#but my thoughts just kept going “STAND UP YOURE AT THE BOOTH YOU GOTTA GET CUSTOMERS GET THE FUCK UP GIRL”

[bonesandthebees]

theres nothing quite like getting back from a work trip absolutely exhausted, and when you go to bed that night you wake up at 3 am delirious and seized with the fear that you were sleeping on the job because your half-asleep brain thinks you're still on the work trip

[toxicbrothel]

Beefro👌🥩💜

POV

waitress x non-canon, chubby nwJoel ty @not-a-unique-snowflake-blog for the prompt 💕 and @beefrobeefcal for the gif & making the world go round

Working at Golden Corral, you’ve noticed the regulars and sometimes made polite conversation. Hypothetically, there’s a guy, Joel, who’s not bad looking.  He’s always worn PJs and smelled like weed, which made him less intimidating, despite his impressive physique and panty-dropping scruff. He’s been coming in with his brother every Sunday for a long time, and until recently, Joel was always in great shape – apparently a huge gym rat. A couple months ago, he had to have knee surgery, which really sidelined his work-outs. Shortly after that, you began to notice him gaining weight. He didn't adjust his portions at all to account for his lack of burning calories. Weight gain wasn’t uncommon to see at your restaurant, but you’d never seen someone round out so quickly. 

One night, Joel was going back for thirds. He was standing at the buffet line with his t-shirt stretched across his belly, and the garlic bread pan was empty. He looked disappointed, so you offered, “I can grab more.”

“Hell yeah,” he replied. "Attagirl." Your face got all hot.

“I’ll bring them to your table,” you offered. 

You had to deal with something on your way to the kitchen, and it took you twenty minutes to return with the bread. You began to approach his booth, then noticed he was sitting back with his PJ waistband below his belly. His happy trail was exposed, and he had his hand under his t-shirt, further stretching the fabric as he rubbed his belly. You thought you should turn around and give him some privacy, but it was too late, he must have felt you staring. His eyes lit up at the sight of you with a plate stacked high with garlic bread. With some effort, he managed to sit up straight and fixed his shirt, but not in an embarrassed way at all. You approached and apologized, “Sorry I didn’t get them out in time.” 

“What are you sorry for? I’m still right here, sugar.” 

His brother laughed at him. “You serious, man?” 

“Why not,” Joel replied. You retreated to your duties, wiping tables down, but you occasionally glanced over as he packed in every piece of that bread. By the time the plate was empty, he was holding his belly with two hands. When it was time to leave, he was slow to get out of the booth and held onto the table for leverage. He kept one hand on his belly as he waddled. They said goodnight to you on their way to pay, but you could still hear them in line as you cleaned the buffet pans. 

“I’m tellin’ ya, man,” his brother said. “Put on some real fuckin’ clothes, and you’ll see.” 

“These are real clothes, Tommy,” Joel scoffed. 

“You know what I mean,” Tommy said. “You gotta slow down, man. It ain’t healthy. A few more pounds and you may never get back to the gym.” 

Joel dismissed him with a, “Nah. I’ll be liftin’ heavy again in no time.” 

“I bet ya couldn’t fit into my clothes now if ya tried,” his brother taunted.

“Sure I can, man. You’re the one with that big, barrel chest.” 

You think you can fit into my clothes? Let’s put money on it. We’ll go trade right now and wear’em home.” The prospect of this made your chest flutter and you tingled between the legs. 

Joel replied, “I don’t need money, man. but when they do fit, you gotta smoke a bowl with me.” 

“Deal,” 

They went to the bathroom, and you tried not to stare as they came out. This plaid snap-button shirt was just absurd on Joel. As they walked by, you heard Tommy laugh, “You could just admit they don’t fit.” Every button was hanging on for dear life. The bottom two didn’t even button.  The jeans were unbuttoned, too. And, most striking of all, Joel was clearly sucking it in, and it looked like he was struggling. You tried to stop staring but couldn’t. The display of sheer indulgence was making  you throb. 

Eventually, Joel had to breathe, and when he exhaled, his belly expanded so far that every last button popped open, and Joel moaned in relief. 

“Told ya, man,” Tommy laughed next to him. “Look at this gut.” He jiggled Joel’s belly. “I’ll help ya get back in shape, brother.” 

Joel groaned and held his pot belly with both hands as Tommy paid. Joel looked down and lifted it up, let it drop, and winced. Tommy had to stop at the door and wait for Joel to catch up. You kinda hoped Joel wouldn’t get in shape right away. But he was always hot.

----

TY for reading!

practically written by @not-a-unique-snowflake-blog with a BIG thot. 💕. ILY BEEFRO!!! Ty for the gif! 💕

[oliverreedmasterass]

Credits and shoutout to @starcatcherkiszka​ for the fic idea!! 

In case you want something to listen to while you read: ✨Summer of 69 Playlist✨

Words: 3.8k

Warnings: language

Synopsis: Greta Van Fleet somehow manages to travel back in time to the Summer of 69, during the Woodstock Art and Music festival. You can only imagine what hijinks they’re going to get up to. 

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8

____________________________________________________

“How much longer do we have to stay here?” Sam groaned from his spot on the carpeted floor of their soundbooth, staring up at the paneled ceiling with dread.

“Until we get this track right,” Jake called to him as he took a seat on a rickety old stool for a quick rest. “We’re almost there.” 

“You said that 25 minutes ago,” Sam protested. “You big liar.” 

“It is almost 2am,” Danny pointed out from behind his kit. “Maybe we’d be better off giving it another try tomorrow.”

“We’re close though,” Jake stood back to his feet and strapped his guitar on. “Trust me, we’ll get it in the next three takes.” 

“This is agony,” Sam groaned. 

Josh came over the intercom from behind the mixing board with a bit of feedback, making Jake, Sam, and Danny all jump. 

“Ready for take 21?” he asked. Sam scowled at his brother but finally shook his head in frustrated acceptance and slowly rose back to his feet with a loud crack. Jake gave the audio technician a thumbs up and they heard the metronome sound ticking in their headphones, counting them off. “Play your hearts out, boys,” Josh told them. 

Much to Sam and Danny’s dismay, Jake wasn’t satisfied until 15 takes later. Sam had tried to run out of the studio on multiple occasions, but Josh kept grabbing him and tugging him back to the booth, reminding him that their time in the studio was costing them an arm and a leg, and he was being a big baby. So, when Jake unplugged his guitar from the amp with a crackling snap, Sam had every right to let out a deep groan and collapse back to the floor in relief. Danny tossed his drumsticks off to the side and then, in a similar fashion, flopped beside Sam. 

“I just want this album to take us to the next level,” Jake tried to defend himself. Both Sam and Danny held up their hands to make him stop talking. 

“I thought take 4 sounded great,” Danny said. “I don’t think we needed 36 takes.” 

“My tone wasn’t quite right,” Jake shrugged. “I feel really good about take 36 though.” 

“That one’s definitely the one,” Josh agreed as he entered the room. “That’s gotta break our personal record, huh? Sixteen hours in the studio is pretty impressive.” 

Sam let out another deep groan. 

“We can come in late tomorrow,” Josh looked to Jake for confirmation. “I think we all deserve to sleep in a bit.” 

“I think I deserve to not come into the studio for a week,” Sam tried to barter. “I want to camp out in the middle of nowhere where I don’t have to look at any of your stupid faces or think about stupid music or sound mixing or bass lines.” 

“Wow,” Danny sounded genuinely hurt. “Okay.” 

“He’s just crabby,” Josh consoled Danny. “He gets like this when he doesn’t get his nap.” 

Sam shrugged like he couldn’t argue with Josh. Jake finished tucking his Gibson into his guitar case and then joined Josh, standing over Danny and Sam. He was starting to form some pretty impressive bags under his eyes because, even though he was the night owl of the family, playing for that long and that hard really did take a toll on him. 

“I’m gonna go to the lobby, can I grab you guys anything from the snack bar?” he offered in an attempt to make a truce with his disgruntled bandmates. 

“I’ll take a bag of SunChips,” Sam decided from the ground. 

“Just a water, please,” Danny gave Jake a small smile. Jake grinned back, a wave of relief washing over him that at least Danny wasn’t pissed beyond belief at him and his perfectionism. Thank god Danny was such a naturally understanding person at heart because, god, did Jake do things that would set any other person over the edge. 

Before Josh could put in a request, Jake waved goodbye and booked it out of the room, putting his head down to hurry to the lobby. 

“Wait, I want a banana!” Josh called after him. 

“Sounds like a you problem!” Jake yelled back. 

He reached the lobby and, after a quick scan, made sure to fetch everything that Sam and Danny wanted, and went out of his way to forget Josh’s banana. The exhaustion was catching up to him fast, so he fixed himself a cup of coffee to help him get back to his house in one piece and then turned on his heel to return to the studio. As his white vans clicked down the linoleum floor, he started to whistle the guitar part for one of their new tracks. His eyes were set on their studio door at the end of the hall but, out of his peripheral vision, he saw something that made him slow down. His whistling faded and he pivoted back around on his heel to face the door that he had just passed to his left. He pursed his lips as he took in what looked like a beam of bright light trying to come out from behind the door. Overwhelmed with confusion and intrigue, Jake backed up even farther so he was directly in front of the door, and had to squint his eyes to inspect it. Standing closer to it, he could feel that the hallway was significantly warmer. 

“What the?” he whispered. If his arms weren’t full of food and drinks he would have grabbed for the door handle, but instead he squeezed his eyes shut and reopened them to make sure what he was seeing was really real. The white light pouring from the cracks in the frame looked pretty damn real. 

Just to make sure his exhausted brain wasn’t playing tricks on him, he turned away from the door and hustled back to the studio. Sam, Danny, and Josh were all sprawled on the floor now, but they lifted their heads up slightly as Jake let himself back into the booth. 

“I need to show you guys something,” he said as he handed Danny his water, Sam his chips, and gave Josh a middle finger when he held his hands out for a banana. 

“Hey man, fuck you,” Josh frowned at his brother. “I don’t want to go with you if you’re gonna be mean to me.” 

“No, please, I promise, you’ll want to see this. I need you to see this.” 

“Did you drop an entire case of beer again?” Danny let out a yawn. 

“Just, come with me,” Jake decided to reply, since he really wasn’t sure how to even begin to describe the door. Plus, he liked there being an air of mystery about the whole thing. 

Even though Sam had been the most vocal in his frustration earlier, he was apparently the most willing to humor Jake since he clutched onto a nearby wooden stool to pull himself upright. Danny watched his friend stand up and, with a sigh, joined Sam and Jake. They all looked down at Josh, who was laying on his back with his arms folded over his chest. 

“You’re gonna miss out,” Jake told him. 

“I’m already missing out on a banana, I don’t care.” 

“Suit yourself,” Jake shrugged. He opened the door for Sam and Danny, and they disappeared from the studio. Jake tried to catch a glimpse of the mysterious door as he led Sam and Danny down the hallway and grinned when he saw that the light was still pouring from it. Behind them, Josh’s footsteps grew closer as he ran to catch up. 

“I’m getting a banana, I don’t care what Jake’s showing you guys,” Josh explained himself, though he didn’t move past them to the lobby. Instead, they all cautiously approached the door. 

“The fuck?” Sam asked when he caught sight of the rays of light. 

“Who’s supposed to be in there right now?” Danny asked. 

They checked to see if any names were listed on the calendar posted next to the door, but there was nothing. 

“It looks like it’s open,” Josh announced. “But maybe Helios is dropping a track in there,” he added as a second thought. 

Sam was studying the door, deep in thought. 

“Maybe someone left some lighting equipment in there for a music video or photoshoot?” he guessed. “And they just forget to turn it all off?” 

“Are we gonna open it?” Josh turned to Jake. Jake was staring intently at the door once more, debating the pros and cons of opening it. 

Con: there could be something weird behind there

Pro: there could be something weird behind there

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Danny spoke up. “Why don’t we just let management know, and they can send someone over to check it out? I just wanna get back to my bed and sleep.”  

“Don’t you think it’s funny,” Jake started, his eyes still focused on the light, “that we write an entire album about a heavenly gate, and now we’re facing something that looks exactly like that?” 

“It is strange,” Josh admitted. 

“It seems to me like it’s something we’re meant to open,” Jake decided. He was, of course, talking out of his ass, but he wanted to provide a better reason for opening the door other than that he was curious and he had a hard time determining the severity of the consequences of his actions. 

Danny opened his mouth like he was prepared to give a rebuttal, but before he could get his word in, Jake lurched for the rounded door handle and, through grit teeth in response to the heat of the doorknob, twisted and pushed it open. Almost immediately they were all blinded by the light, which they responded to with grunts, flinching away. 

“Okay, maybe those aren’t set lights,” Sam said while he covered his eyes with his hands. “Jesus Christ, that’s blinding.” 

Josh reached into his jumpsuit pocket and retrieved a pair of sunglasses, which he quickly put on. Unfortunately, he quickly discovered that the glasses did next to nothing to spare his eyes from the searing beam. What he was able to see, though, was Jake walking directly into it.

“What are you doing?” he called out in shock. 

“It’s not gonna hurt me,” Jake said over his shoulder. 

“Literally the one thing they tell you is to not go towards the light.” 

“This feels like a different kind of light.” 

“What the hell does that mean? How do you distinguish the difference between light?” 

“Are you gonna grab him or keep arguing with him?” Sam asked from behind Josh, just barely opening his eyes so he could see what was going on. “He’s gonna do something stupid.” 

“Uh, guys,” Danny’s voice shook. 

“What?” Josh and Sam asked. 

“He’s gone.”

Although it was near impossible to see anything other than the striking white color pouring out of the door, it was clear that Jake was no longer standing with them. 

“For the love of God,” Josh groaned out. “Why the fuck did he do that?”

“You were distracted with Sam and he shot me some finger guns and hopped through the door,” Danny caught them up to speed. “Do you think he’s dead?” 

“He’s not dead,” Josh was quick to respond. “I would have sensed it.” 

That earned him a snort from Sam. 

“I swear, there’s academic articles out there about twin telepathy,” Josh felt it was worthwhile in that moment to defend himself against his younger brother’s scrutiny. 

“Jake?” Danny cautiously called into the light, “Are you in there, bud?” 

They were met with deafening silence. 

“Literally say anything,” Danny tried again, panic rising in his voice. They waited a few beats, but not a single sound was uttered from the other side. 

“We have to go in after him,” Josh declared. “And drag his stupid ass back here.” 

“I’m not going in there,” Sam shook his head. “I’m going to bed.” 

“You know you’re not gonna be able to sleep because you’ll be worried about Jake,” Josh raised an eyebrow. “C’mon, Sam.” 

“I want you both to know that being in a band with all of you has easily taken years off of my life,” Danny told the two brothers. Then, he faced the door, let out a short huff, and stepped through it. 

Sam’s face was scrunched in discomfort, not only from the light, but also the situation at hand. It was unclear what laid beyond the door, and Sam had no rational explanation for what could be going on, but he had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that he wasn’t going to enjoy a good night’s sleep in his own bed for a while. 

“Do you want to hold my hand?” Josh asked, holding his sweaty palm up to Sam. Sam looked like he was contemplating it for a second, but finally pushed it away and pointed at the door. 

“We’re going through there together, that’s all I want.” 

Josh couldn’t argue with that so, after giving Sam a reassuring pat on the shoulder, they stood together and squeezed through the tight door frame, entering into the light. 

It was a bizarre experience: while standing near the light had provided a similar sensation to being in front of a fire pit, once they moved deeper in, the air actually grew colder, like the Michigan winters from their childhood. The light continued to sear their eyes, building in intensity to the point where it was still bright with their eyes closed and covered by their hands. Sam and Josh both felt some kind of force latch onto them at the same time, which they responded to with nervous squeaks, and then, like a nightmare roller coaster, they lurched forward. 

If Sam wasn’t so terrified, he would have smacked his older brother for whooping with glee as they were thrust in some unknown direction at a speed that Sam couldn’t fathom. While they whipped around, he was burdened with worry about how they were going to safely stop and, more importantly, exactly where they were going to stop. Their bodies jerked to the left and to the right, and then Sam felt a warmth that they were rapidly approaching. 

“Brace yourself!” He thought he could hear Josh yell over the rush of wind that was passing by Sam’s ears. It was hard to move, but he managed to shakily reach his hands up towards his head and cover it, alongside pulling his knees up into his chest in the fetal position. He opened his eyes for a brief moment, still stunned by the brightness of everything, but saw Josh slightly up ahead, doing flips in the air while yelling out in joy. Just beyond Josh, Sam could see that the white light was starting to break into some kind of green hue. And it looked like that was directly where they were headed. 

It happened so fast Sam couldn’t process anything that was happening in real-time, but they shot out from some kind of cloud, did a freefall for about ten feet, and then landed with a thud in a grassy field. As upset as Sam was with his brothers for forcing him to jump through some mysterious, magic doorway, he was grateful that Josh had half a heart to warn him about a landing. Still, he was in shock from everything, so he opted to lay in the grass, facing the sky that had magically cleared of any strange clouds or scalding heat. 

“Oh shit, are you dead?” he heard Josh ask to his right. The sound of Josh’s footsteps came closer, and then he saw his older brother leaning directly over his head, his eyes bright. “Hiya, Sammy.” 

“Hiya,” Sam softly replied back. “What the fuck just happened?” 

“Probably something the human mind can’t comprehend,” Josh replied with a smile. “I wonder how far away Jake and Danny are.” 

At the thought of poor Danny going through that on his own, Sam sprung back to his feet, which seemed to surprise Josh since he backed up a few steps. 

“They can’t be too far away, right?” Sam asked. Josh shrugged. They both took a second to scan around them to get a better sense of where they could possibly be. Low, rolling green hills surrounded them on all sides and, in the distance, a grove of trees were standing tall. The air was humid, but a light breeze made it easier to breathe, which Sam sucked in. “It feels like the east coast,” he commented. “Up north.” 

“I don’t think we’re in Nashville anymore,” Josh agreed. 

“Danny?” Sam cupped his hands around his mouth to shout. “DANNY?” he tried again. 

“Hey, hey,” Josh put a hand on Sam’s shoulder to stop him. “We don’t know where we are. I think we need to lay low until we find more answers.” 

“I just want to find my friend,” Sam frowned. “He could be hurt for all we know.” 

“We’ll climb to the top of one of those hills and get the eagle eye view, how about that?” Josh attempted to compromise. “You should be able to see him from up there.” 

Sam couldn’t argue with that logic, so they set their sights on the tallest hill and started to climb. Sam didn’t appreciate how evident it was that he was ridiculously out of shape, but he was glad that he could pretend to be intently searching around for Danny while he was actually catching his breath. He and Josh stood back to back, scanning around, trying to catch a glimpse of anything that even slightly resembled their band members when Josh let out a small gasp. 

“Found them,” he announced. 

Josh tugged on Sam’s shoulder to point him in the right direction, and Sam couldn’t help but let out a chuckle when he caught sight of Danny and Jake about 100 yards away, walking side by side through the grass, entirely unscathed. Without another word, Sam started to jog down the hill towards them. Sure, he was out of shape, but he needed some form of consolation that they were okay and they hadn’t just made the biggest mistake of their lives by passing through that damn door. 

“Oh, thank God,” Sam was greeted by Danny when he approached him and Jake. “We had started to assume that you guys stayed behind.” 

“What the hell is going on?” Sam demanded Jake, moving past Danny to grab ahold of Jake’s loose button up shirt so he could pull him close. 

“Still working on an answer to that one,” Jake choked. “Will get back to you soon though.” 

“Let him go, Sammy,” Josh said as he approached the group. Sam looked hesitant, but after hearing Jake make a few more gagging noises, he threw him back down so he stumbled around a bit before regaining his balance. “I’ve got a couple of theories about what just happened,” Josh continued. He held up three fingers, which his bandmates wearily watched. “One,” Josh started, “we’re dead.” 

“Man, I hope not,” Danny commented. 

“Two,” Josh pointed to his second finger, “we somehow managed to find a portal that brought us to a different dimension.” 

“That could be fun,” Jake looked around at everyone and was met by frowns. 

“Or three, someone drugged us back at the studio.” 

“I’m feeling like it’s gotta be option three,” Sam declared. “The other two are baloney.” 

“I hope we went through a portal,” Jake’s mind was somewhere else. “Wouldn’t that be cool?” 

“Not really,” Danny murmured. “I kinda want to go back home.” 

“It’s an adventure!” Jake exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “An opportunity for us to grow and learn things about each other!” 

“That sounds awful,” Sam’s brow was furrowed. “I’m not in the mood for any kind of self-discovery or whatever.” 

“You’ve got no other choice, Sammy boy,” Jake clasped him on the back, which nearly sent him toppling over. “You stepped through that door, now we have to find our way back.” 

“I hate you,” was all Sam could say in response. 

Jake seemed to take no offense to that, since he linked arms with Josh and started to skip away from Danny and Sam, down the hill towards the horizon, singing at the top of his lungs, 

“We’re off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz!” 

“What do you think is going on?” Sam turned to Danny after watching his twin brothers skip off into the distance. Danny looked as troubled as Sam felt, which at least brought him some comfort in knowing that he wasn’t the only one in the group who was capable of even a sliver of rational thought. 

“I couldn’t tell you, but I can confidently say that I’m on the brink of panicking.” 

“You and me both,” Sam sighed. Together, they followed behind Jake and Josh, who had managed to move so far ahead that they were ant-sized in the distance. “We’ll be okay though, I think.” 

Danny looked like he really wanted to believe Sam, but there was still a deep frown stuck on his face. 

“I really wish Jake thought sometimes before he did things.”  

“It’s pretty hard to turn him away from bright, shiny things, Danny. No amount of convincing could have deterred him away from going through that door.” 

“Hey! Guys!” Josh was hollering to them. 

“What?” Sam screamed back. 

“We found something!” Josh’s voice could just barely be heard. Danny and Sam exchanged a quick glance and then tore in Jake and Josh’s direction. Even though they were trying their hardest to remain composed on the outside, both of them were dying to know what situation they had gotten caught in. 

When they reached Jake and Josh, they saw that Josh was closely studying a piece of paper that had been left strewn in a muddy patch in the field. Jake leaned over Josh’s shoulder and seemed to be scanning the words as well, his eyes dancing around the page. 

“What’s that?” Sam pointed towards the damaged paper.

“It’s a clue,” Josh looked up. “A huge clue about where we are.” 

“I didn’t know this was possible,” Jake mused to himself from behind Josh with a joyful chuckle. 

Danny couldn’t tolerate the anticipation anymore since he ripped the paper from Josh’s hands and quickly skimmed it over. 

“What. The. Fuck,” his eyes were wide as he lowered the paper. “What the actual fuck.” 

Jake gave Danny a childlike grin. 

“Right? Right?” He could barely contain his excitement. Danny twisted the paper around so Sam, who was feeling really confused, could take a look. 

“Three days of peace and music,” he read aloud. “Bethel, New York. August 15-17, 1969.” 

“So you guys think,” Danny was trying to make sense of everything, “we traveled back in time?” 

“To the summer of 69,” Jake’s smile stretched from ear to ear. 

“Lord help us,” Sam moaned, letting the paper fall back into the mud.

[clubwnderland]

⤷⋆⋆ 𝑴𝒐𝒐𝒏𝒃𝒚𝒖𝒍 + 𝑴𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒊 𝑼𝒑𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆 ♡

Strap up your boots and hoist the sails, mateys, we are off to find the treasure! I thought it would be so much fun to dress up as a pirate and rule the seven seas~ I'm excited to see what'll happen when I climb aboard and ride the rocky waves!

Ryujin said I'm a vampire... I don't know but she said I fit the look, what do you think? I think it'll be fun to be able to turn into a bat... oh? They don't turn into bats... well... what do vampires do then?

'We are on our way,' the message came through to Moonbyul since Mingi was having the final touches to his hair done. Ryujin kept slapping his hand and telling him to stop playing with it and Moonbyul couldn't help but giggle at the man's eyes widening every time she chided him.

"It keeps tickling my forehead," Mingi says, pouting softly and hoping that Ryujin will cave but no such luck.

