#cause if you go back to him after going to Rosa's room you can talk to him again and there's some sweet dialogue

[black-and-yellow]

Trip, man.

[ladykailitha]

The Caged Bird Still Sings Part 14

Hey guys! Welcome back! So this chapter is getting a little heavy on the angsty side, so just a heads up.

Things have been going great for all the stories especially the Christmas one.

This will be the story that keeps its usual schedule next week. Every other posting day will be finishing up the Olympic Swimmer one. So be on the look out for that.

Also super long chapter!

Steve tries out some hobbies, Joyce pushes, and Steve gets depressed.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13

~

Steve would like to say he got right on the job search the next day, but he really didn’t. He woke up refreshed and feeling good about himself. After a run on the treadmill and big breakfast he had already talked himself out needing to.

But instead he decided that he wanted to learn new hobbies. He had the money and pretty much unlimited time so why not?

The first thing he tried felting. Yeah, he had a lot of money, but he wanted to start with something cheap in case he got bored with it.

Taking the kit out of the box, he already ran into a problem. The leather finger gloves were much too small. Like he didn’t have fat fingers or anything but they were much too tight to fit on even his pinkie fingers he turned them inside out to see if he could make them bigger somehow.

He only succeeded in ruining the finger gloves. He tried rubber thimbles as replacements but still the sharp tool would pierce even the tough rubber.

The kit sat abandoned in a corner of his hotel room until one of the porters saw it and asked if he could have it. His sister did the felting all the time and she was having trouble finding colors she liked.

So Steve let him have it. Three days later the porter came back with a bright yellow canary and a female robin. He proudly displayed them on his nightstand next to the phone and alarm clock.

Robin loved them, but refused to take the robin. She said they shouldn’t be separated at any price.

Steve loved her a little bit more when she said that.

The next thing he tried was painting.

That lasted all of six hours before they got handed off to Will. It was a beautiful oil, acrylic, and water color set, with all the paint brushes and pallet and metal wood-handled pallet knives.

It lasted that long was because that was the time it took for Steve to set everything up, including an old sheet Rosa let him have, start painting and promptly knock everything over. The water, the paints, the easel. Everything. He broke the easel, knocked a hole in the canvas, and smeared paint all over the apron he had bought just for the occasion.

Will was happy to receive the paints, but in turn he gave Steve a simple notepad and pencil and taught him how to draw.

Steve liked that.

It was just for doodling and making silly pictures so it didn’t make him feel like a failure. He went to the bookstore and bought a bunch of books on how to draw certain things. Animals, the human figure. He even found this great reference book on clothes sorted based on the English monarch who was in power at the time the were wore.

Which was all well and good, but it wasn’t exactly what he wanted.

One day while he was over at Will’s talking art and whether or not kneaded erasers were worth the pain they caused if you dropped, Ellie introduced him to a new hobby. Will was against the things, Steve was for.

Jonathan huffed, “That’s probably a class issue as Steve here can afford to replace them and Will can’t.”

Steve and Will stared at each other in complete shock, but had to admit that Jonathan was probably right.

“Yeah, okay,” Steve huffed, “that’s fair. I guess I really didn’t think about it because it’s not my money I’m spending.”

“Have you tried looking for a job?” Joyce asked. She didn’t like that someone was paying to keep Steve safe. As nice as it was, in her experience the well tended to dry up when you least expected it to.

Steve rolled his eyes. “Yes, Mrs. Byers.” Which he had. Yes, he had been focused on trying to learn things that would keep his mind from atrophying, he had also been looking. “If they seen me coming they take down the sign or if they don’t get to it in time, they say it’s an old sign and that they forgot to take it down.”

Joyce’s shoulders slumped in sympathy. The rumor around town is that because Mr. Harrington was the landlord for a lot of the properties that the businesses were on, he had threatened to raise their rent if they gave Steve a job.

Something that all the adults promised not to tell Steve so that he wouldn’t get so discouraged as to not try at all.

But surely Clint Harrington didn’t own every business in Hawkins and she told Steve so.

“No,” Steve huffed. “But he’s friends with ones that he doesn’t. I’m going to try the mall next. Most of the them are franchises and have their main bosses outside of Hawkins.”

She let out a little sigh of relief. It showed that Steve was trying and actively thinking of these types of pitfalls.

Steve shifted uncomfortably. “What have you got there, Ellie?” he asked trying to shift the focus off of him for a moment.

Joyce was watching Ellie while Hopper was at work.

The young girl held up long satin strings of embroidery thread. She had three shades of pink, a white, and a red. She tied the ends to a safety pin that was pinned her leg.

“I’m making friendship bracelets for me and Max,” Ellie said proudly. “The pink is for me, and then I have these colors for her!” She held up blues and purples.

“That’s way cool!” Steve said scooting over to sit next to her.

Jonathan and Will shared a smile. Steve was lost to the shiny allure of friendship bracelets.

“I could teach you if you like,” she said with a smile. “I also have boondoggle!” She held up shiny plastic strips. “I make key chains and other things that need to last a lot longer than the thread.”

Steve really lit up, but then frowned when he saw out intricate it all was. “I’ll never be do anything that fancy.”

Ellie sat closer and pulled out a little paper that she had in her caboodle. “I couldn’t at first either, so I went to the library and took out a book on all the different ways you could plait and how to do boondoggle. Then I copied a couple of the pages I wanted to try.”

She handed it to him and pointed to the easiest. “That’s the one I started with and it will probably take a little bit to get the spacing right.”

Steve tilted his head. “Is this like braiding hair?”

“Yes!” Ellie said excitedly. “That’s right. I forgot you braid Max’s hair all the time. So then it will be easy for you.”

Soon they were off in their own little world.

Joyce watched with her arms crossed and a concerned expression. Jonathan spotted her and shook his head. He stood up and went to stand next to her.

“You’ve got to let it go, Mom,” he said gently. “You aren’t his mom and even if you were, he’s still an adult. As near as anyone of can tell, whoever is footing this bill isn’t in it to exploit Steve, just making sure he’s taken care of.”

Joyce breathed out through her nose as she tried not to snap at her son. She didn’t know that as a fact and Hopper’s reassurances weren’t enough. She hated having to take his word that whoever this was wouldn’t harm Steve. And that galled.

“It’s all the expensive gifts,” she tried to explain. “The car, the unlimited credit card, cash drops weekly, the gold necklace, the hotel. It’s just not right, it’s not decent.”

Jonathan shook his head. “What about all the non-expensive gifts? Things this benefactor thought Steve would like or get a kick out of? Like that little canary with top hat that he keeps on his dashboard? Or all the music tapes they send, thinking Steve might want to try something different. Hell, according to Steve until they left the country, they talked once or twice a day. That doesn’t sound like someone out to hurt him.”

She let out a shuddering sigh. Because Jonathan was right, that didn’t sound like someone trying to use Steve. “I know.”

Jonathan patted on her shoulder and then went into his room, probably to call Nancy. Another person like his mom who worried Steve was being taken advantage of. But even if he was, that was a lesson he was going to have to learn the hard way.

On his own.

Will had long since left to go hang out with Mike while Ellie and Steve made friendship bracelets. He made four. A black, red, and dark grey one for Eddie, a red, a brown, and a light grey one for Robin and two yellow, white, and black ones. So he could one each to Eddie and Robin.

“Those are really pretty, Steve,” Ellie congratulated him. “Those are some interesting color choices.” Spoken as though she was silently judging, but too polite to say so.

He blushed and held up the first one. “This is for my special friend, they are his favorite colors.” Then he held up the second. “And this is for Robin. The colors remind me of a female robin and the last two represent who I am now.”

Ellie blinked for a moment as she took in the information. “I can see that now. Thank you for explaining it to me.”

“I get my thread at Melvand’s,” she said serenely, “if you wanted to continue to make more, that’s where you would go to get your own.”

Steve kissed the top of her head. “Thank you, Ellie.”

He didn’t stay much longer than that, now that both of the other boys were gone, Joyce was keeping too close an eye on him with Ellie. He knew it wasn’t the gay thing as she didn’t mind Will being around her. And it wasn’t being a barely legal adult considering she would gladly leave Jonathan to look over her.

Nope.

It was entirely because she didn’t know who Steve’s mysterious benefactor was. And the thought of this unknown, probably male, person might hear about Ellie later? Yeah, that’s where she drew her invisible line.

Which was bullshit, like with Robin’s mom, Eddie wasn’t going to prey on little girls. He was freaking out about Steve might be underage when they met in the club. But it wasn’t like he could tell Joyce that. She might revoke his time with Will and Ellie if she learned he had been underaged drinking that night. The night Eddie saved him.

Steve went up to his hotel room and flopped face first into his bed. He was tired. Tired of all the questions about finding a job and getting out from under Eddie’s thumb. Like Eddie was financially abusing him or whatever.

He just wanted to bring people to his hotel room and show them all the little things Eddie sent him just because he walked into a gas station and saw something cute he thought he would like. The keychain from Kansas City with his name on it. The bright yellow shirt that said “I don’t take no shit” and had the Iowan state bird of the American goldfinch. That one came with a little note explaining that it was a canary, but the black on the wings reminded Eddie of the deliciously tight black leather pants.

Steve blushed for hours after that one.

He wiggled onto the bed and crawled under the covers without having taken off any of his clothes. Maybe he could hibernate until Eddie got back in America.

~

Steve managed to bury himself under the covers before the porter with the felting sister ripped the blanket off from over his head.

He stared blearily up at the porter. “Martin?” He struggled to sit up, but flopped back down on the pillow in distress. “Just leave me alone.”

“It’s Marty actually,” the porter huffed. “The only people that call me Martin are my boss and my mom. You’re not either.”

“Marty, I just want to go back to sleep.”

Marty pulled the rest of the blankets and yanked Steve off the bed. He went with a startled yelp. He leapt to his feet to fight him, but he saw that Bob and Rosa were standing by his bed with looks of concern on their faces.

“I have the shower running,” Bob said, “you will get in there and at least clean off the sweat you reek of. Then Rosa will change the sheets. Marty will bring up some food while you are showering, then the three of us are staging an intervention, because this isn’t like you!”

Steve opened his mouth to refute that statement, probably something about how no one called the whole time he as sulking.

Bob pulled out a stack of messages. “I have thirteen messages, and that’s only because the answering machine is full.”

Steve looked behind him and sure enough the machine was blinking complete with a full tape.

