#girls next door had a fight so bad we were thinking about knocking on our guy neighbors door for help bc like

[aphrvdisiac]

oh i know when ellabs fight with eachother reader is stressed tfff out. its rare, but when it happens its not pretty. they have been getting on each others last fucking nerve for the past week and on the fifth day of ellie mocking abby like a child and abby making unnecessary rude comments when ellie’s in the room, the blow up finally comes.

you enter your shared living room where abby is meal prepping her post workout meals in the kitchen and ellie is sketching in her notebook on the couch, you prance over in your mini skirt and a short cardigan layered over your tiny crop top and let your girlfriends know your headed off to lunch with dina, who is introducing you to a friend of hers. she is certain the two of you will get along well and was hoping your over bearing girlfriends would be chill with it because it’s dina’s close friend.

the problem was though, you had only asked abby if you could go to this little brunch and she hesitantly agreed. she trusted dina and would have a friend of abby’s keeping a close eye on you while you were out little did you know. and with ellie and abby being petty with each other all week, abby hadent exactly gotten around to telling ellie this. so when you walk into the living room dressed as skimpy as the weather would allow and saying your goodbyes, ellie was a little more than confused.

“and where the hell do you think your going?”

you tilted your head in confusion “…out with dina and her friend? did i forget to tell you?” you were starting to worry abby had changed her mind about letting you go.

“and who told you y-“ “she asked me, is there a fucking problem williamson?” abby abruptly put down the tupperwear she had in her hands, turning to ellie and cutting her off

“your my problem anderson-“ “get a god damn grip-“ “oh please dont play the tough act with me-“ “i’m gonna fucking-“

the yelling echos through the opened floored room making you slightly flinch. being the sweetheart you are, you assumed it was your fault they were arguing and guilt filled you instantly; regretting even making plans at all. tears fell down your cheeks faster than you could register them. not wanting to cause more trouble you run into your shared bedroom away from the arguing girls. this shuts they both up as they turn with furrowed brows watching you hurry away from them with red eyes and puffy cheeks.

without another word they follow you into the room and knocking on the locked door, argument lost in their concern for you.

abby speaks first when you don’t immediately open the door “angel? it’s okay we’re done it’s done, need you open the door for us” then ellie piped up “your okay baby, wanna talk to you”

and you do. unlocking the door and sitting back on the bed you sniffle and the apologies instantly spill from your mouth.

“m’ sorry ill stay home. im sorry im so sorry. didn’t mean to make you upset els. i didn’t know. i’m sorr-“

“baby baby relax. come back yeah? you not in trouble sweet girl, what’s going on?” ellie comforts as she takes a seat next to you on the bed, guiding your head down into her neck where you sniffle and wrap your arms around her. abby follows, sitting on the other side of you and rubbing her big hands on your bare back under your top. “made you argue, i didn’t mean to js’ wanted to go see dina..”

“oh angel, you did nothing wrong, breathe baby. we’re not mad at you. just having a bad week is all. nothing to do with you perfect girl. we didn’t mean to scare you we’re so sorry.” abby speaks gently to you. she takes ellie’s hand behind your back, kissing it in silent apology, which ellie sends her a soft smile in return.

“but i-“ “shh no no no stop putting things in that head of yours. we’re not upsest anymore everything is okay. our crybaby huh? we know honey, just so sensitive yeah?“ abby continues to soothe your sniffling

“poor girl, looks like we have to show you how much we love you more, hm? i’ve got a few ideas. abs?”

“mmm i think i know just the way”

this is bootycheeks but whatever bc what better to do on my work lunch break then flood your inbox with my silly thoughts and this probably has 700 typos so just close your eyes

overstimulated and crybaby reader you are so me and lana you get it so well like….

ellie and abby’s hearts simply breaking at the sound of their girl weeping and sniffling, guilt running through them as they should know better than to even argue in front of you. when they see you teary-eyed with a pout on your face after they tell you to look at them, they know so many ways they’re gonna make it up to you.

they felt silly to even be fighting with each other to begin with because look at the consequences ): they got you crying and freaking out from them yelling at one another, and they always tried their absolute best not to. ):

ugghhh and the fact they’ll give you anything you in order for them to make it up to you… they’re such saps for their girl.

[biolums]

can my neighbors learn to be normal and not the loudest humans on the planet. like ANY of them. please

[enchantedlov3r]

This is my playpen ellie williams x puppy!reader full fic<3

Summary: you and ellie are play fighting but it turns into something different, more intimate...

Pairing: ellie williams x puppy!reader (my reader)

Word Count: 1.9k

Warnings: Smut, oral (r receiving), soft!dom!ellie, sub!pup!reader, moaning, ellie herself should be a warning, fingering, ✂️ing, kissing, breast play, squirting, play fighting, aftercare, that's it folks!

A/N: I'm in the writing mood y'all enjoyyy! MDNI!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!! smut warning will be placed when the scene arrives. first time writing for ellie, hope you guys like it!

based on this song:

you and ellie were the best of friends. you both loved each other very much and it showed in public.

ellie was in love with you though. she of course never exactly had the balls to tell you because you were so pretty. she didn't wanna ruin this wonderful friendship you guys had.

in these circumstances, it was hard to make friends her age, granted she was basically an adult now and so were you, it was still hard being lesbian and making female friends and struggling not to fall for them.

that's what happened between her and dina, they were really close friends and ellie fell for her. but now there kinda distant from each other because now dina is with jesse.

there's nothing wrong with that, she was still friends with them, it just wasn't the same like it used to be.

but now she found you and she just wanted you to be her's so badly. it haunted ellie at night. it got to the point joel noticed and would tease ellie about it everyday.

"stop starin' ellie, it's creepy." joel would say as ellie stared at you from across the room while you were sitting on couch.

it was movie night and you, ellie and joel always watched movies together. Tonight you invited dina.

"how can i sit here and not stare joel? How can she sit there and laugh and look so beautiful?" ellie says admiring your figure laughing with dina.

"well I understand that, she's a beautiful girl but c'mon, you know what happened between and dina" he says to ellie with a look.

"yea well joel i can assure you, that won't happen again, can we go watch the movie you old man?" ellie says with a smirk on her face before kicking off the wall and heading towards the couch.

"hey guys, whatcha talking about?" ellie announces her presence. Dina looks at her and smile and you smile at her as well jumping up to give her a hug.

"Hi els! we were just talking about our guesses on how the movies gonna end." you say giggling before letting her go and grabbing her hand to sit down.

"Yea, she thinks its gonna end happily but I think it's gonna end badly." dina says smiling at ellie.

"yea well, I don't know how it's gonna end but i'm guessing it'll prolly have idk maybe a double ending where it's both good and bad." ellie says with a shrug.

"that was no help at all ellie." dina says with a smirk on her face. "It's ok els, we'll see." you say laying a reassuring hand on her thigh.

ellies face turns a bit red and she smiles at you before rubbing her neck.

she had to admit she was very smitten about you. she loved how you were so oblivious and so cute. she adored your love for nature and your fascination with chasing things.

it was adorable.

'joel! hurry up! we wanna watch the movie!" dina calls out

"yea you old man, get out here!" ellie follows up

"please be safe and don't trip and break a hip please joel." you say lastly making ellie and dina laugh.

"what!? i'm genuinely concerned for joel!" you say with a pout on your face. ellie smiles and apologizes glancing down at your lips.

she turns away from you and looks at the figure appearing next to her, it's joel.

"alright girls, yall can shut up now. I'm pressing play." He says laughing.

the movie begins and it's going good, you guys are halfway through the movie when there's knocking on the door.

joel groans and the girls whine. joel pauses the movie and gets up and opens the door and sees tommy and jesse.

"what is it tommy?" joel asks clearly frustrated and annoyed. "well I need you for some help in the stables and jesse needs dina for something, I have no clue why though."

"alright, we'll be out in a sec." he says huffing out a puff of air.

"dina, jesse needs you, don't know why, els imma be gone for a little bit, i'll be back, pick up dina then we'll finish the movie, kay?" he announces.

you pout and ellie rolls her eyes, clearly frustrated. 'alright joel, bye see you later." ellie calls out.

"bye joel." you call out to him. he smiles, winks at ellie and waves his hand. 'bye girls." he says.

"by dina." you say,

"bye d." ellie says.

"bye guys." she says with a smile before running out the house and closing the door.

you both hear a click which is clearly joel locking the door before you both look at each other and smile.

"so whaddya wanna do?" ellie asks with a tight lipped smile as she pats her thighs.

"I don't know, can we go to your room, your bed is much more comfortable then this couch." you say with a smile.

"ok, yea no let's go." ellie says getting up and leading you to her room even though you already knew the way.

you guys finally make it to her room and ellie asks as she opens the door, "what now?" she says walking towards her bed.

"THIS!" you yell out jumping on her back and making ellie fall on to her bed. you giggle as you straddle ellie from behind.

ellie tries to get you off before reaching behind and using her fingers to tickle you.

you laugh out loud and fall off her. she climbs on top of you you both start tugging at each others arms and tickling each other.

SMUT INCOMING!!

ellies leg though found a way between yours and every time you moved, your cunt was brushed with the roughness of her jeans and the thinness of your shorts.

every time her leg brushes against your clit you whimper but try your best to cover it up with a giggle, but there was this one time that her leg brushed your now soaked cunt and you moaned her name.

"e-ellie, fuck." you moan out. ellie immediately stops in her tracks. she looks at you with wide eyes.

"w-what did you say?" ellie questions, clearly confused.

"ellie your leg has been brushing against my pussy for the longest and it feels really good, i tried my best to conceal my noises but it felt way too good." you confess.

"please els, please help me. I need it, i need you." you beg her as you paw at her clothes to remove them.

she bites her lip and mutters out a "fuck" before removing her shirt and her sports bra, she starts unbuckling her jeans and gets off of you.

"fuck, take your pants off." she say breathlessly as she stares at your breasts. she climbs back on top of you once your pants and panties are removed.

she puts one leg on top and over you and lines her pussy up with yours. she starts experimenting by slowly moving her hips rubbing her clit against yours.

you let out a long moan and grip onto her leg. "fuck els, yea r-right there." you whimper out.

she moans too, "fuck yea, your pussy feels so good, fuck" ellie moans.

her pace gets faster and your desperate thrusts and movements are indicating that your close. "your close huh? you gonna cum, cum for me." ellie says grabbing your breast and rubbing and squeezing your nipples.

you cry out feeling your release coming closer and closer. you squeeze your eyes shut and moan out ellie's name loudly. she curses before her hips twitch as do yours as you both cum at the same time.

"fuck baby, c'mere wanna try something." ellie whispers to you. you scoot closer to her and ellie lays down on her stomach.

she lines her face up with your cunt and experiments with her tongue. she licks a stripe up your cunt and you mewl.

"oh ellie!" you whine out, the feeling of her tongue in the place you need her most feels amazing.

"you taste so good babe." she moans into your cunt. the vibrations of her moans course through you making your hips jolt at the friction.

what surprises you is when she adds a finger inside you, you cry out at the feeling of the strecth.

"oh fucking hell els!" you grip her hair tighter and she groans into your cunt. she's having the time of her life going ham on your pussy.

she adds a second finger eliciting the same reaction out of you that you had the first time.

she slides her other hand down to her pussy and slips to fingers in moaning into your cunt loudly.

ellie felt euphoric, not only pleasing you but also pleasing herself. ellie got pleasure out of watching you squirm and writhe around as she ate you out.

"f-fuck." she mumbles as she feels her high approaching. she chases it while still finding the rhythm to please you.

she cums at hearing you cry out her name. she's breathing just as heavily now as you are. she removes her fingers from her cunt and grabs your plush thighs to finish you off.

"you gonna cum again for me love?" she asks sucking on your clit as she feels your walls tightening and your hips spasming.

"ellie! oh ff-fuckk!" you cry out as you squirt all over ellie, her tongue lapping up your juices.

you pull her face closer to your cunt as you ride out your high, the feeling of euphoria taking over you as you cum.

ellie removes her fingers before locking eyes with you. she sucks her fingers clean making you whine at how hot it was.

"l-lemme help you." you say batting your big pretty doe puppy eyes at her as you offer to help get her off.

"it's fine love, I'm good." she says as she gets up off the bed. "lemme clean you up yea?"

she goes into the bathroom and grabs a rag, wets it with warm water as it was very cold in jackson lately.

she wipes your cunt and you sigh in relief feeling warm water on your bare skin.

she rinses it again and wipes your body down from your breasts down to your thighs.

she then cleans herself off before laying down in the bed with you. she pulls the blankets over both of you and snuggles up with you.

"you wanna shirt of mine or no? so you know... y-your not cold?" she asks.

"yea that would be nice els, thank you." you say. you watch as she walks over to the drawer and grabs to shirts out, a black one and a green one.

she tosses you the green one and she puts on the black one. she grabs a pair of underwear for herself and you and you guys get dressed.

once you guys are finished you guys lay back down and cuddle up.

"this may sound crazy to say but, I think i'm in love with you." ellie admits.

"you think?" you question. "no n-no, fuck. no I know I love you. I've been in love with you for a long time." ellie says tracing circles on your thigh.

"i'm in love with you too ellie!" you say smiling at her. "I thought I was being kinda obvious with the way I acted around you."

ellie chuckles and kisses you for the first time tonight. it's long and it's passionate and it has nothing but love in it.

with her eyes still closed she smiles. "will you do me the honor in making me the happiest girl in the world and be my girlfriend?" ellie asks.

you smile and shower her face with kisses before answering. "YES! YES! YES!" you say excitingly.

you hug her and you both lay there together eventually falling asleep in each others arms.

Taglist: (?) whoever wants to join just lemme know!

COMMENTS, REBLOGS, AND LIKES ARE MUCH APPRECIATED!

©enchantedlov3r| All rights reserved. Do not repost, reupload, translate, modify, or claim my work as your own.

[atlabeth]

a rose and her thorns | luke castellan

pairing: luke castellan x fem!daughter of aphrodite reader

summary: luke vies for a valentine. you're just trying to get through cabin inspections.

a/n: take this as my formal apology for the angst i’ve been throwing at you all with demeter girl lol and take this tooth rotting fluff. this was supposed to be shorter but i got carried away, after writing that 11k angst riddled monster this was a much needed palate cleanser lmao

wc: 3.3k

warning(s): no warnings this is all fluff <3

You huffed as you knocked on the door again, chewing on the inside of your lip as you waited for a response. The Hermes cabin usually always had kids in it—either they were ignoring you, or they were just causing too much ruckus to even hear it in the first place.

Honestly, you should have known this was how cabin inspections with Luke would go. He was probably in there right now, ushering all of them through rapid last-minute tidying in the hopes of something higher than a one. You had half a mind to knock a point off right now by virtue of tardiness.  

The hairs on the back of your neck stood up all of a sudden, and you whirled around. 

“Speak of the devil,” you said wryly. 

You were greeted with Luke Castellan himself, his hands up with a slight smile on his lips. “Easy. I didn’t think I looked that bad.” 

Your brows creased ever so slightly, and he gestured with head. You looked down and realized you were holding your pen like a sword. You cleared your throat and let your arm drop, adjusting your shirt on the way down. 

“Sorry. People tend not to sneak up on me.” 

“I can’t imagine why.” Luke put his hands down and started towards his cabin, craning his head back at you. “What brings you here on this fine day, Rose?” 

“Don’t tell me you forgot,” you pouted, holding up your clipboard and pen as you followed him. “We’re on inspection duty together. Where were you?” 

He snapped and pointed at you. “That’s what we were doing together today! I knew we were spending time together—not like I could forget that—but,” his hand paused on the doorknob, “I kind of forgot about the cabin inspection part. Had to spend a little extra time with one of your siblings at the end of sword-fighting lessons.” 

“Sounds like Liz is getting better, then.” A smug smile pulled at your lips as you stopped next to him. “And it sounds like someone’s gonna be cleaning the dishes tonight,” you said in a sing-song voice. 

You placed your hand over his and opened the door, and Luke groaned. “Take mercy, Rose. Please.” 

It was certainly a sight—more akin to a tornado than the inside of a cabin. Various kids—Hermes, unclaimed, and minor gods alike—ran around, shoving dirty clothes beneath beds, cramming duffles and suitcases into overflowing closets, with a few noble exceptions attempting the Sisyphean task of actually cleaning. 

“Wow,” you said, glancing down at the papyrus scroll. “Can I give you a zero?” 

“Listen,” Luke said from behind you, “our thing isn’t tidiness. It’s thievery—swiftness, cunning, panache.” 

“I thought you were supposed to be jacks of all trades,” you mused as you checked off boxes. “Cleaning is a trade.” 

“Not here.” You could feel him peering over your shoulder and he groaned yet again. “Come on! You’re grading us way too low. I get input too, remember?” 

“Sure,” you remarked. You held out the clipboard and gestured with your head at the natural disaster in front of you. “But you can’t tell me this is anything better than a two.” 

“A two’s better than a one.” Luke plucked the pen out of your hand and scrawled out a number two on the final line. 

“Luke—” you started in protest, but he just snatched the clipboard as well with a wink as he started walking backwards towards the door. 

“We’ve got a chance, guys!” he called out. “Hephaestus has gotta be worse than this!” 

You huffed as you chased after him, shutting the door on your way, and you crossed your arms as you came to a stop in front of him. “This isn’t very cooperative of you.” 

“Gotta give myself a chance,” Luke said, smiling as he took the Hermes sheet off the clipboard and stuffed it into his pocket. 

“That’s just cheating,” you said, and he let you take the clipboard back from him. You started walking, and he fell into pace with you. “Hephaestus is next—we’ll see how much of a chance you have.” 

“We should get some slack because we’ve got double the campers,” Luke said. “Nine’s got no excuse—they’re just a bunch of messy engineers.” 

You tapped your pen against the board. “I’m not changing my mind, Castellan.” 

“Ouch,” he winced. “I got last name’d.” 

You merely smiled and shook your head. You could see his own smile in your peripherals, then he huffed.  

“You’re distracting me from my whole plan with these ridiculous grades,” Luke sighed. “I haven’t ruined everything, have I?”

“You’ve got a plan?” you asked in amusement. 

“Of course I do.” Luke took a few long strides to get in front of you then turned around so he was walking backwards, that stupid smirk still on his lips as he kept eye contact with you. “Valentine’s Day is coming up.” 

“You’re very observant,” you said. “Watch your six.” 

Luke moved a step towards you to avoid a younger camper with their head buried in a book, and you chuckled as he shrugged. 

“It’s a work in progress,” he admitted. 

You hummed, biting back your smile as you came up to the Hephaestus cabin. You were about to knock on the door, but once again, Luke caught your wrist. 

“You’re not even gonna let me say my piece?” he asked. 

“I’ll give you a little time to polish it up,” you said. 

“You assume I don’t have it prepared already?” 

“Oh, I’m sure you do.” You winked. “But I know the effect I have on you.” 

Luke’s fingers loosened on your wrist and you allowed a small, self-satisfied smile as you pulled free and knocked on the door. It took a couple seconds, but eventually the door opened and their counselor—Alya, if you remembered correctly—greeted you with a smile. 

“Just in time,” she said, smudging the bit of grease on her face as she wiped at her cheek. “We’re actually not horrible today.” 

Luke grumbled beneath his breath as you walked in together—usually, the place was a mess of loose parts and hastily sketched out plans and smoke-scented clothes. Today, it was still a mess, but slightly less so. 

“Damn it,” Luke muttered. “Still not as bad as us.” 

“Stop comparing your place to everyone else,” you said. “This is supposed to be fun.” 

“Cabin inspections are fun?” he asked wryly. 

“Hanging out with me is fun,” you clarified. “I—”

You were cut off with a gasp of your own as you slipped, and before you could even fully process it you were falling. It wasn’t until everything steadied that you realized someone had caught you, strong arms cradled you around your waist. You looked up to see Luke’s wide eyes. 

“You good?” he asked, his voice slightly higher than usual. 

“Yeah,” you said, nodding far too many times, “yeah. Yeah, I’m good.” 

“...Good,” he said, ever eloquent. 

A small smile creeped in. “You can let me go now.” 

It almost took him a moment to come back to Earth, because he blinked before he nodded, smiling on his own as he helped you back up. You could feel the heat in your face and tried your best to ignore it as you looked down. A small pool of oil was the culprit—you grimaced at the thought of having to clean that out of your jeans. Thank the gods for Luke. 

“That’s gotta be points off,” Luke whispered in your ear, still close by, and you stifled a laugh. “Oil on the floor, making pretty counselors slip. Right?” 

You ignored him too, looking over at Alya, though you couldn’t stop your smile. She looked mortified. 

“I am so sorry,” she rushed. “I guess Michael didn’t clean as well as he said.” 

“No problem,” you said. “I’ve got a little guardian angel. But this place isn’t too great.” 

“Damn,” she mumbled. “I even got one of your sisters to come in and help clean things up. Do you not smell the perfume?” 

“The smoke kinda overpowers it,” you said sympathetically, and she sighed. “Three out of five, Alya. But you’re right on the edge of a four.” 

Alya glanced at Luke. “Better than Hermes?” 

Luke grimaced. “I don’t wanna talk about it.” 

She smiled and went off to talk to one of her siblings. Luke shook his head and tutted once she was gone. “The double standards here are ridiculous, Rose. I might have to report you to Chiron.” 

“Oh, quiet.” You hit him in the side lightly with the clipboard and continued scanning the room for  a final check. “If you wanted help with cleaning up from an Aphrodite kid, all you had to do was ask.” 

“And would you have accepted?” he asked. 

“Of course,” you said as you scribbled down your last couple of notes. “I’ll always help you, Luke.” 

He went silent as you continued to write, and when you finished you saw he was only looking at you. 

You frowned. “What?” 

“Nothing,” Luke said, still smiling. “Let’s keep going.” 

You stared at him for a moment, but he didn’t say anything else. So you just laughed a bit and shrugged. Luke followed behind you as you walked out, and despite his claims of ‘nothing’ just a moment ago, soon enough he was talking again. 

“So,” he said, “Valentine’s Day.” 

“Valentine’s Day,” you said sagely. “What’s your plan?” 

“Be my Valentine.” 

“That’s your plan?” You glanced over at him. “Just asking me out straight-up?” 

“Oh, sorry. I also have this.” Luke pulled something out of his back pocket and held it out. You couldn’t help but laugh. 

“A rose?” you asked with a lopsided smile. 

“Not just any rose,” he said as you took it. “A chocolate rose.” 

“You are so cute.” You pulled the wrapper off, and though the stem and leaves were plastic, the flower was, indeed, very much chocolate, and in the shape of a rather pretty rose. 

Luke shrugged. “Figured you needed something as sweet as you.” 

“I’ve got a toothache just from being with you,” you remarked. You broke it in half with a bit of effort and offered it to Luke. 

“You can’t just split the gifts I get for you with me.” 

“They’re my gifts,” you said. “I can do whatever I want with them.” 

“Really?” he asked. 

“What’s a rose without her thorns?” you responded. Luke grinned as he took the other half from you. You popped yours into your mouth and your eyebrows rose. 

