is out there or whatever you believe in, kept them alive. But once the adrenaline calmed down in their system, the sedation should’ve worn off but decided to shut down their body to recover.”

“That doesn’t make any fucking sense”

“Believe me or kill me. But they are alive. For now.” With that final note, the doctor was given the freedom to leave.

Silco felt the anger boil inside of him as he stares at Y/N’s unconscious body. He wanted to scream. Kill. But he couldn’t and can’t for that matter.

So he waited.

It was difficult when Y/N’s room was no where near his office/room. He made Sevika move them to his couch that he did best to make comfortable for them even if they weren’t awake or verbally saying their concerns.

But this last a week because Silco would watch them struggle to take a deep breath on a semi hard couch.

Which leads to Silco revealing his room to Sevika which was no surprise either. He’s always in his office, the bedroom just had to be hidden by a bookshelf. He made her move Y/N onto his bed. The scary boss’s personal quarters…was now where Y/N laid comfortably.

“No one but you would be able to check in on them”

“That’s fine. I’m not going anywhere unless…well. The phrase “someone is dying” is a bit too much for now. I’ll be here. Unless you desperately need me to intervene” Silco informs Sevika as she nods before going on with the jobs she has for the day.

Silco waited for the door to close to his office before picking up the paper work he needs for the day. Then entering his room to stay with Y/N and work at his vanity.

He hated going through another week of them not waking.

“Did you know studies show talking to somebody gets them to wake up sometimes?” Jinx informs Silco from the rafters in his office as she draws another character while he organizes a few things.

“Where did you hear that?”

“Singed”

“And why were you with Singed?”

“I’m not doing drugs if you’re thinking that! I want them back just as much as you do!” Jinx hung upside down holding up by her legs. “But when they do wake, are you gonna confess your little crush on them?”

“I can’t believe I told a child that.”

“Hey! I’m 18!”

“You will always be my child. Regardless. I’m afraid more affiliation with me will only bring more harm and danger”

“That’s a stupid excuse to not tell them how you feel”

“Shut up Y/N”

Then it hit him. Silco looks up from his desk as Jinx jumped down screaming happily and carefully wrapping her arms around Y/N.

“Yeah yeah. Missed you too troublemaker” Y/N smiles holding her with their only good arm still. “So when’s my next job”

“When pigs fly”

“Ah. So I gotta get Singed to work on that huh?” Y/N smirks winking at Silco as Jinx let’s go of them quickly turning to Silco and giving him a look before going to her hide out. “Uhm. I’m gonna go back to my bed if you don’t mi—“

“I do mind.” Silco states rising from his seat, adjusting his vest as he makes his way over to them. “You need to be comfortable while you recover and a cot won’t do that”

“Hey my bed isn’t a cot. It’s close but it’s not” They sigh watching him get closer as they automatically leaned against him. “Why”

“Why what”

“You care…I don’t know why I…wow” Y/N gently pushes back holding their head for a moment. “Woof sorry. When I woke up the world was spinning for a moment. Now that feeling is back”

“You really need to take care of yourself, lovely”

“Oh? And miss out on you taking care of me?” Y/N smiles and stumbled a bit which lead to Silco bringing his hands on their waist to keep them still. He wrapped his arms around their waist letting them return their head to rest on his chest.

“I can’t lose you…” Silco admits bringing them comfortably and protectively in his embrace. He feels their body sigh against him.

“I’m sorry I scared you, lovely”

[crimeronan]

Ok so I’m into the dreamer trilogy and haven’t read the Raven cycle...what is Declan’s characterisation/journey there?

THIS MIGHT BE THE BEST ASK I’VE EVER RECEIVED. IMAGINE I’M STANDING WITH MY ARMS SPREAD USING DIFFERENT VOICES AND HAND GESTURES TO REENACT THIS STORY FOR A RESENTFUL CAPTIVE AUDIENCE

also declan’s TRC storyline is like. equal parts horribly fucking sad and unbelievably fucking hilarious so. i will try to strike a Balance

FIRST OFF.  there is exactly one (1) declan POV chapter in the entire series. it happens toward the end of the last book. up until then, everything we know about him comes from the observations and narration of others.

he is also a very minor character.  his importance grows throughout the series, but almost all of his actions happen offscreen.  it’s not until the last book that we know exactly how much he’s been dealing with the whole time.

when he’s introduced in the first book, he appears as a plot device.  here is a two-dimensional horrible controlling hardass who doesn’t give a shit about anything but his future political career.  look at his fake, smug fucking grin.  how did someone like ronan end up with a brother like him??  doesn’t matter.  it’s a convenient excuse for ronan to live with his best friend in a drafty warehouse, which means more room for YA hijinks!

declan’s introduction scene is Embroiled in Capital-D Douchebaggery. according to the narration (from gansey and adam), he loves to fuck women and then never call them back, cozy up to powerful people, and bitch about how ronan’s ruining his life by being sad about their dead parents.  SOME people can just get over their dead parents, ronan!

this intro scene is also Extremely Funny i 100% recommend reading it even if u don’t read the actual series.  ronan makes a nasty comment, declan goes “why are you the way that you are” and tries to salvage his date, gansey utters the phrase “man whore”

then later that night things go like. actually bad.

declan shows up at the same pizza place where ronan is with his friends.  this scene is gansey pov.  gansey runs out to the parking lot to find the two of them Very Literally Trying To Kill Each Other.  you don’t see that violence in cdth - there’s only the TINIEST shadow of it when declan confronts ronan over matthew - so i Cannot Express Enough that someone is going to end up hospitalized at BEST. ronan’s already slammed declan’s head on the car, declan’s already grabbed ronan and beaten the shit out of his face, like.

you do not get good old-fashioned Declan Lynch At His Actual Worst in cdth. u might be thinking, THAT guy???? doing THIS????

oh yeah. things are real bad between declan and ronan.

after gansey breaks up the fight (and gets punched in the face for his trouble, albeit accidentally), declan tells ronan that their dad would be fucking ashamed to see him now & that he’s washing his hands of it & basically if ronan wants to go off and fucking die, he can.

this is like. just a couple months after the magical suicide attempt referenced in cdth

in the aftermath of that scene it becomes clear that ronan absolutely unequivocally 100% will kill himself if he has to live with declan. hence. why he’s living with gansey instead.  gansey spends that whole night petrified that the declan altercation will lead to another attempt, and for Good Reason

so like, that’s how we first meet declan. he’s an uncaring wannabe corporate asshole who does not give a fuck and who only exists to exacerbate ronan’s mental health issues.

but then the opening of book 2 gets real interesting.

book 2 is where we start learning more about the lynch family.  we learn that ronan’s father was a dreamer who sold his creations on the black market, we learn that that’s why he was murdered. we learn that ronan’s a dreamer too. we learn that there are very powerful people looking for the greywaren, an artifact that takes objects from dreams. those powerful people just don’t realize it’s a person, yet.

so here’s the assassin who killed niall lynch.

he goes to declan’s dorm.

with everything we know about declan, the kid should be completely unprepared.  he can box, but the assassin knows that, so there’s no real advantage.  he’s alone, and he doesn’t have an escape route.

declan pulls out a gun.

this is an unexpected turn of events.

unfortunately he ends up getting beaten half to death with the butt of said gun, because he loses the ensuing physical struggle for the weapon.  the assassin is like, i need the greywaren.  declan is like, i know it exists but i don’t know what it is.  i’ll find it for you.  i’ll get it to you.  then you’ll leave me the fuck alone

now with everything we know of declan at this point - his attitude toward ronan, his general demeanor, and this new knowledge that he knew about the black market - there’s one obvious question.

will declan sell ronan out if he finds out about the dreaming.

and like, okay. their relationship is antagonistic in cdth but it is NOT what it is in trc. believe me when i tell you that at that point, when you’re reading, you can pretty reasonably go, “oh, god.  oh god.  oh god please no one ever tell declan what the greywaren is.  oh god.”

declan has some other interactions with ronan and the gang throughout the book, mostly where he’s just a hardass who tells ronan to stop causing trouble.  adam’s the only one who notices that declan is scared.  like bone-deep shaking to the core petrified.  about Something.

probably getting beaten to within an inch of his life by the man who murdered his father.  that’s the reasonable reader conclusion.

so imagine how everything changes when you find out that declan already knows.  that declan’s known about ronan’s dreaming for longer than ronan has.  that declan knew exactly what and who the greywaren was, and he lied to a man who was ready to torture him for information, and he got away with it.

suddenly a lot of things recontextualize.

“keep your head down and stop making trouble”? people are gonna NOTICE your magic bullshit, ronan, we do not have time for this!

“stop hanging with that loser druggie friend of yours”? you mean the loser druggie friend who sells on the magic black market and doesn’t care about protecting himself or anyone else?

“i got super weird for no reason about ronan sleeping close to adam”? i don’t have fucking TIME to be homophobic i’m busy with your POTENTIAL TO MANIFEST NIGHT TERRORS IN FRONT OF WITNESSES IN BROAD DAYLIGHT

“i’ll find out what the greywaren is and bring it to you”? i’ll die. i’m making a bargain to die. i’m never giving you the greywaren and i know you’re going to kill me about it and that’s fine as long as my brothers are safe

ronan doesn’t know that he dreamed matthew.  declan knows.  he’s known the whole time.  declan tells ronan in book 3.  and then things recontextualize even further, because ronan’s death is also matthew’s, and matthew IS close to declan in trc.

but declan never tells the goddamn truth unless it’s his last option.  he doesn’t tell ronan that he knows about the dreaming and he doesn’t tell ronan what specifically wants to hurt him and the lack of communication fucking destroys both of them.

in the last book, ronan realizes declan loves him.

more than that, he realizes declan’s loved him the whole time.

this is when declan finally tells the truth.  things are getting bad, plot-wise, and declan is scared, so he comes clean.  he tells ronan that niall specifically tasked declan with protecting ronan from the market.  he begs ronan to run from the danger.  “let’s pour gasoline on everything dad left and start over.”

this is also when ronan realizes that declan’s childhood was very different from ronan’s own.  and that niall and aurora lynch were not the same people to declan that they were to ronan.  and that their father’s decisions are what’s driven the wedge between him and declan all this time

(he’s still struggling with the cognitive dissonance of this in cdth. i don’t think he knows how to adjust his perception of declan to fit this new information.)

aaaaand the final scene with declan makes me cry every time i read it so instead of summarizing, here’s the important part:

Ronan delivered a sharp tap to the object, and a small cloud of fiery orbs sprayed up with a sparkling hiss.

“Jesus, Ronan!” Declan jerked his chin away.

“Please. Did you think I’d blow your face off?”

He demonstrated it again, that quick tap, that burst of brilliant orbs. He tipped it into Declan’s hand, and before Declan could say anything, jabbed it to activate it once more.

Orbs gasped up into the air. For a moment, he saw how his brother was caught inside them, watching them soar furiously around his face, each gold sun firing gold and white, and when he saw the spacious longing in Declan’s face, he realized how much Declan had missed by growing up neither dreamer nor dreamt. This had never been his home. The Lynches had never tried to make it Declan’s home.

“Declan?” Ronan asked.

Declan’s face cleared. “This is the most useful thing you’ve ever dreamt. You should name it.”

“I have. ORBMASTER. All caps.”

“Technically you’re the orbmaster though, right? And that’s just an orb.”

“Anyone who holds it becomes an ORBMASTER. You’re an ORBMASTER right now. There, keep it, put it in your pocket. D.C. ORBMASTER.”

Declan reached out and scuffed Ronan’s shaved head. “You’re such a little asshole.”

The last time they’d stood on this roof together, their parents had both been alive, and the cattle in these fields had been slowly grazing, and the world had been a smaller place. That time was gone, but for once, it was all right.

The brothers both looked back over the place that had made them, and then they climbed down from the roof together.

[squishneedsahero]

Ductape and Superglue

Awesomest of Them All 2.0

Part 13 of 13

Word Count: 1607

Batman x Batmom!Reader

You know what the bat family needs? Someone to pull them together and give them all the love they deserve. Who better to do that than you? An author rising to stardom in Gotham who catches the eye of a billionaire with your standoffish attitude at a huge social gathering. You are yourself and never pretend to be more or less than that. Plus you're the most stubborn person in the world, refusing to let good things go without reason.

This is a rewrite of my story Awesomest of Them All, I wanted to see how much I've improved over 3 years.

Bruce got a call, one that he had never gotten before even if he had always dreaded it. A phone call during a Wayne Enterprises meeting from someone demanding money and sending a picture of you tied to a chair. You had that normal fire in your eyes in the picture and it was obvious you weren't hurt but still no one wants their wife held hostage and threatened with a gun or worse.

Tim looks over Bruce's shoulder at the photo on the phone screen. His heart leaps to his throat and he pulls out his phone, already working on figuring out where it is you are located from the little he can see in the picture. He and Bruce were here in a meeting it would only make sense to call the GCPD and not run out the door to get you to safety. Tim knows Bruce though, always thinking everything through except for when it came to you. He would do anything in the world to keep you happy and safe.