“Oh.”

He meekly went and did as he was told. He was only going to do a perfunctory wipe down because they were waiting for him, but once he got under the water it felt so good that he began to thoroughly scrub himself down. Normally going without a shower for a couple of days really didn’t do much, but because he had barely moved to pee, he was covered in thin layer of sweat.

He washed his hair and got out of the shower. He dried himself off and put on the long robe Eddie had gotten him. He opened the door and was instantly hit with enticing aroma of chicken noodle soup. He moved out of the bathroom to the main room, lured by the scent of real food.

The sofa was full of the hotel employees so he grabbed his bowl of soup and spoon and sat down on the armchair curled up as small as he could make himself.

“You frightened us, mi corazón,” Rosa huffed. “You weren’t answering your phone, you weren’t ordering food. The only way we could tell you moved at all is that occasionally the cup in the bathroom would be wet or you would be on the other side of the bed.”

Bob nodded. “We were told to look after you, money was no object. That’s what we were told, but you turned out to be kind and generous and frankly better than ninety percent of the patrons here. You treat us like we’re human, so it became our pleasure to serve you. So when you weren’t opening your door to anyone or answering your calls, we knew something was wrong.”

“Sorry,” Steve muttered into his bowl. “I just got so tired of everyone trying to find out who is bankrolling my life style and telling me to get a job that I just didn’t want to deal with it anymore.”

“It’s none of their business,” Rosa huffed. “They’re just jealous that they don’t have this life. I know your papa wants to hurt and all this for you protection, but it seems to me your friends just see the money you...” she snapped her fingers. “What’s the word?”

“I’d use ‘splash around’,” Steve said with a shrug.

“Ehhh,” she knew it wasn’t the word she was looking for but it would have to do. “They see the good. Not the bad. They see new car, but they weren’t there to see you give up your old car. They see the fancy hobbies, but they don’t see your big room and no one to fill it with.”

“She’s right,” Marty said. “I don’t think even the girl that comes with your gifts from Eddie Munson quite understands the crippling loneliness and isolation you have to be feeling right now.”

Steve sniffled into his soup. “Thanks, guys. I don’t know how to impress upon them how dangerous this all is for me. Like the only ones that remotely understand are the Hendersons and that’s because my dad showed up on their doorstep. But even then I don’t think Dustin quite grasps the enormity of it all, but then he’s thirteen so...”

“The only reason your father hasn’t penetrated hotel security,” Bob said with a grimace, “is that the owner, Dr. Sam Owens hates business men like your father. Otherwise, his hold over this town would have extended to here, no doubt about that.”

“So this is what’s going to happen,” Marty said, “if you need to sneak out and just go for a drive to get out of your head, call Bob and he’ll arrange it. If you need someone to talk to ring up Rose or myself. We’re here for you. We understand that Mr. Munson is out of the country right now and it makes it harder, but we’ve got you, okay?”

Steve nodded and said weakly, “Okay!”

~

Tag List: CLOSED

1- @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @zerokrox-blog @beelze-the-bubkiss @blondie1006

2- @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @messrs-weasley @cryptid-system

3- @maya-custodios-dionach @goodolefashionedloverboi @val-from-lawrence @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog

4- @irregular-child @bookbinderbitch @bookworm0690 @forgottenkanji

5- @anne-bennett-cosplayer @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @littlewildflowerkitten @genderless-spoon

6- @dragonmama76 @ellietheasexylibrarian @thedragonsaunt @useless-nb-bisexual @disrespectedgoatman

7- @counting-dollars-counting-stars @tinyplanet95 @ravenfrog @swimmingbirdrunningrock @lingeringmirth

8- @gutterflower77 @a-lovely-craziness @just-a-tiny-void @w1ll0wtr33 @sticknpokelightningbolt

9- @scoops-aboy86 @kurofuckingshi16 @watermelonmite @eyehartart @dreamercec

10- @little-birch-boy @yearningagain @micheledawn1975 @sadisticaltarts

[heeheesang]

ʂƚɾαɳɠҽɾ ∂αɳɠҽɾ ₊˚⊹ ᰔ

nine -> jungwon to the rescue! (warnings! mentions of suicide.)

i opened my eyes to see byul by my side, holding my hand tightly as she sobbed. "...byul..?" i said as she looked up at me and gasped with more tears coming out from her eyes.

"yn!" she hugged me tightly as she cried heavily onto my shoulder. i patted her back as a few tears left my eyes, "i missed you so much ynnie..." byul mumbled as i smiled slightly, and hugged her tightly, "i missed you too, wonbyul."

"what... happened..?" i asked as she sat back down at the chair, and i touched my head, feeling a sharp pain and i winced before byul placed my hand down, "the doctors said you fell down..."

soon enough, jeonghan entered the room, smiling so widely as he rushed over to me and hugged me tightly. "you fucking idiot, i missed you yn." jeonghan cried as he sobbed loudly and placed his head on top of mine, patting my head as he cried.

"i missed you too, hannie." i said as he smiled down at me and a knock was heard at the room door. jeonghan got up to open the door before saying, "you might wanna see this."

the door opened and the prettiest boy with red hair walked in. i rubbed my eyes to adjust to the light and focus on the boy who had just walked into the room, my mouth was left wide open when i recognised who he was.

"jung... jungwon..?" i mumbled as he turned his head to face me, "oh my fucking god, yn!" his phone and canned drink fell to the floor as he ran towards me and gave me the most calming hug. he pulled away from the hug to cup my cheeks, "it really is you, princess." he pulled in again and pecked my forehead, making me blush.

"what happened princess?" he asked as the three gathered around me, "i... i went over to mom and dad's grave. i cried to them for three days and i just sat and slept at the bench near to their graves. the graveyard person saw and she offered me a place at the shed near the graves. at one... at one part, i almost gave up on life. i was already at han ledge, i was about to jump when someone caught me and pushed me to the ground, i'm guessing thats how i got this scar on my head.." i started as they all nodded.

"i wanted to go over to jungwon's but i didn't want to cause any more trouble so i went over to han's... next thing i knew, i blacked out the moment the door opened and now i'm here." i shrugged as my stomach grumbled.

"you haven't eaten a single thing..? you're so skinny now, yn. it's unhealthy.." byul asked as i shook my head, "i wasn't hungry..." jungwon shook his head and reached into his bag, pulling out a bunggeopang and passing it over to me, "riki wanted me to pass this to you."

i smiled and took it from his hand, touching his hand lightly which he took and intertwined it with his hands. "we should give them some space," jeonghan joked with byul as they actually left the room, leaving jungwon and i together.

"i missed you, princess." jungwon started as he came closer to my face, "i missed you too, won. but—" "no buts, please. let's not talk about social media or status right now. i'm just happy you're back with me now." jungwon said as i smiled and turned my whole body to face him.

"what have you been doing without me hm?" i asked as i tore apart of the bunggeopang and fed him, "crying, thinking about you, napped, worked, cried." i chuckled at his reply, "i'm serious ynnie, i was so worried about you..."

"i'm happy, i'm glad. i think i'll go home tomorrow, will you be fetching me..?" i asked as he nodded with a big smile, "of course." i smiled and fed him another piece, "why's your hair red?"

"comeback soon... why? does it look weird?"

"not at all. you look so handsome."

masterlist | back | next

taglist! @rosas-in-the-garden @ilikekpop-c @aloloveswonie @jwonistic @drunkhee @h4918ymc @huieeee @xiaoderrrr @ilovejungwonandhaechan @yourssincerely-mimi @n1k1mura @nnana2

hhs' notes! updatee..! yn's been found after a whole ass week, damn... but woohoo! ynwon's back together! yn hasn't opened her phone though so she doesn't know that jungwon protected her🤭 anyway! thanks for supporting this smau even tho i'm flopping guys :(( i love you guys so much mwah!!

[bullet-prooflove]

TheWall! Series Part Four: Lucky - Bishop Losa x Reader

Tagging: @wakeama @fanfic-n-tabulous @dreamlandcreations @anime-weeb-4-life @keyweegirlie @danzer8705 @im-just-a-mississippi-girl @the-wandering-lunatic @alwaysachorusgirl @beardedbarba @multifandomloversworld @est1887 @mortal--soul @buddinglinguist @purrrrfect @adaydreamaway08 @stressed-chas @spookyboogyuniverse @librarian1002 @msjava1972 @thanossexual @kishie8 @saltyunicorn079 @nessamc @thebaileybugle @spaghettificationandpretzels @nu1freakshow @justreblogginfics @beccabarba @legally-a-bastard @trublu2u @irishavengersassemble @crazy4chickennuggets @kmc1989 @oureternalbond 

Companion Series to:

Complicated - Bishop already knows your secret.

The Wall - Bishop comes home to find you covered in blood.

TheWall!Series:

Part One: Poker Night - Bishop's poker night is interrupted by gunshots.

Part Two: Ambush - Bishop finds out why you were at The Wall that night.

Part Three: Risk - Your dedication to the cause may be the death of you.

Bishop digs a grave. The muscles in his arms burn as he hefts dirt over his shoulder and onto the ground alongside the hole, he’s standing in. There’s blood rushing in his ears, it’s the only sound he can hear as he loses himself in the rhythmic movements of the shovel.

Sweat clings to him despite the cool nighttime air, the high beams from Riz’s truck lighting up the space he’s working in. A couple of metres away Nestor is dragging the first of the bodies across the dusty ground towards the hole. If they want to keep a lid on this they need to dispose of the evidence, which is why there’s a small crew of them clearing up the crime scene.

“You don’t need to help with the clean-up.” Hank had told him back at Vicki’s. “Me and Taza can take care of it.”

“Yea I do.” He says fiercely as he stands at the bottom of the staircase. “It’s the only thing I’m good for right now.”

He can’t stand to be near that bedroom, not while Stitches is working on you. He trusts the other woman implicitly but knowing that she’s cutting into you, cauterising blood vessels and all that other shit puts him on edge. He’s been on the verge of lifting you out of that bed and taking you to the hospital when she’d thundered up the stairs, medical bag slung across her body. He’d never been so relieved to see another person in his life.

When she’d ordered him out of the room, he’d wanted to fight her, but you’d shaken your head. Things were about to get messy, and you needed him to take care of other shit, the shit you couldn’t deal with right now, you trusted him with that. So, he does as he’s told and leaves you in the capable hands of Stitches and Coco.

