#glancing through my oc list to see if this has happened before

[wetbloodworm]

noticing a pattern in my writing/OCs of 'monster that preys on people pretending to be human/human-adjacent'. i mean it's not the first time i've noticed but i've been thinking about three of them recently so like. a pattern.

[sodaabaa]

to flee or not to flee, part three

anthony bridgerton x OC what happens when a charming and determined viscount courts someone whose worst fear is to marry a man like him?

tropes: damsel in distress, innocent and shy mc, slow burn,

tw: mentions of domestic abuse, angst, anxiety, slight misogyny/patriarchal concepts

masterlist

“Mr. Carrington, Miss Carrington, you have a visitor.” 

Annalise looked up from her book to her brother. 

“Who is it?” He asked.

“Lord Bridgerton, sir. Shall I send him in?”

Her brother only nodded. 

Annalise cleared her throat, sitting up straighter suddenly acutely aware of her appearance. She pulled at the scarf around her collar, ensuring it was properly secured before the viscount arrived. Her brother had confronted her rather harshly about Lord Bridgerton’s abrupt proposal, believing it was her who had exposed Thomas to the viscount. She swore on her life she did not. He refused to believe her. He stormed out of the house to relieve his stress, no doubt with drinks and women. It wasn’t until he came back home from the gentleman’s club where he overheard a few men talking about Lord Bridgerton’s inquiries about Thomas, that he believed it was not Annalise who revealed his treatment of her. Thomas admittedly did believe it was a fine bargain – no dowry and a hefty payment to rid himself of Annalise. He told her he would accept the proposal, should the viscount show a continued interest in Annalise. She was not sure if she should be relieved of her brother’s approval of the proposal. She still did not know what to make of Anthony Bridgerton.

As if on cue, there he was. His presence filled up the room instantly. Her skin prickled and her stomach twisted. No rational woman could deny his beauty, like that of a greek statue with his chiseled jaw, deep brown eyes with his brow always set in a furrow and his lips…She cleared her throat, snapping herself out of improper thoughts. She did not want to think of him as anything but another man, another cage – rationality be damned. 

“Good day, to the both of you.” He spoke, his voice booming through the rather small drawing room. 

“Good day. What brings you here, Lord Bridgerton?” Her brother said.

“I would like to extend an invitation to the two of you to join my family and I on our trip to Aubrey Hall, our country estate.” He glanced at Annalise, noticing her silence since he arrived. 

“That is generous of you, what has spurred such a decision?” Thomas asked.

“I thought it may be a welcome respite from the ton. And, of course, you and Miss Carrington would get the chance to see the grounds that she may become viscountess of.” He replied diplomatically. 

Thomas smiled, pleased that Anthony wanted to continue his courtship of Annalise. 

“Well,” Thomas clapped, “in that case, I believe it would be a welcome respite. Annalise, go prepare your bags for the trip.” 

Annalise stood, curtsied to the viscount and her brother, avoiding any and all eye contact with the former.

“I am pleased you will be accompanying us.” Lord Bridgerton said, his eyes trained on Annalise. 

She looked at him through her lashes, “thank you for thinking of us, my lord.” And with that, she slipped out of the room which grew hotter with every passing moment. 

A trip to his estate? Annalise did not know what would result from this trip but she hardly thought it could be anything good. 

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The town of Mayfair passed by in a blur as Annalise looked out the carriage. Brick townhouses, giggling groups of ladies, the booming laughter of men all sped by. Annalise felt as though she were being shipped off to a butcher. Thomas sat across from her, muttering to himself and checking off items on one of his many lists that helped him keep track of the estate's affairs and finances.

There’d be no fighting it now she thought to herself. She had been invited by the Bridgerton family to spend a week at Aubrey Hall. The looks of envy and wonder could barely be held back when she stepped out of her home this morning. She was now all but betrothed to the viscount. She supposed the week couldn’t be all that bad, after all, there’d be a plethora of people to keep her company. The viscount’s seven siblings would be accompanying them and nearly half of them were girls. Anthony had made them seem charming and mischievous in their own right. Perhaps she may have a pleasant time if she could spend most of it with the Bridgerton siblings as opposed to the viscount himself. 

The sun had now reached its peak and their journey nearly halved since they left early this morning after her viscount’s visit. Her leg began bouncing, her hands growing restless. No amount of fiddling with lace or threads could calm her nerves. Her chest rose and fell as she tried to steady herself. 

“Annalise! Calm yourself. You mustn’t let the Bridgertons see you in such a state of disarray. Have I taught you nothing, girl?” He barked.

She released a breath she hadn’t known she was holding. “Apologies, brother.” 

Annalise would simply have to wait until she had a moment alone to indulge her emotions.

As she stepped out of the carriage, assisted by her brother, she took in the massive home before her. The building itself was made of gray brick, with four large roman columns at the center, bookended with large domed roofs on either side. A breath caught in Annalise’s throat as she marveled at the stately building. Should she choose to accept Lord Bridgerton’s proposal – which seemed imminent – this would be her home. Miles away from her brother and assuming the viscount’s duties would keep him busy much of the day, she’d have this home all to herself. With no one to fear. She had to admit, perhaps this could be a suitable arrangement for her. 

“You are a sight for sore eyes, Miss Carrington” the viscount appeared before her suddenly, before she had the chance to collect her thoughts and steady herself. She curtsied, stumbling on the way up, still off balance from his sudden appearance. He had quite the presence, always abrupt, sudden. Leaving just as fast as he appeared and leaving her dumbfounded quite often. He reached out an arm, placing it on her elbow gently to steady her.

“Thank you, my lord. I admit, I am not well acquainted with lengthy carriage rides.” 

“No matter, I am sure you will grow accustomed as you journey more frequently” he said brows raised, alluding to his assumption of her acceptance.

“Ah! You must be Annalise, I am so delighted to finally meet you, my dear” a sweet, round faced woman pushed herself past Anthony and towards Annalise, immediately grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her in for a hug. Annalise’s eyes widened and her lips parted but before she could say anything, another woman with chestnut brown hair matching the viscount’s sauntered up to the group.

“The Miss Carrington! I must know all the details on your first dance with Anthony. Did you abandon him because he is a bore? Or did he pester you with his list of interview questions he believes will find him the perfect wife?” 

“Eloise! That is hardly an appropriate way to introduce Miss Carrington to this family. Have you no decorum?” Anthony huffed, grabbing the girl’s arm and moving her out of the way.

“Please excuse my sister, she can be quite… spirited, at times.” 

As if the crowd could not get bigger, two men, one with the same chestnut brown hair while the other had unruly curls in a much darker shade, approached them.

The darker haired one spoke first, his eyebrows raised in amusement, “well isn’t this quite the party. If you are to marry into this family, shall I suggest drinking a few lemonades before arriving at a function in which the entire family will be in attendance?” 

“Benedict!” The other said, to which the dark haired one – Benedict – simply shrugged.

Annalise could do nothing but stare at the commotion, a plethora of emotions overwhelming her all at once. Before anyone else could join in, Anthony cleared his throat and motioned for his family to give Annalise space.

“I think, the Carringtons would appreciate some quiet and the chance to settle in before you lot begin your chatter. Please, excuse their excitement” Anthony said pointedly. He offered a hand to Annalise and pulled her away from the bustling family, her brother following closely behind. Annalise sighed, secretly relieved at his intervention. 

“Your family is quite the unruly bunch, Lord Bridgerton. A bit of discipline would not hurt” Thomas said, looking back at the family in judgment. 

Annalise fought the urge to roll her eyes. “Discipline” was what Thomas called his fits of rage, hiding behind pretenses of doing what he thought was best for Annalise. “Shaping” her into a woman of manners and decorum. Instead, it made her flighty, anxious, and quiet when she had once been a curious and talkative young girl. Like a bird meant for flight having its wings cut, leaving nothing more but a decoration.

Annalise felt Anthony’s arm stiffen in response to her brother’s suggestion. 

“I do not agree, Mr. Carrington. My family is one of the ton’s most respected and it was not discipline that made it so, but my parents’ upbringing of their children.”

“I only mean to say that a man’s duty-”

“A man’s duty is to protect those under his care.” 

Thomas went quiet behind them.

As they made their way inside, Annalise looked up and once again, marveled at the sight of the grand home. 

“You have a beautiful home, Lord Bridgerton” she spoke softly, hoping to change the topic of conversation before things became heated between the two men.

“Thank you, I do hope you find your stay enjoyable despite the introduction you just had” he smiled.

“Your family is charming, my lord. I do think they were simply excited at the prospect of having a guest” she said graciously. Although overwhelmed by the boisterous family, the fondness they had with one another was not lost on her. 

“I’m glad you think so,” Anthony smiled. 

Behind them, Thomas cleared his throat to signal his presence.

“Right. Mr. Carrington, your room will be up the stairs, down the hall to the left and Miss Carrington, yours will be next to Eloise’s on the right side of the hall upstairs. I have sent for your luggage and it will be brought over as soon as everyone makes their way in” the viscount explained. With that, he took off, leaving Annalise and her brother to find their rooms no doubt to reel in his family and perhaps give them a scolding or two. 

After Annalise found her room, she shut the door with an exhale. She took in the room, various shades of blue and gray decorated the room. In the center was a bed with dozens of plush pillows. Annalise all but threw herself at the welcoming sight, landing in the middle of the carefully arranged pillows. She closed her eyes for a moment, taking deep breaths to steady herself. She was not used to this much attention, she wished she could simply disappear into the wall. This week would require all of her strength. 

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“Brother, is Miss Carrington to be our new sister?” The youngest of the Bridgerton clan, Hyacinth, wondered aloud. 

“Hyacinth!” Their mother called out, reprimanding the young girl’s forward question. 

“Sister in law, Hyacinth. That depends entirely on Miss Carrington herself. Perhaps you might convince her.” Anthony replied, the corners of his mouth twist upwards, giving his youngest sister a wink. He spoke to his sister with such fondness, it made Annalise’s chest tighten. 

Annalise took a moment to survey the dining hall to distract herself from her melancholy. The candles placed throughout the table gently lit the room, making the hall feel smaller than it was, more intimate. Porcelain china with delicate floral patterns was placed perfectly in front of each setting. As her eyes made their way around the room, her eyes landed on the viscount. Annalise had not given herself a chance to properly look at the viscount this evening. He sat at the head of the table while his mother sat opposite of him. Was he used to this? Being the head of his household? Or did he find it troublesome? He took the mantle on quite early in life, did he ever get used to it? To her, it seemed he made a perfect viscount. His siblings adored him, his mother trusted him to make wise decisions. Would his wife do the same? Could Annalise find herself trusting the viscount, loving him?

“Of course, Annalise would be honored to join your family, Lord Bridgerton. What more could a young woman ask for?” Thomas said, looking to Annalise for confirmation.

“Yes, of course. It has been a privilege to be courted by Lord Bridgerton, he is too kind” she said, trying her best to remain as vague as she could for as long as she could. Anthony only nodded, his lips set in a tight smile. Not the answer he was hoping for, she assumed.

“Do you read, Miss Carrington?” One of the Bridgerton sisters asked, Eloise, she recalled.

“I do, in fact. Reading takes up a great deal of my time – there’s always some topic that plagues my mind for weeks at a time until I grow tired of it and find the next.” 

Eloise smiled at her response, she opened her mouth to say something but before she could she was interrupted by Anthony.

“Is your mind still occupied with the Renaissance, or have you found your latest obsession, Miss Carrington?” 

She turned back to the viscount, “I am still very much occupied, I have yet to find a chance to discover any new books, my lord.” 

“We have a very big – and very unused library, Miss Carrington, I am certain you may be able to find something of interest there” he replied.

“I’d be more than happy to escort you after dinner.”

Annalise hesitated. She did not want to spend any time alone with the viscount.

“Perhaps another day, I’m sure you are tired from your travels, my lord. Thank you.”

Before he could reply, Annalise turned to the viscount’s mother and his siblings, “enough about me, tell me about yourselves. What is it you all do in your spare time? It must be a great deal of fun to have such a large family.” 

“Fun is one way to put it, I suppose,” Benedict said dryly.

The eldest of the Bridgerton sisters was the only one to provide a proper answer, “well let’s see, Benedict here is a budding artist. Collin has been traveling lately. Eloise is…well, Eloise. Francesca plays the pianoforte– 

“Rather exceptionally, I might add” Anthony cut in.

“Yes, she is quite good. Hyacinth and Gregory are typically occupied with their studies.”  

“And you, your Grace?” Annalise asked.

“Oh, please call me Daphne and nothing more. I suppose much of my days are filled with being a wife and mother” she looked fondly at her husband, the Duke of Hastings, sitting across from her. He returned her affection, the entire night it seems he could barely keep his eyes off her. 

“Of course,” Annalise smiled at the couple. She marveled at the siblings. They each had the freedom to pursue their pleasures and what their hearts desired. They were quite the family, Annalise had to admit. Was this the viscount’s doing? He undoubtedly bore the brunt of the labor to allow his siblings such pursuits. Every passing moment that she spent with the Bridgertons chipped at her determination to not marry. Would she be capable of holding to her beliefs by the end of this week?

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After dinner, they all retired to their rooms – a break Annalise was much grateful for. She could not fathom how she could make it through this week if she could hardly get through one dinner. Perhaps a distraction is what she needed to pull through. The library she thought to herself. There was bound to be a book in there that could keep her grounded. The sun had set and everyone had gone to bed, she doubted there’d be anyone roaming the halls – and even so, she knew how to keep quiet and hide. 

Annalise slipped from her room, down the grand stairs in search of the library. The darkness blanketing the entirety of Aubrey Hall posed a challenge to her search but she persevered regardless until she was confronted with two large doors, one slightly ajar – inviting her in.

She creeped inside, peaking in to ensure no one else was present. Once she was satisfied that she was alone, she walked over to the nearest bookcase which held at least a dozen rows of books. Each row had been meticulously labeled with a category. History of the Americas, History of Great Britain, History of… this bookcase seemed to be dedicated to histories, Annalise skipped down to the next. 

“Miss Carrington?”

“Oh!” Annalise startled, dropping the book she had picked out.

Anthony came forward, quickly retrieving the book that had fallen from her hands. He was not wearing his usual formal attire, instead donning a simple white shirt and trousers, his sleeves rolled to his elbow. The shirt was untied, leaving much of his chest exposed. Annalise felt her cheeks warm, looking away from the viscount.

“My apologies, I did not mean to startle you” he said.

“No, my lord. I apologize, I should not be here at this hour” she replied, gaze trained on the patterned wood floor below her.

“Actually I expected you’d be here. I did not think you capable of keeping yourself from the library. A most tempting place, is it not?” A teasing smile on his lips. When Annalise failed to respond, Anthony scanned the book she had picked out – which he still had not returned to her.

“Medicinal Plants of the Orient? Was this meant to be a sleep aid?” He laughed.

She tried to hold back her smile. This only furthered the viscount’s own smile.

“You needn’t hold back on my account,” he said.

“Is this how you’ve managed to procure the reputation that follows you?” She asked, deflecting the subject of conversation from her to the viscount.

“I do not know what you mean, Miss Carrington. I am simply conversing” he said, refusing to let up that damned smile.

“Every girl I have met at the ton would do horrendous things for the opportunity to simply dance with you, nevermind courting them entirely. Not to mention your wellknown status of being a…” she trailed off. She did not think it appropriate to call him a rake to his face. 

“A what, Miss Carrington?” He teased.

She only looked up through her lashes, refusing to indulge him.

“I promise you, Miss Carrington, my days of rake-hood are far behind me. I have but one woman I intend to be with for the rest of my days” his tone no longer one of teasing.

Annalise held his gaze, unsure of what to say. 

“Annalise. I know you are afraid but trust that no harm would come to you from me. My father raised me to be a man with honor, a gentleman. Believe me, I have tolerated raising those hooligans you met this evening and I never, not once, raised my hand at them. Though they test me, I could never dream of harming someone under my care be it my siblings, my children, or my wife. Please, can you find it in your heart to trust me?” He had taken his hands in hers, his eyes in anticipation of her answer. 

“I do not wish to make decisions with my heart, my lord” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“And that is most sensible indeed” he said, his eyes trained on her face. 

He stepped forward. His breath tickled her face when he spoke, gentle as a feather,  “However, the heart is akin to a light, is it not Miss Carrington? It provides the guidance one needs in order to make your way out of the darkness.” 

Her chest rose, holding her breath.

“What if, Lord Bridgerton, one’s light were shattered and unable to provide guidance through the dark? 

“Then I would travel the night skies and snatch the stars to replace your shattered lights if that's what it takes. Annalise, I swear to you,” his gently lifted her chin to meet his eyes, “your heart is safe with me, shattered pieces and all.”

She could not breathe. Frozen in place and unsure of how to respond. She stared into his eyes, how could they be insincere with such pleading? Tears welled in her own eyes – she was at a crossroads, overwhelmed by the storm of questions in her mind. 

“Annalise, I will not hurt you” each word punctuated with intention as if he thought the more emphasis he put, the more convincing it would be to her. Was there anything she could do at this point? Any amount of delaying or refusing that would save her from her fate? Perhaps there was…

“Lord Bridgerton, may I give you the answer to your question by the week’s end?” She whispered.

That night once she had been escorted back to her chambers, Annalise conjured up a plan. The viscount had seven siblings and she would spend the remainder of the week with his family here at Aubrey Hall. She could use the week to get to know the viscount through his siblings. Perhaps, there would be a flaw, secret addiction, a bad habit – something that might give Annalise reason to deny the viscount’s proposal. Annalise would spend a day with each sibling and by the week’s end, there had to be something that might save her.

[stormycs15]

⸻ Topside, Male Oc x Reader ⸻

Chapter Three: (Not Much Time)

Characters: female reader, Vi, Powder, Mylo, Claggor, Vander, Oc, Enforcers, Vander

genre: fanfiction, Arcane season 1

summary: Life has been hard for you're friends and family in the Lanes. Doing odd jobs to get by is second nature for you, but will one job topside really change your lives?

word count: 2522

Previous / Next

Your POV

I run my hand through my hair before entering the bustling bar. I'm not looking forward to talking to Calyx—I have no idea how he'll react. With a lecture? A disappointed speech? The place is packed tonight, no doubt buzzing with rumors about what happened in Piltover earlier today. I'm sure my mother is busy gossiping with strangers, trying to stir up rebellion among Vander's followers.

As I enter, I spot Calyx working behind the bar. With a sigh, I hop over the counter to join him. He glances at me through his shaggy, brown, medium-length hair before returning to mixing drinks for patrons. Before I can even don an apron, orders start flying at me. I wince while shaking drinks—the pain isn't too bad—and carry on. We work in silence for a few moments before Calyx speaks up.

"That from the explosion?" I hear from my left. I look over to see Calyx, his eyes still on the drinks. I frown as I pour one. I knew I had no idea how he'd react, but I wasn't expecting this. I sigh, getting some ice for the drink.

"No, some idiots who were waiting for us at the border," I grumble, pouring a beer from the tap. I hear him pause, and I turn to see him looking down at the drink in his hand, emotions clearly bottled up. I roll my eyes and go back to making drinks. "I'm fine, Cal. It barely hurts," I say, handing some drinks to regulars.

"Why didn't you guys wait for me?" he finally asks, a slight hiss in his voice. I stretch my arms, tired from today's excitement.

"Violet really wanted to go. They were going with or without me... I didn't want them to get lost in Piltover, and Violet said you'd tell Vander no matter what. It wasn't my plan—you would've been on my list." I look at him, and he finally meets my gaze, raising an eyebrow smugly. I roll my eyes before pouring more drinks.

"We'll talk about it after the shift. I'm glad you're back in one piece, though," he says. I can't help but look down at the drink in my hands with a small smile. I hand it off, mulling over his words. We work the rest of his shift in comfortable silence amidst the bustling bar. I honestly enjoy it—I don't need to talk to have a good time with Calyx. It's why I like hanging around him. A few hours pass, and as we near the end of the shift, Vander emerges to take over for Calyx.

"Calyx..." Vander says, making both Cal and I turn to his father. Vander glances at me before focusing on his son, his expression grim. "Make sure they lay low and stay safe," he says in a low voice. Cal nods seriously to his father, then turns and motions for me to head to the back. But I frown and step forward instead.

"I'll catch up with you, okay?" I say, stuffing my hands into my pockets. I notice his eyes flick to where my hands disappear. His gaze meets mine briefly before he nods and walks off. I turn to see Vander surveying the bar, clearly waiting for me. I take a seat on a stool, feeling his eyes on me. It's slightly uncomfortable. I swallow, resting my arms on the table, trying to hide behind them a bit.

"I know why you went with them," he finally says, and I sigh. "Even if it was in vain... why didn't you talk them out of it?" he asks, sounding tired.