“This is actually good chocolate,” you said as Luke ate his part. “Not like that crap we get at the camp store.” 

“I might’ve snuck out to the city to get the good stuff,” Luke said offhandedly. 

You looked at him incredulously. “What?” 

“Did I stutter?” 

“You risked all that trouble just to get some chocolate for me?” you marveled. “Hell from Chiron, extra chores for a month, literal monster attacks—” 

Luke held up a hand, stopping your ranting. “Nothing happened. And even if it did,” he shrugged, “you’re worth it. So it doesn’t matter.” 

You shook your head and Luke continued. “Besides, I got some other stuff too for the rest of my plan.” 

“Right,” you nodded, “you never finished telling me.” 

“How’s your schedule?” 

“Busy,” you said. “I’m an Aphrodite kid during Valentine’s season.” 

Luke tipped his shoulder. “Fair. Think you can block something out for me?” 

“That depends what it is,” you said. 

“It’s a secret,” he said. 

You stared at him. “A secret?” 

He nodded. “It might be a foreign concept to you Aphrodite kids, but—” 

You cut him off with a light shove and he only chuckled in response. “So you talk yourself up and it ends up being a secret.”

“I think I’ve earned some secret surprises,” Luke said. “I’m already sweeping you off your feet.” 

You shook your head, smiling inwardly as you tapped your pen against the clipboard. “Is that how you see it?” 

“Well, I did keep you from an untimely death back there,” he said. “And the more unfortunate plight of having to get oil stains out.” 

“You read my mind,” you mused. 

“And isn’t that worth a date?” Luke asked. “Saving you from a fashion faux pas?” 

“You’re worth a date all on your own,” you said as you came up to the next cabin—Apollo was bright as ever, gleaming golden in the sunlight—and you looked at him with a smile. “No rescuing required.” 

-

Your journey to the rest of the cabins went by relatively quickly, especially the Apollo and Ares cabins—you think Luke had been temporarily stunned into silence by you actually flirting back. 

You’d had a subdued smile on your face nearly the entire time, even as you felt warmth bloom over your face again. Luke really brought out the inner Aphrodite in you—you were sure your mother was proud, wherever she was watching. What seemed to get Luke out of his addled state was the 5/5 you gave to your own cabin—he complained that the scent of perfume gave him a headache, and when you said you’d been wearing perfume the entire day, he claimed that it was different. 

(Cabin Ten kept their full score. It was amazing what a pretty smile could do, especially when Luke was the victim.) 

Finally, you were at the Demeter cabin. Luke insisted on going there last, so that all the expectations would be tapered—he was still trying to get a better score for his cabin, but the odds were looking pretty slim. The door was already open, and you smiled at the newly grown flowers outside the cabin. 

“Nice touch.” 

Luke sighed. “Great. Going out with a bang.” 

“It’ll be fine, Luke,” you said. “I’ll help you clean your cabin tonight.” 

He frowned. “You were actually serious?” 

“Of course I was.” You tipped your head. “It’ll just have to be pretty late. Y’know, because you’ll be cleaning all the dishes.” 

“Low blow,” he said, shaking his head. You chuckled as you stopped in the doorway and poked your head in. 

“Hey, Katie,” you called to the counselor. “How’re things?” 

“Good,” she said, nodding. A smile of her own bloomed on her lips as her gaze moved over to Luke. “I see Rose and her thorns are on duty today.” 

“Flattery won’t help you with your score,” Luke mused as he walked into the cabin. You smiled as he held out his hand for the clipboard, and you finally acquiesced. You could feel Katie’s eyes on you as he walked further in. 

“He takes that as a compliment?” 

“Thorns protect a rose,” you said, still watching Luke. He played the part of a foreman well, investigating their shelves and walls with vigor and even opening drawers. You couldn’t help but laugh a bit, and Luke looked back and smiled at you. You nodded, giving him the go-ahead, and he winked as he gave you a thumbs-up. 

“And he protects you?” she asked. 

You shrugged. “We protect each other.” 

“…You would be cute together,” Katie admitted. 

You managed to tear your eyes away from Luke, leaning back against the wall. “You think so?” 

“He’s only been vying for your attention and flirting with you since the moment you got to camp,” she said wryly. “But you’re the expert on love—you tell me.” 

You bit your lip as your gaze darted back to Luke, who was squatting on the floor having what looked to be a very serious conversation with a younger Demeter boy. 

“I think I’m his valentine,” you said, almost absentmindedly. “And I think I’m really looking forward to whatever this date is.” 

Katie came back into focus as you came back to Earth, and even she was smiling. “Then I think you’ve got your answer.” 

Luke had picked the most opportune moment to come back, when you weren’t staring at him like an infatuated idiot—you were only one of those things—and he held out the clipboard and pen to you. “After having a very in-depth conversation with Damian about how things are going here, I scored them properly.” 

You chuckled as you took it from him, but your eyebrows rose the more you read. “You’re kidding me.” 

He shook his head. “There’s unpaid labor going on here—unpaid child labor. Damian said he’s responsible for half the cleaning and plants here.” 

“We’re all children. All the labor we do is child labor,” you deadpanned. “And we’re sure as hell not getting paid.” 

Luke held his hands up. “Don’t shoot the messenger. I’m just delivering what he’s said.” 

“Don’t tell me he gave us all ones,” Katie said dryly. 

“You know him so well,” you mused. You scribbled out half of what Luke wrote as you stood up from the wall, shielding it with your body so he couldn’t see while you walked out together. “See you, Katie!” 

Her protests fell on Luke’s deaf ears as he held up the rear, shutting the door behind you two, and when you looked back at him he was grinning. 

“Straight ones,” he tutted, shaking his head. “What a shame. Looks like they’re gonna be cleaning the dishes tonight.” 

“You know they got a five, Luke,” you said, finally allowing him to see your revised marks. “If you’re gonna fudge the numbers, at least try and make them believable.” 

“Oh, come on!” he exclaimed. “A five is way too nice—it’s not fair that they can just grow plants all over and make everything look presentable. Using powers should count as cheating.” 

“Their floors are clean, their beds are made, and it smells like floral heaven,” you said. You tapped his chest with your pen. “You could learn something from them, Castellan.” 

He caught your wrist before you could move it away. “The Aphrodite cabin always gets perfect scores. Think you could teach me a few things?” 

You grinned as you pulled your hand out of his grip and continued walking, this time en route to the Big House to drop off the final inspections. “That depends.” 

“On what?” Luke came back into your peripherals as he caught up to you. 

“On how good this secret plan of yours is,” you mused. 

His eyes lit up, past worries of low inspection scores seemingly fading away in an instant. “So it’s a go? You’re in?” 

“Of course I am,” you said, tucking the clipboard under your arm. “You got me the good chocolate, Luke. How could I not see where this goes?” 

Previously unnoticed pressure dissolved in his shoulders as he took your hands in his. You could only focus on his eyes, on the warmth of his skin, on the callouses borne from years of sword-fighting. 

He was surely blessed by your mother. 

“You’re not gonna regret it,” Luke vowed. “All those promises I’ve made about blowing you off your feet, about making your mother proud—they’re all gonna be true.” 

“You know what wise men say,” you said wryly. 

“That they’re so glad you’re finally giving me a chance?” 

“Only fools rush in,” you provided. “Going all in on our first date seems a little hasty.” 

“Isn’t your whole thing supposed to be rushing in?” he asked cloyingly. “Y’know, daughter of love and all.” 

You shrugged. “Maybe I like taking the idea of taking it slow with you.” 

“Then call me a fool,” Luke mused, letting go of one hand to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear. His own curls hung over his eyes and you had the strongest urge to take his face in your hands. “Because you should know I can’t help it.” 

You felt your cheeks heat as warmth spread all over, and you couldn’t even try to hide your smile. “You think you can take me out on one of those city trips of yours? Show me how to steal a camp van without getting in the most trouble?” 

“I’m trying to steal your heart here,” Luke said with a goofy grin, “but I think a van’ll do.” 

“Oh, don’t worry.” You took his hand back, intertwining your fingers together as you pulled him closer to you. “We can multitask.” 

[sarawritestories]

Unwavering Presence Chapter 3

Cassian X Archeron Sister (Reader)

Summary: Y/N looks forward to the next time her and Feyre go to the Night Court. Choosing to stay out of the way in the Spring she is visited by the High Lord and threats are made. Few months of learning how to read and Feyre finally warming up to the Night Court, the next time they return to the Spring Y/N is caught of guard and chaos ensues.

Content Warning: 18+ brief depictions of abuse, Tamlin being a dick, Ianthe appearance, unwanted groping (Not from any of our beloved night court folks or Spring court), blood, separation.

Word Count: 5.6k

chapter 2 Masterlist

A/N: I'm sorry if it seems to be a bit sped up but I simply could not bring myself to write more filler chapters! I hope you enjoy!

After my argument with Feyre, I locked myself in my room for the three weeks. Feyre had tried to come apologize and she tried to come in, but I had made sure my door was locked. I didn’t really move from my chair other than to change and sneaking into the kitchen late at night to eat. To avoid running the High Lord, Lucien or my sister.

There had been a continuous warmth on my tattooed wrist, Rhys’ reminder that I wasn’t alone. On the bad days where sleep evaded me, I tried to send back a wave of appreciation, unsure if he could feel it. Chances were he we were sleeping when I sent so he probably didn’t even know, but I did appreciate him.

Feyre and I have never had many fights and it was even rarer that the fight had resulted in us not talking and working it out. The last time was right before Tamlin took us away.

Feyre slammed her bow on the table. “You should have been here. What were you thinking going out there?”  I scoffed as I dropped the wolf carcass on the table, facing my twin whose eyes flared with anger and a hint of fear. “You could have died!”

The door creaked open, and I glanced to see Nesta and Elain emerge from the bedroom. Their eyes went wide taking a look at the beast on the table. Our dad remained near the fireplace not acknowledging that Feyre and I had returned. Not like he noticed when we left. “Feyre, you could have died to. I have just as much skill at hunting like you, we work better together, and it worked out look at what we caught.” I held out my arm to show the wolf. “I love you, and I didn’t want you going out alone tonight. I’m glad I was there to help you take this beast down.”

Feyre blew up, “I could have killed you! I didn’t know you were there!”

I gave her a doubtful look and cross my arms, “I have been able to sense your presence since we have been children, you definitely knew I was there.”

Feyre ran her fingers through her brown hair not caring if she got blood in it. “Maybe I wanted to be alone, figured Nesta would give you some good quality time. At least she doesn’t despise your presence.”

My mouth dropped and quickly recovered, “Are you fucking serious, Fey? What the fuck does that mean?”

“Girls,” Our father croaked from his spot in the fireplace, only then that I noticed he was carving something in his hands. “That’s quite enough. Y/N your mother and I have taught you better than to use that type of language.”

I rolled my eyes, “Whatever you say.” I grit out and was about to push past my sisters when the door flung off its hinges and a beast with emerald eyes locked his gaze with mine.

A knock caused me to jolt from my seat and the book I was attempting to read on the table next to the chair, “Go away,” I yelled trying to conceal the fact the knock on the door frightened me.

The sound of the lock turning, and the door opens causing me to jump out of my chair, to see Tamlin strolling in. He shut the door and made a spectacle of locking the door. His eyes met mine and his eyes held nothing but cold and controlled anger. “Long time no see, Y/N.” He drawled and I tried not to shiver as fear locked up my joints. He slowly approaches me with his hands clasped behind his back, “You’re breaking Feyre’s heart you know. Locking yourself in here.” The sun from the window hit him and in any other situation I would have found his beauty mesmerizing, but his beauty looked sinister.

I crossed my arms and Tamlin takes notice of my tattoo decorating my skin before its tucked away. Feigning indifference, tucking the fear deep down and lifting my chin. “What do you want, Tamlin?” Shifting my weight back and forth.

Tamlin closed the distance, and I took a step back, “You’re coming down and having dinner with us tonight.”

I rolled my eyes, and I could hear the growl in his chest, “No thanks, as you can see, I’m quite busy here.”

Tamlin bared his teeth, “That wasn’t a request,” he took another step toward me.

“I don’t care,” I muttered and made the error of trying to step around him and in a flash, he gripped me and pinned me against the wall his muscled his hand moved from my arm and moved to my hip his free hand clamping down over my mouth. His gaze turned feral and crazed, letting his anger unleash and I could only produce a whimper through his hand.

He brought his face closer to mine and I could see the pure ire in his eyes. “Listen to me carefully. You are going to clean up, put on a pretty dress, come downstairs and apologize to Feyre for causing her stress and pain. Then you are going to eat in silence you will be seen and not heard.” I tried to yank my head, but he has my face in an iron grip, and he gripped my hip in bruising force keeping me pinned to the wall, “Like the good little human girl you are.” He released my face.

I quickly spat in his face, “Fuck-“he clamped his hand back over my mouth and I lashed against him.

Tamlin tsked, “No, no, the only thing I wanted to hear from you at all is ‘Yes Tamlin.’ And an apology to my soon to be wife.” He gripped my hip so tightly I gasped, and a tear slipped down my cheek. Tamlin kissed it away, the gesture going against his words. He met my eyes again his grin anything but comforting, “Blink if you understand, Y/N,” my name almost a snarl against his lips. I slowly blink and more tears fall. He lowers his face to kiss my forehead and I thrash my hands trying to push him away, but I couldn’t move him. He pulled away and released my body giving my cheek a not so tender pat, “Good Girl. Now go clean up there will be a dress on your bed,” he turned and made his way to the exit.

I wrapped my arms around myself, and I noticed Tamlin paused, “Oh and Y/N,” He turned his hand still on the handle, “Make no mistake if you don’t come down, I will drag you to the dining hall and tie you to the chair. Feyre’s happiness is important to me I will do anything to keep a smile on her face.” With that he left, and I let the emotions of the interaction fully take over and slide down the wall and bury my face in my knees to stifle the uncontrollable sobs. I barely notice how warm and tingling my tattoo is through the tears.

Cassian’s POV

I sat in the lounge of the townhouse with Rhys, there was a throbbing in my chest that caused discomfort. I rubbed my chest, but the pain wouldn’t subside, it felt like my heart was aching. I creased my eyebrows sadness consumed me and I rubbed that spot tighter as I closed my eyes.

“Cass, you alright?” Rhys’ voice pulled me from the wave of emotion overtaking me.

“I just have this weird feeling; my chest feels tight.”

Rhys gave me his full attention, his glass of whiskey forgotten. “Do you need me to get Madja?”

I shook my head, “No, just feels like something is wrong.” Another wave overwhelmed me, I closed my eyes, and I took a deep breath to neutralize myself. When I opened my eyes, my brother had a painful expression on his face. He was gripping his glass tightly his knuckles were white. “What is it?” I asked.

Rhy formed his lips into a tight line, and he clenched his hands into a fist, “Something is wrong over there,” he gritted through his teeth as he rubbed his left arm, causing me straightened I didn’t need him to fill me in. “She is sending utter turmoil down the bond.”

I grimace, “What kind of male torments their partner like that. To cause that much dread.”

Rhys shook his head, his eyes meeting mine the stars winking out, “It’s not Feyre, Cass.” My grip on my own glass tightened, “It’s Y/N’s.” Rhys stood and downed the rest of his drink.

Rhys began to walk out, and I called out, “Where are you going?”

“It’s the beginning of the new month, brother.” Rhys turned and winked at me, and darkness consumed him as he winnowed out of town house.

Reader’s POV

After a bath and getting the tears to finally stop I walked into the bedroom, taking a look at my hip fortunately there was no bruising from Tamlin’s grip. A lilac dress was laid out for me. The gossamer fabric chaffed my skin. The skirts were heavy against my hips, the spot where Tamlin squeezed still tender, I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths and my wrist tingled. I looked down and grazed my tattoo calm washing over me, “Thanks Rhys.” I whispered.

I walked over to the door and opened it to find Feyre on the other side biting her nail, a nervous habit she started when we were kids. Her eyes widened as she saw what I assumed is my puffy eyes from crying, and in turn I saw how her eyes looked bruised and I know she has still not been sleeping, “Hi.” She whispered.

I drifted my gaze to my feet, “Hi.” I looked back at her and look at her thin frame and her sunken cheeks and Tamlin’s words flooded my brain.

You’re breaking Feyre’s heart.

Guilt racks through me as I lightly pull her hand from her mouth, “Feyre, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lash out at you.”

Feyre squeezed my hand, “No, I am sorry. I know that this transition has been hard on you. I should have been more considerate to your feelings.”

I gave her a small smile tears pooling in my eyes again, “Let’s just put it behind us,” I patted her hand with my trembling one.

If you don’t come down, I will drag you to the dining hall and tie you to the chair.

“Y/N, you look like you’ve seen a ghost, and you’re trembling like a leaf. Do you want to lie down I can tell Tamlin you’re not-“

“No!” I blurted, causing Feyre to step back stunned. I composed myself, smoothing my skirts willing my hands to stop shaking, “Let’s just go have dinner with our…friends.” Feyre beamed at me referring to Tamlin and Lucien as friends as I tried to keep the bile from creeping up. We made our way to the dining hall. The closer we got the more nervous I became even the comfort of the tattoo felt vacant. I was trying to keep my hands from shaking by keeping them clasped.

The doors opened as we approached and Lucien and Tamlin were standing in their seats, snarling at something and as we got deeper into the dining hall to find Rhysand his hand tucked into his pockets. Feyre stilled and I fought every instinct to run and hug him. “Fuck you, Rhysand, we are to have a nice dinner. You can’t just take them.”

“Per our agreement it doesn’t matter when I come pick them up in the month.” Rhys spoke with cool indifference. “But I am a reasonable male,” He turned to us, “Ladies, I’ll give you the choice you can enjoy the meal with the High Lord and his loyal pet,” Lucien scowled, “Or we can go right now.”

Feyre moved to her seat by Tamlin Rhys tracking her entire movement, “I would like to have a meal before being whisked away.”

Rhys pulled his gaze away from Feyre and met mine. For a moment, I looked at Tamlin and could see his lips move the message clear Sit down. I met his gaze to his and hoped he understood what I was trying to convey with my eyes as I began to move to the seat next to my sister.

Don’t leave, please don’t leave. Don’t go.

Rhysand meandered to a seat on the opposite end of the table as Tamlin growled the claws peeking from his knuckles, “They want to have dinner, you can come back when their done.”

Rhys pulled the chair and plopped in it kicking his feet up as if he owned the place. “Where’s your hospitality, High Lord? I think it’s best I stay and join you. I’m sure Feyre and Y/N wouldn’t mind.”

Feyre scowled and I just lowered my gaze, finding the skirts of my dress very interesting as I took a seat. “Fine.” Tamlin grumbled and food appeared on each plate filled with lavish meats and cheeses.

I looked at the table and Tamlin’s fierce gaze met mine, “Y/N, so wonderful for you to finally join us tonight, care to say anything to Feyre.”

“Tamlin, leave her be she already apologized to me.” Feyre scolded her hand gripping my thigh with a gentle squeeze.

Tamlin bristled and I shifted in my seat under his scrutinizing gaze, “Well I’m glad she apologized. Let’s try to have a meal together with everyone present moving forward.” I looked to Lucien who avoided eye contact with me...Coward.

Feyre gave a small smile, “Sounds great.”

I moved my food around with my fork, not having an appetite. I felt a prickle in the back of my mind. You need to eat. I tried to reign in the shock of Rhys’ voice in my head.  You BOTH do.

I looked at him, to see he was eating the food, but his eyes were locked on me and Feyre, I looked to my sister, and noticed she was doing the same thing. Looking at the High Lord of the Spring and his emissary, the two were engaged in their own conversation eating paying us no mind. I took a few bites of my food and out of the corner of my eye I saw Feyre following suit.

One the meal was finished Rhys stood and Feyre rising from hers, Tamlin reached to grab her hand and she casually moved her hand. I made a note to ask her about it when we’re alone. Feyre gave him a small weak smile, “We’ll see you in a week.”

A hand lightly gripped my shoulder, I looked up and met Rhys’ gaze, “Ready to go?”  I nodded and rose from my seat. His hand slid down my arm and gripped my hand. “Feyre Darling,” Her gaze met his as he held out hiss free hand for her to take. She approached him with less fury than the first time we went to the Night Court. When she places her hand in his we are consumed by the darkness, and we are back in Rhys’ home.  Feyre looked at me, “I’m going to go to bed. You are coming?”

Rhys gave Feyre a comforting grin, “She will be there in a moment. I need to talk to her real quick.” Feyre to my surprise give him a silent nod and her lips curve slightly upward and I swore that Rhys stopped breathing for a moment. “Good night, High Lord.” She said and turned and headed back to our shared room.

Rhys turned to me, and I averted my gaze to my hands that were interlaced.  “Y/N, look at me,” I refused and kept my gaze on my hands, look at me, please his voice echoed in your mind. I sighed and met his gaze, “What happened? I felt an unnerving turmoil earlier today through,” he grabbed my arm with the tattoo. “It was like you were screaming down the bond.”

I slipped my arm from his grasp, and he let me, “I don’t want to talk about it.” I murmured wrapping my arms around myself, “I doubt you would believe me anyway.”

Rhys scowled, “You don’t have to tell me what happened. You don’t have to talk to me. But don’t ever say that I wouldn’t believe you. The pain I felt today was real your pain was real.” Rhys’ face softened, “Just don’t bury this down and forget about it, it will eat you alive, okay?”

 I gave him a nod and he turned to leave probably to head to his own room, “He pinned me against a wall,” I blurted, and it caused him to still, he turned, and I could feel the tears building up as I placed my trembling fingers over my mouth, “He clamped my mouth so tight I thought he would break my jaw and he gripped my hip to keep me pinned to the wall.” I sobbed and Rhys in three strides made his way back and without saying anything else wrapped me in his arms and I let the sobs take over and buried my face in his shirt. A comforting hand placed on back of my head and he rubs my back in almost a brotherly way. “I tried to push him away and I couldn’t,” whether he could understand the words and tears just wouldn’t stop. “He told me I needed to remain silent except to apologize to Feyre for locking myself in my room. He said that he going to tie me to a chair and force me there.”

Rhys arms were the only thing keeping me upright, “It’s okay.” He whispered pressed his cheek atop of my head, as my sobs racked out of my body. “What can I do? Tell me what I can do to help you.”

There was a calm emotion that slowed down my sobs slowed, I take a deep breath, “Can you help me not feel as weak and powerless as I felt today? I never want to feel that way again.”

“Yes, you will never have to feel that way again.” He pushed away and looked at me, wiping tears from my cheeks. “I can train you.” I nodded in agreement as exhaustion began to take over my body. “It’s been a long day,” I gave him another nod, “Want to go to your room?” He gripped one of my hands, “I can take you there.”

I shook my head and his brows furrowed, “Can I go to the library?” He smiled and gave the top of my hand he held a kiss.