“It’s going to be a few of hours.” Stitches had said. “One of us will call you when we’ve finished up.”

It’s been two hours and a half already and still there’s been no call.

“That’s deep enough.” Taza says from alongside the hole. “The three of them should fit.”

He’s talking about the men that Rosa and Nestor took out during the ambush, the two who’d blocked your vehicle in with their own and the man who had aimed a high calibre rifle at your chest and pulled the trigger. Bishop wishes that he could resurrect the piece of shit, just so he could murder him all over again. The physical exertion hasn’t curbed that impulse.

It had been Nestor who’d taken out the shooter, he’d been about to reload when the prospect had blown his brains out, spattering them across the desert floor. Bishop doesn’t give a shit about the vote, that man is getting his kutte as soon as they get back to the clubhouse. Tonight, he’s proved his loyalty to both the MC and to you.

Between them they manage to dump the corpses into the hole and fill in the earth around them. Hank is supervising the second crew, cleaning up the scene of the ambush, disposing of the other vehicle and making sure it doesn’t tie back to them. They know the cops will come sniffing around after the massacre at Alice Reed’s place, Bishop wants the whole fucking thing airtight. There can’t be any blow back on them, on you, he won’t allow it.

It's an hour later when they get back to Vicki’s. He sends the others home.

“Rest, recuperate and we’ll discuss all of this shit in the morning.” he tells them before he waves them off.

Taza refuses to leave his side, instead he situates himself at the bar pouring himself another whisky before he offers one to Bishop. Bishop shakes his head; he wants to have his wits about him when Stitches makes an appearance. He knows there’s going to be a lot of shit to process.

When their medic descends the stairs, he’s on his feet immediately, searching her face for clues on your condition. The poor girl looks exhausted, she’s practically swaying by the time she sits down on one of the plush couches. She pats the seat next to her as an indication for him to do the same.

“She’s gonna make it.” Stitches tells him, her voice tinged with fatigue. “She lost a lot of blood so it’s going to take her some time to recover. She’s going to be weak and exhausted over the next couple of weeks while she replenishes, she’s going to need some extra care.”

Bishop reads between the lines. You and Stitches are friends, he knows that she does work for you on the side with the folks who come over the wall. She’s telling him you need to ease off a little, take the time to recover. They both know that isn’t in your nature, that he’s going to have to be firm with you.

“I’ll take care of her.” He promises Stitches. In his head he’s already making the arrangements. You’ll be more comfortable at home he thinks, his place is too sparse. He’ll have to swing by his apartment and grab a few things before they move you. “Give me a list of the shit she needs, and I’ll make sure it’s all in place.”

“Get Nestor to help you.” Stitches suggests as she slips a small notebook out of her back pocket and tears out a prewritten page before handing it to him. “He’s been through something similar before with Rosa, he’s a good guy to lean on in a situation like this.”

Bishop nods his head in understanding before Stitches continues.

“I managed to get the bullet out but there was some damage to the muscle.” She tells him, tapping the space where the bullet pierced your body. “If she wants to maintain mobility in that arm she’s going to have to go to rehab, I can set her up with a clinic once she’s healed but it’ll be expensive since we have to do it under the radar.”

Jesus, he hadn’t even thought of that. It’s a bitter pill to swallow because he knows how active you are. You’re always in motion, a flurry of activity and movement.

“I’ll pay for it.” Bishop says roughly, folding the paper between his fingers before slipping it into the interior pocket of his kutte. “Whatever she needs I’ll take care of it.”

“She got lucky Bish.” Stitches tells him shaking her head. “Just a few centimetres to the right and we’d be having a different conversation.”

“I know.” He tells her, his hands trembling as he runs them through his hair. “Trust me I know.”

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Like My Work? - Why Not Buy Me A Coffee

[geddy-leesbian]

2 + 11 for the autumn prompts for winterserra maybe?

-winterserra

Autumn prompts

"Do you want my jacket?" + Campfires at midnight

like 1300 words both prompts covered 🦀🦀🦀

"Do you want my jacket?" Ethan asks, after Rosa is bundled up in her stroller, ready to go out. “It's not too cold, I'll be fine in my hoodie.”

“You know I don't need your clothes anymore. My own fit fine now that most of the baby weight is gone.”

“I didn't ask if you needed my jacket, I asked if you wanted it.”

“Well, in that case…” Luis tries not to sound too eager. He still feels a twinge of embarrassment when he thinks back to how clingy the pregnancy made him. He went from being stubbornly independent to a fault to being downright obsessed with Ethan. He needed to wear Ethan's clothes constantly, he needed Ethan to hold him and tell him he loved him and wasn't mad at him at least a dozen times a day, he cried if Ethan had to leave the room for more than 15 minutes. While Luis still wanted to wear his fiancé's clothes, it was no longer an intense need and the thought of asking to wear them was embarrassing. He doesn't want Ethan worrying that Luis is regressing back to that suffocating level of clinginess. “If you want me to wear your jacket, I won't object.”

“How has it not gotten through your head that I like it when you wear my clothes? I was almost living the dream that month you only wanted to wear my hoodies. I know you were miserable most of the time, that was the only bad part. I like you in my clothes even more now that you're finally feeling like yourself again.”

“Okay, okay! You win!” Luis quickly slips on Ethan's jacket. “I'll wear your jacket all night, maybe one of your tops when we go to bed. Now can we finally get going?”

“One more thing, honey,” Ethan holds Luis's hands while he talks, probably both to comfort him and make sure Luis doesn't try bolting to avoid a difficult topic. “Are you sure this is a good idea? The fire? I still feel bad about the candles I lit that made you–”

The candles that made Luis have a panic attack and run to hide under their bed, causing Ethan to have to lift the bed up after he had a few minutes to calm down because he couldn't get out from under it. Not his finest moment.

“Oh my god, do not remind me!” Luis shouts to cut Ethan off. “Look, that was a one-off. I'd just gotten back from Leon's grave so those old wounds were raw, I felt like shit physically from how pregnant I was and how much walking I did, and I felt like shit emotionally because it was the first time in my life I had felt completely helpless and vulnerable. Perfect storm of things, the candles were only able to push me over the edge because I was already having a rough time. I can handle fire fine when I'm not hanging on by a thread.”

“I don't want you just grinning and bearing something that makes you uncomfortable. You know everyone will understand if we change plans and don't do a bonfire.”

“I'll be fine, really.”

“... Okay.”

-

Ethan pushes the stroller through the yard to the clearing where their friends were waiting, Luis of course stays right by Ethan's side while they walk. Both are smiling, excited to show off their little miracle.

Claire was the only one who had already seen Rosa, having been there the day she was born. But she's brand new to Sherry and Chris. Chris does look at her for a moment, but seems awkward and unsure of what to do, so he quickly shifts his attention back to the fire he was building. Sherry is more at ease, kneeling down by the stroller to get a closer look at Rosa and fawn over how cute she is.

Ethan and Luis sit down on a fallen log serving as a makeshift bench, with the stroller within reach. Once Chris gets a lighter out, Ethan holds one of Luis's hands and wraps his arm around him. Luis really isn't bothered by the fire, but he still accepts the touch, leaning against Ethan's body. Ethan feels slightly tense against him. Those overprotective dad instincts. Every meetup involving Claire has put him on edge since that argument they'd had that led to Ethan yelling at Claire and telling her to get out. Luis had forgiven her quickly, and Ethan tried to move on, but couldn't forget that night. Ethan was still nice to Claire and didn't let his negative feelings show, but the trust he had in Claire before that was shattered and would take time to really rebuild. Luis isn't sure how he feels about it overall. He does love and trust Claire and wishes Ethan could have a similar relationship to her, but a small part of him is very attracted to how protective Ethan can be and the way he's held a grudge against Claire just for saying something that upset Luis.

Once the fire really gets going, Claire sets up some food on the table, hotdogs and marshmallows to roast, and a few things to go with them. Seemingly satisfied that Luis is okay and not going to have a panic attack, Ethan lets go of him. Luis was hungry, but so was Rosa.

“Hey, Ethan?” Luis says, reaching to get Rosa out of the stroller, and then the bottle of formula in the handle's cup holder that Ethan had prepared just before they went out, knowing she'd be hungry. “Roast some marshmallows for me while I feed her?”

“Of course.”

Ethan roasts a couple marshmallows, makes sure they've cooled enough not to burn Luis's tongue, then holds one up to his mouth.

“That was not what I had in mind,” Luis says after swallowing the last of the marshmallow. “I figured you'd just roast them and hand me the stick when I was done with Rosa. But I'm not complaining!”

Ethan continues hand feeding Luis marshmallows until Rosa finishes her bottle. Luis doesn't put her back in the stroller yet, but tells Ethan he's full and he should get himself something to eat.

The group sits around the campfire for a couple hours, laughing and talking. Claire and Sherry are just as excited about Rosa, wanting to know everything about her. Chris is quiet, but Ethan and Luis don't say anything, assuming it's most likely something he won't want to talk about.

Claire, Chris, and Sherry leave around midnight, leaving the new little family unit alone.

“It's getting late,” Ethan points out. “We should go inside.”

“A little bit longer, mi amor?” Luis pleads. “Rosa is fine, sleeping good, fire has her toasty.”

“I'm so bad at telling you no,” Ethan mutters under his breath. “I'm glad you're enjoying the fire. I was really worried it was going to upset you.”

“My relationship with fire is… Complicated. When I was really young, fire was a good thing. Fire was what kept us warm in the winter. Fire was what gave us light to read books inside. Fire was what cooked the food we ate. Then my grandfather died–” Luis pauses to collect himself, choking down a sob. “And fire was bad. It destroyed his body, destroyed our home. That was the night I left. I avoided fire after that. Then I had to go on the run from Umbrella, and hiding out back in the village was the best choice. Fire was unavoidable. The village was more modern than when I left, but still very reliant on it. I had a secret lab in the castle with no windows or electric lights. Fire was good again. By candlelight, I came up with a medication that would suppress the growth of the parasite. And then… I've told you about what happened with that lab once, I can't tell you again.”

“Yeah, I remember,” Ethan hugs Luis to try to comfort him. “I'm sorry I brought fire up again, I shouldn't have said anything that could get you talking like this.”

“It's okay,” Luis does his best to give Ethan a reassuring smile. “Like I said, it's complicated. For every horrific memory I have about fire, I have several positive memories of it. And now I have another good memory to add to the pile.”

