#but its in two separate boxes and I can’t actually lift either

[curiosity-killed]

Life lesson: when the delivery guys don’t just offer to bring the furniture to your apartment but are like “are you sure??? It’s REALLY heavy”

maybe. listen.

[beewolfwrites]

An Iron Box - The Answer

@cheshiya @tenseoyong @szallejhscorner @something-more-original-please @ofsunsetsandpoetries @nek0dzuken @allozaur @hiqhkey @serenzippity

That rooftop scene is growing closer, and so is my excitement :D

I’ve noticed a few new readers, and I just wanted to add a heads up that you can find the Tumblr post links and the AO3 links to each of the three fics at the top of my Tumblr, if that helps at all! 

Here’s the AO3 link to this chapter too.  

I hope you like it! <3

-------------------------------------------------------

‘Chishiya, I’d hate to be your enemy.’ 

When Arisu had spoken those words right as he punched in the code, he’d already made his fatal mistake.

You are all my enemies, in a way.   

I stood back, watching as Arisu’s bloodied and unconscious body was slung over a militant’s shoulder and carried out of the royal suite. Usagi went next, kicking and screaming her boyfriend’s name. Just as she was dragged out the door, her eyes locked on me, and I could see the sheer betrayal there, the hatred burning and seething under her skin. 

I simply smiled. 

It wasn’t personal. It’s just how this world works.

Sometimes you have to sacrifice a pawn to reach the king. 

The rest of us meandered out into the hall where the two traitors were being hauled towards their fate. I felt a hand clamp firmly on my shoulder, and fought the urge to move away when I saw Aguni standing beside me.

‘You did good, Chishiya. I never did trust those two.’ 

You should rethink where you put your trust. 

‘Don’t mention it,’ I said. ‘It’s the least I could do.’ 

There was a furious cry down the hall as Usagi bit someone’s hand, followed by a slap, and then silence. I already had an inkling about what would happen to the two of them. Knowing Niragi, he would have some fun with Usagi before disposing of her. Perhaps I should’ve felt guilty. Some people certainly would. But there was a small, satisfied part of me that was glad it was her instead of... 

‘That reminds me,’ Aguni said. ‘How did you know about them?’ 

‘Ah… that.’ I took the walkie talkie out of my pocket and flashed it to him. ‘They tried to get me to join them. I went along with it to find out the details, and you know the rest.’ 

Aguni’s brows furrowed at the sight of the device, but he didn’t ask to inspect or keep it. That’s when I knew I had him wrapped around my finger. 

‘I understand. If you see any other suspicious behaviour, let me know.’ 

‘Of course.’ 

I nodded politely as he disappeared down the hall and submerged himself in his room.

Now that those two were taken care of, the militants would be distracted for a little while. That left us a generous amount of time until dark, although the real plan wouldn’t take long to execute, especially now I knew where the actual safe was.  

Aguni may have been observant, but not nearly as observant as I was. Knowing that he had come so close to having the cards snatched from right under his nose, it would’ve unsettled anyone. And in such an unstable situation, it was only human nature to seek stability by making sure that your precious items are untouched. 

I guess I was wrong about the blank sheet. 

There was a room on the top floor that I knew wasn’t currently being used. In such close proximity to the royal suite, it was the perfect hideout where I could talk into the walkie talkie without worrying about eavesdroppers. 

Slipping inside, I pulled it from my pocket once again to tune it to a radio frequency I had told Kuina about earlier. Knowing her, she would have tuned (name’s) to the same one right after Arisu’s capture. 

I lifted the walkie talkie to my mouth. ‘Kuina?’ 

There was a drawn out moment of static, then Kuina’s voice crackled through. ‘I’m here. (Name) still needs a minute though.’ 

I figured as much. Once she realised what was happening, it was inevitable that she would react badly. Having Kuina there to keep her away from Arisu and Usagi had been for the best. And now she knew that I had unwillingly involved her in a plan like this, her opinion of me had probably sunk lower than before. 

Is this also for the best? 

I sat down on the unused bed, deciding that yes, it was. She would only be a distraction. If it came down to it, I needed to survive. And once we left the Beach, if she despised me so much that she chose to go down a separate path, it couldn’t be better. 

But still… 

‘Chishiya.’ Kuina’s voice interrupted the quiet. ‘I hope you feel guilty for this. I seriously hope a small part of you realises how screwed up this was.’ 

I smiled at her lack of understanding. I realised perfectly well, but for the sake of surviving in a world like this, you couldn’t allow yourself to slip to the bottom of the food chain.

‘You’ve changed your tune,’ I replied. ‘Are you backing out all of a sudden?’ 

‘Of course not. I can’t afford to, and neither can (name).’ She paused, then tentatively asked, ‘Did you know? About her… and you, you know.’ 

‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’ 

‘Did you know she had feel—’ Kuina’s voice stopped, then she hushed, ‘She’s coming out now. We’ll be upstairs soon.’ 

The communication cut off, and all I could do was wait until they were in position. Wait, and mull over Kuina’s unfinished question. Obviously, they had been talking about me, but I almost didn’t want to know what they had said. 

I waited fifteen minutes, and there was still no sign from either of them. If they carried on at this speed, we would run out of time. Growing restless, I held up the walkie talkie. 

‘You two, how are things on your side?’

There was no response, but they would have to reply eventually. What I didn’t expect was her voice to come through. 

‘You’re all good to go from where I’m standing.’ Her voice was still dripping with unspoken anger and betrayal, and it was surprising she was even willing to talk to me. 

So you’re not as childish as you act. Who would’ve thought. 

‘Aguni’s still in his room,’ Kuina followed up with a sigh. ‘We’re getting bored now.’ 

‘Then should we get going with the plan?’ I suggested. The reply I got was scathing. 

‘We’ve already gotten going. It’s you who needs to hurry up.’ 

That attitude, it was almost laughable. How commanding (name) had become in an instant, as if she weren’t tagging along on someone else’s plan.

‘Patience,’ I reminded her, and turning down the volume on the walkie talkie, I cracked open the door. 

In the hall, there wasn’t a soul in sight. It couldn’t have been more perfect. The royal suite was unguarded, and I easily slipped by unnoticed. Inside, the room was bathed in darkness, and it became apparent Aguni hadn’t yet bothered to move his belongings in. There were still traces of the incident earlier. The carpet by the open wardrobe was spotted with blood. Arisu’s blood. 

I turned the volume on the walkie talkie back up. ‘I don’t know if Arisu is stupid or intelligent. Hatter was paranoid. He wouldn’t have hidden the cards in a normal safe.’

‘Where’s the real one then?’ Kuina asked. 

I turned to the deer painting on the wall. It didn’t particularly stand out as anything special, just a deer’s face and antlers against a blue toned background. And yet earlier that day, despite all the commotion and Arisu’s screams of pain, it had captured Aguni’s focus. 

‘When Arisu was caught,’ I said, slowly approaching the painting, ‘Aguni wasn’t paying attention. He was looking towards a certain picture on the wall. It turns out the paper wasn’t empty after all. It contained a drawing instead.’ 

Briefly placing the walkie talkie on a side table, I lifted the painting from the wall, uncovering the hidden treasure that I had been hoping for. The plaster had been carved up, forming a hole large enough to jam a small safe inside. And sure enough, there it was. A hotel safe, much like the one Arisu had tried, was embedded deep into the wall. 

Her voice, sounded through the static. ‘So, you had no idea where it was until then?’ 

I picked up the walkie talkie again. ‘Exactly. What happened to Arisu was necessary if we were going to find the real safe. Speaking of which, I’ve found it.’ 

Now it was the moment of truth. The final test to see if my code was correct. I punched the numbers in one by one. 8022. Each one held its own magnitude, and I half-expected an alarm to ring out. 

Except it didn’t. The safe display read ‘OPEN’. 

‘You used him just for that?’ was Kuina’s tired response. 

Really, after all this time, did she not realise that this was the price one had to pay? This world had a certain dynamic. In order to survive, you couldn’t allow yourself to get caught up in guilt or shame. 

‘In order to gain something, you have to lose something,’ I said. ‘He’s just a sacrifice. Things like this happen a lot, don’t they?’

'No, they don’t. Not at all. I really don’t want to be your enemy.’

I smiled, remembering the betrayal in Arisu’s expression. ‘I get that a lot.’ 

----------------------------------------------------------------

The deck was like a weight, swinging in my pocket. A surefire sense of power and danger, all hidden within a stack of cards. There was no way of knowing whether collecting them granted any passage back to the old world. But there was also nothing to prove that they didn’t. 

Either way, I’m certain something will happen once the deck is completed. 

These cards couldn’t be for nothing. 

After replacing the painting, I told Kuina and (name) to meet me near the patio exit at the east of the hotel. I could’ve caught up with them on my way down from the top floor, but I wanted to make a small diversion. 

I’d never felt any attachment to my room, and even now as I took one last look, there was nothing in particular keeping me here. 

Well, maybe just one thing. 

Pulling open the second drawer down on the desk, I felt around at the back for the tiny box. It was only small, and the ring inside even smaller. It sat open in the palm of my hand, the silver fashioned into a small sun with a glistening green centre. 

Somehow, its weight was even heavier than the cards. 

Is there any point?

I could’ve easily slipped it into my pocket, but it was practically useless. Even if I gave it to her, she would instantly reject it. 

I placed the box back in the draw. It would stay a secret for the next person moving into this room. As I shut the drawer, I suddenly remembered another, darker secret hidden inside the one below. I opened it up, seeing the little souvenir I’d taken from my first game. 

The pistol glistened inside, metallic and dangerous. Now that would certainly keep Niragi at bay. But again, was it worth it? It didn’t hold many bullets, and it wouldn’t stand a chance against a rifle. Once we were out of here, I could probably find something a little bigger, perhaps in Tokyo’s empty Yakuza hotspots. 

I left it there along with the ring. Even walking away felt like tugging at a string that kept pulling me back towards that tiny box. I would have to rip that string apart. 

Making my way down through the hotel, I strolled outside, dipping into the smaller paths where the patio was peaceful. The only sounds were the faded music drowned out by wind, and the soft trill of crickets. Two silhouettes came into view, one basking in the glow beneath a lamppost, the other hidden against the wall in its shadow. 

‘I guess we won’t be needing these anymore.’ I pulled off the wristband I had gotten so used to wearing. Just as I reached the brick archway at the edge of the grounds, Kuina spoke.

‘Don’t you feel sorry?’ 

I paused. ‘Sorry?’ 

‘About what happened to Arisu,’ (name) said. ‘I feel really sorry for him. We both do.’

Kuina hummed in agreement. ‘Don’t you?’

I turned, glancing from Kuina’s frown to the figure behind her. No matter how hard she tried to hide in her friend’s shadow, I could always find her, especially when her eyes looked so full of anger and hurt. Standing there, both bracing themselves against the cold, the two of them echoed off one another in perfect harmony. 

‘I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.’ 

I knew what line came next. She didn’t have to sing, so long as she was still breathing. Perhaps I could make her understand. 

‘Is there anything we wouldn’t do in order to survive?’ 

Clearly, there was. Their eyes widened, as if the truth of this world hadn’t fully hit them yet. As if all my efforts had been for nothing in their eyes. 

Fine. Very well. 

I smiled, no longer caring to hide the bitterness. ‘If you both feel so worried, then maybe you should go and help him.’ 

And of course, neither of them budged. They knew they couldn’t. They were both so happy to come with me if it meant escaping the Beach, yet they still felt the right to criticise my methods. I turned back towards the arch and took the first step forward into freedom, only to hear that tiny, oh-so-familiar sound. 

A buzzing. 

‘It can’t be,’ I muttered. 

This was always a possibility. But why here? Why now? Why, when I was so close to winning? Any other time, and I wouldn’t have minded. This, however, was simply annoying. 

I was so deep in thought, I barely registered the footsteps behind me… the familiar form sliding past me… walking closer towards the arch. 

‘Stop.’

My hand moved on its own, grabbing her wrist and tugging her back just in time. For one small second I felt the heat of her skin, right before it was yanked out of my grip. 

‘What do you think you’re doing?’ She touched her wrist as if it had been burned, unaware that it had been the other way around. 

I couldn’t answer. The cold had settled back in, the emptiness. It only confirmed that nagging suspicion I already knew. The reason I couldn’t rip the string apart. She was the answer.

Kuina appeared at my side, waiting for an explanation. Her presence reminded me that there was something far, far more pressing at stake. Suddenly remembering the wristband I was holding, I tossed it into the arch. 

A glowing red laser shot through the centre and it clattered to the ground. 

The timing was almost ironic, too perfect to be true. Almost like the gamemasters had been watching us all along, just as they had with that little stunt they pulled in the Eight of Hearts. As frustrating as this was, I had to admire their creativity. 

I sighed, turning around to see a wall of lasers appear along the parameters of the hotel.

Touche. 

[phantom-curve]

happy second birthday! 5 for juke, any au of your choice?

Thank you! Please enjoy some mildly angsty but ultimately extremely soft Juke cuddles, set in a post-canon AU where Julie brought the boys back to life.

#5: feeling their pulse

Sometimes, when she woke up in the middle of the night and was still stuck in that place where dreams felt like reality and reality felt like a dream, Julie forgot that the boys were okay now. She forgot about the hug and the stamps floating out of their skin, dissolving into the ether as if they had never existed in the first place. She forgot about the magic that had slowly but surely brought her boys back to life, real life, like blood pumping, lungs expanding, aging just like everyone else life. She forgot about the paperwork and the reunions with Luke’s parents and Bobby-no-wait-Trevor Wilson, and the completely mind-boggling realization that she got to keep them, forever, safe and sound right at her side. Because it still didn’t feel real. People died. It was a fact of life, and something Julie had learned to accept when she lost her mom way too early. People did not come back to life because of the power of friendship and love. Except her Phantoms did.

It was on those nights that Julie would go searching for Luke. Like a moth drawn to a flame, she always seemed to be able to find him no matter where he was.

Alex and Reggie weren’t fully ready to find their families again. Coming back to life itself was a big enough change for Alex. Throw in the fact that he had gotten to bring Willie along with him, and he wasn’t quite ready to add anything else to the mix just yet. Reggie did want to find out whatever had happened to his family, but Julie knew that he was also kind of okay with existing in the unknown for the time being. What he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him, and he was trying to decide if it would be worth the risk of learning something devastating that he would have otherwise not known.  

So, two of the boys stayed with the Molina’s. Ray had upgraded things in the studio, creating a space for Alex that was safe and private so he could be close when he wanted to and alone when he needed it. Reggie had moved into the house, not only because Carlos had practically begged him, but also because he preferred being surrounded by the family as much as he could. Luke told Julie it was probably because their family was the kind he had always dreamed of, loving and supportive and not always on the brink of arguing over nothing.

Luke, on the other hand, had mostly moved back into his parent’s house. There were some growing pains, especially because Emily and Mitch were still just generally adjusting to the fact that the son they had mourned for 25 years was back in the land of the living, but also because for Luke, those years hadn’t really happened. The fights and relationship struggles were still fresh for him, even if his parents had mostly forgotten them. Which meant that Luke still spent a lot of time either in the studio or crashing on the Molina’s couch. Julie didn’t mind, particularly on nights like tonight when she needed the solid reminder of his presence to convince herself that he wasn’t about to disappear from her life permanently and without warning.

Luke seemed to know she was coming before she appeared. He had fallen asleep on the living room couch after a late night Super Smash Brothers tournament with Reggie and Carlos, but by the time she was tiptoeing into the room, nothing but the hallway nightlight to guide her, he was sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He smiled softly at her when she entered the room.

“Hey Jules, I thought I heard you wake up.”

Julie didn’t hesitate to join him on the couch, leaning into his side when he lifted an arm in invitation. Luke leaned back against the couch, pulling her close as he wrapped the blanket around both of them. Julie let her head fall to rest on his chest, just above his heart, the steady beat echoing in her ears. She smiled when she heard it pick up, still in awe of the fact that she did that to him. Luke sighed, the sound tinged with contentment, as if his night hadn’t been quite right until she had found her way into his arms.

“Did you have another dream?”

His words were hushed, soft against her scalp as he traced his fingertips up and down her arm. She tried not to huff in response.

“Am I not allowed to cuddle you just because I want to? Do I have to have a bad dream to make it okay?”

Luke’s arm squeezed her close, his heart stuttering and then racing even faster than before.

“N-no, of course not. You know I’m always here for you. I just...wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Guilt crawled like lead through her veins. Julie blinked away the sudden tears that seemed to spring up out of nowhere, reaching across his chest to grab his unoccupied hand and pull it close. She didn’t look into his eyes as she wrapped her fingers around his wrist, her pointer and middle finger coming to rest against his radial artery, the thrumming of his pulse pumping fast and furious through his veins. She let the rhythm consume her, let it soak into her own skin as a reassurance that he was here. He was alive, real flesh and bones beneath her touch, and he was going to stay that way for as long as she had anything to say about it. Luke didn’t comment, but she knew he knew what she was doing.

“I just forget sometimes,” she whispered into the quiet room, finally dragging her eyes to his so she could drown in the sea green depths of his gaze. “I wake up and it’s like, I can’t believe it’s actually real. It’s too good to be true. And then I panic, because what if it was all just something I made up, some way of coping with my mom’s death and everything else, and I can’t even trust myself to know that you’re real.”

Julie shuddered against him, that very real fear still lurking a little too close to the surface.

“I just...needed a little reminder.”

His blood pumped sure and steady underneath the pressure of her touch. He was here. He was alive.Luke’s arms hauled her impossibly closer, body shifting to sweep her legs out from under her so that she was forced to practically lie on top of him. He wriggled slightly, so he was further underneath her instead of next to her and buried his face into the top of her head, inhaling deeply like he also needed a physical reminder of her existence. She felt the pressure of his lips against her hair, let the touch burn a fiery path along her spine.

“I’m here, Julie. I’m right here.”

Forever.

The sentiment went unspoken, but it hung between them, heavy with implication and promise. Luke wasn’t going anywhere, not as long as there was a beat to his heart or a thought in his brain. Julie knew that, logically. He had sworn it over and over again, even before the boys had actually come back to life. To the ends of the Earth, he had sung, stealing lines from a Lord Huron song and twisting them to meet his purpose, I will follow you.

He was humming now, under his breath, the sound weaving its way into Julie’s ears and lulling her to sleep within the comfort of his embrace. Not a song stolen from the radio this time, but one of their songs. One of her songs, written for him and stuffed into her dream box back when she still viewed them as an impossibility, separated by time and circumstance. The universe had different plans it seemed, a chance for true love to triumph after all.

We create a perfect harmony.

The beat of his heart slowed, the feel of it underneath her fingers mellowing into a more familiar pattern. One that spelled out the sound of home, forever and always with her.

[oscar-lettjohanssonloveme]

Mr. Sandman (Ms Venable x reader)

i guess its kinda bad and i actually wanted to delete it, but here we are haha...

this fanfic is inspired by “Mr Sandman” (syml)..

google translate mwuah

summary: i dont want to spoil.. uhm.. Y/N thinks, her life with Mina is perfect and then a letter changes everything? something like that–

pt. 2: https://littlejeaniehugsbumblebees.tumblr.com/post/643509412185751552/mr-sandman-pt-2-miss-venable-x-reader

Whoohoo 

"I never felt love .." Ms. Mead said.

"Neither have I ..", Ms. Venable answered.

Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream

Make her the cutest that I've ever seen

Give her two lips like roses and clover

And tell her that her lonely nights are over

Mina loved you more than anything else in this world. You were her good girl, her princess and you would do anything to make her happy. You looked after the house, you cleaned, you went to the supermarket. You would always ask how she is doing and put her needs above your own.

And at night you lay close to her, your head rested on her chest and she whisperes sweet things in your ear, every evening until you would fall asleep.

And you were so in love with your Ms. Venable. She was so damn smart and proud and her scoliosis had never been a problem for you. You helped her where you could and you loved to see her happy. You were a very emotional person, but Mina was always there to hold you tight.

And while you were taking care of the house, she was the one managing your finances. You found the strict, powerful Ms. Venable, who she was at work, incredibly attractive, but the Mina, who she was at home, was your heaven on earth.

Even though it was almost 4 years ago, you still remembered like it was yesterday when she came into the bookstore, you worked at, to ask for a book. She looked so beautiful when she leaned against the cashier's counter to discuss about Stephen Hawking with you. Many people would describe her as cold-blooded, but you loved her rational way of dealing with things.

Your life seemed perfect and then a little letter should change everything.

----

"I forgot to tell you, that you got a letter  .." you said and leaned in the doorway to watch your girlfriend,who was at her desk working on a document.

"Give it to me .." she muttered absently, still staring at the paper. She held out her hand in your direction and you jumped into the room to put the letter in her hand.

"I've already opened it .." you said nervously.

She raised her eyes in your direction and raised an eyebrow.

"Since when are you reading my letters, Y / N?"

"I'm sorry..I thought it looked kind of important..you know, he's from your college .."

Her gaze froze at your words and you became even more nervous.

"The graduates from your year will meet next saturday and you have also been invited .." you continued slowly.

"I was wondering if we might- .."

"No." she said firmly, still staring at you.

"But Mina .." you moaned.

"I know you hate people, but I think you'd have fun .. something like that is cool .."

"I said no, Y / N ..." she repeated, with a hint of anger in her voice, before taking the letter and tearing it up.

"You are stupid ..".

You stomped out of her study angrily.

---------------------

"You know, my college days weren't that great either .." you said, poking around at your food.

"But I would still go to this meeting .."

Mina sighed.

"You have no idea .. my college days were like hell to me ..".

Her mind wandered back in time to the lost girl she was in college. Everything was actually perfect, Mina was smart and loved to challenge her professors. But then she fell in love with the Meangirl and everything was upside down. She had never been in love and this girl was just as gay as her homophobic mother. And she was the darling of all professors and students. Mina had never even been in her field of vision, no matter how loud she shouted. And, of course, the Meangirl was dating Jonathan Cray, the blond handsome guy everyone adored. But as beautiful as he was, Mina had always seen how he had broken her heart. And every time she had wanted to kill him. She would have looked after her so well, not treated her the way he did.

"You don't have to tell me about it, if you don't want to .." you said when you realized how thoughtful she was and put a hand on hers.

"Thank you, princess .." she said softly and smiled sadly at you.

When you lay in bed in the evening, your head was on her chest, as always, while you read from the book what you just had in common. One of your favorite habits in your relationship.

Unfortunately, Mina couldn't concentrate on that.

The floral scent of your hair made her think of her again.

You smelled like her.

Absent-mindedly, she ran her hand over your bare back.

Your skin was as soft as hers.

"Mina?" You asked, lifting your eyes to look at her when you noticed that she wasn't focused.

Your eyes had the same shine as hers, Mina realized as she stared into your eyes.