“Of course, you can, let me take you.” I gave him a small smile and sniffled as he led me to the library. The small journey was quiet, but the door opened, and the books came into view. “Tomorrow, we can start your reading lessons I’m hoping your sister will want to partake as well.” I turned to him, and he held hope in his eyes that Feyre would be willing. “We can start training whenever you want, Y/N. I’m sorry I couldn’t come sooner.”

He released my hand and began to walk away. I grabbed his hand again and he looked back at me, “I don’t know what I can say. What I can do to repay for your kindness.” And I wrapped my arms around his neck, “Thank you, Rhysand.”

He returned the embrace, “You don’t need to thank me.” He pulled away and cupped my cheek, “Have a good night, Y/N.” He places a chaste kiss to my forehead and heads deeper into the hall. I walked into the library and the fireplace lit and I welcomed the warmth as I sat on the large chair. Sinking into the cushion I laid my head back and in the comfort of the library my eyes shut, and sleep overtook me.

Cassian’s POV

She looked beautiful and peaceful on the library chair fast asleep. Rhys had casually let me know she would be there and before I went to bed after a long day in Windhaven, I stopped by to see if she might have needed anything and found her sound asleep. Rhys didn’t tell me what happened in Tamlin’s court, but he had mentioned that she was interested in training. The red around her nose and the smell of dried tears told me she had been crying and my mind only went to the worst-case scenario of what happened.

Leaning off the door I tucked my wings to not have them drag across the floor I approached, Y/N’s sleeping form, the way her neck was angled she would wake up in immense pain. I lightly scooped her in my arms trying my best not to wake her, she only stirred to move her head and leaned it against my chest and the sweet smell of Jasmine and lilacs flooded my nose. She smelled as beautiful as she was. I walked over to the couch that was placed right in between two bookshelves against the wall and lay her down making sure her head pressed against the pillow. The house placed a blanket in my arms and in no hesitation, I placed the blanket on her. She snuggled against the softness of the blanket and let out a content sigh.

I smiled and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, “Sleep well, Sweetheart.” And with that I left the library and went to my room.

Reader’s POV

The next morning, I woke up and found myself on the couch in the library, and there was a blanket over me. I remember falling asleep on the chair, but don’t remember moving. The scent of leather and Sandalwood lingered in the room and was a comforting embrace. Feyre opened the door her eyes frantic, “There you are! I was so worried!” She donned a peach dress that fitted her figure with sheer sleeves that had rhinestones on it. Her hair was pinned back to the side, and she looked beautiful even though the dress looked like it was wearing her.

I stretched and smiled at her, “Sorry, Fey, I fell asleep in here. I like it in here.”  I sat up and put the blanket to the side, “I’m hungry.”

Feyre nodded, “Well go change and we will go get breakfast.” I nodded and went to the bedroom to change into a purple top with sheer puffy sleeves that showed a little more cleavage with matching pants and put my hair in a simple braid and made my way to breakfast.

At breakfast Rhys broke the news to my sister that we would be learning to read, write and shield against Daemati fae, which he explained to me is how he was able to speak to me in my mind. That went as well as I anticipated but with some coercing, she joined me in the office to get our first lesson. “I don’t understand why you care about our education.” Feyre grumbled.

“Oh, are you saying having this ability wouldn’t have been useful under the mountain?” I stilled at his question and Feyre went pale and silent. “We don’t know what the future holds, its in my best interest to have you two, well versed and ready for anything.” 

He explained to us how to put up mental shields that we worked on, and we spent an hour writing the ridiculous phrases that made Feyre roll her eyes and mutter, “Insufferable,” causing me to chuckle. After an hour of Rhys scolding us for keeping our shields up and checking our work, he released us for the day. Feyre and I went back to the room and fell into a comfortable silence and that evening I went back to the library and grabbed a book to practice my reading.

The rest of the week was spent that way shielding, reading and writing and towards the end, Feyre was eating more and smiling more to Rhysand which I swore the High Lord soaked in her smiles like sun rays. When we returned to the Spring Court, we both spent some time together reading and despite my utter disgust I would join for meals to appease Tamlin and keep his temper at bay.

Months went by and fell into the same rhythm. Rhys threw in a few fighting lessons, but we started with balance and stretching. He said he would only show me the basics but when his General came home that I would start training with him for more intricate training. I wanted to ask Rhys what Cassian’s role was in his court or just even to learn more about him, but I refrained, I didn’t want to pry, and he never wanted to divulge in the members of his court.

I could tell after Rhysand dropped us off that both Feyre and I were feeling better and stronger as Feyre was begging Tamlin to go out and hunt and help the people in town and met with stonewall refusal. So, she would dive into reading with me, but her face was fuller, and light shone back into her eyes, the color in her hair was vibrant again. Turns out that verbal sparring with Rhys was doing something for her.

Dinner that night after Tamlin told Feyre he didn’t want her hunting, Tamlin was utterly sweet, to her and to me. I welcomed the change even if Ianthe had graced us with her presence and her saccharine grin making my skin crawl. It felt as though things were finally falling into place. I drank the wine that Ianthe had poured for me and when I went to my room, sleep overpowered me and I moved to my bed my head landing on the pillow as I slipped into unconsciousness not even realizing that I had left my door wide open.

I awoke with a start as the warm breeze caressed my bare skin, I sat upright my surroundings spinning but trees surrounded me, I was in the forest. Someone had put a sheer nightgown on me my hands were bound behind my back and female laughter caused my blood to chill. I turned my head to find Ianthe there. “Ianthe, help me please.”

She approached me and gone was any warmth in her features and cold viper took her place as she crouched to meet my eyes, “I’m under Tamlin’s orders. To take you far away from the manor”

I gritted my teeth, “Bullshit, he wouldn’t hurt my sister that way!” I sent panic down the bond in hopes that Rhys would be able to answer my call.

Ianthe stroked a finger down my cheeks moving to my neck and down to my clavicle, “Unless we tell her you ran away.”

Fear ran down my spine I masked it with indifference, “You think she would believe that I would abandon her like that.”

Ianthe traced her finger right above the swell of my breast and I jerked away from her, “Well we could also say that you were influenced by the Naga lured out by a lesser fae and with your fragile human body you couldn’t resist.” I bit my lip, and she smirked knowing she would believe that as she held a dagger and sliced quickly above my clavicle, and I hissed, refusing to scream. Though she sliced off one of the straps to my night gown. She placed a kiss to my cheek before she murmured, “I’d run if I were you. Won’t be long before the monsters that live in these woods smell your blood and come looking for you.” And with that she vanished.

I gritted through my teeth as I rose to my knees, ignoring the pain of twigs and rocks pressing into my knees as I rose to my bare feet and began to run. I wasn’t sure which way I was running and there was minimal moon light to help but I just kept running and sending my fear down the bond. Even opening my mind:

Rhys, help. Please help me!

There was no response, but I kept pushing, kept sending waves of fear down our tattoo and shouting my thoughts in hopes he would hear. It felt like hours I was in there before I tripped over a stump I didn’t see and fell hard on my back. My vision blurred as my head collided with something hard, but the silence was palpable in the forest. My breathing was labored, and I could feel the warmth trickle of blood running down my face. I knew my feet were cut up, but I still rose to my knees and willed myself to try and stand. Dizziness dropped me back to my knees and a sob raked out of me. “Rhysand, please.” I whispered.

A low chuckle echoed behind me, and I began to tremble. “What a delicious treat we have brother, a human girl” The sound of slithering made me want to vomit but I forced the bile down and kept my head down. The slithering halted and the images of the Naga Feyre had painted flooded my memory the serpent-like creatures with talons and vile creatures.

Another low sinister voice followed, “What a pretty little thing and tied up just like a present.”  A sharp finger moved my hair away to look at my bleeding wound. I looked up and met yellow eyes and a pink serpent tongue sticking out. The hand that moved my hair gripped the back of my neck and I whimpered as the Naga licked the trail of blood from my forehead. The free hand groping my exposed breast, the beast hummed in approval, “She is delicious.”  The Naga gripped my hair and I yelped in pain as he approached, bringing his mouth closer to mine but keeping my head in place so I couldn’t move.

Rhys, I think I’m going to die. If I do, it was an honor being your friend.

I could have sobbed when Rhys’ voice came into my head.

No one will be dying tonight.

There was a slash of metal and the howl of the Naga who was gripping me as he was yanked away a flash of blue propelling it back. The sound of wings booming above and a thud on the ground. I couldn’t see my savior’s face only that blue gems blazed in the night as he approached the creature that put its hands on me with a blade in his hand.

The creature’s brother tried to slither its tail around my waist only to be met with steel cutting in clean off. A blast of red power forced the beast back against the tree. The Naga was about to approach again ready for a fight when a dagger flew and landed right in between its eyes, and it slumped back against the trees. The clouds parted and moonlight was able to help me see but a hand grabbed my shoulder and a jerked out of the grip turning slightly to meet familiar hazel eyes. His eyes held fear and he held his hands out palms open, “Y/N, do you remember me?” He whispered.

I nodded, “Cassian,” I whispered my voice hoarse and dry.

Cassian gave me a warm smile, “Good, Can I untie you?” I nodded again and he took another dagger and made his way behind me to cut my ties as the other winged male approached. My hands were free, and Cass took my hands in his and began to massage my wrists to bring the circulation back into my hands. “Is this, okay?” he asked, ignoring his friend who had just approached. I nodded again words not forming.

The other male knelt and gave me a small smile, his eyes a similar hazel to Cassian’s but just like Rhys and Cassian he was utterly beautiful, “I have heard a lot about you, Archeron.” His voice was pure honey, “I’m Azriel.”

I give him a small wave. Cassian released my hand and slid off his jacket sliding it over my shoulders to cover me. I slide my arms into the sleeves. “We have to get going before more come.” Cassian whispered to me, “Will you let me carry you?”

I nod but force myself to say, “Don’t bring me back to the Spring Court.” I whisper as my eyes met his and pain flashes in those eyes. “Please.”

“You are not going back there, Sweetheart. We’re taking you home.” Cassian scoops me up and holds me close to his chest, where the scent of sandalwood and leather fills my nose and my eyes widened, was he there that day in the library? Did he move me over to the couch? My thoughts whirled but the dizziness caused me to lay my head on his chest. “You alright?” He murmured the words thrumming from his chest causing warmth to spread through my body.

“I hit my head, and a little dizzy but I’ll be alright.” Azriel rose nodding to his friend and gripped Cassian’s arm as darkness consumed us until we emerged into a house I had never seen before.

Rhys was in the hall his eyes frantic, “Mother above, Is she alright? Where's Feyre?”

Tears welled up at my conversation with Ianthe bubbled to the surface of never seeing Feyre again, “I'm alright” I croaked, “They’re going to make her think I’m dead.” I whisper and tear slips from my face. Cassian’s grip tightens on me his thumb rubbing circles on my back, and I wrap my arms around his neck and bury my face letting his scent soothe me.

"Who is?" Cassian asked.

"Tamlin and Ianthe." I whimper as pain erupts from my head. I pressed on, "They are going to tell her I abandoned her."

Rhys sounded as though he was clenching his teeth, “Cassian go take her to one of the rooms upstairs and have Madja come take a look at her.” I could hear his footsteps and a hand was on my arm giving it a comforting squeeze, “I’ll check on her in the morning.”

You didn't abandon her and when she sees you again she will know that Rhys' words in my mind brought me comfort as I heard his steps walk away with what I assume was Azriel's not far behind.

With that Cassian took me up the stairs and into the room I took a look around there were two twin sized beds and he laid me down on the one farthest from the window, He looked at the wound on my head, "I'm going to go get our healer, I'll be right back." He got up and I on instinct grabbed for his hand, hissing at my fast movement.

"Stay. Please don't leave me." I whispered.

He bit his lip and he nodded he looked off into the distance for a long moment and then he grabbed the chair from the small desk and brought it by my bedside. "Rhys, is calling for our healer." He sat letting his wings dip slightly as he grips my hand again and rubs the top of my hand. The soothing motion lulling me into a dreamless sleep.

Chapter 4

Story Tags: @hellodarling1357 @hnyclover @waytoomanyteenagefeels @amara-moonlight @impossibelle @esposadomd @sleepylunarwolf @stressed-reader @kylaisra @marvelouslovely-barnes @magicstrengthandcourage @spideytingley @awkardnerd @donttellthecats @Tastydewdrops @vermillionwinter @asweetblueberry2 @bunnyredgirl @homeslices @azriels-mate2 @oksloan3 @wallacewillow0773638 @fandom-crashlanding @writingstreetspirit @hannzoaks @minnieoo

[luciferlightbringer]

Love in a Hopeless Place

Chapter 10

Chapter 9|Chapter 10|Chapter 11|Updated through Chapter 12

Lucifer x prostitute fem!reader Word Count: 3.6k CW: Slowburn, Angst, Prostitution, Hurt/comfort, trauma, fluff, depression, anxiety, insecurity,

Over the next couple of days, Charlie and the hotel crew started to prepare for their little "intervention" dinner with her dad. Charlie and Vaggie worked together to make up dinner while the others made sure the place was kept up, mostly Niffty.

Later that night, Charlie heard a knock on the front door. Was that him? Why didn't he just teleport in like usual? Charlie went to open the door and saw Lucifer giving his big focused smile.

"Charlie! It's so good to see you," he said enveloping his daughter in a big hug. It had been weeks since he had hugged anyone, the sting of how much he missed it had started to grow back.

"Hi Dad," Charlie said hugging her father back tightly and swinging him around. "I've missed you so much, it's been weird not having you around as much."

Lucifer tightened his grip on Charlie as they hugged, "I'm- sorry about that sweetie, I just... got busy. I'll try to be better about that, I promise."

Charlie loosened the hug enough to study her dad's face, it was tired and worn out, he looked like he hadn't slept in days. Lucifer tried hard to keep his facade up, but he knew his daughter was trying to read him.

"Dad... are you sure you are ok?" Charlie asked with concern.

"Yes. Why do you ask?" he said still trying to hold a smile, holding a silence but futile prayer that he could find a way to fool her into thinking he was ok.

The other members of the hotel, Angel, Husk, Niffty, Cherri, Vaggie, even Alastor started to walk in from the shadows of the hotel lobby.

"Cuz, with all due respect your highness," Husk chimed in "One, you are a bad liar, two, we actually do care about you," Husk looked over to Alastor out of the side on his eye, "well... most of us care about you, and three... we are also worried about (y/n)."

"Ya!" Angel added in, "You two were a couple of peas in a pod, she was even talkin' 'bout wantin' to move in here, den 'poof', ya both are nowhere ta be seen fa' weeks. What gives?! I thought we mattered to you guys!"

"Ya! I miss you and our girl, where is she?!" Cherri pipped in, "We loved watching you two hangin' out here togetha."

"She was a bad girl! But she was really nice! I liked when she would listen to me talk about my bugs fights!" Niffty added, holding up her knife.

Alastor sighed, "Honestly, I'm mostly here for the entertainment of your sorrow... but (y/n) was important to the growth of the hotel and it's community. Plus, she amuses me. I had grown unfortunately fond of her charms," Alastor said with a wicked smile, his comment made the room pause a moment, Lucifer glared at him.

"We miss both of you, sir, it's just not the same here without you. We just kinda feel like we've been left in the dark," Vaggie added, rubbing her arm.

Lucifer sighed, he didn't realize just how much you had meant to not just Charlie, but to the entire hotel. That you guys together had been. It was important for them to know the truth.

"Ok, ok... I'll tell you the truth... but it isn't going to be pretty," Lucifer said with shame painting his face. Lucifer went to go sit on the couch and the others came to sit around him and listen to the story. Lucifer gave an abbreviated story of the last several months of his time with you, truth that you were actually a prostitute he had hired, the story with how it all started with the conversation with Ozzie, the first appointment and the chaos and joy that cam from it, how you had helped him to connect with Charlie and the hotel again, how you supported either other through the stresses of the war with Heaven, how he protected you, how he realized he had fallen in love with you, and then the last night you were together, the blur and confusion of it all, and how finally you had banned him from being able to be scheduled with you again and how you had been told that the whole dynamic was just her acting like she cared about him. He didn't blame or try to paint you in a bad light, he was just defeated and sad.

During the story, the group went through a series of emotions, all of them now understanding why you had not able to talk about your relationship with him at all.

"Damn it! No wonder I liked her so much! She's in da same industry as me!" shouted Angel when the story was over, "She felt so kindred and I couldn't fuckin' see it. Oh, she is good."

"So... none of your relationship was real?" Charlie asked, sadly.

Lucifer shook his head, "No... no I don't think it was."

Husk shook his head, "You're wrong." Everyone looked at him. "Something here doesn't add up, Angel, Cherri, you remember our conversation with (y/n) the night before the war with heaven?" They nodded, Husk looked at Lucifer, "The only lie I have ever seen (y/n) tell you was that she was sad that night because of the war, which... she still was... but the reason she was sad before you came over to check on her was because she was sad that she could not be honest with us about your guy's relationship. We had asked her about what was up because you guys seemed more than friends, and she told us she could not talk about it. And she has tried to bluff some things about how she presents herself before when we first met her, probably all just to protect the secret you guys had. Trust me when I say, she was never fake with how much I saw she cared about you."

Lucifer shrugged, "It doesn't seem to matter though it though... in the end, she banned me."

"Why?" asked Angel, "Did she tell you? Did you ever hurt her?"

"No. Someone else at the place she works called me and told me, she was gone or... something. I don't know if I hurt her, never physically, but I was so drunk at the end of our last night together... I don't know what I did or why I got banned... and I'd never want to cross a boundary like that... she's had too many fucked up people in her life... I don't want to add to that club any more than I already had," he buried his face in his hands, "it sounds like keeping the secret was already a lot of weight on her, I didn't realize..."

"King, listen, I've been in the sex business for a long time, nothin' about this situation makes sense ta me, both from a sex worka' standpoint or from what I know about her. Did you pay her well?" Angel ask inquisitively.

Lucifer nodded, "Ya, I gave her big tips too, I wanted to to be happy and get what she needed."

"No good sex worka' in their right mind would full on ban you for one weird night, even if you did rough 'em up a bit. You told us there was some other client that had been roughin' her up a bit that you took care of. Tell me, did she ban him on the first night of havin' any issues with him?" Angel asked. Lucifer shook his head, starting to think about Angel's words.

"Right. So unless she was stupid, which I know she aint, she wouldn't've cut off probably the best paycheck in hell just because you had one sloppy drunk night where something may have gone weird. Also, on top a dat, sex worka's can be good actors and can pretend like they care. But they try not to get attached, and like Husker said earlier, she got attached, and boy it was obvious. That's probably a big reason why I didn't sus her out sooner. By da time we met her, nothin' about ya relationship was actin' anymore, on either side. Cuz you love 'er, dontcha?" Angel pointed while he leaned back on the couch.

Everyone looked at Lucifer, he nodded, "I do, I love her."

Angel nodded, "And you would do anythin' to make 'er happy, including keepin' yourself away from her if you thought it would make her happier, isn't dat right?"

Lucifer started to tear up, "Yes..." Charlie started to tear up and hugged her dad.

"Therefore... there is something fishy happenin' here, there must be some form of miscommunication, or... a third party that likes messin' with shit," Angel looked up at the ceiling thinking.

"How do you know all this?" asked Vaggie suspiciously. Angel looked over at Vaggie and have her a sly smile, "When you're life was spent in da Mafia and your afterlife was spent around shitty desperate sex worka's that are dying to get a taste of your success by any means necessary, you pick up on a few things, baby."

Charlie perked up, "You think someone at her work did this?"

Angel shrugged, "It's very possible, not 100%, but it's possible. Lucifer, did (y/n) ever talk about having any issues with other girls at her workplace?"

Lucifer thought a moment, "Hmm... she mentioned there being some annoying girls that she some sometimes needed to put in their place, but nothing this crazy hostile. But then again, she didn't like talking about the Lounge much, and I didn't like asking because I started to get more sad whenever I was reminded that I was just a client to her."

"The Lounge, like the Luxurious Lady's Lounge in the Entertainment district?" asked Angel.

"Ya... you know it?" asked Lucifer.

Angel smiled, "Know it? Ha! Sure do. I know exactly where it is too. May have even seen 'er once or twice without knowin' it"

Charlie smiled at her dad, "Dad, if we know where she is, we should just go and talk to her!"

Lucifer shook his head, "Oh. No, no, nonononono, Charlie... I can't do that."

"Why not? Dad, come on, we can try clearing all this up!" Charlie pleaded.

Lucifer sighed, "I just... until I know for sure that she didn't actually ban me, I won't want to risk that. It's just not a good idea... Plus, I don't want to attract more attention to her if she is having issues there," Lucifer hung his head.

Charlie thought for a minute, then a lightblub went off, Charlie got down to Lucifer's eye level, "Dad, she may have "banned" you for seeing her... but not me! I could go talk to her!"

"Charlie, hold on, dis is a bad idea," Angel piped up, everyone looked at him confused, "Rememba' what happened when you tried to talk to Val for me?" Charlie thought for a second remembering the disaster that was, feeling the guilt return at the memory. Angel smiled, "Obviously I need to go with you!" The room erupted into laughter, Angel almost had them for a second, even Lucifer managed to crack a smile in his down mood.

"You guys are really willing to do this for me?" he asked looking to Charlie and Angel.

Charlie looked at Angel and back to her dad, and grabbed Lucifer's hands, "Yes, for you... and for us."

Lucifer smiled, "Ok... but can we actually have dinner before you go? I was anticipating an actual dinner instead of an intervention, but I guess I should have expected both." The room filled with laughter again and the group set up for dinner before Charlie and Angel would head out to find the Lounge, and more importantly, you.

______________________________________________________________

Later that evening, you were hanging out in the lobby of the Lounge, the same way that you had the nights before Lucifer had started to take up more of your schedule. You were still getting clients, but it was back to the old torturous monotony as before, but it somehow felt worse now that you had gotten a taste of love... or what you thought had been love. Every client made you wish you were back in Lucifer's arms, wanting to explore Lucifer's body... not this shithole and all it's shitty clients.

You felt yourself grow more bitter as you saw Cynthhhhia grow back in popularity with the customers, it seemed her few days on the phones really scared her into staying in her lane, especially because Larry had apparently made her take all of the calls during those three days. Something did not sit right with you about her more recent success, but you didn't want to turn into another her. Plus, the happier she was, the more she left you alone. Guess there had to be a bright side, somewhere.

You were sitting on your favorite couch in a long, blue, shear, flowy robe, when you saw a tall pair of individuals walk into the lobby. But not just any two tall people, two that you recognized, Angel and Charlie. You eyes went wide, and you quickly slinked off to the dressing room to hide.

'What the hell? What are they doing there?!' you thought to yourself. You hoped they hadn't seen you, even though your time with Lucifer was up, you still wanted to keep his secret about the two of you.

Charlie and Angel walked up to the front counter where Larry was standing he did a double-take seeing both of them.

"Whoooaaa, Princess Morningstar! And the famous Angel Dust! What an honor to have you two in to join us this evening. Are we interested in having a little fun tonight? I am surprised, I didn't think one of Val's best boys would be needin' to pay for fun. Unless... you are looking for a change in employment?" He flashed a sharp smile.