[sunlightmurdock]

Admiral kazansky finding sub Rosa! reader’s positive pregnancy test lying around and going apeshit on Bradley but Bradley didn’t know cause she hadn’t told him yet

Stop it because he would he PISSED. And obviously it’s after Bradley and Lil Kazansky move in together but long before they’re married, so guess where Ice sees him most often? Work.

Taking the trash out is not Mrs. Kazansky’s job. It hasn’t been since he married her in ‘89. She does plenty around the house, more than Tom could ever pretend to be completely aware of. So, emptying the trash is his job and has always been.

Kitchen trash can? — Easy. Remembering the bathrooms? — That’s a little more tedious in the big house that his extensive career has afforded him.

Now, it was Mothers’ Day this past weekend. One of the rare times that your sisters were in town. So, you had made the most of it, all having a sleepover in your parents’ house like old times. It was Maddison’s idea. She’s the oldest. Married and trying. Well — she hadn’t explicitly told you to take one, but she had mentioned that she was testing every day. Describing her symptoms to you.

She had put the idea in your head. So, when you were laying awake that night in your childhood bedroom — you couldn’t get the thought off of your mind. The fact that you were laying on your back because your breasts were too tender to be on your side of your front. She had offered up a test willingly and you had taken it without thought.

You had discarded it with the same carelessness, shell shocked by its answer.

Bored and in dull, Sunday afternoon task mode, your father could have missed it when he lifted the lid off of the small bathroom trash can to take the bag out. It was sitting right at the top. Double lines, bright and proudly displayed.

“Bradshaw!”

He’ll never get used to that — he flinches every time. Rooster’s eyes widen a little as he spins to face your father in the men’s locker room. Towel wrapped around his waist and uniform folded neatly in his locker, his conversation interrupted, he studies the furious look on your father’s face.

“A word in my office. Now.”

“Uh, sure — is everything alright?” Bradley’s brows furrow slightly, cheeks burning a deep terracotta, all eyes in the room on him. He swallows softly and adjusts the towel. There are rarely admirals in the locker room and he’s truly dismayed that on this rare occasion, the admiral happens to be your fucking father.

“Not here.”

Rooster pulls at the collar to his uniform, already worried that he’s going to sweat through his freshly applied deodorant as he steps into your father’s office, now dressed in his flightsuit. You’re at work, not yet on your lunch break and unable to reply to his SOS text message.

The door closes and the room suddenly feels a lot smaller. Bradley presses his back to the door.

“When I gave you my blessing, Lieutenant — it was to marry my daughter, not to get her pregnant after less than two months living together.”

Bradley doesn’t have any significant allergies. Cats make him a little itchy but it’s worth it for the airplane ears and funny little attitudes. But now, his throat feels like it’s closing up.

Ice notices the sudden dilation in Bradley’s pupils. He straightens up in his chair, refusing to be fooled. “Don’t play dumb, kid, I found the pregnancy test in her trash.”

Bradley stares at him, back pressed into the office door. It occurs to him briefly that — yeah, your period probably is a little later than normal. He hadn’t thought to that yesterday when he was balls deep inside of you in your now shared shower.

“I’m talking to you, Bradshaw — you gonna answer me, or are you just going to keep staring at me like a damn idiot?”

Rooster exhales slowly. Tom can’t help but notice that he looks a little bit… greener than he did before. Rooster swallows the lump in this throat.

“Can, we — um — can I get back to you? — I think I need to make a phone call.”

[ejzah]

A/N: Set shortly after Rosa moves in with Kensi and Deeks.

***

Comfort

The first few weeks with Rosa were admittedly a little rough. Not because of Rosa herself, but adjusting to a third person into the house, a scarily close to adulthood person, took time.

Every day, they learned some new detail about Rosa or discovered a new facet of her personality. For example, Deeks had inadvertently found out she hated brussel sprouts only after she forced her way through last night’s dinner. That had lead to an in-depth discussion about vegetables, which further revealed Rosa only liked cauliflowers raw, loved potatoes, and had never tried eggplant.

“I feel like we’re failing her,” Kensi lamented one night as they got ready for bed. She plopped onto their bed, rubbing both hands over her face. “I know nothing about raising a sixteen year old. What about when she starts school in the fall? I’m not sure I can help her if she needs it.”

Deeks had the same worries. How could he not? They’d planned as much as they could, but nothing could quite prepare them for the reality of adopting a teenager.

Sitting next to her, Deeks took her hand. “Hey, this is not going to be easy and we’re for sure going to make a ton of mistakes, but that doesn’t make you a bad parent.” She nodded, not looking like she actually believed him. “We’re going to get through this. It’s going to be really hard for all of us, but we will be here for her, whatever that’s means. And we’ll ask for help if we don’t have the answers ourselves.”

“You really think so?” Kensi murmured, and her uncertainty and vulnerability nearly killed him.

“I know it.” He pressed his forehead to hers, breathed in with her. “We’re going to be ok.”

Despite his best attempts to reassure Kensi, Deeks started to have his own doubts a few days later when he found Rosa sitting in her room, curled up on the bed, her hunched shoulders the image of sadness. He’d noticed that she was careful to cause as few disruptions as possible.

She tried to wash the dishes after every meal, insisted on washing her own clothes, and kept to herself unless directly invited into an activity by Kensi or Deeks. She was naturally shy, but this seemed excessive, even given everything she’d gone through.

Deeks almost walked by, but at the last second, knocked on the door jamb. Rosa immediately straightened, and offered him a weak smile.

“Hey, mind if I come in?”

“Of course. Is everything alright?” she asked, and his heart squeezed painfully at the realization that she automatically thought the worst.

“Yeah, no. Everything’s fine. I just wanted to check on you,” Deeks said softly. He joined her, sitting on the end of the bed. “You’re been, uh, pretty quiet, so I wanted to make sure you didn’t need anything.”

“You’ve already given me everything.” She glanced over the room, decorated with her reluctant help.

“Well, I wasn’t necessarily talking about things. Though if there is anything else you need, or want, we can talk about that too.” He paused, giving her time to respond. When she remained silently, fiddling with a button on the cut of her jacket, he continued. “Kensi and I want you here—”

“I know that,” she interrupted quickly, nervously. She muttered under her breath in Spanish, and Deeks’ eyes widened.

“Whoa, Rosa, you don’t have to feel grateful for any of this.”

Her mouth dropped open slightly, and then she closed her eyes, looking chagrined. “I keep forgetting you understand Spanish.”

“Yeah, most people do,” he agreed. “Why do you think you have to be grateful?”

Rosa shrugged. “You gave me a home, kept me from staying in refugee housing or worse. I would be an orphan without you and Kensi,” she explained softly. “I should appreciate it.”

“Oh sweetheart.” Deeks opened his arms, and to his surprise, she leaned into him. He blinked back tears, trying to find the right words to silence her fears. “We’ve done all of this because we care about you. You could shout and leave dirty dishes all over your room, and that wouldn’t change.”

“Really?” Rosa let out a shuddery breath.

“Absolutely. Kensi’ll tell you the same thing,” he said, hugging her closer. “And, one more thing. This is your home too. You’re allowed to go wherever you want, use what you want, eat whatever and whenever. Hell, you can make messes if you want. It’s not like I’ll notice with Kensi’s stray cheese sticks laying around.”

Rosa giggled, sniffing a few times, and pulled back. “I just don’t want to make it inconvenient,” she told him.

“You won’t,” he promised. He gave her another squeeze. “Ok.”

She nodded, and he smiled. “C’mon, I hear there’s some chocolate cake with out names on it.”

Later that week, Deeks found a book Rosa had been reading next to a plate with the remnants of a sandwich on the coffee table. He smiled as he carried the plate to the kitchen. It was a start.

[mazegays]

could've followed my fears all the way down

Chapter 5

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

“Thomas, you’re abandoning me for the greenhouse now?” Frypan jokes. “I set aside plates for you two. Harriet was going to grab you, but she said you looked like you were having a serious conversation.”

“Now, Frypan, have you ever known me to be serious?” Sonya jumps onto the counter, dodging Frypan���s playful swat. “Thomas, on the other hand, I think we have to convince him not to be.”

“Get off my counter, Miss Anti-Serious. Some of us still have work to do, you know. Jorge was looking for you, Thomas, but he’ll find you at some point.”

Jorge does have a strange way of doing that. Thomas thinks it’s a hard-earned skill. If he knows anything about Brenda, it’s that she likes to find her own way of doing things.

“Thanks, Frypan.” He manages to say before Sonya is pulling him to the fire pits. There’s not much room there this time of day, but she plops down on Harriet’s lap and he sits next to them.

“What if I had had food in my lap?” Harriet tries to look stern. “What would you have done then?”

“One, you didn’t, two, you would have moved it. That’s what you always did in the Glen.”

“I did not.”

“You did!” Rosa, one of the other Group B members, calls. “Admit it, Harriet, you’ve had it bad for Sonya for a long time.”

“I see you’ve turned against your leader. Perhaps you want to think about that.”

“Last I checked, you and Sonya lead together.” Thomas points out. H/e carefully doesn’t look at Sonya, so he doesn’t start laughing.

“Okay, stick, I see how it is.” She shoves him lightly. “You want to race again, is that it? Where’s Minho, maybe he wants in.”

“I’m here. Someone’s gotta show you all how it’s done.”

“Wait, Thomas, are you good to run?” Harriet seems to remember his sight.

“Yeah.” He blinks a few times. “The blurriness cleared up earlier. That’s a weird side effect, though. What do you think causes it?”

“No, Thomas, we’re not debating that right now.” Minho rolls his eyes. “Shank always wants to know everything about everything, I swear. He was like that in the Glade, too. Always asking questions. Newt and Alby didn’t know what to do with him.”

Thomas flinches a little when he says Newt’s name.

Minho’s not upset that he killed Newt. He said he wasn’t, and Minho wouldn’t lie about something that big. Minho hardly lies, ever.

At least, he hasn’t lied to Thomas. Thomas doesn’t have any reason not to trust him.

finish under the cut or on ao3

“How far should we go?” Rosa asks. “We can’t do it here.”

“Let them finish eating, Ro.” Harriet gestures to Thomas’s and Sonya’s plates, still mostly full. “We can decide after. None of us have anything super important this afternoon.”

