#enlisted fic

[buggachat]

i know people like to make Alya the crazy butting-herself-into-someone-else's-relationship person, but i never felt like that was fair, when she's only so involved in marinette's love life because marinette MADE her involved. marinette canonically wakes alya up early saturday mornings to whine to her about her adrien problems, most of the crazy adrienette schemes were made by marinette herself with only alya's partial help, and then, what, marinette expects alya to believe her when she says she's toooootally over adrien this time for real and it tooooootally isn't another intentional self-sabotage this time alya i swear—

anyway. i fully believe that marinette would 10000% be a much much crazier "matchmaker" than alya if she were given the right conditions. if marinette knew someone like marinette she would absolutely be butting herself into the relationship even without being invited to. ladybug literally made mylene kiss a giant stone golem because "ooommgg they're made for each other". marinette tried to force kagami to get back together with adrien despite having no knowledge of their relationship or why they broke up in the first place. alya only gets a bad rep because she's a supporting cast to the central romance, but if marinette was the supporting cast to a different central romance, she would be 999999x worse. and i mean this with so much love

[ilys00ga]

life after his enlistment.

pairing: yoongi x reader

synopsis: how life/the relationship was like after he enlisted.

genre: fluff, established relationship, yoongi enlisted, they are trying their best, idk if I should call it angst or hurt/comfort, but there's some kind of ✨️melancholy✨️ in this (predictable much), I effing miss him sm more now :(.

warnings: t.w: if u are just like me, prepare to be missing yoongi sickeningly after this. gosh, it feels like a hole in a chest rn. idk what to do w myself. oh btw some ideas mentioned here are purely my own opinions, so it doesn't have to be "facts" or "all true." if u have different opinions or if u disagree with any it u can reach out to me about them, I would like that, but that's that, enjoy!!!!!!!!!

A/N: this was a request made by @kimvante2013 I hope it meets ur expectations! this was so fun to write, I liked this a lot. feel free to send more reqs or anything u want :)

PS. English is not my first language, so you know the drill.

ᵎᵎ 𖦹彡⋆｡˚・ ─ ・ ⋯ ・ ─ ⊹ ♡₊˚๑

the problem wasn't that you couldn't see him, no.

since his duty was different from that of an ordinary individual, you both were able to spend the nights in each other's arms.

when he comes back home after duty, sometimes he's met with an empty house where he'd wash up and start preparing something for you to enjoy munching on once you get back home at a later hour of the day. other times, he comes to a busy, warm house. you blasting your favorite drama on the TV while doing the laundry in the middle of the living room, or just chilling and waiting to welcome him with mellow hugs and kisses.

and when he's on duty, he can't always contact you, but he whispered kisses laced with promises into your lips before leaving on his first day, and he would never dare to break them. not that he wants to anyway.

sometimes you'd wake up to post-it notes sticked on random surfaces and items around the house, or good morning messages of love and kisses. sometimes he calls during lunch breaks to check up on you, reminding you to drink water and eat well because that's yoongi's most precious habit of showing that he always just cares.

"don't forget to layer your outfit today, I just saw that it's gonna be awfully cold."

"did you like the bouquet I sent? want more? cook me ___ tonight xx"

"hi, don't forget to drink a cup of water right this instance or you'll shrivel up and die."

"it snowed on my way here this morning, let's go out this weekend and have some fun :]"

when days are too hard to handle, weighing one of you—maybe even both of you at the same time, cause life is a bitch like that—down and burying you under the ground, you'd send long voice messages to the other. never expecting an immediate reply. just simply pressing record and spilling all the bottled negative energy that clogged your brains and chests.

so, the problem wasn't really that you couldn't see or talk to him..

the problem was that neither of you were used to any of that.

you weren't used to being away from each other for long hours throughout the day (even though he often went on tours and job events aboard), or not being able to talk and/or see him whenever you wanted to—atleast whenever your shift agreed to let you. you're stuck on this routine for months. you were so not used to that.

over the years, you and yoongi grew to become a pen and a paper: two different items that are meant to only function and be paired together. one can't be capable without the other.

yet you try to avail yourselves of the situation and take it all easy. slowly, like waking up and leaving a warm, comfy bed at 5 in the morning to gain some purpose somewhere out there.

so, while staying away from one another for several hours a day comes with heavy challenges and even melancholy at times, that doesn't mean it can't be fruitful for your relationship.

since for it to grow healthier, a couple, intentionally or not, sometimes needs to take some "time off" to preserve the connection and intimacy between them.

you always remind yoongi of how much you had missed him during the day, which is something that never failed to put a smile on his face and trigger a stream of butterflies in his stomach.

love and yearning are two inseparable powerful emotions that one can't defeat, and absence makes the heart grow fonder. that's the beauty of the challenge your relationship was subject to at this new stage.