Charlie piped up, "Hi! Uhh, Charlie is just fine. And no, neither of those things. We are here looking for one of your girls, (y/n)."

"Is she here tonight?" Angel added.

"Uhh... ya. What business do you have with her?" Larry asked, wondering how they knew her.

"She's a friend ah mine," Angel chimed in, "She's mean MIA for a few weeks and we have been worried about 'er, we were wantin' to check in on her. Charlie has gotten to know her a little too and wanted to come with."

"Can we pleaseee see her?" Charlie pleaded.

Larry thought for a moment, "I don't know, she is still on the clock for several more hours. I can't just let her off early." Charlie and Angel look at each other and nod, Charlie pulls out an bunch of cash, "Will this cover her for the rest of the night." Larry smiled as the amount of money in her hands, it was more than enough.

"I do believe that will work Ms. Mornin- uhh, Charlie," Larry said taking the cash, "Let me go get her." Charlie is glad that she learned that in some situations like this, money talked more than words or power. She came more prepared than she had with her conversation with Valentino over getting more of Angel's time.

Larry searched around before finding you in the dressing room, "Hey Babydoll, you've been bought out for the rest of the night by some friends of yours, Angel Dust and Charlie Morningstar. I didn't know you knew them." He said giving you a look.

They bought you out for the rest of the night? Did they come here specifically to find you? How did they know you were here? Did... did Lucifer tell them? You felt some fear and hope bloom in your chest.

"Oh, haha ya, you know me, I'm just not one to talk about my personal life at work," you gave Larry a big smile. He laughed, "Alright, keep your secrets, sounds like they wanted to talk to you about something, worried about you. Go show 'em a good time tonight, ok?" You nodded, and quickly switching out to a more solid less see-through robe, before walking out to the lobby.

Angel and Charlie saw you coming, Charlie ran to you but you stopped her short of you, "Not here, come with me," and you led your friends up to you apartment. Once you were inside you room and the door was locked, you said "Ok now you can hug me if you want to."

This time, both Charlie and Angel want to embrace you at the same time, starting to tear up a little.

"Oh my god, (y/n)! It's so good to see you! We were so worried about you!" Charlie asked.

"Ya! When you and Lucifer stopped showing up at the hotel to visit, we started worrying, babe," Angel added.

"Wait... hold up, Lucifer stopped showing up to the hotel? How did you know I was here?" you asked.

"We sat my Dad down and he finally broke and told us the truth about everything," Charlie said.

"Ya, he spilled da beans on your guy's relationship, you don't have to keep his secret from us anymore," Angel added.

Tears started to well up in your eyes, "I don't?!" The two nodded. You started to sob and hugged them back. "I- I'm so sorry, I- I didn't want to lie to anyone but he wanted to keep it discreet, which I understand, he is the King! And it was so confusing, and then, one night he got really drunk one night, and it worried me, he wasn't acting like himself, and told me he loved me, but, but I didn't know if I could believe him. And he was getting all touchy and doe eyed, and I didn't know what was really what he wanted because it was all so sudden. So I ran! I ran because I was so scared, and- and- and-" Charlie and Angel both hugged you and tried to shushed you through your crying.

"It's ok, no one is mad at you. That sounds like a hard position to be in, it sounds like there was a lot of confusion on both sides," Charlie said.

"Confusion?" you sniffled, "Is that why he hasn't called to schedule with me again?"

Charlie and Angel looked at each other then back to you, "You didn't ban him then?"

You blinked, "WHAT?! Why on earth would anyone think I blocked him?! No! I freaked out and went on a trip for a few days to clear my head. I came back and I was told that he said he would call to reschedule, and then he just never did! I thought he hated me!"

"No!" Charlie cried, "No, Oh my god, he is a total wreck without you! He misses you like crazy! He thinks he was put on your "No Kiss List" or something"

"We can't even say your name without him shuttin' down and lookin' like we killed his dog or somethin'," Angel added, Charlie gave him a look, "What?! It's true!"

You sat down on the couch and stared out for a minute, thinking, "Why didn't he come to ask me himself?"

Charlie shrugged, "He doesn't remember what happened that night, he is convinced that he hurt you terribly and that it's why you banned him. He didn't want to hurt you so he respected that wish. We tried to get him to come tonight but he was scared in case you really had banned him."

You thought for a few more moments, who could have caused this? Who would have done this to you both. Your eyes widened. No, could this have been... did Cynthhhhia do this? Would she have been the one to make the calls that day since that was her punishment. You were pretty sure, but you didn't want to act without proof. You clenched your fists, starting to fill with rage.

"Is he at the hotel?" They nodded. You thought again, "Can you take me to him?" They nodded again with more excitement.

"I have just one question for you, before we go," Charlie started, looking into your eyes, "Tell me truthfully, do you actually care about my dad, not just for an income, but as a person?"

You took Charlie's hands in your own, "Charlie, I really do... more than anything... in fact... I'm pretty sure I'm in love with him." Charlie and Angel squealed and jumped up and down.

"That's all I needed to hear, let's do this!" Charlie declared.

You took a few minutes to get dressed, and soon you were off to see Lucifer again. Cynthhhhia eyed you a little as you left, wondering what you were doing with the most famous porn star in the Pride Ring and the Princess of Hell. She rolled her eyes and went back to chatting it up with her next client out it the lobby, it was probably nothing of substance, and she already had big enough fish to fry to keep her focused on herself. Although, she did briefly amuse herself with the idea of seducing the Princess' father, oh how wonderful a dream that would be, but she knew better than to put more thought into that. Why would the King of Hell ever need a prostitute? She laughed to herself.

You, on the other hand, were so full of fear and excitement at the idea of seeing actually Lucifer again, it felt like a dream and you were scared to wake up. But if Charlie and Angel's reaction was any indication of anything, maybe Brooklyn had been right after all.

______________________________________________________________

Thank you for putting up with torment! I made sure to get through this one quickier so that there was a return of hope. Next chapter they will finally talk in out, and then... a certain someone may see justice 😈

As usual, leave a comment if you want added to the taglist so that you can get notifications when future chapters drop! xoxo, dany (OMG there are so many of you!😍 Please let me know if the tag isn't working for you) Taglist :(red names are not tagging for some reason 😢)

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[moody-alcoholic]

Family

Now I will have a glass of wine and relax for the evening, because editing 2 chapters back to back was rough.

Summary: Ghoap x Reader, throuple. Slow burn (sorry but not sorry). 2.8k words. Reader is female (she/her), army nurse, non descript physical features, names used: Ashe. CW: Child abuse, mentions of war, toxic family dynamic, fuck Jack, alcohol.

AN: This chapter does have some heavy topics so if you want to skip it due to the content warnings that’s fine. You CAN skip this chapter and not miss any of the main story notes. This is basically just a little backstory into Jack and the shenanigans his family have been up to. TLDR: It's okay of you skip this chapter, we still hate Jack, fuck him he’s a bad person.

Previous parts - masterlist - next part

Enjoy <3

Jack had always hated being told what to do, from a young age he would fight back. ‘A problem child’ his mother would say when he would kick up a fuss in public. ‘Just needs some strict discipline’ people would reply. Coming from a military family he learnt from a young age how to follow orders. His family were very proud of the fact they could trace their family history all the way back to the civil war. Jack had never questioned what he would do in life, he always knew in this household when you turn 17 you’re joining the military. He just hated being told what to do, then one day it all changed.

He remembers it like it was yesterday, 14 years old, his parents where hosting a goodbye party for his brother who was about to be shipped off to war. A right of passage, someone to look up to. Jack did look up to his brother, he loved his brother, watching him walk around in his shiny new uniform being doted on by everyone was the first time Jack decided maybe the military was for him. It was when his mother asked him to do something for her that he decided to kick up a fuss, he didn’t want to leave the party, didn't want to miss saying goodbye to his brother. 

“That boy needs some discipline!” His grandfather shouted at him pointing his cane. That was the only thing Jack remembered about his grandfather, the cane and the Vietnam War medals he would wear constantly. His mother screamed at him to listen making even more of a scene. 

“If I spoke to my mother like that my father would beat me! Young kids now-a-days have it too easy! You’ve all gone soft, God help our nation if these are the soldiers of tomorrow!” His grandfather barked. His mother embarrassed and frustrated attempted to drag him inside, it only made him fight harder. His father gripped him by the collar despite his mothers pleas that ‘she can handle it.’ He was dragged into the kitchen thrown on the cold tile floor. 

“How dare you embarrass me like this!” His father yelled. Jack was used to his father yelling used to feeling the back of his fathers hand on his face. This time was different, this time his father was furious. 

“I hate you!” Jack shouted as he pulled his body off the floor. His fathers fist found his face knocking him off his feet and the wind out his chest. Before Jack could react his father was dragging him along the floor. He pulled the pantry doors open throwing Jack inside.

“You will stay in there and think about your actions! No son of mine will ever speak to me that way!” The door was slammed shut the deadbolt closed. Jack sat there in the dark his head throbbing as he sobbed.

His brother let him out, opening the door and bending down, Jacks eyes still raw from crying, his head still throbbing. 

“Chin up champ, dad doesn't mean it, he loves you really.” He said extending his arm out to help him up. 

“He hates me,” Jacks said burring his head back in his knees, ignoring the hand. 

“He doesn't hate you, he just gets mad sometimes.” 

“Take me with you.” Jack begged, his brother just laughed. 

“I’m going to a war zone, I don’t think they let kids come Jackie.” 

“Don’t call me that!” Jack shouted back, he hated being called Jackie, Jackie was a girls name. His brothers and cousins would call him that to wind him up, he hated it. His brother laughed again walking into the pantry and sitting next to him. 

“How about when I’m back I’ll take you on a trip somewhere? New York, we could spend the day there see all the sights.” 

“New York’s boring.” Jack said huffing. 

“Okay, what about DC? You love DC, we’ll go to all the museums spend the weekend stuffing our faces.” Jack smiled at his brother who smiled back.

“You have to be good though? No more kicking up a fuss, no more fighting with mom and dad. Be a good boy and we’ll go for the whole weekend?” His brother said nudging him. Jack smiled throwing his arms round his brother. It was a good hug, the type of brotherly love Jack missed. Jack promised to be good, promised to not fight with his parents. He kept his promise, learned to just do as he was told even if he didn’t like it. 

His brother never came home. They said it was a bomb, some kind of landmine, there wasn’t even a body to bring home. Jack remembers his mothers sobs late into the night, his father becoming more withdrawn and distant. His other siblings leaving home one by one, each with a look of dread on their faces when they were sent to fight the same war that killed their brother. When they all came home safe time after time Jack couldn’t tell if his dad was relieved or disappointed. 

“To die for your country is the greatest honour you will ever know. Your brother gave his life for our freedom, you will do the same.” His father said as Jack left for marine boot camp. Jack liked being a marine, enjoyed it, met Susan his wife a navy mechanic one tour. When he went back to the US to get married, it was the first time he had seen his dad be proud. 

“You did good son, you’ll be wanting to start a family no doubt.” Jack’s father said to him on his wedding day. 

“I think it’s time you got introduced to the family business, so you can provide for my grandchildren.” Jack looked at his father confused. Little did he know what kind of world he was about to get himself into. 

—————————— 

“We need to get rid of 141, they’ve already shut down our operations in Iraq and Urzikstan, if they get our routes in Syria or Lebanon we’re in trouble.” Jacks father says. Jack wasn’t really paying attention, sipping his whisky looking out down at the garden of his in-laws house getting ready for the party below. 

“I thought you were handling it?” Jacks father-in-law, Albert asked. 

“We ran into some problems in Urzikstan.” 

“Anything we should be concerned about?” 

“No, it’s being delt with. We should focus our concerns on the Syria route, we can deal with the rest later.” Jack heard a glass being put down, he turned to look. His father and father-in-law were stood round a desk in Albert’s study looking through papers. Jack walked over to the desk his fathers eyes watching him. 

“You are ready for Syria?” He asked.

“Yes sir.” Jack replied. 

“Getting you that base used all my contacts, you’re lucky your father was able to get you the promotion so quickly.” Albert said filling his glass with another drink. Jack was happy he got the promotion and the base, a supply depot in the middle of Syria. It is mainly used as a medical facility for the surrounding bases and a restock depot. Quiet and filled with supplies, supplies Jack would be responsible for selling to Al-qatala. It’s the first time he had been trusted to do something like this alone, without his fathers or his brothers help.

There was a knock at the door, Albert closed the files they were looking at and got up to answer it. Jack looked at his father sipping his drink, Albert was talking too hushed for Jack to hear. The music had started out in the garden, people must be starting to arrive. Albert came back to the table and finished his drink. 

“I am required to greet guests, I expect you to be down for my wife’s speech.” He says straightening his uniform out. Jack salutes him as he leaves. 

“Captain Price is going to be here tonight, I would assume he is bringing the rest of them with him. You should use tonight to get to know them, find their weaknesses.” Jacks father said.

“Are they really that much of a problem?” Jack asked. 

“They can become a problem very easily. Right now though we think we have thrown them off the trail.” Jacks father says finishing his drink. He pats jack on the shoulder putting the glass back on the drinks tray. 

“Don’t wait around too long Jack you’re expected to show your face at this event.” Jack nodded as his father left the room leaving Jack alone. He looked over at the folder, the one with all the intel collected on 141. He flipped it open seeing pictures, he needed to remind himself who to look out for. There was another knock at the door he quickly put the folders away leaving his glass and going to answer it. It’s his squad-mates-or since his promotion ex-squad-mates-they owed him one last favour though. 

“It wasn’t hard to get,” One of them says holding the gun out. Jack moves so they can come into the room. 

“Okay look, she needs to be gone before the speech starts and she needs stay gone for the whole night,” Jack explains. “The gun is to scare her only, that’s all you’re doing is scaring her.” They nod and the one with the gun tucks it away in his waist so it’s hidden. 

“Why are we scaring her again?” Jack hit’s him over the head tutting. 

“None of your business, you’re getting paid for it but only if she’s gone for the whole night.” Jack says.

“What can we do though? What if she screams or something?” Another one asks. 

“Gag her I don’t care, no marks on the face or arms though, in fact try to avoid leaving any evidence at all.” Jack says rubbing his temple. He starts to move them out the room.

“Come find me at the end of the night.” He says following them out. They head downstairs and Jack takes a moment to look at himself in the mirror in the hall, he always liked the way he looked in his formal’s, he likes the way it made him feel. Jack always liked the power of being in control, and now with his father and father-in-law trusting him with this latest trade he felt more powerful then he had before, he liked that, he smiled at himself in the mirror then headed out to the party. 

—————————— 

Jack’s father walked up to him as he was mingling with some people. He felt the familiar squeeze on his arm. A sign to wrap up his conversation and move away from the crowd. He let his father lead him back over to the bar. 

“10 o’clock that’s Price, don’t stare.” His father said then ordered a drink. Jack turned to look his eyes scanning the crowd until he say him, he did recognised him, it’s his beard that gives him away.

“Who’s the guy with him?” Jack looking back at his father and ordering a drink. 

“Riley, his lieutenant, the guy greeting them is MacTavish.” Jack turned to look taking a sip of his drink. 

“Who’s the woman?” Jack asked looking back.

“Friend of Chloe’s MacTavish is her plus one.” Jacks father replied finishing his drink and ordering another. 

“His girlfriend?” Jack asked, his father sighed, Jack knew that was his job to find out. 

“Is she military?” Jack asked, he expected a sigh back.

“Army nurse, that’s all I know.” Jacks father got up off the stool. The band started to die down as Jacks mother-in-law took to the stage. Jack was not listening but he did raise his glass and nod when she mentioned his name, pointing him out as people turned to look at him. Chloe was absent from the rest of her family, thank God something is going right and they’ve done their job.

He wanted to make his way round the crowd towards Price, talking to them would be a good start to get intel. When the speech was finished everyone clapped and he started to make his way over as the music picked up again. Jacks father had beaten him too it of course, already shaking hands with Price. Jack picked up the end of the friendly introductions. 

“This is my son Jack,” He introduces them and Jack shakes Price’s hand. Jack listens to his father talk as his eyes focus over each person, they seem harmless enough, one of them is missing Garrick, maybe he was somewhere else in the party. Jack felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned to look. It was one of his squad-mates. He squeezed his lips together grabbing him by the arm and leading him away from the crowd. 

“What the fuck are you doing here?” He asks. 

“There’s a problem, some girl came and caught us she took Chloe.” Jack feels his stomach drop, he quickly looks around.

“Where are the others?” He asks. 

“In the pool house, she gave Chris a bloody nose.” Jack dipped his head.

“Fucking hell, what did she look like?” Jack asks. 

“I-I don’t know,” He says stammering. Jack sighs.

“How drunk are you?” Jack says smacking the beer bottle out his hand. “If you saw her again could you point her out?” 

“Yeah,” He says sheepishly. Jack nods pulling him back to the crowd, he’s looking around as Jacks eyes fall back to Price and his father seemingly wrapping up their conversation as they shake hands. 

“Her there.” He points suddenly, Jack slaps his hand down tutting but looking in the direction. He sees the movement in the crowd and manages to catch a glimpse. Shit. It’s the girl MacTavish came with.

“You sure it’s her?” He asks. 

“Yeah, that’s her.” 

“Are any of you sober?” Jack asks. 

“Brian’s only had one beer.” 

“Bring him to me and the rest of you say out of my sight.” Jack says waving him away. Jack waits around till Brian arrives. 

“Follow, and don’t have anymore to drink I need one of you to be sober.” Jack says as he leads him inside. There are some people mulling around mostly interacting with Jack’s mother in law. Jack finds a corner with Brian as they pretend to make conversation. After a few minutes watches as Price leaves out the front door followed by Riley with the woman, MacTavish and Chloe. 

“Go get the car ready.” Jack says as he finishes his drink Brian nods slipping out the front door. 

—————————— 

They follow them to an apartment building in Canary Wharf, everyone but Price leaves the car heading into the building. When Price drives away Jack reaches into the back of the car bringing out a laptop. Brian tries to make conversation Jack ignores him trying to find the mystery woman’s military file. Who was she and what connection does she have with 141? According to all the intel they had she has no connection with them. She has to be a friend though. Jack was just about to give up when he saw something that caught his eye. A medical note for MacTavish, signed by an army nurse, now he had a name, he looked her up. 

“Oh that’s her.” Brian says pointing at the picture on the file. Jack smiled, now he has a name, and a location. He makes Brian drive him back to the party and finds his dad pulling him back into his father-in-laws office. He places the laptop down on the table with her file open. 

“Who’s she?” His father asks. 

“How we get intel on 141.” Jack explains the situation to his father, leaving out the hazing part. The whole time looking for any kind of approval in his fathers expression. 

“How do you know she’ll talk?” His father asks. 

“She doesn’t need to, it’s win win either way she’s a bargaining chip.” Jack says.

“How do you know she’s so important to them?” Jack paused for a second. 

“I have the boys watching their movements.” He says, somewhat of a lie. His dad sighs he seems unimpressed. 

“I’ll get her on your base, regardless if you can get info out her or not this can’t fuck up any of the deals we’ve made.” His father almost spits at him. 

“Yes, sir, of course not.” Jack’s father finishes his drink handing the glass to his son. He looks like he want’s to say something more instead he shakes his head leaving the room. Jack watches him leave then turns back to look at the file on the laptop, she had to be close to them, she had to be the key, and there are always multiple ways to get information from someone. Army nurse, he scoffs, she’ll be easy to break.  

Next part

[nonightmareruined]

hello! can you make an angsty rodrickxreader fics? crying and stuff but then it end up with a bit fluff? ty! ♡

Hey, I know it’s been a while since you submitted this but I hope you are happy with it <3

Anniversary

Rodrick x Reader

No one thought that Rodrick and y/n could have a relationship. However they got to celebrate their one year anniversary but it all went down after Rodrick overheard one conversation.

——————————————-——————————

It was our one year anniversary so I convinced Rodrick to have a date night instead of the usual hanging out at his place. Although my boyfriend didn’t like going out a lot, he would go to the movie theater and get some food afterwards with me. He did whatever made me happy. Sometimes it was like he couldn’t believe that I am his girlfriend. I am this straight A student and he is - well he is Rodrick.

At 8pm I arrived at his house.

„Oh, y/n sweet heart, you are waiting for my son, right? I am afraid but he is still getting ready. Why don‘t you come in?“ Susan, his mom, said to me after she answered the door. She brought me to the kitchen and gave me some water.

„So today is the one year anniversary, isn‘t it?“ Susan asked after a while.

„Oh yes, that‘s why we have our little date night.“ I answered her and took a sip from my water.

„Wow that’s a long time for young people. Are you sure you know what you are doing with my son?“ „You don‘t have to worry about that. I am so in love with Rodrick and I couldn‘t be happier about being in this amazing relationship with him.“ I immediately tried to reassure her but Susan still looked very concerned. „Oh sweetie, I think you misunderstood me. I am more worried about you. I don‘t want Rodrick to be the reason you loose focus on your education. I know that he can be a very bad influence.“ I looked at her in disbelief. Was she really talking about her own son in that way? I put down my glass of water and wanted to tell her that I‘d rather wait outside for my boyfriend when I heard a cracking noise. Rodrick stood right outside of the kitchen. He turned around and went back to his room and shut the door with a bang.

I immediately left his mom in the kitchen and went upstairs. I knocked at the door to the attic which was slowly opened by my boyfriend. „Can I come in?“ I asked him. His eyes were red and puffy. He took a few steps back and I went into his room. He cleared his throat before he started to speak. „So y/n, I think that we should stop seeing each other.“ „Wait what?“ I stumbled. Did he really say that? „Yeah, I mean it’s the right thing to do.“ Now I was staring at him in disbelief. „Why should it be the right thing?“, I asked him. My voice wasn’t more than a whisper. I had to fight back the tears. „Don’t be stupid. You have this bright future ahead of you and I - well I don’t have shit. Your parents hate me and even my Mom sees that we can’t be together. So please don’t make this even harder for me and just go.“ He turned around and pretended to look out of his window. „Why should we let everyone decide what the best for us is? How would they know that I have this bright future. And why can’t you have a great future as well?“ He snorted. „What amazing future do I have? Do you want to sit in the attic with me for the next 20 years?“ „Nah, Rodrick, you will be a Rockstar and tour around. You will probably forget me anyways and start seeing crazy fan girls“ „Nah babe, how can I forget my badass lawyer wife.“ He turned around, smiling at me. I took the last few steps towards him and gave him a kiss. He immediately pulled me into a huge and rested his head on top of mine. I heard him sigh and felt how the tension left his body.

We stayed there for a while, just holding each other. Rodrick played around with a strand of my hair. After a while he broke the silence. „Y/n I don’t know how to say this but I don’t think we should break up anymore.“ I had to laugh because of his awkwardness. „Thanks for letting me know“, I said while shaking my head.