"I tried to... I even tried to stall them so Cal would find out, or we'd run into you. But Vi had her mind made up, and I knew if I didn't go, they would've gotten lost or caught," I grumble, knowing I should've tried harder. Vander is silent at my words; I can tell he agrees with me.

"I don't know what to do with her... She has a different kind of fire than Cal does... he at least listens to me. She just reminds me of her father," he grumbles, pouring more drinks for customers. I just sigh. I never met them...

"She's unhappy with how we're treated down here. She wants to change that. She thinks she can be the one to do it," I say, watching as Vander fills a cup with beer and hands it off before turning to me.

"I was like her once," he says, looking down at me. "I thought I could solve our problems with my fists. But life only gets harder when you live that way. And it hurts the people around you more." I avert my eyes at his words.

"I'll try to help Cal keep them in line," I say, starting to get up from my seat.

"Hey, [y/n]..." Vander says, making me turn back. He doesn't look at me as he speaks. "I'll try to talk to them."

I sigh with a huff. "You don't have to. It won't change anything." I turn to go downstairs and meet up with Cal.

At the bottom of the stairs, I find Mylo, Vi, and Cal. They all look at me, and I quickly scan the room, gathering this wasn't a happy conversation. I avert my eyes as I walk down the steps.

"Oh, and don't forget about her," Mylo says, trying to deflect attention. "She gets hurt on every mission we go on." I raise an eyebrow at his words.

"Mylo, will you stop?" I say, halting a few feet away from him. He looks up at me with furrowed eyebrows. I rarely raise my voice.

"Yes, Powder made a mistake. Yes, I made a mistake. You make mistakes too, Mylo. There won't be another mission—can't you wrap your thick brain around that? What we did today was a mistake. Half of the underground—no, half of Piltover knows what we did. While Vander does his best, he can't hide us forever. It's only a matter of time before someone snitches on us." I growl, poking his chest as he gulps.

"[y/n], calm down," I hear Calyx say. I don't look at him, keeping my glare locked on Mylo.

"Instead of talking, maybe you should make yourself useful. I don't know, try to pick some locks or something." I turn and jump up, grabbing onto one of the beams to pull myself up. I grunt as I haul myself onto my loft, slamming open the hatch door to show how angry I am. On the roof, I look down at my bandaged hand and sigh, moving my good hand to my side as I close my eyes.

"You know, it's extremely hard to get up here. Not everyone is as acrobatic as you," I hear. I look up to see Cal. I huff, amused, and crawl over to hold out my good hand. He takes it, and I help pull him through the hatch. He sits down next to me silently and starts to unwrap the fabric on my hand. I watch as his delicate fingers prod my swollen wrist. I wince a few times before looking up at his face. A look of concern shows, and I can't help but stare. He's always so quiet, but never shy.

"I'm sorry, you know," I mumble, earning a look from him. "I didn't say it earlier, but I really wanted to at least tell you."

"I know how Violet can be, [y/n]. It's okay. Everyone's safe," he says, shaking his head.

"No, it's not, Cal," I say sternly but softly. "You deserve an apology either way. You won't be getting one from Violet, so you're getting one from me."

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" he asks. I quickly avert my eyes, and he reads my silence. He sighs, rewrapping my wrist. "Where?" he asks. I don't move, causing him to furrow his brows further. Slowly, I move my good hand to my stomach, near my ribs. He sighs, drooping his head.

"Is that from the explosion?" he asked, his voice tinged with concern. I nodded slowly, eliciting an exasperated sigh from him.

"How did it even happen?" he inquired, absently fiddling with the edges of my shirt.

"I'm not sure... Something about that place was weird, Cal. This inventor—I've never seen anything like his plans. I went through some of his journals; whatever it was had to do with these small blue stones. I saw Powder playing with a few before that jerk came back." I grumbled, finally lifting my shirt just enough to reveal the large bruise on my side. "As I was trying to get everyone out, something exploded and I collided with something," I added quietly, earning a silent, worried stare from him. I avoided his gaze, but I could tell the bruise was bad. He took what remained of the bandages he'd brought up and began wrapping them around my stomach.

"You need to be more careful," he finally said, taking my hands and lowering them, my shirt falling back into place. I looked at him, studying those green eyes carefully.

"That's why I'll be sticking around with you," I smiled, earning an eye roll from him. I just smirked, squeezing his hand that hadn't left mine. He didn't say anything—he didn't need to. I could hear a commotion from the bar and frowned, looking away from him, knowing they were here.

"Let's go find the others. We were told to look after them anyway. They're probably at the arcade—let's go," he said, already knowing who I'd sensed entering the Last Drop. Pulling me up, I followed him down to the hideout. There, I saw Vi using the boxing machine, Mylo and Powder at the shooting range, and Claggor just standing around. It was eerily quiet when we arrived. I surveyed them all as they continued with their individual ways of passing the time. I walked over to a spot under the rafters, jumping and quickly pulling myself up with my good hand. I turned and offered my hand to Cal; he quickly took it and joined me on the loft.

"Remind me why we even bother with this dump?" I heard Mylo ask. I started bouncing my leg, listening to everything going on.

"Vander said to lay low... Enforcers never come down here, so it's as good a place as any," Violet replied, throwing a few punches at the machine.

"What's the matter, Mylo? Scared Powder's going to beat you again?" I teased from my perch, smirking. I heard his mocking grumble in response.

"I'd win if she didn't keep fixing these things up," he said defensively. I rolled my eyes, lying down with my legs dangling over the side. I closed my eyes, trying to relax a bit.

"You know I wouldn't take you guys on a job you couldn't handle, right?" I heard Violet ask, making me open my eyes and turn to look at Calyx. Our eyes met at her words, and neither of us said anything, knowing it would be an unpopular opinion. We loved Violet, but her anger sometimes clouded her judgment, putting us at risk. As they continued to talk, I sat up, narrowing my eyes. I pulled my legs up from their dangling position; Cal noticed my sudden focus and followed my gaze, though he couldn't see anything. I started to see enforcers harassing some people and frowned. I didn't notice Powder getting closer to the window, and before I could say anything, a man was thrown out, landing motionless on the ground.

I turned to Cal with a worried look, which he returned, shifting closer to me to watch the unfolding scene. I observed the enforcers entering the arcade through the now-shattered window. As they started to circle the rest of the group, a blue shine caught my eye. Blinking, I saw Powder hide her pouch where I'd spotted the blue glimmer. My eyes widened as I reached out, clutching Cal's shoulder. I slowly began to piece the information together. Those blue stones... the shock I felt. The energy that had been pulling at me. Those weren't stones—they were Arcane crystals. I'd only heard of them before, but it made sense now: the explosion, the blue flecks in my vision. I'd thought I was just seeing stars from the blast.

Those things were dangerous. As my mind filled with worry, a hand placed itself on my arm. I looked up and nodded at Cal. We needed to find a way to get them out. This wasn't good—what if they found what Powder had? I tried to get into a good position, but just my luck, the enforcers walked right under us. I looked to Claggor, noticing him already eyeing Vi. I shifted, ready to jump, and just as the lights switched off, I leapt down onto the back of the enforcer below me. I turned to Powder and ushered her over the counter. Jumping after her, we both dodged the illuminated moving figures with ease.

I went to duck when I was yanked back by my wrist and pulled face-to-face with an enforcer. I tried to tug away, but his grip only tightened. He started to drag me back through the arcade. Scanning for anything I could use to break free, I spotted one of Powder's new experiments. It had big jaws with spiky teeth, and we were walking right past it. Using the little momentum he gave me, I pulled him back so his arm was between the jaws. I reached up, trying to slam it down, but quickly realized my bandaged hand wasn't strong enough. I heard his triumphant laugh. Looking up into the enforcer's face, I gasped at the chilling glint in his eyes. Suddenly, the jaws snapped shut on his arm—enough to leave a nasty bruise. That was definitely going to hurt later. I felt a gentle hand grasp my good arm, pulling me away from the enforcer. I started running, my knees wobbly.

I turned my head to see Calyx practically dragging me out the back door. Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I fell into pace with him. I needed to stay focused until we were safe, so I intertwined my fingers with his as we ran after our friends. I didn't want to trip or accidentally lose him, but in the haste, I couldn't tell if he squeezed my hand back.

[sevendeadlywhispers]

7Seals

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Chapter 1

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• Previous Chapter: Prologue Next Chapter: Chapter 2

•Chapter List

•Content: Levi Ackerman x OC Fem! Canon Verse! Slow Burn!

• Word Count: 1.2k

"Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, 'Come and see.' And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer."

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In the regiment's relentless rhythm, my days blurred together over six unchanging years. The routine was our relentless master – wake, eat, train, meetings, eat again, and sleep. The mundane melody was occasionally disrupted by Shadis' whims, granting us a fleeting taste of the world beyond the towering Walls.

Our morning table, a sanctuary for the seasoned veterans, bore witness to comrades dropping like autumn leaves. The unspoken question lingered: when would our turn come? While many saw luck in our continued survival, I saw a darker twist. Fate, I believed, lurked patiently, biding its time until we felt secure, ready to shatter the false reality we'd constructed in this hellish existence.

Today, the cruel hand of fate played its cards, mocking our comfort.

"The boys aren't here yet?" Petra's radiant smile broke the morning's routine as she settled across from me.

"Nah," I replied, absentmindedly tearing at my morning bread. "Just Hange and I, probably still asleep."

Petra's grin widened, cheeks tinted with a hint of mischief. "Thank the Wall."

Hange, always perceptive, caught the unspoken secret in Petra's expression.

"I know that look," they squealed with infectious excitement. "Spill."

"Have you guys seen the new recruit?" Petra's playful voice danced through the room.

"Have I?!" Hange's response, a lively squeal, prompted a shared effort between Petra and me to hush them. Yet, if anything, their voice only seemed to gain volume.

"He's a menace! Have you guys seen him in action? He's truly set to revolutionize the Scouts."

One person expected to revolutionize the regiment was a wild accusation, not only wild but big shoes to fill.

"I thought all the recruits died."

"He's the sole survivor. Goes by Levi," Petra disclosed in a hushed tone leaning towards me. "Word has it his entire wing was taken out on the last expedition. Rumor even suggests he took down five titans single-handedly."

"Five?" My surprise echoed throughout the mess hall, louder than Hange had earlier.

"Who is this guy?"

A recruit taking out more than one Titan on their first journey outside the Walls was unheard of. The recruit surviving a Titan encounter was impressive enough, but taking down five was a whole other game.

Petra gestured subtly towards the corner, where Levi sat alone. "A short fella," Hange added with a playful smile.

"But undeniably handsome," Petra remarked.

My curiosity ignited and my intrusive thoughts won as I nudged Petra.

"Go talk to him."

"I'd only fool myself," she sighed. "He keeps to himself, speaks only with section leaders and the commander."

"I don't buy it," I chuckled, glancing in Levi's direction. There he was, absorbed in the morning paper, sipping tea in that peculiar way of his—hand over the rim, neglecting the perfectly good handle on the side of the cup.

"Go see for yourself," Petra challenged with a smug grin.

"I will," I declared, sticking my tongue out playfully before confidently striding towards Levi's table.

He was a recluse no doubt about it. From the moment Petra pointed him out to me, not once has he looked up from his morning paper. I know that nothing that interesting happened in these three walls to keep his attention that long.

Undeterred by Levi's icy reception, I took a seat without awaiting permission. The mess hall seemed to hold its breath, the world stopped moving around me as I gathered the courage to speak.

"What's your name?" I probed, met only with the continued rustle of his morning paper and the measured sip of his tea.

"Not a big talker, huh?" I teased, maintaining a resilient grin. "Well, I'm Iris, been with the scouts for six years now. Sorry for the tardy introduction—"

"Are you a section leader?" he interrupted.

"Oh, no, I'm just—" Again, his interruption cut me off.

"Until you become a captain or commander, don't talk to me unless ordered to," he snapped, his eyes still glued to the paper.

"Until you become captain or commander, don't tell me what to do," I retorted, my smile unwavering. "Until then, I'll talk your ear off as much as I want to."

Finally, he set aside his papers and looked up. His midwinter eyes jabbed at me as they locked onto my own.

"If you're trying to make a friend, save your breath and look elsewhere," he groaned, his gaze cold. "Tell your friends it's rude to stare."

I rose from the table, maintaining my cheerful facade. "Congrats on the five Titans. Until next time, Mr. Grumps."

"Tch," escaped Levi's lips as I walked away, his grumbling fading into the background as I navigated back to my comrades.

Miche Oluo and Alexander awaited my return at the breakfast table. All eyes were on me, especially Alexander's, his light brown gaze burning into mine. There was an unspoken tension, a silent exchange between us that spoke of disapproval and lingering questions.

As I settled beside Alexander, his disapproving gaze burned into my being. "What were you doing with that little freak?" he sneered.

"Hey, don't call him that," I retorted, nudging him playfully.

"What? Freak?" He laughed with a harsh edge. "He's just another underground sewage rat. Nothing but a freak." The disdain lingered on his tongue.

"Kid has a death wish," Miche chimed in.

"I think that kid is older than all of us," Hange interjected.

"There's no way that puny little thing is older than me," Alexander scoffed, dismissing Levi as if he were insignificant. "Just look at him. Nothing but bones under that uniform."

"Now now, Alexander," Hange teased. "I'd think you're jealous of him passing you up."

"Me jealous of that freak? Never," Alexander laughed, a defensive edge in his voice.

"Really? Because he's already at five Titans for his first expedition. I recall you earning three on our first mission," Hange pointed out with a mischievous giggle.

"Listen here, you little shit" Alexander's frustration surged, and he aimed his words at Hange. "I earned my way into the Scouts. That guy is only here to kill Erwin. He's nothing but a thug."

"Alexander, calm down," I attempted to defuse the tension, but his anger was worked up. Hange's teasing had struck a nerve, a fact known to everyone at the table.

"What?" Alexander groaned at me. "Don't tell me you have a soft spot for the freak already."

"Calm down. Hange is just teasing, and we all know it," I laughed lightly, attempting to ease the situation.

The table fell into an uneasy silence as Levi strolled by, his steel-grey eyes fixed ahead with unwavering confidence.

"Freak," Alexander muttered under his breath as Levi passed.

Alexander's sharp words lingered in the air as a bitter aftertaste, and a knot of worry tightened in my stomach. The casual disdain he threw toward Levi struck a nerve, leaving me both surprised and uneasy.

The recruit's gaze met Alexander's, offering an unfazed look. However, Levi's eyes then locked onto mine. I felt a shiver down my spine as his gaze traveled, time seemingly slowing down at that moment.

At that moment, I couldn't shake the feeling that fate itself had chuckled at us, reveling in the disruption Levi brought to our routine. The mess hall buzzed with the usual noise, but an undercurrent of change hummed beneath it all. It was as if Levi's mere presence had punctured the veil of our ordinary existence, inviting uncertainty and curiosity. It was a curiosity I wanted to explore, boundaries I wanted to see be pushed.

If only then I knew how much he would change our little world inside these three walls.

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[maccreadysbaby]

Project: Killcode

batfamily + oc insert

tw: none

wanna read more? here’s the table of contents!

want to read the first fic in the hundred days series so you understand what’s going on here? here it is!

bellamy and bentley actually make my heart hurt

part seventeen

❝ ONE AFTER ANOTHER ❞

MONDAY — JULY 23 — 10:54AM

BENTLEY MADE IT THROUGH MATH CLASS.

The whole thing was Dr… Mr. Keene giving a presentation about himself. He had two sons, instead of a daughter that he turned into a raging supervillain. He didn’t have a doctorate, he had a bachelors. He’d lived in New York City since he was in his early twenties — he didn’t live in Gotham, and he never had. In some of the pictures of his family, the Dr. Keene Bentley knew made appearances, standing alongside his brother when they were young. 

About halfway through the presentation, Bentley actually started believing it wasn’t him. But his… appearance was something he’d have to get used to.

Bentley was pretty jittery for the rest of the class, and Varian kept glancing over at him about every three seconds for the entire period, just to make sure he was okay. Which he was. He was fine. It wasn’t Dr. Keene, and all of that had happened three years ago, now. He should be over it… right? (Getting kidnapped, tortured in his own mind, shot, watching people die, seeing all of Gotham on fire, watching Asten’s heart literally flatline… he should be over it all. Right? Right?)

When the bell rang for them to go to fourth period, Bentley and Varian gathered their things and left the room in a blink, purposefully giving Mr. Keene no time to pull Bentley aside or try to speak to him.

Instead, they broke off for their next classes — and Bentley’s was beginner’s biology.

The science building was right next to the math building, so Bentley was one of the first few students to cross into the classroom. It was large, set up like the others — the blackboard at the front of the room had a huge, intricate chalk drawing of a cell and all its intricacies on it. There was a skeleton standing in the front corner with a Hawaiian skirt and lei, and a name tag labeled Bessie on its ribs.

There were only three other students in there, so Bentley pretty much got his pick of a table — he chose an unsuspecting one right in the middle of the room, not in the front, and not in the back. He just hoped no one random would sit with him.

The teacher was an older woman, with black hair cut into a bob and a very… serious aura about her. She was sitting at her desk with reading glasses perched precariously on her nose, staring at her computer screen with a strange intensity, wearing the same uniform as Ms. Heidi.

He didn’t say anything, nor did he do anything to draw attention to himself. He just pulled a green binder out of his backpack and put it on the table in front of him, silently hoping and praying he wouldn’t have to share the two-person desk with a stranger.

The bell hadn’t rang yet, so he pulled out his phone and held it sort of under the table — did they get in trouble for using them before class started? — and scrolled and tapped away mindlessly before he remembered he needed to look something up.

He typed Adora, California into his search bar, and was immediately greeted by several articles about…

Genocide?

He blinked a few times and turned his brightness down, tapping on the first article in the list.

Adora, California, was a small town right on the edge of Sacramento established just under fifteen years ago. It was inhabited largely by a very secretive cult who offered their allegiance and worship to an unnamed god of death. They lived “off the grid” as in no one born in that town has a physical birth certificate or social security, making them legally nonexistent.

Bentley cringed, skimming through the rest of the article quickly.

Three years ago, the entire town, save the children, was mass-murdered inside the temple of their worship building. No evidence of a physical killer have been found. Most are inclined to think they took part in a mass-suicide as tribute to their-

Bentley swiped the tab away, suddenly feeling kind of really weird and uncomfortable. Koa was from… he was born into… a cult? That was kind of weird. Or maybe he wasn’t because Bentley was pretty sure he was fifteen, and it said the town was established under fifteen years ago. He’d lived with a cult, then. That was super strange, because Koa acted completely, utterly normal -- not like cult people who were in the movies.

Bentley promptly remembered that Koa never talked about his parents, but about a young man who had custody of him. Obviously they’d survived the genocide, or suicide, or whatever. Maybe they-

Bentley shook his head, pushing it all far from his mind, because it was starting to make him feel weird. He… he guessed he’d just keep being friends with Koa like he didn’t know what Adora was -- after all, Bentley, too, had an insanely crazy past. It’d be kind of rude for him to judge Koa for his, especially since he wasn’t really supposed to know about it.

So he sat there and looked at the desk some more, and students began filing into the room at a more rapid pace. Bentley quickly glanced at each one that came in, pleased when they went to tables different from his own.

And then someone really little walked into the room.

Oh yeah, he suddenly remembered. He had biology with Bellamy.

He watched Bellamy’s brown eyes trail the room quickly as stepped inside, starting at the blackboard and traveling to  the skeleton, and then the desks, bouncing here and there before they finally landed on Bentley. He saw relief physically wash across his small features, and he pulled his backpack straps up tighter on his shoulders, making his way across the room toward his table. He glanced at the teachers desk; and Bentley didn’t miss the way he tensed at the sight of her and her threatening aura. (He didn’t really blame him.)

“Hey, Bellamy,” Bentley sent a smile in his direction, and Bellamy stepped up to the other side of the table, glancing down at it, then at Bentley, like he was asking for permission. 

“You can sit with me, if you want,” Bentley continued. Bellamy shrugged his bag off and sat down next to him without saying anything, sinking down into his chair with a long, shaky exhale. Bentley watched him carefully. “...You okay?”

“I’m tired,” Was the only answer he got, and he didn’t press for anything more. 

Bentley sat quiet for a few minutes, watching Bellamy glance at the teacher anxiously a few times, like she was going to come over there and personally stab him or something. She stood up from her desk and headed for the door -- Bellamy made himself smaller.

“Have you had a good day?” Bentley attempted a distraction, but it didn’t seem to help -- Bellamy just shrugged, his eyes lingering on the woman in the room. Bentley wasn’t sure what was going on, but he wasn’t a fan of the body language Bellamy was displaying. The same kind of body language Bentley used to have toward his own father.

“It's been fine,” He said softly, watching the teacher’s every move with hawk-like eyes. “I don’t like school.”

“I’m not sure many of us do,” Bentley replied, scooting his chair into the table more, keeping his gaze on Bellamy, the teacher in his peripheral. “Are you… feeling alright?”