Tim's hand coming to rest on Bruce's upper arm pulls him back to the reality that is that he cannot run out the door to your rescue. "You call Alfred, I'll call the GCPD," that's all he says and that's all it takes to set things in motion.

Two phone calls are made and those lead to two more made by Alfred and Damian who he had just picked up from school. Alfred calls Jason and Damian calls Dick, they are the only ones who get notified in the moment to go get you but it's enough.

Cass is on a date with Steph, they're the next to get a phone call from Tim, just informing them of the situation but making it clear that they are not needed at the scene. Stephanie protests this and tries to claim that you'd need Spoiler's help as well. You were as much of a mother to her and Cass as any of the boys even if only Cass was officially adopted. In the end the two girls go to the Mansion to wait with Alfred and coordinate things from the cave with Babs who is there upon their arrival.

Damian liked to think he still disliked you and could barely tolerate you. But even if he wouldn't admit it he was more scared on your behalf than he had ever thought he'd be. Despite him being horribly rude to you, you had never been anything but nice even if your nice included sarcastic comments to prove your point. You had helped him learn what a family was supposed to be like.

Jason gets a call from Alfred and he is changed and out the door of his apartment before the call is over. You were his Ma and he was your Jaybear, and he wouldn't be letting you get hurt. Alfred was the one person you had given his phone number too even though he had told you to keep it a secret, but in this moment he was glad you had.

This leaves Dick, who had gotten a call from Damian, telling him the situation and that he would be joining him at the warehouse. Dick was with Babs at the mansion so the two head to the cave where Barbara takes over in the computer while Dick changes and hurries out the door to go get you.

Things seem like they're going smooth when the three boys arrive one shortly after the other. Jason is already in and picking off the men in the surrounding area and getting you out of the chair when Dick and Dami burst in and start taking out more guys. You're safe and that's all that matters to any of them.

But then there's that singular gunshot and all three of their hearts skip a beat. Damian sees you slide the rest of the way into the next room but the other two just see the door swing closed behind you. None of them know where you had been hit and if you were okay on the other side of that door. But they can't walk away from the fight in the middle of it. Once all the men are down Jason takes off too you, not giving Damian or Dick the chance and leaving them to tie the guys up.

"Mama?" Jason asks, slipping into old habits in his fear.

"Hey Jaybear, I'm fine, it's just my leg," you comfort him quickly but let him take care of your leg for you. You'll have to go to the hospital as it's the only proper thing to do but he stops the bleeding and gives you a tight hug.

The other two boys come in and you smile and comfort them, telling them all how proud of them you are. This gets interrupted by police sirens outside. You quickly shoo them away and let Bruce know you're safe, knowing your husband would want to come after you himself at this point but you were fine. You needed to let the police take you to the hospital and make all of this look somewhat normal and not like a family problem.

You spend a few hours at the hospital, getting stitches and a brace since the bullet had ripped through your muscles, leaving your leg weak. When they let you go they push you out in a wheelchair and give you a pair of crutches.

Media personnel try to crowd you and get answers for their many questions. You shut them up with one of your classic, "I'm fine now leave me alone to be with my family or you will start your own newspaper to post stories about them and slowly put them out of business." It was a good threat that worked every time. If it didn't work then you just added in the idea of getting photos of their butts to add to the articles, titling it "the asses of Gotham"

You choose to spend the early evening watching movies on the couch with your family. Cass and Steph take their own chair to cuddle in, same with Dick and Babs. This leaves you to cuddle with Bruce and Tim and surprisingly Damian sits next to you, kicking Tim out of his normal spot meaning you had no choice but to sit in Bruce's lap so the boys can both sit next to you.

Alfred wished you well upon your arrival home, then returned to make dinner for all of you even if you tried to tell him to just order pizza. "No, miss Wayne, you were shot today and need a healthy meal," he responds much to your annoyance with him calling you miss, as though you were a child and your parent had called you by both your first and middle name.

All of you aren't far into the movie when you get interrupted by Jason entering the family room. You light up at the sight of him and before Bruce can stop you you're out of his lap and over Jason wrapping him in a hug. How you made it that far without falling due to torn ligaments no one knew but you were now in Jason's arms and he could keep you steady. You make him lean over so you can kiss his forehead before you make him come sit on the couch where you had been.

When he tries to object you give him that stern mom look and he obediently comes and sits next to you, and Damian on the opposite end of the couch from Bruce. Things definitely were tense between the two but you don't care, it's a start.

You finally have your whole family back under one roof for the moment. Your four boys, one girl and two unofficial girls. You loved every single one of them so much and were so glad that you were all together again. They all knew how much you loved them, and how you took time for each of them, the only reason Jason was getting extra attention was because he had been gone for so long.

It had hurt so very much when he had suddenly been taken from you. The pain of loosing a child wasn't anything you plus bear even if you had had too for years. You all share a nice dinner together then because you had all spent so much time together Bruce insisted that the city would be fine for the night with just the kids and that he needed to stay and make sure you were taken care of.

For the first time in a long time things were relatively peaceful for your family, even if you had a leg wound. You had them all together and would now be able to work with Jason and Bruce on their relationship and getting it back to a less tense father son relationship. Damian was finally truly giving you a chance. Dick was on good terms with Bruce, and he was happy with Babs, even talking about marriage in the future. Tim was helping Bruce run the company and he was brilliant at it, plus he seemed truly happy for the first time in his life as he had recently started officially dating Conner. This just left Steph and Cass who were about to graduate high school and were looking at apartments, planning to move in together despite almost already doing so since Stephanie always seemed to be at the manor. It wasn't a typical life but you wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

The End... idk

[jackson--t]

Hate me, adore me.

Part IV

Summary: Ivar is not good with children.

Words: 3.1 k

Warnings: smut, swear words, rude behaviour, a lot of fucks (really).

Tag buddys: @youbloodymadgenius @jadelynlace @punkrocknpearls @neverwantedagony​ @moonlightsspirit​

AO3? here.

Ivar liked many things.

He liked to watch his basketball games on TV, along with a cold beer. He loved Game of Thrones with ramen in his bed, all Sunday long when he wasn't on duty. He loved chocolate ice cream, preferably with lots of colorful sprinkles on top - and he loved good sex.

But on this day, Ivar felt reminded once again of all the things that annoyed him terribly and that drove the absolutely annoyed wrinkles on his forehead already at 7 a.m.; it wasn't just Heahmund's know-it-all attitude, once again, when he had forced Ivar to fasten his seat belt while driving; or the fact that he had once again wanted to forbid him to chew gum. Ivar had ironcladly defied the gum rule: because he needed it. He needed it bitterly so as not to get too upset and to keep his mouth closed as best he could, to have something to do so as not to let expletives hail. Because one of the causes of his bad mood was just waddling across the street at super low speed and was caustic and annoying: children.

Ivar had always successfully avoided having to escort the little buggers across the street in the morning until now - but thanks to Heahmund's terrific, terrible effort and his disgusting good nature as Mr. Jesus, he had been forced to ride with Heahmund to the nearest elementary school even before he was actually on duty, and to go on duty as a fucking friend and helper. His mood was in the basement, more than that.

He cast a scowl down at a small, blond girl who was staring at him with wide eyes; she had her mouth slightly open and was still staring at him when Ivar had turned away slightly. When he noticed, he looked at the girl again; the little girl blinked.

"Are you a policeman? You don't look very nice, do you?" the little girl squeaked, and Ivar rolled his eyes. He loved his job because of the guns, because of the violence, because of the "don't give a shit" attitude he could let out to some - but today was a shitty day. And those little green poison dwarfs didn't make it any better.

Ivar stared at the girl for a moment, then let out a deep and annoyed snort. "Nah, I'm a garbage man, you little devil. Move along before I eat you up."

The girl stopped for a moment in shock, and when Ivar took a faked step towards her, she shrieked and ran towards Heahmund, who was standing just a few feet away, directing the children across the street with a broad smile. Urgh, Mister Perfect. Again.

"Ivar!" echoed over to him, and Ivar chewed his gum in annoyance. He threw Heahmund a rough nod, while the older policeman eyed him indignantly.

"What are you doing? You're not supposed to scare the kids!" he said reprovingly, turning directly back to the little girl who Ivar had scared earlier with a smile.

Ivar wrinkled his nose and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He still couldn't decide what made him feel sicker to his stomach: those little buggers, or that the critters worshipped Heahmund so much it almost looked like a scene from the damn Bible.

It seemed worlds between today and yesterday; endless, endless days since he'd had sex with Heahmund, and for the first time experienced a different side of the cop than his haloed nerd side. Ivar bit his lower lip softly at the thought of their "slip" and stared at Heahmund; he hated to admit it, but that encounter had left its mark on Ivar.

Of course, he would never confess it in his life, not even under torture: but he had easily fallen for Heahmund - at least the part that had fucked him mercilessly yesterday. It had been that unbelievably good sex, that passion that had been there between them - and that sheer tension that had existed between them for ages. They were like fire and water, like night and day - but that's what made it exciting for Ivar. He had almost not been able to look at himself in the mirror the next morning, because he had actually jerked off to that memory twice the night after the "accident" - always that perfect body in front of his eyes, that smell that had been on Heahmund's skin, those damn arousing kisses that had given Ivar more than goosebumps.

And yet he hated him, in a way. The way he stood there, bringing those fucked-up kids across the street, with an angelic smile that sent sheer goosebumps of horror across Ivar's skin; he could hardly stand the way the little fuckers looked at the man like he was the next messiah, while they just eyed Ivar like something they were afraid of. Ivar just stared at a fat kid who was eyeing him particularly challengingly as he jutted his chin slightly.

"What do you want, pug face, huh?" he snarled, and it wasn't a second before Heahmund's voice thundered across the street.

"IVAR, damn it! It’s enough!" Oh, Ivar heard the anger from the raspy voice, that little thread of last, polite restraint guaranteed to snap in the patrol car. He looked at Heahmund, unimpressed, and raised an eyebrow; Heahmund's blue eyes had darkened.

"Would be nice if you didn't play godfather to the fucking lambs for once, so we can get out of here," Ivar retorted snottily, while Heahmund snorted.

"Okay, get in the car. And don't use those damn swear words! Kids, don't listen to him. They call him the Grinch at the station." Heahmund deaclred, amused, while he was immersed in soft children's laughter.

Ivar had had enough. He threw his stupid ladle against the sidewalk and lit a cigarette; he walked the few meters to the patrol car and casually leaned against the passenger side. His lungs were burning, so hard he pulled on the cigarette - but he didn't care. Let the fucking Heahmund shut his fucking mouth! Had he possibly imagined that there was more going on there? Had he possibly jerked off twice on him by mistake? Yes. But that was really just a slip. It could hardly be anything else, after all Ivar didn't go for men like Heahmund. Fuck it, whatever his stupid heart said.

It wasn't fifteen minutes before Heahmund appeared at the patrol car with a more than angry expression on his face; he stared at Ivar for a moment, then nodded roughly in the direction of the car. Ivar flicked his cigarette onto a patch of grass and got in; as they sat in the car, their eyes met. For a moment there was a tense silence, during which Ivar calmly chewed his gum so clearly that Heahmund could see it perfectly; only when he leaned back slightly did Heahmund's deep voice murmur at him.

"Did you just throw a lit cigarette on a lawn there?" he asked, and Ivar looked out the window for a moment. He snorted softly before turning to Heahmund again and putting on a soft, overly friendly smile that was hard to beat for sarcasm.

"I don't know, you should check it out. And maybe pick up trash on the side, and you're guaranteed to go to fucking heaven."

Heahmund's brow furrowed slightly; Ivar saw exactly how his hands curled into light fists, but he returned Heahmund's angry look with the still wide grin.

"Ivar, honestly, you're such a fucking asshole, you know that? I really want to punch you in the face right now. You do realize that throwing away burning cigarettes violates environmental regulations, and most importantly, endangers safety?" he hissed, and Ivar shrugged.

Heahmund looked at him for a moment, then actually got up and went outside to properly dispose of the cigarette. Ivar, meanwhile, stared out the window: he looked at Heahmund's butt, at the broad shoulders, at the handsome face that seemed to curse softly. "You fucking nerd, look at you.", Ivar muttered to himself, catching himself biting his lower lip lightly as Heahmund ran his hand through his black hair: one had to hand it to him, he was just damn good looking.

Ivar was still staring at him, too, when Heahmund sat down next to him again and let out a deep sigh; he leaned his head back for a moment, though Ivar was still looking at him. Something tingled inside him.

"You could... hmm... you could punish me really bad under Section 17b, don't you think? You fucking nerd.", Ivar hummed softly; as Heahmund's blue eyes locked on him, he grinned slightly. And his body was bathed in sheer goosebumps when Heahmund finally turned the ignition key and snorted softly. Ivar knew he was taking him up on his offer when they drove into an area where there were almost no buildings - except abandoned factories. It was almost too good, the tingle that shot through his bones when Heahmund finally parked; and before the older cop could open his mouth and lecture again about any regulations, Ivar's hands had cupped around his face and he was kissing the older man, who, underneath all the hatred and dislike, also inspired terrible and urgent lust in him.