„I think we missed our movie.“ Rodrick let go of me and looked me in my eyes. He was sorry for ruining our date night because of that. But honestly, I didn’t care about this anymore after all the drama. „That’s okay, we can just watch some Netflix and raid your fridge.“

[sturnfannn]

HIM

chris x fem!reader

oneshot / series

warnings: cursing (a LOT), lmk if I missed any other warnings 🙏

“Finally I get to see her!” I say, talking about how I get to see my best friend since it’s the first day of senior year. Me and my best friend Daisy have been friends since kindergarten she’s always been there for me and I’ve always been there for her, me and Daisy have had the same homeroom, same lunch, and almost every single class together, that’s probably why we’re so inseparable. We fight, but that’s normal, we fight over stupid things anyway so it doesn’t really impact our friendship, I love her so much it hurts.

I woke up to my alarm blaring my ears off, I turn it off and head to the bathroom, I use the toilet brush my teeth, change into my school clothes, do my skincare and makeup; once I’m done I put some perfume and head to Daisy’s house.

I knocked on her front door and yelled, “Daisy, I’m here!”, “coming!” She replies, I waited for about 10 minutes before she came storming down, she slammed the door closed and started walking off, “hey, what happened why are you so mad?” I asked with a slight chuckle trying to catch up with her fast pace, “mom decided to annoy the the absolute fuck out of me before school” she replied annoyed walking slower so I could catch up to her, Daisy told me what her mom did, it wasn’t even that bad she’s just dramatic.

We got to school a bit over 8:00 which is the time we were supposed to be in school by, we walked in our home room because it’s the first day of school and on first days we go to homeroom first then we go to whatever class is after homeroom so we skip first and second period, our teacher saw us and asked, “girls what are your names so I can put you in the attendance”, “Wileydiz ____” I said, “Daisy ____” she said, “late on the first day of senior year what a great first impression” he said, at least that’s what I think he said because he said it so quietly, we walk over to our seats of choice and sit down, Daisy immediately start talking about this boy sitting next to me, “here we go, it’s the first day of school Daisy.” I say, “So?” she says sarcastically, I roll my eyes but I still listen to what she has to say.

Once she’s done talking I finally decide to turn and see who she’s talking about, I saw the most beautiful brown haired boy with blue eyes I’ve never seen someone so breathtaking, I didn’t realize I was staring but he looked at me and waved a hello, I snapped out of my trance and waved hello back, I looked back at Daisy with a slight smile and she notice, “OHHH SO NOW—“, “shut the fuck up” I whispered as I slapped her mouth closed, “so now you think he’s fine” she whispered, I gave her look and she immediately knew what I was thinking, she laughed so hard I had to smack her mouth shut again, “girls quiet down” the teacher said, “sorry” we said trying not laugh.

All I could do was stare at the boy I couldn’t keep my eyes off him once I realized I was staring a little too much I decided to start talking with Daisy to keep my mind of those blue eyes. We heard the bell ring as we packed our things, “hurry up hag” Daisy said, “wait,the fuck” I replied, I gathered my stuff as I walked down the hallways with Daisy, I bumped into someone, “oh my god I’m so so-“ I interrupted myself as I realize who I bumped into, “your good” the blue eyed boy said as he helped grab my things from the ground, “thank you, sorry again” I said as I grabbed my final item from the ground, “your welcome” he replied, “didn’t get ur name”, “Wileydiz”, “Chris”, we exchanged, I didn’t realize I was staring again, “gotta go to class” he said, “yeah” I said still staring, “see ya” he said, “uh bye” I said as I snapped out of my trance, “oh my GO—“ I interrupted Daisy by pushing my hand against her mouth to shut her up for the third time today, “shut the fuck up, oh my god” I whisper yelled, she laughed as we walked to class I noticed Chris was walking in same direction, “you think he’s in our class”I said slightly smiling, “you better not be talking about him all fucking day or I’ll smack you” she said, “whatever” I replied in sarcastic annoyance.

Me and Daisy arrived at class 1-16 and took a seat next to each other, I saw Chris walk in the class and take seat in the back of the class. ��Hello class my name is Mrs ____ and this is Mrs _____ and this your science class” the teacher said, me and Daisy exchanged a look of disgust, we knew this teacher wasn’t gonna be pleasing.

I heard the bell ring as Daisy helped me gather my things, next class I had without her, I sat up, grabbed my belongings and walked with Daisy to my next class.

she dropped me of and said, “look who’s in ur class”, it was chris, I looked back at at her just to find her smiling like a fucking hoolingan, “bye” I hugged her goodbye and walked into class, “just in time, take a seat” the teacher said, the only seat left was next to chris, I’m sat.

I woke up to the bell ringing, I fell asleep, last thing I remember was sitting down and staring at him again, I stood up and grabbed my things walked out the door and saw chris standing there waiting for someone I gave him a slight smile and walked off, I stoped my fast pace when I heard him say, “you feeling okay?”, “uh yeah, why?”, “you fell asleep as soon as you sat down”, “oh uhm yeah I’m fine, thanks though, for worrying”, I walked off to find Daisy once I found her I told her what happened, “WHA—“ i interrupted her by covering her mouth with my palm once again, “why are u always so fucking loud” I stated, “sorry,””what”, she repeated but in a whisper this time, “I think he wants me” I said in a sarcastic tone, “whoa, that’s a bit of a stretch ma’am, not where I was going” she stated as I rolled my eyes, when we got to the lunch room i immediately locked eyes with chris he gave me slight smile and continued with his conversation….

THIS WAS❗️ NOT❗️proofread so sorry babe 🙏

a/n: LMK IF U WANT THIS TO BE A SERIES ❗️❗️

comment if u wanna be tagged in part 2 🥰

(or if yall don’t like it lmk its all good 🙏)

[cyansadness]

Astronomy

so, this idea came from when @cherrybb-ily and i were talking about jane and richie’s fight in ep 5 and how richie was in the wrong (i’m not arguing this). so here is the fix-it fic about what should have happened. there are some changes to canon, one you will see at the end of the fic. i added two days between halloween and the election for plot purposes. this is what jane x richie fans deserve. i also miss them so this is how i cope

as always, thank you @cherrybb-ily for hyping up the excerpts i send you and for helping me plan all of my fics. please consider all of these fics as pre apologies for making you cry because of new romantics.

word count: 2386

“Assholes.” Jane looked up to see Nancy and Olivia chasing the T-Birds’ car down the road, Cynthia following on her bike. “You are all so dead.” Nancy yelled as she breathed heavily, leaning on her knees.

“Jane?” Olivia asked, having finally spotted the missing member of their gang. Olivia walked towards Jane, Cynthia and Nancy following behind. “What’s wrong? What happened?” Cynthia asked, concern lacing her voice as she saw the tears in her eyes and on her cheeks.

“I’m okay. I’m fine.” Jane tried to reassure them but her voice was too shaky and the tears started to pool in her eyes again. “Jane, you can talk to us.” Olivia reminded her, placing her hand on her shoulder. 

“I’m sorry.” Jane blurted out. “Sorry for what?” Nancy questioned. “For everything. I didn’t mean to drag you all into my mess, I just wanted to help, I promise. I’m sorry that I was so selfish this whole time. I was doing this for all of us, not just me.” Jane rambled as she started to cry.

“I’m sorry that I was a bad friend.” Jane’s breathing started to get quicker as she gripped the fabric of her skirt in her hands. Olivia immediately went to grab Jane’s hands. “Hey Janey, it’s ok, we’re all here, breathe.” Olivia had a soft tone as she calmed Jane down. 

Jane’s breathing evened itself out and the four found themselves sitting on the sidewalk. “Jane, you do realize you are one of the most selfless people at Rydell, right?” Olivia said, knocking her shoulder against Jane’s.

Jane gave her a weak smile, not saying anything. “Yeah Facciano, I don’t think anyone at our school would do half of the things you’ve done for us.” Cynthia said, kicking Jane lightly on the shin. 

“Why would you even think that?” Nancy asked. Jane looked down at her lap. “Richie and I got into a fight.” Jane said. All three girls looked at Jane in shock before their faces adopted looks of anger.

“He said that to you?” Nancy asked, voice low and very angry. Jane just nodded, not wanting to meet their eyes. “He’s a dead man walking.” Cynthia scoffed. Olivia stood up and faced the girls. 

“Trust me, no one wants to kill my brother more than me but we have bigger fish to fry, like how we are getting home because our rides left us.” Olivia said, making the girls face the reality that they would have to walk home.

The Pink Ladies started their walks home, Cynthia riding her bike slowly to keep on pace with the others. Nancy first, then Cynthia, Jane, and finally Olivia.

“Niña, where have you been? Your brother got home hours ago.” Mrs. Valdovinos fussed. “That’s because Richie left us stranded.” Olivia complained. “What, Richie.” Her mother screamed. 

“Que?” Richie asked, walking downstairs. “Don’t que me. You left your sister and her friends alone. I raised you better than that Ricardo.” His mother scolded. Richie turned towards Olivia. 

“Snitch.” Richie scoffed. “Jerk.” Olivia responded in the same tone, shoulder-checking Richie as she went upstairs. Richie went up after her but she slammed her bedroom door in his face. 

~~ the next day ~~

The Pink Ladies had all made plans to walk to school the next day so they didn’t have to see the boys. The girls all walked down the hallway, talking about plans to make sure Jane could still win the election even after the fireworks stunt the boys pulled. 

“There are our favorite girls. We missed you gals this morning.” Gil greeted, going to stand next to Olivia. The girls continued their conversation as if Gil hadn’t said anything. 

He looked confused and looked at the other T-Birds who were also confused. Gil and Potato went to stand in front of the group, making the girls stop in their tracks. The Pink Ladies went to turn around and walk the other direction but were boxed in by Shy Guy and Richie.

Jane looked down at her shoes, avoiding eye contact with Richie. “Are all of y’all on the rag or somethin’? What’s got your panties in a twist?” Gil questioned. Olivia turned around with raised eyebrows. 

“You jackasses left us in Lakeridge last night with no ride or way to get home. Why would we talk to you after that? Don’t even get us started on the fireworks.” Olivia scoffed at Gil. Cynthia pushed past Gil and Potato, the rest of the girls following behind. 

“We messed up, didn’t we?” Potato asked as they watched the girls return to their previous conversation. “Yeah, we did.” Shy Guy responded. 

~~lil’ time skip~~

The rest of the day continued in the same fashion, the boys trying to talk to the girls and the girls pretending like they don’t even exist.

“Come on Jane, it’ll be fun. Unlimited milkshakes.” Olivia was trying to convince Jane to go to the Frosty Palace to indulge her sadness through food and milkshakes.

“It’s okay. I think I’m going to go to the park. Clear my head, y’know? I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” Jane waved as she walked away.

As soon as Jane was out of earshot, the remaining Pink Ladies turned towards each other. “So where is he?” Nancy asked. “His locker.” Olivia supplied. “Let’s go.” Cynthia started to walk, Olivia and Nancy following behind. 

Richie was leaning against his locker when the girls cornered him. “Please explain what the hell was going through your mind when you said all that to Jane?” Olivia started. “So I’m supposed to be fine when I see my girl all cuddled up with Buddy Aldridge?” Richie asked.

Cynthia rolled her eyes before grabbing Olivia’s book. “She wasn’t your girl.” She said, punctuating every word by hitting Richie with said book. “We had taken over the party and all she wanted was to find you.” Nancy added.

“I was going to give her my jacket.” Richie nearly shouted. “She has her own, remember?” Olivia shouted back. “Richie, do you know how stressed she was when you thought you were going to break things off? Or how her smile never left her face after I told her you were going to make things official?” Olivia asked him.

“We all chose to be here. She was doing this for all of us. You don’t get to ruin all of our hard work by making her doubt herself.” Cynthia scowled at him. “She cares about you Richie. She’s always thinking about you.” Nancy continued. 

“She changed the dance so you would want to go. So all of us could go.” Olivia said to him. “Jane is the most selfless person at Rydell. You of all people should know that.” Olivia scoffed before turning around to walk away with the girls. 

“Where is she?” Richie asked, sporting a remorseful expression. “She’s at the park.” Cynthia supplied. Richie nodded before bolting to the exit. “I’ve never seen him run so fast.” Olivia commented. 

“I’ve never seen him care about a girl this much.” Cynthia said. “I know but why did it have to be my best friend?” Olivia groaned, making the others laugh.

~~at the park~~

Jane sat on the edge of a flat rock, looking out at the lake in front of her, lost in her own head. “Janey!” She was brought out of her thought process by a specific nickname only a few people used.

She turned around to see Richie running towards her. Jane rolled her eyes, turning back around to face the lake. “If you are here to yell at me some more, I’m not in the mood.” She said, messing with a loose thread on her skirt.

Richie winced. “Yeah, I deserve that.” Richie said, sitting down next to Jane. “You do.” Jane kept looking down. “Do you know what I didn’t deserve? Getting stranded or getting yelled at in front of all of our classmates just because I didn’t want your jacket. I don’t want your jacket, I wanted you. That’s all I wanted. I just wished you listened to me” Jane said, finally looking up at him.

The hurt read clear on Jane’s face, making Richie feel worse. “Jane, I’m sorry. About everything.” Richie started. “You are one of the best people in my life. You changed the dance so we could go together. I was being a massive jerk and I hope you can forgive me.” Richie grabbed her hands, a pleading look in his eyes.

Jane looked into his eyes. All she could see is the boy she cares about more than she will ever know. “You’re on thin ice but you are forgiven.” Jane smiled at him. Richie’s face adopted a wide smile.

“So Jane Facciano, would you do me the absolute honor and privilege of being your boyfriend?” Richie asked, dopey smile clear on his face. Jane didn’t even respond, she just launched herself towards Richie, kissing him deeply. 

The pair fell back on the patch of grass behind them, lips still interlocked. Jane separated from Richie. “Yes, yes, yes, I will.” She giggled, her smile wide. She rolled off of Richie, landing right next to him, fingers interlocked.

As they laid there, basking in the sun, they looked at each other with love-sick smiles.

~~two days later~~

The day was finally here. Election day. After Jane and Richie officially made up, the guys tried to make it up to the girls by aggressive campaigning. Also known as threatening every person to vote for Jane. Jane did not approve of this tactic but didn’t actively try to stop them. 

The Pink Ladies and The T-Birds were at the front of the line when Ns. McGee opened up the polls. Olivia, Cynthia, and Nancy went first, going in and out almost immediately. Jane went next with Potato and Shy Guy. 

As Jane waited on the side with the girls, Richie came up behind her, arm around her waist. “There she is, our future president.” Richie said with all the pride in the world in his voice as he kissed Jane’s cheek.

“We don’t know that.” Jane said, her own smile dropping slightly. “Yes, we do. No one is dumb enough to vote for Buddy when you are the clear choice.” Richie reassured her. “Yeah, let’s go celebrate with banana splits. It’ll be fun.” Nancy suggested now that everyone had finished voting. 

The group voiced their agreement and excitement as they started their way to the parking lot. 

~~at the frosty palace~~

The two gangs sat together as they talked about the election and everything else over many banana splits. Jane was next to Richie, his arm over her shoulder as she reached over to steal the cherries off his sundae. Richie smiled at his girlfriend as she bit the cherry off the stem. 

“No, the eggheads voted for Jane. I saw their lives flash before their eyes when we talked to them yesterday.” Potato argued. The discussion continued like this, arguing which groups voted for Jane and which groups voted for Buddy. 

Jane and Richie had their backs to the entrance so when the conversation in front of them stopped and the two groups glared at something behind them, they had to turn around.

The socs had also come to celebrate, albeit, their celebration was more somber. The socs were also glaring at them, making Jane scooch closer to Richie and his grip on her shoulder tightened. 

Someone had turned the jukebox on high and music rang through the diner. Jane’s face brightened as she turned to Richie. “Let’s go dance.” Jane said, batting her eyelashes and using her puppy face that Richie could never say no to. 

“Let’s bop.” Richie said, falling victim to Jane’s face again. The group mocked him by making kissy faces and batting their eyelashes dramatically. Richie glared at them as Jane dragged him to where everyone else was dancing. 

Richie turned his attention back to Jane, spinning her around as they danced. Gil and Olivia were also dancing near them, stuck in their own world. Richie held Jane closer to him, her almost flush against him, as he saw Buddy staring at them. Susan kept trying to get his attention onto her so they could go dance but he just kept rejecting her advances. 

The Pink Ladies and the T-Birds stayed there for the rest of the night, enjoying sundaes and milkshakes to get their minds off of what tomorrow could bring. The boys were only mildly mad when the girls handed the bill to them but were swiftly reminded that after abandoning the girls on Halloween and setting off enough fireworks to mimic an atomic bomb, the least they could do was pay for the sundaes. 

~~last one, promise~~

Both gangs were in gym class, the boys choosing not to participate in basketball while the girls looked at the old, deflated balls in disgust.

The two gangs perked up when they heard Ms. McGee’s xylophone played as the intercom turned on. “Good morning, boys and girls, and thank you all for playing a part in the democratic process. The results are in. Congratulations to …” McGee said, the girls reaching for each other’s hands. 

Jane grabbed Richie and Olivia’s hands, her grip tight. “Hey, I’m proud of you no matter what.” Richie whispered in Jane’s ear, placing a gentle kiss on her temple. Jane nodded at him, too nervous to form any sentences.

“Jane Facciano, your new student council president.” McGee announced. Jane shrieked in joy, jumping up and down as the two gangs cheered. Jane went to hug Richie, him picking her up and spinning her around. “Congratulations princesa. I’m so proud of you.” He told her, bringing her into a sweet kiss, bending her back slightly. 

Jane has the widest smile on her face as she was attacked by hugs from the girls who were all still jumping up and down for joy. The socs were silent, still processing the news. Susan tried to comfort Buddy but he just pushed her hand off his shoulder.

“You did it, you won.” Olivia squealed, hugging Jane again. “No, we won. We all did.” Jane looked around at her friends, her boyfriend. This wasn’t just her victory, it was all of their victory.

They were going to rule the school this year.

[tarastabz]

-The monster's gone, he's on the run

I have to let this scream 7 concept out because it's consuming my brain.

I think all of us have seen the theories about christina carpenter being the next ghostface, and i actually really like this idea.

Tw: My bad writing

-

The opening scene happens, a man that lives in the apartment next to sam and tara's gets killed by someone wearing a ghostface costume.

Sounds familiar, right?

But sam and tara didn't know this man. He was one of the people who believed those conspiracy theories about sam, and he tried to avoid her and tara as much as possible.

There were a bunch of other people getting killed by a new ghostface, but still, Tara and Sam didn't know any of them.

Maybe this time it doesn't have anything to do with them, it could be possible.

Sam comes home from work, and tara immediately notices something is wrong with her.

"How was work?" Tara asked, but she got no answer, sam was just staring blankly at her phone.

"Sam?" Tara tried again.

But when she got the same response as before, tara decided to approach her in a less gentle way.

Tara shoved her a little bit "SAM!", that seemed to finally distract the older girl from whatever she was looking on her phone.

"Tara jesus! When did you become so violent?"

Tara scoffed and walked away

"I've been trying to get your attention for the past 10 minutes. Were you looking at some stupid conspiracy theory about you again? You know it's not true, WE know the thru-"

"No it's not- not that. I- uh- i got a message from Mam- from christina, she says she's staying here in New york and she would like to talk to us"

Tara let out a laugh but noticed sam's serious expression. "You're not really considering it, right?"

Sam doesn't really want to have anything to do with that woman, but tara deserves to have a mother figure, and the only reason she doesn't have that anymore is because of her. It's always her fault. She knows that.

"Look- i know how it sounds but, we could try- she's our mother and-"

"Are you even listening to yourself right now? that woman brought both of us into this mess. How can you forgive her just like that? I don't understand you sam." Tara rushed into her room and slammed the door.

Is Tara being selfish? Yes maybe. But there's no way she's going to let christina hurt her or sam ever again.

She had already separated them once. This won't happen again.

Sam knocks on tara's door "tara? Please i just want to talk, i don't want to fight with you because of her"

A few minutes pass, and a defeated sam is about to go back into her own room.

"I don't want to fight with you either... not for her, and that's exactly why i don't want her in our life again" Tara says softly.

Sam holds Tara tightly, and that's all Tara needs to know that this time, it will be different.

-

Tara and Sam agreed to meet their mother at the park near blackmore University. It's a safe place, full of people, and maybe this will stop any possible fight between them and christina.

Tara is still very unsure about this, but sam looked hopeful and happy?

How much did sam really miss their mother?

So yes, it's safe to say, the only reason tara agreed to this, is sam.

Tara was lost in thoughts and didn't even notice christina standing a few feet ahead of them. She hasn't changed much from the last time she saw her.

She looks at sam standing next to her.

She looks nervous, and she's fidgeting with the hem of her jacket. That's weird, Her big sister used to be so confident all the times when they were younger.

How much has Sam changed in those 5 years? What turned Sam into a person that 8 years old Tara wouldn't even recognise?

Tara puts a comforting hand on her back, trying to calm her nerves. "Are you okay?"

Sam just gives tara a tight-lipped smile.

"Oh, here they are, my beautiful girls," Christina says, rushing to hug sam.

Sam didn't reciprocate the hug.

She went to give the youngest daughter a hug too, but tara took a step back. It was very visible that christina was taken aback by tara's coldness, but she brushed it off.

Did she really think it was that easy to gain her trust back? Maybe the Tara from a few years ago would've fallen into her mother's arms immediately.

But no.

Present Tara is better than that.

"So i think it's time for us to talk huh?"

-

Tara doesn't know how to feel about all of this. Christina is back into their life, and Sam is trusting her too much for her own liking.

Tara has only exchanged a few words with her.

Yes, she does feel like an asshole but there's something so wrong about all of this. She can't pinpoint what it is, but she is going to figure it out.

Sam, on the other hand, is being very welcoming. She even let christina into their apartment....

She barely let Danny in. And her boyfriend is definitely more trustworthy than that woman. What is going on in that head of hers?

"Sam, can we talk for a minute?"

"Yeah, sure. Mami, you can look around while Tara and I talk, okay?"

Tara didn't even wait for christina to answer, she pushed Sam into her room. "You brought her here? Seriously, Sam?"

Sam is avoiding tara's eyes. The floor seems to be so much more interesting

Was it always like this? Maybe they should change it, they could definitely find something better that fits the aesthe- Sam's thoughts were interrupted by her sister's angelic voice.

"SAMANTHA!"

"i- i thought- maybe it could've been a good idea to show her our place" sam says softly.

Tara looks at her suspiciously, Sam is lying.

"Thruth Sam. Now."

"Okay okay i- i want her to see that i can take care of you just fine, and that you don't live in a shitty place" now sam feels stupid, maybe this was actually a dumb idea.

And why is tara looking at her without saying a word? Did she fuck it all up again?

That's when she felt it, two delicate arms embracing her. "You don't have to prove anybody anything, and especially not to her, sam."

Sam feels like crying.

"You've done a better job at taking care of me in this last year than Christina has ever done her all life" tara adds.

Yeah, now sam is definitely crying.

-

What's worse than Christina coming back? Ghostface coming back.