“Mhm,” Bellamy replied. “Just tired.”

Bentley brought a hand up to rub at Bellamy’s back without thinking -- and he was sure his life flashed before his eyes at the speed the other boy jumped, so violently that it shook their entire desk and nearly knocked him out of his chair. His head snapped up and he looked over at Bentley incredulously, his brown eyes blown wide on his face, like he half-expected him to punch him or throw something at him or knock him flat out. 

“I’m sorry,” Bentley immediately blurted, drawing his hand back quickly like he’d been burned. He could feel a few eyes on them from around the room, but he didn’t pay them any mind; Instead, something inside of him twisted uncomfortably when he recognized the look in Bellamy’s eyes -- a far-off, detached kind of look, like he just knew something bad was going to happen, like he was… 

Like he was afraid of him.

“I’m sorry, Bellamy,” Bentley repeated, quieter. “I didn’t mean to scare you, I promise.”

Bellamy’s eyes fell, and he slowly began to relax, exhaling a breath that Bentley hadn’t noticed he was holding. “I’m… I’m sorry. I didn’t… mean to do that.”

“It's okay,” Bentley was quick to reply. Their teacher, who had apparently finished her duties in the hallway, came back into the classroom and closed the door with a loud wooden slam that shook the very walls. 

Bellamy flinched again, his eyes flying up to the door like he expected something terrible and murderous to come back through it, then flicking to the teacher like she was the terrible and murderous thing. He brought his hands up and around himself as a means of comfort, gripping his own blazer sleeves until his knuckles turned white. Bentley reached out to touch his arm, but stopped short when he realized that was stupid given his current state.

He gently asked: “Bellamy?” instead.

Bentley only then noticed that Bellamy’s hands were trembling, and his breathing was growing increasingly more ragged the longer they sat there. Bentley just sort of watched, unsure of what to do that wouldn’t freak him out even more -- and Bellamy dipped his head down close to the table, his shoulders shuddering. 

“Bellamy… hey, what is it?” Bentley tried, glancing up at the teacher, who was looking at them with distaste, her eyebrows raised above the metal rims of her glasses.

When Bellamy finally made a noise, it was a soft, muffled, telltale whimper in the back of his throat that sort of made Bentley want to kill someone.

He was crying.

Everything Bentley was thinking of seemed to leave his brain at the realization, and he reached for him again, only stopping when he remembered not to do that anymore. He forgot every single thing any Wayne had ever done for him when he was crying, and instead, his mind only seemed to reach back far enough to catalog what Varian had done during Bentley’s meltdown last period.

It seemed good enough.

“Hey… let's go in the hallway,” He tried, glancing around and catching a few of the pairs of eyes that were now resting on them. 

Thankfully, it wasn’t very hard to convince him. Bellamy stood without a second thought, and Bentley did, too, crossing the short distance between their table and the door. Bentley stayed to Bellamy’s right, between him and the woman, just for good measure, because he didn’t know what was going on and he didn’t like it.

As soon as they were in the hallway and away from prying eyes, Bentley closed the door. Bellamy took a few steps down the hall, closing in on himself more, his sobs becoming barely, pitifully audible.

(This kid was too much like Bentley for his own good.)

“Bellamy…” He tried again, taking a few steps to follow him. “What’s wrong? Do you know her?”

He vaguely saw Bellamy shake his head no, but he was pretty much shaking all over, so Bentley wasn’t so sure about it. What he was sure about was how painfully lost he felt, having to take over the role of the help-someone-feel-better-er, the one role that was pretty much never left to him back at home simply because he was the youngest.

He wiped his hands on his pants. “You can tell me, Bell.”

“I’m…” Bellamy started, hiccuping lightly, still facing away from Bentley. “I… don’t know. I don’t know what’s wrong.”

“That’s okay, too,” Bentley said, stepping forward again. 

Bellamy turned to look at him and Bentley frowned — his brown eyes were wide and pooling with tears that were steaming down his face, making dots on his blazer. He hiccuped suddenly, bringing his hands up toward his eyes in an attempt to hide it. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t say sorry, it’s okay,” Bentley replied quietly, glancing around the fancy hallway, glad it was empty. “What do you need?”

Without speaking a word, Bellamy stepped forward until he collided with him gently, synching his arms tightly around Bentley’s back.

Bentley fought the urge to gasp, instead, bringing his arms up and around him in return. 

“I don’t know… what’s wrong with me,” He sniffled, his voice muffled as his face was hidden away in Bentley’s blazer.

“Nothing,” Bentley was quick to reply. “All of this, Redwood, it’s… overwhelming. Even for me. It’s okay to… need a minute. I did the same thing last period, believe it or not.”

Bellamy seemed to relax a little when he said that, tightening his hold a little more, sniffling and hiccuping quietly against Bentley’s shoulder. 

(He wondered if it was a form of torture that was being bestowed upon him, rooming him with a kid who was just like him in so many ways — and not the good ones. Like he was having to deal with himself. If the nightmares weren’t reminiscent enough of Bentley’s past relationship with sleep, Bellamy’s uncanny ability to have some kind of a nervous breakdown maybe only an hour after Bentley did certainly said something about them… but Bentley wasn’t sure what.)

Bellamy sniffled deeply. “My head hurts.”

Suddenly, a door opened and closed behind them, and Bellamy went rigid.

“Is everything okay?” The teacher’s voice came, and Bentley glanced over Bellamy’s head to where she was, standing next to the door with a faintly worried expression on her face. Bentley felt Bellamy grip tightly onto the back of his blazer, and all big dig his head into his shoulder so he couldn’t see her, and for some reason, Bentley couldn’t bring himself to like the woman.

“First day nerves,” Bentley replied curtly, glancing back down at Bellamy’s head. “He’s… okay with me, we might just need a few minutes.”

She nodded once, frowning at Bellamy’s trembling figure. “Yes… take your time.” 

Then she disappeared back into the classroom.

Bellamy hiccuped lightly again, his hold not loosening. “I want to go to my room.”

Bentley but his lip, glancing around the hallway as though the wainscoted walls would give him a proper answer. He breathed in and out, smoothing down the hair on the back of Bellamy’s head.

“I…” He started, trailing off, unsure of what exactly to say. He didn’t think he needed to endorse Bellamy skipping class, but he didn’t just want to peer pressure him into something that made him uncomfortable, either. (If he was anything like Bentley, peer pressure didn’t actually take much pressure.) “I… I’ll be with you the whole time. And I’m pretty sure lunch is right after this, and we can ask the others if you have any classes with them for the rest of the day. I’m sure they won’t mind letting you sit with them.”

Bellamy sniffled, but said nothing. So Bentley just stayed in the hallway with him for a while, pondering what his reaction to the teacher could’ve meant.

His fathers voice from so many years ago told him that he had to pay just as much attention to what people didn’t say, as he did to what they did say.

So quietly (and probably reading too far into the conversation), he wondered why, when he was clearly in distress, Bellamy said he wanted to go to his room, rather than saying he wanted to go home.

--

tag list! (If you want me to remove or add you, ask in comments!)

@fleur-alise @sarcopterygiian @flyrobinflyy @gayboss-too-close-to-the-sun

@xiaonothere @skylathescholarly @beatyoutothatusernameloser

[syren201]

Bittersweet

(Forgive me for I am new at posting fics on Tumblr.)

I've had a fic idea in my head for months ever since I watched Arcane and saw Viktor develop through the season. This was meant to be a later part of a bigger story that I'm not sure that I'll ever actually write, and it would be the wedding between an Arcane OC of mine and Viktor. So here is a little one off moment, more to get me back into writing.

Warnings: Fem!Reader/OC. Spoilers for 1st season of Arcane. Mention of terminal illness. A little spicy near the end if you look really hard.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bittersweet

All eyes were on her as she walked down the aisle. It was almost unimaginable to her that this day has arrived. They had always talked about marriage, when it would happen, how it would happen. But that had always been for the future and his prognosis had hurried everything along.

We were planning to get married anyway, so why not now?

The guest list mainly consisted of friends and colleagues from the Academy. She could see Jayce and Mel from the front row, smiling at her. She remembered asking them the day before to not let any sadness through, she wanted today to be happy.

More faces. Heimerdinger. Sky. Others from her department and his. Considering how quickly this had been pulled together, she was surprised there were guests at all.

"We're getting married."

"Say that again?" Jayce looked up from his notes at the two of them, confusion lining his face.

She stood tall, a smile on her face as she squeezed Viktor's hand. Taking a glace over, she could see Viktor leaning heavily on his cane. "We're getting married."

A smile spread across Jayce's face as he stood up and walked over to them. "That's wonderful news! When... is the date?"

"In two days."

Jayce for his part tried not to look too surprised at the news. His eyes shifted between the two of them, his eyebrows slightly raised. "That's very soon."

This time, Viktor spoke up. "Well considering... how little time I have left. I just wanted to spend the remainder of it with us married."

And that had been it. No formal plans other than to show up with an officiant and get this done. They had notified who they could and went about making sure they had everything else they need. It was as they were buying their rings that Jayce and Mel had suddenly shown up and dragged them away from each other, stating that they needed the proper clothes to get married in and they were going to make sure they had the appropriate dress and suit.

So here she was, walking down the aisle with a hastily made bouquet, in a simple white dress, a smile on her face as she caught sight of Viktor waiting for her at the front. Growing up, she had been told this would be the happiest day of her life and it was.

But it was also bittersweet.

She had remembered the day he had collapsed and how fast she had rushed to be by his side, the news that the doctor had delivered. She had held her tears in front of him even as she crumbled on the inside.

"You should leave. Move on from me."

"No. If we only have so much time left, I want to spend it with you."

Finally, she reached the front. She spared the officiant a brief glance, but after that, she only had eyes for Viktor. No sign of the usual tiredness in his face as he smiled at her. Despite everything, this was still a happy moment for them and refused to think of anything else. The world seemed to melt away as they said their vows and before she knew it they were leaning in for a kiss. It wasn't a short one but her lips lingered on his as she pulled back and smiled. She squeezed his hands quickly before sliding her hand and linking arms with him. She caught the smiles of their friends as they walked back down the aisle together, now as a married couple.

Her heart was singing. It occurred to her that it never really did matter when their wedding day happened, as long as it did. And as they sat through a hastily planned dinner, they laughed and shared stories of their life together, no mention of the rising tensions between Piltover and the Undercity, no talk of science or their inventions, no acknowledgement of the very reason this wedding had been rushed.

Eventually the day ended ended and they arrived back at their shared home, eager to get each other out of their wedding clothes. It was here when his back was turned that a little bit of her emotions slipped and the smile faded from her face as the weight of their situation made a reappearance. She was quick regain her composure, putting a smile back on her face as he turned and reached for her. She let herself forget as she often did on nights like these when it was the two of them legs, tangled together on the bed. When everything was done and they were resting, she closed her eyes and let herself bask in the feeling of his arms. Nothing else seemed to matter now. Little did she know, in a matter of days, their worlds would erupt into chaos.

[johnnyutah]

scotty/matei OR scotty/gideon w/ 21.....go go go go oc heaven now

21: “me & me”

It’s a chilly afternoon at the circus, with most performers and customers scurrying away into the relative warmth of tents and caravans and trailers. As the wind picks up, Scotty misses his trusty hat. He is in a near-constant state of missing, as though the piercing instrument was never removed from some stab wound within him. He’s cold, too, which is kind of funny if you have a great sense of humour like he does. He wonders if Matei would think it was funny if he brought it up. Jeez, you know, I’ve frozen to death in an avalanche before, and this wind is somehow worse. Or, boy, I miss when my body couldn’t feel sensation.

Then he wonders the obvious, and flails, turning to the man beside him. “You cold? Want my jacket?”

Matei gives him A Look. Back in the time that never happened, Scotty would have been able to understand every twitch of the man’s eyebrow. He doesn’t know this Matei, and apparently he’s not making a great impression— seeing as he’s been reduced to speaking like a caveman.

“I’m okay,” Matei tells him, perfectly neutral and gracious. He has a sweater on, of course. Maybe it belongs to his new-old boyfriend. That pierces him too, although Scotty has long taught himself how to cope with an aching heart.

The other interns have all been whisked away to separate locations with separate objectives. Once upon a time, in another time, they moved like Voltron. Scotty would have known where they were even without Corby’s telepathy or Dorothea’s briefings. He could have made correct assumptions about which stall Sammy ducked into, or where Hami and Avery might be found sneaking around. Now, he can’t rely on any innate knowledge, turning to modern technology instead:

[sent] Where did everyone run off to?

[sent] ❄️☃️🎿☕️🥶😰

He looks up from the text to see Matei smiling oddly at him. Again, this expression is new; it bowls Scotty over. “What,” he says, tone soft, smiling back almost instinctively.

“Oh, uh,” Matei’s smile drops and he glances away. “Nothing. You… Nothing.”

He wonders if Matei thinks he’s texting a boyfriend or something. “Just sending a text to the other interns,” Scotty quickly corrects the thought. He used to have charisma, he swears— it dissipated sometime between the early eighties and ancient Mesopotamia and the current day. “I don’t… I’m not seeing anyone.”

For some reason, Matei smiles again— a little amusement playing at his pretty lips. “Okay,” he says, with poorly hidden pity.

“It is okay. I need some time to focus on me,” he lies through his teeth. Matei’s nod is half-hearted but his gaze is sharp. “You know, after everything.”

It looks like Matei is about to ask about everything. Scotty could tell him— he would, if he asked. About the guitar they kept in the living room, how far they’d made it through their watch of The Original Series. About Gideon, too, and Thor, maybe, and the long list of almosts and nevers.

Scotty’s phone chimes loudly in his hand— a message from one of the other interns. He may not be technically fifty anymore, but old habits die hard. Matei steps back, almost startled— the moment shatters. Scotty’s pain receptors need recalibration, because Matei moving away hurts worse than fighting the devil had.

“Maybe you should,” starts Matei, as Scotty says, “Boy, it’s cold. I sure miss when my body couldn’t feel sensation.”

The look Matei gives him is easy to read— he’s seen it on Corby’s face a thousand times now. Somewhere between constipation and concern. Scotty sighs silently. Maybe he really does need some time to focus on himself after everything.

[noforkingclue]

Fractures Chapter 2 (James 'Spider' Webb x OC x River Cartwright)

Whoop, whoop, more angsty pining for a Wednesday afternoon!

So as this fic follows the line of the main story I have borrowed some of the dialogue from the show. Not everything, just a couple of sentences.

Hope you enjoy the pining :D

Slow Horses tag list: @cillmequick

Spider stiffened as River gripped his shoulders tightly. He leant down, locking gazes with Spider in the mirror. Spider looked around and tried to see where his barber went. Fucking hell. This wasn’t how this morning was supposed to go. Cartwright had already tricked him (loath as he was to admit that to himself) but he wasn’t going to get another one over on him.

“Do you really think that you’re going to win this?” River asked

“Win what?”

“Rebecca.”

Spider tried to sit up straight but River prevented him. River kept him firmly pushed against his chair.

“She isn’t a prize to be won.” Spider said

“Because you’re not going to win this. You think you have an upper hand because you’re at The Park but this isn’t going to happen. I will prove to Becca what you did to me. How you fucked me over and got me dumped in Slough House. How do you think she’ll look at you when she knows the truth?”

Spider looked away briefly before forcing himself to once again lock eyes with River in the mirror and smirked.

“How do you know it hasn’t happened already? A lot of stuff has gone on after you got dumped at Slough House. Has Rebecca been in contact very much?”

River gritted his teeth and Spider shrugged off his hands. He spun around in the chair and said,

“Do you really think Rebecca would want to be with someone who can’t look after her?”

“And you can?”

“I can afford to.”

“Becca isn’t like that. Besides, do you  really think she wants to be with someone who can’t even shave himself?”

“At least I can remember that Rebecca hated being called Becca.”

“Don’t think that you’re winning this, Spider.”

“Don’t fucking call me that.” Spider shouted as River ran towards the door

“Have fun with Sweeney Todd.”

*

“Do you like dogs?”

Rebecca glanced over at Molly who was wheeling towards her holding a file.

“My parents had dogs on the farm,” she said, “but somehow I have a feeling those aren’t the type of dogs you mean.”

The file was shoved into her hands as Molly wheeled away.

“And remember, don’t let them in. No Dogs on my floor.”

“Right,” Rebecca grimaced as she made her way to the door, “of course.”

Rebecca never had much dealings with The Dogs. She had heard James and River mention them and from what they told her about them she didn’t fancy having too much to do with them. Still, needs must. She was always going to have to deal with them sooner or later. Everyone does.

“Good to see you.” she said brightly as she left the safety of Molly domain

It was always best to be pleasant to people even if you didn’t mean it. No need to unnecessarily get on people’s bad side. She recognised Duffy but his companion was less familiar to her.

“Blake,” said Duffy, “are you going to let us in?”

“Molly said-”

“No Dogs on her floor.”

“Correct. But she told me to give you this.”

Rebecca held out the file and smiled brightly at the two Dogs. Duffy’s companion said nothing but continued to chew his gum while Duffy practically snatched the file out of her hands. He flicked through it briefly before saying,

“What the fuck is that?”

Rebecca looked over the folder and grimaced.

“Well I didn’t study biology or anatomy or whatever it’s called,” she said, “but I think on page six of the file it says that it’s a spleen.”

The second Dog raised his eyebrows as Duffy flicked through the file. He grunted in acknowledgement and closed the file with a snap.

“Anything else?” Rebbeca asked

“No-”

Before Duffy could finish his sentence Rebecca turned on her heel and slammed the door on their faces.

“So,” said Hobbs, “that’s Spider’s girl. She doesn’t seem like much.”

“Looks can be deceiving,” said Duffy, “and if Doran is keeping her on then there’s more to her than meets the eye.”

Rebecca sighed heavily and rested against the door and banged her head softly against it. People like the Dogs were never easy to deal with.

“Are they gone.”

Rebecca opened her eyes and looked down at Molly. She nodded and said,

“Yeah, they’ve just left.”

“Webb sending Dogs round to check on you.”

“James? No, why would he be doing that?”

Molly gave Rebecca a knowing look and Rebecca quickly looked away. She could feel her face getting hot and knew that she must be bright red.

“It’s nothing like that,” she said, “we’re friends.”

“And does Webb know that.”

“He should do.”

Molly started wheeling away and beckoned Rebecca to follow her. Rebecca pushed herself off the door and followed Molly. She started pulling files off of shelves and said,

“And Cartwright Junior?”

“River? What about him.”

Another knowing look and Rebecca was sure that her cheeks were redder than her hair.

“A choice between Jackson Lamb’s slow horse and Diana Taverner’s lap dog. The choice should be simple.” said Molly

She roughly handed the files up to Rebecca.

“Now deliver those up to Fitz. He’s another person I don’t want on my floor.”

*

“You’ll break your neck if you continue to do that.”

Rebecca stopped rocking back and forth on her chair and smiled at James. He glanced up from his paperwork and gave her a soft smile.

“You don’t have to wait for me.” he said

“I know but I still owe you for dinner the other night.”

“I told you it was my treat.”

“And can’t I treat my friends?”

James looked up at Rebecca who was smiling at him. She rocked forward on her chair and rested her elbows on his desk. Finally he set aside his paperwork and matched Rebecca’s movements. He was glad it was late so no one would be able to see them like this.

“I had the displeasure of meeting some of The Dogs today.” said Rebecca, Molly words still echoing around her mind

Now this caught James’s attention. Not only because Rebecca had actually met The Dogs but because she seemed to dislike them. Rebecca was one of those people who seemed to get on with most people. The only other person that James could think that she didn’t like was one of The Park’s receptionists.

“You did?” he said, trying to keep his voice level

“Yeah Duffy and, oh what’s his name…” Rebecca trailed off and shook her head, “can’t remember. He just kept chewing gum.”

“And what did they want?”

“Just a file,” Rebecca drummed her fingers on his desk, “I can see why Molly doesn’t want them on her floor.”

She glanced at her watch and stood up, holding out a hand. James glanced at it before looking up at Rebecca, a look of confusion on his face.

“Come on,” she said, “it’s late. Let’s go home.”

Home. Fuck, he really wanted to take Rebecca back to his home. Not for anything sordid of course (he wasn’t Cartwright) but to…

To…

Fuck, he didn’t know what to do. He had never been in this position before. He saw two paths in front of him. One warm and cosy. Probably leading down to the pub, which he was increasingly seeing the appeal of, with half decent alcohol and semi edible food. The other-

“I can’t,” he replied, pulling away, “Lady Di has asked me to complete this paperwork so I need to get this done.”

“Oh,” Rebecca lowered her hand, “right. Of course. Can’t say no to Second Desk.”

James winced at the tone of her voice but Rebecca gave him a small smile and threw on her coat and picked up her bag. James had to fight down the urge to beg her to stop. To take back her hand and tell her that he’d love to go with her. That he loved her. For her to forget about River fucking Cartwright.