"I am still me, you are still you. everything's gonna be alright." yoongi would say as he hugs your face into his chest.

he always reminds you that this new chapter the two of you have entered together, hand in hand and with shaking hearts, is one that he'd been dreading but looking forward to for a very long time.

a chapter that made him understand how much he needs your existence in his life. to be himself and to be the somebody you need and deserve.

and he makes sure to translate that into your skin as he traces it with his lips and fingertips when you finally fall into each other's embrace.

[whxre4jeon]

[pfctipper]

question: when people write or read canon-era fic do you write/imagine lieb as his canon age

because i feel like there’s some really interesting dynamics in the seven year age gap w web, being older than the officers etc but with the best will in the world hbo lieb as played by twenty four year old ross mccall does not look or act like a thirty year old man

[youcalledmebabe]

does anybody have any thoughts about webgott’s age difference. NOT in an age gap discourse way… I do not care. But I don’t really see it explored in fics much so I’m like… what are we thinking about it. I’m all ears

[mechazushi]

Kaiju Number 8 Incorrect Quotes <take 7>

Iharu: Truth or dare? Reno: Truth. Iharu: When was the last time you slept? Reno:... Reno: Dare. Iharu: GO TO BED. Reno: I don't like thIS GAME.

[necrotic-nephilim]

jaybrusteph. steph and bruce fuck on jason's grave, jason and bruce fuck on stephanie's grave, steph and jason fucking on bruce's grave. threesome where stephanie gets 2 cocks up her ass. they keeo her tied up in a secret part of the cave fir a week with a vibrator on her clit at low vibration and a fuck machine pounding her ass. they share her for another week straight and by the end of it she's mentally checked out and her face id smeared with mascara and cum. maybe they bring cass over once, and all of steph's holes are occupied at the same time. i want her to keep cumming so hard she walks with a limp for a month. she goes on patrol with a butt plug holding in both of their loads. remote controlled vibrators. just the kinkiest shit possible with these 3. any time bruce and jason fight, they take it out on steph. they both try to fuck her mouth and she chips a tooth and dislocates her jaw but they keep going

i've been thinking about this for *days*. bc idk how you intended this anon, but to me it reads as *delightful* non-con and *super* fucked up with grooming vibes. like in my head, i picture it as Bruce dealt with enough problems when Jason came back from death and he *really* doesn't feel like doing a repeat. so when Steph comes back, even if Babs gives her blessing for Steph to be Batgirl, Bruce doesn't trust it and he definitely doesn't like the idea of Steph wearing a Bat. he's been down this road before and this time, he's not making the same mistakes.

so he tells her she's allowed to be Batgirl but this time, there are more Rules. maybe he had a thing with her when she was Robin but Bruce feels like he obviously wasn't strict enough so, he sets new rules this time around. and Steph has no choice but to agree bc she wants to be Batgirl, she feels like she needs to prove herself again.

i love the idea of the mindbreak the first few weeks, too. esp if there are aphrodisiacs or some kind of drugs involved to keep her in a haze where it's all she can think about until she rlly just. breaks. and is okay with it and has no concept how fucked up it is. Bruce invites Jason just because he'll try anything to pacify Jason at this point, and maybe he had a fucked up thing with Jason already and they needed a sub as a buffer.

i also think it's fun if patrolling and missions are the one place Steph has an escape from all the sexual control. so she really leans into being Batgirl bc it's all she has so when they start making her wear plugs and vibrators out it breaks her a little bit. even as Batgirl, her life will revolve around pleasing Jason and Bruce. and Bruce is telling her that she has no idea how much she's helping with this, he's showing her numbers about how Red Hood has been much less lethal since this all started to really get in her head about how this is a duty and it's a favor that she's doing for Bruce and he's so thankful for it, he almost convinces her that she agreed to this somewhere along the way. so she agrees and is submissive when Jason is getting rougher and rougher with her until joints are dislocating and she's crying and doesn't even have the words to ask for it to stop so she can get a breather.

also like the idea of Bruce and Jason arguing while Steph is on a patrol and it's Jason who finds Steph first and without any sort of warning forces some kind of aphrodisiac drug into her mouth and makes her swallow, calmly telling her she has about an hour before it'll kick in so she better wrap up whatever she's doing and hope she gets to Jason's base so he doesn't have to find her and fuck her wherever she ends up when it kicks in-

and all the bruises and injuries she gets from the sex are explained away by vigilante work. i'm also really into the idea of like, gradual body modification without her awareness or consent. constantly having her on muscle relaxers so it's easier to fuck her without prep. adjusting parts of her body with supplements to their likings until she realizes she doesn't really recognize herself in the mirror. her nose has been broken by sex so many times it stoped healing right. her hips are a different size and she has to wear a plug most of the time bc she's usually so loose. just like. Complete Bodily Control over her, yk? and by the time she realizes how fucked up it is, she's in way too deep.

