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magics-neptunes-things · 11 months ago

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I've got McCabe

Hi guys :)

So this is a request from here (never been so quick in my life) and I've never write with Katie before so I hope it would suit you all!

Enjoy :)

TW : Love fight, swearing, Nothing else I think

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Being Katie McCabe’s girlfriend is something you cherish in everyday life. Everyone knows her reputation on the football fields, and you will never deny the truth of this, but Katie obviously has good sides to tip the scales and drive you crazy about her.

Your little bickering comes mainly from her Irish origins of which she is very proud, while you are just as proud from your Scottish origins. You certainly don’t have a team as strong as England or even Ireland, but your talents have allowed you to be spotted by Arsenal for many years and this is where you still play today. Needless to say, where you met Katie.

For today, you don’t know exactly when your mutual teasing started. You have learned over time to respond to Katie when she starts teasing you, not wishing to leave her the last word every time.

The problem today is that neither of you seems to want to admit defeat. What started out as childish games is nicely being transformed into something else while a certain mutual annoyance is being felt on both sides.

Your teammates must have felt it, Leah grabbing Katie during the lunch break while you almost get kidnap by a Beth Mead apparently more than happy to show you pictures of her puppy. You can’t say that it didn’t work, you are literally a fan of this little cutie.

But after the lunch break, when the training started again, it only takes a little teasing from Katie to start again. And again, you don’t want to let it pass, there’s no reason why it’s always you who gives up, after all.

The limit is exceeded just at the end of the training, while Katie asks you to please go store her dumbbells with yours. Already having yours to carry and a ball in the other hand, you answer her that she only has to get up to do it herself. "Well, at least Ruesha would have done it for me." This one, it hurts.

You remain frozen a few seconds there before turning slowly in the direction of the Irish which seems to realize despite everything what she has just said. But Katie doesn’t add anything, just looking at you from the mattress she’s sitting on with wide eyes. "Fuck you, Katie" you mumble coldly before disappearing from the room. The idea of throwing the ball you hold in your hand on her head would have been tempting and you admit to having thought about it for a few moments. But you weren’t alone and it was out of the question for you to provoke a real scene with violence to the key. "Mate..." sighs Leah once you leave the room. "Wha' " grunts Katie without looking at the blonde. "That was a terrible comment" "Shut up" In truth, Katie knows very well that she has crossed the line and she is very uncomfortable. Hurting you is never her intention, she has always been very careful with her behavior with you, treating you like a princess on a daily basis. Except when she decides to test your limits like today. It never went that far though. Leah answers nothing, content to follow the brunette to the changing rooms to go shower and change. Katie frowns when she sees that you’re not there anymore and your stuff either. "She left. Alessia brings her home. And you’re definitely going to sleep on the couch tonight" Kyra informs her before going to take a shower. The information squeezes Katie’s heart, you live together, so it makes sense to travel together. But she particularly likes to see you in the role of HER passenger princess.

It’s with her mind elsewhere that Irish showers and changes, taking her time in seeking the best solution to fix things. However, it’s difficult for her to know what to do since she doesn’t know what treatment she will be entitled to once she arrives home.

Are you gonna yell at her? Ignore her? Are you even going to be there or will she be allowed a simple post-it on your fridge informing her that she just has to go to hell?

It’s not in a safe state that Katie gently open the door to your house. The living room is empty, but your sneakers are carefully placed on the shoe cabinet of the entrance, informing her of your presence at home. But you’re not in the part of the living room that she can see from where she is.

"Babe?"

Only silence answers her, which doesn’t particularly surprise her. You’re stubborn too and usually Katie liked that about you. But not today.

Sighing, Katie drops her bag at the entrance and walks a little further into the house. She finally finds yourself sitting at the kitchen table, apparently completely absorbed in your readings. Yes, because in addition to your training and games, you’ve been doing correspondence marketing studies. Just in case.

"Are you still angry?" Katie tries to get closer to you.

But you just answer her that a breath of the nose, without looking up from your book. If only she knew you couldn’t concentrate for more than ten seconds. You were really hurt by her remark, even if you think (hope) that she doesn’t think about it for a single second. What could be worse than being compared to her girlfriend’s ex by the principal concerned?

"Babe please, can we just…"

"Don’t fucking touch me McCabe!"

You jumped on your legs as she approached you, ready to put her hand on your arm. In your heart you obviously appreciated that she tries a reconciliation and that she tries to catch up, but it’s still too early for the moment. Your hands tremble with anger when you go to lock yourself in your room, slamming violently the door behind you.

********

"I don’t know mate, she seems really upset. She surname me!"

Katie walks around your backyard, whispering softly on the phone so you don’t hear her. She tried several times to knock on the door of your room but you never answered her, worse you even blocked the handle of the door so that she could not join you.

Leah, on the other end of the phone, has to admit that she is impressed by the strength of character with which you stand up to Katie. But Katie is still her friend and she obviously wants you to make up.

"At the same time, you compared her to your ex. Anyone would have taken it badly. I would have probably killed you."

"I know, Lee. But I can’t go back to the past, what do you want me to do?"

"Apologize?"

"She won’t listen to me, she won’t even let me in the same room as her."

"The good news is she didn’t strangle you" Leah comments with amusement.

"Not yet" answers Katie with a gloomy air.

"Let her calm down a little and in the meantime prepare an apology in good form"

"What do you mean?" asks Katie, mechanically looking up at your bedroom.

"Go get her some flowers, make her a candlelight dinner… what you know will please her."

"I have another idea" ended up answering Katie after a few seconds of reflection.

********

The night has fallen for a little while when almost timid blows are again thrown against the door of your bedroom. You sigh as you hear Katie’s voice rise from behind the door.

"I know you’re still very angry with me, but can you meet me at the livingroom please?"

You roll your eyes without answering, sitting on your side, back to the door. Now that the anger has dissipated, you realize that you were also hurt by the Irish comment. So you decide not to go. At least that was before you got a message on your phone.

Katie 🍀❤️ Baby please?

You let out a big sigh before you get out of bed. With your hands in yours (Katie’s) training pockets and your face frown, you finally leave your room. After moving the chair you had placed under the handle so that she could not enter.

When she hears your bedroom door open, Katie almost teleports to you.

"Can you close your eyes?"

"I’m not in the mood, Katie" you grumble in a low voice.

"Please" she whines.

You stare at her for a few seconds before sighing again and obeying. You let her take both hands to train you to the living room, stopping in the free passage left by the two sofas installed in the living room. Without letting go of your hands, Katie whispers

"You can open them"

You blink twice to regain clear vision and remain speechless in front of what was previously your living room. Katie installed cozy plaids and cushions on the sofa, she lit your fireplace and decorated the room with many Harry Potter goodies. You’re a fan of it, defending your house, Ravenclaw. Needless to say, the one you share your life with is from another house, which you confirmed when you forced her to take the test. Needless to say which one. (Slytherin)

On the coffee table Katie prepared bowls with several snacks and cups of hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows. Everything looks like one of those photos that are on Instagram. Well, almost. Because in these photos, there’s not Katie McCabe looking at you with as much apprehension as if you were a bomb ready to explode.

"I’m sorry I was stupid like that and I hurt you. I didn’t think about it and you have no idea how much I blame myself. I should never have said that when I haven’t thought about my ex in forever and even less since we’ve been together. I mean, of course we see each other when we’re training on the national team, but that’s it. She has nothing to do with you. I’m so sorry, Baby, I swear."

Katie rambles a little bit and you get to see the nervousness behind her clumsy speech. And it makes you feel terribly tender. Realizing that she still has your hands in hers, Katie gently pulls on it to draw you a little closer to her.

"I’m not just angry. What you said is hurtful, too, Kat."

"I know" she whispers, dropping one of your hands and putting hers gently under your chin. "But I don’t mean a word of it. No one can match you."

Your gaze in her blue eyes is enough to convince you of her sincerity and despair at the idea that you may not forgive her. It’s that side of Katie that you fell in love with as well, that part that she shows almost nobody. Katie is a loyal and attentive friend, which people know as well. But she is also a tender woman who enjoys cuddling with her girlfriend. You.

"I love you so much" she adds after a few seconds, pressing her forehead against yours. "Please, forgive me."

"Okay" you end up answering softly.

Her smile is so great of joy and relief that you can’t help but smile back.

"But on condition that we watch the first film" you add, pointing to the television with a nod.

"Anything you want."

Katie hurries to make you settle into the couch, perhaps doing a little too much by hurrying to bring a stool so that you can put your feet on it. But you let her, amused by her behavior. She then runs to dim the light in the living room, hands you a cup of hot chocolate and a glass of water if « the chocolate is too chocolate ». She tenderly wraps you in a plaid, asking if you want a cushion and arranges the food bowls so that you have everything near you.

"Are you missing something?" Katie asks, looking closely around her.

"Yes" you answer with a smile.

"What?"

"You."

Bowing an eyebrow, you lift a corner of the blanket in which you are wrapped so that she comes to settle next to you. What she does smiling, even accepting that you shift to allow her too to put her feet on the stool with you. After making sure again that you didn’t miss anything, Katie launches the film and you gently lean your head on her shoulder when she puts her arm around yours.

Ten good minutes passed when you look up at Katie’s face, lit by the lights of the television.

"Babe?" you call her gently, making her look off the screen.

"Yes?"

"I love you too."

A soft smile is born on her face and you would swear that it will remain there until the end of the evening. Including when she leans over you to kiss you right now, then every other time during the movie.

Katie McCabe may be a fool, but she’s your fool.

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So… Katie McCabe is a Slytherin, what do you think? 😂

#woso x reader #woso imagine #katie mccabe #katie mccabe x reader #katie mccabe imagine

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imaginespazzi · 7 months ago

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Part 6: Leaps of Faith

Masterlist - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 7

I hope that you catch me, cause I'm already falling (you put your arms around me and I'm home)

(In which a writer who can see the end approaching starts building towards that ending)

Pairing: Paige Bueckers X Azzi Fudd

Themes: Angst and Fluff

Words: 8.0K

TW: Swearing, Alludes to Sexual Content

A/N: Good evening my lovelies <3. Happy Sunday and Happy Mothers day! First of all, I wanna thank y'all for being ever so patient with me. I know I've been pretty bad about updating lately and y'all have been so sweet with your asks and I really appreciate it. This fic is very close to its end. I probably could have ended it with this chapter but there's a very specific ending I want to write so this one is more of a self-indulgent filler but I think y'all will like this one. There will be one more chapter and then an epilogue of sorts. Once again, there are most likely logistical inaccuracies. I'm not even gonna lie, the editing on this one is shoddy so there are definitely grammar errors/typos. For now, ignore them and I'll go fix them later. As always, even if we're near the end, feel free let me know what you liked, what you didn't and anything you'd like to see before we get to the end. Have a wonderful week my angels <3

April 2024

“It’s a little early for ice cream hon,” Azzi jumps at the sound of her mother’s voice, startled eyes following the direction of the noise to find Katie leaning against the kitchen door, with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s a little early to scare the living bejesus out of me mom,” she says with a hand to her chest.

