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himluv · 3 months ago

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All Stomach (no heart?)

I'm back with more Lucanis! And also a little cameo from my favorite Crow power couple ;) . Enjoy!

@vorchagirl

Everywhere Lucanis looked, Treviso was either coated in ice or burning. Everywhere he looked, his heart shattered into impossibly smaller pieces. His city. His home. He’d just got it back and now a blighted dragon was going to destroy it all. And what the dragon did not freeze, the Antaam’s cannons would destroy.

Antiva had no army. Treviso was a port city protected by the bay at her front, the remaining nation at her back, and the Crows who called her home. But what good were crows against a dragon?

They’d pressed what few advantages they had. Word of the attack spread quickly, civilians fled and hid until only black and purple leathers filled the streets. It was a start, but if they didn’t get that dragon to land soon, the blight would reach the canals and Treviso would be lost.

Lucanis growled, gripped his rapier and dagger tighter, and sliced through another Antaam warrior.

“There’s too many of them,” Viago shouted.

“It’s a distraction,” Teia called. She spun, kicking one Antaam in the face before sinking her blade into another’s throat. “Keeping us busy while the dragon blights the city.”

“Mierda.” She was right. “And the Antaam are helping?”

“I’m sure they have their orders.” Viago’s voice carried a disdain as potent as wyvern poison.

The conversation died down as another wave of Qunari kept the Crows busy. Lucanis wasn’t sure how much more of this they could take. If something didn’t change they would lose Treviso.

“Is Rook coming, or not?” Viago stood panting over an Antaam gunner’s corpse.

Lucanis and Teia shared a grim look. He didn’t have an answer. Between Minrathous and Treviso, he didn’t know which she would pick. She didn’t have strong ties to either city, and while he’d started to trust her, had started to think of her as more than just a client, he simply didn’t know Rook well enough to say which city she’d choose defend.

The silence was too much for Viago. “Is that a ‘no’, then?”

Lucanis shook his head. “We shouldn’t count on it.”

Teia nodded. “We’ll do what we must.” She looked at Viago. “The Crows rule Antiva.”

His mouth pressed into a grim line, but he finished the oath. “And Treviso will be free.”

Behind them, someone said, “Then we’d better do something about that dragon!”

Lucanis spun to find Rook and Bellara approaching.

“You came,” he said, jogging to reach them. “Minrathous–”

She shook her head. “I sent Harding and Davrin. Hopefully they can hold out long enough for us to deal with this.”

“You have a plan?” Viago didn’t sound like he had much faith, even if she did.

She shrugged and marched further into the garden. “We’ve got to get it to land.”

Viago shot him a dubious look. “I’m still not hearing a plan.”

Lucanis wasn’t sure planning was one of Rook’s skillsets. He shrugged at the Fifth Talon and hurried after Rook. The garrison was empty, the majority of the Butcher’s forces deployed into the city, so it was the perfect place to face a dragon. Plenty of room. But as they moved out into the frost covered garrison, Lucanis saw it wasn’t just the dragon.

Up on one of the crow parapets of the Old Crow Road, stood… mierda. What was that thing?

“Despair. Ignorance.” The thing cried, in a strange, multi-toned voice. “Mortal confusion. Yet this city offers nothing better than a pawn of the Dread Wolf.”

Rook cursed. “Ghilan’nain.”

That was Ghilan’nain? That monstrous, giant thing writhing with blighted tentacles was an ancient Elven god? He was supposed to kill that? Beside him, Teia cursed and Viago put an arm out to keep her from moving any closer to the god.

As if that would protect any of them if she really wanted to reach them.

The god continued, “Your patron could not stand against us in ages past. He will not help you now.” The dragon flew around her, a low, grumbling growl echoing over the city. “Give us the Dread Wolf’s dagger.”

Rook climbed up onto a marble bench –which still only made her a head taller than Viago – and gripped the lyrium dagger tight.

“Come get it!” She shouted at Ghilan’nain.

“Mierda,” Lucanis breathed.

“This woman is insane,” Viago said.

“Retrieve the knife,” Ghilan’nain ordered her dragon. “And whatever else remains of these mortals!”

The dragon’s head snapped to look at Rook, and then it banked right and headed straight for them.

“That worked?” Viago yelled, just as Rook jumped down to join them, a grim smile on her face.

“I can’t believe that worked!” She said.

“We cannot celebrate yet,” Teia said as the dragon landed in the center of the icy garrison.

They didn’t kill the dragon, and while Treviso was safe for the moment, Minrathous was in shambles. Not only was it burning and blighted, but the Venatori had finally made their move. Lucanis didn’t want to leave Neve there. She was hardly an unknown to that cult. They wouldn’t hesitate to kill her like they had every other Shadow Dragon they’d found.

Lucanis pulled his dagger and rapier from their sheathes, and nodded at Rook. “Let’s kill a dragon.”

But she refused Rook’s sympathies, and when Lucanis tried to speak she’d raised a hand to forestall him. She needed time, she said.

So he and the others followed after Rook and returned to the Lighthouse. After a much needed bath and a change of clothes, Lucanis made a fresh pot of coffee.

Spite stood by the percolator, watching the coffee bubble and spit its way through the tube. Even the demon seemed resigned after the day’s events. He turned his head to look at the door and sniffed.

Rook, he said.

And then she walked in. She still wore her armor, streaked with gore and and ash from the fight against the dragon. She didn’t meet Lucanis’s gaze as she slumped into the chair closest to the fire and put her head in her hands.

He said nothing. What could he say? Yes, he was grateful she’d saved Treviso. Beyond grateful. But even to him that victory tasted sour after seeing Minrathous. So they shared the silence and listened to the coffee brew.

“I don’t regret my decision,” she said after a long moment. Her voice was thick and tremulous. “I did the best I could with what we had.”

He poured them each a cup of coffee and set hers gently on the table. She looked up at him and the shine in her eyes glinted with firelight.

“You don’t have to convince me, Rook.” He wanted to soothe her, to offer some warmth, but he couldn’t convince a smile to claim his lips. “I know you did.”

She closed her eyes against a fresh wave of emotion, the corners of her mouth trembling. She shook her head as a single tear escaped down her cheek. “But it wasn’t enough,” she whispered.

Her voice was a punch to his gut, the devastation and hopelessness, when all he’d ever seen in her was hope and optimism. Before he could think better of it, he crouched before her. His hand hovered above her knee, but he couldn’t bring himself to put it there. Instead, he cradled his cup in both hands.

“Rook,” he said. His voice was firm, but gentle.

She looked at him, her eyes darting around his face, looking for what he didn’t know.

“Could you be in two places at once?” he asked.

She frowned. “… no, but–”

“–And if you could, do you have two lyrium daggers with which to taunt the dragons?”

She sighed. “No.”

This time, he managed the flicker of a smile. “We did our best,” he said. “And it wasn’t enough. Could never be enough.” He tilted his head. “So, how do we get better?”

She considered him for a long moment, fresh tears in her eyes, but they did not fall. “I don’t know yet,” she said.

He nodded at that and stood. “Yet,” he said. He tilted his chin toward the door. “Now go. Clean up. When you come back, I’ll have something for you to eat.”

She shook her head. “Lucanis–”

“Please, Rook,” he said. This time it was his voice that threatened to break.

She looked up at him, surprised by the show of emotion, and in the firelight she looked radiant. Even with tearstained cheeks and red-rimmed eyes, Lucanis struggled to look away from her.

She reached for him, but stopped just short of taking his hand. He wanted so badly to close the distance, to feel her palm against his and know that they were both impossibly alive. That, despite a god’s best efforts, they had managed to save at least one city.

And look what it had cost her. Beaten and bruised, grieving and doubting herself. How selfish was he that he wanted to add to her burdens? Rook deserved better than the mess that was his life.

Lucanis cleared his throat and looked at the floor. “It’s the least I can do.”

For several heartbeats, there was silence. Then Rook stood and nodded. “Okay,” she said.

Lucanis headed to the stove and rummaged around until he heard the dining hall door open and close again. He took several deep breaths, then decided on a hearty pasta with mushrooms and greens.

He might not be able to take her hand, but Lucanis would comfort Rook the only way he knew how. She would never go hungry while he was around, and with each bite maybe someday she would come to understand just what that meant.

#lucanis dellamorte #veilguard spoilers #da4 spoilers #datv spoilers #dav spoilers #dragon age spoilers #embria aldwir #himluv's writing tag #viago de riva #andarateia cantori

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chatterbox-73 · 1 year ago

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.Sugar Daddy.

Older.

Kenny Ackerman x Reader

This story is a smut story, I’ll more characters x reader one shots in the future and if you want to see a character please let me know.

You must be 18 years or older to read this...

🔞⚠️NO MINORS ALLOWED⚠️🔞

Summary/inspiration/prompt: you didn’t know you needed someone older until you got him.

Word count: 2.9k

CW: NSFW and adult content, fingering, oral (m&f!receiving), unprotected s*x, filming, drinking, smoking, dirty talk, name calling/degradation,

You sat in the booth with the hair stylist next to you, “I’m telling you, today’s shoot was really good” slurred the director, as he placed a hand on yours while he leaned over the table, “if you and Kenny had just a little bit more chemistry, we’d all be rolling in money” he hiccuped and looked to Kenny and the older man just puffed on his cigarette, “come on, you enjoyed yourself… you can’t deny that” the director continued on as if he was trying to set you and Kenny up on a date, “director Vanché, I think it’s time we finished, the actors are probably tired and you promised to show me your new kitten” smiled the producers, you looked to the young man and offered him a smile as to say ‘thank you’. The two man left and you sighed in relief, the hair stylist next to you giggled and you looked at her, “what?” You asked with a raised brow and she shook her head, “I don’t think you’re gonna like it, but he’s right… if the both of you had a little more of a spark, you’d be very popular… and not just for our company” she raised her drink to her lips and took a sip of her beer, giving everything a minute before continuing on, “it’d be very big paycheque for both of you… and honestly I think you’d both think it’s more then worthwhile, at least considering how much you’d both enjoy yourself” she chuckled along with the other two stylists sitting at the table, while you could only blush.

Of course you enjoyed it, Kenny has a perfect cock and he knows how to use it perfectly, he’s had many years to become an expert at sex and he’s been with more women then you could ever imagine, while you have really only ever relayed on your looks and body, which is exactly why you got into porn because you didn’t need to be good at pleasing others you just needed to look good while taking it.

You just couldn’t possibly imagine Kenny wanting to be with you outside of work, because why would he waste his time on a little girl who is as useless in bed as a bag of cold sand. You looked down at your drink, before quickly drinking down all of it in one go, your face beginning to instantly heat up as the alcohol began to effect you, “wow… that was quick, what ya so desperate to get drunk for?” Asked the man that had been silently sitting and puffing on his cigarette this entire time, you looked up at him, “can you believe this bullshit? They want us to fuck again… haha! Yeah right, like you’d want to do that” you laugh and throw your head back against the back of the chair, you heard chairs shuffling and moving, when you looked up again you noticed everyone but Kenny had left, “and what if I do, then what? Ya gonna deny me? Not let me have ya?” He asked as he put out his cigarette and stood, “or will ya only open those sweet legs, if yer gettin’ paid? Cause I can arrange that” he chuckled and leaned back in his chair, you stiffen for a moment, “you want to again?” You looked off to the side and he laughed sitting back in the chair before crossing one leg over the other, Kenny eyed you down and waited for more from you, however you just stayed silent and watched one of the wall intensely. “Alright come on… get up, we’re leavin’” he hummed and stood before leaning over the table and grabbing your arm pulling out of the booth with him.

You stayed silent as Kenny led you to some very flashy and modern looking love hotel, you stood on the other side of the lobby watching as Kenny chatted away with the receptionist who happened to be a very beautiful woman who was probably in her mid forties, she hand him the key and a paper bag before looking to you and giving you a wink, you smiled shyly and she chuckled, Kenny ushered for you to follow him down the dimly lit hallway, before you both reached a door with the number 850.

You sat on the bed only in your underwear, Kenny had discarded your clothing somewhere in the room, the man stood before you as he removed his shirt, he grabbed your face as he unbuckled his belt, “ya look so pretty, uh bet people love havin’ such a cute girl under ‘em” he chuckled and tucked some hair behind your ear, however you only blushed and looked away, “no no… don’t look away… look at me… focus on me… only me, doll” Kenny leant down to you and once getting your attention he stood again before opening his pants and pulling out his member.

You watched intensely as Kenny pumped his semi, you noticed he dropped his member and looked at you expectingly, “yer ain’t gettin’ fucked, if ya ain’t workin’ for it, sweetie” he smirked and you looked down at his still slightly soft member.

You move forward on your hands and knees, moving a hand up Kenny’s leg before gripping his shaft, you pumped him slowly as you looked up at him, Kenny chuckled at your doe eyed expression and gently rested a rough hand on your cheek, “suck me, doll” he spoke in a rasped whisper, you felt your cunt clench before you giggled, you bit your lip and shook your head. Kenny gave you a raised eyebrow however before the man could speak, you leaned in and began kissing over his hips, at first you gave his hip soft feather like kisses that made goosebumps form on Kenny’s arms and legs, before you moved onto more sloppy kisses and licking over his hips and lower abdomen, this caused Kenny to pulled your hair into a makeshift ponytail and pull your head back and up towards him. The man leant down getting right in your face, “start fuckin’ suckin’ bitch” he grunted out before yanking you back down to his member, Kenny straightened up and looked down his nose at you, you pressed a soft peck to his tip before slowly sliding him into your mouth.

Kenny’s pre-cum tasted funny, it was salty and bitter but it somehow made your cunt tingle and your mouth water, suckled on his tip, licking over his slit and wrapping your tongue around him with shallow bobs of your head, honestly you were more then ready to shove the man onto the bed before climbing him and going to town on his one-eye monster, however he told you to suck him, so that’s exactly what you were going to do.

Kenny groaned and brushed his fingers through your hair, you moaned and took him deeper, gagging and choking in the process, “woah woah, darlin’ yer tryin’ to kill yerself?” He questioned with a grin, looking up at the man had your cunt quivering, you ignore all your throats protecting and took him as deep as he’d allow, until nothing was left, your lips met the scruffy bush of pubs as your nails dug into his thighs, Kenny’s lips were turned up into a smirk and his eyes were narrowed while he watched you, the man took a sharp breath in and let out a hiss before pulling you off him, “that’s enough, yer pretty good at that” he chuckled before grabbing your hips and forcing your hip to the edge on the bed before placing a pillow under them, Kenny grabbed under your knees and forced your thighs apart and then pushed your knees right up to your chest, you groaned at the strain on your hips, however Kenny only chuckled and rubbed his thick tip between your quivering folds, “oh fuck… Kenny please!” You whined as the underside of his shaft rubbed over your clit, however the man only smirked and pulled back.

Whining and complaining you reached a hand down and began rubbing yourself before slipping a finger in, you moaned and moved the finger quickly in a desperate attempt to get off, “ya know, I’m likin’ the look of this… keep playin with that pussy baby girl” the man watched your finger disappear deeper and deeper inside you, though no matter how much you push and press you weren’t able to put enough pressure on your g-spot, “I- I can’t… not enough” you cried and felt Kenny release one of your leg.

Without warning the man push two of his fingers into you, not giving you a chance to pull out your own finger before his hand cupping yours, you gasped loudly at the fullness before the man began to move yours and his fingers in and out guiding them into your spot, you moaned and grabbed his wrist. “I can’t… it’s- it’s too much… dear god!” You cried out and involuntarily rocked your hips into his slow motion of both your fingers, “too much?” Kenny questioned with a chuckle before he leant down and wrapped his lips around you clit, the man switched between suckling and blowing raspberries on your sensitive bud, you cried and moaned grabbing his head pulling him impossibly close to you while your free leg squeezed around his shoulder, you pushed yourself into him as you quickly reached your high, you felt your cunt squeeze tightly around both yours and Kenny’s fingers.

Kenny felt his member throb and pre-cum leak from him, he was certain that if everything kept up like this he’d cum, he honestly began to feel like a young teenager again, desperate and unable to control himself, he felt eager and ready for you, your moans and pleas only encouraging him, Kenny pulled back while keeping his tongue on you, he laid his hot muscle flat on your clit, slowly beginning to massage it while watching you intensely as your body quivered and your face contorted, you fell over the edge as you watched him watching you, “oh dear god…! Fuck me kenny! Please Kenny… please” you cried loudly moaned between every word only getting louder the longer Kenny continued to lick you cunt, even after removing his and your fingers from you, his tongue continued to work you to a other orgasm, pulling away and grabbing your leg that was resting on his shoulder before moving it up to press it against your chest, after a few more slow licks over your cunt Kenny leaned up and quickly slipped his member into you.

It was silent as his hips slowly moved back and forth as his lips captured yours, you moaned and whined against his lips but the sound was just swallowed up, you wondered for moments if this was what your coworkers meant by good chemistry but that thought was quickly forgotten when Kenny pressed into your spot.

You completely lost yourself, your eyes watered and lips quivered as your toes curled and back arced, you moaned nonsense as the man’s hips pressed into yours, it was a stark contrast to your interaction earlier in the day.

Kenny was being sweet, slow and oh so gentle, it felt like heaven, it was so out of the ordinary, you had been railed plenty of times, almost with every partner you’ve had, however this was different in so many ways, “yer so warm baby” Kenny moaned as he pulled back and looked down at where your hips meant, “yer swallowin me up” the man groaned and let go of your legs, moving his hands to your waist holding you tightly in place, he took a deep breath in and closed his eyes, tilting his head back and contacting all his muscles.

