#but his safe was Not the same as everyone’s else’s safe

[fastandcarlos]

How Everyone In The Paddock Knows You're Dating : ̗̀➛ F1 Reaction

» Max Verstappen 

He’s naturally paying attention to you, without even realising that he’s doing it until one of the team nudges his side. The team are well aware of Max’s eyes trailing across to look at you, or switching off to the conversation as soon as you start talking. He doesn’t know he’s doing it, but the team are well trained and constantly have to remind Max to pay attention again. He can’t help but smile whenever he’s looking at you, especially when he watches you walk around the garage with such an interest, showing a genuine enthusiasm for learning as much as you can about where Max works and what he does, 

» Lando Norris 

He’s like a big kid most of the time, but Lando becomes a lot softer whenever he’s around you, like you make him weak at the knees just from being by his side. The team notice how needy he becomes as soon as he’s in your presence, searching for affection as often as possible. Lando stops focusing on anyone else, the only person that he wants to be around is you. No one in the garage can believe how different Lando is when he’s around you, how he stumbles around, how he giggles uncontrollably, how he can’t bear to be in the same room as you without some sort of physical contact.  

» Charles LeClerc 

Everyone knows that your Charles because his eyes are always watching you. He loves knowing exactly where you are, forever checking that you’re alright and that you’re safe. When he loses sight of you, Charles can’t help but panic, eyes darting around until he spots you again. There’s a fondness in his eyes whenever he’s watching you, if you’re smiling, he’s smiling, if you’re laughing, he laughs with you, and if you seem upset, Charles gets upset too, heading over to you to see if you’re alright. It doesn’t matter what’s happening at the paddock, Charles loves the feeling of knowing that you’re right there with him, like a comfort right by his side. 

» George Russell 

No one in the paddock can fault how much of a gentleman George is for you, despite how busy he is, he always manages to make time to do all the little things for you. He holds the door open for you at every opportunity, keeps his arm around you to protect you from the crowd, offers you his jacket whenever he notices that you’re getting cold, anything that he can in order to keep you safe. Before a race George checks up on you, makes sure that you’re warm enough, had plenty of food, and ensures you’re sat where you can see the race in a spot that’s nice and quiet.  

» Carlos Sainz 

His smile always gets bigger the second he notices you’re around, usually spotting you out of the corner of his eye whilst half listening to what’s being said by the team. When he knows you’re nearby, Carlos is eager for things to be wrapped up as soon as possible so he can go over and see you. As soon as you’re within touching distance, Carlos’ arm wraps around you, with a kiss pressed to the top of your head to greet you, wondering what you’ve been up to whilst he’s been busy. Nobody else needs to look to see if you’re there, they can tell by the excitement in Carlos’ expression that you’re around. 

» Oscar Piastri 

Every single person in the paddock has listened to Oscar tell some sort of story about you, he loves telling them about you. He talks about you with so much excitement that every single one of them knows just how in love Oscar is with you too, sounding much happier than he ever does when he’s talking about his car. He remembers every last detail about the things that he does with you, and has the world’s biggest smile on his face whenever he shares them with anyone. It’s one thing that he’ll never tire of, forever gushing about you around his team. 

» Daniel Ricciardo 

It’s the little things that everyone in the paddock notices that Daniel always does for you. It’s the way he passes you one of his caps if it’s particularly sunny or passes you his water bottle to drink out of when you tell him that you’re getting thirsty and can’t get through to get a drink. He’s constantly attentive, despite how busy he’s supposed to be, he can’t help but still pay attention and make sure that he’s protecting you. The whole team knows just how in love Daniel is with you, after all, he doesn’t take care of any of them anywhere near as well as he takes care of you. 

» Lewis Hamilton 

The team can’t help but admire the way that Lewis looks at you, like you’re the most fragile person in the world that he has to protect. He loves to have you glued to his side when he’s at the paddock, no matter who he’s talking to. Whether it be a team meeting, a chat with a sponsor, or providing some feedback to Toto and Bono, Lewis still has his eyes on you. You don’t say much, not that you can, but when you do speak, Lewis looks at you with such an adoring look that the rest of the team can’t help but admire how fond Lewis is of you. 

˗ˏˋ 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 ! ´ˎ˗

[deeplyshalllow]

My take it has always been that Elphaba and Glinda share personality while Elphaba and Fiyero share values.

Elphaba and Glinda are passionate, open about their feelings, quick to action, quick to anger, do what they want, often without thinking about the consequences. We see this obviously in Elphaba in all the Animal stuff and Defying Gravity but it's in really dumb stuff too - deciding to Fiyero and Glinda's engagement because it upset her, despite the obvious risks comes to mind. Glinda we see in giving Elphaba the hat, hugging public enemy number 1 in front of the wizard and revealing to Morrible how to capture Elphaba.

Fiyero, in contrast, keeps his feelings and views close to his chest, (somewhat ironically) thinks things through and always has a plan. He announces in this first song that his whole persona is an act, that he puts on to make his life easier. He doesn't agree with the Wizard but, rather than openly protesting like Elphaba, he makes his way into his ranks to fight and help the cause from the inside, when Elphaba is trapped in the throne room he is the one who works out how to neutralise the threat of the guards and the wizard and get Elphaba out safe, likewise it's him who works out pointing a gun at Glinda will save Elphaba in the cornfield and him who works out how Elphaba can fake her death.

However, Fiyero does agree with Elphaba about the Animals. He's not happy with society or his role in it, even in Dancing Through Life, as Elphaba points out (and note how quick he is to save the Lion Cub when he has the chance), but he doesn't really have the passion in his personality to do anything about it until Elphaba comes along. Elphaba lights a fire under him, her passion is what inspires him to do something, that makes him realise that he can impact change.

Fiyero needs Elphaba to give him passion, to turn himself into someone who is happy with himself and to motivate him to use his considerable intelligence for good. Elphaba needs Fiyero to save her when her hot head gets her in trouble and to tell her she herself is worthy of love and attending to her own feelings when she's too busy sacrificing everything for everyone else. He is the ice to Elphaba's fire, he works because he is her opposite in personality while believing in the same cause.

Glinda and Elphaba, while I firmly believe love each other equally much, are both so impulsive, they get on amazingly when they are both wanting the same thing and inspiring each other, but they are also so quick to hurt the other when they do not. Neither will move or compromise and they end up to having to suffer some awful consequences and learn some hard lessons because of this. And, ultimately, they do not want the same thing, Glinda is not a bad person but she wants fame and power and is prepared to sacrifice her values for this while Elphaba (and indeed Fiyero) are both prepared to sacrifice everything for what they love.

There is honestly so much love between all three of them (Fiyero and Glinda love each other deeply too) but ultimately I think Fiyeraba are the only ones that work long term.

I’m thinking about Wicked tonight, specifically why Elphaba ends up with Fiyero instead of Glinda in the musical despite Elphaba and Glinda having the more well-rounded relationship.

You could chalk it up to the writers wanting a heteronormative ending (and I’m certain that’s part of it) or the fact that Elphaba and Fiyero had a love affair in the book. But I think there’s a bit more nuance to it.

The whole point of Glinda’s character is that she upholds the status quo of Oz. No matter how much she loves Elphaba or sympathizes with the plight of the Animals, she will always align herself with the current system and those in power. And as long as that remains the case, a relationship between her and Elphaba is futile because Elphaba will not give up her cause.

Elphaba and Glinda represent to different ends of a spectrum. Elphaba resists the oppressive forces in Oz, while Glinda upholds them. But Fiyero is somewhere in the middle. He starts out privileged and carefree like Glinda, but quickly turns to Elphaba’s side. He does become Captain of the Guard, but only to find Elphaba and help her evade arrest.

And therein lies the difference between Glinda and Fiyero as love interests to Elphaba. Glinda would never sacrifice her title as “the Good Witch” and all her power granted from the Wizard, even if it meant helping Elphaba. Fiyero, on the other hand, does give up his privilege, his title, and even his human form for Elphaba. Glinda clings to what the status quo gives her, while Fiyero ultimately rejects it.

Yes, the writing around Elphaba and Fiyero’s romance is a bit rushed and doesn’t have the same gradual development that Elphaba and Glinda have. And yes, I have no doubt heteronormativity played a role in giving Elphaba a male love interest in the end. But I see a lot of people write off Fiyero and his relationship with Elphaba and I just don’t agree.

Why does Elphaba end up with Fiyero instead of Glinda? Because Fiyero makes the sacrifices that Glinda wasn’t willing to.

[paperclip-skz]

The Secret Nap Room

fem*Reader x Bang Chan

*WARNING*

contains: p n v, sex, unprotected sex, kissing, TENSION, straight up delulu, grinding, oral (fem receiving), I'm sure I missed something; let me know in the comments.

WC: 2.9k

****

“Well…” he paused, searching for the right words, “I’m just worried that these late nights are starting to take a toll on you.”

You looked up at him, your brow slightly furrowed in thought. “Chan, it’s okay. Honestly, I could say the exact same thing about you,” You replied, your voice steady yet tinged with concern.

He scratched the back of his head, a habit he had when he felt uneasy. “Still,” he murmured, glancing away as if the weight of his words was too much to bear.

You sighed, recognizing his persistent worry. “Fine, fine. The next time you think I should head home,” You said, rolling your eyes playfully, “I promise I’ll listen.”

*********

You yawed for the nth time today, the late night really taking its toll. “That’s it; you're going home,” Chan barged into your office. 

“But-“ you protested, but he was already shutting your laptop and spinning your chair. 

“No buts. Home,” he insists. 

“Just this one last thing. “You attempt to turn your chair, but he’s already had enough. 

He sighs, “If you want things done, ya gotta do it yourself.” 

Suddenly, you feel the air under your feet, and Chan’s arms swing you over his shoulder. “CHAN!” your arms thrash over his back. “Put me down now or else!” but your threats are coated with laughter, having no effect on him. 

You realize that thrashing won't help anymore, so you allow Chan to carry you wherever he takes you. Eventually, he sets you on your feet and turns you around to face a door.

It's the room. His secret room.

The secret nap room. 

When he noticed how many late nights he was logging into the studio, he transformed this room into a personal sanctuary. Now, it is his secret lair, a hidden retreat filled with food, comfy chairs, and even a bed. He ensured everyone knew NOT to enter his secret room, and he kept that up… until now.

When you don’t take the hit to walk in, Chan reaches over your shoulder to open the door for you. 

It's so…cozy, you think. To say the least, it wasn’t what you were expecting. The atmosphere is warm and inviting, creating a sense of immediate comfort. Plush pillows in a delightful mix of colors—rich reds, deep blues, and sunny yellows—are scattered across the floor and piled high against the headboard of the already pulled-out bed, which is draped with a soft, inviting comforter that promises restful nights.

Directly opposite the bed, a sleek, flat-screen television is mounted on the wall, its surface glinting softly in the light. In the far corner, a charming wooden shelf stands stacked with an eclectic assortment of books and notebooks, their spines varying in color and texture. Some are well-loved, their pages dog-eared from repeated readings, while others are fresh. 

You diligently walk into the room, your eyes searching every little object that decorates the room. You are so distracted by all the little things around every corner that you don’t think you will find Chan walking beside you, folding back the comforter. “Wha-”

“Get in,” he insists. 

A chuckle leaves your lips. " You must really like me,” your hands beckon to the room. “I mean, first you're worried about me, then you take me to YOUR secret nap room, now you're making sure I’m tucked in? What's next? You're gonna kiss me goodnight,” You throw out a lighthearted joke, expecting to see Chan’s face scrunch up in that familiar way, but instead, he remains stone-faced. There’s an intensity in his gaze as if he is bracing himself for something. It feels as if he’s not just listening; he’s determined. 

His head nods to the bed again, and all you can do is sigh. “I’m not getting into bed; I’m not getting into YOUR bed.” you emphasize each “your,” you say because it is HIS bed, this is HIS safe space, and your HIS manager. You should be worried about him, not the other way around. 

“Are you really gonna make me carry you again?” he sighs, and that's when you notice his stance. He stands like he stands for Stay, his shoulder stretched broad to show off his defined chest. His legs are slightly spread, giving that dominating look he loves so much. His tongue pokes out his cheek, a habit that both you and Stay have come to love. 

He makes you swallow thickly. All of a sudden, your clothes become like fire to your skin. You don’t even notice when you lick your lips until Chan catches you, “Unless you want more than just a kiss goodnight,” his voice grows two actives lower. 

Your eyes snap to his “I- I’m sor- I wasn’t.” 

“It's okay. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I couldn't take a few people staring at me.” 

“Ha! Yea,” you laugh lightheadedly.

“But! Back to the task at hand,” he pauses, stepping closer to you. “What will it take to get you into bed?” he asks. 

“You should hear yourself,” you laugh. 

“Oh, I’m listening,” he saunters even closer. Your breath hitches again. You take a better look into his eyes. How dark they are, and how many secrets could be hidden inside them. “I’m hearing every word. So I’ll ask again, what will it take to get you into my bed?” 

This is wrong. Your head is screaming at you that you shouldn’t be here, that you shouldn’t be entertaining this idea. But your bodies are like magnets being pulled together. 

He’s too close now, close enough where you can feel the heat of his breath against you. All it would take is for his head to lean down slightly, and then your lips would connect with his.

As if he can sense your every thought, he draws closer, his playful demeanor captivating you. He tilts his head slightly, the movement subtle yet charged with intention, making it impossible for you to look away. You find yourself mirroring his actions, the world around you fading into the background. Your lips draw nearer, pulled together by an invisible force, like magnets yearning to connect, only for him to pull away before you can get a taste. 

You hear a low laugh admit from his chest, it makes you bite your lip. “Get into bed princess” 

You know what he wants to hear. You know he wants you to compile with a pretty smile on your face, but thats not how you play. “Only if you join me, Christopher.” 

He shivers at the mention of his full name, and a big cheesy smile appears on his face. Before you could protest or even react, he pulled you by the waist and fell onto the bed, setting to to lay under him. He comes so close to you, and the anticipation you can feel between your legs is almost painful, so when Chan is finally on top of you, silently begging for permission with his eyes to kiss you, you take full control and capture your lips with his. 

Your lips find a hidden rhythm with each other, dancing to an unforgettable song. His hands explore your curves, pulling at the fabric that separates you two. Soft moans and gentle sighs slip from your lips as you relax into his touch; you’ve never felt so relaxed, so carefully taken care of; it makes your insides melt. 

“I’m gonna make you feel so good, princess. Will you let me? Let me make you feel good.” he traces kisses from the corner of your mouth to the spot behind your ear. Words are trapped on the tip of your tongue; the only sounds escaping are moans of approval and the subtle motion of your hips attempting to grind against his. 

He growls into your ear, making your teeth sink into your lip. “Keep your hands above your head,” he instructs, his voice becoming demanding yet cautious. If you don’t, there will be consequences.” He presses his forehead to yours as his hands guide your arms above your head. 

The anticipation is killing you, and your slik is making it impossible for you to concentrate. You try your hardest to keep your arms above your head, but it is a lot harder than it seems when he trails kisses against your clothed skin all the way down to the button of your pants. He unbuttons your pants, keeping eye contact with you. He searches for any signs to stop, but you just bite your lip while maintaining eye contact with him. He peels the fabric from your legs, letting them pool at your ankles. Now it's his time to gawk and bite his lip at you, he stares at your panties and at the small wet spot thats gathered there. “Fuck” he breathes. He looks at you one last time for confirmation, and when you nod he rips the fabric off of you, huffing out an “I’ll buy you a new pair” and attaching his mouth to your cunt. 

You scream his name and grab a fistful of his hair holding him close to your clit, your back arches into a perfect C as he attacks your clit with an unforgiving force, but you whine when his lips are removed, “keep your hands above your head princess” he hisses. 

You groan, but you can’t deny the zing that rushes through your body. You’ve never been bossed around in bed, you’ve never had the opportunity to be submissive to someone so eager to be in control. 

Hesitantly you bring your arms back above your head, and Chan resumes his position, attaching his lips to your clit. Your shattered moans are muffled when you scream into the comforter, your teeth sink into the blankets, and your arms pull at the covers; you’ve never experienced so much pleasure, so much attention drawn to your clit, it makes your head spin. 

His tongue swirled expiry around your clit, sucking and tugging with his teeth. You can feel the knot expanding in your lower belly. You know you're about to break. “Yes yes yes” you chant, spurring him on.

He plunges his tongue past your walls, and your hands instinctively come down to curl into his locks, he growls into your pussy which sends shockwaves of pleasure through your body. He teases a finger against your opening only slipping the tip in, your hips grinding against his face, begging for the intrusion. 

Your orgasm is so close, all the teasing, his expert tongue, and now his mocking finger, you’re so close, but before your body can tumble over, he removes his lips and finger to watch your body crumble at the stolen orgasm. 

“Nooo” you whine pathetically, but Chan is quick to press his body down onto you, kissing your exposed neck.

His hands diligently sneak under your shirt, squeezing the flesh, “told you there’d be consequences,” he rumbles. 

Your chest heaves with heavy breath, and your eyes threaten to shut, “please” You beg.

“Mmm” he hums, you can feel the smile against your skin, his hands still climbing their way to your breasts. “I like it when you beg” 

“Please,” you strain, curling your fingers into his hair once again. 

He nods his head against your neck before sucking on the skin, creating a pretty red spot you not gonna be able to cover up in the morning. 

He lifts his head. His hands rake your shirt up and over your head, leaving you in only your bra. He stares at you for a moment before taking his hands and squeezing your breasts over your bra. It's like his hands are his claim to you, like he has to touch every bit of you so he can fully claim you as his. 

You take it upon yourself to stretch your arms above your head so your whole body is fully displayed for him in the best way possible. He leans back, eyes your body, he sits back on top of you, his thighs trapping you below him, “Fucking Christ,” he whispers under his breath. 

“Your turn, hot shot.” You eye his plain black T-shirt sticking to his body. 

He chuckles and pokes his cheek with his tongue, as he always does, before lifting his shirt over his head. Your eyes widen at how defined his chest is. You knew he was fit, and you saw the edits Stay made, but the fact that his abs were mere inches from your eyes was a completely different story. 

You lift your hand to trace a single finger down the middle of his abs. His whole body tenses under your touch, and his eyes roll to the back of his head. You bite your lip at the sight of him. 

“Turn over for me, baby” he says through gritted teeth. 

You twist your body around so your face is pressed against the blankets. Chan’s hands lift your hips up so your ass are in his hands. You feel one of his pillows being shoved under you, so you're more comfortable. 

You can feel his erection pressed against your ass, the rugged fabric of his pants making every movement he makes more exhilarating. You close your eyes as you feel his chest press against your back so he can whisper in your ear, “I’m gonna fuck you so good you won’t be able to look me in the eyes for a week without blushing.”

A small whimper escapes you. “Please,” you beg. 

“Please, what, baby? Use your words,” he whispers again, his hands messaging the flesh of your hips. 

“Please fuck me,” you call in a breath. 

You can feel his chest vibrate with a chuckle. “Where are your manners baby girl” 

You whine, “please.” 

“Please fuck me what” he coats your ear, and your chest fills with need. You don’t care how desperate you sound or how pathetic of a position he has you in, he is in complete control and he knows it. He has your pleasure in the palm of his hands, and you couldn’t be more turned on. 

“Please fuck me, Christopher,” you finally moan out. 

“Good girl,” he kisses your shoulder before lifting himself off of your back. You hear some slight shuffling and then the pressure of his member lining himself up at your entrance. 

You press your forehead into the mattress, preparing for the stretch. The feeling of his thick tip alone sends both a thrill and a slight panic through your body. 

He slips the tip barely past your walls, and your eyes squeeze tight, “I know, baby, I know. I’m right here, just breathe.” Chan's words guide you as he pushes the rest of the way past your lips. 

Once you finally feel him bottom out inside you, he stills, letting you adjust to the sheer length of him. His ministration from earlier left you so wet it made it so easy for him to slip in, but the stretch left you gasping for breath. 

You can’t see the way his face contorts into pleasure, the way his nose scrunches up at the way you're clenching around him or the way his skin shines with a sheer coat of sweat. But you can feel the way his dick twitches inside you, wanting so desperately to plunge into you. 

Instinctively, you push yourself harder against him, wanting him more. He can tell you're desperate; you can tell by the way his breath catches in his throat at your action.

“Fuck” He says with a shaky breath, his hisp start to slowly thrust, dragging against your walls deliciously. 

You moan out as you try to match his thrusts, but he quick to grab hold of you restricting your movements. “Your gonna take what I give you like a good fucking girl” he ruts out. 

The next thing you know the only sounds that fill the room are your screams and the sound of skin slapping against skin. 