“Thomas, Jorge and I wanted to talk to you.” Thomas tilts his head back to look up at Vince.

“Yeah, sure. Now?” Minho takes his plate while he stands.

“If you’d like.” Thomas shrugs. He’s just eating. It’d be nice to do with others, but he doesn’t have to.

He has a feeling he knows what they’re going to ask, anyway. Vince takes him to the back room of the common house.

“You know we fixed the Flat-Trans recently.” He nods.

“We were wondering if you’d be willing to go back through it.”

“Do we know where it opens back up yet?”

“Somewhere near where it closed.” Jorge answers.

Teresa’s body would be so close. Would it be worth it to find and dig it up, bring her back to bury her? Like so many of his friends never got to be? No, probably not. And who knows what might have gotten at it by now, anyway.

Or if anything actually survived the explosions.

“We want to do a recon mission. You’re familiar with that WCKD base.” Vince’s arms are folded, hands in fists. That’s never a good sign.

“Somewhat, yes. Mostly from half-memories and dreams. I didn’t get my memory removal reversed.” He reminds them. 

This isn’t what he was expecting at all.

“It’ll be a small group, only a few people. You’ll be leading them.” Vince hesitates, looking at Jorge. Jorge just raises an eyebrow.

“It was your rule, Vince. You can explain it.”

“You can’t take any of your friends. Brenda, Minho, Gally, any of them. Jorge and I will pick who goes with you.”

“So I don’t get any say in this?” Thomas watches Vince closely, then Jorge. 

“You do, hermano. You can say no, and one of us will go, or we’ll ask someone else. We just wanted to give you the option first.” Thomas remembers how he met Jorge in the Scorch. All the signs about him being the leader.

He’s stepped back. It’s not as fun as it looks, and he’s sixteen. He doesn’t want to lead. He shouldn’t have to.

So why does he want to say yes so badly?

Even worse, why does it feel like he’s already agreed?

“Let him have time to think on it.” Jorge says, already putting a hand on Thomas’s shoulder to guide him from the room. Vince just grunts.

Once they’re out of earshot, Jorge sighs. “I’d wanted to warn you before Vince got a chance to say anything. Hermano, you really don’t have to do this. Vince wouldn’t be convinced to ask anyone else first. Take the night at least to really consider this. Take the next few days, if you want. Speak with someone about it, please. It’s not something that needs to be done immediately.”

But the sooner it gets done, the sooner they’ll be able to get more resources, maybe bring more Immunes in. Many of the people here are living without electricity and running water for the first time in their lives. Going through the Flat-Trans might mean being able to get some rudimentary systems up and running again. 

Jorge shakes him gently. “Are you listening to me, Thomas? Don’t decide now.” Thomas has never been good at concealing what’s going on his mind, though, and Jorge remembers him from a time Before.

“Go and race with your friends before you think yourself into this. You are not the only one who can do this.”

But Thomas can tell that Jorge knows it’s a losing battle he’s fighting now. 

There’s a reason he was the Final Candidate. It was always him, it’s always going to be him.

He doesn’t race that night, sitting off to the side and cheering instead. Minho glares at him when he cheers Sonya on, but it’s worth it for the lightness it brings to his chest.

It’s much easier to ignore that he’s going to be lying to them soon enough when they’re all laughing and teasing.

[khickuwa]

My thoughts on "Orange Scent" - Luke's 2nd Anniversary Card

did anybody ask for my opinion? no. am i going to say it anyways? yes...

(warnings: obviously spoilers for the card, some mentions about luke's illness (i will never shut up about this), you have been warned)

ANYWAYS...

i didn't like this card as much as i should- *GLASS BREAKING, CARS CRASHING, SIRENS SOUNDING*

"WHAT!?!1!1!1!?!!??? BUT CHIKA??!1?!1!?"

i reaaaaally tried to like this card but, to me at least, i think it didn't quite met the expectations i was hoping for. compared to "Shape of You", "Under the Milky Way" and "Dreams of Benji" (my beloved), i felt that this was a weaker card.

to me at least, it felt rushed (though i can't blame the writers cause cramming everything into only 3 parts probably isn't enough to expand... well everything) and i truly think that luke kinda deserves more.

just to summarize everything that happened in the card, luke and rosa was cleaning up luke's room when rosa found a ring box tucked in one of luke's shelves, in which luke quickly became flustered over the discovery of it and tried brushing it off. apparently, luke has made a new engagement ring with a master jeweler. but even so, he's still hesitating to propose to her.

so, rosa comes to consult aaron about why luke is acting so strange and aaron told her about how the ring box is for her. worried for luke, she decides to bring it up with him when they visit luke's parents' graves the next day.

so they visited luke's parents' graves. luke says some words, about how he's fine and such before introducing rosa to them as his girlfriend. when it drizzles, luke urges rosa for the both of them to leave the cemetery before it rains, and rosa suspects that he isn't going to let rosa say anything or bring up the subject of the ring box.

they get into a argument about it, luke tries to convince rosa how he's content with everything he has right now, and how proposing to her would only burden her. (HE ALSO BOUGHT HIMSELF HIS OWN GRAVE?? DO WE GET TO TALK ABOUT THAT???) rosa brings up an old memory of their childhood of when rosa asked luke whether he missed his parents or not after they had died. in proper luke fashion, he tried to not worry rosa and her parents always saying that he's fine.

this is where i think the card lost me...

the cemetery closes and their walk back home is silent. then a double rainbow shows up??? (iridescent heartbeat is a cute card, but this really comes off a tad bit cheesy for me) rosa says her little speech (which i think she tried, but with the severity of... well, everything going on with luke. i feel like it would take much more convincing to the readers and probably luke himself too), and then luke just completely convinced on the spot, drags her home and just immediately proposed to her just like that??? (don't get me wrong, luke just manages to be effortlessly romantic and i really did love his little proposal, i'm going to cry)

while the core message of this card was for luke to "burn for himself", to not worry about worrying others, to not sacrifice his own happiness for the sake of others, and such.

while rosa is the Literal Embodiment of "hope and living in the present" I KINDA HAVE TO AGREE WITH LUKE- (I'M SORRY) and i can completely understand where he's coming from (and just the fact that he keeps thinking about her happiness first makes me want to Cry. UWAHHHH-)

ok some things to consider:

1. luke is sick. he has 3 years left to live. while there might be hope for that a cure could be discovered, there's just so much uncertainty about the future.

2. luke cares about rosa. A LOT. (TO A FAULT? YES) but if i were in his position, i would probably do the same, because-

an engagement is like, a Huge Commitment. it's a Promise to share a Future Together, one that luke isn't able to promise yet, especially with everything that's going on. (but chika it's just a fictional dating sim, chill out-) i just think that it's not something that could be easily resolved with one Motivational speech- ("but it's rosa :(" JFJSJD SHH-)

maybe the whole engagement thing was just too early in the timeline-

i would've loved if they had gone with a promise ring kinda route? imagine getting proposed by luke with the ring he kept with him throughout his nsb years, yearning to be at her side once again. maybe it wouldn't be as pretty as the newly made ring... maybe it'd be a bit uneven since it's his first ring he's ever made. it's not perfect, but it'd be very much like him, messy and flawed. it's not perfect, but it's the very same ring that he held on to for 7 years, that kept him alive, until he finally found her again. and when he finally puts this ring onto her, even though it's not a marriage proposal (yet), it's like a good luck charm, a wish, a prayer. it's a promise that he'll return to her side no matter what. and as long as she keeps this ring with her, he'll do whatever it takes to get better and when he finally does, he'll finally replace it with an engagement ring...

sometimes, i don't want rosa to always have the right things to say and to solve luke's problems immediately. sometimes, i want the fact that luke is always thinking about her first because she's the most important thing on his whole to be something that is acknowledged and appreciated. not portrayed as his self-sacrificial tendency, but just as genuine concern for her happiness and their future together. i want them to reach a compromise where luke's "anticipation for the future" and rosa's "live in the present" can find a middle ground somehow-

well those are my thoughts, people are allowed to disagree on them. idk if this is also the case for all the other mls, but yeah... i just want luke's illness to be addressed and not just simply pushed to the side or simply resolved that quickly fjshdhsj

[disneyanddisneyships]

@gyubby99 I had to write it okay?

I'm so sorry.

Warninsg: trauma mentions, abuse mentions, daddy issues, a mother and her daughter trapping the other family members outside on a hot day.

"Carol, I don't know what to do! I've been trying to hard to make a connection, but everytime we get close he pulls away!" Eathan ranted as he sat on the bed.

"Darling.... almost 29 years of abuse and neglect... he doesn't know what to do.... I can tell he likes you, but he's afraid you're gonna leave him," Carolyn explained.

"But if he would just let me be a father figure to him-"

"I must remind you, dear, that in this scenario he is still the child and you are the adult. Yes he needs to make an effort himself, but you can't give up on him. Thats not fair to our family," Carolyn spoke.

Eathan nodded. "I wish he didn't hate me so much," he stated.

"He doesn't. He's just scared," Carolyn replied.

. . .

The next day the entire family was taking a small walk throughout the castle.

Alison and Eathan walked ahead, talking and laughing while Alistar trailed behind.

Carolyn slowed her pace to walk alongside her son.

"He's trying, you know," Carolyn muttered.

"He shouldn't. I'm not his problem.... the only reason I'm in the same room as him is because Rosa, and the kids are with Ella and Eli," Alistar muttered.

"Alistar, I'm sorry about what John did to you. And I'm sorry I couldn't stop it.... but John was not your father. Not in the way that matters. And Eathan is trying so hard to be that for you, but you have to let him," Carolyn stated.

Alistar sighed and looked away stubbornly.

Carolyn sighed as well before wlaking up to her daughter and whispering so only she could hear.

"We need to stick them in a room together. Alone," Carolyn whispered.

Alison raised an eyebrow before glancing back at her melancholy brother.

"Agreed. I know just the place," Alison whispered in response.

The group made their way up to one of the towers until they were outside in the spotters section of the tower.

"Uhhhh Mom. What are we doing up he-"

The door below them closed and locked.

"Carolyn what in the world are you doing?" Eathan asked as he sped to the door, attempting to open it.

"You boys need to talk and this is the only way it's gonna happen!" Carolyn shouted.

"What- ALICE. open the door!" Alistar exclaimed.

"Sorry, big bro! You need to get past your differences!" Alison shouted.