Kenny’s muscles on arms and legs flexed and his chest expanded with his deep breathes, while his stomach tightened making his abdomen tensed up and his waist appeared smaller. The man looked like heaven itself, like a Greek statue, you could feel the throbbing of his cock and could tell why the man was calming himself down.

Kenny wasn’t ready to cum, but you sure as hell was ready for him, regaining all your senses you squeeze around him, trying to encourage him to continue, however this caused the man to slowly begin to pull out, in your desperation you wrapped your legs tightly around his hips, while also leaning up and grabbing roughly at his waist, your nails dug and stretched at his skin causing him to hisses sharply and glare down his nose at you. “Kenny… please… back in…” you moaned your legs tightening more and your fingers finally getting a good grip on him, as you push him back into you and locking him in place with your legs, “back in… nice and deep” you moaned as one of your hands move up Kenny’s arm while the other rest on the mattress before helping you raise up from the bed. You wrap your arms around Kenny neck and you lick his earlobe “Kenny… you have to fuck me… you have to fill me” you whisper dirtily and play with the hair on the back of Kenny’s neck, the man raised a leg on to the bed and began to slowly bounce you on his member.

Your hands grip onto his shoulders tightly as he moved his body to sit back on the bed, “yer being real confident baby…” he chuckled breathlessly while he laid flat on his back, he then guided your hips into as soft rock, “ya better get workin for this cum” he looked down at you swallowing him up, you moaned beginning to grind and roll your hips, Kenny’s eyes moved up your body, he seemed to be mesmerised by the way it moved, “ya got some nice tits on ya” he groaned as he moved his hand up your waist and to your chest squeezing and massaging the flesh.

You were certain you’d cum soon, despite your best efforts Kenny still looked calm, relaxed and nowhere near ready to cum, though the occasional twitch or throb made you second guess that, you mustered all the courage you had, “raise those knees for me, would ya?…” You slightly mimic Kenny’s accent still unsure, he look up for your breasts and gave a crooked smile, “now why’d I do that?” He grunted eyes shifting back down to your cunt before quickly back up to your face, “how else ya gonna see my pussy swallow up yer cum” you fully committed to the accent and moved yourself into a squatting position.

With a laugh Kenny lifted his knees and you leaned back resting your hands on them, you opened your legs and began grinding up and down on his cock, giving him a full view of everything. Kenny reach down the side on the bed and grab his phone, resting his other hand behind his head he tapped away on his phone before hitting record, “let’s show the boss how well we’re gettin along” he chuckled looking at you through the phone, you moaned surprisingly enjoying being recorded despite it normally feeling like work, you whined as you quickened your pace, “fuck Kenny… I’m gonna cum” you throw your head back and whined, reaching a hand down you began to fondle Kenny’s sack determined to get him to cum, the man hissed reaching up and grabbing one of your breasts, before giving it a good slap keeping the camera focused on you, “fuckin slut!” He grunted and grabbed you breast, squeezing it roughly this time, “dirty cum hungry slut!” His accent coming through heavier as his words slurred together. Kenny let out a loud groan then a harsh grunt before rutting his hips up, this caused you to lose your balance and almost fall forward, but it hardly mattered as you felt it, Kenny had finally given in, it was hot and felt amazing, you were certain you could get used to this feelings.

You quickly pulled Kenny out of you and turned over, you felt Kenny grab your ass, massaging the flesh before spreading your lips, getting a good view of your abused hole, you then decide to push and force a large amount of Kenny’s cum out of you, the man groaned and your felt his fingers start playing with your folds smearing his cum all over your cunt and then fingering it back in you, “baby, ya think we’re gettin along well enough for ‘em” he asked and you moaned as he scissored his fingers in and out of you, before pulling them out completely and showing the camera just how dirty they were.

“Ya sure…? Uh don’t have to send it, just keep it between us sweetie” Kenny rested a hand on your stomach while the other tap away on his phone, “well does it look good? I only want to send it if it looks good” you moved your foot up and out of the bath water, playing with the tap as it dipped water, Kenny laughed and moved his hand up your body to your throat tilting your head back against his shoulder, “yer fuckin kiddin me, right?!” He laughed more before kissing your cheek and leaning into your ear, “ya looked fuckin perfect” he whispered and moved your phone into your view, before hitting play on the video.

Hours later you sat in your living room watching all the replies to the video, Kenny had opted to sending the video file to the work group chat under the name ‘team building exercise’, and the replies have been coming in ever since, it was safe to say your boss was pleased with the outcome and had already begun planning the next few projects.

Masterlist

More from the ‘Sugar Daddy’ series:

Sugar Daddy Masterlist

Previous - Kōtarō Bokuto: Training Exercise.

Next - Levi Ackerman: Taking me.

#fem!reader #kenny ackerman x reader smut #kenny ackerman x reader #kenny aot #kenny ackerman #smut #aot smut #snk smut #snk Kenny #ackerman aot

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writercole · 7 days ago

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Cry To Me

Summary: Scott Miller crashes his coworker's night of wallowing in pity and sorrow after a long day. Things get interesting when one of them admits to a crush. Words: 3393 Warnings: Fluff, discussion of a break up, Scott being soft, flirting, attempted controlling behavior by bad ex. Credits: @ryebecca for listening to me yell about this for two or three months now. A/N: I absolutely love this. 100%. Even if I almost gave myself a heart attack when I hit the wrong button and accidentally erased the 3400 words I wrote. It's fine, though. Ctrl Z is there for a reason.

Working at StormPar was a dream come true. I could use the degree I had obtained to actually help people, to do things that would change the future. Pay was pretty good for what I did, all travel was covered, and I wasn’t one of the ones who had to actually go out into the storm and put down the sensors. I got to stay back and analyze all of the data the actual ballsy guys gathered. Plus, the guys were all pretty hot. Like I said, dream come true. Well, most of the time.

My boyfriend, John, hated my job. He hated that I worked with men, hated that I traveled with them, hated that they offered him to join us since he worked remote. There were times I wondered if he even liked me. But then he’d have days where he’d be so sweet and kind and it made up for all of the snide remarks and comments. In hindsight, I should have known something.

I tried to get opinions of the team but every time I would start talking about John, Scott would show up. I swear his personal mission was to make my life as hard as possible on a daily basis. If he wasn’t complaining about the data (data that he gathered), he was complaining about me trying to have some kind of friendship with my coworkers. His motto was ‘personal lives stay personal’ and, honestly, that told me enough about him to make me want to avoid him as much as possible.

Javi, on the other hand, was the whole reason I stuck it out. Sure, the other guys on the team were cool. But Javi made me feel welcome and heard with every concern, from work to personal, the latter of which we usually discussed over a couple of drinks or dinner, always on the company of course.

“What do you mean you’re not coming?” I asked John as I stood on the porch of the little cabin I owned.

“I mean, I can’t get away from work for the weekend.”

“John, you work remote. You have nothing that you need to get away from. You can bring your laptop with you and work anywhere.”

“You can use your degree somewhere else, too. You don’t have to work with those…storm park assholes,” he spat.

I took a deep breath and steeled myself. This is a conversation we’d had many times and it didn’t seem that he got the message any other time. “Javi is the one who gave me a chance, John. I searched for two years for a job in my field, one that I was told was absolutely booming. Two years before I got a shot at using the stupid piece of paper I worked so hard for. I’m not going to leave them high and dry just to sit for another two years without a job. I have bills, John. I have expenses!”

“I’ll pay for everything and you can be my little housewife.”

“Are you out of your mind? We don’t even live together. I’m not going to quit my job to sit around my house while you’re working at your place. And I know you did not just propose in the middle of an argument to get me to agree to what you want.”

“No, I didn’t propose. We aren’t there yet. You won’t respect my boundaries in the relationship so there’s no fucking way I’ll make you my wife.”

The audacity of this man. It took everything I had not to attack him. “Boundaries in the relationship? And what boundaries are those? Not have friends? Not work? Enlighten me here.”

“Not work with men who only see you as someone they want to try and fuck. Not work with that…that Javi prick who's always flirting with you.”

I laughed at that. Loudly. “John, get the fuck off of my property. I’m not yours to control. We’re done. We’re so fucking done.”

“Fine. I could have anyone I wanted. I don’t need you.” He turned on his heel and stormed away to his BMW. I watched with crossed arms as he shouted something at me, pointing a finger in my direction. Wiggling my fingers with a sarcastic smile was the only response he got.

I watched gravel fly as he spun his way out onto the road. I’d have to remember that next time I did yard work. That prick.

The taillights of his car faded into the distance just before a StormPar SUV pulled into my driveway, Javi and Scott in the front seats. I swiped my bag up from the porch as Javi stepped out, waving as he met me halfway and grabbed my duffel from my hands.

“I take it John is not joining us?”

“What gave you that idea?” I asked sweetly, hoping he hadn’t seen the display of idiocy.

“I may have stopped a little ways back when I saw him standing so far from the porch.”

“Did you hear any of it?”

“No, just a lot of gestures before he Fast and Furioused out of here.”

“Well, all you need to know is John is no longer of any concern to any of us.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” I tried to smile at him, though, judging by the look on his face, it came out more of a grimace than a smile. “Let’s hit the road before Tinman there blows a gasket.”

We both glanced at Scott in the passenger seat, glaring at us while gnawing that stupid piece of gum he always had in his mouth. Javi and I chuckled before turning to the car, him heading to stash my bag and me climbing in the back seat.

The drive was mostly comfortable, the conversation focusing on work topics for the short trek to the next state. I answered when prompted but kept quiet overall. After all, personal lives needed to stay personal.

We pulled into a motel in the middle of nowhere, anticipating a storm forming somewhere in the area tomorrow when the two fronts met. After we got checked in, I settled my things in my room and took a shower, my stomach rumbling loudly as I dressed. I sighed in resignation as I headed out the door. I wanted to just rot in bed and wallow in self-pity for the evening but, since I missed lunch with John’s bullshit, I needed to eat. And maybe have a drink.

A shadow crossed my table around the third glass of wine. Looking up, my shoulders sank when I recognized the grimy MIT baseball cap standing over me. “What do you want, Scott?”

“Are you okay?”

I had to do a double take and make sure I wasn’t seeing things. He sounded genuinely concerned about my wine drunk state but he didn’t earn the nickname Tinman without having the reputation to go along with it. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.”

“Right. Because you’re an expert in how I look?”

“You know, you can talk to me if something’s bothering you,” he said as he leaned on the chair across from me.

“I’d love to believe that, Scott, but,” I replied sweetly, dropping my smile before continuing, “personal lives stay personal, right?”

He hung his head for a second before his baby blues met mine once again, a soft smile on his face. “Well, we are on personal time, so the rule no longer applies."

I scoffed. "So what? Now you want to be besties and braid each other's hair and talk about boys?"

Surprisingly, he didn't roll his eyes or scoff; he just stood there with that soft expression and waited. I stared him down while my heart fluttered in my chest. I wish I hadn't had so much alcohol. It was definitely affecting my rational mind. "Sit."

His eyes brightened beneath the bill of his cap as he pulled out his chair and took a seat. The waiter stopped and took his order and I was grateful that he stuck with a beer, though I was surprised when he chose a cheap domestic over some fancy IPA or import. He stayed quiet until the drink was set in front of him, taking a sip before asking the question on his mind. ”So why are you drinking alone?"

I really need to control my alcohol better. "John," I grumbled.

"I noticed he didn't seem too thrilled with things today."

"That's one way to put it."

"And how would you put it?"

"He's an insecure, petulant child that refuses to accept when someone, especially a woman, has thoughts and ideas that don't align with his own," I blurted out. I resisted adding a jab at Scott because, despite his surly nature, he made an effort to talk to me when he didn't have to.

"I know that much by looking at him," Scott laughed. "What did he do today?"

"Besides insult my intelligence? "

"I assume that isn't something new?”

"No, unfortunately."

"So tell me. What's different today?"

I hesitated, sighing deeply before draining my wine glass. "Today, he offered to have me quit and be a housewife instead of going on the road with the team. With you and Javi. Specifically Javi."

"Why Javi?"

"Because it's always Javi that offers John to join chases. It's Javi that picks up my bags and jokes with me."

"I do that stuff."

"You do?" I snorted as I toyed with my glass. "When?"

"Okay," he chuckled, "maybe I keep my distance."

"Uh huh," I replied, a smirk lifting the corner of my mouth in delight for the first time since John showed up.

"I would, though. Do those things."

"But then you would be accused of trying to fuck me, too."

It took a moment for Scott to process what 1 meant. I was treated to a furrowed brow and deep scowl, one that was entirely too attractive for a man I regarded as an asshole. Damn wine.

"I hate that guy."

His frustration on my behalf spread a warmth through my chest. Setting my glass aside, I vowed to switch to water. Wine brought to the surface feelings that would get me laughed out of the company.

"You hate everyone," I pointed out as I suppressed a chuckle.

"I don't hate you." Scott looked up at me from beneath the bill of his cap, a softness in his eyes I'd never seen.

His confession rendered me speechless. "What?" I finally managed to whisper.

"I don't hate you. In fact, I quite like you."

Any other time, I would have lost it on him for being insensitive. Any other time, I would have laughed. Any other time, I wouldn't have believed him.

This time, I could feel the sincerity radiating from him. I could sense the anxiety as he picked at the label on his beer bottle. Despite the stoicism in his expression, there was fear and apprehension in his gaze.

"You ... like me?"

"Is that so hard to believe?"

God, I wanted to believe him. I wanted to be with someone who actually liked me. Wine be damned.

"In a way, yes. I've always gotten the impression that you hated me. Or at least a bit of dislike.”

"I'm sorry I make you feel that way," he said with a sigh. He slid his drink back and forth across the table cloth, his eyes focusing on the bottle moving in his hands. "It isn't easy to work with someone that you are falling for. Especially when they have a boyfriend."

I chose to focus on the last statement. The rest was…too much. "I don't."

Scott's brow furrowed as he raised his eyes to meet mine once again. ”You don't what?"

"I don't have a boyfriend."

"So you and John?" His brows went from furrowed to raised, disappearing into the shadow of his hat.

"I dumped him today."

An emotion I could only describe as hope flickered across his face for a moment before vanishing behind his mask. My heart sank when he slipped back into his public persona. Maybe the wine had me believing things that weren't really there.

"I'm sorry," he muttered as he stood from the table. "Here you are dealing with a break up and I'm ruining your night. I'm gonna go.”

"Stay. Please?" I asked gently.

"You want me to stay? Because it's fine if you I want me to leave you alone. I understand.”

"I really want you to stay. We can't have dinner together when we aren't at the same table. Besides, I would really like some company." The confidence in my voice surprised me. The flurry of emotion in my chest in combination with the three glasses of wine on an empty stomach clouded my head. Tears burned my eyes just like they had been for hours. If he refused, I might actually cry in public.

"Dinner together?"

"My treat."

Scott smiled broadly as he sat back down, removing his cap and running his hand over his head. I was shocked to see that he had thick, dark curls tucked under the hat he always wore. He held my gaze while he took a long drink from the bottle still on the table, the thick muscles in his throat working as he swallowed.

Mesmerized didn't cover it. I was entranced, captivated by the man in front of me that challenged every notion, every idea I held about him. I couldn't even blame the alcohol any longer. Wine may lower my inhibitions but there definitely hadn't been enough to turn Scott into a kind man on its own. Nor had it been enough on its own to ignite the attraction currently taking over my head and heart. Then, he spoke again.

"You are not paying for dinner on our first date.”

Never before has a man made me feel giddy but somehow here I was, excited affection flowing through my veins and warming my chest, butterflies fluttering in my tummy. The wine was definitely not responsible for this.

"First date?" I questioned, hoping that I didn't sound as breathless as I felt.

"I don't want to wait any longer to take you out. And since you are amenable to my company tonight, why not start now?"

"And if I say I don't want this to be a date?"

"You won't."

"How do you know?"

"For starters, I can read you like a book."

"Oh yeah?"

"I can. You have gone from annoyed to intrigued to interested, and that's all before I admitted to a crush on you."

Damn him. "Okay," I conceded as I leaned forward onto the table. "Tell me about a Scott Miller first date."

A cocky grin spread across his face. "Normally, I would have picked you up with a single flower, something seasonal. And I would tuck it in your hair. I also wouldn't be in my work clothes."

"Because you look so bad in them?" I rolled my eyes at the absurdity of him looking bad in anything. I might have thought of him as an asshole, but I wasn't immune to his looks. I might have even checked him out when we first met. Of course, he opened his mouth and spoke shortly after and that ruined the illusion.

"No," he laughed, "because I respect the women I date and I will do more than the bare minimum when we go out."

"Then what would you wear if you're not wearing your work clothes? I don’t know if you even own other clothes." As much as I tried to make it sound like a joke, the underlying sentiment was true. I'd never seen Scott outside of work clothes and I think that had something to do with the way I thought of him.

"I do own other clothes, thank you. Aside from exercise gear, I have dress clothes ranging from business casual to formal black tie."

"Formal black tie? You'll have to tell me about that some time," I said, making a mental note of the exercise gear as well. "But what would you wear on a first date?"

"That depends on what I planned but either a black or cream Henley and dark jeans or black slacks and a blue button down."

His eyes hadn't left me since he sat back down. The intensity of his attention was both flattering and unnerving. Every move I made, every expression that crossed my face he saw. I could only hope he didn’t hear my heart pounding or my breath hitch when I thought of him hot, sweaty, and panting after a workout.

"Dinner would be first," he continued as he gestured for the waiter. He ordered for both of us, surprising me when he ordered my favorite dish for both of us.

"How did you know?"

"Know what?"

"What I would eat. How did you know?"

"Because I know you."

"We haven't had a non-work conversation lasting more than five minutes…ever."

"That doesn't mean I haven't seen you. And learned about you."

"We will save that for another time," I said, holding back a swoon. "So. You order dinner -"

"I don't always order for both of us," he interrupted.