“I’ll see you around then.” said Rebecca softly

“Rebecca-”

“Maybe another time?”

James stood up but one look at Rebecca’s face had him sinking back down into his chair. He gave her a sharp nod and said,

“Yes, another time.”

When his office shut behind her he put his head in his hands and ran his fingers through his hair, not caring if he ruffled it up. Besides, Rebecca always said that she preferred it like that. Maybe he should do that more often.

Fuck.

Why was this so fucking difficult?

*

“So who is she?”

River choked on the coffee that Sid had given him. Sid just raised her eyebrows at him and River quickly opened the car door and poured the coffee out.

“This is fucking awful.” he said, hoping that it cover up his mistake

“That would be the arsenic I put in it,” said Sid, “although you didn’t answer my question.”

“Which was?”

“Who is she?” siad Sid, rolling her eyes

“She?”

“You kept staring at your phone earlier today.”

“Maybe I was expecting a phone call.”

“Just maybe?”

“Fine, I was expecting a phone call.”

“Who the fuck would be calling you?”

“Job interview?”

“Now why did that sound like a question. So, who is she?”

“Still fucking concerned about my love life? Are you actually wanting to be my dating coach.”

“Fuck no. Just curious.”

River opened his mouth to argue back but shut it with a snap. He looked out of the window at Hobden’s flat. He knew that he should be concentrating on that but Rebecca kept cropping back up. Thoughts of Rebecca and Spider dominating his thoughts.

Fucking Spider.

“River?”

“Hmm?”

He looked over at Sid who was looking at him expectantly.

“She’s a friend,” he said, “from The Park.”

“A friend or a friend?”

River winced at the tone of Sid’s voice.

“Well that’s what she saw me as,” he admitted, “never could quite, well, none of that matters now. She’s there, with him, and I’m here.”

“Him?”

River glanced at Sid out of the corner of his eye. She gave him a seemingly innocent look. However, all this was doing was dragging up painful memories. Memories of what could’ve been if Spider hadn’t fucked him over. A promise made of things to be if only he hadn’t been screwed over.

“Why are you here?” he asked, desperate to change the subject off of Rebecca, “Not in the car but at Slough House.”

Anything was better than thinking about Rebecca and Spider being together.

And if he had any say in that matter, Rebecca would eventually see Spider for what he really was. He just needed to bide his time and get the proof. Then he’d be out of Slough House and hopefully Spider would be in his place.

He wasn’t going to lose this.

[techs-goggles9902]

Two Souls Entwined

part 3 eventual Captain Rex x oc

A/N: sorry for the wait! life's been... life. Open to criticism, as always! LMK if you wanna join/be taken off the tag list. And sorry if it feels rushed 😭

The second to last paragraph of italics is directly from Triple Zero by Karen Traviss and I don’t take credit for it I just thought it would be a cool addition and help set the mood

word count: 812 (apparently? I thought I wrote more)

The Mandalorian Medics helped Niva the best they could, physically. Nothing could help her recover from what happened; watching her father, her buir, die right in front of her, and she could do nothing. 

Kal shifted his weight from his right foot onto his left, his shattered ankle screaming at him. His sand colored beskar’gam reflects the sun just right that there appears to be a halo encircling his body, the light at the end of the tunnel for Niva. He waited outside the medical tent for a while with his arms crossed, pacing back and forth every once in a while. 

Poor girl…

The medic - Gale? - pushes aside the tent flap and walks out onto the firm ground of Central Mandalore’s terrain. Gale looks at Kal, giving him a small reassuring smile and nod. “Did my best, Skirata. She’ll make it.” 

“That…That’s great. Any permanent damage?” Kal asks, his brow furrowing. 

“None that I can see… You know, she has a lot of Cabur in her. Just like her buir, eh?” Gale grins, patting Kal’s shoulder, and walks over to the center of the camp, talking with his vode.  

Kal’s footfalls are nearly silent as he slips through the tent flaps. The tent is dim, a small lantern illuminates a small area by Niva’s bedside. A thin, portable, wooden floor is all that separates Niva’s little sleeping bag from the dense clay soil. 

Thick gauze is wrapped around her sternum, cords and wires hang from tabs on her wrists and chest. The heavy, cloying scent of bacta fills the tent. Kal glances at Niva’s half open duffel bag, which she insisted Kal take with them. 

“Why is it so cold?” Niva’s quiet voice fills the tent. Kal laughs, coming over to sit on the floor beside her. 

“We’re in Central Mandalore. Up north, ad’ika,” Kal says, the nickname flowing off his tongue so naturally. He fixes the blanket lazily draped over Niva. 

“Can I ask you something?” 

“Of course.”

“How did Buir die? He always gets into fights… Why did this one kill him?”

Kal sighs, “Gale, the medic, told me that his rib punctured his heart. You know, ad’ika, even if you’re in the safest, toughest box in the entire galaxy and you’re hit tons of times, that doesn’t mean being rattled up in that box can’t hurt you.” 

Niva looks away, blinking back tears; her long lashes clumping together from the wetness. 

“And why am I alive?” She asks. 

“That little necklace, made of pure beskar. The blast hit you between the collarbones, but that little scrap of iron saved your life, ad’ika.” That does it for Niva. Her eyes brim with tears, her throat begins to tighten. The heavy feeling of grief, loneliness, survivors guilt, all coming back to her. 

“Buir g-gave me that…” 

“I… I’m sorry, ad’ika. You know… I lost my dad, too. Before becoming a mando, that is,” Kal whispers, carefully adjusting one of Niva’s many curls. 

“I’m sorry.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it.” The two quietly talk together, Kal telling Niva about the origin of his three sided knife in exchange for Niva telling him about her necklace, the metal tree now bent at an awkward angle. 

“Do you have any other family?” Kal asks after a while. 

Niva doesn’t respond right away, only looking to a corner of the tent instead. She says softly, “No.” That’s the biggest lie she’s ever told, but she can’t go back to that village. An already unstable woman, now grieving the loss of her husband… Not a good mix. 

“Alright… You can stay with me, if you-”

“Please, can I, Kal?” Niva cuts him off, her wide green eyes staring intensely into Kal’s.

“‘Course, ad’ika. Anything,” 

Two years later. 

Kamino was damp. No, it was more than damp: it was nothing but storm-whipped sea from pole to pole. The air smelled more like a hospital than a military base. 

Niva, now 16, steps close to the window separating the corridor she and Kal’buir are currently waiting in and the vast chamber of what looked to be large toroids stacked on wide pillars. 

In the past two years, Kal became Niva’s surrogate father, showing his love by telling her to call him Kal’buir - Papa Kal. He could never replace Cabur as her father, they both knew that. Yet the empty, painful hole left in Niva’s heart was slowly filled in by the presence of her Papa Kal. 

This was a mistake. Taking Niva, of all people, here. We might not leave for… For years! Jango’s gonna owe me s-

“Kal’buir… Look at the towers,” Niva says, interrupting Kal’s thoughts. 

“I don’t see anything, ad’ika.”  

“No, k’olar. Closer.” 

Kal sighs and steps beside Niva, who’s nearly as tall as him, although that isn’t saying much since he’s shorter than the average man. 

“There’s… There’s babies in those tubes, Kal…” 

Glossary & Pronunciation

Beskar'gam - Mandalorian armor [bes-car-gum] (I think). Buir - dad/mom [boo-ear] Vode - brothers/sisters/comrades [vod-ay]. (I think) Ad'ika - little one, son, daughter of any age [ah-dee-kah] Beskar - Mandalorian iron [bes-car] Kal'buir - Papa Kal [Kal-boo-ear] K'olar - come here [ko-lar]

Taglist: @fionajames @sevdidntdie @will-is-silly @hellhound5925 @skellymom @dangraccoon @the-rain-on-kamino(<- maybe you're interested?)

dividers by @saradika

[waywardxrhea]

Chapter 1 - Heart of Stone

What happens when you lie to the Devil? How long can one woman keep a lifetime of secrets from the Devil of Hell's Kitchen? The answer may surprise you...

installment list

pairing: Matt Murdock x enhanced!fem!OC

series content: coffee shop AU, fluff, humor, friends to lovers, pining, language, canon typical violence, use of guns, angst, drinking, implied smut, medical emergencies, mental health disorders (PTSD, panic disorder).

"you can build me up, you can tear me down, you can try but i'm unbreakable. you can do your best, but i'll stand the test, you'll find that i'm unshakable. when the fire's burnt, when the wind has blown, when the water's dry you'll still find stone. my heart of stone" - heart of stone, six the musical

word count: 3.9k

A series of unfortunate events leads Julianne Porter to uproot her entire life in London.

Standing at the back of the crowded church, Julianne Porter wiped away a tear that slipped from her eye despite her best efforts to keep them at bay. As she saw her father’s watchful eyes turning in her direction, she darted back behind the pillar so he didn’t see her because that would have meant certain punishment for daring to step foot into the church hosting his wife’s funeral. She was her mother too, but considering he blamed her for his wife’s untimely death in the first place, Julianne was unceremoniously barred from attending the event.

She couldn’t live with herself if she didn’t try to attend though, so she took what she could, sneaking in through the doors right as her mother’s favorite song was playing loudly through the speakers. Eileene was always a lively person and she had always made it clear to her husband Dean that when her time came, she wanted the funeral to be a joyous occasion celebrating her life, love, and career. Despite that wish though, Julianne wore all black because in the end, after what her father said to her that night, she felt she was to blame.

Giggling like a lovestruck teenager, Julianne kissed her boyfriend one last time before they came to a stop at the gate outside of the Porter family manor. “Tonight was amazing,” he told her between the last few kisses of the night.

“Thank you for taking me out, I really needed it,” she replied with a smile, wrapping her arms around his strong form, adding, “I wish it didn’t have to end.”

“Maybe it doesn’t have to… Come back to my place tonight, I’ll make it worth your while,” he told her with a sly wink.

She giggled once more before shaking her head and telling him, “I can’t, you know how it is around here. I…I really shouldn’t have even gone out tonight so last minute. If my father finds out I’ve been with you, he’ll kill me…”

“One day I’m gonna make that man like me, just you wait, darlin’,” he told her confidently.

“In your dreams, that man is-“ she started to say.

Julianne’s sentence was cut off though as she heard a scream coming from within the manor. Her eyes went wide as she pushed Kit away, telling him, “Shit, I have to go. I…I’ll call you later!”

Without a second glance back toward Kit’s shocked form, Julianne was off, racing up the drive of the manor with shaking hands, hoping for the best but expecting the worst upon hearing such an ear-splitting scream. When she got inside though, her worst fears came to fruition as she saw her mother being held at gunpoint. Upon seeing the fear in her mother’s eyes, Julianne put her hands up and said calmly, “Let’s not lose our heads now, let’s talk this out, I’m sure there’s some sort of agreement we can come to here.”

“We aren’t here to bargain princess. Grab her!” the man holding her mother snapped.

“I guess we’re doing it my way then aren’t we?” she asked before forcefully stomping on the ground, sending some of the granite flooring into the air, followed quickly by a punch to send the stone directly at the man holding her mother hostage.

“Don’t let her use her powers you blitherin’ idiots!” the man shouted.

Julianne could see two men coming at her from behind in a mirror across from her and launched an attack on them as well, causing the tile at their feet to suddenly sink into the ground, effectively trapping them in place. In her distraction of making sure that the men’s feet were thoroughly stuck, a third man came up behind her and picked her up off the ground like a daisy. 

“Let go of me! I’ll-!” she tried to shout as she struggled in the man’s strong arms.

Everything in the next few seconds happened so quickly that she didn’t even have time to think before she saw her mother’s brains being shot out of the side of her head by her captor. And Julianne? Well she was screaming bloody murder as the men ran from the house jeering at her all the while.

“What the bloody hell is going on out here, I was in the middle of a conference with a very important client about-“ came Dean Porter’s voice as he stalked into the room flanked by two men from his security detail. He stopped cold though as he saw Julianne weeping over her mother’s body, the pool of blood surrounding them growing steadily. “Ridge, Oliver, find the men who did this. I want them dead. I’ll deal with the brat…” 

A third man emerged from the room holding a binder to his chest, asking, “Dad, what-?” He too stopped cold as he saw his twin sister weeping over their mother’s body, his mouth agape and eyes wide. 

The memory was abruptly interrupted by Julianne’s phone buzzing in her trouser pocket. She sneakily ducked out of the church before answering quietly, “Hey love, everything all right?”

“Smashing,” came Kit’s bright voice from the other line. “Look, I’m really sorry you couldn’t give your mum a proper goodbye… If you want, meet me at our usual spot for some cheering up. I’ll bring your favorite.”

“You’re the best, thank you,” Julianne whispered, her voice breaking with emotion at his kindness. “I’ll see you in ten, I love you.”

“I love you more,” he replied with the slightest crack in his voice at the end. Kit had met Eileen a few weeks ago for the first time and they hit it off instantly, and even though Dean hadn’t approved of Julianne dating, Eileen was happy to see her little girl happy. So, when Julianne told Kit about witnessing her murder, he had been a bit of an emotional mess too. Ever since that night, he had been especially gentle with Julianne and her emotional state, meeting with her in their secret spot just outside of the manor every night and bringing her chocolates or champagne to help her feel better. And while the gifts did bring her joy, merely being in his warm embrace and hearing his reassuring words brought her more comfort than any tangible object could.

The walk to the manor was breezy, the chilled autumn air cutting right through Julianne’s scarf and coat. She hugged her arms close to her body as she approached the little alcove she always met Kit in, calling out quietly, “Kit, it’s Julie, you here?”

Her eyebrows knit together when she didn’t get a response and instead heard a quiet thud on the ground, one that sounded almost…wet? She peered around the corner and for the second time in as many weeks, Julianne was weeping over the body of a loved one. Her limbs went numb, and she felt lightheaded as she surveyed Kit’s battered body bleeding out onto the concrete around him.

As Julianne fell to her knees with a sob, her heart kicked into high gear, racing irregularly in her chest as black threatened to engulf her vision. The darkness started to take over as she fell to the ground, the last thing she saw before passing out was the note nailed to Kit’s chest that read, “This is on you, Julianne.”

“Is someone over here?” James asked as he and Oliver made their way into the area a few minutes later. “I thought you said you heard something,” James snapped as they walked. 

“I did, I swear it,” Oliver replied, turning the corner into the little alcove. He stopped dead in his tracks as he took in the sight in front of him: a bloodied Kit Wilson and Julianne unmoving near him. “Holy shit, James, I-”

“Shit, check on Julie, I’ll call Dad, see what he wants to do,” James said, reaching for his cell in his coat pocket. 

James heard Oliver sigh in relief after a few moments, saying, “She’s alive. Heart rate is through the roof though.”

“It’s that stupid heart condition. She’ll come to soon,” James replied as he listened to his father’s instructions over the phone, turning his back to the scene as a sly smirk twisted its way onto his face. 

“Are you sure you want to do this? There’s always time to back out,” said JD,  a friend of Julianne’s since uni. 

“Yes JD, I’m sure, I’ve been planning this for a month. I…I can’t be here anymore,” she replied quietly as she ran her fingers through her hair. “Remember your promise back when I first found out what you do?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know…” he said with an exasperated sigh. “I’m just saying, this is a big decision, and you haven’t exactly been in the best mindset since…”

“Since my mother and boyfriend were killed because of me?” she asked haughtily.

“I wouldn’t exactly put it like that…” he replied hesitantly.

“Just give me the IDs and passports JD,” she told him.

“Not until you tell me your plan to get out of the country,” he said defiantly.

“How I’m getting out of here doesn’t matter, just know that I’ll manage,” she responded.

“And that’s exactly why I’m worried, Jules. In my line of work when someone says something along those lines it means they’re about to do something either illegal or borderline suicidal. So, which is it?” he asked seriously, holding the documents closely to his body while Julianne impatiently held out her hand.

“Let’s just say that the O’Hare syndicate is about to get a pretty paycheck thanks to me,” she told him while gesturing for JD to hand over the documents.

JD made a choking noise as his eyes went wide. His eyebrows shot up as he asked, “The O’Hare syndicate? As in your father’s most powerful rival? Are you mad?!”

“Quite apparently,” she replied shortly as she snatched the documents from his loosened grip. “If my father wants to play dirty I will too. It’s only fair, innit?”

“Well while we’re on the subject, what the bloody hell is he going to say or do to me and my family when he finds out I helped you? This isn’t just about you anymore!” JD said, a bite of anger in his voice as he glared at Julianne. 

“Trust me, I’ve thought this all out. I can get you and your family out of the country too. Get a new start and get the kids away from…stuff like this,” she said, shaking her head when she ended her sentence. “All you have to do is say the word.”

“And what if your little plan doesn’t work? What if the O’Hares don’t follow through?”

“Then that means I’ll be dead and you won’t have to worry about my father blaming you for helping me. Pack what you need and only what you need. When they agree to my terms, the O’Hares will deal with the rest,” she said as she turned her back and began heading for the door.

“You seem awfully confident this is going to work,” JD called, a hint of desperation in his voice. 

“Just trust me, will you? Be ready to go come week’s end. If all goes to plan this is the last time you’ll be seeing me. Take care old chap,” she said as she pulled her hood over her head and ducked out into the gloomy London night. 

After a ride on the tube and a few minutes walk, Julianne found herself walking into a crowded pub full of Irishmen, armed to the teeth. “Oi, where can I find Sheamus around here?” she shouted, which prompted about a dozen guns and even more blades to be pointed in her direction. 

“That’s that Porter gal innit?” one man asked aloud to his buddies. 

“Why I oughta-” another growled, cocking his gun and aiming it at her forehead. 

Julianne put her hands in the air and said, “Oh calm down, I’m here to cut a deal and line all of your pockets. If I can talk to Sheamus.”

“Pat her down, make sure she isn’t armed,” the second man said while still training his pistol at her head. 

“You know she doesn’t have to have any weapons to fight right? Not with those freak powers of hers…” the first man told him as he advanced toward Julianne and began frisking her. 

“Well then check her for a wire you blitherin’ idiot!” he shouted.

After a more thorough than needed pat down, Julianne asked, “See? I’m unarmed and unwired. I came for a deal. That’s all.”

“You came into enemy territory, that's what you did, lass! Now if you don’t get out of me pub in five seconds, I’ll-” the irate man snarled before he was cut off by a handsomely dressed man entering from behind the bar.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here? Do my eyes deceive me, or is little miss Julianne Porter standing in the middle of my pub?” Sheamus O’Hare asked, throwing a pointed glare at the man with his gun trained on Julianne. 

“The one and only,” Julianne told him with a small smile. 

“Well Miss Porter, I’m not usually one to make deals with me rival’s daughter, especially one whose gotten some of me men caught due to their inability to run from the cops after you…dealt with them. So tell me why you’re here before this place lights up.”

“With all due respect, I’d rather not discuss intricacies in front of so many men, especially ones with guns pointed at me,” she told him, taking a quick glance around the many guns still trained on her. 

“Give me one good reason to let you back into my office and let you walk out of here alive,” he countered. 

“The shipment that’s coming in tomorrow night for my father. The details are yours if you and your men agree to my terms,” she said, not breaking eye contact with him for even a second. 

A smirk slowly made its way onto Sheamus’s face as he gestured for the men to lower their weapons. He reached out a hand for Julianne to take as he said to her, “If that intel’s good, I think we can make the proper arrangements. Follow me.”

As she followed him back to his office, he asked, “So what made you want to turn on your old man?”

“He had my boyfriend killed. I think it’s about proper time he got what’s coming for him,” she replied as she took a seat across from him.

He ran his hand over his facial hair while contemplating the sincerity behind her words before asking, “So what’s in it for us?”

Julianne scoffed, telling him, “Only the biggest shipment this country’s ever seen. It’s coming directly from Mexico with the product hidden in clothing, ready for sale. If you take over the shipment from the seller, you’ll not only get the product, but you’ll also be making him lose money. The daft bastard’s already paid. So he’ll be out and you’ll be swimming in more money than you’ll know what to do with.”

Sheamus narrowed his eyes and asked, “What’s the catch? You seem like you’re a smart girl, there’s no way you’re just doing this to get revenge.”

“So you O’Hares are brighter than they say you are,” she told him with a wink. “But you’re right, there are a few things I want in return.”

“What is it?”

“I need you to help me fake my death and the death of JD Williams plus his family. And you need to make it look damn good because you’ll be sending photographic proof of my death to my father. Once you do those things, we’ll all be out of the country and the slate will be wiped clean. You get a seller, I get revenge and to safety, my father loses. It’s a win-win for the both of us. So, what do you say? Do we have a deal?” When she finished her side of the bargain, she crossed her legs as she waited for his response. 

“So you’re telling me that you’ll give me the information on these shipments in trade for faking some deaths?” Sheamus asked as a wide smile broke out onto his face. 