If possible, Katie’s eyes roll even further at her daughter’s sarcastic tone as she makes her way over to the kitchen counter. She’s gotten herself a spoon and everything, ready to steal some ice cream for herself, when she notices the flavour. Next to her, Azzi stiffens.

“You hate mint chocolate chip Az,” Katie says quietly.

“I couldn’t find the strawberry ice cream,” Azzi defends stubbornly, her face taking on a guarded expression.

Katie walks over to the freezer, opening it and pointing at the strawberry ice cream, Azzi’s favourite, that’s sitting in plain sight, “it’s right there.”

“Well,” Azzi splutters, “I’m trying something new,”.

“You hate trying new things.”

“I’ve grown up I guess.”

“Azzi.”

“Mom.”

“Azzi, why are you eating ice cream you hate at 4 in the morning?” Katie finally asks in her best mom voice, sighing when she gets a mumbled response from her daughter, “in words Az, please.”

“Paige likes it,” Azzi admits slowly, and before Katie can say anything, before Azzi can dwell on what she’s said, she launches into a rant, “god knows why. Actually I know why because she’s stupid and weird and likes the dumbest shit. Who the fuck likes mint? Who the fuck likes mint and chocolate together? Gross. This shit is disgusting. It tastes all wrong. Paige is just-,” Azzi throws her hands up in the air, “she just doesn’t understand that some things don’t belong together. They can’t. They’re too different and it just- there’s a fucking balance to things you know? And she just- she doesn’t get that. It’s just- it’s not meant to be.”

“That doesn’t explain why you’re eating it right now,” Katie says carefully.

“Because I miss her,” the truth bursts out of Azzi like an erupting volcano, burning itself into every crevice of her skin, “because for some fucking reason I don’t hate the taste of mint chocolate chip. Because maybe they do go together and maybe I’ve been the stupid one this whole time.”

Since she’d stepped out of the hotel in Cleveland, all Azzi could think about was going back, saying fuck it to all the useless logic she’d come up with and going back to the only thing in her life that had ever made sense her Paige. But as it often did in that clichéd battle between head and heart, her head had won out. And she’s never questioned why her head wins so much, why she’s always chosen to listen to the practical side of her brain, until now. Until now when the urge to turn back time, to make herself stay in that hotel room, is all that’s consumed her for the last week.

“Azzi,” Katie wraps her arms around the younger girl, “what happened with you and Paige?”

Azzi hesitates for a second and then everything’s spilling out of her lips, the good, the bad, the inbetween, all of it tumbles out like an uncontrollable waterfall. There’s something freeing about being able to say it all out loud, something freeing about the tears Azzi finally lets roll down her cheeks. She grips the edge of the counter to keep herself from keeling over, starting to feel herself crumble under the heaviness of all these stupid feelings.

“It shouldn’t be this hard,” Azzi whispers, “we used to be so easy.”

“Oh Az,” Katie rubs a thumb against her daughter’s cheek, “you used to be kids. You’re all grown up now. It’s always harder when you’re older.”

“Well, I don’t like it. I just want to be the way we were again.”

“So why don’t you?” Katie asks like it’s the most simple solution in the world and Azzi shoots her mother an exasperated look.

“What do you mean? How do we even do that? We can’t be just friends again. We tried. Were you not listening at all?”

“Azzi, sweetheart, you’ve never been just friends.”

“That’s not true,” it’s a futile attempt at arguing against what’s become more of a fact than an opinion in Azzi’s life. It’s a truth she’d let herself acknowledge once and then buried deep within her, scared that once unleashed, it would ruin everything. Except, it turns out, even without it, things had still turned to dust.

“Do you remember when you came home from Minnesota that first summer with Paige? You were either moping around or you were on call with her. There was no in between. It got better eventually, the moping stopped but the calls? I think you fell asleep on facetime with her almost every night. And you were tired every morning after, you barely had time to eat before school but every time I suggested that maybe you cut back, that was never an option,” Katie smiles fondly, “it’s when I knew.”

Azzi does remember, remembers talking about everything and nothing, remembers laughing and crying, remembers when Paige’s breathing was the only lullaby that could relax her into sleeping. And she remembers battling with that voice in her head, the one convinced there’s something more, silencing it with I’d do this with anyone. But that wasn’t true then and it’s not true now because Paige has never been just anyone, never been just a friend. Because even if Azzi’s never been brave enough to say it out loud, Paige is and has always been everything.

Despite knowing the answer and maybe dreading it just a little bit, Azzi asks it to her mom anyway, “what did you know?”

“That she was your person. You were too young, I couldn’t call it love just yet but I knew Paige was different then, she was yours in a way none of your other friends were. You were different around her,” Katie nudges her daughter, “Azzi you’ve always been just a little bit in love with her and she’s always been just a little bit in love with you too. The two of you have just been a matter of time.”

Azzi closes her eyes, and unlike other people, she doesn’t see darkness or little spots of light, she just sees Paige. Her mother’s words wash over her, like acid in her self-inflicted fight the feelings wounds and yet, the idea of she’s loved me too feels like a band-aid being delicately placed on the scars of her heart.

“And place,” she whispers, eyes still closed, “we never seem to get time and place right.”

“Why do you need to?”

Another exasperated look is sent Katie’s way at that question, “we live on different sides of the country mom, what do you mean why do we need to?”

“I mean the two of you have barely ever been in the same place. But you made it work, when you had even less, when you felt even less. But you’re adults now. You have other resources now. And I know timing is difficult but- it’s you and Paige. What are you so scared of Azzi?”

Azzi sucks in a deep breath, “what if Paige runs away again?”

“What if you run away again?”

“Excuse me?”

“Who was the last person to walk away, Azzi?,” Katie sighs when Azzi is adamantly silent, “I know she hurt you by leaving. I know she hurt you by pushing you away. But you did the same thing. You chose UCLA,” Katie holds up a hand when a frustrated Azzi tries to interrupt, “and it was the right decision for you Azzi and she should have supported it. But that doesn’t meant you didn’t hurt her and then you chose Zoe-”

“I didn’t choose Zoe-”

“Yes you did Azzi. Sweetheart you’re my daughter and I will always tell you the complete truth even if it’s not what you wanna hear. And the truth Azzi is that Paige might have hurt you in 101 different ways but that doesn’t mean you didn’t hurt her back in 99 different ways too.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Azzi whispers, “that’s the problem mom. It hurts when she hurts me but it hurts even more when I hurt her. I don’t want that for us but I just- I just don’t know how to stop it without stopping us.”

“You haven’t even tried, baby. Paige held out a hand and you ran away.”

“She left first. How am I supposed to trust that she won’t just do that again," all that’s missing from Azzi’s stubborn whine is a foot stomp.

“Because she came back. It took her a little bit, I know, but she came back and she’s ready to fight, the question is, are you?”

“Why are you defending her?” Azzi splutters, “who’s side are you even on?”

“There are no sides to this sweetheart. The two of you are on the same side. So maybe instead of fighting against her, take that hand, fight with her.”

***

The WNBA draft is a momentous occasion this year. With a hyped draft class like no other, and the promise of even greater ones in the future, there’s a sense of celebratory hope dangling in the air. When the invite had first come in, Azzi had known the same one would be sent to a certain blonde in Connecticut as well. And a part of her had wanted to hide herself away from that possible collision, but every other part of her wanted nothing more than to get just a glimpse of the blonde.

One moment Azzi is surrounded by flashing cameras and the echo of her name on everyone’s lips, the next everything around her is fading away her eyes meet Paige’s on the other end of the WNBA draft orange carpet. It’s nothing new really. Since she’s met her, the blonde has commandeered all of Azzi’s attention whenever she’s nearby. Sometimes it feels like all of her other five senses fade away to give birth to a secret sixth one, one that’s solely dedicated to Paige, one that’s terrifyingly all-consuming. And yet, despite the heaviness of we’ve said too many goodbyes, for the first time in what feels like eternity, Azzi feels like she can finally breathe.

And then Paige looks away.

And Azzi’s back to struggling for air.

It’s selfish of her, she knows, to expect something, not when she’d been the one to leave them stranded on different islands. But Azzi doesn’t seem to think logically when it comes to Paige and even as she tries to turn her focus back to posing for the camera, every inch of her body is dangerously aware of the blonde’s every move, just a mere few feet away from her. Her conversation with her mother is echoing in her head, giving rise to dangerous desires of what if i grabbed your hand and we ran away together.

Paige is a natural on the orange carpet, all dazzling smiles and twinkling eyes. She glides through it, inching closer and closer to Azzi, but never giving away any sense of discomfort. And if it was anybody else, maybe they’d never catch onto the nerves hidden beneath Paige’s facade of calm, cool and collected. But once upon a time Paige used to be Azzi’s favourite puzzle and she has every part of the blonde committed to memory. It’s in the way Paige’s teeth gnaw at her lips for the briefest of seconds, in the way her right index finger is begging to tap a beat against where her hands rests on hips, in the way she’s blinking just one too many times.

And then with one more heavy footed step from Paige, the distance between them is barely a couple inches and they let out identical breaths of air, both of them keeping their focus on the cameras in front of them. It’s loud, too loud, and still all Azzi can focus on is the sound of Paige breathing. The air around them is thick with tension. It feels a bit like they’re silhouetted against a sky made of words they’ve left unsaid and clouds of all the bitter mistakes they’ve made are hanging over their heads. And when their pinkies brush together, and a jolt of electricity sends shivers of I miss you more every day again her skin, Azzi questions if she’s ever made the right decision when it comes to Paige.