"And then what? Small talk over drinks?"

"If we're getting that deep into detail, yes. We talk over dinner and if we are having a nice time when we're done, we either go mini-golfing, get ice cream, or have a walk in the park."

"That ... actually sounds really nice, Scott," I complimented.

"That isn't what we're doing, though," he smirked, leaning forward onto his elbows, matching my posture.

"It's not?" Disappointment deflated my shoulders and ruined my smile, something that Scott seemed to pick up on immediately.

"I haven't been able to actually plan anything or find out where anything is besides this little dive," he explained. "So, if you want to continue after dinner, I have several seasons of Golden Girls on my laptop. We can go back to the motel and watch some tv."

"Mr. Miller," I gasped comedically, "are you asking me back to your place before we even eat dinner?"

He ducked his head for a second before meeting my eyes again, a teasing, lopsided grin on his face. "I assure you, my intentions are honorable... tonight."

I felt my own breath catch in my chest. The feelings that the wine brought up wouldn't get me laughed out of the company any more but, they were definitely beginning to rage like a wild fire. For a man I never looked at twice. Not in a romantic way. Not until tonight.

That realization crept up on me unexpectedly. Scott could absolutely be someone I could see myself with. At least this version of him, the one with the sweet dates and mesmerizing eyes.

"If your intentions are honorable, how does the night end?"

"How only the best ones end."

"I thought you said your intentions were honorable."

"I meant a good night kiss at your door and the promise of another date."

"That sounds like a perfect ending to a really nice date."

"It does."

"But I have one suggestion," I countered.

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"You make that good night kiss the second kiss of the night."

"When do you propose this first one happens?"

I gathered every ounce of courage that I possessed and leaned forward, across the small bistro table and breathed a sigh of relief when he matched my movements. Our lips met above the checkered table cloth and my eyes fluttered shut. Scott quickly took control of the kiss, his soft, plump lips moving against my own, pulling my bottom lip between his teeth gently before breaking away.

"Should, uh," I stuttered, "should we get our dinner to go and maybe rethink those intentions?"

Less than a moment later, the waiter appeared with a bag, setting it on an empty chair.

"Your meals are prepared, sir," the waiter announced, "will there be anything else this evening?"

"Just the check," Scott answered without breaking eye contact with me. The waiter walked away and Scott shrugged. "I told you I could read you."

"You have a queen room, right?"

Scott scoffed. "No. I have a king room. Besides, even if I didn't, I would upgrade. You deserve only the best."

"Then show me the best."

#cole writes #writercole #scott miller #twisters scott #scott twisters #twisters fanfic #david corenswet #fluff

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lady-october · 7 months ago

Text

Pairing : Oli Sykes x Female Assistant Genre : Romance, Smut (18+ Only) Previous Chapters : Available on Ao3 & Tumblr

Story Content : Smut, Drama, Choking, Power dynamics, Romance, Rough sex, Sadism/Masochism, Dom/Sub, Mentions of addiction & self harm, Degradation, Praise kink, Exhibitionism, Orgasm denial, Breath play, Dirty talk.

Summary :

“Don’t you see what a dangerous game you’re playing? Why did you have to look so fucking delicious tonight, I couldn’t stop undressing you in my mind, thinking of all the twisted things I want to do to you.” She had only worked on the touring team for three weeks, but her mind had been hijacked by dirty thoughts of a man she barely even talked to. Sure, he was very attractive, but were there other reasons she was so uncontrollably drawn to him? This is a filthy story of pain, self discovery, and love.

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Chapter 27: You monsters are people

Chapter title is lyrics from “Obey”

This chapter is from Oli’s perspective.

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I can’t believe she stayed.

As soon as the words had left my mouth, I’d regretted it. But being inside her, being surrounded by her scent, her legs wrapped around me, her large blue eyes set in that flushed, soft face, how was I supposed to keep the words to myself?

How was I expected to not express my love for such a perfect sight?

I’d been working overtime for days to keep from telling her I love her, knowing it was too soon, especially for someone like Alice.

And then I’d gone and told her twice within the span of a couple of hours.

I let my hands rake over my face as I shook my head under the shower head, the warm water cascading around my vision, turning the tiles wavy.

I’m so fed up with myself.

Regardless of my self-indulgent recklessness last night, she’d still stayed, faced her demons, and let me know she’s trying.

And now it was my turn to return the favour.

But how was I supposed to deal with my current problems, when dead and buried demons were suddenly crawling out of their overgrown graves, reminding me that maybe they hadn’t been properly dealt with in the first place?

I thought I’d shed the shackles Fay had put around my ankles at this point, but in so many ways I’m still the same person I was a year ago when I read her texts. I still crave the validation, the attention she offers me so readily. So greedily.

I’m not completely daft though, I know she’s just manipulating me, just like she’s always manipulated me. Controlling me in ways I feel powerless against. The difference is that I didn’t use to care. In fact, I welcomed it, because I wanted to spend every moment with her regardless of her intentions.

It only became a problem when we were no longer on the same page.

I also knew why she was the way she was, which made it even harder to judge her for it.

You see, I may have always been drawn to troubled women, but Fay’s the most troubled of them all.

By a long shot.

She may not be suicidal in the typical sense, but she lives her life like there’s no tomorrow, continuously reckless in ways that usually guarantees becoming worm food prematurely.

You’d think most of her wild traits could be chalked up to growing up with her addict mum, who were either not home for days on end, or blacked out on the sofa when she was. Or maybe even by the fact that she croaked from an overdose when Fay was barely a teen.

But personally, I think most of it could be explained by being left in the care of her extremely abusive stepfather once her mum was out of the picture.

About two years ago when it was still Mat and Fay, we’d all gone to stay in Birmingham to hunker down and spend a full week focused on writing and recording a new EP.

This also happens to be the week me and Fay fell in love.

Every night was sleepless, which wasn’t uncommon for me, but it turned out Fay also had her slumber related problems. This meant we’d spend hours every night together, oversharing, getting to know each other on an inappropriately personal level considering her relationship status with my best mate.

I wasn’t used to opening up to people, but the very first night Fay had told me about her childhood, and it all just spiralled from there. Naturally – and because I’m a fucking mess – I was immediately enthralled by this seemingly mythical being, so fun, yet terrifyingly disturbed.

What was so shocking about her was how casually she talked about her life, like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Which, to be fair, to her it was.

My earliest taste of this came on the second night of the trip. We’d been talking about our mutual love for animals, when she interjected with a long list of stray pets she’d rescued off the streets and hid from her stepdad.

Only to follow it up with how she kept coming home to them having their necks broken once he’d found them.

I’d been horrified, wondering how that would’ve affected her – how it still must affect her, when without skipping a beat, she’d move on with the conversation, going on a passionate tangent about climate change out of nowhere.

It was bizarre, it was refreshing – it was alarming and worrisome. But in some weird way it was also strangely comforting, knowing that even though she was deeply traumatised, and clearly unhealed, she still had a zest for life.

Albeit maybe a bit too much zest.

The last night of the trip was the most memorable to me.

She’d been laying on the balcony table for about an hour, staring up into the night sky as it slowly shifted and changed to brighter colours. I’d been distracted by the silk robe she’d worn, and how her long, bright red hair was hanging over the edge of the table, halfway to the concrete floor. She was reminiscing about a hike she’d gone on with a group of friends, when she broke out into the most delightful laughter, smiling from ear to ear before rolling over to finally face me. It was like I was staring into the eyes of a deity, some ancient goddess, when she reached out to trace one of the skull-motifs inked into the skin of my arm.

“I have something so similar to this one,” She’d started, her fingers still playing on my skin, the innocent touch feeling so charged, so forbidden in the deep hours of the night, it threatened goosebumps to form as I fought off the urge to stare straight down her cleavage, “I’d show you, but I don’t think Mat would be too happy about it.”

While she wasn’t as covered in tattoos as me, she wasn’t too far off. And from her implication that the placement of the art piece in question was somewhere I shouldn’t be looking, I could immediately imagine it on her inner thigh, considering I may have caught a glimpse of the bottom of it earlier tonight.

Which in turn had me imagine more things that caused blood to flow in places they shouldn’t be as I inevitably allowed my eyes to fall to her chest, so poorly covered by her robe.

But through the fog of dirty thoughts and fought off impulses, I realised she was trying to seduce me, which forced me to take a step back and analyse what’s been going on the past week.

And that maybe we’d both been trying to seduce each other.

“Think it’s time to sleep.” I muttered before getting to my feet, knowing I was in deep, deep shit.

“Stay,” she breathed, taking hold of the arm she’d been tracing, “It’s our last night here, and you haven’t told me about your addiction yet.”

I was confused, as I’d already shared how it all started, and about my time in rehab. As far as I was aware, I’d told her everything there was to know about my addiction.

“What are you on about, of course I have.” I countered, thrown off once again by the continuous sudden change of topics and moods that Fay seemed to come pre-programmed with.

She let go of my arm, sitting up, and allowed her legs to dangle over the edge of the table before she spoke, “You’ve told me nothing I can’t read online,” She scanned my face with her dark eyes, such a deep brown they were pitch black in most lights, “What’s so terrible about you that you don’t want to be yourself?”

I wanted to tell her I wasn’t there mentally anymore, that I was better now – happy and recovered.

But I knew I’d be lying.

Addiction is like weeds; you can clear them as thoroughly as you want, but if you don’t tend to them regularly, your whole garden will be overgrown before you know it.

And I was a master of pretending everything was fucking dandy when they weren’t.

“You sure you want to talk about that?” I asked, thinking of her mother’s history with drugs.

She let out a laugh I’d heard her do several times before – mostly when discussing a sensitive subject. It was slightly manic, her eyes sparkling with mischief, “Why, because my deadbeat mom overdosed? Oh please. Just tell me, Oliver.”

I hated it when she called me by my full name, and she knew I hated it from the moment we were introduced.

Yet she didn’t stop until months into our relationship, claiming that Oli was a stupid British nickname, and since she’s American she was very adamant about rejecting the shortened version of my given name.

Despite my better judgement, I sat back down, not wanting our week to end on a bad note.

Even though I knew we’d have to stop hanging out alone after tonight, no matter how sad that thought made me.

Especially because of how sad that thought made me.

“It’s not that I think I’m terrible, necessarily. But it’s like my emotions are always dialled up to max, and there’s no shutting them off.”

She grimaced at my response, “I feel a lot too, but that’s a great thing, and I would never want to turn them off. They’re what makes me feel alive; I cry, I scream, I laugh, I love, I fuck – and I feel better for it.”

She forgot to mention that she plays Russian roulette with her life every so often by being an adrenaline junkie in the worst of ways.

And no, I hadn’t overlooked how she put emphasis on the word fuck. Or the way it had me imagine her dark eyes looking up at me as her full lips closed around my shaft.

“I wish it was that simple for me, love.” I responded under my breath.

“Why can’t it be that simple?”

“Because I’m a bomb.”

There was a short pause as she considered my words, “Explain.”

I got more comfortable in my seat again, preparing to unpack such a deep part of myself, unsure whether it was the early morning hours that made me comfortable enough to do so, or whether there was just something special about Fay.

I took a deep breath, “If I let my feelings run amuck, I’d probably burst wide open. I’d get so fucking furious with the state of the world, or with how little anyone seems to give a shit, that I couldn’t think straight. On the other side of that, if I let myself love to my full potential,” I shook my head, “That’s a terrifying thought to be honest with you, cause I don’t know how far I’d take that. Pretty sure I’d completely lose myself, and drive anyone on the receiving end of it fucking mad in the process.”

As I spoke Fay’s eyes burrowed into me, lighting up with the passion of a thousand suns.

I’d later found out that it had been those words that made her fall in love with me, that she’d been searching high and low for a man that loved with as much intensity as she does, and after that night she was determined to become mine.

I had to look away from her deep stare in order to finish making my point, “But when I get high, my feelings shut off, and for a while I’m free of all that. I get to just exist, without being exhausted from keeping myself restrained all the time.”

“You’re talking about yourself like you’re some kind of monster that needs to be put down.”

“Not put down, but I don’t think I should be let off my leash.”

“Unless you’re talking about some kind of kinky play, I disagree.”

I laughed.

“You should try it. Next time you want to get high cause you hate your feelings so much, just let them do their thing.” She leaned forward, giving me a better view of her cleavage as her demeanour shifted; it was a very subtle shift, but it was more than enough to highlight the already undeniable sexual tension between us, “And whatever urges you get, give in to them. It might not be as bad as you think.”

In a desperate attempt to keep my mind out of the gutter, and to prevent myself from pulling her into my lap right this moment, I conjured up images of my parents.

And thankfully, it worked quickly, and well enough to keep myself in check.

“Don’t think that’s a good idea, love.” My voice had dropped several octaves, giving away that I’d been considering doing what she was very clearly suggesting.

A seductive smile bloomed on her lips, “Why?”

“Because I have enough regrets as it is. I’ve no plans to add to my list of things that keep me up at night.”

The look she gave me was that of a child who had their favourite toy taken away from them.

As I got out of the chair to head to bed – alone – I couldn’t help but wonder what had Fay as sleepless as myself.

Or how much regret she was repressing from living her life the way she did.

But one thing I knew for sure was that she’d been hurt – badly. And hurt people who haven’t dealt with their pain, very easily hurt others.

While I didn’t give in to my urges that night, once me and Fay did become a couple, I would quickly discover the full range of ways she’d inflict pain on me.

It started with harmless manipulations to get her way in minor arguments, which was easy enough to overlook, especially when you’re falling head over heels for someone.

Which I definitely was.

Considering how hard and fast I was falling, it didn’t take much convincing for me to do as she’d suggested that night on the balcony. So, I gave in, submitting to my feelings in a way I hadn’t quite done before when it comes to love.

It was so liberating, so wonderful, to just let myself worship her; to tell her I love her a million times a day without judgement, to have it so readily reciprocated, and allow myself to request as much of her time and attention as I craved.

I was so convinced that she was the best thing that had ever happened to me, that of course I didn’t bat an eye when I noticed the small white lies. Surely she only lied to protect me, because she loves me so much.

But the small lies grew bigger, the innocent manipulations turned sinister, and about 10 months into the relationship she’d almost always choose revenge over peace whenever we’d argue. She’d do things like ramp up her thrill-seeking behaviour to get me worried for her safety, or intentionally make me jealous – which, I am not proud of having done to Alice.

But there’s a reason they call it the cycle of abuse.

And now I’m the hurt person who apparently hasn’t dealt with their pain, hurting others in the process.

Turning off the shower I wrapped a towel around myself before stepping in front of the fogged-up mirror over the hotel sink, giving it a wipe to take a good, hard look at myself.

The eyes looking back at me were bloodshot, accompanied by dark circles and a scowl.

While I’d fallen asleep fairly quickly last night, I’d been jarred awake by the usual nightmares so early it was still dark out, and I’d spent the hours since pondering what to do next.

And while there were several pressing matters, all roads seemed to lead back to Alice.

Do I tell her the truth about everything, or do I share the watered-down version I’d planned to relay last night before we got interrupted?

I exhaled a shaky breath as the man in the mirror’s features turned increasingly panicked.

Alice wasn’t wrong; you really are a fucking coward.

Suddenly a loud bang could be heard from outside the bathroom, and I quickly realised it was the sound of the hotel room door slamming shut.

Almost as if someone had stormed out of here.

I launched for the bathroom door, ripping it open only to be met with an empty room.

In the middle of the floor, I could see my phone lying face down, moved from its original position on the bedside table.

Fuck.

Dread washed over me, knowing what Alice must have seen on my phone to make her dash out of here in such a rush – the same thing I’d seen every time I’d looked at it since I’d accidentally messaged Fay.

I wasted no time, collecting my phone and dashed towards Alice’s room, only for the shortest of moments registering that I’m soaking, and just clad in a towel around my waist.

“Alice!” I yelled after several vigorous knocks on the door, “Let me in, it’s not what you think!”

I threw a quick glance at my screen to see what Alice might have read.

“Fay: I can’t wait to see you.”

“Shit.” I breathed through clenched teeth.

“Alice!” I yelled louder as more panic set in, knocking the door so hard it rattled.

Realising she might’ve not even gone to her room, I pressed my ear to the solid wood to listen for any sounds inside, only to almost fall face first into the room when the door suddenly flew open. But instead of falling I was shoved by a furious Liam, who had sent me stumbling backwards, nearly hitting the wall on the opposite side of the hotel corridor from the force he’d used.

He was clearly a fair bit stronger than he looks.

“I don’t know what the fuck you did to that poor woman, but there’s not a chance I’m letting you see her.”

“She thinks I’m chattin’ up another bird – I’m not!” I raised my voice, hoping Alice would hear as Liam had left the door ever so slightly ajar behind him.

“Whatever.” He muttered, rolling his eyes, clearly not giving a rat’s arse about the specifics of the drama he’d been forced to take part in, before giving me a once over, “I need to go back in there. Get dressed, there’s kids staying here for fuck’s sake.”

The door shut, and locked, with both Liam and Alice behind it.

And I’d never felt so helpless.

I took another step back and let myself lean against the wall I’d nearly slammed into moments ago, sliding down it as I tried to keep my heart from breaking entirely.

My eyes were so full of tears that it took me a second to realise there was a pair of shoes in my peripheral vision. I looked up to see Mat standing next to me, pity painted all over his face.

I hadn’t heard any other doors open or shut, which meant he must have been in the corridor for the entire interaction.

“Would you like a hand?” He asked, sounding sombre.

I took his stretched-out hand and pulled myself up on unsteady feet, “Did you catch all that?”

“Yeah. Wanna talk?”

I wiped the tears away while attempting to keep the towel around my waist from falling to the floor.