"I love you so much, princess .." she muttered, pressing her lips against yours.

And you tasted like her too, at least as Mina had imagined.

You were perfect

Sandman, I'm so alone

Don't have nobody to call my own

Please turn on your magic beam

Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream

-------------------------

Mina herself had made sure that you didn't have to work next Saturday, she didn't want you to leave the house that day.

You'd been confused, but her explanation was too sweet and you took the day off.

"You know, I have the feeling we haven't had much time for each other in the last few weeks and I would love to spend Saturday with you, princess ..", she said and you were happy.

Now she was only working for a few hours this morning and then you'd have her back.

You got up from the bed and opened the door to Mina's closet, which was separate from yours.

A few years ago Mina had already given you a hoodie of her own and as cute as it was, you unfortunately had to discover that time had borrowed it quite a bit and the purple was almost washed out. You reached out your hand to her turtleneck and pulled it over your head. Minas lavender perfume got into your nose and gave you a feeling of security

Just as you were about to close the closet, you noticed a box, that was on the floor of the closet, labeled with your name. You knew you shouldn't be getting hold of her things, but your name was on it, so it was your business somewhere.

You bent down to pick up the box, a shoebox. Before you opened it, you sat down on the bed edge. You carefully removed the lid and stared into the box, confused.

There were drawings in it.

Very direct drawings,..drawings of you.

You took the leaves, which had become wavy over time, and looked at them. Mina had drawn that, you were sure of that. Nobody would pay more attention to the details than Mina. These drawings were good, you couldn't imagine why Mina should hide them in her closet. Which is why you decided to hang them up. You jumped happily into her workspace and your good mood fell when you looked at Mina's desk. She had forgotten her bag. She never actually forgot anything. Confused, you grabbed the bag, determined to bring it to your girlfriend.

Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream

Make her the cutest that I've ever seen

Give her the word that I'm not a rover

And tell her that her lonely nights are over

-----------------

As you walked through the large building of kineros robotics, you couldn't help but wonder again about this strange work.

You walked past Jeff and Mutt's office and watched in disgust as the two of them were taking drugs as usual.

"Look! The prodigal son has found home .." Mutt exclaimed when he saw you and grinned.

The prodigal son?

Slowly you stepped into these idiots' office.

"Did Venny send you to update your system?" Laughed Jeff.

Just as you were about to open your mouth to answer, someone interrupted you.

"What are you doing here Y / N ?!", Minas voice barked behind you and made you flinch.

You turned around and stared into her wrinkled face.

"You forgot your bag .." you said quietly and held up her bag.

She inhaled sharply.

"Give it to me and go home, you shouldn't be here ..".

Without a word, you handed her the bag before you ran past her outside.

That was embarrassing and you couldn't explain why Mina was so angry. You just wanted to help her.

Annoyed, you got into your car and were about to start when something caught your eye. A young couple crossing the parking lot. He was holding a child, but your attention was on her.

Maybe you got crazy, but this woman looked like you.

Or did you look like that woman?

You could only stare and watch the couple go into the building. When the two of them disappeared behind the door, you blinked in confusion. That couldn't be possible.

Probably she just looked like you and besides, she was about 30 meters away from you.

You shook your head at yourself before you started the car to drive home.

-------------

Mina sat in her office and thought hard, should she be alarmed about what Jeff and Mutt had said to you?

A knock on her door made her jump and she let out a little scream as she saw who it was.

There she was, the love of her life, her hand still tied to Jonathan Crays. She balanced a toddler on her arm.

"Y / N ..", Mina uttered surprised when Y / N and Jonathan entered the room.

"Didn't you expect us?", asked Y / N and grinned.

God that smile.

"Not really .." Mina muttered as she turned red.

"We saw that you didn't register for tonight and now we've come to pick you up.."

Mina stared at couple. Jonathan looked totally bored and didn't look at all like he was enjoying being here.

"Come on .." Y / N pleaded.

"This is going to be fun ... do it for me .."

Do it for me.

These words ached in Mina's heart. She would have done so much for Y / N.

"I can't .." she began.

"I promised my girlfriend to spend the night with her .."

"Your girlfriend?" Y / N repeated with big eyes.

"Of course she can come along if she wants .."

"I really can't Y / N .."

Mina averted her gaze from the woman in front of her, who was now staring at her in disappointment

"We should go now ..", Jonathan suddenly muttered to Y / N.

"It was nice to see you, Mina .." she said quietly.

Mina

Only Y / N was allowed to call her that.

Mina smiled in pain.

"Have fun tonight .."

Jonathan nodded briefly and pulled Y / N out of the room.

---------------

Mina couldn't stop tears from running down her face as she drove home. This meeting today had shown her, what reality actually looked like.

She hated Jonathan so much, when he put his arm around Y / N when they left the building, it hurt so much to see and now she needed you. You were like her drug, she was addicted to the feeling of holding you in her arms.

"Y / N ??" she called for you when she got home.

"I'm in the living room ..", came your voice and Mina was glad that you no longer sounded angry. She took off her jacket and came walking into the living room, always leaning on her cane, of course.

She smiled gently at you when she saw you, but her smile fell as soon as she saw what you were doing.

"Where did you get this from?" She asked sharply, staring at the drawings.

"They were in your closet and I thought they were beautiful, so I thought I would hang them .." you replied, still seeming to be convinced that it was a good idea.

"I think they look so ... aggressive."

"Aggressive ..", Mina repeated slowly, still staring at you angrily.

She remembered the night she had made these sketches. Aggressive was a good word to describe how she felt back then. She had sat at the desk in the candlelight at night. She couldn't take it any longer. Y / N in Jonathan's arms..

With gritted teeth she had scratched the paper with a pencil. Tears dripped from her eyes onto the drawing in front of her, making the pencil blur. No matter how much it would cost, she was determined to take these sketches to her office the next morning to hand over to these two idiots Jeff & Mutt. You should be perfect.

Oh, Sandman, I'm so alone

Don't have nobody to call my own

So please turn on your magic beam

Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream

"Hang it up .." Mina hissed at you.

"But Mina-".

"You gotta fucking hang it up .."

You rolled your eyes

"Hang it up yourself if it bothers you .. I try to do everything right the whole day and you're just mad at me .." you said and ran out of the room.

She looked after you and then began to unhook the drawings and toss them into the burning fireplace at the end. She hadn't imagined Saturday like that.

She ran through your house looking for you and finally found you lying on the bed in the bedroom.

"Princess?" She whispered softly as she entered the room and sat on the edge of the bed. Your back was turned to her

and you didn't move an inch

"Please talk to me .." she continued and reached out her hand to run through your hair.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" You let out.

"You've been totally weird since this letter arrived here ..."

You frowned at her.

Mina swallowed.

"I'm really sorry that I was so unfair .. I've only think back to my college days so often over the past few days .."

She looked at you sadly.

"Then talk to me .." you answered and sat up.

"I don't want to talk about it .." she said, grabbing your hands.

"The only thing that matters, is that you know I love you .."

You nodded slowly and were about to say something when she grabbed your face and angrily pressed her lips against yours.

"Mina what-"

"You are mine .." she growled against your mouth and pulled you into her lap.

"Do you understand me? You belong to me .."

--------------------------

The rest of the weekend was perfect, you gave her everything she needed. Mina had always been a bit possessive and you liked that, but the last two days had been different, she was scared. While she held you in her arms, all she could see was Jonathan putting his arm around Y / N, he didn't deserve her.

Monday morning everything seemed to be back to normal, you went to work just like her and in the evening she drove home and was looking forward to finally seeing you.

But as soon as she unlocked the door, she noticed that something was wrong. Normally you would greet her with a beam of joy, but you didn't.

When she called your name several times and you didn't answer, she panicked to search your house. Finally she heard sobs coming from the bathroom. She ran there immediately, if her stick allowed it.

"What's going on, princess?" She asked worried when she saw you standing by the sink.

"Something is wrong with me .." you whimpered and turned to her.

"What are you talking about?", She frowned and got scared when she saw that your right hand was wrapped in a bandage.

"Please don't be angry .." you began, trembling.

"I wanted to cook and cut myself .."

Mina's eyes widened.

Damn.

She grabbed your hand and unwrapped the bandage.

"I don't know what that is .." you said and more tears ran down your face as Mina looked at the cut on your palm. Instead of blood, cables came out of the interface.

She wrapped the bandage around your hand again.

"Jeff and Mutt will be able to fix this .." she muttered.

"To fix ??" you stared at her in fear.

"We have to go to the hospital, there are fucking cables in my hand .. I need help .."

"You are perfect ..", she growled and pulled you into your living room by your healthy hand.

"What the hell is going on here Mina ??" you asked and yanked yourself out of her grasp.

She slipped past you and sat on the armchair by the window.

"Have you never wondered why you are always healthy? Or why you have no friends or we never visit your family?" She asked challengingly.

You paused.

"What are you talking about? I hate my parents, they kicked me out when I came out to them, but you know that .. And don't say I have no friends .. I don't want friends, that's it. The only person I need is you .. "

She let out an amused snort and rubbed her temples.

"Because I programmed you that way .." she said finally.

"Programmed .." you repeated and you felt sick as you slowly realized what she was getting at.

"Y / N you are my creation .. look at yourself, you are flawless .. I have invested so much time in making yourself as perfect as you are now .."

You stared at her. Is that supposed to be a joke?

"I'm one of your robots?" You asked quietly and stumbled backwards.

That's what Mutt meant by "the prodigal son". But that made no sense, your memories, your family ... They all seemed so real ?!

You let yourself fall into the chair behind you.

"You are not just any robot .. you are my robot .." Mina said and came over to you to kneel in front of you.

Those were the strangest words she'd ever said to you.

You felt like you were about to throw up.

"You're perfect, you look like her ...", Mina said and reached out her hand to smooth your cheek with her thumb.

"Like her?" You gasp. Tears welled up in your eyes. Immediately you thought back to yesterday's woman ... So you weren't unique. A cheap copy from a stranger.

"Look at me and tell me that you are not happy with me ..", Mina looked at you sadly.

All you could do was stare at her. You had been together for 4 years and she had lied all the time. Who knows, maybe it wasn't even 4 years and just a few months.

"I didn't tell you, because I love you.", Mina said, as if she could read your mind.

"Because you love me? I thought honesty was the most important thing in a relationship .." you took her hand from your cheek and stood up.b

"Y / N, I created you .. Without me you wouldn't even exist ..", Mina said and leaned on her stick to get up as well.

"You're crazy .." you muttered and ran into the hallway. Mina hobbled after you.

"What is that supposed to be, Y / N?" She asked when she saw you put your jacket on.

"I'm leaving .. you scare me ..".

You grabbed your car key before heading to the door. Your hand wrapped around the cold doorknob, but something prevented you from opening.

You just couldn't. She had given you everything you ever wanted and even though you just found out that most of it was a lie, you just couldn't leave. Where should you go?Your whole life revolved around this woman and you loved it, she made you feel special.

Tears dripped quitetly on your hand, which was still tightly gripping the iron doorknob.

"You can't .." you heard Mina say softly behind you.

"You can't leave me because I programmed you that way .."

Programmed ..

You let out a sob at her words.

You slowly turned to her, she was standing a meter away from you and smiled sadly at you.

"Come here, princess .." she said and opened her arms.

You didn't hesitate for a moment and jumped into her arms to hold on to her while you cried.

"Shh everything will be fine .." she whispered in your ear.

"You are mine and that's the only thing that matters .."

Oh, Sandman bring us a dream

Make her the cutest that I've ever seen

Give her two lips like roses and clover

And tell her that her lonely nights are over

Oh, Sandman, I'm so alone

Don't have nobody to call my own

So please turn on your magic beam

Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream

[sunflowersseemhappy]

The Arcana | Little Romantic Gestures Headcannons

Asra

A lot of Asra’s little romantic gestures are aimed at getting you to smile, he spent so long watching you struggle after he brought you back that all he wants is to see you happy.

Ever since he started travelling Asra has always brought souvenirs from his trips. Things he thinks you’ll like. Although he knows you so well that what he brings you never fails to make you happy at how thoughtful he is. It’s only after the whole ‘saving the world thing’ that you realise this was a gesture of his affection for you all those years.

Tied in with bringing you souvenirs Asra loves to spoil you every once in a while with a outfit tailored to you. Clothes that make you look stunning in the most modest of ways, leading to everyone else complimenting you. Asra has a critical eye when it comes to fashion and making the love of his life look good.

His goofiest gesture is probably making heart shaped foods for you, this only began after his confession of love (before then he made little animals and flowers from the food he gave you). Its an intricate process, but Asra definitely has the patience.

Once every-so-often Asra will ask if you want to bathe together, there is generally no other reason than he wants to pamper you/feel you close to him. Asra will draw a bath and cradle you in the water, and you’ll both just talk and give each other soft kisses.

When the night is waning and the candles burn low Asra will ask to cuddle in close with yo u and puts his head against your chest listening to the beating of your heart. He doesn’t consider it his anymore, he gave it to you, therefore it is yours. But he hopes the connection between your hearts will always be this strong.

Julian

Julian can be a little distracted when if comes to romantic gestures, big ones get lost in his planning for them. The little romantic gestures Julian gives you have no plans, just him and his complete adoration for you.

It’s like clockwork. Julian is awake as soon as the sun rises and quickly brings you morning coffee/tea/or whatever you favourite morning wake up beverage is. It’s simple and maybe you do or don’t notice it, but it’s always fresh, like he knows exactly when you’ll wake up and makes it just before you do. If you manage to catch him after he leaves it on your bedside table you give him a good morning kiss (he deserves it).

If either of you are out and separated from each other for the day Julianhides lovely little notes in your pockets. Poems, quotes, even simple ‘I love you’’s. One is always there, you save each and every one in a box under your bed and look through them while he’s gone. You plan to one day stuff them all in his coat as both a prank and a grand romantic gesture. He has the same idea, so right now it’s a waiting game to see who gets to it first.

He doesn’t necessarily do it on purpose or even in your presence, but Julian absentmindedly sketches little portraits of you in the margins of his books/scrolls/whatever paper is on hand. He’s committed you to memory and when he realises Julian gets flustered, is it weird that he just does that? After you discover a whole sketchbook of you, you pretend not to know even though you secretly love it. He can show you when he’s ready.

If he’s drunk or sober Julian will shamelessly flirt with you when he knows you need some love. He loves it when you do so back. Most of it is PG, but if you want him to Julian will most certainly compliment you on your finest assets *wink, wink*.  

Anywhere and anytime Julian will just stop, look into your eyes, smile and honestly tell you how much he loves you. It’s probably the most beautiful gesture of love you can think of, its just that pure. 

 Nadia

The moments spent with Nadia would usually be considered mundane to most, but that’s what makes them so pleasant. As a countess and former princess, Nadia doesn’t usually get to enjoy ‘normal’ so the moments spent with you are the best sense of normality that she can get.

Nadia is such a busy bee that by the time you wake up she’s off doing her morning duties, so she (like Julian) leaves you little love notes, usually accompanied by breakfast. The notes are always written in her hand, on scented paper and laid with a beautiful flower. On more than a few occasions her notes have made up mini scavenger hunts, just to keep you on your feet and lead you to where she is in the castle at a later time.

If she can avoid morning duties Nadia will spend time helping you with hair and makeup, she likes making you feel beautiful/handsome/gorgeous and just looking at your face brings a smile to her lips. Her skills always seem to make you look better and you wonder how she’s so good at it.

As anyone would Nadia finds your magical abilities fascinating and loves to watch you work on spells and the like, she also asks about things genuinely interested in what you are doing and how you do it. She thinks possessing such a skill as magic is like an extension of you yourself and she loves all of you (therefore she loves your magic). Given the chance Nadia could watch you work all day, alas palace duties call but she always asks you later in the day how that spell you had been working on went. 

Nadia is forever inviting you on long walks through the palace grounds at the end of her day. There’s nothing more relaxing than walking though the palace grounds and just talking about each other’s days. She’ll always let you talk about your day first, no matter how dull it may have been. She likes to find things out, figure out ways to entertain you while she is busy and plan out activities the two of you can try out together. She also just really likes listening to you, she’s had people talking AT her all day. It’s a nice change of pace to actually have a person to talk to about everything.

Tied in with doing your hair Nadia can’t help but play with your hair,she only usually does it in the privacy of your room but when she does you’re on cloud nine. Something about her hands trailing though your hair is so soothing that it sends you to sleep, which isn’t a problem in itself. The problem is; you fall asleep on her, and Nadia hates waking you up. So she just lies there and accepts her fate with a smile. 

 Muriel

Muriel doesn’t necessarily realise he’s making his little romantic gestures, to him they just feel like a normal part of his day but he’s glad to do them. They make him feel close to you and make him more comfortable with being in a relationship.

Muriel can cook, but he’s spent so long making meals that just state his hunger he forgot food could taste good. Since living with you and learning about you Muriel has discovered he quite likes making your favourite meals, not only because they are tasty but it’s nice seeing the smile on your face when you realise he made the meal just for you. Also you seem to like his way of making your favourites rather than your own.

It’s normal for Muriel to do his own chores around and out of the hut, and although you usually tell him to leave your own messes for you to clean up later Muriel can’t help but get itchy fingers. Doing your chores for you, he thinks he might as well, what’s more he wants to. You’re so busy running the shop, buying nice things for him and just making his life brighter, its only fair to lighten the load.

Even Muriel knows people like flowers, and what’s more you give flowers to the people you love. So Muriel finds flowers everyday and gives them to you, it might just be a single rose or a bundle of forget-me-nott’s but each flower he picks out is carefully chosen and perfect. It took him some time but Muriel soon figured out the perfect combinations of flowers to give to you, sometimes they say things better than he can.

Being the big shy boi he is Muriel remains pretty quiet when the two of you are out and about among other people. Even among your friends he can get pretty uncomfortable when trying to love and dote on you, therefore it’s not uncommon for Muriel to pull you aside to compliment you. It’s easier getting words out when it’s just the two of you and he wants you to know that he does notice things. Like how shiny your hair looks and how well your clothes suit you, it’s not just physical things either. He might mention how kind you are after helping a lost child find their parents or that he just really likes being with you. 

Once he’s gotten used to them being enveloped in a Muriel hug is probably always a great feeling.You don’t actually notice at first but he holds you in that embrace for a little longer than a normal hug (especially when you’re leaving to go on an errand, etc...), when your arms loosen his own take a little longer to do so. He gives you a gentle squeeze and sighs in his head, he wants to hold you longer. Forever, maybe. He’s too afraid to ask though, but when you finally do notice his hesitance and think back on all the times he was the last to let go, it clicks. You can be late opening the shop, as long as Muriel knows that you love him as much as he does you. You both hug each other a little longer. 

 Portia

Portia romantic gestures almost make it seem as if you are married already, her little gestures are comforting and you’re always aware she does them because she always states; ‘I’m doing this because I love you!’ She needs to make sure you know because she loves love, and loves you.

A good meal never goes amiss when it’s with Portia, you know how a lot of people leave the best thing on their plate till last? That’s what Portia does. However she always offers the last bite of her food to you, even if you’re eating the same meal. If you’re in the same room, eating at the same time Portia will lift her fork to your mouth and offer it to you. It’s usually quite funny because she kids around, making silly noises as she puts in your mouth or teasing you by holding it just out of reach.She’s a good cook, Portia’s peach cakes are to die for. 

She’s aware of how much you like her cooking, so when you’re off to work in the shop for the day she will pack you a hearty lunch and send you on your way with a kiss on the cheek. She want’s to make sure you have a balanced meal ready for you when you need it, it helps that she makes it because it’s irresistible! The first time you made a packed lunch for her (because damn this girl works hard, and how does she make the time?) she burst out crying saying how happy she was that you loved her enough to make her lunch. You figured out that that was one of Portia’s romantic gestures that day, now you make packed lunches together. 

Days off with Portia are full of sunshine and relaxation, most of which is spent in her veracious garden tending to the plants and chatting away about your week so far. It’s a peaceful pastime, when the sun is highest in the sky and it becomes too hot to work you and Portia take up residence beneath the maple tree she has growing on the fringes of the garden. There the two of you lay back and feed each other berries/fruit/veg from garden, there’s always something ripe and fresh that tastes like sunshine and rain. It’s got to the point where it’s become a part of your day, where Portia and you just flirt and kiss and enjoy the mundane parts of your lives. It’s her favourite thing to do.

She wouldn’t be Julian’s sister if Portia wasn’t a shameless flirt, she’ll do it anytime, anywhere and in front of anyone. She gets a certain kick out of seeing your cheeks redden, but she’s careful to keep it at a comfortable level for the situation. You wouldn’t think a simple ‘I love you’ could sound so... flirtatious but Portia may just be better at this than her brother.

Even Portia doesn’t realise she’s rubbing your back for no reason until she’s actually doing it. It’s not always a situational thing, but it often happens when your uncomfortable/scared, or when you’re relaxing. It makes the both of you feel better, you’re both together standing by each others side and figuring things out together. She’s glad the two of you can be there together, but she’s still not sure why she does it. After mentioning it to Julian, he says something about how their mother used to do it to the two of them when they were upset. Their mother had always whispered ‘I love you’ as she did so, Portia figured out it was her subconscious way of saying ‘I love you’. It was a strange time when you did it back, because for a moment she felt like she had her mother back. For a moment you made her feel complete. 

Lucio

Lucio’s extravagant, and so are his ‘little’ romantic gestures (it scares you to think what his big romantic gestures must look like). But whatever he does it’s with good intentions that become skewered when he goes over the top. You’re his king/queen, he intends to treat you as such.

One day Lucio, left alone as you tend the shop, thinks back to your conversation about favourite meals. He remembers you saying about a dish you loved but could never find a certain ingredient, so a scheme forms in the back of his mind. How better to express his love for his dearest by making their favourite meal. He debates getting the servants to make it, but... When you come back Lucio is nowhere to be found, you search everywhere and almost pass by the kitchens. There are audible crashes and some swearing, when you step in you find Lucio covered in flour. He’s very embarrassed, but explains that he found the ingredients and wanted to make it himself. He got confused and ended up making a mess instead, you can’t laugh because it’s almost too sweet that he tried. The next day you spend together is teaching Lucio to cook the dish and enjoying the fruits of your labour.

Lucio just so happens to like your face a lot, so he brings in an artist and commissions a portrait of you you. Only problem is he want’s it to be a surprise, but the artist can only paint what he can see and you’re not there. The end result is a culmination of his terribly drawn doodles and the vague descriptions he gave the artist. You’re horrified when you find it in your room. Lucio instantly throws it out and begs you to pose for the artist this time, he just wanted a really nice portrait of you so that even when you’re gone he can see your beautiful face. You insist that he poses with you and you get a much better portrait of you and Lucio.