"Oh my go- come on, really?!" Alistar exclaimed, annoyed.

No answer.

"Alison Brennan if you don't open the door right now I'm telling mom about the ferret!" Alistar yelled.

Still no answer.

Alistar sighed harshly and sat back against the bricks of the tower.

"Girls come on. It's supposed to be incredibly hot today!" Eathan yelled only to glance over and see lots of water. "Damn," he muttered.

The boys were quiet.

Eathan paced back and fourth nervously.

"Can you stop? I'm trying to focus on not looking down or realizing how high up I am," Alistar stated.

"I'm sorry, kid. I pace when I'm nervous," Eathan replied.

Alistar rolled his eyes.

Hours passed and the heat got bad.

Alistar sat there, sweating.

"Jesus christ. Hey it's on them. If Rosa finds out that I'm dead of heat stroke cause of this, she'll go after Mom and Alice. Either way I'm safe," Alistar muttered.

".... why don't you like me?" Eathan asked.

"What do you care, old man? It's not like I'm ending your relationship with my mom," Alistar stated.

"No.... but I want to marry your mother.. I want her son to at least like me... and from what I hear, your biological father wasnt..... a good person," Eathan explained.

Alistar stayed silent.

Another hour passed.

"Jesus. Fuck this," Alistar muttered before practically peeling his shirt off.

Eathan's eyes widened.

All of the scars on his body looked bad....

"Kid-"

"I'm not your kid," Alistar muttered.

"What did all that?" Eathan asked.

"..... My dad," Alistar answered.

All eathan could do was stare with worried eyes.

"Look its.. it was a long time ago okay? Its..... fine i guess," Alistar muttered.

"He did that? How?!" Eathan asked.

"What you've never been whipped before?" Alistar attempted to joke, earning a worried look. "Look it's not your business. Leave me alone," Alistar huffed.

"Why do you do that?" Eathan asked.

"What?"

"Why is it, everytime we get comfortable talking about anything at all, you immediately pull away. I'm trying so hard to be a father figure to you, but you just won't accept my sympathy!" Eathan explained.

"I don't want your stupid sympathy! I get enough of it from my family all because I was my dad's physical pushing bag target. You dont know me! you shouldn't have to know me! What do you even fucking care?! I'm only a few years away from 30 and you treat me like im 17!" Alistar yelled.

"Yeah because you never got to BE 17, Kid!"

"Call me 'kid' ONE more time I swear to god!" Alistar shouted.

"I do that because you never got to be a kid! You never got to play, or have a childhood!" Eathan yelled.

"Yeah well its not you problem, dad!" Alistar shouted.

It went silent, the only thing being heard would be the birds and the breeze.

Alistar's eyes were wide as his hands shook.

Eathan made his way toward Alistar and pulled him into a hug.

Alisyar broke down crying in his Dad's arms.

Moments passed before the door opened.

Alistar and Eathan jumped apart and immediately ran into the cold castle.

"Oh thank God for stone walls-" Alistar sighed as he leaned against the cold stone.

"How'd it go?" Carolyn asked.

".... from my perspective? It went well," Eathan stated with a smile smile.

"Duuuuude you're practically melting!!!!" Alison laughed as she patted her brother's back.

"You know what, Alice? At least I got a tan!" Alistar stated.

"And you're still too white," Alison smirked.

"We're literally the same skin color, you ass," Alistar glared.

"Oh stop insulting one another! For goodness sake!" Carolyn scolded before wlaking with her kids.

Eathan trailed behind, only to be met with Alistar right next to him.

"I'm sorry about how I've been acting.... I have a lot of suppressed trauma.. my friend has been trying to work on being more open to emotions with me," Alistar stated.

"Its okay kid. Are we good?" Eathan asked.

"We're good, dad," Alisyar smiled.

[nutrig]

Boyfriend Dungeon

SunderxWielder

Mature.

bc there’s an Abhorrent Lack of BF Dungeon fan content.

Set 1 year after the game events. Game Spoilers.

It’s been a year since you last stepped your feet on the warm sand and felt the sun heat hover on your skin. Since you started at the dunj, you’d tackled your fears of change, intimacy and judgement. By the end of it, you might’ve dated the whole town. It was fun. Thrilling. And at times, terrifying.

And when you saw Sunder last, when you were still angry over it all, you said things that may have been true… but you still regretted saying them.

Now, here you are. Back at Verona Beach.

Jesse and Samantha are letting you sleep in their spare room. It’s no apartment like last year, but it was still comfortable. And walking distance to La Rosa.

“You’re still thinking about him?” Jesse asks you over morning coffee and eggs, after you asked him how the vampire was going. “Same old with him. You know he’ll never change.”

“I know,” you reply, a little more sadly than you intended to sound. “But it’s alright. I can handle myself.”

Jesse raises a brow at you, and then exchanges a glance with Samantha that you can’t quite pick.

“He didn’t try to contact you over the year, did he?” Jesse asks coolly as he spreads butter on toast, in an effort to sound casual.

You take the first piece of buttered toast, and pile eggs on top. “Once or twice. Asked how I was going. I told him well.”

“Righhhttt.”

“Oh, don’t give me that,” you sigh. “Trust me, I can handle Sunder.”

“Give them the benefit of the doubt, love. I’m sure they’ve got things handled,” Samatha says, smiling kindly at you. They exchange another look.

“Alright, alright,” Jesse says. “Whatever makes you happy, cuz.”

And with that debate settled, you get ready and head out.

You spend the day with Valeria and Leah, pouring over the mock-up designs for their new Roses of Venus sports fashion collaboration. They’d grown closer when you were gone. It felt a little bittersweet, but you expected they’d move on without you. You were only there for a summer.

Night comes, and you end up at the step in front of the club. Your legs took themselves there without telling your brain. It’ll be fine. You’ve been talking with him all year… on-and-off, anyway. You were past it. The… romantic side of things.

You walk to the familiar dance floor. The club hadn’t changed at all, as you expected. And when you spot Sunder dancing in the midst of the hustle and bustle, grinding on a woman dressed sluttier than even you, you can’t help crack a smile.

At least this was the same.

You wade through the crowd until you find yourself front-to-back with Sunder. You tap his shoulder, and he turns his head to your direction.

The grin he gives you sends a shot of electricity through your chest, and you can’t help mimic his expression. But words fail, and as you try to speak you notice not the bright reds and blues around you, nor the relaxed grinding of the party, but just him. Just the way his eyes gleam, and the poke of his fangs in his smile, and everything about him that caused you to fall in love in the first place.

And you don’t even care because Sunder is finally in front of you again, and that’s all that matters when you yank his head down and close the distance between you two.

His hands immediately wrap around your body as they had so many times last year. His hip grinds into yours and you laugh into his mouth.

He pulls away, just to speak. His arms are still around you, still terribly cool, but you could warm them. “You didn’t tell me you’d be back.”

“You didn’t ask,” you retort. “Besides, that smile made it worth not telling you.”

“Is that so?” He smirks.

You nod, and kiss him again. And again. And then he’s carrying you to a private room and you’re squeezing his hips between your legs and you can already feel him hard and pressing against your jeans.

“Feeling extra sharp today?” You tease, quoting him from all those months ago.

He manages a breathy laugh, and lays you on a couch. “How’d you know?”

Before you can reply, he’s shifted into his Talwar form, and torn apart your pants and underwear. You hadn’t brought a change of clothes, but fuck, you couldn’t care less. Not when he shifts again and lowers his face and starts doing that with his tongue. Not when you can’t help crumbling into a mess of moans and pants, already so excited. You had been for a while, and he can tell when you wrap your legs around him and use them to push him down. (It’s not like he needed to breathe, anyway.)

His tongue circles around you, his hands knowing all those sensitive parts. His nails dig into the inside of your thighs because they’re soft and you know how he likes that and you practically mewl when he does it. And soon enough, your legs are shaking and your toes are curling and you cry out that you’re so close. Which only eggs him on.

He lets you ride your climax out right there and then, his face still entangled with your crotch, licking at everything he could. His fangs grow then and there, when your body is trembling, and lifts from between your legs when you settle once more.

And that’s all the warning he gives you before he tears his own clothes off, and positions himself at your opening.

You watch his face contort in pleasure as he pushes in. his arms wrap around your back, and he pulls you upwards as he thrusts in and out. He still remembers what makes you tick. He still does a divine job. After all, one year is nothing to a long-lived vampire. He wouldn’t forget that easily.

His smell, his lips, his everything overwhelms your senses. And when his teeth dig into your shoulder, and he starts to drink… the pleasure and pain swell and merge and you fall over the edge again… as does Sunder.

Ten minutes after, when you’re kissing the length of his blade, and then his lips, he smiles lazily.

“I missed this,” he whispers. “You.”

You know you’ll never get what you want. He’ll never keep you as his own, never let you keep him as yours. But that, too, doesn’t matter. Not right now.

“Me too,” you manage. And then you fall asleep.

Authors note: Sunder can own me any day of the week fr

[sohmiya]

I’m on my uni commute and the Miko x Ev brainrot is brainrotting so I have more hcs!

So, bc Miko loves social media I imagine her doing live unboxing videos of clothes & fashion etc. and Evren walks in on one of them all curious like “what are you doinggg?” and she smiles and says “a live unboxing” and then he nods and kisses her cheek. cue the fans in the comments going mad and enjoying their interactions.

^ I see Ev going into another room, getting the live up on his phone and seeing Miko talking about a dress that she’s just unboxed all like “I love all the detailing and the colour—“ and Evren would smirk and text her ‘it’ll look great on you… it’ll also look great on our bedroom floor :)’ just to see her reaction.

Alsoo Evren being on tour whilst Inter City are playing and after performing one of his songs, he takes his earpiece out and says to the crowd “can some of you be lovely and tell me what the Inter City score is at the moment?” and there’s a whole load of cheering which he laughs at until he gets the gist that they’re winning “they’re winning? yeah? yeah, okay, what’s the score?” and then he finds out they’re winning by 2 goals and he’d smile and say into the mic “well isn’t my girlfriend fucking talented”

Angsty: but I imagine Cypress sending Evren a ‘1 to 5’ text during a time when he knows Evren’s been rather anxious for a few days, and he’d reply back with a ‘1’ and Cy would call almost instantly and their conversation would be like “are you okay? are you home??” “yeah, I’m fine!” “you replied back with a 1” “I was in a different headspace then, I’m good now” “…I sent you that text two minutes ago”

^ and the whole point of these texts is so that they’re honest to each other so, I imagine Ev just feeling low and anxious and having to say what’s wrong, and at the end of his explanation he’s like “you can’t tell my dad…or Miko” and Cy knows that Ev usually asks him not to say anything to Javier but Miko would be different “Evren, she’s your girlfriend. She cares about you” “and we’re not saying anything because I care about her. She’s abroad, probably asleep, and has a huge game tomorrow. I can’t worry her. Please.”