****

You wake up, legs throbbing, pussy throbbing, throat dry as the desert, and hot. Oh my god, why am I so hot? You glance to your side, drawn in by the comforting warmth. There, nestled peacefully, is Chan, his chest rising and falling gently with each breath. His eyelids flutter softly, betraying the delightful dreams dancing behind them, while a hint of a smile plays at the corners of his slightly parted lips. 

In this moment, the reasons for your earlier wakefulness and the discomfort that had stirred you from sleep fade away like wisps of fog in the morning light. Instead, you feel an overwhelming urge to draw closer to him, to wrap yourself in his warmth and forget about the worries of the outside world. You snuggle up against him, relishing the softness of the blankets and the steady rhythm of his breathing, finding solace in his presence as you drift back into a peaceful slumber.

He was spot on about what he whispered in the dim light of the bedroom, a truth that resonated with you not just in that fleeting week but stretching into the weeks that followed your intimate encounter. Each time you caught sight of Chan across the bustling office, a wave of warmth washed over you, flushing your cheeks with a deep crimson hue. It was as if the memory of your shared moment lingered in the air, a secret connection that electrified even the briefest of glances. Now, whenever Chan senses even a hint of restlessness or fatigue in you, a possessiveness takes control of him, knowing precisely how to bring you back to that comforting place where you both belong.

[mawlbone]

WILD RIDE - OMEGA TF141

SNIPPET: After being encouraged by your mates to retire early, you found yourself with an awful lot of free time nowadays. There’s little to do besides doing your usual housekeeping and small runs in the forest but dinner is not the same without them and often more times than not, you found yourself making a meal too big for yourself out of habit for them. So you can only curse at yourself when your last flannel no longer can be buttoned up as you fumbled with the fabric.]

[CW: amab reader, top reader, afab terminology usage, omegas have both parts, muscular chubby reader, weight gain, separation anxiety, body image issues and binge eating, overstimulation, squirting, praise kink, thigh riding, fingering, musk kink, size difference, blowjob, sex (with ghost and soap), giggly sex, bullying/teasing, knotting, teasing, hair pulling, and dumbification.]

[COMMENT: Worn and traumatized characters gaining weight after being worked for so long troupe, my beloved! New readers, please read Operation Home and au link in my pinned post about #⛓️‍💥…reversedabo. Also biggest apologies to oomf because I had wrote a whole exposition before even touching the smut so have it extra long just for you…]

Deep within the countryside, hidden somewhere between the fields and the crowded city concealed between the tall pines and greenery lays an English country house basking in the warm sunlight within the forest clearing. From the distance, one can see the smoke dancing away from the terracotta brick chimney and admire the bustling flowerbeds wrapped around the home and if you come closer see the sunroom peeking out behind the wall of floral.

But for now, as you make your way up the rocky pathway and unlock the wooden door and make your way along the wooden staircase, a figure can be seem rummaging through a seemingly never ending piles of clothes that littered the bedroom floor as shirts, pants, and socks lays in hills amongst you desperately trying to find a single piece that’ll fit you. Stranded between old hoodies that fit a bit too tightly around your arms and sweatpants you have to stretch out manually in order to fit around your waist, there’s little else you can wear now besides the tank that you sport now. There’s no one to blame for this besides you for this change in appearance, you huffed deeply after finding no success in your search for new clothes before plopping down on the floor with a firm thud as you look at your troublesome mess, wincing to yourself before putting it away.

Months prior since you been basically reduced to house-husband status by the wishes of your mates you suddenly found yourself with terrible amounts of free time. Gone were the missions where you had to endure the familiarity of iron filling your mouth, dodging lines of fire, and being cooped up for days waiting for evacuation on top of the never ending pile of paperwork waiting at your desk. Your uniform had long been buried on top of some old boxes in the attic and it’s safe to say that you don’t exactly miss those days after your time on the field.

What you do miss however was them.

Loneliness never exactly settled well with your mind. You can remember days where you sat at the front of your door in your youth waiting for your Mother to come home because you didn’t want to eat alone, or your mercenary years where you at least had the comforts of your pack besides you between the noisiness of your bosses’ commands and the field work that your team had been sent out for.

So again. Yes, you miss them. Getting spoiled by weekly meals at home and having the comforts of your mates closeby got you terribly reliant on them for support. The routine of seeing everyone at home relieved that emptiness of your chest: whether it’s seeing Price lounging on the porch with a cigar in hand every night, or waking up to the sound of Ghost in the kitchen at some absurd hour of the morning making his tea, seeing Gaz and Roach tending in the garden outside your window and hearing them argue of whether they should plant tomatoes or carrots that summer season or even distantly seeing Soap in the shed working on some new projects (probably some sort of new bombs you last heard from him).

And every night, everyone comes together for dinner between the busyness of your own routine to bond, your favorite time of the day to no one’s surprise. With the rich smell of cinnamon wafting around the home and the noisiness of chairs dragging against floorboards as everyone settles down, it illuminates the home in a warm glow against the crackling fireplace as winter approaches upon everyone.

Soft words and hot food had rotten you terribly whenever they were around. Their voices are just loud enough to drown that little nagging one inside your head telling you that these comforts are temporary which you don’t pay much mind to anymore.

But when they’re gone on their longest deployment yet without you this time?

Oh, you crumpled so fast…

Gorging yourself on leftover frozen meals that you and Gaz had made from the freezer because you wanted a taste of home with them, sleeping for hours on end until your eyes hurt to escape that feeling of yearning in your depression, and the constant accidents of cooking dinners meant for six had driven you slightly mad in your isolated state, forcing yourself to eat it because you do not want to waste food. Continuous nights of empty chairs and vacant rooms driven you to find comfort in hibernating your stress away.

It doesn’t help that your antidepressants without the extremities of a missions’ harsh labor combined with your horrible eating habits nowadays got you packing a bit of gut now with the weight wrapped around your body. These moodiness at having your mates gone had sap away at any motivation you have to go outside and work on fixing it.

It’s whatever, your mates isn’t due to come home until another month, you can fix it later as you settled on another pair of old grey sweats and sweater that you had found miraculously from your mess before going downstairs to make another quiet dinner much to your disappointment.

—

Unknowingly to you, a car speeds down a dirt beaten road traversing past the miles of trees and fencing alike as it quickly makes its way towards your house as engines rumbles away with puffs of smokes behind it.

Inside the olden vehicle, the clock beams 22:00 on the dashboard much to the discontent of the mohawk-ed man as grumbles quietly at the wheel carefully turning the car another right to not disturb the blond man dozing off on the passenger seat, head flopped on his shoulder as he snores away. Soap didn’t exactly mean to come this late of a hour to surprise you but between the hassle of last minute paperwork, having to endure hours of jet lag on top of the lack of food in his stomach as another pounding headache punches through his skill.

He’s terribly frustrated to say the least.

Leftover fumes of anger still remains in his bones at Britain’s terrible traffic, a vein almost burst from his head remembering that big stupid truck cutting him off on the freeway only for them to meet at the same red light once they met their exits. It doesn’t help that he hasn’t been able to clean up per se too as he rubs at the fuzziness of his beard grimacing a bit at the length of it.

Oh well, he’ll can always care of it at home later. Hopefully he doesn’t wake you up though, it’s a wee bit too late for him to go disturbing you with stomping with how light of a sleeper you are so that’ll be a tomorrow thing for him to handle. And Ghost? Oh he wasn’t doing much better as well, tormented with heavy eye bags and aches all over from the latest operation, he haven’t been exactly getting the most rest with the havocs of everything these past few weeks.

But it’s over now, alas! Soap cheers quietly in his hand as he parks the car onto the driveway and gently shook the other awake to go get their bags from the trunk, the grumbles of the man was funny to hear at least as they walked up the doorstep. From outside the house, he had already seen some lights still on leaving him a bit confused, perhaps you were watching some television still or forgot to turn them off before turning in for the night?

Well, whatever it is… He just wants to see you after months of being apart as he gazes at Ghost fighting with the lingers of sleeps as he fumbles with the keys in his pockets before finally getting the correct one and twisting the door open as the sound of a bell chimes them home.

Immediately the smell of lemon and stir fry smacked against the men’s nose shortly followed by the pattering of feet as they hear you tumbling from the kitchen.

While you had sent them letters and postcards whenever they’re at base, it’s hard to stay in contact with someone when you’re stuck in the middle of some forest. So they haven’t exactly been aware of your recent changes in appearance as you turn the corner with a gaping mouth as they stare at them dumbfounded.

Fucking hell—

That throbbing headache that battered Soap’s brains had seamlessly fizzled out into a mellowed silence as his lips drop to a small gap staring upon your new lumbering form. “You didn’t tell me you were coming home early…”, he can distantly hears you muttering from the fogginess of his mind as you made your way towards them with the darnest smile gracing your face he watches you practically skipped your way towards them with open arms.

Soap always knew he had a bit of a thing about the size difference but this was something entirely different as he stared up at you.

If you thought you weren’t massive enough already, well he isn’t exactly complaining as his dilated eyes roams up and down your body. From the way the tight wool almost seems to burst at the seams every time you moved your arms, your new love handles that spills at the side of your waist with the the best being your massive fucking thighs that he had to squirm about thinking about it crushing him. Far was the sight of that hardened former mercenary and replaced with the embodiment of a giant teddy bear.

The Scot practically has to bite down the side of his cheeks to stop himself from grinning madly, even holding back his giddiness at the sight of you looking so well taken care of. Perhaps it’s some age old instinct in his brain going haywire at the thought at his mate being comfortable for that is making his wolf purr happily at the sight of you looking so big.

Once your hefty arms wrapped around his hips as you smothered his face in kisses got him squealing in delight as his hands roam over the large span of your back and groping the healthy layer of fat covering your muscles. You feel so damn warm, he thinks as he lays his head on your shoulder as you picked him up, leaving him dangling from the floor as you carry him, absolutely soaking in the love offered as you press a few more kisses onto his face and nuzzled into his facial hair. This is bliss, Soap thinks as he groans loudly into your ear letting his tail flap around wildly as he buries his face deep within your neck huffing noisily against your skin.

It was bad enough having you on base and seeing you be constantly swarmed with random people whenever you visit them to drop off things for them before they moved you into this house, but now? Fuck, he might have to yell at his soldiers to turn around if you ever visit them now and face the embarrassment later from the rest.

Ghost wasn’t doing much better. He was never much of a talker when he’s sleepy but the way he can feel his brain fizzling out of his ears as he force himself to swallow some spit in his dry mouth as he watches you peck Soap one last time before moving onto him left his heart quickening. Suddenly bushy eyed and awake, a heavy blush rises up his face as you too gently picked him up and start kissing him starting from his forehead and down his neck as he whines, squeezing his legs around your thickened waist and feeling his cock chub up against the span of your stomach letting you pamper him as he squeezes the firmness of your soft shoulders for support.

After a few more minutes of you slobbering affection over them, you settled Ghost onto one side of your arm, head still tucked into your nedk before turning to Soap with a slight tilt of your head as you smiled at your mate.

“You didn’t tell me you were coming home early, I would had prepared something nicer, where’s the others?” you asked as you gently tugged his hand towards the dinner table past by the living room and into the kitchen where six plates laid upon the wooden table making both of the men’s hearts slightly fuzzy at the sight as you settled them down and begin heating up the pan again.

“Wanted to surprise ya. The rest still at work, they told us to leave early and they’ll handle the rest so you don’t go mopping around” Soap teases as Ghost pips into the conversation, “they say they’ll be coming back a week later from us.”

You hummed in acknowledgment as you settled some chicken stir-fry over rice onto their plates hearing them mutter a small thanks before digging in. You can feel a slight sweat drop at Soap almost tearing up, something about finally having homemade food after months you can make out between his chewing. Though you are a bit tense sensing Ghost merely staring at you with his big ol eyes for no apparent reason as he chews his food. You can only flash a smile at him not knowing how he is clawing at his jeans trying to stop himself from lunging over to straddle at your thighs again.

But tonight is a lovely dinner, though it’s not as noisy as you’re used too with everyone else around… The clatter of utensils and small chatters you share amongst two of your mates is enough to fill the silence in your head as you watched them enjoy themselves after being back home for so long.

However you were fully unprepared in fulfilling another type of hunger from them as you close your eyes blissfully at them not seeing the way the two of made eye contact with one another from across the table.

—

Perhaps in hindsight you should had expected this knowing how touch-starved your mates are.

When helping them clean up in the bath that night, you had ignored the way they whined petulantly whenever you brush the washcloth down their chest or thighs as you move them around with your hands. It was terribly adorable still seeing them rest against your shoulder or even clutching your other arm when you scratch their ears and hearing them purr like a motorboat. Sure, it was not hard to notice their aroused state but you had waved that off as them being exhausted and you didn’t exactly want to tire them as you dried and dressed them in your old shirts before heading to bed.

And truthfully, you felt hugely relieved that your mates don’t seem to mind your change so much as you felt them tuck their head into the side of your chest and even swinging their legs around your thighs for comfort much to your amusement before passing out for the night in the nest.

So when you woke in the early hours of the morning to the feeling of someone’s lips pressed against your face and the sensation of your thigh trapped between someone legs and grinding against it, you have to hold in a in a groan as you opened your eyes to meet Soap snuggling his entire face against your own as he ruts his dick against you as he licks your neck.

The air smells terribly sweet, the slightest hint of mint combined with the remainders of the lavender shampoo from the bath earlier had your head in a doozy as you watch him squirm on top of you. The scent suffocates your head in a strange warmness as you breathed in his scent, letting it burn into your lungs scratching that one itch in your brain knowing you miss their scent being marked onto your skin after being away for so long.

“Soap?” You mutter, still trying to wake up from the fog of sleep as you settle your hands on the man’s waist, almost circling it and letting him squirm around on your lap. Tucked on your right lays Ghost slumbered away unaware to the events occurring above as you steadied Soap, your hands large enough to just barely circle around his waist as your thumb gently circles his skin feeling the lack of briefs that covers his bottom now.

You can hear him grunt louder, totally ignoring your words once you raise your leg ever so slightly to allow him more friction. It was gratifying to your ears hearing him chock back little sobs as you helped him rock back and forth as he glides his sensitive bits between the mix of scarred and smooth skin making the sensation oh so worse as you begin to hear him blabbering for you to do something as a familiar heat begins to rise up his stomach.

Your thigh is absolutely soaked in slick, making you grimace towards yourself feeling the stickiness of the fluid dry against in the cold air of the room on your skin as he continuously begins to whine louder within the bedroom.

Gosh, he’s going to wake up Ghost at this point… Poor guy.

While you enjoyed your little show, Soap was pawing at your chest trying to ride the high as he squirmed around clutching your shoulders trying to find that one perfect angle for him to squeeze upon to no avail. As much stimulation he could get from riding your thigh, he can still feel the ache of his holes cramping up as it drools stupidly for a knot to fuck him. The man can only hitch a sob when you stilled his hips as you shifted them away from Ghost to not disturb him.

From the moonlight flooding in from the window, you can see the way his ears fluster as his wetness spills onto your hip, clearly unable to hide away from his very apparent arousal as a small puddle spills onto your stomach.

Soap was always a bit loud to do anything in public without anything to help him stay quiet. So when you leaned forward and begin kissing him, he haven’t expected for you to go thrusting your tongue against the roof of his mouth stimulating as to what will come later as he can only happily sighs and shake his hips at the small relief even going so far to tilt his head to give you a deeper angle letting you hear all his sweet little noises. Truly unfortunate that he had to pull away feeling the lack of air in his lungs which made his head go all fuzzy but he looked endearing still as you wiped away the drool from the side of his lips.

God, Soap fucking loves you being all sweet on him as he pants, needing a moment to breath and recollect himself as you pat his back a bit to sooth him. It was bad enough that knowing you were already so much more bigger than him making him feel small against you but this new you probably changed something worse in him as he feels you press some kisses onto his sweat matted hair and feeling your big arms cuddle around him making his wolf whine happily at the idea of feeling protected by you. Yeah’s he’ll definitely make up all the missed time spend with you later.

“Keep this”, Soap say deadpanned from your lap as he stares up at you.

“What?” You watch his brows furrow ever so slightly.

“This.” You feel him squeeze your tummy as to clarify his point, gently squeezing the roll on your tummy.

“Oh… okay”, simply nodding, not understanding the appeal of your new body but you won’t go arguing with him now.

After a few more minutes of pampering and stopping Soap from motorboating against your chest, you turned him around with his ass present to your face as you trace the soaking slit before pressing a finger easily into it. The easy slide and garble of surprise at your suddenness made you heady at the sight of it before pressing upward into it. You got rewarded with a deep groan and the feeling of Soap pressing back against you.

Though you haven’t expected for him to also go down pulling down your sweats and go nuzzling his cheeks against into your dick to return the favor…

You held in a hiss feeling the way his tongue begin suckling your head as he bobbed his hand occasionally past the first few inches before pressing a few kisses on the side of it as if he was savoring you before an almost nauseating amount of heat causes you to chock as he tries to swallow you whole but only managing to get halfway before tears begin to slide down his cheeks as he attempts to get you further down your throat before deciding to just use his hands for whatever is left as he groans at the heaviness on his tongue, simply content on having it laid inside his mouth and giving it the occasional suckle.

Still, untouched after months of being apart, the man was left squealing and clutching your love handles with a mouth stuffed with cock once you were able to stuff your fat fingers one by one into him and begin bullying his holes. The cascade of muffled noises had your heart pounding against your chest as you rubbed against his walls. Those little groans sends shivers down your spine feeling the vibrations down onto your dick which got you to go circling against his clit for more to feel him suck harder against you.

While you two were busy doing your own thing, someone had arose from their slumber and been merely watching and squeezing his thigh to comfort himself as he watched the messiness transpiring between you two.

But seeing the two of you go on without him stirred some feelings of jealousy inside so when someone’s hands wrapped around Soap’s neck to pull him off your dick, the poor guy almost screamed from shock before the familiar sound of Ghost telling him to pipe down reaches his ears as he forced his partner to scoot over to allow him room as well much to your horror as they both begin bickering over who’s turn it should be now as Ghost attempts to pull the other of you.

While you did got Soap loosened enough for your taste you had to watch as the two twist their head as you clear your throat bug-eyed being caught in a fit. Ghost was in the midst of pulling Soap off of your body with his hands against the other’s arm while Soap is pushing against the intruder’s face with your dick still in your mouth… You can stare at them almost disappointedly as you rub your face at them.

“What are you two doing…” you hummed softly as you guided Ghost closer to you dragging your mate so you can see his face better from within the dark.

You can hear Soap complaining in the background as you stroked Ghost’s scarred cheek and feeling him nuzzle into your hand, grabbing your wrist in almost a silence admittance for you to continue.

And who are you to refuse when he looks absolutely precious in your oversized black hoodie? You can hear him purring loudly into the room as he nips and licks at your palm while you continue nuzzling him.

But the slight sting of teeth against your dick tells you someone is getting envious as you hissed a small “Soap!” before feeling the man laugh around you in breathy gasp.

Groaning at the brattiness of your mate, you moved your hand down to Ghost’s hips and circled his bones, almost asking for permission to go further which you got a small nod from as you helped him pull down his briefs, you can make out the slightest wet spot against the fabric as you placed it aside and pat his thigh once more.

“Think you can wait your turn sweetheart?” You ask softly not wanting to scare the man away as you smile ever so peacefully at him.

“Yeah…” You can just faintly hear from his lips as you peck another kiss onto him.

“Good boy”, you praise just barely missing the way Ghost seems to jolt at your words as you ruffle his hair before directing your attention back to the other again.

Pulling Soap away from your dick and hearing him squeak as you manhandle him to face you with his back to the bed with his legs on top of your shoulders as you thrust in was satisfying enough as payback for his bratty behavior. Watching him squeal around at the feeling of you filling him up in one full swoop was gratifying — the way he immediately squeezed himself onto you as you pushed out small grunts from his lips. From below, the sight of you potentially crushing him underneath your mass got his head all fuzzy seeing you on top of him all sweaty and adoring onto him.

Still you were not exactly anticipating the stream of water splashing your chest after a few thrusts in, a sharp squeeze pulled you out of your rhythm as you watch Soap begin convulsing around on the bed between a fit of curses and sobs as he squeezes your hips trying to get you to slow down. You can hear the sheets tearing in his excitement as he squirms around on the bed. Worried, you try sooth him, rubbing your hand over his stomach just pressing the slightest pressure against it to ease him from the wrecks of release apologizing as you come to a stop.

Ghost attempts to stiff in a chuckle watching you trying to sooth Soap who can only cover his face in embarrassment as you attempt to pry them off his face telling him it’s okay, it’s fine and it was hot so stop worrying so much.

