#fun fact if i have a purring cat on my chest i immediately pass out

[happybird16]

I actually think about this every once and awhile, but do you think that they get so used to being injured and healing instantly that it just becomes second nature to them? They don't even fully process the injury or the pain, it's just there and then it isn't.

Do you think that the shifters who survive the final battle and lose their powers ever accidentally hurt themselves? Like, for example, Reiner is doing some construction work to help build houses for people in the aftermath and accidentally falls from a roof. As he's falling he has the full thought of 'oh well, I'll just heal' but then as he's lying on the concrete all roughed up he has the painful 'What a minute...' realization

no but the most tragic thing about shifters is how their appearance contrasts their experiences

because the regeneration works so well that it doesn't leave any scars on their bodies. their flesh is so unscathed and perfect - hell, shifters don't even have callouses that's how fast they heal - and it doesn't show just how much they went through as warriors. any horrible wound that may be deadly for a normal human they can recover from all the while suffering under the same pain.

they all should be dead ten times over yet the regeneration keeps them alive and acutely aware of the most fatal, painful and traumatic of experiences and with no marks to ever account for it. you wouldn't be able to guess what hell they were forced to live through just because their bodies are that durable

the only thing that the regeneration is unable heal is their minds which most certainly are deeply damaged due to everything they've gone through

[amiechuchu]

do you do requests? :D can i request for a fluffy doctor!reader and loki? i love your mmaatib series btw!

anon!! you're making me BLUSH!!! thank you so much for your support! and sorry if this came out a bit late i was feeling a bit under the weather the past few days. i also apologize for any errors btw! as you can see, i am a very very tired student who just wants her fix of loki too :'). anyways, i hope you enjoy!

Summary: because of y/n’s incessant pestering, loki turns y/n into a cat hoping that it would give him a moment’s peace.

Warnings: none

Catastrophe.

Loki had become accustomed to the smell of disinfectants that linger in the medical wing as his visits became more and more frequent. Although he hated to admit it, he loved the company you were able to provide. Maybe a bit more than the shared solace your safe haven have provided for the both of you. Usually, the low hum of the air-conditioning filled the room’s silence along with the small conversations you and Loki had shared. 

However, today was not one of those usual days. Today, you decided to reverse the roles, where you would be the one getting under Loki’s skin and Loki would be... Loki. Today, you decided that it would be fun to be the most annoying person in the whole Nine Realms. How? By disrupting the peace that graced this room, of course. You started off by imitating the Avengers to which he easily ignored. Then, you began imitating him, speaking of glorious purpose and whatnot, asking him to conjure his prized golden horns for you to use. Though the image that crossed his mind of you wearing his horns was temptingly adorable, his growing annoyance was far greater. Its evidence pointed at his deepening unamused pouty face.

The last straw for Loki was when you thought of imitating a variety of earth’s animals. You chirped, mooed, croaked, barked, and meowed. At that point, despite how much Loki loved hearing your voice, having a moment’s silence sounded so much sweeter to him. So, the God decided to turn you into the last animal you imitated... a cat. With a flick of his wrist, green swirls engulfed your form, and, in just mere seconds, you were transformed into a furry feline. A very cute one nonetheless.

You stood on your hind legs to admire your paws, mesmerized. Loki, on the other hand, looked pleased to see that your awe has taken over your sudden bouts of wanting to annoy him. He could finally read his book in peace, whilst stealing glances at your feline form every now and then to make sure that you don’t get into trouble. 

You took a few steps forward and a few steps back to see how comfortable it was to walk on four legs. It seemed very unnatural to you at first, but you managed. After a few minutes of walking, running, jumping, and exploring the area with your new form, you were confident that you had mastered the basics of feline movement. Without a care in the world, you began to sing Loki a song... in cat... very badly. In which, the lyrics you uttered were literally just meow, meow, meow, and meow on repeat.

“Loki,” you said in attempts to get the God’s attention. To your surprise, a meow still came out. The evident shock in your furry face shown as your irises were  enlarged and your mouth slightly open.

“Cats meow, pet,” Loki snapped at you, eyes still focused on the novel he was reading. “You know, for a mortal who treats people for a living and studies human physiology all their life, you don’t seem very smart. And no, before you even ask, I will not turn you back. ” 

Ignoring his remark, you jumped up to the table where he was situated. This time you kept tapping on his hands. “Hey, listen,” you meowed wanting the God’s undivided attention. “Wait, how can you even understand me?”

Before Loki could answer, the doors to the medical wing were swung open, revealing your boss, the one and only Tony Stark. Great. Immediately, Loki’s face soured upon seeing the man. His face all scrunched up and pouty again. You, on the other hand, pretended to be a good little kitty and lie down on the table, acting all cute and innocent. Tony wouldn’t notice, right? No, he would. But, he wouldn’t care, right? Hopefully.

“Reindeer games, have you seen the, uh, doctor in charge here. They are about this tall, and probably the only person who hangs out here majority of the time?” Tony asked, as he made gestures with his hands trying to picture out your height. He took a few glances at you - the cat - on the table as your tail gracefully wagged to-and-fro. Although a bit confused, he decided not to mind it, thinking that someone - maybe even Loki - adopted the cat and let them in the tower. Not that he really cared at the moment. Currently, the only thing nagging his brain was finding his precious doctor to finish their research agenda. This was the first time you were late and that worried Tony more than he’d like to admit. He wanted to find you before an overprotective uncle Bruce could notice, and, honestly, racing against that time period was too pressuring, even for him.

“I haven’t seen them,” Loki replied, making shooing motions with his hands. A signal that he wanted to be left alone already. The God went back to reading his novel until Tony left to scour the entire building for you, muttering something along the lines of calling Doctor Strange if he couldn't find you at all. He knew that Bruce wouldn’t take it lightly knowing his niece was missing under his watch, so calling out the all-knowing sorcerer became his trump card in case dear old Brucie decided to kick his ass for losing you.

With Tony out of the way, Loki turned his gaze on you.

Actually, on nothing now.

Of course, you had to disappear for real this time.

An exasperated sigh came out of his mouth as he realized you ran away from him. It wasn’t long until the same sense of worry Tony had came over the God. Realizing his current situation, an anxious laugh managed to come out of his mouth. Look at him, Loki Laufeyson, God of Mischief, a literal deity, worried about the doctor who he turned into a cat.

At this point, panicked thoughts began to rival his own logical ones.

What if someone else had picked you up? You were in a form of a feline inside a facility that clearly doesn’t deal with any animals. It wouldn't be a surprise if someone took you. Undoing the magic with this situation in mind wouldn't bring as much trouble, right?

Loki thought of undoing the magic, but another thought popped into his head before making the decision. What if you were hidden in some cramped space just waiting for him to find you? He feared that undoing it while you were in hiding might be detrimental to your own safety. As much as you annoyed him, Loki wouldn’t want to see his favorite little physician hurt in any way. 

Upon weighing all the pros and cons of the situation they were in, Loki decided to look for you the old fashioned way: by himself. Magic would be useless in this situation. Knowing you, any form of telepathic communication Loki made would just be ignored. Though he loved playing all types of games with you, this one only stressed him out. Taking a deep breath, he steadied himself and thought of the different places he would hide if he were you. 

The God observed his surroundings as he decided to look for you inside the medical wing first. With you in feline form, you wouldn't have the strength to push open the doors, so he deduced that you wouldn't have gotten too far. Maybe you were under the beds, hidden in the shadows. Or even at the top of the shelves, away from plain sight. He began pacing through the whitewashed rooms, looking for more clues to narrow down the possible hiding places. Upon reaching halfway through the wing, Loki noted how the afternoon sun shone brightly, through the wide glass windows especially there at the far end of the room. Coincidentally, at the same area, he also spotted a seemingly occupied hospital bed with its curtains pulled all the way. The God took a few more steps as his brain continued to wire all the information together. Finally, it dawned on him. 

That was perfect place for a catnap.

Loki crept towards the bed's entrance, careful not to make any sounds to alarm you. Anxiously, he peered through the curtains, mentally cursing himself for the crinkling sound it made. Gods, how he prayed to find you there waiting for him. Taking a deep breath, he made his way inside the secluded area to find... you basking under the sun in feline form, all curled up and asleep. Thank the Norns.

Your rhythmic purring quietly resonated throughout the area. A smile tugged at the edges of his mouth, relieved to have found you. Although he was jealous of the fact that the entire time you were just fast asleep, while he had to go through such an ordeal. And so, Loki climbed on top of the bed in the most quiet way possible. Although he was slightly unsure of his actions, he did it anyway. No one else was there, no one else would know. So, there he lay beside you, comfortable with a novel in hand.

It was not long until all the adrenaline in his system died down, and Loki too needed a nap of his own. He stifled a yawn, not wanting to disturb your peaceful slumber. As time passed, the God slowly drifted to sleep, and the magic that held your form was undone. Now, there you lay beside him, adorned by the golden afternoon sun. 

Still in deep sleep, you shifted your position, attracted to the warmth the God had brought with him. Realizing the change in position, Loki, as if by reflex, took his arm and put it around the small of your waist in attempts to keep you from falling off the edge, to keep you close. His head nudged yours lightly, and there he stared, captivated, at your sleeping form. There he realized how much he really cared for you despite how much of a handful you can be sometimes. It just felt right for him to have you pressed into his chest, to have his arm around you, to have you right there by his side. 

It just felt right for him to have you. 

“Sleep well, my mischievous little doctor,” the God said as he placed a gentle kiss on your forehead before finally dozing off.

As the two of you blissfully slept, basking under the afternoon sun, somewhere around the tower there was a very angry Tony Stark, looking for the missing doctor. That didn't matter at all to Loki. The only thing that mattered to him then and there was you by his side, safe and sound.

It was enough for him that today didn't end in a catastrophe.

Taglist: @gaycatlord-stuff 

[imagining-in-the-margins]

Here to Misbehave (Pt. 20 | S.R.)

Series Masterlist | 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 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Finale |

Summary: Reader lies to Spencer.

A/N: Please read the content warnings for this one if you have basically any triggers, lol. This is a very heavy chapter - it is the penultimate climax of the story. Couple: Spencer Reid/Fem!Reader Category: Angst (NSFW) Content Warning: 🚨 IMPORTANT – READ BEFORE READING🚨 This episode covers a number of very dark topics, and should be approached at a time when you have support systems available. Potential triggering topics include: sexual assault, violations of consent, suicide, self-harm, pregnancy/termination, infertility, domestic dispute, fighting, and underage drinking, sex w/ blanket consent Word Count: 11K

MASTERLIST

—————————————————

Rossi’s house was every bit as extravagant as I had expected. I had come in honestly hoping to be slightly disappointed so I could mock him for it, but, as always, he had to force his appearance to be as unnecessarily elegant as possible.

That being said, I was a little surprised to find that most everyone gathered in one spot - the kitchen. It was only to be expected, considering it was usually the happiest room in the home. That certainly remained true for Rossi. But they were also all gathered there because that was where the wine was – wine that I was not allowed to drink.

Rossi didn’t have a problem with it… Spencer did. Because of course he did. And while I politely declined when Rossi offered me some, anyway, I found another offer a little more tempting. Which explains why I found myself clutching Derek’s flask and draining half the contents quickly enough to remind him that I was, in fact, in college.

And if anyone were to ask, I would simply tell them that we were hanging out in the hall outside the bathroom to have a very deep and secret heart-to-heart about our shared love for a certain mop headed genius. It would have been the perfect cover to use on pretty much everyone except…

“Ahem.”

The sound of Spencer’s throat clearing behind me was enough to cause me to choke, and I quickly tossed the closed flask back to an already giggling Derek as I shouted, “Fuck!” I didn’t even turn around when his hand snaked around my hip. Instead, I just groaned.

“The narc’s here,” I whispered to Derek, but he knew better than to answer.

“The narc?” Spencer balked, much to his friend’s delight.

“It was fun while it lasted,” Derek offered in consolation, taking a swig out of the flask and earning a very defensive glare from my boyfriend. In fact, Spencer seemed downright pissed, which wasn’t what I had been expecting when I agreed.

Oops. What’s the male equivalent of a cat fight?

“Morgan, didn’t you lecture me about her drinking underage a few months ago?” he snapped, grabbing the flask from a more than willing Derek. Spencer sniffed the contents and immediately recoiled, tossing it back again.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” he mumbled, shooting a glance down to see me sort of just making heart eyes at the sight of my boyfriend being a stupid level of jealous that I'd been caught in the hallway with another boy.

“How does that make it better? That makes it patently worse,” he argued. Derek might have responded to it, too, if I hadn’t latched myself onto Spencer’s side.

“You’re so cute when you get all stupid and possessive,” I drawled, burying my face in his shoulder in what I think was supposed to be a playful kiss, but actually just ended up being a muffled laugh.

“That,” Derek chuckled, pointing to me teetering back and forth on my heels at Spencer’s side, “That is my cue to leave.” With one final wink, he whispered, “Don’t be too hard on him, Princess.”

Spencer’s angry sigh and entirely stiff posture should have served as my warning, but it was just funny to me at the time.

“They all think I’m the boss of us,” I giggled. “Me! The boss!”

“You’re drunk.” His tone dropped the second Derek was out of earshot, and on intimidation alone, he managed to back me against the wall.

“So is everyone but you. They won’t even notice,” I mumbled, although the more the hallway started to spin, the less I believed that. I'd never been very good at math or shots, and this was a pretty horrible miscalculation of just how much of my tolerance I’d lost.

“You really couldn’t wait a few more months? Or at least until we got home?”

He was chastising me, and I just wasn’t there to hear it. I probably could have figured it out if I’d tried, but it all sounded like sexy nonsense at the time. Walking my fingers down his chest, I paused at his belly before hooking them in his pants and pulling his hips against mine.

“I’m allowed to drink if my daddy says so,” I purred.

Spencer didn’t find my taunt as charming as I’d hoped, and before I knew it his hand was roughly pressed over my jaw. He tilted my head back to look him in the eyes, and I wondered if he could smell the whiskey on my breath.

“Well, I didn’t,” he growled.

I never said I was a perfect person, or even a smart one. And when I was drinking and Spencer whipped out his Daddy voice, I don’t know what he really expected me to do. But apparently, trying to grab his dick through his pants was the wrong move. He snatched my hand away quickly, slamming it against the wall before he continued his little impromptu lecture.

“I’m not rewarding you for this. We’re going home.”

“That’s not a very scary threat,” I deadpanned, throwing my body weight back against the wall.

That lasted about four seconds before he pulled me back to my feet and leaned forward to whisper in my ear. “Just wait, little girl. Just you wait until I get my fucking hands on you.”

I was going to make a snarky joke, to remind him that his hands were surely and firmly already on me, but I never got the chance. We were both too distracted by the very loud and very high pitched squeal of Penelope as she rounded the corner.

“Ah! I saw nothing!” she shouted, covering her face with her hands and refusing to remove them.

“Yeah, because we aren’t doing anything,” I laughed. But then, being the slightly cruel brat that I was, I stuck my tongue out at Spencer before tacking on a completely unnecessary, “anymore.”

“We weren’t doing anything before either!” he squeaked back. He wasn’t using his Daddy voice anymore. So swiftly, so easily, he’d been knocked from his higher footing.

Penelope took the words to heart, but only enough to slowly lower her fingers and peek between them. With a shaky voice and an awkward laugh, she started to rant. “Oh. It’s fine. I’m cool. We’re all cool. We don’t have to talk about that thing from the first time I met you ever again. Because we said we’d never talk about it again, do you remember that?”

“I do remember that,” I answered with a very sarcastic tone and a nod.

“And I just brought it up again, didn’t I?”

“Yes,” I whispered, “Yes, you did.”

“I’m so sorry. Spencer, Hotch is looking for you,” she rushed, turning to the beet-red boy at my side. “Okay, that’s it. Take your time, because I’m cool and not at all mortified.” She was basically already gone before she'd even finished talking, taking off in the direction she'd come from while downing the drink in her hand.

With a loose, clumsy wave I shouted back, “Bye, Penelope.”

“Mortified is a good word. An accurate word,” Spencer huffed as he wiped a hand over his face. His bashfulness, while cute, was not as exciting as the pre-Penelope behavior.  

Running my hands underneath his blazer and up his back, I pressed my chest against his. “Gosh, Dr. Reid. You need to be more appropriate in such a public setting.”

The words, while meant to get him riled up, did more to frustrate me. My drunken mind was more than happy to revert to the metro, and before I knew it, my daydreams were filled with images of Spencer stuffing me into the tiniest closet he could find and having his way with me.

“Oh, I’m the one lacking manners?” Spencer chuckled as he apparently read my very lewd thoughts. He pried my arms off of him and pulled them back to rest at my sides before pressing a strangely chaste kiss on my forehead. “Go get your stuff. I’m going to go talk to Hotch and I’ll meet you by the door.”

Before he disappeared around the corner, he shot me one last warning glance and ordered, “Do not mingle!”

“Don’t worry, I will!” I yelled back.

Once he was gone, it was my job to figure out how to make my body work again. Luckily, it wasn’t the first time I’d had too much to drink in a room filled with drunk adults. Granted, they usually weren’t all cops, but, whatever.

Turns out, it somehow made it easier. I managed to grab my things off the counter without alerting anyone except Penelope, who quickly turned back around with a blush. She probably figured I was gonna go blow him in the bathroom or something. I’d have been offended if the thought hadn’t literally just crossed my mind. I made it all the way to the door before I heard it. Back through the halls, a few of the group had separated to talk about how much harder it had been to see Hotch and JJ. It was nothing, just a little bug spreading through daycares like wildfire. That wasn’t what upset me, though.

No, the thoughts running through my head were more than just a passing thought of kids sick with a cold. I looked up at the walls of the entryway to Rossi’s home and saw intricate moulding and nothingness. I saw the exquisite, pristine rug underneath my feet, and I thought about how lonely it felt.

I was standing in a house that should have felt happy, filled with friends and family and love. There was no doubt that everyone who was there wanted to be there, and probably had nowhere else they’d rather be. But the tall ceilings and thousands of square feet felt so goddamn empty.

It isn’t the building, I heard a tiny, terrified voice call out from inside my own conscience.

It’s you. You’re empty.

I had to leave. I had to get out of the house. I had to hear the silence so that the nothingness would feel more appropriate and less noticeable. I couldn’t let them see me, because if they saw me, they would know. They would know that I was nothing but a husk of the girl they used to know. Without even thinking, I threw the door open, stumbling forward and almost falling flat on my face as I misjudged the small step down to the patio.

“Fuck!” I muttered, the world rocking around me with a stubborn persistence. If it weren’t for the frankly freezing temperature, I was sure I would have been sick. To make matters worse, there was a person quickly approaching.  

“Hey, are you and Spence leaving already?”

It was JJ. Thank god, it was JJ. Probably the only person who wouldn’t make fun of me for being a mess on Rossi’s steps after only a few shots of whatever Morgan was drinking.

“Oh. Hey, JJ. Yeah. He’s…” I turned to my side, half expecting Spencer to be there to answer for me. But he wasn’t, so I ended up just pointing to the closed door before slurring, “he’s doing a thing.”

She was, per usual, very kind when faced with my buffoonery, and just laughed as she shook her head. “A thing. Sounds like him.”

I honestly thought that would be the end of it. It was a good, easy segue into a farewell. She already knew we were leaving, and she knew Spencer well enough to know that he wouldn’t leave me alone for long.

And I think she almost did leave. She almost walked right past me and into the warmth and comfort of a home filled with family and friends. But she didn’t. She stopped and asked me the one question I was really hoping she wouldn’t.

“Are you alright?”

I didn’t want her to ask because I knew that I wouldn’t be able to lie to her. Even if I could have managed it, she would have seen right through me in a second. Not only would it have been an exercise in futility, but she would also know that I thought it was worth it to try to lie.

So, I was honest… quite possibly too honest.

“No, not really. But it’s a lot and I’m kind of drunk, so…”

The mom eyes appeared so quickly, with JJ’s body turning entirely away from the door and over to me. “Not usually a good combination, but an understandable one,” she softly replied, wrapping her arms around herself to make up for the fact that she was sacrificing her comfort in many different ways to talk to me, instead.  

She was probably just being nice— staying with me until Spencer could come take over the babysitting of the drunk twenty year old, but I wasn’t exactly thinking critically at the time. Which is only part of the reason why I blurted out the only thing on my mind; the thing that had been haunting me for longer than I wanted to admit even to myself, much less another person.

“Has Spencer ever talked to you about kids?”

The air, still freezing, also fell uncomfortably silent.

“Oh…” she mumbled under her breath, clearly unsure of how to handle that particular minefield of a topic. Especially with her best friend’s girlfriend, who also happened to be drunk. I almost told her to forget about it, but then she looked up at me with a powerful resolve. “Yeah, he has. Why?”

I thought about my next words more carefully, although you wouldn’t have been able to tell considering how much I stuttered.

“Do you think… Do you think he’d be happy if… I can’t have them?” I asked, wringing my hands together over my stomach. “Like, not just happy today, but like ten years from now?” I could hear how desperate I sounded, but I needed someone to hear the words playing on loop in my mind. Absolutely frantic and with tears pooling in my eyes, I asked, “Do you think he’d still love me if I can’t give him kids?”

“(Y/n), slow down. It’s okay!” JJ urged, lunging forward to cup my cheeks and gently wipe away any stray tears. “Don’t cry! You’ll ruin your make up and it looks like you spent a lot of time on it.”

I had to laugh because not only was it my exact brand of humor, she said it with such a serious face that I had to wonder if it was genuinely her biggest concern. Of course, I knew it wasn’t. In her usual JJ way, she just knew the easiest way to cheer me up was with a laugh.

“Yeah, there’s like $80 on my face, it’s really not worth it to cry,” I agreed, sniffling softly when she finally pulled away her hands. At least I could blame that part on the cold.

“Exactly. And if you cry, then I’ll cry, and then I’ll also ruin my make up, and we’ll just be $150 down the drain with nothing to show for it,” she joked with a tired roll of her eyes and a shrug.  

Together, we laughed, finding a pocket of warmth in a world that often felt too cold. Behind JJ’s eyes though, I saw an empathy I wasn’t expecting. That small, instinctual part of my brain tugged at my heart, telling me that there was an unspoken bond forming. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t know why. I had a feeling that it was one of those secrets you just didn’t ask about, so I let it go.

“Thanks. It’s a stupid thought anyway,” I sighed, shuffling my feet and knocking my heels against the somehow spotless patio. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, so why stress about it, right?”

But then JJ said something I wasn’t expecting. Something that I actually really, really needed to hear.  

“I don’t know, I think you’re allowed to be worried. It’s normal to feel scared.”

The sentence hit me like a freight train carrying lead and cement. At first, my brain refused to comprehend it at all. I struggled to repeat the idea, not because I was drunk but because it sounded so wrong. I had wanted it to be true so badly, and here she was, telling me it was okay.

Sensing my simultaneous trepidation and revelation, JJ cringed a bit when she said, “But I think it is a good idea to talk to Spence about it instead of me. Because, to be honest, I’ve also had one too many glasses to be helpful.”

That time when I laughed, it was full-hearted and involved every muscle in my body. “God, I love you, Jennifer,” I said through the noise.

She just shook her head, clearly enjoying the drastic mood swing she’d had a great part in. “I love you, too,” she whispered, running her hand over my shoulder and arm to pull me into a small half-hug. And that was how Spencer found us, giggling and sniffling on Rossi’s porch.

“Hey, are you ready to— Oh! Hey JJ,” he stopped, taking a very hesitant step forward in the hope that we wouldn’t both start crying on the spot. Drunk girls had a tendency to do that. “W-What are you guys doing out here?”

She let me go first, shoving her hand, still damp with my tears, into her pockets with a secretive smile. “Girl talk.”

“That usually doesn’t bode well for me,” Spencer answered with an awkward, nervous laugh. He didn’t make a move to grab me yet, probably too scared to step between the two of us. I was too busy giggling at the thought of his mind cycling through all the possible secrets I might have spilled in my uninhibited state.

I was tipsy, but I wasn’t that drunk.

JJ pulled two fingers over her mouth in a cheeky motion as she whispered, “My lips are sealed.”

“An even worse sign,” Spencer winced, turning to finally wrap his arm around me. He must have noticed the chill on my skin, because seconds later he had me practically wrapped in his coat. “I should just cut my losses and get her out of here, huh?”

“Shut up, old man,” I slurred, cuddling closer to his body heat despite my protests. Even in the darkness, I watched the heat bloom in his face at the nickname. By far, the worst part about the situation was the fact that I couldn’t kiss him, because I just knew he would be so warm, and I was really starting to get cold. I suspect that’s why he started to whisk me away, unceremoniously shushing me as JJ cleared her throat and raised her hand in a wave.  

Before we got too far, though, I heard her speak again. “Oh! (Y/n), your questions!”

“What about them?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder and nearly falling to the ground as a result.

JJ looked at me, and then back to Spencer, whose arm was wrapped possessively around me. She smiled a pure, toothy grin that filled her face, causing that weird feeling in my gut to flare up again. She saw something in that moment that I wasn’t sure I’d ever really understand, but her voice started to crack just enough to notice when she called out, “The answer is yes. To all of them.”

 —————————————————

 The ride back to Spencer’s place was uneventful, though I tried very hard to make it interesting. After the fourth time he'd swatted away my hand and threatened to throw me in the back, I gave in to his demand to behave. I blamed my compliance on the alcohol, although it was probably more so a result of total exhaustion.

The respite from socialization was apparently what I needed to be able to function again, because as soon as we pulled into his apartment parking lot, I was awake.

... Awake enough to try and maul him in the hallway. But, in his sober stubbornness, he continued to evade my advances all the way until his front door clicked shut behind us. His hands on my hips had never felt like such a victory before.

“Did you enjoy wreaking havoc all night?” he whispered, slowly leading us towards his room. I couldn’t see where I was going, but I didn’t need to. Even without an eidetic memory, my body cherished this path and the memories it always led to. I trusted him to catch me if I stumbled. Which, I definitely did.

“I’m the cutest devil you’ll ever see,” I slurred.

“At least you admit it,” Spencer laughed. I couldn’t tell if it was at my words or the fact that I was failing terribly at trying to unbutton his shirt. My drunk self was not a skilled multitasker.

Once I felt the bed against the back of my thighs, I hopped on top of the covers before he could even try to help me up. It was muscle memory. We’d been there before.

“I’m feeling more fallen angel tonight,” I sighed, sliding against the comforter until I found his pillow.

Naturally, Spencer saw the way I gravitated to his side. He smiled as he removed his shirt that I’d left mostly intact. “By all means, feel free to stay that way.”

I probably should have taken off my dress, or my shoes, but I didn’t. The world sort of felt like a wave pool on a sunny day, and I was worried that if I paid too much attention to what was going on around me, I'd think about something I really didn’t want to think about.

I couldn’t remember what it was.

But then Spencer’s hands were gliding up and down my calves, and I shuddered at the contact. He took his time removing my shoes before coming up to join me on all fours. I wondered if he could taste the whiskey on my tongue when he kissed me. Did it remind him of the circumstances that had brought us together? Did it remind him of his hangover and sins?

Did he think of monsters when he kissed me?

My hands were tangled in his hair, pulling lightly to try to keep him there. And when he pulled away, I tried to fight him. I tried to follow him, scared that once the kiss was over, I’d start remembering things I probably should have tried to forget.