and pulling Cass into it is *really* fun bc Cass is someone she trusts. so if Cass is okay with this, leaning into it and fucking her mouth with a strap while stroking her hair, then it must be okay. bc it's Cass. and maybe Cass is also fucked up, maybe Cass is just trying to provide Steph comfort in a situation she can't get Steph out of. both are good options esp if Steph doesn't know which it is. she never knows if ppl just don't care enough to notice what she's going through or if Bruce and Jason are doing such a good job of hiding it all that they can't see it. and she gets so Stolkholm'd by the end of it there's no escape she even wants. bc it's not like she can go back to normal. it's not like she could come from regular sex that doesn't hurt to the point she cries anymore. so she just. accepts it.

but yk that's just my hurt/no comfort braincell being evil. bc i am evil and i love the psychology of being sexually broken as much as i love the sexual aspect of it. i think it makes it so much crunchier and realistic if there's this haunting acceptance that isn't necessarily a "oh she loves it now" but more of a "she knows escaping will make her feel worse" sort of thing. like she sees Bruce and Jason arguing and just starts to brace for it instead of trying to break them up. it's good food.

[gojifan97]

Hey Gentry, how viscously do you think the Anyone inner circle would react to the "being stolen and put on youtube" debacle?

Dabi: He's one of the ones who did it and/or uses that to read fics.

Hawks: Disapproves, but does little about it since he's busy trying to decipher the bizarre structure of Anyone (has not realized that it's a bunch of babysitters for a teenager madman yet).

Kurogiri: Doesn't understand the issue, but still creates warps as requested.

Nagisa: Uses her hacking quirk to hunt down and delete any account doing it.

Shoto: Sics his dad's lawyers on them after pretending one of his got stolen and that it could ruin his career as a paragon. Then goes along with whatever Izuku does.

Izuku: Does something absolutely insane to bring the practice to an end. All perpetrators are terrified into submission.

AFO: Approves but still hunts them down and kills them for fun. When his and Yoichi's fics are stolen he nukes their houses and blacklists their families from work as revenge.

[mikichko]

dagger can be read as an offshoot part of reserved!reader cw: none a/n: honestly no clue what this is. couldn't stop thinking about johnny and the mystery of him enlisting

there’s something to be said about the hunger he carries. they call him a dog, rightfully so, but for the wrong reasons.

there’s no denying he seeks comfort in the warm entrapment of rounded and hardened bodies alike, but it’s an attempt to mimic what he’s missing. to put salve on a wound he opened himself at 17, that he started picking at when he was 16.

he has to regret it, you think to yourself. has to sit in silence, looking at the foggy reflection in the mirror asking himself why he made the choice. why he made all his choices. he had outs. had an honorable discharge presented to him on a silver platter. but like a dog with a bone, he held onto it, snarling and growling at anyone whose hand came close enough to rip it from him.

you have to wonder if he willingly picked up the bone, eager and excited to finally pick a toy of his own. or if it was placed there, rough hands prying his jaw open to force it into his mouth. his jaw aching until the pain became a part of him, something that he relished. completely forgetting what it was like to have his jaw unclenched, to have an empty mouth. man turned obedient dog, forgetting himself.

no, that’s not quite right. there was never a ‘him’ to forget. sure, the vessel aged, decades and external forces shaped this into the body of a man. yet, deep down the young boy who enlisted is still at the helm. navigating this world through the body of a man who feels himself indebted to others and can’t fathom a life without violence.

“you’re still a boy.”

the words slip past your lips without your permission. the revelation so startling it shocks the part of your brain that’s trained to keep your mouth shut, to keep your observations to yourself.

you see him physically recoil, his body becoming rigid as he takes a step back and his face tightens at your words. you’ve hit him squarely in the chest, an invisible dagger driven into him by your words. it’s the first time someone has addressed it so bluntly. the first time someone’s been able to see him so clearly.

because johnny is many things and intelligent is one of them. intelligent to the point he disarms others and has them dismiss him as a threat. let’s them believe that they have the upper hand on him, an aloof, silly, fun guy. one that just so happens to know how to clear out a room in seconds and has a particularly nasty ability to take out targets between walls. but the never take him to be smart. just a well behaved dog taking orders, like they all do.

he doesn’t say anything, simply stares at you. so astounded by the observation he feels the air leave him. your eyes trace over him and take him in under new eyes.

the cut of hair he’d never been allowed as a child, rigid school guidelines preventing him from expression. the soft rounded eyes with blue so sharp they pierce whoever they land on. the blank canvas of his arms, marred only by scars of stray bullets and shrapnel. for once his shoulders are back, not hunched forward slightly to add to the charade of his aloof nature.

you see right through the layers and johnny feels truly naked for the first time in his life.

“were you always hungry for this or did they make you?”

[ladylynse]

Because I'm really curious...