You often humour Lucio while listening to his stories time and again, and he’s kind of aware that he’s probably told you a story before. He does about 90% of the talking in this relationship, but when you tell him stories he hangs on every word. While you let him ramble non-stop Lucio is always politely asking you to elaborate on things because he wants to hear more! No matter what Lucio has never once told you that he’s 'heard that story before'.He’d be fine with you saying it to him, but he could never do so to you. All he wants is to hang on your every word and see your face shift into different expressions, happiness, sadness, excitement and disgust. He wants to see it all because knowing every part of you as a person makes him happy and love you all the more.

Lucio believes the most romantic thing ever is people dancing together (at a point he thought it was fighting together, but the two are close enough), the way he saw people at his masquerades dance together made him long for the perfect partner. Although Nadia was always a good dancer it never felt natural with her, when you came along he found his true partner. There have since been many times where he has led you into and impromptu slow dance. No matter when, where or who is present, its like a natural part of your lives, Lucio loves it. Twirling and dipping you and making you feel like the centre of the solar system, because to him he is just a planet and you are his radiant sun.

I had a lot of fun writing this, but what I really want is you lovely people to send in requests to my ask box! Don’t be shy, I accept any type of request (fluff, angst, smut, etc...) for any of the main six. Anonymous is on, but if you’d like to request with your handle that would be great!

Lots of love! XOXO 

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Emp-Ire, “Patriot.”

Still working and am still in a bit of a writing slump.

I have only been able to write the very few things that REALLY interest me right now. So thank you for your patience with me going off on the occasional tangent, ok maybe more often then not going off on a tangent, but thanks anyway :)

A crisp morning breeze needled his skin, the icy tendrils causing goosebumps to break out over Adam’s bare chest and shoulders. Overhead a layer of dismal grey clouds blocked the sky over an alien landscape.

He was so tired.

And he hurt.

All around him other bodies shifted in the cool morning air, and he would have sworn he could see their breath puffing out in great gouts of steam, though that might just have been his imagination. He was so cold, what the hell was wrong with wearing a shirt, or at least some real pants.

But no, apparently pants were reserved for those who earned them, everyone else was relegated to nothing better than short leather skirts, or underwear which he found mildly infuriating. Even some compression shorts would have been nice. Another cold breeze ran past him and he crossed his arms over his chest palms pressed flat over his freezing nipples in hopes that by warming them up they wouldn’t just fall off. 

Also his toes were numb, courtesy of the sandals he was wearing.

Looking around him, he could see that the other men and women didn’t appear to be nearly as cold as he was, in fact, they were probably being kept nice and warm by the sheer awesomeness of their big manly muscles or something.

Standing in a line with all of them he felt like the awkward nerd kid trying out for the football team. Each and every last one of them had washboard abs, or similar since genetics is more kind to some than to others.

And then there was him.

Chicken chest, noodle arm bastard that he was, with only the faint line of abs hanging out waiting for the moment he flexed intentionally to pretend his abs were bigger than they actually were. He hunched his shoulders just a bit, feeling very very small in comparison.

“Hey, how are you doing? Looking good everyone, looking good…. Hey…. hey.”

Adam lifted his head just in time to watch Ramirez strut up like he owned the damn place turning heads with the sheer gravity of his confidence. 

He walked up to stand Next to Adam, “Fuck you, dude.”

“What?”

“How can you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Strut up like you and I aren’t literally the most pathetic people here.”

Ramirez patted him on the shoulder, “Confidence is key my friend. If you pretend to be awesome, soon you’ll believe it and eventually it will be. Self fulfilling prophecy and all of that. The mind is a powerful tool. Also chicks dig confidence.”

“What about men?”

“Them too, I don’t discriminate.” he held his arms out wide, “Everyone could do with a little bit of Ramirez in their life.” He looked at Adam pointedly, “How about you?” He flexed, “Want some of this.”

Adam snorted, paused and then said, “You know what, if I swung that way, sure.”

Ramirez put his hand over his chest, “That is probably the nicest thing you ever said to me. But the Ramirez is an open door and I open both ways.”

“You’re not a swinging door, you're a revolving door.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“I don’t know man, it just sounded good. But if you were a door, you would also open from the bottom up, I just couldn’t think of an object that opened on both the x, y and z axises.”

He tapped his chin, “Gotta love how my morning has mostly involved being compared to a door, besides I don’t open to just anyone, I am age restricted, and no pets allowed.”

Adam grimaced, “Gross.”

“No I am not gross, if I was pet friendly THAT would be gross.”

Adam paused, “How about…. aliens ?”

Ramirez shrugged, “If it’s sentient, I Will try anything once. You kno, can’t knock it till you've tried it.”

It was at this moment that Adam became acutely aware that they were the only ones talking. They may have been speaking rather quietly, but at some point the other men and women had stopped speaking. He paused and turned his head to look. Ramirez’s voice faded off into the silence as the two of them turned to find a tall, heavily muscled woman standing before them. Her hair was tied back and her midriff was bare. She carried a spear in one hand and a shield in the other, and she waited very pointedly for the two of them to stop talking.

The look on her face could have coagulated his blood in his veins.

He shrunk back.

She walked up, looked at the two of them and her face pulled into an expression of disgust. 

“Flabby.” She announced smacking Ramirez in the thigh with her spear. He yelped and grabbed his leg, “Soft.” The spear jabbed Adam in the belly driving the wind from his boy, “Pathetic,” She announced, “No weakness, not on my island.” She jabbed at him again and, on instinct, Adam caught the haft of the spear.

He knew pretty immediately he had made a mistake as her eyes widened, and then he was slammed to the dirt head ringing from the metal of the shield on his skull.

He groaned and rubbed at his head.

“Thank you for volunteering.”

Adam didn’t know what he had just volunteered for, but it sounded like he wasn’t going to like it very much. 

As it turns out.

He was right.

She announced immediately that they were going to play a game. He thought that seemed weird for the biggest badasses this side of fake Greece but ok. But it turned out her idea of a game was just a fun way of saying I am going to make you regret you ever lived.

They were the wolves, he was the rabbit. He had a two minute head start, and then they would chase him. If he got caught, they were allowed to beat him up for a few minutes, and then he got another two minutes head start.

This lasted all morning.

About two or three hours. He couldn't tell by the end.

He had never been so exhausted in his life, andhe thought training with the Drev had been hard.

By the end he determined that they were about the same amount of hard, but the Drev didn’t do nearly as much Running. Towards the end his two minute head start counted for almost nothing, and he was in a nearly continual state of getting the shit kicked out of him. Ramirez huffed and puffed at the back of the pack like the big bad wolf had asthma.

And Adam threw up…. Three times.

Three times.

By the time it was over he was covered in bruises and could barely walk. He thought, like during training, they would get a lunch break or something, but nope by the end of the day they were back to the sandy training field where it was either, wrestling, bare knuckle boxing, sparring, or some other ungodly torture. 

There was no stopping.

Occasionally, they were allowed to kneel on the dirt and have something to eat. He wasn't sure what the spartans had eaten back in the day, but this looked like meals clearly prepared by people who studied the science of getting jacked. Mostly protein and vegetables. Whatever drink they were using was some kind of water, but cut with something else he couldn’t have been sure about, probably electrolytes.

Either way he had a hard time keeping it down.

Ramirez on the other hand was part of the passing out gang.

The two of them together barely made a functioning human. And by the end of the day they crawled themselves back to what constituted as the barracks, which was just one long building with mats laid out on the floor. He was so tired that he slept like a log through the entire night until they were woken up to do it again the next day. He slept whenever he could, using anyone and anything as a pillow.

He became way more intimately familiar with Ramirez than he had ever wanted to be but at that point he was too tired to give much of a shit. Even Ramirez was too tired to say anything sarcastic or inappropriate.

He honestly couldn't have said how long they were there, every day seemed to bleed into the next with only the changing of the weather and the night to let him know anything was going on at all.

The change in himself was so gradual that he barely even noticed until one day…

“SHIELD WALL!”

Adam and Ramirez raced forward interlocking their shields with the group of men and women before them.  Others piled up behind bracing their spears over the shoulders of their comrades.

“Remember the wall is only as strong as its weakest member!”

Across from them a group of other trainees raced forward and slammed against their shield wall. 

Adam and Ramirez shouted their exertion.

“Push back!”

They pulled back slightly and then drove forward shoving the other recruits back and to the ground tossing a few of them bodily three or four feet back.

“BRACE!”

They returned to their interlocking position, spears bristling outward like some sort of demonic porcupine. 

They did that exercise once or twice more until ordered to break off, separating into individual units which charged the other groups' spears raised.

Adam Batted another combatant’s shield aside, slammed his shoulder into the man’s chest, kicked another oncoming from the left, dodging out of the way as Ramirez covered him from the right with a sharp jab of his spear which caught another woman by the bottom of the shield and sent her deflecting to the right.

They clashed on the training field for a good half hour of continual battle, when another group of fresh, armored combatants charged them. He was tired, but as the enemy charged inward, he shook it off, roared a battle cry and charged them.

“Shields!” He ordered without thinking, and a small group of remaining fighters bunched up with him and Ramirez. They managed their wall right before the new combatants hit, “PUSH!” And with a massive have they threw them back, causing them to trip over one another. They broke their wall to take on the remaining group now fractured.

Adam went straight down the middle with Ramirez guarding his back chagrin at the armored combatants.

They were fresh, and Adam had the distinct impression that they were also not trainees.

Three of their number had already gone down under the onslaught, but he brought up his spear, knocked the shield to the side and tagged the other man with a glancing blow in the throat. He staggered away holding his neck. He spun left clobbering a woman with his shield. Ramirez cut past him stabbing straight down the middle and catching another one straight in the breastplate.

Two more of their number went down to the right.

There was no way they could make an effective shield wall now.

One more went down on their right.

Ramirez went to his knees shield held up before Adam, who used the shielding to strike past with his spear.

Ramirez ducked and Adam leaped over him crashing into another line of men shield on one side spear on the other. 

The man before him went crashing to the dirt.  He caught incoming strikes simultaneously and ducked under both allowing Ramirez to take one while he dealt with the other. They were split off from each other in the confusion and he didn’t see what happened as he was blindsided by another shield.

The power in that was awful, and he went flying back at least two feet staggering until he skidded in the sand and regained himself. The armored man came charging at him with a roar, and they clashed shields again. The other man was clearly stronger, though not by much. Adam strained against him, feet digging into the dirt before suddenly slacking and rolling off to the side.

It nearly caught the other man off his guard, but he was good, and caught himself before he could fall forward.

Adam snarled as they exchanged a flurry of blows. All the other combatants had backed off so the two of them could fight. He advanced pushing the other man back, though it seemed impossible that he would be able to score a hit, the other man was just too fast. It went on for a while.

Adam got tagged in the right hip, but kept fighting, it was nothing compared to the beating he had received only yesterday. He cut in again slamming his shield against the other man to throw him off balance. It didn’t do it as well as he had hoped, but for a split second he saw an opening. He would have to time it perfectly.

It was probably as much luck as it was skill that he managed to pass the spear through the little hole between the shield and man scoring a long cut across the man’s left bicep. As soon as he did someone shouted the halt, and he froze in palace.

The man before him lowered his shield and pulled off his helmet to reveal.

The King!

Adam stepped back in shock, quickly raising his spear in salute.

“Sir!”

The man smiled grimly turning to look down at his bleeding arm. He turned back to look at Adam, “Exhausted, training all day, and you still managed to cut me, I think that is a good sign.”

The entire field was returning to rest position.

Ramirez climbed out from under his shield, dazed but somehow unscathed.

“How long have you been with us now, two months maybe more.”

“I can’t remember.”

“Two months of improvement I think, and today many of these men proved themselves worthy of being real soldiers….” He turned to look at Adam, “How about yourself, what do you think you deserve?”

Adam planted his spear against the ground, “I’m still standing aren’t I.”

James, the king of sparta, laughed, “Spoken like a true Spartan.” He turned to look at the others, “I tend to agree with your assessment.” He waved a hand at those who are still standing, which included Ramirez, to Ramirez’s evident surprise.

He looked down at himself then around then grinned nodding as if it was very obvious he deserved to be there.

Adam smiled slightly.

He supposed he did.

And now that he realized it the two of them didn’t look at all out of place in comparison to the other men and women there. He stood up straighter, “Thank you, sir.”

“Just right in time then. We set out for Argos tonight, one last test before I let you go.”

The men and women raised their spears to thor king.

***

It felt good, almost familiar, with a cloak fluttering at his back, a spear in hand and a helmet on his head. Granted it was almost nothing like the Drev, but it still felt good enough that he could forgive it. He was, in fact, very proud of his accomplishment as he now stood on the rocky outcrop next to the King of the Neospartans and an entourage of warriors, his sandals feet rested hard against stone and a bare wind tugged at the red plume on the top of his helmet, the same wind that caused the red cloak to flutter behind him in the breeze.

“What is in Argos?” He wondered allowed, not entirely sure if he was allowed to ask, but curious enough to risk it.

James looked down at him from the pinnacle of rock, “You know we dislike the New Athenians?”

Adam nodded “Yeah…. About that, is it just tradition… or…”

James shook his head, “No, nothing like that. We would be fine working with them. This is a real place with real people who have their own real beliefs. It isn’t just some elaborate LARP. No, I was here when this colony started, and there was no difference between us and the New Athenians but after a while there rose some… disagreements.”

Adam tilted his head, “And what disagreements are those?”

“Moral disagreements. I am a patriot, admiral. I may be the king of Sparta, but I was also born on earth and am a True believer in the unity of the GA. Division Will only weaken us. But there are factions among the New Athenians who don’t believe the same, which would be fine. I understand a group of people who disagree with the current political system. That should be allowed by all means, but the way they are going about it is just wrong.”

“What do you mean.”

“They Are supplying information, weapons, and lodging to rebel forces who wish to destroy the GA and everything it stands for. They aren't just doing it through protests and reforms, but through violence, and hurting innocent people. They don’t care how they win as long as they do, and that is something I cannot abide. I have on good authority that some of them are working with Kree operatives and anti-alliance forces to plan assassinations against key members of government.”

Adam’s eyes widened in shock, “Really!, than why haven't we heard about this.”

James shook his head, “Despite their radical ideals, they are a very small and mostly powerless group who don’t pose much of a threat to GA members themselves. In fact, most of them are all bark and no bite. I figure that it's my job to keep my little slice of the galaxy clean, and I have managed it so far.”

Adam shook his head in surprise…. “So the Oracle….”

James nodded, “She recognized you, and likely sent you here in hopes that we would kill you for being spies, which we have done before. She honestly should have killed you herself, but the New Athenians don’t like to get their hands dirty, they like to keep their hands clean and let others do their dirty work.”

He turned to look at Adam, “Based on my studies, you are an important piece in an intergalactic chess game, holding the GA together with a volatile humanity.” He turned his head back to stare out at the horizon, “Like I said, protests, petitions, and legislation is all well and good, but as soon as your course starts to hurt innocent people you lose my sympathy. You are no longer the heroic rebel, but you are a blight and you must be stamped out.”

The fire in the man’s golden eyes was enough to make Adamstand back a little.

“I see.”

“I am glad you do, you need to see what goes on at the small scale. You need to know that there are people here fighting for you and your ideals. You built what the GA is today, whether on purpose or not, and that is something I intend to uphold.” He pointed downwards, “And we are going to start here.”

[1-800-imagine]

study dates with the baby crows

karasuno first years (separate) x reader

✎ inside scoop (1/2): hello and sorry, this is a repost because of tumblr struggles and stuff 😅 anyways, happy reading!! i hope you enjoy!!

HINATA SHOYO:

the thing about hinata and kageyama for that matter is that he isn’t truly dumb

his mind is just heavily situated with other priorities, mainly volleyball

on that note, hinata will try and speed through his work in order to go do more fun things

and this tactic definitely does not really fair well for him

“done!!” hinata exclaims, showing you his completed paper with pride. how did he complete this assignment in record speed? you think. it’s not that you ever doubted hinata’s academic capabilities, it’s just that he wasn’t really one to take his time completing work -- always rushing through it all to do the “fun” stuff.

you took his paper from his hands and examine it. “now let’s go play some volleyball, or something,” he suggests giddily, propping himself up so he could get a headstart to the backyard. “hinata,” your voice sounding concerned, “you got a bunch of these wrong.” the boy stops in his tracks, one foot already out the door. “you’re going to have to redo most, if not all of them,” you warn, watching as a look of struggle pains the tangerine’s face. “as your tutor, and your s/o, i cannot let you fail another assignment, shoyo.” you reason.

“fine,” he pouts, sitting back down, “only for you (y/n).” as he gets to scribbling, you notice how hinata’s expression grows sulky, like when a dog droops its ears down or hides its tail between its legs. “you know what,” you mutter, “we can probably split this up -- do half now, go take a break, then do the other half later.”

“really?” hinata chirps, his hair resembling that of the ears of a perky puppy. “yes, rea-” you try and answer but get cut off immediately by the boy crawling over the table. “you’re the best study buddy, (y/n)!!” he shouts before pummeling you both to the floor.

KAGEYAMA TOBIO:

kageyama isn’t necessarily stupid either, he’s just more focused on volleyball like hinata

he’s probably the type to get a little frustrated when things don’t tend to work well for him

in a similar way to when things aren’t working well in volleyball

i feel like putting things in terms he already knows may help him better his understandings

kageyama groans as he pushes himself up and away from his desk. you look up, across the table to see the mix of frustration and confusion that paints his face. “what’s the matter, tobio?” you question innocently. “i just don’t get it!” he snaps, the anger so strong in his voice. you’re stunned, and kageyama takes notice of it immediately.

“it’s just that,” he confesses in a much softer tone than before, “no matter how hard i try, i just can’t get the hang of this.” you grab onto kageyama’s hand, which is balled up in a fist out of his frustration. “it’s okay tobio.” your voice is delicate, as you try to confide in him. “i wish this was as easy as volleyball.” kageyama grunts.

that’s when it hits you, like a little light bulb forming over your head. “well,” you begin, your thoughts muddling around in your brain. kageyama looks up at you, confused as you take his paper from him. “if the total of three volleyballs is 55 dollars, and the cost of a mikasa ball is five more than a tachikara ball, which is twice as much as a molten ball. then how much is the mikasa ball?”

you watch as kageyama to scribbles down the numbers. “15 dollars,” he answers, in a notable speed. you’re so proud of kageyama, giving him your praise with haste, “see, you can do it tobio!!”

TSUKISHIMA KEI:

tsukki loves you through and through, else he wouldn’t have agreed to help you study/study with you

but that doesn’t mean the he’s going to stop with all the saltiness. no no.

it’ll certainly lessen, but i feel like there’s not a possible way to escape it

like yeah, he can be totally soft for you; however, that being said, don’t be surprised if some sort of snarky remark is thrown your direction

in a moment of confused concentration, you begin to chew on the pen in your hand -- an action which is taken notice by tsukishima almost immediately. “(y/n),” he sighs, “do you need something? if you bite that pen any harder, i think it might explode.” you look up in a surprised daze, like a little deer caught in headlights. “i-uh no, i mean yes. actually, maybe?” your jumpy response earns a quirk of the eyebrow from the blond boy. “fine,” you speak up, “but don’t make fun of me, okay.”

“if you’re so worried about me making a joke of you -- i’m not.” tsukishima guarantees. your face morphs from a state of confusion into a look of doubt. this had certainly been a side of tsukki that you’ve never seen before. “i wouldn’t have agreed to help you, if i didn’t love you.”

you’re taken by full surprise, considering that the cold tsukishima kei just confessed that he loves you. of course you and he had been dating for at least a couple of months now, but you would have never expected him to tell you he loved you anytime soon.

“y-you, tsukishima kei, you love me?” your eyes widen, and your jaw unhinges. that’s when reality sets into for tsukishima. did he just? he did. “i didn’t mean it like that.” he refutes, even though his ears are already shaded with a rosy tint. “no, i know what you meant -- you love me!!” you holler, earning you a loud shushing from the librarian. “you love me!!” you reiterate in a soft whisper. “ok fine. i love you,” he confirms mockingly, “now what was it you needed my help with?”

YAMAGUCHI TADASHI:

the boy is a nervous WRECK

he just wants to do the best of his ability to help you, but at the same time he does tend to doubt himself

one that note, things may end up in you helping him more than the other way around

but i’m sure he’ll be super proud of you when you start to get the hang of things

the sigh of surrender escapes your lips, breaking the comfortable silence that filled the room. you pull your face away from your textbook to look at one green-haired boy sitting beside you. “i don’t think i can do this,” you resign, “it’s a lost cause.” you begin to pack away things.

seeing you in this defeated state begins to make yamaguchi nervous. was he not a good enough tutor for you? are you just going to go and ask someone else? “what’re you doing?” he asks, the nerves making his voice a little shaky. “i think i’m going to go home,” you answer, “none of it is your fault, tadashi. i’m just not getting the hang of it.”

you continue to pack up belongings when a hand delicately grabs your wrist, making you come to a halt. “no.” the freckled boy says, his voice stern -- contrasting the usual, softer tone of it. “(y/n),” he adds, “you need to stop discrediting yourself.” having never seen this more assertive side to yamaguchi, you’re quite surprised. “tada-” you exhale.

“maybe you just need a little extra practice,” he propose, “but there’s no need to give up.”  yamaguchi’s interjection cut you off from your thoughts. “tadashi i-” you stammer. “it’s okay,” he assures you, “even if you don’t believe in yourself. i will!”

YACHI HITOKA:

prepared. very prepared.

she probably has almost about everything the two of you need to succeed -- and when i say everything i mean everything

from all sorts of stationary to study snacks, yachi’s got it all

similar to yamaguchi, she just wants to do everything in her power to help you succeed

a peculiar noise escapes your lips, followed by the light tap of your head hitting the table in resignation -- yachi’s quaint set up of pretty stationary and notebooks jumping to the corners of the desk. “i. can’t. do. this. anymore.” you admit, growing increasingly louder with each word. fortunately, your screams are muffled by the wooden surface. “do you need another break, (y/n)?” yachi proposes.

“there are plenty of snacks left,” the sweet girl adds, “and we can always go get other treats if you don’t like these ones.” you turn to rest your cheek on the surface of the table, staring up at this angel sent from the gods.

“no, no it’s alright ‘toka,” you decline, “the snacks are perfect, this whole thing is perfect.” you lift yourself up and begin trying to put everything back in its place neatly. picking up one of the organized notebooks, you sit back into the chair. your expression and posture grow sullen, which is something easily noticed by the blonde girl. yachi’s overactive imagination begins to take her to the worst-case scenarios.