He must have seen the denial in my eyes, because he hesitated. His hand came up to lightly grab my wrist and lead my hand that had a death grip on his hair down to his face. “Are you too drunk? Should we stop?”

Throwing my head back with a groan, I tried not to hate him for actually caring about me again. “If you stop right now, I’m going to actually scream,” I droned. It got me a laugh, at least.

“That doesn’t comfort me in the slightest.”

Once I opened my eyes, I found myself wishing I hadn’t. It wasn’t that I saw hesitancy or fear in Spencer’s eyes – on the contrary, it was the lack of anything bad at all that bothered me. I looked into his eyes and saw nothing but a sincere, pure adoration that I couldn’t argue with.

I chose to ignore it, instead. I couldn’t remember why it made my stomach hurt.

“Are you going to make me do a sobriety test?” I giggled, letting my hands travel down his shoulders and chest. I wasn’t in as much of a rush as I had been earlier. I wanted to take my time remembering what it felt like to be pinned under him and surrounded by his embrace.

“I’m positive that you’ve practiced those while drunk,” he playfully replied while trying to hide the way goosebumps followed my fingers as they trailed down to more interesting territory.  

“Yeah, I can say the alphabet backwards and everything.”

It was meant as a joke, but Spencer apparently had some doubts. With a scrunched up smile, he laughed back as he asked, “Really?”

The fact that he believed I was capable of something like that might have been flattering if it hadn't been based on his incredibly flawed perception of my propensity to lawbreaking. But since it was based on ideas of immorality rather than intelligence, it just made me mad.

Smacking him lightly on the chest, I both pouted and laughed as I snapped back, “No, of course not, asshole!”

Spencer just grinned, giving a delayed wince at the offensive contact before he sat up again. I didn’t realize why at first, but as he slowly started to coax me into turning around, I remembered that I was, in fact, still fully dressed. I figured it was either his way of saying that I’d won, or just an excuse to take off the dress so I might actually go to sleep. I was fine with either.

“I was drunk the first night we met, if you’ve forgotten,” I mumbled, rolling onto my side of the bed and moving my hair so that he wouldn’t catch any in the zipper.

“I definitely haven’t forgotten that night.”

The nostalgia in his voice was both comforting and painful. We’d always joked about that night, though. It wasn’t an insult at all.

“No? Do you think about it often?” I replied playfully, forcing myself not to think too hard about whether he wished I was still the girl he'd met that day.

Spencer made it easy to forget, with his hand starting to draw the zipper down while he leaned forward to whisper in my ear, “I think about it all the time.” My breath hitched in my throat at the way his voice warped into a rough, raspy tone. “You almost made me believe that you were just some shy, innocent little girl.”

This time when he got me to turn back over, there was nothing gentle about it. His hands were clearly craving the kind of violence they got to use last time. I wanted to feel them again.

“We can make a new memory if you want,” I panted, looking up at him with wanton eyes and my dress loose enough to expose parts of my breasts to him.

“Fuck,” he muttered at the sight below him. He pressed his erection against my hip as he ran a hand over my cheek. “Tell me the rules.”

“I tell you to stop if I need to,” I carefully enunciated.

“Good girl,” he moaned, starting to rock against me. Struggling to pull my dress off himself, he pleaded in a slightly pitiful manner, “Can I…?”

I helped him, desperate to feel his skin against mine. I didn’t even think about what it meant for my dress to be gone. It wasn’t until Spencer’s mouth dropped to my chest so enthusiastically that I realized that he’d failed to stop and kiss my lips first.

With both hands on my breasts, he lavished each pebbled peak with his fingers and tongue. He hadn’t ever mentioned the fact that he’d missed me shirtless, but it was painfully obvious in the way his lips trailed along my body. It was obvious in the rumbling of his moans against my skin and the way his hands roughly kneaded the soft tissue.

I was forced to remember why I hadn’t let him see me topless.

I felt naked. Not because of the exposed skin, but because I couldn’t warp reality with lace or cotton anymore. My marred stomach might not have made a physical barrier, but it still made him feel so far away. It was a paralyzing kind of realization, and I felt myself retreat so quickly that it hurt.

Thankfully, it was Spencer who was kissing me. If it had been anyone else, I think I would have just laid there, terrified and small and alone. But I couldn’t do that with him.

“Spencer?” I quietly called, and he immediately stopped, his eyes meeting mine with all the attention a girl could ever ask for. I smiled, and the sensation almost felt foreign.

“Come kiss me here instead,” I said with a little giggle, tapping my lips to bring him back to where I wanted him. And he came to me so quickly, his mouth crashing onto mine in seconds and his hands tangling in my hair.

I had forgotten so quickly how easy it was to get lost in him. Thanks to the alcohol, my mind wasn’t able to stick with any thought for longer than a few seconds. Mixing that with Spencer’s hands and mouth, I was never going to be able to think in more than a few words at a time. And I shouldn’t have needed to, right? It was just sex. We’d done it many times before, and it had never been a disappointment. But there was a nagging feeling in the back of mind — some instinctual warning that told me I was doing something wrong.

I wanted him, so what could be wrong about that? There was nothing painful or unappreciated in the way he lined himself up at my entrance, and I certainly made that much clear. It was hard to even hear him over the sound of my own moans, and my nails dug into his shoulder as I guided him into me with my hips.

“I love you,” I cried, wrapping my legs around his waist and digging my heels into the back of his thighs.

“I love you so much, little girl,” he whispered against my lips, his forehead resting against mine.

For a moment, it was okay. The feeling subsided long enough for me to enjoy the fact that Spencer, the man I loved, loved me back. I thought about how long it had taken us to get to this point, and how I never wanted to lose it again. I held onto him for dear life, rocking my hips to meet his and bringing his mouth down to mine.

It was okay, until he spoke again.

“You’re such a good girl,” he groaned into my mouth, “even when you’re being bad you just want to be useful.”

Useful.

The word had come back to haunt me several times in the recent weeks. I hadn’t said anything about it because I couldn’t understand why it bothered me so much. There was no reason for me to be upset. He was just saying what I usually liked to hear.

So why did it hurt?

And I realized then, that the reason that experience felt so horrible wasn’t because of me at all. It was because it was Spencer. It was Spencer, the man I loved. There he was, trying to love me and comfort me and hold me and I…

In a rush of emotions and memories and repressed regrets, I was forced to face the fact that I had made a terrible mistake. The kind of mistake that if I didn’t do something about it in that exact, immediate moment, would become a disaster. The kind of disaster that meant he might never want to touch me again. The kind that would make him hate me. The kind that would make him leave and I couldn’t blame him for.

I had made a mistake.

“Wait, wait, Spencer, stop!” I slurred, my hands that had been holding him close seconds earlier shoving him off of me with the little force I was capable of. It didn’t take much, though, considering how fast he jumped back.

Frantic and terrified, he grabbed my face and tried to inspect my eyes that were avoiding him. “Are you alright? Did I hurt you?”

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t look at him. “No, I just really need to stop,” I muttered, my breath picking up even more as I slid away from him, “Can I just— Can you just give me a minute?”

My hands slid over my chest, trying to hide the shame I felt inside to no avail. Spencer only made it worse in the way he quickly grabbed clothing, covering me in his shirt before he dressed himself. He even took the time to find me pants and help me in them, quietly and carefully. Like a doll.

I was going to be sick.

“What’s wrong? Talk to me,” he croaked brokenly while he curled up at my side, trying to wrap his arms around me before he realized I was shrinking away from his touch. He was so confused. He had no reason to know what was going on, but I could see on his face that he was desperately trying to figure it out.

“Does this have something to do with what you were talking to JJ about?”

An interesting question. I didn’t know the answer.

“Yes. No? Maybe. I guess?” I ran a hand over my face that landed on my throbbing temple. The lack of tears on my face almost surprised me. I probably should have been crying, but I wasn’t. In a way, it felt like I had no tears left to give. When I turned to him, bile rose in my throat and I was afraid that I might choke on it if I didn’t get the words out faster. I just had to tell him. He needed to know.

“Listen, I lied to you. And I need to say something.”

I had just gotten my breathing under control, just in time for his to go erratic. His pulse was visible in his throat as he swallowed. “Lied to me? About what?”

“I…” The world was rocking, and I couldn’t tell if it was because of the alcohol or my brain trying to comprehend my own self-destructive stupidity. I knew which one I was going to blame, though. “Fuck, I didn’t think I was this drunk.”

“What did you lie to me about?” he repeated, his hands gripping handfuls of the sheet in hopes of stopping the rest of his body from trembling.

“Well, I didn’t lie, I just didn’t tell you.”

It was the most useless clarification, and it did absolutely nothing to appease his concern. The longer the words stayed stuck and muddled in my mouth, the more devastated he seemed. In hindsight, I would realize all the millions of awful reasons his mind must have been feeding him in the absence of the truth.

“Please, whatever it is, just tell me,” Spencer begged with a hesitant, shaky hand coming to rest on top of mine. He wasn’t looking at me anymore. Instead, we both looked down at our hands. It was a mercy and a disservice. I just had to tell him, but I couldn’t convince myself to do it without looking him in the eyes. That didn’t mean I wasn’t grateful that he didn’t look back, though. Because once the words were said, there would be no going back from them.

He was going to hate me.

“I… stopped taking my birth control,” I whispered in a voice that felt so foreign. “Like, a while ago.”

Spencer’s jaw steeled, his eyes widening and shooting up to me with the same speed he used to jump off the bed. Despite my efforts to grab him, to stop him from leaving me, he was five feet away in a matter of seconds.

“What?!” he shouted. It was the loudest I’d ever heard him. Even the echoes felt deafening, and my hands covered my ears with a wince.

“Shit! That was loud!” I whined in a pathetic attempt to make him feel bad for me. I didn’t deserve it, but I think it worked. Because the next time he spoke, it was at a more manageable volume.

“What do you mean you stopped taking your birth control?! When?!”

“Stop yelling at me.” I pulled my knees to my chest and ignored the pain in my stomach when I did so. It felt well deserved.

“You aren’t joking, either. Why didn’t you tell me this?” Spencer continued, his hands raking through his hair while he started to pace the room.

Nothing about it felt real. I felt like I was stuck in one of my million recurring nightmares. I just wanted to wake up, to be somewhere other than in a room too small for the bass in his voice. I only barely saw him when he finally approached me. He still stayed a few feet away, but he met my eyes that stared vacantly at the wall ahead of me.  

“Answer me!”

Whether it was the order that broke me or the pain in his voice, all of my resolve and apathy shattered at once.

“You’ve always said you wanted to get me pregnant!” I screamed back, digging my nails into my skin in the hope of finding feeling there.

“Not like this! Not right now!” he scoffed. The sound would have hurt more if he hadn't stepped closer to me when he made it.

“Why not?!” I tried to sound angry, but all I heard was the plea beneath the words.

I just want to be useful. Please let me be useful.

“Are you serious?” Spencer’s disbelief was present in every ounce of his existence. His hands were alternating between fists and flat palms, his voice cracking and wavering in pitch. “What has gotten into you? You know that you can’t have a child right now.”

I bit down on my tongue in one final attempt to keep the scary words inside. But he couldn’t feel the way his words felt just like bullets and scar tissue that would never fully heal again.

“You almost died! Do you—“ he choked, but powered through his body’s attempt to stop the thought. “Do you understand the danger that would put you in?”

“I know, alright?! I know!” The words were loud and hoarse, and I covered my own ears to hopefully drown out the sound of failure on my own tongue. “I know I can’t have a fucking kid right now!”

“Then what are you doing?!”

I don’t know. Please, help me.

He waited for my answer, but it stayed trapped in my head. When I started to rock in place, my hands still clamped over my ears and the tears I swore I didn’t have starting to fall, he sighed.  

“Get up, we’re going to the store.”

“Why?” I spat, sinking further into my spot in a purely selfish manner.

“Get up,” he said again, this time reaching out for my hand.

But I didn’t want to touch him. I didn’t want him to touch me like this. I was scared that if I did what he wanted, then the fight would be over. And if the fight ended, then what would be left? Was this all just some elaborate ruse to get me in his car so that he could drive me home and leave me there?

His hand touched mine so softly, with so much patience and love that it burned. Why wasn’t he angrier? He should be.

“No!” I screamed, smacking his hand away from me. Although I knew it didn’t hurt, I saw him wince at the contact. His lips flattened as he looked at the stupid sobbing girl on his bed.  

Then he left. He turned on his heel, and with less patience that time, grumbled the explanation he'd refused to give before. “We’re going to the store and getting levonorgestrel so that you don’t make the stupidest mistake of your life.”

It wasn’t the words that got me to move, but the fact that he was quickly leaving the room. I scrambled after him recklessly, crashing into just about every stationary object in the way. The shock had hit me so hard that I forgot I was still drunk.

“Is it really that awful to imagine having a future with me?” I sobbed, chasing after him just to crash into him when he stopped.

He still caught me, but I couldn’t tell you why.

“You know that’s not what this is about.” He sounded so tired, but he kept going. He kept fighting with me even though I could see in his eyes that it was the last thing he wanted to do. “I love you, (y/n)! But you’re acting like… like a child!”

“Fuck you,” I seethed, pushing myself away from him.

I was scared that if I didn’t force our bodies apart, I would have fallen to pieces in his arms again. And I knew he would try to put me back together again. He would try to help me because that’s what he always did. But sometimes things are just completely, irrevocably broken. Sometimes there was simply no fixing it.

Good luck convincing Spencer of that.

“I don’t need this shit and I don’t need to go to the store,” I muttered under my breath as I made my way back into the bedroom to locate my purse that I’d so gracefully thrown on the floor.

“(Y/n), just because the chances of pregnancy are low doesn’t mean they are nonexistent, and I’m not going to be the reason you throw your life away! You said yourself you aren’t ready to be a housewife!” I heard him rambling from the other room. Eventually, he followed the sounds of plastic packaging and rustling paper.

“Shut up,” I groaned, finally getting the tiny pill free and successfully shoving it in my mouth before I managed to drop it. “Just leave me alone, Spencer.”

Obviously, it wasn’t going to work. After all, I was in his apartment, and currently sitting cross legged in the middle of his bedroom and trying to dry swallow a pill that tasted a lot like every mistake I’d ever made.

“When did you buy that? And why do you have it with you?” He didn’t sound angry at all anymore. He didn’t even particularly sound annoyed or confused, just… exhausted.

“You’re welcome for saving you the drive.”

Of all the things he could have done, he chose the one I expected the least. He came to me, and carefully lowered himself to the ground in front of me. At first, that was all he did. He just sat across from me with puppy dog eyes and an awkward posture.

“Look at me,” he called gently.

“I don’t want to.”

He sighed, waiting another second to catch his breath and let the earlier emotions settle in the air. “You had that in your purse. Why?” he asked as he reached forward to grab the remnants of the torn up box and confirm that it was what he thought it was. Once he was satisfied, he just sounded even more broken. “You’ve clearly thought about it enough to plan ahead, but apparently I wasn’t important enough to have a say in any of these decisions.”

The pain that was forming in my stomach hurt worse than the AR-15.

“Were you just… Just planning on making those decisions without even telling me?” He was on the verge of tears, though he tried his very best to hide it.  It might’ve worked if I'd been both drunk and an idiot, but unfortunately the adrenaline was combatting the alcohol pretty well at that point.

With both hands covering his face, I could still see the way his jaw tensed between the words. “It would be my child, too,” he forced out, “You don’t— You don’t get to make those decisions without me. T-That’s not fair.”

The sounds were so pitiful, and I wanted to feel anything but what I felt. I wanted to feel angry or sad again, but I couldn’t. All I felt was hate; the most powerful, soul crushing self-loathing imaginable.

I didn’t want to be the reason he cried. I wanted it to stop, but I didn’t know how. I couldn’t control myself. I just kept rubbing salt in the wound so he would leave. So that I could hate him for leaving me instead of hating myself for making him.

“There’s no kid. I would’ve taken it either way.”

That succeeded in getting a response.

“Then what was the point of any of this?!” he fumed, dropping his hands to gestured to the state of us, dressed in pajamas and tears. “If you really believe that, then why tell me? Why risk it at all?!”

“I don’t know.”

“I deserve a better answer than that. That’s bullshit and you know it,” he demanded with an accusing finger.

But I didn’t know that it was bullshit. Really, it was the truth. I didn’t know why I was doing this. All I knew was that if I stopped, if I was just honest with him, I would have to face a reality I wasn’t ready for.

“I deserve the truth,” he said as his hand fell, unable to stay up under the weight of the feeling behind it.

I looked at him and I saw my mistakes in the form of tears trickling down his cheeks and a tremble in his lips. I saw a man who deserved nothing but the greatest love, begging me to give him something to work with. He wasn’t asking me for the world — he just wanted me to talk. To say something so that he could understand why I wanted him to hate me.

I didn’t have an answer. Not one that either of us would believe, anyway.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Spencer.” My lips moved without my permission, and my legs quickly followed the traitorous pursuit.

“What does that mean?” he begged me as he followed me. He followed me like he always did, with that suffocating hopefulness that we could make it.

But what if I couldn’t? What if this was it for me? What if, in my desperate desire to push him away, I was saving him from a miserable life with me?

I was trying to save him.

“It means…” I paused, turning to look him in the eyes so that he might finally hear what he needed to in my answer. “It means you should’ve picked a different 20 year old to fuck.”

His jaw finally relaxed, dropping open with a broken breath.

And I think he saw it. I think he saw the way I meant the words from the bottom of my soul. He heard me tell him that he should regret me while I tried to walk away, and he knew that I meant it.

“I’m leaving.” The words surprised me when I heard them in my own voice, but I followed them, nonetheless. I barreled towards the door with bare feet and my keys in my hand.

“Where are you going? You can’t leave like this.” His statements were logical, but that only served to further piss me off.

“You can’t tell me what to do. I’m not your property!”

That wasn’t why I was angry. We both knew that wasn’t why. The real reason, the truth behind the reckless self-destruction was approaching too fast and I couldn’t slow it down. Nothing could stop it from rushing down the predetermined path that we stood on, and I was begging him to get off the tracks.  

“If you leave right now, you’re going to fucking kill yourself!”

And then it happened. Practically foaming at the mouth with the unhinged rage that had been boiling underneath my skin for too long, I finally managed to let the words go.

“Maybe that’s the fucking point!”

Silence had never been so loud. It had never been that heavy.

“Have you ever stopped to consider that, Spencer?” I laughed because there was no reason in my mind not to. It all seemed so terribly obvious and we’d been skirting around it for so long. Why were we pretending like this was news? Like we hadn’t heard the horns and seen the headlights approaching?

“Please stop.” It was said like a plea but meant as an order. But I never listened to directions and he already knew that.

“I’m not your problem just because you were unfortunate enough to fall in love with me,” I continued, finding a freedom in being able to finally say what I’d been thinking all along. “Put me out of my fucking misery, Spencer. Just let me go.”

“Stop!” he shouted, pulling fistfuls of his hair as his chest heaved with deep, rasping breaths. I’d heard that voice from him before, but only once. The memories were locked away in the part of my brain that I swore to leave locked up.

I was back in the bank. I could feel his hands slipping in blood on my stomach and pressing into my cheeks. I was in the ambulance again. His hands were so warm that they burned, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask him to leave. I'd had one foot in the grave then. I felt like I was still there, teetering over the edge with nothing but Spencer’s frantic breathing and desperate begging keeping me from jumping in.

“Stop saying that!” Spencer ordered, his hands letting go just enough to come back down on his head with some force. I jumped at the contact and wondered when I'd started feeling his pain, too.  I wondered when we'd found ourselves back in his apartment again.

“Y-You aren’t going to die!” He continued. It didn’t have the force of an order or the pathetic breaking of a cry. It was just a statement he was trying to will into existence. An attempt to ward off memories that reminded him he was capable of losing me. He had already almost lost me once. In a way, it was this same scenario.

It was just that he wasn’t losing me quickly from a gunshot wound. No, I was bleeding out in an entirely different way.

“You can’t— I can’t lose you. I can’t do it again,” he sobbed, falling to his knees and not caring at all about the bruises that would follow. The sight of him collapsing in on himself was terrifying, and I realized for the first time the true consequences of my actions. I couldn’t pretend that I was trying to save him anymore. I couldn’t listen to the congested, barely comprehensible ramblings of a man begging me not to want to die and act like I was thinking of him at all.

I was being selfish. How very much like me.

“Please, anything but that. You can hate me forever, but please don’t…” The words trailed off, and I felt compelled to answer them. I needed something to release the knot in my chest and allow my lungs to fill again.

“I don’t hate you, Spencer. I could never hate you.” The words were infuriating in their honesty, but he needed to hear them. He needed to know that none of this was his fault, that he’d done nothing wrong other than meet me.

I couldn’t leave him like that. He deserved so much better than me, but that was all that I had. So, I climbed down next to him, reaching out to him and hoping that he would hold me back.

To my surprise, he did. His hands grabbed mine like they were a lifeline, bringing them to his lips wet with tears. And although he was silent, I could hear the way he prayed that they wouldn’t fade away from him again.

“I-I… I don’t know what I’m supposed to tell you. I’m supposed to be the adult here, I’m supposed to know how to fix these things, but I have no idea what I’m doing, (y/n).”

It was an admission Spencer didn’t often make. The complete helplessness and inability to fix the puzzle before him didn’t just hurt because it was painful to watch, it was also just another reminder of his limits.

One time he had promised me that he wouldn’t let anything hurt me. I should have told him that it was a stupid promise to make then. I should have showed him the skeletons in my closet and the mess in my hands.

But it didn’t matter anymore. He had already seen it, and it was too late. I’d made too many mistakes, and I had to face them. I couldn’t run away anymore. That meant listening to Spencer, pouring his heart out to me and clutching my hands like they would turn to nothing in front of him.

“You’re falling apart and you won’t talk to me. I don’t know how to make this stop hurting. I don’t know how to help you. Sometimes you’re so happy but other times I can see it in your eyes…”

Our eyes met, unguarded, for the first time in what felt like hours but was actually probably only a few minutes. We looked into each other’s eyes and tried to read each other’s minds. I didn’t know what he saw, but I heard the way it struck him.

“Do you… Do you want to leave me?” he asked.

And I realized then, that was what my behavior was leading up to. That was what my mind was racing towards, without ever considering whether it was what was best for me. Because I wasn’t thinking about what was best for me, or what I wanted, or what I should want. All I cared about was the same concern Spencer had for me— I didn’t want him to throw his life away just to be with me.

“Is that what you want?” I asked.

Spencer heard something in my question that brought life back to his eyes. I wished that I could hear his thoughts because he always seemed so much farther ahead. Like he could see the immediate future and knew what would follow.

Then again, maybe I was just idealizing him. I had a tendency to do that. He wasn’t a superhero. He was just a man, trying his best in a world that never really let him rest. I certainly didn’t help with that.

“No. No, that’s not what I want at all,” he said, his hands finding the courage to let go of mine and slide up my arms. He cupped my face with such an urgency and relief that it almost felt the same as before I had uttered those terrifying words. “I told you I want to marry you and I wasn’t kidding.”

It only took a few words for any progress and vulnerability to be obliterated. Four words. That’s all it took.

I want to marry you.

A white picket fence is what I’d promised him. I'd painted a vivid image of us with two children that were just like him. A normal, domestic life is what I’d said.

I hadn't known. I'd made a mistake. I had lied.

“Stop fucking saying that!” I wished the fight would leave my body and let my weary muscles rest, but it kept coming back. Sure as the sun rises in the morning, I couldn’t let go of the hatred. It had to go somewhere, and Spencer continued to be the stupid, stubborn man putting himself in front of me without any defenses.

I don’t think he was expecting that, though. He jumped back at the sound, his hands bracing his fall as I flailed to get away from him. I didn’t have the energy or coordination to stand, so I just let myself fall to pieces on the floor in front of him.

“Stop telling me about this future you have planned for us b-because I’m a useless, idiotic fuck up, and it’s freaking me the fuck out!”

Naturally, the only thing that could incense Spencer more than violating his trust was, apparently, talking badly about myself. Because as soon as he heard the words, he was wound up just the same.

“What are you so afraid of?!”

Without thinking about the words, implications, or consequences, I gave him the answer he fought for. I gave it to him because I couldn’t hold it any longer. I gave it to him and hoped that it would grant me the closure he sought, too.

“That I won’t ever be able to give you a baby and you’re going to fucking leave me!”

Spencer, in all his shock and disbelief, could only utter back a single, exasperated, “…What?” The way the word fell out of his mouth almost sounded like a laugh, the side of his lips curling into an almost imperceptible smile.

“I’m scared that when I stop being useful to you, you’re going to leave me like everyone else,” I explained, my voice as small as I felt in that moment.

But Spencer, in his uncanny ability to predict the future, was trying not to smile. Don’t get me wrong — he wasn’t laughing at me, and the words certainly brought him no joy. But there was something else buried beneath the suffering.

“Come here,” he requested with a sad, small grin and a wave of his hand. When he saw the hesitance on my face, he beckoned me closer again with more feeling. “I want to talk to you. Come here.”

So I came. I came as close to him as I could. And as I practically sat in his lap, I remembered how much easier it was to breathe when he held me, and how much lighter the tears felt when he wiped them a way.

“Why do you think I’m going to leave you?” he asked through a chuckle, like the very notion was so unbelievable that it couldn’t be uttered as anything other than a joke.

“Y-You want kids,” I mumbled, looking down at our t-shirts wet with tears. I played with the hem of his to remind myself that we were both still there. And although Spencer sympathized, he didn’t seem too keen on me looking away at that particular moment. With a gentle finger under my chin, he guided my eyes back to his.

“Okay. So do you, right?”

“Well, yeah…” I paused and pursed my lips and bit down on the bottom one. I waited until he raised his eyebrows in a challenge before I explained. “But what if I can’t have any?”

Spencer’s face scrunched up with his shoulders in a dismissive shrug, “There are other ways to have kids. I’m not worried about that at all.”

Just like that, he’d waved away my fears of inadequacy and failure like they were smoke from an already snuffed out candle. He made it so clear so quickly that biology wasn’t the thing that mattered. That it wasn’t my genetics or physical traits that made him want to share a literal life with me.

Spencer didn’t need me to have his children; he just wanted me to raise some with him.

“Why are you worried about that? Did something happen?” he pressed forward, unsatisfied with the idea that I might still be carrying some heaviness without his assistance.

“The doctor told me that I might not ever be able to have my own kids and I just...”

I should have known better than to doubt the insistence of his greedy hands. They would never let a burden belong solely to me. And I… didn’t want to bear the weight alone anymore, either. The dam was broken, and my heart came rushing out into his waiting arms.

“I’m so tired of it, Spencer. I’m tired of this stupid shit stealing my life away from me. You’ve been taking care of me for months, a-and the way you look at me sometimes-- I can see it on your face. I can feel the way it hurts you just to look at me.”

That hurt flashed in his eyes right then but faded with a swiftness I hadn’t seen in a long time. He didn’t want me to see it yet. One fight at a time, I heard him think. When this shifted load balanced between us again, we could figure the rest out.

First, we had to settle this. It had to end.