DP, Vlad and Danny, front sling - facing outward

re: this post as a starting point; this post being most relevant

-|-

Danny should probably have expected an indignity like this after Vlad repeatedly telling him that he would be treated as a baby if he insisted upon acting like one, but somehow, even after being hit with the Plasmius Maximus and getting knocked out and waking up in this contraption—strapped to the front of Vlad’s chest like a baby—he had thought there’d be an easy way out.

Struggling had yet to have any effect, though, and his powers hadn’t come back, and Sam and Tucker hadn’t tracked them down, and cursing Vlad out wasn’t making a difference—Danny was kinda surprised Vlad hadn’t gagged him yet—so naturally, to make matters worse, after Danny had grabbed a lamp to try to swing it backwards at Vlad’s face (whereupon Vlad had turned intangible, because of course he had), Vlad had decided to take them into the Ghost Zone.

Which meant Danny now had an ever-growing audience, so when Ember—who could barely contain her laughter—saw them and produced a polaroid camera from who knew where and told him to smile, he stuck out his tongue at her (not to mention flipping her off, which had only made her laugh harder) and hissed to Vlad, “I am going to make sure this decision haunts you.”

-|-

see more fics | more DP fics 

[ghostoffuturespast]

Since we're kicking off the Phantom Liberty photo story sets now...

I took these photos of Grandpa V in an approximation of Arasaka service dress a while ago. Since then, I have been on a quest for a serviceable pair of tactical pants. (There are many tactical clothing options in PL, the vast majority of them either come in atrocious patterns or are in colors that are OSHA approved and visible from space.) I've been wanting to put an Arasaka combat uniform together for a while now and this was the closest I could get on console. The hexagon pattern on the pants is more reminiscent of Militech and not up to Arasaka dress code black but what're you gonna do? So here's the infantry looks.

Dropping out of college midway through her first semester and after a slew of rejection notices from other corps, Grandpa just barely managed to pass the recruitment exam and squeak into the ranks of Arasaka's Security division. Arasaka had not been operating in Night City (at least not publicly or officially...) since the AHQ Disaster of 2023 at the end of the Fourth Corporate War. With the need to quickly bolster their workforce and establish new headquarters in Night City, the corp's recruitment standards were less stringent than usual upon their return in 2070 after the Unification War. Grandpa received exceedingly low marks on the firearm portion of her exam while her score in hand to hand combat was graded at slightly above average.

The recruitment exam not only serves to measure the overall fitness and aptitude of applicants but also as an assessment for suggested combat cyberware modifications should an individual choose to pursue a security career long-term with Arasaka. Aside from the required cyberware that all employees receive as a contingency of their employment, Grandpa opted to forgo the corp's suggested recommendations for combat implants - putting herself at a marked disadvantage in comparison to the rest her platoon and squadron. Or so everyone thought.

She instead purchased and installed her own cyberware independently of Arasaka's cyberware loan program - a benefit that is offered to employees. Her unused college savings went towards purchasing a set of Kendachi monowire implants while additional skeletal and passive armor system modifications were acquired in subsequent years after her transfer to Arasaka's Counterintelligence division.

And here's another pic of Baby Grandpa in service dress because she looks cute in the hat. Even though she does not like the hat.

[everythingwasalreadypicked]

how did ethan become al's lieutenant? was his kingdom also taken over?

Nemesis was Hecate's head of the Royal guard! So Ethan was in the palace a lot as a kid (and saw Al around too)

Then he kind of rose through the ranks after he joined Epirus's armies and became Als second in command.

[rainintheevening]

Narnia, sand

In the dream, he stood alone in front of a great blue wave, three, four, five times his height, water rushing up and up and up, forever cresting, never crashing, it's top all dancing spray in the wind, and he sucked in a deep breath, wild salt air fresh in his lungs.

Between him and the wave was a sword stuck upright in the sand, sun light glinting on the polished steel blade, the golden lion's-head pommel, and a rush of joy filled him, like greeting an old friend; he thought he could already feel the dark red grip of the hilt against his palm, warm and solid and familiar.

But even as he stepped forward, he saw the pawprints; enormous things, twice the span of his fingers across, as if from some cat beyond the scope of imagination, a trail clear in the thin layer of dry sand, leading... away—away from the wave, away from the sword, past him, behind him, away into something he could not see, not unless he turned, not unless he followed.

A glance at the wave, and for a moment he fancied he could see through the frothing crest, great green mountains beyond it, and something wrenched at his heart; a glance at the sword, the etched blade that gleamed silver, and his fist clenched; before he smiled, looked down, and he kept his eyes on the tracks as he turned, stepped into them, followed them into the darkness.

Peter woke with salt tears on his cheeks, thin dawn light just creeping in the window, a single strain of birdsong in the air.