She steps back to look at her handy work, narrowing her eyes when his hand instinctively lifts to touch the curl, "you'll get used to it, sweetie, just leave it, okay?" The reaper nods slowly while Moonbyul grabs his hand as Irene's voice calls for everyone to get ready.

Pulling him to the entrance, she gives him a quick talk, "do you remember what your job is tonight?" She asks, leading him down the hallway where a booth is, "follow my lead, hm? We are rotating tonight since I do need to do my set later and if we be good, Miss Irene said we can head off."

Mingi keeps nodding, as if he is taking in every word and Moonbyul chuckles, getting ready for the bouncers to let the patrons in through the doors. Their job is to greet everyone, make sure they get their free drink coupon and are welcomed with a smile.

A job Moonbyul is good at, especially when someone walks in and has her screaming with glee.

Moonbyul is the first one of the two who gets to leave the booth but its okay, she knows that Mingi can handle himself and if he gets too confused, Jay is there to help... and Juyeon. Juyeon is available if needed. She walks hand in hand with Leo, a wide smile on her lips as they talk about the night. "Miss Irene plans these events months in advance, she makes sure it is truly amazing and she never disappoints." She speaks as they head to the dance floor. There's a little bit before she has to go on stage and dance so she's spending it dancing with someone who is quickly rivalling Juyeon for her favourite person.

"Is there anything you want to do after this?" Leo asks, hands on her hips, lips close to her ear as their bodies move in sync with each other. It's like they are wired together, the synchronisation in their moves equal those who have been dancing for years - not months. "I thought maybe we could..." Leo pauses for a moment, pressing himself closer and causing Moonbyul's heart to race. "Enjoy the night together."

Licking her lips, the hellhound looks up into his eyes, nodding her head, "I get to leave early as long as we make it to midnight, Miss Irene said that we can head off because she hired extra staff to cover us tonight."

It's true, to allow everyone the chance to disappear and enjoy the night, if they wish, Irene had made sure there are people to cover every postion - even the dancers.

"What did you have in mind, then, darling?" Leo drawls, hands sliding up her sides before pulling her closer.

"Movies, popcorn and a couch?"

A grin flashes on his handsome features and she knows exactly what he's about to say next. "You sure we'll make it through?"

Laughing before standing on her tiptoes to kiss him, Moonbyul whispers against his soft lips. "If we don't, we just gotta watch it again."

"A haunted forest?" Mingi tilts his head to the side when Jay suggests that they go to a haunted forest that is near her work and Mingi looks genuinely confused by what she means by that. "Did the souls not move on? Are we going to help them?"

Her eyes widen before she laughs, shaking her head. "No, silly, we are going because it'll be fun to run through the forest and see what tries to chase us."

"Souls can't chase." His brow furrows, the poor reaper has no clue what she means by this and so Jay has to explain. The entire concept, how its not really haunted but is just a fun thing to do after the finish and how there'll be apples for them to bob for and try to get. This catches his attention, remembering his experience last year. "Oh, yes, I would like to go to the haunted forest with you."

Both of them are smiling, caught up in their own world when someone clears their throat and causes Mingi to apologise, giving them their coupon and letting them head through.

"When can we go?" Jay asks, leaning on Mingi slightly and blushing as she does so.

Looking at the time, he pats her head, feeling bad that she has to stick around and be bored with him. "Soon. Juyeon is coming and we can go when he comes and takes over."

Almost as if his name summoned him, Juyeon walks in and indicates for them to move away so he can get in behind the booth. "Irene has disappeared, I'm assuming she's out so you may as well go too." He smiles briefly, as if it is more a formality than him being happy but Mingi and Jay are far to excited to even think about it.

"Haunted forest?" Mingi says, taking Jay's hand casually as they walk towards the exit, against the steady flow of newcomers.

Blushing softly, Jay nods before her nerves turn to excitement. "Haunted forest." She pulls him along when outside, trying to steal someone's cab so they can get their quicker.

💕 @livealittleoc-cb

[lobster-tales]

Beat the Daylight

Sequel to Face the Noise, an Arcane Rock Band AU

Rating: M

Chapter 19: The Final Round

Summary:  Battle of the Bands Round Three

This work is available here on AO3. Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18

Vi barely remembered Caitlyn leaving that morning: just her twinkling phone alarm, the rustling of sheets, Caitlyn brushing her lips across Vi’s cheek and murmuring, “I’ll see you there, my love.”

When Vi actually woke up hours later, her body protested, muscles sore from the fight. She stretched as much as she could, examined herself in the mirror. Eh, the makeup artists could cover up that bruise. Maybe not that one, though. Definitely not that one.

“Good morning,” Lux said, already pouring her a cup of black coffee as she entered the kitchen. “You good, by the way? You kind of disappeared last-” Her eyes landed on Vi’s fresh bruises and widened in horror. “Holy shit. Did you get in a fight?”

“I won a fight,” Vi clarified with a smirk.

“What is it with your family,” Lux muttered. “What happened? Who was it?”

Vi’s smirk folded in on itself. “Uh… Sevika.”

“... Wait.” Lux’s fingers itched towards her phone. “That was you? You’re the reason that she’s not-” Lux gasped. “Vi! That’s cheating!”

“That’s not how it went down, I swear!” Vi glanced at the clock. “Come on, we gotta go. I’ll explain in the car.”

Once Lux heard her out, she did sympathize, if not begrudgingly. “At least Jinx still has Viktor,” she pointed out.

Vi hadn’t even thought of that. She wondered if her sister knew the details of the fight, that it was her who knocked out Sevika. Her mind conjured up an image: not of Jinx, but Powder, nervous, standing backstage holding Viktor’s hand, a stuffed animal dangling from her arm.

She couldn’t deny the hope inside of her. Lux’s presence in their lives had changed so much, given them a bridge between each other. For so long, Vi felt like Jinx was a stranger, but the way Lux talked about her made her feel like she knew her. And really, maybe she did. Maybe Powder had become Jinx long before she left. Maybe loving Jinx would be just as easy as loving Powder had been.

Reporters crowded the backstage door. Vi pulled up her hood and put on her sunglasses, but Lux kept herself visible, even with the messy bun and lack of makeup. “I don’t care,” Lux said with a shrug. “They already don’t like me.”

She held her head high as they rushed past the flashing cameras. One of the reporters called, “Luxanna! Is your relationship with Jinx real or just a strategy for the contest?”

Lux threw up her middle finger in response.

As the door closed behind them, Vi pretended to be horrified. “Miss Crownguard!” she said dramatically. “That was not very ladylike.”

“Fuck you,” Lux giggled, jostling her shoulder.

Vi only got a quick glance backstage, but didn’t see Caitlyn. She was probably in the booth overworking some poor sound technician.

The makeup artists gawked at the sight of Vi, admonishing her for getting into a brawl, or at least not doing well enough to avoid getting hit. Lux suggested that it would add to her stage persona, but they waved her away.

The TVs above showed the stage, the staff scurrying across as they prepared for the show. Vi knew she should be nervous, but for the first time before any show, she felt completely cool. Mel’s words from the day before had eased her fears, and especially after defeating Sevika, Vi felt untouchable.

“Hey,” Vi said to one of the makeup artists. “Is Caitlyn in the booth?”

One of them removed a radio from their belt and asked.

A technician’s voice crackled, “No, she’s not here. Team, eyes on Miss Kiramman?”

Another voice answered, “She hasn’t come in yet.”

Lux shot a worried glance towards Vi, who already had her phone out. The first few calls went unanswered. “Shit,” Vi muttered under her breath. “Shit, shit. Lux, you try-”

Vi’s phone rang.

“Oh, thank-” Vi breathed in relief as the name ‘Cupcake’ flashed across the screen. She answered the video call, raising her phone screen so that Caitlyn would also be able to see Lux as well. “Cait?”

But the screen was black. They heard some shuffling, a muffled whimper. Vi’s voice trembled. “C-Caitlyn? You there?”

The camera moved, showing shaky shadows. A voice echoed from the shifting darkness, unaccompanied.

It’s me Hi I’m the problem, it’s me

“What?” Lux whispered. “Powder?”

“Jinx!” Vi couldn’t hold back the accusation from her tone. “What’s going on? Where’s Caitlyn?”

“She’s mine now,” taunted Jinx.

The camera focused on a chair, where Caitlyn sat bound, a cloth gagging her. A pink smile was painted over the material.

Lux’s jaw dropped, unable to process what she was seeing. Vi felt like her heart had stopped. “What- what are you doing? Let her go!”

Still obscured from view, Jinx said, ��If you ever want to see your little girlfriend again, then you better forfeit the contest.”

“No,” Lux breathed. “No, Powder, how could you…”

“Don’t do this!” Vi begged. “Just- We can talk about this, Powder, Jinx! Tell me where you are and we can talk this out. Please!”

Jinx said, “Your choice.” And the call ended with a click.

                                                           ☆ ☆ ☆                                                   

Caitlyn struggled against her bonds, illuminated by the TV’s glow. Blue tinted camera footage was playing, with twin lenses like a set of eyes. Onscreen, Jinx played with dolls, alone in her graffitied studio. The footage had been edited, lines trimmed. She repeated, “That’s right, Ezreal. She’s mine now. And if you ever want to see your little girlfriend again-” The video skipped, fast forwarding to where Jinx held up one of the dolls and imitated Lux, saying, “Thank you, Jinx! You’re my hero!” And she made the dolls kiss.

The video paused, and Silco stepped out from the darkness, Caitlyn’s phone still in hand. “I ought to thank you for the convincing performance, Kiramman.”

She lurched towards him, but the bindings held tight.

Silco’s chuckle was the blade of a knife. “I do hate to keep you from your team, especially in their hour of need, but you understand, child. I never lose.” Before he exited, he switched the TV to the concert stage, and purred, “Enjoy the show.”

                                                           ☆ ☆ ☆                                                   

Jinx refused to spend this round locked up in the dressing room. Who gave a shit if Fissurefolk watched from the backstage rafters, especially when there were only two of them left?

Her painted nails clicked against the railing. Viktor was like stone beside her: together, they were twin gargoyles that leered over the altar.

Seraphine was center stage, cameras focused on her as she recapped the contest. Images played on a screen behind her, referencing various social media posts, starting with Viktor’s departure from Hextech. She covered the tense press conference, the first round and Fissurefolk’s victory.

The recap skipped straight to the second round, and Jinx wanted it to stop, remind Seraphine that she was missing so much of the inbetween: Lux finding out about her past and accepting her anyway, how her friendship with Viktor really started growing, and, of course, the girls’ night. But instead, she watched herself perform, saw the moment where she and Viktor decided to play the remix against Finn’s wishes, and his fate was sealed. She watched Lux sing for the first time, felt that same surprise and desperate want all over again.

Then the flood of social media posts about her and Lux’s night out. In the moment, Jinx had been so consumed with showing off Lux, that she didn’t even realize that it went both ways. Lux kept making eye contact with the photographers, smirking. And when she looked at Jinx, her expression was pure adoration, stars in her eyes.

“... but regardless of what these two had going on,” Seraphine was saying. “It’s no surprise to anyone what happened next.”

Ezreal leaving the band. Finn’s disappearance, Margot’s resignation. Jayce’s dramatic plea in the rain, Viktor refusing to show. And finally, the announcement that Sevika was injured and wouldn’t be performing.

Two months. That’s really all it had been. It felt like years had gone by.

The TV cut to an ad break. Jinx realized she had a white knuckle grip on the railing and let go. Viktor glanced her way and rested an easy hand on her shoulder.

“Strange,” he mused.

“What?”

“Caitlyn’s not in her usual spot.”

He was right. During the first two rounds, Caitlyn always lingered just offstage beside the stage manager. Jinx searched for her in the shadows, but found nothing. An uneasy feeling settled in her stomach.

The lights dimmed. A contemplative synth swept over the crowd. Fog rolled down the stage, illuminated by a soft blue glow. Silhouettes moved into position, and Jayce began a beat.

A center spotlight focused on Lux as she sang,

Dying sun burns in the night I watch it glow and it’s so hard for me Speaking darkness out of spite Coercion and then caving in Wrap me in my bitterness

She looked ethereal, glitter shining on her cheeks, the satin material of her dress reflecting the blue stage glow. She moved with a steady grace, mournful eyes matching the lyrics.

Give it up I’m complacent Just enough to escape this Heretics wouldn’t phase me

Lucid trust I don’t want it Palms are rough when you promise Fire lies when you’re honest

Lux clung to the microphone with both hands, raising her head skyward, above the crowd.

It’s hard to lose and wonder why You pressure in increments

The song intensified, Vi clawing at the guitar as she swayed in time. Lux’s voice drifted above the sound, lost in the haunting melody.

Like a slow moving coup Memories dissident When I am holding you

Jinx was impressed with the somber mood of the band, their dedication to the song. Even Jayce committed to the intense sorrow.

But when the song ended, and Progress Day just gazed listlessly out at the cheering crowd, Jinx finally put it together: this wasn’t part of the act. Something was wrong.

As the applause died, the band members exchanged empty looks with each other. Ekko gave a decisive nod, and picked up his mic. “Thanks. Thanks, everyone. And thank you for your support through this whole journey. But um… We actually have an announcement.”

Jinx seized Viktor’s wrist, holding her breath.

“Unfortunately,” Ekko said. “Progress Day has decided to-”

“Wait.” Vi seemed more surprised than anyone that she had spoken, but cleared her throat and said into her mic, “I um… I actually have one more song.”

Seraphine stumbled out from backstage, clearly rushed out by the stage manager. “And uh, which song will you be playing from your setlist, Vi?”

“None of them.”

A confused murmur traveled through the audience.

Seraphine considered the band nervously. “You-you do realize that if you play a song that isn’t on the setlist, you and the rest of Progress Day will be disqualified from the contest?”

“... I do,” said Vi. The band huddled in the middle, arms on each other's shoulders as Vi spoke to them. They returned to their instruments with a grim determination, Lux shouldering her guitar as Vi took the mic.

Ekko switched his keyboard to the traditional piano sound, playing a gentle string of notes. When the instrumental repeated, Lux joined in, plucking at the guitar so as not to overwhelm the sound.

Backdropped by the pensive intro, Vi said, “This song is for my sister.” And then she sang,

It doesn't hurt me

Lux and Ekko backed up her vocals,

Yeah, yeah, yo-ooh

And Vi,

Do you wanna feel how it feels? Yeah, yeah, yo-ooh Do you wanna know, know that it doesn't hurt me? Yeah, yeah, yo-ooh Do you wanna hear about the deal that I'm makin'?

Vi stretched out her arm to a camera. Powder realized that Vi thought she was in the dressing room. She was singing to her, for her.

You It's you and me

On the chorus, Jayce launched into a slow beat. The music built in intensity, Vi’s vocals taking the lead.

And if I only could I'd make a deal with God And I'd get him to swap our places Be runnin' up that road Be runnin' up that hill Be runnin' up that buildin' Say, if I only could, oh

Ekko and Lux echoed the last line,

Say, if I only could, oh

Vi grimaced against the music, her emotions clear and raw on her face and in her voice. It almost hurt Powder- no, fuck, Jinx. Her name was Jinx. Damn, but it did hurt to hear that pain, so viciously displayed. The pain that she didn’t even know Vi was holding on to anymore, pain that she thought had been fueled by anger or resentment. But the source of this pain was neither of those things: it was love. All this time, it was love.

After Vi repeated the chorus, she belted out the notes of the bridge.

Say, if I only cou-ou-ou-ould, yeah-eah-eah!

The song’s passion rose to incredible heights, each one of the band members fully dedicated. Then they fell away as the song drew to an end, leaving only Ekko and the piano, and Vi, as she sang delicately, in such contrast to the power she had just shown.

It doesn't hurt me Do you wanna feel how it feels?

As the final notes faded, Vi’s voice was a hoarse whisper. “I love you, sis. All of you. And I’ll love you no matter what.”

A haze clouded her senses, like she was lost in a fog. Powder was vaguely aware of the crowd, their impressed if not confused applause. Something was tugging on her arm: Viktor. “Jinx,” he said, trying to get her attention. “Jinx, we’ve won.”

Somehow, she made it to the stage. Somehow, the mic ended up in her hand. Seraphine gave her a clumsy half-hug, attempting to make up for how caught off-guard she was. “Wow,” she said awkwardly. “This is uh, quite incredible. How do you feel, Jinx?”

Who? Powder met her eyes, barely able to focus. “I have a song, too.” Weird, the voice almost sounded like her own.

“Oh!” Seraphine’s sparkly eyes darted from the sound booth at the back of the concert hall to the stage manager madly waving her hands backstage. “Um, well… sure. Ladies and gentlemen, performing their um… encore performance, give it up for… Fissurefolk!”

Progress Day had slipped offstage during the celebration, and now lined up like shadowed sentinels to watch them claim their prize. Their instruments lay discarded around them, tombstones in the graveyard. Powder smiled wistfully at the white guitar covered in animal stickers.

She whispered to Viktor, and he took his seat at the DJ booth, sliding the mask over his face. Powder stood center stage, the mic trembling in her fingers. She had never performed in front of this many people before. Or had she? Why did this seem so familiar? Why did it feel so strange?

“This song,” her voice said. “Is for my sister.”

The hall darkened to match the muted instrumental. Viktor’s booth emitted its own light, the spined eye symbol of Shimmer Entertainment casting a watery glow. Phone lights glittered from the audience, making Powder feel like she was lost in a sea of stars.

She was silhouetted against that murky glow, but as she sang the first few words, she felt herself illuminated by a spotlight.

I had a dream I got everything I wanted Not what you'd think And if I'm being honest It might've been a nightmare

Viktor added in a muffled beat.

To anyone who might care

Some spell controlled her, moved her body in time with the music.

Thought I could fly So I stepped off the Golden Nobody cried Nobody even noticed I saw them standing right there Kinda thought they might care

She stilled, worked up her courage. She knew what she had to do.

I had a dream I got everything I wanted But when I wake up, I see

Powder turned to those sentinels, to the shock of pink in the shadows. Vi jolted at the eye contact.

You with me

And she sang just to Vi.

And you say "As long as I'm here, no one can hurt you Don't wanna lie here, but you can learn to If I could change the way that you see yourself You wouldn't wonder why you hear

A tiny, wistful smile played at the corners of her mouth as Powder sang,

'They don't deserve you'”

From so far away, she couldn’t read Vi’s expression. The other two were standing beside her, Ekko and her beloved Lux. She wanted to look at them, too, but some impossible force kept her focus on Vi. It was a sense, a gut feeling, that Vi needed this. She needed her eyes, her attention, her comfort.

But as the second verse began, Powder became aware of them, the audience. They were watching her, all of them, waiting for her to stumble, waiting for her to mess it up. He was watching somewhere, his one amber eye hot with rage. A word caught in her throat, and then another. Whispers echoed from sharp teeth, intensified by fear.

The mic landed on the stage with a thump, and Powder was soon to follow, falling to her knees. Someone called her name: which name? Which one was she right now? She held herself, overwhelmed by the anxious storm that buffeted her. Tears came, sharpened by quick gasps. Fuck, she was doing it again, she was fucking it up again, just like every other time in her life. Why couldn’t she do this one thing right, why couldn’t she stop her curse just for one, necessary moment? Why did she have to be such a-

And then a calloused hand rested on her shoulder. And then all she could hear was Vi’s voice, right in front of her, amplified by the microphone.

As long as I'm here, no one can hurt you

Powder finally lifted her head. She knew Vi’s face better than her own, knew the tiny scars on her eyebrow and upper lip, the constellations of freckles, every piercing, every tattoo. She had been there for every single one. And her smile: she hadn’t seen Vi’s smile in so long, but it greeted her like an old friend.

Don't wanna lie here, but you can learn to

Vi’s hand drifted down her arm, grasping her fingers as she guided Powder to her feet.

If I could change the way that you see yourself

Her bruised knuckles brushed so gently against Powder’s cheek, wiping away the tears there.

You wouldn't wonder why you hear

Her voice choked out the last line, smiling through her own tears.

'They don't deserve you’

Jinx crashed into her arms, but Vi was strong, too strong to be knocked over. They crushed each other in the embrace, burying their tear-streaked faces in each other’s shoulders. Nothing else existed, the rest of the world orbiting the sisters as they held tight, neither wanting to let go.

Powder was the first to whimper, “I’m sorry, Vi. I’m so sorry.”

“Shh,” Vi murmured into her inked skin. “I’m sorry, Powder. Jinx. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The world must have continued around them, because at some point, Jinx realized the music was gone. She became aware of the crowd once more, who remained dead silent, unsure how to react to the sudden display.

Vi recognized it, and pulled away, her hand still holding Powder’s. She gave her a reassuring smile, squeezed her hand and raised their arms, fists locked together in victory.

And the crowd exploded into applause.

Vi embraced her again, and Powder saw Lux, running towards them from backstage, Ekko trailing behind while Jayce went to Viktor. When Lux collided with her, Powder seized her waist and hoisted her into the air, twirling around in delirious laughter. She kissed her, not hungry or wanting but relieved, hopeful.

Over her shoulder, she saw Viktor, the mask hanging haphazardly off his brow while Jayce captured his mouth in a searing kiss.

Then Powder went to Ekko, hugging him tightly, breathing in his musk and remembering the warmth of her best friend and first love. He held her close, kissing the top of her head. “I’m sorry, Pow,” he said, and she knew he was crying too. “It was all my fault.”

“No,” she said, pulling back. “No, I’m sorry. I never should have left you behind.”

And then she was back in her sister’s arms: held, protected. Lux, Ekko, Jayce and Viktor crowded around, burying her in warmth and love. Her family, almost all of them. Except for-

“Where’s Caitlyn?” Powder asked through her happy tears.

Vi froze, surprised. “You… you took her hostage. You sent me a video call where she was tied up.”

“What?” Powder read their faces, the pain that was there now. “No. No, I didn’t.” In a moment of uncertainty, Powder looked to Viktor. “Did I?”

“Mmm I think I would have noticed if you took another hostage,” Viktor said. “Vi, did you see Powder’s face in this call?”

Vi frowned. “No, but I heard your voice. You were singing this song, ‘hi I’m the problem’ or something.”

“I didn’t,” Jinx said louder, trying to back away from them.

“Silco,” Viktor muttered. “Your studio, Fishbones. He must have-”

A flash of movement drew Jinx’s attention backstage. She only saw the glow of the single amber eye, and the glint of steel, aimed at Vi’s back.

“No!” Powder screamed, flipping her position with Vi as the gun went off.

                                                           ☆ ☆ ☆                                                   

Chaos erupted. The audience surged with panicked screams. Jayce and Ekko took off after him, their footsteps thundering across the stage.

“Powder!” Vi cried out, pulled her close. Lux fell to her knees beside her, a hand over her mouth in horror. “No, no.” Vi’s hands were sticky with liquid, but she was too afraid to look. “Powder…” But the body moved back, revealing that Powder was completely unharmed. Vi could only gawk at her. “Wh-what? But how?”

Powder reached behind her shoulders, and when she brought back her hand, it was stained pink with paint. “I was scared he’d pull some shit like that, so I swapped his guns this morning.”

Lux let out a sharp, relieved gasp, and Vi felt the prick of fresh tears.

Viktor, still standing nearby, jerked his chin towards backstage. “Come. You probably want to get to Silco before Jayce and Ekko do.”

The stagehands had scattered, leaving a clear trail. Jayce and Ekko stood together, facing someone. Vander, his back against a wall, his thick arms grappling Silco in a chokehold.

“You’re here,” Vi said in surprise.

Vander grunted, “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Vi stalked forward, ready to pummel Silco into dust, but a voice stopped her.

“Let him go.” Jinx’s voice was quiet but commanding, and Vander obeyed.

Silco staggered towards her, arms outstretched. “Jinx,” he breathed. “You’re okay.”

But instead of embracing him, Jinx seized his jaw in her fingers. “Where’s Caitlyn?” she hissed.

“Safe,” he said, impossibly calm even now. “In the hotel basement. No harm would have ever come to her.”

He was telling the truth, Jinx knew it. But one truth could not soften so many lies. “You played me.” Her painted nails dug into his gaunt cheeks. “Why, Silco? Why would you do that?”