“If I can’t give you children, and I can’t... I can’t make you happy then—“

“Stop,” he demanded, his finger coming up to cover my lips. There was no argument to be made at his protest. With a deathly seriousness veiled with bowed brows and a lip that still trembled, Spencer whispered to me, “You can feel however you want to, but you don’t get to decide how I feel.”

Tears welled in both of our eyes, threatening to fall with the other. But they didn’t, they stayed pooled at our lashes and drowned us in visions of haloed lights and blurry reflections.

“I am so happy with you. No matter what. Every second of every day. Do you understand me?”

The only answer I had the strength to give was my surrender. Collapsing forward into his arms, I buried my face into his shoulder. I reveled in the warmth of his chest and the strength of his hands on my back. I felt his heartbeat against my cheek as the deep, joyful breaths he took in came out as relieved laughter.

“I love you, (y/n).”

He must have heard, or at least felt, my soft groan in response, because he peeled me off of him with a smirk. “What’s wrong now?” he asked in an equally tired whine.

“You only use my name when you’re angry or sad,” I grumbled through a pout. It only felt a little silly, to joke about something so stupid minutes after screaming our hearts at each other. We were just so tired, and the finish line was in sight. We just wanted to cross it together, and preferably with less tears involved.

Spencer didn’t say any of that, but I felt it, nonetheless. It was clear in the way he pushed my hair from my face before running his fingers down my jaw. “I use your name when I’m worried,” he corrected. “And you scared me tonight. I’m sorry that you’ve been feeling this way.”

We were toeing the line back into heavy emotions, and I shook my head to ask him not to take me back there tonight. But I couldn’t blame him at the same time. He’d so gracefully handled all of my fears and rage; he deserved a chance to voice his own. They’d fallen so far behind in the race towards the truth.

“I understand you were scared to tell me, but...” he stopped, trying to find a way to explain it without hurting my feelings. He really was too nice to me.

“I know. It was stupid. I feel terrible,” I finished for him. Once my face hit his shoulder again, I closed my eyes. “I’m sorry, Spencer,” I said with almost all of the energy I had left. He stroked soothing patterns over my back, and after a moment I realized that we’d started to rock. I wasn’t sure if it was for his benefit or mine.

“I appreciate your apology, but please promise me that you’ll talk to someone about this,” he humbly requested, his words muffled in my hair.

“Isn’t that what I’m doing right now?”

It was almost a joke. Spencer wasn’t going to let it go, though. “Don’t try to be clever with me, little girl. I need you to talk to someone who knows how to help you,” he playfully scolded.

Through a yawn and a chuckle, I pressed on in my attempt to end the night on a horrible joke. “Isn’t that your whole job?”

“Yeah, I guess it is sometimes, huh?” he agreed halfheartedly. Really, he was only trying to give me a little bit of a win. We both knew his job wasn’t very good at helping people before the fact. It was just another poor attempt at avoiding healing. I had been holding on to that anger so tightly that there wasn’t room for us in the space that was left.

“But I think you also know I can’t be that person for you,” Spencer eloquently said, cradling my head as it started to rock with each motion.

“Yeah, I know,” I sighed, “I promise.”

I’m not sure how long we stayed like that, but no matter what, it wouldn’t have lasted long enough. The rhythm of his heart evened out over time, settling into the lullaby I needed to finally find some rest. But realistically, we couldn’t sleep there. Spencer was kind enough to practically carry me back into the bed we had shared when this all started, although this time he laid beside me.

From there, he helped tuck me in and pressed a chaste kiss to my forehead. My eyes were closed, but the smile that spread over my cheeks was enough of a signal that I was still awake.

“Look at me,” he whispered.

My bloodshot eyes opened at his call, and I found love staring back at me. I knew he could see my eyes bouncing back and forth as I tried to see all of it at once in his eyes, and I didn’t care. Even when he kissed me, neither of us closed them.

“We don’t have to worry about anything,” he said as our mouths broke apart. His thumb swept over my cheeks to all the places I knew he was thinking about kissing. There was a very poor attempt to hide his smile at the thought of the future, but I appreciated the effort he put in.

“When you’re ready to try to have kids, I’ll be right there with you,” he said.

It was clear that Spencer really wanted it to be a meaningful sentiment, but I was still a little bitter at his failure to laugh at my previous terrible jokes. So when I saw the opportunity, I took it swiftly and with no regrets.

“I sure hope so, or else I don’t think it’ll work,” I muttered through the side of my mouth before turning onto my back.  

Spencer’s first carefree giggle of the night was my prize, and I couldn’t have loved it any more. “That’s my little girl,” he cooed, curling up against my side and wrapping a possessive arm over my chest.

Just before my eyes fluttered shut, I saw movement below my face. I kept them open long enough to see his pinky presented to me and a knowing look in his eyes. “Everything will be alright as long as we have each other,” Spencer offered.

And despite our bad history with promises, I had no reasons left to doubt that one. 

—————————————————

| Part 21 |

[reogou]

Night Out | kozume.k

pairing: kozume kenma x reader

genre: smut

warning/s: dry humping, drinking, alcohol, language?

summary: You were out with the girls, partying and drinking like there's no tomorrow. When you got drunk, Runa called Kenma, your husband to pick you up. But then your husband's handsome face made wonders on your body that you can't help but to kiss him which escalated to something...hot.

A/N: Hi! I hope y'all like this! Idk if I wrote the nsfw part right lmao. I'm just a beginner in writing smut so asdfghjkl. Also, a big thank you to @thewaterlily for beta reading this! Mwah!

-

The blinding lights of the bar made your head spin, but it didn't stop you from dancing in the middle of the dance floor. You jiggled your ass like there's no tomorrow but when someone gets too close to you, you immediately shook them off. You're here to have fun and let loose, not to cheat on your husband. Shouting through the beat of the DJ's song, you smiled groggily at your friend, Yachi, who was now drunk and a mess while dancing beside you. You raised your glass of Mojito and shouted to hype the crowd who also shouted back. You put all your last remaining energy on dancing with a smile on your face before pulling Yachi to the couch.

You were not the type to party all night, however, you're not also a goody two shoes all the time. You drink, ok, but not often. Occasionally. You were just here tonight because it was Yachi's birthday and the girls decided to go out and drink. All the former managers of the volleyball club where here, except for Mai since she has some errands to do in their house.

Surprisingly, you all got along because of the boys in the volleyball club. Whenever they have a game together, you often bump on other managers. Saying hi's and hello's here and there. After some small interactions plus the time you've spent during the training camp with each other, you all decided to hang out whenever the teams don't have practice or games. It was kinda hard because the boy's schedule doesn't match with each other that's why it was pretty hard to get you all complete whenever you hang out. And also because some of the girls are quite far from each other.

Nonetheless, you still keep in touch with one another even after graduating highschool. And the fact that most of the girls moved to Tokyo made it quite easy for all of you to gather, hence the party tonight. You smiled at Yukie who was sitting silently on the couch while drinking her Champagne.

"Yo." You tugged Yachi and made her sit beside Runa who looked worried over the messed up girl sitting on her side. You sat adjacent Hana and slumped on the couch, the alcohol taking it's effect on your body already.

"Is she okay?" Runa looked at you, waiting for your answer. You nodded at her direction and raised an arm over your eyes to block the blinding lights. You turned towards Kiyoko when you felt her nudge your side. Handing you a glass of water, she smiled at you before turning towards Yachi to help her sit up straight.

"What the heck, she's freaking wasted," Hana chuckled at Yachi when she almost fell flat on the ground if not for Kiyoko holding her on her shoulders.

"It's like any minute now, she would pass out like Eri there." Kaori laughed while pointing her fingers on Eri who was knocked out on Yukie's side.

"Who wouldn't pass out when you drank a whole ass bottle of wine when you have a low alcohol tolerance. I'm even surprised she managed to finish one bottle before passing out." Yukie chuckled while looking at Eri. You also laughed at her words which you immediately regretted when your head spun.

"Oh come on. Leave the girl alone. It's her day anyway. She deserves to loosen up a bit." You tried to defend Yachi.

"And you are no way far from them too. You look wasted." Hana smirked, clearly not stable now due to redness of her face and the daze look on her eyes. You just rolled your eyes at her and rested your head on the couch.

"Not like you're not drunk either." You fired back before looking at Kiyoko.

"Kiyoko, can I have a glass of water again, please?" The girl immediately filled a glass of water for you and handed it over.

"You shouldn't drink a lot, you know. It's bad for your health." Kiyoko said softly while looking at you, concern and worry etched on her face.

"You too, Hana-chan." Runa lectured Hana which made you laugh out loud making the other tables near yours look at your direction.

"You heard that, Hana-chan? You're about to pass out too." You grinned at her which made her scoff. She was about to drink the wine on her glass when Kaori stopped her.

"Come on, that's enough for tonight." Kaori handed her a glass of water and forced Hana to drink it while Yukie tried to wake Eri up. Kiyoko also tried to wake Yachi who, fortunately, obliged.

"Are you ok, Y/N-chan?" Runa helped you stand up before placing her palms in front of you.

"Give me your phone so that I could text Kenma-san to pick you up." She motioned you to pick your phone out of your bag. You sloppily fished out your phone from your bag, in which you made a mess from finding your phone. After you handed it to Runa, Yukie pushed Hana towards the exit of the bar while supporting Eri on the other hand. Kiyoko followed after them while carrying Yachi in a bridal style.

"Runa, can you please text Shoyo too? So that he could pick Yachi up. Ryu is on his way here to pick us up but Yukie, Eri, Kaori, you and I could only fit inside the car." Kiyoko looked at Runa before glancing at Yachi. "Shoyo also said to call him when we're done so he could take care of Yachi after." Runa smiled at her and nodded.

"Ok!" Runa turned towards you and asked, "Y/N-chan, can I use your phone to text Hinata-san too? My phone is kinda dead." She chuckled shyly while scratching her cheek. You nodded at her before closing your eyes and following the other girls outside the bar. When you stepped outside, the cold breeze of the night made you freeze up. Tanaka was also in the parking lot already. Yukie was helping Ryu to put Eri inside the car while Yachi was leaning on Kiyoko's shoulders. Hana was now crouching beside the plant just beside the car while vomiting. You just chuckled at her and covered your exposed shoulders from the freezing cold.

"You ok, Y/N-chan?" Runa spoke behind you which made you almost jump in surprise.

"Geez, Runa. Don't scare me like that." You pouted at her. She chuckled and scratched the back of her head.

"Sorry, sorry, Y/N-chan. I'm sorry for scaring you. Anyways, here's your phone. I already texted Kenma-san and Hinata-san already." She smiled at you before looking at Kiyoko.

"Kiyoko-chan, are we already going home?" Kiyoko looked at her and nodded. "Yes, we just have to wait for Hana to sober up and to also wait for Shoyo and Kenma to arrive." Minutes have passed when you heard the familiar honk of Kenma's car followed by Shoyo's. You smiled at him when he stopped right now in front of you. Kenma was greeted by your flustered and red face when he got off from the car. He walked towards you while greeting the others. When he was already in front of you, he immediately crouched since he was taller then you before kissing you on your forehead. You immediately encircled your arms around his neck which made the corner of his lips rose up.

"Hi~" You smiled sheepishly at him while he just stared at you, amusement dancing on his cat-like golden eyes which made you fall in love back in the days.

"Good evening, Y/N-chan!" You looked over Hinata who was waving at you, Yachi on his arms while the girl who was now awake clung on him which made you chuckle. You just waved at him and returned your attention to your husband, Kenma. You couldn't believe that this guy married you. It even felt like a dream when you two got married 3 years ago.

"You looked wasted." His husky voice blessed your ears, making you blush even more. Hearing his voice made your core heat up which confused you at first. But you decided to shrug it off since this was Kenma we're talking about. Of course he could make you wet just by his voice.

"You drunk a lot again, hmm?" He grinned at you a little which made you chuckle a bit. You shook your head at him in a child-like manner, your lips puckered out as you pouted.

"No~ I drank just a little. Like this. This little." You even pinched your thumb and forefinger together to let him see that you only drank a little.

"Don't listen to her, Kenma-kun. She drank a whole ass bottle of Mojito and a Whiskey." Hana who were now sobered up chuckled at you. You only stuck your tongue out on her.

"Says the one who vomited for 10 minutes on the poor plants." Hana just chuckled at you before waving her hands on your direction.

"Bye, we'll be heading out now. Take care!" Was her last words before she went inside the backseat of Ryu's car. Kiyoko waved at you and smiled which you answered also.

"Yo, Kenma! We'll be going now, ok? Drive safely!" Ryu smiled at Kenma which Kenma answered by nodding his head, a small smile plastered on his face while you buried your face on his chest, his scent filling your nostrils which made you purred a little. Kenma chuckled a little at your action and answered Ryu.

"Yeah, you too. Drive safely."

"Kenma! We'll be going too! Bye!" Hinata shouted while smiling at Kenma.

"Yeah, we're going now too. Also, don't forget our meeting this Tuesday." Kenma reminded Hinata. The oranged head nodded at Kenma's direction and gave him a thumbs up.

"Yup! I won't! I'll also remind Kageyama and Iwaizumi-kun tomorrow!" Kenma nodded at him before pulling you towards the shotgun seat and putting on your seat belt. You smiled at him and placed a kiss on his lips which made him chuckle once again. He turned around towards the driver seat before opening the car's door and seating inside while putting on his seat belt. When he started the car, Hinata and Ryu also started theirs before the three of them drove out of the parking lot at the same time. As Kenma drove in the highway, you turned the music player on, the song Marvin Gaye by Charlie Puth ft. Meghan Trainor blasted on the speakers.

"You know, you shouldn't drink too much, Kitten." Kenma softly spoke at you. You just pouted at him and glanced at his side profile.

How handsome.

"I told you, I only drank a little. You know? Just a little." Kenma just chuckled at you and continued driving. Your eyebrows furrowed when he stopped in front of the drive-thru of McDonalds and ordered a bottle of water and a burger. The cashier girl nearly dropped the money Kenma gave to her out of shock. Well, who wouldn’t? The famous youtuber and model was in front of you, namely Kozume Kenma. If you were on her shoes, you would faint.

“Here.” Kenma handed you the bottle of water when he parked at the empty parking lot. You took the water bottle from him and drank, bottoms up. Shaking his head at you, he handed you the burger after peeling the plastic. While eating the burger on your hands, you leaned towards Kenma and placed a kiss on his soft lips. You smiled cheekily at him and murmured a small ‘thank you’. He smiled at you softly and whispered a small ‘welcome’ too before kissing you. You can’t help but unlock your seatbelt and move to sit on his lap and encircled your arms around his neck. His hands grabbed your waist and held you firmly in place. The kiss lasted for a few minutes before you both have to pull away to catch your breath, a thin line of drool connecting both of your lips. You stared dazed at Kenma’s golden orbs, lust and hunger for him evident on yours.

“Kenma, I want you...” You whispered at him, your words turning to a whine as you played the small hair on his nape.

“But you’re drunk, Y/N. I don’t want to take advantage of you.” You kissed your cheek making you groan at him. Shaking your head, you pouted at him, a habit you earned since the day you two started dating.

“No, I’m not. I’ve sobered up already.” You whined at him, your eyes pleading at his own.

"And we're already married. What's wrong with that? It's your duty as my husband to take care of me." You chuckled at your words and leaned your forehead on his. You shifted your hips until you're core aligned with his crotch. A sly grin appeared on your lips as you stared at Kenma's eyes. Even if he deny it, he can't hide the lust in his eyes as he stared at you, waiting for your next move. You bucked your hips slowly, earning a moan from your lips as the pleasure of his crotch pressed on your core made you shiver. Kenma's head fall forward unto the crook of your neck, his breathing becoming ragged as you bucked your hips once more. His breath fanning your neck made you shiver. Kenma started groaning at your shoulder blades, pressing small kisses and nipping at the skin from time to time, making you mewl. As you dry humped him, your moans grew louder as the pleasure formed a knot on your stomach. You feared that someone might hear you, but the parking lot was empty and Kenma's car was heavily tinted so you pushed that thought away and continued pleasuring the both of you.

"Kenma..." You whispered at his ear softly but he doesn't react to you. You only heard a grunt from him and his breath became even heaver.

"K-kenma, babe...l-ook at me." Your voice shook as your orgasm neared you, the knot on your stomach slowly untying. When Kenma didn't answer you, you bit his earlobe and fastened your pace, earning a growl from him as he bit on your shoulder blade.

"Kenma, I s-said look at-ohh..me" You whimpered when a single hump sent thousands of bolts down to your core. As you fastened your pace even more to chase your orgasm, Kenma's head fall back unto his seat, his face flushed and red as he groaned, his tongue lolling out from his sinful lips.

"Y-Y/N..." Kenma moaned and stared at your eyes, lust overflowing in them.

"K-kenma-ohh! S-so...close.." You moaned as your orgasm slowly came. As Kenma looked closely at your beautiful flushed face, he leaned towards your ear, his breath making your ears tingle.

"Come." One word from him was all it took for you to became a moaning mess above him, your orgasm washing over you. He kissed your lips to muffle your moans out and grabbed your waist to pull you closer to him. When you both came down from your high, Kenma placed his forehead on your shoulder blades, clearly embarrassed. You just chuckled and stared at Kenma, your eyes starting to close due to sleepyness.

"Kenma...Sleepy..." You yawned and buried your head on his neck, pressing sloopy kisses. "Ok, ok. Just go back to your seat so we can go home."

"Don't wanna." You shook your head while your eyes were still closed. "Kenma smells so good. So good..." You inhaled his scent, nuzzling your face on his neck. You heared Kenma sigh before combing your head.

"Alright, rest for a while."

[theflashdriver]

Just Five Minutes (A Silvaze Oneshot)

Heavy was the head that wears the crown, both due to the burden carried by its owner and the lack of sleep that accompanied it. Blaze the cat was known for being a workaholic, friends and colleges alike has claimed such and made efforts to curtail her tendencies. To some extent her overworking was indeed self-imposed, it was in her nature to take on burdens and the work of others, but it wasn’t solely her own fault. As the singular monarch of the Sol kingdom, she worked long hours with little hope of respite.

One o’clock was nearing, it was only fourteen minutes away, yet Blaze had already sat through two meetings totalling almost four hours between them. The day had started at half past seven with some additional reading and preparation, she was supposed to have had a pair of hour and a half long meetings yet both had seen fit to overextend by around fifteen minutes. It wasn’t that these meetings were unimportant per say, the first had been regarding a foreseen bumper crop while the second had concerned utilising more modern defences to protect the Sol emeralds, but both of them going into overtime was taking its toll.

The twenty-one-year-old princess was supposed to have a half hour break between each meeting, supposed to being the operative words. A half hour break cut in half once more, it’d be comical if it wasn’t such a common occurrence. Even if there was no break whatsoever between these discussions, she was supposed to retain a prim and proper attitude whilst her visitors could yawn and slouch without risk of it being taken as an afront. Even doffing her usual guardian’s outfit, her robes and tights, risked being viewed as some sort of afront. As she walked the palace halls, now free from that stuffy meeting room, she knew that she was stewing on this much too intently. If she kept this up, she wouldn’t enjoy this brief hiatus and her patience would wear thin when the next meeting undoubtedly exceeded its allotment.

Groggily, she shouldered her way through a set of old double doors and into the library. The scent of old paper and stagnant air hit her, but it signalled a sort of sanctuary. She moved quickly across the emerald carpeted floor, breezing along the great wall formed by the historic fiction section. The massive room was like a labyrinth lined from floor to ceiling with books, but she knew her path through it better than anyone else. It didn’t take long for her to notice that a few tomes had been lifted, a pair on specific pirates and three more containing hyperbolised accounts of the island’s early history. If she hadn’t known he was here, then that would be a clear indication of his presence.

She coasted along the next wall, passing by historic poetry, before crossing by a section filled with pure historic nonfiction. The old wooden shelves that framed her surroundings were surely soon due their monthly dusting, a job that her partner had taken on with gusto in an effort to make this space nicer for the pair of them. As she snuck past yet another library shelf, she swore she heard him snort. With no more than a parse at the row upon row of encyclopaedias, she rounded the final corner and her eyes fell upon him.

Lounging on their shared couch at the heart of the library was Silver the hedgehog, three days into his return from the other world’s future. Both of them had dramatic burdens on their shoulders, she had a world to run while he was tasked with saving his, but to say that he was enjoying his rest would be an understatement. Books were piled on the coffee table before the psychic, claiming residence beside a filled fruit bowl, and he was currently nose deep in a newer retelling of Jet the Second of Babylon’s exploits. He’d taken on clothes too, adding to snug display. She’d stolen the maroon hoodie he was wearing on a number of occasions and his ability to wear baggy grey tracksuit bottoms as he pleased was making her quite envious.

Sneaking behind him, she placed her chin atop his head and draped her arms across his chest. Though she felt him shift, he quickly seemed to relax as he realised just who was holding him. Her eyes dared to close as she took comfort. He’d arrived in as messy a state as usual, smelling of old sweat and thoroughly filthy. Three days deep into bathing though, he smelt of pines and was unbelievably fluffy.

“You look too comfortable, mind if I join you?” She heard the tone of a princess in her voice and winced, “Sorry I’m late.”

“You sound tired,” She felt his hand reach up and his thumb caressed her cheek, “Did everything go okay?”

“We just ran over time, it was as mundane as ever,” She sighed, pulling herself away and rounding the couch. She shrugged off her purple robe, revealing the white tank top beneath, but knew she wouldn’t be free for long. In an attempt to make up for lost time, she immediately lay across the couch and set her head in his lap.

His book was quickly put aside, and their eyes met for the first time today. Age had certainly treated the hedgehog kindly, granting him a height that she couldn’t match even in heels. His shoulders had broadened, and his voice had deepened but that innocent spark still lingered in his piecing yellow eyes, reminding her of what an innocent he was. Casually, she sank a hand into the small plume of chest fur that had escaped him clothes and watched his smile grow warmer.

What they were to each other now had gone unspoken for months, if not years. The nature of their relationship had only ever been confronted through actions like this for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which were their duties. Still, that made things fun, it meant she could perform actions like this and watch as he struggled to react. Blush had claimed his cheeks and he’d quickly broken from their stare-off. She had won, as was so often the case.

“Are you hungry?” He asked, his gaze having undoubtedly fallen on the fruit bowl.

“Famished,” She replied, yawning up at him.

With a whir of psychic energy, Blaze watched a bunch of grapes drift into view before arriving in his hand. He gently lowered his hand and, without so much as blinking, she bit one from the vine. He’d probably filled the bowl himself before coming, the hedgehog had a serious sweet tooth, but she’d started to wean him off of chocolate and towards fruit as of late. His sugar intake was still ludicrous, but he was on the path to improving at least.

“I’m sorry it’s not a proper lunch, Marine needed more help that I’d thought,” He claimed a grape for himself. They’d intended to meet during her first break but a call from the raccoon had dashed that plan, “Apparently her ship had sank an hour before she called me in, but she didn’t want to admit that.”

“Hush,” She commanded, claiming some more fruit, “If you’re that worried about it then you can make me something in time for the next break. A little sugar boost will more than get me through,” The feline elaborated, “Did you manage to fish it out the ocean?”

“I did, and it’s mostly patched up, but I think it’ll take her another day or so to get it ready. She had a bit of a pre-emptive launch,” He explained.

For a while they simply lived in silence, quiet and calm. Moments like these were still rather new to them, intimate in a way they hadn’t really experienced. The fact that they could just exist like this for a while, sharing food and unwinding, was wonderful. He hadn’t known comfort in this lifetime, just as he hadn’t the prior, but she was here now to make certain that he did. They were together and they were safe; in moments like this, she could thing of nothing else.

Blaze found herself snuggling deeper into his lap, relaxing her shoulders and clasping her hands. Soon the sound of her purring came to fill the air, overwhelming the silence. This was the closest to the traditional view of a princess that her life got. It was all work, none of what the storybooks had told her. She worked constantly and fought to defend her world, she was born into a position of equal proportions servitude and luxury. At least Silver could open her eyes to the latter, even whilst the former hung over them.

She swallowed another mouthful, realising that a thought wriggled its way to the forefront of her mind, “What time is it?” She was ruining what little time they had but she had to know.

Silver glanced over his shoulder toward the library’s ancient grandfather clock. It had been introduced when the castle was first built but, gradually, none of the original remained, “Five minutes to one,” He glumly responded.

“Only five minutes left already,” She mused, “More like three, considering the walk.”

She heard him sigh, “It’s not fair…”

“It’s the path I’m on, there’s no escaping it,” She eased him, biting another grape off the vine, “In a handful of minutes I’ll be back in that room, discussing the construction of a new graveyard and replacing old tombstones.”

“A handful of minutes…” He hummed.

Blaze looked beyond the bushel and found that a quirk had entered his expression. Silver and new ideas were a paring that often mixed strangely. The hedgehog wasn’t unintelligent but his still relative inexperience with social situations and the nature of the modern world had led to some rather embarrassing situations. Innocently embarrassing of course, but certainly still worth avoiding.

Pushing the grapes aside she looked him in the eye, “What are you thinking, Silver?”

“What if that handful of minutes didn’t have to be just a handful?” He thought aloud, allowing his hand to mingle with his chest fur and quickly finding hers, “What if that handful of minutes could be as long as you wanted it to be?”

She flipped her right hand, interlocking her fingers with his, “It’s important work, I need to get back to it. There’s no way of changing the system to make that go away. You know how important my role is.”

“I know it is but,” He squeezed her hand, “You’ve already missed half of your break today, you deserve that much at least, right?”

“You’re so naïve,” Blaze yawned again, “I’ve missed it, so it’s gone. Rushing through meetings, or avoiding them to steal it back, isn’t an option. Let’s just enjoy the time we have.”

“But what if you could have it…” He hummed again, releasing her hand, “What if I could get you it…” Blaze sat up, turning to face him only to find that he’d looked away. Before she could open her mouth again, he’d jumped to his feet, “I’ll be right back. Don’t worry, I can do this.”

“Silver,” As the hedgehog went to stand, Blaze caught his hand. While she had an inkling of what he was going to attempt, she just didn’t know how safe it was, “You don’t have to overdo it, not for me.”

“You’re clearly tired and I want to help you, Blaze,” As he smiled down at her, speaking so honestly, she couldn’t help but feel a butterfly flap in her stomach, “I’ll do whatever it takes, even if it only changes things a little,” She let go of her hand and his smile grew even bigger, “I’ll be right back.”

The hedgehog took off like a shot, vanishing amongst the bookshelves, but Blaze didn’t hear his footfalls for long. There was a flash of cyan light, accompanied by a rumbling like thunder, and then the hedgehog was gone from the library, likely even from the entire castle. The princess glanced to the library’s grandfather clock. Her next meeting was set to start in three minutes. Had he not just run off then she would be preparing, hurrying back in the hopes of brushing up on the itinerary.

Her gaze dropped to the bunch of grapes he’d left but, just as she was about to pluck one, another thundercrack rolled through the library. Blaze looked up only to find that a portal had manifested in front of her, a bright cyan disk that washed the table, couch and her in its psychic glow. Just as quickly as it had manifested, Blaze watched as a hand with a familiar circular symbol reached through and into the library. She rose quickly, grabbing her robe before stepping over the table and toward the gateway. She took one last glance at the clock; she only had two minutes left, but how long did he plan to make those last? Blaze took his hand, closed her eyes and, feeling his tug, stepped into the warbling energy wall.