“That’s it. No tricks, no turning sides when your men are at the docks, just pure revenge.”

“You got a heart o’ stone on ya, don’t ya? I like the sound o’ that,” Sheamus said enthusiastically as he stood up to shake her hand. He put his arm around her waist as they exited the room, telling her, “Now let’s get some Guinness in ya and talk details with my men, yeah?”

Come the end of the week, Crystal was standing near the harbour’s entryway with her hands tucked in her pockets waiting for her father’s men to show up to be ambushed by O’Hare’s men. When a couple finally showed up, she asked them, “What the hell? You were supposed to be here a half hour ago! My father is not going to be pleased with you!”

“Sweetheart, we’ve been run ragged by your old man trying to finish selling from the last shipment, give us a break!” Donnelly snapped as he shoved past her. 

“And don’t plan on just standing here like you always do, you’re coming in with us. Since Mummy isn’t around to stop you from helping out anymore, your old man told us to have you tag along. In case things go bad. Rumor has it the Wellenelly men might be trying to get a piece of the action so he wants you nearby. Got it?”

“Got it,” she said, trying to hide the sudden fear in her voice. She told O’Hare’s men that she would be waiting at the entrance… What if this messes everything up?

As she followed the two men down the dock and heard a truck pulling up nearby to pick up the shipping crate, she hoped that at least one of the men tailing her heard so they could change the plan. She waited with baited breath as she followed the two men toward the designated ship that was bobbing in the water. The man standing near the ledge looked up and said in a hostile tone, “I thought there were only supposed to be two of you.”

“There was a change in personnel,” Donnelly told the man while reaching for a pen in his pocket. 

“I was told that I can only hand off the shipment if there were two men with your description. There wasn’t no girl on the roster!” he countered. 

“Well this here girl is the boss man’s daughter, so unless you want to take this up with Mr. Porter yourself and risk a bullet in the brain, I would-” He couldn’t finish his sentence though as out of seemingly nowhere, the butt of a gun came down hard on his temple.

Instinctively, Julianne told the second man to get down and went into a fighting stance before she felt a sharp knife press to her throat. She froze on the spot, eyes wide as she began pleading for her father’s worker to help. “You so much as think about using your freak powers and I’ll slit your throat faster than you can beg for Daddy’s help,” said the man holding her hostage. 

Before he could do anything though, there were three more O’Hare men on the scene, beating the two Porter men. Right before the second passed out from his injuries, the victor spit near his unmoving body and said, “You tell Porter that his shipment is ours and so is his whore daughter!” He turned his attention to the man holding Julianne and snapped, “Take care of her and make sure Porter knows not to mess with us from here on out!”

“What do you want me to do to her?” he asked with a smugness in his voice as he pressed the blade further into her skin, drawing blood. 

“Kill her for all I care!” the first man said before turning his attention to the man on the boat. 

“This is gonna hurt,” muttered the man holding Julianne as he took a swift swing at her temple that had her vision blacking out faster than she could process what was happening. 

By the time she came to, Julianne was in what seemed like an abandoned hotel with blood smeared all over her body, clothes, and hair. The smell was horrendous and she tried not to gag as she sat up from her position on the floor. “Oh you’re awake, finally. I didn’t think you were going to come to,” came a woman’s voice from behind a camera nearby. “Go on, you can get up, we just finished taking all the photos we needed to send to your father.”

“God, what is that smell?” Julianne asked as she stood up and looked at what seemed to be a brutal crime scene. 

“Sheep’s blood. The fake shit they use for theatre wasn’t gonna cut it, so I got some real blood. Hope you don’t mind.”

“I don’t guess I had a choice, did I?” she asked as she caught the towel the woman tossed her. 

She took a quick shower to wash off the blood and emerged feeling refreshed. As she looked at herself through the fogged up mirror, Julianne shook her head and grabbed the scissors she brought with her into the bathroom and began cutting her long hair. Once she got her hair looking neat enough resting on her shoulders, she emerged from the bathroom to meet with the woman again. 

“Nice cut, but you missed a few spots,” the woman said with a light laugh as she took the scissors from Julianne and tidied the haircut up. As she finished up, she added, “You don’t have much time before you need to get out of the country, are your arrangements ready?” 

Julianne nodded, checking her watch as she told her, “Flight’s in three hours. Red eye to the States.” She paused for a moment, telling the woman, “Thank you guys…”

“Thank you,” the woman said with a small smile on her lips. She paused for a second before saying, “Once you exit those doors, Julianne Porter will no longer exist. I hope you know what you’re doing. And when you get there, cover up that God-awful paperboy hat tattoo if you know what’s good for you.”

“Don’t worry, I can handle myself. My mother raised me right,” she replied as she exited the building with her sunglasses on and hood pulled over her head. 

“Miss Shaw?” came a voice as she felt a tapping on her shoulder, rousing her from her slumber. She made a noise of discontent as she stirred awake, her joints aching from sitting for so long. “Miss Shaw, we landed in New York. We’re deplaning now.”

“Oh, right, sorry,” she replied in a groggy voice as she stood up and grabbed her carry on from the overhead bin. 

As she walked out of the plane and through the airport, Julianne suddenly felt a weight lift off her shoulders at the prospect of freedom ahead of her. She would no longer be under her father’s control. She would no longer have her every move tracked. She could have a life! Friends! A normal job! And all that began to happen as she stepped out of the doors of JFK and onto the New York streets, not as Julianne Porter, but as Crystal Shaw.

next chapter

[motleymunson27]

The Hangover, Motionless In White edition. Part 1.

Feels like this is a bad idea but still doing it.

Sum: Pretty much exactly what the title says.

Content: Fluffy & angsty. Be prepared for craziness.

Authors note: Zeppelin is one of my OC’s, thought it’d be easier to write not in third person and I’m way too lazy to go through and change to Y/N (sorry), so if you want just switch out my characters name with your own.

This is going to have to be multiple parts because it’s just going to be way too long if I put it all into one link. This is part 1, not sure how many there will be but part 2 should be coming soon! Then I will eventually get to the wedding part which will be its own part.

(Btdubs, I know Chris doesn’t drink but it’s his bachelor party, let’s just pretend he has a couple drinks for the sake of the story).

~~~~~~

There were 3 days before Chris and Zeppelin were getting married.

Everything was arranged and there was still so many things needed to be done before the wedding, like the bachelor/bachelorette parties.

As a part of his wedding present, Ricky surprised Chris with a trip to Vegas.

Which was a little worrying to say the least because, well, it’s Vegas. Anything can happen.

So the Thursday Chris and his groomsmen were set to head out and party, Zeppelin gave him only one rule.

“Do not turn your party into anything like in The Hangover. Or the second one. I don’t need you waking up in Bangkok or to Mike Tyson’s tiger in the bathroom or losing any teeth or getting a tattoo on your face or losing any of your fingers or getting shot or getting lost or paying anyone $80,000 for anything. Just promise me you will not do anything like that.”

And while that brought the guys to laugh, Chris promised that they’ll stay in line.

“We’ll be fine, baby,” he chuckled before pulling her in for a long hug, which didn’t last long as Justin immediately clapped his hand on the roof of the limo he was getting into.

Yep, Ricky got a limo to take them to Vegas.

Chris would have been fine driving his own car but Ricky insisted that he’d take care of everything as the best man so they were taking a limo.

“C’mon lovebirds, let’s go! Vegas is waiting for us! Save the loving for the honeymoon!” He shouted, causing everyone in the car to laugh as Chris gave Zeppelin one last kiss.

“Alright. Have fun in Mexico. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Zeppelin smiled, with one last kiss on Chris’ jawline. “I mean it, do not turn your party into the fourth Hangover.”

“I promise you, we won’t.”

And off the guys went.

~~~~~~

“Alright, thanks a lot,” Ricky thanked the driver, leaving him a generous tip as the other guys got their luggage out of the trunk.

“Ok, double check so we’re not fucked, passports?” Ricky began listing the most important items they all needed.

“Yes.”

“Wallets and cellphones?”

“Yes.”

“Suitcases?”

“Yes.”

“Vehicle keys even though we don’t need them?”

“Yes.”

“Most importantly, do we have the groom?”

That one made everyone laugh. “Yes, I’m here,” Chris confirmed.

“Alright then let’s go.”

Check in went smoothly, now the guys were just waiting to board.

The guys were just sitting and chilling while Chris slipped away towards a giant window, his phone in hand as he pressed on Zeppelin’s contact.

The phone rang for a few seconds before connecting. “Hello?”

“Hi baby,” Chris began, pacing back and forth next to the window, watching planes coming in and taking off. “We just got through check in, should be boarding soon.”

“That’s great, hotshot,” she said over the phone, Chris couldn’t see her right now but she was just in the middle of getting ready for her own little getaway with her bridesmaids in Mexico before the wedding. “How’s everyone else doing?”

Chris glanced back at his bandmates, who were still just waiting. “Good. We made sure we had everything when we were dropped off. Ricky made sure I was the most important thing needed,” he laughed, bringing Zeppelin to laugh with him.

“Well that’s good of him to do. He’s your best man, it’s his job to make sure you’re alive and well for the next 2 days,” she chuckled, looking in her mirror while trying to decide between two different partying outfits. “Hey, I know you’re obviously not here and can’t decide for me but which one, red or black?” She asked, interchanging holding both outfits to her neck.

“If it’s the one I’m thinking of, black,” Chris answered. “You always look great in it.”

Zeppelin blushed. “Thanks babe.”

Just before Chris could continue the conversation, he heard Ricky calling for him that their gate was called. “Alright, I gotta go, plane’s boarding. I’ll meet you at the altar,” Chris said, cutting the conversation short.

“Alright, have fun but not too much fun!”

“You too, I love you.”

“I love you too. Bye.”

“Bye.”

~~~~~~

Caesars Palace was absolutely gorgeous.

Huge ceilings, velvet carpets and curtains, wrought iron interior design, fountains, televisions, a casino, a restaurant, a pool, marble floors and pillars holding the building up, the whole nine yards.

Absolutely beautiful.

Pretty much every sentence that came out of Chris’ mouth was him thanking Ricky for doing this.

“Hey, you’re getting married, you deserve this,” he shrugged like it was no big deal, meanwhile they were all standing in the Caesars Palace hotel in Vegas.

“I just wish you’d let me chip in a bit. I mean, we drove up in a limo, we’re staying in a hotel that costs a fortune for just one night, and you’re paying for pretty much everything. I just don’t want this to effect your finances,” Chris reasoned, trailing along beside his best man with his suitcase to the check-in desk.

Ricky just shook his head. “Are you crazy? No, this is all on us. You and Zeppelin are already spending enough to make this wedding happen, plus you’re flying your families out to L.A. which already a few thousand for tickets, it’s only fair I cover your bachelor party and everything else. It’s my job as best man,” he declared as they reached the check-in desk.

“Hello, Welcome to Caesars, checking in?” The receptionist, Miranda, asked.

“Yeah, there should be a reservation under Richard Olsen,” Ricky explained to her as she searched his name in her computer. “I believe it’s a suite.”

“Just a second. Yep, right here, says here I have you booked for a 3 bedroom suite on the 12th floor,” Miranda confirmed, continuing to type on her keyboard. “Does that sound right?”

“Sounds great,” Ricky said as he handed over his credit card. “Thank you very much.”

“You’re very welcome,” Miranda smiled as she took Ricky’s card and scanned it then continued doing her check-in work. “What brings you guys to Vegas? Sports game? Wedding?” She then asked.

“Close,” Chris answered, leaning on the counter next to Ryan and Vinny. “Bachelor party. I’m getting married back in L.A. on Saturday.”

“Oh congratulations, I’m sure she’s beautiful,” Miranda said with another smile. “What’s her name?”

“Zeppelin. And yeah, she is absolutely gorgeous,” Chris smiled back as Miranda’s computer beeped. “We themed it to be all gothic and dark with lots of dark colours.”

“Sounds like quite the wedding. Uhm, ok, you guys are golden, enjoy your stay with us,” she finished, handing back Ricky’s credit card and a few room keys.

“I’m sure we will,” Ricky smiled back. “Thank you,” He thanked, dispersing the room keys to his band mates.

“Congratulations on the wedding again!” Miranda shouted to Chris before they got too far.

“Thank you!” He shouted back as they piled into the elevator, and ascended to the 12th floor.

~~~~~~

“Nope, alright,” Chris said as they approached a set of double doors. “That’s it, when we get to do a bachelor party for you, I’m paying for everything. This is already way too much, man. I mean first a trip to Vegas, which is already a fortune and a half, then a limo to take us to Vegas, then a suite on the top floor of an expensive ass hotel that has double doors. We’re aren’t rich enough to even be reserving a suite,” he said to Ricky, still not believing anything of what Ricky had done for him so far.

“Hey, you’re my best friend and you deserve this because you’re getting married to the love of your life,” Ricky said as he used his room key to open the doors.

“No, there is no way you’re getting out of this without a huge thank you,” Chris declared. “I’m repaying you for paying for my bachelor party by paying for yours when-slash-if that ever happens. That’s it, done, declared.”

“Can we just open the doors and get in already?” Ryan asked, clearly annoyed with his bickering bandmates.

“You guys can fight to the death over some form of repayment after the wedding,” Vinny finished, antsy to get inside the room.

And with that, Justin pushed the double doors open. And the inside of the room was absolutely insane.

If they thought the lobby was beautiful, the room they were staying in was absolutely gorgeous.

“Now this is Vegas!” Justin shouted as he perused the huge room.

It had a huge living room with a long sectional couch, a large coffee table, pillars holding the ceiling up, a huge mini bar with a tv in the centre of it, huge windows, a little breakfast nook, three bedrooms like the receptionist said was included, 5 really nice bathrooms with walk-in showers—3 of which were built into all 3 bedrooms—, and a huge balcony overlooking the huge city.

“The chick said this was all one suite, right?” Vinny asked, looking around at the beautiful room, still holding his bags.

“Fucking hell,” Chris muttered as he took in the beauty of the room he and his groomsmen/bandmates would be staying in. “Seriously, I can’t thank you guys enough for this. Or should I be saying, “Thank you, Ricky”?” he thanked with a laugh.

“You’re welcome, only ‘cause I love you and, because uh, Zeppelin said she’d strangle me with my shoelaces if something happens to you,” Ricky said back as he set his bags down next to the sectional. “So, only the best.”

“Is that why you’re being so generous and refusing to let me pay for anything?” Chris asked. “Because my almost wife threatened to kill you if I got hurt?”

“Hey, no offence but your almost wife is absolutely terrifying when she’s upset.”

Chris chuckled. “Yeah, you don’t wanna get in a fight with her, that’s for sure.”

“Alright, who’s bunking with who?” Ryan asked. “And no one say with Chris. He gets his own room, it’s only fair.”

“C’mon, you guys don’t have to do that just because I’m getting married. Hell, you guys didn’t have to do half the little stuff we’ve done already.” Chris defended, only for Justin to pipe up.

“No he’s right. You’re the groom, you’re getting your own room whether you like it or not,” he declared. “Alright, everyone unpack then get dressed, be ready in half an hour, we’re getting drunk tonight.”

“Woah, hold up,” Chris interrupted. “Zeppelin said not to turn this into The Hangover. Not sure it’s a good idea to drink all night.”

“C’mon man, it’s your bachelor party. Who doesn’t drink at a bachelor party?” Justin questioned. “Better yet, who doesn’t drink at their own bachelor party?”

“He’s got a point,” Ricky muttered, his arms crossed over his chest. “But I would think we’d have the self control to not make this like The Hangover. And it’s not like any of us are stupid enough to buy anything from a random guy outside a liquor store and I don’t believe any of us have any type of connection to Mike Tyson, unless you invited him to the wedding to sing One Night in Bangkok,” he joked, making everyone chuckle.

“Trust me, I did not.”

“Ok so then let’s just get dressed up, go down to the restaurant then see how we’re feeling after eating. Just let us spoil you for the next 48 hours. Alright?”

“Alright.”

~~~~~~

And 30 minutes later, the guys were down in the restaurant-bar, and, of course, Justin ordered everyone a shot of whiskey.

“Alright, let’s make a toast,” he began, lifting his shot glass as everyone else did the same. “To Chris and Zeppelin, may tonight be a night we’ll never forget before the beginning of a very happy, healthy marriage.”

“Cheers.”

“Thanks man.”

But just you wait because Justin’s toast was only the beginning of a night that they guys will never want to remember. Or just never remember in general.

Because the next morning, Justin woke up in one of the 3 walk-in showers, soaking wet, with a half empty bottle of bourbon in his hand.

“Oh, fuck,” he muttered as his eyes fluttered back shut, before snapping back open as he sat up and violently looked around the room for any sign of a tiger. That was not there. “Fuck, thank god,” he muttered again before slowly standing up and trying not to slip and fall, his neon green hair a rats nest.

Just by looking at the bathroom, he could tell they did the one thing Zeppelin told them not to do as he did what he could to wring out his wet clothes. How he ended up in a shower was completely beyond him.

Slowly, Justin stumbled out of the bathroom and into the main room.

Which was absolutely trashed.

“Fucking Christ,” he whispered to himself as he looked around the room, clearly very hungover, his dress shirt wrinkled and unbuttoned and a huge hole in a leg of his jeans.

As he tried his best to remember what happened last night, he tripped over something in the process.

Or rather, he tripped over someone because there laid Ryan, only wearing his jeans and a hoodie.

Slowly sitting up, Ryan slowly became aware of what just kicked him in his ribs. “What the fuck…?”

“Sorry man,” Justin apologized, panting with his hands on his hips as he looked around for everyone else.

“What the fuck happened?” Ryan asked, shielding his eyes from the blinding sun. Justin just sighed.

“I’m-uh, I’m pretty sure, *breath*, we did exactly what Zeppelin didn’t want us to do,” he answered, continuing to peruse the destroyed room with a yawn. “You okay man?” He asked Ryan, who was now crouched over, holding onto a pillar to keep himself upright.

“No, I am in so much pain right now,” he muttered, blinking a few times before looking around the room as well. “Anyone else in here? Why are you wet?”

“I woke up in the damn shower,” Justin sighed as he scanned the room before falling on Ricky, who was absolutely passed out on the couch.

With a bruised and busted face, his dress shirt stained with his own blood on the collar.

“God damn,” Justin muttered as he stumbled towards the couch. “Rick?”

No response.

“Rick,” Justin said again a little louder than gently shook Ricky awake, who then immediately jumped in his seat.

“What’s going on?” He asked, his voice very deep, which makes sense as he just woke up. “Why are you all wet?”

“You got a black eye, man,” Justin said, not answering Ricky’s question while looking around for something reflective then landing on a silver platter. “Did you get in a damn fist fight?” He asked, handing Ricky the platter.

“Fucking Christ,” Ricky muttered, dropping the shiny object and rubbing his eyes before realizing the amount of pressure he was putting on his injured one. “Ow! Fuck.”

“Well at least you’re not missing any teeth,” Justin muttered, his hands holding his head up, his elbows propped up on his knees.

“Oh my god,” Ryan groaned, crashing down onto the other end of the big couch, his face in his hands. “What the fuck did we do? How much did we drink?”

“I don’t fucking know,” Justin muttered, also crashing next to Ricky and still holding his hand on his forehead, feeling the headache coming.

The three guys remained silent for a few minutes before the sound of something falling scared the shit out of them. “Jesus Chri-!”

Slowly, they all stood up from the couch and made their way over to where they heard the crash.

And there was Vinny, face down on the floor and slowly waking up in front of the table. Which he must have just fell off of.

Quickly, Ricky and Justin ran over to help him up as Ryan looked around the room for Chris.

But seeing no sign of him…

“Fuck Rick, what happened to your face?” Vinny asked as he slowly managed to stand up with Ricky’s hand on his back.

“No fucking idea, dude,” Ricky sighed. “You ok?”

“Uh, guys?” Ryan asked as Justin was helping Vinny into another chair.

“What?” Ricky questioned, taking a seat in one of the chairs, having found a cold can of something he was now holding to his eye.

“Where’s Chris?”

And that’s when they all looked at each other before immediately panicking.

“Shit!” Justin panicked, jumping over the couch and coffee table rather than going around before he busted into Chris’ room.

But the groom was not in his bed.

“He’s not in his room,” Justin said to the other three who were looking everywhere they could.

They looked in the bathrooms, the other two bedrooms, everywhere they could think of.

“He’s not here!”

“Fuck!” Ricky yelled, his hands clutching his head before turning around to his bandmates. “We did exactly what Zeppelin told us not to do! It’s The Hangover Part 4, Motionless In White edition!”

“Alright, alright,” Vinny said from the table. “Let’s not panic, let’s not panic. We don’t know that for sure. He could have just went down to the pool for breakfast. Who has a phone on them?”

The guys began feeling around for a phone in their pockets, which Ryan found his. “I got it!” He shouted as he immediately dialled Chris’ number.

It rang for a few seconds before the guys heard Chris’ ringtone coming from the balcony.

Vinny immediately ran out to the balcony, and there was Chris’ phone on the table outside.

And still no Chris.

“God damn it!” He yelled, coming back into the room. “It is The Hangover!”

“Fuck!” Ricky shouted from the bar, slamming his fist down on the counter. “Zeppelin’s gonna kill me.”

“No she’s no—,” Justin tried to intervene before Ricky interrupted him.

“Do not say she’s not going to kill me!” He growled. “She said that if she finds out that I lost her almost husband, she’s hanging me with me guts! I’m not scared of many things but let me tell you this, Zeppelin scares the shit out of me when she’s pissed! I’m his best man, it was my job to make sure Chris stayed alive, she made that very clear! And I very clearly failed!”

“Will you just calm down?! We don’t know if he’s dead or not!” Ryan shouted from the window. “We just don’t know where he is. The wedding is at 1:00 tomorrow, so we have until then to find Chris and get back to L.A. We can figure this out.”

“Thank you, Ryan,” Justin thanked sarcastically, only making Ricky glare at him. “Alright, let’s think about this. What was the last thing everyone remembers?” He asked, looking around for a pen and piece of paper.

“Well I remember going down to the bar then you got us each a shot, then we went to the casino and played blackjack, and, uh, the last thing I remember was you shaking me awake and telling me I have a black eye.”

Justin took a deep breath. “Alright, Ryan, what do you remember?”

Ryan shrugged. “You tripping over me,” he glowered, rubbing his eyes with his knuckles.

“Alright, will you get off my ass about that? I didn’t know you were there,” Justin grumbled. “Vin? You remember anything that doesn’t involve me?”

Vinny shook his head with a yawn. “I don’t remember anything after blackjack, I hardly remember going to play.”

“Alright well at least we have something we can go off of,” Justin said as he began to button his shirt. “Lets go down to the casino and see if anyone recognizes us and ask if they’ve seen Chris.”