Eventually you got the man to settle down even if the man is still a bit sulky about coming so abruptly in front of him. Though the feeling of something constantly bumping against his g-spot soon gets him all smiley again enjoying the drag of your dick bumping against his cunt. It was nice being stuffed in pleasure as he can only shiver happily. The heat radiating off your skin as you pressed inside with your soft words got his head feeling all mushy. The contrast between the deep pace you set for him and your gentleness in caressing his cheek got his brain feeling numb, a sweet oozy syrup is dripping out of his ears leaving him giggly.

It wasn’t long before that tightened feeling arise in his stomach again as a plethora of small whines flood the room. You can hear him grumble at you for more touch and going so for as to tug your head down to nuzzle against your nose and dragging Ghost’s hand and squeezing it for comfort — simply giggling away at having his mates close by as he noisily purr into your ear just riding through the stimulations.

You feel a jolt of pain turning to pleasure feeling Soap’s teeth dig into your neck as he sucked some marks onto the skin to muffle some of his moans with a mouth stained with your red.

God his hole felt snug against you with every flutter of his hips, you can see dick flop uselessly over his tummy and drooling. Soap was unbearably warm and with final shallow thrust against his nerves forced him to release in laughter as his legs begin to numb from the abundance of euphoria pumped into his veins. The squeeze against your cock pushed you to cum inside as you pushed your knot past Soaps rim and feeling it clench around you like a python making the man’s bottom run hot as spurts of your release splashed against his walls and plugging him up.

Minutes of pumping Soap’s bottom with your hot cum graced you with the vision of seeing your mate look satisfied, skin glowing with sweat with rosy cheeks had you fawning over him as his words warble unintelligible, his breath all pitchy and short muttering “I love you’s” under his breath as he clenches around you one final time before passing out with your knot inside.

Pressing a finger inside just barely gave you enough room to pull out from Soap’s hole. You peppered some last few kisses onto his face and chin on Soap’s face simply praising him for taking you so well as you watch his tail flap around in content with the last bit of consciousness he has left as he whines into your ear absolutely soaking in all your affection. Eventually he passed out in your arms to the motions of you scratching his hair before you settled him on the clean side of the bed.

When you turn back to Ghost, hand still clenched by Soap you have to laugh seeing him look so troubled at the other’s grip onto him before eventually getting himself loose.

Intimacy from the Londoner was rare, as you crinkle a smile at him encouraging the man to come closer.

Well… The physical kind at least. He’s almost affectionate in a way a cattle dog is, his love coming in the form of firm words and protecting his property (in this case, his mates).

But that’s Ghost. Simon at home however? Your giant broody mate who loves bad jokes and gets a kick being an incarnation of terror out on the field — is still the same man who looks like a small duckling when he takes off the mask with his short blond curls and following everyone anywhere and loves leaning his entire weight onto someone when cuddling with them.

Sweet Simon comes crawling into your lap cautiously just carefully leaning his head onto your shoulder as he wraps his arms around your neck before settling down making you laugh at his carefulness. He scrunched his face at you when you turned to kiss the side of his head and nose much to his embarrassment. He decides to reach down and immediately pressed your dick against his opening before settling down making you chock out a gasp as another warmth fills your chest again watched your handsome man gather himself before gently bouncing against your lap releasing the softest cries you ever heard as he huffs and puffs under his breath trying to make a set pace.

Shit— Simon could get used to your new brawniness as his dick brushes past your soft stomach making him let out a rack of shivers from the dual stimulation as your heavy dick batters his walls.

The way your beefier arms wrapped around his back and with how big your thighs enclosing him makes him, all of your heavy presence and heat makes him small — protected under your mass. All these sensations is doing terrible things to his brain and he’ll blame you if anything as you slowly thrust him against his bounce to hear his grunts louder, your breath hot against his ear as you praise him: calling him your pretty boy, baby, and all of those sort of lovey nonsense has his heart tightening.

It makes his head feel stuffy and before he can truly process the tears streaking down his cheeks, he can feel your thumb waiting them away as you moved his face from your neck to come meet your own, still smiling all so warmly at him asking if he’s okay.

And Ghost? Well he’s unable to deal with the sickly softness radiating in his hear as he sits there on your dick stunned. After a few moments, you see him move to nuzzle against your chest, enjoying the cushion against his face before biting down as you yelp at teeth grazing your skin.

“Really…?” You mutter, feeling his smile against your skin as he too suckles some marks onto your skin.

After releasing some of that stuffy feeling in his chest, he return to grinding on your lap as you sigh feeling the way his bottom tightens around you occasionally. His mouth now occupied with your fingers as he practically begged you silently to let him hold them between your lips. A pretty sight if anything seeing him so relaxed with his eyes closed with his scarred lips wrapped about your large hand, occasionally a small sigh will escape if you tilt your hip the slightest to the right against his good spots.

He sounds so adorable and it’ll be a shame to waste this opportunity as you move your hand from his waist and move them downwards towards his clit.

Barely brushing it had Simon suddenly jolting from shock as his eyes jolt open feeling you circle it. Oh your sweet boy who begins sobbing once more as you guided him to continue moving and seeing his thighs wetten from the amount of slick dripping down.

Terribly terribly sensitive Simon who has a hair trigger orgasm if you ever as much so press against his clit or prostate you learn over the years as you hear him warble out curses at you to slow down as you flickered with the bean. You can feel his hands gripping your arms trying to slow you down, but why should you? Not when he’s so sweet smelling and pliant in your arms as you press one final firm rub against his clit before feeling him spasm around your dick feeling his walls milk you as he jerks around in your lap at the sensation of your knot catching onto his opening with loud cries. You can only just hold his hips down as he shudders at hot release splashing inside of him trying to ignore the way his tails wag at the thought of being claimed this way by you.

After a few minutes of filling your poor mate up with enough batter, you can feel him try to make himself smaller on your lap as he stares up at you as if he’s waiting for something.

Oh how silly of you, you sigh as you carefully slowly move you two onto your sides, only wincing at the feeling of your knot being jostled against Simon’s walls which you too hear him grumble at. But once you got adjusted, you begin stroking Simon’s hair and kissing his hair as he tucks his face into your chest just soaking up the affection as you coo eagerly at him as you rock him in your lap. Full and well sated, it wasn’t long before you had him knocked out against your body. Adorable really as you press one more kiss to his head until your knot deflated.

Usually you’ll spend a few more minutes cuddling your two boys but but it’s time to clean, you don’t necessarily want to deal with the stickiness in the morning as you gathered some wet wipes from the drawers and towels to clean them up. Gently nudging them off the dirtied and damaged sheets, you’ll get them new blankets from the closet to snuggle into later. They’ll be grumpy sure about being stirred awake from you moving them, but it’s for the best as you settle Simon down on the bed near Soap to cuddle into. You held in an “aw” seeing the way the brunet unconsciously moved the other underneath his chin before moving to clean up them.

You’ll sigh later when you woke up from your fitful sleep that late morning to them slumbering ever so peacefully with faces tucked into your skin as if they weren’t the reason you looked like you went through a shark attack.

But they’re still so endearing with their mussed hair and clinginess as you can feel their legs on top of your own with an arm around your waist to ensure you don’t escape from them. Quite humorous if anything coming from how linked these two are even while asleep. Your hands slowly moved up from their waist towards your neck as you traced the series of new scratches and love bites that decorate you ignoring the feeling of comfort bursting inside you at the sting before reaching further to touch the numerous bites indented into your neck forever.

Safe to say, you had gotten similar reactions from the rest of your mates once they came home as well much to the horror of your hips. But as long as they’re home is all that matters once you see them fill up the dinner table.

[marveling-cg]

None of the Straw Hats do extended conversations about the obvious things like their love for each other or the lengths they'll go to in order to see Luffy crowned and the others' dreams fulfilled. Probably a product of their captain laughing off all their sentimentality and their first mate grunting it away before they both run off to bodily stand between their crew and certain death like "nothing happened."

But in the aftermath of two years apart and the realities of the way the New World has a way of splitting them apart and making them work to find their way back together, they've all gotten a little better at making sure the necessary things are said while there's time to do it.

So I imagine each of them finding a moment in the quiet days after Kaido is dealt with and before they head into the stormiest waters surrounding Egghead to each take a private moment with Jimbei. It's nothing planned, and probably they'd all be surprised to realize everyone else had done the same. But each of them take a moment to thank Jimbei for being the Straw Hat on duty when none of them could be, for seeing Luffy safely home to them all.

Robin and Brook might be the only two to see the pattern, might be the only two to catch him blink away unexpected tears at the rare onslaught of sincerity from the entirety of his new crew -- including their taciturn first mate.

"I've been a part of my fair share of crews, but none have felt quite like this since the first."

"So PTSD, huh?"

[will80sbyers]

In the van scene Mike was looking at Will that way because he was thinking about El, since Will was talking about her at the time.

You always think it’s all about Byler…

Guess what?? It’s not!! 🫣

You people are so boring and repetitive, I guess it makes sense that you love M*leven 😪

In the van scene Mike was reacting emotionally to the words Will was saying about him because Will really sees him as a person and really loves him for who he is, something that El never made Mike feel before, that's why Mike was terrified of saying I love you to her

Eleven never made him feel safe enough or appreciated enough for him to want to open his own heart to her completely, and he was scared that if he did become emotionally vulnerable with her then she would have eventually left him and that would have hurt him - this is a symptom of a deep problem and of something missing in a relationship, even if you believe that Mike is in love with her their relationship would still break down eventually because it doesn't stand on its own without a 3rd person involving themselves in it, they have a weak romantic understanding of each other and low compatibility

even if she does love him platonically she's not in love with him exactly like he's not in love with her and only thinks that's what romantic love is (when it isn't)

I know you are too obtuse to understand this, or you wouldn't be sending me annoying anons, but TV shows don't work as you think they do, they don't make those type of shots thinking "he's watching the love interest A spill his love for him and he looks at him with a raptured expression, he looks in love... but really he's thinking about love interest B here" - it doesn't happen because the directors have to communicate things clearly to the audience and that's confusing - that's why they linger the shots in certain moments or avoid doing that etc - every image is a message

when they made Finn act raptured by that speech- that was really all WILL'S LOVE, not El at all - they made him fall for whoever those words belong to and when he'll discover the truth about the painting the trope of the "misplaced feelings" will complete its arc with Mike understanding that his true love was always Will

It was Will who made him feel in love - it's Will who understands him better than anyone else and really sees him for who he is, it was always Will... and it happens that loving Will is the easiest thing in the world and Mike always did in the background of his mind, he always had that love in him since they were little because... it's Will. Hawkins, Mike's home, is not the same without him.

I'm sorry that you're going to lose a ship that you like and you're upset about it, but it will be the best thing for all of them at the end of the day, El doesn't love Mike with the depth and intensity that Will feels for him, that's just what they have shown on screen for everyone to gather ❤️

[eliossun]

LAST SHOT - altruism

synopsis : interning at a random ship in space sounds like a great idea for your paper. don't you think? part -> 3 | other chapters -> 1 2 ?

characters : anya, swansea, daisuke, curly, jimmy, gn!reader (daisuke x reader implied)

content : trigger warning for implied death, rape, short mentions of religious themes. violent scene in one of the latter part, and of course, tw jimmy

wc : 3.1k+

before you read, buckle up...

- today, you find that your body feels warmer than usual.

- .. and a bit heavier as well? 

- did you accidentally get sick last night?

- as you sit up in your spot in the corridor, memories of last night immediately flood your brain, and you groggily sigh. awfully early to remember.. all of that.

- taking a look at your current surroundings and yourself, you realize there’s an extra blanket lying on top of you. other than that, everything.. looks the same. you’re still in the spot as last night.

- you sag in relief. you’re safe. 

- despite knowing that you couldn’t have been hurt by jimmy without the others not finding out, it still frightens you.

- and to think that curly is more afraid of hurting jimmy’s feelings than what that man could possibly do to others.

- that’s funny. 

- instead of staying on that thought any longer, your eyes peer back, peeking at anya’s door. it’s still closed, and it sounds like anya’s still sound asleep. 

- oh well. you don’t mind waiting for her..

- for now, you’ll fold the extra blanket. it’s the standard blanket the company gives you. one for each room - but you’re unsure if they gave the ship any extras.

- you wonder who gave you this in the first place. 

- you suspect it’s anya, daisuke, swansea, or curly - in that exact order. jimmy would’ve placed it above your head to suffocate you, but who knows.

- you’re only left with a troubling question.

- .. how are you going to return this?

- everyone.. looks like they’re dead. 

- anya woke up roughly an hour later than she used to wake - which is good. 

- but once you saw her puffy eyes, you could only offer her a hug. she allows it.

- curly looks even more tired than before, eye bags under his eyes only heavier. and along with that, jimmy is nowhere to be found.

- they’re mindlessly doing their basic needs - either stuck in their own thoughts, or too somber to think in the first place.

- well, aside from daisuke. 

- he’s still enjoying the cake, although he looks a bit awkward. you could see the way he’s restraining his smile after reading the room. 

- you try to enjoy the cake as well. it’s not the best, but cake is cake. you only realised how much you miss eating baked goods. 

- another thing to miss, you suppose..

- swansea also wakes up later than usual. 

- he walks in the lounge, and immediately, you could tell that he very much needs a glass of whatever’s most potent in that very room.

- that’s how the last can of coffee was finished. you feel sort of bad for the old man.. and whoever else drinks coffee on this ship.

- he sits on the sofa instead of the dining table, which means.. he has no access to the cake.

- you look at daisuke - who's already looking at you.

leaning slightly in his direction, you whisper under your breath,

“.. do you want to get him a slice?”

he looks at you excitedly, his smile growing once more, unrestricted.

“yeeahh!!!”

okay. maybe a bit too unrestricted. you draw the attention of anya and curly by accident, and you only smile at them apologetically. daisuke follows, chuckling guilty.

your eyes draw back at the male beside you, and your eyes catch on one single detail. at the end of his lips, there’s pink cream. 

your fingers twitch at the sight.

before you knew it, you were wiping the excess cream at the edge of his mouth. it only smears it worse. 

flickering your vision from his lips, to his eyes - you realize that he’s been staring at you wide-eyed, lips slightly parted. he looks.. dazed. you also realize how sudden your action was, and you send him an apologetic stare, before looking back at his lips.

“you got something there. sorry.”

wiping it for a final time, the cream is finally off his face. thank god. it would’ve drove you insane..

“ah- it’s alright!”

nodding at him, you take one of the two plates on the table - the table set up by yours truly - and begin cutting out two pieces of cake. the male beside you has already gotten up, ready to go.

you dully note that his voice sounds more high pitched than usual. 

.. maybe he has a cold? you’ll have to check later.

- swansea looks at the two of you, coffee in his hand, his body hunched and arms supporting his position. 

- his eyebrows are furrowed ever since the start of your interaction, and his eyes flicker between daisuke and you. he greets the both of you with a grumble.

- you only nod along as daisuke gives him the piece of cake with the spoon in hand.

- he looks at the piece of cake, before sighing, and placing his can of coffee on the sofa.

- after he takes the cake in his hand, you hear him talk for the first time in the morning.

- “just return the blanket after you wash it.”

- you let a brief moment of surprise appear on your face. 

- so, it was swansea..

- giving him an appreciative nod, you offer him a small thank you, and he brushes it off as he eats the first piece of cake. 

- daisuke looks between the two of you, confused.

- “what? what happened?”

- you briefly look at swansea. he looks like he’s saying, “do whatever you want kid.”

- so you do. 

- you give daisuke a sly look, and press a finger on your lips, a smile on your face. 

- daisuke gasps, and begins to whine more for an explanation. swansea laughs at him, and that.. was the start of your day.

- everything is going smoothly, so far.

- jimmy finally comes out of his room, and he surely had breakfast - judging by the dirty plate by the sink. 

- swansea and daisuke continue to the utility room as usual. swansea seemed a bit tense, but it wasn’t as bad as this morning.

- on the other hand, curly sends you a thankful nod as he exits the lounge area, and you send him a huff in exchange. 

- you’re pretty sure you’re just bitter at jimmy at this point. there’s no need to put the blame on curly for his current actions. but.. oh well.

- can’t you be petty, once in a while?

- your shifts goes by as usual. you check medical stock with anya, but this time, she looks more spaced out than usual.

- anya’s silent for the first half of the time with you, and the rest, her exterior slowly starts to unravel, as soon as you asked her if you could help her with anything.

- you listen to her troubles while rubbing her back. 

- financially, this isn’t good news. she already spent a huge chunk of her life trying to get into nursing school, and this job could be used as proof of her expertise. but it isn’t enough. 

- you promised that you’ll help to the best of your abilities once you get back home, even if it meant moving closer to her apartment. you were planning to move during your masters, anyway..

- she laughs at the lengths you’d go to, saying that she wouldn’t hold you to it.

- you only sigh softly, giving her a final hug.

- you’ll find a way. somehow. and you will help her.

- the rest of the shift goes swimmingly, anya looks a bit better after talking about her problems.

- and now, it’s nearly the end of your shift. 

- you think you’re going insane. you swear you’re hearing a small noise speaking in your ear.

- .. and it awfully sounds like daisuke. 

- you’re really going insane today. further squinting at the label of the medicine in your hand, you only look back when anya taps your shoulder.

- …to see the man himself, peeking into the medical bay. 

- you sigh at the sudden appearance, and anya sends you a teasing smile.

- this wouldn’t be the first time he has visited you. but what would be different is the look that anya is sending you right now. you send her a confused stare back.

as soon as your gaze connects with daisuke’s, you watch as his entire face light up. lips stretching into a smile, his eyes crinkling, the shine in his eyes getting brighter - the whole deal.

and you feel … relief.

“hey! ..wanna see something?”

you realize quickly why you’re so relieved to see him.

the excitement he displayed. you haven’t seen it on anyone all day. not even close. 

you could feel your gaze soften at the sight of him.

“..depends. am i done with my shift?”

your tone comes off as teasing, as intended. however, it was also to remind him that you were in the middle of something.

he seems to get the memo, and sends you a sorry smile.

“well..”

today, his request is a bit different. on most occasions when he did visit you, he only hung around the clinic, allowing you to do work as he chats, sometimes you or anya chiming into his conversation. 

putting back the medicine back on the shelf, you were about to hand over the final report to anya and start organizing alongside her. it’s quite a bit to do, but you don’t mind.

after all.. you’re meant to help her, right?

“actually, y/n’s done!”

your eyes immediately snap towards anya’s direction.

“oh, thanks anya! let’s go, y/n! i got something real cool to show you!”

..and then towards daisuke, who's already headed off outside to wait for you.

you send anya a look, placing your clipboard down on her desk.

“really?”

instead of a response, she sends you a teasing grin, and leans into her hand. 

“hehe.”

now she’s laughing at your confusion. you send her a final look of defeat.

- turns out, daisuke was trying to show you a new trick he learnt from swansea. 

- a funny little thing he could do with the tools. shifting it certain ways can make a familiar melody.

- you realize it’s the same one you had on your mp3.

- looking back at him, you see now that he’s nervously waiting for your reaction.

- you smile, patting his head right after. 

- he’s quite talented with little things like these. you pointed it out, and he only brushes them off. a bad habit he has, one you’ve observed since the first day you got into the tulpar.

- you wonder if it’s plausible to fix that trait before you all go back to earth.

- anya informed you that it would be unlikely for her to sleep well this night.

- rightfully so, you would say - but she continues, saying that she might take a walk in the ship at night.

- you blink at her, confused on what she would be insinuating. 

- she softly smiles at your confusion.

“you can sleep in your room tonight.”

a brief look of concern flashes on your face.

“are you sure?”

she nods at your words, smiling further at your demeanor.

“stop worrying. you might get more wrinkles than me at this point.”

sending her a small look of disdain, she only continues to smile at you - telling you not to worry. it’s not a good night to leave her alone. but when she looks at you like that, it’s hard to refuse. 

you continue to look at her, before looking back at the dining table. jimmy’s seat is empty, perhaps unwilling to come, or late. it’d be better if he didn’t come. another pang of worry resonates in you, and you send anya a signal to follow you.

that night, you give anya your taser. 

you really hope she doesn’t face a situation where she has to use it.

- when you finally retire from the lounge area, you’re a bit surprised to how foreign your own room looks. 

- you visit this place every morning and night, sure. but it’s just to check on your things.

- the cushion is hard, you note. harder than the ones in the sofa, at the very least. 

- it’s hard to say if they’re an upgrade from your usual place in front of anya’s room.

- it would also be the first time you use your pillow as an actual pillow, as you used to hug it instead.

- the air is warmer here. it’s safer to rest without a blanket.

- despite all these.. luxuries, you can’t say that you feel better.

- it’s annoying; how you’ve come to worry so much on your trip here.

- you worry about everything. you worry about swansea’s condition, about daisuke’s homesickness, how curly’s holding up - and how anya’s going to avoid jimmy. you worry about what tomorrow will bring. 

- this peace you tried to uphold feels like it’s one second away from ruin. 