“Wait wait wait,” Ari cuts in, as she squeezes herself in between the two of them, “I wanna get in between the two of you.”

A harsh cry of no sits heavily on the top of Azzi’s tongue as the older woman forces a break in whatever little bit of contact she’d had with Paige. She feels a little pathetic, the way every little inch of her skin is craving for that touch back. It had been nothing, a barely there moment and still Azzi thinks, when she goes to bed tonight, if that was all she’d get of Paige, then it’ll be the only thing that’ll feature in her dreams.

“Alright one with just Paige and Azzi,” Ari directs the media, stepping out of the way and pushing the two younger girls together. And it’s laughable that a little brush of their pinkies had Azzi feeling any type of way because when they’re suddenly pressed together, every inch of Paige’s side fitting into Azzi’s like it belongs, the way the world suddenly bursts with light and colours makes Azzi wonder if every moment without Paige has simply been monochrome.

It comes to them naturally how to pose together, arms winding around each other’s waist, heads involuntarily leaning against the other’s. And the smiles might be for the cameras but Azzi knows hers is the most real it’s been all night. It might be temporary, she might lose Paige in the chaos, but for now Paige is here and Azzi has learned how to be content with whatever little she can get.

As the media moves to capture other people, the logical thing to do would be to separate, to let go of each other. But instead they stand there, still completely wrapped around each other, heart rates in sync as they breathe in each other’s presence. And then Paige’s hand falls from the small of Azzi’s back to tangle their fingers together and they let out identical sighs of relief, something so cathartic in the purposefulness of that touch. Everyone is too busy to notice that the two of them have fallen into a whole other world, one where there’s only two of them and every emotion that they’ve only reserved for the other. There’s no words exchanged as Paige guides the two of them out of the spotlight, somehow keeping their hands clasped together in secret, despite the ever growing crowd. And Azzi doesn’t know this building at all, doesn’t have the faintest clue where she’s being led to, but as long as it’s Paige pulling her along, she doesn’t care where, she thinks she’d go anywhere.

Paige stops abruptly in a secluded corridor, turning to fully face Azzi. And the sincerity in the blonde’s crystalline blue eyes, as they roam every inch of Azzi’s body before coming to fixate on her face, steals the air away from Azzi’s lungs. Paige has gotten better over the years at building walls, but with every new lock she places on her emotions, there’s a key to open them that seems to always find its way to Azzi. In the delicate golden hue, Paige shines brighter than any star ever could and in the dim light Azzi can make out every bit of hurt and love and please can we just have this moment that Paige can’t put into words.

“Hi,” Azzi whispers softly, hands itching to reach out and caress Paige’s skin.

“Hi,” Paige says back, even quieter. She stares at Azzi as if she’s memorising every little detail and then her face crumbles. Azzi feels her heart drop at the single tear that trickles down Paige’s cheek as she lets out a broken whimper. And this, this unspoken power they seem to have over each other, the uncanny ability to just hurt each other without any bit of effort, is what scares Azzi the most. It’s too much. They shouldn’t be able to do this.

“Paige,” Azzi’s fingers twitch but she hesitates, not knowing if it’s the right thing, “fuck- P what’s wrong?”

Paige doesn’t reply, eyes wandering down to where Azzi’s trying to keep her hands still against her sides and when she looks back up, her eyes are bloodshot, “what’s wrong? What’s not wrong Azzi? You won’t even fucking touch me.”

“I didn’t-” Azzi struggles to speak, “I didn’t think you’d want me to.”

“Can you just- fuck- can you just stop overthinking things for once in your life. Of course I want you to touch- you know what nevermind. This was a bad idea. You made yourself clear and I’m just- fuck- I should- I should just go.”

She sounds adamant enough but all it takes, when Paige moves to leave, is the strangled cry that leaves Azzi’s lips. The sound is enough to pull Paige right back in. She takes one look at the tears brimming in Azzi’s eyes. And then she’s pushing Azzi against a wall, hands on either side caging the younger girl between her body and the hard surface behind. She presses their foreheads together and Azzi feels like every part of her might just be a part of Paige too.

“I miss you. I miss you so fucking much. It’s barely been two weeks and I- fuck- Azzi- I’ve missed you every single second and now you’re here and I still miss you. And it really fucking hurts.”

“I’m sorry,” Azzi whispers, finally letting her hands cup Paige’s cheeks, and it’s worth it for the way Paige seems to completely melt into her touch, “I’m sorry I keep hurting you. I keep thinking I’m doing the right thing but- I don’t know- I feel like I’m always doing the wrong thing when it comes to you. I don’t- I don’t know what to do.”

“Just let me be with you,” Paige’s voice is wrecked with desperation as she presses herself as close to Azzi as possible, “I’ll be your whatever- whatever you give me- whatever you want- I just- I just want you Az- whatever little bit you’re willing to give me- I’ll take it- and if you want me to wait- fuck Azzi- I’d wait forever- you know that right? However long it takes, baby. Just want you- just want us.”

Leaps of faith are scary. Azzi’s never been great at taking them, too cautious, too much of a worrier. She’s more of a step back from the cliff kind of person. If she doesn’t jump, she can’t fall. But here’s the thing, when she was fourteen, Azzi jumped off of her first hypothetical cliff. It had been on a plane, when after avoiding one too many deep questions, Azzi had admitted to a girl she barely knew,that maybe she could like girls. It was the first time she’d ever let herself acknowledge that truth about herself and the girl next to her was a stranger but there was something about her, something that screamed i’ll hold your hand and if you jump it’ll never be alone. And ever since then, that girl, Paige, has always been there. Hands outstretched, ready to jump off any ledge. Because if there’s hard ground underneath, then they’ll learn how to fly together and if there’s water, they’ll figure out how to swim. With Paige there has always been the promise that, whatever it is, they’ll figure it out together. And it’s with that promise in mind, that Azzi takes the leap of faith.

“Me too,” Azzi whispers, heart beating erratically.

“What?” Paige searches Azzi’s face, as if waiting for her to take it back.

“Us. You. You and me. I want that too,” a ghost of a smile begins to creep onto Azzi’s face, and for the first time in god knows how long, she feels feather light, a little bit like she’s floating on a rainbow.

“You mean it?” Paige asks earnestly, hands moving from the wall to clutch at Azzi’s waist, “don’t play-Azzi- okay- you mean it for real?”

“I do. I want this- I want this so much and I’m still- I’m still really scared and maybe it’ll be a disaster but I- I want to try. With you.”

Azzi used to think she knew all of Paige’s smiles. Her small, not quite fake, but only for cameras and people she didn’t quite know, smiles. Her just for my friends smile that was filled with mirth and childlike joy. Her basketball smile that transformed into a smirk when she got too cocky. Her only for Drew smile, soft and filled with so much adoration and pride. Her Azzi smile, the one only the brown-skinned girl gets to experience, a smile that made Azzi’s her heart swell with love. But the smile that stretches across Paige’s face now, is one Azzi’s never seen before. This one throws Azzi’s entire world of balance, so bright, so big, so full of emotions. If she could, she’d tattoo that smile onto her skin forever.

“We’re really doing this?” Paige asks, still a little stunned. It wasn’t what Azzi had planned for tonight. She hadn’t really had any plans for what would really happen. But then Paige had walked in and all Azzi could see was forever she was tired of fighting against.

“We should take it slow okay-” Azzi wraps her arms around the older girl’s neck, keeping their foreheads still against each other’s, “I don’t- I don’t wanna rush into things and fuck it up. I can’t- fuck- I can’t lose y-”

“You won’t,” Paige swears, squeezing at Azzi’s wait, “I won’t let you. We can take it slow. We can take it however you want- I just- we’re doing this?”

“Yeah,” Azzi can’t help the grin that fills up her entire face, “yeah we’re doing this.”

And as they surge forward to claim each other’s lips, and as they meld every inch of themselves into each other, and as they smile and cry into the kiss simultaneously, and as they etch promises into each other skin, and as they let themselves finally fall into each other, for each other, it feels a lot like coming home.

***

July 2024

The early morning sunlight casts a dark shadow across Paige’s face, causing the still asleep blonde to scrunch up her face in irritation. Azzi, who’s been awake for nearly half an hour now, can’t help the fond smile that creeps onto her own lips. She shifts herself to block the sun and Paige lets out a content sigh, burrowing herself further into her pillows. And the thing is every moment with Paige is special but there’s something about waking up to her in the morning. Azzi’s always awake first and it gives her ample time to just admire the girl in her arms, blond hair tousled all over her pillow, lips parted slightly open, and one arm always, always, splayed across Azzi’s torso, holding her close. Over the course of time, Azzi’s found out that the second she moves, Paige seems to feel her leave, waking up instantly.

There had been an adjustment period if Azzi's honest. It had taken her a while to shake that fear of Paige not being there in the morning. The first morning, she’d been scared to open her eyes, even if she could feel Paige’s presence right next to her. That had been one of the few mornings that Paige was fully awake first, hovering above Azzi to wake her up. And when she finally did get the courage to open her eyes, the first thing Azzi had seen was Paige, blue eyes sparkling with unfiltered adoration, a smile filled with promises of every morning just like this. And that had been enough.

Azzi reaches out to brush a hand through Paige’s soft blond hair, mesmerised by how pretty Paige looks in the morning glow. A lot of Paige belongs to the world now and Azzi’s not opposed to sharing really, because someone so fucking perfect, deserves to be celebrated like that. But there are some parts of Paige that belong to Azzi and Azzi only, some parts Azzi cherishes as being only hers. This is one of them and Azzi takes a snapshot of it, knowing she’ll need it to function in a few months, when she won’t get the real thing.

“Are you watching Paige sleep?” Azzi almost jumps at the sound of Drew’s voice at the doorway, having been too immersed in Paige to have even heard the door open, “that’s kinda creepy Azzi.”

“Jesus Drew, whatever happened to knocking?”

“I forgot?” Drew grins, before he plops on the bed, the force of it making the whole frame shake a little bit.

“Drew!” Azzi chides, “you’re gonna wake her up.”

Drew cocks his eyebrows, sparing his sister, who seems unphased by the sudden little bit of chaos around her, still fast asleep, an unimpressive look, “please she can sleep through anything. Besides, it’s already 9. I thought we were gonna do things. I been up for aaaages.”