~~~~~~

Let me know what you guys think! Part 2 will hopefully be up soon. If you have any ideas on what I should put in part 2, leave a comment or reblog with a suggestion!

[little-miss-moonstone]

The Red Thread (Carmy x OC)

Chapter Two | Somewhere Between

Previous | Next | Series Master List

Summery: After Natalie begs Rori to help with some paperwork at the restaurant, Rori and Carmy come to an agreement.

WARNING: Anxiety, blood, almost vomit?, brief mention of past depression, very little editing. I think that’s all, once again just let me know if something needs to be added :)

Fear consumed Carmen as he watched Rori lying on the floor of the kitchen blood pooling by her side. She was struggling to breathe almost like she was drowning. He could hear everyone around him panicking, Sugar screaming for someone to call 911. It seemed like everything was happening in slow motion around the two of them. He didn’t notice when, but he was now on his knees by her side holding her hand as the blood soaked into his jeans.

“Help me, Carmy. Please, help me,” She begged.

He tried using a rag to apply pressure to the wound and the sound of her wincing through sobs broke something deep within him. How could this be happening? Hadn’t they all been through enough? Her whispering for help was all he could hear as he stared into her eyes, praying they didn’t close for good. He leaned in, noticing an orange glow in her irises. He wondered if that was what happened when someone was dying. He leaned in closer than before to see the reflection of fire dancing in her eyes, and the moment he turned around the fire alarm was blaring.

“Fuck!” Carmen cursed as he woke to realize he had almost set his apartment on fire. He opened the window while using the fire extinguisher to put out the blaze on his stove. He began fanning the smoke out the window and the alarm soon stopped. He sat on his couch with a glass of water seeing it was 1:30 in the morning. His breathing was starting to slow down from his actual nightmare and the one in his kitchen, glancing over to the journal on the coffee table, he leaned forward to grab it. He flipped it open, studying the polaroid that lay inside. He and Rori from Christmas 2018, or from what they called it, Fishmas. It was a candid shot neither of them had known was taken until Mikey had given it to him at the end of the night. The two of them were standing in front of the pantry, she had just arrived and greeted him with a hug. She pulled back and he said something that had made her laugh, his arm was still around her waist and she had put a hand on his chest as she smiled. If any stranger saw the photo they would have thought the two were a couple. He admired the picture for a few more seconds before putting it back and flipping to a blank page when his pen acted as a bookmark.

Dear Rori,

I saw you today for the first time in 3 years. You took my breath away, but you’ve never had that problem. I didn’t know what to do, or say, I thought I would never see, or hear from you again. That is my fault, I know, but I couldn’t risk you leaving me. I wish I never shut you out, you were all I ever truly had that was mine. You could have actually been mine and I ruined that too. I miss you, I miss you more than I ever thought was possible, and it's weird now because you're here and I saw you, but I still miss you. I guess that's because nothing’s changed and yet everything has changed. I used to know everything about you, your favorite song, color, flower. How you always prefer waffles to pancakes and when pinks and blues paint the sky at sunset. You’re scared of the dark and you can't sleep on the side of the bed closest to the door and the TV has to stay on. You adore dogs and you used to cry when we would pass the animal shelter. You hate summer and when Mikey and Richie would pin you down and tickle you and these days I would assume you hate me too, and I can't even blame you for it. I want to fix this, I want us to at least be friends because I can't imagine that you still love me, and I can’t stand for you to haunt another one of my dreams.

Yours forever,

Carmy

He closed the journal and moved it back to its spot on the coffee table, before lying back down on the couch and letting the TV lull him back to sleep.

Natalie invited Rori over to her house for breakfast in hopes of guilting her into helping find the missing tax forms at the restaurant. Rori almost choked on a piece of French toast at the idea of being around Carmy. She tried to voice her opinion but Sugar began to ramble on.

“No, Rori I need some help, and if it's you that helps then Carmen can run the kitchen so he won’t even be in the office. I have to find these documents or the IRS will cease my fucking home, please Rori, please, please, plea-“

“Fine! I’ll help,” She sighed.

“Thank you,” Sugar smiled. A comfortable silence fell upon the room for a brief second before Sugar spoke again, “Would it honestly be a bad thing if you and Carmy became friends again?” Rori sighed again, taking a moment to gather her thoughts.

“No, if we’re being honest, I would love that, but I doubt he would ever open up like that to me again. And, for shits and gigs, let's say he did, it took me months to cope with him cutting me out of his life. I-I don’t know if I could handle that again, I’ve never been so depressed in my entire life,” She paused. “You know how I feel about Camry, I don’t think there will ever come a time where I don’t feel that for him. It’s been three years, and when I saw him yesterday it was like the last 30 years flashed through my head, like everything came back to me, and despite the instant panic I just wanted to hug him because it actually felt like I was finally home.”

Nat’s eyes were glassy and she tried her hardest to hold it in, while another part of her couldn’t believe how much of an idiot her brother was. She had known since they were 10 that they were the perfect pair, not to mention both sets of parents often joked about the two growing up and getting married. Everyone expected it, so much that when Rori came home for Christmas in 2019, Mikey, Natalie, and Richie were shocked to hear that the two were no longer on speaking terms. She now hoped that if the two could just talk things out, maybe one day Rori would get to be her sister, like how they used to talk about as teens.

Rori became more anxious as they parked in the back of the restaurant, she was just thankful Richie was the only one taking a smoke break. She wiped her palms on her jeans before they started walking towards the door. She decided she was going to be cordial, she didn’t want to push Carmy away any further than he had already pushed. She was just going to stay in the office with Sugar and try to find this stupid document as quickly as possible.

After greeting Richie she slipped inside behind Sug and tried to keep her eyes on the ground. Carmen’s voice quickly got her to glance up as he was talking to Marcus a few feet in front of her. Their eyes met for a moment before she darted into the office and was quickly greeted by the poster of Fenway Park. A shiver went down her spine thinking about Micheal and how much time he spent in the office. She wondered if this was the last place he was before he went to the bridge that day, and she knew it was stupid to wonder things that were facts.

Two hours later they were still sifting through the never-ending paperwork. They were both growing frustrated and the office looked like a wreck. Rori was so grateful her phone began to ring. She noticed it was her publisher and quickly stepped out into the back alley. It was only a few moments later when Richie stepped out for a smoke break. He could tell it wasn’t a pleasant phone call from her constantly furrowing her brow and pinching the bridge of her nose. He took another drag just as she hung up. She looked at him and then at the cigarette he loosely held by his side.

“Can I?” She asked, gesturing to the American Spirit. He lifted his hand to offer the cigarette to her with a perplexed look on his face.

“When did Rori Bear start smoking?” He chuckled as she took a drag.She could feel her stress levels decreasing, even though she knew cigarettes didn’t help. She gave herself a moment before answering.

“Uh, I don’t know, about three years ago. I don’t smoke all the time though, it’s more of like an “I’m really stressed, or I have writer's block, or I just got off the phone with my publisher and they're bitching for a sequel” thing,” She shrugged before taking another drag and handing the cigarette back over.

“I’m sorry by the way, for calling you Rori Bear, it’s just habit y’know,” He apologized. It made her heart drop a bit that he felt the need to even say that. The nickname had always made her laugh, at least when she got older.

“No, no. It’s fine, I promise. Mikey always called me that, even after Carmy and I stopped talking so it’s okay,” She assured him with a smile. It wasn’t much longer before the two headed inside and she went back to the office to find Carmen and Natalie going through the mess together.

She went back to her spot trying not to focus on him too much, it was hard, but they all had their separate piles they were working out of. There was small talking happening mostly between Rori and Natalie or Carmy and Natalie, but that was better than silence. She got stuck on a piece of paper, it had MIkey's handwriting all over it, and then she noticed her handwriting. She remembered it from when she helped out during the pandemic. She had gone into the office and left him a note to remember to call the fridge guy and it ended up with them having a whole conversation every time one of them replied. She smiled brushing her hand over the ink, unaware that Carmen was glancing over at her.

“Oh, shit. I forgot to call Pete,” Sugar announced before slipping out of the office before either one of them could say a word.

Rori and Carmen both looked from the door and then to each other, then immediately to the papers they were both holding. He wanted to say something, but he thought he might vomit, or stutter, and that made him want to vomit more. Just say something, say anything!

“Uhh, so Book of the Year, is that like a big deal or?” He asked and then immediately regretted it.

“Kind of. I mean, yeah. I don’t know.” She settled on an answer all the while feeling like an idiot.

Carmen chuckled a bit, “You don’t know?” Despite him thinking he could’ve asked a million better questions he didn’t think that one was hard.

“Yeah, it is a big deal, but being the youngest to ever win a Pulitzer stunts your judgment on what is a big deal or not, y’know?” She explained trying to sound as humble as possible. Carmen just hummed in response, he did understand, which is why he didn’t care for awards all that much. Rori now realized it was her turn to ask something and she felt like there was a lump in her throat. She could ask all the questions she had been dying to know. Why did you push me out? Did our friendship ever mean as much to you as it did to me? Was there ever a point where you could have loved me?

“How has it been running this place? I mean besides all the shit that became yours and Sug’s problem.”

Carmen began to fiddle with the paper in his hand, trying to calculate a response that wasn’t completely unhinged. I’m so stressed I almost set my apartment on fire. I feel like one more thing might make me crumble.

“I-it’s definitely a change of pace from New York, but it’s not bad,” He tried his best not to lie. The room became quiet, but the tone wasn’t clear, it lingered somewhere between comfortable and awkward. They both knew it wouldn’t take much to make it flip, both of them grabbing folders to keep looking. She wanted to carry on a conversation with him, connect with him about something— anything. She opened her mouth to ask if Mikey ever got the fridge fixed, but he spoke first.

“Yo, I think this is it,” He leaned toward her to show her inside the blue folder labeled “Shit”. She met him halfway taking in the tax document not realizing how close their faces were.

“Yeah, yeah that’s it,” She smiled looking over to see his face an inch or two away. She glanced to his eyes wanting to burn the shade of blue even further into her mind, it was her favorite. He had always been a hard person to read, but not for her, she could practically see the gears in his head turning, he was trying to think of something to say.

“What is it, Carmy?” She asked, trying to pull the thoughts from his head. Say something, tell me anything, anything at all.

“Do you, uh, do you think we could talk, y’know about,” He paused to collect his thoughts again, “I think we should talk about things if you’re up for it. We’re both home and it’s clear that we’re going to see each other a lot. I just don’t want anyone to feel like they have to tiptoe around us.” I don’t want to tiptoe around you.

“I agree. Can you come over after work tomorrow?” She asked. Can you come over? I've wanted to show you my house since the day I bought it.

He agreed as Sugar came back into the office, the two shuffled apart proudly presenting the document to shut down anything she might say. After she and Natalie got the office back into some kind of order the two girls left, making an impromptu stop at the farmer’s market. Natalie obliged because she had nothing better to do, and after being stuck in the restaurant for hours the outdoor air seemed nice. They carried on a conversation about the “What ifs” in life coming to a bunch of unserious conclusions, laughing as Rori picked up some vegetables.

“What if you were picking up ingredients to cook Carmy dinner?” Natalie asked. She knew it was a bold assumption, but the mood in the office seemed lighter when she returned and she saw how close they were. Rori froze her hand going to pick up a tomato, she felt her cheeks warming up, and she just prayed her face wasn’t red.

“Well, I am picking up ingredients to cook dinner tomorrow night. If he eats, that's his decision,” She replied in a matter-of-fact tone. She didn’t have to look to know the grin on Natalie’s face stretched from ear to ear. She figured she had better do some damage control before Natalie got her hopes up. “We’re going to talk about everything. We figured it was better to get it all out there than to keep dancing around it. It does not mean anything is going to change, it just means we’ll be on the same page about all of it.”

The smile was still present on Natalie’s face, she knew this could only go well— no, this had to go well, for everyone's sake. She didn’t want to imagine what it would be like if it went wrong, she would be stuck facilitating every interaction the two had, not to mention what it would do to both their mental health. She pushed the thought as far back as she could. This was Rori and Carmy and she knew their story wasn’t over yet.

Chapter two!!! Please like, or reblog, or something! I hope you’re all having a wonderfully week!! My birthday is Saturday so I’m hoping to have another chapter out before then, or at the latest Sunday:) I going to do flashback I just haven’t decided if those are going to be actual chapters or like sub chapters, or maybe apart of chapter… ugh anyways, see you soon!

[anditvanisheslikemist]

Hi!! I'd love to see any combo/one of these for Josh or Ian 😊 38, 50, 67

These are the prompts in case you haven't seen them

Thanks for the prompts! 💙💚

38. “Just let me take care of you why are you so stubborn.” 50. “You sneezed ten times today.” “Thanks for counting.” 67. Having to be dragged back to bed.

I'm taking the dialogue prompts in particular as inspiration rather than exact quotes!

For anyone who doesn't know, my OCs Josh and Ian are best friends and 2/5 of the band The World Above. Their story starts with Sympathy, but you don't need to read that first (it's pretty long). As of this little fic, they're halfway across the country from each other, Josh in Chicago and Ian in L.A.

Also on AO3.

- - - - -

"Why are you even awake? It's so early there."

Ian turns a full circle as he's looking for something, the video blurring enough to make Josh dizzy. "Because! Shit to do." He blinks, and his nose scrunches, and he leans out of frame with a quick heh-SHHHoo!

"At—" he glances at the microwave clock and subtracts two hours— "8:46 a.m.?"

"That's not early." He sniffs and rubs the back of his hand under his nose, still distracted.

"Not to the rest of the world, no." He scratches Finley between the ears and leans back into the sofa. "What are you looking for?"

"Hmm." It doesn't quite come out right, like his nose is too blocked to let the sound through. "I… heh!-ngt-TCHiu!"

"Bless you. You don't remember, do you?"

Ian's slower to recover this time. "I remember." He coughs and wipes his nose on his sleeve. "Or. I will remember." He thinks for another moment. "Eventually."

One of Ian's many roommates walks through the back of the video. …Jayson. Yes. It's a big house with a lot of turnover, all musicians and artists working server jobs and the like to make ends meet in L.A., but he's been around long enough that he was there when Josh went out to visit last fall.

Ian's coughing again, and this time when he fumbles around for something out of frame he comes up with a handful of tissues, and sets the phone down to blow his nose, which just makes him sneeze again. Twice.

"That doesn't sound good," Josh says when Ian picks the phone back up.

Ian shakes his head dismissively. "I'm fine."

"Dude," Jayson says from the background. "You've sneezed like ten times already, and I only got up fifteen minutes ago."

Ian flips him off. Jayson shrugs and goes back to his coffee and his book.

Back to Josh: "Don't look at me like that."

Josh sighs. "You know what I'm going to say."

"That I've got shit to do and the start of a cold is not enough to stop me?"

At least he admits it. "That it's a Sunday morning with no obligations and you should go back to bed."

"Do you want to see my to-do list?" His voice is starting to sound strained.

"I wouldn't be able to read it." Ian had, at some point, figured out a system that worked for him. And only him.

"It says I have three sponsored posts to do and half a dozen venues to contact." Ian's been able to parlay his low-level fame into social media deals and solo shows and appearances with other people's bands, and there's a little bit of streaming revenue coming in from their World Above stuff. But only a little bit.

"Four," Jayson says without looking up from his book. "Sponsored posts."

"Oh, shit, you're right." Ian scrubs at his forehead. He's still in go-go-go mode, but he's fading, about to crash, his tan skin washing out before Josh's eyes except for where his nose is starting to be rubbed raw.

"And that all has to happen today?" God, he hopes not.

"Well, no. h'TCHIU!" He sniffs and reaches for more tissues. "Not technically."

"Bless you. So it can wait a couple of days?"

Ian shrugs, not meeting his eyes, which in this case is a yes.

"So you should go back to bed."

Ian grumbles unintelligibly. Finley noses his way toward the phone to see what's going on, and Josh has to stop him from licking the screen.

"I don't think your sponsors want someone clearly sick doing their ad reads," he tries.

"Fuck you, I always look good."

Josh rolls his eyes. "You can post reels or whatever from your sickbed. Get plenty of sympathy likes."

"Hey, some people think that's hot." Because Jayson is fully a part of this conversation now, apparently.

Ian's resolve is starting to waver, but he shakes his head firmly. "I can do it."

God, this would be so much easier if he was there. "Ian, I say this with love, stop being so fucking stubborn and just go the fuck back to bed. You need it."

Ian tries to protest some more but just starts coughing instead, and by the time that's over all of his fight is gone. Jayson had gotten up at some point and filled a glass with water, and he hands it to Ian and steers him by the shoulders back toward the stairs.

"I got it, I got it," Ian mumbles, shaking off his hands, and starts slowly climbing the stairs.

"Thanks, Jayson," Josh says, relieved. He gets a salute in return, and then they're alone.

Ian's breathing heavily by time he gets to the top of the stairs, and his nose is running, and it almost looks like he's starting to shiver. He shuts his door behind him and curls up under the covers, eyes barely open.

"Josh?" A little shaky.

"Yeah."

"I don't feel good."

Gentle: "I know. I'm sorry. Do you want to take anything, or just go to sleep?"

Ian nods, which Josh takes to mean the second option, but doesn't close his eyes.

"Here. Hang out with Finn for a while." He turns the phone around so Ian can see Finley lapping up water across the room, and then back to himself when Finn spots the invitation and pushes his way past the coffee table to nestle between Josh's legs, wagging his tail even though there's not really enough room and licking the screen before Josh can stop him.

"Puppy kisses," Ian says, hoarse and vague.

"Puppy kisses," Josh agrees, wiping the slobber from the screen. "Everything else can wait, okay?"

"Okay," Ian whispers.

Josh scratches Finn behind the ears and nods. "Everything else can wait."

[three-duck-houses]

@fe-oc-week day 6 - Supports

So I skipped days 4 and 5, Tragedy and Joy, because I really can't work out what to do for them? The only thing she would consider a tragedy is her mum dying the day she turned 11, and she makes an effort to find as much joy as possible in the little every day things, like sun rises and sun sets and clean air and tasty food and being near people she likes. Just too many things to list

For Supports, I don’t tend to think of Nico in terms of fitting her into the game mechanics (with branching paths and joining different classes), it’s more of a linear story that has conversations at various points that I guess could count as Support convos? Though saying that, I know that one and one conversations with most everyone do all happen at one point or another (if Shez and Byleth get to talk to everyone, so does Nico!) however where most of her story is still living in my head as a giant jumble to half cooked ideas and snippets of dialogue... I'll just share what I've already got for a few people

So here's some of my favourite bits of dialogue and short scenes? =3 (and a few scene outlines because my brain Will Not Work properly)

Conversations with Leonie, Hilda, Lorenz, Felix, Shez, Claude, Sylvain

Leonie:

When Nico first gets to the academy - 

“Leonie! Hello darling, it’s great to see you!” she said, reaching out and pulling her friend into a quick hug before stepping back and holding her by her elbows as she gave her an exaggerated once over. “And oooh, look at you! Dressed up all fancy. It really suits you. Give us a twirl? Niiice. Now give me another one so I can check out something other than your ass? And your legs, phew, didn’t think I’d ever see so much of them out in public like this.”