After his call with Ev, Cy would definitely call or drop Miko a text.

Alsooo, I’d like to think that Cy and Miko get closer considering she’s dating his best friend. And at some point meets the mini de Veras and Cairo goes “so you’re the famous Miko…what do you think of Evren’s music?” and she’s all cool like “I don’t think it’s all that” and Cairo would smile and say “I like her”

Miko meeting Rosalie!! Evren would drive and pick her up from the airport and they’d be talking about it and Rosa would ask Ev how he’s feeling about it “nervous” “really?” “yeah, I mean, you’ve only met one of my partners before” and Rosalie would snort and say “yep, and I didn’t like them. but I like Miko” “she got excited when you called her gorgeous. you really like her?” “of course, she obviously makes you happy. you’re happy right?” and Evren would smile and nod and say “very.”

When Miko meets her, I’d assume that she’d compliment her eyes because it’s usually the first thing people notice about her. Miko would be all “you have really pretty eyes” and Rosalie would thank her and go “so I’ve been told, it’s where he gets them from” and then point over at Evren.

I also hc that the two of them have the best vacations together! Like those trips where you don’t look at your phone at all, you explore, eat nice food, enjoy each other’s company, stay in a nice private villa and they just have the most amazing few weeks together (<- I also imagine Ev proposing whilst they’re on one of these types of holidays).

MILA IM GONNA START CRYING FR

the way that whole live unboxing hc got me blushing giggling kicking my feet…… no cause evren giving miko a kiss on camera is so fucking cute and i imagine at least half of miko��s fans are from evren’s fanbase too so she would definitely be a tease like “not in front of your fans” then evren would do some more cute shit like winking before blowing a kiss to the camera 😩

I see Ev going into another room, getting the live up on his phone and seeing Miko talking about a dress that she’s just unboxed all like “I love all the detailing and the colour—“ and Evren would smirk and text her ‘it’ll look great on you… it’ll also look great on our bedroom floor :)’ just to see her reaction.

THE SMILEY FACE PLEAAENWHEJA NO CAUSE I CAN VERY VIVIDLY IMAGINE MIKO STUTTERING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LIVE LMAOOO like she’s rambling about the quality of the material and how it’s chic but also comfy then her phone pings and her reaction to the text is soooo obvious on the live because her eyes widen then she clears her throat and forces out a chuckle then go “anyway…” skfjskdks and like she’s lowkey turned on atp and she’ll try to push away the feeling but she can’t so she’ll cut the live short and be like “i hate to end this so soon but i promise we’ll do this again next time” then as soon as the live’s over she’ll rush over to evren all pent up like she’ll straddle his lap then go “are you insane?” before kissing him 🫣 and i just know evren would feel sooo proud of himself LMAO

also the concert headcanon….. evren pausing his show to ask about the game………. the category is boyfriend and evren is the winner

that is probably one of the SICKEST headcanons i have ever read. like no amount of romantic fantasies and scenarios at night could’ve ever prepared me for something like that

he takes his earpiece out and says to the crowd “can some of you be lovely and tell me what the Inter City score is at the moment?”

IM LITERALLY SOOOO UNWELL LIKE YOU DONT UNDERSTAND HOW BADLY I NEED HIM

“they’re winning? yeah? yeah, okay, what’s the score?” and then he finds out they’re winning by 2 goals and he’d smile and say into the mic “well isn’t my girlfriend fucking talented”

GOD I LOVE HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

also the whole 1 to 5 thing and cy still telling miko about ev’s situation even when ev specifically told him not to. AS HE SHOULD

i always hc’d evren hating it when miko tries to keep shit from him to prevent him from worrying so if he does the same miko wouldn’t be happy either. like it depends on what ev is going through and miko would never force him to open up when he’s not ready to talk about it but if it’s clearly weighing him down miko would want him to tell her literally Anything like “evren what’s going on” “nothing i’m fine” “cypress told me you’re not” “he did?” and idk if ev would be pissed at cy but miko would most likely assume he would so she’d immediately be on cy’s side like “yeah and i’m glad he did because apparently you don’t plan on telling me” and miko would be frustrated and upset now so she’d continue like “you hate it when i don’t tell you anything but you’re doing Exactly that” “i just don’t want you getting worried” “i get worried because i care about you. i love you” and regardless if evren replies to that or not, miko would repeat “ily” anyway

“so you’re the famous Miko…what do you think of Evren’s music?” and she’s all cool like “I don’t think it’s all that” and Cairo would smile and say “I like her”

plsjdhajssksjsj and evren’s probably looking at miko like “you did NOT just agree with this brat” while cy’s trying not to crack a smile 😭😭😭

“yep, and I didn’t like them. but I like Miko”

SAY IT LOUDER MOTHER IN LAW!!!!!!!!!

when miko finds out rosa actually likes her, she’ll be so determined to learn french and beg evren “please teach me please baby pleaseeee 🥺” and i imagine evren finding it funny like “why do you wanna learn so badly all of a sudden?” “i wanna impress your mom” “you already know she likes you” “yeah but STILL”

also rosa pointing out that evren got his eyes from her shsjsksk pls that’s so cute i can imagine ev feeling kinda self-conscious like “mom…” with a slight eye roll but he’s smiling shsbsjsjsj cutie pie <3333

AND EVREN PROPOSING 😭😭😭😭 please idk why but i can imagine him doing that thing where he would purposely kneel in a way that would get miko thinking “oh my god is he….” just for him to tie his shoelace then he’d do it again and miko would once again think “this is it isn’t it” but it’s still not then evren does it again and miko’s just like “haha very funny evr-” then she instantly shuts up because evren holding out a ring this time and proposes for real 😭😭😭

[rubywithin]

Who to Trust? 19

(Hedgy) “Time for the result of the votes.....looks like a unanimous decision, congratulations you all guessed the correct culprit!”. (Ein) “Why did you kill him Maria? Aurel may of been distant but he was trying to find a solution to our predicament. Plus if we were all executed....Annabelle would of died holding a grudge against him!”. It hit me....the longer this goes on the more connected we may become making each death sting more. (Maria) “Simple our intertwined secrets, you see he caused an explosion in our school’s lab in the past. That explosion killed....Rosa Lanchelle who was a far more talented Fencer than I ever was! All of my accomplishments were gained because she wasn’t there to face me.....I...refused to lose my reputation”. (Tetsuya) “And you put the rest of our lives on the line in the process!” (Ellie) “Tetsuya...please show her a little bit of respect”.

(Hedgy) “So you thought Aurel was responsible, hehehe you are wrong he just simply witnessed it”. (Maria) “No....I refuse to believe you...” I could of told her it was true but I decided to let her keep her last bit of piece before whatever was about to happen. “I used the sword to mess with the locks...it’s blade was thin enough to manipulate them”. (Ein) “Thank you Maria” I guess this was another thing we had to be careful about from now on. She walked into a room to the left of the trial room we were in, (Hedgy) “Begin the strike of 100 swords”. -Gulp- suddenly a bunch of mechanical hands started going for sword thrusts. It was horrifying to see....M...Maria, (Hedgy) “The second trial is now closed, see you all at the next one hehehehe”. It made my blood boil how he has the nerve to laugh about us potentially having to go through this any more times!

(Naruma) “Come on Ein it’s time we leave!” I walked over to her and we left the room together! None of use felt like talking afterwards, we decided to all go back to our rooms but one thing was bugging me. Aurel mentioned a poison....but where was it? If someone else knew were to find it they could use it and none of us would be able to catch them out. (Hedgy) “Deep in thought huh? it’s nice to see the distrust is kicking in!” (Ein) “Why are you here?”. (Hedgy) “Simple I know you have the antidote thus know about Aurel’s poison. I can tell you where it is and you can take out whoever you want” (Ein) “I will pass, after all what if I was to use it on whoever is controlling you?”. If he panics it will prove the host is hiding within our group! (Hedgy) “Hehehe I don’t think so I am safely hidden away” I see not going to slip up as easily this time, “Well good night and rest well”. He left, if he saw where the poison is it means it’s on either of the first two floors so I can look for it while the others explore the third one!

I got a bit less sleep this time around....I couldn’t stop thinking about the poison being hidden somewhere. (Sora) “I guess we can now visit the third floor” we took our updated maps, the more stand out rooms were a Gym Hall, a Second Shop, a Bathhouse and a Councillor's room! (Yuri) “A new place to relax sweet” huh? (Enrique) “Yes it should be fun to hang out there!”. (Ein) “Okay Hedgy how does the second shop work, can we borrow a second item or do we have to return our previous ones?” I waited a few secs, (Hedgy) “Good question, you can borrow a second so you don’t have to move your sneaky camera”. Part of me thinks he is bluffing and doesn’t know where I put it, as per usual every one split up and decided to check out the rooms, I wanted to check the new shop in case it has something useful!

[mooodypie]

Just a scenario I’ve been thinking about…but Artem’s and Rosa’s spending their first night would be the most accidental thing to happen.