He couldn't even last two minutes in his own seat and had quickly sat down wide-legged on Heahmund's lap. The older cop emitted a slight gasp, almost barely audible, as Ivar's hands dug through his clothes, fumbling with the belt of his pants.

"You're insatiable. And a monster.", Heahmund groaned out between two biting kisses; his hand had long since made its way to Ivar's bulletproof vest, undoing the Velcro and pushing the soft shirt up under Ivar's vest. Ivar loved those warm, rough hands on his torso, and he let Heahmund feel it clearly with a soft moan. His fingers ran desirously urging along Heahmund's zipper on his pants, feeling the thick bulge in them that he was particularly lusting after. Fuck, he was so fucking hot for this guy it was almost embarrassing.

"No foreplay, you greedy grinch? Fuck, Ivar... at least with a condom this time!", Heahmund murmured softly, even though Ivar's hands were already pushing and softly rushing into his pants. When he had the thick and already hard cock in his hand, Ivar exhaled for a moment; he closed his eyes and pressed himself against Heahmund's torso before hissing softly, "Tell me, are you somehow only getting horny when you have protection? You want to maybe leave that fucking vest on during sex too, nerd?"

As Ivar intensified his movements on Heahmund's cock, Heahmund's pelvis clearly moved upward; Ivar sensed him looking at him and opened his eyes.

"Would it turn you on?" Heahmund murmured breathlessly; Ivar opened his lips breathlessly, moving his warm hand tighter and tighter around Heahmund's cock. He loved how the trained cop grew harder and harder, how wet drops of pleasure appeared on his tip, which Ivar easily wiped away with a slight gasp and a nimble movement with his thumb; Heahmund moaned, but they were still looking at each other.

The corners of Ivar's mouth lifted slightly, then he grunted. "Fuck, yeah."

"I knew it. Harder." Heahmund moaned, pulling Ivar's neck closer, covering his neck with warm, smooth, slightly biting kisses as Ivar's hand continued steadily. His own erection was pressing like mad against his pants, and Ivar was so incredibly hot for Heahmund that he didn't take any time. After all, a damn stake could flutter in at any moment.

He unzipped his own pants to the slight groan of Heahmund, pulling them down somewhat awkwardly along with his boxers to the point where he could still practically sit well on top of Heahmund; his body was covered in goosebumps as he watched Heahmund spit into his own hand in one fluid motion, wetting his hard cock with it. Ivar grinned slightly; he wet two of his fingers before sliding them into his entrance with a slightly awkward motion, widening it slightly; the sound that came from Heahmund sent pure pleasure through his body. The two looked at each other.

"Fuck, Ivar. You're such a fucking beast, I swear I'll fuck the hell out of you already."

"Oh, come on - you're into it. You probably only had 0815 cunts that looked pretty but had nothing on them."

Ivar almost whimpered when Heahmund abruptly stopped him from his movements; his fingers slipped out and he was pulled onto Heahmund's lap with a firm and strong grip; he placed himself over Heahmund's cock, moaning slightly as he looked into the dark-haired man's eyes.

"Then let's see how good you can ride, gutter boy!" Heahmund groaned; Ivar's fingers clawed brutally at Heahmund's chin, holding it up as he gently lowered his pelvis and let Heahmund's hard cock slide carefully inside him; he did it deliberately slowly, letting that rock-hard muscle stretch him open gently, loving the way Heahmund's mouth opened slightly, the way his fingers clawed harder into the flesh of his hips.

"Fuck, Ivar!" he moaned darkly, and Ivar jerked his chin up again that had turned shallowly towards his chest - those blue eyes staring at him full of fire.

"Don't call me that! You fucking bastard." Ivar hissed; he whimpered softly as he felt himself sink to the base on Heahmund; they were both breathing heavily, and Ivar pulled Heahmund's face closer to him, pulling the older cop into a biting, hard kiss before slowly moving up and down.

Fuck, damn. It hadn't been enough that Heahmund had been an absolute grenade in bed the last time, no - his cock just seemed made for Ivar's core. It was perfect in thickness, and even more perfect in length, that it was already softly grazing the soft bundle of nerves inside Ivar with every deep movement Ivar made on it. Ivar swallowed audibly and clawed at the back of Heahmund's neck; he loved feeling the pressure of Heahmund's hands on his body, loved the fucking vest he was still wearing, which only further vocalized his fucking nerdiness, which seduced Ivar beyond belief. His movements became steadier, more violent, and he became more and more breathless.

Oh man, this was going to end in an orgasmic disaster. Heahmund was just too good.

They kissed breathlessly, and Heahmund's hands slid up to Ivar's waist; they closed warmly around the arches of his ribs, supporting him in the movements that were becoming more fluid and deeper, even as they took away Ivar's breath. His belly was pleasantly filled with warmth, so full of feeling.

"We can...fuck, Ivar!- ...we could maybe discuss the punishment thing over an evening...dinner. Fuck, you're killing me," Heahmund cursed, and Ivar threw his head back slightly.

He knew he wouldn't last long - but he would definitely not get ahead of Heahmund this time. He knew too many tricks in this position for that. He smiled softly as he let his entrance twitch slightly around the thick cock; it drove a moan from Heahmund's lips.

"Is that a fucking date, Heahmund?" Ivar exhaled, clawing harder at the base of Heahmund's black hair on the back of his neck. The older cop underneath him groaned, and his hands at his waist twitched. Ivar repeated the motions twice before Heahmund threw his head back slightly in his seat.

"Is...no, this is an...on-duty...fuck!... meeting”. Heahmund's voice grew harsher, thirstier, Ivar heard it clearly. It turned him on so much that he himself had to be beastly careful not to come right on top of that hard cock thrusting into his prostate at the perfect angle over and over again; but he was too proud. He held out for a little while longer. But the thought that Heahmund had just asked him for a private meeting chased even more lust into his body.

He was hot, so damn hot inside.

"Sure, you weirdo." Ivar hummed with pleasure, soaking in the taste of another kiss that Heahmund breathlessly gave him; his hands weren't letting go now, and the cop's pelvis thrusting from below was getting a little faster. When their lips parted, Heahmund opened his eyes slightly, seeking Ivar's gaze.

"Fuck, I think I..." he groaned, and Ivar moaned.

"You're coming, aren't you? Come on, you know I want you to...", Ivar breathed against those fucking delicious lips, stealing a breathless kiss before watching Heahmund's eyes close with a powerful wave of heat in his body.

"Fuck, I'm coming..." the cop moaned so harshly that Ivar moaned softly; he clawed at Heahmund's body as tightly as he could, wrapping his heated arms tightly around the body, almost amazed, manically turned on, at how quickly it made Heahmund come, that simple touch.

The man groaned a dark moan right at Ivar's sensitive collarbone, deep and rough as he came jerking inside Ivar. Ivar continued to ride him, riding him hard and demanding until he too felt the violent crashing peak of his orgasm: the wave of pleasure crashed over him so brutally that he had to stop his riding movements to avoid losing control completely. Just like the first time, this orgasm tore out something deep inside Ivar, gave him everything he needed, nourished him with so much love and lust that he almost choked on it.

The windows were fogged the hell up when Ivar broke away from Heahmund after what felt like an eternity; they were able to wipe away the mess they'd both made just fine, because of course the nerdy Heahmund had good tissues with him; Ivar grunted quietly and had to grin a little wryly when Heahmund had to spend a long time wiping at a stain on his black vest, with a quiet, annoyed snort.

"You can tell it's gravy," Ivar said, earning a nasty look from Heahmund after he luckily managed to remove the stain just fine; when Ivar was back in his seat and, to Heahmund's satisfaction, even buckled up for once, Heahmund looked over at him. The two looked at each other, and then Heahmund smiled slightly.

It was a beautiful smile, one that Ivar hadn't seen from him before, and one that made him feel sick in a different way than he did on the road today. As if suddenly, there was something in his belly that fluttered around like crazy and made him almost happy inside. Disgustingly happy.

"I was serious about the... dinner." Heahmund said; the blue eyes sparkled slightly, and Ivar grinned a little wider. He couldn't go soft now, no way - Heahmund couldn't score points everywhere with his nerdy, gentlemanly behavior, after all. "Maybe we'll get along better someday. Get to know each other better." the dark-haired man added, and Ivar turned his head slightly so that Heahmund wouldn't see him blush slightly on his cheeks. He popped a new piece of gum into his mouth and winked.

"Shut up and drive, you miserable nerd. You won't get the Nobel Peace Prize for polishing, too."

But his heart had already said yes, and he also knew, without looking over, that Heahmund knew, too.

[egcdeath]

campers’ quarrel

pairing: steve rogers x reader (ft. mentions of other avengers)

summary: who would’ve guessed that a camping trip with your team and a man who you couldn’t stand would go south so quickly? (that’s a rheotical question.)

warnings: mentions of a broken bone, kind of enemies to lovers, swearing

word count: 2.4k

author’s note: i’ve honestly never gone camping before. hopefully that’s not to obvious. enjoy! 

You and Steve never really clicked. From the start of your work as an Avenger, he’d clearly been wary of you, and being new, you didn’t want to make his disdain any worse than it already was.

This didn’t go unnoticed by your teammates. The more adjusted you became to the team, the more the teasing from them grew. And unfortunately for you, it mainly revolved around your tense relationship with Steve.

Tony constantly paired the two of you up on missions, specifically ones where you’d have to pretend to be in a relationship. Sam and Nat would tease you relentlessly at parties, sitting the team down, looking at both you and Steve, then declaring that playing spin the bottle was a necessity.

With no thanks to your teammates behavior, Steve’s wariness towards you quickly turned into animosity. At least once a week, you’d both butt heads over something as small as leaving cupboards open, or as severe as not carrying your weight during a mission.

When this tension came to a head, Tony suggested that the team go on a ‘bonding’ trip to the woods. You were not completely thrilled at this, but you were a team player, and you knew for a fact that if you refused, you’d be accused of not wanting to be around Steve for an extended period of time.

That’s how you ended up in the back of a Subaru, looking at the window aimlessly while attempting to drown out the intense conversation between Natasha and Bucky over the efficiency of some gun you’d never heard of with the music in your headphones.

“Hey,” you felt a little tap on your shoulder, and you lifted one of the earbuds out of your ear. Steve gave you a right smile, “Can you turn it down some? I can hear your music from over here.”

You sighed softly. It was always something with the super soldier. “Sorry, Steve. Not all of us have super hearing.” You turned your music down regardless, but sent a bitchy text about Steve to Wanda after doing so.

“It doesn’t take a super serum to hear all of that,” Steve muttered quietly to himself. Fortunately, for the peace of everyone in the car, you didn’t hear the comment. However, you did notice Sam looking back and forth between you and Steve, and it did make you ask yourself what exactly you’d missed.

You really were not looking forward to this trip.

——

Soon after your car arrived, the camper containing the rest of your teammates made it to the campsite as well.

“All right guys,” Tony announced while rounding everyone up in a circle, “We need to experience the full camping experience. That means no powers to create whole campsites, looking at you Wanda. It also means now crushing small game with metal arms to feed the rest of us.”

“Wonder who that’s directed at,” Bucky muttered.

“Now, everyone has a part to play in setting up shop. Take it away, Pep.”

You couldn’t help but to giggle at the fact that Tony and Pepper were treating this like some sort of Keynote presentation.

“Thanks, Tony,” Pepper looked down at the clipboard she was holding. “Okay, Bucky and Sam, you’re on tent duty. Nat, Wanda, find us something to eat. Y/N, Steve, grab some firewood for us. Banner, Rhodey, once the firewood is here, you’re responsible for starting the actual fire. Good luck everyone!” Pepper said cheerily, before waving a dismissive hand to send you all off.

To say you were pissed about being paired with Steve was an understatement. But you refused to make a scene. You silently began walking behind Steve, who seemed to not want to interact with you either.

That’s how the majority of your trek for wood went. Silent and tense. You really just wanted to find any piece of wood, but it was just your luck that the ground was extremely damp, and all the wood that you came across was similarly damp and unusable.

It was strange, because time seemed to be going by very slowly, yet extremely fast at the same time. You swore that in a matter of moments, the sun was already making her way down, indicating that night was near.

“Jesus Christ, Steve,” you broke what felt like the century long silence between the two of you. “Can we just give up already? I mean, we’re clearly not gonna find any good wood, and we keep getting further from camp, and we’re about to be in complete darkness.” “It’s fine, Y/N. I brought a flashlight and I’m sure that we’ll find something somewhere. Stop being such a downer.” You swore you could hear Steve roll his eyes as he went about crouching in the dirt in his search for fallen tree branches.

“I’m not being a downer, I’m being realistic. We need to go soon. We can just explain to the team that all the wood was bad,” you stood up straight, pacing around the area Steve was searching in.

“You really wanna let everyone down?”

“You’re being dramatic.”