“I had to secure our victory,” he winced at the pain. “By any means possible. You don’t understand, Jinx.”

“I understand everything. I know about your side bet, Silco. I know that if we had won, Mel would have to resign from the Senate.”

Vi shared a gasp with the group, startled by the news. But Silco’s surprise twisted into a mad grin. “You do understand,” he said. “We did win, Jinx, they forfeited.”

“Fuck the contest!” she snarled. “You put my ass on the line, my contract! And you lied about it, you lied to my face!”

“... I’m sorry, Jinx. I only did it to protect you.”

“Protect me from what? My family?” Her grip loosened, the hurt weakening her, causing her fingers to tremble. “You lied about that, too. You said they never came looking for me, that they didn’t want me anymore…”

Silco gently pulled away, his face solemn. “They never came for you, Jinx, they came for Powder. I knew you weren’t that girl anymore, that you had been reborn.”

His bony fingers caressed the side of her face, and it took every ounce of will in Vi’s body not to snap his wrist.

He continued, though, uninterrupted. “They don’t know who you really are, but I do. I know what you’re capable of. And I love you for it.”

She said in a quiet voice, “You never loved me.”

“No, Jinx. I swear-”

“You only loved what I could give you.” Her spine straightened, eyes stormy. She took a step towards him and Silco instinctively backed away. “You only loved Jinx because she was your heir. You didn’t want a daughter, you wanted a legacy.”

“That’s not-”

“And all I ever wanted was to be accepted, and you took advantage of that.” Her hands clenched into fists at her side. “You took advantage of me, you betrayed me. What kind of father betrays his daughter?”

“I never meant-” He jolted at the touch of the wall behind his back.

“You don’t care about me,” she continued. “You don’t care about Zaun, either. All you care about is power, that’s why you wanted an heir. So your name could live forever, so you could live forever. Well guess what, Silco?” She seized him by the front of his maroon shirt, hissing quietly into his face, “I’m not your heir anymore. I’m not your star, I’m not your idol, and I’m not your fucking Jinx.”

With that, she spun on her heel and left him.

The band loomed around Silco, ready to tear him apart. But Vander held them back. “Let the authorities deal with him,” he said, nodding to the concert hall’s security team.

Vi and Lux found Powder backstage, tucked away in a corner as she grounded herself. “Pow?” Vi asked. “You okay?”

Powder jumped into Vi’s arms just like she had so many times growing up, squeezing her tightly. “I am now,” she whispered. “Come on, let’s go get your girl.”

[pockspocket]

Working on a small comic based on a short story of one of my dnd characters i wrote for English lol

I'll post it here cause why not

CW: Gore, Blood, Violence

Lilies

By Pock

Fire. Screams. Cries for help. That's all he saw and heard. Everything was blurry, muffled, and spinning. Blood. So much blood. Was it his? As he laid there, the smell finally hit him. It was horrid. Nothing will ever compare to this. He wanted to get up, run away, and hide; or at least let out a shout for help. But his body wouldn’t budge, the only thing that his body could do in that moment was to keep breathing. Even though it hurt, it kept him grounded from passing out. People kept passing by, even some hopping over him in a hurry. He heard a familiar voice shouting. His muscles tensed up as he thought, “Kian!”. He tried to lift at least his head up but it didn’t work, “C’mon, Mevir, you useless piece of crap, you gotta get up!”. As he’s struggling to lift himself up, a hooded figure crept up to him and loomed over him. Mevir opened his eyes and froze up. Another one walked up; both of them grabbing his arms and dragging him off. It was useless to resist, the icy touch of the figures made everything hurt ten times more. His head pounded. “Am I going to pass out, now of all times?!” As his thoughts kept running off, he heard his name being called. 

“Mevir! Mevir!...”.

Mevir opened his eyes and sprung up, nearly hitting the poor lady calling to him. He did hit the back of his head on the wall of the booth he was situated at. The tiefling started to look around his surroundings and it all came back to him, well most of it. It appears that he had a little too much to drink tonight, as he’s looking down at the empty pints spread around the table. The woman is still standing there waiting for him to say something. He finally looks up at her, “Sooo… What’s uhh the damage?” he asked hesitantly. 

“Sixty.” she looked at him with a stern annoyed look. 

“SIXTY!?” The woman rolls her eyes and starts to collect the empty mugs. “Lilian you know I can’t afford sixty! Can’t you just put it in my ta-” Mevir says as he’s following Lilian back to the bar, and cuts him off as her long dark hair whips around and gives him a face of frustration and anger. 

“No, I can’t put it on your tab… you wanna know why?” Mevir looks down to the floor like a child that is being told off because it broke the expensive vase. “Go on, ask.” she says with an urging tone, but doesn't wait for a response. “ONE THOUSAND GOLD! One thousand gold that you own us!” Mevir slightly flinches from her shouting. “Mevir… you haven’t paid since the very first night you came…” Lalian lowers her voice “I’m sorry, but if this keeps happening, we’ll have to ban you permanently… and you know how quickly word spreads around here…” Mevir looks down at the human woman.

“Yeah, I know.” He steps back and starts stretching and groaning. Lilian grabs him by his shirt and pulls him down, 

“I’m serious. You already don’t have the greatest reputation, considering that you’re a-” she gets interrupted by Mevir. 

“A tiefling. That, I very much remember.” He chuckles as he looks down and points to his tail, making it wag a bit. Lilian rolls her eyes and pushes Mevir from the chest making him lose his balance, nearly falling over. He continues to laugh and giggle. The long haired woman goes behind the bar and starts to clean the cups there; Mevir follows and gets to the bar as well, he uses his tail to pull one of the bar stools to sit on. He stretches across the bar top and puts his head down. The two didn’t talk for the rest of the night. This was what they usually did: Lilian would clean and prepare the bar for the next day, while Mevir hung out to keep her company. He would usually use this time to think to himself, and try to plan what he’d do next. He contemplated whether to stay in this town for the rest of his life, or finally leave.

✦•───•✦•───•✦

“Lilian?...” Mevir asked quietly with a look of horror across his face. He stood there for about a minute, trying to comprehend the grotesque visual before him. Lilian was laying on the pavement with her entire torso cut open. Her insides and blood was spread out everywhere, her face was completely blank. Her brown eyes no longer had their amber shine to them, instead they were lifeless and dull. Mevir dropped his bags and ran to his friend, as he went down to her, he scrapes both of his knees badly and begins to bleed. He didn’t care. He gently lifts up Lilian for her to slightly sit up. Mevir is shaking badly. Tears begin to fill his eyes and flow down; they fall onto Lilian’s face and roll down it making it look as if she’s crying too. He hugs her tightly and begins talking quietly in a different language. His tone was gentle and sincere. From the side Mevir came through, someone entered the alleyway. It was a young girl with a basket full of different fruits and vegetables. The poor girl abruptly stops. The sound from her basket dropping rings through the alley. Everything stops. Mevir’s heart drops, the next few moments felt like they went in slow motion. He begins to quickly turn around to look at the girl. She begins to let out an ear-splitting scream. Mavir drops Lilian and puts his hands to his ears in pain. The problem here is that this alleyway is connected to the right to main street with all the shops, and this is the busiest time of the day.

“It’s the tiefling!!” a man shouts. It felt like the entire town went silent just to hear the man’s shout. People from the main road started to enter the alley not knowing what horrors awaited to meet their eyes. So many people flocked in and so many shouted, screamed, vomited; they reacted with every possible reaction known to man. Mevir froze. This town was his home, the only place that can somewhat accept him after the incident. Lilian took care of him and showed such kindness to him.

Mevir began to slowly get up. The townspeople became quiet and started to step back in fear.

“What is it gonna do?” they began whispering. Mevir didn’t want to look back at them. He stood there with his head down for a few seconds. Then bent back down to pick up the woman's body. Her blood soaked hair flowed down as Mevir picked her up bridal-style.

“HEY! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!!” a man from the crowd shouts. Mevir paid no attention to them, he proceeded to walk off in the opposite direction with the body. Guards finally show up, pushing through the crowd, they get to the front with heavy armed crossbows.

“FREEZE!” one of them shouts. Mevir doesn't listen and continues walking at a steady slow pace.

“I said… FREEZE!” the guard shouts once more and shoots. But the arrow doesn't hit. Earlier Mevir setted up a barrier that was supposed to double as camouflage, but was interrupted by the young girl while reciting the spell. More guards shot, but none of the arrows hit; instead they were stopped by the barrier. At the end of the alleyway was pitch black, Mevir proceeded to walk into it. The last thing that everyone heard is one last drop of blood hitting the ground and echoing all around.

✦•───•✦•───•✦

Mevir found himself here once again. 

“It’s been a while hasn't it…. Old friend…” he says while tanking long pauses. “I’m sorry… wow… I guess I never said that out loud to you… I mean… I should've but-” he stops. Somehow he’s making this one-sided conversation really awkward. “Listen. You and I may not have gotten along often. I wouldn’t be surprised if you even really hated my guts and just didn’t want to tell me. But you somehow showed me kindness and gentleness. You put up with my stupidity and carelessness. And for that… Thank you. Thank you for being there for me, thank you for being my light in my darkest moments, and thank you for being my family. That I thought I lost forever until… until you.” He goes quiet. A few moments later light started to peek through the trees, as the sun rose up. Mevir goes into his cloak and pulls out a pouch full of coins. “Here… I finally got around to paying you back…” he places the pouch next to the carved wooden headstone, which read,  “Lilian- Dearest of friends one could ever wish for”. Mevir began to turn around and start walking away, until he heard a noise. It was a bird; it had landed on the headstone. As he looked back, with clearer light, he now realizes what had grown all around the piece of wood.

And with a sigh of relief he says, “Lilies… Her favorite flower.”

[ivyleatherwriting]

MSMR Rough UFO

The street fair was as lively as ever. Comers, goers, and everyone in between filled the streets as buildings and booths were teeming with life. Laura turned her head every which way just to orient herself as she lost the group she came with. A frustrated sigh as she decided to look around a bit on her own. It was your standard fare. Crafts, photographers… religions? Wandering a bit more she ended up on the west side of the street before a voice clearly rang out over the rest.

“Hey you! Purple necklace!” The bright, airy voice pierced the curtain of noise.

Laura did a spin towards her left to see a woman dressed rather… garishly standing by a green booth. “Me?” She noticed the green and purple, but two images tried to grab her attention before the voice returned.

“Yeah you! I love your necklace!” She ran up to Laura holding up her arm sporting a similar bracelet, but in a bright green hue. “Holy crap we match!! Besties!!” While her exuberance would normally put Laura in a coma she was rather fixated on the woman. The booth had a strange pattern, almost like a flower. It was static… but she could have sworn it was a digital screen instead of a piece of fabric. “Hey!” Laura’s mind was interrupted as she felt a hand tilt her head upwards. “You okay? You seem kinda out of it?”

Her eyes… she saw the flower again?

“Whoa, let’s go over here!” She felt the woman’s hand pull her arm over to the booth and find some friendly shade under the building’s awning. After a bit of water and some shade Laura felt her focus return. Somewhat. “You almost passed out! It’s hot out here girlie, gotta stay hydrated!”.

“Thanks… sorry I’m kinda out of it. I feel kinda bad.” Laura’s sheepish apology did nothing to blunt the woman’s enthusiasm.

“No sweat! I’m Tara. What’s your name?”

“Laura. Nice to meet you.” A neutral was finally coming to Laura’s mind.

“Cool! I’ve got to ask you where you got that necklace! It’s a lot like my bracelet!” She threw her arm up again to flash the bracelet.

“Uh, a friend of mine gave it to me. Maybe you got it from the same place?”

“No way! What a coincidence. Well either way I like yours but ours are pretty cool too. Our shop sells lotsa funky stuff like this.”

Laura finally took more stock of the woman. The purple leggings, green shirt, pearlescent skirt with a glittery sheen, black boots, and a bob haircut that gave a retro feel. “Your look is kinda funky, it’s definitely festival wear.” Laura’s compliment came out a bit awkwardly and again, it didn’t matter.

“Nah! I dress like this a lot, well maybe not exactly but I’ve always been super interested in aliens and stuff. Not like “ancient aliens” or anything like that but idk, it’s just cool and I guess I think flying saucers and aliens are just awesome!”

Laura’s internal monologue started to match hers. Not in cadence but in that brighter tone. She almost missed the flash in the woman’s eyes again. That flower just kept appearing. “I guess… I should ask. What does ‘Project MSMR’ mean?”

“Yeah! So Project MSMR is my marketing project for school. I have a whole clothing line I’m working on to go with it. A futurist aesthetic and the aliens are kinda my own touch but taking this wild fashion forward is kinda my goal. Interesting in color, texture, or contrast! And my own personal touch is the UFO stuff. Oh no, I’m not boring you am I?”

It wasn’t the heat, and it wasn’t the flower, but Laura just kind of rolled with everything. “That sounds cool! I don’t really get it? But it kind of follows, I guess. You know?” Her voice peaked up a little bit.

“YES! Holy crap I thought you’d get it too!” The exuberance was blinding, at least it would have been 20 minutes ago. “You know what? I think you have potential. Want some free merch? If you promise to wear it I’m totally okay with giving you some!” She already started a half step backwards.

“Huh? Oh, sure. I like free stuff, idk if I could pull it off though…?” Laura was a bit dreamy but matched the woman’s half step forward.

“Cool! Come on inside! Let’s find something that works for you.” One step, matched by Laura. Another step. Another step. Only a matter of minutes later and they were in the backroom of the building rifling through boxes and shelves.

“Ooooooookayyyyyyy I definitely have some glossy silver. I think wild colors may not be your thing but maybe some cool texture or patterns? Or I’ll have to try this instead….” She was fully engrossed in finding the right outfit. Laura was just vibing. Watching her new friend be super invested in something was enough to hold her attention. Heels hit the floor to her left, and the woman jumped up to face them. Laura lazily looked to the left as the heels stopped. A taller woman wearing a glittery, silver catsuit and black trim faced them both.

It was like everything changed.

“Whoa! Beth!? What are you doing here!” Her face showed surprise and a hint of fear.

“Is this the specimen?” The tall woman approached Laura as she began to rouse from her modest stupor.

“Yes. She’s a good fit for the project, at least I think she’ll get through the initial phase.”

Laura was overwhelmed by the woman’s presence. The wild uniform, her somewhat smug demeanor, and that flower on her collarbone continued to flicker and swirl. The gloved hand touched her chin, and everything went silent. Her vision was only staring straight ahead as the woman looked down at her.

“She seems suitable enough. This one is to go immediately. Your experiment on passive induction on the masses will have to wait.” Her voice danced up and down, but with that authoritative air.

“Yes, Beth. I’ll prepare her at once.”

Laura didn’t see her move as she was too focused on the woman named Beth. “Hey is that… flower….?”

Beth looked back at the subject with a small chuckle. “You’ll soon find out, little one. You’ll be seeing a lot of that very soon.” She drew something unusual from her belt that almost looked a ray gun from an old TV show.

“Whoa… nice prop… that kinda looks like-“ The pink beam of light took only a millisecond to touch Laura’s head. The pulsing sounds drowned out her surroundings and the flower pulsed at her in 3 dimensions. She fell to her knees as the woman put the other hand on her hip, smiling arrogantly as she continued to fire the beam at Laura. It wasn’t an acid trip, and it wasn’t a hallucination. Laura felt pieces of her start to slip away as she lost all track of her surroundings, and even Beth. The flower pulsed at her and a strange, incomprehensible voice intoned behind it.

The beam stopped and Laura’s vision went black as she fell to the floor below. A soft exhale as Beth’s eyes closed. It feels good to be powerful.

The woman ran from the other room and took a second to let her superior enjoy the satisfaction. “Um, we’re ready Beth. Your orders?”

A half turn of her head, not bothering to make eye contact. “Take her below. Let’s see if your sources have given us a specimen worth the trouble.”

“My friend is solid Beth. She’s just as obedient as I am and if she didn’t think this girl would hold up she wouldn’t have sent her here.” “Good. I want updates on her progress. Take her.” The end of her sentence was much stricter and matter of fact. The woman immediately picked up the unconscious Laura and a panel of wall raised up to the ceiling. Carrying Laura down the stairs to a strange room of lights, monitors, and a strange apparatus at the center of the room.

The days were but a series of hazy vignettes. A wall of monitors, glossy figures coming and going, pulses of pleasure, her body sweating and her heart racing, needles and liquids, floating in some kind of glass structure, and so many she had forgotten. In and out of consciousness, but only pieces of awareness in between. No routine to ground her. No faces to focus on. Just the flower and the avalanches of pleasure.

Laura wasn’t entirely lucid as she recovered in the medical bay. The bright lights above, and the strange faces above were all she could remember. The occasional voice here and there. Day, after day, after day, after day.

“Subject M-491 has no issues. She appears to be ready for the next stage.” The voice was stiff, somewhat empty.

“Good. Is she ready for a little trip among the stars?” A familiar voice.

“Yes, she’s stable and ready to go. She can be moved within the hour but we’re out of pods. You’ll have to move her manually.”

“That’s fine. I’m sure her own kind will be gentle with her. Prepare her for travel at once.” That emphatic, authoritative delivery again.

“As you command.”

Finally, after that long, indiscriminate amount of time Laura finally came to completely. She felt a bit nauseous as the world slowly moved around her. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness and the strange silver glint underneath her. She groaned a bit and tried to hold her head upward to see the strange disc looking thing in front of her.

“Whoa! I think she’s waking up!” One silver suited woman talked to the other while strengthening her grip on the woman’s arm.

“Uh. You think she’s awake awake? Or is she just kinda dozing?” A brief moment of concern.

Laura mumbled a bit. “where…the….flower….msmr…”

“Nope, she’s totally about to wake up. We’d better go faster.” The women quickened their pace.

Laura wriggled just a bit, and weakly pulled against the women’s grip.

“Hey now, you’re okay! We’re just taking you on a little trip! It’s totally okay to go back to sleep!” The sing-song style of the woman’s voice was oddly soothing.

“Yeah! We’re just going up this ramp and then we’ll get you some more of those awesome drugs they gave you in medical. Just a biiiiit further.”

Laura’s vision tried to focus but the light in front of the door grew brighter and brighter. She lost the silver sheen, and the disc shaped structure until the white had filled her vision. Her head fell downward and she began to stutter.

“Baaaaaaaack to sleep. That’s a good specimen!”

“Next time you wake up is gonna be totally cool. Just faaaaaaaade away and go back to sleep.”

Laura’s body tried to wake up, but her brain refused to fire. Her head fell limp as the reached the top of the ramp, and she was fully unconscious.

“Good thing she’s asleep again. I didn’t want to have to explain her being awake.”

“Her brain like, totally isn’t fried. You think she was willing?”

“Who knows, let’s get her to the sleep tubes before Beth wonders where we are.”

The women entered the white light as the ramp retracted itself. The ship came to life and lifted off the ground, silently raising upward before taking off and disappearing beyond the horizon.

[moonebath]

I remember the first day we planned to meet each other. Anxiously we waited, we both slept like shit. I had to take a walk in the morning to collect myself. We agreed to meet at 8am due to lack of sleep. I was eating breakfast prior and suffering from the most sorrowing stomach pain I’ve ever had. I contemplated cancelling but didn’t.

We met at the mall, it was sunny and airy that morning. I embarassingly had to stop for tums at the mall’s drug mart. Meeting you in the lot, I downed a couple tums humbly.

We went into starbucks and the book store, where a 12 year old kid struck up continuous conversation with me. I was so in awe. Why did this kid want to talk to us about manga so bad? You with your book, slowly faded away and distanced. Me, not knowing you didn’t like kids kept yapping to the youngster. I set off with a smile, it made my day.

As someone who likes to plan things, you were more of a wing-it. We agreed to go on the walk I suggested before of the 3km loop because of the lack of fields you preferred to lay in that didn’t exist within my town. I wished they did.

We walked 23,000 steps together, 3km felt like nothing. We talked about whatever and laughed. The only soreness I had was on the way back in my legs, but was quickly dismissed due to tangling myself in conversation once again. The only picture I took was of some purple (pink?) orchids we found.

After our walk, we sat down and decided on where to eat. We chose sushi, which Japanese happens to be a commonplace for our dates now, which I love. We warmly kept conversation flowing, and exchanged eye glasses. We have similar prescription. My frames suited you so well.

I’ll never forget expressing my fears to you one by one, just wanting to lay them out completely on the table. One of them is space, and I explained, “I just feel like it’d feel so psychologically traumatizing to be there, it’s a whole ‘nother world”- and you said, “homie, I gotta tell you something. Did you know you’re in space right now?” Laughing my ass off, I realized the lack of forethought and my awareness of how I truly am in space and it still has not registered within me entirely.

We spent the afternoon laying in the park grass and chatting peacefully. The silence felt comfortable when it came by. I couldn’t stop looking at you, my brain was begging me to kiss you. I kept swallowing my thought and shunning it away into the corners of my mind, but it persisted. I respected you so much that I thought I’d have to live with this secret the rest of my life.

Then the rain came, it smelled so good. We decided to get boba as it was approaching 8pm. We made it with an hour to spare, cozying in the small booth across from each other. When they were close to closing, we transferred to our vehicles where we sat outside them and watched the sunset around us. We delved into the deeper topics of ourselves, after resisting the urge to trauma dump our last relationship until the last portion of our date. At this point you had no plutonic feelings for me, but it couldn’t have been more opposite for me. I asked you for advice on a recent situation and you gave me advice I needed to hear. Feeling seen and safe, I began to almost doze off standing up in your presence. I needed to go home before I started coming off affectionate with no filter.

The next occurrence was when I passively hinted about being invited to your cabin, so you did. I had told you I had a crush which was actually terrifying. You reassured me gently, and the night before you reciprocated your feelings to me. I hadn’t been so happy in so so long.

This song above is a perfect representation of the cabin. Only you and I will know what occurred then. The reason why I’m writing all of this is to remember details in the future because I never want to forget. I sat here listening to this song after almost a month of knowing you and I just started to cry. I have been having such a difficult time crying lately, but there is so many emotions I’ve been feeling since I’ve met you. I felt like an elderly version of myself looking back with satisfaction and sentiment as tears twinkled from my eyes down my cheeks. Silly, I know, but so true.

I love you so much.

[whataboutsteffanfics]

Trails of fire - Chapter 4

Zendaya Pov

after the long day she had she was so tired she immediately wanted to go to bed and sleep, but there was going to be a big chance she was gonna see Chris and he is the last person she wants to see today.

she pulled up in her driveway and got all of her stuff out of the car. she walked in to the house and heard the tv from the fronts door.

as she walked further she kept praying that it wasn't Chris.

'hey' she heard when she walked into the living room

'shit' she whispered

she turned around and give him a dry look and tried to walk to the stairs as fast as she could but chris stopped her in her tracks by softly pulling on her arm

'what do you want chris im tired' she said without looking at him

'i just wanna talk to you, you have been moody lately loosen up man'

it took her a second to realize what he just said. she turned around and looked at him as if he had just lost his damn mind

'me moody... i know you just didn't say that to me' she said with attitude

'what do you mean, im just stating fact, come sit down so we can talk for a bit'

'yeah no'

she tried walking up the stairs again and got stopped by chris again

'what is your issue' he said with a hard tone

'first of all lower that tone i aint your child, and second you gotta stop asking me what the problem is, now are we done?'

'no im not done, im just trying to figure out why you are so mad all the time, every time I come home you already in a mood and i didn't even do nothin'

she raised her eyebrows and thought about what she was going to say without regretting it

'listen, i just came back from a peaceful day, that is why zink took the kids for the week to give me some peace, and now here you come talkin about my ass being moody, i dont feel like arguing with you. so if you dont mind my moody ass is going to lay down, so that i can take care of MY KIDS in the morning, thank you very much.' she said and walked up the stairs

he followed her upstairs to their bedroom

'what do you mean MY KIDS , why are talking as i dont take care of my kids, you dont make sense' he said

she ignored him and continued to do her thing on her phone

He took the phone out off her hands and threw it on the floor

'are you crazy!' she picked it up and saw a couple of cracks

'i was talkin to you'

'so just because you were talking doesn't mean you should throw my phone you dumbass'

"Ay man stop cursing at me, you gonna answer my question?'