Like I’m imaging it’s a Friday, both of them were doing over time. It’s late and raining by the time they’re both done so Artem offers to take Rosa home. They get to her place and it’s still raining but it’s coming down hard and Rosa insist Artem comes in until the rain lightens up cause she’s worried about his safety driving home. So he gets down they’re both wet cause of the short walk from the car to her apartment, so she offers to make Artem a warm drink. They’re in the kitchen making small talk she offers to take his coat so she can put it in the dryer and she leaves to her room to change. She comes back and Artem is a blushing mess cause he didn’t expect Rosa to come back dressed in a oversized shirt and some shorts. He just think she looks so cute in her casual wear. They’re still in the kitchen and she making him tea while they’re just chitchatting, until the rain get so bad the power goes out. Rosa is apologizing to Artem cause she’s going to make him stay longer than originally though cause there’s no way she letting him drive with the streetlights out. And of course lowkey he’s totally fine with staying he just doesn’t want to intrude on her evening. Artem starts to help Rosa setup candles and again Rosa is apologizing she doesn’t want Artem to get bored but there’s not much they can do with the power out. Luckily, Artem has an idea. They just came from work so he has his laptop and being the movie buff he is he has some downloaded onto his computer. He’s like “it should have a full battery we could watch a movie while we wait for the power to come back on?” Rosa is so down but the screen is kinda small so the have to get positioned right so they can both watch. Artem doesn’t want to get too close cause he’s so nervous so she sits on the couch and he sits on the floor in front of her and they watch the movie from the laptop on the coffee table in front of them. Of course they both end up falling asleep (Artem is totally someone who can fall asleep sitting up) Rosa wakes up randomly and notices he’s asleep. She doesn’t want to wake him cause she knows he needs to rest. She carefully maneuvers around Artem sitting in front of her to grab some blankets for both of them. After covering him with a blanket she climbs back on the couch behind him and falls back to sleep. Morning comes and Artem wakes up super early cause that’s just who he is. He’s slightly confused but starts to remember the night before. He’s blushing cause he’s realizing Rosa brought him a blanket AND covered him with it. Causing him to blush even more tho is the fact that she slept on on the couch behind him instead of just going to her bed. This man is fluster and panicked realizing he unintentionally stayed the night. He quickly grabs all his thing and runs out the apartment but before leaving he writes her a note thanking her for the company. He leaves and even though he knows she’ll still be asleep when he gets home he still text her to let her know he is safe so she is not worried when she wakes up.

AND THATS HOW ARTEM AND ROSA SPEND THEIR FIRST NIGHT TOGETHER IN MY HEAD. Bonus tho..Monday comes around and the one thing Artem left was his coat that Rosa had put in the dryer, so she knocks on his office door not knowing Celeste is in there talking to Artem. He says come in and she shyly like “I wanted to return your coat you left it at my place Friday night” and then rushes out blushing realizing it sounds kinda sus. Artem is blushing too and Celeste is just standing like “excussse me what happened Friday night??” Once getting some details outta Artem she’s teases him saying “Artem you two spent the night together I didn’t know you could be so bold!”

Sorry it’s so long and kinda jumbled new to sharing my ToT thoughts and ideas but lowkey kinda therapeutic

[archonette]

✻ playlist ; vyn gives you a check-up

✻ pairing ; vyn richter × gn!reader

✻ content ; sick!reader, fluff, cute as fuuuck

✻ author's note ; none— enjoy the imagine! <3

"Are you alright, [y/n]...?" Artem, the senior attorney at the place you were working at, asked you as he saw you resting your head on your arms on your desktop.

You gave your best shot at looking up, but to no avail. "No..." You manged to blurt out to answer the man in front of you.

"You look like you need to rest, [y/n]," Rosa intervened as she scooted closer to you, rubbing your back. "Leave your desk as it is. I'll continue your work for you, okay?" With a quick glance at her green eyes and back to your computer, you admit that you still had a lot of work to be done and you felt ashamed about how many it was.

"No, I'll be okay," It wasn't long until your mouth pulled out a cough. "I guess not..."

"I'll call vyn to pick you up and have your health checked by him." Artem grabbed his phone from his pocket and started to dial someone before walking out of the room and into his office.

You groaned. You didn't want to feel embarrassed as you felt like you were being treated like a kid; not in a bad way, of course. Kiki and Celestine were giving you reassuring smiles and you smiled back at them.

You looked at the clock. 6:19pm. The sunset was slowly going down and turning the once-orange sky into a vague color mixture of purple and dark blue.

You told everyone at the firm you were going home. With a final look at the office, you started walking towards the exit hallway wherein you were greeted by Vyn.

"Vyn!" You smiled. "You were called by Artem, right...?"

"Yes," He answered. "That is correct." You examined his face— his striking yellow eyes were relaxed, but at the same time were telling you that he's concerned. The subtle softness of his face being perfectly framed by his golden glasses made your heart skip a beat and the way his hair contradicts with the hue of his eyes made eye contact difficult for you.

"It's fine," You lied, even though your head was throbbing. You couldn't bear to go any further without closing your eyes in an attempt to ease your pain. "I-I'm fine." The cold air given off by the air conditioner made you shiver a bit.

"Is that so?" He must have sensed that you were shaking and your hands were cold, so he covered you with his white coat. "You are lying. How about I take you to my clinic?"

"I just want to go home," You felt like that was a bit rude of you to answer that, considering that he was a few years older than you, so you took back what you said: "I'm sorry."

"It is fine," He smiled. "I will drive you to your apartment, then."

You two walked towards his car outside the firm. You held your droopy head with your hands as he started the engine, causing you to groan.

The ride was silent, yet it wasn't uncomfortable for you. You actually liked how thoughtful he is for not talking to you, since he probably knew that it was a chore for you to answer back to someone.

"He knows me too well," You thought. "Or maybe... He's just good at reading people, that's all."

"Here we are," He smiled whilst pulling the brakes of his car. A few seconds in and you were still holding your head, too weak to say anything. Before you could move a muscle, a warm hand was placed on your back, rubbing it to make you feel better.

You looked at the man beside you. "You will be okay," Smiling, he gave you a reassuring gaze. "We will get out of here whenever you're ready."

His patience never seems to let you down. He could look after twenty toddlers screaming and fighting and he still wouldn't be angry at them. You though to yourself that even though he may be a bit intimidating for some people, he could be as gentle as anyone can be.

"I'm okay, let's go." You smiled and you both got out of the car at the same time.

Locking the doors, you both entered the apartment without saying a word. The gentle breeze of the warm afternoon shifting to a cool evening made you smile as he placed a hand on your waist to keep your weak body from falling or anything in similar.

You sat on the couch as Vyn locked the doors behind him. "So.. How do you normally start your check ups?" You asked him to try to open a conversation.

"I usually greet them then I state how I will give them a check up," He said. You gripped the white coat that's around your body. "For you, I will just be quick."

You hummed in response.

"Excuse me." He whispered as he slowly removed the coat away from your body. You then felt a cool metal pressed against your heart after he slowly moved your shirt out of the way.

This was somewhat therapeutic for you, at least, that's what you thought. As the cold metal hit your chest, Vyn's warm breathing was on your skin as well and that made you look away, face flushed.

"Please, turn around. I will monitor your lungs," He gently ordered, and you obeyed. He slowly slid his hands up your back and the same, cold metal smoothly ran across your back, stopping at random. "Done."

You turned back around, facing him again. Vyn placed his stethoscope away and said, "Finally, I'll give you a quick inspection, as well as I.. feel if there are any complications..."

The both of you stopped. You knew that it was part of a thorough check-up and you weren't against that.

"...Would that be alright?" His calming voice interrupted your thoughts. He must've thought that because you stopped, you weren't letting him but in reality you were actually feeling like your heart was about to burst from the butterflies in your stomach.

"Y-yes.." You stuttered. Vyn gave you a light chuckle and said that there was nothing to be embarrassed about.

That embarrassment of your quockly turned into even more butterflies in your stomach as he held your neck in the gentlest way possible, checking if there are anything bad to be concerned about. At the same time, he was examining your face.

He did these for about a few minutes and as he was done, you were kind of bummed about it. You laid your body down on the leather couch, pulling a blanket over you.

You noticed the pink streak across his face as he moved closer to you.

"I can stay here for the night," He started. "If you want." You two locked eyes for a second and he then sat on the floor, resting his head on his folded arms, looking admiringly at you.

"I'd like that." You smiled, closing your eyes.

Then, you felt a warm kiss on your forehead, letting you know that you were going to be okay. You eyes fluttered open, adjusting to the light your apartment had.

Slowly, you wrapped your arms around his neck, making you pull him closer to your face until his soft lips met your warmer ones. He placed a hand on your neck, gently caressing your cheek with his thumb.

The whole apartment was quiet, except for the low buzzing of the ceiling fans and you and Vyn's kisses. His other hand trailed on your hair, gently moving his fingers around and you sighed in response.

Pulling back, he left a final kiss on your cheek before saying,

"I am so glad to be able to do this with you."

©archonette 2022

[rosa-qing]

Themis-Scenarios

Artem Wing

Day 19 : Late Night Talks

🥀.warnings: Pregnancy

🥀.words: 476

Artm426 Masterlists || Masterlists

It was late at night but the light on his office hasn't been extinguished. Pile of papers scattered on his table. A sigh left his lips as he pinches the bridge of his nose.

Exhaustion slowly consumes his body but there's still things needed to review for this case. Ever since his wife got pregnant, he never let her work overtime letting her sleep early.

He looks over at the clock seeing it was already past midnight, his expression softens, and gaze never left the door in anticipation

Suddenly there's a soft knock on the door, he wasn't startled cause he's been expecting this.

A woman opens the door and peek through the gap.

"Are you still not done?" She said with sleepiness written on her voice.

Artem knew that she'll visit him every midnight with the pretext that she can't sleep without him by her side

He nods and she walks toward him. He opens his arms and let her sits next on his lap. They stay silent for some time, till the silence becomes unbearable

"How is the baby doing?" He asked softly looking down at his hands resting on her visible baby bump.

She gave him a small smile.

"He wakes me up this time, gently kicking my stomach,"

Since the last check up they have determined their baby's gender. they.were going to have a bouncing baby boy that might look like a little version of Artem.

He gently rubbed her stomach while talking to their child

"Little Wing doesn't give your mother a hard time, she needs to rest okay?"

As if their baby understood what Artem said, a gentle kick to land on the spot over his hand. A gentle smile plastered on his lips before leaning down to press a kiss on her stomach

"Good" He mumbles

Watching the scene in front of her, a smile crept on her lips

"Maybe he misses his father that's why he wakes me up, Why don't we call it a night"

Artem looking over at the paper on his table wanting to refuse but the moment he saw her pleading gaze, he gave in

"Okay"

Her smile grew deeper on her lips, she was about to stand but Artem didn't let her go. He places his arm under her legs and carried her in a bridal style

"I can walk" she shouted, but he didn't let her go until they reached their room. Artem places her gently in bed.

After changing his clothes he slips beside her and hugged her from the back. He places his hand on her stomach and gently caress it.

Guess she's right cause that night their son didn't toss and turn like he knows his father is there beside him.

For the rest of the night they sleep peacefully...

@rosa-qing published : 4-14-22