- you barely get any sleep that night. 

- you’re unsure why your body alarm didn’t wake you up that morning.

- perhaps due to the fact you barely slept at night, but you woke up to a knock at your door.

- you see the same woman that has taught you everything you had to know about the ship, crying behind that same door.

- she kept on hiccuping as you brought her in. you try your best to comfort her, and her words are broken as her hiccups continue to disturb each syllable. you wait for her to finish her sentences.

- that’s when you realized that it had to do with jimmy. the man anya was talking about was jimmy.

- she mentions curly’s name - and how he refused to help her even when she told him.

- you should’ve expected that much from him. 

- the sound of your deep breaths were overtaking the sniffles in that room. you were starting to see red.

- what happened next was a blur. you remember reaching into your bag - and calling over daisuke to watch over anya.

“wait- where are you going?”

you look back over your shoulders, eyes sharp on him. 

the darkness of the room shadowed what could be seen of your facial features, only your eyes managed to catch the light that trickled from the hallway. they seemed like they were glowing.

“to hell.”

you were never a slow walker. 

your steps are steadfast; quick, unwavering, that’s how you are often described to be. never to look back, never to regret. blunt, unsociable, and reclused. this was your way to be one step in front of everyone else. to be great, one must follow a path of loneliness.

you were never a slow walker. you never let anyone else influence your path.

but one day, you decided to slow down for someone. 

they looked at you with care. with more than you had in your body, more than what you could’ve ever wished for. they guided you, they taught you with patience you’ve never imagined of possessing. 

then another came along; smile bright as sunshine, the source of warmth in a cold day. 

all of a sudden, you walked at the pace of the sun and moon. 

everyday felt different, different from the monotone you lived before. light slowly seeped into your life, and you allowed it. for once, in your life, you felt like there was something that was guiding you through this fog.

you were never a slow walker. today will be no different.

the hallway echoes with every step you take, and each step brings you closer and closer towards the cockpit.

you never thought you would actually need to utilize your gun. at one point, you thought you were just being overly careful - but it seems like they were right all along. trust no one, and that’s how you’ll prevail.

you insert the magazine into the slot of your gun, and as soon as you heard the confirming click, you pull back on the slide. it snaps back into place. 

if there’s a god in space, you pray that today will be an exception to your sins today. 

the sound behind the door only confirms his location, and you knock the door open with your foot. you catch him in the middle of something; he’s holding a key - the same one you’ve only seen curly hold before. 

he says something. you only hear muffled out voices.

grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, you slam him towards the metal ground of the spaceship. your foot finds it place on his throat, and his hands immediately try to pull it off. he immediately stops once he sees the metal weapon in your hand.

you press the barrel to his forehead. your aim was never the best, after all. this isn’t the time to miss.

he screams out for something. you step harder on his throat. he chokes at the pressure.

your finger finds it’s place on the trigger, and you watch as he struggles in your hold.

the blaring green light from the ship is your only witness to this.

may god forgive you. 

“autopilot complete, threat navigated-”

he barges into the room, and anya’s head snaps towards him in shock. she immediately relaxes at the sight of him, and sighs. captain doesn’t have time to even look back at him, now limp at the pilot’s chair, his hand over his face.

“how- how are they?”

daisuke’s voice sounds more choppy than usual. maybe due to the running, or maybe it’s because of the view he’s presented.

you were knocked out beside jimmy. 

“they’re both okay.”

the ravennete’s response nearly made him collapse.

just a view moments ago, the ship had jolted. just a few minutes after you left the room, and as any person would when they encounter an anomaly, they would find the person who could be consulted about said problem. 

that’s how captain curly rushed into the cockpit, only to see you and jimmy knocked out on the floor of the cockpit. the next thing that caught the attention of the blonde was the gun on the floor.

it doesn’t take long to put two and two together.

so he called over anya, who told daisuke to call over swansea.

as anya observed more, she could slowly piece together the scene that happened.

jimmy’s forehead had a mark on it - evidence of a barrel shoved down on it with enough force to leave red marks. no bleeding happened, but his throat looks particularly bruised. it sported patterns reminiscent of what you’d see on the bottom of someone’s shoes.

you, on the other hand, seemed completely untouched. the only sign of harm on you was the bruises on your ankle, and the bruise on your head, presumably from bumping into the chair’s headrest as the ship jolted.

as swansea peeks into the cockpit, screen now blinking green again after red, sighs heavily.

“..’fuck happened ‘ere.”

hi!! welcome to the end notes. thank you so much for supporting this work, and i loved reading your comments for this work!!!

unfortunately, this would be the final (official) part of "LAST SHOT". i originally wanted to keep this chapter with an open end (no clue whether you or jimmy made it out alive), but it felt lackluster so.. the reason i had to end the fic here is, 1. i won't be able to write the atmosphere of the fic onwards in the way i wanted to, and 2. i realized i have very much drifted from my original purpose of writing daisuke x reader fics. i didn't want to leave this fic while we were still in part 2 either so..

but. this doesn't mean i'm opposed to asks about this au! i wouldn't mind writing bits and pieces of scenarios of reader with any character!!! although they won't be as long as the fics, i welcome anything you'd like to see!!

once again, thank you so much for supporting me! please look forward to my future works! have a great day!!

sun & moon dividers by : @/saradika cockpit visuals from mouthwashing

[en-eunhee]

✶ ܃ i LOVE YOU, i'M SORRY ( 이희승 ) ───𝗐𝗁𝖾𝗇 𝗁𝖾𝖾𝗌𝖾𝗎𝗇𝗀 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗅𝗂𝗓𝖾𝖽 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗐𝖾𝗋𝖾 𝗆𝗈𝗋𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗇 "𝖿𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗇𝖽𝗌"

𝑜𝑓 𓈒 heeseung x 8th member!eunhee 1OOOwc. ── idol au, 8th member au, fluff 。。 slight skinship, eunhee being PAINFULLY oblivious : ARCHiVE

다��� ⦂ who decided to come back to this account ? sorry for being so IA ㅠㅠ,, i promise i'll be more active as i have a few unfinished works

HEESEUNG DIDN'T THINK TOO MUCH ABOUT IT AT FIRST. it was a cold night, and the group had just wrapped up an event. eunhee had forgotten her coat—typical. she always seemed to misplace little things, leaving a trail of herself everywhere they went. he had noticed it early on, the way she’d leave a water bottle here, a scarf there. but tonight, her shivering was hard to ignore.

he didn't say a word as he shrugged his jacket off and draped it over her shoulders.

“oh,” she blinked, startled, looking up at him. “thanks, hee.”

she smiled, the kind that made her nose wrinkle just a little, a small quirk he had grown fond of without realizing it.

“you’ll freeze if you don’t wear it,” he replied, brushing her concern off.

“i’ll survive,” he said, hands in his pockets now, willing his body to adjust to the chill.

eunhee didn’t say much after that, just pulled the jacket tighter around herself. maybe it was the way her face softened, gratitude clear even if she didn’t say it out loud. maybe it was how natural it felt to do something like this for her, how easy it was to care for her without thinking twice.

heeseung was starting to realize he didn’t just do things like this for everyone.

heeseung noticed it again during practice. eunhee was laughing at one of jake’s dumb jokes, and there it was—that wrinkle in her nose when she smiled, the kind that felt so genuinely her. it wasn’t just the laugh itself, though that was nice too, melodic in a way he’d never tire of. it was the little details, like the way her head tilted slightly back or how she covered her mouth with her hand, as if trying to contain the joy.

“heeseung, you good?”

jay’s voice snapped him out of it.

“huh?” he blinked, realizing he’d been staring.

jay raised an eyebrow, a teasing smile tugging at his lips. “you’ve been spacing out for like, five minutes.”

heeseung waved him off, mumbling something about being tired. he wasn’t going to admit he’d been fixated on eunhee’s smile again. that would mean confronting thoughts he wasn’t ready for, thoughts that were becoming more frequent and harder to ignore.

“hold this for me?”

eunhee barely waited for a response before shoving her water bottle and phone into his hands.

“yeah, sure,” he muttered, adjusting his grip as she tied her shoelaces.

it wasn’t the first time. eunhee always handed him her things without a second thought, trusting him to keep them safe while she did something or got distracted by something else. he never minded, though he wasn’t sure when it became such a habit.

“thanks, hee,” she said, flashing him that easy smile of hers.

“no problem,” he replied, though his heart was doing something weird again.

heeseung doesn’t think much of it at first.

they’re at the airport, waiting for their flight to another tour stop. eunhee, as usual, is beside him, eyes crinkling as she smiles at something jay says.

eunhee reaches for his hand.

it’s casual, like she doesn’t even think twice about it. her fingers wrapping around his palm, and he feels her thumb brush against his skin as she pulls him toward the security checkpoint.

“don’t get lost,” she says through a laugh, and heeseung blinks down at their hands.

this isn’t what friends do.

he looks at her out of the corner of his eye, at the way her hair falls over her shoulders, at the tiny frown she wears as she concentrates on weaving them through the crowd.

it’s not the first time they’ve held hands. on stage, during rehearsals, in front of fans—he’s done it before. it’s part of the job.

but this isn’t the same.

she doesn’t let go until they’re seated at the gate, and even then, he feels the phantom weight of her hand in his.

that night, lying in his hotel bed, he stares at the ceiling and thinks about how easy it was for her. how natural.

he thinks about how his heart wouldn’t stop racing.

heeseung doesn’t know when he started watching her like this.

it’s their second tour, and they’re midway through the setlist. eunhee’s solo is next, and he’s already perched on the side of the stage, a bottle of water in his hand, pretending he’s not waiting for her.

the lights dim, and the crowd erupts as the opening notes of her song fill the arena.

she steps into the spotlight, and heeseung feels it hit him like it always does.

eunhee is captivating.

but it’s not just her performance. it’s her.

heeseung’s eyes follow the way her hair whips as she turns, the way her expression shifts from soft to intense and back again.

“you’re staring again,” sunghoon whispers from beside him, nudging him with his elbow, and heeseung flinches, tearing his gaze away.

“no, i’m not,” he says quickly, but sunghoon just raises an eyebrow, unconvinced.

heeseung doesn’t bother arguing. instead, he turns back toward the stage, his grip tightening around the water bottle as he watches eunhee hit the high note.

the crowd roars, but he doesn’t hear it.

all he can hear is her. she glances toward where the members are watching, her eyes briefly meeting his, and she flashes a small, almost shy smile.

heeseung feels his heart stop.

it’s just eunhee being eunhee, he tells himself as she disappears backstage. she’s like that with everyone.

but the way his pulse pounds in his ears says otherwise.

eunhee is oblivious, and it drives heeseung insane.

he doesn’t know how she does it—how she can be so close, so present, and not notice the way she affects him.

like now.

they’re at the dorm, sitting on the couch after a long day of rehearsals. eunhee is beside him, her legs tucked under her, scrolling through her phone.

“should we watch a movie?” she asks, turning to him, and he blinks, caught off guard.

“uh, sure,” he says, trying not to sound as awkward as he feels.

she grins, leaning forward to grab the remote, and heeseung watches as a strand of hair falls into her face. without thinking, he reaches out, tucking it behind her ear.

eunhee freezes, her eyes flicking to his, and for a second, he panics.

but then she laughs, brushing it off like it’s nothing.

“thanks,” she says, her attention already back on the TV, and heeseung exhales, leaning back against the couch.

it’s always like this. moments that feel like everything to him, but nothing to her.

does she not see the way he looks at her? the way his heart stumbles every time she smiles?

he doesn’t say anything, of course. he can’t.

but it doesn’t stop him from wondering.

it hits him in pieces, slowly but surely, until he can’t deny it anymore.

friends don’t do this.

friends don’t make his heart race.

friends don’t consume his thoughts.

and yet, he doesn’t tell her. doesn’t tell anyone.

because as much as he wants to, as much as he feels like he might explode if he keeps it to himself, he knows it’s not the right time.

but when he catches her looking at him, her smile soft and knowing, he wonders if she feels it too.

[quintessenceofdust88]

Nonna Rosa fixes it

Okayyy, it's officially not the weekend anymore, but only for like five minutes, so technically I'm on time! This got totally away from me, and I had to actually force myself to end it where I did. Nonna Rosa took the narrative from my hands and said 'I'll take it from here', and good for her. Not to be dramatic but I love her. Anyway, if any Italian-speaking people read this: I AM SO SORRY. This is all Collins dictionary or Google Translate, I don't speak a word of Italian and I'll be very glad to correct any mistakes you might notice ♥ I hope you guys enjoy it! if you want to know more about Nonna Rosa, send me an ask, I have looots of headcanons for her (and Tommy's childhood). Here you go:

A week after breaking up with Evan, Tommy is still feeling like shit. He can barely sleep, anything he tries to eat tastes like sawdust, and he feels like he’s living on autopilot. He goes to work, he comes back home, he tries to eat, he tries to sleep, rinse and repeat. Nothing else matters, there’s nothing else he feels like doing. He doesn’t answer Howie’s texts asking how he’s doing (he answered the first one, telling Howie not to worry about him, but can’t do more than that); he completely ignores Eddie’s invitation for Muay Thai and basketball, and he comes up with an excuse as to why he can’t make karaoke bar that Thursday. And yet, there’s one thing he can’t put off, as much as he wishes to: talking to his Nonna. 

Tommy calls his grandmother at least once a week; she still lives in Indiana, in the same house he spent most of his childhood in, and he knows his uncle Bart visits often. But he likes to hear from her himself. Visiting her was a rare occasion, and the last time he was able to was about four months ago. The minute he had stepped in, Nonna had asked him if he was ‘innamorato’, because he was looking so much happier than usual.

And he knows she’ll perceive his sadness just as quick, if not quicker. The woman has always been able to read him like an open book. She’s probably the only person alive who can; he’s always made sure to keep his layers hidden from everyone else, even from… 

Well. Doesn’t matter now, does it? 

Fact is, that if he misses his call with Nonna, it’ll be even worse. She’ll know something’s up, and he doesn’t put past her to fly across the country to check on him (he’s always been the favorite grandson and everyone knows it). So it’s best to get it over with. With a heavy sigh, he sits down on his couch (and tries not to think about how empty it feels when it’s just him in there) and rings her up, bracing himself.

“Pronto? Tommasino?” She answers the call, as always with the camera too close to her face, and that at least brings a smile to his face.

“Nonna, you need to stretch your arm a little. Remember, like Charlie showed you?” He asks with a chuckle; Charlie being his cousin’s daughter, Charlotte, who taught Nonna how to FaceTime so she could ‘see Tommasino’s pretty face more often’, in her own words. 

She stretches her arm and Tommy gets a good look at her. Nonna looks the same as always, sharp blue eyes in a soft face that’s wrinkled both from age and from a lifetime of smiles. Her hair is wrapped in hair rollers and tucked safely behind a red bandana. Tommy misses her fiercely, and wishes more than ever that he could get wrapped in one of her hugs. 

They always did wonders for him when he was a little boy who used to climb trees and get scrapes and bruises; when he was a scared eleven-year-old missing his mother (and as a grown-up he can appreciate Nonna was hurting at least as much as him, having lost her daughter, but still never let it show) and dealing with an angry abusive father; when he was a scared eighteen-year-old, before leaving the only home he’d ever known to join the Army. And when he was a scared 33-year-old man, coming out as gay to his 75 year-old-grandmother, afraid of being rejected by the one person alive who truly loved him, and Nonna had stood on her tiptoes, pulled him into one of those hugs, and told him all she ever wanted for Tommy was to see him happy, and that she would always love him. 

A hug from his grandmother had always made Tommy feel like the world was an easier place to be faced, and right now, that’s exactly what he needs. And his longing must show in his face, because she’s frowning at him, her eyes full of concern. 

“Oh, Tommasino” She says softly. “What’s wrong, bambino mio? You look so sad” She asks, and to Tommy’s horror, he finds his eyes filling up. Nonna has that way of bringing out every emotion he tries to repress.

“Everything’s wrong, Nonna, and it’s all my fault” He blurts out before he can stop himself, and the look on his grandmother’s face tells Tommy she’d be placing a sizable plate of cake and a cup of strong coffee in front of him if she could.

“You have a habit of saying things are your fault even when they aren't, so I'm afraid I'll need the entire story, my boy” She says gently, and Tommy watches as she sits down by her kitchen table (the same kitchen table where he did most of his school homework, the same kitchen table from where he always used to steal a biscotti while they were still warm), supporting her face in her hand and turning those sharp blue eyes at the phone screen. Tommy swears he can feel them pierce through his very soul. “What happened? Is it your Evanino?”

The question sends a knife right through Tommy's chest as he imagines what could have been. Gosh, Nonna would have loved Evan (who doesn't love Evan, you idiot?, he tells himself), and he knows deep in his heart Evan would have loved her as well. Every time Tommy would talk about her (which he did fairly often; he was a grandma's boy and had no shame about it), Evan would get a wistful expression on his face and tell Tommy that she sounded awesome.

He had been planning on taking Evan with him next time he managed to visit her, not wanting to introduce them through the phone. Now it's for the best he didn't; at least Nonna won't have to miss him like Tommy does.

“He… he's not mine anymore, Nonna,” He admits, his voice thick with emotion. “We broke up”

“What?! Ma comme?! You were so happy last time we talked!” She asked, and of course Tommy was happy; it was the day before their six month anniversary, and he had been so full of excitement. “Was he not happy? Is that why you're blaming yourself, Tomasino?”

A smile as bright as sunshine crosses Tommy's mind. A smile that only started to fade once Tommy told him he knew how it ended. A smile that had become his personal beacon of light in the past six months. A smile he misses like a lost limb.

“He… he was happy” He says, because that much he knows to be true; Evan was happy with him, Tommy made sure of that. His grandmother frowns at that, and Tommy doesn't blame her; the story seems convoluted, feels convoluted, even to himself, and he lived it.

“Thomas, you have to help your old grandmother, because I cannot understand what is the problem. If you were happy and he was happy, then why are you not together anymore?”

“Because he asked me to move in with him” Tommy says, and that doesn't seem to clear the situation for her. If anything, her frown deepens, and she reaches for a piece of bread, fiddling with it; Nonna could never keep her hands still, especially when she was nervous, and Tommy had inherited that from her. 

“Does that mean something different when it’s two men?” She asks, completely genuine, and that earns a surprised chuckle from Tommy. 

“No, Nonna” Tommy says, and all of a sudden the urge to laugh is gone again; it never lasts long, not after Evan. “It… It means the same”

“Very well, and you said no? That’s why he ended things?” She asks, and Tommy sighs brokenly, the memories of the night no less painful than when it happened.

“No. I… I broke up with him, Nonna. He asked me to move in with him, and I didn’t just say no. I… I broke up with him," Tommy admits with a heavy heart. 

“Tesoro, you do realize you are not making any sense? You and your boy were happy; he asked you to move in with him, and instead you broke up with him. Then you show up looking like your heart was broken and tell me it is your fault. What am I missing, bambino?”

“I have a house, Nonna!” He snaps, finally being able to voice the things that have been stewing in his heart and mind since that night. “I have a house, and he lives in a rented loft, and it makes no sense for me to move in with him!”

Nonna doesn’t answer right away. She chews thoughtfully on her bread, letting a small silence fall between the pair of them before she eventually sighs and answers him.

“Benne, you have a point, it wouldn’t make sense. But that isn’t the whole problem, is it, Tommasino?” Nonna adds shrewdly. “You could have talked it out, explained that to him. So what made you walk out of the best thing that happened to you in years?”

Tommy can always trust Nonna to lay things down exactly as they are, no matter how painful it sounds. She’s right, he did walk out of the best thing that happened to him in years, maybe ever, and it’s getting harder and harder to justify that decision to himself. 

“N-Nonna, I was… I was falling so in love with him” He tells her, and feels tears starting to prickle the corner of his eyes.

“Yes, I’ve known that since last time you were here” Nonna says impatiently. “That’s not a reason to leave, Thomas; that’s a reason to stay”

“Only if he loved me back” He says automatically, and Nonna crosses her arms, unimpressed. 

“And who says he doesn’t? Did you ask him?” She asks sharply, and Tommy sighs. This conversation is taking a completely different route than what he expected. 

“I didn’t have to, Nonna. I… I just know it, okay? I was his first relationship with a man. I cannot be the last, that’s not how it works. And I… I thought I was okay with it, that I could enjoy it while it lasted, but… But I didn’t expect to love him this much” He admits, as much to himself as to her. It’s all his fault, really, for falling so deeply, flying too close to the Sun. “I-it’s safer to break my own heart now than to let him do it when I’m way too deep to recover. N-not that I’m recovering all too well, but… could be worse” He finishes, already wiping the few tears that inconveniently decided to rush down his cheeks. 