'no, go figure it out, how about that' she said

'you know what you can also do is get the fuck out cause your pissing me off, and isn't this the time you rather go hang out with your friends anyways' she said and pushed him out of the door and locked him out of their bedroom

Chris Pov

'pfff' he huffed as he was standing by their bedroom door

he decided to let this stupid argument be for what it is

he went to each of the children's room and gave them a kiss before he left to go to the studio

when he arrived at the studio, he immediately went to the booth to record.

but he was making mistakes every time he tried to sing his songs

he didn't even notice that his best friend come in who stopped the session

'ayo chris take a break man'

chris took off his headphone and got out of the boot, his producer walked out of the room so that he could give them space to talk

'wassup man you haven't been good these last couple of weeks whats goin on?'

'man...me and the wife haven't been good lately.. im not getting through her'

'what's happening?'

hey starts telling his side of the story

after a long day at work all he wanted to do was go home to be with his wife and the kids

"hey queen" he greeted her with a kiss

"hey babe I gotta show you something in the kitchen" she said with excitement

she took his hand and brought him to the kitchen, he saw a bag with balloons attached to it

"oooh a gift for me" he said like a little kid

"hahaha yass, now open it please"

he took all of the colored paper out of the bag and saw a red box in it, he opening the bag and saw a shirt and another small box in it. he decided to open the box first and saw a pregnancy bag, his eyes went big ad he looked at her, he then took the shirt and read what was on there

"baby..are..you" he couldn't even finish his words

"yass we are having another baby" she said with tears in her eyes

he came up to her and hugged her, he was so happy he couldn't believe that they were having another baby

he pulled up her shirt and started giving her kisses on her stomach.

a couple weeks later

Chris decided that it was good idea to go on a date. they got ready for their date and waited for his mother to come so they could leave.

Chris heard the doorbell ring and went downstairs to open the door

"hey hun" his mother hugged him

"hey mom"

his mom went to hug they kids as Chris waited for Zendaya to come down so they could leave. after a couple of minutes she came down stairs

'ooh you look hot' he took her hand and spins her around

'thank you' she said and blushed

she greeted her mother in law and they left

they was enjoying themselves at the restaurant, they talked about everything. they talked about the baby, new projects, the kids ext.

when they arrived home Daya started to feel cramps, but this one was different it was something she hasn't felt before. as the time went by they became heavier, she told Chris and they asked his mother if she could stay longer and would tell her everything later

he carried her to the car and drove her to the ER

they went inside and helped her, he waited and prayed that everything was okay. after waiting for 1 hour the nurse took him to her room so that he could see her.

he went over to her and gave her a hug and at next to her on the bed

the doctor came to her room so he could talk to them

"is the baby okay" they both asked

"so we have done some test and we have done an ultrasound to check everything and unfortunately the baby didn't make it im sorry" the doctor said

when he heard these words, he felt like his world was ending. he couldn't handle the pain he felt. he felt like somebody took something away from him and thats when everything went wrong

Chris started to work more to get rid of the hurt from that event, and she talked less. they never talked about that moment because of how painful it was. they started to see each other less, they was always fighting and haven't had a normal conversation since..

'wow man thats a lot, yall gotta talk fr fr cause this is not good, and not only for the 2 of you but also for the kids man'

'i know, but i dont even know if i can go back to the house man she send me out' he said and took a sip of his water

'you can always stay at my house, that ain't no problem'

'thank you man.. i feel like going out, you in?'

'yh but you better dont do things you will regret, cause my ass aint finna be responsible' he said and they left

they were havin fun, well chris was having more fun as he was a little drunk

they were just chilling in their section when a girl tried talking to chris, he kept ignoring her.

he stood up to leave, cause she was starting to piss him off.

he walked to his car and she followed him

'what do you want man' he said irritated

'just give me your number and a kiss and i will leave' she said seductively

'hell no im good' and tried to get in his car

just when she saw a paparazzi she took her chance and took his face and kissed him

he didint kiss her back and pushed her away

'why would you do that man, whats you issues!' he said angrily

he got in his car and drove off

'shit!' he huffed

he drove to his friends house and thought about what he was going to explain to his wife....

[rhymingtree]

Based on prior hinting I know this one is going to hurt but I must soldier through the fear of emotional torture.

I've got this I've got this I've got this I've got this

I'm gonna make myself a hot cocoa after this to make myself fell better.

Oh shit. Ollie's POV flashback godfuckingdamnit

And, in truth, he was thankful that she’d kept him alive this long. The men on this mission wouldn’t have kept him alive. Nor would they have listened to him.

You have a veeery funny way of expressing gratitude, Walsh.

I'm wondering how they'd film all of this if it were a show... if they were to show the events from Ghost and Ollie's perspectives separately, how would they do it

And knowing MCU and their weird secrecy, how would they hid it from the actors themselves what their scene partners would be doing... or would they really hide it that much? Would Ollie's actor be made aware of his character's intentions from the very start or would they let him play out the innocent inexperienced newbie, before dropping the bomb on him right before Ollie takes off Ghost's helmet in the Tower?

Seems extreme to keep all of that in the dark for that long, but Feige has resorted to a lot of extremes to keep things under wraps, so...

I'm thinking for all the Wraith scenes where it's just his modulated voice, they'd have the other actors say the dialog in the scene and Wraith's lines would be VO'd... to make it trippier they could have Danny's actor VO him (and credit him) so no one would suspect Ollie at all. Kinda like how they did the Mandalorian, other people were in the suit and Pedro was cozy in the booth.

 “I didn’t sign up for this.” It was true. This was not in his briefing when he signed up for the mission. It was supposed to be simple and, yet, here he was.

Maybe you didn't read the contract as thoroughly as you thought you did.

I just realized Ghost's actor would either have lots of stunt doubles to do all the batshit crazy things she does... or she'd have to be played by Tom Cruise, who literally can do all the shit she does.

But seeing Tom Cruise be lovey dovey with Sebastian Stan is not a fun mental image in my book. So the latter is an immediate no.

Hopefully? Hopefully! “Hopefully? That's your plan?”

It's like a game of How Long Till Ghost Gives Someone a Heart Attack?

I'm truly surprised no one had to get an open-heart surgery from merely talking to her.

And, if that meant him dying for the cause, then…Hail Hydra.

Nazis are stupid.

Ahhh, the sound of Ollie's shrieks as he plummets to the ground. What beautiful music.

“If you wanna survive this…” The woman’s face changed with a snarl, silencing him in an instant as she sent a glare directly into him, “Don’t finish that sentence.”

Aw, dang it. He really should've finished that sentence then. If he had, we wouldn't be in the current, gallivanting around Europe on a killing spree while very tired boyfriend chases after us predicament

What the fuck, Oliver? Why are you tryna unhook straps in midair? You really wanna try and kill her now when your life is equally on the line?

So Ollie is only intelligent when both his feet are on the ground, eh?

“You may not be dead up there. But the instant you dumb-fucks hit the ground, I’mma skin both of you.”

Oh Weston, I miss you.

She looked like the Soldier.

I think this was a missing piece to one of the puzzles you're tryna solve, Buckaroo. Just gotta slot it in and look at the bigger picture now.

“I was like looking in a fuckin’ mirror.”

I wonder how Steve's gonna go about this now that Bucky threw this little nugget of information at him

This was it. The last stand. The end of the line.

I'm terrified. Just so you know.

Ooh, why does Novak always write with a red pen?

End of the line, huh? It's... it's been a really long line, at this point I think we're just on an endless loop of pain and suffering

awww Jack went with Spidey to his second favorite building cuz he has something cool to show him???

AWWW THATS SO SWEET

Despite his best intentions, there were times he forgot he was dealing with a literal child. He wouldn’t lie, the kid was good, but he was still a kid.

Yup. Now you're in charge of the child. You are his guardian and mentor. You are the Mando to his Grogu, the Joel to his Ellie.

And if you know what happens to Joel at the end of the games, WELL. We don't talk about THAT.

Yay, someone's explaining illegal arms dealing to this fifteen year old child trying to stop illegal arms dealers.

Honestly, Peter was far too unsupervised in his movies. Grown ups are so fuckin stupid.

New York's Nanny!?

Peter. Stop.

His voice dropped to a whisper as he relaxed back with a shake of his head, “Don’t throw her around like that.”

Ow. Darke what the heck

“You got this, Spider-Man. I’ll keep an eye on the city.”

Welp. This'll end well. Very well.

So.... sooooo well

Like, top of the Washington Monument well.

Walsh's goons seriously thought a barricade of cars was gonna stop Ghost?

Oh wow. That is a whole new level of incompetent.

He swore he saw a shadow dart into the building, he swore he saw yellow eyes dip back into the darkness.

Nah man, that's just a really big rat, don't worry about it. Just Remy looking for a really big chef to control.

Or... it is the chef already being controlled by a rat?

omg was Remy the rat a HYDRA scientist

if you're wondering, yes I'm reading this at 2 am. Now you know why my brain went down that road

Remy is a HYDRA scientist taking over a Parisian restaurant confirmed. Someone get Ghost.

“She’s going after you first.” Walsh paused, looking into the building after him, “Does that mean you want to lead?” “Nope,” he said with a curt shake of his head, “I’ll let her have you first.” “Great.”

I hate how funny they actually are together. It's inconvenient for them to have this kind of chemistry.

Oh here we go...

I wanna see fanart of Ghost with Perseus' orange glow in her eyes, like Jinx with the purple shimmer in her irises.

Omg what if her tears are orange too... unlikely, but a very cool visual

But Bucky couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t hurt her. He wouldn’t hurt her.

Haha the way this felt like a fucking sword through my fucking chest.

“Familiar, Ollie?”

Cinematic moment worthy of epic tiktok edits right there

“Doll,” he tried again, holding out a hand to keep her at bay, “Listen to me.” Her jaw clenched as she shook her head, trying to circle past him and back to Walsh, “Move.” “Baby, please—” “I said move,” she snapped, not listening to him as she lurched toward him.

Idk how to react to any of this do I cry do I laugh do I cheer what do I do

DARKE WHAT DO I DO

“Don’t,” he pleaded with her, trying to step after her as she slipped into the darkness, “Please.”

He sounds so broken and tired in my head... I don't like that.

reminds me of a video essay on the last of us i saw that defined Joel's tragedy as sort of like the journey impedes the journey and it's like, his humanity is the main obstacle that keeps him from the goal

idk if i could apply it to this, but yeah... take that as you will I guess

Also did she just parkour her way up from rubble? Woah...

“We can figure this out,” he promised, letting a smile stretch across his face as his hand landed on her hip, “I can take you home right now. You don’t have to do anything. I promise.”

hahahahah im not crying you are fuck you

what the fuck

oh this is like the perfect moment for something bad to happen

lemme just prepare for thaT OH SHIT

OH SHIT

HE RECOGNIZED HER

OH MY GOD

I CAN'T WEEP I'LL WAKE UP THE WHOLE NEIGHBORHOOD

MY HANDS ARE SHAKING

I think I'm gonna puke

Darke I will be yelling at you later.

And the voices in your head went silent.

You know what that just took all the energy out of me. no more yelling

OLIVER NO GO AWAY GO DIE IN A HOLE

NONONONONONONONO

NO

NO NONO NO

DARKE YOU BETTER NOT BE CHANTING YES

WHAT THE FUCK

I KNEW THIS WAS COMING I KNEW

NO

The Soldier didn’t care about you—not this version, at least. But, you? You cared about every version of the Soldier. You couldn’t hurt him.

how dare you write this

how dare you be this good

it's irritating

it's heartbreaking

fuck you

i need to binge watch bluey after this

OH MY GOD

DARKE

“Payback’s a bitch.” You forced a pained laugh as you glared up at him, “I didn't know your mom was here.”

Did you seriously just

you know what

I'm just gonna let myself laugh at that

never mind i am choking on my own tears

WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S GOING TO NOVAK

WHAT IN THE FUCK

will I be holding a grudge against you after this... I don't know

why am i even upset i don't know what's going on

She’d been ripped from his arms, yet again. By Walsh. It was always Walsh.

At this point I feel like the truth should be punching him in the face right now... but everyone is tired. it's a mess. of course he'd miss it.

Bucky was done. He’d gone as far as he could go. Taken as much as he could take. If he truly wanted to bring (F/N) home, he was going to have to do it on his own.

Like Orpheus walking into the jaws of death for Eurydice, huh...

I wonder what song he'll sing this time.

“What the fuck was that?” 

You fuckin' tell me, Walsh.

Oh wow

Lies

LIES

THIS GUY DID THAT AND STILL HAS IT IN HIM TO LIE

PUTANG INANG GAGONG PUNYEMAS AYOKO NA PUTANGINANG TO NAKAKAPAGOD NA

Gusto ko na lang matulog forever.

I need to go stab a hole into a pillow or something

“You hurt her. I hurt you. You hunt her. I hunt you.”

The scariest hottest thing I have ever heard a man utter.

“Did our friend make an appearance?”

Yeah but he doesn't know that

He was missing something. That much he was sure of but… What was it?

Go ask the writer, she owes you an explanation

Oh. Hi Boone. Hahaha I forgot about you for a minute there. Sorry 'bout that.

She was working through things the only way she knew how. By killing people.

That's just how she is when she travels, it's part of her detox journey.

It's just that when Ghostie travels she has to throw herself out of windows, get her spine almost shattered by the man whose face she also almost shattered... and violently confronts her past.

Y'know. Normal vacay hassles. It's like dealing with bad traffic during a staycation in the city.

Except the traffic is armored vehicles that blow up in her face. But she's okay. Nothing she can't handle.

“That Jack is better at this than I am.” “Yeah, well…” Duke sighed, coming to stand beside her and placing his hand on her shoulder, “He’s a little busy.”

Busy babysitting one of the biggest cities in the fuckin' world. Yeah. Lots on his plate.

But Steve was different, he was…Good. A good man.

He's also the only normal person you have ever dated, but I won't hold that against you.

Honestly, it's a flex that the bar went from being in hell to being Captain fuckin' America.

he was…Good. A good man.

Good in bed, too, you gotta factor that in.

After they took down Walsh, she was going to take time off. She was going to put as much time and effort into him as he had into her.

Yeah but there's always something else coming next isn't there?

Oh what's that? The sound of Asgardian ships being blown to bits in outer space? Wha... big purple alien with stones?

Nah that's nothing that's just sleep deprivation and hallucinations. Ignore it.

For like a year. Ignore it for a year. Then worry about the big purple alien's army descending from the sky in a donut shaped ship.

Turner... I missed you.

I wish I could hug him.

General Garner, you're growing on me.

Especially when you told me the guy who plays Captain Holt from B-99 is the inspo for him. I like him.

“Not the worst thing I’ve ever seen. You got eyes on her?”

Wait. Hold the front fuckin' door. THERE WAS WORSE THAN THIS?

WHEN

WHERE

AM I FORGETTING SOMETHING OR HAVE I NOT SEEN IT

WHAT COULD BE WORSE THAN THIS

 “So she’s doing a European tour.”

Selling out faster than T Swift.

Just wait until she does her Asian leg of the tour. It's gonna be fucking insane.

She'll be biting the heads off Yakuza members on her way to Universal Studios in Osaka

 “You got a lot hinging on Bennet.”

Yep which is why he's... currently letting a fifteen year old spider child handle it.

The things we do for the canon. Miguel better be proud.

Maybe she needed a nap. Or a snack. Maybe both.

You talkin about Boone or me?

Ugh. I wish I was falling in love with Steve Rogers too.

“Then let’s pray to the gods she gets her ass here.”

Oof well, pray to the right ones, 'cause she's currently headed the other direction.

No. No. He didn’t know. If he did, Oliver would be a bloodied pulp.

Oliver, you are a bloodied pulp. She almost turned your face into a crater, remember?

Ummmm no no no

haha no

you are not going to New York

NO

STAY THERE

OLIVER

myghad i am so stressed out it's like watching over murderous kittens on crack

oh yay. the voices are back. Hello, Jekyll. Hello Hyde. Did you enjoy your short break from existence?

You’re weak. You couldn’t even finish it. You’re almost there. Stay strong.

You two are so confusing.

“Please,” you finally managed, cursing yourself for showing weakness in front of him as a tear rolled down your cheek and you licked your lips, “Please, it hurts.”

This reminds me of that one test some psychologists did in the midcentury. Highly unethical but garnered some interesting results. You've heard of it, Harlow's studies on maternal impact?

They put baby mobnkeys in social isolation, gave them surrogate inanimate mothers to see if they'd choose comfort over food? Warmth over survival?

Novak is the mother made of wires, and Ghost is the starving baby monkey. He's dangling her bottle of milk above her head.

“Fascinating. It was your Agent Cavanaugh, I presume. We tried to recruit her once, she took three of my men’s fingers.”

wait wait wait

HYDRA... disguised as what tried to recruit her?

And by she took three of my men's fingers, do you mean she took three fingers from your men or... she took an indefinite number of fingers from three men?

Either way. Cool. Good for her.

Wait did she take them as in she's keeping a bunch of fingers as a trophy right now or...

"...All the pieces across the board will crumble. Everything we’ve built will be gone. Your family. Your friends. My inventions. Everything. You must destroy him before he destroys you.”

The way you write his dialogue is so interesting Darke I fuckin love it.

He's referring to her family and her friends and his inventions collectively, as one? Like he's implying she wouldn't have any of it if he didn't allow it in the first place? Like even the good things she had found outside of his control were because of him?

Is that what he's saying?

Also, I don't know if this is how you've always written him and I just missed it, or if it's because Silco is an inspiration for him now, or if this is a tactic he's using but he feels a bit more paternal

It's freaking me out.

Why did he put in the effort to put a fuckin' bow on the box

"Kill him and we shall start over. Kill him and you may go home.”

It's never that simple, it's never that easy, he's lying he's lying he's lying he's lying

“I did not order the ambush that killed your family.”

MEREK

You don't just drop a bomb like that now...

what the fuck

WHAT

HE'S LYING HE'S LYING HE'S LYING HE'S LYING

The dogtags...

The rings.

JAMES B. BARNES 32557038…

i thought i was done crying...

Go home. Rest, mi amor. You’ve done enough.

I THOUGHT I WAS DONE

Let’s go home, mi amor.

STOP

I'm going to bed. And I'm never waking up again.

CHAPTER 93: ACHILLES’ HEEL

To all my live reactors,

Please, please, please, hide your reactions under a Read More cut. I don’t want any spoilers floating around. 

&

To all my Anonymous Avengers, 

If you want to react in my asks, feel free. However, I won’t be answering any of them until at least Wednesday if they contain spoilers. 

Thank you,

Darke

┍━━━━━━━━ ★ ━━━━━━━━┑

You laughed, “You tryin’ to protect me?”

“If that is how you want to see it,” he said, taking off his glasses and cleaning them on a handkerchief, “Then yes.”

“It’s not.”

“Then no,” he chuckled, sliding his glasses back up his nose, “I am not protecting you. But that changes nothing, Ghostie.”

“Doesn’t it?”

He was towering over you before you even knew he moved, his frigid touch chilling you to the bone as he wrenched you up to look at him.

“Look at me,” he snarled, every bit of composure he had left melting away in an instant, “Everything you hold near and dear to your little black heart, Wraith will destroy. He will annihilate everything you love. Demolish everything you have built. His patience is running thin, it will not be long before this game of yours is over. All the pieces across the board will crumble. Everything we’ve built will be gone. Your family. Your friends. My inventions. Everything. You must destroy him before he destroys you.”

┕━━━━━━━━ ★ ━━━━━━━━┙

» CHAPTER 93: ACHILLES’ HEEL

✪ Bᴀᴛᴛʟ��� Sᴄᴀʀʀᴇᴅ : Aғᴛᴇʀᴍᴀᴛʜ

♜♠ Tʜᴇ Sᴏʟᴅɪᴇʀ & Tʜᴇ Sᴘʏ

⧗ Tʜᴇ Rᴇᴅ Rᴏᴏᴍ

☞ Bᴀᴛᴛʟᴇ Sᴄᴀʀʀᴇᴅ: Oʀɪɢɪɴs

»Jᴏɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴀʀᴋᴇ sɪᴅᴇ Tᴀɢʟɪsᴛ

TAGLIST BELOW

@thexbookxnerdx // @autumn-em // @fadingbakeryfarmoperator // @rhymingtree // @itsmeatballworld // @kippykasey // @turtleedovee // @kamalymaly // @onewithnomightypowers // @pixviee // @riahmcq // @thequeenofthefallen // @jesuswasnotawhiteman // @fnnshelbys // @knowyourworth-sellyoursoul // @banbananas // @beans-and-toast // @violetvictoriabarnes // @oikawasblueearbud // @itsarussian // @mrsbarnesinmyimagination // @oopsiedoopsie23 // @luhuhzy // @heyimjustlaura12 // @moonlightreader649 // @petalren // @sighmurderbot // @soldat-petala // @useless-creature-213 // @xiyouchan // @kaiblog50 // @bookfeen // @nx-crisis // @afraidofshrimp // @yjck121 // @aftermatharchives

***if you have a strike through your handle, it wouldn’t let me tag you 😞

[fkinavocado]

In which you’ve got textbook daddy issues and when your tool of a younger brother brings a sweet doe eyed girlfriend home for Thanksgiving and you end up offering her a ride home, you meet just the man to fix them.

Daddy issues- Masterlist, Author’s Note & Warnings

Chapter 22 / alternatively, read on wattpad

Chapter 23 (Word count: 4k)

“You changed your hair”

You hummed, nodding. You didn’t think he’d notice. You hardly ever noticed it anymore. It used to really startle you whenever you (accidentally) looked into the mirror. For months, you didn’t recognize yourself. Not that now you did. 

“Yeah” you cleared your throat “Can we… cut to the chase?”

“Yer attitude hasn’t really changed, though” he beamed “Listen… gotta be real honest with ya. Didn’t think you’d agree to this. Lord knows I searched high and low for you. I wouldn’t be asking, if it weren’t important”

“...That’s cutting to the chase?”

He smirked looking at you from under his lashes “Ok, sorry. I just know you’re gonna get up and leave. Trying to build my case here”

“Save that for when you’re in court”

“Fair enough” he nodded, biting his lower lip “I’m here to ask you to take the stand. As a witness”

“No. Out of the question” you shook your head vehemently 

“Y/N…”

“It’s miss L/N, and the answer is no”

Niall leaned over the small diner table, hunching his back to bring himself in as close as possible “Look. I’m not an idiot. Hell, I’ve been there, alright? I’ve seen Harry after you– vanished!”

You pushed your back flush against the booth’s backrest, shutting your eyes tightly. No. You couldn’t do this. But then Niall grabbed your hand, a gentle yet firm grip, and that made you open your eyes back, taking in his pained expression. This might have been the first time you’d seen him like this. Seemingly nothing was too serious for Niall Horan, he looked as if he took everything in stride, always a cheeky grin on his face. It infuriated you. But seeing him look this serious was giving you pause 

“Don’t go. Please. Hear me out. It’s been 2 years, Y/N…”

“17 months.”

“... Well, it’s been an eternity for Harry. You don’t understand. He’s… he shut down. Ok? I didn’t want to do this, but you leave me no choice. I don’t want to emotionally blackmail you into showing up, but if this trial goes wrong… I’m really scared for him. Alright? He’s not just my client, he’s my friend first and foremost. I already let him down, this case has been ongoing for far too long. I can’t lose it. I can’t. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

You were staring into space, taking in all that he was saying. 

It’d been 17 months since you’d last seen Harry. Nobody had so much as uttered his name to you ever since. And now, all of a sudden, Niall was here. Talking to you about him. Someone you’d tried with all your will to forget. To pretend like he never existed.

It should have been easy enough. Moving to another state, changing your job- waitressing, making sure you had no social media presence, changing up your appearance. You were like a needle in a haystack. Impossible to track. 

You made sure he couldn’t find you.

Because you knew he’d try. 

You were very careful not to leave any traces behind, and just, well… vanished, like Niall had put it. It should’ve been easy enough to pretend like he’d never been part of your life. Nothing around you should’ve reminded you of him anymore. You’d changed your life completely.