Okay, maybe that's not worse because tara would prefer to be running away from a masked serial killer instead of being forced to stay under the same roof as her mother.

It turns out that the killings have started all over again, and unfortunately, Tara and Sam were wrong, it IS about them again.

Another ghostface was trying to kill them.

Mindy got hurt in her dorm room last night. Luckily, it seems like this ghostface isn't as strong as the others, and Mindy was able to overpower them.

And that's how Tara has found herself in this situation.

Sam got the incredible idea to let Christina sleep at their apartment because by her being their mother, it means that she could be a possible target.

And frankly, Tara couldn't care less, but it seems like her and sam are not on the same page when it comes to that woman.

"Tara, i promise you it's just for a few days- just until we catch this fucker" sam says laying her head in tara's lap.

Sam has been staying in Tara's room because she gave hers to Christina. And Tara doesn't mind, the older sister has been spending so much time with their mother that they barely had some time alone.

It almost feels like she's losing her all over again.

Tara has had enough.

"I don't know how any of this doesn't seem weird to you"

"What do you mean?"

"C'mon Sam! christina comes back, and the killings start all over again? Doesn't- Doesn't it sound strange?"

Sam looks at her like tara has just said the craziest thing ever, "You're probably overreacting, baby. i have this under control, okay?" She says, kissing tara's scarred hand.

Sam's words didn't reassure Tara at all.

And that's because Tara, being the observer she is, has noticed Christina gaining random bruises, and since Mindy's attack, she noticed how her mother was wincing at every small movement.

Now, that could be a coincidence. But tara doesn't believe in those anymore.

If Tara is right, then Sam is in even more danger than she anticipated. Her sister seems to have been completely brainwashed by that woman's lies.

-

Tara hasn't left christina out of her sight, and you know what she has found?

nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Maybe she was overreacting. Maybe this was just fueled by her hatred for her mother.

Yeah that's what she thought.

Until Christina asked sam to pick something with her to her apartment.

At first tara didn't think anything of it.

But it's been an hour, and sam is not answering her phone.

'You're supposed to answer when i call'

that's what sam always says to her, but then she's the first one to not pick up her phone? It's pretty ironic, isn't it?

Tara decides it's been long enough.

She heads to christina's apartment, she doesn't actually have a plan, and that's concerning, considering she's probably walking into a trap.

Everything seems normal.

No blood-curling screams

No weird noises...

She knocks at christina's door only to find that it's already opened. Ah, that's where the weird part starts, huh?

"Sam? Christina? Is anybody here?"

And that's when she sees her.

Sam. Her Sam.

Unconscious on the floor with blood covering her white shirt. "Fuck, Sam? Wake up, wake up!"

Okay, okay, she can feel her pulse. Sam is alive. Her sister is alive.

Tara looks around to find something to use to put pressure on sam's bleeding wounds, but the only thing she finds is a - a very familiar- masked figure standing there.

Tara is panicking. What does she do now? She doesn't know how to do this without Sam.

But Sam is too vulnerable right now, and tara needs to protect her just like Sam has done numerous times with her.

Ghostface tilts their head at tara.

The masked killer is slowly getting closer and closer.

Tara sees the light of the voice changer under the robe turning red.

"What's the matter, Tara? Can't you remember your MOTHER?" Ghostface says, throwing the mask on the ground.

It's Christina.

Is Tara surprised? Of course not.

And quite honestly, Tara didn't expect this to happen that fast. She was expecting more action going on, not a boring reveal.

Very disappointing.

She raised an eyebrow at her mother, "Wow, i'm impressed. You couldn't even think of an original phrase? you had to quote the movies, really?"

"You've always been the sarcastic one in the family huh?, i see that hasn't changed" Christina says getting closer.

Tara is still covering sam's body with her own

"Stay the fuck back"

This seems to infuriate christina even more.

With a swift movement, she stabs tara in the thigh.

Tara could've moved away, she could've avoided getting stabbed, but there's no way she's giving christina the chance to get closer to her sister.

"You can calm down, i'm not gonna kill samantha... not yet, at least" Christina said, smirking

"What do you want from us then? I'm here, sam is here, what are you waiting for?"

"Oh sweet sweet Tara, i thought you were smarter than this!"

Tara has never seen her mother acting this insane, but i guess it runs in the family, doesn't it? And to think that everybody sees sam as the dangerous serial killer.

"You see tara, i suffered when your father left, i did. But both of you were too caught up with your own bullshit that you couldn't even care enough about your mother and when-"

"What the actual fuck are you talking abo-"

Christina pointed a knife at tara's jawline, pushing the tip enough to make it bleed. "i'm not fucking done talking, where are your manners?"

"When your sister left too, you didn't care about me, you went on with your life like nothing happened and you left your old mother dealing with a broken family. Does that seem fair to you, Tara?"

"Fuck you" tara spat.

"You were drunk all of the times, i was 13- I was a fucking kid, what did you want me to do? YOU should've been the one comforting me" Tara felt hot tears on her cheeks, and she was only getting more frustrated because she didn't want the woman standing in front of her to think she was weak.

Because Tara Carpenter was anything but that.

"Tara?"

Shit. Sam.

"Oh finally, now that you're awake, we can go to the fun part. You shouldn't be so worried about your sister Tara, and you know why?"

Tara was just staring at sam, and trying to give her reassurance through her eyes.

But how can you reassure someone that is about to get killed by their own mother?

"I expect an answer when i ask a question." Christina took this moment of distraction to stab tara in the stomach.

"TARA!" sam tried to get up but she was too weak from the bleeding.

Useless. Sam felt Useless.

Tara has been stabbed once too many times, the feeling of a blade entering your body is too well known to her. She's okay, she went through worse shit than this.

She reached sam's hand "i'm fine, trust me"

"Enlighten me Christina, why shouldn't i be worried?"

"I'm surprised you still haven't figured out my plan" christina laughs, and tara, more than ever, gets the urge to strangle her mother.

"You shouldn't worry about her because you're going to be the first one to die".

Christina switches her focus on the older daughter, "i am going to take her away from you, Samantha, just like you took away my family from me."

Tara giggles and that brings Chstina's attention back to her.

"That's a really boring plan, and very unoriginal too. All of these years of suffering, and you couldn't even come up with something better?" Tara noticed Sam looking at her worriedly.

Okay, Tara might not have had a plan initially, but she wasn't dumb. Before heading to christina's apartment, she went into sam's room and stole the knife they got at the shrine.

Yes, Billy Loomis knife.

"You know what, mom? This wouldn't have been a bad plan if you hadn't forgotten about a small detail"

"Huh?"

"That i'm just as fucked up as she is" Tara pulled the knife out of her back pocket and stabbed christina repeatedly.

Tara was not planning on stopping anytime soon.

She was feeling her mother's body losing life

how many stabs was she at?

30?

Maybe 40

"Tara, Tara, stop stop she's dead, it's over" sam was pulling tara off of christina's body.

Tara looked at the dead body laying under her, her face turned dark.

She stabbed her one last time.

"You were a shitty mother AND a shitty ghostface too" she pulled the knife out of her body and blood splattered all over her face.

-

A few days have passed.

Sam was okay.

Tara was okay.

It felt like the roles were reversed now, sam in the hospital bed, and tara sat in the chair next to her.

But it was over.

The monster is gone, and her sister is with her.

Tara was not afraid of monsters anymore.

[dangraccoon]

Oyuba’din - Chapter 9: Place

Original Characters & The Bad Batch

Summary: Jainera and her new friends discover an aspect of her curse, and meet with some very important leaders.

Warnings: forgotten memory, pain, mention of parental death, mention of grooming/ped*philia

Author’s note: this is the conclusion to Jaine’s flashback story arc! We’ll be back with our Beloved Bad Batch at the end of the week! Thank you all so much for your continued support!

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“Jainera,” Obi Wan called, knocking lightly on the door to the medbay, which had become her own little room for the week of hyperspace travel needed to get from Qoljak to Coruscant. “We should be arriving in a few hours.”

“Obi Wan!” Jaine shouted from within, the door sliding open. “Come in! How do I look?”

Jaine twirled a little as her friend stepped into the room, showing off the long dress he and Qui Gon had gotten her when they stopped to refuel.

“It looks wonderful,” Obi smiled warmly. “Is it comfortable?”

“Yes! It’s perfect,” she said, wrapping the man in a hug, which he happily returned.

It had taken a few days for her to emerge from her shell, only really coming back to life when they wandered into a market when they stopped. The night market was busy; lots of sights, smells, lights, and people that Jaine was entirely unfamiliar with, the war-torn streets and endless conflict of her home having been all she had known for over a decade.

“Could you help me with this?” she asked, breaking him out of his thoughts and handing him a small pendant on a chain.

He nodded, indicating for her to turn around and he fastened the clasp at the nape of her neck. “It’s a lovely pendant. Where did you get it?”

Jaine paused, her face falling a little. “I- I can’t remember,” she said, looking at the small charm. She winced a little, a sharp pain striking between her ears.

Obi Wan sensed this, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Are you alright?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she replied, shaking her head as though to shake off the pain. “Just a bit of a headache.”

Obi Wan moved to a cabinet, retrieving a pain killer from it, and giving it to Jaine with a hydropak. She thanked him, taking the medication.

Obi Wan watched her carefully. “Have you remembered anything else about your escape that day?”

Jaine scowled, trying to concentrate. The pain grew in her head, but she pushed it aside, digging for the memory of that day.

“Jainera?” Obi Wan questioned, watching her. She was beginning to sway a little. He placed his steadying hands on her upper arms. “Jainera.”

Her eyes screwed together even tighter, a few tears slipped from them.

“Jainera? Jainera, look at me!”

“What’s going on?” Qui Gon said, rushing into the room.

“She’s done it again,” Obi Wan worried. “Every time she tries to think back to her escape, she becomes unresponsive until she passes out.”

“Let’s move her to the table.”

Obi Wan guided Jaine to the medical table, concern flooding his senses.

“Obi Wan, would you say this is typical for these episodes?” Qui Gon, prompted, bringing his apprentice back to the present. He was gesturing to the small amount of crimson energy pooling around her hands like a liquid smoke.

“That’s new,” he said warily. Slowly, his hand extended to touch the red energy, perplexed by the substance.

“Don’t,” ordered his master without looking away from Jaine’s face. “Keep her safe.”

Qui Gon touched his fingers to Jaine’s temples, closing his eyes to concentrate. Quickly, his mind was flooded with images of a small girl growing up fighting a war. A figure, the Uncle she spoke of, comforting and guiding her after the loss of the parents. Another man, but the features were obscured, almost out of focus. This was the source of the pain. This man was kind to her and acted as another mentor. Soon, he noticed, the man’s attention changed. It became something more, something that made Qui Gon’s stomach turn. He pushed that aside, attempting to focus on this man. He helped her escape. He got her onto the doomed ship. Who was this man? A bright blue energy, with similar properties to Jainera’s red, shone around this man.

“Kuna!” Jaine screamed, sitting bolt upright, nearly headbutting Qui Gon in the process.

“Jainera, it’s alright,” Obi Wan soothed, his arms encircling her.

Jaine sobbed onto Obi Wan’s shoulder. She realized she was coated in sweat and tears. Qui Gon fell onto a chair his padawan had placed for him. “How long?” he asked.

“An hour or so. She developed a fever, but it seems to have broken now.”

“Keep an eye on her,” Qui Gon ordered. “We should be arriving on Coruscant shortly.”

“I-I’m sorry,” Jaine whimpered between sobs. “I d-didn’t mean to-”

He shushed her. “It’s alright. You’re going to be alright.”

-

“This is Coruscant?” Jaine asked, squinting his eyes in the bright sunlight.

“Yes,” Qui Gon replied.

“It’s so…”

“Busy?” Obi Wan supplied.

“Dark,” Jaine finished. “There’s no green here. Where are all the plants and animals?”

“There are bits of natural life around, but not quite as much as you’re used to,” Qui Gon explained. “Come, we are to meet with the council.”

Jaine followed the two men to a different port, this one with a speeder and driver to whisk them away to the Jedi Temple. The master and apprentice seemed to be having a silent conversation as they rode.

“What’s that building?” she asked, pointing to a large dome with many speeders coming and leaving from it.

“That is the Galactic Senate Building,” Obi Wan stated, looking to where she pointed. “I don’t care much for politics.”

“What’s that one?” she pointed again.

“That is our destination,” Qui Gon said. “The Jedi Temple.”

-

“While I am unfamiliar with the power this girl holds, I am certain she can learn how to use them here,” Qui Gon explained, looking around at the High Council members.

“Bring her in,” Mace Windu nodded at Obi Wan.

“What is your name, child?” Depa asked when Jaine was situated in front of the council.

“Jainera Vale, ma’am,” Jaine stated, hoping that the nervousness she felt didn’t impact her voice.

“Can you demonstrate your abilities for us?” Depa requested with a small smile.

Jaine swallowed hard, nodding a little. She tried to concentrate, her hand trembling as she held it out in front of her.

“Calm yourself you must,” an unfamiliar voice hummed in her head. The sudden intrusion scared her, but she didn’t show it, sure it was something to do with these people’s powers.

She felt a touch at the back of her mind, someone was asking for entrance. She allowed it, showing the new presence her story.

Jaine took a deep breath in, letting it out slowly. She felt the familiar energy begin to appear at her hand, filling her palm and spilling over, yet disappearing before it hit the ground.

The Council looked on in fascination, occasionally exchanging looks between themselves.

“What is it that this power can do?” Plo Koon asked.

Jaine looked to Qui Gon, who simply nodded encouragingly.

“I don’t know everything about it,” Jaine said. “I-I didn’t have a chance to learn much.”

“Have you always had this power?”

“No, those who are chosen gain their power around age five.”

Depa leaned forward in her chair a little. “Chosen? Who is it that chooses?”

“No one knows,” Jaine scowled. “My Uncle said that the Chromas are chosen by fate, that’s why when a Chromai dies, their powers are transferred to the right person and how that person is the right age.”

“From Qoljak, you are,” Yaddle spoke up. “The one who sent Master Jinn and his apprentice to aid Verse Gravank and Dash Hamme, I was.”

Yaddle stood from her chair, moving to look closer to Jaine’s hand.

“Chromas they were. Powerful,” Yaddle said, looking up at Jaine. “Their fate, what was?”

Jaine’s heart beat loudly in her chest. “They- I-” she stammered.

“The entire moon was devastated by a meteor shower. Jainera was the only survivor,” Qui Gon said.

Yaddle hummed, returning to her seat. Jaine let her power fade, thankful not to concentrate on it more.

“Been cursed, I sense she has,” Yoda finally spoke.

“Cursed?” Obi Wan asked, earning a sharp look from his master.

“I sense it as well,” agreed Plo Koon.

There were a few other nods and agreements amongst the council.

“Teach to use her power, we cannot,” Yoda said.

“There must be something we can do to help her,” Obi Wan protested, despite the glare from Qui Gon.

“Be careful, Padawan Kenobi,” Mace Windu warned. “Your connection to the girl could cause you harm.”

Jaine sniffled a little, irritated that this man was talking as though she were not there to hear, but she said nothing.

“Perhaps we can send her to the Circle of Healers,” suggested Depa Billaba. “They may be able to remove this curse from her.”

Yoda considered this, nodding a little. “Accompany the girl, Master Jinn and Padawan Kenobi will. Discuss her fate, the Council must.”

Qui Gon and Obi Wan bowed deeply to the council, so Jainera did the same.

They left the room and began their journey through the halls.

“Scared, she is,” noted Yaddle.

“This is unsurprising,” Plo Koon agreed. “She was raised in a civil war and saw the destruction of her race.”

“How was she able to survive the meteor shower that killed the rest of Qoljak?” Adi Gallia spoke up. “Master Jinn stated that they found her amongst the wreckage of a ship, of which the other two passengers had not survived.”

“The curse, it is,” Yaddle stated. “Allowed me into her memories, she did. Share them, I must.”

The Council’s eyes fluttered closed, all beginning to meditate on the memories Yaddle had seen.

Images of Jaine began to flood their minds. Gaining her powers, the way her naturally dark hair started growing crimson uncontrollably, the smallest little sparks of red. The ceremony where she was declared the new Crimson Chromai. Her Uncle, the Violet Chromai, in a heated argument with her parents. The death of her parents a few years later in a fire so hot that the flames were nearly blue. Her Uncle’s training; endless, gruesome, torturous even. Images of the civil war she had fought for 6 years. The way the Cobalt Chromai grew close to her. The final battle. The havoc she had wrought against her own people, all at the behest of her Uncle. The curse laid upon her by the Rosate Chromai. The escape attempt by the Violet and Cobalt Chromas. And finally, the death of Jainera Vale, the Crimson Chromai.

The air around the circle of Jedi felt heavy.

“She’s very strong,” Depa Billaba breathed.

Plo Koon nodded in agreement. “And very powerful.”

“That’s what worries me,” Mace Windu frowned.

“A risk, she may be,” Yaddle hummed. “Keep her close, we should.”

“What troubles you, Master Gallia?” Mace Windu asked.

Adi Gallia looked conflicted. “She is just a child. We are not even aware of the full extent of her power.”

Yoda rose from his chair, moving to look out of the window. “Place the child in the AgriCorps, we must. Keep our eyes on her, we will.”

Thanks for reading! - Dang

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[maria021015]

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR CHAPTER 43!

“Zaida, wake up.” Isaac gently nudged the sleeping girl next to him but she simply grumbled and buried her head further into his shoulder. The interaction caught Stiles’ attention as he walked down the centre aisle, following the steady stream of students filing off the bus. Now - thanks to his newfound revelation, courtesy of Scott - he recognised that twisting in his stomach as his own jealousy.

“Yeah, like that’s gonna do the job,” Stiles snorted sarcastically at the beta’s pathetic efforts and stuck two fingers into his mouth, blowing hard to let out a loud and shrill whistle. Zaida jolted awake, startled, with groggy eyes landing on the boy who was grinning proudly. His smile dropped when he registered her face twisting into a furious expression.

“Stilinski, I’m going to kill you!” She growled threateningly, and Stiles took that as his cue to leave. He ducked under Danny’s arm in front of him and pushed his way through the line. In the time that it took Zaida to hike her duffel bag up and over her shoulder, he was gone. She huffed as she joined the long wait, sliding in behind Danny and in front of Scott. The flow of passengers was entirely too slow for her liking, and when she finally stepped off the vehicle a familiar face was waiting - though not the one she would have liked to see.

Chris Argent was standing beside his gleaming car, arms crossed as he leaned against the exterior, waiting for Allison, who had been closer towards the end of the bus with Lydia and probably wouldn’t emerge for a while yet.

“Papa Argent,” She nodded to him in greeting as she stood by the bus and waited for the redhead who she was going home with.

“Well, if it isn’t the bad influence.” Chris sent her a half smirk and she raised her brow at him in questioning. The longer she stared at his face the more she noticed the lines of worry and quietly simmering anger etched into his tired features.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Maybe you’ve got the wrong person?” She smiled broadly in faux innocence.

“So it wasn’t you who dragged my daughter into a werewolf pack fight?” He challenged, looking down the bridge of his nose at her. Damn, he had found them out.

“Would you believe me if I told you that it was actually her who dragged me there?” She questioned sarcastically with a tilt of her head.

“No.” He stated with a steely expression.

“Well, you’re right, she didn’t. But you’re also wrong - there was no dragging involved. We both wanted to go and help.” Zaida shot back stubbornly.

“And how did that work out for you?” He raised a bushy brow and a twinge of guilt clenched her stomach when her thoughts were drawn back to what happened that night.

“Have you spoken to Xander?” She guessed and from his slight nod of confirmation she knew her assumptions were correct. “So he’s still alive?”

“Xander is fine. Deucalion has been too preoccupied with Ennis’ death to deal with the situation himself. He’s been sending Kali to scout for Xander, but she hasn’t even gotten close yet.” Chris assured her, taking pity on the girl. “Your brother is good at what he does. He’ll be okay. You just need to stay under the radar in the meantime.”

“Flying under the radar isn’t exactly my strong suit anymore,” She winced. “What about Derek? Ethan told us he might be alive - I guess they never found his body.”

“I think that answers your question,” Chris nodded towards where a shiny black Camaro pulled up in the parking lot conjoined to the bus-bay. Surely enough, a figure climbed out of the drivers’ side, one heavy black boot planting itself on the ground, followed by dark-wash jeans, and a leather-jacket-clad body.

“I can already tell this isn’t going to end well,” Zaida pursed her lips, feeling a cocktail of intense emotions knocking at the doors within her mind as Isaac and Boyd slowly approached Derek. “I better go,” She pursed her lips and didn’t so much as look back at Chris before approaching the tense situation, hurrying over with a half-jog.

“You didn’t think that maybe you should call one of us and let us know that you’re not dead!” Isaac was yelling at the man already.

“Isaac!” Zaida hissed at him in warning, flashing polite and apologetic smiles to the classmates that turned their heads to look. “We have an audience.”

“Oh, and smart move exposing the fact that you’re still alive to Ethan so that he can run back and report it to his alpha - who is hellbent on killing us!” Isaac continued, only slightly lowering his volume.

“I have to admit, I expected a warmer hello.” Derek arched a brow nonchalantly at the beta’s outburst.

“Maybe next time, announce your resurrection away from the super-boosted eyes and ears of the people who almost put you in your grave in the first place.” Zaida snarked at the alpha. She was glad he wasn’t dead, but she couldn’t deny the fact that his actions were completely stupid. It was cruel of him not to inform any of them that he was alive, especially with the guilt that Scott had been struggling with.

“This is none of your business,” Derek glared at her through narrowed eyes, and turned to Isaac and Boyd. “Get in the car. We’ll talk about it back at the loft.”

“No, you kicked me out of the loft? Remember?” Isaac shook his head and took a definitive step backwards. “I’m going with Scott.”

“Fine,” Derek lifted his shoulders into a lazy shrug and climbed back into his Camaro, turning his back on them.

“Boyd,” Isaac looked towards the boy, but the beta followed Derek’s instructions with a slight apologetic glint in his almost-black eyes, climbing into the passenger’s side of the car. Within minutes the sleek black vehicle was speeding away from them. “Can you believe him?!”

“Did you expect any better?” Zaida sighed sympathetically and hooked her arm through his, leading him away from the sight of the car shrinking into the distance. “Come on, let’s get you to Scott so we can tell him Derek’s alive and as idiotic as ever.”

“God, it feels so good to lie down in a comfy bed.” Zaida groaned in appreciation as she collapsed onto Lydia’s mattress. Both girls had showered and scrubbed off all the sweat and grime of the night before, slipping into matching satin nightgowns that caressed their soft and moisturised skin. Lydia had blow dried Zaida’s hair for her, and Zaida had curled the redhead’s locks as they wore clay masks and watched 'Jane Eyre'. Neither of them had uttered a word about what had happened the night before, opting to distract themselves with some much needed pampering. It was only now that they lay in bed in the dark of night, staring at the ceiling and pondering the events that had transpired, that Lydia chose to speak up.