If Tommy expects his grandmother to nod sympathetically at that and coo at him (he kinda does; she has a habit of doing that when he cries), he has another thing coming. Nonna scoffs loudly, hitting the table with her hand, strong from decades of kneading bread. The noise is enough to startle Tommy out of tears.

“Thomas Domenico Kinard, I didn’t know me and your dear Mamma, may God have her soul, had raised an estupido vigliacco!” She exclaims, her hand flailing loudly to emphasize her words. 

Tommy will be the first to admit his Italian is rusty, but he’s pretty sure she just called him a stupid coward. And. Ouch.

“Nonna!” He exclaims back, but she isn’t dissuaded. She tuts him with a sharp ‘Silenzio!’ and a raised finger, and Tommy shuts up right away. He knows that when Nonna starts, the best he can do is take the scolding, so he leans back on his couch, trying his best not to look like a chided boy who got caught stealing fruit from the neighbor’s orchard.

“You are my grandson, and I love you more than anything in this world. You are a good man with a wonderful heart, but you have one big problem, Tommaso. You always assume you know people’s feelings better than they do, and then you make your own decisions based on that without actually asking anyone. Remember when you decided I should move to California because you thought I was lonely here?” She asks, raising an eyebrow, and Tommy nods sheepishly. “Do you remember what I told you?”

“That if and when you wanted to move to California, you would let me know, but you were perfectly capable of making your own decisions” He mumbles back, the epic scolding from five years ago still fresh on his mind. 

“Esattamente. Now, I think your Evanino deserves the same courtesy. He is not a silly child, Thomas. If he wants you to be his last, if he loves you, who do you think you are to decide that he doesn’t?”

“But he never said he did,” Tommy replies stubbornly. “He… He never even told me he loved me, he just asked me to move in with him. It’s like… It’s like he wanted to prove a point, Nonna. That he could be… committed, or queer, or whatever, I don’t know. But he never said he loved me”

“Did you say it to him?” Nonna asks, and Tommy stares at her with his mouth agape. Damn this woman and her ability to ask the most uncomfortable questions. 

“N-no” He admits. “I… I was too afraid of him not saying it back”

“Hmmm” Nonna hums thoughtfully. “That’s your other problem, bambino mio. You think you don’t deserve to be loved. I blame that man for that” Nonna says with a scoff, and they both know exactly who she’s talking about; there’s no lost love between Rosa Lucciola and her ex-son-in-law, Brian Kinard, and the way he treated Tommy and his mother before she passed is the sole reason for it. 

“Well, that’s neither here nor there, Nonna” He says with a shrug, always uncomfortable when his father becomes even a small topic of conversation, but she tuts disapprovingly.

“Ah, isn’t it? Has it never occurred to you that maybe your Evanino could have the same problem? That he was as afraid as you to show his heart and have it broken?”

Tommy desperately wants to say that he thought about it, that it occurred to him; but it hasn’t. Evan is such a sunshine of a man, always so prone to smiles and loving gestures towards anyone he cares about, that Tommy never thought there could be insecurities there. Now it makes him feel selfish and stupid (or estupido as Nonna had so accurately called him). 

“Nonna…” Tommy says, his mind catching up to everything she said and a horrifying realization dawns on him. “What if he did love me back? Oh my God, did I fuck this up?!” He asks before he can stop himself. 

“Language! Do not take the Signore’s name and swear in the same sentence!” She chides him, and Tommy mutters ‘sorry’, but her look is impossibly fond. “But, well. Maybe you did; maybe you didn’t. Are you going to sit around and mope or try to find out?” Nonna challenges him. 

“W-what if he never loved me, Nonna? Or what if he did, but me walking out made him stop?” Tommy asks, not knowing which possibility scares him the most.

“What if he still does, Thomas?” Nonna counteracts. “What if he loves you and is too afraid to reach out because you already rejected him once, hm? Someone has to be brave, and he already was when he asked you to move in, bambino. Maybe it was a little impulsive, but his heart was in the right place; it was in your future together”

Tommy realizes Nonna is right. He can’t expect Evan to reach out (he realizes he was at some level, and he would have rushed to it; one call from Evan and Tommy would be right back to his life, ready to reheal his own heart when things inevitably went wrong, just for another glimpse of Evan Buckley’s personal sunshine); it’s his turn to fight for them. It’s his turn to be brave. 

“Ah, you finally realized it, hm?” Nonna says; something must be showing on his face, because there’s a satisfied smile on her face. “Fight for that boy, Thomas. Fight for your happiness, tesoro. Prove to your Nonna you are not estupido”

“Nonna, you are most definitely the best person on the planet, and I promise you didn’t raise a estupido. I’ll do right by Evan. By… By me. By both of us” Tommy promises to her, promises to himself. He blows a kiss to the screen of his cellphone, desperately wishing he could kiss her cheek in person. “Ti amo, Nonnina” (I love you, granny) 

“Ti amo, nipotini del mio cuore” (I love you, grandson of my heart) She tells him back, and a mischievous smirk appears on her face. “You better bring that boy here to try my rondelli before the year is over, you hear?”

“Dio, I hope so, Nonna” He tells her, and they say their goodbyes before hanging up. Tommy already misses her.

He holds his cellphone close to his heart, wondering if he should text Evan, but decides against it. This is too big for a text, too big for a call. He’ll go over in the morning, probably with a bouquet of flowers or whatever other extravagant gift he can come up with, ready to grovel and explain himself and beg for a second chance, even if it’s only to hear a ‘no’. Even if it’s only to let Evan yell at him and get the closure he deserves. Even if it’s only to get his already shattered heart broken into even more pieces. Tommy has to be brave.

After all, nonna and mamma didn’t raise a coward. 

(Evan doesn’t say no. And when Tommy explains, after several rounds of make-up sex, what made him change his mind, he promises to send Nonna a present. The present ends up being him and Tommy, because they go to Indiana for Christmas, and Evan falls in love with Nonna and her rondelli. Just like Tommy knew he would)

-- Tag list (let me know if I missed anyone! also if you want to be removed or only tagged in Little Blobs' Verse):

@bidisasterevankinard @unhingedangstaddict @silversky9 @music-is-the-voice-of-the-soul @asmugfirefighter @rubydaiquiri @racerchix21 @actuallyitsellie (Although here's a lil spoiler - Nonna Rosa will probably show up in Little Blobs' verse cause I'm not ready to let go of her and she'd whack me in the head with a spoon if I didn't let her meet her great-grandchildren)

[emma23]

When you left:

Joel miller x reader

————————————————————————

It’s quiet outside. The world is still, as it often is in these moments, when danger feels both distant and imminent at the same time. You hear the wind brushing against the cracked window of the small cabin you’ve holed up in for the night.

Joel’s standing across from you, eyes heavy, filled with something between regret and longing. His rough hand, scarred from years of survival, lingers mid-air before it falls to his side.

His voice is low, as if the words are a burden he’s struggling to lift.

“You’re afraid of me.”

His gaze holds yours, and for a moment, you think you see a flicker of something human beneath all that guardedness. It’s not often you see Joel like this. Vulnerable. But it’s fleeting.

He takes a step closer, his breath shallow as he continues, “You are aware that you’re the only person in this world I’d never hurt, right?”

The words hit you, but not the way he wants them to. They echo, bouncing around the walls of your mind, but they don’t offer comfort. If anything, they open a wound that’s been festering for too long. You feel your throat tighten, that familiar sting of pain and anger bubbling up inside you.

“If that was the case,” you start, voice steady despite the crack you feel coming, “then you wouldn’t have walked out of my life when I needed you the most.”

Joel’s face falters. His brows knit together, the weight of your words sinking in. He opens his mouth to say something, but you cut him off before he can offer an excuse.

“You already did hurt me, Joel.”

Silence follows. It’s deafening, thick with everything left unsaid. You can see the conflict in his eyes, the way his hands clench and unclench as if he’s fighting some internal battle. You want to believe that he’s sorry, that he understands what he did to you. But there’s this stubbornness in him, this refusal to admit just how much damage his leaving caused.

He steps closer, the tension in the room thick as his presence looms over you. “I didn’t have a choice,” he says, his voice rough, filled with a sadness that almost makes you want to forgive him. Almost.

You shake your head, backing away slightly, needing space from him—space to think, to breathe. “There’s always a choice, Joel,” you say softly. “And you chose to leave.”

The memory of that day is still fresh in your mind. The moment you realized Joel was gone, that he’d left without a word, without any explanation. It felt like your world had crumbled beneath your feet, like you’d been abandoned all over again, just like everyone else you’d ever trusted.

Joel looks down, rubbing the back of his neck. He’s never been good with emotions, never been good at handling situations like this. But this time, you won’t let him off that easily. You won’t let him run from this.

“Do you know what it felt like?” you continue, voice trembling now. “To wake up and find out you were just... gone? Like I meant nothing to you?”

Joel’s jaw tightens, and he takes another step forward, his hand reaching out to you again, as if he’s trying to bridge the gap between you two. “That’s not true. You know that’s not true.”

You feel tears pricking at the corners of your eyes, but you refuse to let them fall. “Do I? Because it sure felt like it.”

He sighs, stepping even closer, until there’s almost no space left between the two of you. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just... I had to keep you safe. I couldn’t...”

His voice trails off, and you see that familiar pain in his eyes—the same pain you’ve seen when he talks about his past, about everything he’s lost. But this isn’t about his pain. It’s about yours.

“Keep me safe?” you laugh bitterly. “Joel, I would’ve rather faced every danger in this world than lose you like that.”

His hand finally reaches you, resting on your arm. His touch is warm, but it doesn’t ease the ache in your chest. It just reminds you of everything you’ve missed, everything that’s been lost between you.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers. The words are almost too quiet, like he’s afraid to say them. Like they’re too heavy for him to carry.

You look up at him, searching his face for something—anything that might make this easier. But all you find is a man who’s just as broken as you are, if not more.

“I don’t know if sorry’s enough, Joel,” you say, voice barely above a whisper.

He flinches, and for the first time, you see something crack in him. “I’ll do better,” he promises, his voice urgent now. “I won’t leave again. I swear.”

You want to believe him. You want to believe that things could go back to the way they were, that you could find some semblance of happiness in this broken world. But deep down, you know that things will never be the same. Too much has happened, too much has been lost.

You let out a shaky breath, stepping closer until your forehead rests against his chest. His arms wrap around you, holding you tight, as if he’s afraid you’ll slip away. And for a moment, just a moment, you allow yourself to feel safe in his arms again.

But the hurt is still there, lingering just beneath the surface.

“I missed you,” you whisper against his chest, your voice barely audible.

He holds you tighter. “I missed you too.”

Later, as you lay in bed together, the room silent except for the sound of your breathing, you find yourself wondering if things could ever truly be okay between you two. If the scars left behind by his absence will ever fade.

Joel’s arms are wrapped around you, his presence warm and solid beside you. And for now, that’s enough.

But as you drift off to sleep, a single thought lingers in the back of your mind:

Sometimes, love just isn’t enough.

Sometimes, the hardest part isn’t losing someone—it’s realizing they were never really yours to begin with.

[ramblingkitty]

I’m TIRED of people acting like lucifer is a bad person AND abusive father, he isn’t

“Oh but he didn’t believe in Charlie and kept discouraging her” he was doing it for a reason, he was protecting her. He was trying to “scare” her into quitting so she wouldn’t get hurt, he stopped when he saw how much it was affecting her. You can see the guilt and sadness in his eyes when she said “how come he can have faith in me but my own father can’t”

He CARES about his daughter, so much. He’s just protecting her from heaven because he knows that it won’t end well, he doesn’t want his own daughter to suffer the same fate he did. Everyone talks about how the hotel was Lilith’s dream and Charlie is continuing it but no one talks about how lucifer also had big dreams. He was like that even when he was in heaven but the other angels saw him as a troublemaker for it. Lucifer saw himself in Charlie

He didn’t care when the spears were pointing a him, he looked ashamed, as if he thought that he deserved to be banished. But as soon as he saw the angelic spears pointing towards her, he moved her away because he didn’t want anything to happen. He knows what the angels can do and he doesn’t want Charlie to be a target. That’s the same reason why hellborn can’t be killed during the exterminations. Charlie thinks that lucifer just sat down at the meeting and let them kill everyone but lute told her “the only reason you’re still here is because daddy gave you and your hellborn-kind a pass from an exorcist blade” the only reason you’re still here. She would be a HUGE target for being his daughter so he needed to make sure that she was going to be safe. Is a heartless and abusive person gonna do that? No.

“Oh but he’s never around/they were never close” Charlie herself said that he calls her, sure she said it’s when he’s bored or needs something but he still tries. If anything, Charlie is the one who doesn’t try. When she called him for help, lucifer said that it was the first time she has called him in years. We’ve only seen ONE clip of them during her childhood and you can see him being playful with her, someone else took her away from him (still not convinced that it was Lilith) so they were forced to be apart, you can see him reaching out for her and being upset after. Their song literally says “not be pulled apart again” it was someone else’s fault

This man is NOT abusive and I’m tired of people acting like he is. He has so much love for his daughter but everyone ignores it and they only focus on the fact that they aren’t close. I personally don’t think Lilith was abusive either but why does no one use that energy for her?? She disappeared and left Charlie with no contact for 7 years. The morningstar family is FULL of love, you can literally see it

[oneofstarkskids]

knight in shining armor

richard "dick" grayson x reader

requested by @daughterofposeidonsblog

"champagne, miss?" a man with nearly white hair asks as he holds up a tray of glasses.

you shake your head with a smile, "no thanks, alfred." as soon as he passed you, your face fell.

you hated parties, standing in a room full of people that didn't truly see you. it felt like you were suffocating.

half of the reason you were even here was because bruce wayne insisted you come, and nobody refuses an invitation from bruce wayne.

the other half...was him.

he was standing on the other side of the walls that felt like they were caving in, and at the same time you thought you'd never reach him.

you felt silly, being as anxious as you were. everyone else seemed to be having the time of their lives. but not you. you wanted nothing more than to get away.

people brushed in front of you and danced in your path. you tried to push your way through, but it was useless. you'd lost sight of him.

suddenly, your eyes looked up to find his warm blue ones staring back at you. how he made his way over to you so fast, you had no idea.

but there he was. hands on your hips to keep you grounded.

you couldn't help but smile.

grinning like a love sick fool, you got on your tiptoes to whisper in his ear. "can we please get out of here?"

dick said nothing. he grabbed your hand and led you out onto the terrace.

as soon as the cold late night breeze hit your skin, you took a deep breath.

dick wrapped his arms around you from behind, staring out at the city lights.

"is it just me or is everything better when we're together?" you said cheesily.

he laughed but his grip on you seemed to tighten ever so slightly in agreement.

you found peace just being close to him, even if the rest of the world was bustling with chaos.

the longer he held you, the slower your heart pumped in your chest. finally, you were breathing so easily you forgot it was a struggle moments before.

you felt his lips at the cusp of your ear, "you want to go home?"

you closed your eyes and nodded.

"say the word, sweetheart," he smirked.

"please, take me home, dick." you asked sweetly.

instantly, your hand was in his as he led you back inside and down a ridiculously large staircase.

"master dick!" alfred protested the protege's exit, but he kept walking with you by his side.

he only had one thing on his mind. always the one to make sure you were safe and comfortable.

your knight in shining armor.

[mollymauk-teafleak]

Getting into The Magnus Archives literal years late to the party but still going through the same motions as everyone else. That is, immediately putting them into a nice, safe mundane AU where they work in a regular archive and can live their gay little lives.

So have the headcanon of Martin actually going back to finish school and get his degree, doing online classes with John’s encouragement. At first he isn’t sure, thinking he’s too stupid, that he’ll just fail and it’ll be a waste of money. But John promises him he’s more than capable, he deserves the chance to get the education he gave up for his mother. And he’ll be with him all the way.

So Martin studies psychology for real, actually finding that he really loves it. He spends his evenings reading textbooks with John’s head in his lap, making notes in colour coordinated pens and studying with John, who asks him questions and has him explain everything out loud because they’ve realised it’s the way he likes to learn.

And Martin has to admit, he’s actually so proud of himself when he gets his degree.

[black-cat-luck]

Would you be able to do how the kids react when Bruce is hurt really badly

yes!! I love this :]

༺♡♱⋆🦇⋆♱♡༻

Dick

𖥔 He panics. He’s the strong one, he tries to remain level headed to keep everyone else calm and so they don’t send themselves into a panic attack, he is always calm and collected in stressful situations.

𖥔 But oh god that’s a lot of blood. In this moment he isn’t actually sure what happened, he doesn’t even remember who they’re fighting, where they are. A pained cry escapes his throat as his hands press over the bleeding wound in Bruce’s chest. He hears yelling, the others trying to get him and Bruce somewhere safe, trying to get Dick to tell them how bad the injury is, what can they do?

𖥔 “I-I don’t know!” Dick cries, every second of training, every hour spent learning how to stay calm under stress, stay levelheaded, assess the dangers around you first and never let your guard down, it’s all left him. He can’t move, he can’t breathe, because Bruce isn’t breathing, Bruce is bleeding out in his arms.

𖥔 Thankfully for Dicks sake, this was a league mission, so he doesn’t have to be the collected one. Superman is able to get both of them out of danger, he speaks close to Dicks ear, not because the boy is listening, but because the comms are on and Alfred is already readying the batcave for their arrival.

𖥔 Bruce makes a perfectly fine recovery, and Dick is mortified by how he reacted. He knows Bruce will be disappointed, he knows he will be shamed for letting himself be so weak, risking not only his own life, but Bruce’s by leaving them vulnerable in the battle field. Instead Bruce sets his hand on Dicks head, ruffling his hair softly, before his expression becomes serious, hand gently holding his cheek. “I’m here Chum, you don’t have to be embarrassed for being scared. I’m sorry for worrying you.” He says, and Dick cries again, laughing wetly. “You nearly died and you’re apologizing to me?” He asks, it sounds ridiculous. “Yeah, cause I know I would’ve been the same if it were you.” Bruce says it effortlessly, and Dick leans over, hugging him, careful of the healing wound. They’ve both lost too much to be able to lose each other, and that’s what’s the scariest, that they wouldn’t be able to survive losing anyone else, and they can’t promise they won’t. Dick just has to remain strong, and make sure he always has Bruce’s back so this never happens again.

Jason

𖥔 Jason’s anger has always been his strong suit. He was the happy Robin, the cheerful little boy that bounced on his feet and laughed and joked even in dire situations, and that was his weakness. He would’ve been inconsolable if he had Bruce not breathing at his feet like he does right now.

𖥔 But now Jason is angry. He would never admit it in a vicinity Bruce can hear, but how dare they try and take his dad from him? It’s easy for him to let his anger take control, to be violent and bloody because Bruce can’t see him murdering right now because he himself was just almost murdered. It’s not an almost yet, he hasn’t taken a breath in three minutes. Jason can hear it all, through his own blood rushing through his ears, he hears the others talking; he wants to tune it out, he wants to ignore it but he needs to know when Bruce is okay, when he breathes again.

𖥔 Fuck Jason hates the guy, he can’t stand to even look at him but he’s fighting back the sick rising up his throat as he hears his own thoughts. What if this is it? Bruce can’t come back from this. It’s over. The last thing Jason ever said to him is I hate you.

𖥔 Jason finds the man that stopped Bruce’s heart, and screams in anguish as he tackles him to the ground. His guns are thrown aside, his mask is yanked off his head because he’s killing this man. Not a bullet, not Red Hood, Jason Todd is killing this man. He didn’t kill Batman, he killed Jason’s father. His hands shake violently as they squeeze at his throat. He can’t hear the commotion anymore, he can’t hear anyone’s words, his eyes shine green as tears fall past them.

𖥔 I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. He’ll never be able to take it back. He’ll never get to apologize, to mend what was broken, to forgive Bruce and get to be his son again. He’s just a weapon, he’s just a solider, he’s a murderer. The man’s neck snaps underneath his hands as Bruce takes in his first gasp of air.

𖥔 Jason slowly stumbles to his feet, shaking as he faces the others, there’s looks of disgust, of horror, of understanding. Bruce is struggling to his feet, looking at Jason, even with his cowl on Jason knows he’s afraid, he’s confused, worried.

𖥔 “Let’s get home Bat, you need rest.” Jason wraps Bruce’s arm around his shoulder, dragging him along. Batman doesn’t utter a word, nobody does. Jason slams the door to the Batmobile shut, bloody knuckles going white from how he grips the steering wheel. He swerves recklessly, he’s crying, his hands are shaking, he can’t breathe and he’s terrified, all of his adrenaline crashing as he swallows back sobs. He can’t forgive Bruce, he’s tried to kill him himself, why was it any different now? “Thank you, Jason. I love you son.” Bruce rasps, and that’s why. Jason can’t move on because Bruce is right next to him; and he’s alive, and breathing, and Jason is his son.