“d-did this not work for you, (y/n)?” she mutters, her voice riddled with worry. negative thoughts begin to cloud her mind. “of course not, ‘toka,” you answer, “even if we were sitting in the library, with those cranky librarians, i’d still have the best time -- because i’d be with the best girlfriend!!” the flash of your bright smile makes yachi lose her train of thought. “i-uh, n-no you,” she utters, earning her an innocent giggle from your direction.

✎ inside scoop (2/2): hey hey hey!! first off, if you managed to get through all of that, i really appreciate you. thank you for reading, and i hope you liked it!!

the next thing i wanted to say is that i feel like i haven’t really been myself lately, and i’m really (x10) sorry about that. school work had me stressed out quite a bit, and then i got caught up with other things as well. so in the little time that i did provide myself for anything other than working, which was usually very late at night, i didn’t have much motivation left in me per say.

aside from all my lame excuses that, i hope everyone else is doing well. make sure to take care of yourself, and my request/talk box is always open if anyone wants to talk or send something in 💖💕

[malfoymanortings]

lavender and velvet //part four

SUMMARY: she had her fathers eyes, his aristocratic looks, her grandmothers spite, her mothers heart, but the one thing she didn't have was the love of her father that her god brother received. juliet black finally meets her father who has already decided who his child is.

PAIRINGS: to be decided.

hello again! hope you all are doing well. i hope everyone is liking this so far! my messages/asks/replies/reblogs are always open if you wanted to comment on anything or give suggestions/feedback.  i’d love to hear from yall! enjoy loves xx

The last day of the holidays approached rather quickly. Juliet had been expecting a bit more excitement at the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, but that wasn’t the case. Sure, there was at least one member that passed through daily, sometimes staying for a meal and sometimes just for a whispered conversation that none of the children were allowed to hear. Her days passed in a blur of spending time with Ginny and Hermione, smoking with Fred and George, and being cordial towards Harry and Sirius. 

She no longer yelled at Sirius. She made little attempt to speak with him, no longer wanting to fight. He had tried more to engage with her, but it was hard when she would see how easily he would speak with Harry. She spent a lot of her time in the room with the Black family tree, finishing up her summer work uninterrupted. 

She sat in there now, writing another letter to Draco. They had sent several correspondences to each other over the last month, and he seemed to have been going a bit stir crazy. He said he had something important to tell her, when they saw each other on the first day of term.

“Your booklist arrived.”

Sirius was standing in her doorway, envelope in hand. 

“Thanks,” Juliet stood, taking the thick paper out of his hand. He nodded to her, his eyes watching her as she opened the envelope.

Inside was her booklist, yes, but there was another letter tucked behind it. She moved the booklist aside, scanning over the separate letter. A grin broke across her face, and she reached into the envelope once more to pull out the green and silver badge with a silver P embedded on it.

“Prefect?” Sirius questioned, smiling as she nodded. “Taking after Remus, I see. I caused too much trouble to be a one. Reckon they made Remus a Prefect to try and get him to tame James and I. It didn’t work, needless to say.”

Juliet smiled, a bit deflated at the mention of yet another difference between them. “Can’t imagine him having authority over you anyways.”

Sirius chuckled slightly, an odd look on his face. “Well, I wouldn’t say that’s entirely true.”

Before Juliet could question him, Ginny walked into the room. Her eyes widened when she saw the Prefect badge in her hands, and looked over her shoulder as she shouted.

“Mum! Juliet’s been made Prefect too!”

“Who else is Prefect?” Juliet questioned, putting her letters back. “Hermione?”

Ginny turned back to her and Sirius, a grin on her face. “You’ve got that one right. Ron has been made one with her.”

“Ron?” echoed Juliet in disbelief. “Oh, merlin.”

She could only imagine how Draco would react to that news. It was tough already, the tension between her cousin and her chosen family, and this would surely strain it even further. 

“Mums going to buy him a broom when she goes to get our things,” Ginny raised her eyebrows. “As a reward.”

“You’d better write to Remus, and let him know,” Sirius nodded to Juliet, pausing for a moment. “Actually, I think I’ll go do that myself.”

He left the room, leaving Juliet and Ginny alone. Juliet gathered her parchment and ink, quickly finishing off the note by letting Draco know the news, while Ginny leaned against the doorway.

“Another note to Draco?” Ginny questioned, nodding to the rolled up paper.

Juliet nodded. “I’d better see if anyone’s got an owl I can use.”

As they left the room, George was calling Juliet’s name. The girls went together to find him, spotting him in the living room with a familiar owl perched on the high backed chair, nipping at his fingers.

“You’ve got another letter from Malfoy,” George informed her, wincing as the owl bit his thumb. “Bloody hell, have you got something for it?”

Juliet spotted a half eaten biscuit on the table, and quickly ripped a piece off, ignoring George’s protests. “It’s either this biscuit or your fingers.” 

“‘Lo, Achilles,” Juliet held out the fluffy food, and Achilles accepted it with a small nip. “Can you take this to Draco for me?” she tied the parchment to his leg, ruffling his feathers before opening the window for him to leave. 

Achilles flew off, and Juliet opened her letter to see it was rather short.

Juliet,

I’ve been made Prefect, no surprise there. I'm assuming either you or Parkinson have been made one along with me. With any luck, it’ll be you. Dunno if I could stand a year of working closely with Pansy. The thought alone sickens me. you’ll have to come by for Christmas, by the way. Mum misses you and she’s getting annoying about it.

See you tomorrow. 

-Draco Malfoy

Juliet grinned, folding the letter back up and tucking it into her pocket. She looked at George and Ginny, who were watching as she read it.

“His owls name is Achilles?” questioned George, snorting. 

“Is that bad? I quite like the name.” Juliet quirked a brow at the ginger haired boy, smirking when he grew red and grumbled under his breath.

“What did it say?” asked Ginny.

“He’s been made Prefect,” Juliet replied, turning to George and grinning. “By the way, you and Fred better keep yourselves in line this year. I’m Prefect as well.”

George’s eyes widened, and he gave her a hug. “Perfect, you can cover for us now!”

Juliet pulled away, swatting his arm. “Are you daft? I’ll be the first one to report the two of you!”

“Now why would you do that?” George pouted, giving her pleading eyes.

“For fun, of course.” she tilted her head, smirking, and left the room. 

Later that night, Molly had thrown together a feast for everyone. A banner hung over the dining room, reading CONGRATULATIONS RON, HERMIONE, AND JULIET - NEW PREFECTS. 

The unmistakable sound of Remus’ voice came from the foyer, and Juliet slipped out of the growing party in the kitchen to go greet him. He stood with Sirius, who had an arm slung around his waist, and was holding an emerald green box. 

“I’m so proud of you,” Remus beamed when he caught sight of her, handing the box carefully to Sirius before enveloping her in a hug. She held on tightly, already missing him. It was the first summer she had spent this much time away from him, and now, she was heading to school the next day. 

“Thank you,” she replied, eyeing the box as she pulled out of his hug. “What’s that?”

Remus and Sirius looked at each other, a smile on their faces. Sirius held the box out to her, and she took it hesitantly.

She lifted off the top, revealing a small, gorgeous owl, grey in color with black tipped wings. Her eyes widened in surprise, mouth open as she saw the owl blink at her sleepily.

“A present for getting Prefect,” Remus explained, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I know you’ve been wanting one.”

“Thank you!” exclaimed Juliet ecstatically, reaching in to gently pet the owl on its head. 

“Sirius thought of it,” continued Remus, glancing over at said man. “He gave me the idea to get you something.”

“Thank you.” Juliet said to Sirius, who nodded and winked at her. She hadn't been expecting a gift of any sort, much less an owl. 

“I’ll take it up to your room to set it up,” Sirius offered, holding out his hand. “You’ll have to think of a name for her.”

Juliet handed the owl off to Sirius, thanking him once more. Remus pulled her into another hug, and the two of them headed back into the party.

They were greeted back into the fold, and drinks were served out. Soon, the arrival of Bill, Arthur, and most unfortunately Mundungus Fletcher, came upon them, and they were soon seated at the table and serving out food. Sirius came back into the room, and Juliet ignored her jealousy as he sat next to Harry. She told herself that it was just because Ginny and George had already taken the seats next to her, and pretended to not hear the voice in her head that whispered he wouldn’t have sat next to her anyways.

“You’ll never guess what my dad got me,” Juliet burst out, ignoring her thoughts. 

“What?” Ginny questioned, taking a bun from the massive pile. She then passed it down to Ron, who was eyeing them hungrily.

“Must be something special for you to be this excited,” George remarked, nudging her with his elbow.

“Dad got me an owl,” she beamed, pouring a glass of pumpkin juice. “I’ve no idea what to name her, but I’m glad I finally got one.”

“Hopefully that means we won’t be seeing Achilles again,” George remarked, letting out an indignant protest when Juliet whacked his arm. “Hey!”

“Well, I think a toast is in order,” said Arthur, raising his glass. “To Ron and Hermione, the new Gryffindor Prefects, and to Juliet, the new Slytherin Prefect!”

Juliet, Ron, and Hermione beamed as everyone drank to them and then applauded.

“I was never a prefect myself,” said Tonks brightly, standing across the table from Juliet, behind Harry. Her hair was tomato-red and waist length today; she looked like Ginny’s older sister. “My Head of House said I lacked certain necessary qualities.”

“Like what?” said Ginny, who was choosing a baked potato.

“Like the ability to behave myself,” said Tonks.

Ginny laughed; Hermione looked as though she did not know whether to smile or not and compromised by taking an extra large gulp of butterbeer and choking on it.

“What about you, Sirius?” Ginny asked, thumping Hermione on the back.

Sirius, who was right beside Harry, let out his usual barklike laugh.

“No one would have made me a prefect, I spent too much time in detention with James. Lupin was the good boy, he got the badge.”

“I think Dumbledore might have hoped that I would be able to exercise some control over my best friends,” said Lupin. “I need scarcely say that I failed dismally.”

“Betcha that’s why Dumbledore made you Prefect, Jules,” George snorted, wrapping arm around her in a quick hug. “He’s hoping you can keep us on a short leash.”

“No, Georgie,” Fred disagreed, shaking his head. “Dumbledore’s smarter than that. It was probably so she could get Malfoy to stop bullying the other students.”

Ron and Harry laughed loudly at that comment, and Juliet felt a brief surge of anger. Yes, that comment was warranted, but she was protective of her cousin. They didn’t know him like she did.

“Actually, Fred, Draco has been appointed Prefect along with me,” Juliet cut into her baked potato, sprinkling cheese on top. “He wrote to me this morning to tell me.”

“I got bit by his bloody owl just for him to tell you that?” George exclaimed, shaking his head. 

He looked to his left, and suddenly looked serious. He nudged Fred, and the two stood up from the table, walking over to Mundungus Fletcher. Before Juliet could ask what they were doing, Sirius interrupted her train of thought.

“Maybe you should try to distance yourself from the Malfoys, Juliet,” Sirius said carefully, looking at her from across the table. “Lucius-”

“I’m not going to do that,” Juliet cut him off, setting her knife down and focusing her eyes on him. “Auntie Cissy has been nothing but kind to me. Draco is one of my closest friends, regardless of the activities his father partakes in.”

“Even though his father is a Death Eater?” the words seemed to slip out of Harry’s mouth, and Ginny and Sirius, the only ones paying attention to their conversation, froze as the tension became thick in the room. 

Juliet stared at Harry, her eyes narrowed. She felt slight satisfaction when he seemed to shrink away from her hard stare.

“As I said,” Juliet repeated, her words concise. “Draco and Narcissa are my family, regardless of Lucius’ activities. Until they do something unspeakable, I will continue having them in my life.”

“So you’ll wait until they hand you over to Voldemort, to stop being friendly?” Harry asked harshly, and Sirius brought a hand down on his shoulder.

“Harry, just leave it,” Sirius cleared his throat, looking at Juliet. “She can handle herself.”

“While I don’t need to handle myself, as I trust them, you are correct,” Juliet rolled her eyes, angry and annoyed with Harry. “I can handle myself just fine. As I’ve been doing for the past fifteen years.”

“... it would look so much better shorter, wouldn’t it, Harry?” 

Molly broke the tense atmosphere, directing a question to Harry who looked away from Juliet, alarm on his face.

“Oh -I dunno-” Harry said, and he moved over towards the twins, who were huddled in a corner with Mundungus Fletcher.

“Juliet,” Molly called over to her, motioning towards Bill. “Wouldn’t Bill’s hair look much better shorter?”

“Oh, absolutely not,” Juliet grinned, winking at the older man. “Long hair suits him quite well.”

Sirius choked on his drink, and Molly looked flustered at her words. Bill, however, winked back at her, turning his mom with an expression of ‘see! Told you so!’. Ginny whacked her arm, giving her an amused sharp look, and Juliet smirked in return.

The rest of the evening went fairly smooth, aside from a Boggart scaring Molly. A few of the Order members had rushed upstairs at her scream, and taken care of the problem. Juliet and Ginny had stayed downstairs, as instructed, and were thankful that it turned out alright. 

Too soon, Remus was hugging Juliet and promising to see her in the morning. She headed upstairs with Ginny, an undeniable sadness wrapping around her. She dressed for bed slowly, her usual oversized shirt that hung down to her thighs with nothing else. Tomorrow, she would have to go back to wearing pants to bed, and she wanted to enjoy her last night without them. 

Thinking back on the first night the girls had shared the room, she laughed to herself, ignoring the look Ginny gave her. Hermione had been so overwhelmed when Ginny had worn a tank top and underwear, and Juliet her shirt, and hadn't been able to look at either of them. She still didn’t, but she usually woke before the other girls.

Long after the other girls had fallen asleep, Ginny’s loud snoring and Hermione’s deep breathing echoing throughout the room, Juliet found herself unable to sleep. She was sad, and she didn’t quite understand why. She got up slowly, and with her blanket in hand, she quietly made her way out of the room. 

Down the hall she went, slowly opening the twin’s room door. The skunky smell of weed hung in the air, so she knew they hadn't been sleeping for that long. She shut the door behind her softly, walking over to George’s bed where he lay, his face buried in his pillow.

“Georgie,” she whispered, nudging him softly. He didn’t move. “George!” she said a bit louder, shaking his shoulder.

“Wh- Freddie?” George rolled over, blinking sleepily at Juliet. “Jules?”

“I can’t sleep,” Juliet bit her lip, suddenly shy. She didn’t know why, they slept in the same bed every so often other summers. “Can I sleep with you?”

George blinked once more, suddenly more focused. “Yeah, love. Of course. Inside or outside?”

“Inside,” Juliet replied, smiling slightly as George was already moving out of the way. “Like always.”

“How could I forget,” George’s voice was teasing. “Always.”

Juliet fluffed the pillow, waiting until George laid down before throwing her blanket over both of them. He grumbled to himself, turning to spoon her as they always did. Juliet tucked her head onto his arm, his other arm wrapped loosely around her. 

“What’s wrong with my blanket?” George asked, offended. He yawned loudly, his breath hot against her neck.

“Mines softer.” Juliet pointed out, tucking her hands against her chest. 

George mumbled something under his breath, his breathing deepening once more. He was asleep again. Juliet lay there, his arm around her, and felt butterflies in her tummy. That was odd to her, and she couldn’t figure out why she felt them. They cuddled like this all the time. There was nothing more to it. Maybe it was because Fred didn’t know she was there, and normally he did. That was probably it.

Juliet soon fell asleep to the sound of George’s breathing, tucked into embrace.

one

two

three

five

taglist: @person1839 @treblebeth @big-galaxy-chaos

let me know if you would like to be added to the taglist!

[dracosaurusrex]

A New Kind of Warmth.

Part 5 to Notebook!

Summary: In which love and appreciation blooms within the small moments.

Pairing: Draco x Gryffindor!reader

A/N: I’m sorry for my lateness! I didn’t want to rush this chapter at the risk of compromising the development of the feelings between the two. That, and the fact that I haven’t been on a date in a looooooonnggg time, so I’m a wee bit out of my element LOL. I hope you enjoy! Once again, feedback is very much appreciated :)

A breeze had snuck into the shop as Draco exited. It was chilling. As it brushed your skin, you snapped back into reality, trying to comprehend what just happened. Looking around to see if anyone witnessed the scene, your confused e/c met with amused ones belonging to the owner, Scrivenshaft.

“You’re flushed, child.” He said with a chuckle. You felt your face. It was very well heated, surely enough. Your fingers passed feathered across your ears. Even they were warm.

“You mean to tell me that actually just happened?” The older man released a louder laugh.

“Ah...young love. It’s quite the sight to see, innit?” 

“Oh please! M-Me and Draco Malfoy? You’ve got to be joking!” He only shook his head. 

“Tsk tsk, whatever you say! Don’t tell me I didn’t say so. Are you going to make your purchases? Someone’s waiting for you outside.” The store owner’s teasing only made your face hotter as you approached the front counter. Your heart was beating at what seemed to be an alarming rate as the thoughts of spending time with a certain blonde occupied your mind.

“A little piece of advice from old Scrivey--be comfortable with yourself instead of thinking of what he’ll think. Men are suckers for gals like that.” He said as he began to calculate the prices. 

“But sir, that boy is a Malfoy! I’m pretty sure you’re familiar with his...background.” You fumbled with your fingers as the words stumbled out of your mouth. You were a pureblood, yes, but your family didn’t have much as far as wealth was concerned. You would’ve never imagined yourself with the boy throughout your studies at Hogwarts. Because of this, the image of him and the vastness of richness was more than enough to induce your insecurities to overtake you. 

“I am very well aware! It would take a lot from a boy of his calibre to show interest to anyone, don’t you think? You’d think with a family as luxurious as his own, he’d be a little more picky! That’ll be 12 galleons.” Scrivenshaft had a confident air in his voice. You handed him the amount as your esteem continued to lower itself.

“But that is precisely why you should be comfortable with yourself, child. If a boy like Draco Malfoy can see something special in you that he’d want to spend time with you, that says something more about you than what you think his preferences might be.” You were taken aback with the oddly comforting words from the shop owner, who you just met mere minutes ago.

“Don’t bring my hopes up, sir. I can only ask for that.” It was your turn to release a laugh, albeit an unsure one. 

“Wanna make a bet?” You lifted an eyebrow up to him.

“You can’t bet on my love lif-” He cut you off.

“If I’m incorrect and this ends up being a horrid date despite you being yourself, then I owe you two quills of your choice.” You were a sucker for stationary, you couldn’t deny that, but that would mean the date would have to go wrong, and deep inside you were hoping that the time would be well spent.

“You’re betting on disappointment, sir.”

“Nonsense! Free handouts lucks me out of the galleons! I certainly hope it goes well!” You rolled your eyes and laughed as you picked up your bag of items.

“You should get going. I think he’s growing impatient.” He nodded to the window located at the storefront. When you turned, you were met with Draco’s curious eyes, eliciting a laugh from you. You saw a hint of pink spread over his cheeks as he regained his posture while a feeling of warmth had done so over your chest. You turned back to the shop owner to bid him farewell.

“Thank you, sir!” He nodded in response as you made your way outside. Your heart was still racing as your hands tightened its grip on the bag. It was only a few more moments.

Upon pulling the door open, a cold breeze and a bright ray of light filled your immediate senses. The chills of autumn nipped at your nose. After adjusting your vision, you turned your gaze in search of platinum hair. Once you saw him, your breath hitched and you started approaching him nervously. His back was turned to you, reading a shop sign of some sorts. You delicately reached out to tug on a small portion of his jacket. As he turned around, his eyes widened at the sight of you.

“H-hey!” You tried to say as normally as you could have. You felt yourself wallow in the awkwardness, thinking about how embarrassed you looked in his eyes. To the contrary though, Draco’s heart was pounding just as much as yours was. 

“Hi! I didn’t expect to see you in Hogsmeade.” He straightened his posture as he held eye contact with you.

“I didn’t expect to see you either! What brings you here?” There was something about his silvery eyes that made it difficult for you to pull away. You both were practically entranced as nervousness loomed in the air.

“I-I was with my friends. They wanted to have a round of butterbeer.” This wasn’t how Draco normally acted around you, and this wasn’t how you normally acted around him either. Perhaps it was the sudden glances in potions, or the notebook that he gave. Perhaps it was even the way you had said his name numerous times, and the way it made him feel. Perhaps it was all of that that made nervousness rack your insides. Whatever it was, both of you were too flustered to think of what to do.

Feeling that the silence continued to drag on, Draco added, “How about you?”

You broke your gaze, remembering how you lost your friends because of the length of time you spent in Honeydukes thinking about the boy who was standing in front of you.

“I came with Mione and Ginny, but I ended up losing them after Honeydukes, so I went to Srivenshaft’s to run some errands.” You couldn’t help but laugh at the fact you got separated because of peppermint toads, but you weren’t going to tell him that.

“Do you enjoy candy?” He asked as the two of you unknowingly started to walk around, aimless of a destination.

“I do. Although, sometimes I get bored of the taste.” You said, your nervousness slipping away for a bit. “Do you?” You looked up to the blonde.

“I’m the same as you, but not so much. I’d say that some candies are way refreshing than others though. I tend to prefer them.” 

“What’s your favorite, if you don’t mind me asking?” You ask, genuinely interested. 

He stopped and looked at you with glee in his eyes, “Rather curious aren’t you?” You felt another blush come up.

“I-I was ju-” Afraid that you seemed too excited, you tried to defend yourself. However, you were cut off by his response.

“It’s not something I admit often, but I’m a fan of minty things. Not really anything in particular. Just as long as there’s-”

“Mint?” You finish his sentence.

“Precisely.” You both laugh, as comfort starts creeping in. It was then that you suddenly recalled the candy you purchased a couple hours before.

“I’m glad to hear that. I think you’re in for a treat.” You reached into your bag for the peppermint toads, and whipped one of the blue packages out with a bright smile on your face. 

“Would you happen to fancy a peppermint toad?” You wiggled your eyebrows with hopes that he would respond positively. To your delight, Draco eyes brightened.

“Ah! A girl with taste! Don’t mind if I do, thank you.” The both of you stopped in your steps, taking a seat on the closest bench. Your hands were still slightly shaky as you opened the bag of candies. Draco on the other hand couldn’t stop the smile that stuck on his face. He was appalled with the fact that you didn’t object to his offer to hang out, and the fact that he could relish all of your beauty for himself made his heart flutter for the millionth time that day. 

The way the light peered over Hogsmeade created an aura that Draco couldn’t quite explain. It was much similar to the way the sun would shine after the rain--a new brightness, a pure sparkle. It was quite...romantic, even though he wasn’t so familiar with the feeling. He stared at you with fondness as you fumbled with the bag of sweets, taking note of the way your eyes seemed to form crescents as you reached out to offer him some with a smile. Your hair, once again, blew across your face, leaving strands to hang over slightly into the box. To this, Draco smiled. He tucked the loose strand of hair behind your ear before reaching into the box. He would flutter his gaze from you to the bag, and back to you again. He felt so welcome in your presence.