Leonie burst out laughing as she cuts the start of her second spin short and shoves at Nico’s shoulder with a fond eye roll and faint blush. But she’s quickly reminded that they aren’t at Sauin village where everyone knows what they’re like, and are in fact surrounded by strangers when she hears a few other people also laugh while still more splutter from drinking at the wrong moment or make scandalised sounding gasps. And through it all, a laugh she vaguely recognises. She looked round, and found Lady Hilda sitting at the nearby table next to Yellow cape–no, he was Claude, and she was still kinda mad at him–, and she’d half turned towards her to say hi when Leonie’s words made her freeze

“Yeah, I didn’t either, but my uniform choices were this or a dress. It’s surprisingly comfortable, when you get used to it. What have you picked for yours?”

Her eyes snapped back to Leonie, hoping her friend was joking, but no, no it didn’t look like she was.

“Run that by me again? Did you say the options are a skirt or a dress?”

“Huh? Well, yeah. I was pretty miffed about it too, but they seemed kinda strict about it, long held tradition or something.”

She turned to Shez and Byleth, who were watching the conversation with vague interest, and silently asked them what the fuck with a head tilt and brow lift.

“You don't remember us going to see the tailors last night after we talked to Professor Hanneman? Well, we did, and we've picked out what we want, but you were too out of it to pick yourself, so we said we'd go back later today. Oh. They needed your measurements to get started on your shirts, so me and By got them, so they wouldn’t be touching you.”

Well. That was one thing to be thankful for, she supposed, giving Shez a grateful smile, then glancing down at Byleth when she felt a light touch on the back of her hand to find her cousin looking up at her, the faintest of frown lines between her brows, and shifted her smile over into reassuring.

“I’m fine, honest. Just gonna have to talk to them is all.”

“Aww, what’s the matter Nico?” Leonie asked with a laugh in her voice. “You can’t tell me you’re afraid to show a little leg yourself, I’ve seen what you dance in.”

Shaking her head fondly she turned back, noting that Hilda had left her seat and was walking towards them so she needed to wrap this up quickly.

“You know damn well how much of me I’m happy to show, but when you’ve got some free time how about I take you up on Kilani and you can find out how much of a pain in the ass it is to ride a wyvern in a skirt?”

Hilda:

When Nico gets to the monastery, and she’s meeting everyone along with Byleth and Shez, she’s just introduced herself the the Great Lord’s heirs and offered to do anything she can to help them, since she’s employed by Lady Daphnel and trying to build a good rapport with these noble kids - 

"Except you. If you want me to buy you more beads you need to start learning Almyran properly and come with me. I'm not having you yell at me for buying you what you ask me for again."

Hilda laughed, rolling her eyes, then started her familiar argument

"I asked for lapis lazuli seed beads Nico–"

"No, you asked for blue–"

"And you bought me turquoise cut gems–"

"Turquoise is blue! I bought you blue stones with holes in them! I tried, ok? This is why you need to come with me!"

End of Harpstring, after the class’ first main mission in which Nico took an arrow to the back of the shoulder for Claude, and then an axe hit to her arm while pushing Hilda out of the way of an attack. Hilda and Leonie have gone with Nico back to the eyrie to help her unsaddle Kilani, since her arm’s in a sling. Probably their C support? - 

“Nico, why’d you take that hit for me? You know I’m not actually a delicate flower, don’t you?”

“I know, I know. But I still didn’t want to see you get hurt. Even if you could have taken it, it would still have caused you pain, and I just… don’t want to see you hurt. I honestly do like you Hilda, and I’d like to be friends someday.”

“Wait, you think we aren’t friends already?”

“Huh? I mean, um…”

“Nico!”

“I didn’t want to presume! You are a noble after all, and you’ve paid me to run errands and do stuff for you before! I thought you might still see me as a messenger, or like, a merc who works with Holst sometimes.”

Leonie, who was on the other side of the wyvern stall, started sniggering

“Don’t mind her Hilda, Nico’s pretty bad at knowing when she’s made a friend, she asked me if she could call me one after we’d known each other six months.”

“Leonie!!!”

“Haha, I see! In that case yes Nico, we are friends. And I think Marianne and Lysithea would probably say you are too, so how about we all go and get tea together at some point, yeah?”

“Huh? Oh, um, yeah. Yeah, I’d like that.”

Lorenz:

Lorenz pissed Nico off when they first met because he didn’t like the way she’d talked to Leonie, and reminded her several times that he was a noble who had standards. So when she went back to Daphnel for her first weekend running messages and she offered to take stuff for the rest of the class, she made a point of charging him, since he was a noble, not one of her classmates or friends. This happens shortly after that

“Hey, um, Lorenz? Do you have a second?”

“Yes? What can I do for you?”

“I. I wanted to apologise for the way I spoke to you on Friday,” she said, dropping into a bow and focusing on his shoes, which were of course perfectly polished. “And for all of my conduct towards you so far, in fact. I know I’ve been a real brat towards you, because what you said when we met kinda annoyed me, but that’s no excuse for my frankly terrible behaviour and attitude. You of course aren’t obligated to, but I was wondering if perhaps we could try to start over?”

His feet shuffled in place while he made a vaguely surprised noise, and she could hear their classmates still tidying books and lingering at desks. She hated having to do this in front of them, but, well, she had made the point of charging him for delivering his message and then warping him away to his dad’s office in front of them too, so it was only fair.

“I accept your apology. And as to starting over, ahem. I am Lorenz Hellman Gloucester, and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

She slowly rose up from her bow, looking up and finding him giving her a small, tight looking smile, but it was a smile nonetheless.

“The pleasure is mine Lord Gloucester. I am Nicolita Eisner, but please, call me Nico. Do you think you might be free at all in the next few days to join me for some hot leaf juice, do you think?”

She bit her lip as she watched his eyes fly wide and he started to splutter, colour rushing to his cheeks and looking like he was trying to be a kettle fit to boil over, before he paused, and narrowed his eyes at her. She shrunk down a little, and felt her shoulders hunch despite herself. Yeah, she’d been trying to wind him up by calling it leaf juice, but she did actually want to have tea with him

“Humph. Very well. But I must insist that you refrain from referring to it as such. While I acknowledge that not all of the blends that are generally called tea deserve the title, those blends do have their own proper names, such as tinctures and tisanes. Come along, and I can begin teaching you the differences now.”

Felix:

End of Harpstring, her dead mother’s birthday. Nico has been trying to keep her head down and not interact with people, and Felix has been trying to goad her into sparring despite her and Byleth telling him to stop - this would be C- I think? -

"Tch, what's the matter? Scared to fight me now I know the sort of dirty tricks you like to play? You truly are pathetic"

That makes her snap, spinning to face him and magic sparking out of her, like in one of those static ball things, and leaving faint scorch marks on the floor near her

"For fucks sake Felix! I'd heard Sylvain was the insatiable one who didn't understand the concept of 'no', but were all those rumours really about you instead? Are you really the type of guy to keep pushing and pushing after a girl's turned you down, and ignore all her attempts to politely make you back off? I’m thinking maybe they were, since Sylvain has been nothing but a gentleman since I met him"

Felix is horrified, because of what she's implying. And Sylvain's a little surprised, because er, does she not remember their date?

“I said no. I said I don’t want to. I am now saying to fuck the hell off and leave me alone and just don’t talk to me about anything, ever, you spoiled little noble brat! It’s more than time you grew the fuck up, learned some manners and learned to fucking listen to people other than yourself!”

Later the same day, Nico returns to the monastery from where she’d stormed off, and goes to find Felix in the dining hall - 

"What do you want?" he bites out, and it's an effort to swallow from how dry her mouth suddenly is as she tries to remember what she wanted to say

She bows to him, a full proper one with all the respect he deserves, and says "I'm sorry. I was in a bad mood but I shouldn't have taken it out on you. You did nothing to deserve what I said to you, and my words towards you were completely unwarranted and unjustified, and the insinuation I made was unnecessarily cruel. I truly regret my actions, and any harm I've caused you, and will do whatever you want to make things right, if I can."

She waits, holding the bow, for his reaction, and has to bite her lip to try and hide her flinch when he scoffs

"If you think that drivel you spouted will make everything better–" he starts with a barely suppressed snarl in his voice, and she knows it's rude and will probably make everything worse, but she cuts across him

"No, I don't think it'll make things better. I understand if there is nothing I can ever say or do to make up for the pain I caused you or any damage to your reputation. But in case there is, please know I will say or do whatever you deem necessary to make things right"

Silence. And she internally cringes because it's the sort of silence that means everyone in the hall has stopped and is watching, and if anyone hadn't known what happened before then they'd find out now and this was a terrible idea what was she thinking she was such a fucking moron

"Idiot," Felix spits, followed by a tch of him clicking his tongue. "Go away. I don't want to deal with you right now. You disgust me"

(this one isn’t even dialogue, just how the scene would go, but shhhh, pretend it is?) This would be… either C+ or B I guess? - 

After everyone’s settled down, she goes to Kilani’s saddle bags and pulls out her set of poi, and moves to a bit of the clearing away from Felix, because they still aren’t exactly on the best of terms from the whole insulting him thing, and starts practising. Hits herself a few times, but mostly does ok

She keeps track of the time, and when their shift is over she looks over at Felix, trying to build herself up to face the cold hostility she’s sure she’s about to get from him, but finds him staring at her, looking considering and calculating, and what? Tentatively calls his name, and he blinks a few times, then tch’s, looking away from her. Says her footwork was interesting was all, he was studying it to see if any of it could be applied to his swordsmanship.

She stares at him, because huh. Didn’t expect him to admit that. But her silence seems to bother him, and he shifts, crossing his arms, then huffs loudly.

Asks if she’d be willing to teach him how to do all that, and she’s a little surprised. Because she hadn’t been entirely sure they were back on good terms… They hadn’t interacted much since the whole blow up at him thing?

He tch’s again, and says she had a point, he was wrong, he’s been trying to be better about it. And… he wants to learn how to do what she did. Not just with these balls on strings. But with the moving around in fights. The dodging out of the way, and all the footwork. And he saw her dancing in town, and the moves she used looked... He thinks it’d be useful for his fighting. Please.

It’s the please that gets her. Because wow. Progress!!!

Shez:

So Nico and Shez are pretty close before the game even starts, so it’s difficult to work out what would even count as supports for them. But I really do love this scene so I’mma share it =3

Context is Byleth and Shez started the Ashen Wolves DLC while Nico was away running messages for Judith, only Judith told her to take a few hours off while she wrote supplies so Nico made a giant pool at the Troupes camp and was teaching the kids to swim when she felt Byleth turn back time (long story). So she warped to Byleth while still in her under things, and joined in the fight in that outdoor map below the cathedral bridge, but because of the excess amount of Sothis magic down there her magical senses are dulled, and she kinda hasn’t noticed anyone else who takes part in the DLC are kinda hanging back to stay out of the way of her attacks… - 

A sharp slice across her collarbone as she didn’t step back either quick or far enough, and she hissed in pain, then growled as she felt her top which just got cut through slide down to leave one side of her chest exposed, and then hung loose and distracting off her other shoulder as the knot got stuck in the rings at the back 

“Nico? What’s wro–” Shez’s question dissolved into splutters, and then a grunt of pain, and she glanced over to where she was pretty sure he was to see him sprawled on the floor, cheeks a bright red, and a construct standing over him with an axe.

Sighing, she reached out and waved a hand, shooting ice up from either side of Shez to impale the enemy.

“Oh I’m sorry Shez, don’t tell me you got distracted by my non-existent tits?” she asked sweetly sharp, keeping half an eye on him as he scrambled to his feet

“For the love of–gnnngh! I said it one time, and that was months ago! How are you still not over that yet?”

“You’re right, you did only say I’m flatter than a wash board with grapes nailed to it one time, yeah. But there was another time when you said the only shape I have is because of an excessive amount of ruffles! And maybe I’ll start getting over it when you apologise??”

“What? I already did!”

“Bollocks did you!”

“I did! You were yelling at me in the healers tent and started to cry and stopped as soon as I said I was sorry!”

“When I was in…” She stopped after kicking one of the things in the stomach then spinning round to get the momentum to behead it cleanly. She uses this quick lull in the fight to yank at her top, pulling the knot through the rings so it was free and she could drop it to the floor, where it wouldn't distract her by flapping and shifting and tickling her back

“Shez. Darling. Love. Sweetheart–”

“Uh oh”

“–Light of my life. Did you perhaps apologise to me during the three days I lost because I had a mother fucking concussion from being thrown head first into a tree saving your sorry ass from the giant wolves you pissed off?!”

“. . . well when you put it that way–”

“As soon as we’re done murdering these bitches I’m smacking you upside the head you flaming sack of putrid festering duck shit!”

Claude:

Shahid attacked the Locket while the Goddess’ Rite of Rebirth was going on (because he’d heard someone tried to murder some of the Alliances heirs last month, so the Alliance must be weak right now), so the Deer have to ditch protecting the Sword in order to beat up Shahid. Nico provides some psychological horror to the Almyran’s before warping them all back to the capital, and then has a quick conversation with Nader before sending him back to explain that they’re all going home in one piece this time because of her debt to queen Tia—--

Nico blue screens as she puts together that Tiana is the same name as Oswald’s daughter/Claude mum and the Fodlani born Almyran queen and huh

The next day, when Nico wakes up from her magical overexertion nap and Claude catches her in the eyrie -

“So, about what happened with Nader yesterday. I guess that means you kno–”

She spun around and practically lept towards him, slapping her hand over his mouth as she grabbed his shoulder and pushed him backwards until he hit the wall out of sight of the doorway. She squeezed tighter when his hands seem to instinctively go to her wrist and try to pull her off him, and she had to look away from his eyes and focus on a spot just past his ear when she saw how alarmed, confused, and wary betrayed he was, because it made something in her chest ache something fierce to see how he still didn’t trust her, despite everything. But she pushed that aside for the moment, because he needed to hear this! 

“Look. There is a very fine line between me strongly suspecting something because of facts I’ve pieced together, and me knowing something because someone else has confirmed it. Right now, I can honestly say if anyone asks that I don’t know who or where your parents are. So I need you to be very careful about what you say to me from now on so you don’t tip me suspecting over into me knowing. Understand?”

A light seemed to flicker on behind his eyes, which were darting all over her face as she slowly lifted her hand off his mouth and let go of him, and then he slowly nodded, something like a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips

“Yeah, I understand. I… yeah.”

She nodded at him, then turned to go back to making sure she’d packed all of Kilani’s things properly, but he grabbed her shirt sleeve, gently tugging, and she looked back at him in surprise, because huh?

“Thanks, Nico. For not saying anything yesterday.”

She gave him a look, brows raised and lips quirked, and shook her head with a sigh

“Don’t be dumb, Claude. You don’t need to thank me for something like that. You should know by now I’ll have your back when I can, alright? No matter if that’s from swords, axes, arrows, or info”

~~

And then a few days/a week later, when Judith comes and gets Claude and takes him back to Deidriu to sit in on the Roundtable, Judith brings Nico along too so she can then fly Claude back (so Judith doesn’t have to make the trip there and back again)

And Nico realises that every time she’s spoken Almyran in front of Claude, he’s understood it. And she starts trying to remember all the things she’s said in front of him, and remembers the whole “We could always bribe these three with the literal Prince’s ransom I’ve been offered to track down the youngest prince if you want me to go take that job?” conversation from after Remire

So she goes to find him, and they have a little conversation where she asks him if that was why he didn’t like her at the start of the year, and he’s annoying and reminds her he’s not meant to do or say anything to confirm either way anything she suspects, and she’s very grrrrr at him because he has a point but also she can tell he’s being a wind up, till he laughs and says yeah,  he understood what she said, and while he knew she worked for Judith and she’d said she worked for Gramps, he didn’t know how far her loyalty would last when she was worried about keeping Byleth and her chest rock away from the monastery

And oooooooh, fuck. She’d forgotten she’d talked about that. Yeah, no, not acknowledging that he just said that, moving on

~~

There’s then what would probably be a B support that happens at the White Heron Ball, but I need to rewrite that because I wrote it ages ago and I don’t know if it’ll fit in with various changed I’ve made to the rest now, but tl:dr is Claude asks Nico what she plans to do after they graduate, Nico says not sure, depends what Byleth and Shez do, but probably go back to working for Lady Daphnel at least part of the time, and Claude asks if she’d want to come work for him maybe?

And She kinda does… but she’s got this whole thing about not flirting with people who pay her, and she was really looking forward to trying to flirt with him a little after she wasn’t being paid to kinda look after/keep an eye on him or do whatever he asks her to?

Que conversation where they talk around how they both feel about that, with a few hypotheticals thrown around by both of them ;3

Sylvain:

So what would be their C support (where Sylvain takes her on a date and she doesn’t realise it’s a date because he reminds her so much of one of her troupe cousins and has unconsciously fallen into the sort of banter she has with that cousin) is a giant mess of half formed ideas and half written conversations which I can’t share

But their B- support happens after the Gronder fight, because Nico did something stupid to save some people from the troupe as the students made their way back towards the monastery and completely drained herself of magic and gets stuck in bed (she shares a room with Byleth because reasons) and is bored - 

Nico is stuck in bed for 3 days after they get back. She is bored stupid, but light and sounds are still hurting, and she can only just get herself up and to the toilet without help, so classes are out of the question. But she's finding Manuela was right, and stuffing her face with as many cakes and sweets and sugar as possible is helping immensely, and she's getting plenty of them whenever people visit her

She's laying in bed trying to focus on a book Ashe and Ingrid recommended to her when someone knocks on the door, then opens it without waiting for a reply. It's Sylvain carrying a tray loaded with a tea set and covered plates. He puts it down on the side table Byleth found for exactly that, since she can't even handle going to the dining hall to eat, while Nico slowly gets herself sat up

"You could have waited for me to say come in," she scolds playfully, trying not to laugh at his pout and puppy eyes. "What if I was getting changed or something?"

His pout turns into a crooked grin, and his eyebrows dance a few times.

"Then I would have enjoyed the free show," he smarms, and laughs as he dodges the small cushion she throws at him. "Careful. You'll knock over the tea"

"Uh huh. So. Not that I'm complaining, but who are you using me as an excuse to hide from?"

"What?" he draws out, playing at being offended, the doofus. "Can't I visit my dear bed bound friend without having some sort of ulterior motive?"

"I don't know. Can you?"

He manages to hold his fake offended expression for a few seconds against her flatly amused one, before he laughs, shaking his head as he settles on the edge of the bed

"Ingrid was trying to get me to train with her, but I really was planning on coming to see you anyway. Wondered if you wanted to practice chess, but you don't look entirely with it"

- Sylvain ends up sitting/laying next to her in the bed and letting her lean against him as he reads to her since she's having trouble focusing but the book has occasional pictures she likes to look at, and somehow he's way more comfy than Byleth to lay on??? She thinks it's the boobs, she tells Sylvain solemnly, and it sets him off laughing so hard he has to lay back with his arm over his face for a minute or two. He keeps having to nudge her to remind her to eat because she's sort of dozing off, and refilling her tea and making her drink

- Byleth comes in the room, looking like she’s been in the training hall, and her brow goes up when she sees them, making them both laugh. Byleth starts moving around the room putting her things away, and Nico scoots over towards the wall, tugging Sylvain, and tells By to join them, Sylvain's doing storytime. Sylvain tries to protest, because this seems kinda weird, but Nico pouts at him and asks "Why, don't you want to share a bed with two beautiful ladies?"

"Yeah Sylvain," Byleth agrees in an even more deadpan than usual voice while her eyes sparkle with mischief, walking back to the bed and leaning down next to them, one hand resting on the headboard. "I thought you'd jump at the chance to get us both in bed?"

"Do I need to come back later?" Shez's flat voice drifts in from the doorway, surprising all of them, and Nico is the first to burst out laughing only to immediately wince and stop and clutch her head, burying her face again Sylvain with a groan

Byleth keeps laughing lightly as she grabs Shez before he can leave, dragging him and the fresh tray of tea and cakes into the room. Nico groans again when she sees it, turning her face back into Sylvain's shoulder

"I hate to admit it, but I'm getting kinda tired of cakes. I think I maybe even want a vegetable"

Shez gasps, and she opens an eye to glare at the overly shocked face he's making

"Who are you and where's the real Nico?"