A change in air pressure immediately greeted her. The feline felt a gentle breeze blow through her fur, yet sunlight was shining warmly upon her. A stumbling step that brought her fully free from the portal lead her to discover the thick grass underfoot, matched by the mixed scent of countless wildflowers. She blinked away the difference as, in an instant, her world had gone from being lit by electrical lights to basking in a sun shining overhead. Around her, and even from far afield, Blaze could hear the hum of insects mixing with all manner of marvellous birdsong.

Her eyes fell upon the hedgehog who’d brought her here. In what had been mere seconds to her had been long enough for him not only to choose this location but his garb entirely. The hedgehog stood before her dressed in a short sleaved, open-buttoned, teal paisley shirt with accents of orange and white throughout the pattern. A set of still comfortable looking black trousers had taken the place of his joggers and he’d donned a set of hiking boots. As nice as his clothes were though, they couldn’t hold her attention like the overexcited grin on his muzzle.

He stepped out the way, revealing both a picnic spread and a far better view of their surroundings. Beyond the woven basket and tartan blanket, Blaze could see tree after tree stocked with ripe peaches, on the verge of dropping, and rolling green hills that spanned out towards the horizon. She soon however found herself becoming lost in the smaller beauties of this band new landscape. Lavender, crocuses, violets, bluebells, buttercups and countless other species of small flower covered the ground but around them were also foxgloves that harboured blundering bumblebees and wild sunflowers on magnificently tall stalks. The sight of a green hummingbird, daring to fly so curiously close out of blissful innocent, pulled her from staring at their surroundings.

There was no one else here, it seemed like no one had ever been here. When the hedgehog has left, she’d known his plan was to travel through time and find them a peaceful spot, but she’d expected to arrive somewhere in the reccent past or the other dimension. This must have taken far more effort than that, it absolutely had to. Not only had he found a place so wonderful but he’d found it on a day that the sky was perfect, errant clouds were drifting through the sky but never lingering too long in front of the sun. The grass wasn’t wet, rainfall must have been days prior, and yet the world around them was so vibrant.

“Silver, where are we?” She asked, her mouth agape.

“Where? We’ve hardly left where you were sitting,” He cheekily answered, wandering back to sit on the far side of the blanket, “We’re now on a simple grass plain on an undiscovered island, you’ll sit on that couch, around about where we are now, in a little under two thousand years.”

The feline walked to the edge of the blanket, “How long did it take you to find this time? How many days did you cycle through?”

“Well, I got us a good while away from the folks first landing on the island and then kept trying this same day every year until it was nice,” He answered casually but his blush betrayed how proud he was of this plan, “I think I went through a couple hundred years before picking this one.”

“And I take it this safe?” She lowered herself to sit, still eying him intently, “There’s no chance of a time paradox?”

“As long as we don’t do anything to disrupt the land, nothing should change. The timeline seems to do what’s easiest, it can stomach a small change like this,” He promised, opening the hamper with a wave of his hand, “Picking the spot was the last thing I did, gathering and cooking everything took way longer.”

Silver began to waggle his fingers in the air, almost like he was pretending to conduct. Blaze watched as shapes began to dance free from the basket. First came a large, sealed, pitcher, plainly filled with raspberry lemonade and still containing a half dozen frozen ice cubes. Next came a large silver serving dish which, upon landing, removed its top to reveal a spread of far more sandwiches than they could ever hope to eat. From tuna and cucumber to cheese and tomato, all manner of fillings had manifested in the blink of an eye. Soon after followed a troop of cupcakes set atop a two-tier stand, each iced a different colour and decorated from sweets ranging from lemon jelly slices to maraschino cherries to give each cake their own theme.

Silver the hedgehog could make wonderful use of a minute, that much was more than clear, but how long had that minute lasted for him?

“Just how long did you spend on this,” She squinted at him, causing the hedgehog to break eye contact.

“N-Not longer than eight hours?” He gulped.

“Silver!” The feline shouted, genuinely shocked. She’d expected a couple of hours, three at most, but eight?

“I can rest up and everything will be fine, we can stay here for as long as you like,” He promised, “As long as you don’t plan to stay for more than two hundred years, then we might bump into your ancestors.”

“I should have you send us back right now, this is far too much of an effort and I didn’t contribute anything,” She was flustered, again slipping into the voice she used to rule, but she was anything but upset with him.

“You just being here is more than enough on its own,” Silver responded, clearly growing flustered himself, “I-It’s not like I did this all totally on my own, I went to the other dimension and Amy let me use her oven. I didn’t want to go back and use mine in case I encountered Marine or messed something up permanently.”

In a lot of ways, Blaze knew she was exceptionally lucky to have Silver in her life, let alone to have a relationship like this with him. For as mundane as the cooking behind his effort was, and as normal as their prior time in the library had been, the hedgehog was anything but regular and so casual in how he showed it. No one else could ever have come remotely close to what she was experiencing right now, no one else had a partner who could stretch a minute into eight hours before whisking them away for as long as they liked. The feline almost felt selfish for keeping him all to herself like this but she knew that, fundamentally, that he did this because he cared. He’d seen how bedraggled she was and wanted to make her happy, to shirk this opportunity would be foolish. That and, well, he’d set this up for her to take advantage of. Blaze could tease him to her heart’s content, and no one was around to catch them in the act.

“We can eat, we can rest, we can explore,” He offered, awkwardly smiling at her again, “We can do whatever you want.”

“Whatever I want, hm,” The feline pawed her way across the blanket and toward the hedgehog, “I think I’d like to retake our prior position.”

With half a yawn and no further warning, she pushed her way to rest her head atop the hedgehog’s lap. She’d always known that he made a good pillow but something about this position, coupled with the warmth of the sun seeping into her fur, was truly blissful. Their cloistered times in the library were wonderful, but there was something entirely heavenly about doing this so publicly yet not having to worry about the prying eyes of others. There was no chance of rumours, no potential for tabloids, just the two of them, enjoying each other’s company. The sight of the blue sky above as they did this too; something about it felt so liberating.

“You said you were famished, right? I managed to get fresh salmon,” As he babbled, she glanced up at him. The hedgehog had used his power to draw one of the triangle-cut sandwiches from the tray, “I guess that’s not much of a feat when you can time travel but-

Before he could undersell himself, the feline reached up and shooed away his glowing aura. The sandwich retrieved, she only spoke two words, “Thank you,” That alone was enough to restoke the fire on his muzzle.

The clink of ice filled her ears as she took the first bite, signalling that he was pouring them drinks through the use of his power. Seared salmon and baby spinach in a delicately creamy sauce, the flavours mingled to perfectly. If every single one of those sandwiches had this level of effort put into them then the long hours he’d mentioned more than made sense. It’d be akin to making four or five separate dishes and then reshaping them to suit sandwiches, atop that even crafting the cupcakes and drink.

As a glass filled to the brim with a faint pink liquid drifted towards Blaze, she looked up to him again, “You really did go too far with all of this. You know I was expecting to arrive in the other dimension or the past, to step into some kind of café or a different library.”

“I may have gotten a little overexcited, Amy did tell me I was going overboard. Even if she then insisted that I go all out…” He admitted as she took a sip. It was frightfully sweet, as one should anticipate a concoction made by the two hedgehogs would be, but surprisingly subtle in its flavouring. The lemon only faintly undercut the primary raspberry taste, “I kind of owe her now. I promised to help her do something similar for her and Sonic…”

“Well, it does seem that you have a knack for this,” She complimented him before taking another sip, “I’m sure she’ll be more than pleased with wherever and whenever you send them.”

“She already has ideas, but I’m scared of granting her free reign in the past,” He cringed, “I need to find a middle ground between an interesting place and somewhere it’d be difficult to change the future,” She watched as a cupcake flew through the air, the hedgehog hadn’t had a sandwich yet but she was too comfortable to scold him, “I was thinking about letting them go on a winter date in the middle of summer… she seemed to think that was a great idea.”

“That does sound rather romantic. Very unique,” Blaze responded, before a likely truth ran through her mind, “Although, she’ll probably want you to surprise him with it. If you do that, she’ll surely be ready for the cold while he won’t be. It’ll be an opportunity to get closer to him, in more ways than one.”

“She wouldn’t let him freeze, right?” He asked, so very innocently.

“No, she certainly wouldn’t,” The pyrokinetic half-joked, “But I think, deep down, he’d enjoy that just as much as her.”

Conversation ebbed and flowed, just as the tide or changes in the clouds. One moment they would be discussing the food but the next they would be simply holding each other and enjoying their serene surroundings, only to later end up laughing about their friends’ potential antics. They were never quiet for too long, but conversation never felt forced or as though it was some sort of requirement, it was allowed to come and go as it pleased. Silver’s pointing out of a cloud shaped like Cream’s head led to a long span of time where they stared to the sky, occasionally pointing out the strange forms they observed. It was all so regular, so fundamentally plain, and it brought her nigh unending peace. Though she yawned throughout their meal, Blaze never found herself falling asleep.

His arms had found their way to hold her, clasping just above her bellybutton. This had been intended to relax her, but the princess couldn’t help but take in how peaceful her partner looked. He’d been so overexcited, but he’d equally worked so hard. It wasn’t surprising to see him so tired. After another long bout of silence, the hedgehog began to shift.

“Well, the food’s done,” He hummed, beginning to return the crockery to the hamper. In truth, they hadn’t managed to entirely finish all the sandwiches but she’d long since expressed her fullness, “We should probably head back, right?”

It wasn’t what she’d expected him to say, but she fundamentally understood it. He was trying to be mature, trying to match the seriousness she so often displayed, but Blaze had been spurred on by their surroundings. If they truly were outside of time, able to return to it at any moment, then what was the rush? Why would she ever waste a day as perfect as this. Just this once, perhaps only this once ever, Blaze the cat, the guardian of the Sol emeralds and princess of the Sol kingdom, decided to be greedy.

“I don’t think two hundred years have passed yet,” The pyrokinetic hummed, sitting up stretching.

“Eh?” He was clearly caught off guard.

“I thought I got to decide when we went back?” She teased, now fully rising to her feet. Blaze turned to him, “If this is my kingdom then I would like to see it.”

The hedgehog stumbled to his feet, beaming, “R-Really? I didn’t look around too much, just in case you wanted to. I just took a bit of a glance around from above, made sure everything was as it should be.”

She brushed past him, taking the hedgehog’s hand and feeling her tail wrap around his waist, “Shall we stroll then? Take in this island, unsullied by others’ footsteps?”

He squeezed her hand, bundling their picnic spread into a neat pile and setting her royal robe atop it, “There’s nothing I’d rather do.”

That stroll quickly evolved into a frankly stupid dash through the woods. Hand in hand soon turned to arm in arm as they leapt through the thick bracken of the underbrush. Though the hedgehog apparently had some knowledge of the layout, the feline soon ended up leading and racing to reach spots she knew would be transformed with time. A great peach tree forest presently stood, proud and strong, where the royal gardens would eventually take root. The feline had known that these trees were native to the island, but not that they were nearly so plentiful. In her time, only a few remained on Southern Island, one at the heart of the aforementioned garden and another near the town centre. Both were said to be centuries old but now Blaze knew that was certainly true.

Beyond those trees were a swamp, now the site of southern island’s main shopping district. The countless croaking of frogs proved to her that this part of her kingdom had always been loud, but seeing it in such a natural state almost made Blaze wish it was still in such a state. Still, that feeling was quickly washed away as Silver went to pick up a small amphibian only to tumble over himself. Though he managed to psychically keep himself from falling, the response from all the frogs was to leap from the brackish liquid and scatter in all directions. The cacophony of croaks was only rivalled by the sound of their slippery forms crashing back into the water and against the ferns of the undergrowth. The sight of him, bashfully hanging there as if he’d been ensnared in some unseen trap, was more than enough to make her laugh. In an instant, the hunter had taken the place of his supposed prey. What he’d intended to do with a frog if he’d caught it, let alone why he’d tried to catch one with his hands, Blaze had no idea, but it’d only added to the enjoyable mundanity of the day.

No reason, beyond the virtue of freedom she felt welling in her chest, led Blaze to break from staring at him and, still grinning from ear to ear, take off running. The hedgehog gave pursuit, for once not so oblivious as to think this was more than a mere game. Blaze jumped over roots and weaved through trees, running just out of arm’s reach ahead of the psychic. Her heart pounded as though this was some harsh battle, some life-or-death scenario, but she knew it’d only been stoked by the childish part of infatuation. She couldn’t do this in her time, not without feeling the eyes of her people scrutinising her every movement. Even when she was in the other dimension, the presence of so many people made her feel as though her every movement was being analysed. This was freedom, a form of release from her inhibitions that she’d never experience otherwise. It was as though they were in that destroyed future again, still children who were oblivious to how the world was supposed to be, but free from the pressures that world had forced upon them.

She ran and ran and ran until the trees were no more, until the grass vanished from under her and stone took its place. Blaze found herself at the edge of a bluff, overlooking the beach and the sea just beyond it. The feline knew this rockface well, she and he had enjoyed many picnics atop it. Though it was open and exposed now, it would with time become one of the most secluded and private places on the entire island. Panting, she drew the back of her hand across her brow and threw a glance back to him. Cyan light was glowing from the trees, he was in pursuit but had perhaps lost her.

“Silver! This way!” She called out before quickly turning her attention back to the view.

To Blaze, the value of the sea had been lost to her life spent on an island nation. She’d come to take the waters for granted, it was all she’d known for much too long, her relationship with the ocean had been a rather dull one. But now, seeing a beach devoid of people and waters more pristine than ever before, the beauty of the view took her by force. An untouched driftwood barrier formed a long yet broken line along the shore, protecting and simultaneously buffering a wide collection of rocks and shells of all different sizes and shapes.

She heard him land at her side; the key reason that she could stand heights like this. Across both lives, he’d helped her overcome that fear of falling. That alone was a miracle, she couldn’t believe she’d overlooked his potential for quite so long. What had once been a power she was equal parts captivated by and envious of had quickly become a rather romantic tool, a key part of unspoken his arsenal. Though this was the first occasion he’d taken them out of time for such a casual reason, he’d so often and so casually snuck her gifts with his power and carried her for miles above the ground. With the wave of his hand he could sweep her off her feet, not that he would without checking in first.

“It’s beautiful. This spot reminds me of when I first arrived in this world, everything looked so incredible. Undamaged, untouched,” The hedgehog thought aloud, “Do you want to head down there?”

Her tail had already snuck its way around his side again, but she knew that wasn’t enough of a hint for him. She had control, the almighty time traveling psychic was practically wrapped around her finger. It was probably due to their lonely situation but, now that they were away from the forest, it was as though the pair were more isolated than ever. She couldn’t help but feel just a little more confident than usual.

Yawning, mimicking the kind of movements she’d only ever seen in movies and read of in books, the feline stretched her arm around his far shoulder, “I suppose I might.”

Beet red colouration rushed to colour his cheeks as she stepped closer and allowed her right hand to sink into his chest fur, “I-I’ll take you wherever you want to go…”

She raised her leg and he quickly caught on, using his psychic pull to bring her into a bridal carry. This position had taken on different meanings across their lives. While once the feeling of his arm beneath her knee was a sign that they were retreating, it now signified a journey toward something. Be it the peak of a mountain or deep into a valley or simply further in their relationship, this position was a sign of movement. Gently, casually, she let herself lean into his shoulder.

Plainly trying to ignore his blush, a sheen of cyan overtook the hedgehog’s body as gravity abandoned them. With a single step they were floating above the abyss, but he didn’t stop there. As if walking on any normal road, the hedgehog paced further and further forward. With each step they would descend as far down as they did forward. Despite their relatively slow pace, Blaze lost track of time as she stared up at him.

There was something about moments like this, when that psychic glow coated him and his quills hardened in response. It contrasted so heavily with the childhood view she’d had of him, of an adorable ball of white fluff who was far too serious for his own good. Places like this brought out the best in him, let him be more casual and match his inherently soft aesthetic. He could be harsh and strong when he had to be, but she knew this was his closer to his natural state.

As his feet met the ground his eyes crashed into hers. She opted not to step out of his grasp, “S-So, um, we’re here.”

“I’d noticed,” She hummed, scanning their surroundings. He’d landed them on the inner edge of the driftwood barrier, where shells had gathered for years on this untouched land, “Shall we sit?”

“If you want,” The hedgehog struggled to respond, lowering the pair of them to the ground. Naturally, she maintained her position in his lap and atop him.

So very casually, or at least as casually as she could manage, the pyrokinetic cast a glance to her surroundings. The crashing of waves was somehow clearer than it typically was in her time, perhaps due in part to the lack of individuals intruding upon the ocean’s path. The sand was especially smooth, perhaps a result of the ocean’s efforts going entirely unhindered. She blindly stretched behind her, feeling her way through what few shells were in reach. They were cockles, as was supposed to be the case on the island. She had a meeting regarding their harvesting later today or, rather, in almost two thousand years.

She caught sight of his staring out of the corner of her eye. He was looking out to sea, but the remnants of his blush still lingered on his cheeks. Her only regret in all this was that she hadn’t seen his reaction as he first laid eyes upon this untouched world. The hedgehog had grown such an affinity for nature, a want to both experience and protect. It’d become an additional aspect of his role defending that other world, making sure that nature continued to thrive. From gardening to birdwatching to hiking, he’d fully embraced what he so often had to go weeks without.

He would leave again soon to perform that duty, she had to take advantage of what they had both here and now.

“You know, this has all been quite the flagrant misuse of your powers,” She tutted, shifting her weight to push him backwards as she broke the silence, “Very irresponsible.”

It was hardly the most scathing of her taunts but, perhaps due to the physical act that had coincided with it, her words it clearly snatched the hedgehog’s attention. His eyes flickered up to her, wide with surprise. The term your highness, or any of her royal titles for that matter, didn’t much appeal to the feline, but turning her learned regal traits on the hedgehog was an endless source of fun. She watched as surprise was gradually overcome by what little defiance he could muster; she already knew what he was going to say.

“W-Well,” He stuttered, trapped beneath her, “I thought it was for the best? It’s not like I only use my powers to save the world, I used them to pass you grapes before we left.”

“Ah yes, how long ago was that? More than ten minutes must have past by now,” The feline felt a smirk grow on her face as the hedgehog squirmed, “You’ve made me late.”

“We’ll be back on time, I promise,” He managed to reply, struggling to meet her gaze, “I-I’ll drop you right into the meeting room if you want, we can even arrive early. Your past self will be in the library for ten minutes before it starts, you can spend all that time getting ready for the next meeting.”

“How naïve, making such decisions for a princess,” She sat up straight, shuffling off of him a little.

The hedgehog managed to rise just a little, though his blush hadn’t cleared in the slightest, “Y-You’re happy to be here though, right? You’re happy to have this break?”

“Am I?” Blaze turned away from him and smirked toward the sea, “Whyever would you think that?”

“Y-You’ve been smiling,” He stammered, she could imagine the worry on his face without even glancing his way.

“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” She lied, still looking out to sea. Far away, she could see where the waves dipped beneath the horizon. They really were alone out here. Playing with him like this in such a public space was truly liberating, “Though I supposed I have enjoyed this, somewhat.”

“I’m glad,” Like a switch had been flipped, he was beaming again, “You looked so tired back in the library. I know I can’t do much to help with your work but, if you ever need something like this again, you only need to say.”

“We can’t do this every time, Silver. There will be occasions when I’ll want to, but I know we shouldn’t,” His smile wavered, she cupped his cheek. He was so genuine, so sweet, so naïve, “Just having you by my side is more than enough,” She allowed that hand to slip to his quills and ruffle them, “Although, that’s not to say I won’t ever take you up on that offer…”

For a long while, surrounded by this serene scene, they simply sat and enjoyed each other’s company. Blaze found herself not sleeping but simply snuggling into the time traveller, burying her head into the crook of his neck before lowering to reclaim the pillow that was his chest. Eventually though, the feline knew that she was as comfortable as was possible, that all her relaxation had reached its climax. Pushing herself from his frame to loom above him once again.

“We should probably head back,” She snorted, as he fumbled to his feet, “Or, I suppose, head forward in this case.”

“If you’re sure you’re ready,” He double checked, only casting his hands skyward as she nodded.

Psychokinesis whirred and hummed, a great blue pulse left the markings on his hand only to soar above and beyond the cliff-face. While that energy was racing towards their belongings, the hedgehog’s face took on a frankly goofy expression. Despite how casual this situation was, his commonly serious demeanour had leached through to make him look rather foolish. His very colourful and uniquely patterned shirt certainly wasn’t helping matters.

In no less than a minute, Blaze sighted a glowing bundle soaring over the bluff’s lip. Like some kind of soft meteor, the wrapped-up picnic basket crashed towards them, only just stopping before it could hit the hedgehog in the chest. As the pile swept past, she plucked her robe from the top and shouldered it.

“You’re sure that you’ll be able to get us back to the right time, aren’t you?” The princess asked, dusting the sand from her tights.

“I promise,” He smiled, floating the bundle behind them before stretching his hands forward. From the quills at the back of his head, a well-cut green stone flew to hover in front of them. A chaos emerald, his preferred source of energy.

As though he was washing a window with sponges strapped to both of his palms, the hedgehog began to wave his hands in repeated circles. More energy began to pool in front of him like a warbling plate, it quickly grew from the size of a droplet to become far larger than either of them. The outer edge of the disk gradually ceased in their shifting and the hedgehog’s hands fell to his sides. The effort did seem to take it out of him a little but, with them now both bathing in the light of transportation, he wouldn’t have to work again.

“After you,” He gestured ahead, plucking the emerald from the air.

Blaze, entirely trusting her partner, stepped forward. Shifting across time and space was, by now, practically second nature to her. Once upon a time she’d struggled with the instantaneous shift from one place to another, her first arrival in the other dimension had left her dizzy and exhausted. Now she knew some best practices; to close her eyes, hold her breath and keep her balance.

She stepped off of sand and straight onto hardwood.

The strong scent of coffee struck Blaze first, the only true amenity in the room was a small coffeepot set on a small side table. That much was enough to let Blaze know that they’d arrived. No wind rustled through her fur and the room was lit by a series of electric lights that had been plugged into the celling when she was five. They were at the heart of the palace, there were no windows for the sun to breach. Just a boring wooden table with reflective varnish. He walked in behind her, sealing the portal with no more than a wave as he finished arriving.

Compared to the world they’d just known; the silence of the meeting room was deafening. She already missed the breaking of waves and the ticking of the room’s clock wasn’t a worthy replacement. They’d manifested at the head of the table, her position, and were faced with six empty seats. A glance to the wall proved that Silver had stuck to his word, it was exactly ten minutes till one o’clock. On the long stretching desk, directly in front of her seat, was a bulky binder filled with notes and opened to the hour’s itinerary. Ah yes, she’d gone from running through forests, trudging through swamps and having a heart to heart on the beach to discussing where to bury the dead in no more than a moment.

How long had they spent away? She’d assumed that it couldn’t have been more than a couple of hours but, in truth, time had been rather lost on her. Despite his intent being to create a time for resting, they’d ran and acted in such a wild manned. Instead, he’d energised her in an entirely different way. He’d brought her excitement; he’d given her the strength to carry on and get through today. How could she even begin to repay that?

An idea wriggled its way into Blaze’s head.

Nonchalantly, the feline redonned her robe and neatly fastened it before retaking her seat, pretending to scan her notes, “Well, everything seems to be in order…”

“I told you that I’d get us back on time,” She could hear the joy in his voice.

“You certainly did,” The princess squinted at the page, placing her finger beneath a chosen random word, “But it does look like the timeline has changed, ever so slightly.”

“W-What? It has?” He rushed to her side, leaning over her shoulder to look at the papers, “Blaze, what are you talking about? This is still all about refurbishing gravesto-

The moment he turned from the page to look at her, Blaze’s hand sunk into the quills on the back of his head and pulled him in just a little closer. He surely knew what she was about to do, she’d done it often enough, but that didn’t seem to stop him from becoming flustered. After a moment of staring, taking in his blushing face, Blaze closed her eyes and closed the distance.

Feeling him shudder at the first contact, wanting to return her efforts but being restricted by her hold, brought the princess endless jubilation. Blaze’s heartbeat shot up, as she pulled him in and offered him the slightest of opportunities. He hurriedly took it, pushing to further close the distance as is such a thing was possible. The taste of raspberry lemonade on his lips was just an added bonus. Feeling him grow tense beneath her touch, knowing that, despite his capacity to take her back in time, she had this power over him, was incredible. A might not born of her royal position or pyrokinetic might, but love.

The kiss didn’t last for long, of course. Not only did she have work to return to, but Blaze knew it was best to leave him wanting more. As she pulled back, her eyes reopened and his bashful face filled her vision. Eyes lit like overexcited lighting bolts, cheeks like poppy petals and a thorough look of overexcitement had claimed his face.

“S-So, I take it the timeline hasn’t actually changed then?” The psychic eventually asked.

“Not that I’ve noticed,” She smirked, “You’re the same naïve hedgehog you were when we left.”

“That’s good,” He struggled to reply, “I-I think.”

For a moment longer she simply stared into his eyes and watched him squirm. The princess didn’t especially wear makeup but the idea of leaving a lipstick stain on him had crossed her mind a handful of times. He probably wouldn’t even notice until it was too late. But, alas, similarly too late, they’d been lingering together for much too long. The pair of them had just spent hours together, she’d decided it was time to go, and yet she didn’t want to release him. What foolishness…

“I’ll see you in an hour and a half, perhaps a little longer,” She mused, still holding the back of his head, “If you can make such good use of two minutes, what can you do with so much more?”

“W-Well, um,” He squeaked, “I guess I’ll try to think of something?”

Her fingers uncurled from his quills but the hedgehog, plainly stunned, didn’t move, “I’m sure you will, but, for now, we must part.”

“O-Oh, right, yes, um,” He shot up straight, quickly looking away, “Good luck with, um, t-the graveyard people.”

“You’ll need to get used to this eventually,” She rolled her eyes. Despite the rarity of their kisses, given only when she was certain no one else could see, she’d thought that he’d have grown a little bolder by now. Despite the smallness of her action in comparison to his, the hedgehog was adorably lovestruck.

“I don’t know that I can do that in an hour and a half, even with time travel,” He mumbled, tugging at his chest fur, “And an extra fifteen minutes probably won’t change that.”

He could be so naïve, so blunt and oblivious. Without a second thought, Blaze rose from her seat and took him by the collar. Uttering nothing more than the word “Well, if you can’t manage that,” For the second time in so many minutes, her lips found his. The ticking of the wall clock filled her ears as they parted again, “Just brace yourself for when I finish up.”

[fuwafuwamedb]

Dodging Death Pt 4 (Hakuno, Emiya, Gilgamesh Caster)

Previously: 1 2 3 

____

“Good evening Hakuno,” the man purred.

Hakuno looked up at that face, noting the fine lines and the aristocratic nature. He had those thick eyelashes and those dark eyes right now, making her stare at him evening more. She could hear that voice, speaking sensibly, but there was an accent.

There was a very nice accent on that voice, she thought, listening more to the sound of that soft timbre.

He was going on and on about something until she closed her eyes.

Then he was shaking her gently again.