But he was there, every step of the way. His presence never left you. The guilt never left you. You kept reminding yourself that you were doing this for him, yet deep down you felt as though you’d committed the most terrible of crimes. 

The more time went on, the more you began questioning whether you’d done the right thing. Morally, you knew you’d had no other way around this. You couldn’t just break up with him- Harry would’ve never allowed it. So, discussing this with him had been out of the question. The alternative was something you couldn’t live with, knowing you were the reason why his daughter wouldn’t speak to him. You felt responsible for everything. It was you, you were the culprit in all of this. You couldn’t go back and undo the past, but you could at least do the right thing then, and hope that it wouldn’t be too late.

Emily had asked her father to choose. 

Harry would have never done that.

So you took the decision for him. The right one. The only one.

Even if it probably meant he now hated you. You could live with that. What you couldn’t have lived with was knowing you were the reason his daughter had cut him out of her life. 

But this was barely living.

“Me running into you here can’t be a coincidence, Y/N. Please. I’m begging. I didn’t tell him, like you asked. I kept my mouth shut. And you know why? ‘Cause if you didn’t show up today and just upped and ran away again, and I’d told him I found you? He’d be here with me right now. He’d have come here in a heartbeat. And if you ran, that would’ve broken his heart all over again. I couldn’t risk that. So when I ran into you last night I nearly thought I must’ve been hallucinating. Let alone when you mumbled your agreement to meet with me today during your lunch break. I’m surprised you’re still sitting there, to be honest”

“Maybe if you let go of my hand, I wouldn’t” you pulled your hand away swiftly, and his lips quirked up in a smile

“We both know why you’re still sitting there. I played the devil’s advocate for a long time, Y/N. Ok? Real talk. Cards on the table. I thought you were the filthiest bitch, the lowest kind of scum for ditching him the way you did” your eyes widened at his brutal words but his grin only got larger “And I even ended up with a dislocated jaw because of it”

You covered your mouth in shock. Before you could stop them, tears were falling in a rapid stream down your cheeks and Niall furrowed his brows “Wow, wasn’t exactly expecting you to cry out of pity for me, though”

You shook your head, squeezing your eyes shut and forcing your tears to subside. You were shaking and couldn’t help your visceral reaction. You felt Niall scoot in the booth near you, putting his arm around you “Hey” he tried soothing you, his voice calmer, gentler “Hey, Y/N. It’s fine… calm down, ok? I think you’re having a panic attack, are you alright? Should I do something? How can I help, I’m freaking out here a bit”

You tried calming down enough to explain “He… he, fuck. He hit you?”

Niall froze, realisation finally hitting him “Oh, shite. I guess I didn’t really think about it that way… I had it coming, ya know? Unlike… But, ugh. Yeah… Y/N?... He really isn’t himself without you. That’s the thing… uhm” he cleared his throat “It’s really not my place…”

You turned towards him fully “What’s that supposed to mean? What’s going on?” Niall had gone back to a very serious expression and you quickly learned that you much rathered him with that stupid grin you wanted to slap off his face “You can’t just spring that up on me and not tell me! What’s happening with him?”

“I think you know the answer to that, love. I’m sorry. I wish I could tell you how great he was doing, if only just to rub it in your face, but he’s not. He’s a mess. He’s…” he sighed heavily “He’s been getting into these fights…”

You gasped audibly and realized some of the diner’s patrons were beginning to eavesdrop and look your way but you couldn’t give a flying fuck. You probably should’ve picked a different place to talk to Niall, but you really thought you’d dismiss him 5 minutes into your conversation, you only agreed to it because he’d told you it was concerning the trial, and you were intrigued as well as worried that it was still ongoing, so you reluctantly agreed. You’d changed your mind about actually showing up for work that day a dozen times during the night, the alternative having been to just run away again. You were half expecting Niall to have tricked you and to break his promise that he’d not be telling Harry he’d found you there. He’d just stopped for coffee and lunch at the diner you were working at, totally randomly. He said he had an aunt in a senior care facility in the city that he visited twice a year or as often as his time off allowed it, since it was so out of the way, but he was all the family she had left.

“Yeah…” Niall trailed off “That’s actually what’s been a major step back in the case. Your family came forward with evidence of him being violent and getting into altercations–”

“What kind of altercations?!”

“Uhm. Mostly bar fights? He’d just go out and get wasted and end up getting in a fight with one guy or the other” Niall swallowed audibly “For no reason. He’ll just randomly start a fight and it escalates. He picks really rowdy looking men too, big, buff guys. Even groups, sometimes. Disturbing them whilst watching the game, or something, ending up getting beat up in the back alley more often than not”

You covered your ears, looking away, recoiling at what Niall was telling you. No, this couldn’t be true. No, no, no!!! This was all wrong! This wasn’t at all the way it was supposed to be! Harry should’ve been striving without you, his life should’ve been back in order… Not worse! 

You didn’t realize it but you were violently shaking, trying to stifle your sobs again. Niall had gotten up and then came back shortly, whispering “There you go, love, I talked to the manager to give you the day off, alright? Said it was a personal family matter. Let’s go”

You nodded and let him guide you to his car where you broke down crying in earnest. You didn’t care if he saw you like that. You didn’t care about anything. Not after hearing what Harry had been up to. Knowing the significance of him turning to violence had. Knowing how broken he must be to be doing this. 

Next thing you knew, you were shaken awake and you jumped at the intrusion before you made sense of all of it again “Sorry. You… cried yourself to exhaustion on the ride here. I know it’s not ideal but it’s my hotel and I obviously didn’t know where you lived. Didn’t know where else to take you. Hope you don’t consider it too off-putting. I think you need to lie down for a bit, you’re in shock”

You nodded, knowing he was right and just followed him to his hotel room. It turned out to be a nice hotel, in the nice part of town (opposite to the one you were living and working in), hence the long drive, and it was actually a suite. “You can lie down for a bit”

“No, no. I’m�� better now. Could I have a glass of water though?”

“Sure. At least sit, ok? Kinda scared to leave you out of sight in your condition”

“I promise I’m ok” you murmured, although that was a big fat lie.

He looked at you worriedly before fetching you that glass of water. You gulped it down as you sat on the sofa and he sat opposite of you on an armchair “I’m sorry. I never should have sprung all of that on you like that. I don’t know what I was thinking… To be honest, maybe part of me wanted to punish you in a way. Kinda wanted to hurt you a bit, not gonna lie. I thought you couldn’t give two fucks about Harry anymore”

You scoffed and just looked away “I deserve it, I guess. I deserve it, I should have known that no matter what I did…  I couldn’t have fixed it. I tried... And to hear that it only made matters worse…” your eyes were flooded by tears again “Is fucking killing me”

“Hey, hey. Wait. Let’s… you’d just calmed down. Let’s not open all that up again for a bit, ok? Sorry. You’re really upset about this, I can tell. I’m just surprised. I wasn’t expecting this reaction from you at all”

“Why? ‘Cause I’m a filthy bitch, lowest of scum- how was it? Guess the lawyer in you really had to believe in his own case against me”

Niall was silent for a moment “I don’t think I ever believed it. But I had to try and sell it to him, ya know? Make him wanna hate you, or at least be mad at you. Not that he isn’t mad at you, but not in the way I wanted him to. I wanted him to hate your guts, turn against you, be disgusted by you even. So that he could finally move on. But not Harry. He’s so angry and yet he loves you so much. I’ll never understand it”

You felt tears fall heavily in your lap as you bit your lower lip at his words.

Words couldn’t describe how you felt hearing that after so long Harry still loved you. Even after hearing all of that awful news beforehand, it still made your heart swell. It made you forget about everything else for a split second and remember how it felt to be loved by Harry. Something you hadn’t allowed yourself to do in a long, long while.

“... Why’d you do it, Y/N?” Niall snapped you out of it “He searched everywhere for you. Hell, even I pulled in favours with all of my higher-up connections trying to get a lead on you. It was as though you fell off the face of the earth. Police wouldn’t aid, of course, since they could track you down just to ensure you weren’t truly missing. But even with my connections they wouldn’t budge”

“I… yeah. I was approached several times by the police. Told them I didn’t want to be found, that I wasn’t missing. Asked them for their discretion on it, but I still moved around a couple of times just to be sure they wouldn’t disclose where I was. I knew with your connections and Harry’s penchant for private eyes that I had to be extremely careful, otherwise it would have all been in vain…”

“And wasn’t it? All in vain? Sure as hell seems to me like it was” he sounded almost… angry? A new side to Niall you’d never seen before. Turns out you hadn’t really gotten to know him at all in that month or so that you’d known him back then and met up with him a few times at Harry’s insistence. You only agreed to go out and meet with him for his sake, and you could tell they were good friends, but something about Niall had just always irked you. You were starting to see him in a different light though. 

You hung your head and had no real answer to that “What about… I mean… How’s things with Emily?”

Niall scoffed “How do ya think? With her father getting in trouble like that, drunk off his ass and beaten to a pulp when she’d go bail him out of county jail. She’s angry. Mostly with herself, though”

You quit trying to stop your tears from falling, but you found a way to breathe through them so that you wouldn’t get as worked up. You desperately wanted to listen, find out as much as Niall was willing to tell you “So she’s there for him…”

“I mean, she had to. I’m not always around. She even moved back home after she graduated to keep an eye on him. Thought that would sober him up. But she hasn’t moved back into his house, and can’t really keep him under curfew, can she? She’s got her own life, a new guy, a good guy. Who incidentally happens to despise Harry” Niall chuckled at the last sentence “Who wouldn’t, though. I despise him half the time, too. Had I not known him before all this, I’d have given up on our friendship. It’s like talking to a brick wall nowadays. He won’t budge. You can’t get to him, not really. Some days he looks like he’s getting his shit together, he’ll have us all fooled that he’s on the mend, and then he pulls the same stunt again. At least he isn’t drinking unless he’s looking for a fight. Like, he’s not an alcoholic, isn’t drowning his sorrow in bottles at home, he just drinks so that he gets wasted enough to get into another fight. I’ve got a pile of charges against him, Y/N. None of them are that bad, luckily. Well, he ends up getting beaten up most of the time, he’s too drunk to really put up a fight and cause any real harm”

You swallowed the lump in your throat “Why does he do it, then?...”

Niall looked at you then before looking away, shaking his head “He said he wants to drown the pain, and only thing that gets his mind off it is physical pain”

Your heart, the one that was already broken in a million tiny pieces somehow gathered the strength to glue itself back together again just so that it could implode from within, blown out particles scattered through your bloodstream now. There was no way you could live on knowing this. You’d barely been living as it was. Merely existing. But the weight of all of this was too much to bear. You felt as though you were suffocating, you didn’t fit within the confines of your own skin all of a sudden… How could you do this to him? How could you? You’d never forgive yourself, of that much you were certain.

“He won’t see a therapist. I’ve tried everything. Emily too. He won’t listen. He told her she’s never entitled to asking anything of him ever again, point blanc. I was there. Never seen him talk to her like that. She feels responsible, of course. I know about… ya know… So she can’t really force his hand anymore. Her boyfriend, I can tell, is trying to get her to keep her distance. Can’t say I blame the guy, all this must seem really shitty to him. She’s even had to lend him money, bailing him out. He’s still working but his heart just isn’t into it anymore. No more big projects. Just enough to get him by. Hell, I’m working this case pro bono…”

“Oh my God” you breathed out, looking upward, trying to catch your breath. You could feel yourself starting to lose grasp on your control again “Oh God, Niall. What have I done? I left hoping it would fix everything… So that he wouldn’t have to choose between me and his own daughter. It’s the only thought that’s been keeping me going. Knowing that I did the right thing… even if it hurt both of us. I knew it was the right thing… but this, all this can’t be real” you shook your head in disbelief “It just can’t. I can’t accept this… I refuse–”

“Well, what the fuck, Y/N! Least you could’ve done was check up on him somehow. Discreetly. Ya know? You just up and left and pretended like he never existed and now you’re sitting here, sobbing like you’re mourning him and I honestly don’t know what to think anymore!”

“I couldn’t, ok?! I couldn’t risk it, I was too weak… still am. Had I tried finding out anything about him, I wouldn’t have been able to stop at that. I’d have wanted to know more, and more and finally my resolve would’ve crumbled. I had to talk myself into sticking with this decision everyday for the past 17 months, Niall! Every god damn day! You don’t know how many times I’ve dialled his number from a payphone just to hear his voice one more time. I never let it ring more than twice before hanging up, though. Once, I got his voicemail right away and I burst into tears hearing his recording. Don’t… don’t act like you know me. Like you know what I’ve been through. You know his side, his pain, his suffering but do you think mine was any different? I had to live with the fact that I left him. Betrayed his trust, betrayed our love for one another. Just…”

You both fell silent for a long while, Niall standing up at one point at looking out the window. You felt like the room was spinning. You didn’t know how to handle the state of despair you were in. You felt like you wanted for someone to sedate you, put you right to sleep so that you didn’t have to deal with the reality of it all.

“I honestly wouldn’t have approached you yesterday had I not really needed you to be on the witness stand for this trial” Niall finally broke the silence, his tone of voice serious “Your family is really pushing this angle of him being violent to get the case to turn in their favour. We still have your testimony but they’ve had people come up and say how he’d just launched at them, unprovoked, clearly looking to get rowdy, and I have no one on the defence. His ex wife won’t take the stand, hell, she might turn against him under oath so maybe that’s for the better. There’s Emily, but she’s the defendant as well, so her credibility is almost null. And what with…” Niall cleared his throat “I mean. It’s a lot. We could really use a witness in his favour. They’re really making him out to be the bad guy here, meanwhile they’re posing into these harmless angels- starring with your brother. They’re even using your running away as an example of how violent Harry is, and how this is clearly why you’ve had to resort to it. Made up a whole story about how you keep in touch with them and are pleading for them not to tell him where you are, since you’re in fear for your life. And how Harry is actually the one who got Derek involved with drugs to begin with, and – it’s a lot. And it’s not looking good for us, Y/N. I’m not trying to twist the knife here, but if you’re being real with me with how badly you feel about all of this, you’ll come with me back home”

“I…” your mouth fell agape and you struggled to make sense of any of it anymore. You wanted to fix this, you desperately wanted to fix this… but could you, really? Or would you just be hurting him all the more by showing up now? Surely he was beyond ever considering forgiving you now. And would your testimony even amount to much now, anyway? Niall seemed extremely discouraged with the outcome of this trial, and your contribution wasn’t probably going to change much. It was too little, your retelling the story of how Harry had to knock your father out because of what he’d said about you in front of him. Too little, compared to all the stories backed up by witnesses of him getting into bar fights deliberately, looking for trouble. You couldn’t even think straight at this point, but what little semblance of logic you had left was telling you it would be all in vain and would just reopen unhealed wounds. Yours as well as his. “I really don’t know that that would be wise, Niall…”

Niall turned to look at you then “... Unfuckingbelievable” 

Your eyes shot up to him then and you’d probably never seen someone look at you with so much disdain before

“The room is paid for in full; stay, don’t, I don’t give a damn. I won’t be telling Harry that I ran into you, don’t ya worry, I wouldn’t do that to him.” He stepped into the bedroom for a quick moment and emerged with a small carryon bag, then went straight for the entrance before he turned on his heel for a quick glance your way “Pity. Would’ve fooled anyone with those tears into thinking you were being honest. Maybe would’ve even won us the case. Can’t say I blame Harry anymore for putting his trust in you like that, I almost fell for it myself”. And with a scoff, he was out the door, leaving you in complete stupor. 

Chapter 24

A/N: i'll see myself out 🚪💀💀 P.S.: this is NOT the final chapter, obviously. i won't be disclosing which one will be the final chapter, though. want it to be a surprise!

💕 like & reblog if you enjoyed this, lovelies, and most importantly, please come share your thoughts on it here 💌

🦋follow me on wattpad to get notified whenever i post something new/update!🦋

[babygirlwolverine]

The 5 Senses of Longing

This fic is a gift for @stanforderadean as part of my gift exchange celebration!

Also posted on ao3.

Word Count: 7,463 (Continued under the Read More)

Dean rapped his knuckles on the wood door, pausing for a second before nudging it open with his shoulder. Cas was lying on the bed in his room, propped up against the headboard with a book in his lap, and Dean was once again hit with the startling recollection that Cas actually needed to sleep now that he didn’t have his Grace. Somehow it was endearing to see Cas this way; curled up under the covers and rubbing sleep from his eyes.

But wasn't that the point of this? The whole reason Dean had come knocking on Cas' door in the first place. Because Cas had been without his powers for months now, and also because they were in a lull with finding Metatron and killing Abbadon. What they needed was a little break. And even though they were dealing with more shit than ever before, Dean yearned to slow things down around them for just a couple of days to show Cas some of the good things about being human.

Dean had been the one to suggest the idea casually to Sam, and with Ezekiel healing him slowly, it was best for Sam to stay at the Bunker and rest. Which gave Dean the perfect opportunity. Now the only thing to do was to bring the idea to Cas.

“Hey, buddy,” Dean said, hovering in the doorway. “Mind if I come in?”

Cas smiled, lowering his book and closing it with a quiet thump. “Not at all,” he said, gesturing for Dean to enter the room. “Did something happen?” he asked, smile shifting into something more alert as he pushed himself further up in the bed.

“No, no, nothing happened,” Dean quickly reassured, taking a couple steps closer before hesitating at the foot of the bed. Should he sit on the bed? Should he pull up a chair? Should he just stand there? Why was he overthinking this? God, he really needed to get these bubbling feelings under control before he opened his mouth and said something he shouldn’t. “I was uh. Actually wondering if you were busy?”

Cas blinked a couple times, tilting his head and squinting up at Dean in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I thought we could go on a little road trip. Just you and me for a couple of days. Wanted to show you a few things now that you’re sorta human,” Dean said.

“A road trip? Don’t we do that all the time?” Cas asked.

Dean grinned, nudging Cas’ leg with his knee as he plopped himself down on the edge of the bed. “Well, yeah. But this isn’t gonna be a road trip for a case. There’s a couple of spots around here that you’ve got to experience. Sights and smells you haven’t seen yet. Oh, and the best stack of pancakes you’ll ever eat. You’ve just gotta trust me.”

Something soft and affectionate sparked through Cas’ eyes before he nodded. “Best pancakes I’ll ever eat? Is that so?” he teased.

All the nerves that had been lurching in Dean’s stomach settled all at once, and he shoved at Cas’ leg again. Yeah. This he could do. Their usual playful antics that he enjoyed so much. He didn’t need to think about that little spark that was twining around his heart at the way Cas had just smiled at him.

“Just you wait. Now that you’ve got taste buds, I’m gonna make you try every single food I can get my hands on. I will find every single thing you enjoy eating, mark my words,” Dean said lightly, hauling himself up from the bed. “Twenty minutes. Get your ass moving and meet me at the car.”

Cas laughed, free and happy, and Dean’s heart lurched in his chest. Oh, he was going to do everything he could over the next two days just to hear that sound again.

Dean had just reached the door when Cas called out to him.

“Hey, Dean?”

Dean turned, hand on the doorknob as he looked back at Cas. “Yeah?”

“Thank you,” Cas said, smiling so warmly that it made Dean feel momentarily weak in the knees. Oh God. If Cas kept smiling at him like that, Dean was going to do something he regretted, like kiss Cas stupid until he could feel that smile against his own lips.

“Yeah, of course. Twenty minutes. Don’t be late,” Dean said, flashing Cas a quick smile before bolting from the room; the door snapping shut behind him as he escaped to the safety of his own room.

Pressing his back into his bedroom door, Dean heaved in a deep breath; closing his eyes and scrubbing his hands over his face. This idea was either the best thing he’d ever come up with... or it was going to be the death of him. Maybe he’d be able to get over this stupid fluttering feeling in his chest. Or maybe, just maybe, that feeling was going to explode until it consumed him whole.

~

"Where are we going first?" Cas asked, sliding into the passenger seat exactly nineteen minutes later.

A minute early, Dean noted. Was that deliberate? Was it accidental? Dean couldn't possibly be overthinking one teeny tiny little minute, could he?

"Pancakes, obviously. Unless you're suddenly going to turn your nose up at chocolate," Dean said, darting his eyes over to Cas as they pulled out of the Bunker onto the main dirt road winding through the woods.

"Chocolate?" Cas repeated, turning in his seat until he'd angled his body towards Dean. The smile that crept across his lips was so dazzling that Dean had to suck in a sharp breath and force his eyes on the road. "I love chocolate."

Huffing out a laugh, Dean clicked on the music and Zeppelin softly filled the air. "Oh really? I never would've known." Shifting onto the main road, Dean grinned at Cas. "I definitely didn't see you eat 3 chocolate bars yesterday."

Cas pretended to be shocked, gasping at Dean even though his eyes were sparkling with laughter. "That certainly wasn't me. Sam framed me."

The laughter bubbled up from Dean’s chest, and he couldn't stop himself from knocking his hand against Cas' knee. "You're a menace. You and your sudden sweet tooth."

"I don't see you complaining that hard. Considering now you have someone to eat chocolate pancakes with."

The breath caught in Dean's throat; such simple words hitting like a wave against his chest. Keeping his focus on the road, he quickly darted his gaze over at Cas from the corner of his eye. Cas had tucked himself against the door, with his body still tilted towards Dean. There was a soft expression on his face; a smile that lit up his eyes with his nose crinkled adorably.

Oh God, this feeling really was going to consume Dean.

Shifting the conversation towards topics that wouldn’t make Dean’s heart ache in his chest, the hour-long drive slipped by in a blur. The diner soon loomed on the horizon, and it was so easy to keep talking about blueberries vs bananas as Dean guided the Impala into a parking spot.

“Doesn’t it depend on what you’re putting the fruit with?” Dean asked, holding the diner door open for Cas to walk through. “Besides, bananas can be baked into far more things than blueberries.”

Cas scrunched up his face, giving Dean a look that bordered on a pout. “You’re just saying that because you prefer bananas over blueberries.”

"I would never," Dean teased, before stepping up to the counter. "Table for two, please."

"Right this way," the hostess said, guiding them to a booth in the back of the diner.

As soon as they sat down, Cas moved to pick up a menu from the table, but Dean reached out from the other side of the booth and plucked it from Cas' hands. "Nope. No looking. You just gotta trust me on this one, yeah?"

"What if I don't like it?" Cas asked, raising an eyebrow even though he leaned back in his seat, conceding to Dean's statement of trust.

Tapping his fingers against the table, Dean tried not to linger on the way their fingertips had just barely brushed when he'd pulled the menu from Cas' grasp. "You will. Don't overthink it and have a little faith in me."

"I do. Trust you," Cas said, something in his tone slipping from playful to serious.

Dean shook his head, dispelling the heavier tone. He didn't want to think about Cas' unwavering trust and how most days he felt like he didn't deserve it. Right now, this moment was about showing Cas something more.

"Good. Because if you don't like it, I'm never speaking to you again," Dean joked, lightening the mood again.

"Never again? That's a long time to not talk to me because of some pancakes, Dean,” Cas laughed.

Just as Dean was about to throw another tease at Cas, a waiter appeared at their table with a smile and a notepad in his hand.

“Hi there, welcome to Mel’s. My name’s Hunter. Can I get you something to drink?”

“Actually, Hunter, we’re ready to order. Two coffees, one with cream and sugar and one with cream. And two short stacks of the rocky road pancakes, please.”

Hunter smiled, jotting down the order. “Well that was easy. I’ll get those coffees out to you both in just a few moments.”

“Thank you,” Cas said, as Hunter collected their menus and disappeared towards the kitchen. “You know how I like my coffee?”

Dean ducked his head, a sudden tinge burning his cheeks as he cleared his throat. “Cream and two sugars. Like I said, you like things on the sweeter side,” Dean said, avoiding Cas’ gaze from the other side of the table.

“You’re very observant,” Cas pointed out.

Dean bit down on his tongue, forcing himself to swallow the words ‘I’m only observant when it comes to you.’ Instead, he threw on a cocky smirk and said, “That’s because I’m an excellent hunter.”