[enbeemagical]

there are Cecil Palmer + Alastor fics in existence. my day is 100x better now

[fruitydiaz]

find a way an exploration of the time when Shannon found out she was pregnant, Eddie enlisted, and he got his ‘find a way’ tattoo. 3,992 words AO3 link

Eddie gets his first tattoo on a Wednesday.

It’s the kind of spontaneous, rash, reckless, spur-of-the-moment decision that his parents are always accusing him of making, though he rarely ever actually does.

Two weeks ago, Shannon told Eddie she was pregnant. She’d called him up and the tremble of her voice had him out of his house and down her street in a matter of minutes. He’d found her in her mom’s living room with the small piece of plastic held tight in her hands.

“Shannon?” He’d called to her, walking cautiously towards the couch. She looked up at him with wide eyes, her lips pressed tight together. She lifted her hands a bit, the test shaking between her fingers.

“I—” She’d started before shaking her head. She tried to speak a few more times but she kept getting choked up and giving up halfway through. It was painful to watch.

Eddie rushed forward, dropping to his knees in front of her and taking the test from her hands. He swallowed hard when he looked down at it, the thin blue lines glaring back at him. His first thought is to curse himself out in his head. He should’ve been more careful—but there’d be plenty of time to berate himself later. Now wasn’t the time.

“What do you want to do?” Eddie asked, carefully setting the test down on the coffee table behind him, as if it were made of glass and not cheap plastic. He turned his attention back to Shannon, wrapping one hand around her knee to keep it from shaking.

“I don’t know, Eddie,” Shannon cried. “I don’t—I don’t know how to be somebody’s mom. I don’t know if I’m ready to be a mom.”

“I’m scared,” she said, and Eddie swallowed the me too on his tongue. He wasn’t allowed to be scared. Not like this. Not with her.

“We’ll figure something out,” he had said. “We’ll find a way. Together. You and me.”

Since then, they haven’t told a single soul, save for Shannon’s mom, because Shannon tells her everything. But nobody else knows.

It wasn’t something they had planned. Obviously they’d gotten careless and now they’re two expecting parents, just barely adults themselves, trying to prepare for an entirely different future that neither one of them had ever anticipated.

It’s scary to realize at 22 years old that you’re going to be a father. One minute, you’re in school, counting down the minutes before you can bust out of the metal doors and stain your jeans green sliding around the baseball field with your friends; the next minute, you’re hot on your dad’s heals, following him around oil rigs, absorbing all of the information you can and trying your best not to look like the kid you are. You’re barely old enough to buy your own liquor one minute, and the next, you’re preparing to buy baby formula and diapers.

A lot of people plan for things like this. If Eddie had been smart enough and responsible enough, he definitely would’ve planned ahead for something like this. He wouldn’t be 22, for one. He’d be married for another. And he’d have an actual plan for what he wanted to do with his life. Instead he’s here, 22 years old, no college degree, barely any money in savings, still living at home with his parents, and working with his dad.

Most days, he tries to tell himself that there’s nothing wrong with that. There were plenty of jobs in town to go around. Many of the boys he went to school with stayed home and picked up different shift jobs around town, or worked the rigs with him. A few, though, had signed up for the army. With too-bright, too-naive grins on their faces, they had proudly announced that it was their one-way ticket out of El Paso.

Eddie remembered being a little jealous at the time. The idea of getting away from his parents and away from El Paso was starting to feel more and more like a pipe dream every day.

A part of him must have held onto the idea, though, because a few months before Shannon’s announcement, after a particularly hard week at home, he’d started considering enlisting again. He even went as far as walking into a recruitment office, signing up for the ASVAB, and taking the test a few days later. His scores were good enough he just—didn’t believe that was his path.

Now, though. With a child on the way and a new family to support, he’s started to think about it again, turning the idea over in his mind every night as he lay awake in bed, envisioning his future.

Shannon won’t be able to work soon, not while pregnant and not while nursing Christopher. And Eddie knows firsthand not only how expensive kids can be but how much time and energy they take to raise. Ramon had been gone a lot when the girls were younger, so it often fell to Eddie to help is mom out.

He needs to make the right decision here. He needs to be able to support his family—but if he leaves, how much can he really be supporting them? More than anything, Eddie just wants to do the right thing, he’s just not entirely sure what that is.

The day he makes his decision, he finds himself outside a tattoo shop with his cousin.

“I got my first tattoo here,” Jaime says proudly, twisting to show off the design wrapped around his bicep. “They’re cheap and good; can’t go wrong.”

“I don’t even know what I’d get,” Eddie says, staring at the flash sheets taped all over the windows.

The tattoo on Jaime’s arm is biomechanical in design; like the skin has been torn away to show the cold mechanical underside. It suits Jaime, Eddie thinks, he just doesn’t think it would suit him.

There’s a variety of designs plastered along the storefront, a lot of bold black and white lines, splashes of color here and there, some floral pieces, some gothic lettering.

“You’ll figure it out, man. Trust me.”