“Hakuno,” he tried, attempting to awaken her.

Her arms reached up, pulling the man down to her and kissing him soundly on the lips.

The whole situation with Emiya had been a mess. She appreciated her friend, respected him deeply, but there had been a hope that he would find her to be someone worth dating. She’d hoped, somehow, that he would look her way.

That evening, Emiya had moved a bit too close to Sakura and had ended up with drinks tossed his way by Rin. Sakura had gone to calm Rin down, to explain. Meanwhile, Hakuno had recommended that Emiya come to her home to clean up.

She had a washer and dryer.

The man above her was a thousand times more handsome than anyone she’d ever seen before though. Since she’d spent all that time being inactive, being the one to wait and see what happened with things, she wanted one time where she didn’t do that.

This time, she’d claim something selfishly.

The man above her moaned against her lips, making her smile.

“We need to talk,” the man told her.

This was not how she was going to have things, not tonight. After all of the chaos that she’d had, she wasn’t going to simply allow all their time to be ruined when it was only starting, not when he had moaned and he had placed his hands on her waist.

The man pulled back.

Hakuno grabbed the hem of her shirt and slipped it over her head, giving the man above her an eyeful.

Breasts.

If there was something that she could really showcase here and now, it was her chest. It was absurd and there was much more to her in actuality, but for the sake of a one night stand like this?

Breasts were her big talk.

Her audacity and determination would be her sales pitch.

She could see the man looking her over. She could feel something hard pressing against her legs, showing more than words what he was thinking about right now.

“I need you,” she told him.

This would be her one vivid, sultry dream. This would be one of those dreams that her classmate Medb murmured about from time to time to her angry looking boyfriend.

Her companion, her mind’s masterpiece of a man, leaned in immediately. His mouth pressed loving to her chest, eyes closing.

“My gods.”

That was how someone needed to react.

Those hands were moving along her person, pulling down her panties as she dove her hands into that hair. She could feel his lips still on her, still paying tribute.

There was a way those hands touched between her, making her give the softest of responses.

“I am selfish, you know.”

Perfect.

He could be selfish as much as he wanted. She was going to enjoy being the center of that attention. She was going to attempt to be selfish too.

Her hand reached between their bodies, helping his hands navigate the great path from her thighs to her center.

They were meeting one another’s gazes the moment she had them touch her together, parting her enough that he could touch around her tender folds and see what else was there. His eyes were widening. Her face was beginning to burn up.

“Be selfish,” she told him simply.

She didn’t want to deal with the pressures of dating and of finding someone to steal her away. She wanted to just carry on with her life. There were other things, more important things. She had a whole future, hanging from the skyline up ahead of her spirit.

The man’s lips were back against her own, his hands taking over enough that she could reach down a little more. She just barely managed to touch him.

“You are new to this,” he murmured to her gently.

“It’s fine-“

A set of teeth bit at her neck, quelling her words. Her body tightened around his fingers, only making her shiver harder at the feel of him inside her.

The sound she made was unlike anything she’d made before, sounding like a whimper.

“I was going to say,” he began again. “You’re new to this. You should think about-“

“I want you.”

The man was pausing again, those eyes gleaming as a light came from a car passing the house. Those red eyes were so mysterious, so strange.

Who would have thought she’d like foreigners like this…

“You’re mine then,” he told her simply.

Her eyes closed as she felt his fingers moving in her. She could feel his lips pressing to hers again, earning all the strength she could muster.

She wanted to do more.

The moment he pushed into her, she ignored the slight pains and wrapped her legs around him, demanding more. She wanted to see this through to the end. She wanted all that she could experience and then some. She’d reach for the stars with him there.

Over and over, he was thrusting into her.

There was a place right there, deep inside her. Every time he hit it, Hakuno could feel herself cry out. She could feel her nails digging into his back and her lips moving to form all kinds of statements: go faster, more, bite me, please, more there, right there.

If he could just continue this, she would be in heaven soon enough.

Her climax came so hard that she was sure that she was feeling it in her real bed.

Her weeping for the man holding her was smothered into nothingness as the man kissed the everliving daylights out of her.

“You’re simply astounding,” the man murmured, pressing his lips to hers once again. His lips moved to her chest, continuing to kiss and make love to her body.

Gods, but there was no other phrase for it.

He made her body sing. He made her blood rush.

Each time that she thought she was going to simply pass out, there he was. He was there to run his hands over another weakened spot on her body. He was there to show her how sensitive she was to him.

“I will bring you home with me,” he purred.

She clung to him, desperate for those lips to kiss and bite at her chest again.

“I will bring you home and I will lay you in my bed,” he promised her. “There is so much more I can do. There is so much more I’m going to do, Hakuno.”

“Please,” she pleaded.

She wanted it all.

All of it and more.

Hakuno stared at the markings on her person in the mirror, frowning at the marks.

Her eyes drifted to the cat nearby, noting that G was watching her from nearby.

Who the hell had she brought home to her house and why the fuck hadn’t she seen him before he’d taken off for god only knew where? Had she gone out again?

She couldn’t remember anything else other than some mind blowing sex, but…

I’m such a dumbass.

“We’ll wear a scarf and long sleeve shirt so no one notices,” she told her feline friend, heading back into her bedroom and resuming her mental chastising.

Sex with a stranger because Emiya didn’t want to date her.

What a pathetic way to respond.

In fact, she was quite happy for Sakura. Emiya was great and Sakura wasn’t the best cook out there. The two of them were cute together and they would make one another happy.

They would.

“Alright,” Hakuno smiled down to G, kissing his head. “I don’t need some useless white haired man. You were right, G. Let’s just keep it you and me here.”

The main man was purring, happily weaving around her feet.

She should think about a way to be able to take him out with her.

That would have been kind of fun, being able to drag him from the house and get him used to people. It would certainly help him become a bit more social. The cat carrier was a thought, but that would mean that he would be behind bars all day.

Maybe like a big sweater or something.

She headed out, locking up the house and heading to her car. The trip to campus was as slow as usual, making her almost lose her temper when someone decided to cut in front of her vehicle and nearly hit her.

A few curses, a stop at the coffee shop, and a quick jog later; Hakuno found herself coming upon her classroom only to find Emiya waiting for her.

“Emiya!”

“Hakuno.”

There was an odd air around Emiya today. The man moved forward, motioning to an empty classroom nearby.

“Hakuno, I-“

Hakuno closed the door and brushed her hair back a little only to see the man staring at her.

“You have…. You’re bruised.”

“Long evening.”

The man didn’t seem pleased with that answer.

“Since we’re talking about things, I just wanted to let you know that I’m really excited about you and Sakura.” At his raised brow, Hakuno shrugged. “The two of you have always been close. It’ll be nice for you both to clear the air between you and show that you care for one another. I look forward to hearing about the dates, either from you or from Sakura. We are friends, after all.”

“Right. Friends….”

They were.

Hakuno glanced at her phone, noting the time and flashing Emiya another smile.

“Good luck with asking her.”

That was where she left it.

Throughout the day, she even felt a little bit more energetic than usual. She’d realized that her crush was simply that, a crush on a man that was more interested in others. Along with that, she’d had some great sex, woken up fully rested, and she was doing well today.

Her tests were finished and turned in amongst the first few people.

She meandered out to lunch, receiving a test from Sakura that talked about how she had been asked out by Emiya and showing her excitement in a picture.

She made a side trip to the pet store and found a backpack that she could carry G around in.

Best of all, there was nothing wrong with the world today. The skies were blue and the weather was fine. Her friends were loving and her home was comfortable.

Yes, there was nothing wrong.

“G!”

Hakuno opened the door, finding her companion sprinting over to her. At the sight of his excitement, Hakuno couldn’t help but dump her things on the floor and pick the cat up instead.

Her lips pressed to his head. Her arms held the cat close, showing a little love here and there to him.

Tonight, she reasoned, they were going to be dining like kings.

There were endless shows that they watched with one another after she got them both something to have for dinner. Her cat was cuddling closer, pawing at her aimlessly whenever she tried to move too much.

“You really like laying on me, don’t you?”

G simply meowed at her, curling up more against her person.

This was fine.

This was entirely fine.

With G at her side, there was little she was concerned about.

I did the right thing.

The only thing wrong was she wished she’d gotten to at least learn the name of the incredibly handsome blond who would now haunt her memories.

Back to the bathroom they went after falling asleep on the couch.

Hakuno watched happily as G hopped onto her counter and simply purred away. He was the biggest fan of the blowdryer. The fact that he seemed to behave so well as a cat only made her laugh.

“Are you being sweet to me because I’m your owner or because you want something?”

G meowed.

She was loved.

Laughing, she carried her hairy cloud of a cat to bed and spoiled him with a few more treats from the kitchens.

If she was going to spoil herself with treats and nice things, then she’d spoil him as well.

 “If only you were human,” Hakuno told her beloved cat. “I’d probably just marry you and we’d spoil one another with food.”

Her cat licked her face, making her smile a bit more and hold the cat closer.

“I love you too, G.” 

[spiderman-homecomeme]

lovely weather (for a sleigh ride together)

my secret santa present for @scoliatrash! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, my dear!! I hope you enjoy all the fluffy, cheesy goodness!! Have an amazing day! <3

@spideychellesecretsanta​

“Remind me again–and this is in no way me saying that I don’t wanna go–but… why exactly are we doing this?”

Peter shifts slightly under MJ’s gaze from the passenger seat, the car suddenly feeling approximately a thousand degrees hotter. He chuckles, then clears his throat, his hands flexing against the still-cold steering wheel, hoping he doesn’t seem as nervous as he feels. 

But keeping his eyes trained to the winding roads in front of them, drumming his thumbs at ten and two, he finally glances over. 

“…Because.”

Yup. 

Totally inconspicuous.

He’s never acted more naturally in his life. 

Her expression falls as she fixes him with a deadpan stare. 

A light laugh bubbles up out of him all on it’s own. “Because….” He repeats himself, voice trailing off, mentally scrambling to find anything that wasn’t the real reason for this two-and-a-half hour journey into the country. “I thought it would be fun!” He finally spits out, though he doesn’t relax just yet. From the corner of his eye, he can see MJ staring, sizing him up, calculating. 

For some reason–gee, wonder what it could be–he feels compelled to just keep talking. “Plus! You said you’d never been on a sleigh ride before–like a real one, with jingles bells and everything–so, I thought, well, we absolutely had to fix that.”

Which wasn’t technically a lie. Peter thought a ride in a how-ever-many-horse open sleigh was something everyone had to experience at least once in their life. Sitting bundled up with loved ones in the back of the sleigh, the cold winter wind biting at your cheeks and nose, oh-so-festive ringing of the sleigh bells, the horses’ hooves in the snow–it was something you just couldn’t experience the same way without getting out of the city. 

Ben and May had taken him once, a long time ago, when he was just a kid. They hadn’t done it again, being as even just an hour ride can cost more the Parker’s could afford, but it’s a memory that always brings a fuzzy warmth to his chest. It’s something that he’ll always treasure, something that he’ll always be grateful for. 

But, sound as all that was, it wasn’t the real reason. 

No, the real reason was currently in a tiny black velvet box nestled deep in his pocket. 

MJ didn’t need to know that. 

But it wasn’t as if his proposal was going to be a surprise by any means. For months, even years now, they’d talked about marriage. There was a whole timeline and everything. Year four into the relationship, they moved in together, and now it had been nearly a year and a half of that. Engagement, they’d decided, would come towards the end of undergrad. Then, there would be another two-ish years of wedding planning before the big event would actually take place. 

Obviously, this wasn’t a strict timeline by any means; in fact, it acted as more of a guideline, something they could loosely follow. They’d already broken it once, moving in together six months after they’d originally planned to, so an engagement just before their last semester starts was still in the ballpark.

Now, MJ had expressed before that he didn’t have to propose at all, that she would be perfectly fine with just going out to buy a ring together, posting on instagram or something, and calling it good. 

But, on the other hand she also knew that Peter would want to do something more… well, grand.

Which she was also perfectly fine with. 

All that mattered to her was being engaged to Peter. Why, where, or how that happened? She couldn’t care less. 

Even then, however, as much as she loved and sometimes tolerated Peter, there were still some rules. 

But…

Peter was willing to chance it. More than willing. In fact, this was the type of proposal he knows for a fact that she’d be 100% okay with, even with the conditions.

One, MJ loves animals. All animals. Each and every one. There’s not a dog, cat, hamster, guinea pig, bird, lizard, or bug she didn’t like, or that didn’t like her.  

“They’re better than people,” she’d once said, holding her grandmother’s wild-eyed tabby in her arms, the normally overly grumbly cat purring contentedly. She just had a way with the world’s furry, feathery, and scaly friends--something he’d seen all those years ago with the terrifying pigeons in Venice. 

Two, and this was important, this would not technically be in public, or in front of her family, two of the only conditions MJ had set for this. 

No crowds.

No getting down on one knee at Thanksgiving or Christmas. Or any major holiday for that matter.

Or her birthday. 

No ifs, ands, or buts.

And it--this proposal, right here, today--was neither of those things. The only audience they’d have being the one driving the sleigh, a lovely old man (a one Mr. Matthews) that Peter briefly talked on the phone with about this whole thing. Sure the older fellow was excited about the prospect of a young love, a new engagement, but it was clear that this wasn’t really something he was going to lose his mind about. 

“Hmm.” He hears her hum quietly as she angles her body forward, though she doesn’t seem to accept his answer, and rightly so. 

It’s odd; he fully expects her to keep poking at him, to ask him why he’s being so weird or, “weirder than normal,” even though she probably has an inkling as to why he’s acting so strange. 

And honestly, at this point, he’s almost 60% sure she knows exactly what’s going on. 

Oh well.

But surprisingly, she doesn’t grill him for the rest of the drive. Instead, they sit in a comfortable (well, at least she’s comfortable) silence, just enjoying the beauty of the emerging country around them, thankful for the cleared roads as the snow falls peacefully outside. 

Though, as beautiful as it is, that ring in his pocket is making him feel like his stomach is about to fall right out of his ass.

He almost–almost–relaxes when he sees the rustic wooden sign at the top of the hill, knowing that soon he’ll be able to get out of the car. But then, when they actually pull in and park, when they actually step out into the cold winter air again, that feeling comes right back. It annoyingly stays when they enter the main building to check in, when Mr. Matthews leads them to the stables and to the sleigh lead by two large brown horses

He almost doesn’t hear the driver telling them the mares’ names over the sound of his own heartbeat thumping in his ears. 

“Meet Juniper and Peanut,” the old man says, warmth in his tone as he moves to adjust the sleigh bells on the collars. 

“Oh my God, they’re so fuzzy…” MJ, in awe at the massive animals, mutters under her breath, close to Peter’s ear. 

“Yeah…” Peter agrees, his voice breathy, as he scratches the back of his neck. 

Without any prompt from either her boyfriend or their driver, Michelle walks up to the animals, hand carefully held out as she allows the two horses to smell her first. 

“Now, Juni here is a bit more of a grump. Bit more aloof. But Peanut, she loves pets. And treats. More than anything.”

Michelle huffs out in slight amusement, nodding once in understanding, though not looking away from the two horses. 

Juniper sniffs once before glancing away, her curiosity gone almost immediately and replaced with moderate disinterest, while Peanut revels in the attention, pushing her nose into MJ’s outstretched hand.

And again, Peter just about forgets why he’s so nervous, becoming too distracted by the soft smile on his girlfriend’s face, the way that expression breaks into a toothy grin when the other, more emotionally distant mare starts to gently nudge her arm for the same attention. 

Though that brief moment of internal calm is shattered by Mr. Matthews ushering them into the back of the sleigh. 

“You know, I’ve actually never been around horses before?” MJ asks as they climb into their seats, the driver reaching back to hand them a thick wool blanket for the ride. 

“Really?” Peter asks, the knot in his stomach still ever present. 

Mr. Matthews urges the horses onward and into the snow with a soft click and a flick of the reins.

MJ nods, scratching at her eyes. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure my last experience with them was that cartoon horse movie Matt Damon was in, like, forever ago.”

Peter’s brows crinkle in slight confusion and faint recognition. 

She answers her own unasked question before he can even open his mouth to speak. “Spirit.” She snaps her fingers “That’s the one.”

In spite of his nerves, he can’t help but laugh at that, though he can’t help but notice that slight chatter of her teeth when she speaks as they ride out into the farm. 

“You cold?” He asks, maybe a little bit dumbly.

She shakes her head. “Nuh uh.” A shiver. “This weather is just lovely.”

He chuckles lightly, and wordlessly, he scoots closer to her, taking her hand in his and interlocking their gloved fingers together, his heart soaring at the comforting warmth that comes from just how grand it feels. 

While it is the perfect weather for a two-horse sleigh, the winter chilled air nipping at his face, his cheeks, his nose, turning them a shade of red (one that he knows Michelle would probably tell him was “cute”)... it almost would have been too much for him. 

But again, there was a reason they were here, and besides, with MJ... 

He wasn’t gonna let this cold bother him. 

He gets this uncontrollable, dumb grin on his face, and he snuggles closer to her. 

“Lovely with you.”

To that, she fakes a gag, sniffling slightly as she tries to pull her hand away from his. “Ugh, gross.”

“Oh, sorry. I’ll stop. I’ll stop,” he gives the empty promise, throwing her a sly wink before squeezing her hand. 

A few beats of a peaceful quiet pass, the only sounds being the ringing of the bells and the crunch of snow. The snow falls around them in delicate, fluffy flakes, the stray ones being caught in his girlfriend’s curls. 

She leans her head against his, and he can almost feel her soft smile as he leans right back. 

“Is it okay if I sing a carol, or something?” Peter asks, the humor in his tone earning him a light smack on the arm. 

MJ sits back up, her glare almost menacing, save for the twitch of a barely amused smile tugging at the corner of her lips. She opens her mouth to speak, but is suddenly overcome, her eyes screwing shut, with a powerful--

“ACHOO!”

Peter nearly jumps. “Bless you?”

“Thanks.” MJ clears her throat, sniffling again. 

And it’s amazing that Peter hadn’t noticed in the nearly ten minutes they’d been in the sleigh; the whites of her eyes were almost entirely red, the bags under them slightly puffy. “You good?” He asks.

“Yeah!” MJ lies. “Yeah! I’m good. Just... some.... uh, sniffles. I guess.” She sneezes into the crook of her arm again. “Or, I don’t know, maybe it’s a minor allergic reaction to something. It’s fine.”

Peter wracked his brain for what that allergy could be; it wasn’t nuts, that he definitely knew, being one, that she didn’t have a history with that, and two, they hadn’t eaten anything of the sort. Dogs and cats were out of the question... so was... basically everything else... but...

The loud whinny of one of the mares cuts through his little internal monologue. 

Ah ha!

“Are you allergic to horses?”

MJ’s lips quirk into a quick frown and she shrugs, sniffling again. “Maybe?”

“Can you be allergic to horses?”

“You can be allergic to anything.”

Very true. 

And just like that, the guilt hits him like a train, seeing MJ suddenly looking so incredibly miserable and tired, sounding so congested, all because of his big, stupid, grand plan of proposing on what was supposed to be a romantic sleigh ride. 

“Don’t you dare apologize,” MJ cuts in before he can even think so say anything.

He opens his mouth to speak, dumbfounded. 

She continues. “It’s fine!” Sniffle. Sneeze. “It’s honestly fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Peter’s quiet for a moment, offering a silent, conceding nod.

His brow furrows in thought as he bites at the inside of his lip; he can’t in good conscience keep her out here just so he can carry out this little fairytale proposal he’d had thought out for so many months. It wouldn’t be right. She didn’t need him asking her to spend the rest of her life with him; she needed to go home, take some benadryl, maybe have some herbal tea, and get in bed. 

Another day, perhaps.

“Do you wanna go back?” He finally asks, defeated. 

She starts to shake her head before he even finishes that question, clearing her scratchy, barb-wire throat. “No! This was what…. 200 dollars? We’re not going back just because I can’t handle a little horse dander.”

“...Are you sure?”

“Yes.” She grabs his hand again, pulling him back to her. “Now, calm down, Mother Hen, I’ll be okay.”

It takes some major coaxing on MJ’s part, but Peter does eventually come around, his worried, fleeing glances finally stopping after a few more minutes of dashing through the snow. For a moment, he thinks that maybe the plan, the entire day, hasn’t been ruined at all. Maybe this could all still work. 

It’s all so enchanting, and they both seem to forget about the funny little allergies that came out of nowhere. They brace themselves as the sleigh nears the top of a small hill, and Mr. Matthews throws a playful warning over his shoulder. The couple laughs again, holding each other tight as the horses pick up speed on the way down, the wind whistling right past them, snowflakes covering their faces. The shimmering snow around them is nearly blinding, a stark contrast to the deep green of the surrounding trees. 

Peter hears Mr. Matthews’ “Giddy-up!” followed by Michelle’s joyful, exhilarated holler as they descend another small slope; his heart nearly bursts at the wide, uninhibited smile plastered on her face. 

When they come upon a clearing, and the horses slow to a gentle walk, Peter knows, right then and there, that it’s time. That this is right. Allergies be damned.

Oh, good God. 

“MJ,” he says without even giving it another thought, immediately turning to face her, his expression serious. 

He swallows as she waits for him to speak, eyes slightly wide. “What’s up?”

This was a lot easier said than done…

Clearing his throat, he briefly looks down at their joined hands. “MJ,” he says again.

“Yes?” Her head tilts a fraction as she glances from side to side, growing more and more confused by his strange behavior by the second. 

“I--” He sighs, finally keeping his gaze on hers, willing himself to just keep going. 

He wasn’t sure why he was so nervous. It wasn’t as if she would actually say, “no.” Again, this was something they’d talked about for months and months. This was something they both knew that the other wanted. 

He knew how she felt about him, and vice versa. 

So what was he so damn scared of? What was it that was making him feel like that terrified, hormonal teenage kid all over again?

When he looks up at her, though, and his eyes meet her red puffy ones, and he sees the way she’s looking at him (albeit, she’s still a little confused, but it’s a loving confused), he finds that maybe it’s not so scary. 

“MJ, I--I love you. A lot.”

She snorts. “And I love you. A lot.”

Her eyes widen as he gets down from his seat and on one knee, something that doesn’t seem to comfortable in the back of the sleigh. 

His gaze never leaves hers as he continues. “You’re my best friend in the whole world, and I wanna spend the rest of my life with you. And--”

He’s cut off with another big sneeze. 

“Sorry! Sorry!” She hastily says, waving him on to continue.

Peter chuckles. “It’s fine. I know this kind of thing didn’t really matter to you--how it happens or when or whatever… Like we could have just done this in our kitchen and we’d be happy but--” He laughs at himself, shaking his head. “But you, uh, kinda gave me free rein on this so--”

One of his hands goes to his pocket, smile never leaving his face as he grabs…

Nothing.

Nothing in the right pocket. 

Instantly, his brows pinch together in confusion, lips twisting into a frown as he feels around the pocket again. 

MJ seems to have been holding her breath this whole time, staring down at him with a quizzical quirk of her brow. 

Peter looks up at her, smiling sheepishly with a nervous chuckle. “Uh, hold on.”

He checks the left pocket. 

Nothing.

That little velvet box, the one with the very expensive engagement ring, had somehow fallen out of his coat.

It was there earlier! He was sure of it! He held it in the car just before they’d left! Where could it have gone?

“Everything good?” He hears MJ’s voice cut through his panicked, scrambling mind. 

“Uh… No, not really.” His voice might be a little too calm, or at least trying to be. “I was, uh, going to propose... But… I think I lost the ring?”

MJ only nods, lips pressed together in a thin line, though she doesn’t seem upset or disappointed. 

“I had it… in my pocket. In the car! And when we got in the sleigh, I’m… I’m sure of it. Oh, God…” He moves to sit next to her, burying his head in his hands. “I’m so sorry, MJ. I had this whole plan… and the ring… it was so pretty and cool… and I was gonna propose--”

“Let’s find it then,” MJ suggests calmly, putting an arm around him. 

“I’m so sorry, Em…”

“Don’t be sorry,” she sniffs. “It’s okay. We’ll find it!”

Peter wants to believe her, he really does, but he can’t help but feel like losing this ring was just a sign that his original plan was, well, the wrong one. 

He knows in the end that it doesn’t matter how they get engaged, that they don’t need a ring or a pretty proposal. 

But he can’t help, even knowing that his damn Parker luck might have reared it’s stupid head again, but feel that surprising defeat slam him right in the chest at something failing so spectacularly. That something could have gone so incredibly wrong. 

“Okay,” he mutters under his breath, leaning into her comforting touch. 

Mr. Matthews was an absolute saint, taking an alternate route back to the farm, ending the ride early so that they could look for the ring. He had his farm hands and employees practically turn the property inside out, looking through the fields, the barn, the very trail they were on. 

But they were all coming up empty. 

No one could have stolen it; Peter may have been a dumbass, but he would have known if he had been pickpocketed. 

Soon, early in the evening, the sun begins to fall, the sky darkening, forcing the diligent search to end. 

Honestly, though, of all the ways this could have possibly gone wrong, having to comb an entire 200 acre farm for a small rock on a piece of white gold was not something he’d drawn up in his millions of disaster scenarios. 

Peter waits in the car as Michelle continues talking to Mr. Matthews and the other workers. He can’t help but bang his head against the steering wheel, sighing to himself, muttering what an absolute idiot he was. 

And his hand are absolutely freezing from digging through all the snow.

He’s not sure he’s ever felt more dumb. 

Scratch that.

After he see that flash of velvet under his car seat, after he reaches down and finds that damn box with the ring safe inside under his car seat--

Then he’s never felt more dumb. 

Oh no. 

It had fallen out of his pocket. 

In the car. 

Under his car seat.

He stays in stunned silence as MJ gets back in the car, waving at the kind farmers before shutting her door. 

She immediately feels his tension, noticing his silence. “What?”

He wordlessly holds the box out to her before going back to his head on the steering wheel, only just resting it this time. 

“Oh…” Is her only response as she takes the box from him, opening it slowly. Her breath catches in her throat at the ring before her; instead of a crisp, white diamond, it looks like a smoky white sapphire, the gray color shining prettily in the moonlight. 

He still doesn’t speak though, his defeat too strong. 

“You found it!” She offers, though he gives nothing but a quiet “yep,” in response. 

“In the car?”

He nods. 

A beat passes. 

“You want me to go tell them you found it in those trees over there?”

Finally, that earns her the minuscule quirk of a smile. He nods again, not moving from the steering wheel. 

She leaves without another question, ring box in hand, only to return moments later, Peter paying no attention to the blast of cold coming into the car as she gets back in. 

He honestly, truly, cannot believe that this happened. 

And now, he’s just embarrassed. 

A heavy silence falls over the car once again, and Peter has to wrestle with the urge to just smack himself on the head. He wants to go home, but can’t find it in himself to even start the damn car. 

“Hey.”

He hears her voice, encouraging him to look up at her. He does, finding her holding the open ring box out to him, a slight tilt to her head, her lips pulled back in a warm, playful smirk. She sniffles, rubbing at her eyes with her free hand, before looking at him again. 

He’s almost confused, about to ask what she’s doing, but she doesn’t give him the chance. 

“Marry me?” She asks, holding the ring out further to him.