Rolling his eyes, Cas kicked Dean lightly under the table. “You’re not that good.”

Dean pretended to be offended, scrunching up one of the spare napkins and throwing it at Cas’ face. Cas laughed, bright and giddy, and Dean felt a weightless feeling in his chest. He spent the next 15 minutes doing anything and everything he could just to hear Cas laugh again and again.

By the time their pancakes and coffee arrived at the table, Cas’ cheeks were pink from laughter and Dean had never been more smitten. Cas made a little sound of shock as the pancakes were put in front of him; his eyes widening as he looked up at Dean in surprise.

Three massive chocolate pancakes covered the entire size of the plate. Topped with handfuls of marshmallows and almonds, along with a drizzle of chocolate syrup and cocoa powder, it was a chocolate overload.

“What do you think? Does it look sweet enough for you, angel?” Dean said, with a grin.

“Looks like Heaven,” Cas muttered, picking up his fork and taking a bite. Cas instantly groaned in pleasure, eyes fluttering shut as he hummed happily. “Tastes like it, too.”

Dean wasn’t sure whether to laugh at Cas’ words or to dwell on the sound Cas had made when he tasted the pancakes, and it was all too much and not enough.

“You like it?” Dean asked, swallowing a mouthful of his own pancake and washing it down with a sip of coffee just so he could distract himself from the look of sheer bliss that was on Cas’ face.

“It’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten,” Cas said, dipping one of the mini marshmallows into the chocolate syrup with a grin.

This time Dean did laugh, nudging Cas’ leg under the table with his foot. “Don’t eat it too fast or you’ll give yourself hiccups.”

“That’s not a thing,” Cas said, chewing on another mouthful of pancake.

“Yeah, Cas, it is,” Dean said, huffing out a breath and rolling his eyes fondly.

As if to prove his point, Cas started hiccuping a minute later. Dean raised an eyebrow, as if to say, ‘see, I told you,’ and Cas pouted.

“But it’s so-” he broke off to hiccup, “Good.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Dean said warmly. “Hold your breath for twenty seconds, and then eat a little slower. The pancake isn’t going anywhere.”

Cas gave Dean a sharp look. “Unless you-” he hiccuped again, “steal it from my plate before I can eat it.”

Okay, that was a fair point. Dean definitely had eaten from Cas’ plate before. But this time, he placed his hand on his heart as he said, “I won’t touch your pancakes, you have my word.”

Shoulders bouncing as Cas hiccuped again, Dean watched as Cas took in a deep breath and then held it. He internally counted as well, watching as Cas let the breath out twenty seconds later.

They both waited a beat, then two, and when no more hiccups came, Cas beamed at Dean. “It worked,” he said before moving to take another bite of chocolatey goodness.

They lapsed into comfortable silence as they ate, both of them enjoying their breakfast. Cas broke the moment a few minutes later to say, "I want to eat these pancakes every day for the rest of my life."

Taking a sip of his coffee, Dean grinned across the table at Cas. "I'm not sure if we can get out here every day. But we can make it a thing, if you want? Every Sunday that we're at home, you and I can drive down here for breakfast," Dean offered.

Cas nodded eagerly, a genuine smile lighting up his face. "I'd love that."

Something warm settled in Dean's veins; seeing Cas so happy and content over something as simple as a stack of pancakes. It was all Dean had wanted. To see Cas smile and to see him enjoy something Dean also liked.

Nodding firmly, decision made, Dean nudged Cas with his foot again. “Finish your pancakes. We’ve got more things to explore today.”

“Like what?” Cas asked, freezing with his fork inches from his lips. Dean had to force himself to look away before he stared at the way Cas’ lips wrapped around the fork.

“You’ll see. I’ll give you a couple options in the car and you can pick whichever one you want,” Dean said, biting down on his own fork just a little too roughly; the tang of metal vibrating along his tooth.

Cas pouted, pointing at Dean with the handle of his fork. “What if I want to know the options now?”

Miming zipping his lips closed, Dean smiled at the fond exasperation that Cas shot his way. The expression instantly melted into a smile again as Cas scooped more marshmallows onto his chocolate pancake.

“A new tradition,” Cas murmured, more to himself than Dean, but Dean heard the fondness in the words and his heart kicked up again in his chest.

God, Dean was happy. Happier than he’d been in a long time. He genuinely cared about Cas enjoying things, and knowing he’d been able to make Cas smile was a damn good feeling.

By the time they made their way back to the Impala twenty minutes later, both full of chocolatey sweetness, Cas immediately tapped his fingers on Dean’s knee. “What are the options?”

Rolling his eyes, Dean nudged Baby into gear and pulled back out onto the road. “So impatient.”

“Shut up,” Cas huffed, his tone sharply contrasting the happy look on his face.

“Alright. Simple question. Don’t think too hard about it. Ready?”

Cas nodded.

“Aquarium or the zoo?”

Cas’ eyes sparkled bright blue in the late morning sunlight as he made his choice. “Aquarium.”

~

The afternoon sun crept through the Impala windows as they arrived at the aquarium in Kansas City a couple of hours later. Cas had spent the entire drive talking about the evolution of fish and their importance to the earth from creation until now.

It was entirely endearing, hearing Cas talk so animatedly. It made Dean want to pull over; to watch Cas talk as he hung on every word that slipped past Cas’ lips. Instead, he darted his eyes over to the passenger seat as often as he could, watching as Cas occasionally emphasized his point by gesturing with his hands.

Too cute.

Dean turned his eyes back to the road again.

As soon as they’d parked, Cas was out of the car and gravitating towards the entrance before Dean could even open his door. There was an excited gleam in Cas’ eyes, and Dean felt the electric pull as he allowed Cas to lead the way to the ticket booth.

“I wonder if they’ll have any seahorses. Did you know they’re the only animals where the male carries the eggs and undergoes the birthing process?” Cas asked as Dean purchased the tickets.

Dean hummed vaguely in answer, not wanting to take away from Cas’ enthusiasm by admitting he already knew that. “I’m sure they’ll have plenty of seahorses,” he said instead, watching Cas from the corner of his eye as the former angel beamed.

Stepping into the cool air conditioned building, Dean’s eyes caught the entrance sign that indicated which direction each exhibit was located and he nudged Cas towards it. “What do you want to see first?”

Cas’ gaze caught the very first line on the sign and he grinned. “There are sea turtles, Dean. A whole rescue center for them.” Something in Cas’ expression shifted from excited to fond in the blink of an eye; leaving Dean reeling at how expressive Cas was. “It’s nice. That there are people who try to conserve endangered species.”

Dean bumped his shoulder into Cas’, gently directing him towards the sea turtle exhibit. “See? Not all humans are terrible,” he joked.

“No. They’re not,” Cas said, the fondness morphing into something tender as his gaze locked with Dean’s. The moment felt blinding, and Dean had to tear his eyes away before he did something stupid like lean in and kiss Cas right in front of the exhibit.

Instead, Dean shifted the conversation into something lighter. Putting his hand out, he caught Cas’ shoulder and held him back mere feet from the turtles. When Cas gave him a questioning look, Dean moved to tap his nose with his finger. “Take a second. What do you smell?”

Cas tilted his head, sucking in a deep breath before raising an eyebrow at Dean. “Salt water.”

Dean nodded. “Part of the experience is the smell; the salt lingering in the air from the exhibits. Almost makes you feel like you’re right there by the ocean.”

Dean watched as Cas’ eyes fluttered shut as he took another long, slow breath. A little smile graced his lips, and the sight was so simplistic and yet so beautiful Dean momentarily lost his breath. Quickly sneaking out his phone, Dean took a picture; with the turtles in the background and Cas with his eyes closed in a peaceful bliss.

“I like it,” Cas said a moment later, eyes fluttering open as he looked over at Dean. “The atmosphere is peaceful.”

Nodding, Dean nudged Cas to start moving again. “I’m glad. Now let’s go see the turtles.”

Entering into the turtles rescue center, they walked up to one of the large tanks where several turtles gracefully swam by. Cas moved forward, gently pressing his palm to the glass. “They’re beautiful,” he murmured.

“Do you want to sit and watch them? It looks like there might be someone coming to feed them if you want to stay for that?” Dean asked.

“I’d love to,” Cas said, letting Dean lead him to a bench just a couple of feet away.

They sat down together, watching as the turtles elegantly moved through the water. It was captivating and mesmerizing; both watching the turtles glide through the water, but also watching Cas watching the turtles.

“Tell me something. About turtles, I mean,” Dean said, bumping Cas’ knee with his own.

“Their species is 110 million years old,” Cas said wistfully, as if he were picturing the moment when sea turtles first came into existence. “They don’t have any teeth,” he said, nodding his head to the tank where several jellyfish and crabs were being fed to the turtles. “Their mouth is made of keratin, like your fingernails, which helps to break down the plants and small animals that they eat.”

“They really are elegant,” Dean said, pressing his shoe up against Cas’ and offering him a smile.

Cas nodded, his eyes darting back and forth between the turtles and Dean. “They were some of my favorite creatures made for the ocean.” Cas lapsed into silence for a few moments, his gaze caught on a cluster of turtles that swam up to the surface to take a breath.

Dean let the pause linger, but instead of watching the turtles, he spent his time watching Cas. He cataloged the serene expression on Cas’ face and committed it to memory. It was a pleased contentment that Dean wanted to see Cas experience over and over again.

After several minutes of watching the turtles swim around and waddle their way up onto a sandy ledge, Cas bumped their knees together. “What’s next?”

“You tell me,” Dean said. “What do you want to see?”

“Fish. Any fish,” he paused, “The fish from that movie you’ve talked about before.”

Dean laughed, tipping his head back and letting a bubbling feeling of happiness wrap around his heart. “You mean Finding Nemo?”

“That’s it. Show me fish from Finding Nemo,” Cas said, getting up from the bench and offering his hand to Dean.

Dean let his fingers wrap around Cas’ wrist as Cas pulled him to his feet, and a spark of longing cascaded down his spine. Before he could linger on the feeling for too long, Cas had let go and was moving towards the nearest sign with arrows to the major exhibits.

“It says fish exhibits are this way,” Cas said, already moving towards the tunnel he’d indicated. Except it wasn’t just a tunnel. A large tank wrapped around the walkway, giving a massive overhead view of several sharks and fishes as they stepped into the passage.

“Wow,” Cas breathed out, tilting his head back so he could watch as a blacktip shark swam over their heads. They paused in the corridor, watching as a school of fish darted overhead just seconds after the shark had passed. “I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Cas whispered.

There was something about Cas’ earnest awe that made Dean want to surprise him over and over again. “Do you like it?” Dean asked, stepping to the side as a family moved past them.

“I do,” Cas replied, happy and carefree.

And then they were moving again; past the sharks and into several rooms filled with tanks of colorful fish. From sea bass to minnows, and rockfish to flounders; they spent a vast amount of time looking at each exhibit of fish. Dean specifically found tanks filled with clownfish and blue tangs, explaining the plot of Finding Nemo even though he knew Cas already knew the movie.

The exhibits transitioned from fish into invertebrates and other sea creatures; crabs and lobsters, jellyfish and urchins, eels to octopi. Cas was fascinated by every animal they saw.

But Dean’s favorite part was the knowledge Cas shared. At every single exhibit, Dean pointed at a fish and asked, “Tell me something about this one.” And, without fail, Cas instantly told Dean a unique fact or detail about whichever animal Dean had pointed at. Dean stopped looking at the signs next to each tank, instead turning and asking Cas what each species was. No matter how many times Dean asked, Cas gave him the same beautifully fond smile as he detailed every fish they saw.

By the time they’d made their way through all of the tanks, Dean swore he could write and direct his own nature series on sea creatures with all the information Cas had shared.

“Alright, now we’ve seen the fish, are you ready for the best part of any aquarium trip?” Dean asked as they stepped back out into the main entryway of the building.

“There’s something better than seeing the fish?” Cas asked, tilting his head questioningly.

Dean chuckled, nudging Cas towards another corridor while deliberately blocking the signpost from view so that he could surprise Cas. “Oh, trust me, you’re gonna enjoy this.”

Guiding Cas past tanks of coral and kelp, they walked out into a large enclosure. People lingered around a massive pool in the center of the room; children screaming and giggling and the sounds of splashing water echoing around the walls.

“Welcome,” Dean said, gesturing widely with his arms, “To the interactive touchpool.”

“The what?” Cas asked, squinting at Dean in shock.

“Touchpool, Cas. It’s where you can actually put your hand in the water and touch the creatures. I thought you’d like to physically interact with some of the animals. If you want?”

Cas pulled in a sharp breath, his eyes flitting to the large pool before darting back to Dean in awe. “What animals are there?”

“Why don’t we go find out?” Dean said, guiding Cas to the sink area so they could both wash their hands before directing them to an open spot along the wall of the exhibit. Rolling his sleeve up, Dean motioned for Cas to do the same. Then he dipped his fingertips into the water, and watched as Cas copied his motions.

Reaching out, Dean’s fingers brushed over a sea star and he chuckled quietly. “C’mere,” he said, moving his hand through the water until he bumped against Cas. Linking their fingers together, Dean guided their joined hands down until Cas’ palm was pressed against the sea star.

“Oh.” Cas’ surprise hung in the air between them as he leaned his weight into Dean’s side. Pressed together against the rocky edge of the exhibit, Dean swore he never wanted to let go. But Cas deserved to experience what it felt like to touch these creatures. Loosening his hold on Cas’ wrist until he was just barely brushing their hands together, Dean felt Cas’ hand move slowly over the top of the sea star, as if he were memorizing every hard bump of the spines along its body. “It’s not what I expected, even though I know every molecule they’re made of. It feels… leathery,” Cas said, tilting his head carefully as he gently traced his fingers over the starfish for a second time.

Dean gave Cas another minute to interact with the sea star before he slipped his fingers across the back of Cas’ hand and carefully guided him again. “How does this feel?” he asked as he lowered Cas’ hand down gently towards an anemone.

Cas let out another little gasp, hand jerking back slightly at the texture before he touched it again. “Gelatinous. Like jello,” Cas said with a laugh, fingers tracing over the flower-like structure.

Shifting away slightly to put some space between them, Dean moved to pull his hand away, but Cas instantly followed him until he pressed their hands together again. Their fingers interlocked under the rippling water, and Dean felt his breath stutter out of his lungs.

“Show me something else,” Cas said, voice almost drowned out by the loud sounds all around them.

Pulling in a sharp breath, Dean kept their hands linked together as he took a step to the side; waiting for Cas to follow him. He watched carefully as the stingray moved along the floor of the exhibit, and as it approached them, he directed Cas’ hand down until his palm slid down the stingray's back.

“What does the stingray feel like?” Dean asked, words sticking in his throat as the overwhelming sensations sparked between them.

“Smooth. Almost sleek and silky,” Cas said, voice dropping into something breathy in awe. Cas’ hand lingered against the stingray, fingertips stroking over it’s skin before Dean shifted their joined hands down onto the bottom of the tank.

“Let it move over your hand,” Dean said, shifting his hold on Cas until he was gripping around Cas’ wrist.

The stingray rippled over Cas’ hand as it swam along the floor, and Cas let out a startled laugh. “It tickles,” he said, leaning his weight back into Dean again until his hip bumped against Dean’s. They remained that way for several long seconds as the stingray moved over Cas’ hand and continued on its way down the length of the pool.

Dean cast his eyes from the water up to Cas, and their gazes locked for a heart-pounding moment. An unspoken thing passed between them, and Cas momentarily flipped his hand until his palm brushed against Dean’s palm. There was a rush of water that moved around their hands at the motion, but Dean swore he could feel the heat from Cas’ hand radiating up into his.

Movement from a large gray fish broke Dean from the trace and he tipped Cas’ hand palm down again as the fish swam past.

“Fish,” Dean said.

“Sturgeon,” Cas clarified as his fingers grazed along the bony spines of its back until it’s whiskers tickled over the pads of his fingers. “It’s smooth because it doesn't have any scales, but also bony where the cartilage creates these projections.”

Nodding, Dean glided their hands through the water again until they brushed against the sharp roughness of coral.

“It’s different, right? Focusing all your senses on the way something feels,” Dean said quietly.

Cas nodded, letting Deans’ fingers slide into the gaps between his own again. “I’ve never experienced anything quite like it,” Cas said, words whispered reverently between them. And then, said even more quietly, “I remember watching the evolution of these creatures; watching one of the fish climb onto the shore and another angel telling me not to step on that fish because there were big plans for it. I wish I’d known then.”

“Known what?” Dean asked, a sudden lump forming in his throat.

“How beautiful fish could be, and what it was truly like to see them and touch them,” Cas responded, letting Dean maneuver them as another stingray floated through the water right underneath their hands.

Dean tilted his head, watching the way Cas’ expressions shifted from amazement to surprise and delight.

“Do you want to stay here for a little while? We can see if there’s any other creatures on the other side of the pool that you can interact with?”

The smile that Cas gave him was so bright Dean swore it rivaled the sun. “I’d like that very much.”

Letting go of Cas’ hand and stepping away from the water felt like Dean had left a part of himself behind on the edge of the pool. But when they’d found a new spot on the opposite end of the exhibit, Cas’ hand instantly found Dean’s underwater.

They spent an hour at the touchpool interacting with the creatures, but Dean wasn’t paying attention to the animals anymore. All he could focus on was the way Cas’ hand fit perfectly with his own, and how Cas kept their fingers intertwined the entire time. Dean never wanted the moment to end; Cas pressed against him, babbling excitedly about how everything felt, as if they had all the time in the world to linger right there at the edge of the glistening water.

~

Dusk had fallen by the time they left the aquarium. Walking back to the car, Dean felt drunk on happiness with the tingling sensation of Cas’ fingers still lingering against his hand. Part of him wanted to reach out and grasp Cas’ hand again, but without the pretense of the water, Dean hesitated and the moment slipped by.

But the day had been good; better than anything Dean could’ve hoped for. In all the time he’d known Cas, Dean swore he’d never seen Cas laugh and smile so much.

By the time they climbed back into the Impala, Cas was hiding a yawn behind his hand, automatically dropping his head to rest against the door.

“I think that’s enough excitement for one day. Ready to find a motel and get some sleep?” Dean asked.

Cas’ tired eyes found Dean’s in the muted light from the streetlight above them, and he gave Dean a soft nod. Despite the exhaustion, Dean could still see the etches of happiness lingering in Cas’ expression. Something churned in Dean’s stomach at the sight and he reached out, resting his hand briefly on Cas’ knee with a gentle squeeze.

“Dean,” Cas said, voice infused with affection.

The tenderness was almost too much to bear, and Dean cast his eyes out to the road as they pulled out of the parking lot. “Sap,” he muttered back to Cas, catching the little fond smile on Cas’ face at the light teasing.

Once they were back on the road, Cas closed his eyes and tipped his head back against the door again. Dean noticed, and quickly he fumbled one handed to grab one of his spare jackets from the backseat. He nudged it into Cas’ lap, nodding his head towards the door. “Better to use a jacket as a pillow.”

“Thank you, Dean,” Cas murmured thickly, scrunching the jacket up and nestling it between his head and the door. Another surge of fondness surged up to wrap around Dean’s lungs, and he forced himself to focus on driving instead of watching Cas drift off to sleep with his head pillowed on his jacket.

It took almost half an hour of driving to find a motel that had any vacancy- why the last 3 were all full was a surprising feat that Dean had rarely encountered- and Dean was tempted to let Cas sleep the rest of the night tucked up in the passenger seat, but he knew from experience that it was more comfortable to drag his exhausted ass into a motel room than to get neck ache from sleeping against the car door. As softly as he could, Dean nudged Cas’ shoulder.

Cas’ eyes immediately fluttered open, Dean’s name on his lips as he catalogued their surroundings with sleepy blinks.

“Hey buddy. Are you ready to get out of the car and get some sleep in a bed?” Dean prompted, keeping his tone gentle in the peaceful darkness of the car.

“Yeah, okay,” Cas said, scrubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.

God. The sight was ridiculously cute. Dean’s heart kicked up against his chest, and he forced himself to open the door and step out into the cool night air before he reached out and brushed his hand through Cas’ messy hair. “I’ll go get us checked in.”

He waited until he saw Cas nod before he made his way to the front desk.

A young man looked up as the bell above the door dinged, and the smell of musty haze hit Dean as he stepped into the building.

“Single room with two queens, please,” Dean said, stepping up to the counter.

The man made a face, shaking his head as he dropped a key in front of Dean. “Sorry, dude. I’ve got one room left with one bed. There’s a convention in town and everywhere is booked for miles.”

Well shit. Dean cast his eyes outside to Cas, who was leaning against the hood of the Impala with his shoulders hunched as if he were barely keeping himself standing upright. They were both tired, and searching for another motel when there was a room here felt unnecessarily complicated. They could share a bed, right? It was just for one night. Cas wouldn’t mind, would he?

“Yeah, alright, we’ll take it,” Dean said, lungs suddenly constricting in his chest at the thought of lying inches away from Cas. “Thanks.” Picking up the key, Dean made his way back out to the Impala where Cas had stacked their bags on the curb by his feet.

“Hope you don’t mind sharing,” he said, bending down to grab his overnight bag. “They only had one room left with just one bed.”

“Okay,” Cas said, simple and easy. But was that… was that a smile? Why was Cas smiling about sharing a bed? Surely he wouldn’t want to be crammed up next to Dean after they’d spent all day in each other’s pockets. “I’m following you.”

Shaking his head, Dean hummed vaguely and followed the signs down to their room. Nudging open the door, Dean dumped his bag on the little table by the window. “You can go ahead and take a shower first if you want?”

Cas smiled, tired yet genuine. “Are you sure?”

Nodding, Dean gestured towards the bathroom. “Go for it. I’m just gonna check in on Sam and see how he’s doing.”

“Thank you, Dean.”

Dean watched Cas disappear into the bathroom, and his chest ached as the yearning wrapped thickly around his lungs. God. Any hopes Dean had of this trip dampening his feelings had quickly flown out the window. The ache was even deeper now, and the thought of sharing a bed with Cas all night was more than Dean could handle.

Stepping back outside, Dean sucked in a sharp lungful of air. He really was in trouble now. Calling Sam didn’t seem to distract Dean at all; especially because Sam had nothing exciting to report other than the fact he’d been doing some inventory work around the bunker.

A cold shower would help to tamper down the yearning… well, it would’ve if Dean hadn’t seen Cas emerge from the bathroom in a soft pair of pajama pants and one of Dean’s old tshirts that he’d given to Cas a couple months ago.

Shit. Dean was well and truly smitten.

Cas tugged the blankets around himself as he curled up on the left side of the bed, and Dean felt his heart lurch in his chest. Soft. That was the best word he could find to describe how Cas looked. Hair still damp and flopped across his forehead with a faded maroon shirt highlighting Cas’ tan. The sleepy look in Cas’ eyes was enough to have Dean melting into the floor.

“I’ll be- uh, be right back,” Dean said, locking himself into the bathroom as his heart thundered against his ribs.

There was no escaping the feeling.

By the time Dean made his way back into the room, he expected Cas to be asleep. But instead he was propped up against the headboard and he smiled at Dean the second he saw him. Dean hesitated for a moment at the edge of the bed, before pulling back the covers and climbing in on the other side.

Cas instantly shifted so he was facing Dean, offering him another tired smile. “Today was good. Really good,” he murmured quietly.

Dean felt himself relax into the mattress; tilting until he was lying face to face with Cas. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Cas replied. They lapsed into silence for a few moments before Cas admitted, “I didn’t know it could be like that.”

Dean raised an eyebrow in the faint light coming from the single lamp on Cas’ side of the bed, waiting for Cas to clarify what he meant.

“That the simple things in life could be so beautiful,” Cas said after a moment, as if he’d been looking for the right words to describe what he was feeling. “I don’t know what…” Cas paused, tilting his head until his cheek was pressed into the pillow. “I’ve never really known what happiness is. But I think this is what it looks like; what it feels like.”

The words hovered between them, heavy in their confession and yet light in their tone.

“You’re happy?” Dean whispered, barely able to get his voice to escape past his lips.