I was torn, because I knew Mat had asked me with the intention of being there for me.

But it wasn’t just Alice I needed to have a serious discussion with. And I doubted he would want to console me after I come clean to him about everything.

“Yeah.” I responded after I’d made my decision.

We walked to my room where we once again took a seat on the floor, leaning against the bed. Only this time it was the bed me and Alice had just spent the night in, made abundantly obvious by her pile of clothes on the floor, next to the bag which she’d left during her swift escape.

I watched as droplets fell from my soaking hair and hit the carpet as we sat in silence for a while, probably to let me collect myself. The cheery, sun-lit room a stark contrast from my dark and hopeless emotions, which seemed so impossible to fight.

But I had to start somewhere.

“I almost got high last night.” I said, breaking the silence.

I threw a quick glance at Mat; he looked hurt.

I couldn’t blame him.

“I almost got high when we were in London too, sent an old dealer a message and everything.”

The problem with saying things out loud is that they immediately become all too real.

But since I was walking a dangerously fine line considering I didn’t know if things would work out between me and Alice, I needed it to become real.

And I needed it to become real right now.

I looked over at my trousers laying on top of my luggage.

“I got some,” I started, whispered, the words feeling like acid pushing up my throat, knowing that as soon as I’d let them leave my lips, I wouldn’t have the option of going numb anymore. I inclined my head towards my belongings, “Last night at the club. It’s in my pocket.”

I’d been staring at the seemingly harmless article of clothing all morning before going for a shower, being so incredibly tempted by it, only able to talk myself out of it because she stayed.

Which I realise is extremely problematic.

Mat sighed deeply, leaning forward to rake his hands through his hair.

“I’m sorry man. I know we said I’d come to you if I ever got the urge to use again.”

He looked so disappointed, and I hadn’t even gotten to the worst part yet.

“I had some suspicions you weren’t doing great, but I had no clue you were on this thin ice. I just thought I’d give you a chance to come talk to me when you were ready.” He released a nervous laugh, “Actually I thought that maybe you were doing better the past week or so. You’ve been a bit off, sure, but you’ve also seemed quite happy a lot of the time.”

I hadn’t expected such a peaceful response after my admission. In fact, I’d suspected him to tear me a new one.

But then again, I wasn’t done talking yet.

“Mat, I’m a lying piece of shit, and I have no excuses.”

“I’m just happy you’re talking to me before you did something, this way—”

“I’ve been hooking up with Alice since London.” I interrupted, the disbelief on his features adding to my ever-growing mountain of self-hatred, but I knew I needed to continue speaking, to rip the band aid off once and for all. My mouth hung open for a beat, suspended, as I gathered the courage to tell him how I feel, “I’m in love with her.”

Mats’ features grew cold as he processed what I was saying, readjusting his position on the floor.

“Why’d you let me look like a twat, thinking I had a shot with her?” He asked, an anger lacing his words.

I watched more drops fall from my hair as I hung my head low, “I wish I could say it’s cause she wanted to keep it a secret, and sure that’s how it started, but she understood why I needed to be honest with you lot, considering our past.” I took a deep breath and forced myself to face him again, “The long and short of it is that I wanted to see if I could trust her – see if she’d run off to you instead.”

He watched me under furrowed brows, “So, you were using me.”

“Yeah.” I confirmed, feeling like a useless wet fucking rat.

Mat let out a long exhale as he leaned back into the mattress behind us, “You remember that week in Birmingham, when we were recording about two years ago?”

I tensed, remembering it as the week I wanted to steal his girlfriend, “Of course.”

He sucked on his teeth, contemplating, “I didn’t sleep much that week. I would sit with the window cracked and listen to you and Fay talk for hours.” I was surprised, not just by what he was saying, but by how guilty he looked as he told me, “The whole week was hell, but I needed to know if I could count on her. Turns out I couldn’t.”

Apparently, it wasn’t just me who was riddled with trust issues after all our overlapping romances.

“How come you never told me?”

Mat shrugged, “I don’t know, bit embarrassing, I guess.” There was another short pause as more guilt made an appearance on him, “Also, I didn’t just want to see if I could count on Fay, but you as well.”

I could see why, especially with how much lying I’d done over the years.

“Well, how did I do?” I asked awkwardly.

“Better than me.” He said with a bitter smile, clearly referring to the fact that he’d slept with Fay when I was technically still with her.

Appearing as if he remembered something, his features grew worried, “I never slept with Alice, but you should know there was stuff going on.”

I sighed deeply, “I know.”

The look he gave me was filled with confusion, “And you’re alright with that?”

All I could do was shrug, “We’re not a couple. And at this rate I’m not sure we’ll ever be.” I said, knowing there was a real chance I’d scared her off for good this time.

He opened his mouth, probably to say something hopeful and kind that would only serve to make me feel worse, so I hurried to speak before he got a chance to.

“There’s one more thing.” I could see him bracing himself mentally for whatever I was about to say, but I knew he’d never expect this to come out of my mouth, “I’ve been talking to Fay.”

“Fucking hell, Oli.” He looked utterly disgusted with me.

Which reflected my own feelings about myself perfectly.

“She’ll be at our next show.” I continued.

Mat got to his feet. At first, I thought he was about to leave, but instead he just began angrily pacing back and forth in front of me.

I felt like a kid who was about to get a scolding from their parents.

He stopped and looked down at my pathetic self on the floor, “Did you invite her?”

I shook my head, causing more droplets to fall all around me, “No, she was already going. She’s been going to a lot of our shows the past year.”

His eyes began darting all over the room, his mind obviously racing with thoughts – probably the same thoughts I had when I found out. After a handful of seconds, I could see the anger inside him deflate before he returned his attention to me, “Do you still miss her?”

I shifted awkwardly, “I’m not sure.” I said honestly, shame filling me at my admission, “Thing is, the thought of seeing her again makes my skin crawl, but there’s just so much unresolved there. I want answers.”

The pity reappeared in his eyes before he sat back down next to me, “You think she’d actually give you answers?”

The question could have been perceived as mocking, but I could tell it was asked with sincerity.

“I don’t know. All I know is that I’m nowhere near as healed as I thought I was.” And it was messing up my life in ways I couldn’t stand anymore.

It also had me wondering how many unhealed wounds she’d left Mat with.

“Do you want to meet her?” I asked quietly.

He let his head fall back onto the mattress, looking almost as defeated as I felt, “I don’t know. She has a way of fucking with your head. I should hate her guts for everything she’s done to us, yet…”

“You feel bad for her.”

He huffed out a laugh, “Yeah.”

“Yeah, me too.” I muttered.

Mat studied my face for a moment before getting to his feet again, throwing a look towards my pile of clothes on my luggage, then back at me.

I knew what he was silently asking, so I just nodded.

He took the short steps over to my trousers, picking the pockets clean and headed towards the bathroom.

When I heard the toilet flush, I was both relieved and terrified in equal measures.

“I really need to go check on Lee.” He announced as soon as he came back out, almost as if pretending what he just did for me never happened, “Only the Matt’s of the group have it together lately.”

Ah, never mind.

“Why we needed two.” I said with a tired smile.

He smiled back at me, “I’ll be back in just a couple of minutes, yeah?”

My tired smile blossomed, feeling incredibly grateful for his continued support, especially when I was pulling so much stupid shit.

“Mat,” I said right as he was about to leave, “I’m sorry.”

“I know.” He responded casually before latching the door shut.

I looked towards the dress I’d peeled off Alice’s exhausted body to help her get ready for bed last night, and I felt as if I was at a crossroads; either I fall apart, wallow in self-pity and let the melancholy take root.

Or I continue clawing out of the grave I’d dug for myself, and fight.

Springing into action, I started rummaging through Alice’s bag, to see if she’d left her phone behind or not.

After having made an absolute mess of the room in record time, I deduced she’d taken it with her, so I sat down on the bed and began taking screenshots. I wasn’t sure if Alice was anything like myself when it came to these sorts of things, but personally I’d require proof.

Mat came back as I was in the middle of cataloguing my conversation with Fay the past two days, hoping that the context would shine a better light on the situation, destroying any conclusions Alice had drawn from the individual damaging messages that had been present on my lockscreen.

“Just a minute, mate.” I mumbled to Mat, who collapsed into the chair next to the bed.

But I must have taken more than a minute, as I suddenly heard the TV turn on, pulling my attention away from the message I was typing up for Alice.

I looked up at Mat through my now slightly dryer hair, “Sorry, I got a bit caught up.”

“Wanna tell me what you’re doing?” He asked with an amused smile.

“I can’t let Alice think I’m trying to get back with Fay, so I’m sending over the whole chat… Along with a message.”

He stared at me for a beat, “Let me see before you send it.”

It might seem like an odd request to some, but me and Mat had often helped each other out when it came to delicate communication. It started when we were teens trying to convince our parents we weren’t out partying every night, but it quickly evolved into helping each chat up girls on MSN.

When we were kids it pretty much only served to get our way, no matter what. But once we got older, we stopped lying, turning the intention behind putting our heads together significantly less self-serving.

As an example, I helped him write the eulogy for a childhood friend that passed away some years ago.

“Alright.” I responded without giving it a second thought.

Once I was done, I handed the phone over to Mat. From the amount of time he took, he was clearly also reading over my chat with Fay.

I grew increasingly anxious the longer he took, knowing that he was close to reading the things I’d told Fay; how I’d finally responded to her relentless stream of messages, showcasing how pathetic I am.

Highlighting that she clearly still had some type of hold on me.

“She seems different.” He finally said.

“Yeah.” I agreed.

“Like she’s happier. But who knows if that’s just for show or not.” Mat handed the phone back to me, “How come you haven’t told her about Alice?”

While the messages I’d sent to Fay were cold, short, and could be counted on one hand – versus the vast amount she’d sent me – I had given her a life update, intentionally not mentioning Alice while doing so.

“I almost did, but I’m not sure she’d still want to meet up if she knew I’d fallen for someone else.”

Fay matched me in possessiveness, and considering she was still obsessed with me, I knew she’d take it poorly.

He took a moment to consider my reasons, “Besides that bit potentially looking a bit sus, I think you’re ready to send that.”

“You think it’s enough?”

He shrugged, “Hopefully. Depends on Alice really. Like you said, you two aren’t a couple. But I think that’s the best you’re gonna get – it’s a good message you’ve written.”

I looked at the message, explaining how I’d accidentally messaged Fay, and my reasons for responding at all, and wondered if it contained some hidden meaning – some hidden trigger that would send her into another spiral, considering I was essentially speaking to Alice like she was already my girlfriend.

‘Are you breaking up with me?’

Her panicked words from last night echoed in my head, a most bewildering concoction of emotions lingering from them.

Copying everything into Alice’s message box, I pressed send, and fell backwards onto the bed.

“Don’t get lazy now, you’ve got to hold yourself to your word.” Mat said.

In the message I’d let Alice know I’d be waiting by her door until she was ready to talk to me.

My tired eyes met Mat’s, and I told him something I don’t tell him nearly enough, “I don’t know what I’d do without you to be honest.”

“There are other drummers. None as good as me of course, but I’m sure you’d make do.” He joked, keeping the mood light as always.

I just shook my head, “You know what I mean, man. I really don’t deserve this type of treatment from you. I’ve been a fucking bellend at every turn, and you’re over here giving me advice about a bird I know you also feel some type of way about. I just want to keep my shit together long enough to feel like a decent friend. Just for once.”

Mat braced his arms on his knees as he leaned forward, giving him an air of seriousness, “You’ve been a shit friend many times,” he started, pinning me with his eyes, “truly fucking awful actually…” he muttered, and I felt my heart drop for a moment before he continued, “But you’re not like that anymore, and you haven’t been for a long time. You’ve shown me time and time again that you can be trusted – that you care, and that you are trying bloody hard to better yourself; and that’s all that matters to me. You’ve been there for me through some truly horrible times as well, so you’ve got to stop being so hard on yourself Oli. You don’t give yourself nearly as much credit as you should.”

Silence fell for a beat as I tried to keep the tears out of my eyes.

“The Oli I knew from five years ago wouldn’t have come clean about any of the things you told me today.” He added, “I would’ve had to pry that out of him, kicking and screaming.”

I knew he was right, and while I knew I had changed, it just wasn’t good enough.

“I want to do better than this.” I whispered.

He slapped his knees and got to his feet, indicating that it was time to get up and deliver on my promises, “And you will – you’ve got an excellent track record for improvement.”

Once I’d gotten dressed, I grabbed a drink from the mini fridge and sat down next to Alice’s door.

“Hiya.” I awkwardly said under my breath to the second couple walking past me the last couple of minutes, shuffling my legs out of the pathway to not be more of a nuisance than I had to be.

Lunch time was coming up so most of the guests were about to head to the restaurant located on the first floor, causing some hope to sprout, that maybe she’d want to head down as well.

Every so often I’d hear the faint sound of talking coming from behind the wooden door, and butterflies would come to life in my chest whenever those inaudible words were spoken by her soft, delicate voice.

As I listened to her, my mind wandered back to when my obsession with Alice had developed to the point of no return, about a week before I grabbed her and fucked her on that table in London.

She’d been using the laundry facilities at a house we were renting down south for a three day stay between gigs – something we did at times as it was often more comfortable than staying at hotels. When she’d suddenly stormed out of the loud utility room, running into the living room where I was currently reading.

For a moment I’d thought the place was on fire from the way she’d legged it, in combination with the sheer panic all over her flushed face, causing me to bolt upright from my previously sprawled position.

“Is everything alright?” I asked over the washing machine which was clearly in the centrifuge part of the cycle.

But Alice just fell to the floor in front of the coffee table between us and began searching through the pockets of a jacket that was bunched up there, too preoccupied with whatever she was searching for to provide me with an answer. I thought that maybe she was having some sort of medical emergency, potentially looking for an inhaler or an EpiPen, but then I saw smoke escaping the utility room door frame, lapping onto the ceiling, which caused me to immediately spring into action.

Heat smacked me in the face once I stepped into the room, only to realise it wasn’t smoke I’d seen, but steam. The place was like a sauna, and after taking one look at the pile of folded clothes next to the iron, I quickly deducted why.

Realising that whatever crisis was occurring didn’t have anything to do with the utility room, I turned around, only to immediately be face to face with Alice.

The panic was gone from her features, instead she appeared embarrassed, and so apologetic you’d think she’d kicked a puppy. While holding her phone, she opened her mouth to explain, and before she even got a word out, I let myself relax, understanding that there was in fact no danger.

When words began leaving her lips, I was about to interrupt her, to let her know I couldn’t hear a thing she was saying over the loud machinery. Only the faintest, most delicate tone of voice could be heard – which is exactly what I could hear now, listening to her in the hotel corridor.

But I never got to speak up, as I got incredibly distracted.

A drop of sweat running down the side of her neck had caught my attention, so clearly visible due to her hair being haphazardly put in a bun. My eyes followed it as it slowly snaked along her skin, enthralled, hungry, only to realise that her whole body seemed to be glistening with sweat, just covered by a flimsy crop top and shorts.

I felt as if I was going mad.

Like I’d been wandering in the desert for days and she was a lake, suddenly appearing right under my nose.

Only it had been over a year since I’d fucked anything but my own hand.

She hadn’t been talking for more than ten seconds when she gave me a questioning look. Having no way of knowing what she’d asked me, I just nodded in response, hoping it would be appropriate.

Hoping my erection hadn’t become visible yet.

It seemed to have worked, as she gave me a shy smile before walking off to the kitchen, shutting the door behind her. I sighed in relief, heading for the bathroom as I had nothing better to do than to use the fresh mental images of her to release some tension.

But the laundry cycle ended, and the house fell quiet enough for me to hear that she was on the phone.

I stopped, looking towards the kitchen door, then back to the bathroom, contemplating.

But curiosity got the better of me, and I found myself taking gentle steps in Alice’s direction, wanting to hear what she was saying.

Unlike the thick wooden door of the hotel room next to me, the kitchen door was so thin it might as well not have been there at all. And once I got close enough, I could make out her words if I focused hard enough.

“I can’t believe I just remembered, I feel horrible about it, mum.”

“You called her, you got her a gift, and we always put your name in the card we give her. I’m certain she’s not expecting a card from you as well.” Her mum had responded, which I’d heard clearer than I’d heard Alice – and the call wasn’t even over speaker phone.

“But I always give her and all her sisters their own cards, I wouldn’t want her to feel left out. I know it’s been a couple of weeks since her birthday, but should I just send one now?”

The longer I listened, the more puzzled I grew.

Could all that panic really have been over a bloody birthday card?

I was so extremely bewildered by the fact that this creature felt so much guilt over something so extremely trivial – especially since I was used to someone regularly treating me like a doormat and expressing no guilt at all over it.

Or at least not until they feared losing me – until it affected them.

Fay was wrong about a lot of things, and until that moment I’d thought she’d been entirely wrong about letting myself relax when it comes to how I experience love.

But was it possible that I’d simply let myself fall for the wrong person? Given my heart to someone who wouldn’t handle it like the fragile thing it is; so quick to bleed.

And then the idea of giving into my emotions with someone like Alice consumed me.

I was terrified, attempting to reject the longing inside me. But it was a pointless battle, the hope that I’d found someone worth handing my aching, scarred heart to was simply too strong.

Of course, falling for Alice had come with its own set of problems.

Problems I needed to resolve.

The hotel room door suddenly opened, jarring me out of my thoughts.

I shot to my feet, knocking over the empty energy drinks next to me with a clatter.

Hours had passed, and I’d kept going back to my room for more caffeine as staying awake wasn’t the easiest at this point considering how little I’d slept.

Disappointment washed over me as I was staring into Liam’s fed-up eyes.