You watched as a satisfied reaction covered his face.

“They taste more refreshing now since it’s starting to get cold. Even more so because of the girl who gave it to me.” He glanced at you with a side eye. It was pretty chilly outside, but you only paid attention to the heat that rose to your cheeks. You shook your head, giggling at what you assumed was his attempt to flirt.

“Are you flirting with me, Draco Malfoy?” Your eyes met his, and locked into contact. He scooted closer to you.

“Perhaps. Do you like it?” 

“You’re unbelievable.” You rolled your eyes and bit your lip before breaking out another smile. You glanced at the bag of peppermint toads, allowing the moment to settle. 

“I suppose I welcome it.” You say, looking up at him, grinning. You felt different. The smiles you gave to Draco were different than those you gave your friends. You just couldn’t stop, especially when he’s sitting in close proximity to you with a smile that seemed to radiate the same energy as yours. His eyes were also much warmer and inviting--something that you only saw in the small moments you shared. 

As the intensity of the moment continued to increase, you reached into the bag and grabbed another handful of toads. You plopped two in your mouth before extending your arm to offer some to the boy next to you. He eyed it carefully before a smirk had formed. 

“Feed me.” He said, cooly. Your eyes widened, your heart quickened, the feeling was exhilarating, and the only thing you wanted to do was ride along with it.

“What the-” He dropped his jaw slightly, which ended up emphasizing the shape of his lips, pulling you into another trance.

‘Dear Merlin, Y/N! Get your head out of the gutter!’ You shouted internally. You cleared your throat.

“You’re not a child, Draco.” A jokingly stern voice painted your tone.

“Just this once?” He pouted.

“Do I look like a servant to you?” You said sarcastically with a raised eyebrow at him. He had a coy expression on his face, to which you only chuckled. Before he could respond, you took his hand and held it firmly above your lap with his palm facing up. Immediately, you took notice of small details of his hand. How small yours was in comparison to his--the length of your fingers reached only ¾ of his own. The way his skin felt warm on yours. How unexpectedly soft they were. The way his fingers looked similar to that of a sculpture. How these hands wrote every single word on the notebook he lent you. How it would be nice to feel your fingers intertwined with his. Your eyes were transfixed on his palms, forgetting why you grabbed it in the first place.

“Y/N.” His voice broke your trance. You turned your face towards him, your grip remaining.

“May I?” He eyed his palm. Thinking that he was weirded out, you stammered the first couple of words that appeared in your brain.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Before you could tilt the bag to dispense the candy, he broke out laughing, making you stop.

“You got me all wrong, Y/N. I meant, may I hold your hand?” Your heart stopped for a second, then made leaps, jumps, and even soared. As the heat fled to your cheeks for the umpteenth time today, you looked down smiling.

With quiet words, you whisper your response loud enough so that only he could hear. “You may.”

There was glee and innocence in your tone. Draco took control of his hand, and gingerly slipped his fingers into yours. The warmth you felt from his skin earlier had now wrapped around your own digits like a glove. Except now, instead of keeping them extended, you clasped them against his knuckles, taking in the comfort that came along with his presence. You sighed in pleasure.

“I might be getting ahead of myself, but this feels right.” You admit quietly while looking at the sight before you.

“I’m in favor with that statement.” He says as he squeezes your hand with more pressure.

The both of you bask within the afternoon autumn sunlight in silence. Crisp breezes compliment the air as it travels through the cozy town. Rays shoot past the pointed roofs and scatter over the streets and shop windows, contrasting sharply with the darkness of the shade. The bustling footsteps of the crowds fill your ears, but it is the sense of touch that completely overtakes the moment. A touch that is filled with respect, with purity, with affection, with gentleness, and with warmth. The mere act of sitting and holding hands is one to relish for a long time. It is then that the feeling of gratefulness touches your heart as you recall Scrivenshaft’s words. You were beginning to grow more comfortable with Draco Malfoy.

A/N: Autumn and winter are my favorite seasons. There’s just something about it’s coziness that automatically reminds of romance haha. I want to thank you all for the support you’ve given me with this fic. I initially had meant for it to be a oneshot, but seeing it grow as a series helps me exercise my mind and find new ways to elicit *feels* haha. On a serious note, I appreciate you all and I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Here’s Part 4!

Taglist: @m-winchester-67 @bbeauttyybbx @un-limit-edd @poetontheblock @tttyrus @stretchyice  @vaeonshi @bittersweetthoughts--ofinsanity @saptediavoli @kookie-vuitton @thatguppienamedbae

[hotpinkrathian]

The Office

(Kyalin) (Mako and Bolin)

So I wrote this to be in the same like univers as "The Box" (last chapter) but its vague enough to be a stand alone so 🤷‍♀️. I think I'll probably do a third one with the dinner, but maybe not I'm not sure yet. I had an idea for a separate one where their moms find out, so I might do that instead.

"So Mako, are you ready for dinner? I'm so excited to see everyone again!" Bolin cheered. Mako grinned, loading their stuff into the back of the satomobile.

"Sure am, just have to stop at the precinct first, I left a file on my desk." Bolin sighed, hopping into the passenger seat.

"Its always business with you, brother. Paul!" The fire ferret climbed into Bolin's sweater and Mako chuckled. The drive to the precinct was short, and Bolin had insisted on coming in to "inspect" his brothers workspace. The office was dark, save for a few of the night crew and janitors and Mako made his way to his desk.

"Where is it?" He asked himself.

"Hey Mako?" Bolin asked from near the Chief's office.

"Yes Bolin?" He replied, not fully paying attention.

"Isn't the Chief coming to dinner?"

"Yeah I think so. I don't know maybe she decided its not her thing."

"Hmm, well maybe she took it off your desk."

"Bolin, please help me look. Beifong went home hours ago."

"Are you sure?" Bolin asked, pointing to the door.

"Yes I'm sure."

"Okay well I'm pretty sure she's in there." Mako sighed, making his way to the door and standing next to his brother.

"Well," he said reluctantly," the light is on." He tilted his head looking at the light under the door. He lifted his knuckle to knock just as the door was pulled open.

"Oh, Mako, right?" A tall watertribe woman asked.

"Um yeah," he replied. She smiled and Mako remembered who she was. He hadn't seen her in almost four years.

"Kya," she said shaking his hand.

"Right, Harmonic Convergence."

"The one and only," he sidestepped allowing her to pass. Lin was sitting at her desk, her armor sitting in the corner of the room, which was odd, but she had glasses on, reading a file.

"I got you're file," she said from the desk, "no thanks to you."

"Sorry Chief, I came back to put it in the Dropbox." Lin smirked, did Mako see that right? Was she smiling? He looked again to Kya, who waited outside the door with them.

"Lin, come on." Kya said and Lin stood up.

"Alright, alright." The chief said, taking a coat off the hanger and putting it on. Bolin tapped Mako on the shoulder, pointing to either woman. Mako just glared at him, not sure what his brother was suggesting.

"We'll see you too in a bit," Kya grinned, waving a small farewell.

"Dont be late!" Lin hollered at them. The two boys watched as the woman linked arms, making their way to the elevator.

"Mako." Bolin whispered. "Mako." Mako turned slowly to his brother the realization hitting him.

"Mako Chief's got a date." Bolin said, looking around like he expected her to throw a Boulder at him.

"No I- it can't be."

"Mako did you see the way they linked arms?"

"I saw it, Bolin." Bolin placed his hand on his brothers shoulder.

"This means Beifong's got a date before you." Mako glared at him and Bolin raised his hands in the air as a sign of peace. Without thinking, Mako pushed open the door to her office, looking on the shelves for a clue. He came across a sticky note on her calendar reading:

Date night

Repeated on every Monday.

"Mako, are you sure this is a good idea?" Bolin asked, watching the door.

"I need to know."

"I think we-" Mako shot daggers at him and Bolin silenced, turning back to the door. He went to a chest on the left wall of the office, it was locked and he sighed.

"Not enough evidence to be sure but-"

"What are you two doing?" Mako froze, turning slowly to see Lin standing with her arms crossed in the doorway.

"Bolin!" He scolded.

"I'm sorry! I saw her but I didn't know what to say." Mako facepalmed, wishing he was an earthbender if only to hit his brother with a nice flat rock. Lin pushed Bolin into the office, closing the door behind her. She didn't say anything, just staring at them with a raised eyebrow.

"Chief, I can explain." Mako started.

"Then explain." He was caught off guard, usually she yelled at him when he said that.

"Okay well, we uh, saw you and Kya and Bolin said- so I had to..." he trailed off, ducking his head. It was silent for a moment before Lin snorted with laughter.

"Your laughing? Mako she's laughing!" Bolin said, laughing nervously himself.

"Have to admit, I'd thought it'd be Bolin digging around."

"What?" Mako asked, turning to face her.

"Definitely thought he was the nosiest of you lot, but I was wrong. Again. I'm too old for this."

"Chief whats-"

"Kya said I should just let you two look all night for nothing, but I thought you'd miss out on the free food." The brothers looked at each other with confusion.

"Kya's my fiancè, bozos. Now get out of here, or all of us are going to be late for dinner."

"Um, right Chief." Mako said, darting.out of the office, Bolin close behind. They took the elevator, in hindsight they should've waited for Beifong, but Mako needed to remove himself from the situation to think.

"Hey Mako," Bolin said sheepishly, "Did she say fiance?"

___________________________________________

"Well?"

"You should've seen their faces. Thought Mako was red when Korra kissed Asami last week but this, I think I broke a new record." Kya laughed as Lin got back into the satomobile.

"And Bolin?"

"He's probably processed it by now." Lya put a hand on Lin's arm, laughing.

"They're going to stare at us all night, you know." Kya said.

"Yeah well, I'll shoot him a look and Mako will spend the rest of the night looking at Pema's houseplants."

"Sounds like someone else I know." Kya insinuated and Lin rolled her eyes.

"That was a long time ago. And you weren't glaring at me."

"Right, I was doing something else." Lin blushed, and Kya rested her head on her fiancès shoulder as they drove to the pier.

"So, we telling everyone else tonight?" Kya asked.

"Do we have to?"

"Well if we're getting married I think its time." Lin sighed, kissing Kya on the forhead.

"Alright, but not until after dessert, I want to be able to actually enjoy their meal. And I'm not taking questions."

"Spoken like a true Beifong." Lin side eyed her and Kya kissed her on the cheek, excitement bubbling in her stomach.

[justoneday-namjoonii]

jk!mafia drabble #2 | it burns, doesn’t it?

⇁ [anon request]: Im a sucker for the petty angsttt, can you write more about JK & Jiyoon 👀 like, Y/N finds out more stuff about them. 👀👀 its all up to you, anything you write is a masterpiece💜

series: 18/? - It burns, doesn’t it? pairing: Jungkook x reader author’s note: this is a mess but enjoy! thank u for requesting, I got a little creative, I think my recent Taehyung obsession is showing 👀 lol warnings: idk what this is tbh lol, major manipulator themes, slut-shaming (idk kind of not sure if it qualifies but I thought I’d warn you anyway), speculated infidelity, might be triggering to some proceed with caution

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You sit across from him at the diner booth, eyes are narrowed at the scrambled eggs greasy bacon. You don't want it.

"Eat a little," Jungkook takes a bite of his bacon, "it's not bad."

"I'm good," You shake your head, insistent on satisfying yourself with the small bowl of grapes. He glances out of the window, not wanting to upset you today, he wants to start the day off right. He offered to take you out of the house for breakfast and you were fine with it. Maybe you two can finally go back to hw things used to be, when the love was young and sweet on the tongue. It’s still sweet, but it’s grown far more complex than what was initially expected. These days, trust is something you have to remind yourself that you need in order to make this work. It’s tough, but you’re trying.

What Taehyung said keeps coming to your mind. 

He is a lot of things, but he's not a liar.

***

You were in the garage trying to take the guns apart and put them back together. Jungkook showed you about five times before he left and made sure to take the bullets out so you could practice. You were laser-focused so you paid little attention to the person entering the garage.

"The slide is loose," The gun is lifted from your grasp swiftly, "and the barrel should be placed like this," 

Taehyung promptly puts your attempt to assemble the weapon to shame. When he places the gun on the table in front of you, it's apparent how much practice he's had doing this.

"If you tried to shoot that thing, it would blow your fucking face off." 

You lower your head, shy hands picking up the firearm to dismantle it again.

"So, you convinced your daddy to let you play with his toys," He mocks, plundering through the drawers on the walls, "you're moving up, Y/n."

"Piss off," You grimace, resisting the urge to throw something at him, "it's not like that."

"It's just you and me here, everyone else went out for the night, but they should be back soon," He pulls up a chair to your little table and your stomach turns at the proximity.

"Then why are you here? Where's Hoseok?" You remain focused, taking the gun apart with calculated movements. "Why aren’t you with him..."

"I had to come back to get this," He shows you a box but not the contents inside, "didn't think you were still here, Jungkook said you were gonna go with him."

You stare down at the dismantled gun and then up at him. He recently changed his hair, it's out of his face and lighter, making his appearance less ominous than before. But you know better, his looks can't change who he is or what he's done to you. Yet, you sit across from him, choosing not to judge him for his sins. You've killed before, out of defense but you still did it. You don't deserve to be here but grace precedes you somehow—you're grateful.

"Somehow we keep getting the house to ourselves," He sighs, taking out his phone to tap on it mindlessly, "gives me time to get to know you."

"You already know enough about me," You turn the gun on the table, trying to put it back together with the last few steps, "I don't know much about you though."

"You want to?" He crooks a brow.

"Why not? Might as well," You shrug, it couldn't hurt to hear more about who he is. Maybe you'll better understand why he is the way he is, "for one, how did you get into torture?"

He sighs, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "I like to think of it as hands-on interrogation. I'm fascinated by the mind, how it can be manipulated to work against itself. I think it’s interesting to break someone down, to hear what I want to hear. If I do it right, they end up forming an attachment to me- Well, not me but to the persona that I choose to subdue them with, like you."

"I'm not attached to you," You frown, "you're mistaking be me being traumatized for submission..."

"It's the same to me, I get the result I want either way."

You are about halfway through assembling the gun but Taehyung suddenly takes it again, stirring frustration in your chest. You try to grab it back but he holds it out of your reach, "Give it back!-" 

"Ah, ah," He waits for you to sit back, "I know something that you don't know about Jungkook," He says that like a child, "do you want to know what it is?"

"What're you talking about?" 

"He and Jiyoon had a little run-in when you were gone, that night he was going through it. You've probably never seen him like that but it is a sight, I'll tell you that."

* * *

He moves his foot against yours, a grin on his lips that speak pages of what he’s thinking. 

"So, I wanted to talk to you, about something," You swallow, dropping the grape back in the bowl.

"About something," He repeats in a cute little mocking tone, "about what beautiful?"

"Did you ever, I don't know...Blackout when we were separated?" You know that sounded pretty vague but he knows what you mean.

"Blackout?" He tilts his head, mentally he rakes through the countless lonely nights. "I might have had too much to drink on some nights, maybe...Why?"

"Because that's the only reason you would touch Jiyoon again...You wouldn't actually do that if you were conscious. I heard you were seen with her..."

"Why are you talking about her?" He frowns, sitting back in the booth.

"Taehyung told me you were on a downward spiral one night and you didn't come back until the next morning, were you with her?..."

* * *

"You have to admit, you're not what anyone would have thought he'd end up with. Jiyoon literally sleeps around as apart-time job, she's good at it so I don't know how you could compete with that and win."

You feel like you're decreasing the more he talks. 

"He may not act like it now, but he was crazy about her years ago. I mean, she's beautiful, she worked for his lifestyle and they had a mutual understanding. When you came around, they had broken up with each other about a year prior, he got over her fast though."

“I know that..." You knew Jiyoon and Jungkook had a lot of history, but you made peace with it and you know he loves you. 

"I ran into her after that night, she said he acted like you two weren't together anymore. He let her have it like he used to," He looks up at you, waiting for you to look him in the eye but you seem to diminish in size while avoiding eye contact, "that's what she claims."

"What do you mean?" You press your lips in a flat line.

"You know what I mean," He jeers, swiping a tongue over his bottom lip. "unless you really are that innocent, which I don’t think you are."

"He wouldn’t do that..."  

"Well, it would make sense," He stands to his feet suddenly, gun still in hand as he paces around the table, "what did you expect? You were fucking with Jimin, it’s what you get."

"It wasn't like that!” You surprise yourself when your hear your raised tone of voice, “Jimin is a friend, that’s it, I wo"

"Maybe you were mad at Jungkook, and you might have just subconsciously tried to replace him. If you would lay down with Jimin, well I wouldn't be surprised if you wanted a piece of the others, that would be interesting," He is just being mean now, he knows that would never happen, not even if you wanted it, "or even me. You seem to drop everything for men who can protect you,"

"Shut up, you’re disgusting...I don’t want any of you like that. And even if I did, that part of my life is none of your fucking business.” You hiss, fists clenched tightly. “I wouldn’t do something like that/”

“Of course you haven’t done anything too crazy, what would Jungkook think about? If he still wanted you, he would probably take you in front of anyone he wanted just to prove a point-” 

You sling your hand across his face with enough force to leave it burning. His cheek is bright red and you’re fuming. You look him dead in the eyes, "Fuck you."

“Shit, Y/n,” He genuinely laughs, setting the gun on the table so he can hold his burning cheek. "Jungkook can go off and do whatever the hell he wants but you? You don't have that luxury, he leaves you here for me to play with, and this is how you treat me? isn’t that just sad?"

"Shut up!" You pick up the gun and before you know it you're throwing it and it misses his face by a centimetre. "I'm in a twisted situation and you make it a hundred times worse. You torment me knowing Jungkook cares about me, you want me to hate him. You want him to hate me. The same crap you tell me, you probably tell to him too." 

He takes a moment to think over his response before walking up to you slowly. Instinctively, you take a step back and stand firm.

"Ask him." He dares. "Ask Jungkook if he remembers what happened that night."

"I don't have to, I trust him." You want to disappear. You don’t believe what’s coming out of his mouth or yours.

"Okay, just know that I don’t blame you for wanting any other man...You were both lonely, Jungkook had his fair share fun while you were away too." 

He’s messing with your head, that’s all he’s ever done to you. 

Right?

[of-a-chaotic-mind]

Buried Alive

Summary: Reader wakes up buried in a coffin, Dean, Sam, Cas, and Jack make it to her just in time.  

TW/CW: Dean Winchester x Female!Reader, Reader is buried alive, Reader has a dislocated shoulder and broken leg, Dean has a break down, ghost makes an appearance, also Reader writes a goodbye note which is in italics, gets kind of angsty/sad at times.

Requested?: Yes! A lovely Anon said, “Hello love, may I pleaaase request a dean x reader one shot where she gets Burried alive (and she's already injured) because they got separated on a hunt and she only have a few minutes left before dean saves her and after she wakes up he gets a panic attack because he was so scared of losing her and she's the only one who can calm him down?? Pretty pleaaase can you include details I looove when I can picture every scene especially while she's trapped...”

Word Count: 2,372

A/N: This got pretty long pretty quick lol. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it! It was really fun to write and I tried to put in lots of detail. As always, requests are open and love to all!

[This gif highkey lowkey hurts my heart...]

Your POV

   Waking up in a dark, musty, wooden box is never a good thing, especially when your leg is bent the wrong way and your right shoulder is throbbing from being out of socket. Unfortunately, that’s exactly where I’ve found myself upon waking up. I try to remember what happened and recall separating from Sam and Dean, after some debate, to draw out the ghost we were hunting. I was looking around the old church and got knocked out.  

   Out of instinct, I press the palm of my left hand against the worn, splintery wood and try to force it upwards. Upon doing so, soft, damp dirt flows into the cracks. I drop the lid back down as my heart begins racing. I force myself to stay calm as I search to see what might be left in my pockets. Unfortunately, whatever put me down here thought to take all my weapons. It’s not like they’d do me any good at the moment anyway, I suppose. I do, however, find my phone in my jacket pocket. With a shaking hand, I pull it out and press the home button, I hope and pray, to whatever deity might actually be listening, that I have bars. No such luck.  

   I just so happen to glance at the lid above me and in the dim light of my phone, I see them. Long scratch marks litter the underside of the lid. Suddenly, the burger and fries that I had for lunch starts preparing for launch sequence in my stomach. I look back at the screen of my phone as if I might have miraculously gotten bars in the span of the past few minutes and of course find none. What I do find just might be my savior. I train my attention on my phone’s lock screen picture of me, Dean, Sammy, Cas, and Jack leaning against the hood of Baby. “Alright Cas, you there?” I pause, wondering what to tell him, “I don’t know where I am but I know that I’m buried underground. I don’t know how long I’ve been in here but I can feel the oxygen is getting low.” I might not have enough time left. I decide to type out a goodbye message on the notes app on my phone:

Hey boys,

   I might not make it out of this musty ass box so I thought I’d write this out here. I want you guys to know that I love you. Take care of each other and please for the love of all that’s good don’t try to bring me back, no matter how manageable you think the cost is. I never thought that I’d go out this way, always wanted it to be a blaze of glory, but here I am. Remember the good times we’ve had and remember me as the badass hunter that I once was and not the dumbass hunter who managed to get herself caught by a spook and shoved in a pine box. Anyway, tell Baby I love her. Dean, I love you too. Keep moving forward for me. There’s a letter in my journal for you.

                   I’ll be waiting for you boys on the other side,

                  In the words of Jimi Hendrix, “Excuse me while I kiss the sky.”

    I consider trying to add a Metallica or Zeppelin reference as I finish typing the last sentence but can’t think of one that would fit and hit save instead. Darkness creeps in on the edges of my vision before overtaking me.

Dean’s POV

   “Where the hell is she, man?” I ask Sammy as I pace back and forth across the room, “She should’ve been back a while ago and all my calls are going to voicemail. I’ve even left voicemails and got nothing.”

   “I don’t know, Dean,” Sammy answers as he peeks out the blinds on the window into the night, “We could-” he’s interrupted as a flap of wings is heard. I turn around and find Cas and Jack both standing there.

   Before I can ask, Cas launches into an explanation, “(Y/N) prayed to me. She said she’s buried underground and that the oxygen is getting low.”

   My heart leaps into my throat. Damn it, why did I let her go off alone? I go to punch the closest wall but Sammy catches my hand, “Can you figure out where she is?”