Cas smiled, gummy and soft, and it was the most beautiful smile Dean had ever seen. “Really, really happy,” Cas said, fingers tugging lightly at the blanket he’d wrapped himself in.

The words settled like honey in Dean’s veins, and he felt himself smile right back at Cas. God, why was he feeling so sappy and why did he want to do anything to keep that smile on Cas’ face?

“Wanna talk about plans for tomorrow? I’ve got another idea you might enjoy that’s on the way back home,” Dean said. The idea had wiggled its way into his head while he’d been brushing his teeth, and he had a feeling it would make Cas smile even more when he suggested it.

“Yeah?” Cas asked, echoing the same tone Dean had used just a couple minutes ago.

“Botanical garden. There’s one on the other side of Kansas City that’s famous for blooming flowers this time of year. I thought you might like to see some of the beauty of nature,” Dean said.

A smitten look crossed Cas’ face; his eyes softening into something extremely tender and affectionate. And then he was leaning across the pillow into Dean’s space. When their lips met, it was the softest brush Dean had ever felt in his life.

Cas pulled back with a little sigh of an exhale, and then dove back in to press their mouths together again. This kiss was even warmer and slower; Cas pressing his body against Dean and Dean wrapping his arms around Cas’ waist to coax him closer.

They broke the kiss with little gasps before closing the gap to kiss again. Cas’ nose brushed against Dean’s, nuzzling delicately, before his fingertips grazed along Dean’s jaw.

Dean’s heart ached in his chest as Cas peppered several quick butterfly pecks against his lips before lingering on the next kiss. Everything seemed to slow down around them, until all of Dean’s senses were overwhelmed with the touch and taste of Cas.

Somehow, Dean had always pictured that kissing Cas would be like an electrical storm; crackling and fizzling and bursting with desperation to make things deeper. But this… this was the most delicate and romantic kiss Dean had ever experienced in his life. Soft and simple; just gentle caresses of their lips melding together with little happy hums.

Cas tilted his head and Dean followed the movement, sliding his hand under the hem of Cas’ tshirt until he was tracing little patterns along Cas’ hip. Each kiss felt like Dean was going to melt into the mattress as Cas huffed a tiny breath against his cheek before kissing him again.

God.

It was so good Dean just couldn’t get enough.

When Cas pulled back with a stuttering breath, Dean chased him, free hand coming up to cup Cas’ cheek as he brushed their noses together again before seeking out Cas’ lips in another kiss.

Quiet little pleased sounds filled the air with the tickle of lips teasing against each other. Cas’ hands had found their way into Dean’s hair, and Dean had all but tugged Cas forwards until he was lying across Dean’s chest. Fast kisses morphed into slow tangible dances as their mouths learned what it felt like to be slotted together.

By the time Dean finally pulled back, resting his forehead against Cas’, he was absolutely breathless and his heart was milliseconds from catapulting out of his chest with how fast it was beating.

“What was that for?” Dean whispered, tracing his fingertips from Cas’ hip to the small of his back.

“Because you’re absolutely… Dean, you’re just… indescribable,” Cas murmured, lips ghosting over Dean’s cheek. “I’ve wanted to kiss you all day. You make me happier than I’ve ever been in my entire existence.”

Something in Dean’s chest burned warm and pleasant through his veins, lighting his heart on fire. This whole time, Cas had felt the same way he did. God. He’d have kissed Cas breathless over those chocolate pancakes had he known that Cas wanted it, too.

Cas tucked himself more comfortably against his side, and Dean looped his arms loosely around Cas’ back.

“Dean,” Cas whispered, breath tickling along Dean’s neck.

“Hm?” Dean hummed quietly.

“Kiss me again.”

This time it was just sleepy little brushes; lips ever-so-softly coming together in chaste touches as they kissed. When Cas pulled back, he muttered something about the botanical gardens and how happy he was. The words were muffled into the collar of Dean’s shirt, and Dean felt the shift as Cas drifted off to sleep in his arms.

When sleep finally caught up to Dean after he spent several long minutes committing this perfect day to his memory, it was with the taste of Cas still lingering against his lips and the feel of Cas’ body pressed against his own.

[crypticwanda]

Hii can I request a mile high club with wanda? 😳

OH VERY MUCH YES

Mile High Club

summary: you and wanda are on a flight back home when wanda has a crazy idea

pairing(s): wanda maximoff x reader

warnings: 18+, smut, airplane sex, fingering, oral (fem receiving), degradation, praise, begging, dom!reader and needy sub!wanda

notes: I got so carried away with this but I love it so much-

taglist: @myperfectlovepoem @olsensnpm @xxxtwilightaxelxxx @internetsubmarines @supersourlemon13 @madamevirgo @fayhar @royalityofmultifandom @b0mbdotc0m

"Flight 814, first class now boarding..."

You grunted as you stood up from the chair you were sitting at and turned your head over to prompt Wanda to stand up as well. She followed as she stood up next to you and grabbed ahold of her suitcase that she was dragging behind her. It was dark and you had a long flight ahead of you. Both of you walked up to the booth, showed them your boarding tickets, and began walking down the long hallway that leads into the plane. Once on the plane, you both walked up to the first class section and you helped Wanda put her suitcase in the carrier above your heads, as well as your own suitcase.

A loud sigh left your nose as you sat down in your seat. Wanda had occupied the window seat next to you and you had taken the aisle seat. You adjusted yourself and tried to make yourself comfortable in the seat. A loud sigh was heard next to you from Wanda. You turned to see Wanda staring out the window, holding her chin up with her fist. "You okay?" You ask softly as she reverts her eyes to look at you. "Yeah, I'm fine." She breathed out, moving her eyes back to the window. Your eyes peered at her, you could recognize the tone in her voice and her lack of eye contact.

"What's wrong, Wanda?"

Your voice was still soft, yet there was a subtle demanding tone to it. Her eyebrow cocked up as she slightly turned her head to look over at you. "Nothing." She said while shaking her head and turning her attention back to the window. A loud, and obviously annoyed, sigh left your lips as you pressed your head against the headrest on your seat. You had just tried to brush it off, maybe she was just hungry or irritated about flying. Many thoughts swamped in your mind but you knew it was best to just let it go, plus, she was probably listening to everything you were thinking in your mind. You looked up as you heard a 'ding' noise and saw the seatbelt button was flashing. Both you and wanda buckled the seatbelts around your waist as the plane began to take off.

A few hours had passed on your long flight and you had tried to sleep while you could. Luckily, you had gotten first class seats and they were much more comfortable than coach. You had a pillow on the back of your neck as you tried to get some sleep. You could hear Wanda shift slightly next to you, but you didn't respond.

A few more minutes passed until you could hear Wanda shift again and you could feel her lay her head in your neck. You sighed in relief, thinking that she had finally gotten over her little anger from earlier. That was until you felt her lips press against your exposed neck. Your body shuddered slightly at the sudden contact and your eyes opened and peered over at her. "I can't sleep." She pants out. The plane was dark, but you could barely see that her face is red. "Not here, Wanda." You say, knowing exactly what she wants. She whimpers slightly as she tightens her grip on the hem of your jacket. She brought her lips back up to your neck and pressed soft kisses against your exposed neck, despite your previous statement. You grunted slightly as you harshly breathed air out of your nose, turning your head to look around and see that most people had already gone to sleep. You sigh deeply before pushing her away from your neck slowly and turning to look at her. "Go to the bathroom." You commanded as her eyes lit up and she almsot immediately stood up and shuffled her way over down the long aisle to the bathroom.

You sighed once again as you brought your hand up and unzipped your jacket and pulled it off your arms, leaving you in a tank top. You waited about another minute before standing up and walking down to the bathroom on the other side of the aisle. You had slid the door open and quickly closed it behind you as Wanda stood up. Immediately, you harshly grabbed ahold of her face in your hands and pressed your lips against hers. She gasped against your lips as you turned and pressed her body up against the wall of the small bathroom. You kept her lips locked in a rough kiss as your hands ran from her shoulders down to her stomach. "You just couldn't wait a few more hours until we got home, huh?" You pulled away from her lips for a second as your hands pushed under her shirt and rested themselves on her upper stomach, all Wanda could do was moan in response. Your hand moved from her stomach and pressed over her mouth as her eyes moved back onto your own. "Now, Now, there are a lot of people sleeping on this plane. You gotta keep quiet for me, okay?" You said as she immediately nodded into your hand.

Quickly, you attached your lips onto hers again as you could hear a sigh of relief coming from Wanda. Your hand returned to it's postion on her stomach as you slowly began to fiddle with the button on her shorts. Her shorts fell from her hips down to her knees and you laid your hand in between her legs, on her clothed slit. You started rubbing in circles with your middle and ring finger on her clothed slit, causing her to buck her hips up at your hand. "So needy." You commented as you pushed her underwear aside and pressed your finger against her wet, bare slit. "Please..." she whispered out as she kept her arms around your neck. "Please what, baby?" You ask as you keep your fingers pressed up against her clit but don't proceed to move them. "Please touch me. I want your fingers inside me." She breathes out as you smirk before attaching your lips against hers again and slipping your middle finger inside her. A repressed moan was caught in her throat as you started pushing your finger in and out of her.

Your lips started to move from hers, down her jawline, and onto her neck as you kept a steady pace of moving your finger inside of her. You sucked and bit on her exposed neck, most definitely leaving hickeys for tomorrow. Small curses left her lips as you inserted another finger into her. Her tightened on the back of your shirt as her head hit the back of the wall. Her breaths became more raspy and quick as you felt her walls begin to clench around your fingers. A whimper left her lips as she quickly slammed her hand over her mouth to conceal the moan picking at her lips. Her legs shook as she came into your hand. "You're so needy for me, baby." You breathed out as you pulled away from her neck for a moment to see her panting heavily and facing her head towards the ceiling. You brought your hand up to your mouth and hummed as you suck each and every one of your fingers, savoring her taste.

You then pressed your lips against hers once again, allowing her to taste herself on your lips. "Now I have to make sure my baby is taken care of, don't I?" You comment as you held her chin up with your finger. Your hands slide down to her waist as you turn her body to the side and gesture for her to sit on the edge of the toilet seat. You kneeled down between her legs, and kept your hands tightly on either of her thighs. "Stay quiet, and let me take care of you baby." You whisper as you lean your head down and press a few soft kisses to her inner thighs before raising your head up to her already dripping slit. You licked a line up her slit causing her body to shutter slightly at the touch of your tounge. Your hands moved up and held her upper thighs tightly in your grip. You dipped your tounge deep inside her causing her to bite her lip tightly as you began to eat her out. She whimpered and shook in pleasure as she brought a hand down to hold your hair tightly. You moved your tounge in a steady movement for a few more minutes as her grip on your hair tightened. You savored every moment of it, the taste of wanda while looking up at her whimpering at your actions. A low whine left her lips as you could feel her hand on your head begin to shake. "Y/N." She pants out in a shaky voice, showing that she's getting close again. You hummed against her slit while you nodded.

A small whine left her lips as she came onto your lips. You licked up and down her slit once more, gathering all of her juices on your tounge. You slowly pulled your head away from her slit and looked up at her. She was a panting mess, having her legs spread out while sitting on the toilet and having her legs shuddering from the stimulation. You slowly stood up from the floor and leaned your head down to her to hold her head in your hand. "Think you can fall asleep now, honey?" You smirk as she nods softly with a small smile on her face. You pressed another kiss to her lips before pulling away and trying to clean her up the best you could. Her legs were still shaking slightly but she could stand up now. Wanda was the first one to exit the bathroom and head back to her seat. You waited a few more minutes before adjusting your shirt and leaving the bathroom to head back to your seat. You sat back down in your aisle seat and sighed deeply. Wanda had turned and laid her head against your chest and almost immediately fell asleep. You smirked before kissing the top of her head and beginning to drift off to sleep yourself.

[ragingbookdragon]

I'm Only A Crack In This Castle Of Glass (Hardly Anything Else I Need To Be) PT. 4

Batfamily x Batsis Story!

Word Count: 2K Warnings: Explicit Language, ALL THE ANGST Tags!: @itsnottilly @cloudyskylines @starflyer-104 @justine-en @iwillstaywiththemforever @weirdgirlfromtx @edlothia-baby @soul-end @notsostraightweeb @candlestudy

Author's Note: Some of y'all didn't tag so see if that's something on your end. Enjoy the angst and cliffhanger! -Thorne

Wally didn’t come into the coffee shop for almost two whole months after their fight—not that she blamed him—she was still vaguely upset with his harsh words. But she had to admit that she’d gotten used to his warm presence every morning, and not seeing him messed her up more than she thought it would. More often than not, she found herself absentmindedly staring at the door, waiting for him to walk in with that stupid grin on his face and proceed to boast and recall whatever exciting exploits he and his friends had accomplished earlier. It hurt not to see or hear him, and she realized that Wally had become the greatest friend she’d ever had.

Barry still came in though, and if he knew who she really was, he didn’t say anything because he still acted like he always did. So, even if Wally were still angry with her, at least he’d kept his word and not said anything to anyone about her identity. Which if she were honest, tasted bitter when she thought about the price she paid for his silence—his friendship.

It was getting colder again, which meant a lot more people were coming and going from the shop, so at least she could take her mind off her feelings for at least a few hours. Until she got home, and all she was left with were them and a whole lot of silence to think about them with. Sometimes she thought about calling Wally, at least to hear his voice. Hell, even if their last words to one another were frigid, she missed the interaction. She’d give anything to hear him, even taking another round of cold snipes and trades.

She heaved a sigh and wiped down the last few tables of the evening rush, smiling politely at the people who were still sitting at tables or so across. Today had been hectic and there’d been no let up of customers until the last hour of the shift. She’d never thought they’d run out of coffee, but it came close to that a couple hours ago.

The bell above the door chimed and with her back turned to the entrance, she didn’t see who came in, but with another barista at the counter ready to take the final orders of the evening, she didn’t particularly care. All she wanted to do was go home and crawl into bed. Sleep until hell froze over. That, or until her feet stopped hurting—whichever came first. She let out a quiet laugh that made her chest ache—Wally would’ve found that absolutely hilarious and probably shot back about how if anyone had the right to complain about their feet hurting, it would be him. God, she really missed Wally.

“Melisandre,” someone called quietly, and she glanced over her shoulder, eyes widening when she saw the familiar red head behind her.

Speak and the Devil will appear.

“Wally,” she breathed, voice thick with shock, and before she could stop herself, she was throwing her arms around his waist, squeezing him tightly.

He returned her hug in fold. “I guess I wasn’t the only one who missed this,” he quipped.

She huffed a laugh and pulled away. “Believe it or not, it doesn’t feel right when you don’t come around.” Her eyes narrowed almost sadly. “I’ve missed seeing you, Wally.”

“Same here,” he replied, then glanced at the clock above the espresso machines. “Are you almost off? I want to take you somewhere.”

Nodding, she took a look at her watch. “I get off in about ten minutes. Can you wait that long, or will you perish from boredom?”

“I think I can survive ten minutes, Melisandre,” he retorted and collapsed into one of the booths. “Hurry though, I don’t want to be late.”

She rolled her eyes and deadpanned, “Wally, I can’t speed time up. That’s not how that works.”

“Works for me.” He proudly stated.

“I wonder why?” she retorted sarcastically, then gave him a smile before wandering off to clean the last tables.

***

Despite the fact that Wally could run anywhere he wanted in less than a second, he still owned a vehicle and that was downright baffling in her opinion.

“Dick got it for me.” He suddenly said, shifting the car into drive and she blinked internally wincing at the mention of her brother.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“I know you didn’t, (Y/N). But you were thinking it.”

“Uh huh,” she doubted and crossed her arms over her chest. “What am I thinking about right now?”

“Knowing you? Probably food, I know you like to ea—” he dissolved into laughter when she reached over and shoved at his side.

“No, I don’t you ass.”

“Really? Because I distinctly remember the time I took a fry off your basket and you looked at me like I’d killed your favorite dog.” (Y/N) glared at him and he pointed at her. “Yeah, that’s the look right there.”

“I don’t like sharing my food,” she said. “You should’ve known better.” Her eyes drifted to the windshield. “So, where are we going?”

“S.T.A.R. labs.”

(Y/N) cocked a brow and stared at him. “Really? S.T.A.R. labs? What’s there?”

Wally shrugged. “Wanted to show you a bit of what it’s like to be me.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You mean you came to see me after all this time and the first thing we’re doing is going to a lab so you can show my what you do?”

His gaze momentarily darted to hers. “Is that a problem?”

“I dunno, I just figured we’d go eat a diner somewhere and apologize to each other.”

“Are you sorry?”

“Beg pardon?”

“Are you sorry? For all of the last three years?”

“Not particularly,” she griped, and he shrugged again.

“Then I’m not sorry for what we said to each other that night.” he let out a sigh. “But I’m willing to let it go, because I’d rather us just have a disagreement than lose what our friendship over it.” he looked at her. “What do you say?”

(Y/N) stared at him for a long moment, then she sighed and nodded. “…Yeah, I agree.”

Wally smiled. “Good.” He turned the wheel and pulled into the parking lot of the lab. “But there is food there for us, so you’ll be satiated anyways.”

“Hardy har har. Shut up, Wallace West,” she shot back, climbing out of the car. Her eyes traveled up the tall building. “Wow, this place is huge, isn’t it?”

She felt him stand next to her. “Yeah. Did you know they had to replace the glass windows a whole bunch of times because Barry and I kept shattering them when we’d run up ‘em?”

(Y/N) blinked, unsurprisingly stating, “No, I did not. But I can see that happening.”

He started towards the doors, leaving her to follow and soon they were stepping into an elevator. She watched him hit the rooftop button and she looked at him.

“If you’re showing me what you do, why are we going to the roof? Shouldn’t we be going to some laboratory inside?”

Wally chuckled. “Patience, young padawan.” He ignored her rolling eyes. “Food first.”

“Oh, dinner in the moonlight? Well, aren’t you just the romantic.” (Y/N) cocked her elbow on his shoulder and grinned. “Don’t tell me you fell in love with me all that time we spent away from each other?”

This time, he was rolling his eyes. “Hardly, (Y/N). I just figured you’d want a nice evening where you weren’t staring at your bland kitchen walls.”

She scoffed and pulled away from him. “Look, I’d paint and hang shit up but the landlord wouldn’t be happy.”

“Since when do you care about making people happy? You’re typically a ‘I’m going to make someone unhappy’ type of person.” Her eyes shifted to his and he waved a hand. “Not what you’re thinking about—I was talking about the coffee shop.”

For a moment, she didn’t say anything, then she hummed. “There’s nothing more fun than telling someone I’m going to get the manager and then do my magic little spin and cheerfully greet, ‘Hi, I’m the manager’.” She grinned. “Does wonders to see Karen’s little head explode.”

Wally chuckled and the elevator dinged. The doors split open, and they walked out onto the rooftop. Surprisingly, the roof was enclosed and lighted, giving her perfect vision and when her eyes fell on them, her heart seemed to stop in her chest, and her feet to a halt.

They stood from the table they’d been sitting at and with her heart hammering against her ribcage, she immediately spun on her heel, intent to flee back into the elevator, only to come chest to chest with Wally, who wrapped his arms around her waist—effectively keeping her in place.

Her feet were still moving on their own accord and she shoved against his chest, trying to get back to the lift. “Wally, move.”

“No, (Y/N),” he murmured, and she could feel her breath starting to come in and out in panicked spurts.

“Wally, please, I’m begging you, move.” She stared up at him and plead, “Please don’t make me do this. I’ll do anything, just please let me leave.”

His evergreen eyes were narrowed in pity, but there was a firmness that rested within that pity and he shook his head. “I can’t let you leave, (Y/N).”

“Wally, please,” she begged, arms starting to go limp against his chest, the tears flooding her vision. “Don’t make me do this.”

“You’ve gotta stop running, (Y/N).”

She couldn’t help the sob that escaped her, and she rested her cheek against his chest. “I hate you…so much.”

“I know,” he murmured.

“You’re a liar and I hate you.”

Wally sighed. “I know you do.”

(Y/N)’s face contorted in anger despite her pain. “I should’ve left the night we fought. I knew you wouldn’t be capable of keeping it from him. From any of them,” she sneered and suddenly pulled away from his grip, eyes flashing with rage.

“This wasn’t your right to tell!” she shouted at him and shoved him in the chest. Wally didn’t budge an inch and she shoved him again. “God, I was so naïve to assume you’d keep your fucking mouth shut! That’s one thing you’re not capable of doing!”

She growled and turned from him, running her hands over her face. “Three years of relative peace shot straight down the fucking drain,” she shot him a teary glower. “All because of you and your big bleeding heart for your best friend.”

Wally frowned. “I’m doing what I think is best, (Y/N).”

“Forcing me to meet them isn’t what’s best, Wally! I didn’t want to be found! I didn’t want to be associated with them again!” she snarled and in an instance her anger cooled, her shoulders drooping as she lamented, “…This wasn’t a decision you should’ve made. This was never your right to decide. For me…or for them.”

“Perhaps it wasn’t,” he agreed. “But if you weren’t going to draw the line in the sand, I was.”

(Y/N) met his gaze and held it for a long moment, then she turned her attention to the four men who were standing in front of the table, their expressions a mixture of regret, anger, and relief.

She let out a long sigh and reached up to rub at her temples. “Let me guess, I’m not allowed to leave until we’ve had our picture-perfect reunion scene?”

Wally nodded. “The elevator is sadly,” his hand shot backwards and with a sharp crackle of lightning, the light went out. “out of order.”

(Y/N) shook her head in disappointment at him then declared, “The next time I run, I’m settling in a city that has no superheroes.”

“Good plan,” he quipped. “But I don’t think there’ll be anymore running.”

She got up in his face and hissed, “Then you underestimate my feelings regarding the brothers and father before me.”

[drabbles-mc]

Tempting Offer

EZ Reyes x OFC (Aanya Reyes)

Request by @garbinge: Ok and 43 with whoever your heart desires as well cause I’m a sucker for a good ol true love trope (from This List)

Warnings: so much fluff

Word Count: 3.3k

A/N: I’m still not out of my writing slump. Still got a lot going on. But Anj sent me this request literal months ago and it’s been living in my brain ever since. Plus, I haven’t updated Remind Me in a hot minute so I figured doing a fluffy little prequel/spinoff would be a nice change of pace for a story that is so heavy with angst haha. I have a future chapter planned that actually references what happens in this story, so I’m excited to be able to share the real context for it all with you guys. Hope you enjoy! xo

EZ Reyes/Remind Me Taglist: @ly--canthrope @noz4a2 @queenbeered @sincerelyasomebody @sadeyesgf @thesandbeneathmytoes @appropriate-writers-name @tomhardydallasstarsgirl @kelpies-shed @louisianalady @gemini0410 @paintballkid711 @chibsytelford @yourwonkywriter @sesamepancakes @mayans-sauce @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead @plentyoffandoms @georgiaaintnopeach @twistnet @themoonandthewicked @bucky-iss-bae @enjoy-the-destruction @encounterthepast @everyhowlmarksthedead @rosieposie0624 @mylittlelonelyappreciationtoo @mijop @xladymacbethx @blessedboo @holl2712 @lakamaa12 @masterlistforimagines @kkim120 @toni9 @shadow-of-wonder @crowfootwrites @redpoodlern @punkgoddess-98 @black-repunzel99 @lexondeck @mrsstevenbuchananstark @berniesilvas @lovebishoplosamiguelgalindo @amorestevens @angelreyesisdaddy04​ @samcrobae​ @langiinspirations​ @bigcreatorwombatdreamer​ @lightblindingme​ 

She knew who was at the door before she’d even heard the knock. She laughed as she made her way through her apartment, trying to slide her earring into place as she did. Pausing in front of her door, she took a moment to take a deep breath and get herself mentally prepared. It wasn’t their first date, but she still had the jitters as though it was.

Undoing the chain on the apartment door, she pulled it open. EZ was standing on the other side, hands hooked onto his belt since he hadn’t worn his kutte this time. Without a second thought his eyes scanned her over, a smile immediately taking over his features the longer that he looked at her.

“You look beautiful,” he nodded.

She bit down on her lip for a moment, her face heating up at the compliment, “Thank you,” stepping back, she waved for him to come in, “You can come in, I just gotta grab my shoes and purse and I’ll be good to go.”