“You’re not being dramatic enough. Look, I just found some dry wood. Come’ere and help me find some more.” He beckoned you over with his hand.

On your way over, you failed to notice a rather large log, and tripped rather forcefully over it, twisting your ankle dramatically in the process.

A sharp, searing pain traveled up your entire leg, and you yelped out in pain before falling onto Steve’s back, which hurt almost equally.

“OW! What the fuck!” You yelped before rolling onto the damp forrest floor.

“Are you okay? What happened?” Steve quickly turned around, and leaned over your sprawled body.

“I swear to God I just broke my ankle. And then your back decided to cripple me some more. Did you even feel it?”

“Of course I felt it. Hey, get up. Let’s see if you can walk. It’s probably not even broken,” He stepped back then stood up, extending a hand down to you to help you up. You hesitantly took his hand, somewhat nervous of what holding this man’s hand could awake in you, then attempted to stand up.

The moment you felt the weight shift to your left foot, you collapsed back onto the floor with a groan. The pain made tears well in your eyes, and you quickly became embarrassed with the emotions you were displaying in front of Steve.

“I can’t Steve. Can you call 911 or like, Tony or something?” You turned your face away from Steve’s eyeline so that he wouldn’t see you cry, but you knew the waver in your voice was betraying you.

He slipped his phone out of his pocket, then shook his head, “No reception. I’m sorry, Y/N.” The apology felt genuine, and it was kind of throwing you off. The air of annoyance that had seemed to always be between the two of you felt like it had faded away, for just a moment of seriousness.

“Can you, uh,” you awkwardly rubbed your warm cheeks at the thought of what you were about to ask. “Can you carry me back to camp?”

“I guess we don’t really have any other option.”

“Let’s just… not mention it. If anyone ever asks, this never happened. And you need to forget about it ever happening too,” as Steve began to scoop you up, you  added one more thing. “I’m not even joking, Steven. I swear to God I’ll make Bruce make an amnesia serum so you forget this ever happened.”

You could feel the laugh vibrate from Steve’s chest as he carried you bridal style. You just hoped he couldn’t feel the butterflies fly throughout your stomach.

----

A few hours into being carried, the situation began to lose its novelty, and you were beginning to become more annoyed as you realized that Steve was very lost.

“Steve, do you have any idea of where you’re going?” You questioned.

“Of course I do. Just have a little patience, okay?” He glanced down at you with furrowed brows.

“Mhm.” You said sarcastically. “I swear I’ve seen this exact tree like, three times already.”

“I’m sure you have.” He responded drily.

“What’s up with you and that attitude, Steve? You’ve always had a problem with me, and I never did anything to you.”

Steve scoffed, “what attitude?”

“That attitude!” You gestured wildly with your hands.

“Well, you’re no better. It’s not like you ever tried to be my friend or anything like that.”

“That’s not true at all. I remember during one of our first team bonding nights, I kept trying to talk to you, and you kept shrugging me off.” You pushed a finger into his chest.

“That’s because you kept asking me stupid shit, like if I’d heard of Beyoncé before or if I knew what garlic powder was. Put that finger away.”

You obliged and shrugged, “maybe I don’t remember that night as well as you do. But asking you questions like that can’t be the only reason why you dislike me so much.”

“I don’t dislike you,” Steve began while walking up a new path.

“So why do you act like that to me? How was I supposed to know that?” You looked up at Steve, and in the dark, you were still impressed by his sharp facial features.

“Can we talk about something else?” Steve glanced down at you.

“Yeah, let’s talk about how this is all your fault. If you weren’t so stubborn and just gave up on finding this damn wood, I wouldn’t be here with a broken ankle and spine. And I wouldn’t be feeling your heart racing like a hummingbird’s against my back.”

Steve blushed at this, he hadn’t considered that you could feel his heart racing. If your eyes weren’t deceiving you, you could almost make out a light red tint on his face.

“Shut up, Y/N,” Okay, Steve was definitely blushing. “If my heartbeat is annoying you so much, would you rather me leave you out on the ground for the bears to find you, and for you to become worm food?”

“You wouldn’t.”

“I would.” He stopped in his tracks, then began to lower you down, excruciatingly slowly.

“Steve! Okay, okay. I’m sorry for pointing out your heartbeat. I just wouldn’t want your geriatric ass having a heart attack on me. Now hold me.”

The both of you erupted in laughter. You honestly wondered if you and Steve stopped being such sucks to each other, if you could actually form some kind of relationship. You could see yourself being good friends with the man.

Once you both stopped laughing, a comfortable silence flooded the air. It was late, and exhaustion was clearly beginning to plague both of you. “I’m so tired,” you whined, breaking the silence.

“Me too. Should we sit down somewhere and call it a night?” Steve’s pace began to dwindle.

“I guess. It’ll probably be easier to find our way back to home base in the sun.” Steve nodded at this comment.

“I’m gonna set you on this log while I roll out the tarp. Give me a sec,” Steve followed through with his statement, then looked through his backpack to find the blue tarp for you two to lay on.

You waited patiently for Steve to roll it out, then when he did, you slid onto it, wincing in the process at your throbbing ankle.

“You okay?” Steve asked, a genuine concern in his voice as he sat down next to you on the tarp.

“‘m fine.” You mumbled, throwing your arm over your face and sighing.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get you to the campsite.” Steve said softly beside you. “Really.” He closed his eyes and turned his head away from you as you turned your head to look at him.

“It’s okay Steve. I’ll probably be fine. Nothing a night in medbay can’t fix, right?” You smiled a bit, even though you knew he couldn’t see it.

Even in your uncomfortable position, sleep was quickly overtaking your body. Your brain was barely functioning at this point.

You reached a hand over onto Steve’s chest, and you once again felt his heartbeat pick up. “I’m sorry that I act like this,” you mumbled, your words slurring together. “I think you’re really great.”

Steve’s hand landed on top of yours. “You’re not so bad either,” he slurred sleepily. “You know, the reason why I act like I don’t like you is ‘cause I like you a lot. You’re pretty… cool. You’re pretty and cool.”

“Aw Stevie,” you sighed happily. Steve turned his head to you and gave you a smile that you could only faintly see in the dark. “Are you cold?” you asked abruptly, interrupting the moment you two were having.

“Yes! I thought it was just me. It’s like negative 500 degrees out here-“

“Spoon me. Let’s conserve our warmth,” you hummed out, and Steve quickly and happily obliged. With that, the both of you were out like lights.

——

“Fucking finally!” Bucky cheered, making your eyes open abruptly.

“And to think we thought we’d lose our lovebirds forever.” Rhodey laughed.

You had to blink a few times before your vision (and brain) finally cleared enough to acknowledge what was happening in front of you.

The sun was up, and your whole team had showed up in front of you and Steve, watching you two spoon affectionately in your sleep.

“Ew, what?” You scooted away from Steve, then groaned at the persistent throbbing of your ankle. At this point, Steve shot up as well.

“What is going o-“ his eyes practically bulged out of his skull when he saw his teammates. “Oh shit.”

“You two have lots of explaining to do,” Sam laughed at the situation.

“Let’s start with this: I think I broke my ankle yesterday. So who wants to help me get back to camp?”

——

You sat at the kitchen table of the camper on your way back to the compound, a mug of lukewarm coffee sitting in your hands while you contemplated the weird ass night you’d just had.

While deep in your thoughts, a seat was pulled out, and none other than Steve Rogers sat right down in it.

“So, are we gonna talk about what happened yesterday?” He asked you with a bit of a smirk.

“No. I don’t think we will.”

[teawaffles]

The Conspiratorial Bullet: Chapter 7, Part 2

“Mr William James Moriarty?”

Having been politely addressed by his full name, William responded with a gentle smile. It could even be called divine: strangely, the sight of it quietened Kevin’s tumultuous heart.

However, there was still the matter of the live bullet. In place of Kevin, who was yet unable to organise his thoughts, Andy frowned.

“William. Why are you here?”

“That isn’t the right question to ask, now is it? Rather, how did I find out that this terrible sight was entirely of your making? — I think that’s an appropriate question.”

“This is, all made up……?”

Kevin absorbed those words, and then called out to Andy.

“What’s the meaning of this!? Was this all contrived by you!?”

But Andy shoved him aside, as if he found his presence galling.

“Poppycock! This young man doesn’t know what he’s saying! You used that gun to murder Helena — that’s the undeniable truth!”

“Guh……”

Kevin groaned. Andy’s words had cut to the quick, and the resultant guilt instantly plunged him into despondency. But as he hung his head, William asked him a question.

“Mr Kevin. How did that gun come to be in your possession?”

“What’s this? You’re an outsider, so don’t butt in.”

“Lord Andy, please stop talking for a moment. Well then, Mr Kevin: what’s your answer?”

At William’s dignified voice, even Andy, who’d been about to make a complaint, fell silent. Kevin’s gaze landed on his revolver in the old man’s hand.

“That…… It was given to me for use during the game. At the time, I thought it was a toy. After that, I got embroiled in a fight and lost it, then picked it up again.”

Then, William posed him another question.

“When you picked it up, how did you know it was yours?”

“Huh? You didn’t have to ask that: the gun has a card with a number attached to it.”

“I see. So you knew from the number on the card.”

William looked at the number 8 written on it.

“In that case, if a malicious third party were to take that card off your revolver and tie it onto a real gun, would you have noticed that?”

“……Huh?”

At that significant remark, Kevin looked at the gun once again. He shook his head.

“No, it would be impossible for me. I wouldn’t have noticed. After all, that toy looks exactly like the real thing.”

“That’s right — and Lord Andy used that fact to switch your gun with a real one.”

“Wha……!?”

His deduction had left Kevin speechless. Right away, Andy refuted the idea.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! Why would I ever do such a thing?”

“The reason has been eloquently illustrated by the bargain you tried to strike earlier. You wanted to drive Mr Kevin to ruin by falsely accusing him of the murder of his child — and on top of that, you wanted to steal the profits from his business.”

“W-What malarkey is this?!”

William ignored his howls of rage, and continued.

“You probably drew up this scheme when we proposed this game. Because it uses guns that look just like the real thing, you could stage an accident in which one accidentally fires live ammunition. Moreover, the toy guns are marked using cards tied with string — making it easy to swap one for a real gun.”

Kevin paled.

“Then, was Lord Andy aiming for me to lose my gun?”

“Indeed. You thought that you’d lost it of your own accord, Mr Kevin, but that’s not the case: at some point, Lord Andy deliberately knocked into you, or did something similar in order to get you to drop it. After which, you found Miss Helena — perhaps Lord Andy found her beforehand, and led you to stumble across her. Then, he got you to shoot her. After that, he blamed you for the murder in order to sow guilt, such that you would act exactly as he wished. That’s the entirety of his plan.”

“…………”

Yet again, Kevin was speechless at that horrific scheme William had so eloquently described. However, Andy — who was now under suspicion — clenched his fists as he trembled all over.

“Kevin-kun, don’t listen to him. Everything he said is no more than speculation. It might sound like I did it, but there’s no proof, none at all.”

“——Then allow me to make my statement.”

Suddenly, a cheerful voice could be heard addressing them from above. Then, a man jumped down from a tree beside them.

He landed gracefully on his feet, and bowed politely to the three men at the scene. From his blindfold, Kevin realised who he was.

“……Mr Herder?”

“Indeed. For today’s game, I have been entrusted with the duties of both explaining the game and refereeing it. My name is Von Herder. I hope you may pardon me for startling you with my sudden intrusion.”

After introducing himself once again, Herder turned to face Andy.

“Well then, I have an important report to make with regards to the matter you’ve been discussing thus far…… After Lord Andy got separated from Mr Kevin, he picked up the dropped gun, untied the cord, and retied it onto a real gun he had concealed on his person — that, I personally witnessed. That may come across as a contradiction, seeing as I’m blind, but I’d appreciate it if you could let that slide.”

“Although he took on the role of referee, I asked him to pay particular attention to both of your movements,” William added.

“Hold on — this Herder guy is one of your men, isn’t he? Then he could very well be spouting lies to match your story.”

Andy was quick to raise his objections, and Herder cocked his head as if he were troubled.

“Right where it hurts, huh. So you’re saying that a testimony from one’s own circle is inadmissible. Moreover, when the guns were being handed out, we can’t rule out the possibility that pure bad luck resulted in a real one being mixed in with the others.”

“That’s right. So your statement can’t be used as evidence.”

Andy cracked a victorious grin, but Herder continued.

“However — from what I recall, Lord Andy: when you swapped the guns, you put Mr Kevin’s revolver in your breast pocket. If you were to leave it concealed in the undergrowth, there was a risk it would be found, which is why you kept it just in case. Well, if you had left my precious item on the ground like that, you would be guilty in a different sense.”

“………!”

Instantly, Andy’s face tensed up. If what Herder said was true, that meant he had another toy gun hidden on his person. That, would be physical evidence that the guns had been swapped.

Although he’d tried to proclaim his innocence, Herder’s observation left him no choice but to give up. Exasperated, Andy groaned.