Truly, it’s a wonder to him how MJ can make him smile, make him laugh, make him happy, no matter how stressed or upset he is. 

“Of course.”

She offers him the box, and he takes it with another chuckle, taking the ring from inside and placing it gently on her finger. 

“Oh wait,” She pulls her hand back, snorting awkwardly. “I was supposed to put it on yours right?”

And the grin that stretches across his face is uncontrollable as he closes his eyes, shaking his head at himself. 

He really does love her. 

So damn much. 

With that, a ring on her finger and his spirits brightened once again, as the snow falls gently on the windows, the soft gusts of wind quietly howling outside the car, he pulls her into a warm, loving kiss. 

Lovely weather, indeed.

[the--sad--hatter]

Phantom Pain (12)

FANDOM - MARVEL MCU

PAIRING - Bucky X Reader

WARNINGS - Bad Habits and Rough Sex, Angsty and Dark AF. 

DESCRIPTION -  Everybody in the world knew of you, but not who you really were. Some called you a vigilante, some called you a criminal and some called you a hero but all of them called you The Phantom. Only two people knew your real identity and they swore to never tell anyone but when The Avengers need to infiltrate a high-security facility, Bruce Banner deduces that you’re the only one who can pull it off. That decision puts you and Bucky Barnes on a path you can’t turn back from, even if neither of like where it’s leading.

Series Masterlist

Chapter Twelve - Mischief, Magic and Ghosts 

It was really hard to concentrate on what you were saying when Bucky Barnes was sat in your armchair gazing intently at you as you told him the full story of how you had become The Phantom.

“You locked yourself in the chamber? You didn’t consider letting one of the two superhero’s handle it?” He growled.

“I asked them to come, I couldn’t get them killed for trying to help me and I couldn’t let innocent people die because of something my family built.” You said reasonably.

Bucky’s mind turned over all the facts and he realised that yet again, everything he thought he knew about you was all wrong. You weren’t a spoilt brat like he’d assumed, you weren’t a badass vigilante like he’d thought. You were a ridiculously brave person who’d sacrificed your life to save others and when you’d ended up with extraordinary abilities you hadn’t hesitated to constantly throw yourself into dangerous situations because you didn’t want to waste those gifts.

“Oh no. You’re Steve.” He groaned.

“I’m who now?” You asked, extremely offended.

“You’re all bravery and no brains.” He said, throwing his head back in frustration.

Frank used the new angle to sniff curiously at Bucky’s hair and you narrowed your eyes at the furball of deception.

“You need to tell Steve everything.” Bucky insisted, reaching up to scratch between Franks ears.

“I’m not telling Captain Asshat anything. Five of The Avengers already know I’m The Phantom, that’s more than enough.” You said.

“Five?”

“Besides you, Tony and Bruce, Natasha figured it out and I just gave up and told Clint.” You admitted.

Frank chirped happily as Bucky scratched a particularly good spot and you lost it.

“How are you doing that?” You demanded, standing up and stomping over to check Frank for telltale signs of having been replaced by a robot cat or something to explain his behaviour.

Bucky sat up and smirked at you and you realised you’d placed yourself directly between his knees.

“I’m good with cats. And you do need to tell Steve, he’s got you all wrong. We all did.”

“My being The Phantom or how I got that way changes nothing, I’m still me.” You insisted.

Bucky stood up abruptly and for a brief second you were pressed together before you took a step back quickly and he followed. He backed you up all the way over to the couch and the backs of your knees hit the sofa and you sat down, bouncing on the cushion a little.

“The fact it changes nothing in your mind is why it changes everything.” He said cryptically.

You battled with the blush trying to paint your features as he hooked a finger under your chin and tilted your head so you were looking up his perfect body to meet his intense gaze.

“I won’t tell him until you’re ready but you have to tell him sooner or later.” Bucky said and released you and took a step back.

You released a breath you hadn’t even known you were holding in as he left the room, the door closing with a depressing finality behind him. Frank yowled in displeasure and you shakily drew your legs under yourself and silently agreed with the disappointed cat.

Bucky leaned against your door for a second in the hallway to centre himself. The way you’d sat there, so plaint and soft in front of him and looked up at him with those wide eyes filled with trust was too much for him and he’d needed to escape before the last drop of blood rushed from his head. If he’d left it even a second longer you’d have definitely noticed the tightness in his jeans.

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

“Oooh, soup. Does that mean there’s bread?” You asked as you pottered into the kitchen.

Wanda smiled up at you warmly as you started sniffing around her where she was taking the loaf out of the oven.

“There is, Mr West taught me how to make it.” She preened.

“West makes the best bread.” You said excitedly.

“I know we have met but I don’t know if you remember, it has been an eventful few days,” She said nervously and you grinned brightly at her.

“I remember, who could forget you?” You joked and she smiled but the nervous look in her eye gave her away.

“That’s a good thing, trust me. West thinks so as well, he doesn’t give up his bread recipe for just anyone.” You assured her and the way her eyes lit up was breathtaking.

She cut into the loaf with a small, happy grin on her face.

“Will you be joining us for dinner?” She asked hopefully.

“I’m starving. Can I help with anything?” You asked.

“No!” She exclaimed in a hurry and immediately looked bashful at her outburst as she bit her lip and tried not to laugh.

“West told stories about my kitchen adventures didn’t he?” You asked and she nodded as passed you a heavily buttered slice of fresh bread.

It was still warm and the butter had melted into it, it looked and smelt heavenly and was a very effective distraction. You made obscene sounds as you bit into it and Wanda giggled at you.

“Well what have we here?” Someone said from right behind you and you turned your head and looked up. And up again.

Loki was smirking down at you with a mischievous twinkle in his eye and you gulped down your mouthful of bread and bit into the slice again shamelessly.

“You must be Miss King.” Loki purred, looking you up and down flirtatiously.

“Loki! Leave her alone.” Wanda chastised and you raised an amused brow.

When Loki had joined The Avengers it had been a global topic, some people were on his side and some weren’t. You had figured The Avengers wouldn’t have let him join if they didn’t trust him.

“I’m just introducing myself.” He defended innocently.

“Really? That’s just an introduction? What happens if you actually try to flirt, spontaneous ovary combustion?” You joked.

“Would you like to find out?” He asked.

“Kinda.” You admitted and he looked slightly taken aback at your answer before his smile widened.

“I do love a woman who is so... transparent.” He said heavily.

Six, six Avengers who knew who you were. Though you weren’t entirely shocked by this one, he had seen right through your invisibility at the warehouse.

“PRINCESS!” Tony’s outraged voice thundered through the compound.

“Uh, you haven’t seen me.” You said and disappeared.

“What’s going......... on?” Wanda asked, turning to you and frowning when you weren’t there.

Loki hadn’t taken his eyes off you and looked amused as Tony stormed into the kitchen.

“Where is she?” Tony demanded.

“Where is who?” Loki asked coolly.

“Princess. Her and Romanoff locked me in a cell and tortured me all afternoon. Being tied up by two beautiful women is supposed to be much more fun that it was.”  

“I haven’t seen her, I think Natasha’s in the armoury though.”Wanda said helpfully.

“Yeah, cause I’m going to confront Nat.” Tony scoffed.

“You aren’t as afraid of Miss King as you are of Miss Romanoff?” Loki asked casually.

“One is a deadly assassin and the other is a Park Avenue Princess.” Tony pointed out.

“Are you really not afraid of me Snark?” You whispered in Tony’s ear.

He jumped so high he almost hit the ceiling.

“Tony? Are you alright?” Wand asked in concern.

“What? Fine.” He squeaked out.

“For the record, my hand is literally inside your chest right now. Shall we find out if Tony Stark has a heart after all?” You said quietly.

“I’ve got to go!” Tony exclaimed and bolted.

Loki chuckled and Wanda looked perplexed.

“What was wrong with him?” She asked.

“No idea.” You said and reappeared.

Wanda was startled by your sudden reappearance and gaped at you. You winked at her and bit into the piece of bread you’d stolen while invisible.

“Are you The Phantom?” She asked.

“Yeah, but it’s a huge secret so you can’t tell anybody.” You sniggered.

That made Seven.

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

When Wanda had asked if you were joining them for dinner you hadn’t realised she meant everybody. You sat back in your chair and watched in amusement as The Avengers all drifted into the room. Vision kept glancing at you and you grinned at him. And that was Eight.

“Yes, I can walk through walls as well.” You confirmed.

Wanda had already asked you if she could please tell Vision and could you explain that just because you didn’t need to use a door, it was still polite to use one.

“Fascinating. Would it be rude of me to ask you for a demonstration at some point?” He asked politely.

“Not at all, we can compare after dinner if you want?” You offered.

You were actually curious, you hadn’t met anyone who could do anything similar to you before. You wondered what would happen if you and Vision tried to phase through each other at the same time.  

“I would like that.” He said, smiling happily over at Wanda who shot the two of you a thumbs up as two tall figures came into the kitchen.

“Your highness! I am Thor, King of Asgard.” The large Blonde god exclaimed, grabbing your hand with surprising gentleness and bestowing a kiss upon it.

“She’s not royalty you buffoon.” Loki said in exasperation.

“Shhhhh, yes I am.” You insisted, fluttering your eyelashes at Thor.

“Do forgive my brother, This is Loki, Prince of Asgard.” Thor said.

“Oh we’ve met.” Loki smirked.

“Yes, we have. He said hello and now I’m pregnant.” You told Thor in mock seriousness.

“Loki!” Thor looked aghast.

“She’s jesting with you brother.” Loki said, rolling his eyes at Thor and draping himself on the seat next to yours.

Thor looked between you and Loki suspiciously.

“You are friends?” He asked.

“Yeah.” You said casually.

Loki turned his head to look at you without changing his bored expression at all.

“Friends. Yes, we are. Happy now Thor?” Loki asked.

“I am!” Thor boomed.

“Ow.” You said under your breath, leaning away from the exuberant blonde giant.

“You get used to it.” Loki assured you.

“You highness, might my brother and I sit by you?” Thor asked politely.

“Yes, you may your Majesty.” you said, pushing the chair on your other side out for him.

Natasha and Clint wandered in, whispering about something to each other and from the furtive glances that Clint kept shooting at you, you guessed you were somehow involved.

Steve, Bucky and Sam walked in behind them and you gaped. Once again, Frank was perched on Bucky’s shoulder. Steve kept glancing warily at the content cat that was looking around the room with disdain.

“Frank, you lucky little bastard.” You whispered, forgetting that most of the people in the room had super hearing.

“You wanna sit on my shoulders Domniţă?” Bucky asked with an infuriating smirk as he sat down directly across from you.

Steve managed to choke on air and Sam sniggered at the three of you. Loki decided to drape his arm across the back of your chair and Bucky glared at his hand. Frank leapt off Bucky’s shoulder onto the table and sat on Steve’s empty plate. You wondered if you should high five the cat or would that be too childish.

“Miss King.” Steve said in a strained voice.

“Yes Captain?” You said sweetly.

“Could you move your cat?” He asked.

“Frank, move.” You ordered.

As you expected, nothing happened.

“Sorry, I tried.” You said, shrugging.

“He’s a menace. He’s violent and stubborn.” Steve insisted.

“He’s an independent cat who shows his love in subtle ways.” You protested.

“He’s rather cute.” Thor said, reaching over to pick Frank up by the scruff of the neck and quickly dropping him when the cat yowled loudly and swiped at Thor’s arm. The cat scampered onto your lap and glared at the God of Thunder.

“Very violent.” Thor agreed, nodding at Steve.

“Well you’d probably scratch someone if they tried to pick you up by the scruff of the neck.” You defended.

“That is true. My apologies Brother Frank, it was shameful of me to try and pick such a fierce warrior like yourself in such an undignified way.” Thor said solemnly to Frank, who was ignoring him in favour of licking his paw.

“I like him. He reminds me of someone.” Clint said, ducking unsuccessfully out of the way of Natasha’s cuff to the back of his head.

Someone kicked your foot and you glanced across the table at Bucky who was looking at you.

“What?” You mouthed silently.

He shrugged nonchalontley and kicked your foot again. You narrowed your eyes and tried to kick him back but he caught your foot between his own and smirked. You wished you could ghost individual body parts but if you tried to free yourself that way you’d end up falling through the chair. It had taken you a long time and an embarrassing number of incidents to figure out how to phase without falling through the floor.

You settled for turning to Loki and ignoring Bucky.

“Alright, the party is here. We can begin now.” Tony called loudly as he waltzed into the room, Bruce tagging along behind him.

As soon as Tony sat down at the head of the table several phone’s went off in unison and Steve, Natasha and Tony checked all their ringing phones. Steve read his message and stood up, glaring down at you.

“Whatever it was, I didn’t do it.” You instinctevally said, holding your hands up in surrender.

“Steve.” Natasha warned lowly.

“Princess, Bruce, come with me.” Tony said, getting up and dragging you away from the table urgently.

“What the hell? What’s going on?” You demanded, shrugging your arm out of Tony’s grip.

“Alexander King just escaped from government custody.” Steve snapped.

“What?” You gasped.

“It says you visited him this afternoon, hours before he escaped.” Steve said coldly.

“Cap, back down. I was with her.” Natasha said.

“Were you in the room with her the whole time?” Steve asked.

“It doesn’t matter, she didn’t do it. She wouldn’t.” Tony snapped.

“How sure are you of that really?” Steve asked him.

“As sure as you were that Barnes didn’t bomb the UN.” Tony snapped, standing in front of you protectively.

“Cap, she did not do it. Take my word for it, I trust her.” Bruce said, standing up and coming to stand beside Tony.

“She turns up out of nowhere, leads us to Hydra, helps us arrest her father and the next day visits him just before he breaks out of a secure government facility. Why am I the only one who thinks this is a little suspicious?”

You didn’t say a word to defend yourself, you couldn’t. You couldn’t even think straight. You barely even registered Bucky standing up and trying to calm Steve down.

“How has she got everyone here falling for her innocent act? She’s lying and I’m the only one who seems to be able to see it. She has to have helped King break out, it’s the only explanation.”

“He’s right.” You sighed.

“So you admit it? You helped him.” Steve confirmed.

“No. I hate him, I wouldn’t help him even if he wasn’t Hydra.” You snarled.

“He’s your father, you expect me to buy that his lack of attention is enough for you to turn on him?”

“No he...”

“He what? What possible excuse can you come up with that would make me believe for a second that you are on our side?” Steve asked.

“Just let me...”

“Let you lie more? There’s something going on with you and there has been since you walked in here and I want to know what it is.”

“Oh for fuck sake.” You snapped and walked through Tony and Bruce, as in right through them.

“I’m The Phantom and I hate my father because he killed me. He built a bomb that blew me up and turned me into a ghost and I’ve been trying to bring him down for all the things he’s done. I knew he was corrupt but I didn’t know he was Hydra. And I’m not a computer hacker. Well done, you caught me out.” You yelled.

“You’re The Phantom of New York City?” Steve breathed out in shock.

“Yes!” Bruce, Tony, Natasha, Clint, Wanda, Vision Loki and Bucky all said in unison.

“Oh. I’m a huge fan of your work.” Steve said.

“Huh?”

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

Reader: Frank is an asshole. Anyone Else: Yeah, he is. Reader: hOW daRe yOU?

So a LOT went down in this chapter.... From Bucky's boner, Wanda being adorable, Loki getting reader pregnant, Thor being Thor, Bucky playing footsie and Steve.... well. I hope you enjoyed my third chapter of the day? And oh yeah, dad is free!!!

You can ask to be added to or removed from tags at any time folks, just comment or inbox :D @drdorkus @gravedollie666 @sadsoldat @bigplantdaddy @moodyruth @likes-to-smell-books @shirukitsune @inquisitor-selvala  @myfandomlife-blog @markusstraya @adeleoctobre @vajeenparty @sexyvixen7  @love-nakamura  @buckitybarnes @littledeadrottinghood @pinkisokay @jsmith509 @brownlee-22 @angieptt  @thosesexytexasboys @liveonce-sodoitright @tarastudiesalot @spnrvt @dahkness @dilaila95 @rororo06 @mizzzpink @release-the-cathyrchkn @thefridgeismybestie  @fairislesheets @strangersstranger @life-wanderer @uuuuuuuuggggghhh @curiositykilledthepepe @musingpredilection  @boxofteenageideas @thelostallycat @demonlover87 @cutie1365 @mcuthemusical

[immortal-imagines]

Here to Stay

Summary: Imagine being Rogers sister and the boys come to stay with you while they’re on tour. A certain guitar player begins to pay an interest in you during their stay.

(Brian May x Reader)

Warnings: Lots of fluff

Word Count: 1,096

A/N: I’ve not written for Queen before, but as a massive fan, I’d love to write more about them so please send in requests! I hope you enjoy this one!

A knock at your door disturbed you from the book you were reading. It was a Friday night and you had no plans, so had decided to snuggle up in your pyjamas with a blanket and a book.

You put the book on the coffee table in front of you and got to your feet. ‘Who’s at my door at 10pm?’ you thought.

“Evening, little sis,” Roger grinned, planting a kiss on your head, ruffling your hair and pushing his way into your house. Freddie, Brian and John followed, each nodding hello as they passed.

“Rog… Wha… Wait, what’s going on here? Not that I’m not incredibly happy to see you.” You looked bewildered between the boys, who had suitcases now sitting at their feet.

“We’ve come to stay with my delightful sister!” Roger replied, holding his arms out.

“Could have down with a bit of notice,” you said, pulling your pyjama shorts down and running your fingers through your hair. “I wasn’t prepared for visitors.”

“Sorry to barge in, darling,” Freddie said. He pulled you into a hug and kissed your cheek. “But it is truly wonderful to see you. We’ve missed you awfully.”

“It’s good to see you too, Fred,” you smiled, “And you guys.” You hugged John and Brian in turn. Brian looked away, not making eye contact, and you raised an eyebrow, confused. Roger chuckled, but quickly resumed a poker face when he saw you looking.

“Well, I don’t have a lot of room here. I don’t know where you’re all planning on sleeping. How long are you staying for?”

“Just a couple of weeks,” Roger said.

“If that’s alright?” Brian added. He looked worried.

“Yes, of course that’s fine! It’ll be great to have you guys around. It gets a bit boring on my own,” you said, “Oh, that reminds me! Freddie, I have someone I’d like you to meet.”

You disappeared into the bedroom and returned with a tiny black and white kitten in your arms. “I picked her up from a shelter last week. Her name is Bo.”

Freddie’s face lit up and he immediately took the small cat from you. “Aren’t you beautiful,” Freddie cooed, moving to sit on the sofa. He’d be lost for hours now.

“Bo? Nice touch,” John smirked.

“What can I say? I’m a huge fan,” you shrugged.

~

You’d found every blanket, pillow and duvet in your house and dragged them into the office and living room. Freddie was on the camping bed in the living room, with Roger on the sofa. John and Brian had a duvet each on the office floor. They’d said they would switch between who had to sleep on the floor, but you doubted Freddie would give up his bed.

You actually found it really fun living with the boys. It gave you a bit of company and you got to listen to them rehearsing. It would have been perfect, were it not for the fact that one band member had been acting very odd around you.

Freddie, Brian and John had gone to the supermarket to pick up some supplies, whilst Roger stayed behind to help you tidy the house. Living with four boys meant there was a considerable amount of mess.

“Can I ask you a question, Rog?” you said, as you wiped the coffee table free of rings.

“You just did,” he teased. You rolled your eyes.

“I’m serious.”

“Fine, what is it?”

“Does Brian hate me?”

Roger got a strange look on his face. His cheeks turned a little red and he was biting his lip, as if to supress a smile. It didn’t work. He burst out laughing, so much so he had to wipe a tear from his eye. You folded your arms and scowled at him. “What’s so funny?”

“Brian doesn’t hate you, you doughnut!” Roger poked your arm, “Isn’t it obvious?” You raised an eyebrow, giving him a look that clearly indicated it wasn’t.

“Brian is madly in love with you.”

At that exact moment, the front door opened. “Brian… Brian loves me?” you said, looking at Brian, whose entire face had turned beetroot. He rushed through the room and into the office, slamming the door behind him. “Shit,” Roger muttered.

“I need to go talk to him,” you turned to leave, but John grabbed your arm.

“Maybe that’s not the best idea. I’ll go talk to him,” he suggested. You nodded and John disappeared after Brian. Bo had somehow made her way into Freddie’s arms and was purring softly. You ran your hands through your hair and sighed.

~

Later that evening, you were sat on your bed reading a book when there was a soft knock at your bedroom door. It had been a quite night, with Brian not leaving the office and the other boys trying to coax him out.

“Come in,” you said. Freddie opened the door and sat on the end of your bed.

“Do you like him?” he asked, getting straight to the point in the usual Freddie fashion.

You paused for a moment before answering, “I think I do. It took until today for me to finally realise that. I guess I didn’t want to admit it until I knew how he felt.”

“You need to go tell him,” Freddie patted your leg and gave you a comforting smile, “He’s beating himself up in there because he’s so ashamed. He thinks you must hate him.”

You took a deep breath. You needed to face your fears.

~

You approached the office door, your heart beating out of your chest. You knocked, “Brian, it’s me. Can I come in?”

You heard a murmur, which you assumed to be ‘yes’ and pushed the door open. Brian was sat on the floor, his arms hugging his knees. His mass of curls was a tangled mess, more so than usual. You’d never seen him looking so vulnerable and helpless. He was usually the problem-solver, the smart one. You sat down next to him and took one of his hands in yours. You were both shaking.

“Brian, I like you too,” you whispered, “I have done for a while now.”

Brian met your eyes and a small smile appeared, crinkling at the corners.

“You do?”

You nodded and cupped his face in your hand. Slowly leaning forward, you pressed a light kiss on his lips. Your fingers found their way into his hair and played with the curls. You pulled away and smiled.

“I’m in love with you, (Y/N) Taylor. It feels amazing to admit that,” Brian said.

[shy-violet-soul]

The Pint-sized Protection Squad

Title: The Pint-sized Protection Squad Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader (female) Synopsis:  Bucky Barnes, Alpha & Winter Soldier, thought he knew what scary was.  Then, he came face-to-face with his Omega’s protection squad… Word count: 1800-ish Warnings: tooth-rotting/stomach-aching fluff of the highest degree. A/N: @ursulaismymiddlename reblogged this idea and the idea wouldn’t let me go.  So, I wrote this instead of doing my real job.  It might be garbage, but I had fun plunking it down!

Liked it? There’s a sequel over HERE!

Bucky Barnes was a reasonable man.  When you approached him with the idea to start a daycare for the alpha/beta/omega kids in the neighborhood, he said ‘no’.  The idea of strangers coming and going around his Omega just about gave him hives.

“Bucky, let me explain.  Some parents are starting to complain about them being in with non-a/b/o kids.  They’re wanting to ban them.”  Then, she did it. The eyes thing, and the hand thing.  One little hand resting against his chest while those y/e/c eyes blinked up at him, and Bucky wavered.  “Just picture them, hun.  All those little alphas and omegas, just pushed aside.”  She peeked up at him from beneath thick lashes before delivering the final blow.  “Breaks my heart to think about if they were our pups…”

Bucky Barnes was a reasonable man.  When his superiorly-strategist-skilled Omega shot down all his protestations, he gave in and said ‘yes’.  While you picked out paint colors, tiny furniture, and craft ideas, he frantically begged Tony and Steve to help him protect her.  The first floor of their three-story apartment was thoughtfully converted for the project, complete with a separate front door.  Vetting processes were carefully constructed, security measures meticulously enacted, FRIDAY installed.  And on meet & greet night, Bucky tried hard to ignore his cotton-mouth anxiety at the strangers gathered around his Omega.  

Watching her made it easier.  Seated in a blue overstuffed chair covered with butterflies, she talked animatedly with an Alpha and Omega pair of mothers and a Beta dad.  The moms’ little Omega girl sat cuddled in her lap, and the dad’s little Alpha boy leaned against her, tucked under her other arm.  Both children looked up at her like she hung the moon.  Bucky knew the feeling well.  Seeing the delight beaming from her in huge smiles, Bucky knew this was a perfect fit for his girl.

That didn’t stop him from scenting the heck out of her before she opened the doors the first day.

Bucky Barnes was a reasonable man.  Growling low under his breath every time an Alpha came in to drop off their pup was just a friendly hello.  An assertive hello.  Okay, it was a warning that she was HIS.  So, while the Alpha moms or dads in question side-eyed him warily, Y/N just laughed and smacked a kiss to his chin as she signed in the little pups and handed out morning snacks.

She refused to let him sit with them and glower at the kids all day, so he stayed glued to the security camera footage instead.  After a month of watching her work her magic with the little ones, and zero problems with the parents, Bucky started to relax.

Bucky Barnes was a reasonable man.  Asking his Omega to wear a body camera and bio-sensors that fed into his phone when he went on the first mission after opening the daycare wasn’t overkill in the slightest.  When Y/N refused, he 100% supported that.  The fact that Wanda showed up to “help” her in the daycare while he was gone was random coincidence.  

Ur lucky ur cute & she brought kifla cookies. eating them all, BTW.  A fond grin touched his face as he read her text.  God, he loved this woman.  A picture of she and Wanda surrounded by the children, mouths stuffed full of the cinnamon-sugary treat, chirped through next, pulling a chuckle from him.  

Three months passed, and Bucky had to agree that the daycare was an unarguable success.  He’d even decreased his security footage viewing to just a glance now and then, confident in the Stark technology and FRIDAY vigilance at work.  One particular fall day, Bucky sat at the kitchen table methodically field cleaning his guns.  Michael Kamen soundtracks filtered from his phone, a pleasant background to his task.  A faint whiff caught his attention - geranium and lemon.  Your scent, but with a hit of something different.  Something sweet and warm...Heat.  You were going into heat.

Bucky Barnes was a reasonable man.  The fact that the door now hung from only one loose hinge was completely irrelevant.

Alarm pounded through him as he raced down the stairs.  Your heat was early, so you were caught defenseless against the nausea, cramps, and dizziness.  When Bucky burst into the daycare floor, a mish-mash of scents smacked him in the face.  Sweet orange, strawberry, black licorice, chocolate, cinnamon red-hots - it smelled like a melting candy store, and Bucky couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on.  He turned the corner into the play room, and there you were.  Curled up on the floor, leaning weakly against the blue butterfly chair, you had an arm wrapped around your middle as the first wave of cramps hit you.  Overcome with the need to get to you, Bucky charged forward…and was met with immediate resistance.

Four little alphas, three boys and one girl, lined up in front of Y/N protectively.  Indignant glares gave him pause while a blonde little Beta girl with adorable freckles stood up on the blue chair and pointed at him accusingly.

“Alpha!” came the warning.  One of the little alphas, a tow headed youngster that reminded him too much of a little Steven Rogers, lowered his head and barreled towards him.  Before Bucky could blink, the pup slammed his foot into Bucky’s shin.  A grunt left him as Bucky put an arm out to hold his attacker off.  Bucky couldn’t hold in the squawk of pain as another Alpha, this one a three-foot tall munchkin with gorgeous black eyes and a lightning bolt shaved into his temple fade, ricocheted a Duplo Lego brick off his temple.  Stumbling away from the unexpected assault, Bucky tripped over a toy train and fell hard, right on his ass.  Turmoiling emotions avalanched through him as Bucky tried to decide between crabwalking back from the threat or protecting his Omega.  