“Do you really not remember anything that happened?” The redhead asked in a quiet voice, and she didn’t need to clarify what she was talking about. Zaida didn’t even have to try to remember the steel blade in her hand, slowly sinking into her own flesh. She contemplated saying ‘yes’ simply for the ease of it - for the comfortability of not having to speak about it - but she couldn’t lie to Lydia.

“No. I remember,” She swallowed dryly and felt the mattress shift beneath her as Lydia turned her head to face her.

“But then…you weren’t-” The redhead struggled to find words sensitive enough to handle the situation presented to her. “But you didn’t…did you?”

“It was me, but not in the way you might think.” Zaida took in a deep, stabilising breath. She held it for a moment before breathing the hot air out through her lips. “I felt those things, but they weren’t my feelings. They were Boyd’s, and probably Scott’s, and the other almost-two-hundred dead people’s emotions. The perks of being a telempath and all.”

“You feel better now, though. Right? You don’t…feel like that?” Lydia chewed on her lower lip, slightly out of her depth with the current subject matter.

Zaida’s lips pulled into a tight but grateful smile at her friend’s concern. “No, I’m okay now. Like I said, they weren’t my feelings.”

“Are you sure? Because you don’t seem like your usual self.” The redhead insisted.

“If I’m being completely transparent, I do feel guilty about what happened with Xander. It’s my fault he was put in a position where he had to sacrifice himself to protect me. It hurts, and it sucks, but I know there’s nothing I can do about it.” Zaida let out a heavy sigh. “I’m upset, but not like that.”

“What happened with Xander wasn’t your fault.” Lydia began but Zaida rolled her eyes. “No, listen to me. If you knew who Deucalion was before going into that mall, would you still have done it?”

“I don’t know. Maybe?” Zaida pondered it for a moment. “Probably? But I would have at least known not to expose my powers.”

“Then that settles it. If you had been given all of the necessary information you wouldn’t have made the same decisions you did. But you didn’t know, and there’s no way that you could have. What happened is awful, but it wasn’t your fault.” Lydia stated definitively.

“Thanks, Lyds,” Zaida smiled faintly. She didn’t quite agree with the redhead’s logic, but she also knew that she needed to let go of what had happened. It was in the past, and she’d felt what she needed to feel. The only thing she could do now was try and find a way to make up for it - a way for Xander to come home. “How are you holding up? It was a pretty intense night.”

“Well, you felt it and I heard it, so I guess about as well as you are.” Lydia snorted lightly. Normally her walls would be coming up right about now, but with Zaida she knew she could let them down.

“Yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask about that.” Zaida turned on her side and propped herself up on her elbow to get a better look at the girl beside her, her curiosity piqued. “I thought that the more your abilities presented themselves, the easier it would be for us to figure it out. We always knew you were something, but this just makes it all the more confusing. Resurrecting dead werewolves, weird dreams, finding bodies, hearing the dead’s final moments…? I don’t know any mythological creature that fits that description, unless you count necromancers, who aren’t mythical so much as fictional.”

“Unless I’m psychic,” Lydia wondered aloud.

“I mean, it’s a definite possibility.” Zaida’s brows furrowed as she racked her brains for an alternative answer, coming up with none.

“I’m just so sick of all of these weird things happening to me and not being able to explain it. Now Stiles thinks I’m a murderer-” Lydia began ranting in her frustration. “And the worst part is, I can’t even confidently tell him he’s wrong.”

“You’re not a murderer.” Zaida shook her head and comfortingly took Lydia’s hand into her own in a gesture of support. “You helped me, now it’s my turn to help you. We’re going to find out what’s going on, okay? I promise.”

“Thanks, Zay,” Lydia’s green eyes glistened slightly with tears of appreciation and relief. All she could think about right then was how grateful she was that this whole Stiles thing hadn’t driven a wedge between them. She didn’t know what she’d do without Zaida.

“I’m not sure about this…” Zaida trailed off as she peered at herself in the full length mirror behind Lydia’s bedroom door, tugging the hem of her skirt lower and shifting her chest around in the tight corset top Lydia had picked out for her.

“What’s there not to be sure about? I thought you were embracing your more feminine side.” Lydia winked at her, fixing a stray strand of hair.

“This thing is showing all kinds of boob - under, side, over - you name it and it’s out there.” The brunette pointed out.

“Exactly. Feminine.” The redhead hummed mischievously from over Zaida’s shoulder with an approving nod at her reflection.

“Usually the rule is slutty top with modest bottoms, or slutty bottoms with modest top. All about balance, you know?” She arched a penciled-in brow. “Don’t you think this is a bit too obvious?”

“What’s obvious?” Lydia tilted her head, feigning ignorance as she sauntered over to her dresser to spritz some subtle perfume. Her outfit was noticeably understated compared to her usual attire - simple black leggings and a flowy floral shirt. Zaida knew it was on purpose.

“The fact that I’m dressing like this, and you’re dressing ‘like a nun’, as you’d normally put it.” The brunette pointed out.

“We’re trying to catch you a man, Zaida. Dress like it! ” Lydia encouraged her. “Are you sure you want me to tag along? I can make up some sort of excuse to be out of the house.”

“No! This isn’t a date or anything, Lydia. This is training.” Zaida sighed and finally stepped away from the mirror, heading over to the dresser to retrieve her perfume from her toiletries bag. “We agreed that things weren’t going to change between us - that includes this. You’re staying.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the fancy tune of the doorbell’s song echoing up the staircase. “That’s him.” Lydia wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and practically hopped through the doorway excitedly.

“Please don’t be weird about this.” Zaida let out a long sigh and trudged out of the room leisurely, taking her time as she split off from Lydia on her way to the front entrance. When she swung the wide and heavy door open Stiles was standing on the porch with his hands shoved into his pockets, waiting. The tap of his foot against the tiles let her know he had been doing so rather impatiently.

“Hey! Took you long enough.” The boy flashed her a warm and wide smile, waiting for her to move aside and gesture for him to come in before stepping inside the house.

“I was upstairs,” She explained with a lazy half-shrug, now almost an expert at controlling her heart rate when he was around. “So what’s this new training method you were wanting to try?”

“You’ll see. Where’s Lydia?” He questioned as he ventured further into the house and Zaida swallowed the internal sting before it could truly hurt.

“She’s already outside.” The brunette answered and followed the boy out to the pool where the redhead was sitting on a lounge chair. The girl simply nodded her head in greeting.

“What are we in for today?” Zaida cracked her knuckles as she waited and Stiles cringed at the sound.

“First of all, stop doing that.” He wrinkled his nose and reached out to place his hand over her own, stilling her actions and lingering for only a fraction of a second longer than necessary. “Second of all, I want you to start off with what we were working on last time.”

“Which one? The flying knives? The boiling? The freezing?” She began listing all of the skills they’d practiced previously.

“Nothing fancy, just move the water.” Stiles waved her off and she turned her laser-like focus onto the pool water.

Kneeling down by the edge, Zaida dipped her fingertips into the water, staring at her warping reflection as she reached out through that familiar connection of energy, tugging and leading the water to mold to her will. The entire surface of the pool rose and then surpassed the ground entirely, floating into the air gracefully and forming a twisting peak. A faint satisfied smile danced across her lips as she kept going, allowing the water to flow and shift under her control into waves that crested high and then crashed into themselves in a never-ending circle. A stab of pain in her hand caused her to flinch, that connection of energy flickering like an old and faulty lightbulb, until a surge of panic caused it to burn out entirely. The water in front of her crashed through the air, landing back into the empty shell of the pool in a chaotic storm of splashing. Lydia let out a squeal as she was half-soaked by the turbulent waves, but Zaida quickly stood and turned to the boy behind her in an instant.

“What’s wrong?” She questioned as her eyes scanned him for injury.

“It turns out, it’s easy to panic when I think about any one of the number of things that are happening in our lives right now.” Stiles opened his clenched fist to display a crimson cut and a sharp rock that clattered to the ground.

“You faked it?” Zaida’s brows knitted together at him.

“That’s our new training strategy.” The boy grinned brightly. “You need to learn how to wield whilst keeping your blocks in place.”

“I hate to break it to you, but if you’re going to cut yourself every time we train, you’re going to look like a wood-chipper victim.” Zaida drawled sarcastically as she looked up at him, crossing her arms over her chest.

“You’re going to be put into situations where emotions are strong, tensions are running high, and you’re going to need to wield.” Stiles reasoned.

“This is because of what happened at the Glen Capri, isn’t it? You do realise that was on a completely different level!” She defended, her eyes narrowing. She knew he was thinking back to what had happened and embarrassment burned her cheeks.

“I know, but it’s better to be prepared for anything.” Stiles’ voice softened, understanding the cause of her reaction. “I don’t want you to be put into a situation where you need to defend yourself, but can’t. Okay?”

“Yeah, okay. Fine,” Zaida conceded at the tenderness behind his amber eyes.

“So let’s run it again.” He nodded and she kneeled once more by the pool’s edge.

The surface of the water only made it a few feet into the air before collapsing again in a loud crash, splattering all over Zaida’s shoes, which were already sopping wet. “Urgh! I can’t do this. It’s too hard!” She exclaimed and collapsed back onto her haunches in frustration.

“You’ve just gotta keep practicing. You’ll get there, I know you will.” Stiles encouraged her, placing his hands on her shoulders to give them a reassuring squeeze.

“We’ve been at this for hours and I’ve barely improved.” She huffed.

“Hey, you got it at least a foot higher this time.” The boy pointed out supportively. “Maybe you need a break?”

“No. It’s not enough.” Zaida shook her head defiantly, locking her jaw as she reached for the water again, screwing her eyes shut in concentration.

Stiles’ hand pulled away from her skin, and though she couldn’t physically feel him, she could sense him as he projected his anxiety into her once more. Her hands shook and her breathing shallowed. She fought to push past her instinct to drop everything and turn to him, blocking off that door in her mind and instead reaching down that energy line to pull at the surface, raising it as high as she could control. It was when she paused for a moment to catch her breath, her chest heaving from the fatigue, that the anxiety beating down that dark walnut door in her head shifted into something else. Something that made her heart race in a different way and heat bloom in her cheeks. She immediately faltered. The pool water crashed downwards once more but Zaida didn’t care as she stepped away from the edge - away from Stiles, putting as much distance between them as possible.

“Zaida, you okay?” Lydia asked, green eyes widening slightly in concern as she stood up from the lounge chair.

“On second thought, maybe that is enough for today.” She spluttered as her heart clenched in her chest and she avoided making eye contact with either of her friends.

“Same time tomorrow at mine?” Stiles offered, but Zaida didn’t wait around to answer, hurrying inside and taking the stairs up two at once.

By the time Lydia knocked on the door to her bedroom, Zaida had already peeled off the corset top, discarding it on the bed in favour of a loose and oversized t-shirt. She was pacing across the floor when the redhead walked in.

“At that rate you’re going to burn a track in the carpet.” Lydia admonished and gripped the girl’s elbow, tugging her over to sit on the mattress. “Don’t worry. You’ll get it soon. That last time, you were doing so well!”

“Sure I was,” Zaida muttered, her mind still distracted by the things she had felt down that bond. She knew that those emotions had nothing to do with her - they didn’t belong to her, and nor were they caused by her.

“I think that top was a hit though,” Lydia winked, nodding towards the abandoned purple garment. “Stiles couldn’t take his eyes off you. Didn’t you notice how he kept making excuses to touch you? ‘Oh no, Zaida, don’t crack your knuckles’.” The girl mocked excitedly.

“Yeah, right.” The brunette snorted. “I could feel exactly how interested he was - only it wasn’t with me.”

Lydia’s lips parted in surprise. “...Zay,” She began after a long hesitation, but Zaida cut her off.

“Don’t apologise, you know I don’t blame you.” She shook her head, pushing her frustrations away. “Can we just not talk about this?”

“But I could have sworn that he-” The redhead’s brows knitted together in confusion as she recalled all of the times she noticed Stiles’ eyes wandering southbound, and all the times his voice had shifted into a lower tone, and his gaze had softened, and his fingers had wandered toward Zaida’s skin. It didn’t make any sense.

“I mean it, Lyds. I don’t want to think about it.” The brunette shut down the conversation for good. “Now what are we cooking for dinner? Because I was thinking about making chicken soup.”

“I messed it up yesterday, big time!” Stiles held his phone up to his ear as he ruffled through his draws, tossing flannel to the side until he found the plain white shirt he was looking for. “I was trying to keep it together, I really was, but her hair was out and her face was all cute and scrunchy because she was focusing, and she was bending over in that short little skirt, and I just lost control.”

Not to mention the way her chest was spilling out of the confines of that tight top while she breathed so heavily-

“Okay, that’s way too much detail. I didn’t need to hear that,” Scott’s voice cringed form the other side of the line. “Are you sure she knew?”

“I’m telling you man, she knew. She could feel it. She totally freaked out and then disappeared upstairs, and Lydia practically pushed me out the door.” Stiles pulled away from the phone only long enough to tug his shirt over his head.

“Maybe you’re overthinking it, man.” His best friend attempted to reassure him. “She probably was just tired and frustrated that she was struggling with training. She’s been super hard on herself since what happened with Xander.”

“No, you know what? I blame you for this. If you’d never have told me I would have lived out my life in blissful ignorance. Now it’s all I can think about! It happens when I’m around her, when I’m not around her, when I’m dreaming about her-”

“Okay, I‘m gonna stop you right there before I hear more things that are gonna scar me.” Scott interjected hurriedly. “Maybe you should just tell her how you feel! You never know, she might feel the same.”

“Yeah right, that’s a good one, Scotty.” Stiles snorted in laughter as he ran his fingers through his hair, messing it up the desired amount. “I’ve figured it all out. I’ve got a five year plan for making Zaida fall in love with me - mark my words, by the time we graduate college I’ll have her hook, line and sinker.”

“I really don’t think it’s going to take that long,” Scott let out a heavy sigh, wishing his friend would just listen to him. “Just flirt a little bit today and see where it goes.”

“No, no. That’s step four. Step one is getting rid of Isaac - I’ve gotta eliminate the competition.” The boy shook his head and sprayed an almost-empty bottle of cologne all over himself. Whoever said ‘less is more’ was an idiot.

“Then what are steps two and three?” The werewolf questioned with a frown in his tone.

“Step two is highlighting her loneliness juxtaposed by surrounding her with happy couples to make her realise she wants a relationship. Which reminds me, you really gotta fix things with Allison - step two relies on it.” Stiles explained enthusiastically. “Then step three is lowering her standards - Lydia will practically do that for me by setting her up on dates with jerk-off jocks she’ll never like. Then that clears the path for my entrance onto the scene, the overlooked best friend that she starts to notice in a different way.”

“How long are you expecting those four steps to take?” Scott chuckled.

“Well, getting rid of Isaac is going to take me a while. Then, once we get to senior year and everyone is coupled up and people are planning their future, she’ll want that too. Then Lydia will spend the end of senior year and the first year of college trying to set her up with various bad-boys and popular jerks who aren’t her type at all. I’m thinking I’ll get to step four by the second year of college, for sure. Then I’ve got two years to really wear her down.” Stiles ranted, the words tumbling out of his mouth at rapid speed. “Of course, this is all riding on us going to colleges close to one another, otherwise the plan will have to extend to eleven years when we all come back to Beacon Hills for our ten-year high school reunion.”

“You think too much.” Scott huffed, brain still struggling to comprehend even half of what Stiles had just said.

“And you don’t think enough. Your point is?” The boy retorted.

“My point is, you don’t need to do all of that stuff. Just make a move!” Scott groaned from the other end of the line. His next sentence was interrupted by heavy knocking against the door downstairs.

“I gotta go, she’s here.” Stiles bid his best friend goodbye and hung up, tossing the phone onto his bed before bounding down the stairs towards the entryway. He flung the door open and in his haste, the back of it hit the wall loudly, knocking a hanging picture frame to the floor.

“Uh, hi,” Zaida frowned at the boy’s frantic movements as he plucked the picture back up from the ground and hung it up on an entirely wrong angle.

“Hey, Zaida! Come on in!” He leaned against the open door awkwardly and nodded at her in what he hoped was a casual and cool greeting.

“Where’s the fire at?” The brunette raised an eyebrow pointedly at him as she strolled inside the Stilinski household.

“Fire? No fire here.” Stiles laughed almost forcefully and shut the front door behind her, following her through to the living room. “You didn’t bring Lydia today?”

“No, she had a last minute nail appointment,” Zaida rolled her eyes, still bitter about how the girl had abandoned her in an attempt to push her and Stiles together. “So what are we doing today? Unless you’ve got a pool hidden in your back pocket, I’d assume it’s something different?”

“Well, I thought we could practice on a smaller scale today, just build up your resistance, you know?” The boy explained as he scratched at the back of his neck nervously, trying to avert his eyes from landing on the expanses of smooth golden skin her dress revealed. Instead he moved through to the kitchen and opened the fridge, peering inside at its contents. “Did you want anything before we start? We’ve got…leftover pizza, or leftover Chinese takeout?”

“How about I make us something to eat that didn’t come from a fast food restaurant?” She laughed liltingly and made her way to the pantry, hazel eyes scanning for ingredients. “How do you feel about some Alfredo pasta?”

“Anything home-made sounds good to me.” He smiled broadly and stepped back as she began pulling out ingredients. She’d lived here long enough to know where everything was. “Dad’s not much of a cook and me? Well, you’ve seen my attempt at breakfast. I almost burned your beach house down.”

“Hey, that breakfast tasted great.” Zaida assured him and set a kitchen towel over the bench-top.

“Yeah, I’m sure the cancerous, burnt charing added a smokey flavour.” Stiles snorted, his words dripping with sarcasm. “How can I help?”

“Grab me the milk please? Oh, and that dried parsley I left here.” She instructed, pulling out a chopping board and her favourite knife. “Do you guys have any shallots?”

“What’s a shallot?” Stiles’ brows furrowed in confusion as he passed her the items she’d requested. Once he fell into the groove of their usual dynamic it wasn’t hard for things to return to normal between them, despite the newfound flutter in his stomach.

“I don’t know why I even asked,” The brunette shook her head. “A brown onion will do. Oh, and whatever garlic you can find.”

“We have garlic paste, does that count?” He questioned as he inspected the jar.

“No, but we’ll make it work.” Zaida smiled at him and started to peel the onion, discarding the skin to the side.

“I miss when you used to stay here.” Stiles lifted himself up to sit on the bench beside where she was working, watching her as she sliced the onion in half and moved to begin chopping one side.

“Because you guys had a personal chef?” She drawled, but not un-fondly. Truth be told, she missed living here too. There was something distinctly homey about it compared to living alone with Xander, or staying with Lydia whose mother was never around.

“No. Well, yes,” He corrected with a tilt of his head. “But it was more than that. I miss having you around all the time - annoying you, trying not to die before lunch by waking you up in the morning, movie nights, destroying you in combat games…Dad was happier too. It almost felt like when Mom was alive. Now it’s just kind of empty without you.”

“For the record, I was always better than you at storyline games. But yeah, I know exactly what you mean. Living here reminded me of what it was like to live with a family - the banter, the irritating each other, the racing to the bathroom and the impatient waiting when you didn’t get there first.” Her lips tugged into a haunted smile as she recalled all of the memories they’d shared in this house. A sting rose to her eyes and she held back a sniffle as she shifted her focus to the half of the onion that remained intact. She’d always reacted badly to onions.

“Hey, you were always the one who took like ten years in the bathroom.” He defended with a chuckle.

“What, did you think I woke up like this?” She gestured to her made-up face and stylistically messy hair sarcastically.

“I know you wake up like that. Beautiful, that is.” He said in a low voice and when her eyes lifted in surprise to meet his, she could see a genuine softness in the molten-gold there and her own heart melted. They remained like that for a moment, frozen in locked gaze until Zaida cleared her throat awkwardly and turned her attention back to the onion before her.

“God, I hate cutting onions.” She sniffled, wiping the tear that rolled down her cheek with the back of her hand. The stinging was almost unbearable now, causing her to squint as she returned to cutting the vegetable.

“Here, let me.” He offered and hopped down from the bench, moving in beside her with his hand overlaying her own. She loosened her grip on the knife and allowed him to take over, her skin burning where he had touched her as if it were on fire.

Zaida forced herself to take in a deep breath and soothe her thundering heart while she lifted a large pot out of the cupboard beside the stove, placing it over the metal plate and turning up the heat. She scooped a generous amount of garlic out of the jar and dropped it inside the pot. “Onions go in now,” She advised the boy, and he shifted to swipe the white slivers off the chopping board and into the mixture. The brunette pulled out another pot and filled it with water before placing it on the stove as well to boil.

“Come over here and stir this.” She continued to add ingredients to the first pot - milk, flour, parsley, salt, pepper, parmesan cheese - as Stiles stirred in intervals, falling into a comfortable silence with the boy interpreting her wordless gestures effortlessly. “Perfect, now we just let that simmer while the pasta cooks.”

When she had finished dumping the packets of fettuccine into the bubbling water, she took a step back, leaning against the island bench to keep an eye on the food as they waited. “When did you learn to cook?” Stiles asked curiously as he joined her, his arm brushing against hers as they stood side by side.

“My yiayia taught me - that’s grandmother in Greek.” Zaida answered with a half-shrug. “When I lived with her in San Francisco, we used to cook together. Then when Xander and I moved out, I cooked for us since he’s almost always working.”

“Were you close with your grandparents?” The boy questioned, purposefully steering the conversation away from her missing brother, considering the circumstances. He knew she didn’t want to talk about him. In fact, bringing him up was likely an accident.

“We never really saw them growing up - not with all the moving around - but we did get close in the years I lived there.” She nodded with a faint smile. “I miss them sometimes. What about your grandparents?”

“Well, Dad’s father is kind of the only one left, and we don’t really see him. He’s got dementia, so he’s in a nursing home, but he and dad never really had a good relationship.” Stiles admitted.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Zaida grimaced.

“Don’t be. He was a cruel man.” The boy brushed it off nonchalantly. “He was an engineer in the army during World War two, and he always said those were the best years of his life. He abused my grandma, and then when Dad was old enough, he abused him too. I never spent much time with him growing up, but he made it pretty clear how pathetic he thought I was.”

“Well, I’m sorry I brought him up, at least.” The brunette insisted. “And I’m sorry that he was too big of a shit-bag to appreciate what an amazing son and grandson he had.”

“Thanks,” Stiles let out a light puff of air through his nose, something akin to a laugh.

“Speaking of your dad, where is he? I saw his car in the driveway.” Zaida asked as she moved to check on the pasta, determining that it was ready.

“He’s upstairs in his room - got home from work not long before you got here.” The boy explained and turned the heat off on the stove.

“You should go and get him. I’ll put a plate for him too.” Zaida offered and Stiles nodded in agreement, leaving her to set three bowls of food.

He trekked up the stairs quickly, making it to his father’s closed bedroom door. As he lifted up his hand to knock, the sound of muffled voices caused him to pause. Instead he pressed his ear against the door and listened closely. He briefly registered the situation before the floorboard just on the other side of the door creaked, not giving him nearly enough time to move out of the way before the wood beneath his ear shifted. The door opened to reveal his father with a disappointed expression on his lined face.