“She wants to talk to you now.” He proclaimed before pushing past me to head towards the elevator.

The door slowly swung open, and I finally got to see her.

Her eyes were slightly puffy, and she was holding her arms defensively.

She was as beautiful as ever.

“Hi.” I breathed, leaning against the door frame, feeling disproportionally happy to see her considering I didn’t know if it was just to tell me to fuck off for good.

She rubbed her arms, her messy blonde locks falling over her shoulder as she did so, “So, are you gonna meet up with her?”

She sounded so shy, so scared.

“I think so, yeah.”

There was a disappointment that settled on her, reflected more in her posture than on her face, which still held a sense of fear.

I looked around us, wanting to elaborate, wanting to talk to her privately, only to see someone coming from the end of the corridor, “Can I come in?”

She nodded and moved to the side.

Allowing me the privilege of her company, and hopefully to set things right.

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#oli sykes x reader #oli sykes #oliver sykes #oli sykes fic #oli sykes fan fiction #oli sykes smut #smut #bring me the horizon #bmth #romance #you got a taste now #I can't express how much fun I had writing this.

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aprocessionofthoughts · 2 years ago

Text

Day 13: monster

eldritch Danny

Constantine was not happy. He hated falling back on last resorts, but here they were. Earlier that day they had spotted an alien fleet approaching and all efforts to communicate had ended in violence. It was Manhunter who had finally recognized them. They were a race known as the Zacrin whose goal was to eliminate ‘unworthy’ species. So far, nothing they had done was working.

And so here they are now. About to summon the King of the Infinite Realms. All accounts of the new King claimed they were peaceful and nothing like the conqueror Pariah Dark. But Constantine despised getting involved with anything to do with the Realms.

Nevertheless, he approached the summoning circle and began chanting. A breeze started up fluttering Batman’s cape. Constantine was halfway through the summoning when the candles around the circle flared, their fire turning green and reaching almost to the conference room’s high ceiling. The wind picked up pushing the heroes back. Constantine held his ground and a swirling green pool started to form at the center of the circle.

Something began to emerge. Something like feathers and flames began to materialize and then a writhing mass with several mouths full of glinting teeth.

He reached the end of the spell and the creature fully materialized. They towered over everyone, flames dancing above what might be their head. What might have been a face held two black pools that seemed to suck all the light out of the room. Its skin glistened with galaxies, an ever shifting void full of colors that burned their eyes. Below the beings waist there were what seemed like writhing snakes each with a mouth full of sharp fangs. And then unfurling behind the being were two pairs of wings covered in eyes that all gleamed with different colors, none of them found on earth.

As the wings flared out behind the King some of the Leaguers collapsed their hands covering their faces. Constantine gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, sure that if he were not used to the occult he would have collapsed as well. The Bat was still standing, but well… he was Batman.

“Why have you called me?” came the creature's voice seemingly from all around them and Constantine’s head felt like it was about to crack open, someone behind him let out a muffled shriek and Batman grunted.

“Your majesty,” constantine began, “King of the Infinite Realms, Ancient of Space, Balance of Life and Death, Gateway between the Realms, Protector of–”

“Enough!” a wave of power shot out causing Constantine’s knees to almost buckle.

“Why is it you have called me?”

“We have a deal to offer.”

“A deal?”

“Yes,” he said through gritted teeth. “And we would be bleedin' grateful if you could put a dampener on your form, my companions,” he said gesturing over his shoulder, “are not faring well.”

There was silence except for the static hissing and crackle of electricity that seemed to emanate from the being.

“That is a reasonable request.” the creature said and though nothing about his appearance changed there was a drawing in that seemed to happen that made them much more bearable to look at.

“Thank you.”

“Now, what is it that you want from me?”

“There are a bunch of ships that are planning on destroying earth and we’d be really grateful if you could help us deal with it. And we’d of course offer something in return. I’d be willing to give you my soul.”

The sound of crackling ice and static hissed through the room, and when the creature next spoke they sounded amused.

“You’re soul, John Constantine? What use would I have of something with so many holes? As it is, your constant selling of it causes enough paperwork.”

John gulped.

“However, I would be willing to help in exchange for a favor. There may be a time in the future when I may call you,” the being looked over all of them, “and when I call you will come. Does this sound agreeable?”

“It does.” John answered and he could feel Batman glaring at him. But screw that sorry sod, John was not about to tempt fate by asking the King of the Infinite Realms to wait while Batman looked at this from every possible angle and figured out a million contingencies.

“Very well then” The creature said before vanishing.

The League watched through the monitors as the being appeared in front of the lead ship. They had grown massive, three times the size of the ship, and the League watched in horror as clawed hands emerged from each of the eyes on the beings wings. They latched onto the ship and dragged it toward where the being’s chest might be where a swirling black void lined in teeth opened up. The ship was shoved into the void that then closed behind it. A staticky screeching could be heard even through the thick walls of the Watchtower and the Leaguers watched as the rest of the ships turned and fled.

The creature turned towards them, their face staring directly through each of the screens even though the cameras were all at different angles.

“Remember our deal.” came the King’s words, the King’s command, echoing in all their heads, before the King vanished.

“Well, I’m leaving, gotta go find a bar.”

“Constantine! Wait just a moment.” Batman started towards him but it was too late John had reached the Zeta Tubes and was gone.

#dannymay2023 #dp fanart #eldritch #danny phantom #danny fenton #king danny phantom #dp fanfic #drabble #eldrich danny #john constantine #dp x dc fanfic #dc x dp #dp x dc au #day 13 #monster

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ternfic · 5 months ago

Text

Reboot

Chapter Nine

They finished rebuilding the spacecraft. It still had some of Rex’s signature dark blue and bright green, but mixed in with black, sky blue, and red, it wasn’t immediately recognizable as something of his anymore. He had to admit, the three of them really did work well together; the new ship was sleek, built for speed and stealth. Emmet crawled into one of the passenger seats in the back, and Lucy scooted in next to him, leaving Bad Cop as Rex’s copilot. Which suited him fine, really, Emmet was next to useless and having Lucy sit next to him was… well, he may have decided not to be mad at his old friends anymore, but it was still awkward.

“So do we have a plan for stopping the wedding yet?” Lucy asked.

“…We hadn’t gotten that far,” Emmet admitted.

“Well one way to do it would be to stop construction of the Temple-” Rex started.

“We’re not destroying it, Rex,” Emmet interrupted. “That’s what causes Armomageddon, and we don’t want that.” Lucy gave him a surprised look at how forcefully his words had come out.

“Aw, shit.”

Emmet gave Rex a startled look. “What?”

“We’ve got someone on our tail,” Bad Cop said, taking notice of the ship behind them as well.

“Buckle up!” Rex commanded. Emmet hastened to obey, knowing full well how his counterpart flew, and watched wide-eyed as a black and gold cruiser drew near and started firing on them.

“Who is that?!” the construction worker yelped.

“I saw that ship not too long ago, it landed at the spa and the two people in it talked to the General,” Lucy said, scowling in its direction.

“Mayhem’s two best scouts, Havoc and Discord,” Rex muttered, concentrating on evasive maneuvers. “They must have figured out I’m here, and they do not like me. Thought we’d have a little longer before they found us, though!”

“Anything I can do to help?” Bad Cop asked.

“Yeah get ready to shoot, I’m gonna try to get you lined up-”

Lucy could only stare in amazement at the aerobatics Rex put their ship through before finally shooting straight up in such a way even the Systarian ship couldn’t keep up with, and looping back so they were pointed right at it. Bad Cop took the opportunity and fired, managing to shoot off an aileron. The space orb wobbled a bit, but whoever was flying was easily as good a pilot as Rex, and they shot back. Lucy barely had time to gasp out a curse before the shot hit their ship, shattering it and scattering its occupants.

She flew helplessly through space, and realized with no small amount of wonder that she could still breathe. She barely had time to ponder that before the pod popped open to allow a figure in black armor to exit, and they flew straight for her. Unarmed and unable to control her flight path, she had no choice but to submit to capture.

Bad Cop could only lay on the floor in a daze after crashing through the window of one of the party buses. The loud music cut out immediately, and three familiar faces peered down at him with surprise and curiosity. They backed off as he sat up and rubbed at his eyes under his sunglasses.

“Bad Cop!” Unikitty cheered.

“You know this guy?” a Systarian asked, giving him a wary look.

“He’s a friend,” Benny answered, offering a hand to pull him back to his feet. “What are you doing here?”

Bad Cop’s first response was to curse softly before hurrying to repair the damaged window, lest the scouts come looking for him next. He’d just managed to get a glimpse of one of them grabbing Wyldstyle. That taken care of, he turned to his fellow Alterrans. “Looking for you, actually,” he finally answered.

What are the odds we’d crash into the bus they were on? Good Cop piped up.

Luck finally favors us for once, it seems.

“Well ye found us.” Metalbeard eyeballed him curiously. “Almost didn’t recognize ye, matey.”

“That’s rather the point.”

“You’re not hurt, are you?” Unikitty asked, giving him a worried look.

“We’re fine.”

“Why were you looking for us?” Benny pressed.

Bad Cop glanced around. There were maybe four Systarians present, including the driver, and they seemed even less capable of putting up a fight than Emmet. Unikitty let out a cry of shock as he leapt into action and knocked out the three humanoids, grabbing a rope light to tie them up with. “Put that radio down,” he growled at the driver, “and keep driving.” The zebra ducked his head and obeyed without question, and Bad Cop slammed shut the door between the cockpit and the cabin so they wouldn’t be overheard.

“What are you doing?!” Benny demanded.

“Rescuing you,” Bad Cop snapped back. “You’ve been brainwashed.”

“We have not!” Unikitty protested. “Just because we’re enjoying ourselves for the first time in years doesn’t mean we’ve been brainwashed-”

“No?” Bad Cop interrupted. “Cause you sure seemed taken in by the Queen’s song, back at the palace, won over in an instant by the promise of mere stuff.”

“Ye were there?”

“Yeah, we were, along with Emmet and his brother.” The three gave him a blank stare. “…You don’t remember. Of course.” He growled out a sigh and ran his fingers through his hair as he thought, his gaze landing on Benny’s right arm, seemingly restored. An idea came to him. “Ben, take off your glove. No, the other one.” The astronaut gave him a strange look but complied, pulling off his right glove.

“What’s this about?”

“Do you remember how you lost your arm?”

The three of them stared at him as though he’d grown two more heads. “You sure you didn’t hit your head on the way in?” Benny asked in growing concern and held his arm up, wiggling five fingers. “Cause it sure looks like my arm to me.” He fell still when Bad Cop grabbed his bared hand, rubbing his thumb over the back, and slowly started to hyperventilate.

He couldn’t feel the cop’s touch.

“What-”

“What are ye doin’ to him?!” Metalbeard roared.

“Benny! Benny it’s okay, breathe-”

“I’m not doing anything to him,” Bad Cop said, keeping his tone calm and even. “It’s a pretty convincing replacement, but it’s still a prosthetic.”

“My- my arm-” Benny gave Bad Cop a pleading look. “What happened??”

“I need you to try to remember yourself, Ben. Okay? But I’ll start you off- you lost it about two years into our fight against the Duplos.”

Benny took in a shuddering breath, staring down at where their hands were still joined. He still couldn’t feel a thing, no matter how hard he tried to imagine it. He focused hard, trying to remember. Fighting against the Duplos- that was a good place to start. Slowly it started to come back to him.

“We… we were fighting the Duplos, weren’t we?” Bad Cop nodded. “It was night…”

“That’s right.”

“They caught us by surprise that time. Someone threw a grenade- I got caught in the shrapnel-”

“It sent a sheet of steel right through your arm.”

“And several big pieces of glass elsewhere… I almost didn’t make it.” He closed his eyes, shaking. “How could I have forgotten…”

Unikitty worked her jaw wordlessly for a moment. “We really were brainwashed, weren’t we?” she finally asked. “I forgot, too- you destroyed Cloud Cuckooland.”

“I did.”

“And I still haven’t forgiven you for that.”

“You haven’t.”

“Ye mentioned Emmet- he be the Special, aye?”

Bad Cop nodded, relief washing through him. “That’s right.”

Benny sighed. “The one person in Apocalypseburg that never changed…” He startled. “Wait- he’s here too?!”

Bad Cop managed a smile. “Of course he is, you’re the best friends he’s ever had.”

“And we forgot him!” Unikitty wailed. “I feel so awful now!”

“It was the song, wasn’t it?” Benny realized. “We didn’t start to forget until she started singing- and then at the spa, that really catchy song-”

“Wyldstyle were right,” Metalbeard groaned. “And we were so ready to just write her off as paranoid…”

“But at least now you remember,” Bad Cop said. “Which is good because we’re going to need your help to stop the ceremony.”

“LUCY!!” Emmet screamed, reaching for her even as they were thrown from the ship in opposing directions. Rex had been quick to grab him, then tugged up a sleeve to press a button on his watch. “Rex, what-”

“Give it a second,” his counterpart said. After a minute, Emmet spotted Rex’s spacesuit flying toward them, and nearly panicked when he was released so the suit could wrap around its owner unimpeded. Properly suited up once again Rex grabbed hold of him and pulled him close once more. “Hold on tight.” Emmet nodded and squeezed as hard as he could manage. The suit’s wings flipped out and the jetpack’s thrusters kicked on, and Rex carried him toward the closest planet. It looked like they would be hiding on Suburbia yet again.

Rex touched down gently and finally nudged Emmet into letting go of him. Emmet made sure he had his footing, then bounced. “That was so cool, the thing with the suit! I mean it just went zoom right to you! How’d you figure out how to do that?!”

“I saw it in a movie once,” Rex said.

“You gonna keep it on this time?”

“Yeah,” Rex sighed. “No doubt they already told Mayhem I’m here. The whole system’s gonna be on alert now, no point in trying to hide anymore.” Emmet nodded. “Come on, we gotta figure out another way to the Temple.”

“But Rex, we gotta get Lucy-”

“She’ll probably be taken there anyway. As it is, we don’t have the time to focus on just her anymore. She can look after herself. We gotta stop the ceremony before it seals everyone’s fates.”

Emmet debated remaining stubborn, then deflated with a sigh, and nodded. “You’re right… Hey, you think it’d work if I just marched up there and yelled ‘I object’? That’s supposed to stop a wedding from happening, right?”

Rex chuckled. “Certainly seems to in the movies, but I’m not so sure it’ll work for this.”

“What if we can get to Batman, convince him to say no-”

“He probably won’t be outside the Queen’s company from now on,” Rex mused. “They’re too desperate for this to work to leave him alone to have second thoughts for even a moment.”

Emmet huffed at him. “Sure, just keep shooting down all my suggestions. You just want an excuse to fight, don’t you?”

“Em, I don’t think we’ll have a choice. Especially not now that Lucy and I have both kicked the hornets’ nest.” Emmet folded his arms and sulked for a moment, trying to think of any other ideas that might work, when something- or rather, someone- caught his eye. He dropped his arms and stared. “Emmet? What is it-” He followed the construction worker’s gaze, tilting his head. “…Huh.”

“President Business??”

#the lego movie #benny the spaceman #gcbc #emmet brickowski #rex dangervest #unikitty #wyldstyle #metalbeard #batman #emmetstyle #coppernauts

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jujumin-translates · 8 months ago

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[A3!] ★ Main Story | Act 14 - DREAM CATCHER | Episode 16 - “Challenge”

Tenma: “If he’s a wizard, then maybe he knows something about the fantastical paradise oasis.”

Yuki: “Still haven’t given up on that, have you? Whatever. As your wife, I’m worried, so I’ll come with you.”

Misumi: “If you’re going on a journey, I’ll go with you too. Or rather, I ask that you take me with you.”

*Misumi jumps*

Tenma: “Hey, don’t just hop into my bag without my permission.”

Izumi: Tenma-kun, can you put a little more emphasis on that last line?

Tenma: …

Izumi: Tenma-kun?

Tenma: Ah, yeah, my bad.

Izumi: Alright, that’ll be it for today then.

Tenma: Okay… Good work.

*Door closes*

Yuki: What’s his deal… Still jet-lagged?

Muku: I haven’t seen Tenma-kun looking like that in a long time.

Kumon: I wonder if something happened.

Kazunari: But he was so hyped when we got the script~.

Misumi: …Actually, I saw Tenma talking on the phone last night and he was acting kinda weird.

Yuki: Jeez… He’s bottling things up again, isn’t he?

Kazunari: Hm~, and for situations like that we need--.

Kumon: Huh? What?

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Kazunari: TenTen, c’mon. c’mon!

Tenma: It’s about rehearsal time, right? We’d better go and get r--.

Muku: We have today off.

Tenma: Hah?

Yuki: C’mon, let’s go.

Kumon: The car’s already here!

Tenma: The car…?

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Misumi: C’mon, c’mon~! I’m driving today~!

Tenma: Wait, where are we going!?

Yuki: Just hurry and get in!

Tenma: --Gh.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

*Waves crash*

Tenma: The ocean…?

Kazunari: Bingo!

Misumi: We’re taking a break today, so let’s have as much fun as we can~!

Tenma: …I’m not really in the mood for that right now.

Yuki: Ughh~. --Tch.

*Yuki pushes Tenma*

Tenma: UWAGH!?

*Tenma falls into the ocean*

Tenma: Pfph, don’t just push me outta nowhere!

Yuki: If you’ve got something to say, just say it. It’s a real pain in the ass when you don’t.

Yuki: Rehearsing with you when you’re in this state isn’t gonna get us anywhere. Do you really think we have a chance of winning the New Fleur Award when you’re acting like that?

Tenma: --.

Kazunari: Yukki, dontcha think you’re being a little dramatic~?

Kumon: We’re all worried about you, Tenma-san.