“Stop!”  The cry, weak as it was, froze the whole group.  Bucky’s head swiveled in Y/N’s direction, and his heart thumped hard.

His Omega was being well protected, after all.

A teensy little redhead Omega with brilliant blue eyes had her arms wrapped around Y/N’s neck, holding her face smooshed under her tiny chin while Y/N tried to pull back a breath.  Trying to let Miss Y/N scent her for comfort, like a good Omega would.  The other Omega, a chubby little doll with curly brown pigtails and dimples, tenderly stroked Y/N’s hair, as she murmured, “Don’t you worry, Miss Y/N!  Your Alpha will be here soon and give you hugs.  Do you need an Elsa band-aid?”  Little “Steve” and Lightning Bolt were flanked by a warrior princess in a pink tshirt emblazoned with “this little mermaid is a hot mess”, and a boy with purple Hulk pants and an Iron Man hoodie.  The row of tiny Alphas were churning out angry, fearful, candy-scented pheromones like a factory while the two Omegas waffled between scared and soothing scents.

You had your very own pint-sized protection squad.

Warrior Princess took a step forward, eyes squinted threateningly.

“State your business, Alpha!”

Bucky Barnes was a reasonable man.  Seven small children who didn’t equal his body mass didn’t intimidate him in the least.

“I-I...Y/N, she - I - she’s my Alpha.  I mean, Omega.  I’m her Alpha,” he stuttered out.

“Yes,” you managed to croak out, groaning as another cramp waved through you.  Little Red looked at Dimples, alarmed.

“Maybe she needs a drink!”  Dimples scampered off in the direction of the kitchen, back in an instant with a leaking unicorn sippy cup which she shoved in your face.  Lightning Bolt stepped up next to Warrior Princess, fists on his hips.

“You her Alpha?  Prove it!”

“Prove it?”

“Yeah!  What’s her favorite bug?”

Completely flummoxed, Bucky had to think for a second, shaking his head a bit as your increasing heat-scent crowded his brain.

“Lightning bug.”  The four little Alphas looked at each other, gathering around and whispering.

“Is that the one whose bottom lights up?”

“Yup, that’s it.”

Iron Man Hoodie turned around, eyes narrowed suspiciously as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Alright, you may pass.”

Bucky Barnes was a reasonable man.  He didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.  He scrambled to your side, scooping you into his arms and pressing your face to his throat.  When your skin met his, you both sighed in relief as he pulled you fully into his lap, Little Red squashed somewhere in the mix.  He felt your breath wash against him when you sighed, your fingers grasping his shirt as his presence soothed the pain for the moment.  The soothing purr that you loved rumbled from his chest, vibrating into you as his calming scent of rosemary and sandalwood filled the room.

“Hhmmm,” the contented hum as Dimples suddenly pressed herself to his back.  A bright little chuckle had him lifting his elbow as Little Red climbed out from between them.

“He’s purring like a big cat!”

And just like that, five of the pups had found some way to plaster themselves on or around him and Y/N.  Murmurs of satisfaction groaned here and there as they all breathed in his calming scent.  Thoroughly bemused, Bucky tried to pay attention as Warrior Princess and little “Steve” tried to train him on Alpha stuff.

“If you’re gonna protect your Omega, you’ve gotta have a mean face.  Like this!”  Warrior Princess schooled her face into a properly intimidating scowl.

“Yeah!  And that purr is legit, but you gotta scare off other Alphas with a really scary growl.  Here, listen!” Little “Steve” growled with ferocity.  “Now, you do it.  Show us your mean face and your growl!”

Bucky ‘legit’ didn’t know what the hell to do.  You huffed a chuckle against his collarbone, and Bucky dipped his chin down to look at you.

“Yeah, Bucky.  Show us your mean face.”  Rolling his eyes at you, Bucky screwed his features into an exaggerated glower, a thunderous snarl rumbling from him.  Warrior Princess clapped her hands, beaming a proud smile at him.

“That was real good!  But next time, show more teeth with your face, and then you’ll be really scary.”

With that, she flounced over and curled up against Y/N’s back, sandwiched between Lightning Bolt and Freckles, the Beta.  Bucky felt his heart thump hard again.

Bucky Barnes was a reasonable man.  With Y/N in his lap, and pint-sized pups squished up against his back, her back, around his arms, etc., he knew this daycare had always been a fantastic idea.

[annewithagee]

Know Love When You See It (1)

“I can’t do this, Gil. I can’t open this door. What it it’s too late? What if we came all this way only to find it was all for naught, because she... she..." A story in which Gilbert's health remains perfectly fine, but that's not enough to bring Anne peace. Alternate ending to AotI. Shirbert.

fanfiction.net / AO3

Chapter 1 A Love Letter

Rusty purred longingly, trying to get his young Mistress’s attention. Anne smiled gently at the sound and reached out to caress the determined feline and yet, her sight remained fixed on the book she held in her other hand,

It was clear that even Rusty didn’t have enough charm to make her abandon Lord Tennyson’s fine work.

“Really, Anne, I never imagined you’d be one to spoil a cat,” Stella scolded her gently. “You used to barely tolerate these animals, and even then you only approved of the clean, well-mannered ones. And here you are, letting the least mannered cat of all lie on Miss Patty’s lovely sofa and encouraging his stay!”

Anne barely looked up at her.

“We let the Sarah-cat and Thomas sleep on the finest of our cushions, darling,” she protested softly. “It wouldn’t be fair to treat Rusty differently. And his manners have improved immensely since we took him in, don’t you think?”

“Well, there wasn’t much to improve to start with.” Stella grimaced. “He had no manners at all – he could only go up from there.”

“I say the important part is that he decided to improve at all. I know what it’s like to be judged for the improper behaviour when there has been no one to teach you anything about it in the first place. I can only marvel at my own initial indifference and lack of understanding towards this unlucky fellow.”

“Oh, enough of this cat talk!” Phil interrupted impatiently then. “You better tell us about this book you’re reading, Queen Anne. You look as if you’ve been wanting to laugh for the past quarter and I am dying to find out why. I’d love to borrow that volume later, too; I could certainly use a good laugh right now.”

“You could always use a good laugh, Phil, no matter what your mood currently is,” Anne retorted cleverly. “And don’t make it sound as if you had any reasons to feel miserable.”

“Tease all you like, Anne, it won’t change a thing. I may be the one getting married next month, but that certainly doesn’t make me any less nervous, no matter how happy I am. I keep having these awful nightmares about Jo changing his mind and leaving me, or about my family suddenly deciding to oppose to the marriage and consequently ruining everything I have hoped for – right when I finally started to believe that I could pass for a respectable wife, even for a minister.”

“Dearest Phil, you know theses nightmares have nothing to do with your future,” Anne protested gently, suppressing a laugh caused by both Philippa’s words and the sight of Stella, mercilessly rolling her eyes at them. “You know Jonas loves you too much to ever give up on you, and even if your family decided to interfere with your happiness in any way – which I am sure they will not – you would not pay it much mind anyway.”

Phil sighed deeply as she sunk on the closest chair. “You are perfectly right, Queen Anne, as you usually are. You know, sometimes I wish I had your wisdom; but then I realise that Jo might not want me so much if I were and I immediately regret making any silly wishes. Anyway, you have not answered my question about your reading: what is it?”

Anne allowed herself a small chuckle this time.

“Something you would not find very amusing, I’m afraid,” she explained softly, her eyes returning to the pages in question. “I’ve been skimming through Lancelot and Elaine, stopping only when I came across the parts dearest to me.”

“And that’s what made you glow so much?” Stella joined the conversation once more. “Why, Anne, I’ve always known you had a rather queer taste in literature, but I would never assume you’d find such tragic poem comical.”

“It’s not so much the poem itself as the memory it brings. I remember discussing it at school in Avonlea, weeping and sighing over poor Elaine’s fate with my friends. I was the most emotional, of course, but the girls were not far behind me.”

Stella nodded with a little more understanding. “I can see how that’s amusing now, although I’d still expect a smile rather than a laughter as a natural reaction to it.”

“That’s because you haven’t heard the best part yet!” Anne responded with a sly smile and began recounting their unfortunate attempt to enact the aforementioned poem on the bright waters of Barry’s Pond. By the time Anne came to the infamous scene of the leaking boat, all three had been shaking with laughter, tears of joy glimmering in more than one pair of eyes.

“Really, Anne!” Phil exclaimed in what was supposed to be a stern tone but couldn’t be due to the cheerful trembling of her voice. “We have lived here together for nearly three years, have known each other for four and for all this time you have not thought it appropriate to treat us with a story like this! Why, I am sure you would have spared me at least one miserable night if you had.”

“She hath kept the good wine until now,” Stella answered, trying as she might to sound as serious and composed as the paraphrase required, and failing spectacularly. “I am only surprised she didn’t wait for Priss to come back – the poor girl will be devastated when she learns how much fun she has missed.”

“There is no need to worry about that,” Anne hastened to explain. “Priscilla had known the whole story long before we even arrived to Redmond and I can assure you that her reaction was every bit as fierce as yours.”

Stella pressed her hand against her chest and sighed with emphasis. “Oh, now I see! Priss gets to know everything in advance while we have to beg! Now, Anne, I am positively wounded!”

“And you two are getting off topic again!” Phil intervened again, this time throwing her arms high in the air for a better effect. “Truly, how you can focus on such nonsense when the great finale is still ahead of us is beyond me.”

“You were the one who started it!” Anne contradicted her with another short laugh.

“I beg your pardon, but my comment was fully justified and in some ways it still referred directly to the story you had told. But enough of this! How did you get off that bridge, Anne?”

The auburn-haired girl chuckled again, a little nervously this time, as she lowered her eyes and fixed them on the text once more.

“That is the part in which my pride suffers most,” she said quietly, forcing a light, careless tone that suddenly felt so inappropriate. “You see, I didn’t really mind climbing that pole – of course, it was uncomfortable and comical, and very different from the romantic scene I had envisioned; but at least there was no one there to see me. And all I needed to do was to hold onto that pole until Mr Barry came to help me out in my distress. He would laugh, of course, but I couldn’t care much for it – he had been an eye-witness to my antics too many times already. Unfortunately, my rescue came from a different party entirely.”

Anne expected her friends to interrupt her with more witty remarks; however, they made none.

“There was...” she picked up hesitantly. “There was a boy in our class, who went rowing on Barry’s Pond that day. He saw me and came closer, offering to take me to the shore in his flat.”

“How romantic,” Stella mused teasingly at that.

“Oh, hardly!” Anne protested vigorously, as if she had been fourteen again, listening to Diana’s most ridiculous comments. “I have never thought of my classmates in terms of romance, but it wouldn’t have been half so bad – half so humiliating – had it been any other boy than the one that came. Dear me, how I hated him then! I had been angry with him before, but it was nothing compared to what I felt on that moment under the bridge.”

“And is there any chance we might know the poor chivalrous knight?” Phil asked, wriggling her eyebrows meaningfully. “Could it be Charles and his big, bulging eyes?”

Anne’s own big eyes widened in surprise at her friend’s abrupt assumption.

“No, not at all!” she denied firmly. “I have never hated Charlie, although I have never been particularly fond of him, either. In fact, I think I’ve always cared too little for him to hold any such strong feelings towards him.”

“Poor Charlie,” Stella remarked with an absolute lack of sympathy. “But if not him, then who?”

“The same boy I had ignored for the three years prior and continued to do so for another two, both at school and at Queen’s – and whom, I believe, you have got to know quite well during our stay here.”

Stella was close to choking on her astonishment. “You mean...”

“Gilbert Blythe, yes,” Anne admitted with a small smile. “And I truly wished it had been anyone but him back then.”

“Not so fast, my dear,” Phil exclaimed now. “I know you and Gilbert have not always been friends – it’s certainly hard to call you friends now – but you can’t tell me you used to hate him!”

“Oh, but I did! Or at least, I wholeheartedly believed so.”

“The same Gilbert who is always so kind and considerate, no matter how little he likes the company he’s in?”

“No, the one who had pulled my braid and called me ‘Carrots’ on our very first day of school.” Anne countered cleverly, her smile widening at the sight of shock that had reflected on her friend’s faces almost immediately. “Well, I suppose you didn’t expect to hear that about him.”

“And that’s why you weren’t friends for so long?” Stella asked with disbelief.

Anne nodded, regaining some of her temporarily lost composure. “We were sworn enemies at the time – at least I was. Gilbert tried to apologise and make things right, but my eleven year old self wouldn’t hear of it; and then I suppose I kept thinking of him in that way because my rise and sense of dignity demanded it. Not to mention, I’ve always had that bit of a competitive strike, and since Gilbert soon turned out to be the only real rival, beating him in class became another matter of honour to me.”

“And you didn’t make your peace that day by the pond?” Phil asked again.

“No,” Anne responded, with a little bit of melancholy – sentiment – embarrassment ringing in her voice. “It was the last time my pettiness made itself known and consequently robbed us both of two years of friendship. He went furious – as furious as someone of Gilbert’s personality can be, anyway – snapped and walked away. He had been a rival before, but he had never seemed to care much about it… But after that encounter he became just as ruthless as I had been from the start.”

“In that case, I suppose your fiery arguments here at Redmond were not even half as bad as we all thought,” Phil muttered under her breath. “It must have been nothing compared to what you two had done at school.”

Anne smiled more sincerely now. “Oh, you should have seen us then. Poor Miss Stacy barely managed to answer our overly grown hunger for knowledge, not to mention that we must have been a terrible distraction from other students, who undoubtedly needed her attention much more than we did. In the end she would just give us more to read, if only to make us stay quiet for a moment at least.”

It was Phil’s turn to nod. “You two really have a history.”

“That we do,” Anne agreed a little wistfully. She brightened up the next moment, however. “But, as one of my dearest friends often says, enough of this! The story was meant to cheer you up, not to make us go down some cold, hostile memory lane. We still have a whole afternoon ahead of us, and I’m not going to waste it in any way. We only have a few short days before we leave Patty’s Place for good, and I am determined to make the most of it – and you don’t even try to talk yourselves out of it!”

“And what would you have us do, Queen Anne?” Stella asked a little sceptically, for which she received a frown from Phil. Seeing the exchange, Anne could hardly do more than laugh wholeheartedly at them.

“I have no idea, my dearest Kindred Spirits!” she cried out with eagerness that didn’t match her words nor the atmosphere from mere moments earlier and yet, her voice resonated with sincerity that could not have been denied. “We can dance and we can sing, or we can leave the house and set off on a journey, if only it doesn’t take us too far away from this most beloved place. I once said that I had two homes – Green Gables and Patty’s Place – and I can’t tell you how happy I am that my feelings towards that matter have not changed at all. It is reassuring to know that one can truly love more than just one place so much.”

“I suppose it must be so, or no one would ever find happiness after they married – save for the people who stayed in their own houses and those who never loved their homes in the first place,” Stella concluded.

Anne nodded in agreement with her words. “It is very true, but let’s not forget those who must leave their homes for reasons other than marriage. Oh, Phil, please don’t give me that look, even if I have deserved it. I know you are still angry with me for what happened yesterday, but I promise you, it has nothing to do with what I meant.”

“What did you mean, then?” Phil asked calmly, refraining from a more blatant comment that was springing to her lips.

“I meant us. Four college girls, thrown into a new life, away from their families, their neighbours, away from the people and places they care for so much. It could have been such miserable four years, full of stress and loneliness, with homesickness threatening to take over us any minute – and instead they were four years of great friendships, and three of them have been spent here. I’m not sure if I could have born to go through the many challenges Redmond had in store, had it not been for the sense of safety this place has given me.”

“Oh, and here I thought it was our unconditional love and support that had pushed you through!” Stella exclaimed, her hand once again flying to her chest in a dramatic gesture. “Now, you have really hurt my feelings, Anne. Excruciatingly!”

Anne laughed wholeheartedly at her friend’s words, basking in the joy this wonderful comradeship could give.

“Tease all you like -” she said with confidence. “you will not succeed in ruining my good spirits. The day is just too lovely for any sort of pettiness; you can say whatever you want and I won’t take offence. I’m in a forgiving mood – I feel you that if the worst of my enemies came to visit me today, I could not hold grudge against them.”

“Poor Gilbert!” Phil cried out then. “If only he had known that day would come, he might have waited for it, instead of trying to make peace with you over some pond only minutes after he had so unnecessarily rescued you!”

Anne did not find the comment worthy of her answer and decided to resort to violence instead. In one swift motion she grabbed the nearest cushion and threw it at Phil, hitting her right in her smiling face; the latter squeaked in shock but caught the missile in perfect reflex and threw it back at her aggressor without hesitation.

That was the setting in which Priscilla found them in.

“I leave you alone for an hour and you turn into children we used to teach!” she exclaimed in the tone of a perplexed matron, as if she had been at least a decade older than her frivolous friends. “Truly, Anne, what would the board of Avonlea school think if they saw what their favourite schoolmarm does when left unsupervised?”

“I have never been their favourite, so how would I know?” Anne answered her question laughingly, catching the cushion that had once again flown in her direction; however, she refrained from tossing it back. Priscilla raised her gaze to the ceiling, most probably asking the Good Lord to give her patience necessary for dealing with the force her companions undoubtedly were.

“They should take away your B. A.s for behaving like this,” she muttered under her breath as she shrugged off her coat and took off her hat. “I’m not surprised to see Anne or Phil act like that, but you, Stella? Why, I believed you to be the sensible one at least.”

“Don’t lump me together with them,” Stella opposed. “These two won’t listen to anyone and certainly not me.”

“They better do listen to me, though, because I have some great news that should interest them. I’ve been to the post office and there was at least half a dozen letters addressed to us.”

“And I bet half of those are for Phil,” Anne commented teasingly, standing up and approaching Priscilla, ready to take some of the many packages the other girl had brought with her. “Let me take these, Priss, as I’m sure none of those letters are for me. After all, I never receive any letters on Monday.”

“How can you be so sure?” Priscilla asked suggestively. “What if I told you that it’s your turn to receive Phil’s usual, ridiculous share?”

Anne shook her head vigorously. “Impossible! The only letters I am waiting for are the ones from Green Gables and those always arrive on Wednesday, and sum up the whole previous week, together with Mrs Lynde’s great commentary on the minister’s latest sermon.”

“Maybe, but it doesn’t change the fact that one of these letters really has you name written on it – and the handwriting does look to me as if it was Mrs Lynde’s, indeed.”

“It can’t be,” Anne repeated; but the treacherous smile was beginning to blossom on her joyful countenance and not a minute passed before she had whipped the envelope from Priscilla’s hand and pressed in to her chest, barely deigning the item with a glance.

“This truly is the most wonderful of days!” she said excitedly. “Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, you bring this! Dear Priss, you really are a herald of good news!”

And with that she ran towards the sofa and sank on it once more, impatient to learn the contents of the letter that had already gladdened her so much.

“My, my, Anne!” Phil remarked with a dry smile and a slight rise of her eyebrows. “Judging from your excitement, one could think it is a love letter you are holding; if I didn’t know any better, I would swear it was Roy Gardner who had written to you again.”

“Oh, but it as a love letter, and it’s the most beautiful one – better than any suitor could ever send!”  Anne protested firmly, glancing from over the letter with her bright eyes. “No one has ever loved me more dearly than those who lived at Green Gables and I doubt anyone ever could. Green Gables letters always are the most affectionate ones; even if sometimes I am the only one who can feel and see it hidden between the lines.”

“Even if those lines are written by Mrs Rachel Lynde?” Priss asked.

Anne nodded eagerly.

“Even if,” she confirmed resolutely. “Mrs Lynde is a dear soul and a true Kindred Spirit, even if our first encounter seemed to prove the opposite; besides, it never is just Mrs Lynde that writes, although she addresses the envelopes to spare Marilla the trouble. Oh, I can’t wait to read about all the scrapes Davy has got himself in since the last time! I did not expect this letter to come for the next two days and now I can’t imagine delaying it for another minute!”

The three friends gifted her with the same bemused look before chuckling cheerfully.

“Well, in that case I suggest you go to your room at once, Miss Anne,” Phil advised with feign seriousness. “Otherwise you’ll just keep talking to us and we’ll never get to learn what this precious letters is really about.”

“I am not going anywhere.” Anne protested for the last time. “I will sit here for the whole time and share all of the best parts with you immediately. Oh, what a feast this is going to be!”

[dingoat]

95. “Come cuddle.” - I'd love to see some Ahuska (did I spell that right?) cuddles!

Life felt infinitely more normal now that Crow had been given clearance to move out of the post-op wards and back into their own quarters. Despite now being stationed aboard a commandeered Imperial Dreadnought, with all the space and luxuries it afforded, and the fact that honestly they could have probably designated a whole level for themselves and not been denied it, the Crow family nonetheless only had one place they really wanted to be.

Home. Their ship.So aptly named, their home in the stars, their home even when parked in the hangar of the Cicatrice Tyrannis.

He still spent a lot of time in bed, weak from his injury and surgery, but every now and again Crow managed to venture out into Home’s common area, and Ahuska encouraged him to get up and about and gently moving as much as possible. For now, though, they were lounging in the communal living space, Crow quietly  browsing the Holonet and Ahuska twanging away on her (definitely not stolen) guitar, while they waited for Nela to return sothey could start up the ‘vid they’d promised to watch together.

Ahuska’s ears twitched, hearing Crow’s vaguely bored little grumble, and the shuffling of him setting aside his datapad and rearranging himself on the couch.

“Pout Snout!” he called, and then she turned her head, to see him comfortably reclined with his arms open wide and welcoming. “Come cuddle!”

At first a beaming smile spread along her snout, but in the same instant she heard a rumbling little ‘prr?’ from across the room that made her freeze. A slowly dawning expression melted her smile, replacing it with a sudden look of panic that she flashed at Crow for an instant before flinging herself to her feet.

***

::Mos Eva, Tatooine,two weeks earlier.

“Hey Nela!”

The red-skinned half-Twi’lek had just been passing by the animal pens, sneaking a couple of sugar cubes to the fathiers and giving a few good neck scratches to the more affectionate of the varactyls, but at Ahuska’s call she paused and turned about. “What…?”

“Come here a sec! I want to try something!”

Skipping the fence and passing through the main exercise yard, Nela cut the shortest path to where Ahuska was settled on the far side, cross-legged on the ground with her overgrown lap cat of a dune nexu rumbling with purrs and trying to headbutt her way to extra treats.

“I thought you were trying to make Pexu more obedient…?” Nela teased, watching the Bothan wrestle with the nexu on the sandy ground.

“We’re just playing,” Ahuska laughed in her own defence, giving the huge felid a shove right on the middle of her great blunt head.“Look at this. Pexu, down…” Ahuska’s entire attitude changed abruptly into something calm, strong and demanding. The word was punctuated with a sharp gesture of her right hand, extending her pointer finger and flicking it toward the sand.

Pexu immediately melted backwards, two steps away from Ahuska, and lowered herself halfway. The nexu was still plainly tense with excited energy, quivering, purring, tail twitching restlessly, all four of her eyes fixed on Ahuska’s closed fist that held the treats. Ahuska wasn’t satisfied; she kept that finger pointing downward, and gave Pexu another chance.  Keeping her tone level and firm,she fixed her gaze on  the nexu. “Come on, properly now. Pexu, down.”

After a moment of extended quivering, all her predator’s muscles bunched for the pounce, Pexu eventually relented and actually let her belly rest on the ground. Ahuska still waited until she saw those muscles actually relax, and then she gave her praise. “Good, gooood, good girl,” shesaid, using her calm tone alone to inform Pexu that though she’d done the right thing, she wasn’t finished yet.

“Alright Nela, now you go sit over there…” Ahuska gestured to an open spot in the sand behind her. Even this movement was delivered slowly and deliberately. “And when you’re ready, spread your arms open wide and ask Pexu to ‘come cuddle’,” she was very conscious of saying those particular words as blandly as possible, but even then Pexu gave a little flick of her tail on hearing them. “And say it nice and bright.”

Nela was all too keen to test-run Pexu’s latest bit of training. She sat down where directed, and after just a few seconds threw her arms wide and beamed at the patchwork-coloured felid. “Pexu! Come cuddle!”

Ahuska couldn’t have been more pleased with the result.

Pexu kicked up a spray of dusty sand as she lunged forward, positively barreling into Nela with enough force to send her flat on her back, but not before her huge taloned paws wrapped around her shoulders. There was no way to avoid a bit of a clawing through her robes, but Pexu was surprisingly gentle with that aspect of the collision, no doubt something Ahuska had very finely honed before trusting this particular move on somebody else. And Nela was laughing her red Twi-lek butt off as she found herself smothered by overenthusiastic nexu headbutts and cheek rubs, so loud it almost drowned out the cat’s throat-rattling purr.

“Okay that’s cute as hell,” Nela said when she finally extracted herself from underneath Pexu.

“But you haven’t heard the best bit. You know how your dad likes to call me over when he’s lounging in front of a holo….?”

Nela’s eyes widened with dawning understanding. Her grin rivaled that of her father. “OH.”

***

“Has he done it yet??” Nela asked a week later, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Ahuska shook her head with a beleaguered sigh. “I keep trying to get it out of him, but he keeps saying different things! It’s got to pay off one of these days…!”

***

::Home, CicatriceTyrannis, Unregistered hyperspace lane, present day.

“Pout Snout!” Crow called from where he was comfortably reclined on the couch, arms open wide and welcoming. “Come cuddle!”

Never had he had the offer met with such a look of horror.

“What-“ he didn’t even have time to get the whole question out, and just sat there stunned and weirdly helpless feeling as Ahuska threw herself across the room, taken aback by her abrupt change in demeanour.

Ahuska knew she had about 2.75 seconds to intercept Pexu before she flung herself onto Crow.

Crow, still so weak he could barely do a lap of the ship before getting out of breath. Crow, whose insides were still mending themselves around and adjusting to the presence of a foreign object in the place of his heart. Crow, whose chest was barely keeping together with a thin layer of fresh, shiny skin and was under strict doctor’s orders to not engage in any strenuous physical activity yet.

Crow, who stared at Ahuska as she slammed into a mid-air nexu and tackled her to the ground, rolling into the far wall of the room with a hefty thump and subduing her with what seemed to be at least fifty percent sheer force of will. His jaw hung open, and he slowly shook his head. “Stars, Ahuska. Did you just save my fethin’ life?”

------

(Okay I know this mightn’t be exactly what you had in mind but it was the story that came to me! I hope it was still fun in it’s own way. TY so much for the ask!)

Ahuska and Pexu are mine, Crow and Nela of course belong to @humanrevolt

[wildheart-warriors]

Timelines: Chapter Six

When the seven of them lay scattered around the apprentice’s den, grooming or dozing, Spottedpaw emerged from the medicine cat’s alcove. Mosspaw glanced up, and felt as though she were looking at something otherworldly.

The medicine cat apprentice was ethereal. Not the way Bluefur was, shining silver in moonlight, or Sunstar was, framed by his namesake. Spottedpaw was not particularly elegant, or well-groomed; in fact, her calico pelt was littered with dust and leaf fragments, flowers caught up in her fur. But she had a light in her eyes, a look both far off and focused, as though she could see a world beyond comprehending. She seemed to drift towards them, weightless, with wildflowers held delicately between her teeth and obscuring most of her face.