Tim

𖥔 Tim is scary. He’s seen Bruce worse than anyone ever has. He’s been through it all, he dragged Bruce up from the ground, all while Bruce clawed at him and tried to stay buried. Tim is scary when Bruce is nearly killed, because he will stop at nothing to make it right.

𖥔 Bruce is put into a coma. To the media it was a car accident. To Tim, it was watching Bane snap Bruce’s body over his leg, breaking his spine; nearly killing him. Tim was on auto pilot after it happened, quickly assessing the damage, demanding Oracle to send help, to Nightwing and Red Hood to stage an accident, they need civilian clothes, Bruce Wayne needs immediate medical attention.

𖥔 Tim Drake-Wayne sits in the hospital room, watching Bruce only able to breath because of the machines he’s connected to, body stiff, bruised and cut up, a small incision in his skull to let out the swelling. A medically induced coma to save his life. They’re not even sure if it will save him; time will only tell.

𖥔 Nightwing says he’ll handle it, he’ll get Bane dealt with. Red Hood makes it clear he’ll be killing him now that Bruce can’t stop him. When Dick and Jason visit the hospital room Tim is already gone. Tim has already set his own plan into motion.

𖥔 Robin doesn’t kill because Batman doesn’t allow it, and because Tim fears it would push him over an edge he doesn’t want to face. Tim does not directly kill. Bane’s henchmen and goons are simply in the building when Tim watches it explode from a rooftop a safe distance away.

𖥔 Tim watches as car bombs, and traps that end in blood splatter are tripped, as men stagger into deaths they could’ve easily avoided, I mean really how are these people working for Bane and falling into their own deaths so easily?

𖥔 Over the course of a week they’re all ticked off, like a grocery list. Tim moves quietly, effortlessly. He’s already gone by the time anyone thinks to look. He’s never seen by the time anyone tries to make a guess on who it might be. When Bane is the only one left Tim is reaching his breaking point. It’s been seven days, seven days his father has been comatose, teetering dangerously close to brain dead, to never waking up. Tim sees Bane and his reserves from before are slowly slipping away. He’s never been this angry before.

𖥔 Nobody would believe a witness that says Robin shot Bane point blank and disappeared. Nobody would listen to a bystander that was high off his mind when he swears he heard the kid scream that his father might never recover and it’s all his fault, before spraying the wall with brain matter. Nobody believes Robin would ever do something like that because he’s just an innocent little boy, Batman doesn’t kill, where would he even get a gun?

𖥔 On the ninth day Bruce wakes up, and Tim is beside him, he doesn’t let anyone see him cry, so he only smiles and hugs him; whispering how grateful he is that he’s okay. They call a nurse in, Bruce is groggy but coherent, there’s no damage, no risk.

𖥔 Dick arrives exhausted, having been patrolling as Batman to keep Gotham from being suspicious. He’s still got a smidge of eyeliner not fully wiped off when he hugs Bruce, eyes studying where Tim sits, hands stuffed in his hoodie pocket. He smiles innocently and Dick nods. Tim knows Dick is aware of what he’d done. Tim doesn’t mind that Dick knows, because Tim knows Dick won’t tell anyone, because Tim doesn’t regret what he’s done, and he will do it again if he is pushed to that point.

Damian

𖥔 Damian is never one to be perceived as weak. He will not allow anyone to even think he could ever be weak, he is never weak. Ever. He doesn’t show emotions, he isn’t just some kid. He is a trained assassin, he is stronger than anyone that could challenge him. He is the son of the Bat. He is Robin.

𖥔 Damian’s pride gets the best of him sometimes. It was a simple mission, sure Batman is bleeding but he’s walking it off, telling Damian it’s just a flesh wound, he’ll be fine. They don’t have the Batmobile tonight, and when Bruce reaches to call for it, he falls.

𖥔 Damian is immediately racing to his side. He tries to catch him but he’s too late, and it’s probably for the best because Damian forgets how small he is, and how heavy not only his father is, but the extra hundred pounds of armor in his suit. Damian struggles to push Bruce onto his back, panting as he overlooks him.

𖥔 “Father! Where is your wound?!” Damian shouts. Bruce makes a choked noise as blood drips past his lips. Damian remembers him clutching a side, but he doesn’t know which one, he doesn’t know much right now, his heart is racing, his hands are shaking, and he finally yanks the cape back to see the blood pouring from Bruce’s side. “It probably hit a kidney father why would you insist on it being a flesh wound, do you have any idea how bad this could’ve been if you’d left it??” Damian is still yelling, despite Bruce being unconscious.

𖥔 Damian tears at their emergency gauze with his teeth, he’s applying pressure to the wound, but it’s getting slippery and he stumbles, he’s patched up wounds before, why is this one different? Why won’t the blood stop? Why is he alone with Bruce getting paler and paler with each passing second?

𖥔 Damian is not weak, he does not need help, but he is scared. The blood is not stopping, the gauze isn’t working, Bruce is not responsive. Damian stares at his bloody hands as he starts to panic, hyperventilating as he searches for his emergency beacon, for his comm, for anything. His hands are slipping, he’s covered in blood, he can’t breathe.

𖥔 “Robin I’ve received your signal what’s wrong?” Red Hood’s voice through his ear makes the tears finally fall, and Damian gasps for air. He hears other voices chiming in, everyone live on the comms, and everyone hears him crying.

𖥔 “Robin, deep breath, give us a report.” Nightwing says, they want him to breathe, but they need to know why he can’t in the first place. “Batman is down. I cannot stop the bleeding, I cannot move him on my own. I need immediate help, he is unconscious, and getting critical.” He manages out, throat rough as he tries to swallow, as he stares down at his father as the blood begins to pool to his knees.

𖥔 “I’ve sent his location, Red Robin and Red Hood are the closest. Robin they will be there in three minutes, I’ll help as I can, what happened?” Oracle asks, and Damian takes a shaky breath, relief and guilt overwhelming him, but he hears Nightwing’s voice encouraging him to breathe; and he follows his instructions.

𖥔 Damian tells her everything that happened, what rooftop they’re on, what he did to try and stop the bleeding. While he’s still steadying his breathing with Nightwing Red Hood arrives. As Jason is putting pressure on the wound and instructing Damian to grab gauze, Red Robin arrives, and Tim quickly takes over, leaving Damian sitting and watching as they patch him up in seconds, and Jason is able to lift him up and carry him effortlessly by himself. Red Robin knows him and Robin are not the closest, but Damian is still shaking, and Tim wraps his arm around him and carefully leads him down to where the Batmobile has pulled up. Damian doesn’t speak a word, and the drive is silent once it’s announced over the comms that Batman is secure and inbound to the cave.

𖥔 Damian doesn’t leave his room. He’s embarrassed, ashamed, upset. He was too weak, too defenseless. Bruce lost a lot of blood, if they were any later he might have not made it. Jason was strong enough to lift him, Tim was fast enough to stop the bleeding and wrap him up, all things Damian failed to do in ample time. Even when Alfred notifies Damian that Bruce is awake and well, and would like to see him, Damian does not leave his room.

𖥔 The others give him space, so he’s especially angry when his door creaks open. He looks up with a sharp glare, only for his expression to immediately fall when he sees Bruce slowly limp inside. He’s shirtless and wearing more gauze than skin, holding his side as he carefully steps inside. “Father what are you doing you are on bed rest!” Damian hisses, rushing to his side, he holds one of Bruce’s hands and gently leads him to his own bed; sitting him down. “You wouldn’t come to me.” Bruce smiles as Damian glares again. “I would have, I’ve been busy.” The boy huffs, walking away to distract himself, to not have to see Bruce. He keeps his back to him and pretends to shuffle through papers on his desk. “You know I once fell on Dick when he was Robin?” He suddenly says, making Damian freeze, not responding.

𖥔 “Poor little guy was smaller than you, damn near squished him like a bug. It’s not often Batman falls, but I had a rule with every Robin, if I do, step out of the way. If I’m down, call for help. I would never expect one of you to be able to gather me up on your own.” Bruce hums, and the backs of Damian’s eyes sting as he listens. “I’m sorry for worrying you, and I’m sorry you were alone.” Bruce adds, and Damian faces him, using anger to mask the tears welling in his eyes. “I’m Robin, I’m Batman’s partner, I need to be stronger, I need to be able to be alone.” He sneers, he’s only angry at himself, but he needs to get it out; and he needs to tell it to Bruce, he needs to prove he’s not weak. “You’re also my son. And eleven years old. You cannot be expected to carry a full grown man that’s bleeding out, nine miles on your own. I wouldn’t expect that of any Robin-“ “Todd and Drake seemed to be able to do it perfectly fine.” He spits, his jealously finally mixing in.

𖥔 “Neither of whom are Robin anymore. Jason who’s taller and bigger than me? Tim who’s seven years older than you? They wouldn’t have been able to do it when they were Robin either. It is not a weakness of yours, it is not a weakness of your age, it is simply that you are a boy, and you cannot lift a grown man, I couldn’t lift myself at your age.” He says, laughing as Damian swallows thickly, still not accepting it. Bruce extends his hand, and Damian takes a few steps closer, still looking anywhere but at his father. “You are not weak my son, you should not be disappointed by last night, you were able to call for help when you needed it, you saved me. I couldn’t be more proud.” He says; pulling Damian into an unwilling hug. The boy is stiff, but doesn’t move out of fear of hurting him.

𖥔 “I will be stronger next time.” He whispers; and Bruce hums, kissing the side of his head. “You will be. I will too. You are the son of Batman, hold your head high, you are not weak.” Bruce whispers, and it’s the most comforting thing he can offer Damian, speaking to him the way he knows he needs to hear. Damian will be stronger, Damian won’t let himself lose his father.

Barbara

𖥔 Babs strong suit was being behind a screen. It was what she was best at, better than anything. She loved it, she loved helping people, making a difference, getting to see it all unfold and see people saved again, and again. She held her title as Oracle with pride. Batman wouldn’t be nearly as successful as he is every mission without her. Well, he might be able to be successful, but it wouldn’t be as fast if Babs wasn’t behind him already getting it all done before he has the time to even ask. She prides herself in being a needed ally, more than just a side player that helps occasionally. Batman often offered her the same encouragements, and acknowledges her hard work, and how much she helps them all.

𖥔 It was supposed to be a quiet patrol. Bruce is by himself tonight, Damian is sleeping, Tim is with the titans, Dick is in Blüdhaven, and she’s casually finishing some case files while Bruce sits and watches the city, both of them enjoying the quiet night.

𖥔 Barbara is scared into focus by the sound of an explosion. “Bats??” She asks, quickly typing away, pulling up his footage, and zeroing in on whats in front of him. Bruce moves like he’s injured, a villain attacks him. They’re wearing a mask, she can’t tell who it is. She pulls up the nearby cameras, watching the fight from all angles. She finds where he came from, running the plates and all information on the car, but it reports stolen, and the villain doesn’t match the description as the little old lady that registered it.

𖥔 “Bats talk to me who are these guys?” She calls, pulling up everything she can, Batman hasn’t said a word, and she knows he’s injured, she sees him lose his balance, she hears the scuffle, the back and forth, and then everything goes dark. Every last camera and screen is black. “Bat!” She shouts, trying to pull it all back up. It’s not her system, everything else is working fine, but those few cameras she needs, her comm with Batman, all of it is dark.

𖥔 She stares forward in shock, what the hell happened? She tries not to panic over losing Bruce, assuring herself it’s just some alleyway goon that Bruce will have handled in minutes, so she tries to dive into who this is. She runs everything, vocal recognition, pulling up the neighboring cameras to search for who this is, where they came from, how they snuck up on Batman.

𖥔 Everything leads to a dead end. Barbara curses and slams her hands on the desk, anger overcoming her as her heart starts to beat faster. Why has Bruce still not told her he’s okay? Why hasn’t he fixed the comm, or found a way to send her a signal. Everything’s okay, bad guys apprehended, I’m fine. Where was her reassurance? Batman never goes dark like this, and the fact that everything is turned off from her is terrifying.

𖥔 She pulls up any possible lead she has, anything that could connect her to this, anything they could use. She thinks she’s finally found something when a camera pulls back up; and she gasps, Batman is laying on the floor, not moving, blood underneath him. Then the camera goes black again. Her whole screen is black and she can see her reflection in it, staring in her own eyes. Her hair is down, and the dark of the screen hides her features from her view, and she cries. If she was Batgirl she could help Bruce, she wouldn’t be here defenseless, grasping at straws as Bruce lays at a villains mercy. She doesn’t know if he’s even still alive, if he’s still breathing, she’s just sitting here while Bruce suffers.

𖥔 Barbara has never felt less than the others just because she worked from the safety of the watch tower, she never felt like she wasn’t as vital to them, to helping. But now she does. She’s scared, she’s angry, why can’t she just help him.

𖥔 “Oracle?” Jason’s voice echoes over the comms, and she sighs shakily. “Bat is down, I’ve lost all communication, and all nearby cameras went dark. I’ve just sent you his address, can you get to him?” She asks, voice weak as she stares at a map, seeing where Jason is, only a few miles from Bruce. “On my way. Who is it?” He asks, and her throat is thick as she stares at the screen. “I don’t know. I couldn’t figure it out.” She rasps, it’s humiliating to say out loud, it makes her sick. She doesn’t know, she’s supposed to know. She’s the one that always knows.

𖥔 “All done, Bats is good.” Jason’s voice shocks her. “Wait what??” She replies, and the cameras are all live again, she sees the goons unconscious on the floor. Jason has Bruce’s arm slung over his shoulder. He looks directly at a camera and waves. “They had an interceptor or whatever, knocked everything offline. B might have a headache but he’s fine, they were just some thugs trying to get a jump on him. Gcpd’s already closing in, but I’m bringing some tech back, one of ‘em had something that looks like a homemade vertigo headband, can you look into it?” He asks, and she sniffles, hastily wiping at her eyes. “Sure can; bring it on down.” She sighs, relief washing over her. Bruce is okay, she’s back online, everything is okay.

𖥔 Bruce sits with Barbara as she types everything into a file. He’s benched until his concussion heals, and she’s putting it all into files to save in the bat computer if the thugs he fought ever become a problem again. “You did good.” Bruce compliments as she saves it all. “Hm?” She responds, glancing at him. “With your system going dark, you did good, you still led Jason right to me, still got it all resolved. Thank you.” Bruce says, and she smiles, pride welling in her chest as she nods, facing the computer again. Despite her worries and fears, she didn’t need to be Batgirl to help him, Oracle was who got Red Hood to Batman and helped even when it all went dark; she still did her job, and she did damn good at it.

Steph

𖥔 Steph is an accident with a bat symbol on her chest. She doesn’t try to be, but her need to prove herself, and her fear of her fathers footsteps makes her jump the gun, it makes her so desperate for validation she cuts corners, and makes things messy. She really doesn’t try to, and because she’s so young and anxious she doesn’t realize what she’s done until it happens, and then she’s humiliated and knows she will be looked down upon even more after.

𖥔 So it’s only fitting that one time she cuts corners, it ends with Bruce unconscious, head bleeding, arms still wrapped around Steph from where he’d shielded her with his own body. Steph was not supposed to be on the ground, this was a simple mission, Robin was supposed to be his eyes in the sky, not trying to assist him, not getting herself caught, not getting stuck in an exploding building where Bruce himself gets caught in the explosion to protect her from it.

𖥔 Her need to prove herself is out the window when she shoves Bruce off of her, gasping violently as she sees the way his body rolls limply, the way he doesn’t move, the way his cowl is dripping blood and it’s begun to pool underneath him. She took on this mantle, she wanted to prove she wasn’t like her father, she wanted Bruce to see value in her, and now he might be dying because of her.

𖥔 No, no, no, no. Steph is yanking his cowl off, wincing as his head hits the ground again, making a wet noise from the blood already spilling from it. “Hey, Hey Bat? Cmon, wake up now.” She pleads, voice shaking as she presses gauze to the wound, watching it immediately turn red, she swaps it for a new piece and takes a shaky breath, looking around them. The goons left when they set the bomb, they knew Batman would be too busy trying to save Girl wonder that they could escape, so they’re alone, the Batmobile has already been called to them, so Steph stands and hooks her arms under Bruce’s, yanking upward.

𖥔 She struggles, and pants and cries, but she manages to shove him ungracefully into the car, panic beginning to overwhelm her as she jumps into the drivers seat, fiddling with the shifts and buttons she’s still not too familiar with. Thankfully it has auto-pilot, and kicks itself into gear, speeding down the road as Steph taps at the screen, blood smearing across it. “Hey A, B is hurt real bad. Are you home?” She asks it casually, laughing as her panic rises up her throat, her heart racing as she glances at Bruce.

𖥔 “Yes, I will be waiting in the cave.” Alfred responds, and she swaps the gauze on his head, tears finally starting to fall as she looks at his face. Did she really let Bruce die just because she wanted to be strong? Bruce is bleeding out just because she wanted to prove she was different, prove she could do it. “I’m sorry B.” She sobs. She just wanted to make him proud, she wanted him to care for her the way he cares for his sons, even when she keeps him at arms length and doesn’t let him view her as one of his kids. She doesn’t want a dad. She told them. She has a dad and he’s a bad person and she’s going to prove she isn’t.

𖥔 “I’m sorry dad.” She rasps, staring at Bruce’s face as they come to a screeching halt in the cave. Alfred has Bruce laid on a table and the bleeding has stopped within four minutes. Steph sits, still bloody and crying as Alfred moves fluidly around her, getting Bruce stable, assuring her he is just fine.

𖥔 When Bruce wakes up Steph hands him her Robin costume. He furrows his eyebrows and takes it, still confused. “I almost got you killed trying to prove myself.” She tells him; and he sighs, opening his mouth to respond, but she stops him. “I can’t follow orders, I endangered you, I endangered myself. I can’t be Robin, I can’t live up to what they were, and I don’t want to. I’ll prove myself to you, and I won’t let you get hurt because of me just to do it.” She sounds mature, less scared. Bruce sets the suit down and nods once. “I do not regret doing what needs to be done to save you. I would do it again.” Bruce responds. Scolding her for not following orders seems pointless now, she’s no longer Robin; and she acknowledged her own fault, he doesn’t need to double down, especially not when she’s dealing with her own regret and fears after what happened. “I’m still sorry. I’ll be better.” She rasps, and Bruce hugs her, petting her hair gently as she fights back the tears burning behind her eyes. She’ll prove herself right this time.

Cass

𖥔 Cass stops. She’s always been the quickest one, the slyest, the one to get in and get out and have it not just done, but done good. Cass is untouchable, unbreakable, an unstoppable force hell bent on saving innocent people and protecting the world from the horrors that others bring upon them. Cass is strong because other people aren’t, and they need her to be for them. Gotham needs her.

𖥔 So when she’s fighting, she’s taking out bad guys and escorting hostages out of a burning building, she ends up cornered, hiding a little girl behind her as a goon points a gun at her. “I’ll tell you what little bat, her life for yours. You wanna walk away? Give me the girl. I’ll make sure you don’t have to see.” The man taunts, something sick bubbling in Cass’ gut, fighting down her anger as she analyzes his stance, trying to figure out how to disarm him without a stray bullet possibly hitting the girl.

𖥔 Batman drops down in front of them before she can do anything, giving her a distraction so she can run. She grabs the girl and takes off, hearing them fighting as she goes. She finds an exit and rushes out it, flames dancing inches from them as she runs toward the other hostages, carefully setting the little girl down, she turns back to the building, seeing fire already blocking the exit she just came out from. She wraps her cape around herself and rushes forward, already a step back inside, the fire sizzling around her, and the building explodes. She’s thrown backward, ears ringing as she tries to get back up, adrenaline pumping faster than ever.

𖥔 She hears the people crying, arms shaking as she pushes herself up, only to fall again. Bruce was still in there. She shakily looks up, staring at the rubble ahead of her, gasping for air as she staggers to her feet. Bruce, Bruce. She’s chanting his name, she can’t find her voice, opening and closing her mouth repeatedly, and she lets out a pained cry as she falls to her knees, staring forward helplessly as the red flames dance in her eyes.

𖥔 “Batman?” The little girl from before stands in front of Cass, tears welling in her eyes as Batgirl looks up at her. Cass knows she’s needs to check the hostages, make sure everyone’s okay; count and see if anyone died in the explosion. But she knows part of that answer already, Bruce was still inside, she was too late going back in to save him, he was in there because she let herself get backed into a wall and he had to save her. He got left behind because of her.

𖥔 Cass sits back on her heels, staring at her hands blindly. Now what? What could she do? What was Gotham going to do without having a Batman, how many innocent people were going to suffer and die because Batman died for her? How much death is she going to cause? What did it matter that Batgirl survived if Batman didn’t?