Eddie lets Jaime talk to the artists first, lingering around the edges of the shop and taking all of the art in.

He’s not much of an artist himself. He’d enjoyed it as a kid, especially when Adriana and Sophia were born. He’d pull out their rattiest coloring books and drop a bucket of pencils onto the table, tearing the pages out of the book and challenging them each to a race to see who could color in their pictures the fastest.

It was fun. But eventually, Ramon would come back home, see Eddie coloring with his sisters, and cast a disapproving look on him before pulling him aside.

“You don’t have time to be playing with crayons, Edmundo,” His dad would say, towering over him. “You’re the man of the house now. You need to step up and act like it.”

He was 10 years old then. He’d spent the last 12 years trying to live up to that idea.

If his parents were here now, they’d be giving Jaime all kinds of hell for taking Eddie to a place like this. And then they’d turn on Eddie, telling him how he should know better, how he shouldn’t even be hanging out with Jaime in the first place. 

But his parents aren’t here. He watches Jaime pull some cash out of his wallet before handing it to the artist over the counter and thinks, fuck it. He’s old enough to have a kid; he’s old enough to make his own decisions.

He strides up to the counter and the artist greets him with a quick nod.

“You know what you want?”

“Yeah—yeah, I do.”

Jaime shoots him a knowing grin before following his artist toward the back of the shop, and the guy at the counter slides Eddie over some forms to sign.

–

He was nine years old the first time his dad had taken him out into the field to check out one of the rigs. Helena had managed to keep him from them for as long as she could, allowing Ramon to drag Eddie along to sit in his cubicle while he attended meeting after meeting, but drawing the line at actually going out into the field. She’d said it was too dangerous for a kid; Helena had wanted Eddie to stay soft in many ways. Ramon had very different ideas. And nine years old, according to Ramon, was very nearly an adult, so he’d managed to convince her to let him take Eddie along just to tour.

Eddie had already become familiar with the people at Ramon’s office by then, all of the very important, very smart people that Ramon always boasted about working with. Meeting the men on the rig was different. They regarded Eddie with a certain kindness, had demonstrated to him how different parts of the rig worked, and told him about the different parts of the land they were digging into.

“There are a lot of good men on this rig,” Ramon said by the end of the day, steering Eddie to his truck. “A lot of men doing hard work to provide for their families. That’s what we do as men, Edmundo.”

“Right, dad,” Eddie nodded, holding his hard hat in his hands, still too large to fit on his head properly.

“A lot of people don’t want to see us succeed. But we’re just like them—we work hard and we support our families. Even if it means doing the dirty work.”

There was a lot about Ramon’s job that Eddie didn’t understand. All of the meetings, for one. And all of his travel. He was never home. All Eddie knew was that he didn’t want to be like his dad when he grew up. He didn’t want to be an engineer. He didn’t want to spend all day in meetings or sitting in a cubicle. Most of all he didn’t want to spend so much time away from his family.

He wanted to do something with his hands. Good things, honorable things.

“No matter what life throws at you, Edumundo,” Ramon said seriously, facing Eddie. “You find a way.”

–

The artist hands him a binder to flip through, a portfolio filled with black and white images of the shop's different lettering examples. There’s an overwhelming number to choose from; admittedly Eddie’s never given much thought to font choices.

In the end, he chooses a soft cursive font, one that reminds him of his abuelo’s handwriting and makes him feel rooted. He gets it on the inside of his wrist, unassuming but a constant reminder nonetheless.

When he gets back home that night, his parents are angry with him the second he steps through the front door. 

He should’ve known the private bubble he and Shannon had built around themselves could only last so long before it burst. Eddie’s parents have heard through the neighborhood gossip that she’s pregnant. He’d been meaning to tell them, to face them like a man and own up to his faults, but he hadn’t been ready yet. He’d just needed to come up with a plan on his own, to make his own decisions without his parents looming over his shoulder, telling him what they knew was best. He’d just needed some more time, is all.

They’re waiting by the door when he walks in, his mom pacing back and forth in the entryway while Ramon hangs back, leaning against the wall with folded arms, watching.

“How could you let this happen?” Helena asks as soon as Eddie’s shuts the door behind him. He barely opens his mouth to respond before she keeps going. “We raised you to be smarter than this, Eddie. To make better decisions than this.”

He presses his lips together and leans back against the door, a well-practiced look of indifference on his face. He’d hoped for more time but he’d been prepared to hear all of this eventually. He knew his parents well enough by now; it was inevitable.

“The neighbors are all talking about you two now, did you know that? I had to find out from Iliana down the street that my own son got some girl pregnant. Eddie, she’s barely out of high school. You’re barely out of high school!”

“She’s not just some girl,” Eddie interjects, but it’s a lost cause. He and Shannon were dating long before he graduated, but his parents have never liked her.  They never once thought she was good enough for him. This is just the proof they’d been waiting for.