The group roused themselves, watching her place the multitude of blossoms on the ground. “Good evening,” she purred. “I hope your first day was pleasant!”

“It was good,” Mistypaw replied. “Tiring, but I guess that’s part of being a warrior.” Spottedpaw hummed, nodding mildly.

“I think…yellows, for you two, maybe some pink?” She mewed. Mistypaw blinked.

“Uh?”

“Yellow stands out nicely against gray,” Brindlepaw agreed quietly.

Spottedpaw sat beside Mistypaw and purred quietly, grooming the newly-made apprentice’s cheek and neck fur. Redpaw stood and stretched, followed by the other senior apprentices. They gathered around their new den mates, selecting flowers from Spottedpaw’s pile and weaving them into their fur as they groomed them.

Mosspaw went slack as Frostpaw rasped her shoulder fur back into place. Willowpaw was adding small white blossoms to her tail, the air around them fragrant with pollen.

“White and blue stand out best against your stripes,” Frostpaw purred. Mosspaw sighed happily, warmth spreading through her body as her clanmates tended to her. The tension slipped right out of her toes, melting away into the ground beneath.

She glanced up to see Stonepaw, his thick neck fur full of honeysuckle and black eyed susans. Maybe she would’ve teased him normally, but the moment felt special, a comfortable silence blanketing the eight of them.

The idea of belonging in Riverclan seemed so far off now. This was where she belonged, with her clan, her family and friends. The water may call, but she would always return home. Thunderclan had her heart and soul.

Slowly, the older apprentices finished their task. Mistypaw sat up, small carnations woven around her neck and chest, with small yellow and pink blossoms dispersed through her coat. Her tail swished gently, honeysuckle swaying in her long feathered fur.

Stonepaw stretched, his neck fur absolutely overrun with black eyed susans, petering out at his shoulders and spotted through his pelt. White and pink daisies littered his fluffy tail and haunches.

At last, Mosspaw got to her paws; she could feel the weight of the flowers in her tail fur, the gentle shifting across her pelt as she moved. Little white and blue wildflowers stuck fast in her fur, surrounding her in a gentle perfume and a feeling of home.

“We try not to let the kits see us do this,” Brindlepaw purred. “It’s always more fun if it’s a surprise. This is a tradition.”

Mosspaw was purring so hard she felt she might burst. “Starclan will see you clearly now,” Spottedpaw breathed. “You’ll be lucky as long as you have your flowers.”

“Thank you, this is amazing,” Mistypaw said, barely above a whisper.

“That’s not all,” Redpaw mewed. “Come on, it’s starting to get dark.”

The older apprentices herded them out of camp. Mosspaw would’ve complained, but she found the ache in her muscles gone, replaced by giddy, eager energy.

“Follow us!” Frostpaw whooped, and then they were running, a river of fur flowing up over the rocks and weaving through trees. Pawsteps hit the earth in rhythm, hearts beating in time. They were yowling and laughing, breathless with adrenaline as they sprinted across star dappled ground.

The trees thinned, and a familiar spot came into view. They didn’t slow down, Frostpaw pulling ahead and leaping up the great sycamore in a fluid, practiced motion. She pulled herself onto the first branch, grinning down at the gathered apprentices below. Brindlepaw was hot on her tail, the quieter sister surprisingly graceful in her ascent. For the first time it was obvious how much older they were; muscles shone under their thick fur, and they were clearly well practiced at this.

“Come on then! The spring leaves are still coming in, we’ll have a great view!”

Mosspaw didn’t hesitate, lunging for the tree with a yowl of delight. She scrabbled upward, catching a glimpse of the sisters climbing higher as she clumsily made her way.

“You can do it Mosspaw!” Stonepaw yowled.

“Hurry up!” Mistypaw added. She leaned her head back, looking at her siblings upside-down, and stuck out her tongue.

Huffing, she finally reached the first branch, and immediately Willowpaw launched onto the trunk. “Hey! It was my turn!” Mistypaw barked.

“Move faster next time!” Willowpaw laughed. One by one, they swarmed up the tree, the older apprentices helping to haul their new denmates higher until they were all perched in the upper boughs. A chill breeze stirred the branches and budding leaves, sweeping around the apprentices and through thick fur.

Redpaw and Brindlepaw helped Spottedpaw higher up into the tree, until she sat higher than everyone else. The calico she-cat cleared her throat.

“The clans were once much smaller than they are today, rag-tag groups barely scraping by. Though they did their best to train their kits and help them survive, young cats were killed before they even had the chance to grow strong. They were victims of disease, of battle, of tragedy.

Nettlepaw had chosen the path of a medicine cat. But her brother, Briarpaw, was a warrior’s apprentice. In her short life, Nettlepaw had seen many deaths, and she worried for her brother. She could protect him from illness, but not from the claws of enemy warriors, or the jaws of badgers and foxes.

One night, Briarpaw returned home with huge gashes across his face. His left eye was ruined, and Nettlepaw knew he was at risk. If infection set in, it would kill him quickly. So, once Briarpaw and her mentor slept, Nettlepaw slipped out of camp. She couldn’t make it to the Moonstone alone, so she searched Thunderclan territory for the place closest to Starclan, and came to the Great Sycamore. High in its boughs, she prayed to her ancestors.

“Starclan, what am I to do? My clanmates fall all around me, and I am helpless!” She pleaded to the stars, and slept in the sycamore’s branches in the hopes that Starclan would answer her.

Nettlepaw blinked open her eyes, but she was not in the waking world. She could see her body, sleeping soundly on the boughs of the sycamore, though it glittered silver now. She looked around, and perched above her was a cat she recognized: Acornpaw, a cat whom she had shared the nursery with, and who was the victim of a rock slide. She was only eight moons old and had watched his birth and death.

“Starclan hears you,” he mewed. “Our ranks are swollen with unjust deaths, cats who could have been great, who could have done so many things. Please, go into the forest and find the brightest flowers, and return to your brother. Weave the blossoms into his fur, so that Starclan can see and watch over him, even in the darkest places.”

Acornpaw’s visage faded, and Nettlepaw was roused by the dawn. She descended to the forest floor, and raced through the trees, gathering the brightest, biggest blossoms she could find.

When she returned to camp, laden with wildflowers, she found Briarpaw’s fate hanging in the balance. His eye oozed and stank of infection. Her mentor was doing his best to clean the wound, but he was grim-faced. Not many survived something like this.

Swallowing her fear, Nettlepaw did as Acornpaw had instructed, and covered Briarpaw from ears to tail-tip in wildflowers. By the time the sun rose the next morning, the stink was gone from his wounds, and his fever had broken.

Nettlepaw did the same for every apprentice after, and became Nettleflight. The last apprentices to know her carried on her task, and on through the generations. Now, we pass on her blessing, and her tradition, on to you.” Spottedpaw finished with a flourish, and smiled down at her peers.

Frostpaw and Brindlepaw were grinning, watching Mosspaw and her siblings for their reactions. Mosspaw grinned right back.

“That was great, Spottedpaw!” She cheered. “This has all been amazing.”

“You’re a great storyteller,” Mistypaw added.

“Brindlepaw told it to us,” Redpaw meowed. “If there’s a medicine cat apprentice they usually tell it, because they stay apprentices way longer.”

“What happens if there’s no apprentices?” Stonepaw asked.

“The youngest warriors will pass it on,” Frostpaw replied.

“We should get back to camp,” Willowpaw cut in. “I’m on dawn patrol, and they’re probably tired from their first day.”

Mosspaw nodded, a yawn sneaking out. One by one, they shuffled down the tree trunk, and plodded back towards home.

“One last surprise,” Redpaw purred as they approached the apprentices den. “Come on!” He ducked inside, and quickly stuck his head back out. “Oh, goodnight Spottedpaw!”

Spottedpaw waved her tail, already heading for the medicine alcove. Willowpaw shoved Redpaw’s head with her paw, and slipped inside as well.

When Mosspaw finally shuffled inside, she couldn’t help but grin. Seven cats made the den cramped, but the older apprentices had already put together nests for their younger peers, laden with fresh moss and soft feathers.

Frostpaw and Brindlepaw curled up side by side in one corner, where the den pressed flush against the camp wall; Redpaw and Willowpaw were in the other.

“Here, Stonepaw,” Redpaw beckoned. Stonepaw settled into the nest closest to the two siblings, already whispering with his new denmate. Mistypaw delicately curled into the nest furthest from Stonepaw.

Mosspaw stretched briefly, and flopped down in her own nest. Her eyes were already drooping, and she soon fell into a comfortable, peaceful slumber.

[looneylooomis]

A Crack In Her Armor (Pt.1)

This is part one of a three-parter Negan/oc fic that I had initially intended to be a one shot, but it took on a complete mind of its own! I’m bringing back my oc, Fiona, that I had introduced back in my Simon one shot, “Maneater”. So this should be interesting. Hope y’all get a kick outta Fiona and enjoy this fic as much as I did writing it!

"Shit." Fiona muttered, cigarette dangling from her lips. Her somewhat jolly mood of acquiring a fresh pack of Marlboro Menthol 100's, was tainted upon realizing that to get back to her cozy lil duplex, she had to pass by Negans house. Only his side of the street had a sidewalk, the other side was just grass and she was in wedged heels. She cursed herself for choosing aesthetic over practical.

 It's not that she didn't like Negan....she just didn't like to be played for a fool. And that's what he did. Kind of? Well, he didn't tell her that he was fucking married that was for sure. Though as shitty as it was, she honestly didn't care that the guy was married. But if there was one thing Fiona Haven did not like, it was not knowing all the facts. 

So Fiona did what she does best, she decided to get a rise out of him. She had her eyes set all over Simon. She knew Negan would try to warn him off her. His stupid yet subtle way of keeping Simon away by branding her as trouble. But we all know, like a moth to a flame, men can't help but be enticed by a naughty girl. 

What Fiona didn't expect (which she was still kicking herself for) was the flicker of feelings that bubbled up after that night in Simons office. Like Negan, Simon worshiped her. And she loved it. 

So after that, they saw each other on and off. She wasn't entirely sure if it was still entirely out of spite towards Negan anymore. Finding that she actually enjoyed Simons company. Thus, forcing her to keep somewhat of a distance.

 Once she set her mind on something she scammed and schemed until she got what she desired. And boy did she get it. She got back at Negan AND had her delicious way with Simon. 

She'd have her cake and eat yours too. 

Shaking herself from her thoughts, she finally flicked open her lighter and lit the still dangling cigarette. Taking another drag, she savored the icy mint flavor of the menthol and gathered herself. 

Fixing the deep red headband that kept her lush brown locks from spilling into her face. She smoothed out the men's dyed red dress shirt turned makeshift dress. Head held high, she continued on her way. One confident wedged heel in front of the other. 

In her determined haze of passing Negans house as swiftly as possible, she (stupidly in her opinion) failed to notice the open garage.

 As she was about to let out a sigh of relief in passing his place unnoticed, she heard someone shout her name. Who was she kidding, it was him. "Nope." She mumbled, cigarette still perched between lips as she attempted to mosey on her way. A large hand wrapped around her arm prevented her from doing just that.

 "Ms. Fiona Dae Haven! As I fucking live and breathe!" Negan declared, taking a deep breath. He had been working on his bike when he happened to look up towards his driveway and saw a mass of brown locks bouncing in the breeze.

 Happenstance, pure and simple. He damn near busted his fucking face in his attempt to catch up to the elusive brunette. 

Covering up her surprise, Fiona plastered her signature flirty smile on her face.

 "Why hello Negan, it's been a while." Her usual lovely rasp taking on a tone of polite indifference. Inhaling another drag, she took in his appearance. Hair slicked back, stubbled face, dark blue tshirt, gray jeans with an oil stain here and there, ending with black boots. 

Damnit, he looked fucking gorgeous.

 "You've been fucking him." Negan wasn't pulling any punches. The man was fucking pissed. Even though he knew he had no right to be, but alas here he was. 

Yeah, he should've told her about Lucille but he got so swept up in the rush that was Fiona that he just didn't. Should've known better than to keep stuff from her. This was fucking Fiona he was talking about. When she wanted to make a point, she made damn sure you not only understood what you fucked up on but also never forgot about it. 

"Gotta be more specific, handsome. After all, a girls gotta eat....and this girl eats a lot." A full Cheshire Cat grin spread across her face knowingly. She was pushing his buttons, she knew. But getting a rise outta him was too much fun to pass up. Besides, seeing him get all bent out of shape got her kinda hot. 

With a growl, Negan grabbed her around the waist, threw her over his shoulder and made his way back into his garage. He didn't give her a chance to get her bearings as he pushed her roughly up against the wall. 

"You're pushing your god damn luck, Fi. I got the fuckin point when you rode Simons cock like a mechanical fucking bull on the highest setting. Yeah, he sang your motherfuckin praises. Took me everything not to slug the guy." The possessiveness in his voice lit her core on fire. "You are fucking mine. MY Naughty Girl." He hissed in her ear as he playfully tugged on her lobe with his teeth. 

"Simon was a great time, in fact, we saw each other multiple times after that. Also, You're fucking married...Dearest Negan. What claim do you have on me anymore?" She snapped, choking down a moan, and pulled away from his delicious assault on her ear. While she loved how possessive he felt towards her, it also aggravated her that he was mad about Simon. He's the married one here! 

"Shit's complicated with Lucille. Been fuckin complicated. Look Fi, I know I fucked shit up by not being upfront all those months ago." Pulling her close to him, looking directly into her big brown eyes. "But I've missed ya, dollface. I miss everything about ya." He murmured into her neck, making her breath hitch. 

Fiona bit her lip, she didn't want to give in so easily to him. But her pride was fighting with the need to feel worshiped again. To feel something. 

This is when her mind started rationalizing the situation. That it's been forever since she had last been with him. That he came to her. The fact that he actually is regretful of withholding information from her... 

Looking over at his motorcycle, she made her decision. Fuck it. Pride be damned. 

She wanted this and if there was one thing Fiona did best, it was getting what she wanted. No matter the what. 

"Take me for a ride back to my place, big daddy. I'm not doing this here." Wrinkling her nose in distaste at the thought of shedding clothes here, she already had her claws sunk deep into someone who didn't belong entirely to her. No need to make it worse by invading the woman's house as well.

 Immediately understanding, Negan led her over to his bike. Swinging a long leg over, he pulled on his own helmet and started the beast. As the engine roared to life, Fiona sorta regretted wearing such a short dress, where she already had to sit a certain way, lest she be obscene. So sitting on a motorcycle? Eh... 

"Oh, what-the-fuck-ever." She was already destined for hell anyway. 

Grabbing onto Negan as she situated herself close against him. Fixing the helmet Negan handed to her. She tried pulling down what she could of her dress, in a lame attempt of modesty really. Giving up, she focused on wrapping her hands around his hard body. Chest pressed up against the firmness of his back, she could feel already feel how taut her nipples already were as they fought against the fabric of her bra. Not to mention the vibrations of the motor that was purring sinfully, right into her own kitty. Fuck, she missed his bike.

 Negan smirked, feeling her squirming already as he slowly inched them out of the garage. Once they were out, he pressed on a mini remote off his keychain and the garage door started closing. And with that, they sped off.

          Part two should be up sometime tomorrow afternoon/evening. Like/Reblog! I’d love to hear everyone's feedback! Lets me know how I'm doing and helps me grow as a writer. xoxo

If anyone wants on or off my tag list for any of my future stories/one shots just let me know! 

Tags:

@zoesmama2024  @wickednerdery  @theonethatgotaway213 @negans-dirty-girl @backseat-negan @lotusprincessdi @miiraal @magikat409 @strangersangel9 @negans-network  @kellyn1604  @anniebf  @valkyrianne @retrostarfreak @ladylorelitany @may85

[sablelab]

Three Days in the Highlands Chapter 30

DISCLAIMER:

This is a complete work of fiction and as such is an entirely fabricated tale created in my imagination.  I appreciate you taking the time to read my story . Many thanks xox

SYNOPSIS:

Sam and Caitriona journey home to find a cranky cat on the warpath for being left alone and a tired woman in need of a warm bath after her long day climbing her first Munro.

Chapter 30

The journey back home was more expedient than their early travels to Mount Schiehallion this morning.  They had taken the scenic route then but Sam had decided to take the quickest way home along the highway to get back as quickly as possible.  They had both had a busy day and he knew that Caitriona had had an exhausting one for climbing a Munro for the very first time was extremely taxing.  Unfortunately Cait had also hurt her ankle and had some discomfort in her knees as well. No doubt by the time they got home, her body would also be screaming out in muscle soreness after climbing over all those rocky boulders.  Some of the climb down had been a little steep too, and Sam thought his decision to take the gentler route had been the best option.  Although his Cait was quite fit, climbing a Munro was no mean feat. He was so proud of her efforts today that as soon as they got home he would run a bath for her to ease those kinks out of her system.

Caitriona was quiet in the car on the journey home and Sam let her have her solitude. From time to time he looked over towards his weary passenger and saw that Cait had closed her eyes obviously taking a moment to let herself relax to the quiet humming of the Audi as it purred along the motorway home.  In the meantime, although he concentrated on the drive back to his home, he couldn’t help but recall the best moments they had shared today. This day had been exceptional and he was very proud of Caitriona’s feat in conquering Mount Schiehallion. There were many highlights throughout the day; however, the fact that they had made love at the summit was indeed the best highlight of all after she had said yes to his impromptu proposal.  Memories ... they had made special memories today and nothing would please him more than if tonight would be a continuation of what had been a most remarkable day.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sam glanced over at his love once more and was distracted by how beautiful Cait looked in repose.  He could look at her forever in that state of sleep when her breathing was regulated and her warm body nestled against his own. He would often just caress her sleeping form enamoured with this gorgeous woman whom he loved to distraction before Caitriona awoke each morning with that sleepy smile that touched his heart.  He never tired of running his hands tantalizingly across her warm silken skin which would cause Cait to rouse from slumber.  Then that look on her face when she eventually opened her eyes to find him worshiping her amongst the rumpled bed sheets, the evidence of their lovemaking during the night.

Taking his eyes from the road yet again they caressed his fiancée’s sleepy form. That was a bad move for Sam was immediately transported to them lying in bed with Caitriona cuddled up beside him with her long limbs entwined with his body as they slept after making love.  He smiled as Cait’s chest rose and fell in synchronised breathing rhythm and didn’t disturb her whilst she had a wee little nap.  Reluctantly he broke his gaze and continued to study the white line along the road trying to get his thoughts back to normal and drive them safely home.  Sam knew that if he continued along this vein of thought he could easily get distracted and crash the Audi or cause an accident. However, his thoughts were eventually interrupted by the languid purring sound of his name.

“Sam?”

“Yes hon?”

“I was thinking that when we get home I will have a long soak in the tub.”

He laughed. “You don’t say.”

“Yes, I’m feeling a bit sore in my joints and now that we have stopped walking they are starting to manifest themselves.  I may need you to give me a foot massage too.”

“I can do that. Anything else?”

“Hmm? ... Maybe a nice fire and perhaps some whisky.”

“I’m at your service Madame, I am all yours.  As soon as we get home, those things can be arranged.”

Caitriona was well and truly awake now and smiling; she reached out her hand and rested it on Sam’s thigh giving it a little squeeze. “Thanks babe.”

“Ah, Cait.  I wouldn’t do that if I were you. You know what happened the last time you got overly frisky in the car.”

Cait merely gave him one of her looks that had his temperature rising in nano seconds. “Hmm? ... Yes I do recall that you had to pull over ...”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sam squirmed a little in his seat as her fingers tantalisingly inched closer to his groin. There was no way that he could pull over this time although his Caitriona would test the patience of a saint, so in order to avoid any further dalliance, he changed the subject. “So how do you think you went on your first real Munro climb?”

Cait was looking at him intently, and seeing the playful gleam in her eye, he was mesmerised by the seductive teasing of the woman too close for comfort.

“Spoil sport,” she replied taking her hand from his thigh and resting it back in her lap.  “It was a great experience for me and an honour to make the acquaintance of Mount Schiehallion. It was equally great to have had the experience with such a wonderful companion.”

“Who me?”

“Yes of course.  I couldn’t have done this without you Sam.  You were my rock.”

He laughed. “I thought you would never want to say that word again Cait.”

“Well I have seen enough rocks to last me a lifetime, that’s true, but you are a different kind of rock.  You’re my rock. You were supportive and helpful when the climb was difficult, and I can lean on you like I did today.”

“We have each other’s back babe. Ditto. Schiehallion is a good first Munro to climb don’t you think?”

“It is but all those false summits near the top were frustrating particularly when I thought we were close to the peak and I wasn’t expecting that rocky ridge to be like that.”

“But it was worth it for the view alone.”

“Oh, yes the view was spectacular.”

“Yes, yes it was and I don’t only mean the view from the summit,” Sam replied with an underlying meaning.  

“You can say that again.”

Caitriona looked at him and saw that devilish smile that lit up his whole face.  His eyes were dancing in merriment but also with a piercing look she recognised very well. Quickly changing the subject, she looked out the window at the passing scenery knowing that to continue their conversation in the same vein could lead to trouble.  

“So, do we have far to go Sam? I feel a little disorientated as I don’t recognise anything like what we passed this morning.”

“I’m taking the quickest way back home honey and if we’re lucky we’ll arrive before it gets too dark.”

“That’s good, because Eddie will be cranky having been left to her own devices all day.”

“I bet she has done nothing but sleep.”

“You’d be surprised what Eddie can get up to when she is lonely.”

“Cats don’t get lonely. Do they?”

“They do. They can get up to all sorts of mischief if they are bored and left to their own devices.”

“Eddie wouldn’t do that. She just loves to sleep and eat.”

“True but you saw what she was like with the laser pen you teased her with Sam.  She loves being challenged like all cats do.”

“Well then, let’s hope that Miss Moggie has been true to form and slept all day.”

“I guess we will see when we get home.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

By the time they did arrive back home from Mount Schiehallion it was starting to turn dark. Sam parked the Audi and decided not to unpack the car until the morning. There was nothing of importance that needed tending to tonight except for his lady love.  He planned to spoil her rotten with all the things that would make Cait happy after her climb and ease away any pain she might have.

With a “Hello house,” they both got out of the car and headed back inside.

As they walked over the threshold they noticed one of two things.  Eddie was nowhere to be seen and there was a scattered mess across the floor where she had obviously been playing whilst they were away.

“Oh well you did try to warn me Cait but I am surprised that Eddie would be so destructive.”

“She has certainly made a mess. Understandable as we have been gone for several hours and this house is unfamiliar to her.  I wonder where she could be?”

“Slinking away somewhere hoping that we won’t find her is my guess.”

“You have a look down here Sam and I’ll go and check upstairs.”

Armed with his instructions, Sam scoured the bottom floor of the house looking for a hiding place that a fat, little cat could be. She was not on her scratching post nor was she in her basket.  Eddie had polished off the dry food that had been left for her in the kitchen, so she hadn’t gone hungry whilst they had been gone. Wherever she was, Sam knew that she would be sleeping somewhere with a full belly.  He searched high and low in each room looking for her but to no avail.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Making his way back to the lounge room, Sam took inventory of the mess that Eddie had made. It was evident that she had been having loads of fun as every stuffed toy that she owned was scattered across the floor as if she had organised a group party in their absence. Not having any luck in finding her, he decided to set the fire in the hearth instead and then investigate what was in the refrigerator that they could have for dinner. He was just about to make his way to the kitchen when he heard Cait call out from upstairs.

“Sam ... up here hon!”

Turning he made his way to the staircase and taking the stairs two at a time he was soon in their bedroom where he found Cait waiting for him.

“What’s up?”

“I found Eddie. She is curled up in the vanity basin fast asleep. Come I’ll show you.”

Holding hands they quietly tiptoed in to the ensuite and sure enough, there in the porcelain basin was one sleepy moggie purring to her little heart’s content.  She had her head snuggled into her body as if she had not a care in the world. The contented sound of her breathing was clearly evidence to her having exerted all of her energy playing downstairs with her toys.

Standing side by side, Cait leaned her body into Sam and nestled her head on his shoulder. Placing his arm around her waist, he hugged Caitriona to his side as they stood there watching Eddie asleep like proud parents.

She smiled up at Sam before resting her glance on her beloved pet. “Isn’t she adorable honey? Just look at her all curled up and sleeping like a baby.”

“I’m not surprised that she is dogged tired given what she has managed to wreck downstairs.”

“But isn’t she the sweetest little ball of fur you ever did see?”

“Yes she’s adorable.  Just like her human mother.”

Cait hugged Sam too, sliding her arms around his waist and locking them together.  “She will often snuggle down like that in the basin at home while I would take a bath.”

“Well then shall we leave her there?  Would you like me to run a bath for you?”

“Oh yes that would be deliciously decadent.”

“Good. I’ll do that and then I’ll clean up downstairs and get some dinner ready while you have a long leisurely soak. Meanwhile Eddie can stay where she is until you finish your bath.”

“Yes she’ll be fine there.  When she’s hungry she’ll go downstairs on her own.  After all she got in there all by herself, she will be able to get out without any help from us too.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

At the sound of their voices, Eddie impassively raised her head to look at the two humans watching her.  She blinked her eyes sleepily and looked from one of them to the other as if to say ...

“Ah, so you’re back now are you?” and “No.  I am not leaving my comfy spot for anyone. Where have you two been all day leaving me here on my own? Humans!  I’ll never understand them.”

Then dismissively, Eddie stretched out her paws and gave them several licks to preen her fur before settling herself back down and promptly falling back to sleep once more.

“She’s ignoring us Sam.  It’s payback for leaving her alone.”

“I’m sure Miss Diva is quite comfortable there by the looks of things, come on honey, I’ll run a bath for you. Leave Miss Moggie in her resting place and you hop in that bath to help ease those kinks from your body.”

“Oh, that sounds like heaven Sam.”

“It will be just what the doctor ordered.  A good long soak in the tub and you’ll feel a 100% better. Make sure you use plenty of that beautiful smelling bubble bath lotion that you use that makes your skin smell like ambrosia from the gods. ”

“Thank you honey. I’ll do that.”

Sam true to his promise then walked over to the bathtub, placed the plug in the bath and turned on the taps.  Soon the sound of gushing water echoed in the bathroom as the bath began to fill up and steam began to rise from the hot liquid.

“There you go babe. I’ll be right downstairs if you need anything, anything at all.” he replied giving her a wink.

“If I need your help I’ll call out.”

“I could dry you with a towel if you like after you finish your bath,” Sam added with a devilish grin on his face.

Caitriona gave him the side eye but a grin bowed her lips at his remark. “On second thought, perhaps you can come up later and check to see that I haven’t drowned or fallen asleep in the bath.  I’m sure once I get in the tub that warm water will make me feel sleepy.”

“Your every wish is my command mistress.  I’ll clean up Eddie’s mess, get some dinner and check up on you.  Is that right?”

“Oh Sam, don’t make me laugh. I have just discovered that my muscles hurt when I do that.  Go on, off you go. I’ll be fine here. Really.”

Placing a chaste kiss to her weary forehead Sam ushered her over towards the bath.  “I’ll be back.  You just relax and enjoy.”

“Yes master.”

Sam chuckled to himself as he left his love alone, that is, except for Eddie who was sleeping in the basin, to prepare for her bath.

 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Thanks for reading. xox