“She’ll be awake soon,” Azzi smiles, ruffling the younger boy's hair. Drew rolls his eyes and it’s remarkable how much he resembles Paige, not just by face, but the mannerisms too.

He huffs for a second before his eyes sparkle with an idea, “what if we pour water on her!”

“Drew!” Azzi chastises again, trying not to giggle.

“Boo,” Drew crosses his arms across his chest, “you used to be so cool Azzi.”

Azzi laughs as she’s reminded of a younger version of herself, scheming with Drew on how to wake Paige up. And it’s not that she’s beyond that really, tucking the water idea for a rainy day, but Paige looks too peaceful this morning and she wants to preserve that look of serenity on the older girl’s face for just a little bit longer.

“Hey Azzi,” Drew says after a while and Azzi hums in response, “when you and Paige get married, I can still be a groomsman right? Even if there’s no grooms?”

“Wha- where did that come from?” the brunette’s eyes widened at the question, sitting up a little straighter.

Drew peers up at her with all the innocence of a pre-teen, “you are gonna get married right?”

“I don’t-”

“It’s too early for your yapping Drew,” Azzi’s saved from answering by Paige’s tired voice entering the conversation. She looks over to find Paige’s eyes already on her, a soft smile playing on her lips as she looks up at Azzi. If Drew wasn’t sitting right there, Azzi would lean over and kiss her and let Paige deepen it until they were both satisfied.

“Oh thank god,” Drew cheers dramatically, “I thought you were gonna sleep forever.”

Paige scoffs, the arm that’s still wrapped around Azzi’s torso tightening its hold, “I wish.”

“Well you’re awake now so get up,” Drew whines, moving from his spot on the end of the bed, to flop on top of Paige’s body instead, “get up, get up, GET UP.”

“Get off,” Paige groans but there’s no real force behind it. Azzi watches with a fond smile, as Paige flips Drew over so that she can tickle him, eliciting rounds of laughter from the younger boy. Something in her heart flutters, her mind going back to Drew’s question. She’s never really been one to think too hard about marriage and children and that domestic suburban life, leaving it up to fate, but now- well, maybe.

“Okay aight aight enough. Go get ready for breakfast and we’ll be down in a second,” Paige says, ushering Drew off of the bed.

“You can just tell me you want me to leave so you can kiss Azzi you know?” Drew scrunches up his nose, “you two are gross.”

Paige sends him a stern look and gets a dramatic eye roll in return but as he always does, Drew does as he’s told, mock saluting the two of them and skipping out of the room.

“He’s right by the way,” Paige says softly, turning back to where Azzi’s leaning against the backboard, “I do want to kiss you.”

Azzi smirks lopsidedly, “what’s stopping you?”

She squeals in surprise when Paige pulls her, the force of it causing both of them to tumble onto the front-end of the bed. Azzi ends up on top of Paige, hands resting around her neck, the blonde’s hands holding her waist in place.

“Good morning,” Paige grins, clearly proud of herself as she chases Azzi’s lips to pull her into a searing kiss.

“Good morning,” Azzi whispers back, thumb caressing Paige’s left cheek.

“Just so you know,” Paige pulls away, a determined glint in her eyes, “we’re so getting married one day.”

***

October 2024

Azzi’s mood has been rancid for the last couple of weeks. It’s terrible she knows; it makes her irritating to play with and a nightmare to live with. But even if this had been expected, that she would be on one end of the country and her heart would be on the other side, it doesn’t stop her from constantly being in a state of missing Paige. And it’s different from before, now that there’s a certain surety of of course i’ll see you soon but soon never really feels soon enough.

“Azzi can you please get the door,” Kiki calls from her room when the doorbell rings.

“I’m busy,” Azzi grunts back, snuggling further into her pillow with a book she isn’t actually reading, “you go get it.”

“Azzi please, I’m literally in the middle of getting dressed,” Kiki yells exasperatedly.

If it wasn’t for the fact that she’s pretty sure her teammates are about this close to plotting her murder, and deservedly so, Azzi would sink back onto her bed and let the incessant doorbell noise continue. But she does love her teammates, thinks Kiki probably deserves to change in peace, and it forces her out of bed, grumbling away about annoying visitors. Until she actually gets a look at the visitor. Paige stands on the doorstep, confident as ever, a bouquet of roses and peonies and lilies in her hand.

“You’re here,” Azzi breathes out, staring in awe.

“And thank fucking god she is,” Kiki quips from behind her, “maybe we can finally get our old happy Azzi back and not this bitch.”

Paige laughs, “watch how you talk about my girl Rice.”

“You’re here. You’re really here,” Azzi whispers again.

“I heard you missed me baby,” Paige says, her cocky smirk betrayed by the softness in her voice. And then Azzi is flying into her arms, throwing Paige off balance.

“So fucking much,” Azzi admits into Paige’s neck, eliciting a giggle from the blonde, “Kiki’s right. I have been a bitch.”

“Just a little bit,” Kiki calls out again but there’s a new fondness in her voice. It’s funny how her team, even the haters, have slowly become Paige fans. They’d been hesitant at first, just like the UConn girls, but now well, it seems the basketball world’s Montagues and Capulets have learned to accept their star players’ relationship.

“Missed you too Az,” Paige’s tone is vulnerable as they break away, “alright, go get changed, I wanna take you somewhere.”

“Or…,” Azzi presses her lips to Paige’s neck, leaving a trail of open-mouthed kisses, “we could stay here and do something else.”

Paige shivers under her touch, stepping away to keep some semblance of control “n-no I have plans,” but she can’t help but kiss Azzi’s pout away, “it’ll be worth it, I promise. Besides,” she bites at Azzi’s ear, “there’s always later.”

***

“Your big plans are to bring me to the supermarket,” Azzi cocks an eyebrow as they walk down one of the many aisles, “you turned down sex for this? Should I be offended?”

Paige doesn’t say anything, concentratedly looking at signs, trying to figure out a specific section, before an aha! moment dances over her face, and she pulls Azzi with her, the younger girl going willingly, despite the eye roll. She stops triumphantly in front of the sushi section and Azzi looks at her quizzically.

“I’m getting you supermarket sushi,” Paige says pointedly, “and then you can get me mac and cheese.”

And if you brought me sushi I’d have brought you your favourite mac and cheese. Oh. The realisation of what Paige is doing trickles around Azzi a little bit like rain after a long summer drought. She thinks back to the bouquet, everything suddenly making sense.

“You’re such a dork Paige Bueckers,” Azzi says softly, tapping the older girl’s nose.

“Your dork,” Paige grins cheesily, “now hurry up and pick one. I don’t wanna miss the sunset.”

***

Once she catches on it, it doesn’t surprise Azzi to find that Paige has everything planned out perfectly, down to the exact spot in the park- the one by Paige’s recovery airBnB, the one they’d taken countless walks in trying to repair their friendship- where the two of them can be away from everybody else, in their own little bubble. And she has a picnic blanket, that’s a little small but they don’t really want space from each other anyways. They lean against a tree, food set up in front of them, Paige’s laptop, carefully piled on top of a couple of books to be the perfect height, set a little bit further away.

“So what NBA game are we watching?” Azzi asks with a smile and Paige groans, “what? Was that not part of the plan?”

“Dude come on. It’s the beginning of October. Please tell me you know the NBA season isn’t happening yet,” Paige rubs her temple, only a little endeared by the comment, “are you sure you’re a basketball player?”

“There are games in October. I swear I’ve seen them before,” Azzi says sceptically.

“Yeah at the very end of the month, not right now.”

“Well then close enough,” Azzi says indignantly, “I don’t need to know the exact day.”

“Whatever you say baby,” Paige acquiesces with a smirk and it earns her an elbow to the stomach, “what the fuck? That shit’s domestic violence you know?”

“Big words Bueckers, didn’t think you knew them,” Azzi teases, placing a kiss against Paige’s offended expression, before settling herself against the blonde’s side, sighing contentedly when she gets a kiss on her temple in return. They’re cliché enough to put on Love and Basketball, but Azzi doesn’t really end up watching much at all. In between slow kisses, she almost falls asleep a couple of times, the comfort of Paige’s arms like a blanket wrapping her in the warmth of this is my fairytale.

“THE POLAROID,” Paige’s shout breaks Azzi out of her haze as she feels her body being shaken off, the blonde rummaging through her bag for the camera, “we have to take the polaroid. My wall needs it.”

“Oh yeah a tiny polaroid picture of us inbetween all your Lebron posters, a perfect fit,” Azzi drawls only to be met with a scathing look from Paige.

“It’s for important things and Lebron is the most important of them all,” Paige explains with complete seriousness, as she finally finds the polaroid camera and shimmies back to Azzi with it in hand.

The sunset is beautiful. Pink, purple, orange and blue, all blending together to create the perfect picture. But Azzi thinks it’s not nearly as beautiful as the girl in front of her, not nearly as beautiful as the date Paige had planned, not nearly as beautiful as the future she can so clearly see now. Her mind drifts back to the night of the phone call, and she can almost hear Paige’s sobs again, can still hear her own voice breaking. Back then, they had seemed impossible, a butterfly like dream that danced out of their grasp.

“Hey,” Paige captures her chin with two fingers, “where’d you go?”

Azzi shakes her head, “nowhere. I’m right here. With you. Where I should be.”

“Sappy goof,” Paige snorts but she kisses Azzi like she’ll take those words and hide them in the labyrinth of her mind, protect them there forever.

Taking the picture is a task, both of them bickering about angles and lights. It’s unnecessary arguing, in true Paige and Azzi fashion really but there’s something so mundanely domestic about it that Azzi finds herself wanting to memorise this moment too. They finally get the frame just right, somewhere in between what they both wanted. Azzi smiles at the camera, her Paige smile, as the blonde in question presses her lips against her cheeks.

Click.

And Azzi hopes, that however many years later, when they have a home of their own, amidst all the photos that they’ll take over the next years, this one will be hung somewhere on their wall, a testament to finally realising every dream they’d dared to dream together.

***

December 2024

There are pebbles being thrown at her window and Azzi has to stop herself from laughing when she peers down to see Paige, freezing cold in the Virginia December air, staring up at her with a goofy smile. She shakes her head when her phone rings, knowing it’s Paige and answers it with her own foolish grin.

“What exactly are you doing?” Azzi asks, “come back to bed.”

“You said I was unromantic. I’m trying to be romantic,” Paige’s teeth chatter in the cold, as she balances her phone in one hand, still throwing rocks with the other.