𖥔 “Batman!” The little girl says again; and it only hurts Cass worse, looking up through teary eyes, she sees the girl isn’t even facing her, her back it to Cass, and her arm is extended as she points to the building still burning. Batman is walking out of the flames, holding the same goon that had attacked them. He sets the man down once they’re a safe distance, and Cass is already on her feet, running as fast as she can, and jumping into Bruce’s arms.

𖥔 “I’m sorry for worrying you Batgirl.” Batman says softly, he has to keep their identities safe, he has to watch what he says, but they both know by the way he’s hugging her. I’m sorry Cassie, I’m here. She sobs, body shaking as he holds her gently, rubbing her back through the suit. She’s gasping weakly, mouth moving but no words come out. Even though she’s hidden by her mask Bruce knows she’s trying to speak.

𖥔 “Easy, you’re alright.” He says, setting her down so they’re looking at one another, and she holds onto his arms desperately. “Dad. Safe.” She manages out, and Bruce nods, hugging her again as she cries quietly. They’ll eventually have to pull away and assess the situation, but right now the hostages are okay, and Cass needs to be held by her dad for a little while longer.

Duke

𖥔 Duke working during the day means things are a lot different for Signal than they are for the bats. He has his usual route to patrol, he knows the ins and outs of this city, he knows which places are most commonly victim to robberies and petty crimes, it’s not an easy job, but he enjoys doing it, he enjoys helping people.

𖥔 Duke hasn’t had to stop or fight anyone today. There haven’t been any robberies, no purse or car thief’s, only a stray dog begging for some of his granola bar, it was quiet. Duke sits on a rooftop checking the time and seeing his patrol is almost over, it wouldn’t hurt if he went home half an hour before usual today, nothings happened, he’s sure nothing will happen in these thirty minutes, right?

𖥔 It’s almost like the universe was waiting for him to be ready to head home, because he hears an alarm ringing from a few buildings away. He hurries that way, face falling as he sees several men running out of a bank, carrying bags full of money. He grapples to them, pulling a baton from his utility belt, he’s about to land on the ground when he hears someone scream for help.

𖥔 “He’s hurt someone help!” A woman inside the bank cries out, and Dukes face falls as he looks at them, there’s someone injured, he weighs his options of stopping the thief’s first, or helping the injured person, but as he looks at the man laying on the ground, the air is knocked out of him. “Bruce.” He gasps, rushing over, forgetting about the thief’s as they speed off and disappear, he skids to a stop at Bruce’s side.

𖥔 Bruce Wayne is unconscious on the floor of the bank, bleeding out of a bullet wound in his stomach. “Bruce!” Duke cries out, rushing to his side. This isn’t Batman injured in a fight, or hurt by a villain. This is Bruce Wayne, out in the lively hours of Gotham, getting shot in a bank robbery. “Mr. Wayne, can you hear me? Sir?” Duke yanks his gloves off and checks for a pulse. When he feels one he immediately starts applying pressure to the wound. “He stood between them and me, it’s all my fault.” The girl sobs, she’s clearly a bank teller, her hands and skirt covered in Bruce’s blood.

𖥔 Duke is in full panic, he’s Signal right now, he’s not Bruce’s newest ward, he’s not tending to an injured Batman. Signal the vigilante is helping Bruce Wayne, the prince of Gotham; a stranger. “Hang in there sir, you’re gonna be okay.” Duke forces his voice to sound controlled, despite the way something sits in his throat, tears stinging behind his eyes.

𖥔 A crowd has formed now, hushed whispers and shocked gasps surrounding him as he pushes harder on the wound, his hands begin to shake, Bruce’s skin is losing color, there really is a lot of blood around them. Getting shot isn’t nearly enough to take down Batman, he would walk it off. But Bruce Wayne hasn’t even woken up, how long has it been now? Duke feels sick, breathing shaky as he wraps the wound.

𖥔 Thankfully someone had called 911 because Duke can hear the sirens, and an ambulance pulls up seconds later. He’s gently pulled back, and Bruce is lifted onto a gurney. “Thank you kid, we’ll take it from here.” An emt tells him, and then they take off with Bruce, leaving Duke alone, leaving the vigilante standing there, covered in blood, with a hundred eyes on him. “T-Thank you, you saved him.” The bank teller whispers, Duke helps her to her feet, moving on autopilot as he stares at his own hands, skin crawling as tears sting behind his eyes. He only nods, disappearing onto the rooftop, and running away.

𖥔 He informs the others, and by that night the thieves are caught by Red Robin and Spoiler, and Duke lies in his bed, he’s in his pajamas, he’s showered, but he stares at his hands and sees the red dripping from them, he feels the weight of Bruce’s body, limp and unmoving, he feels himself clinging to his fathers body, and having to act as a stranger, having to keep their identities separate, and not knowing if he would survive. If that killed him, Dukes last moment with him would’ve been as strangers, being watched by hundreds of eyes, and thousands more from the videos circulating.

𖥔 There’s a soft knock on the door and Duke hums, watching through tired eyes as Alfred walks inside, sets down a phone, and walks out before Duke can say anything. The screen is black so Duke only stares, confused until he hears a throat clear. “Duke?” Bruce’s voice rings through the phone, and the boys tears finally fall, hands shaking as he picks up the phone. He has a moment of fear that he’s going to get blood on it, but has to remind himself that there’s no blood on his skin anymore, he’s sure there still is on Bruce’s

𖥔 “Hey kiddo.” Bruce says when Duke doesn’t respond. “Hi.” He manages to rasp, and Bruce hums at the acknowledgement. “You did really good today.” Bruce says, and Duke cries harder, holding his head in his hands as he stays quiet so Bruce can’t hear. “I know it doesn’t feel like it, and I know you’re beating yourself up, but you did exactly as you should’ve. You let the thieves go to help the victim, you kept the victim stable until medical professionals arrived, you had the situation handled so the thieves were caught. You did everything wonderfully Signal.” Bruce compliments, and then a sob escapes Dukes lips, Bruce doesn’t say anything else and Duke sniffles. “It wasn’t an innocent bystander it was you.” He huffs, a bite behind his words as his own failure weighs him down, despite the fact that he didn’t fail at anything, he did everything he was supposed to do.

𖥔 “And it was you Duke. I’m safe because of you.” Bruce says, and the boy huffs in anger. “What the hell was I supposed to do? If something worse happened? If that was the last time I saw you? I had to treat you like Bruce Wayne; I had to be a stranger.” He says, hurt bleeding through his words, and Bruce hums softly. “Your suit doesn’t mean anything Duke, it is still you inside of it. A suit will never change who we are, what you mean to me. I was comforted that my son was there, not Signal.” Bruce says, and Duke squeezes his eyes shut, letting more tears fall as Bruce takes a deep breath. “I know how you’re feeling, and I want you to know that you don’t have to feel this way, you saved me Duke, and I will never compare you to your alias.” He says, and Duke sniffles, nodding even though Bruce can’t see him.

𖥔 “They’re letting me come home tomorrow, and I’m benched until I’m healed, so we’ll spend some time together okay? Just us, no suits or names.” Bruce says, and Duke smiles small. “Sounds good.” He responds, sniffling. “Good. Get some rest Duke, everything’s going to be okay.” He assures him, and they whisper their goodnights and hang up. The weight has been lifted off of Dukes chest, and he takes a deep breath, lying back down. Bruce is okay, and so is Duke.

Bruce Wayne has a family that loves him, and doesn’t know how they’d survive losing him. And he knows he wouldn’t survive losing them. That’s what makes their family so perfect.

༺♡♱⋆🦇⋆♱♡༻

This was so fun to write thank you for the request! I love getting to write out Bruce’s relationship with the kids, and had to include all of them for this one, it turned out wayyy longer than planned, had to bring the family together :’). I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. ᡣ𐭩

[acupofinkedblood]

Dom x reader

TW: Reader being in paranoid danger, paparazzi and death (suicide)

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝

• Everything was supposed to be fine. You and Dom have been dating for a short while, but the time you two have been yearning for each other before that is undeniable. He promised you to keep it a secret, for your sake mostly. You, although feeling anxious about the whole situation, still wish to stay side by side with him even when the spotlight will never shine on you two. You belong behind the curtain. The scene of you and him being intimate belongs behind the closed curtain

• But you’re contented with it. As long as the two of you are aware of the fact that your hearts sync together. He loves you, and you love him. There is no need for prying eyes of elsewhere to invade this sweet love between you two

• You can’t live together, it will draw attention. He can only keep you safe by keeping your privacy protected. Sometimes he still drops by your home to spend time with you, don’t worry

• The only person he trusts enough to talk about you is his brother, and hey, Valk supports you two with all of his heart!

• One day, he is under disguise to hang out with you like usual. ‘Keep it lowkey’ - as he is literally a super idol across Inpherno. It’s a date he has been scheduled for you, and finally he finds the time to sneak out to be by your side. The disguise is alright, no one will be able to realize him like this. On the stage, he is the beloved idol named Dom that everyone goes crazy for. But now, he’s just Megaphone. Your Megaphone

• He feels like himself when he is with you. Your hand in his hand, your head rests against his shoulder, your heartbeat becomes one with his. Vulnerability is so scary, yet it feels right at the moment. He titles your head up, you feel his lips against yours…

• Then you freeze when you hear the camera’s sound

• You immediately look around to find the source of disturbance. But no one is in sight. As Megaphone looks at you, he can tell that both of you are feeling the same thing: Fear

• It’s probably nothing. Maybe you are just paranoid. Perhaps it’s just someone that takes the pictures of anything else but the two of you kissing. It’s simple manner after all, no? You and him return home and reassure each other gently, but we all know that the anxiety is building up inside that corner of your heart

• And what you feared the most have became your nightmare. A living nightmare

• You wake up and the first thing you know is the picture of the two of you kissing appears on the top magazine of idols. The paparazzi has figured out that it is him that you are close with, just a few simple thinking and they have found this out. The headlines kept making assumptions of the content behind this picture. Within a night, everyone across all of Inpherno has shifted their attention to him. And it’s just the amount of time before they found out about who are you

• You immediately contact your boyfriend in fear, he says that he will take care of the paparazzi before everything goes too far

• But it’s too late

• They have found out your identity, your workplace, your private information. Days after days you receive a bunch of hate mails and disturbing phone calls. From crazy fans, especially. They all threaten you, telling you to beware if you dare step out of your home

• Some bastards make their way to your workplace to disturb you to the fullest. Both your managers and co-workers are being involved as well. You have no choice but to stay at home for a while until all of this mess is being cleaned up

• Your address is also leaked. Every time you step outside, you are struck with the fear of someone following you back to your place. You lose count how many time you have to check your windows and doors to see if they are locked to prevent those psychopaths to break into your home. Your safety is being in terrible danger

• The media keeps pestering the two of you with information out of nowhere. Your mental health is slowly slipping away, and same with your beloved. It’s not any better for in his situation. Poor him, he can’t do anything to stop his crazy fan terrorizing you, even when he has spoken about it. He worries about you, now that you’re too scared to pick up the phone because of those traumatizing phone calls you have to endure everyday

• And then, you can’t take it anymore. You make one last voice mail to him, telling him that as much as you love him, you can’t live like this anymore. And that is the last time Megaphone heard of you

• The voice mail makes he feel uneasy, like something bad will happen. Megaphone can figure out what to do — should he goes to your place and risk seeing his crazy fan being triggered even more or should he stay snd feel like sitting on fire — he has to receive the heartbroken news that he wished that he would never has to receive: You have jumped off a building and ended your suffering, all by yourself

• Megaphone drops to the ground. He can’t believe his ears anymore. This has to be a cruel joke, it has to be. There is no way you can just do that to yourself— But no matter how much he tries to deny it, everyone around him shakes their head in pity. So you are really gone

• He has broken down completely, even Valk is crying because of the pain he knows that his brother has to endure at the moment. Megaphone’s sobs and cries echoed throughout the room, he has never felt so cold, so helpless before

• Because most of the time, he has you to have his back. But now, he is alone

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝

Note: What a NICE way to start the month. Have some pain my dearest customers

[d1xonss]

Desert Rose

Chapter 66 ~ Just the Beginning

✧ Pairing : Daryl Dixon x Rose

✧ Era : Season 5

✧ Word Count : 6.7k

In this chapter ~ The search continues as the small group ventures out to make sure what Aaron claims is true. After taking every precaution in the books, they head out at nightfall to this so-called community. But the question remains; is this really the safe haven they've been hoping for?

We all stayed relatively silent for most of the journey trying to track down the vehicles in question. But even when the others started having a discussion, I didn't pay them too much attention. My head continuously turned to watch our backs, Abraham right by my side doing the exact same thing with the gun he brought clutched tightly in his hands. I was just glad I wasn't the only one that was paranoid. Everyone else seemed like this was just a casual Sunday stroll as we approached the unfamiliar area, while the two of us seemed to be the only ones that remembered what went down only moments ago.

"How ya doing, Missy?" Abraham's voice asked suddenly.

My brows furrowed in confusion, and it took me a second to realize he was talking to me, "Missy? You do know what my name is right?" I asked genuinely.

He let out a hearty laugh, "Yeah, I do...but I just have a thing for nicknames. Makes it more interesting."

I nodded slowly in understanding, "Okay, sure...but why Missy?"

"I don't know..." he said honestly with a simple shrug, "Just kinda suits you."

That only made me more confused, but I decided to just go along with it. I never really cared much for my name, so maybe this was a bit of an upgrade. "Alright, Missy it is...but I think it's only fair that I give you a nickname too."

"Go ahead." he nodded.

I thought for a moment while my eyes scanned him, before a small smirk was brought to my face, "I think Red suits you...for obvious reasons."

He laughed again at my smartass comment, "That sounds about right...Red and Missy, seems like a good pair to me."

"I have a feeling we will be." I replied with the smallest of smiles.

He returned the gesture while snorting a little in amusement, "You still didn't answer my question."

"I'm okay..." I reassured, almost as if I was reassuring myself as well, "At least...I'm trying to be okay."

"Hey," he said seriously, "That's all anyone can ask for these days; that you're trying. I'm proud of ya." he claimed before he clapped a gentle hand on my shoulder.

A smile made its way to my face once again, wrapping an arm around him in return as our steps seemed to fall in sync, "You're a pretty great guy, you know that? I'm glad I met you." I told him honestly.

He gave my shoulder a squeeze, "I'm real glad to have met you too."

After that we walked the majority of the way side by side, our arms now wrapped protectively around each other. It was nice to know that he would have my back, and I just hoped he knew I would have his; even though it was painfully obvious he could handle himself. I mean this man is a tank and could probably break someone's nose with his fucking pinky. But still, my offer still stands. It was crazy to remember in the beginning I didn't trust him one bit, thinking he was an absolute fool for believing in something so far beyond our reach. But now here he was, offering me comfort and reassurance when I needed it the most. And I apricated that more than he even knew.

A hand being placed on my back is what caused me to turn around, seeing Michonne over my shoulder as she tried to get my attention. "You mind if I talk to her alone?" she asked the man.

He nodded and gave my shoulder another squeeze, before picking up his pace toward the others to give us some space. I watched as she fell in line with me, something clearly clouding her mind, "What's up?"

She shook her head slightly, "Look...I know you don't trust Aaron, okay? I get that." she explained, her words causing me to sigh before she even finished, "But threatening him the way you did, not taking the gun away from his head...that was a lot."

"Chonne," I said warningly, "I don't know what to believe anymore...who I can put my faith in. Taking a risk like this, especially when we have kids with us, it's something we have to be cautious of."

She nodded her head, "I know that. But there's also risks with everything we do. Like helping a priest, or taking in a girl who was with The Governor...or when you helped a crazy lady with a sword." she smirked.

I scoffed, "No, that lady wasn't crazy...she was insane."

She nudged my shoulder with a small smile, "Ha ha." she said sarcastically, "My point is...we all took a chance with a stranger at one time or another, so how is this any different?"

I kept my eyes forward at the people in front of me, pondering over the question she clearly wanted a real answer to. How was it different? It was different because he wasn't alone out here, even if it truly was just one other person. It was different because he had a whole community waiting for him to come back, and who knows how dangerous those people really were. And it was different because they had been watching us for days, possibly weeks. That fact alone made me more weary.

So that's exactly what I told her. "It's different because he's not alone, and they've been watching us for...God only knows how long."

"To see if we would be a threat." she pointed out, "To see if we were good enough people to bring back to the community, maybe they did have a good reason to keep an eye on us. We don't necessarily look friendly and approachable walking mindlessly out here with guns in our hands."

I huffed softly, "Okay, that's fair. But we've been through so much, you know that. So, I'm sorry if I wanted to be extra careful about the whole situation...I can't lose anyone else."

"You don't have to." she reassured, her hand reaching down to give mine a comforting squeeze, "Just trust me on this. We're going to be okay."

I stared at her for a moment, reading her eyes to see that there was nothing but sincerity behind them which only caused me to reluctantly nod my head in agreement. She smiled at me, and we continued to walk together, filling the silence every once and a while when it was starting to feel too quiet. Though a part of me wanted to pick up the pace, knowing in the back of my mind that Rick was counting down the seconds until we came back safely, and I myself was also just as anxious to see if Aaron was really telling the truth.

It didn't take much longer venturing down the long road before we came across a single car and an RV parked off to the side, with fallen trees blocking them from moving any further. I mentally face palmed once I saw the sight, almost wanting it to be some kind of trap just so I could've proved my point. But instead, it just left me looking like the paranoid psycho of the group right alongside Rick.

"He was telling the truth." Michonne announced.

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah we got that, Captain obvious, thank you." I muttered before nudging her and moving forward to walk next to the rest of them.

But before we were able to make it up to the vehicles to check them out, sudden rustling was heard from the bushes just to our right, causing all of us to quickly be on guard. We all collectively assumed the worst as we raised our weapons in the same direction, jumping out of our skin at the sudden noise.

"Not one step closer asshole!" Glenn called out.

But the sounds only grew louder as the figures approached, only to see it was just a couple walkers that emerged from the greenery, and we all seemed to sigh in slight relief that it wasn't more unknown people just beyond the trees.

"I got 'em." Abraham muttered as he grabbed his knife.

"We got 'em." I corrected while sending him a knowing glance, pulling out my silenced weapon as well from around my hips.

He nodded once before moving forward, easily taking down the walker that had its dead eyes targeted on him, while I killed off the one trailing farther behind the first, ripping my blade back out of its forehead.

"Quite the duo we are." I muttered as I cleaned its disgusting blood off of my blade.

"Damn right." he agreed, before cautiously followed me up to the RV to look inside.

I quickly stepped up to the door, ignoring his protests from behind me about letting him go first as I tugged the door open harshly with my gun raised. My eyes moved frantically around the place, moving down towards the other end of the narrow space to see if there was anyone inside, but was left with nothing. The only thing we managed to find were a lot of canned food items in the cabinets right above our heads.

Abraham didn't hesitate to rummage around through the stash, suddenly gasping as his fingertips brushed something towards the back. "Oh, hell yeah." he muttered as he pulled it out for me to see, reading the label to see it was chocolate pudding.

I laughed lightly with a nod in approval before we packed it back up, informing the others waiting outside that it was safe. None of us hesitated after that to pile into the vehicles to head back towards the barn, wanting everyone to know that we were all still alive.

It wasn't long before we pulled up to the destination without any problems, though we were all faced with a bunch of guns aimed in our faces the moment we stepped through the doors. But the group visibly relaxed once they saw it was just us, relieved to see we had made it back safely with seemingly no problem. One by one we brought in the many food items that were stashed away in the RV for the others to see, to which Rick quickly jumped on the opportunity to inspect every little thing. But in the end, nothing looked like it had been tampered with.

Rick then stepped forward, looking to where Aaron was now tied up, "This is ours now." he said matter-of-factly while holding up one of the cans in his grasp.

"There's more than enough." he assured.

"It ours whether or not we go to your camp." he said.

Carl made a face like he was dumbfounded, "Why wouldn't we go?" he asked suddenly.

"If he were lying, or if he wanted to hurt us; we wouldn't go. But he isn't...and he doesn't. We need this... so we're going, all of us. Somebody say something if they feel differently." Michonne spoke up.

There was a moment of silence before Daryl scoffed from beside me, "I dunno man...this barn smells like horse shit."

I nudged his side to silence him, hearing him mutter a small "ow" as he rubbed the sore spot on his arm. I was having trouble deciding if I should speak up or not when Michonne gave us the chance. He was telling the truth about the cars and the photos were actual proof that this place existed, but who knew if we were ready for this. Ready to commit to something so serious, and ready to meet a bunch of new people that may or may not be a threat.

But then I looked over at Carl holding Judith tightly in his arms and my heart instantly knew what it wanted. It wanted a safe place for everyone, but especially for these kids who deserved the whole world; and believe me I would give it to them if I could. Which is why for once in my life, I kept my mouth shut. For them.