“I don’t understand where we went wrong?” Helena continues like Eddie never said anything. “What are your sisters going to think, huh? Did you ever think about how this would affect them?”

No? Eddie thinks bitterly, rolling his eyes to the ceiling, searching for reprieve.

“What are you going to do about this, Edmundo?” His dad asks finally, his quiet voice cutting through Helena’s like a hot knife through butter. She stops and glances back at Ramon before facing Eddie again, eyebrows raised.

Eddie swallows, squaring his shoulders and raising his chin, the way his father always taught him.

“I’m going to marry her,” He says. The silence stretches between them, a quiet stand-off between Eddie and his parents.

“What?” Helena exclaims, huffing out a humorless laugh. “Now you’re going to marry her? You’re just a child, Edmundo, you’re not ready for marriage.”

“I can’t leave her to raise our kid on her own,” Eddie snaps back. His chest burns and he crosses his arms in front of him, his hands balling into fists. “Dad always said it’s our duty as men to support our families, didn’t you? Well, that’s what I’m going to do.”

“This girl isn’t your family,” Helena says.

“Shannon is my family now. I’ve made my decision and you’re not going to change my mind. I’m an adult and I can make my own choices. This is what we’re going to do. It’s the right thing.”

Helena’s mouth twists and she looks back at Ramon, who watches Eddie with a steady gaze. Neither one of them says anything. When she turns back to Eddie her eyes catch on the bandage wrapped around his wrist.

“What is that?” She asks, taking a step towards him. He sighs and drops his arms, tugging his sleeve down over his wrist.

“I got a tattoo,” He says, all his earlier bravado dying somewhere in his throat.

“A tattoo? Oh my god,” Helena throws her hands up, spinning around to face Ramon. “First, he gets a girl pregnant, then he wants to get married, and now he’s getting tattoos?”

“In the grand scheme of things I really think the tattoo is not that big of deal,” Eddie mumbles, mostly to himself, sneaking by his parents and escaping up to his room. 

His dad finds him alone later that night.

“Come to lecture me some more?” Eddie says dryly, raising an eyebrow at him. Ramon steps towards his bed, settling down on the edge and giving him a soft smile.

“I came to tell you that I’m proud of you.”

Eddie raises his other eyebrow. “Really.”

“I’m not happy about the circumstances. But you are taking responsibility. You may be doing it faster than I wanted, in a way I never wanted, but you’re becoming the man I always wanted you to be. So, yes, I’m proud of you, Edmundo.”

And—Eddie can’t lie. For all of his anger and all of his pain, all he’s ever wanted was a chance to make his dad proud. It seemed like he’d been fighting his whole life just to hear those words. Now that he’s heard them, he doesn’t quite know what to do with them, or himself.

“We can talk to Stephen tomorrow,” Ramon continues, eyes shining. “You’ve been doing good work these past few months, maybe we can get you a better position, something with more money.”

“I’m not working at the rig.”

“It’s a good job. You need one to support your family.”

“I’m enlisting, Dad.”

Ramon freezes, mouth closing in shock. For a moment, Eddie sees a flash of fear in his eyes, but it’s gone as quickly as it comes.

“What?”

“I’m enlisting. They need men. And—the benefits are good. They’ll take care of Shannon and the baby while I’m gone and—and I’ll get to do something good. For the country.”

He’s practiced this speech in his head all week—not for his dad but for Shannon. He hasn’t even told her yet but he knows this is the right decision. His heart’s not in it but—for the country—his dad will like that.

Shannon won’t. He already knows what she’ll say, it’s been playing over and over in his mind all week.

For the country? I don’t give a fuck about the country, Eddie! I’m having your baby and I need you here with me.

He traces the bandage around his tattoo gently.

His dad is quiet for a moment and Eddie can see him turning the idea over in his mind, analyzing it just as carefully as he has every decision Eddie’s ever made. Eddie swallows his nerves and keeps his eyes trained on Ramon, jaw steady.

“War is a serious thing, Edmundo,” Is what he says eventually, eyes dropping to Eddie’s shoulder.

“I know that. This is…what I want to do.”

“Your mother won’t like this,” Ramon says carefully, eyes finally lifting to meet Eddie’s again.

“No, she won’t. I’ll give her some time before I tell her. Let her get over the marriage and the tattoo.”

“She just wants you to make smart choices.”

Eddie snorts, rolling his head back on his shoulders. “Sorry to disappoint. Again.”

They lapse into silence again. Eddie finally looks away from his dad, leaning back against the wall and staring up at his ceiling. He’s already mapped out the next few months with his recruiter, planning the fastest route to get all of his training done before the baby is born. He’ll get a house with Shannon, get her set up somewhere nice, a place of their own. They’ll make friends on base and she’ll have people there with her to help her through her pregnancy. They won’t be alone anymore. They’ll be okay; he’s taking care of it.