“I didn’t say that and throwing rocks at my window is supposed to be romantic? You’re going to wake the whole house up.”

“That’s what they do in all the good rom coms. And you said and I quote ‘we’re kind of boring’. You might be boring Azzi Fudd but I most definitely am not.”

It had been a throwaway comment Azzi had made at dinner with some friends from high school. One of her friends had been going on and on about some adventurous trip that she and her boyfriend were going on, and then asked Paige and Azzi if they had any of that planned. To which Azzi had replied that they were a little too busy, considering they were college basketball players still in season, and besides they were “kind of boring” people. She hadn’t meant it in any type of way. Personally, Azzi likes boring. Paige however, seemed to have taken the comment to heart and Azzi had woken up at 2 a.m. to an empty bed and the sound of something being thrown at her window.

“Okay I’m sorry. I’m sorry. You're really interesting baby and the most romantic person in the world. Now will you please come back to bed,” Azzi concedes, already missing the feeling of being cuddled up in her blankets with Paige’s body heat keeping her nice and toasty.

“No,” Paige says indignantly, “come down here.”

“Paige, it's freezing. It’s gonna start snowing any minute.”

“Exactly. That’s exciting.”

“Sleep is exciting,” Azzi whines, but she’s already padding around her room looking for a warm sweater, grumbling under her breath about the warm California sun she’s missing. She tiptoes down the staircase, wincing at the one step that creaks just a little too much, before pushing herself out the door. And it’s freezing cold, there’s sleep in her eyes, but it’s all worth it Azzi thinks, it’ll always be worth it, just to experience Paige’s smile.

“Knew you’d come,” Paige grins cockily, mittened hands pulling Azzi into her.

“Yeah yeah. What are we even doing?”

“Azzi Fudd,” Paige bellows dramatically, “may I have this dance.”

Azzi stares at Paige’s outstretched hand wondering if this is some sort of cry for help, but one look at Paige’s face tells her that the girl in front of her is being absolutely serious.

“This is your idea of exciting? Dancing in the street while it’s freezing with no music?” Azzi raises an eyebrow, but she takes Paige’s hand.

“It’s spontaneous,” Paige says the last word with a flourish, as she spins Azzi, “why not dance in the street when it’s freezing with no music?”

And well, that’s a fair point. If anyone were to look out their window that night, they’d probably think the two girls were somewhat crazy. Laughing and giggling and tripping over each other as Paige hums a melody and Azzi occasionally joins in. It’s ridiculous and corny and cliché and perfect. And then the first little bit of snow falls, white drops circling around the two dancing girls, snowflakes catching on their eyelashes. The dim glow of the streetlight is enough to catch identical smiles on the two girl’s faces as they revel in each other.

“You know some people say if you make a wish during the first snowfall, it’ll come true,” Paige whispers, still waltzing the two of them around, cheek pressed to Azzi’s, “you wanna try?”

And the thing is Azzi doesn’t really believe in all of that, in magic but something about Paige, something about this moment feels magical. It makes a believer out of Azzi.

“Yeah,” Azzi smiles, “let’s make a wish.”

They stand still, holding hands, eyes closed, both a little breathless, as they make their wishes. And when they open them, if it feels a little bit like maybe their wishes have already been granted, well they’ll share it in a secret smile but never out loud. After all, wishes don’t come true if you speak of them.

***

April 2025

7 seconds to go in the National Championship and Azzi’s UCLA Bruins are down by two points. It’s her last chance, having already declared for the 2025 WNBA draft, to win a national championship, to bring home their first basketball national championship since the 1978 team that had won the AIAW championship, to win their first NCAA championship ever. It had taken some sheer luck to get to this point if Azzi’s honest. As a two-seed in the Spokane region, they’d benefitted from their one-seed having been eliminated early and then getting to face a Cinderella six-seed in the final four. On the other side of the bracket, UConn, the favourites coming for a repeat, had been stunned by another team, the team that UCLA was now facing. That had caused a bit of a second-hand sting and Azzi’s not really trying to take revenge for Paige, but it'd be a lie to say the get back at them for me babe from earlier this morning isn’t ringing in her head.

The play is simple, set screens for Azzi, get her open, get her the ball. A two would get them to a tie and three would win it outright. Either will do. It’s a little too reminiscent of last year when Azzi had failed at tying the final 4 game and she can still feel that loss on the tips of her fingers. They break out from their last timeout, breathlessly running to their spots on the floor. The whistle blows, Kiki inbounds the ball and everything is a blur. All Azzi knows is the shot clock is winding down. She runs off of what feels like a million screens. And then she’s open on the wing, for a millisecond. A perfect pass from Kiki makes sure the ball lands straight in Azzi’s hand. And she doesn’t think, doesn’t breathe, doesn’t even notice the defender put up a hand, she shoots the ball. There’s two people on the court that know for sure that ball is going in the minute it leaves Azzi’s fingers, the shooter herself and her biggest fan in the stands, who’s been just a little bit in love with that shooting stroke, since before anything else had even begun.

With a delicate swish, the ball falls through the net, the buzzer sounds around the arena, the crowd explodes in blue and gold, as the UCLA Bruins win the 2025 national championship.

Everything stills in Azzi’s brain for a second, her thoughts taking a second to catch up to reality. She’s never really been one to emotion on the court, keeping herself steely guarded through most games, even at the very end. But now, triumph and pride and just utter happiness at finally achieving one of her biggest dreams, comes roaring to the surface, manifesting itself throughout her entire body, as she lets out a scream of joy. Her teammates engulf her and she gets lost in a sea of hugs and tears and bright, decadent smiles.

As thing start to calm down, there’s really only one thing on Azzi’s mind and Paige’s words echo in her ears, because if I’m gonna end up fucking crying, then I want it to be on your shoulder. And if I’m gonna end up celebrating, I want it to be in your arms. And Azzi thinks maybe Paige had discovered one of the biggest truths of their life with that, the truth that at the end of day, in any moment, big or small, happy or sad, the one person Azzi wants next to her, is her Paige. It’s been that way since she was fourteen, and too young to really understand the meaning of wanting someone forever, and she thinks if she has her way, it’ll be like that for the rest of her life, the rest of their life.

Paige is beaming in the crowd, standing next to Jon and José, a #35 jersey proudly adorning her torso. She waves when she catches Azzi’s eyes, always her biggest cheerleader. And Azzi throws caution to the wind, fuck it, not caring that there’s still a large crowd or that cameras are likely to follow her every move. She pushes her way into the stands, stopping right in front of the blonde.

“On a scale of one to ten, how bad would kissing you right now be?” Azzi asks, still a little breathless.

A myriad of emotions flicker through Paige’s face before settling on a mischievous smirk, “probably pretty bad but you should do it anyways.”

Azzi grins before merging their lips together and everything else fades to the background, until she’s consumed by nothing but Paige. They break apart far quicker than either of them would like and Azzi expects to feel just a little bit of fear at what she’s just done, likely given the media a spectacle they could run a million and one stories about but instead, with her forehead still pressed against Paige’s, she feels nothing but calm.

“I’m so in love with you,” Azzi whispers and Paige’s eyes widen. They’ve known it for a while now but it’s the first time either of them have said it.

“Say it again,” Paige demands.

“I’m so in love with you,” Azzi says again, grinning so hard, she thinks it might become her permanent expression, “like really fucking in love with you.”

“I’m so in love with you,” Paige whispers, pulling Azzi into a bone-crushing hug.

And this might not be the moment where everything finally comes together. There’s still so much life left to live, so much that they still need to work through, so much they’ve yet to deal with. But for now, Azzi has a national championship and she has the love of her life, the rest will work itself out, or so she hopes.

#pazzi #paige bueckers #azzi fudd #wcbb

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consultingskeletondetective · 3 months ago

Text

Virginal, chapter 5

Your relationship with Michael (if you could even call it that) had fallen into a strange little rhythm. He came for you, and you submitted like a good little victim. You'd never angered the shape enough by your non-compliance that he'd wanted to punish you for it.

Until now.

masterlist ❤️🖤 ao3

chapter tags: serial killer, death, violence, blood, gore, weapons, knife, non con, female reader, stalking, choking, spanking, squirting, forced orgasms

You needed a drink, and a nice distraction wouldn’t have gone amiss either, so when your co-worker Katie suggested you both go out for a bevvy after work you agreed before she’d even finished her sentence.

She chuckled but her expression creased a little as she stopped behind the bar to regard you.

“You okay, princess?” She asked kindly. “You seem a bit distracted today.”

You sighed a little as you pushed the cocktail you were meant to be bussing around the bar and leant against it, slouching forward. You knew you couldn’t tell her what was going on, but even if you could, you weren’t entirely sure you’d even want to tell her, or what the hell you’d even say. Instead, you ran your hand through your hair and didn’t look up.

“Yeah, no, I’m fine. I just,” you blew out your cheeks as you struggled to get your words out. “A…friend of mine had a…a pretty close call with…with…Michael Myers.”

“No shit!” Katie exclaimed quietly, aware of the customers around them, her eyes bugging as she lowered herself down to your height on the other side of the bar. “Are they okay? Did they tell the police? Girl, I can’t sleep because of that psycho.”

“She’s fine.” She fucking isn’t. “It was just a bit of a shock, I guess. It put me on edge, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologise!” Katie looked horrified. “He’s a monster! I’ve heard he’s killed like, what, 30 people since he escaped? They were saying on the news this morning that no one can figure out why he’s staying here and not going back to his hometown like the last time. You’d reckon if that were really the case then they’d have caught him by now.”

You were silent. You didn’t know if you were the reason he was staying, but then you also didn’t not know. Your stomach was in knots.

“All the more reason for that drink.” Katie smiled kindly. “Get your mind off that animal.”

“Yeah,” you managed a small, genuine smile. “That sounds amazing.”

You both hit the bar after your shift, still in your work clothes, and it was dark outside by the time you left. You’d only had a couple, but enough that you were feeling merry, maybe even happy, almost completely forgetting the waking nightmare you were living in.

You and Katie shared a cab back to yours and you hugged her goodnight before stepping out into the cool night air of your street, your front door in view. You heard her giving the cabbie directions to her house and then the car and its headlights disappeared around the corner and left you back in the darkness of the evening.