“Really? Eavesdropping? Again?” Noah sighed tiredly.

“Uh, Zaida made dinner for us?” Stiles tried to act casual, failing miserably. He gave up almost instantly. “Okay, fine. But how many cars crashed?”

“It was a ten-car pile up and the hospital doesn’t have the capacity to handle it at the moment. I’ve gotta get down there.” The Sheriff caved and offered the information far more easily than usual. The man led the way down the stairs and his son trailed after him in a hurry.

“Hey, Sheriff! There’s a plate for you - extra cheese, just how you like it.” Zaida smiled cheerfully from where she was setting the last bowl down at the dining table. Her smile faded when she noticed that the man hadn’t changed out of his uniform, but rather was fixing his radio in place. “What happened? Is it another murder?”

“Ten-car pile up.” Stiles answered in place of his father and Noah sent him a stern glare.

“Yeah, there’s been a car accident on the highway. I’ve gotta head to Beacon Memorial.” The Sheriff explained to the girl. “But thank you for cooking dinner. I can’t wait to have it when I get home.”

“Oh, well that’s not fair. You shouldn’t have to eat alone.” Zaida quickly lifted two bowls from the table, balancing them on one arm before picking up the third. “We’ll come with you, and that way we can all eat together later.”

“Oh no, Zaida, honey, you don't have to do that.” Noah shook his head but Stiles instantly clued into Zaida’s thought process.

“No, come on, Dad. When was the last time we had a proper family dinner?” The boy insisted while Zaida took the food back to the kitchen, presumably to pack it away.

“All ready to go,” Zaida reappeared a moment later, dusting her hands off on her dress. As Noah turned to open the door she and Stiles exchanged worried glances, hoping that this accident didn’t have anything to do with everything else going on in Beacon Hills.

[chapterbychapterstories]

Hero x Villain

This is part of a larger story. Here is the link to Chapter 1

Chapter 5

The heroes had swept through the entire Undercrust. But back ways that have always existed became safe havens for those with reasons to hide. A particular sewer line became a temporary home for the three villains. Stretched out on the damp wall in front of them was a new map, more sewer lines.

Tele smiled, a new bomb resting in their grip. “So, are we going to do this or think about some more.” 

“Remember if anything dicy starts we bail without any hesitation.” WC added.

“Yeah, yeah, heroes show up with big guns we leave. Thanks mom.” They started, leading the group up the ladder to their destination.

The Uppercrust was a lot brighter than the Undercrust. The sun fought harder against the smog, the rich people pushed more people down to keep their streets clean and make space for their pristine gardens full of fake plants. WC had seen them before, but now standing in layer 01 facing the Hero Program building none of that felt real. 

The Hero Program building was massive, large windows acted like mirrors reflecting the light, and gray buildings back down to the trio. Drones ran and hovered around them shouting different orders. Tele smiled at them. “Your Villains have arrived!” Her bomb flew hitting the front door to the building. 

Chaos broke out from there. Dots of purple lit up around them when Barrier raised his guard. Lasers from the Drones weapons were easily absorbed as if they never existed in the massive machine. Next was WC and Tele’s time to shine. Solid metal balls covered in spikes flew on their own taking down several Drones. They could be blocked by physical shields, but Tele could pull on those too. 

Hero Program recruits began pouring out of the front doors, where they met WC. “I am sorry for what I am about to do.” WC spoke mournfully to them. Not that they cared. Twin blades flashed, changing when needed to other weapons. A boy with superspeed fell without so much of a fight. A really flexible teen girl permanently split in two. 

When the flood of recruits slowed, they heard a scream from above. WC didn’t have time to turn when it hit, an energy blast, but Barrier saw it. “Thanks Bair.”

A metal disk flew at them, but WC saw it coming, blocking it with a shield. “Thanks.” 

“Here.” She handed him the Drone shield. “I’m going to take care of them.”

A scream stopped her. 

They stood in front of their friends, blood fell from their abdomen, wide eyes watching them. It was time to go. An arrow flew from a bow WC made, hitting Flight in her shoulder. A laser rifle knocked Blast from her arms. Lastly Heal stood in their way, a laser pistol in his hands. 

“Just turn yourselves in, I know you’re not a bad person.” He pleaded. 

WC raised a short sword. “Move out of our way.” 

He trembled. How did someone like him make it to the hero program? Finally he moved out of her way without a fuss. She still hit him with a club as they passed, diving into the sewers they came from. 

[plutoscosmoss]

Fire Inside ➸ c.6

Warnings: This series includes themes of violence, death, smut, childbirth and childbirth complications (if I forgot to mention any please let me know)

Pairing: Jacaerys Velaryon x OC

{Series Masterlist}

Previous Chapter

Chapter 6: Tears Will Fall

A few days have passed since her stroll with Jace. The two have had more conversations since then and Renva was starting to think about accepting Princess Rhaenyras marriage proposal for her and Jace. Renva had been attending training with the boys and shockingly, Ser Criston was eager to witness how much the two Stark children knew about fighting. Cole had paired up Renva and Aegon a few times, all resulting in the young Stark to lay Aegon flat in the dirt. Renva was just finishing up getting ready after her training session when she heard a knock on the door. 

“Who is it?” Renva asked, putting her hairbrush down on the small table next to her bed. Walking towards the door she heard a voice respond, “It is I, Lady Stark, Queen Alicent.” Renva felt her blood drain. The past week that they have stayed at the RedKeep Renva could count on one hand how many times she had seen the Queen. Now here she was, at Renva’s temporary chambers. Knowing it was bad to leave the Queen waiting, Renva responded, “Come in your grace.” Renva opened the door stepping aside to allow the Queen to enter. 

“Please sit your Grace, what do I owe the pleasure?” Renva said pointing to the sofa for Alicent to sit down on. Choosing to sit opposite her she felt an odd feeling near the Queen and she couldn’t put her finger on exactly what it was. 

“I wanted to have a small chat, Renva. Is that okay with you?” Alicent said with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Of course your grace, what would you like to talk about?” Renva asked, digging her left thumb into her right palm, a habit she had when she was nervous. “I know that you’ve spent some time with Prince Jacaerys, how come you have not spent time with my son, Prince Aemond. He is who you originally came here for, was he not?” Renva gathered that Alicient was accusing her of using the proposal as a means of getting closer to the throne. She knew the former Hightower was power hungry but she didn’t know she would go this far as to accuse House Stark of such things. 

“My intentions were to form a relationship with Aemond, but ever since I won in our sparring match on the training ground the second day I was here. He has not spoken to me, I fear that I overstepped but I will not sit aside as a woman who has fought hard to get the opportunities I have. It took a lot of begging to get my father to allow Cregan to train me.” Renva spoke sternly to the Queen. The shock on the Queen's face showed no child has ever spoken to her like that before, especially one not of her own blood. “I see, well I shall have a talk with my son. I bid you a good day Lady Stark.” The Queen stood up abruptly and walked out of Renvas chambers. She released a sigh she didn’t know she was holding. A moment or so after the Queen left her father had stormed into the room. 

“What happened with the Queen?” Rickon spoke with ferocity. Renva explained the conversation she had with the queen moments before. “She was accusing us of using her?” Rickon stroked his beard and wrinkled his eyebrows. “I think it is time we leave. I do not like the assumptions being thrown at my family and I will not stand for it.” Rickon spoke urgently, “Find your brother, and pack your things. I will ready transportation.” He was gone before Renva could respond. 

She ran through the halls of the castle, trying not to cry while finding her brother. Instead of finding her brother, she literally ran into the future Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. 

“Renva, are you okay? Your face is beat red. Did someone hurt you?” Rhaenyra spoke as she took the girl's head into her hands to examine her face. “I am truly sorry your grace, I know you are with child and I don’t know what I would’ve done had I hurt you.” Renva let out a strangled breath. “You are fine Renva, where are you going in such a hurry though?” Renva was nervous to tell Rhaenyra, but she could see from the determination on the Princess’s face that she wouldn’t believe anything but the truth. “My family and I are leaving. My father sent me to retrieve my brother but I cannot find him.” Renva said softly, crying to the Princess. Rhaenyra let one hand slip from Renva’s face. “What happened to cause this? I thought your family was enjoying themselves? Did the Queen ask you to leave?” Rhaenyra felt fury rise inside her. 

“No she would never, my father took an accusation she said to me to heart and doesn’t want to stay. He is readying transport. Before we leave I believe he is going to tell the Queen we reject their offer for my marriage to Prince Aemond.” Renva spoke, squeezing Rhaenyras hand that slipped from her face to reassure the Princess that it was by her fathers will and not of the Queens. 

“You’re leaving?” Renva whipped around, more tears falling from her eyes at seeing Jaces heartbroken face. Renva never wanted to hurt anyone and here she was breaking the heart of someone she deeply cared for. It took Renva a moment to realize that her brother was with Jace. “I don’t want to leave but it is my fathers wishes. Ranvir, father, wants us to pack now. He wants to leave before nightfall.” Renva said, looking at her brother, wiping the tears that had fallen onto the sleeve of her gown. 

“Can we talk for a moment Renva?” Jace pleaded, Rhaenyra saw just how much her son didn’t want the young Stark to leave. “ Of course, you can accompany my brother and I to our chamber. We really must start packing.” Renva said, latching arms with her brother for comfort and turning to walk back towards their chambers. “I will come as well. I would like to hear the full story on what has transpired.” Rhaenyra said, placing a hand on her eldests shoulder for comfort. No one spoke until the doors to the chamber closed behind them. 

“Why do we have to leave?” Ranvir started, which led Renva to explain the conversation had with the Queen. Rhaenyra was just as furious as Rickon. The Queen practically ambushed the young Stark and said she was using the crown. “So that's it? You’re all leaving?” Jace said, picking at his nails. “I don’t want to go, Jace, you must believe me, but I cannot go against my father.” Renva said, going up to Jace and lifting his head with her hands. Once his head was lifted his eyes met hers and his wall finally broke. Jace let out a strangled cry, trying his best not to let his emotions get the best of him. When his eyes met Renvas he saw how much she didn’t want to leave, “I’m sorry Jace.” Renva said and wrapped her arms around his middle bringing him into a hug. She knew it was unladylike but before she left she needed him to know how much he meant to her. Jace hugged her back, both of them burying their heads into one another's shoulders.

In that moment, Rhaenyra saw just how much the Queen's actions hurt her son and the girl she grew to care for. Rhaenyra had formulated a plan at that exact time; once the Starks returned to Winterfell she would send a raven. Asking the Starks for permission for her and her family to visit. She would not let Alicent ruin other things she loved again. 

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

next chapter

[kleoyeager78]

Fashion designer | 2

I spent the whole night overthinking about my new life.

I don't even know when I fell asleep. All I know is that I awoke from the sound of knocking on my door which I assumed was Sasha.

I stretched my legs and arms then made my way to open the door.

Like I thought, it was Sasha. “Good morning,” she said.

“Good morning” I gave her a light smile.

“How did you sleep?” She asked.

“My sleep was great!”

“Really? I’m surprised you got any with the neighbors arguing.”

“Oh they were?” I was confused because I didn't hear anyone last night. But maybe I was too stuck in my head to notice.

“Yeah they still are. Apparently Mr. Robinson's wife came home to him cheating again and everyone has to hear about it.”

“Again?” I was kinda shocked but really just trying to be nosy.

“Yeah he cheats on her like everyday but she catches him like once a month or so.” Sasha shrugged uncaringly.

I started feeling kinda bad for the woman.

Sasha noticed my sympathetic expression and decided to continue. “When I first moved in and saw it I told her but she basically told me in the rudest way possible that it wasn’t my concern. So I just figured it’s best to mind my business.” Sasha cleared her throat a little. “But that doesn’t stop me from watching the fights,” she said with a smirk.

“Wait watching?”

“Yeah girl we got front row seats” She took my hand and led me to the kitchen.

When we arrived at the window, she pulled back the blind and whispered, "Pretend you're doing the dishes." I obviously followed her instructions, and as she had informed me, the argument was still going on, and I was able to see it in clear view.

Chairs were being thrown, and because the walls were so thin, I could hear names being called, and they were not pleasant.

The woman the husband was having an affair with was trying to gather her belongings. Her legs were shaking like crazy and she looked like she was about to shit herself.

The husband looked pretty used to this type of scene which made me question how many times this has actually happened.

Since our kitchen window wasn’t that big me and Sasha both had our faces squeezed next to each other which was pretty uncomfortable but I didn’t even care I was too invested.

I let out a little gasp as the woman approached the mistress of the husband and started beating her. She was really throwing punches one after the other until the husband decided to intervene and stop her, at which point he also took a few blows, but he and his mistress eventually made their way to the door with the wife chasing them and fled the apartment.

The wife turned around in our direction which made Sasha close the window and sigh. “he’ll be back tomorrow” she said

“Damn” was all I could think to say.

“You think that’s bad just wait till you have to hear them having make up sex” she groaned while I made a disgusted face.

“Anyways” Sasha suddenly said after everything went quiet. “I was going to ask you if you wanted to come shopping with me and some friends?” She gave me puppy dog eyes since she expected it to be hard to convince me to go.

But I needed a fan so I was more than willing to go shopping. “Sure!”

“Really?” She was shocked I actually agreed.

“Yeah just let me get ready.”

She shook her head and I headed to my room.

After I got done I came back to the kitchen and noticed that Sasha had made me breakfast.

I gave her a thank you and began eating my food.

Let me say the food was amazing! Sasha was by far one of the best cooks I had ever met. “Wow Sasha this is amazing” I praised making the girl blush.

“Thank you.” She said trying to hide her blush with her hand. “We should go now before the mall gets too packed and we can’t find what we need”

I nodded and we made our way out the door.

-

“If I’m being honest I didn’t expect you to say yes” Sasha said as we made our way down the sidewalk.

Sasha had suggested we just walk to the mall because it would only take a short time so we were currently doing so.

“Really! Why?” I said, it hurt a little if I’m being honest.

“I don’t know you just seem like the type to like being alone” She said with a faint smile letting me know she didn’t mean any harm.

“Well I am but a little fresh air is good sometimes. And plus I need a fan.”

“Oh” Sasha said, dragging out her sentence and then looked over at me. She snapped her fingers and made air guns at me. “Gotcha.” She said,

I laughed at her funny gesture. Sasha had a lot of them so it was hard not to laugh.

The next thing I know Sasha wrapped her arm around my neck and we were in front of two huge doors. “Well we’re here so let’s go find you that fan!” She said,

“Wait, what about your friends?” I asked.

“What about them?”

“Aren’t they waiting for you?”

"Yeah but the store that keeps all the fans gets crowded very easily so best to go now. We don't have time to go looking for those idiots." She said dragging me along.

When we arrived at the store with the fans, Sasha directed me to the one she called "the best," so I purchased it.

We were able to receive a discount because Sasha apparently knew the cashier, but it was obviously an extremely awkward interaction.

“Hey I didn’t know you worked here!” Sasha said to the cashier.

“That’s surprising given you always come in here for discounts” The woman said looking aggravated.

Sasha just awkwardly chuckled. “Oh it probably just slipped my mind”

The woman basically growled at Sasha. “What do you want?”

“Hey Annie no need to get all aggressive I was just seeing do you guys offer-“ the lady cut Sasha off.

“Discounts. You want to see if we offer discounts like you said the other fifthteen times you came in here” the lady rolled her eyes.

Sasha let out another awkward chuckle but it only aggravated the lady. She snatched the fan out of Sasha’s hand. “Will this be all?” The lady asked, obviously annoyed.

“Yes it will” Sasha gave the woman a smile.

“Your total is 25.66” the lady said and I reached for my card but Sasha stopped me from moving my hand.

“You can pay for it with my credits” Sasha told the woman making her look like she was going to explode.

Sasha grabbed my arm and walked out the store laughing leaving the woman mumbling profanities to herself.

“You guys have drama or something?” I asked confused about the whole encounter.

“No, that's just Annie. She’s a friend from school and I like pissing her off.” Sasha said laughing to herself. “It’s the best part of my day really so I do it a lot.”

I nodded my head in understanding and I noticed Sasha was leading me to the food court. “Get ready to meet the most annoying people in your life,”

I noticed she was walking towards a table with two men. One of them had a buzz-cut. The other man had a mullet and looked extremely irritated with the buzzcut man seated next to him.

I figured these must have been her friends.

We made our way towards them but they didn’t notice because they were fighting.

“Settle down boys, the queen is back” Sasha said Putting her arm around their necks.

The one with the mullet was the first to speak. “Oh please Sas-“ he was about to say and then his eyes landed on me “I didn’t know you brought your friend with you” He looked at me flirtatiously and all I could do was give him a faint smile.

“Really? I told you like 30 minutes ago” Sasha said.

“Hm, it must have slipped my mind.” He replied.

Sasha smacked the both of them on the head. “Maybe now you’ll remember” she sent both of them a smile.

“Hey why did you hit me?” The short haired one whined.

“Because I know what you were going to say.” Sasha stated.

“Oh yeah? And what’s that?”

“You were going to flirt with y/n right after Jean embarrassed himself” she confirmed.

The boy with the buzzcut put his hand to his chest looking offended. “Sasha I didn’t know you thought that low of me. Unlike Jean I know how to treat a woman” he looked up at me with a smirk which earned another hit from Sasha.

“Why would you hit me again if you already hit me in advance?” he groaned, holding his head in the back.

“I just wanted to hit you,” Sasha shrugged.

“That’s not fair”

“Well it’s not fair you have such a hitable head”

They began to bicker like little kids which made me laugh. I could tell they were really close just by this encounter.

“Sorry about them” The guy with the mullet spoke. “They’re always like this”

I turned to look at him and his face made me want to laugh. He looked like a stressed father.

“Don’t worry about it, I think it’s funny” I chuckled.

He smiled at me and began to speak, “so your names y/n right?”

“Wait, I thought you didn’t know me” I said, giving him a sarcastic smirk.

“Well I mean I-“ The man was about to make an excuse for himself but he was met by a punch to the face. “Hey”

The punch had come from Sasha and looked like it was meant for the buzzcut boy but he had dodged it.

The man with the mullet appeared to be quite irritated, like he had had enough, and he transitioned from being a stressed-out father to one who appeared to be preparing to scold his children.

Sasha and the buzzcut boy, on the other hand, only laughed. They couldn't take him seriously, which irritated him even more.

I couldn't help but laugh at the scene in front of me. The pair who were fighting earlier were both dying of laughter as the mullet guy tried to scold them but his words did not seem to reach them.

This went on for a few minutes. Me giggling and them fighting.

It stopped when the man with the mullet was finally able to calm the pair down.

“Sorry about that” He turned to me.

“It’s alright” I said, sending him a light smile.

“Anyways y/n these are my friends Jean” Sasha said, slapping the man with a mullet on the shoulder. “And Connie” She then slapped the man with a buzzcut on the head again.

"Hey," said Connie. It sounded like the two were about to have another argument.

And it seemed Jean caught on because he was quick to suck his teeth in. “Are you guys ready to get some food?” He said

Just then the pair looked at him like they had found treasure. “YES” they shouted in unison.

“Okay, okay keep it down we’re already getting stares from the scene you two caused earlier. Let’s go”

-

We were now all sitting in me and Sasha’s apartment.

After we got done eating Connie was dying to show us a movie that he had watched recently and thought was good, and since we lived the closest and Sasha wasn’t willing to walk all the way to his apartment to see it, we decided it was best to just watch it at our place.

“So badly, what's this movie you want us to watch?” Sasha said sitting on the couch.

“Well it’s called cruella” He said sitting on the couch next to Sasha searching for the movie.

“Isn’t that the lady who was killing dogs for a coat?” I asked standing next to Sasha bending over the couch to see the tv.

“Yes but it’s kinda like her background story. It’s really good y/n I think you’ll like it.”

“Me? Why me?”

“You’ll see, just watch” Connie said looking extremely excited while Sasha was giving him a side eye for whoever knows the reason.

I made my way over to the couch and sat next to Connie. “Jean hurry up with the popcorn” he shouted.

After another minute Jean came from the kitchen with the popcorn and sat next to me. Connie started the movie and we all got comfy.

-

When the movie was over I was mesmerized. Great was an understatement for this movie. It was truly brilliant.

I loved everything about it. “Connie, this was so good,” I said, yawning. Although the movie was good my bones had gone numb sitting on the couch for so long.

“Yeah it actually wasn’t bad” Jean said from beside me.

When I looked at Connie I couldn’t help but see how Sasha was staring at him out of the corner of my eye.

Connie, did you go out of your way to find a movie that y/n would enjoy based on what I told you about her just so you could one-up Jean?

“How the fuck did you-“ Connie looked in complete shock his friend has scouted him out.

“Fashion designing? Really Connie? You don’t even know what a sewing machine is, So why the hell would you watch a movie about it?”

“Ugh fine you got me. So I guess there’s only one more question to ask” Connie put his head down and then slowly looked up at me with one eyebrow arched, “you do like me better than Jean don’t you?”

“CONNIE SPRINGER” Sasha yelled making the boy get up and run and she chased after him. Leaving me there laughing my ass off and Jean just sitting next to me unbothered.

“Where did you get them from?” I said in between laughs.

“I have no idea,” Jean said, crunching on leftover popcorn.

Just then my phone started to ring.

“I’ll be right back I’m going to take this” I said getting up and going to the bathroom.

I thought it would be my parents since they are the only people with my number really but when I looked it was an unknown number.

“Who the hell is this?”

When I looked at the location I noticed it said Paradis which could only mean two things. This was either a scam or,

I quickly answered the phone.

“Hello”

“Hi, is this Y/n, L/n?”

“Yes it is” I said, almost shaking.

“I’m calling from Design Den ( I’m sorry I couldn’t think of a name) . I really liked some of your designs and I’m wondering if you could come in tomorrow morning for an interview?”

“Yes,” I blurted. This was my dream place to work. I couldn't believe they had reached out to me.

“Great!” See you tomorrow then”

“Yes I will be seeing you tomorrow bye” I hung up and then decided to silently scream.

I walked out of the bathroom beaming. Connie and Sasha were out of breath and on the verge of passing out on the floor, so Jean was the only one who noticed me.

“What’s got you all smiley” He asked.

“I just got a phone call from Design den and they want me to do an interview”

“Oh my gosh y/n that’s amazing!”

“I know right” I couldn’t help but smile so big.I probably looked like a freak but I didn’t care I was so happy.

“You should probably get ready for bed you’ve got a big day tomorrow”

“You’re right it’s getting late and I need a lot of sleep to survive tomorrow.” With that I headed to the bathroom.

“Goodluck!” Jean shouted.

“I’m gonna need it.” I shouted back. When I made it to the bathroom I remembered something. “Oh Jean”

“Yeah?”

“I like Connie better” with that I closed the bathroom door laughing and headed towards the shower.

In truth I didn’t know if my statement was true. I barely knew these people. But so far they were awesome.

A/n - Hi