   “Yes,” Jack answers, “We would’ve gone straight there but we... don’t have shovels.” I grab my keys and jacket and race out the door with Sammy, Cas, and Jack right behind me, Cas spouting off coordinates. We get in the car and Sammy gives me directions and I pull out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell. I have to get to her as quickly as possible. I can’t lose her. Not now and not to something like this. She deserves to go down fighting not buried and helpless. In the rearview mirror, I can see Cas’s expression of concern and Jack’s knee bouncing as he fidgets with his shirt. I’m reminded that I’m not the only one worried about (Y/N) and take a rain check on my own impending melt down. Sammy shakily points at a turn up ahead and I take it on two wheels.

   After a couple more turns, I pull off on the side of the road behind an old beat-up clunker, beside a wooded area. Sammy leads us straight to the coordinates and we get to digging. I’m almost certain that the guys can hear my heart pounding as I hope with all I’ve got that she isn’t buried very deep. Finally, as our shovels hit wood, I carefully jump into the hole to pull the lid off of the coffin. I toss the lid to the side and my heart takes up residence in my throat once again as I discover that she’s out cold. I quickly and carefully wrap my arms under her and lift her up to Sammy who lays her gently on the ground as I climb out of the hole.

   When I drop to my knees on the leaf strewn ground beside her and pull her into my lap, Cas has his palm on her forehead, “She’s still alive. I've healed the break in her leg but her shoulder needs to be popped back into place before I can heal it.”

   Sammy lays a hand on Cas’s shoulder, “We can worry about the shoulder later.”

   I pull her close to me, careful of her shoulder, and beg, “Baby, you gotta wake up.” I kiss her forehead, “Please wake up. I can’t lose you.” It’s silent as I let my tears fall. Jack drops his knees on the ground beside us and Sammy and Cas squat down as well. They’re careful to give us space but I know they’re silently hoping just as hard as I am that she’ll wake up quickly.  

   “Guys, I think we should-” Sammy stops as she takes a deep breath.

   “Hey sweetheart, you awake?” I ask as my heart starts racing. I brush her hair out of her eyes. It takes a few seconds but her eyes finally open.  

   She curls into my chest as I hold her tighter, “I was so scared that I’d lose you.” I can’t stop the flood of tears that break through the dam.  

   She slowly sits up and throws her legs to either side of me before scooting closer and wrapping her arms around my waist, loosely due to her shoulder, “Shhh, it’s okay baby. I’m here.”  

   I say nothing and bury my face in her neck and try my best to stop crying, “I knew I shouldn’t have let you go off alone. I should’ve been there with you. I should’ve-”

   She stops me, “Don’t do that, Dean. Remember how we talked about this?”

   “But I-”

   “No, it was my decision. It’s not your fault,” she says calmly. She rubs my back and begins humming Metallica and soon I’ve managed to stop crying but unfortunately, I continue hiccupping. I pull away and look over her shoulder at the guys. As much as I don’t want to let her go yet, we need to get her shoulder fixed and I’m sure they want hugs too. She kisses my cheek before getting up.  

   She hugs all three of them before returning to Sammy, “Can you pop this back in place for me?”

   “Y-you sure?” he asks, confused as to why she doesn’t want pain killers first.

   “Yeah, it’s not the first time and it probably won’t be the last,” she chuckles. He pops her shoulder back into place before Cas heals it for her.  

   Finally, she returns to me and wraps her arms tightly around me, “Let’s get out of here.” We turn to walk out of the woods and pass a church that I didn’t even notice on the way in, that must’ve been the one she wanted to check.

   “Uh, guys, we have a problem,” Jack states. I tear my eyes away from the church and look ahead of us. Standing, or rather floating, just a few yards away is the ghost we had been hunting.  

   I sigh, “Shit, we don’t have any salt or iron with us.”

   “No but I know where some is,” (Y/N) says excitedly. How on earth is she so ready to spring back into it right after almost dying?

Your POV    I drag Dean with me and the other guys follow as I run into the church. I bolt down the stairs to my right as we enter and find exactly what I’m looking for. A fireplace in one of the offices down here still has iron pokers hanging on its mantle. I remembered seeing them when I came through here the first time. I also happen to remember that there’s a kitchen down here too. I take an iron poker for myself and hand Sam and Dean one, “Cas, Jack, you guys might want to fly the coop. We can handle this.” They look unsure but leave anyway in a whoosh of wings. I take off toward the kitchen but unfortunately find no salt. That’s when Sammy is thrown against a wall. Dean and I whip around to find the ghost holding Sammy by the neck. Dean slashes through it without hesitation and it disappears and Sam regains his breath.

   “Please tell me you have some idea of how to get rid of this guy,” I ask Sammy.

   “Not quite,” he responds.

   Dean looks dumbfounded at both of us, “There’s literally a cemetery right outside.”

   “No, he’s pissed off because he wasn’t buried in the church cemetery like he felt he was supposed to be because he was the pastor,” Sammy informs, “The legends say they buried him in an unmarked grave after burning him at the stake for witchcraft.”

   “Shit, so we’re not looking for bones then,” Dean mumbles, looking around the office.

   “Right now, it looks like all we can do is get the hell out of here and try to dig around for what might be keeping him here,” I explain. With this, we all three high tail it to the car. We have to stop a few times along the way to slash through the ghost but finally, we make it and head off on our way back to the motel.

   Once we’re finally back in our motel room, I shrug my jacket off and head for the shower, “I’m gonna clean up really quick and then we can get something to eat and some rest and revisit this case in the morning.” The boys agree so I grab some clean clothes out of my bag and head for a warm, relaxing shower.  

   I pull of the dirty, sweaty clothes and step under the warm spray. I let the grim and gross wash away some before washing off with the soap. I wash my hair as well and only pull myself out of the shower when my stomach growls. I step out and dry off before pulling on my clothes. I’m working on drying my hair when I step out of the bathroom to find Dean and Sammy both sitting on the end of the bed with tears in their eyes. I tilt my head, “What’s wrong guys?”

   I drop the towel on top of my bag and step over in front of Dean as he hands me his phone. Looking down at the screen, I read what I thought I had saved to my notes on my own phone. Apparently, I was so out of it when I typed it up that I accidentally typed it up in a message to Dean and hit send when I thought I hit save. My heart sprints in my chest as I look back up at Dean and try to explain, “Dean, I-”

   He says nothing and instead stands and wraps his arms around me to once again pull me in close to his chest. I can feel him shake as he tries to hold back his tears. He pulls away and looks me in the eye, “Did you really think you wouldn’t make it out of that?” I nod solemnly. He takes a deep breath to steady himself, “Well, I’m glad you did. Next time, you can tell me that in person when we go down together, yeah?” I mentally thank him for not mentioning the letter tucked away in my journal.

   I nod again as Sammy chuckles, “I should’ve known that even when you think you’re saying your last words, they’re going to be attempts at humor and classic rock references.”  

   I smile and laugh, “I thought the Hendrix reference was rather poetic.”

   Dean looks at me laughs weakly, “I figured you’d have thrown in a Zeppelin or Metallica reference.”

   I shake my head as I head for the door because my stomach growls, “I thought about that but I couldn’t think of one that would fit. Besides, I wouldn’t want to ruin some of your favorite bands for you.” Together the three of us head for dinner but I know in the back of my mind that we’ll be recovering from today’s events for a while to come.

Masterlist

Taglist: @emiijemii​

Dean Winchester Taglist: @akshi8278

[katehuntington]

Title: In Bad Waters - part fifteen Word count: ±6250 words Episode summary: Still in possession of the Winchesters’ belongings, Zoë meets up with the hunters on her next case. When it turns out to be a little more complicated than anticipated, she accepts their help in order to make an important deadline. Part fifteen summary: The hunt is over, and Zoë and the brothers go separate ways. Episode warnings: Dark! NSFW, 18+ only! Descriptions of domestic violence/child abuse. Drug use/addiction. Angst, gore, violence, character death. Description of blood, injury and medical procedures/resuscitation. Swearing, alcoholism. Supernatural creatures/entities, mentions of demon possession. Descriptions of torture and murder, drowning. Illegal/criminal practices. Mentions of nightmares and flashbacks. Author’s note: Beta’d by @winchest09​ and @deanwanddamons​. Also a deep bow to @fangirl-and-medstudent-help​​ who was very patient with me when I asked about a hundred medical questions. Thanks, girls!

Supernatural: The Sullivan Series Masterlist

S1E02 “In Bad Waters” Masterlist

     The lights of the suite switch on when Zoë slips the keycard in its holder by the door. After the assault she suffered earlier today, the Hampton Inn hotel management provided her with a bigger and better accommodation. Although she doesn’t plan to spend another night in Paragould, she took the generous offer.      Dean enters the spacious room as well, Sam following close behind, in case his brother needs assistance. It bugs the hell out of the older sibling, who has grumpily told him that he’s fine a couple of times already. Yet, he allows the hovering, because honestly; he doesn’t feel so fresh.

     On the way over, Zoë told him to lose the soaked shirt, which contradicted Dean’s instincts, because he has never felt this cold in his entire life, despite the heaters blowing air into the Chevy at level inferno. Even now, he can’t stop himself from shivering, his teeth clattering every now and then, despite his favorite leather coat that he’s wearing, the only clothing item that didn’t get drenched.

     Exhausted, he plops down on the kingsize bed, to out of it to comment on the luxurious suite. Closing his eyes for a second, he rubs his forehead, trying to rid himself from the throbbing inside his skull. He coughs again, the involuntary action burning his lungs. It’s a painful yet ironic sensation, because he didn’t expect to feel like his airway is on fire after drowning in a fucking lake.

     “Get out of those wet clothes, Dean,” Zoë tells him sternly, nodding at his jeans while slipping her Harley Davidson jacket on a coat hanger. “We need to warm you up.”

     Normally, he would have had at least three sly remarks ready, but not this time. Instead, he nods with a sniff, bending down to untie his shoelaces with shaky fingers. Sam drops one of their duffel bags on the other side of the bed, pulling out a clean pair of jeans, one of Dean’s henley’s, a hoodie, socks and underwear.      “I’m gonna take a shower first,” Dean says, pulling off his soaked boots.

     “Absolutely fucking not,” Zoë intervenes, setting up her extensive medical kit on the nightstand. “I made quite an effort to bring you back to life, so it would be an awful waste of my time if you go into shock and die on the bathroom floor.”      Sam raises his eyebrows at that, much like Dean, who lets his hand slip from his face.      “How else am I gonna get warm, ‘cause I’m fucking freezing,” he returns, his voice still hoarse.      “By raising your temperature slowly. Sam, can you grab a towel and fill that hot water bottle we got from the front desk? And get the extra comforters from the other bed.”

     While the younger Winchester goes to collect the required items, Zoë opens the lid and takes out an ear thermometer from the metal briefcase, placing a clean probe tip on the end while she sits down next to the battered hunter. Dean flinches away from her when she cups his face firmly to hold him in place, earning an annoyed glare from the former med student.      “Would you like me to use the regular one? Because I’ll give you one guess where I’d have to stick that. Now, sit still,” she orders, pulling his ear back to insert the device into his ear canal.      “Jesus, you’re not the one for bedside manners, are you?” Dean mutters, but cooperates either way.

     Zoë doesn’t respond, waiting for the thermometer to beep. She retreats it when it does exactly that and reads the display. “You’re at 95.2.”      “That low?” he says, unpleasantly surprised.      She nods, placing the small device on the side table. “That’s what happens when your main generator loses power. The central heating shuts down real quick when your heart stops beating.”

     Dean sniffles, very much aware of the fluid that is still creeping up his throat. He fights the urge to cough again and clears his throat uncomfortably, when Sam returns with the hot water bottle under his arm, white towels with the Hampton Inn logo on them in one hand and two thick duvets in the other.      “Dry yourself off and put on something warm, then wrap yourself in these.” She takes the comforter and lays it on the bed next to the older Winchester, before folding the water bottle in one of the towels. “Here, keep this close to you. Don’t lay down and don’t fall asleep,” she warns. “I’m gonna freshen up.”

     She gets up and muffles a grunt behind gritted teeth, her cracked ribs once again reminding the huntress of her current fragile state. Adrenaline pushed down the pain in the midst of action, but now that the dust has settled, it’s back at full force. Picking up her bag on the way, she heads to the spacious bathroom, locking the door behind her. Not really ready for the sight, she peels her wet top from her skin while she stands in front of the nine ft. wide mirror. Dark bruises greet her when she discards the tank top, her bra following suit. They match the colorful display on her right cheekbone and the black and blue fingerprints on her neck.

     “Wonderful,” she muddles, continuing to strip down, the soaked through fabric smacking against the nature stone tiles. She has no idea how she’s gonna ride all the way up to the Canadian border with an injury like this, but she doesn’t have a choice. Time isn’t exactly on her side.

     After a shower, Zoë runs a towel over her head and blow-dries her brown locks quickly. Usually, she allows her curls to dry naturally, but wearing a helmet on wet hair is anything but pleasant, not to mention that she will have to deal with a fogged up visor throughout most of the trip.

     She puts on clean underwear and hoists her leather biker pants up her legs, cursing under her breath at the ache that sears through her side with even the slightest movement. Something needs to be done, because she won’t last an hour on the Harley. Before she steps outside the bathroom, she secures her bra clasps. Not bothered to put on her top just yet, she pops her head from behind the door.      “Sam?”      The tall young guy looks up and for a second she wonders if he can actually see her through the fringe of brown damp locks.      “Can you grab me some KT tape from my med kit?” she asks, nodding at the briefcase next to Dean, who is huddled up in the exact spot where she left him, wrapped in the thick comforters.      “Sure,” Sam obliges, getting up. After rummaging for a few seconds, he finds what he’s looking for and turns to the bathroom to hand it over, but apparently she has different ideas.      “Get in,” she tells him.

     Perplexed, but not brave enough to hesitate and give her a reason to scold at him, he enters the large room, which could easily be considered a mini spa. A large jacuzzi is situated in the corner, a walk-in shower next to it. There’s even a sauna, the wooden benches shielded off by a glass wall. It’s nothing like the shabby motel rooms he and Dean usually coop up in. His admiration for the luxury comes to a sudden stop when his absent gaze lands on Zoë. Like a virgin teenager who walked in on his friend’s older sister, he stares at her for a short second, eyes wide and blown away. Shit, she’s not wearing a shirt.

     “Done gaping?” she responds, bored, placing her hand firmly in her unharmed side. “I need to tape my side and I can’t reach properly.”      Feeling caught, he shifts his attention to the KT tape in his hand. “Uh… y-yeah, sure,” he stammers, fiddling to open the package.      Rolling her eyes, she snatches the small box from his hands and opens it. “I swear to God, Sam, get yourself together. You’ve seen me in less.”

     Uncomfortably, the younger Winchester runs his fingers through his hair. Why is he being so awkward? Or maybe the better question is; why can’t he keep his eyes off her? He tries his best not to stare, but when he does, he notices the dark bruises on her ribs.      “Damn it, Zo. She got you good,” he huffs, worry replacing the uneasiness.      “It’s not that bad. I just need to secure it before I hit the road,” the tough woman mutters, peeling the plastic away from the sticky coating. She turns her back to Sam, moving her brown wavy hair over her left shoulder and out of the way. “You need to place the first strip diagonally and downward, starting from just below the scapula. You might need to lift my bra a little.”

     Somewhat nervous, the thoughtful guy rubs his hands together first, not wanting his touch to be cold. After handing him the medical tape, she lifts her right arm, hissing at the stretch.      “Right here?” he asks, lifting the wing of her lace bra, before sticking one end of the strip right below her shoulder blade.      She nods, breathing out a shuddering breath. “Yeah.”

     Sam handles her gently, the pads of his fingers not as rough as she expected hunter’s hands to be. In silence he works, focussed on his task. Zoë watches him in the mirror, a small smile of amusement pulling at the corners of her mouth, despite the discomfort. His eyebrows are knitted together in concentration, hazel eyes tracing her bruised form. After a few more instructions, he secures the second strip with the same precision. Zoë can’t deny nor ignore the current that his touch sends through her body, and it has her intrigued.

     “One more. Vertical along my side,” she says, her voice softer than she has spoken to him all evening.      The younger Winchester tries not to gulp visibly, holding the enchanting woman still, while he smoothens the final strip down her bruised rib cage. He’s careful to prevent pressure on the sensitive area, not wanting to hurt her, but she shivers anyway. When he directs his gaze on her in their reflection, Sam notices it’s not pain that has her shuddering, because her challenging eyes tell a different story. They behold a hint of curiosity, interest... lust even.

     Not sure how to cope with the tension that hangs in the air, he clears his throat and lets his finger slip from her beautifully toned and proportioned body, averting his eyes from the mirror.      “I’m - uh - I’ll let you get dressed,” he stutters, awkwardly pointing his thumb over his shoulder before he heads to the door.      “I’ll be right out,” she promises, picking a clean shirt from her bag.

Zoë watches him leave, smirking at his behavior. He really doesn’t know how to act around her, and it’s highly entertaining. There is a definite pull she experiences towards him, an attraction that she can’t quite place, but it’s not something she can dwell on. This case will be the last one they worked together and tonight will be the last time she ever sees him. But before they go separate ways, she needs to give his brother a thorough check up, even though she doesn’t like his company half as much as Sam’s. Suck it up, Zo. You’ve got work to do.

     Refreshed and dressed, she enters the master suite again, Dean still on the side of the bed, wrapped up in comforters like a burrito. Zoë’s plump lips press together in a thin line, because now is not the moment to make fun of the hunter, who without a doubt feels miserable.

     “Alright, let’s give you your physical exam so I can hit the road, huh?” she suggests, sitting down next to the older Winchester brother, taking her stethoscope from her briefcase and hanging it around her neck, after which she picks up a blood pressure gauge as well. “Stretch out your right arm.”

     He shrugs the heavy comforter off his bare shoulders, silently obeying his physician’s orders. Again, Dean misses the perfect opportunity for a dirty comeback, and it doesn’t go unnoticed. Although Zoë hasn’t known him for long, she did pick up on his usual demeanor, lightening the mood with a witty comment and some dark humor. Now, the joker is awfully quiet.

     “Y’know, you guys can have the room for the night,” she offers. “It’s paid for anyway.”      “Nah, I feel fine. Besides, if we don’t leave tonight, we’re gonna be late for our wolf hunt,” Dean replies, watching her strap the cuff around his upper arm.      Sam leans against the wall, observing the skilled woman as well. He hates to admit it, but Dean has a point. “He’s right. Today was the first night of a full moon, we won’t have much time if we stay any longer.”      “I’m just saying it might not be a bad idea to rest up,” Zoë points out, squeezing the rubber pump that’s attached to the cuff, filling it with air until circulation is cut off. “But you two kamikaze morons do what you gotta do.”      Sam scoffs at that. “You’re one to talk.”

     Her head cocks in his direction, staring him down intimidatingly, but Sam doesn’t budge and arches one eyebrow at her knowingly. His attitude annoys Zoë, and yet she doesn’t bite his head off. If circumstances were any different, she would have gladly spent at least the night in this luxurious suite and added several more, but she simply can’t. Wanting to avoid the reasoning behind her departure by all costs, she drops the matter.

     Instead, she pulls the stethoscope from behind her neck, widens the headset and places the tips in her ears. She then continues to place the diaphragm just above the crease of the elbow, while allowing the cuff to deflate. Blood begins to flow through the brachial artery again, causing a beat to thud against Zoë’s eardrums, and she reads the systolic pressure on the meter. Once the blood vessels remain open and the pounding sound stops, the closest what the Winchesters have to a doctor reads the meter again.

     “Your BP is 125 over 80. For a guy who lives off gas station food, pizza and burgers, that’s pretty damn healthy,” she comments, hooking the stethoscope around her neck again.      “Great. So can I go now?” Dean is about to rise up from the bed, but Zoë  grips him on the junction between his neck and his shoulder, pushing him down to sit on the bed again.      “Did I say I was done?” she snaps back at him.

     Dean bites his tongue when he feels her nails dig into his shoulder. He wants to yelp and call her names, yet he doesn’t, because Sam shoots him a warning glare. He argues with his little brother in silence, the younger sibling’s wide eyes sending death threats when Dean’s upper lip twitches while hinting at the woman who currently has a tight hold on him. He then shakes his head and gives in, too tired to have this discussion.

     Zoë ignores the tension all together. “Well, if you aren’t gonna stay, do you mind starting to load up the car, Sam? I wanna check out as soon as I’m done here,” Zoë states, giving him something else to do other than lurking over her shoulder.      “Sure,” the tall hunter says, and begins to gather their things, including the wet clothes Dean discarded earlier.

     When Sam has left, the tough Winchester drops his head, blinking a couple of times, clearly not feeling his best. Zoë monitors him closely; she had a hunch he was keeping up appearance in order not to worry his sibling.      “So now that your brother is out of the room, how are you really feeling?” she asks, removing the cuff from Dean’s arm. “And cut the bullshit. No one expects you to feel fine after flatlining.”

     The hunter looks up at her from under heavy eyelids, trying to figure out what her intentions are. He assumes she’s asking to determine further medical action, and so he drops the act.      “I - uh… I feel off, man,” he admits, pinching the bridge of his nose again.      “Headache?” she wonders, storing the sphygmomanometer away.      He nods, swallowing hard.      “Let me guess; you’re experiencing dizziness, decreased muscle strength, and feel like you could sleep for a week?” Zoë fills in for him.      “Sounds about right,” Dean sighs.

     Zoë puts in the ear tips of her stethoscope again in order to examine his heart, holding the bell between her second and third digit. She places the diaphragm on the right of the sternum, tracing his ribs under her fingertips to determine the right spot in order to hear the aortic valve. A stillness falls over the two, as Zoë concentrates to dissect the sound of Dean’s steady heartbeat, her other hand still holding him by the shoulder, her touch much more gentle this time around.

     Not wanting to disturb her focus, the older Winchester brother allows his gaze to wander, spending this rare moment without them yelling at each other to admire her. Whenever the tough as nails huntress boils his blood, he tends to only see the ugly side of Zoë Sullivan, but right here in this peaceful serenity, her beauty stuns him. Her face is slightly turned away, the profile of her sharp jawline and slightly upward pointed nose brought out by the warm light on the nightstand. She’s close enough for him to smell the coconut shampoo lingering in her freshly washed hair. Only now does he realize that his shivering has stilled, but he’s not sure if it actually has to do with his body temperature steadily going up, or that her soft touch is what calms his tremors. He’s not used to kind contact, a hand on his shoulder, a sweet ruffle through his hair like his mother used to do, but deep down, he craves it.

     When she shifts the bell of her stethoscope to the left side of his chest, Dean glances to her hand still gently gripping his tattooed arm, which is decorated with a short sleeve that fans out over his shoulder blade. Shades of black display what he stands for, symbols and sigils mixed with personal references to his life and the people who mean the world to him. He only now realizes she has been studying the piece of art forever edged in his skin, while she was listening to his heart.