You slotted your key into the front door and pushed it open, already feeling your bed calling you, and you fumbled blindly next to the door until you found the lightswitch and turned it on, illuminating your living room.

Michael was stood in the corner of the room. He was staring, or seemingly so, at the front door. He stood as stiff as a board, his hands clenched by his sides. It was the only indication of his anger at all because he didn’t react when he saw you.

You stilled, your hand still on the door handle and you contemplated running back out into the street and screaming for help. You already knew that at this time of evening that the street was dead and he’d be across the room and your neck would be snapped in a second.

“What do you want, Michael?” You asked cooly, like you didn’t know. You assumed it was the alcohol giving you dutch courage, but there was still an unmistakable tremor to your voice when you spoke.

He didn’t answer you, because of course he didn’t, and for the first time you felt anger joining the fear shooting up your spine.

He took a measured step across the room, under the main light, and it was only then that you really noticed that his boiler suit was splattered with blood, the material of it sticking to his body in places, there was even a streak of gore on the cheek of his pale mask.

Your eyes widened and you hurried into the room and closed the door before taking a shaky step towards him, as if you’d accepted somewhere inside you that if you were the only one who got hurt, then that was okay.

“What did you do?” You asked the silence. Michael’s fists were still clenched, even though he was quiet and still as always, you could feel the waves of fury rolling off of him like it was tangible. Like flames of anger were licking across the room and burning you.

“How long have you been here?” You didn’t know why you even asked, it was just a force of habit at this point, you supposed. You were shrinking by the door, he was…different tonight. Mad. Maybe it was the blood, it reminded you of how dangerous he was, or maybe it was the way he was breathing, maybe it was the way he wasn’t moving - he’d have been all over you by now, but this time he wasn’t, like whatever was wrong was somehow your fault.

“Wait, are you mad at me for being out?” You asked incredulously. He didn’t move. You laughed maniacally at the absurdity of it. You definitely had dutch courage tonight. “Don’t stand there and stare at me all pissed off like I’ve missed fucking date night. I have a life outside of you!” You were fully shouting now, spurned on by his lack of response. “I’m not just going to be readily available whenever you want something to stick your cock into!”

Michael strode across the room faster than you’d ever seen him move until he was towering over you. His blood-stained fist curled around your throat, cutting off your air so you couldn’t even scream as he lifted you into the air until you were nearly two feet off of the carpet. Pain shot through your neck and your fingernails scraped at Michael’s large hand instinctively but he was solid and immovable, he just watched you silently as you scrabbled for air and kicked your legs out uselessly to collide painfully with his.

Your whole body felt like it was caught in flames as the blood rushed to your toes and you felt yourself going hazy.

“I’m sorry!” You gasped out weakly. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please put me down.”

After an apparent moment of deliberation, Michael opened his fist and you fell to the ground and collided heavily with the floor. You landed on your spine but the pain dulled behind you as your hands scrambled protectively to your throat. You knew you’d have deep bruises there tomorrow. You looked up at him as your eyes swam with tears.

Fear bubbled inside you when you saw the blade in his grip, crusted with the same blood that was on his boiler suit.

You darted to your feet but then his heavy boot was on your sternum and you were hurtling back, your spine hitting the carpet again and this time it knocked the air out of you.

You coughed in pain, your eyes bleary with tears, as Michael lowered himself to his knees in front of you. He leant over your small body, utterly dwarfing you, until his masked nose was rubbing against yours and a bizarre streak of heat shot through you.

The sharp edge of his kitchen knife pressed cruelly against your throat and you honestly didn’t know if it diminished or added to your arousal. Either one was the wrong answer. You waited for the inevitable push down and the flash of pain as your flesh was rendered apart and blood spilled down onto your carpet.

Your eyes met the eyes of his mask and you felt strangely calm, maybe a little sad, as if silently telling him goodbye.

After a few more measured, bloated moments, filled with nothing but your twin breathing, the knife left your neck and scattered across the carpet as Michael discarded it without a second thought and his gore-thickened hands pushed your legs up and out of the way.

You gasped as your cheeks burned bright, only just realising how wet you were now your thighs were in his hands.

“Fuck…” You gasped, your heart hammering from adrenaline and arousal as Michael tore your trousers down your legs and discarded the ruined fabric behind him and then he was wrenching your legs apart, holding you down by the backs of your knees until your thigh muscles were straining painfully, your core utterly vulnerable to his murderous rage. Your thighs glistened with your own slick.

You rasped out his name and he reared back to sit back on his ankles before his gargantuan hands scraped up your thigh and you whimpered. The harsh slap of skin on wet skin as he struck the sensitive flesh of your inner thigh echoed around the room and you yelped, your body twisting off of the carpet in response. His other hand kept you pinned as he slapped your other thigh, leaving a raised and red welt on your sensitive skin.

“Fuck, Michael," you gasped as the searing pain shot through your thighs and right to your core and dollops of arousal dribbled from your traitorous little hole and a whine fell unaided from your lips. It was like he was spanking you as some sort of punishment for disobeying him tonight.

Michael looked down at you as he raised his hand again and you jolted on instinct as a heavy spank landed directly on your exposed and dripping cunt.

Your whole body arched and an inhuman screech left your mouth as your clit trembled under the violent abuse of Michael’s punishing strike.

“I’m sorry-” You gasped out. “Please-”

He surged forward with a burst of speed that scared you before he was wrapping his fingers around your throat and then he was holding you to the ground. His silent fury was unmistakable. You will be sorry.

You’d never seen him like this before. He was angry, angry with you. He had no hesitation in his movements as his hand left your neck and he sat back and yanked his zip down with a harsh growl of metal teeth and then he was pulling himself out.

Oh shit. His cock was hard in a way you’d never seen before, it was red and angry like his mood, swollen and dripping, the colour of blood. He throbbed in his own grip.

He lurched forward and wrapped his fingers around your thighs, dragging you across the carpet until it scraped painfully over your ass before hauling you against him. He threw your legs around his broad hips, his hand disappeared between your bodies for a moment and then you were groaning when you felt his engorged head breaching your weeping hole.

Michael surged forward, bending you in half until you were whimpering in shocked pain from the abuse to your thighs and your stomach and Michael was shoving his long cock all the way inside you. You felt the pain of his brutal thrust and his cock throbbing inside you as your cunt fluttered and clenched uselessly around his whole length. It burned so good, stretching you wide and deep and tears fell from your eyes from pure intense feeling alone.

Michael’s hands found your wrists and gripped them tightly, holding you firm to the carpet and it hurt, it hurt so bad that you couldn’t think, but then he was rearing his hips back and slipping his cock from your tight heat before shoving himself back in again with the same ferocity as before, pounding solid against your sweet spot immediately.

Your eyes rolled. His thrusts were brutally hard and the slam of his hips against your hips ignited a pain deep in your bones. Your entire body jolted upwards and your skin rippled as he fucked you with enough force that you’d be shoved across the carpet if his hands weren’t pinning your wrists immobile against it.

You were delirious with it, with the fucking pressure of his cock against your walls with solid and unforgiving and aggressive pleasure.

You felt like an animal, being disciplined with cock. You were being shown exactly what you were for and forced to submit so he didn’t cause you injury while he was deep inside you. You were his, not yours, his.

Your mouth was open but no words came out. Your eyes were hazy and he swam in front of you. The heat of his body mixed with your cunt clenching on his cock inside of you as your thighs quivered and your hips bucked up and a soft, strained whimper fell helplessly from your mouth.

A full-bodied sob left your mouth as you squirted hard around Michael’s cock. The feeling of your release being expelled was fucking incredible and it felt like it went on for days. He slipped from you, pushed out from the iron-tightness of your coming walls, his cock jamming against your folds and you whined, delirious eyes searching blindly as your cunt clenched, trying to find him.

“No, no, no, Michael, please, fuck, fuck m-”

An almost hoarse exhale of breath left Michael’s mouth and it was the loudest he’d ever been with you as one hand left your wrist. It was deeply bruised but that wasn’t the only reason you didn’t move as you watched him grip his wet cock - the squelch of his fist on it deliriously sexy - as he slipped himself down and entered you again.

You groaned and your head tipped back as he pushed back inside you, his cock rock solid and hot, and then he was leaning over you again, his fingers finding your wrist but it was clumsy as he fucked back into you. Instead, his palm fell flat against yours, your fingers rested against each other as he dwarfed your hand. He didn’t even need to use any energy to pin you down, he was heavy enough to do it.

Michael’s mask rested against your forehead as his cock pulsed against your sweet spot, and every thrust in brought an obscene squelch with how wet you were. You groaned and whimpered as his thrusts sped up again between your legs, somehow even harder than before, and then his hand was leaving your hand and wrapping around your neck. Your eyes locked onto the eyes of his mask and you gasped weakly as your legs wrapped painfully hard around his broad waist and you squirted again with a groan, hearing the splash of it. He didn’t let you push him out this time, instead he held your throat tighter, his body flush against yours as he fucked you through it. He ploughed you with enough force that it hurt, rubbing your vulnerable and spent sweet spot until you were shivering and jolting against it. He came to a halt as you clenched on him, rough breathing escaping his mask as his cock throbbed inside you and you felt the warm gush of Michael’s release in your damn womb.

Your whole body trembled on the carpet, trapped under Michael’s scorching weight. He seemed to stay on top of you for a long time, his hand lax on your throat and there was something about it that was sort of - nice. He was holding his own weight somehow, so that you could feel every inch of him pressed against you but he wasn’t crushing you like you knew he could very easily.

You felt a wave of emotion that brought tears to your eyes, upset that you’d upset him tonight, you didn’t want to do it again, you just wanted him close like this forever. Your brain quickly rejected the thought as you instinctively remembered yourself. You were fuck-drunk, and maybe even actual-drunk, and you were overhot and sluggish from coming so hard. You tried to compare it to some other time in your life but you couldn’t. You’d never come that hard before, simple as.

Soon enough, Michael was sitting back, his cock slipping from your wet hole with a slather of liquid, both yours and his, and your cheeks burned with embarrassment.

He was soft. It was the first time you’d seen him like that, but somehow the flop of his spent cock sent waves of arousal through you. The swollen and limp shaft hanging heavily between his legs was one of the hottest things you’d ever seen. You’re so fucked, you reminded yourself routinely.

“Michael.” Your voice was a rasp, and his mask tilted up as if he were listening to you. You had nothing to say.