“I should’ve been more careful……. Did you see through my plan from the start?”

William nodded openly.

“We specifically furnished a game that would aid you in laying a trap for Mr Kevin. In short, Lord Andy: this game was a stage to prove your malice.”

A stage to prove his malice. Upon hearing that, Kevin thought back to the “plan” Albert had spoken of at the start.

“Even without this game, you would’ve found some other way of coming for these two members of the Curtis family, now wouldn’t you?” Herder added.

“Two? So it wasn't just me they were after — but Helena too?”

Kevin looked at the girl in the distance. She still lay crumpled on the ground. He’d been worried for her safety for some time now; but for some reason, William and Herder just calmly stood where they were, with no sign of concern for her. Perhaps they had taken the rational approach, inferring that it was already too late — or maybe there was another design at work…….

For a moment, Kevin detected a sense of incongruity in their attitudes. But William spoke up, and his attention shot back to the conversation.

“Mr Kevin’s ruin, and Miss Helena’s death. The conspiracy to bring about these two ends has continued since the attack on the department store the other day.”

“Since that incident?”

“Yes: Lord Andy hired men to raid the store.”

Then, William raised two fingers.

“He had two objectives. The first, was to damage the store’s reputation by staging a disaster there.”

Kevin readily agreed with that view: ever since that catastrophe, customers had kept their distance, and he’d even been forced to close up shop as a result. As for the second objective, Helena, who’d been caught up in the incident, had given him a hint about that.

Sensing that Kevin had also come to that conclusion, William waved his fingers as he continued.

“Next, his other objective was to kill Miss Helena. In all likelihood, it was due to his involvement in her father’s disappearance — in fact, she holds an important piece of information regarding that case.”

“Eh!?”

Yet again, an astonishing fact had been brought to light, and Kevin found himself sinking deeper and deeper into confusion.

“That case…… Lord Andy was involved? What’s more, Helena knew?”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Do you really think I did all that?”

Again, Andy’s face turned red with rage, but William paid him no mind.

“From the time he first met you and your business partner, Lord Andy wanted to destroy you both, and take away your profits if he could. He first set his sights on Helena’s father; Lord Andy probably thought that if he were to vanish, then you, Mr Kevin, would also withdraw from the scene due to your timidity. However, you took him by surprise when you resolved to continue the business. Hence, in order to bring about your ruin with certainty, Lord Andy resorted to this act of violence.”

“Shut your gob! You’ve just been saying whatever you pleased! This is nothing more than speculation! If you’re going to spout all this nonsense, then bring out the evidence!”

Andy stamped his feet as he yelled.

Certainly, as he’d protested, they had no way of presenting evidence for this missing person’s case — because the girl who was supposed to be their key witness, had had her life cut short right over there.

However, William glanced at the fallen girl, and spoke in a serene voice.

“Understood. Well then, let us have her make her entrance.”

[inkslingersworld]

Crowbar (Alternate First Meeting)

Hi guys! This here short story is my first participation in Adrigami Week! I was planning on posting it yesterday, seeing as it’s following the “Alternate First Meeting” prompt, but the time got away from me. Idk if it’s still eligible for the official reblog or not, but I still had a blast writing it all the same. Enjoy! (Contains very mild profanity)

\\\\\

Her lip was bleeding. For whatever reason, Kagami chose to focus on this minute aspect out of all the other injuries she’d sustained. She dabbed it with a paper towel.

Kagami couldn’t recall how she’d gotten like this. There was so much she couldn’t recall, and the staggering immensity of all her forgotten experiences had weighed down on her for so long that when she found herself in a bathroom without a clue as to how she’d gotten there, she was able to handle the newfound situation better than someone who hadn’t been through what she had.

The only thing that confused Kagami was that her clothes were in perfect condition, despite her face being bloody and streaked with dirt. In fact, they looked as though they’d just been sewn by a master tailor. 

She brushed the puzzlement aside - she couldn’t linger here in this mysterious bathroom. Lingering got you killed.

The door opened easily at her touch, and Kagami examined the bedroom that it led into. The walls were painted in an eye-catching shade of purple, but the bed itself was small and plain. Kagami also noticed that there was no furniture other than a small nightstand and that the window was broken. It framed the outside world in jagged glass.

This aforementioned outside world was cloudy and bleak. Based on how damp the street appeared, Kagami concluded it must’ve rained recently. The buildings matched the clouds in their shade of gray, with windows just as broken as the one Kagami was using as an observation point. No street signs were visible. No vehicles, no animals, no people. Not even wind.

Kagami couldn’t care less about the lack of other individuals; her attention was pinpointed on the crowbar leaning casually against the building opposite. Without a second’s hesitation, she kicked away the rest of the glass and crawled expertly out of the window.

She didn’t know how she knew there’d be a fire escape, but resolved not to ponder on it, because every second she didn’t have the crowbar was a second where it could fall into the possession of someone else. Crowbars were tools; tools were extremely helpful.

By the time Kagami had raced down the stairs leading to the ground, she could notice how old and rusty the crowbar was. In retrospect, it probably wouldn’t be much use against some of the more contemporary weapons others owned, but in times like these, Kagami would take anything she could get.

In no time, she had dashed across the street and grasped the crowbar in her right hand. Flakes of deceased metal fell to the ground like rotten snow as she twirled it experimentally. Even if it fell apart in combat, it was nevertheless pretty maneuverable. 

“Drop it.”

Kagami turned around instead, searching for the voice’s master. She found the man in question stepping out the adjacent alleyway. His face was hidden under an old halloween mask, but Kagami could see he was wearing a green rain jacket and pointing a pistol in her direction.

Was it a pistol? Further examination led Kagami to realize it was no such thing; it was a water gun, and she almost pitied the hopeless idiot who brandished it at her.

“I said drop it!” the man shouted, though not very loudly.

“You know that’s not a real gun, right?” Kagami asked nonchalantly, deciding to break the truth to him.

The man lowered the toy firearm and hung his head. “Damn it.”

“Wait, you already knew?” said Kagami in disbelief. “Why on Earth would you use a water gun instead of, I don’t know, an actual one?”

“I’m a pacifist,” admitted the man, sounding guilty. “I’m a believer of nonviolence.”

“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but nonviolence fell out of fashion a while back,” said Kagami, not knowing where she’d heard it from.

“Well, I always favored the old styles over the new,” the man said. “You hungry? I’ve got some food.”

Kagami’s mouth fell open in spite of herself. Who did this airhead think he was? You didn’t just go around offering people food. But before she’d even responded, he started walking over to her, removing his mask in the process.

Based off his recent actions, Kagami was expecting him to look innocent and tame, and she was not disappointed. However, she hadn’t foreseen blond hair and green eyes. She hadn’t expected him to look this... well, attractive.

“I’m Adrien, by the way,” he said, plopping his butt on the pavement and taking off his previously concealed backpack. “What’s your name?”

“I’m not about to tell you my name!” Kagami cried exasperatedly. “I know nothing about you!”

Adrien, who’d previously been busy unpacking, looked up at Kagami closely for the first time. His eyes widened after locking with hers and he dropped the box of Ritz crackers he’d been taking out.

After a few uncomfortable seconds, Kagami demanded, “What?”

Adrien flinched violently and faced the ground, blushing. “Nothing.”

“Why were you staring at me for so long?” persisted Kagami.

“N-No reason!” Adrien stammered embarrassedly. 

“Then why were you doing it?”

“I don’t know!”

Kagami decided not to push the topic and begrudgingly sat down; she hadn’t realized how hungry she was until now.

“So...” began Adrien slowly, seeming to regain some of his previous placidity. “I never did learn your name.”

“We’re not there yet,” Kagami grumbled, snatching a plastic-wrapped sandwich out of his hands.

“Well, what are you doing ‘round these parts?” Adrien asked curiously, putting his chin in his hands.

“None of your business,” snapped Kagami, losing some of her intimidation skills to a mouthful of grilled cheese.

“How’s the food?”

“Awful,” Kagami replied, even though it was delicious.

Adrien laughed hard. “You’re funny!”

“No, I’m not.”

“Oh, but you are!” 

“What’s your problem?” asked Kagami sternly. “You know nothing about me, I could’ve killed you without hesitation as soon as you came over here!”

“And yet you didn’t!” Adrien pointed out cheerfully.

Kagami took a deep breath, trying to keep her temper in check. “Adrien, wasn’t it?”

Adrien nodded and smiled, seeming delighted that she’d remembered his name.

“Adrien, I don’t know what miracle allowed you to survive for this long, but in our society’s current state, you might not be around much longer. I suggest you drop this puppy dog attitude and learn to fend for yourself.”

“Why learn to fend for myself when we can fend for each other?” asked Adrien earnestly.

The sincereness of this question, contrasting with the playfulness Adrien had exhibited, caught Kagami off guard for a moment, though she soon regained her bearings.

“Adrien, no offense, but you’d be dead weight,” she stated. “Even if I wanted to stick around with you, my memory kinda wipes itself clean every six hours or so, only holding on to the most treasured information - my name, my personality, how to speak, how to read and write, knowing what stuff is, and the like.”

“No way!” exclaimed Adrien, before Kagami could continue. “I have the same thing! That’s why I started a diary!”

He zipped open his backpack again and retrieved a worn leather-bound book. Adrien opened it and showed Kagami its messily written contents.

“I originally didn’t remember how to write,” he explained, flipping through some pages to get to the beginning, “but I was able to relearn! It took like a year, though.”

Kagami peered at the even messier scrawl of a younger Adrien. She was shocked to see his name spelled incorrectly with crayon.

“How long’ve you been on your own?” she asked uncertainly.

“About twenty years, I think,” Adrien answered dismissively. “I can’t know for certain, I didn’t relearn how to understand a calendar until someone took me in when I was... fourteen, maybe?”

“Someone took you in?” inquired Kagami.

Suddenly, Adrien’s face began filled with sorrow and loneliness. “Yeah... yeah, I don’t like thinking about that.”

Noticing how sympathetically Kagami was gazing at him, Adrien quickly plastered his old smile back on. “That doesn’t really matter. Now I’ve got you!”

Kagami hesitated. One of the instincts her memory’d held onto was avoiding people, but Adrien seemed different. He in the same situation she was in, and he’d shown her kindness. Besides, it’d be nice to have a companion, and Adrien’s diary probably contained scores of valuable information to help the duo survive. 

Even if not for all those reasons, there was something else, though Kagami wasn’t sure what it was yet. For whatever reason, Adrien made her feel relaxed, happy even. She didn’t know why, but he did.

“Okay, Adrien,” she said resignedly. “You can stick with me.”

Adrien’s face lit up with gratitude, and before she knew it, Kagami found herself buried in a hug. It was warm and comforting.

“Thank you so much!” Adrien said happily. 

“No problem, Adrien,” sighed Kagami, already having her doubts.

Adrien released her and scooped up his backpack. They both stood up.

“Where are we headed?” he asked.

“West,” responded Kagami mechanically. “It won’t make too much of a difference, but we need all the sunlight we can get.”

The two started to walk. After trekking for about a minute, Adrien spoke again.

“You never did tell me what your name is.”

Kagami smiled softly and rolled her eyes. “It’s Kagami.”

“Kagami,” repeated Adrien thoughtfully. “I like that name.”

\\\\\

@adrigamiweek

[foodieforthoughts]

Sand and Stars - Chapter Three

Series Summary: After the water pump being blown up, the insurgents in Baqubah are taking a hold of the food supply to the village. Camp Warhorse is in dire need of reinforcements. It has been eight months of submitting countless requests when the High Command commissions Sergeant Olivia Ross to take her group of men and women and help Captain Syverson and his team to restore a semblance of normalcy. But with the war raging, does it get two hearts closer too?

Pairing: Captain Syverson x OFC x OMC

Word Count: 1834

Warnings: 18+, Mentions of war, military technicalities, smut in future chapters

A/N: Everyone who is sticking around for this story, I love you all. So finally there is a bit of story progression and I really am excited for your feedback. Also, thanks to @thelastsock for beta reading, this woman is a GEM! Like, comment and reblog if you liked it, we writers get a boost of confidence from it. Enjoy!

*gif by @demivampirew*

<Chapter Two

Title: Chapter Three

Olivia rubbed her hands together as the cold January winds washed over her face. Her four in the morning wake up had her relieving Schmidt from his patrol post. Despite wearing her t-shirt underneath her fatigues and the armored vest strapped on her torso, she shivered as a gush of wind swept over the silent desert.

The temperature in the Iraqi desert usually dropped down extensively, in contrast to the sweltering heat during the day. Olivia loved winter mornings but only when she was back home in New York, watching the sun rise through the fog with a steaming cup of coffee. Oh what would I do to get a cup of coffee right now.

She spotted Sloan behind a barricade made with sandbags along with BJ, or Sergeant Benjamin Jones, by her side. In a funny twist of events, two weeks of an unusually high amount of scheduled postings together was all it had taken for Margaret Sloan to stop complaining about his boisterous attitude and morph into fawning over the man. Olivia had an inkling that BJ was behind the coincidences of them spending time together so often.