- Shez ends up joining them and sitting at the foot of the bed and all three of them bully Sylvain into continuing story time

[dakotakazansky]

Ghost • Eighteen

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Warnings: 18+, Fluff, Angst, lots of Dumb Bitch Juice, Some Smut Pairings: Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin x OC & Javy ‘Coyote’ Machado x OC Word Count: 2,775

Kota

I knocked on the door before opening it, letting Jake and I into my childhood home. "Hello, we're here!" I yell out into the huge open entry way of the house. "We're in the Kitchen!" I hear my lovely mother shout back to us. I begin to lead Jake through the entryway of the home, stopping by the photos on the walls, "We'll be there in just a second!" I say back to them.

I rub small circles on Jake's back while he looks over the photos of my family, I could only assume that he's missing the hell out of his family right now. I've known him since our plebe summer in the Naval Academy, and from knowing him from that time about 5-6 years ago at this point he's only gone home a time or two, once during the Academy, and the other being right before we started in Lemoore.

I speak softly, "You okay?" he just nods to me. I reach my hand out for his hand, "Why don't we go see Ice and Mom, I know it's not your immediate family, but they are your home away from home family. Why, because I just said so." He chuckles at my goofiness, and takes my hand and intertwines our fingers together.

"Just up here, on the right." I say guiding him to the kitchen. As soon as we enter the kitchen both Ice and Mom are quick to pull both Jake and I into a group hug. "You both look so good." My mother Sarah says to us. "We made brownies for you both Ma'am." Jake says a little nervously. I rub small circles into the backside of his hand with my thumb, while I introduce Jake to my Mother.

 "Mom this is Jake, my best friend since the Academy and Situationship, and Jake this is my wonderful mother Sarah, who has not only put up with my scary life choices, but also Ice's, she's a saint and a half." A light rosy pink blush takes over my mothers cheeks at my compliment, as she tries to play it off like she's just an average person. "It's a pleasure to meet you Ma'am." Jake says with a little bit of his Southern drawl slipping out. "The pleasure is mine, and no need for formalities honey, you can call me Sarah."

Ice clears his throat before asking in a rougher than normal voice, "May I speak to Jake for a moment? Koty, would you mind helping your mother finish up preparing lunch?" Ice stands, waiting for Jake to hand the brownies over to me, and then follows Ice down the hall to his office, Ice stopping at the door to allow Jake to enter first.

I take the brownies and lay them on the counter near the rest of the food that my parents have already prepared and set out. "Momma what do you need help with?" I ask. "Could you help me prepare the pasta salad, and chef salad." I nod to her, "Of course Momma." We both get to work helping each other grab the items necessary for the two salads. 

—

Jake

I follow Admiral Kazansky down the hallway, until he stops at a door on the right hand side, he opens it for me and allows me to walk in first. As I enter the room, I notice all the medals and trophies, and all things Navy on the wall. At a closer glance I notice some of the items are not only his, but some of them are Kota's as well. Ice shuts the door behind him, and takes a seat at the desk in the room, and I take up a spot in one of the chairs in front of the desk. 

"I notice how close you are to Koty" he begins, as I nod to him, "If something were to happen to me, son could you promise you'd take care of her?" I give Ice a very concerned look but nod before speaking, "Sir, I would do my very best." He nods back to me before beginning again, "Listen Jake, you can't tell her I've told you this first, but we are about to deliver some very heavy news to her. I want you to be aware, Koty has a tendency to get flighty when something bad happens. After she lost contact with Rooster, she walled up, She almost didn't even continue on with going to the Academy. I'm telling you all of this because we're about to tell her I have cancer, and she's going to wall up, and she might try to push you away, but stay on her." 

I lean forward, placing my hands near my temples and rubbing them for a moment. "Sir, I know you heard Kota mention to Sarah earlier that we are in a situationship currently. I know your daughter is the one for me, but I did want to ask you as she's your only daughter, if it would be okay that I ask her to be my girlfriend?" Ice smiles softly to me before saying, "Jake, I see a lot of myself in you, the way you look at her, and I definitely saw how you treated her once you guys pulled up in the driveway. Ever since she met you, she hasn't stopped raving about all the good things about you. You would have my blessing to ask her to be your girlfriend, so long as you promise not to hurt my little girl."

"I promise I will do my best to never hurt her, Sir." I said back as confidently as I could. "Jake, what are your intentions with my daughter?" Ice questions and I knew something like this was coming, I mean who wouldn't want to know what their only daughter was getting into. "Sir, I only want to provide her with a never ending amount of support and love. I want to push her to continue to do great things, show her that she can continue on your legacy without anyone thinking nepotism. I want to cherish her for everything that she is, because believe it or not, she's made me the best version of myself already, and I would love to still be ever evolving with her by my side." I say with a flush creeping its way along my cheeks.

Ice stares at me his hand on his chin rubbing softly, nodding along to my words, "As long as you never dampen that spark that we instilled into her, I'm sure I wouldn't want her to be with anyone else, like I said before I see so much of myself in you, I know you'll be a good match for my little girl." I stand from my seat and reach out my hand towards him, he puts up his hand in front of mine and shakes his head no, as he walks around the desk to me, taking me into his arms, hugging me, "please protect her." He whispers to me. I hug him back and whisper back, "with my life Sir." 

We begin to make our way out of Ice's office, and down the hallway back towards the kitchen. I stand in the kitchen doorway with Ice as we take in the sight of our girls, goofing off and joking around with each other, much like how Kota and I were last night. I smile softly, enjoying watching this interaction between Kota and her mother.

It pains me to know that these sweet music like laughs and giggles are only a fleeting moment in time, and that Kota's parents are about to drop a huge bombshell on her. Only for those sweet laughs and giggles to be replaced by sobs, and heartbreak. I mask my feelings well with a ridiculous smile as I soak in the fleeting moments. I think I caught a quick moment of Kota looking back at Ice and I but I can't be certain. 

—

Kota

I hear the floor creak just ever so softly, and I look over my shoulder to see both Ice and Jake watching my mom and I. "Don't look now, but we have company." I say very hushed to my mother. She continues on telling me the funny story of my father Ice on one of their dates. She had previously asked about Jake and I, and I gave in and indulged her in a little bit of our dating life, and how our first date was a setup from Tate and Javy. She thought that was the funniest thing in the world, but ultimately loved what she's known of Jake so far. 

"Hey stalkers! Why don't you guys help us set the table?" I joke towards Ice and Jake, they both come in the kitchen, "What do you need help with?" Ice asked. My mother Sarah points to the dishware with the pair of tongs she was using, "Could you put the plates on the table dear?" she asks Ice. He obliges but not before stealing a kiss on my mother's cheek, then grabs the dishes and starts setting the table. "I could help too, what do you need?" Jake asks. "Well uh, here!" I say handing him the silverware already wrapped in napkins, "Want to follow Ice, and set these down?" He nods, taking the silverware from me. 

After the table was set, my mother and I brought in the family style meal and set it down on the lazy susan in the middle of the table. We all take each other's hands, saying a quick grace and then we all start digging into our dinner, laughing and chattering and just having a good time. At one point during dinner and chatting I feel Jake reach over and grab my leg, rubbing small circles into my thigh. I grab the hand that is on my thigh and give it a light squeeze. When Mom and Ice aren't looking, I mouth to Jake, "You alright?" He nods to me, and leans over and I whisper, "Okay just checking on you, hopefully Ice didn't scare you too much earlier." Jake chuckles, "Oh quite the opposite darlin'."

Once we had finished dinner, I went into the kitchen and brought out the brownies Jake and I had made. When I returned to the table, I felt like the mood instantly shifted, but I tried to brush it off as everyone was just full, and now kind of tired. "Koty, why don't you sit back down for a moment, your mother and I have something we need to share with you." I look over to Jake, who now has pushed his chair a little further out from the table and has his arms open to me. I place the brownies down on the table, and sit down on Jake's lap, as he wraps his arms around my waist and rests his head on my shoulder. "Oh, uh okay, what's going on?" I question looking between my parents. 

Ice clears his throat, and my mother begins, "Remember that doctor's appointment your father had, a few days after you both started Top Gun?" I nod starting to feel uneasy, and Jake picks up on that immediately and releases one arm from my waist and places it on my back rubbing small soft circles. "Yeah I do remember, what did they say?"

Jake places a soft kiss on my shoulder, as my mother says, "Honey, your father has Cancer." It takes a moment for the words to register, Cancer, the legendary and untouchable Iceman, has cancer. "Cancer?" I croak out trying to hold back tears. They both nod to me, before Ice looks up at me with tears welling in his eyes, "It's currently Stage 1, we caught it early, they hope to start me on Chemotherapy and possibly Radiation therapy, starting this week." 

The world spins quickly at first before coming to an abrupt halt. I'm now extremely dizzy, and trying to process everything that was just spoken. "I uh..." I pause for a quick moment, "uh, excuse me." I say getting up and running from the table, up the stairs towards my old childhood bedroom. I hear Jake call out, "Kota!" but he's stopped by Ice and Sarah, who are probably telling him to give me some time. 

I quickly get inside the bedroom door, tears streaming down my face like a river after a fresh rainfall. After shutting the door I place my back to it, and slide down to the floor while pulling my phone out of my pocket. I fumble a little bit, the phone falling out of my hand and onto the floor. I pick it back up, and struggle to flip through the contacts on the phone trying to find one name in particular. As soon as I find it, I click on the number and press call. "Come on, pick up, pick up." I whisper through broken sobs and gasps of air. "Bradley damn it pick up!" I curse. The line clicks on the other end, and for a split second I have hope before I hear, "Your call could not be completed as dialed." 

I grumble a slew of profanities, before lightly tossing my phone onto my bed, and bringing my knees to my chest, and burying my face into my knees. Five minutes later I get up off the floor, walk over to my bed, and grab my phone. I try to call Bradley again, only to get the same error message as before. I sigh giving up on trying, he's probably out on deployment and has no service. 

I hear a knock on my door a few minutes later, followed by a very concerned, "Darlin'?" I sniffle, and mumble just loud enough for him to hear, "Come in." Jake takes no time coming in the door and shutting it behind himself. He gets to the side of my bed in about 3 large steps, and wraps me in a tight hug. I break down into a sobbing mess all over again in his arms. He pulls back to look over my features, he softly brings his hands up to cup both of my cheeks using his thumbs to softly wipe the tears off my cheeks. He places the softest and gentle kiss upon my forehead, afraid if he does any harder I might just fall apart.  

He sits down against my headboard, and pulls me into his lap, as I curl up into a ball in his embrace. I bury my face into his neck, as he rubs soothing circles on my back. He mumbles sweet nothings, and encouragements to me. He doesn't fault me at all for the outburst at the table, he just holds me close to him, and gives me all the time I need. I eventually ended up falling asleep in his arms, worn out from all the crying. He pulls the blanket up over the both of us. 

—

Jake

I hear a knock upon Kota's door before, Ice is slowly opening the door and peeking in, checking on us. "How is she?" he whispers. I look down to her tear stained face, but know that she's out for the night, "She's quite upset, but for now asleep." I whisper back to him. He nods, "Thank you for being here for her Jake, she's really going to need you in case this treatment doesn't work out." he whispers again. I nod to him, still rubbing small circles into Kota's back. "If she's up to it in the morning I'll bring her down and let you guys talk, for now I'm just going to let her rest." I whisper across the room to Ice. He nods back to me, whispering, "Thanks again Jake." and closes the door softly leaving Kota and I in her room. 

I look around her room taking in the childhood room of the girl I love. I see photos of her and who I assume is Bradley, some photos of her family, some with her mother, some with Ice and some with both parents. There is one photo of Ice, baby Kota, and Slider, another photo has baby Kota, Sarah and Ice, Maverick, Penny and a young boy I'm assuming is Bradley once again, and Slider. I notice numerous instruments strewn about the room. There are some medals and different trophies all around. I pull Kota tighter against me and sigh. 

"Oh Darlin', I know this is going to be hard, but I'm not going anywhere." I whisper to the sleeping girl snuggled into my chest, I rest my head on top of hers, and attempt to drift off to sleep for the night.

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[ghoulbutler13]

Bloody Petals fit me perfectly

CC x Y/N x One-Sided!OC, Sasuke x Y/N x One-Sided!Jiro, My OC: Jiro, Gender Neutral!Y/N, Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Shippuden, AU, Angst, Near Death Experience, Hanahaki Disease, Tearjerking, Blood Warning

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Y/N and Jiro have been best friends and even teammates since the academy. They are like peas in a pod, even though Jiro is known as the Red Reaper and Y/N is known as (your choice of title). They are partners in crime. Jiro has developed a feeling for Y/N.

However…Y/N has a crush on a certain Uchiha. Sasuke Uchiha. Jiro would cough a petal up.

“You've been diagnosed with Hanahaki Disease, Jiro. You have two choices. Confess to your crush so you will get accepted…or surgery.” A blonde woman with brown eyes said, staring straight at the redhead who looked down at the ground.

He let out a dry chuckle. “If I didn’t…that’d lead me to my death, right? Just don’t tell my teammates and friends…I don’t want more worries…please don’t tell them about my disease.” He spoke bitterly with a weak smile on his face.

Tsunade’s pink lips formed into a deep frown at his request. She’d place her hands on her hips. A soft sigh left her mouth. "Fine, but you need to make a decision before that happens.” She stated, placing her hand on his board shoulder. He simply nodded with a blank smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

Outside of the hospital

Jiro was on his way to the training field, deep in his thoughts.

“Jiro! Wait for us!” A familiar voice called out to him, but he didn’t hear it at first. “Jiro! I told you to wait for us, you stupid giraffe!” The same voice shouted, irked, as a hand slapped him on the back painfully.

He yelped and turned around to see an angry Y/N with a group behind them. “Oh sorry! I was just stuck in my thoughts! Hehe. So what are you doing here, N/N?” He asked, ignoring the fact that his back was aching from a hard slap.

Y/N narrowed their eyes and placed their hands on their hips. “You forgot that we were going to BBQ, didn’t you?” They said. They didn’t notice that Jiro seemed to act a bit differently lately.

His face tensed up among his muscles. How did he forget about that?

He quickly placed a fake smile on his face, which made it more realistic. "Sorry! I almost forgot! Can I meet you there later? I need to do something first." He replied, lying through his teeth.

Y/N raised an eyebrow in suspicion, their (E/C) eyes staring up at him. They've never seen him act so strangely before. They opened their mouth to speak, but a pale, blonde-haired girl grabbed their arm and smiled. "You better come! We will save a seat for you!" Ino said, basically dragging them away with the group behind them.

Jiro stood and waved a hand until they were out of his sight. He dropped his fake smile and sighed softly. "You lied to Y/N." A cold voice spoke behind him. He jumped in surprise and turned around to face no one but Sasuke Uchiha. "Don't lie to me. Why were you at a hospital?" He added, narrowing his eyes. He could see half Uchiha's muscles tensing up at the question.

A silence fell between them as Sasuke's onyx eyes met the blank gaze of Jiro. "You can't tell Y/N about this once I tell you. If you do, I'll have no choice but to put you on my death list." Jiro said.

At the training field

Sasuke furrowed his brows, trying to understand what his acquaintance just said. “But you should tell them. We can help you." He declared, glancing up at the redhead, who was leaning against the tree with his hands in his pockets.

"No need to. I've already made a decision. I know I told you before, but do not tell them or I'll murder you." He spoke, giving him a blank expression. Even though he didn't mean to. But he had to warn him not to tell anyone.

The blacknette pursed his lips and looked at him for a minute before finally agreeing. The sigh left his mouth. "All right...but you still need to tell your crush." Those words hit Jiro.

He slowly looked up at the sky, watching the clouds move. Should he confess his feelings? No. He can't tell them. His different-colored eyes glanced back at Uchiha.

"I'm planning to tell my crush before I leave for a mission."

That is a lie.

He had to get away from Y/N so they wouldn't know, yet Sasuke only knew about his condition.

Thirty minutes during BBQ

Jiro was absent. Y/N frowned at his absence and stared at the empty seat next to them. "Where is Jiro? He promised to come here!" They complained, gesturing to the empty seat. They slumped their shoulders.

The footsteps approached the room, which brightened their mood. They thought it was Jiro, but it was Sasuke instead. "Aww. Where is Jiro, Sasu?" They asked, giving him a nickname.

"Hm? I thought he was coming here after we had a talk." He told them, taking a seat next to Y/N. He was confused that Jiro wasn't here.

"I guess he forgot his promise again. I'll go to his apartment afterward." They were a bit disappointed.

However, they sensed a familiar chakra coming closer and turned their head to see their best friend Jiro taking a seat across from them. “Sorry for being late. I’ve taken another way around the black cat.” He said jokingly.

“We won’t believe you!” All of young shinobi shouted at him as he immediately threw his hands up into air in surrender with a sheepish grin.

He let out a deep chuckle of amusement and picked the chopsticks up before breaking them apart. He started to munch on meat away. “JoJo. When I have a mission, is it okay if I bring Sasu with me?” Y/N suddenly said, looking at the redhead.

He nearly choked on something. A petal. He quickly covered his mouth with his hand and hid a petal in his palm. Even blood on petal. He forced a smile on his face when he lowered his hand with petal in it.

“Come on. You don’t need to ask me for my permission. You can bring anyone with you. Also I am not allowed to have missions for a while.”

He felt bit guilty for lying to his own best friend but he had to. Just for their sake.

(H/C) haired figure rose a brow at his words but they shrugged in response. “That sucks to be you.” They said sarcastically. Sasuke eyed Jiro, frowning a bit.

For a few days, Y/N and Sasuke were on current mission while Jiro’s condition started to get worse than it was. He had to throw bloody petals up.

The dark red flowers appeared around his neck, painfully digging into his flesh. Blood dripped down his neck. It was hard to breathe.

He had no choice but to…have surgery. However, he was struggling to move his feet.

‘I need to go to hospital…’ That was all he thought. The living room was starting to spin, causing him to get dizzy. He rolled his eyes backward and felt like his body was shutting down, letting him collapse onto the floor with heavy thud. ‘Damn…’ He coughed bloody petals out of his mouth heavily.

His eyelids grew heavy as he was struggling to keep himself awake but due to lack of oxygen, he slowly closed his eyes, drifting out of his conscious.

All he could hear was loud knocking and muffled shouting as darkness welcomed him.

Next thing he knew, he woke up weakly in the operating room as the familiar woman stood over him with a deep frown. He tried to speak without coughing. “Surgery…just do it…now…” Her eyes widened in surprise at his decision but she nodded sharply. He closed his eyes again, losing his consciousness.

Hearing loud beeping, the redhead fluttered his eyes open and let out quiet grunt. His vision was blurry at first but he blinked to make it clearer. He had an oxygen mask on his face to keep himself breathing properly.

The sound of heels clicking approached his ears, causing him to look over. There was Tsunade walking over to his bed with her assistant Shizune behind her. “Your surgery was successful…are you sure this was your decision?” Blond woman asked, looking at him softly.

He slowly sat up and removed the oxygen mask from his face. He refused to look at them but forced a stained smile on his face.

“Yes. That was my final decision. That was it. It is over.”

He spoke like nothing bothered him. He slowly trailed his fingers upward to feel cloth around his neck. No more coughing petals. However, he had no more feelings for Y/N. He was fine with that. Letting them go? Yes. Finally explaining to them? Maybe.

Tsunade and Shizune looked at him with pity.

When Y/N and Sasuke finally returned from their mission after three days, they spotted Jiro standing near the gates and waving at them with dorky grin. Y/N smiled brightly and ran over to him before tackling him in hug. Sasuke greeted him with a nod.

Jiro led them to the training field and took a deep breath, looking up at the sky. “Y/N…I have something to tell you…” He finally spoke. The said person furrowed their brows in surprise and confusion while Sasuke knew what he was going to tell. “I had feelings for you.”

Y/N gasped softly, feeling their cheeks heating up. Sasuke mentally sighed in relief but to their shock, they heard what they didn’t expect from Half Uchiha.

“I no longer have feeling for you because…I had Hanahaki Disease and had surgery a few days ago. I made a final decision. I almost died from it but I survived. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

He had a grin on his face as his eyes were closed. Sasuke clenched his fists while Y/N couldn’t believe their ears. Was it their fault for not realizing this sooner? It was too late. As if he was reading their mind.

He walked over to Y/N and placed hand on back of their head before pulling them to his large chest. He leaned down and pressed his lips on top of their head. “Don’t blame yourself. It is my entirely fault for not telling you earlier. But I couldn’t confess my feelings because I know you are in love with Sasuke. So go with him. But you know I’m always there for you, N/N.” He whispered in hushed tone.

Short/Tall person stayed quiet as hot tears overflowed in their (E/C) eyes. They tried not to cry out of frustration and shakily wrapped their arms around his torso. They buried their face into his chest. Sasuke watched and frowned but Jiro gave him reassuring smile.

“I’m sorry, JoJo…” Was all Y/N needed to say to Jiro.

Only if they had noticed the signs earlier. They could help him. But they didn’t.

At least, they still had Jiro as their best friend no matter what. And he still sees them as his precious friend.

Despite everything, they are still there for each other.