“Take your time,” he lingered close to the door, glancing around her apartment.

It was the first time he’d ever stepped inside. He’d picked her up and dropped her off the last few times they went out, but he never went past the threshold of her place. She didn’t necessarily offer, and he wasn’t going to push it if she wasn’t ready or comfortable. However, as he stood there and looked around her living room and into what he could see of the kitchen, it seemed exactly like the kind of place she would live. It also made him very nervous to ever have her over at his trailer. Her apartment felt so fresh, all warm colors and walls covered with bookshelves. The one big set of windows that she had, had a bench with a few plants on it that were coming along well for being in a small apartment.

“Alright,” she was pulling the back of her shoe over her heel as she half walked, half hopped towards him. Standing upright as she landed in front of him, she flashed him a smile, “I’m ready.”

“You sure?” he chuckled.

“Positive,” she motioned for him to open the door, both of them walking through before she turned to lock it behind them. As she followed him, tucking her keys into her purse, she asked, “So do I get to know where we’re going tonight? Or is it a big surprise?”

He smiled at her as they walked down the flight of stairs to the ground floor of her apartment building, “It’s not a big secret.”

“Are we taking the bike?”

He shook his head, “It’s within walking distance.”

“Ooo,” she smiled over at him, “now you’ve got my attention.”

As the two of them walked along the sidewalk, EZ listened with genuine interest as Aanya recounted her day to him. He reveled in her stories of new books that she’d gotten into, and strange customers that she’d encountered during her day. Although if EZ was being honest with himself, he would have sat there and listened to her read every page of the phone book and he still would’ve kept his interest. She had more love in her words than most people had in their entire bodies, and he was captivated.

He stopped outside the door to a small diner, smiling over at Aanya before pulling the door open for her, “Right this way.”

Her face lit up, “I haven’t been here yet!” she walked through the door and turned around to face him, “I always meant to come here and just never made the time.”

EZ nodded as the two of them walked and found a booth to sit in, “My pops is really good friends with the woman who owns the place—she’s been buying from him for years.”

“You know,” Aanya casually flipped through the menu, “I’ve been to your father’s shop plenty of times and I’ve never seen you there.”

The statement got him to look up from the menu, “You’ve been to the shop?”

She laughed, looking over at him, “Of course. Only butcher in town, Ezekiel.”

“He’s never mentioned that he sees you.”

“Something tells me your father isn’t one for gossip,” she laughed for a moment before she paused, “You talked to him about me?” her lips curled into a smile.

“Well,” he drummed his fingers on the tabletop as he bit back a shy smile, “yea. Of course.”

They’d long since finished their dinner, but the two of them were perfectly content to just sit at the table and talk. The waitress knew EZ well enough and she very casually brought over coffee for each of them when she saw how good of a time the two of them were having. It’d been a long time since she saw EZ bring anyone around, let along someone who had him smiling the way that he was.

“I just can’t believe,” Aanya laughed between sips of her coffee, “that I’ve already met your brother. I should’ve known! I should’ve known that was him.”

“Why would you have known?” EZ chuckled.

“Because he was at your father’s shop! And he had on, you know the,” she gestured vaguely to her shoulders and chest, “the vest.”

EZ smiled, “The kutte?”

“Yes!” she pointed at him and nodded, “The kutte.”

“I feel like maybe I should mention that not everyone in a Mayans kutte is a Reyes brother. Angel just so happens to be both.”

She chuckled, nodding, “I figured that much.”

“I think Pop would lose his mind if there were any more of us,” he smiled.

Aanya laughed, “I think Felipe is usually on the brink of losing his mind anyway.”

“Raising Angel will do that to you,” he replied without missing a beat, both of them laughing.

“I’m sure you weren’t a cakewalk either, Ezekiel.”

“Well what makes you say that?” he leaned back in the booth, feigning offense before giving in and laughing.

Shaking her head and taking a moment to finish her coffee, she replied, “Your very sweet and handsome smile doesn’t fool me, EZ. I’m sure you’re just as much of a troublemaker as your brother.”

“You think I’m handsome?” he smirked.

Laughing, she nodded, “Of course I do.”

The two of them walked back to Aanya’s apartment. Along the way she’d casually linked her arm with his, leaning against his side as they walked. EZ tried not to get too lost in the sensation of it, trying to focus on what she was saying to him. He was trying to focus but there was something so comfortable, so right, about the feeling of her leaning into him the way that she was.

They made their way up the stairs, and EZ leaned against the wall next to her door as he watched her slip the key into the lock. The smile on his face was practically a permanent feature whenever he was with her, and it had been a long time since someone made him feel that way.

“I had a really good time tonight, Ezekiel,” Aanya leaned against her doorframe with a smile.

He adored the way his name sounded coming from her. With a slight nod, he replied, “Me too.”

“I’ll give you a call tomorrow when I’m done with work?”

“Yea, yea that works,” he reached forward and gently slid his hand into hers, “Let me know if any of the new deliveries look any good.”

“I always think they look good,” she chuckled, “If you want a real critic’s opinion, you should come in and talk to Laura. It’s…it’s hard for me to find a book I don’t like.”

“If you want, I can bring you some pretty terrible books.”

Rolling her eyes, she laughed, “Tempting offer, but I’ll pass.”

“Alright, but you’re missing out.”

“I guess I’ll have to live the rest of my life knowing that,” she laughed, shaking her head. Looking up and meeting his gaze, her smile softened, “Thank you for tonight. Get home safe, okay?”

“Always do,” he smiled before lifting her hand up and pressing a light kiss to her knuckles, “Talk to you tomorrow.”

Standing up onto her toes, she placed a brief kiss on his cheek, “Goodnight, Ezekiel.”

“Goodnight,” he smiled as she walked through the door and closed it behind her. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself not to linger as he made his way back down the stairs, replaying the night over in his head with a smile.

The next morning, both EZ and Angel had shown up to the carnicería first thing to help Felipe with a large delivery. Angel had immediately gotten on his little brother’s case when he saw what a good mood he was in. EZ had always been the biggest morning person out of the three men, but even with that being true he still seemed peppier than usual. After a lot of questioning from Angel as they carried in one box after another, he caved and told them about his date from the night before.

Angel shook his head, wiping sweat from his brow, “No way. No way she’s real, bro. I just don’t buy it.”

“What do you mean you don’t buy it?” EZ laughed and shook his head, “She literally stops here all the time. She’s seen you here!” he gestured to the shop in its entirety.

“Really?” Angel seem perplexed, “She talk to me before?”

“I’m assuming not if you don’t remember.”

“Not everyone’s got a memory like yours, Boy Scout.”

“Nah, but you’d remember her.”

Angel rolled his eyes, mocking his brother, “You’d remember her. Jesus, EZ. Two dates with this girl and you’re already in love with her?”

“Four dates.”

“But who’s counting?” Angel smirked, “Look, I’m very happy for you and your very real girlfriend.”

EZ gave his brother a shove, but before it could descend into an all-out wrestling match, Felipe started ushering them both towards the door, “Go finish this somewhere that I don’t need to pay for everything you break.”

“Love you too, Pop,” Angel laughed as he let his father push them both out the door, the sign on it still saying that the shop was closed.

Despite the fact that they didn’t get to talk for their whole ride over to the clubhouse, as soon as they parked their bikes Angel was right back to giving EZ grief for the girlfriend he was convinced didn’t exist. EZ shook his head and laughed, taking the jokes and low-level verbal abuse in stride the way he always did. He knew that arguing past a certain point just made it all that much more fun for Angel.

By the time the afternoon rolled around, Angel had moved on from making fun of EZ and has started going in on Coco and Gilly. EZ couldn’t say that he was upset about his brother’s shift in attention. He did, however, find himself frequently checking his phone to see if she’d texted or called. It wasn’t often that she messaged him while she was working, but it didn’t hurt to check.

He was just about to slide the phone back into the pocket of his kutte when it started to vibrate. Glancing down at the screen, he smiled when he saw Aanya’s name lighting up the screen, “Hey.”

“Hey!” her voice was bright, happy, on the other end of the line, “I’m just getting ready to leave—they got someone else in to close up tonight.”

“Oh, nice. I’m, um, I’m still at the scrapyard,” his free hand gripped the edge of his kutte.

“That’s fine, I figured. I thought of you earlier, though, when I was going through the new shipment of books that came in.”

“Did you?” he scuffed the toe of his boot against the dirt.

“I did. There’s one in here that I think you’ll really like. Can I swing by and drop it off?”

“You don’t gotta drive all the way out here. I can swing by your place if you want.”

“It’s fine, really. Besides, I have all this extra time on my hands now,” she laughed.

“Alright,” he didn’t have it in him to tell her no, “If you don’t see me, the guy Chucky who works the front office can come and get me.”

“Perfect. Alright, I’ll see you in a little bit.”

He knew that telling Angel that she was coming was only going to make the situation worse. If there was no time for him to prepare comments beforehand, there was the possibility that EZ could just do a normal introduction. It helped that everyone was relatively busy with club business.

EZ was walking back down the steps of the clubhouse, about to head towards the front office when he saw Aanya walking next to Chucky. The two of them were talking and EZ couldn’t help but to take on her contagious smile. He couldn’t hear what the two of them were saying but Aanya looked thoroughly amused, and knowing Chucky he had to assume it was something good. When she locked eyes with him across the yard, EZ could see her thanking Chucky before turning and heading in his direction. EZ immediately spotted the book hanging from her hand as she walked up to him.

“He seems so fun,” she nodded back over her shoulder in Chucky’s direction.

“Yea,” EZ laughed, “he’s somethin’ alright.”

EZ was too busy looking at the woman in front of him to see that Angel had seen her come onto the yard, watching intently as she walked over to his brother. Angel saw as the woman laughed at something his brother said, and for a second he really couldn’t believe that EZ had been being honest with them this whole time. Angel really thought that his little brother had just been exaggerating to get him and the rest of the club off his back.

“Looks like you’ve been working hard,” Aanya smiled as she reached up, cupping one side of his face in her hand as she thumbed a streak of dirt off his cheek with her thumb.

He felt like his skin was on fire at the contact, but he tried not to let it show, “Just trying to stay busy.”

“That makes two of us,” she laughed, “I hope you don’t mind me just popping up like this. I don’t want to intrude on everything you’ve got here.”

“You’re not intruding. If anything, you’re a very welcome distraction,” he chuckled.

“At least I’m welcome,” she smiled.

“Always,” he couldn’t stop looking at her.

The two of them stood there for a few moments before Aanya cleared her throat, remembering why she’d shown up at the scrapyard in the first place. She held the book close to her chest for a moment before handing it over to EZ.

“Just came in today, so I haven’t read it. But I read the first chapter or so while it was slow this afternoon and it seemed like something you’d enjoy.”

“I’ll be sure to write up a full report when I’m done with it,” he smiled.

“Lucky for you, I grade papers as generously as I review books,” she laughed, resting her hand against his chest. Her fingertips traced along the stitching of the leather covering his torso. Looking at his prospect patch for a moment, she looked back up at him, “Kutte.”

He laughed, nodding, “You got it.”

“It’s my one new piece of information for the week.”

“That and all the first chapters of books you’re going to be reading for the rest of the week,” he gave her a knowing look.

“Like you wouldn’t do the same thing if you worked there,” she lightly patted his chest.

“Maybe,” he rested the hand that wasn’t holding the book over hers, completely enveloping it.

“I don’t know how late you need to be here tonight, but if you want to come over later, you can.”

He raised his eyebrows, surprised by the invitation, “Yea?”

She nodded, “Yea. If you have plans with your brother or something I totally understand. Just thought I’d mention it.”

“I’ll be there,” he didn’t have plans, but even if he did he would’ve dropped everything for her, “I’ll give you a call when I leave here in case you need anything.”

“Sounds good!” she felt her heart beating a little faster in her chest, “Alright. I’ll let you get back to work. I’ll see you tonight?”

He nodded, “See you tonight.”

He was expecting her to flash him a smile and a wink before turning and walking away. But, much to his surprise, she gently cupped both sides of his face in her hands and pulled him down into a kiss. It took him a moment to really register what was going on, but once he did, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. He could feel the way she smiled into their kiss and in that moment, he realized that there was nothing else in the world that he’d rather do. He’d drop damn near any and everything to be able to kiss her like that all the time.

She pulled away, hands still resting on the sides of his face. She smiled as she took in the slightly dazed look on his face. Tracing her thumbs along his cheeks, she gave him a soft peck on the lips, “Bye,” she let out a quiet laugh.

It was hard to get himself to force out the one-syllable word as he stared at her. He’d never been good at taking things slow, and as he stood there looking at her, seeing the way that she was practically glowing, he knew that he was very quickly falling in love with her. He wished he knew how to articulate the way that she made him feel, but instead he settled for getting his thoughts enough to say goodbye to her until he saw her again later.

He’d offered to walk her back to her car but she waved him off, insisting that she was fine and if nothing else Chucky would gladly escort her, which EZ knew was true. He watched her as she sauntered back towards her car and he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. His fingers curled tighter around the book in his hands, pressing it against his chest.

The feeling of his phone vibrating in his pocket snapped him out of his daze. He reached into his kutte and pulled it out, sighing when he saw that Angel had sent a picture to the group chat with all the guys. Not knowing what to expect, he opened the message and saw a picture of himself and Aanya, one hand on his cheek while the other held the book. The next message was a text from Angel, one that made EZ shake his head, “Guess boy scout wasn’t lying after all. She’s real”

Before EZ could try to respond and come to his own defense, Gilly sent a message to the chat, “Still don’t buy it. I wasn’t there. Didn’t happen”

Knowing that it was just going to descend further into chaos, EZ decided he might as well play into it, “Alright. Guess you won’t care if I leave early to go and see my not real girlfriend then. See you guys tomorrow”

Angel called out to him from across the yard when he read the message, “Hey, hey. I don’t think I said all that!” Angel walked over to his brother, laughing the entire time, “Nah, nice to see she’s a real person.”

“Yea, that’s one of my favorite things about her,” EZ chuckled and shook his head, tucking the new book close to his chest.

[letarasstuff]

Where do you go?

(A/N): This is requested by an anon and based on this post.

Summary: How does Hotch’s daughter, who everyone goes to with their own problems, cope with her mother’s death two years later?

Warnings: Angst. Grief. Dealing with a loved one’s death

Wordcount: 2.2k

✨Masterlist✨ _____________________________

“Hey (Y/N), I really need your help with Tim. Do you have a minute for me?” (Y/N) turns around to see a boy from her science class. It’s not like she knows him that much, they occasionally team up for small projects, there is nothing more behind that.

“Uh of course. I just had my last class, so I got time for you.” She smiles and lets him, Vincent is his name she thinks, rant to her about how his boyfriend doesn’t understand his needs.

This is nothing out of the ordinary for her, to be asked for advice. She simply is a good listener and gives good tips, the best even according to people close to the teenager. The problem is her limited knowledge on relationships. “Coaches don’t play”, Hotch tells her. And he intends on keeping it that way.

“That does really suck. Did you try to talk to him about it?” (Y/N) asks the boy in front of her. Suddenly he bursts into tears, describing how he only sees breaking up as a solution. She awkwardly pats his back and says encouraging words to him. That he will make the right decision, that he shouldn’t rush it and that he has to take his time.

After Vincent, or is it Gordon, calms down he looks up at the girl. “Thank you for listening. You were a great help, (Y/N).” He hugs her and leaves.

As she looks over the parking lot she spots her father’s car. Excitedly (Y/N) walks over and gets onto the passenger seat. “Hey, I didn’t know you pick me up today”, she greets him.

“We finished the case early and I was on the way home and thought giving you a lift wouldn’t hurt. Who was that boy? Is there something I should know?” Hotch looks at her from the side. But his daughter shakes her head. “Don’t worry, he is gay. He just needed a shoulder to cry on about his ruined relationship.”

“You do know you are not the school’s therapist, don’t you? At this point your classmates should pay you.” He tries to joke about it, but as a father he is worried. Since Haley died, (Y/N) took it upon her to make sure everybody is happy, no matter at what costs.

“I know, Dad. I’m fine and Alex feels better.”

A few days later (Y/N) sits in JJ’s living room, watching the mother go from one place to the next. “Food is in the fridge, so help yourself. Henry’s bedtime is in half an hour, please make sure he goes to sleep by then. He should be easy to put down, Will made sure to tire him out earlier. All important numbers are on the fridge. Feel free to watch anything on the TV.”

The teenager volunteered to babysit Henry, giving his parents a child free evening. “Thank you, JJ. We will rock this, don’t we?” She looks down to the boy on her lap, who nods his head.

“Good. Behave for (Y/N), ok?” The mother gives her son a kiss on the head. After Will’s goodbye the couple is gone.

“Ok, how about we get real comfy on your bed and I read you a story?” Henry nods again. He takes (Y/N) by her hand to his room. As suggested they lay down on his bed.

“Which one do you want me to read to you?” But the boy looks unsure all of a sudden. “Can we just talk?” Surprised the teenager nods. “Whatever you like, champ.”

“Uh okay, do you know Mommy is a bit… much? She is like there and the next second she is here and then she isn’t here for days. I- this is sooo annoying”, Henry rants to her. He is only three, so it is kept rather simple.

“Oh man, she must be a handful, champ. But you have to keep in mind that she really loves you and in the end this is the only thing that matters. Do you love her, too?” It hurts her to talk about a mother’s love, since her own passed away over two years ago. (Y/N) still misses her. She is sure it will never go away.

“Of course I love her.” Sleepily Henry cuddles closer to (Y/N), holding his plush toy near him. After that, he falls asleep safe and sound. The teenager waits for a bit, watching him scrunching up his nose every few minutes.

The next day at the BAU a knock is heard on the Unit Chief’s door. “Come in!”

“Hey Dad, I thought a little visit wont hurt”, the daughter enters the room. Automatically a smile appears on Hotch’s face. “Also, I thought a little help from Spencer wont hurt, too”, she adds with a laugh. “Last time I checked he was in Garcia’s lair. You might have a shot finding him there”, he tips her off.

“Thank you Dad, you are the best!” Not long after this she steps into the Technical Analyst’s office and is immediately greeted by the preppy woman being anything but preppy.

“What in heaven’s name do they think I am, do you know it (Y/N)? They want me to work faster and more efficiently and expect me to be all sunshine and rainbows while looking at the most gruesome pictures ever taken on a daily basis! Un-be-lie-va-ble!” The blonde walks back and forth, gesticulating wildly.

The teenager takes her hands in an attempt to calm her down. “Sit down and tell me from the beginning what you are talking about.” This ends in Penelope raging about some superiors for an hour. When she finally calms down, it is like she wakes up. “Oh my, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to load all that up on you. You don’t need that in addition to-” She suddenly cuts herself off.

“I’m fine, really. It’ll be like any other day.” The smile the girl struggles to put on looks pained. “My sweet sweet summer child, the second anniversary of your mother’s death is not like any other day. You are still allowed to grief, you know that, right?” Penelope hugs (Y/N), cradling her close to her chest.

“I know, Penny. Thank you for reminding me. But I have to go, I need Spencer’s help with my chemistry assignment. You know, gotta keep those grades up.” With that she makes a beeline for the bullpen, leaving a stunned Technical Analyst by herself.

Since Foyet Hotch worries about his daughter. He learned many things about her coping mechanisms in the last two years: She tries to do it on her own.

In times like this the similarity between him and (Y/N) frustrates him. Aaron also tends to deal with his emotions alone, in the safe space of his own four walls. With all of his qualifications he knows it’s not healthy and he slowly learns to let his feelings loose around people he trusts, typically his team.

The difference between (Y/N) and Hotch is that he knows when he reaches his breaking point and she doesn’t about hers. So in a situation like right now being a profiler comes in handy with the job as a father.

It’s the day. The second anniversary of a mother’s death.

Hotch already planned the whole day for his two kids. At first he wakes both of them up, a luxus he seldom is able to indulge. But for today he has called into work saying he won't be coming any time before ten.

The mood around the house is suffocating. Even the little boy notices the heaviness of the day and its meaning.

“Are you ready, (Y/N)? I’m gonna drop you and Jack off at school!” Aaron shouts standing at the foot of the stairs. “I’m coming!” The answer is heard faintly.

Not long after this the Hotchner Household is on their way to the youngest’s elementary school. “Behave and remember: If you don’t feel fine it’s okay. Just tell your teachers and they will call me and I will get you, do you understand?” The father looks at his son with a certain seriousness. “Understood”, the blonde boy confirms and gives him a hug.

When he is back onto the driver’s seat, (Y/N) speaks up. “I don’t feel good about letting him to school today. What if he suddenly gets overwhelmed? I don’t think his teachers are able to calm him down.” Hotch gives his daughter a glance from the side. Jack never showed any signs of what she just described.

“They know to call me. I also told him it's all right to let them call me. He is in good hands.” It’s quiet for the next few minutes. “Dad, this is not the way to school”, the teenager tries to alert her father.

“I know. You won’t go today. I called you in sick when you were in the bathroom. I got the day planned, be ready to be surprised.”

The first thing they do is having breakfast in a little niché café. They once visited it regularly with Haley, way long before Jack was born. The two of them sit down at a booth in the corner.

“What can I get you two sweeties?” A waitress asks, her notebook ready in her hands. While the father orders their usuals, (Y/N) lets her eyes wander. So many memories at once crash onto her.

“Do you remember this one waiter, who always got you a hot cup of chocolate for free?” Aaron says after noticing her sad look. The girl begins to smile through the tears forming in her eyes. “Of course. Mom always got nearly a heart attack seeing me down it like it’s juice. I-” Her voice breaks. The tears fall down and make their way over her cheeks.

“It’s ok, you don’t have to say anything. I’m here. For anything you want or need me. Because nobody expects you to be alright, especially on this day.” He takes her hand and looks her in the eyes. (Y/N) nods, leaning against her father’s shoulder. He puts an arm on her, keeping her closer.

“I know. It’s just- It still hurts. So so badly. I feel like she still is here, but that’s just not true and that hurts me more.” Silently Hotch motions the waitress to make the order to go, while rubbing his child’s arm. Because that’s what she still is, a child.

A child that went through much, especially for her age. When (Y/N) calms down a little, they make their way back to the car.

“I thought we are going to the BAU to distract you for a while. But I can call the team and tell them we are going to do a SPA day at home or something. What do you want?”

“Can we go to them? And maybe leave earlier to do face masks at home before picking Jack up?” There is no way the father can say no to her puppy dog eyes. “Of course, Honey. Anything you want.”

As soon as the doors of the elevator open to floor six of the FBI building in Quantico, Penelope Garcia embraces (Y/N) in a big bear hug. “My sweet sweet summer child. You are so strong, I admire you. We are so happy to have you here” she whispers into the teenager's ear. “Thank you, Penny. Thank you so much.”

Over the course of the next few hours (Y/N) visits everyone’s desk. At first she goes into the lair, where mountains of cookies wait for her. Then she sits at Spencer’s desk, listening to cute facts about sloths. But Emily is quick to steal her from the genius, bribing the girl with new pictures of Sergio. Derek takes the teen from there, pushing her through the office on a desk chair with wheels. Her father is able to hear her laughs in his office, which puts a small smile on his face.

After that (Y/N) goes to JJ, who has a drawn picture from Henry for her. “Will had to write ‘best babysitter ever’ for him”, the blonde explains, pointing at the picture. The girl smiles. “Woah, I think you got a little Picasso at home. Tell him I love it.”

Her last stop is Rossi’s office. The older man looks at her with a fond smile. “Do you know that I see so much of your father and mother in you?” Confused, she glances at him.

“You are as stoic as Aaron. You are determined. But you are also caring and loving, like Haley. You are a perfect combination of both of them. Just keep that in your mind.”

As mysterious as this seems, it somehow makes (Y/N) happy. Happy to know a part of her mother is always with her.

Soon the little family departes for their home. Not long after they bid their goodbyes, Penelope receives a picture of the Unit Chief and the teenager with pink glitter masks. The father is willing to do anything to make her smile, even when this means he gets a basket of various masks the next day for teasingly reasons.