Misumi: Cheer up, Tenma~.

Muku: As Summer Troupe, we really do have to do our best for the sake of the company, but…

Muku: I’m sure you’ve got something other than that on your mind, don’t you, Tenma-kun?

Kazunari: …We’re friends before we’re Summer Troupe, right?

Kazunari: And if a friend’s feeling distressed, it’s only natural to ask them what’s wrong, so don’t worry about it too much and just say whatever you wanna say~!

Tenma: …

Tenma: …Actually, when we went to the U.S., that director I was introduced to offered me a part in a movie.

Tenma: I’ve been overseas for filming before performances before, but it’s a bigger role than I’ve had in the past, and the filming period is longer too.

Tenma: I’ll have to devote more of my time to the movie.

Tenma: But it’s such an important time for the theater company to all come together and put the New Fleur Award first…

Tenma: I know I should’ve refused, but I wanted to give it a shot because I thought it’d be a chance to get one step closer to my dream of winning the Best Actor Award…

Tenma: I’m not qualified to be the leader of Summer Troupe. Sorry.

Yuki: It’s not like someone as full of himself as you to apologize so honestly like that. Well, I guess you really have grown.

Misumi: You don’t have to apologize, Tenma. We’re friends, aren’t we?

Misumi: And everyone wants to support their friends’ dreams, right?

Kazunari: Exactly. You don’t have to give up. You can do both.

Kazunari: ‘Cause that’s who we are, right?

Kumon: I’m sure that everyone in the company would agree that challenges like that lead to growth!

Tenma: You guys…

Muku: If you’re going to do it, then why don’t we all do it together? Take on a “challenge”.

Yuki: Huh?

Muku: Actually… I’ve been kind of thinking about something like that too.

Muku: When I saw all those different kinds of actors performing in the U.S., it made me think that I also would like to be on a bigger stage.

Muku: I thought I wasn’t good enough to be on a big stage, that I wasn’t ready for it yet, but…

Muku: I feel like if you’re free to take on that challenge, then we all deserve a chance to take on on too.

Muku: It’s scary and I’m not that confident in myself, but I still have to take that first step to get started.

Muku: Tenma-kun, I think you should also do it “now” rather than “someday”.

Kumon: …Then I’m gonna do it too!

Kumon: I was inspired while we were in the U.S., of course, but…

Kumon: When I saw Sumi-san’s performance, it made me wanna become a better actor so that I can perform on lotsa stages like that!

Misumi: I’m sure you can do it, Kumon.

Kumon: Hehe. Thanks! I wanna “challenge” myself more so that I can grow as an actor!

Yuki: …Since we’re on the topic, I got an offer at my part-time job, too.

Yuki: I wanna try to “challenge” myself with the chance to work with a world-class designer.

Yuki: I just feel like I need to do it now. I’m sure there’s something I can bring back to the theater company.

Kazunari: Then I wanna take on my own “challenge” too. I wanna go to Europe to study design again and get inspired to do lotsa things.

Misumi: I wanna take on a “challenge” too! I wanna do a performance at Syu’s ‘cause he worked with Gramps on stage!

Misumi: That way I’ll get even better-er at performing!

Yuki: This time, we’re not just gonna wait for you to get back, but we’re gonna take on our own “challenges” with you, Tenma.

Yuki: That way, you don’t have to overthink anything.

Tenma: …H-Hmph. So you guys have grown, too, huh?

Yuki: Excuse me?

Tenma: That’s what you just said before.

Kazunari: It’s like Ibukichi said, you only live once, so you don’t wanna waste even a second of it.

Kumon: Yeah, yeah! Let’s do all the things we wanna do!

Muku: Right. These “challenges” will be good for both Summer Troupe and the company.

Misumi: That’s why we’re gonna chase our dreams together, right, Tenma?

Tenma: …Thanks.

Yuki: We’re not doing it just for you, you know.

Tenma: You know, it’s okay not to say things sometimes!

*Tenma splashes Yuki*

Yuki: --Don’t splash me!

Muku: Ahaha!

Misumi: I wanna do that too~!

*Misumi splashes Kumon*

Kumon: Whoa! My turn--!

*Kumon splashes Misumi*

[ ⇠ Previous Part ] • [ Next Part ⇢ ]

#a3!#a3! translation #tenma sumeragi #yuki rurikawa #muku sakisaka #misumi ikaruga #kazunari miyoshi #kumon hyodo

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ofthecaravel · 2 years ago

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If Walls Could Talk

The second part to a Danny Wagner/Sam Kiszka oneshot cause I'm a damn dirty liar

Part 1

Summary: Jake and Josh are convinced Sam has a secret, so they rope Danny (the secret) into their investigation.