     When Zoë is sure the pulmonic valve of Dean’s heart sounds normal as well, she slides the bell of her stethoscope to listen for the heart sounds on the right, but when the hunter flinches under her touch, her eyes dart up at his. “That hurts?”      “A bit. It’s fine,” he claims, shifting somewhat on the edge of the bed.      “Sure I didn’t break a rib?” she ponders, feeling the tender area in the center of his chest, where the first stage of a bruise is surfacing. “I worked your chest pretty hard.”

     Dean looks up at her, perplexed, as if it only now dawns on him what lengths Zoë went to save his life. She performed CPR on him, used all her capabilities to bring him back from the infinite darkness that was about to swallow him whole. Capabilities Sam doesn’t have, simply because he’s not trained to give medical aid. It hits Dean like lightning; if she hadn’t been there, he would have died.

     “Zo?”      The huntress shifts her attention from the sound of the mitral valve opening and closing, to her patient’s genuine eyes. The twenty-six year old tough guy seems that much younger all of a sudden, not sure how to get across what he wants to say.      “You - uh... If it wasn’t for you, I… y’know--”      “Don’t mention it.”

     Dean carefully glances up at her, meeting a small smile. A silent huff leaves his lips when he realizes she just returned his own words to him. Words he spoke in response to the huntress, when she tried to express gratitude for his rescue, earlier this afternoon.     “Well then, guess we’re square,” he comments. “Too bad I wasn’t conscious for the mouth-to-mouth action.”      “Ah, there he is. I was wondering when you were gonna feel good enough to start behaving like a jackass,” Zoë sniggers. “Your heart sounds fine, I’m gonna check your lungs now. Take slow breaths, okay?”

     With an amused smile on his lips, Dean does as told. Concentrating, the woman who would have aced med school listens to his respiration, using the stethoscope as an amplifier. Like she was taught, she starts at the left upper zone, then the right, comparing the two sides, before she moves down.      “Can you inhale a little deeper for me?” she requests.

     The hunter pulls in a big breath through his mouth, the action igniting a fire in his chest, similar to the time when he was a teenager, when he had a neglected cold that turned into something worse. He tries to fight another hacking fit, but loses the battle, quickly turning his head away from Zoë and coughs violently. When he settles, she continues the examination.      “Pain?” she wonders, although she has an idea what the answer might be.      “Burns,” he manages to say, his voice hoarse.      “Try again, take it easy this time,” Zoë encourages.

     After moving the diaphragm across her patient’s bare chest, she removes the medical instrument and takes a seat on the side of the bed as well, placing the bell on his back now. Staring at nothing in particular, she lets the sense of hearing take over completely. Brown eyes slightly shift from left to right, narrowing at a certain point.      “What?” Dean wonders, noticing a hint of discontent in her expression.      “Your lung sounds are a little faint; you still got some fluid in there,” the huntress explains, putting her stethoscope away. “It should clear by itself, your blood will absorb it, but if that cough gets worse, you're gonna need to see a real doctor.”      “You seem like a real doc to me,” he shrugs, covering the compliment by clearing his throat. “Haven’t had a check up in years.”

     Zoë casts her gaze down, appreciating the words, but unable to thank him for it. “Let’s keep it that way. Take these.”      She takes a small plastic bottle from her briefcase, a prescription on the side. “With the swamp water you took in, you’re likely to develop pneumonia without antibiotics. Take two tonight. The coming days, one in the morning, one in the evening, never on an empty stomach, until the bottle is empty, alright? If it hurts, you can take Ibuprofen, but don’t go over the maximum dosage. You want me to pack you some?”

     Somewhat stunned, Dean nods and takes the bottle between his index finger and his thumb. The doctor role Zoë is fulfilling right now, brings out an attentive and empathetic side of her, which he hasn’t seen yet to this extent. His injuries aren’t downgraded, he’s not told to man up and keep going, like his father so oftenly does when he suffered an injury on a hunt. He’s not used to this kind of care, but he values it.

“Thanks.”

The simple word that falls from his lips in a whisper has Zoë shift her eyes to him in surprise. She clearly wasn’t expecting a ‘thank you’, but doesn’t call him out on the sentiment. Her smile grows a little wider and for the first time since their reunion, Dean sees the innocent Californian surf girl he remembered from back in the days.

     The huntress takes out the thermometer one last time, inserting it in his ear. He doesn’t move away this time, but slightly leans into her. The device beeps and she pulls it back.      “96.8; you’re getting there. If you want you can take a shower now, just not too hot.” She removes the tip and gets up, throwing it in the trash can. “You’re all set.”      “Alright,” he says, putting the water bottle aside and picking up a towel and his clothes.

     He retreats to the bathroom and appreciates the spacious rain shower, and returns to the main suite, dressed in a warm hoody and dry jeans.      His brother is back as well. “Ready to hit the road?”      Dean nods, putting on his leather coat and straightening the collar. “Let’s go.”

     The three hunters check out and walk out towards the parking lot five minutes later. The Impala is parked in front of the building across from Linwood Cemetery, the black paint job shimmering beautifully in the pale moonlight. Zoë approaches her bike, carrying a saddle bag over her shoulder and her helmet in the other hand, as the boys walk over to their car. Instinctively, Dean moves around to the left side of the car, but Zoë stops him.      “You’re not driving,” she decides, as if it’s her call to make. “Unless you wanna be a road hazard.”      “Oh, c’mon,” the owner of the car complains, redirecting a glare from the woman in their company to Sam, who is waiting for the keys with a smirk. After rolling his eyes, he tosses his brother the keys and drags his feet to the passenger side.      “Sleep upright for a night or two,” the med student suggests.      “Why the hell would I do that?” Dean returns, puzzled.      “Because I reckon you don’t want to suffocate during the night.” She raises an eyebrow at him. “It’s called secondary drowning, asshat.”      Dean scoffs. “That’s a thing?”      Zoë chuckles at his obliviousness. “That’s a thing.”      “Noted,” Dean says, shoving down his warm jacket coat.

     “You made your deadline,” Sam reminds her, leaning his arms on the hardtop while looking over as she checks the time.      “Not yet, but at least I’ll make it in time for the big show,” she smiles faintly. “What about you two? Texas?”      “Yep, Waco,” Sam specifies.      Zoë nods. The Winchesters can tell from her reaction that she knows the place.      “When you’re in town, stop by at Honeybee Ham & Deli. I tell ya, their ham and turkey is awesome,” Zoë recommends.      Dean smiles happy as he pictures the plate full of juicy meat. “Will do.”      “What about you?” the younger sibling wonders.      Zoë climbs in the saddle of her Road King, which faces the two men. She doesn’t put her helmet on just yet, though. Her small smile disappears when she’s confronted with what’s coming. “I’m going up north,” she answers vaguely.

     A silence follows and Dean glances at Sam over the top of his car. They can both sense that something’s up.      “If you need a hand--” Sam starts carefully.      “No, I don’t. Really guys, you need to stay out of this one. It’s not your fight,” Zoë says, stern.      “Complicated case?” Dean comments.      “It’s just something I need to take care of. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the help you gave me here, but this is personal business,” she answers, looking from one to the other. “Whatever you do, don’t follow me.”      “We have our own personal business to take care of,” Sam assures.      “Your Dad?” the huntress assumes.      “We want to find him. He’s probably after that thing that killed Mom and Jess by himself,” Sam states, determined.

     For a moment Dean observes his brother, aware of the strong mindedness in his voice. He could fight him. Hell, he can start an argument with him right now, but what would it matter? Sam isn’t easily convinced otherwise, not when it comes to this. He wants to find Dad and kill whatever brought so much misery upon them so desperately, that it’s becoming an obsession. When he returns his gaze Zoë, he’s caught off guard by her, who stares directly at him. She has been reading him all this time.      “Seems like you do have your own personal business to take care off,” she states wisely, hanging her helmet on the handlebar.

     “Sure you can ride?” Dean checks with her.      Zoë glances at him, but he isn’t mocking her, the oldest Winchester son actually has a solid point. She doesn’t feel great at all. Her head is still throbbing from the blow she took during her physical fight with Laura; she probably suffered a mild concussion. A 520 mile bike ride isn’t going to improve the ache in her bones either. She would love to go back into the Hampton Inn and get some sleep, which she normally does after an exhausting hunt. This time things are different, there’s just too little time.      “I don’t have much of a choice,” she sighs. “I should get going.”      “Be careful,” Sam offers.      Zoë only responds with a smile and looks down at her biker boots. It’s funny, all this time she has been fighting the Winchester boys, but now that she’s about to leave, she’s lingering.

     “I hope you’ll find John,” she says out of the blue.      Surprised, the brothers take her in. Where did that come from? The huntress notices the surprise on their faces, because she continues to explain herself.      “He’s your father. I know he can be a pain, but he’s family. Treasure that as long as you can.”

     Sam watches Dean nod agreeing, and he too realizes that she’s right. The last time he saw his father, they had a huge argument. Ever since, he has been afraid that he might never see his dad again, that he will never get the chance to say he’s sorry. That’s what he is, because he regrets yelling at him, he regrets picking a fight. He knows he’s not the only one to blame, but he bailed on both his brother and his father and chose his own path. He stands by that decision still, but he does realize how much his actions hurt them. The youngest Winchester is done fighting his Dad, he just wants to make sure he’s alright. Zoë knows loss. She lost her father in an unforgivable and certainly unforgettable manner. It’s that fact that makes both Dean and Sam understand that these wise words are coming straight from the heart.

     The huntress looks at them with a calm expression on her face, a satisfied one, and yet a glint of sadness is noticeable in her eyes. She doesn’t expect to see them ever again. Not wanting to wait until the goodbye becomes sentimental, Zoë kicks the ignition, the characteristic Harley Davidson rumbling loud in the night.      Before she can put on her helmet, Dean calls out for her. “See you around.”

     As he watches her response, Zoë keeps quiet. Not likely, she realizes, not pronouncing the words out loud. She gives them a last nod, pulls the helmet over her head, turns the throttle, and with a loud roar her Harley hits the highway. The  brothers watch the single red taillight get smaller, then she disappears out of sight. Silently, they stare at the road ahead, both thinking about what she just said. Sam is the first one to reply to it.

     “Did she just… say goodbye?” he checks, making sure he didn’t just interpret her words wrong.      Dean doesn’t respond and forks his fingers together while leaning his forearms on top of the car. Pondering, he stares down the street.      “As in… for good?” Sam adds.

     He glances at his older sibling, who opens his car door. Sam takes his example and settles in the driver’s seat. Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac sounds from the speakers as soon as the younger Winchester turns the key in the ignition.      “Are we going after her?” Sam wants to know, before he drives off.      “No,” Dean responds, annoyed by the fact that for a split second, he was thinking about it himself. “She’s a big girl, Sam. She can take care of herself.”      “That’s what you said last time,” his sibling bounces back.      “That was just bad luck. It’s not our job to protect fellow hunters, it’s our job to protect innocents,” Dean brings to mind.      “If Zoë's in trouble, she's innocent.”      “Believe me, Sam. I believe Zoë is everything but innocent,” the oldest of the two disagrees.

“I don't know, man. I think she’s after something big, or something big is after her,” Sam sighs, staring through the windshield in the direction where Zoë vanished just moments ago.      “So she’s onto a big fish,” Dean returns nonchalantly. “If she needs our help, she’ll call.”      The driver scoffs. “No, she won’t.”      Dean glances aside and observes his brother for a moment, confused by his brother’s motives. “I thought you were so determined to find Dad?”      “I am,” Same confirms.      “Then why the fuck do you care so much for some girl? We have better things to do. There’s a werewolf on the loose last time we checked and I don’t see why we should be bothering ourselves tracking down a hunter who’s fine on her own and is not keen on our company,” Dean rambles annoyed, after which he quotes her. ‘Whatever you do, do not follow me’. Her words, dude.”

     Sam gives in with a huff; maybe he’s right. Zoë made it pretty clear that she doesn’t want them on her tail. Maybe they should just let her be. But deep inside he feels it eating at him. His gut tells him that something bad is going to happen to her. Contemplating on the choice, he stares ahead.      “Seriously, if you want me to believe that you don’t have a major crush on her, you’ll have to do better than this.” Dean’s brows are raised as he looks aside.

     His younger brother glares at him, but decides not to respond. Dean is making fun of it, but he’s not sure himself how he feels about Zoë. She’s such a mysterious girl, with a dark sense of humor and a peculiar personality. She’s fierce, rapid on the counter, sarcastic, confident, smart. An amazing huntress with a big heart, even though she might act like she couldn’t care less. He can’t help but to be curious about her. Why? He can’t put his finger on it. There’s a connection between them, if they like it or not.

     Sam decides to change the subject, determining their new destination. “So? Waco then?”      “Waco it is,” Dean agrees.      Sam turns the Impala around, when they hear a strange clunk coming from the back of the car as he drives over a speed bump while exiting the parking lot of the Hampton Inn. Uh-oh, he realizes, assuming his brother heard it too.      “What is that?” Dean says out loud, looking over his shoulder. “Did you close the trunk? Stop the car.”

     Sam does as told and in the middle of the exit, Dean gets out. Sam stares in his back mirror, waiting for the inevitable. He already noticed the damage when loading up the car, but didn’t have the courage to tell the person who loves the Impala so dearly. That, and he wanted to give Zoë a head start. When he rolls down the window and pokes his head out, he sees Dean, boiling in rage.            “What’s going on?” Sam asks, pretending to be unaware.      He gets out and joins his brother, beholding the back of the Impala. The paint of the trunk is scratched, leaving the Chevrolet damaged by the shovel that Zoë used as leverage to break open the trunk. For a moment, Sam just stares at the car without saying a word. Dean, on the other hand, grits his teeth so hard that his brother can hear them grinding. His face looks like a volcano that is about to erupt as he clenches his fists, trying to contain his anger.

     “Insulting Baby is one thing, but this -” Dean hisses furiously, “this is unforgivable. I’m gonna kill her, I am so gonna fucking kill her!”      “Calm down,” Sam tries to ease him.      “Calm down?!  She fucked up MY CAR!!!” he shouts as he turns red.

     He slams the trunk and pushes it down hard, but it doesn’t lock as it should. Then he strides back to the front and gets in on the passenger side again. Quickly, Sam sits down behind the wheel, not wanting to piss him off even more. Dean is about to detonate; one wrong move, comment or facial expression and he will explode.            “Get the fuck going,” the owner of the classic car growls, squeezing the blood out of his hands around his cellphone, tempted to call perpertrator.      Sam gulps, surprised that the device doesn’t break in half, and uncomfortably leans back before he hits the gas. The day that Dean got this car from Dad, he learned a very important lesson; if you mess with the Impala, you mess with Dean.

     “For the record,” the older Winchester starts off. “This isn’t the last time we will see Sullivan.”      “It isn’t?” Sam carefully questions.      “Oh, we’ll see her again,” he snaps. “And I’m gonna kick her fine little ass when that time comes.”

      Poor Zoë, Sam can’t help but to think. She’s probably laughing that same fine little ass off right at this very moment, as Dean so poetically described it. A part of him hopes they will indeed never run into her again, because she is going to feel his brother’s wrath. What are the odds anyway? America is a big country; she is only one of over 320 million people in this nation. Sam glances ahead into the dark night and grins, because something tells him that their paths will collide again. Maybe even sooner than expected.

Well, that’s it! Episode 2 is wrapped up, now on to the next one. 

Thank you for reading. I appreciate every single one of you, but if you do want to give me some extra love, you are free to like or reblog my work, shoot me a message or buy me coffee (Link to Kofi in bio at the top of the page).

[atlafan]

Let Me Love on You

a/n: based off this ask. Lots of fluff, and some smut. 

You were five months pregnant with Harry’s baby. He was so happy when you first told him the news. It was unexpected, and an accident. Something about the antibiotics you had taken cancelling out your birth control. You had and Harry had been together nearly three years, so it wasn’t the end of the world. He was over joyed actually.

Your bump was just starting to show, you were in that awkward place where it looked like you had just gained some weight, and didn’t really look pregnant. Your first trimester was miserable. Between the morning sickness and the hormonal outbreaks, it was a wonder Harry still loved you. Even if he sneezed loudly, you’d yell at him for giving you a headache. He would just look at you with those big green eyes, and you would cry for feeling bad.

The second trimester was going much better. However, you hated the way your body was changing. You had to pee all the time, and even though you didn’t mind your growing belly, you hated seeing new stretches pop up on your hips and thighs.

“They’re really quite sexy, you know?”

Harry would try to comfort you while you rubbed cocoa butter all over your body in hopes of getting them to go away, and preventing new ones from coming. It was inevitable though. You blamed the media for making you think pregnant tummies were cute.

Harry continued to be amazing with you. Foot rubs, back massages, and all the love he could possibly give you. He loved being babied by you, he was essentially your first child. But he knew he needed to step up and take care of you more. You both were trying to keep the pregnancy under wraps from the media, so you began working from home. He loved having you in the house more. He’s make you lunch every day he was home. It was a nice separate togetherness.

He dove right into everything baby. You’d stay up late talking about baby names, and agreed that you both wanted to wait until the baby was born to see what its sex would be. He read every baby book he could get his hands on. You both had a conversation about getting engaged after the baby was born. Harry didn’t want to add the stress of planning a wedding to the stress there already was of having a baby, but he wanted to assure you an engagement and a marriage was coming.

“It’s only two weeks, Harry, I’ll be alright.”

He hated leaving for work. He wanted to be by your side every second.

“I’m going to need you more once baby comes, so please, work now so you can be home with me later.”

“I’ll call ya every day. What if ya need somethin’?”

“Babe, I’ll be just fine.” You give him a reassuring smile and a kiss as he leaves for London for two weeks.

Since your bump was becoming more prominent, you decided not to travel with him anymore. You didn’t want to risk the paps bothering you.

You didn’t mind being in your shared home more. You actually loved being able to be in it more since you weren’t working. It was private and had a large backyard. Every time Harry left for a work thing, you would spend time in your gardens and greenery, taking care of your plants and flowers.

//

Harry wanted to do something nice for you for when he got back. He took an earlier flight home at the end of the two weeks to surprise you. He had something special made for the baby, picked up a bouquet of your favorite flowers, and a box of your favorite chocolates.

“Love?! I’m home!” He yelled, entering the house.

You were just getting out of the shower, hoping to look nice for him when you thought he’d be returning later in the evening. You brushed out your wet hair, and wrapped your towel around you.

“I’m in the bedroom!” You yelled back. “What’s all this?” You giggle, looking at all of the things in his arms, and giving him a kiss on the lips.

“Sit down, love, got ya some things. Got some things for baby too.” You sit on the edge of the bed as he stands in front of you. He looked so handsome in his salmon pink suit. He hands you the flowers first.

“Oh, Harry they’re beautiful.” You smell them and set them to your side. “I have a vase downstairs those will look perfect in.” Next he hands you the chocolates. You try to keep yourself from frowning. You didn’t want to gain any unnecessary weight, but you knew he meant well. “You better eat these with me.” He hands you a bag with some tissue paper in it, and gives your belly a little pat.

“For baby.” He says.

Inside the bag was a handmade blanket. Your eyes well up with tears as you look up at him.

“You loved your baby blankets so much as a kid, tried to have one made like yours.”

“It’s beautiful.” You snuggle it to your face, then set it down. You pull a onesie out that has TPWK on it. “I love this.”

“Figured we should teach baby early on.”

“I agree, thank you for all of this.”

“Got somethin’ else for ya, I was window shoppin’ and just had to get it for ya. Close your eyes for me.” You do as he says.

You really didn’t like when Harry spent a lot of money on you. Window shopping always meant jewelry. You wondered if he had gotten you a new charm for your bracelet, or maybe the earrings you almost bought last time you were in London.

Harry takes a small, velvet box out of his jacket pocket, and gets down on one knee. He had the ring made months ago, and knew he’d be able to get it on his trip. He knew your style, and had no doubt you’d say yes. He just didn’t want you to be annoyed since you both agreed you’d wait. But he couldn’t wait anymore.

“Alright darlin’ girl, open your eyes.” You gasp, and tears stream down your cheeks. “I know we said we’d wait until after baby came, but I love you so much. I don’t care if we have a long engagement, I don’t care if baby is a year old by the time we get married, I just want this ring on ya finger. I want everyone around us to know how much we love each other, and that we’re serious about our future together. As if the baby wasn’t proof enough of that. Will you marry me, Y/N, and make me even happier than you already do?” You’re speechless. You nod your head yes and stick your shaky left hand out to him, and he slips the ring on. You tug at his jacket and wrap your arms around each other.

“I love you so much, Harry. I can’t wait to have a family with you, and bring this baby into such a loving, happy home.”

“I can’t wait either.” He says stroking the back of your head. He scoops you up and sits you on his side of the bed, he sits in front of you.

“You know I slept on your side the entire time you were gone.” You giggle.

“That so? Missed me that much?” He opens up your towel so you can admire your small bump.

“Mhm.” You grab your jar of cocoa butter. “Would you rub this on me? Haven’t had time to moisturize yet, and I don’t wanna get my new ring all greasy.”

“Of course.” You toss the jar to him. He takes his jacket off and rolls his sleeves up. He warms the cream up in his hands before rubbing it on you gently. At first you didn’t want him doing this for you, but you grew more comfortable with it. He rubbed some on your inner thighs as well.

You and Harry had a very active sex life, but for the last month or so, you didn’t really want him touching you. It drove him nuts because he wanted you even more than before, but he respected that you just weren’t feeling it. As he rubbed on you, you realized how much you missed his touch. Your sex drive had come back while he was away. He parted your legs a little more and nearly whimpered at the sight before him.

“Would you let me love on you?” He asks making eye contact.

“You already are.” His eyes dart to your center then back to you. “Oh! That kind of loving on me.” You bite your bottom lip. “I’ve deprived you, haven’t I?” His bottom lip comes out in a pout as he nods his head yes. “Wasn’t very nice of me to only pay attention to one of my babies was it?” He shakes his head no. “Alright, yeah.”

Harry takes his clothes off, leaving his boxers on for the moment. You lift up so he can get the towel off you all the way. Revealing your large breasts to him. This was probably the one area you didn’t mind gaining weight in. His lips meet yours, and your tongues mold together. He can’t remember the last time he got to taste you. He nips at your jaw and neck, then kisses down your chest. He kisses down your tummy, and takes a moment to admire the bump. His thumb reaches down to your clit, and your breath hitches.

“Tell me, who put this baby in you?” He rubs slow circles on you.

“You did, Harry.” You loved when he talked to you like this. Harry loved being your baby, but in the bedroom he was your man.

It annoyed him to no end that the sex you had when you got pregnant was not let’s make a baby sex, so every time he fucked you after that it was like he was trying to put another baby in you.

“That’s right.” He plunged two fingers into your wet core, and you gasped with pleasure. “So wet for me, and so tight.”