I scanned everyone's faces around me and saw that no one seemed to be making an effort to protest and claim we shouldn't go, before my eyes landed on Rick. He looked to be deep in thought, seeing as everyone else was more than willing to explore this new opportunity, his eyes then meeting mine from among the others. The look on my face must've given him some type of reassurance because then next thing I knew, he was agreeing.

"Yeah." he muttered, "We're going."

Daryl squeezed my hip lightly when the decision was finally settled, looking up at him with the best smile I could muster. Although it was clear I wasn't fooling him in the slightest as he furrowed his brows a bit in concern, but he clearly knew that I was still weary of this place, unsure about everything as a whole. I just had to remind myself to be ready for anything, to not let my guard down for a very long time. At least not until I knew for sure that this community could keep us protected.

"So, where are we going? Where's your camp?" Rick asked.

The man looked a little unsure, "Every time I've done this, I've been behind the wheel driving recruits back. I believe you're good people, I've bet my life on it...I'm just not ready to bet my friends lives on it."

"You're not driving." I spoke up, "So if you want to get home, you'll have to tell us how."

He looked up at me with clear hesitance, but the look I gave him caused his shoulders to slump in defeat before glancing back toward Rick. "Go north or Route 16." he muttered.

Rick began marking up the map in which direction to head, circling the road in question, "And then?" I pressed.

"I'll tell you when we get there." he said calmly.

I tilted my head a little at his stubbornness before getting down to his level, "You know, for a guy who desperately wants people to trust him, you sure are being pretty vague about where you're taking us." I said lowly.

He didn't have a chance to respond before Rick spoke up, "We'll take 23 North, you'll give us directions from there."

"That's– I don't know how else to say it, that's a bad idea. We've cleared 16 it'll be faster." he assured.

"We'll take 23." Rick argued casually, "We'll leave at sundown."

Sasha spoke up from the back, "We're doing this at night?"

"Look, I know it's dangerous, but it's better than riding up to the gates during the day. If it isn't safe, we need to get out before they know we're there."

"No one is going to hurt you." Aaron slightly snapped, probably fed up with the constant accusations towards him and his friends.

"We don't know that." I clapped back, "We don't know anything about this place other than what it fucking looks like."

He shook his head at me, "I know you're trying to protect your group, but you're putting them in danger."

Rick stood to his full height and walked right up beside me, "Tell us where the camp is, we'll leave right now." he said simply.

Aaron just slowly shook his head and looked back down to the ground. I scoffed before standing back up from my hunched position while Rick addressed the others, "It's going to be a long night. Eat, and rest if you can." he nodded, before slowly walking outside to get some air.

A long night...that was a mild way of putting it.

All of us tried our best to get at least a little sleep before we headed out for the camp, but it was proven to be more difficult than we anticipated considering the amount of stress and anxiety that weighed heavily in the space. We could all feel it, how much it was affecting us. And it was safe to say no one got even a wink of rest within the few hours we sat there doing absolutely nothing.

I couldn't stop overthinking even if I tried. Daryl tried numerous times to reassure me of my worries, even trying to get me to lay beside him so I could sleep, but my mind just wouldn't stop racing. My restlessness only influenced his own as he couldn't seem to settle either. The time passed by incredibly slow while we talked with one another to try and ease the obvious worry, but it didn't help much. Nothing seemed to. Now I only wished Abraham had saved that whiskey.

The moment the sun began to dip in the sky, we all gathered our things to pack up and head out for the journey ahead. It was then Rick pulled me aside and asked if I would ride in the separate car where Aaron would be just in case things went wrong. And I agreed; anything that would help put his mind at ease. Daryl was obviously hesitant to let me go alone, but he did nonetheless, knowing that I could handle myself if need be. Even if he wasn't around to protect me.

I kept my weapons on me securely as we rounded everyone up, starting up the engines to head off once it grew dark enough to move without being spotted. And though it was a cautious idea to stay out of sight, it was proving to be more difficult to see.

My body was leant against the passenger side door while Rick drove through the night, Glenn and Aaron just in the back. Right then and there I found myself wishing I had ridden in the RV along with everyone else. Not because I suddenly felt unsafe, but because of the God awful awkward silence the filled the car. Rick was tense as he drove, gripping the steering wheel tightly, the rest of us clearly playing it safe as to not say a word at the feeling of his energy.

Out of my own boredom, I eventually reached for the glove compartment to see what was inside, pulling out a few license plates that laid comfortably inside. I flipped through the few that were in my hands, noticing that they were all from different states, each unique and colorful.

"Oh, I'm trying to get all fifty to hang them up in my house." Aaron said, glancing over my shoulder to see what I had grabbed.

I turned around to look at him, "You have your own house?"

"Mhm." he hummed with a nod of his head.

My eyes instinctively glanced back toward Rick to see I had caught his eye, having a silent exchange before I put the license plates back where I found them without a word. It didn't really surprise me anymore that he and I could just give a certain look and instantly seem to know what was going through one another's minds. I didn't know how we did it, but we did. Like twin telepathy or some freaky shit.

Though Aaron seemed to quickly catch onto it, his eyes darting back and forth between the two of us to catch the small act before quietly clearing his throat.

"So...I might be totally wrong here, but are you- are you guys...together?" he hesitantly asked.

I quickly looked back to see him gesturing between Rick and I, and we both instantly shook our heads with disapproving noises. "Oh, hell no." I muttered a little too loud.

"Hey." Rick spoke a bit offendedly.

"Oh, come on," I scoffed, "Don't get all upset, it's just...you're..." I trailed off as I looked at him, trying to find a good explanation, "You're Rick." I said simply as I gave him a pat on the shoulder.

He nodded slowly with a huff, "Alright, yeah fair enough."

Aaron chuckled a bit awkwardly whilst Glenn tried not to laugh at all at the assumption. "So...you're with someone else?" Aaron asked again, clearly just trying to make conversation.

"Yeah..." I said cautiously, "I thought it was kind of obvious."

"The guy with the crossbow?" he guessed.

I thought for a moment if I should really commit to the truth, knowing he could easily use it against me if he wanted. But realistically what could he do? His hands were currently tied behind his back as we had control of the car we were riding in; safe to say we had the upper hand. So, I simply nodded my head to confirm, not wanting to get too deep into that hole.

"He looks like the guy you would want to have around...seems protective, and...scary."

I snorted softly at his honesty, not being able to agree more as I stayed quiet once again, the car falling back into a silence that was a little less tense than before.

My gaze kept panning back over towards the side mirror, making sure I could still see Abraham following close behind us in the RV with the headlights almost blinding me every time I looked. And then that's when it hit me. When Rick was looking through the many pictures Aaron provided, I didn't recall seeing one single person in any of them.

I turned back around slowly and made eye contact with the man, "How come you didn't have any pictures of your group?"

"Oh, I took one. But the exposure wasn't right." he said casually.

My suspicion only grew as I stared at him before turning back to Rick, sharing another uneasy look, "Did you ask him the questions?" Glenn asked.

"No..." Rick sighed.

I turned back to him again, "How many walkers have you killed?"

He shook his head at me, confusion creeping onto his features as his brow furrowed, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Did I stutter? How many?" I asked again.

He shrugged, "I don't know...a lot."

"How many people have you killed?"

This was the question that most people seemed to hesitate on, and he clearly wasn't any different than the rest as he paused for a moment and thought, but didn't break my gaze. "Two." he stated.

"Why?"

"Because they tried to kill me."

I found myself nodding in understanding, seeing he looked to be telling the truth as I turned back to face the road again. His answers made sense and he didn't fumble on any of them. Maybe this could all work out.

"What the hell is this?" Rick asked suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I looked down to see some type of machine, not fully understanding what it was used for upon first glance. My brows furrowed as I picked it up to inspect it a bit better than before, my eyes slightly widening when it clicked in my mind.

"You were listening to us?" I asked, not taking my eyes off the object in my hands.

He sighed, "I already said I was watching you...so, yes I was listening too."

Rick's head snapped over to me, "This means his people could have one too. They could've heard our plan, this isn't safe!"

In the midst of all the yelling and panic, I glanced up just in time to see the sudden large group of walkers ahead on the road, "Watch out!"

"Shit!" Rick cursed, not having enough time to swerve as he started to plow right through them at an intense speed.

Blood splattered all over the windshield and I cringed at the sounds of the snarls mixed with the crunches of their decaying bones. But to my surprise, he didn't slow down or stop at any point, his foot only pushing further on the gas as we continued to hit one dead body after another.

"Rick!" I yelled.

"They were right behind us! They would've hit us, now they can get out." Rick said as he nodded behind us toward the others.

The growls never subsided as he continued to fucking send it through the herd, their blood now coating the car to the point where the headlights were now tinted red as they illuminated our surroundings. All of us flinched every time he ran over one after another, silently wondering how the hell we were going to get out of this if they just kept coming. But the numbers slowly dwindled down once we got through the worst, Rick managing to find a clearing near the grass where he harshly pulled the car over, shoving it in park before suddenly getting out. It was confirmed; he lost his damn mind.

My eyes widened as I quickly hopped out alongside him, peering at him over the car, "What the hell are you doing!?"

"I don't see them!" he yelled back as he looked behind us for the RV that had seemingly disappeared.

I followed his line of sight and noticed that I couldn't see any other set of headlights coming our way. A pit formed in my stomach at all the possibilities of what could've happened to them, and it such a short span of time.

"They had to have gotten away. Let's go circle back and find them." he announced.

I just nodded my head and got back in the vehicle, watching as he attempted to clean off the windshield from the disgusting blood and guts as much as he could before jumping back in the driver's seat. Glenn frantically handed him the map as he gave him directions on where to go, Rick nodding his head to confirm he heard as he tried to turn the key to bring the engine to life. But of course, it refused to start, only managing to sputter pathetically.

"Son of a bitch." I cursed.

"Come on!" Rick yelled as he hit the steering wheel, trying to turn the key again but was just met with clicking when the scrap of metal didn't budge.

Glenn cursed from the back as he then rushed out of the car, trying to see if he could fix whatever was happening while Rick aggressively kept turning the key over and over again. The sound of the herd was growing nearer with the more attention we drew to ourselves, opening up my door to peer out and see how much time we had before they were on our asses. The group was large and unescapable if we continued to just sit here, being at war with myself as I considered the possibility of outrunning them instead.

"We need to leave now." Aaron said with a crack of panic in his voice.

"Yeah, no shit." Rick sneered as he tried again to start it up again.

I sat back in the seat with a breath, raking my brain for anything that would help us, when a flicker of red light suddenly caught my attention from above the night sky. "Look!" I said as I pointed to the flare.

"Shit..." Aaron muttered.

Rick looked back at him, "Who did that?"

"I need to leave. This is over, let me out. I need to get out of here." he muttered frantically as he tried to exit the car with his bonded wrists.

Rick and I continued to press him for answers, but all it was doing was making his panic grow, avoiding every single one we threw at him as his sole focus was getting out of the car as fast as possible. But he quickly realized he wasn't getting anywhere on his own. It wasn't until Glenn opened up the back door to see if we saw the same flare that he did, and Aaron didn't waste the opportunity. In an instant, he kicked Glenn backward and onto the ground so he could stumble out of the car clumsily and take off toward the woods.

"Fuck no." I muttered under my breath before swiftly exiting the car to run after him.

"Rose, just leave him! We have to find our people!" Rick yelled after me.

I turned back briefly, "They saw that flare, they think we shot it! This is how we find them!" I yelled, taking out my gun before rushing through the dark forest.

I sprinted quickly through the woods, squinting to see which way he turned, but it was far too hard to tell what direction his figure turned off in. I heard heavy footsteps following behind me, seeing Rick and Glenn hot on my heels trying to catch up as I continued to move with ease. The three of us mindlessly searched, continuously watching our backs for the walkers that managed to follow behind. But apparently there was a lot more than we anticipated.

My heavy steps came to a sudden halt when a number of them had somehow surrounded us in the pitch black, leaving us with no kind of opening as we made out their figures. I aimed my gun to fire at the ones near, backing up simultaneously as they followed with every shot I gave, being drawn toward the noise. My breathing was heavy as I killed them off one by one, unaware of how much distance I was putting between me and the others. Just focusing on staying alive long enough to pinpoint them again.

Eventually once the last body fell to the ground, I whipped back to see if I could spot them, but instead I had completely lost sight of where they had gone. I listened carefully for any kind of indication of which direction they escaped, but I was only met with the sounds of my own heart racing, everything turning oddly quiet.

Though a sudden scream tore through the silence, causing me to immediately take off toward the noise. All I could think as I ran was the worst case scenario, not knowing if a walker had somehow gotten them, if they had ran into more trouble with strangers, or if someone just tripped. The possibilities were endless. But I slowed to a stop when I came across the victim, seeing Aaron pinned up against a tree as a walker was trying to grab him, pushing it away desperately with his feet while his hands were still tied.

I debated in my mind for a moment, wondering if I should just leave him to fend for himself after the stunt he just pulled moments ago. But my conscience managed to get the better of me in the end. I groaned to myself in frustration, jogging up the rest of the way to take out my knife and stab the walker in the head harshly. The moment I pulled my weapon back and the walker fell limp, his fearful eyes met my own, sputtering to try and say something. But I didn't give him the chance before I was turning him around forcefully.

"Don't make me regret this." I muttered before cutting the rope that held his wrists in a death grip, tearing it apart.

He turned back towards me and opened his mouth to speak, but the sound of gunshots from a distance cut him off and caught both of our attention, and I knew I had to follow them. "Run if you want, I don't give a shit anymore. I have better things to worry about."

"Wait." he called out just as I went to walk away, "We...we can make it together, but we can only make it together..."

I looked him over for a moment, "So, you're with me?" I asked genuinely.

He nodded shakily, seeming to be sure of himself. I gave him a nod in return, allowing myself to put my trust in him for once as I told him to keep up before we took off again. We ran side by side trying to pinpoint the noise of Glenn and Rick now calling my name and the gunfire that followed. Though it was difficult to find, everything feeling like it was bouncing off each other in every direction. But finally with the little once of luck we had left, the two of us managed to catch a glimpse of them fighting off the remaining lone walkers around the area.

I quickly ran up and aimed my weapon towards the few they hadn't gotten yet from behind, the sudden noise making the both of them whip around, relief washing over their features.

"You can tie me up again, but you have to hurry." Aaron said.

"No time." Rick grumbled, "We have to go."

We didn't need to be told twice, quickly making our way back toward the road to try and figure out where the beam of light originally came from. Rick mentioned that it was near the water tower, one that seemed to be further down the long and windy road. But none of us hesitated to pick up our pace down towards the giant thing sticking out high above the trees to find our people.

Once we were finally close enough to the structure, I began to follow the tire tracks that they had left behind. The thick black marks were only growing closer as I followed them through the small town that was nearly completely run down, tracking them all the way until we hit an alleyway. The RV was parked on the side, and I let out a single whistle, waiting for a response before any of us took another step closer through the dark and unfamiliar place.

Only seconds passed before we heard the same whistle tone calling right back to us, that being all we needed to hear to spring forward again, wanting to make sure they were all okay. The door to the bricked building right beside the RV flew open as everyone seemed to pile out at one time to make sure we were okay after the disaster that followed. I made a beeline toward Daryl the moment I spotted him, falling into his opened arms in exhaustion while letting out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"You alright?" he asked softly, kissing the side of my head.

I nodded slowly against his frame, "Yeah...yeah, I'm good."

I looked around to everyone else once we parted from each other, hugging whoever I could reach as I saw there wasn't a scratch on any of them. But I managed to catch out of the corner of my eye, Aaron quickly disappearing into the building they all came out of just moments ago. Like it was almost familiar to him.

I managed to sneak off and follow him hesitantly, the main space only being lit up by the moon just outside the windows, before seeing an orange light dispersing from the room around the corner. Peeking my head inside, my eyes widened as I saw Aaron fully making out with another man who was laying down on an old mattress, his foot wrapped up like he was injured. I subtly held my breath as I didn't want to intrude, obviously seeing the moment I was about to interrupt before slowly backing up to head back outside without a word.

Everyone's eyes snapped to me when the door creaked open, and I just shook my head. "We should give them a minute."

But Rick was fast to stalk up toward the door behind me, "No, let's not." he said before entering anyways despite my disguised protest.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance, "Okay." I muttered before turning to follow everyone else back inside the building.

We all piled into the small dim lit room just outside of where Rick vanished, waiting patiently as the group spread out to sit or lean against a nearby wall. Though it wasn't very long before the two men came back outside, Aaron looking more than grateful as he stared at all of us.

"Thank you." he said sincerely, "You saved Eric. I owe you, all of you. And I will make sure that debt is paid in full when we get to our community."

Oh yeah. Tell me why I completely forgot our whole agenda just because of a minor bump in the road.

"Now, I'm not sure about you but I'd rather not do any more driving tonight...maybe we can hit the road tomorrow morning." he continued.

"That sounds fine." Rick said from behind him, "But if we're staying the night here, you're sleeping over there." he pointed to a corner, far away from where Eric was staying.

Maggie stepped up, "You really think we gotta do that?"

"It's the safe play; we don't know you." Rick argued.

"The only way you're going to stop me from being with him right now is by shooting me." Aaron said, his eyes full of seriousness.

A small smirk played on my lips at his determination, but it quickly fell when I saw that Rick wasn't budging and was probably contemplating shooting him for real.

"Rick," my voice caught his attention, "Come on."

"You trust him?" he asked me.

I sighed before stepping a bit closer to close the gap between us so I could lower my voice, "They're both unarmed and one of them has a broken ankle. He's just worried about him...and I know I would be the same way if it were Daryl in there. Just take a breath."

He searched my eyes for any sign that I was unsure, "One man." I said simply, "Just like he said."

Rick exhaled heavily as he silently knew I was right; he was telling the truth from the very start. Why lie now? "Alright." he agreed, letting Aaron pass back into the room.

Everything then began to quiet down. The others managed to spread out among the small room, finding a good place to rest for the evening before we would be on the road again the first thing in the morning according to Rick. The night was peaceful. It was moments like these where I missed Beth the most, how she would sing a song that everyone fell absolutely in love with. Her soft voice echoing around the prison cells in the most beautiful way, leaving us all smiling. My back was leaning against the wall with my knees to my chest, as I fiddled with her bracelet on my wrist.

My fingers tugged at the material while my gaze was glued to the colorful yarn, only looking back up when I heard Daryl's familiar footsteps heading toward me. I smiled faintly, watching as he wordlessly handed me a bottle of water before taking a seat beside me.

I thanked him quietly and took a swing to quench my dry throat, before passing it right back to him, "What do ya think?" he asked.

I looked at him, "About what?"

"Bout the community...ya think it's as safe as it seems?" he spoke a bit hesitantly.

I shrugged, "I don't know...I hope it is. But that still doesn't mean we should completely trust it no matter how it looks. Looks can still be...deceiving."

"That's okay," he reassured, "Bein cautious is okay."

"I know..." I nodded, leaning my head back against the surface as I stared at him, "Just...know that whatever happens tomorrow...I'm still with you till the end."

A growing smile was brought to his face, nodding firmly in agreement, "You 'n me, baby." he promised in return, reaching down for my hand to leave a gentle kiss against my palm.

The following morning was nerve racking...dreadful. Leaving us on edge for what we were going to see walking into this unfamiliar place. Rick drove the small car once again, glancing down at the map every once and a while to be certain he was going the right way. My hands fidgeted anxiously in my lap once I knew we were getting closer, feeling Daryl gently intertwine our fingers to get me to calm down, even for just a moment. But he was nervous too; I could sense that clear as day even if he wouldn't admit it.

To be honest I didn't even know if he truly wanted to come here, at least not for himself. It felt as if his reasons for agreeing only matched my own, so everyone else could be protected. And nothing else mattered.

My attention was then drawn to the front as I felt Rick slow down the vehicle, seeing we had made it up to the front gates, rolling down his window to take a listen to the surroundings. I watched as his eyes shifted from stern and cold, to soft and hopeful at the sound of children laughing and people talking about behind the large walls before us. His demeanor instantly shifting.

He set a gentle hand on his son's shoulder from the passenger seat before looking back at us with the smallest of nods, shutting off the engine so we could all pile out. The remainder of the group slowly emerged from the RV as we all came to stand in front of the giant gated place before us, almost in disbelief that this somehow wasn't a dream. I chewed my lip anxiously, and automatically reached for Daryl's hand to give it a nervous squeeze.

Without taking his eyes off the gate, I felt him squeeze my hand back three times as I subtly held my breath in anticipation. All I could do in that moment was hope, which was something I thought we lost long ago. But maybe, just maybe, we didn't.

Maybe this was just the beginning.

~ Thanks for reading!

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