Walking across the quiet compound, Olivia reached the gate where Schmidt stood with two more men from the Special Forces team, whom she recognized as Pepps and Pats. Schmidt smiled at her as she approached him which she returned with her own while pulling on her gloves. Adjusting her rifle properly around her shoulder, Olivia greeted the other two men who were in the process of pulling out cigarettes from a box.

“Morning, Sarge,” Schmidt greeted while accepting a cigarette from Pepps, “I can go to bed now.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m here for.” She pulled at the scarf on her neck, winding it snuggly to prevent the wind licking at her exposed skin. Pats offered a cigarette to her which she promptly refused.

“What? You stopped smoking?” Schmidt spoke with the cancer stick between his lips, staring incredulously at her.

“Like you don’t know.” She rolled her eyes.

Schmidt shrugged his shoulder, lighting the cigarette and handing the camouflage print lighter back to Pepps. He let out a thick puff of smoke in the air with the other two giving similar clouds as they walked away.. “I blame Alex for changing you.” Schmidt said while shaking his head. “He’s made you bland like our MREs.”

Olivia snorted. “I don’t change for men, Gary. And besides, smoking isn’t good for health.”

“Who are you and what have you done to our Sergeant Red?”

Olivia laughed while punching Schmidt in the shoulder. Schmidt laughed along, taking drags of his stick in between. The silence of the night with not even the sound of insects was apparent in the pitch-black darkness beyond the gates. The silence felt deafening to her combat attuned, city living ears. 

“Sloan doing alright with her new guy,” Schmidt chuckled, jutting his chin towards the barricades. “These guys were letting me on some juicy gossip about those two.”

“Care to share?” Olivia feigned interest by animatedly resting her chin on a hand. She had already heard Sloan gushing about her supposed crush on the bearded hunk of a man who was apparently a sweetheart.

“Sloan snuck in their quarters last night. BJ made everyone-” His sentence was cut short as he looked beyond her shoulders, forgetting his words while being fixated on whatever was behind her.

Olivia turned around instinctively, following his gaze and gripping her rifle just in case. Her heart skipped a beat as she spotted Captain Syverson making his way towards them with Aika following him. He was dressed in only a t-shirt and cargo pants like the cold did not even affect him. Or he was too hot to feel it. She mentally kicked herself for letting her thoughts flow towards the gutter.

In the past few weeks, Olivia had grown to like the captain. She had already accepted the fact that physically he was a sight for sore eyes. But she had also observed how he went about his day and concluded he wasn’t a creep like she had initially thought.

She had watched him talk to his teammates, the meticulous briefing that he carried out every morning. He commanded respect but was also easy-going. Just the other day, she had watched from afar as he was being teased by Pepps over being smitten and how he was turning into a hormonal teenager. Olivia had blushed beet red when Pepps had mentioned her name and had rushed to join her men while trying to conceal the subtle smile playing on her lips.

“Good mornin’, guys.” Syverson’s husky voice sounded like a pleasant hymn to her ears. She let go of her gun, letting it hang over her chest and resorted to nervously fixing her scarf.

“Morning, Captain.” Schmidt greeted, offering his cigarette to Sy.

“I don’t smoke.”

Olivia looked towards Schmidt coyly, already understanding the thoughts going through her adopted twin’s head. Schmidt was smirking at her, wiggling his eyebrows and puffing out smoke as he made his way to join Pepps and Pats. On several occasions he had called her out for staring at Sy like he was a ‘delicious plate of home cooked food’. She had hastily refused and showed him the finger while desperately trying to hide her blush.

“Pleasant morning,” Sy commented, looking around the compound with his hands on his hips. She let her gaze travel over the vastness of his chest and down to the gun holster on his thigh. Olivia would have never imagined herself to be jealous of a piece of nylon sitting snugly against a soldier’s thigh.

“Sergeant Ross, are you checkin’ me out?”

Olivia instantly veered her eyes away from his thick thighs and looked up at him. Sy's eyes danced with mischief, a shit-eating grin peeking out from his beard. In the past two weeks, Sy had also progressively flirted with her. He would sometimes compliment her on her pushups in the gym which she assumed was just an excuse for him to look at her ass. He had brought out a cup of coffee for her in the middle of the night when she was posted at the gate too. His men had teased him about being partial towards her for which he had flipped a finger at them.

“Not everyone is like you, Captain.” She turned back around, pursing her lips to mask her smile. She liked to playfully banter with him. She heard him snort and walk to stand next to her. His presence made a spark of electricity travel from her head to the tip of her toes.

“I disagree.” He chuckled. The vibrato of his laugh reverberating from his chest seemed to immediately brighten Olivia’s day. She glanced at him and felt her heart pick up the pace, meeting his eyes. “If we were back home, I would have already taken you out on a date.”

As the words registered in her mind, warmth rushed to Olivia's face, even the tips of her ears felt hot in the cold desert air. “Pretty bold of you to assume I would go on a date with you.”

“Oh, you would agree.” He smirked at her. “I can even describe the date if you want.”

Olivia rolled her eyes. She shrugged her shoulders and leaned against the wall of the gate post. “Only because I have nowhere to go.” She tried to act disinterested, but her curiosity was already rising. It had been ages since she had last gone out on a proper date with any guy. Only the whirling blades of the chopper and the dust of the desert came to mind when she tried to recall the last time.

Sy leaned against the wall sideways on his shoulder, crossing one ankle over the other. He crossed his arms over his chest and smiled at her affectionately. “First, I would buy you some flowers and drive up to your house. Then I’ll take you to this wonderful place where they have seating in a private area, so that we are not disturbed. Would get some wine to go with our food and ask you about your life.”

“Red or white wine?” She asked only out of curiosity.

Sy scratched his beard, frowning as he thought. “Not a wine guy. But I would drink it if you like.”

Olivia was flattered that the Captain was ready to make an exception for her. She felt her heart flutter but decided to shrug her shoulder nonchalantly. She gestured to him to go on because she wanted to hear what else he planned for this date.

“After dinner, I’ll take you…for a nice walk at the park. We would sit on a bench and talk, maybe get a little handsy.” He raised his eyebrow suggestively, his mouth curling at the corner.

“Phft!” Olivia huffed, rolling her eyes. But internally her mind was already filling up with images of running her hands down Sy’s chest or feeling his hands on her butt. She took a slow breath to calm her rapidly heating body.

“Okay, scratch that. We’ll maybe go for an ice-cream. And when I’ll drop you back at your place, we’ll stand outside on the porch with only the crickets keeping us company,” Sy stood up from the wall and took a step towards Olivia. His voice dropped an octave as he spoke, “And I’ll kiss you like no other man has ever done.”

Olivia’s breath hitched as she looked at Sy’s mesmerizing eyes. She looked at his tantalizing lips, darting her tongue out to wet her own. She gulped as her throat went dry and the cold vanished from around her. It felt the longest moment in her life where she debated whether to just lean in and get the kiss Sy seemed to be offering.

But like a jolt of lightning and an unpleasant déjà vu, Olivia was reminded of something similar happening between her and her other captain. It had been a momentary lapse of reasoning which had led her to get involved with Alex and enter a complicated relationship with him.

As soon as the thought appeared in her mind, Olivia pushed herself off the wall and took a step back. She couldn’t let herself get sucked into another man’s life while she already had unresolved issues with another. She noticed Sy’s eyebrows knit together in confusion before she turned to look the other way. She closed her eyes, sighing and thinking of a clever way to dissolve the moment. Luckily for her, Syverson was a clever man and he must have picked up on the hint for he called Pats to accompany him to the south gate.

Olivia watched as the Captain walked away without addressing her or glancing her way. She was certain she had wounded the man’s ego in one way or another. She let out a slow breath, felt her shoulders slump as Sy’s figure disappeared behind the building.

Chapter Four>

✨Series Masterlist✨

Tagging: @wanderlustkitkat @michelehansel @stephartrave @yuhsophie @hennerslionhat @henrythickcavill @eldarwen333 @peakygroupie @klaine-92 @thelastsock @indigosaurus @oddsnendsfanfics @viking-raider @cavillliketravel @geralt-of-baevia @achaoticaugust @dancingwendigo @littlefreya @luclittlepond @mansaaay @agniavateira @inlovewithhisblueeyes @henryobsessed @henryfanfics101 @poucinette1333 @ohmygoodie @oolicity @wolvesandhoundshowltogether @asyverson @awhitewolfandhisvibraniumshield

[millers-planet]

Handled - Boba Fett x GN!Reader

Storyline/ Prompt: The damsel in distress can handler herself. (themed in S2 finale but instead in this, Boba stuck with them to fight.)

Notes: i’ve been really out of it lately, so I’m writing shorter fics until I get back into it. so if you send a request that I really like I might have it on hold until I get myself back together.

Warnings: None but language, not really angst or fluff tbh. Cliche enemies to lovers trope.

Pairing: Boba Fett x Mandalorian!GN!Reader

POV: Reader

This entire godforsaken rescue mission I have been treated like a helpless princess, I say princess because that is what Boba has been calling me since we crossed paths. Bo Katan wants to help them so we can get the chid back but mainly get the dark saber. Quite frankly, I couldn’t care what happens, just whatever gets me away from Boba Fett the fastest.

I was relieved that he was essentially dropping us off on the Empires ship until I recognized the landing noises. He decided to show up and help out after all. I wish he didn’t because his “helping” is stepping in front of me to take the guys shooting at me. 

There were stormtroopers down the hall, so I put myself against the corner to give me some protection. I took out a few by myself before he grabbed my shoulder and forced me out of the way, “let the adults handle this.”

When the coast was clear, I stood up and pushed his shoulder several times, making him bounce back a little. “Who the fuck do you think you are?” I looked him up and down, keeping my steps firm as the rockets on his back hit the wall. “Did you want me to shoot you back there? Because I swear to the Maker, I was this close to doing it!” My fingers were mere millimeters apart.

Before I could pull away, Boba grabbed my wrist and put me in his position, our helmets just inches apart. “Talk to me like that again and I will show you who I am.” His voice was deep, no hesitation in his words. Bo and Koska came around the corner just as I pushed him off me.

“I won’t have to talk to you like that again if you don’t pull that shit again.”

His helmet turned to me as we continued down the hall, “maybe try and take them out quicker and I won’t have to step in, Princess.”

Under the shadows of the helmet on me, I rolled my eyes. However, the way he hesitated on his next step and lingered a stare made me wonder if he knew that did that. “Stop calling me princess.”

Bo stepped in front of us, pushing herself in between Boba and I. “Get to the side!” Groups of stormtroopers came from all side of the intersection up ahead in the hall. She shot a few down and got in cover, Boba pushed me into a doorway and he was, once again, inches from me. I hated this. I could handle myself.

Pushing him out of the way, I mumbled a “move.” I threw a grenade that knocked a majority of the troopers off of their feet. “How’s that for taking them out quicker?” I walked out of the cover and shot a few troopers as I moved across the hall, away from Boba. I felt his gaze linger on me as I moved.

Koska took out the last one, making Bo get up and lead the way to the command deck of the ship. Or wherever she thought Moff Gideon was. 

Only when I moved out of cover did Boba move as well, making me stare at him. I was tired of his antics and about to jam the butt of my gun against his stupid metal head unless he didn’t stop. “In case you haven’t noticed, I can handle myself, I really don’t need you protecting me like I’m a puppy. Or, no, a princess. That’s it.”

“Watch the attitude, kitten.”

“Thanks for the response, it’s a very fulfilling answer. I’d prefer Din’s quietness over your snarky-ness any day.” 

“And I prefer his humility over your cockiness any day, as well.”

Bo and Koska were a few feet ahead, so they didn’t hear his comment that made me stop dead in my tracks. “Me? The cocky one? You’re the asshat who can’t help but think I’m some damsel in distress that can’t pull her own weight.” I walked up to him and pulled my helmet off. “Well, guess what, you’re not such a knight in shining armor yourself.”

Boba turned his full body and faced me, stepping forward, expecting me to walk backwards, only I kept my ground. “You’re asking for yourself to be shot everytime you leave cover in a battle, which is all the time. You act like you can take down a full army of those stormtroopers, but truth is, you can barely pull your own weight without my help.”

“Your help? I’ve kept myself alive this far and I only just met you. I need no one’s help but yours.”

“The only reason why you are still alive is because your teammates have had to babysit you.”

By this point I was fuming. He really is one to talk. I am not helpless, I can do anything without his help. I know my limits, unlike how he doesn’t know boundaries. “If you-” I turned my head and saw another large group of troopers storm to us. Bo Katan and Koska were already farther ahead so it was just Boba and I.

“Why are you just standing there? Go!” He pushed me against some crates and I put my back to it as he shot at them, placing my helmet back where it belonged. “Now we’re outnumbered because you wanted to argue. Do you have any more of those grenades?” I shook my head and he sighed. 