Tags: Brotherly plotting, goofs, minor steaminess towards the end

Words: 3k

A/N: Yeahhh I decided to expand on this idea. I got the idea of Jake and Josh getting involved and being goofuses and couldn't resist. And maybe I have plans for future installments...

~~~

Sam had been 21 for a month now, and something was horribly wrong.

“Alright, I want theories,” Josh said, throwing his bag on a chair as the door to Jake’s apartment slammed behind him and he collapsed on the couch. “Go.”

“Demonic possession,” Jake answered immediately, spinning in his computer chair to face his brother. “Ghost possession.”

“Mmm, I’m not sure,” Josh countered. “Haven’t seen his head spin yet.”

“Doesn’t mean it hasn’t.”

“So true, so true,” Josh muttered, wrinkling his nose in thought. “I was thinking cult indoctrination. We don’t know what he’s being taught at that fancy shmancy school of his. All old, prestigious universities have at least one underground society.”

“They’d be getting to him kind of late,” Jake pointed out. “If I wanted to rope someone into my cult, I’d get them when they were a freshman, not a senior.”

“A cult would explain the cheerfulness, though,” Josh argued, kicking his legs up against the wall, his curls grazing the carpet as he looked up at his twin’s upside down face. “What with the love bombing and all. He’s just so uncharacteristically…”

“Bubbly,” Jake finished for him, giving sarcastic jazz hands. “Bright and happy!”

“I’m so glad it’s not just me who noticed,” Josh said, recalling how his lunch with Sam just hours before had gone by without a single complaint about…well, anything. Usually, Sam had a list of gripes about his professors, his classmates, or his job in the chem lab that he’d go through. But this time, he had just cheerfully tucked into a big cranberry salad and babbled about the many petri dishes he was tending to for his capstone class.

“We need to consider plain old hysteria,” Jake offered, thinking about how he had taken Sam and Danny out for brunch in the afternoon after the party and observed how the dark cloud that usually accompanied Sam’s hangovers had been noticeably absent. Now that he thought about it, Sam hadn’t seemed hungover at all. He had been practically bouncing out of the booth, giggling and bothering Danny every 3 seconds between bites of pancake. It wasn’t unusual for him to bug Danny, but it had been a little much even for him. Jake had even asked around to see if anybody at the party remembered giving Sam any kind of upper, but he had only been more confused to hear the overwhelming majority had barely even seen Sam that night. Putting pieces together, Jake suddenly sat upright and his eyebrows shot up.

“You don’t think he has a…?” Jake trailed off, Josh picking up what he was insinuating and clumsily climbing back onto the couch so he could see Jake face to face.

“A girlfriend?” Josh whispered, and Jake couldn’t help but let out a low whistle at the possibility. He crossed his legs and arms, his foot bouncing as they quietly pondered the thought. Sam wasn’t one to keep a girlfriend for more than a month. But he had always been a little perkier when he was dating someone, so it wasn’t out of the question.

“Do you think we’d know her?”

“No way,” Josh said, shaking his head. “Probably one of the super smart nerd babes in one of his classes. I don’t think he’d ever get together with anybody outside of school. He likes girls with brains.”

“And heart,” Jake added. “He’s actually kind of a romantic when he’s not being entirely insufferable.”

“Ew.”

“I know.”

“This is so crazy,” Josh marveled. “Do you think he knows we know?”

“No way,” Jake laughed. “He definitely thinks he’s being subtle.”

“Sam is as subtle as a groan tube.”

“Amen to that,” Jake agreed, slapping his knees and getting to his feet. “I need a beer. Want one?”

“Let’s toast to Sammy and his little girlfriend!” Josh crowed, reaching a hand out and catching the can with shocking grace when Jake tossed it from the kitchen.

“Cheers!” Jake cheered, clinking his can loudly against Josh’s with a celebratory whoop. “You know who we should ask about this?”

“Oh yeah!” Josh hummed through a sip. “That’s a great idea.”

“If anyone would know what’s going on-”

“It’s Danny.”

“Would you happen to know why Josh is spam calling me?”

Danny was laying on his bed with Sam sprawled over top of him, his cheek resting on his chest while they watched a show on his terrible, small TV. This was a new routine of theirs and it was quickly becoming one of his favorites. He selfishly wished that Sam would just stay with him in his crappy little apartment all day everyday just so Danny could devote as much time as possible to raking his fingers through his soft hair and blowing raspberries on the top of Sam’s head that made him squeal in outrage. However, it was becoming increasingly difficult to focus on the show and his gorgeous best friend in his arms when his phone on the nightstand kept ringing repeatedly, the vibrations buzzing furiously on the wood like a fly in his ear. Everytime he checked, it was Josh’s contact photo flashing on the screen.

“Beats me,” Sam mumbled against Danny’s shirt.

“Should I pick it up? He never calls me,” Danny worried, watching his phone start rattling a new round of his ringtone. “Maybe it’s serious.”

“Nah,” Sam drawled, smacking Danny’s hand so his phone fell back on the nightstand. “If it was serious, he’d call me first. More hair playing, please and thank you.”

“That might be the first time I’ve heard you say either of those words,” Danny teased and Sam harrumphed in protest, gently smacking Danny’s face next. “Hey!”

“You’re being a bad cuddler,” Sam whined, nuzzling his cheek more against Danny’s chest and fidgeting. Danny scoffed and smoothed Sam’s hair back, still hopelessly endeared by him even when he was being annoying.

“Then you can go find somebody else to lay on,” Danny leaned in and whispered in Sam’s ear, suddenly shifting and flipping onto his side, sending a screaming Sam flailing off of the bed and onto the floor while Danny scooped up his phone and answered it.

“Hi, Josh,” Danny answered cheerfully while Sam hurled obscenities from the floor. Danny peeked over the edge of the bed, sticking his tongue out when Sam threw him the middle finger with both hands. “What’s up?”

“Finally!” Josh sighed, his voice so loud that Danny had to hold the phone away from his ear. “I thought you were never going to pick up.”

“You couldn’t just text me?”

“Absolutely not,” Josh replied as if it was the most ridiculous suggestion he had ever heard. “This is a matter of the highest security and discretion.”

“Do tell,” Danny said casually while Sam, still on the ground, reached up, grabbed the pillow out from under Danny’s head, and half heartedly tried to smother him with it. “You have my full attention.”

“Jake’s here too, say hi Jake,” Josh said, and after a moment of rustling, Jake’s voice piped up. “Hi, Dan.”

“Hi, guys,” Danny replied, curiosity creeping into his tone. “Care to explain what’s going on?”

“We have a conspiracy theory,” Josh whispered into the phone, and he heard Jake making ghostly noises in the background. “And we need your help investigating it.”

“Okay?”

“You’re not with Sam right now, are you?”

Danny looked down at Sam on the floor, who had put the pillow under his own head and was scowling up at Danny, flipping him the middle finger yet again.

“Nope,” Danny answered, giving Sam a kissy face and flopping back onto the bed. “Why?”

“Do you know what he’s up to right now?”

“Uh,” Danny paused. “I think he just said he was busy today. Again, why?”

“Interesting,” Josh hummed. “Has he been vague about his whereabouts with you, too?”

“Sort of,” Danny stammered, rolling over and throwing Sam a concerned look, who gave him a questioning look back. “He’s been busy, that’s all I know. I mean, it’s the end of the semester so that’s not too shocking.”

“We think he might be seeing someone,” Josh proposed amusedly and Danny’s heart started racing anxiously. He sat straight up and did his best to make a shocked noise.

“You think?” Danny squeaked. Sam sat up and gave him another confused look.

“For sure,” Jake answered, taking the phone from Josh. “Haven’t you noticed he’s been super weird lately? He’s been so cheery and downright merry. He’s usually miserable this time of year.”

“I guess he has been a little more upbeat lately,” Danny agreed, feeling a little warmth in his stomach. Did he really do that to Sam? Did he make him so happy that everyone around them could see it?

“But he hasn’t said anything about a girlfriend to you?” Josh asked.

“Nope,” Danny answered truthfully.

“Wow. I’m shocked he wouldn’t even tell you. He tells you everything.”

Sam was starting to get impatient and got up and scrambled onto the bed again, straddling Danny and making a move to grab the phone.

“No!” Danny whispered, palming Sam’s face and holding him back while Sam struggled, whispering obscenities and swinging his arms. “Give me a second!”

“Are you talking about me?” Sam asked, his voice barely audible, both of them still respecting the rules of being on the phone even though both sides had gone silent.

“Just be patient!” Danny hissed, pushing square against Sam’s chest and pinning him to the bed with one hand while he cradled the phone in the crook of his shoulder and brought it to his ear. “Sorry, Josh, what?”

“Ooh, do you have a guueesst over?” Josh whistled, no doubt wiggling his eyebrows while he said it. Jake wolf whistled in the background and Danny groaned.

“Shut up, you guys,” he complained. “Stay focused. What do you want me to do?”

“We just want you to poke around,” Josh explained as Danny tried to keep Sam quiet, who was still wiggling and grinning wickedly in Danny’s firm grip. “Ask him if he’s been hanging out with anybody.”

“Try and hang out with him as much as you can,” Jake added. “We’re trying to get a name out of this. We want socials we can stalk.”

“Wouldn’t you rather wait for him to bring it up?” Danny countered, making a “ssh!” face as Sam giggled under him. “Maybe there’s a reason he hasn’t said anything.”

“No, we’d rather be nosy,” Josh said in a deadpan, and Danny heard Jake cackle in the background. “He clearly likes her enough to not mention her to us.”

“And that’s so much worse,” Jake continued. “So, are you up for it?”

“I suppose I could do some sleuthing,” Danny smiled, starting to become increasingly distracted by the color flushing in Sam’s face as Danny held him down. “I’ll get back to you with what I know as soon as I can, okay?”

“You’re a peach, Wagner,” Josh grinned through the receiver. “We knew we could count on you.”

“Give him hell, Swaggy!” Jake crowed, and Danny laughed.

“Love you guys, talk to you later!” Danny chirped hurriedly, cutting off Josh’s loud kissing noises by hanging up and tossing his phone onto the nightstand.

“What did those hippies want?” Sam asked, running his fingers through Danny’s curls as Danny hovered over him, propping himself up on an elbow with a hand still firmly on Sam’s diaphragm.

“They’re pretty sure you have a girlfriend,” Danny said, and Sam let out a harsh laugh, shaking his head.

“God, they’re the worst,” Sam laughed, rolling his eyes. “I can’t keep anything from them. They’re going to be poking their noses in my business until I’m 102.”

“And they want me to find out who she is,” Danny went on.

“Oh, man…” Sam sighed.

“Is there any particular reason you haven’t told them yet?” Danny prodded, his thumb swiping soothingly, wrinkling the thin fabric of Sam’s shirt. “They think it’s some kind of a big deal.”

Sam hesitated, watching the movement of Danny’s hand on his chest before covering it with his own.

“My brothers think everything is a big deal,” Sam muttered. “I don’t know. I mean, they’re going to be jazzed about it, they love you. I just…I don’t know.”

“No, I get it,” Danny replied, his stomach sinking a little bit. He knew Sam wasn’t embarrassed of him or anything, but…

“I’ll tell them soon,” Sam promised, flashing the doe eyes he knew made Danny melt. Danny’s face immediately softened and the jackrabbit panic in Sam’s chest calmed a little at the sight. “I swear. I know it’s important to you.”

“You’re pretty sweet sometimes, you know that?” Danny grinned, dipping his head to plant a kiss on Sam’s cheek, who chuckled at the contact. “Could be fun to play along for a little bit, too.”

“Yeah?” Sam asked, nuzzling his nose against Danny’s. “You wanna do a big, dramatic reveal?”

“It’s probably the last thing they expect,” Danny pointed out, pausing to peck Sam lightly on the mouth, who chased after his lips with a frown when he pulled back just as quickly as he had struck. “Imagine the looks on their faces when I tell them I’ve done all this investigative work just to find out that Sam’s super secret girlfriend is none other than…wait for it…”

“Oh, let me guess!” Sam mocked in Josh’s parroting voice, arching an eyebrow and pretending to think deeply. “The Queen of England?”

“No, no, she’s too good for you!” Danny growled in Jake’s beloved yet atrocious fake British accent. “It’s gotta be…the lady giraffe at the zoo!”

“She’s a little short for my taste,” Sam teased, holding Danny’s hair up over his head and waving it as if caught in a wind. “I like ‘em tall.”

“How tall do you think I am?” Danny scoffed, straightening his arms so he was planking over Sam, his hair falling in a dark curtain that made the rest of the room fall away so the only thing he could see was Sam. And he certainly didn’t mind the view, especially when it was looking up at him with a light in his eyes that seemed to shine only for him.

“Not tall enough,” Sam smiled cheekily and Danny raised an eyebrow at him.

“Whatever.” Danny lowered himself again so that he was draped over Sam, the tips of their noses touching again. “I’m still your super secret special girlfriend.”

“You’re my super secret special dumbass,” Sam assured him with puckered lips, jutting his chin out in a lazy attempt to steal a kiss. “Come here.”

“I want to hear you say it,” Danny breathed, stopping Sam’s lips with his pointer finger, gingerly pressing the tip of his finger against the soft, pink flesh before tapping his nose. “And then I’ll think about it.”

“To be fair,” Sam retorted, biting at Danny’s finger when he pulled it back. “You never officially asked me.”

“I didn’t realize you were expecting a whole big thing.”

“I was expecting bread and circus. Doves and rose petals.”

“I confessed to you under the stars on your birthday, what more do you want from me? Sheesh. Picky, picky.”

“You’re the worst boyfriend I’ve ever had,” Sam declared.

“I’ll take it!” Danny beamed, colliding the grin that was breaking out over his face into Sam, who accepted it with his own smile. Sam then drowned him in a long kiss, holding him close with his hands tangled comfortably in his curls and his legs slotted between Danny’s in a way that he had started to make a habit.

In fact, since their night on the roof, Sam had found it extremely difficult to keep his hands off of his best friend. He had been into Danny for what felt like forever, so now that he had his chance to have him all to himself, he was doing everything in his power not to waste it. His brother’s suspicions made sense when he put into perspective just how often he had begun to ignore their texts or offers to hang out in favor of beelining to Danny’s apartment after school or work and staying for as long as he could before his next class. But how could he not? Danny was all over him too. A kiss on the roof had led to a locked door, shirts on the floor, and a few days recycling the same turtleneck until the marks that had bloomed under Danny’s teeth had faded. Not much had changed in that regard, except that now Danny had the restraint and wherewithal to leave bruises where they couldn’t be seen by curious coworkers or ridiculously nosy brothers.

“Okay, fine,” Sam whined as Danny worked his shirt over his head and left a barrage of light kisses against the achingly sensitive skin on his neck. “Maybe you’re not the worst boyfriend in the world.”

“Gee, thanks,” Danny murmured against his skin, his tongue darting out and making Sam hum as he cradled Danny’s head against him. “Good to know I just need to get you worked up a little bit to be nicer to me.”

“Take me all the way and I’ll be more than nice,” Sam purred, flattening his hands against Danny’s back under his shirt and raking his nails down, making Danny groan into his neck.

“Kinda slutty of you,” Daniel chuckled, coming back up for air and gazing down at Sam with pink cheeks and the freckles on his nose so close that Sam was tempted to nip each and every one.

“You love that about me,” Sam teased, smoothing his palms over Danny’s lower back and hips as he watched his eyelids flutter and the warm hazel of his eyes get swallowed up by his pupils.

“You have no idea,” Danny groaned lowly, descending on Sam hungrily.

If he was being tasked with keeping an eye on him, he figured he might as well make it both worth their while.

Taglist: @s0livagant @holdingup-fallingsky @t00turnttrauma @the-starcatcher @streamsofstardust @spark-my-nature @joshkiszkashusband

#i am not immune to shenanigans #gvf #greta van fleet #danny wagner #sam kiszka #sanny gvf #greta van fleet fan fiction #greta van art #you dont go to parties #karoufiction

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crinkled-emotions · 1 year ago

Text

Day 31: Free Day (Surprise fic!)

This one... oof. I can't believe it's finally here.

I'm super grateful to those people who have sent in asks or commented on the fics, I honestly didn't think I'd be able to get to 31 🥺 I talked more about it on the Ao3 version of this because tumblr is a NIGHTMARE for hate asks atm.

Warnings: Carole's cancer diagnosis and discussions of cancer-related complications, Goose's accident, Hangman's fear of not being fast enough to get to Mav and Rooster during the Dagger mission. Rooster also puts himself back into therapy.

This fic also contains Hangster and a couple of very special guests!! I really went loose with this one, I didn't edit it particularly hard nor did I think about whether it would be received well. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it 🥹

“Jake Seresin, you have three seconds to get over here and explain yourself!”

Hangman’s head shot up, glancing over the back of the couch in Maverick’s hangar. Coyote frowned from beside him, following his gaze to see three figures coming into the space.

“Oh shit,” Hangman hissed, “I gotta hide.”

He got up and made an abrupt disappearing act into the hangar, Coyote calling after him but to no avail. Phoenix was standing too, beaming as she ran to give one of the people coming toward them a hug.

“Oh my god, I haven’t seen you in forever! How are you?”

“Honey we are doing just fine.”

Phoenix folded into the older woman’s arms, surprisingly affectionate with her which the others were now watching closely considering Phoenix was more likely to bite someone’s head off rather than giving them a hug.

“You’re here!”

Maverick came out of the airstream, Rooster following shortly after. He stopped dead in his tracks halfway down the stairs, eyes widening.

“Mom? Dad?”

Carole surged forward, leaving Goose in his wheelchair for a moment to wrap her son in a hug.

“Bradley,” she breathed. Nothing more needed to be said.

“What the fuck?”

Sorry. Except for that. Thanks Fanboy.

“Uh- guys, uh... meet my parents. This is my mom, Carole... and my dad. Goose.”

Rooster helped his dad join the group, gently touching his shoulder.

“You okay, dad?”

“Better than you,” Goose retorted, earning an eye roll. Carole swatted Rooster’s shoulder and then extended her arms to give Maverick a hug too.

“And you, Maverick, what were you thinking?!”

“Carole, I-“

“-god, if we’d lost both of you...”

She pulled away, tears in her eyes as she looked between Rooster and Maverick, then sighed.

“Is Jake here?”

“Mom...” Rooster started carefully but she held out a hand.

“I just want to talk to him for a moment.”

“He’s down the back, ma’am,” Bob offered. Carole waved at him, pressed a kiss to Goose’s lips and Rooster’s temple then made her way through the collection of vintage cars and a plane or two. The Daggers turned toward Rooster, gobsmacked.

“Why the hell are your parents all buddy buddy with Maverick?” Payback demanded. Rooster just smirked.

“Have you not been listening for the last six weeks?”

“Jake, I know you’re back here.”

Hangman grimaced, slowly turning toward Carole. The older woman stood by the photo wall, arms crossed.

“Ma’am, I-“

“-since when have I been ma’am to you? Honey you were there for three Christmases, you don’t ever need to ma’am me.”

Hangman grimaced, leaning on the workbench.

“I said some really awful things to Rooster- Bradley. I said things I didn’t mean and now he’s mad as hell. How are you not pissed at me for everything I’ve done?”

“I don’t think he is, and I’m certainly not. Yours and Bradley’s relationship ended but that doesn’t mean I stopped worrying about you.”

Carole and Goose had taken Jake in all those years ago when Rooster took him home for the first time, constantly looking to him for reassurance because he didn’t know what it was like to have a supportive, welcoming family. Goose was paralysed from the neck down but he didn’t let it affect his charm and his sense of humour; Carole had survived what was almost terminal cancer and she still held her own against her incredibly stubborn son and husband. Hangman cleared his throat, eyes falling to the concrete flooring.

“I thought they were dead.”

“I can’t imagine how scared you must have been. You and Bradley...”

Carole Bradshaw was fun loving, loud and the life of the party at all times but she also raised what could only be described as a handful of a son with a gentle hand and her maternal instincts came out with almost everyone she met, Hangman included. He’d spent many a night sitting up with her, the two of them the insomniacs of their relationships, just talking about anything and nothing.

She was the mother figure he’d never had.

“Jake. Are you okay?”

“No,” he choked out. Carole’s eyes softened and she stepped forward to pull him into a hug.

“So what Bagman said, about Mav and your dad-“

“-it’s true, my dad and Mav were at TOPGUN when the accident happened. My dad was in a coma for... a really long time. When he did finally come around he couldn’t feel anything from his chest down. All the PT in the world can’t fix the kind of paralysis he has.”

“Man, that must have been really difficult for you. I’m sorry.”

Bob’s voice broke the silence first. Rooster hummed.

“I remember my mom was doing the laundry once and she just started bawling. Mav said she found a load of my dad’s clothes she’d forgotten about and it just... yeah. I don’t actually remember seeing dad all that often, one minute he was gone and the next he was sitting in his new wheelchair at home and he couldn’t pick me up anymore.”

Phoenix’s brows furrowed.

“I can’t even imagine. Your mom was sick too, right?”

“It was three years of hell.”

Maverick and Goose joined the Daggers by the couches, Maverick ruffling Rooster’s hair as Rooster glanced over at his dad.

“You handle the drive alright?”

“Yeah, fine. How about you kid, you doing okay?”

“Just glad to be on the ground,” Rooster said quietly. He felt Goose gently touch his shoulder.

“We’ll talk about this later.”

Rooster hummed, glancing around.

“Where did mom go?”

“I’m here honey. Have you told them about the Walmart diaper story yet?”

“Mom,” Rooster groaned as Carole and Hangman appeared from the back of the hangar. Phoenix’s eyes lit up and she scooted over on the couch to make room for Carole.

“Wait, I haven’t heard this one. I thought I had all the BB Blackmail.”

“The what?”

“Oh, Roos,” Hangman shook his head, “you have no idea.”

That evening Carole and Goose retired to the house beside the hangar- Maverick tended to sleep in the airstream in the hangar itself but the house had been specifically fitted with everything Goose needed for his wheelchair access including the bathroom and kitchen. The Daggers rolled out their swags across the hangar but stayed up a little longer to talk. Everyone started to drift off except Rooster and Hangman, sitting up on the couches together with a beer in hand.

“I don’t get it,” Hangman said, “you almost lost your parents and you still cut Maverick off.”

“Jake I don’t want to get into this with you,” Bradley groaned.

“No, you listen to me. Mav might have a couple screws loose but he must have done it for a reason.”

“I think my mom had something to do with it. She always went quiet when I started talking about the Navy or begging to get my licence.”

“Can you blame her? She almost lost her husband and her best friend in one hit.”

“Yeah, I do blame her. This was so fucking important to me, it was all I could talk about.”

“I know, Bradley, I remember when you found out why you were four years behind everyone else.”

Hangman took a sip of his beer, eyes to his lap.

“Left me in the dust.”

“Jake, I don’t know what to tell you.”

“I’m going to bed. Drink some water before you try to sleep.”

Hangman stood, collecting the beer bottles around the hangar to put in the trash before rolling out his swag. Rooster sighed.

“Jake, I’m sorry.”

“Goodnight.”

Carole and Maverick stood out in the bright morning sunlight just outside the hangar doors, drinking coffee and looking over the desert.

“How long were Hangman and Bradley together?” Maverick asked.

“Almost four years. Bradley was never the same after he found out about his papers.”

“Couldn’t get off his perch?” Maverick supplied. Carole laughed.

“Sure.”

Then she turned to face Maverick properly.

“What happened on that mission, Pete? Bradley calls after deployments but he doesn’t spend hours just sitting there listening to us babble. I’ve never seen Jake that haunted either.”

“You really want to know?” Maverick asked. When Carole just glared at him he sighed.

“Alright, we better sit down. Let’s go inside.”

They headed into the house, taking a seat at the dining table. Carole reached over and squeezed Maverick’s hand.

“I know this one was different.”

“I didn’t expect to come home from this one.”

“Pete you say that all the time-“

“-no I mean it. I saw the mission plan and I knew someone wasn’t coming home. If that was going to be the case, I wanted it to be me.”

“Pete, you did that. Everyone made it thanks to you.”

“How much did Bradley tell you?”

“Enough to know I could have lost both of you.”

“It’s a good thing Jake was spare; I knew if it came down to it he would be the one who’d push their jet to the limits to help in time without hesitating. He might be an ass at the best of times but he saved our lives. I’ll forever be grateful for that.”

Carole glanced down at her coffee cup.

“I think something shook loose in Bradley this time.”

“Me too.”

Maverick touched her hand, gesturing toward the bedroom.

“How’s he doing? Anything from the docs?”