Instead, his hands found your thighs and pressed them back apart. His fingers ran through your folds, gathering your spend on them before he was bringing his hand up to his mask as if to inspect it. You blushed harder. Michael’s fingers disappeared under his mask for a long moment and when he retracted them, they were cleaned with his own spit.

Before you even had time to process whatever the fuck you’d just seen, he was trailing his fingers between your legs again and finding your wet heat before sinking inside you. It was easy, with how blown wide you were, for him to sink up to the knuckle with his index and middle, but when he flexed them, your whole body jolted as his calloused fingertips brushed against your swollen and used sweet spot.

“Ah!” You gasped as the spirals of oversensitive pleasure coursed through you. Michael’s hand squeezed over the red welt glistening on your thigh as his fingers sped up, thumb swiping memorably over your trembling clit as he pistoned in you in a less than gentle way.

Your cunt clenched uselessly as pleasure churned violently inside you and shivers hit the nape of your neck as you neared your crest. You wailed as you squirted liquid spend into Michael’s open palm, he didn’t stop, fucking you through it as spurt after spurt of you landed on him and you couldn’t help yourself, throwing your head back and moaning in a way that would put a porn star to shame.

Michael pulled his fingers from you and your cunt quivered from overuse, your cheeks hot, your whole body trembling. Forget stars, you were seeing the gates of heaven.

You just about managed to crane your neck up with what little strength you had in time to see Michael wrapping his slick-soaked hand around his own cock as it thickened up in his grip again. Your eyes widened. He wasn’t human, you knew that already, but it still surprised you.

He curled his hand around your hip as he pushed himself up higher on his knees and ran his head through your folds, smearing his own white come onto you like a mark. You groaned at the sight and the heat and even managed a tired smile.

“I don’t think I can go again.” You said honestly. “I think you broke me.”

Michael’s head cocked but he didn’t look up at you as he sunk his cock back inside you and somehow he felt even bigger than before, it felt like air was being punched out of your gut as your back arched against the carpet. You were wet and stretched enough that he slid home with relative ease, but you were so hyper-sensitive that you could feel every vein of him, every inch of hot cock as he pushed up in you. You looked down, your brain nearly offlining with pleasure and horror as your theory was confirmed, there it was, a bulge in your stomach where his cockhead sat.

You were mesmerised by it, him inside you, a part of you, or was it the other way around? You blamed your fuck-drunk brain as your hand snaked lazily down and pressed against it.

Michael jolted up and your eyes flicked to him, widening as he gripped your ass as if in response and rolled you down onto his cock. Your hands fell to the floor and you groaned as your sore sweet spot pressed hard against his thick length, every one of your outward breaths was a lengthy and desperate gasp as he fucked you for the second time that evening. It wasn’t as ferocious as before, like he wasn’t dashing for the finish line this time, rather he was enjoying himself. You assumed that meant you were forgiven.

“Oh, fuck, please be gentle,” you begged. “I’m so sensitive…”

His fingernails gripped your thighs as he fucked into you with measured strokes and your shoulders shook as your drawn out pleasure was nearly painful, your cunt clenching uselessly. You didn’t know how long it went on for, but it felt like forever, like a never-ending sweet torture.

Michael’s grip on your thighs tightened and you recognised the cruel action, the warning infliction of pain when you’d angered him. You frowned in your post-orgasmic haze, wondering what you’d done, or what you weren’t doing -

His hips sped up between your legs and you gasped, your head shooting up as your thighs quaked at the unexpected change to hard and fast and unrelenting and -

Fuuuuuuck, your brain scrambled and you choked on your own spit as you gushed around him. He slipped free from you willingly and watched your spray gush out messily and you winced and blushed and then he leant up, his cock still stiff and bobbing, wet and ignored, as his fingers went back inside your cunt. You damn-near sat up on his hand, impaling yourself and gasping as you scratched at his wrist uselessly.

“No, no, no, no more, Michael, I can’t -”

Michael was already three fingers deep inside you, hammering up against you roughly, squelching with every flex of his murderous, strong fingers and you sobbed loudly as his thumb pressed back on your sensitive clit and pain shot through your thighs and you quivered and pulsed and a few weak spurts dribbled down his wrist.

His breathing sounded ragged as he let his fingers slip from you, watching the pitiful squirts of your pussy as you collapsed back and your chest heaved, utterly spent with how much you’d come, and how hard. Was Michael a demon or a god? Or both? You didn’t know. You were so zoned out that you didn’t realise that he’d just pleasured you, if only for the curiosity of watching you come all over him.

Michael seemed to decide that his good deed was done for the night, however, as he speared you open on his aching cock and you dribbled down onto your own neck, fucked out and useless. Your hand found his wrist and gripped, anchoring yourself as he fucked into you. This cruel fuck was nothing to do with you, you were just a wet vice-grip around his cock, your body a masturbatory aid as he rammed into you. That didn’t stop your cunt clenching on him though, it didn’t stop the obscene spikes of overstimulated pleasure drowning you and you had no idea if you were coming, none at all, but you didn’t have anything left to give, you didn’t even clench particularly hard, and Michael slipped out again.

You waited for him to thrust back in but he didn’t, instead he sat up, taking his wet cock in his fist and you watched delirously as he pumped himself in his huge red fist, one hand gripping your knee painfully, and then he was pulsing in his hand and his hot spray was coating your stomach like he was marking you, giving you his come in a bizarre imitation of taking yours.

You felt his hot spend on your stomach and your hand came down to wipe it around, coating your stomach in him. A traitorous and horrible part of your brain wanted to bring it to your mouth and taste him, like you were desperate for it, but you couldn’t. He was still a murderer, an abomination, you still hated him.

Michael was watching you spread him all over your body like you were trying to wear him and you promptly stopped, letting your hand fall limply to your side.

Michael started to tuck himself back into his ruined boiler suit and you became more aware of yourself, you knew he’d broken in somehow, you knew his knife was lying around here somewhere. What he planned to do with it, you didn’t know.

You turned your head to search for it and a sickly wave washed over you. The world span for a moment until your exhausted body gave up, and the carpet beneath your head suddenly became the comfiest thing in the world.

…

It was pitch black when you woke up, so much so that you couldn’t see an inch in front of your face. You let the events of your evening wash over you with mixed emotions before wondering briefly if you’d fallen asleep or simply passed out, before deciding that you honestly didn’t know.

You laid there in the dark for a long time, the thrill of waking up alive every time was becoming less intense but it still played on your mind. You knew you were fucked when you considered your monsterous lover not murdering you as a small convenience to your life.

Tonight had been different though, hadn’t it? You couldn’t put your finger on exactly why and you were too tired to even try.

Finally, exhausted, you pushed yourself up and frowned when you felt spongey resistance beneath your sore palms.

Following a hunch that couldn’t possibly be true, you let your sense-memory guide your hand and, sure enough, you found your bedside lamp in the gloom. It bathed your bedroom in a mellow light.

Your bed was soft beneath you, and, as usual, Michael was gone.

#virginal #skeleton_detective #michael myers #halloween #michael myers x reader #Fanfiction #pls read the tags #dark fic #multi chapter

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kiss-me-cill-me · 9 months ago

Note

i’m not sure if anon has already requested a character for that song but if ur up for it CAN WE HAVE THAT SONG WITH JONATHAN CRANE. also i just listened to that song for the first time in like 3 years and got major deja vu lmao 😭

also ps i love u and ur writing !!!

This is related to another ask from an anon, requesting a fic based off of Katy Perry's song, The One That Got Away. I am so sorry to both of you that it's taken me forever to write this, but thank you for your patience and support <3

Now We Pay The Price | Pt. 1

Pairing: Jonathan Crane x Reader

Word Count: 2.8k

Summary: Life hasn't turned out exactly the way you wanted it to. Isolated and distraught as you watch time slip by while you sit, trapped in Arkham, your only wish is to recapture the way that things used to be.

Warnings: Angst, whump, sexual themes but no explicit smut, mental health themes, obsession, unhealthy relationship dynamics, mention of needles, mention of sedatives, unrequited love, established past romantic relationship, ambiguity

A/N: I hardly ever write angst, so please be gentle with me lol. But with the song inspo, I couldn't help but go in that direction. Slightly nervous to post this, but also happy that I've branched out from my comfort zone a bit!

***Please read the warnings before continuing. Minors DNI***

Lying on your stomach, feet in the air, you stretched the thin cotton sheets with your hand. Just enough to give them the tension you needed to glide a ballpoint pen over the fabric, scratching over and over the same mark to make it appear complete. This was far from the perfect medium for doodling - but sheets were what you had, and so they were what you used.

Even the pen was contraband. You knew you weren’t supposed to have it. What anyone thought you’d do with it… honestly, you had no idea. As if you could use a pen for anything other than what you were wrapped up in doing now - carefully and determinedly drawing hearts.

You stopped to rest your head for a moment on the pitifully thin pillow. Across the room, blank white concrete stared back at you. Day in, day out. Endless. The same room with the same walls.

Picking up the pen again, you placed the tip right in between the lobes of one of the many hearts. Scratch, scratch, scratch. A messy, zig-zagging line bisected the doodle.

Broken.

You sighed, and started to color a different heart, filling it with blue ink that didn’t seem very inclined to stick to the bed sheets. It was slow going. The deep azure tint reminded you of deoxygenated blood, like you would see in a textbook diagram. Once the heart was completely filled, you moved dutifully on to the next.

A rustling at your door made you jump. Quickly, you stuffed the pen under your pillow, and turned up the sheets to hide your drawings. It wouldn’t be very good for you if anybody saw them.

You sat up, arranging your rumpled jumpsuit as neatly as you could. Leather straps hung off the sides of your bed, and you spared them a glance, bristling at the memories of having them lashed over your body.

The metal door slid open slowly, until you could finally see…

Him. Your heart skipped a beat and a half as he stepped stiffly into the room, pulling the door shut behind him. He didn’t make a show of locking it, but it was still all too hard to miss the way his hand stopped short at the keyhole, before slipping into his pocket.

“Jonathan. I’m so glad-”

“Don’t call me that,” he bristled. “In here, we don’t know each other. Please. You always forget that.”

“...Dr. Crane,” you corrected yourself.

His tone was so bitter that you could feel it in the very back of your throat, trying to claw its way down to your heart. You swallowed, trying to bite back the taste.