He’ll probably already be shipped off when she gives birth, if he's done the math correctly. But he’ll cross that bridge when he gets there. This is good for now.

“You know, I could go with you, if you want. When you sign up,” Ramon says suddenly. Eddie blinks at him. “For the army.”

“I already did. I took my test a few months back. I just gotta pass the physical and then I’m good to start training.”

“Oh,” Ramon’s eyes drift back to Eddie’s shoulder, then to the bed. “Well…that is good. You’re determined.”

“I am,” Eddie says.

It doesn’t feel like a complete lie, but it doesn’t feel completely true either. Eddie’s starting to wonder if he’ll ever feel like he’s on solid ground again.

He tells Shannon a few days later.

They’re eating lunch at their favorite restaurant. Shannon’s not showing yet but Eddie swears she already has that glow about her. Shannon says it’s just the way her sweat shines under the Texas sun. Sometimes when Eddie looks at her the only thing he feels is scared out of his mind; other times he thinks she’s the most beautiful woman in the world. 

“My mom keeps telling me all these horror stories about pregnancy and everything that could possibly go wrong. It’s great,” She says dryly, salting their fries heavily before popping a few in her mouth.

“Nothing’s going to happen to you,” Eddie assures her, knocking some of the freshly salted fries out of the way and digging out the ones underneath.

“It’s still terrifying.”

Eddie nods, looking down at his tray. He’s been anxious about telling Shannon his plans all day. After telling his parents, telling Shannon feels like climbing a completely different mountain. He needs a completely different tactic; different gear, a different route, a different mindset. Eddie’s spent his whole life disappointing his parents. He doesn’t want to start off this new chapter of his relationship with Shannon by fucking it up—though it kind of feels like he already has.

“I’ve been thinking about something,” He says carefully, peeking up at Shannon. She narrows her eyes at him.

“Hmm. Is that why you’ve been acting weird all day?”

Eddie shrugs.

“Okay, what is it?”

“I think we should get married.”

He says it quickly, the words tumbling out of his mouth in one breath. Shannon stares at him, stunned, and he stares back at her, frankly equally stunned. That’s not exactly how he thought he’d start, but it is a start.

“I’m going to enlist.”

Shannon’s eyes grow even wider and she drops her hand down to the table, fries forgotten.

“Are you kidding me?” She says eventually.

“Look—my job at the rig doesn’t pay enough for the both of us let alone the three of us. You’re not gonna be able to work with a baby on the way. The army will set us up with a house, I’ll have a consistent paycheck with benefits, and we’ll be taken care of.”

Shannon leans forward and when she speaks her voice is low and sharp. “And where are you going to be when I have our baby, Eddie?”

He shrinks a little. “I have a few months to work that out. But this’ll be good for us, baby. I mean, it’s the only option, really.”

“The only option?” Shannon repeats incredulously. Eddie nods, grabbing his soda and taking a sip before continuing.

“Look, Shannon. I know this isn’t��exactly what either of us wanted. Not right now, at least. But we’re having a baby. And I love you so much I just want to do the best for you and our kid. This is gonna be the rest of our lives, you know?”

“Yeah, the rest of our lives is going to start with me in a hospital room and you on the other side of the world in the middle of a warzone. Sounds like a really great start, Eddie.”

“I promise you that I am going to do whatever I can to be there with you when it matters,” He says honestly, reaching out to grab her hand. “I’ll find a way, I promise.”

They’re silent for a while, picking at their food and letting the idea of their new future settle around them. Shannon takes a deep breath eventually and narrows her eyes at Eddie.

“You’ve already enlisted, haven’t you?”

Eddie shrugs. “I haven’t committed to anything.”

“God, I just had to get with the most stubborn man on the planet.”

“And you love me,” Eddie says, flashing a smile and praying the tremor in his jaw doesn’t give him away.

Shannon studies him. “Yeah, yeah I do. This is a shitty proposal, by the way. I don’t even have a ring.”

“I’ll get you one,” Eddie says quickly, thinking about the overflowing piggy bank he’s kept since he was 9 years old, dreaming up a life far away from here, in LA with his Abuela and tia. “A nice one.”

“Hm,” Shannon hums, finishing off her fries. She brushes her hands off on her thighs, turning something over in her mind before looking at Eddie again. “I’m scared, Eddie.”

He wants to tell her that he is too, but he doesn’t. He feels like he needs to be brave enough for the both of them if they’re going to make this work.

“Don’t be,” He says, reaching for her hand again. “We’ll do this together. Trust me.”

[captainsjack]

every time an author mentions ethan’s supposed military background i immediately have to close out of the fic. girl ethan hunt would not touch the us military with a mile long pole. clearly you never sat for hours on you basement floor on cold ass tile straining your neck up to look at the tv & click through all of the characters’ background files on the mi1 dvd special features . u don’t KNOW him