I stood up and began firing at the white-armored enemies. It took out a handful before it jammed, making a few of them push forward. As they approached, I slammed the butt of my gun against their helmets and took their blasters, until I saw one of them had a timed bomb. I grabbed it and handed it to Boba. “What would you do without me?” There was a smile underneath my helmet as he armed it and threw it towards them, grabbing my hand and pulling me down, more gentle than earlier.

Boba was essentially on top of me when the bomb finally went off. When it did, I jumped at the sudden noise, making him laugh. I pushed him off of me and stood up, rolling my eyes as I walked towards Bo and Koska. 

“Don’t roll your eyes at me, Princess.”

“How did-”

part two

tags: @gabile18 @evabellasworld @blondekel77 @mysticdeerpolice​

join the tag list!

[vanillann]

ew, it’s the government (spencer reid x reader)

hi!! after thinking about this i’ll be taking out the acab from the masterlist (nothing changing in the plot line) just so it doesn’t feel like an aesthetic!!

warning: swearing, mentions of crime and sex, enemies to lovers

word count: 1.6k

ew, it’s the government masterlist

chapter 7: in the wise words of jane austen

“You know, I wish my tax dollars went to those stupid pot holes.”

I rubbed my head from where it slammed into the roof of Agent Reid's car.

“Sorry.”

HIs voice was sincere as he quickly jumped from the driver seat once we parked and ran to my side of the car. I nodded my head, stepping out and I followed him to the trunk to grab both our bags.

I kept quiet, still shocked he was being nice considering how rude and cold I’d been, but I suppose some people were just better than me in that department. I didn’t want to but it felt like the right thing in a sense.

I felt a light tap on my shoulder, drawing me from the twilight zone I had fallen into.

“Here my key, D6. I’ll be up in a second I need to help Ms. Anderson feed her animals”

He didn’t wait a second as he dropped the keys into my hand and began walking to an apartment here on the bottom floor. I quickly caught up, running through the glass door just as they were about to close.

When I had made it in he had disappeared, I simply shrugged and made my way over to the elevator. The light elevator music calmed my nerves and I found floor D and smashed the button.

The light music that rang throughout was oddly calming considering I was in an FBI Agents apartment. The guilt slowly was slowly reaching me, as I know I haven’t been exactly the most inviting and they might be trying to help, but I couldn’t but think back to my poor sister.

The ding broke me from my daydream, shaking my head and looking ahead to the short hall. I slowly stepped from the elevator and spotted the Agent in question leaning against his door, hand in pocket as he waited.

“How did you beat me?”

“I took the stairs, much faster and safer.”

I watched him eye the elevator, the way he looked at it like one of those evil guys they catch. I was going to make a joke, but I decided maybe I should get nice for a few moments, as he hadn’t done anything to me personally I suppose.

I handed him the eye, his hands pulled themself from his pocket and let himself unlock the door. He held it open for me, which I returned with another nod and walked into the apartment.

It smells exactly like the sweater I still wore, the green walls with many bookshelves were a nice touch if I would say. I slowly made my way over to the couch, not taking a sit but setting my bag on the leather vintage material.

The clean atmosphere of the apartment was nice, and reminded me of Jerick almost and how he would come into my apartment when I was showering. I wonder how Jerick was enjoying himself with Polly Pocket. I snapped, trying to refrain from nicknames.

That when I spotted a large zombie looking head hanging from his bookshelf, smiling to myself when I slowly walked to it and pointed to it.

“What’s this?”

I turned, finding that Agent Boy, Reid, was nowhere to be seen. I frowned, letting my bottom lip lock out as I made my way around the apartment, looking from a pillow and a blanket from a nice cozy spot on the couch for tonight.

As I was looking under the old TV stand, that didn’t have a TV, may I say, I heard my name being called in a panic. As I went to stand up I felt my head slam into the top, a headache already forming as I fell back on my butt.

I heard footstep hurry to where I now sat on the ground, the mauve color converse caught my eye.

“I- are you okay?”

I nodded my head, slowly nodding as I rubbed it a few more times before looking up to him. He bent down, grabbing my face in-between his fingers. I went to pull back but he kept a firm grip on my face.

“I’m checking to see if you have a concussion,” his voice was from, causing me to stop my struggle and look into my eyes. I felt suddenly unsure, wiggling slightly as he held his finger out and slightly asked from my eyes to follow it.

“I didn’t know you were that type of Doctor.”

Shut up (Y/N).

“Huh?”

He let his finger fall, waiting for me to explain myself.

“You said you were a doctor, it was supposed to be a joke,” I casually explained, trying not to embarrass myself more the longer I spoke.

“Oh,” he slowly nodded, pulling his bottom lip in-between his teeth, sitting on the floor across from me as awkward silence filled the room.

“It was a bad joke,” I slowly stood up, feeling the pain in my head but ignoring it as I stood up.

“Uhm, where are the blankets?”

He looked up at me, slowly pushing himself from the floor as he examined me.

“Why?”

“So I can sleep on the couch tonight?”

I pointed over my shoulder in the direction of said couch.

“Oh no, you can take my room and I can make a pallet on the floor.”

While the gesture was sweet I felt like it was unfair to push someone from their own bed, especially with the way I’ve been acting.

“No i-”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave you out of my sight right now, with everything I mean and it’s fine really. I’ve slept in more uncomfortable hotels.”

His eyes scanned me as he rocked on his heels, slowly waiting for me to respond.

“Okay that’s fine.”

I turned around uncomfortable with the eye contact, the anger inside of me boiling. He was nice, but the system he worked from was corrupt so unless he realized that he was just as bad as the rest.

I noticed the grocery store bag on the counter, something I had completely forgotten about. I felt bad for the way I acted but I guess my attitude had become a part of me, which didn’t excuse it but it was the truth.

“Are we still making Shepherd's Pie?”

“Oh uhm- yeah sure.”

I didn’t wait for him to get up and I made my way to the kitchen. I heard his phone ding but I ignored it as I slowly took things from the bag and placed them on the counter.

“Garcia can’t find anything about Jerick from up til a few years ago,” Agent said, coming to the opposite side of the counter to me.

“Look under Jennifer, it’s his deadname.”

Spencer said nothing as he watched me, my anger boiling waiting from him to say something.

“I’m sorry we didn’t know he was trans,” he spoke sincerely, something I was grateful for.

“I’m not Jerick so I can’t accept this apology but you have been nothing but respectful to him so I doubt he would mind.”

Spencer nodding, texting the tech girl back quickly.

“Why didn’t she ask him herself?”

“Wanted to make sure it wasn’t something we should be worried about,” he answered quickly, shoving his phone back in his pocket while placing his hand on the counter.

“Okay where is the recipe book?”

“I don’t have one,” he brushed it off, reaching over and grabbing a few of the ingredients from in front of me and placing them in the bowl. I unwrapped the crust, looking at him with bewildered eyes.

“Why not?”

“I read the recipe in a bookstore years ago,” he brushed off like it was nothing, I had forgotten he was like Jimmy Neutron or something.

He suddenly laughed, something that shocked me.

“I had a friend that made me dress up as him from Halloween,” he spoke with nostalgia, something I hadn’t seen on him before. I mean I’d only known him from maybe a day but still, it was weird to say the least.

“My sister loved that show,” I spoke softly, almost sad to even bring her up.

“You have a sister?”

“Had,” I was quick to correct him, somewhat mad but more so sad.

“I’m sorry.”

He didn’t ask, which I was grateful for, just putting the ingredients in the crust and putting in the oven, which was apparently already hot.

“I’m sorry I was impossible to be around,” my words had no emotion but it was enough for him as he accepted the apology and said he understood.

*

I put the last dish into the sink and made my way to the bedroom, the sweater he had let him borrow discarded as I now wore my own. My footsteps were light, most of the apartment dark as we both decided to head to bed quickly with a “long day ahead of us” as he said.

Dinner was awkward to say the least, barely any talking just sitting across from each other and eating. Maybe it wasn’t that awkward but without my talking I couldn’t distract my brain from the seriousness of it all.

There was a murderer out there looking for me, and I couldn’t even tell anyone why because I didn’t even know. It was only a matter of time before the kills got more personally, as they were mostly people I’d only known somewhat.

I slipped myself into the bed, careful of Reid who slept peacefully on the floor beside the bed, a gun in his hand as he “protected” me.

As soon as my back hit the soft nature of the bed all the tiredness left me, which was more annoying than the fact it was an FBI Agent's bed.

I tossed and turned because I don’t know how long before Reid started talking in his sleep.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune-”

I registered that the words were from Pride and Prejudice so I ignored the fact that he most likely wasn’t asleep and let the words bring me from this cruel world into another, only in my dreams.

criminal minds tag list:

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spencer reid tag list:

@writtenbywolfie​

ew, it’s the government tag list:

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[lykegenia]

Trust, But Verify

Convinced that Unit Bravo isn't everything they seem to be, Detective Leah Kingston decides to return to the warehouse that she knows plays some part in the mystery of Wayhaven's first murder in years, this time with Tina as backup. But sometimes, what is said on patrol doesn't stay on patrol, which isn't great when the subject of conversation is a certain new arrival with a dazzling smile and warm brown eyes.

Read on AO3

--

The air in the office holds a studied silence, from the members of Unit Bravo who have arranged themselves around the room like they’re on a photoshoot, and from me ignoring them so I can finish updating the board with information about the case. There’s precious little to go on so far. Adam called it a waste of time, but working as a teammeans everybody needs to be on the same page, and now I can feel a certain amount of spite creeping into the thoroughness of my notes.

I can’t afford to let it. Getting bull-headed means things get missed.

“What information can you give me about the other victims?” I ask.

“Nothing that will help us here.”

Nate passes a guilty glance between me and his glowering leader, but all it does is get me even angrier. Folding my arms, I turn to Adam, temper finally frayed enough to let my professional veneer slip.

“Did my mother send you to sabotage my case?” I demand. I shouldn’t, but today has not been a good day.

Adam glares. Somehow, the silence in the room deepens.

“I’m only asking because so far you seem to be trying your hardest to seem incompetent and uncaring about the fact that a woman has been murdered. If you can’t show even basic respect for that then you can get the hell out of my office and not come back.”

“Detective…”

“Are you here to help or not?” I’ve dealt with Saturday night drunks and middle managers angry at getting parking tickets – hell, I’ve had to face the mayor’s bluster more than once – and though Adam looks like he knows more ways to break someone’s bones than any of those guys, I’m willing to bet he’s on a much shorter leash.

Finally, the muscles working in that square jaw unclench just enough for him to loose a strained breath through his teeth. “We’re at your disposal.”

“Glad to hear it.” My shoulders relax a little. “The better we work together, the faster we’ll solve this, and unfortunately all the legwork has to come first.”

Nate steps forward, visibly relieved that we haven’t come to blows. “What do you want us to do?”

“We need to trace the victim’s last steps,” I say. Coming up with a plan gives me something to focus on. “Bank records, phone records, CCTV. If we can find out where and when she met the killer, hopefully we can follow the thread back to them. Someone should ask Verda if there’s any way to track down the equipment the killer needed for the transfusion, too,” I add.

“Anything else?” Mason drawls from his corner. He’s started on another cigarette.

“Nate very kindly said you’d all go and check out the Farris warehouse later. We think it might be the murder site.” I don’t miss the look Adam shoots across the room, but it’s not important. “Be careful when you do, when I was there yesterday I ran into some unsavoury characters.”

“Really?” Felix asks, grinning. “If we see them I’m sure we could take them.”

Nate rolls his eyes and Adam grinds his teeth again, and neither of them are doing anything to soothe the off vibes I’ve been getting all morning.

“Glad to hear it,” I reply, turning to grab my coat off the peg. “While you’re on that, there’s something else I want to chase up.”

“What something else?” Adam asks, his eyes narrowing as if he can hear the uneasy tick of my pulse.

I shrug, already half out the door. “I’ll let you know if it pans out.”

“One of us should go with you.”

“Thanks for the offer, but Tina and I will be fine – Tina! Fieldtrip!”

She looks up from the papers on her desk and gestures to the steaming mug in her hand. “But I just –”

“Now. We can stop off at Haley’s later.”

There’s a pause as she glances behind me, assessing, no doubt lining up a bunch of questions to ask me as soon as we’re out of earshot. “Sure thing, Detective.” She pulls on coat and scarf and sidles closer. “Day one and the power’s already gone to your head, I see.”

I stifle a smile and turn back to Unit Bravo, who are all leaning around the door of my office in various attitudes of surprise. “I almost forgot, while I’m out I’d be grateful if you could add the information on the other victims to the board. It should help.”

“We’ll see to it,” Nate promises when his colleague only flexes his biceps in response.

“I appreciate it.”

I’m almost to the door when I catch Felix sigh and mutter I don’t think she likes us very much, but I straighten my shoulders and step into the already darkening winter day, not allowing the prickle of guilt to take hold. They’re not here for me to like them, they’re here for a job – and I need to figure out what that job really is.

--

Tina shoots me a dubious look as I pull up outside the Farris warehouse and cut the engine. There’s still some light left, though the thick growth of trees crowds most of it out, and aside from a few harsh alarm calls from birds flitting between the trunks, the place is lifeless. Silent. The moon watches us from just above the top branches, hanging in the sky like a spider in the corner of its web.