“Just wanna feel you stretch me with that big dick.”

When you and Harry first started seeing Harry, and getting intimate with him, he would say these downright filthy things to you. You didn’t quite know what to say or do other than to grunt and moan. But eventually you found your voice, and he fucking loved it.

“You’ve made me wait quite a while to feel this again, so you can be patient.”

He pumped in and out of you faster, and his thumb rubbed quicker on your clit. He curled his fingers up inside you, making a loud moan come out of you as he hit your g-spot.

“Ah, there’s my little friend. Missed ya so much.” He said as he continued to hit it.

Your legs began to shake and your stomach tightened as your orgasm swept over you. Your release going all over his fingers, and dripping down to his wrist. He takes his fingers out of you and sucks on them. He takes his boxers off and the sight of his hard cock sends you.

“God, put it in me Harry, please!” You whine. He smirks at you, and crawls up the bed, sitting next to you.

“Up we go.” He grabs your hips, and places you on top of him. You grip him and rub your thumb over his tip, spreading the precome around. He places kisses on your neck and shoulder. You lift yourself up, and slowly sink down on him.

“Fuck.” You both moan in unison.

“You’re so fucking tight.” He groans.

“Love the way you feel inside me, so big.” You place your head in the crook of his neck as you start to move up and down on him.

Harry thrusts his hips up as you come down on him, hitting bottom immediately. Your back arches and you gasp.

“Fuck, please keep doing that.”

Your hands lace through his hair as you hold onto him, and get into a rhythm. His hand goes between where you both are connected, and rubs your clit.

“Harry.” You moan.

With each thrust you feel him do deeper and deeper. You grind against him, and he hits that spot you love so much. You bite down on his collar bone as he continues to hit it.

“I’m gonna come again babe.” You moan out.

“Together, yeah?”

With a few more thrusts you and Harry release together. His hot come shooting up inside you. You move to get off him, but he holds you in place.

“Just stay a minute.” He whispers, trying to catch his breath.

“I’m already pregnant.” You giggle.

“I know, just been so long since I had ya around me, wanna feel it a bit longer.” You kiss him tenderly. “Let’s not wait so long again.”

“I’m back in action now, won’t be saying no to you again for a long time.” You coo, pressing your forehead to his.

Eventually, Harry let you off of him, only when you said you needed to pee. You crawled back into bed with him, letting him rest his head on your chest. He rubbed your tummy and talked to the baby. There was so truly no place you’d rather be.

[nakedmossy]

Depth Over Distance - Part Three [Rudy x Reader]

[A/N: I haven’t found a hometown Rudy fic yet soooo I wrote one. I have no idea where this story is going to go and I’m honestly finding it hard to get out of writing JJ and get into writing Rudy, but here we go anyways. I wanted to write something where the reader and Rudy were hometown friends before he moved to LA, and to explore the idea of how that would change/what it would look like when he comes back. Get ready for a S L O W. B U R N. my dudes. Peace and love, Mossy x]

There were very few people in the world that could make you smile at 7 in the morning when it was raining outside, but Rudy was one of them.

You forced yourself awake as your car wound around the dirt roads, swerving pot holes and washboards, the rain starting to patter lightly on your windshield again. You followed Rudy’s tail lights away from the beach parking lot, your hula girl bobbling on the dash board, and you smiled as you were instantly transported into a flashback of the first time you had followed him down this road. 

————

It was the day you bought your car, the week of your sixteenth birthday, and Rudy had asked you to meet him out at the beach alone in the afternoon before your party later that night. You had driven your car to the parking lot where his old beaten down and barely drivable Chevy was parked and pulled in beside him. He applauded graciously as you got out of the drivers seat and you took a deep bow, laughing.

“Look at this absolute TANK!” He said, taking his sunglasses off and walking around the car, inspecting it. It must have passed his inspection because he got up off the ground after looking under the wheel wells and wiping the dirt off his knees, beaming. “Its perfect”

“Isn’t it?” You gushed, unable to contain the smile plastered on your face. “I can’t believe its mine. It feels so weird.”

“Come on” Rudy bumped your arm with his and grabbed his pack out of the box of his truck. You followed him down the trail, jogging lightly to keep up with his long, comfortable stride. When you got to the beach, he laid a blanket out and patted for you to sit down beside him, you had been telling him about how the car drove and all its quirks you had noticed and how sticky the gear shift was, and didn’t notice when he pulled two beers out of his pack.

“Oh” You said quietly, stopping talking and staring at him. “Rudy, I can’t. I have to drive to my party after this.” 

Rudy smiled at you and chucked the beer underhand at you so you had to catch it. Your eyes wide, you looked around, checking to make sure nobody was watching.

“Relax, Y/N. I will drive in front of you...if anything happens ill get stopped first.” He winked at you, knowing that one beer wouldn’t get either of you in trouble but knowing how conscious you were, and cracked his can. You apprehensively cracked your own, some of the spray from it being shaken up landing on your bare legs. You clinked cans and smiled at each other. Rudy looked at you intently and dipped his head towards you.

“To you. My wonderful best friend. I hope you have the best night ever. Happy Birthday. Congrats on the car. Can’t wait to christen it-”

“RUDY!” You smacked his arm and laughed until your face was beat red. “Cheers”

He echoed you and you both lifted your cans, drinking a few gulps. It was hoppy and made your throat burn, you squinted and shook your head.

“-AND, and,” He tipped his can towards you. “I have a present for you.”

“No.” You looked at him, feigning anger. “You know the rules. We don’t do presents...”

He ignored you and smiled cheekily, lifting a box out of his pack. Unwrapped and the cardboard torn, you snorted as he passed it to you. You hoped he mistook your blushing for the beer making you flush. As you opened the box, you could feel your legs tingling and your chest pumping quicker. Rudy had never given you a gift before - you had agreed as kids that you weren’t going to be those friends. This felt weird and intimate. First you saw the black hair and the green skirt, then the lai and the bikini top. You looked up at him and raised your eyebrows before you started laughing.

“Oh really, Rudy. Really, you shouldn’t have. Thank you.” You mocked sincerity, putting a hand on your chest. “So thoughtful...I just...”

“Alright shut up” He laughed, tearing the box up and stuffing it back in his pack. 

You smiled genuinely at him, and held the dashboard hula girl gently in your hands. 

“Thank you” You said without laughing now, making Rudy wiggle his nose and shift his position on the blanket, scratching his hand through his hair nervously.

“Well. You know...no beater is complete without one.” He said with mock seriousness.

“Hey! She’s not a beater. She’s...just...very well loved.” You emphasized the last words, hoping to convey how loved you felt at that moment.

You smiled at each other now, then the smiles faded and you held each others gazes silently. You couldn’t tell if it was the beer or the sunset or Rudy’s cologne or the proximity of how close you sat on the blanket, but the air shifted between you and you felt your head loosen on your shoulders. It was as if Rudy was leaning towards you, but you felt wobbly so you couldn’t be sure. All you knew was that he was staring at you, your eyes, your lips, and your chest was pounding and you felt light headed. 

You swallowed and broke eye contact, looking at the water. 

“We should probably get going. Can’t be late to our own party.” You smiled at him, his eyes still lingered on your mouth then hazily looked back up at your eyes and returned the smile. 

“Yeah” He agreed, then stood quickly, offering you his hand to help you up. 

You white knuckled the steering wheel the entire drive from the beach to your house, the hula girl on the dash wiggling in between Rudy’s tail lights.

————

You blinked and looked at the road again, Rudy’s rental car tail lights disappearing around the corner onto his street. You looked at the hula girl and stretched your hands out on the steering wheel, your palms sweaty.

You pulled into his driveway behind his car as he emerged from the drivers seat, taking his sunglasses off and hanging them off the neck of his shirt. You shoved the gear stick into park and reefed on the e-brake (you couldn’t trust the brakes on flat land let alone a slight hill) as Rudy walked towards your car, waiting near the hood. He placed his hand on it and smiled, you watched as you took off your seatbelt and opened your door.

“What, did you miss her?” You asked sarcastically as he feigned shock and lifted his hand to his chest.

“Of course I did” He bumped your elbows together when you stepped in beside him and you both started towards his front door.

His house hadn’t changed a lick since you were there last - you stopped visiting a few months after Rudy left, even though his mom invited you over every single time she saw you. The gutters were still rusting and the front door looked like you could kick it in if you tried hard enough. You spent more time at this house than you did at your own in high school, and walking up to it was like muscle memory, you knew to sidestep the root in front of the first step, to skip to the third step because the second was rotten and your foot would go through it.

Rudy’s mom was already coming down the hall towards the front door, making all sorts of noises and probably crying, and you could hear the family dogs scuttling on the hardwood around her feet. 

“Good lord, my boy.” His mom stopped in the frame between the main door and the screen door, then she broke into hysterics, throwing the screen open and pulling him into a huge, very Rudy bear hug. He came by them honestly. He looked at you like he needed help before she turned her attention to you and did the same thing.

“Hi Mrs Pan-Hi, yep hello-“ She squeezed you so hard you felt your back crack. 

“Mom - you literally see her once a week, chill.”

Rudy was laughing but also courteously trying to pry his mother back inside the house. It was true - she did see you every week when she came into the bookstore to pick up her newspapers and magazine subscriptions, but it didn’t matter. She was like a second mother to you and always made you feel like it was the most exciting day in the world when you came to visit.

When you finally made it into the kitchen, you and Rudy sat down at the barstools as his mom flew back into whatever she was making, both of you knowing better than to get in her way when she was cooking. She started talking to Rudy about how the trip had been and how much of a ‘weiner that Alan was, messing up your schedule like that’. Rudy placed his phone on the counter and the screen lit up briefly - showing over 20 missed calls from someone who’s name started with an A. The screen went dark before you could read it. Wow - he really was famous. Or had a stalker.

You watched Rudy and his mom convalescing over their separation (his parents flew to LA to see him at Christmas every year since he had left, but still) and felt yourself relax into your seat, smiling. Watching her rolling dough and washing fresh berries, smelling the spices and being in the same seats you had spent numerous summer mornings in in high school, you actually felt somewhat hungry.

Rudy’s mom passed you a cup of fresh coffee and you nodded a thank you at her as you began to sip it, listening to their conversation shift from how the trip was to how his acting classes were going to how Anna was doing. Anna? The name jogged your brain and you realized that was who the missed calls had been from. Rudy’s face dropped and his eyes flitted to your briefly, you lowered your cup from your mouth and held his gaze, then he regained composure and smiled at you before looking back to his mom. 

“Uh, yeah. Yeah no she’s good. Actually I was gonna talk to you about that later.” His eyebrows rose and he smiled shortly at her, to which she made a confused expression and continued.

“But I thought-”

“Mom. Later.” He said finally, cutting her off. She nodded once and returned to her dough, continuing to talk to him about some of the things they had lined up while he was home. You barely heard a word she said, your gut was screaming at you that something was off about the way Rudy had reacted to her bringing up this Anna person and how odd it was he had so many missed calls from her. His body had gone completely rigid, and he had completely dodged the conversation, like he was keeping her a secret. You and Rudy had never kept secrets. Besides, if he had told his mom about a girl, it was serious. He hadn’t even told her about his high school girlfriend and they had dated for over 4 months. Why was he being shady now?

Then it hit you, and you felt like an ignorant little girl. It had been 4 years since he was home, he lived in LA and was a professional actor. He led an entirely different life that you knew nothing about now. It had been so easy, so comforting, to slip back into your old routine with him, being in his family home, visiting with his mom. But it wasn’t the same as it had been before, you were both different people now. Of course he had been with girls, was probably with girls right now, apparently her name was Anna, and who were you to him? His high school best friend? He didn’t owe you an explanation. But it did feel like a mistake coming here, expecting everything to just... be as it was. You felt silly.

As his mom brought plates of food to the table and motioned for you to sit with her, you grabbed your phone out of your pocket and checked the time. It was just after 8am. 

“Actually, Mrs Pankow, I would love to stay but I’m actually not super hungry and I have to help my dad get ready for this trip he has coming up this weekend...it was really nice to see you though.” You rushed your words and scurried towards her, forcing her into a hug and then separating and moving towards the door, walking backwards as you talked.

“Wait, but honey I made you a plate.” She stood, confused, looking at you while holding the tongs.

“I know I’m so sorry, I just didn’t realize the time. I’ll see you soon, though. Promise. Bye Rudy”

As you spoke you spoke only to her, avoiding Rudy’s eyes which were watching you intently as he rose from his seat. You put your back against the screen and apologized again before pushing through it and jogging back down the stairs, tripping on the root at the bottom and walking quickly towards your car. You heard the screen door slam as Rudy called your name from behind you.

“Hey, Y/N, woah woah woah.” He was behind you before you reached your car, his hand wrapped around your arm. “Where are you going?” He spun you to face him, his face full of concern. 

You smiled, tight-lipped, and nodded to your car.

“I lost track of time. I have to go.” You said curtly, waiting for him to let your arm go. 

“Look if its about the food...I mean, you don’t have to...” He looked down at your arm, that was so devoid of fat and muscle anymore that his hand could wrap fully around it, and frowned.

You let out a breath and looked around, pinching the bridge of your nose before speaking.

“Its not that, Rudy. I just...I need to go. I’m sorry.”  You backed away, tugging your arm free as you walked towards your car again, your face hot and feeling embarrassed. Of course he would think it was about you not wanting to eat. 

“Y/N wait” He said hurriedly, jogging to catch up to you and pressing your door closed as you began to open it. You looked up at him now, his eyes were intensely focused on you.

“What’s going on?” He was scanning your face, desperate. You felt yourself crumbling being this close to him and feeling him watching you so intensely. His expression faltered and his features relaxed. “Please talk to me” he said quietly.

You took a step back, away from your door, and let out a breath, swatting a mosquito away.

“I don’t know Rudy, I just....a lot has changed since you left. A lot. And I can’t just waltz around and pretend like we’re still in high school and nothing is different. We’re different...and...I mean if there are some parts of your life that you don’t want to share with me then that’s fine, but-“

“Hold on, what are you talking about?” His brow furrowed and he narrowed his eyes, taking a step towards you.

You raised your eyebrows at him and looked around, putting your hands in your pockets.

“You don’t have to...hide...stuff. From me. Of all people.” You said slowly, urging him to pick up on it so you wouldn’t have to say it. He looked stunned. “Anna?” You finally relented, taking half a step back.

His shoulders relaxed and a small smile crept onto his face, then a small laugh. 

“My agent?” He said in a half mocking tone. “Anna is my agent.”

“Oh. Oh...that’s...weird” You felt the gears in your head turning slowly, trying to think if you had ever heard her name before or maybe it was normal to fool around and date your agents in LA? “You’re seeing your agent?” You said sceptically, trying not to look too judgemental.

He let out a full belly laugh then. 

“No I’m not dating my agent, you loser. I just didn’t want to...talk about work yet. Its all my mom ever wants to talk about and I’m kinda trying to...have a few hours to relax first.” He said quietly, his eyebrows raised as he watched you, ready to laugh again at any moment.

You rolled your eyes and looked at your feet, nodding and pursing your lips.

“Yeah alright laugh it up. I don't know...you just seemed really on the spot when your mom brought her up. It was weird.”

He looked around and put his arms up, resting his hands on his head before his eyes settled back on you. He licked his lips and took a step towards you, dropping his hands to his sides.

“Look. There are some things about work I haven’t shared with my mom yet, and probably never will. And what I said on the beach this morning...about needing to come home for awhile. I meant that. Its...complicated. And trust me, please trust me when I say that I want to share that with you but....” His eyes were heavy on you then, he set his jaw and stepped towards you. “Y/N, please don’t go yet. I just got here.” He said firmly, his eyes locked on you.

You nodded once, scratching your forehead, and throwing your hands up dramatically.

“Fine. Alright.”

Rudy chewed his cheek and smiled, taking a deep breath and releasing it as his dad appeared on the porch behind him, the screen door squeaking.

“Hey! Kids! My breakfast is getting cold over here!” He shouted, smiling as Rudy turned around to wave at him. Rudy looked back at you once to make sure you were still coming, to which you nodded reassuringly, before he took off and hiked up the steps to greet his dad with a hug.

____________________________________________

Tag List: @bluebirdsbluebells​, @sunshinemadds​, @lovelymaybankk​, @poguestyleskye​, @alexa-playafricabytoto​, @ilikealotofpeople-younotsomuch​, @k-k0129​, @kimyeon-tae​, 

[frostedfaves]

To Build A Home (4)

Masterlist

Pairing: Rosa Diaz x fem!reader

Summary: Rosa spent years building a friendship, relationship, and eventually a marriage and home with you. This tale follows your journey together up until her sudden murder. Now that you’ve tracked down her killer before anyone else, will you do the right thing and send him to prison or take care of him yourself?

Warnings: cheating suspicions, angst if you squint, my usual nsfw mentions

A/N: comments, reblogs, and likes are much appreciated. the feedback I receive on this story only deepens my love for it and push me to make the best chapters possible for everyone. thank you all so much for sticking around so long, and I promise to dry your tears when I inevitably break your hearts.

Previous chapter here

-

A familiar calling of your name turned your head toward the break room doorway where your best friend stood, a worried frown directed at you.

“Oh, hey Ames.” You waved her over with a weak smile.

“Hey. Why are you--” She paused to pull the foot of your previously injured leg away from its resting place underneath the other leg and sat next to you with a smile. “Don’t give me that look; you’ll thank me later. Anyway, why are you moping?”

“I’m not moping, this is just resting sad bitch face. It’s a real thing you can search for on Google, if you don’t believe me,” you added when she rolled her eyes at you.

“For your sake, I’m not going to do that. Seriously, what’s got you so upset, and why hasn’t Rosa come in here to fix it already? She usually has a sixth sense for this kind of thing with you.”

“That’s because she’s the reason I’m upset.” A loud groan spilled from your lips, followed by a tired sigh as your forehead hit the table. “Rosa forgot to forward an email to me that I needed, but I know her password so I logged in to do it myself. The first thing I saw was a hotel room reservation which she was scheduled to check into today, an hour ago to be exact, and she didn’t tell me anything about it.”

Tears began to build and you sniffled involuntarily. “I know I shouldn’t jump to conclusions because, God it’s Rosa, the woman I love and trust more than anyone else in the world. But then I thought about how she’s been acting the past few days, coming home later and not sharing as much as she used to and I just can’t help but wonder, you know? Am I being crazy?”

A few seconds of silence passed before Amy’s voice filled the room again. 

“Let’s go. I’ll drive.”

“Wait, what?” You quickly lifted your head from the table to meet her eyes. “You think I should confront her?”

“I mean, you said it yourself that you didn’t want to jump to conclusions. If it’s not what you think it is, you can finally talk about what’s been different lately. If it is, I’ll be there to fight her.”

A grin spread across your face. “Have I told you how much I love you?”

“Sometimes, but it’s nice to hear it again,” she responds with a chuckle.

“Okay, let’s go.” You stood, quickly placing a hand on her shoulder before she could leave her chair. “By the way, I’m not letting you fight her.”

“Why not?” she whined. “My fists are just as good as her knives.”

-

“Okay, here’s 309,” you quietly mumbled with a sigh as you approached the room. “I don’t feel so good about this. Is it too late to back out?”

“Yes.” Amy quickly knocked on the door before you could stop her. “Trust me, you’ll feel better after.”

“Or worse.”

The door was yanked open, and you were suddenly face to face with a wide-eyed Rosa, your heart pounding so loud and fast in your chest that it hurt. Her eyes flitted over to Amy, at just a big of a loss for words as you were until your eyes landed on the rose petal covered bed.

“Rosa, what is this?”

Seeing the glassy look in her gaze when she met yours was enough to bring a nervous shake to your hands. You silently begged her to speak, say anything that would make this situation better.

“Um, come in and I’ll explain everything. You too, Amy...um, if you want.”

She stepped aside as you both entered, closing the door behind you as you took a look around. There were candles on a few flat surfaces along with some of your favorite snacks and flowers.

“Was this for me?” you asked cautiously, slowly turning to face your girlfriend again.

“Yeah, it is,” she answered shakily, seeming even more nervous than when she opened the door. “Listen, I’m sorry I haven’t been the best to be around when I actually am around, but I’ve just been stressing over this. I usually don’t care too much about doing big romantic gestures but you’re the first person I’ve been with that deserves this and more, so…”

She got down on one knee in front of you as she pulled a ring box from her jacket pocket, and you could’ve sworn your heart shifted upward into your throat. You could barely hear Amy’s gasp over the aggressive thudding in your ears.

“Will you marry me?”

“Yes, of course! Babe, you could’ve asked me in the alley next to a homeless man peeing in the dumpster and I would’ve said yes.” Excited and utterly relieved laughter fell from your lips as she slid the ring on your finger and stood to kiss you.

“Congrats, guys!” came from Amy as she clapped excitedly.

You pulled away from the kiss, keeping your eyes on the woman in front of you. “Hey Ames, I love you, but you might want to leave. You won’t want to see what I’m about to let Rosa do to me on this bed.”

“Gross, but okay.”

As soon as the door closed behind her, the two of you were attached at the lips again. Rosa’s hands on your waist guided you back onto the mattress, but you flipped the two of you before she could fully gain control. Separating from her once more, you sat back with your knees on either side of her hips, a soft smile that mirrored her own expression.

“I just want to say that I’m sorry I didn’t trust you. I mean I wanted to because I always do, but I really was scared to lose you.”

She grabbed your hands, lacing her fingers through your own. “I don’t know if you noticed, but you’re kind of stuck with me for the rest of your life now.”

“Good.” You shifted your left hand in her right one to give you a better view of the diamond covered band. “So do you want to go to Vegas or are we going to go to the courthouse here so we can celebrate with the squad after?”

“I was thinking maybe we can rent the beach house from Charles’ shitty ex-wife and do a proper ceremony. Invite friends and family.” She laughs at your confused head tilt. “I know I said I was more of an eloper but this is the only time I want to do this and I want it to be good.”

“I see.” Your bottom lip found its way between your teeth, holding it there in fear of a wider smile possibly ripping your face in half. “Wait, but why the beach house?”

“That trip was the first time you pushed past your shyness and actually let me get to know you. Before that weekend I knew I wanted something with you, just didn’t know what. After three days in a house with you I figured it out.”

You leaned down to kiss her, letting yourselves get lost in it once again. When she flipped you over again and broke away to smirk at you, you couldn’t help but express all of the overwhelming waves of happiness washing over you with a simple laugh.

“Okay, do your worst,” you declared, gently tangling your fingers into her hair.

“Well, I didn’t have time to grab my toolbox, but I think I’ll manage just fine without it.”

-

Tags: @creepingwolfberry @rosadiazswifey @xetherealbeautyx @gaulty74 @jay-is-groovy @milkfromhell @marie-03