“Oh, the usual. The nerve pain isn’t any better but he doesn’t want to tell Bradley.”

“We spent too long keeping secrets from Bradley, Carole.”

“I know, I just... he’s doing so well at work and the way he was last night- that’s the Bradley I know and love. He was smiling and laughing like I haven’t seen him in years.”

Maverick smiled.

“Yeah, I thought so too. Just... talk to him.”

“I will.”

Carole got up, rinsing out her coffee cup.

“You think he’s going to be okay?”

“He’s tough.”

“But is he going to be okay, Pete?”

Maverick frowned.

“I don’t know, Carole. All we can do is make sure he knows we’ve got his back.”

“So your mom looks good.”

“Are you flirting? Phoenix, she’s my mom.”

Phoenix gaped at Rooster for a second, then she burst out laughing and took his cup of coffee from him.

“Shut up, god knows you’re still flirting with Hangman after all these years.”

It was Rooster’s turn to stare hopelessly at her. She elbowed him in the side.

“Seriously. I haven’t seen your mom smile that hard in years-“

“-Bradley! Come help with breakfast!”

Carole called out the front door of the house and Rooster smiled at her over his shoulder.

“Be there in a second, mom!”

He took his coffee back from Phoenix and drained the mug, planting it back in her hand.

“Thanks for... everything, Tash.”

He headed back for the house when Carole yelled again, leaving Phoenix staring blankly after him. She heard someone else approach her from behind and smiled when she realised it was Bob and Fanboy.

“I didn’t think he knew how to smile,” Fanboy started. Bob nodded.

“It felt like I was talking to a brick wall sometimes, but this Rooster? It’s almost unsettling.”

“You know the story about his papers?” Phoenix asked them, both men shaking their heads. Phoenix sighed.

“Well, uh, after Mav and Rooster’s father were in a really awful crash, and Rooster’s mom beat cancer by the skin of her teeth, Rooster thinks she wasn’t down for him risking his life like Maverick still does and his father did. Apparently it was all he could talk about from the moment he was old enough to understand the Navy.”

“My dad’s a rancher, I wanted to be one for years too,” Bob supplied but Phoenix cleared her throat.

“It went so much deeper than that. Mr Bradshaw almost died from his injuries and then the infection he sustained later on. I don’t think Carole could have handled losing Bradley too, so Rooster thinks she might have asked Mav to pull his papers from the Naval Academy. It set him back four years which is how we ended up in the same TOPGUN class with Hangman. I don’t know all the details but I think Rooster’s finally made peace with whatever happened between then and now.”

Bob was quiet for a moment, processing everything, but Fanboy’s brows furrowed.

“Why was he so damn bitchy with Mav if it was his mom that pulled his papers?”

“You’d have to ask him.”

“No thanks,” Fanboy and Bob said simultaneously, earning laughter.

“He lived with him.”

They all jumped when Hangman appeared beside them, eyes on the desert in front of them rather than looking toward his teammates.

“What?”

“When things got really bad, Rooster moved in with Mav.”

Phoenix sighed.

“That tracks.”

“Is he gonna be pissed you can’t keep your mouth shut?” Phoenix asked Hangman, who just shrugged.

“He’s already pissed.”

“Daggers! Breakfast!”

The conversation was cut short by Maverick calling out for everyone to come eat, Payback and Coyote emerging from the hangar and Phoenix following the others down the hill where they’d been talking.

“Mrs Bradshaw, can I ask- Bradley Bradshaw?”

Carole smiled at Payback, patting his hand.

“He didn’t tell you?”

“Mom,” Rooster started quietly which immediately had everyone’s attention. Phoenix put her fork down, raising an eyebrow.

“No, please tell us. What are we missing?”

“When Bradley was born, his mom was-“

“-dad.”

The Cheshire-cat grin on Hangman’s face told the others he hadn’t heard this story either. Goose glanced between the Daggers then he smiled. Rooster put his head in his hands.

“So Mav and I were on base when Carole called to say she was in labour. It was just lucky that we were only a half hour away instead of being deployed so we were able to get to the hospital fast.”

Goose’s eyes met Carole’s and he smiled softly at her. Phoenix wondered what it was like to be that in love, then almost choked when she realised Hangman had a matching fond look on his face... directed at Rooster.

“Anyway, so we get in the room and Carole is doing her thing and she looks me dead in the eye... says she wants to call him Bradley then just starts laughing. I thought it was a joke, but the second Mav held him he says he looks like a Nick Junior. We compromised; my middle name is James, so...”

“Oh my god. Your middle name is James?” Phoenix says. Rooster sighed.

“Alright, let’s hear it.”

“We didn’t mean to call him BJ, it just happened.”

The Daggers frantically tried to avoid eye contact with one another so they didn’t burst out laughing, but Phoenix rested her head on Bob’s shoulder to stifle her giggling and that was it for the rest of them. Rooster rolled his eyes.

“I’m spitting in your food tonight.”

“How sweet, BJ!” Phoenix grinned. Even Maverick was smiling as he shook his head.

“I swear I work with teenagers.”

“How are you doing, kid?”

Rooster glanced over as his dad came into the living room, sending him a soft smile.

“I’m okay.”

“You’ve been quiet.”

“Dad. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I know, B.”

Neither Goose nor Carole called him any variation of Rooster; it was always his first name or a nickname. Bradley’s shoulders relaxed and he shrugged.

“Look, it’s fine, it’s no big deal.”

Goose frowned.

“Well, from experience, almost dying is a big deal. Almost dying twice? I mean, I’m surprised you’re not drunk under a tree kid.”

That earned a snort.

“Bradley, you came home different.”

His eyes dropped to his lap and he took a deep breath.

“I know.”

“Kid, no one expects you to have it all together.”

That seemed to unlock something and Bradley hummed, then cleared his throat.

“Bradley?”

“Dad I can’t- I can’t breathe.”

“Alright, put your head between your knees. You’ve done this before, it’s okay.”

“Is he okay? Bradley, sweetheart what’s going on? Goose?”

Carole appeared from downstairs, rubbing her hand over her son’s back and cupping his forehead.

“Just breathe, honey. In through your nose, out through your mouth.”

Bradley did as his father had said, focusing on the air moving through his lungs. He heard his mother talking to him and his father softly, her hand firm on his back. He might have been in his thirties but times like these brought him right back to his teenage years when everything was too much, or when he and Jake broke up and the only person more upset had been his mom.

“Fuck, Roos. You good? I thought you said these stopped.”

Somehow Bradley had missed the door opening. His head shot up to find Hangman standing by the entrance to the living room, arms crossed over his chest. He strode across the room and pulled the curtains shut then went into the kitchen. Carole gently brushed Bradley’s curls from his face.

“Say the word and he goes.”

“No, no it’s okay,” he managed to get out, carefully working himself back upright. Goose watched him for a moment.

“Feel okay?”

“God, no.”

“How long has it been since you, your parents and Mav were all in the same room?”

Rooster glanced down at Phoenix’s head on his shoulder as they sat on a picnic blanket, looking over the sunset. She glanced up at him, waiting for an answer.

“Too long,” he sighed. Phoenix smiled.

“It must be weird having all three parents in the same room.”

“Scary to think I could have had none of them. I can’t- if I’d lost them...”

Phoenix touched his shoulder.

“But you didn’t.”

“I almost did. All three of them, at various stages. For a while there it felt like the moment I caught my breath it would all go bad again.”

“I know.”

She did, of course she did. She’d been the one to find him in the barracks, staring helplessly at his phone. Hangman was long gone at that point, so Phoenix had booked him a flight home and urged him to speak to his CO about leave. Initially his leave request was denied but a call from a certain Admiral had made it so he had a couple days to go home and be with his family when his mom had a scare at a check up scan.

“I think I’m going to lose them, Tasha.”

“Oh, Roos.”

“Mom’s been in remission for almost three years and dad’s not in any immediate danger but Mav... it’s so fuckin’ stupid.”

“It’s not; Mav lives life on the edge,” Phoenix reassured. Rooster snorted.

“Yeah.”

“Well, have you spoken to him about it?”

“Pot, kettle, black.”

Phoenix punched his shoulder.

“Maybe he could use a reminder about what he’s got to come home to. It must have been difficult juggling holidays if you couldn’t even be in the same room together.”

“Oh no, we had it down to a fine art. I got Christmas but I made sure to be busy at Easter-“

“-you mean drunk.”

“I mean drunk.”

Rooster sighed, nudging Phoenix’s shoulder.

“I gotta sort my shit out with Seresin, I’ll come find you later.”

“Go get ‘em, Roo. Get laid.”

Rooster rolled his eyes as he stood, dusting off his jeans before he headed to find Hangman sitting with Payback and Fanboy arguing about college football.

“Hey, Seres- uh, Jake. Can we talk?”

“Sure.”

He scooted over on the couch but Rooster shook his head.

“Not here.”

Fanboy and Payback exchanged a look.

“No, man, you guys stay here. We can argue about football elsewhere.”

Payback stood, grabbing Fanboy by the end of his jacket to get him to follow. Hangman stood.

“Look, Bradshaw, I-“

Rooster gently took him by the arm and led into the airstream, closing the door behind him.

Hangman’s brows furrowed.

“What are you doing?”

“Thanks for earlier. When I-“

“-yeah, don’t sweat it.”

A pause.

“So... was that it-“

“-I’m sorry for what I did to us.”

Jake’s eyebrows shot up.

“Bradley... that was three years ago.”

“Did you move on? See other people?”

“Not like I saw you.”

Rooster leaned back against the kitchen counter.

“I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

The tension in the tiny airstream could have been cut with a knife. Hangman crossed his arms over his chest; Rooster reached out to touch him but stopped at the last second. The last thing he wanted Jake to think was that he was apologising for sex. To his surprise Jake met him halfway, lacing their fingers together.

“All I ever wanted was for you to talk to me.”

“I didn’t know how.”

“Do you now?”

“I want to try.”

Jake’s shoulders settled.

“Bradley, this... I can’t go another round if you’re going to get cold feet and leave again.”

“I’m not talking out of my ass, Jake.”

“Fucking prove it, because I won’t do this again.”

Bradley reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, tapping away for a moment. Jake watched him, brows furrowed.

“Are you seriously answering a text right now?”

“No, I’m pulling up an appointment. Look.”

He thrust the phone into Jake’s hand. Sure enough, it was an appointment confirmation booking for a therapy centre in San Diego.

“Wait, this isn’t the VA-“

“-I don’t want to talk to someone who’s associated with the Navy, my... issues aren’t with the Navy. They’re issues from my childhood, shit I never talked about. Not even with my parents or Mav.”

Jake swallowed, passing the phone back.

“Is this some adrenaline thing? Get back on dry land, sleep with your ex, trauma gone and appointment cancelled?”

“No.”

For some reason, he believed him. Maybe it was because he could hear the sincerity in Bradley’s voice, the way he ducked his head to meet Jake’s eyes. He didn’t tense up when Jake put a hand on his chest, leaning in to press a kiss to his cheek.

“If we’re serious about this, we do it properly. No sex, no making out to avoid talking about our feelings. I don’t care if it sounds dumb, I want to know what’s going on with you.”

“I know. I’m going to try. I don’t want to let you down ever again.”

Jake didn’t know if he was a weak man, a dumb man or a whipped man, but he didn’t shy away when Bradley leaned in and kissed him softly.

“I missed you, darlin’,” he whispered, hands finding Bradley’s hips.

“I missed you too. I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

Jake wrapped him in a hug, burying his face against Bradley’s neck. When he opened his eyes, he groaned.

“We have paparazzi.”

“What?”

Bradley pulled away, glancing over his shoulder.

“Guys,” he groaned

“Carry on!” Phoenix called through the open window, Coyote holding up a bowl of what looked like popcorn.

“Are they back together yet?” Carole called from the couch.

“Yes, mom, we’re back together.”

Jake and Bradley exchanged a look, then Jake took him by the hand.

“We can talk more later when we get back to San Diego.”

“I’d like that.”

“We did good, Goose.”

Goose hummed, watching the Daggers playing dogfight football on the empty tarmac.

“We did, honey.”

Carole squeezed his hand.

“You owe me twenty bucks.”

“You bet they’d be back together when we got here!” Goose protested. She sent him a look and he sighed.

“We share an account honey.”

“You’re no fun.”

“I have a better idea.”

They exchanged a look, then Carole squeezed his hand and stood.

“Mav! You lost!”

“Fuck.”

11 notes · View notes

blametheeditor · 4 months ago

Text

Voretober 30 | Make...

Voretober Prompt List

First | Previous | Next

If given the opportunity, would you take the chance to go to space and travel the stars? What if the person offering to take you was someone you trusted more than anyone else?

What if that person is no longer entirely human?

MENTIONS OF SOFT VORE

Content Warnings: Soft, non-sexual vore (only mentions for now). Mentions of body horror. Mentions of experimenting on people. Mentions of death and murder, violence. Being trapped against one's will. Dehumanization. Abductions. Cursing. Darker themes/tone

___________________________________

”Ya know what I hate the most?”

Vincent raised an eyebrow as he looked down at his younger brother. “When ya get out-voted for takeout night?”

“Don’t get me wrong, I ain’t exactly happy with us always getting McDonalds and nothin’ else,” Daniel huffed. “But that’s not what I hate the most.”

“What, then?”

He was given a significant stare. “The fact ya never vote, Vinny.”

Vincent was quick to shrug away the comment as he focused back on the task at hand. That being he doesn’t trip on any hidden roots as they walked through the forest less the bags he was holding went flying.

“I’m not picky. Besides, if I did vote, ya’ll would claim I’m picking sides.”

“It’s not picking sides when ya want to try a new restaurant.”

Vincent gave his brother a flat look. “Have you been interrogating Scotty?”

“Like we’d give you a reason to kick our asses,” Daniel shot back. “No, he just made a comment about how you were curious about that new Mexican place that just opened up. Got me thinking.”

“You shouldn’t,” the older scowled. “Who knows what kind of shit you’d get into if you started thinking for once.”

The forest became quiet. Too quiet. It took a moment to realize he could only hear one pair of footsteps crunching the leaves that littered the ground.

He knew what was going to happen. He didn’t want to have this conversation, thought he had a few more years before his brothers started to figure things out. But Daniel was a smart kid, not to mention incredibly hardhead. That meant if Vincent kept walking, the younger wouldn’t follow.

So he bit the bullet. Turned to see Daniel was watching him closely.

“What have you been thinkin’ about?” Vincent asked.

“About how you don’t vote.” The kid raised an eyebrow. “About how you never order for yourself and snag a few things from what we got.”

Never mind, Daniel could stand there all night for all he cared.

“Vinny,” managed to stop him mid step when he turned to walk away before the food got cold and the two waiting would complain about how they took too long. “Talk to me.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Vincent snapped, harsher than he intended, but he didn’t dare look back. “It doesn’t matter. Now are ya comin’ or what?”

Footsteps announced Daniel wasn’t going to be stubborn, meaning he was able to continue the journey home without any guilt about leaving his brother behind.

Then he heard them suddenly getting faster. Started to look back to make sure something wasn’t chasing them, only to have one of the three bags he carried snatched away.

“Little shit,” Vincent grumbled as Daniel stuck his tongue out. Instead of raiding the bag, however, the younger simply carried it as they walked through the trees. Then he realized why it had been grabbed. “I didn’t need help.”

“I know,” didn’t even sound smug. “I came with ya to help, though, so might as well.”

“Ain’t your job.”

“And it ain’t yours to put us above you.”

Vincent slowed to a stop. Looked up from the ground to see his brother wasn’t wearing a sneer or a pitiful look. It was one of understanding. It was one that said everything the eldest did to make it so they never figured out just how much he did for them wasn’t enough. Daniel knew. They all did.

“It is.”

“It isn’t,” Daniel said. As if it was that simple.

He shook his head once. “It is.”

“It isn’t,” his brother repeated. “I’m not saying to stop caring about us, Vinny. I’m saying the next time we fuck something up, leave us to figure it out so you can go to practice after missing five days.”

It felt like he was in a dream. Because there was no world where he would be allowed to just let his brother ‘figure it out’ without his help. Even if he wasn’t involved, that was his responsibility. To haul them out of the fire despite it being one they lit themselves.

Someone people would say it wasn’t fair when he was dragged into things after warning time and time again not to make such stupid decisions. But that was all he had ever known. All he ever was.

Take that away and...who was he really?

“Look,” Vincent murmured. “I appreciate what your saying. But that’s not how the world works.”

“And when the hell have you ever cared about what the world thought?” Daniel snapped. “Or did you not take an extra burger when no one was looking?”

Vincent gave a flat look. “That’s different.”

“And so is being a mother hen vs being self sacrificing.” His brother then started to walk again, forced the older to follow to make sure no one got lost in the woods that night. “We all prefer a mother hen Vinny, including Scott.”

Vincent sent a small glare at that, but he understood the message. One that said his brothers would only tolerate him making sure they don’t die by their own stupidity and nothing more. Which meant he would most likely need to start worrying about things getting hidden from him. And that meant he would be pulling teeth from here on out.

The thought scared him. It felt like he was suddenly loosing part of himself. Almost couldn’t breathe properly as he thought about the consequences that would come from this.

“Hey,” Daniel said, earning his attention. “If we’re in deep shit, we’ll still get you. But when we break something, we’ll duck tape it ourselves.”

Vincent sighed as he elbowed his brother. “What the hell am I supposed to do all day if I’m not cleaning up your messes?”

”Oh I don’t know, go watch a movie for the first time in five years? We’ll be fine, Vinny. You won’t always be there, and it’s about time we started learning about the world. Including you.”

When Vincent wakes up, he immediately becomes aware of the fact his hand is lying over his heart. Can feel two minuscule figures sitting underneath his cupped palm.

One is asleep, their breathing long and even, with gentle snores barely audible.

The other starts to move the moment his eyes open, a hand set on his thumb that in turn carefully curls in closer. “Vince, are you okay?”

Vincent breathes out in relief. “I’m okay, Scotty.”

So it was a success. He has another ten years before complications begin to arise and he needs to have the procedure done all over again. Has to trust that the person who placed such a curse over him won’t take advantage of the fact he is dead for a few hours and therefore can not stop anything from happening, be it he is shrunk and put into a cell, or the only human on the entire ship is chosen for a heinous experiment.

Neither happened. William kept his end of the deal. This time.

“How long did it take?”

“About four hours,” Scott murmurs. “You’ve been asleep for five. Mike tried to stay awake, but he was exhausted by the end of it."

That confirms his assumption that the sleeping figure is Mike. Mike, who he owes his life to. “You couldn’t sleep?”

His first finger is suddenly hugged. “No. I didn’t want you to wake up alone.”

And Vincent genuinely believes his best friend. But he also knows there’s a few other reasons. Such as being worried that, despite a successful operation, something could go wrong and no one would know unless they were paying attention. Not wanting all three of them to drop their guard in case William decided to take advantage of it.

“Thanks, Scotty,” Vincent whispers as he carefully rubs Scott’s back. Something that comforts him, confirms his best friend really is here. In his hand, unharmed and not locked in a cage. Even though he’s staring at the foreboding ceiling he sees every time he closes his eyes, the last three years hadn’t been a dream. He escaped, and he won’t be strapped down against his will ever again.

“How do you feel?”

The purple man takes a deep breath as he focuses on himself. Specifically the feeling of something missing, because whatever materials were used this time are significantly lighter than the previous. “Good. Like I can run forever and never have to sleep again.”

“No pain?”

“No pain.” Just sore. It will take a few days to get used to the small but extremely noticeable difference. And there is no telling what else this system includes.

That also means there might be different commands, and the way to activate them might not be in his neck. It might all be verbal now, and preprogrammed so William would have him ready to take orders as soon as the last stitch was sewed.

Speaking of the sadistic man. “Did he touch you?”

“No,” Scott immediately replies. “Didn’t go anywhere near me. He stood on Mike’s shoulder the entire time, and he hasn’t even grown yet. He disappeared into a room near the door when Mike shrunk down to join me on watching over you.”

Good.

They’re silent for a few moments, with Scott so still Vincent could have assumed the smaller had gone to sleep. He knows better, however. Not to mention he can feel a heartbeat beating rapidly against his thumb much too quick for someone who’s unconscious.

“What’s on your mind, Scotty?”

“I’m scared, Vince.”

His hand carefully curls around the shivering figure. “About what?”

“About everything,” Scott breathes. “About us needing to come here every month. About you getting hurt and needing another complicated operation again. About how over our heads we are.”

Vincent closes his eyes in regret. “I’m sorry.”

“No,” the significantly smaller snaps. “This isn’t your fault, Vince. It never was.”

But it is. He chose his own future over caring for his brothers. Stayed out too late after practice and landed him directly where William was aiming to grab someone for his research. If he had stayed home, if he never aimed to get a scholarship so he could one day leave his hometown, he never would have been alone that night.

Then he selfishly visited Earth. Allowed Scott to come along despite everything he had been through and knew what the universe was capable of. Had Mike attempt to follow him and let the kid stay instead of taking him back to his father.

This is his fault. It was his actions that made this their reality. He is the one to blame.

“Vince,” Scott calls. “No matter what you think, this isn’t your fault.”

“I-”

“You didn’t decide to experiment on people. You didn’t ask for someone to use you for research. You never once caused any of this. If there is anyone to blame, it’s William.”

“...but I did agree to us coming back here.”

“You didn’t really have a choice,” Scott murmurs. “Honestly, it’s a miracle we even got this far.”

Where Vincent still has his own autonomy. Where Scott isn’t being strapped down to see if there is a better way to make a human into a giant. Where Mike hasn’t been banned from visiting either of them for the foreseeable future.

“I still hold some responsibility.”

“Then I do too,” Scott counters. “And for that, I’m sorry.”

“For coming to space with me?”

“For not being there to walk you home that night.”

That’s right, Scott was supposed to walk with him. Except his parents sprung a sudden tutoring session and said he needed to be home, which meant cancelling the plans of spending his entire evening with Vincent. And his brothers had been at home or out doing their own things.

He nudges the shivering figure. “That’s not your fault, Scotty.”

“Then neither is you being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

When did Scott get this good at wrangling him?

Vincent gives a long sigh. “Alright, I won’t. What can I be sorry for that you don’t have a counterpoint for?”

“For scaring the hell out of me,” Scott huffs as he clings to the finger he has yet to let go of. “You never said it was normal for your heart to stop beating for a full hour.”

“You get used to it,” the purple man hums. “Slipped my mind.”

There’s the distinct feeling of Scott whacking his hand. “That’s not an apology.”

Vincent smiles as a soft laugh escapes. “I’m sorry for scaring you.”

“Don’t do it again,” his best friend warns. “I don’t think my heart can take it.”

“Aren’t you only twenty-five?”

“You and Mike takes years off my lifespan.”

That he can absolutely agree with. Though, in their defense, it’s their job to make Scott regret caring about their well being.

“...I don’t think it will get much better from here, Scotty.”

Not with them needing to return to this ship every month. With their luck on William taking a no for an answer, or the man making a compelling argument for why Vincent, and possibly even Scott should get certain tests done. Of needing to explain why he needs to travel to a certain planet alone in order to make someone vanish without a trace.

It’s Scott’s turn to give a long sigh. “I know. But as long as you don’t leave me behind, we’ll be okay.”

He brushes Scott’s hair before doing the same to the still sleeping Mike. “Never.”

“Then we will be fine,” Scott says. “And who knows, us being here might keep William from going back to Earth to get more test subjects.”

Vincent snorts. “You severely underestimate him. But at least we’ll be here to keep anyone he takes from being turned into giants.”

“The only thing I ask is you stop adopting everyone you meet.”

“No promises.”

#Voretober 2024 #Day 30 | Make…#FNAF bois #g/t #giant #tiny #Space AU #BTE writing #cw #content warning #cw vore #content warning vore

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