“You changed your mind about letting Unit Boyband have this one?” she asks.

I reach behind me for my flashlight and check the safety on my gun is locked before kicking open the door. “There’s something not adding up about them, and I want to know what it is. Nate practically contorted himself trying to think of reasons for me to stay away.”

“And so here we are.” She sighs and follows. “Just like the good old days. As your friend, I think you’re being a bit paranoid.”

“Shady government agencies bring that out in me.”

“Just as long as you’re not expecting to split up in there.”

I toss her a grin. “Not even for a Scooby Snack?” I chuckle at her flat look. “Don’t worry, after those guys put that dent in Nessie last night, I’m not taking chances.”

With a wary look around, she unholsters her own gun and takes position on my left. “That dent looks like it was made with a sledgehammer.”

“Yup.”

We fall silent as we cross the threshold, crumbs of rubble cracking under our boots. The wind blows in from behind us, rustling the ivy reclaiming the walls, distorting sound, but unless someone is keeping very still, there’s nobody else here.

“Sooooo… it’s ‘Nate’ is it?” Tina ventures as we climb the stairs to the first floor. The artistic endeavours of Wayhaven’s teenagers scroll the walls, the empty cans and bottles from last summer’s illicit parties still scattered in the far corners.

“That’s what he asked me to call him,” I reply carefully. “It’s what the rest of them call him too.”

“Uh-huh.” She peers down at something. “Cigarette butt.”

“Recent?” I catch a shadow to my left, but when I chase it with my flashlight, it turns out just to be pigeons again, scattering for some reason of their own.

“There’s still ash on it, so I’d say so.”

“Bag it.”

While she kneels and starts the usual procedure for getting evidence into one of the bags we both carry with us, I pace the rest of the floor, peering around rusted heavy machinery and into the dustier corners in case of footprints. With so many people passing through, though, it’s unlikely we’ll find enough to connect anything to the murder – at least not anything that would stick in court.

“You have seen him eyeing you up though, right?”

“What?” I glance over, startled by the suddenness of Tina’s voice. “Who?”

Her tut would have made any disapproving grandma proud. “Nate.”

“Tina, I met him this morning.” One last glance around. “This floor’s clear.”

“So?”

“So when has he even had an opportunity to ‘eye me up’?”

“Oh, that’s right,” she sing-songs, “you were too busy doing your best to make the grumpy one quake in his combat boots, but I see everything. His mouth was hanging open and everything. And that was after your cosy little trip down to the morgue. I’m telling you, babe, you have a shot.”

We go one at a time down the stairs, which means she can’t see me roll my eyes, but as we turn to take our first proper look at the ground floor, the idea wiggles in to distract my better judgement. Nate has certainly made a better first impression than most of his team, but that’s not exactly hard, and his face looks like one that’s used to smiling, to smoothing ruffled feathers. If I maybe noticed the warmth of his hand when I shook it earlier, or caught the faint scent of whatever aftershave he uses when we were walking down to see Verda, then it’s still not something to lose my head over. It’s not something that matters.

“As your friend, I’m duty-bound to say that I think you’re delusional,” I say, deliberately light.

“Over here.”

Tina’s flashlight rounds on the transient’s camp I found yesterday, a loose pile of tattered blankets and a few rusted oil drums converted into fire barrels, only now with more light, there seems to be little evidence of recent occupation. No trash, no scuff marks beyond what could be explained by the passage of my own feet and the strangers who ran into me, and no odour of an unwashed body.

And yet…

Still crouched, I glance at the walls, try to imagine them blurred as I hold up my phone screen with the photos copied from Janet Greenland’s. She had known she was going to die, with enough advance warning to try and leave some kind of message, and then hidden them where her killer would be unlikely to look.

Tina breaks the concentrated silence. “What’s so delusional about someone finding you attractive?” It helps, the distraction from the grisly reason we’re here.

“Nothing in particular,” I reply. “People have wanted to sleep with me before. It’s just not something that would work.”

“Why not?”

I stand and walk slowly, still with my phone up in front of me. “One, this is a temporary assignment. Once we catch the killer, Unit Bravo will be whisked away to somewhere far more exotic than Wayhaven with far more interesting people.” I stop. “Two, he’s technically a colleague, which is never something that ends well. And three…”

The last of Janet Greenland’s photos line up with the view ahead of me, minus the difference in our height.

“Three?” Tina presses.

“I’m not interested.” It’s a ready answer, but she scoffs all the same.

“Oh come on, you mean you don’t think he’s sexy as hell?”

From somewhere behind us, there’s a loud crash as a piece of masonry collapses. We wheel, ready for something to come at us, but after a long moment, nothing else moves. Probably a rat, or a piece of the ceiling that was ready to go anyway. Even so, Tina keeps her back to mine as I return to my snooping.

“That’s not a no,” she wheedles after a few more minutes of silence.

“He’s –” The right description eludes me for a moment. “He’s good-looking. He seems nice, for what it’s worth. But that doesn’t mean he’d stay, and it doesn’t mean he’d be interested in anything… beyond casual. I have more worthwhile uses for my time than trying to guess a stranger’s motives for noticing me.” The bitterness isn’t something I meant to slip out, but thankfully there’s no comment on it. Tina knows enough about the fiasco with Bobby to leave that particular sleeping Rottweiler lie.

Besides, I’ve found where Janet stumbled into the warehouse – or tried to get out. By one of the broken windows some of the stones have tumbled and turned the mossy sides underneath, and a few threads of material are snagged on the jagged edge of the glass that are the same colour as the jacket she was wearing. There’s just enough light left to photograph it, but without any evidence of the killer or any kind of struggle, there isn’t much else to be done. Wayhaven doesn’t have the resources to dust an entire warehouse for prints.

“I remember being told at the academy that we should try to collect all the evidence we can,” Tina says, when I make no move to reach for a bag.

“That’s what I’m doing,” I reply. “Sometimes it doesn’t all look the same, that’s all.”

She eyes me with a frown, though the corner of her mouth is fighting a smile. “What did I tell you? Paranoid.”

--

Sitting in the Facility cafeteria barely a week later, a plate of unappetising mince and mashed potato in front of me, it’s hard to believe how much a life can change. Hunting for petty clues, looking through bank records and phone calls as if any of it would have turned up anything useful – not even the vindication of knowing I was right about my mother’s team does much to lessen the lurch the world has taken since learning that the man I was hunting is not only a vampire, but that he’s hunting me, too. The thought puts me off eating. Or maybe it’s the tests, or just that the food itself isn’t very good.

I’m in the middle of drawing a passable mixed media landscape with my fork when a shadow falls across my plate. Nate smiles at me, genuine if somewhat nervous, one hand holding a mug of tea and the other on the back of the chair opposite mine.

“May I sit?” he asks.

I’ve barely seen him since the first night I was here, between all the debriefings and the sessions with the scientists, and even those brief glimpses have been accidental, moments of stumbling into each other in the corridors of Unit Bravo’s section of the Facility. To have him seek me out, in a place that reeks of leftovers, stirs an unfamiliar flutter behind my ribs that turns into a smile to answer his.

“Please do.” I gesture, and his smile grows wider, and I cast about for something that will avoid me floundering in awkward silence. “I didn’t think I’d see you here – not because you don’t need to eat!” I add hastily. “The smell of stale coffee is almost too much for me with just human senses.”

He doesn’t seem too offended, and just shrugs. “I like the ambience. People here are just being people, no matter what species.” As he speaks his eyes cast over the nearly empty room, and the pockets of agents and supernaturals at other tables buried in conversation. A person could visit a thousand parallel universes and a cafeteria would look the same in every one.

“The more things change…” I mutter, following the line of his gaze.

A smile touches his lips. “You have no idea.”

I really don’t. Not compared with someone who’s lived so long and seen so much. In the pause that follows, I turn my attention back to my plate, and the interrupted tree I was trying to capture in the foreground with an overcooked slice of carrot.

“You’re quite the artist – I mean it!” he adds, holding up his hands at the sharp glance I throw his way.

“This is the part where you say you met some famous painter or other, isn’t it?” I grumble, quirking an eyebrow at him.

“Van Gogh did sell me a painting once – not one of his own, I’m afraid.”

If I didn’t know better, I’d say the statement was meant to impress me, and that the sip he takes of his tea is more to hide a smirk than because he’s thirsty. Still, his eyes grow serious as he taps the mug back on the table, and the measured way he looks me over makes me want to twist my fingers in my lap.

“What?”

“You seem to be handling the revelation of all this rather well,” he replies, muted, with a flicker of a softer smile. “We should have trusted you with it sooner.”

For a moment I don’t answer, both startled by the admission and caught up in an echo of the resentment that’s characterised so much of my time with Unit Bravo so far. It’s not a comfortable feeling, not now I know the reason behind the secrecy, but the morning after my second visit to the warehouse is still fresh in my mind, Adam’s flat ‘no’ when I asked if they’d found anything, and the way Nate glared at the floor, arms folded and shaking his head in tacit disagreement as the others waited for my reaction, as if they knew I wouldn’t believe them.

“I’ll admit, ‘new co-workers are secretly vampires hunting down a vampire serial killer who’s picked me as his next target’ wouldn’t have been my first guess for what was going on,” I try with a shrug. “I assume it’s not something everyone responds well to.”

“Most people who find out don’t have to deal with the serial killer part.”

Sometimes, in the face of such absurdity, you just have to laugh. Nate seems pleased that I haven’t run screaming, amusement warming the sympathetic way his gaze lingers.

“Actually, I wanted to thank you,” I say, after another moment of silence.

“For what?”

I shrug. “For wanting to tell me – trying to tell me, even though you had orders. Not everyone would do that.” My mother springs to mind as a prime example.

“It was clear you were going to find out anyway. You’re pretty incredible that way.” His gaze on mine is heavy, soft and intense but tinged with regret as well, and he looks away. “But after you went to the warehouse, it was also clear you didn’t trust us. It’s not a great combination for trying to keep someone safe.”

“How did you know I was at the warehouse?”

“I, uh…” He clears his throat, not meeting my eye. “I followed you. One of us had to, just in case Murphy came back.”

He seems… embarrassed more than anything, as if following me was somehow something more shameful than lying to my face, and it’s not what I expect. And then I remember my conversation with Tina while we hunted through the ruined building. Damn. My fork sets against the edge of my plate with a faint clink.

“You were in the warehouse – when I was in the warehouse,” I check, just in case there’s no real reason for the sudden flood of heat into my face.

“I was.”

“And you heard everything me and Tina were saying with your hypersenses, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t exactly need –” He stops, smiles an apology. “Yes, I heard everything.”

I roll my lips together, chasing something to say. My fingertips drum on the table. “There’s no chance you could just… forget all of that, is there?”

And now the smile curls into something smoother, sleek like a cat. And guess who’s the canary.

“I would rather not.” He purrs it, and my insides squirm. “But since we’re on the subject of… things you said, I feel the same way. About matters of the heart. They’re too precious to be treated casually.”

I stare. There’s more in the words than I really want to acknowledge, certainly more than I can respond to in the middle of a public place full of creatures I thought were myths for most of my life. His brown eyes search my face, patient, until I can’t stand it anymore and drop my gaze to the table, and he covers by taking another sip of his tea.

“That’s an elegant way to put it,” I manage, after what feels like an eternity. He’ll still be leaving once we’ve caught Murphy, and now that we’ve got a solid set of leads on him, that won’t be long at all.

“I hoped you would think so.”

“It must be hard to have any kind of relationship with… all of this.” I wave my hand around the room. “The secrecy and the travelling, I mean.”

His head tilts, the smile returns. “You don’t think it’s the vampire thing that would put people off?”

“No.” I don’t miss the way his mouth twitches upwards at that. “Vampires have become fashionable in the last few years, so I hear. Even if you don’t sparkle.”

“I’d hope my wit does, at least.”

I can’t help it, I break into a laugh at that. It’s so easy to feel comfortable around him, to want to be closer and spend hours just talking. When I knew he was lying, it was an easier feeling to ignore.

“You could always find another vampire,” I point out. “That would solve it if you thought it was a problem.”

It confuses him. His brows furrow as if it was something he hadn’t considered, as if the conversation has taken a turn he didn’t expect, and I use the distraction to look at the clock, high on the wall where clocks always are in cafeterias.

“I need to go. It’s stab-Leah-with-needles o’clock.”

“So soon?” he asks.

It’s not entirely untrue, but I’ll have to walk slowly not to be early, because god forbid they think I’m eager for more tests. My heart skips a little, and he can probably tell, but this whole conversation has veered far too close to gates I locked a long time ago, and do not want open again. I shrug.

“The sooner I get through everything they can think up, the sooner I can go back to catching Murphy.”

“The sooner this whole case is finished.” He watches me, the unspoken half of the sentence left hanging.

“The sooner Wayhaven is safe again.”

In the end, that’s what matters. I can’t lose sight of it.