“I’m sorry. I was just happy to see you.” You smiled, pushing through your discomfort, for his sake.

Crane was clearly agitated. He took a few steps into the room, before turning around and facing the door. For one brief moment, you couldn’t see his face, until finally he turned back. His eyes were ice as they stared down at you.

“Do you have any idea how difficult you’ve been making things for me?” he spat.

The accusation hurt, of course. Though you knew very well what he meant. You had been acting out, more than usual, as of late. And although it wasn’t without a purpose, you could see that it was wearing him thin. But… how else were you supposed to see each other?

Arkham Asylum wasn’t exactly known for its model patients. It took a lot to get Dr. Crane’s attention.

“If we spent more time together, I wouldn’t be so difficult,” you replied, trying to keep your tone even.

Crane pinched the bridge of his nose, in that way that you were well acquainted with. He’d always had that habit. Back when you’d first met, you had loved making him get frustrated - just enough for a laugh. Some things never changed.

“You’re really backing me into a corner,” Crane sighed. “And I really wish you wouldn’t.”

“Let’s talk,” you offered, patting the bed. “That’s what you’re here for, right?”

Crane, reluctantly, sat down. You could sense his exhaustion in the way that he almost collapsed onto the bed, hands gripping the edge for support. You inched a bit closer, enough so that your knees touched briefly. Crane pulled away.

You wanted to reach out; put a hand on his shoulder, just like you’d done so many times before. He used to like it when you touched him. Sometimes, you liked to think that yours was the only gentle embrace that he had ever known. Maybe it was silly, but the thought of it always made you feel better.

Now, Crane’s eyes held nothing but menace as he glared over at you, as if you were a stain on the bed sheets. You wondered, vaguely, what had happened to change things.

So much. So much that had led you to this place, where you could be so close to him and yet felt more separated than ever.

“I hate to say it, Doc, but I think I’m going crazy in here,” you joked, trying to lighten the mood.

He barely had a reaction; a deep sigh the only hint that he’d heard what you said at all.

“And why do you think that is?” he asked, finally.

The psychiatrist in him always came through to shove even more distance between you. Like a shield, put up just when you’d started to press through the fog of tension that hung heavy in the room. You swallowed your frustration at being kept out, and tried to answer him honestly.

“Because I barely get to see you,” you replied.

That was the wrong answer, and Crane’s shoulders swung abruptly to face you.

He was scary like this. Almost scary, anyway. If you didn’t know him better, the look in his eyes would have sent you cowering.

But you did know him, so well, and you remembered with sudden clarity that he’d always been bothered by feeling inadequate. You felt awful; you hadn’t meant to imply that he wasn’t doing enough.

“I’m sorry,” you soothed, before he could say anything. “I know that you’re busy, but-”

“But you continue to make yourself into a problem,” he hissed. “You know the only reason you’re in here instead of rotting away over at Blackgate is because of me, right?”

You nodded, too shocked by embarrassment to speak.

“Then for my sake, why don’t you act like it?”

“I’m…” You paused for a moment, sharp tears welling up in your eyes. “I’m just… lost without you,” you whispered. “You know that. I always told you I would be.”

The first tear fell, and you tried to hide your face.

“Don’t cry,” Crane sighed.

You could hear the harsh tinge of annoyance in his voice, and wished that it was anything else. Even his pity would have been better than knowing that your feelings were now nothing but inconvenience. You choked on your own throat, trying to stifle a sob.

“Please don’t cry,” he mumbled, slightly softer this time.

But now that you’d started, you couldn’t make yourself stop. If anything, the tears were only coming faster, and you felt yourself start to shrink into your own chest. The little black pit that always seemed to sit there, now swiftly opening up to swallow you.

With a deep and lingering exhale, Crane pulled you close. Suddenly, you were back where you both had been, so many years ago: one person’s cheek pressed into the other’s shoulder. Tears soaking into fabric that seemed to be stained with sadness. You let out a half-laugh, half-sob, and nestled into the crook of his neck.

“Remember when I used to do this for you?”

Crane stiffened slightly beside you.

“Things have changed since then,” he muttered.

Your memory suddenly flashed back to the first time he had used the words “dysfunctional attachment” to describe you. That had hurt worse than anything else. Even more than all of the other occasions to come, when you’d heard those same words and worse fall from his lips. They could never truly compare to that first time, when your whole world had come crashing abruptly to the ground.

His arm dropped away from you, but you kept your face pressed into his shoulder.

“Things haven’t really changed,” you said. “I still belong to you.”

“You don’t.”

Two words that stung worse than hundreds of needles. You tried to pretend that the wind hadn’t been knocked out of you, as you replied.

“I do. And I will. Always.”

You looked up at him with wet eyes, a trace of the old life that you’d shared together still evident deep within your pupils. Even if only the memories of it lived inside of you, they still lived. They were still something.

“You need to move on,” Crane said flatly. “I know it’s not easy in here, with me…” He sighed. “I did what I could to protect you, but maybe it would have been better if I had just stayed out of your case. Blackgate would have at least given you distance.”

“I don’t want distance,” you whispered. “I just want to be with you.”

“You can’t be.”

Always so stubborn.

“I could be, if you’d help me get out.”

Confusion flashed across Crane’s face, quickly replaced with raw terror.

“Escape Arkham?” His eyebrows furrowed, nearly knitting together. “You can’t be serious. Do you even realize what-?”

“I know, I know,” you hummed. “But just think - we could run away together, just like we always talked about.”

“Stop.”

“Don’t you remember? We promised-”

“Things. Change.” Crane’s voice almost shook as it thundered.

You brought a hand up to his face, gently coaxing until he looked at you.

“But they don’t have to,” you breathed.

Your eyes drifted down to your wrist, to the space just below your thumb, and over the little tattoo that was etched into your skin. A heart - just like the ones littering your blanket, hidden carefully from Crane’s view.

“Remember when you gave me this?” you asked, holding up the tattoo in front of him.

“No; I remember you doing that to yourself.”

“At first, sure,” you chuckled. “But then, you helped me to finish it, ‘cause-”

“Because I didn’t want you to hurt yourself,” Crane muttered. “Just like you always seem to. Even now.”

You ignored his remark as your hands drifted down to collect one of his pale wrists, then lifted up to your face. The sleeve of his suit jacket slipped back, revealing the spot where once, long ago, you had given him the same mark. Just with a felt-tip pen; he would have never allowed you, even back then, to deface his own body in the same way you had yours.

At the time, the impermanence of it hadn’t seemed to matter. You’d been too distracted; elated by the way that his and your matching blossoms of ink had pressed up against each other as you’d held hands.

Now, you pressed a kiss to the blank space.

“Us against the world, Jonathan. Remember?”

Suddenly, his fingers pressed into your face, digging into the sides of your chin as he forced you back into focus.

“Don’t call me that,” he warned, once again. “How many times do I have to tell you? That life doesn’t exist in here.”

Your hands still dangled from his wrist as he continued to crush your jaw, not letting you look away. But this was the one part of him that you didn’t want to face. The part that didn’t need you anymore.

“Jonathan. You know the reason I’m in here, don’t you?”

“Are you asking if I know about your case? All of the crimes you committed?” he huffed. “Because yes - I was very involved in the trial, and it was nearly impossible to keep everyone else in the dark about…”

Us was the word that he couldn’t bring himself to say.

“That’s not what I mean,” you said. “I mean, do you know why I did those things?”

“Stop - please don’t tell me this again.”

“I did them for you,” you cried, your emotions getting the better of you again. “I do everything for you. So don’t you dare pretend you don’t need me, when really the only fucking reason you’re not stuck in here with me is because I always-”

“Stop.”

Crane’s hands tore away to grab you by the shoulders, wrenching you back to reality. Somehow he always managed to do that. To pull you straight out of the riptide, just as it was about to sweep you away.

“I never asked you to do what you did,” he hissed, articulating each word between clenched teeth.

“But I did it anyway,” you spat. “Because you always get into trouble. Because I told you I’d be there for you, no matter what. And because I always keep promises.”

“I don’t need you to anymore.” Crane’s hands squeezed you uncomfortably. “I don’t - I didn’t need you to ruin your life for me.”

“My life isn’t ruined if it’s for you.”

“Jesus Christ…”

Crane’s hand came up to rake through his hair, but before he could pull away fully, you caught him. Fingers clenched tight to the front of his suit, you pulled back and forced him to fall with you. Your back hit the bed, and Crane scrambled to catch himself before his full weight could slam into you. His body perched just above yours, caging you in his arms.

“This. You must remember this.”

Your words were a whisper, barely loud enough to pass from your lips to his ear, despite how close he was. Your legs frantically came up to tug at his waist, trying to force him closer.

“This was the only time I felt alive,” you continued. “When we were like this. You remember.”

How could he not? You could still live in that moment, if you tried hard enough. As if it had been only yesterday. Both of you nervous and fumbling, nearly falling off of the bed as he hovered over you and you clung to him.

The way that your bodies had melted together, almost desperately, in a way that had made you feel certain that neither one of you would let go. Letting go then had meant something worse than death; it meant a life that dragged on without you and him together.

The stale echoes of passion still rang in your ears as you looked up, silently begging for him to rekindle the spark that had been there.

Crane’s expression was all but impossible to read. His face half-hidden beneath bangs that fell into his eyes. The two-second pause was like a lifetime as you awaited his answer.

“Of course I remember.”

Your heart soared, flying recklessly up.

“But that doesn’t mean it’s the same now.”

Broken. Smashed hard against the cold floor of your cell.

“I don’t believe that,” you breathed. “I can’t. I-”

“You need to,” he interrupted. “Because it’s the truth.”

You stayed stock still on the mattress as Crane briskly pushed himself up, disentangling himself from your limbs. He exhaled as he tugged at his jacket, trying to make himself presentable.

You weren’t sure how he could find the nerve, after ripping your whole world apart.

“I’m upping the dose on your sedatives,” he informed you, still not meeting your gaze. “But I would prefer if you could find it within yourself to behave so that I don’t have to. I don’t like to do this, but-”

“Appearances…” Your voice drifted through the room. “Have to be kept up.”

He had told you as much, probably dozens of times. Just like he’d told you the old life between you no longer mattered, or even existed. If it ever had.

“I’m glad you understand,” he said shortly.

His back was already turned, but you looked up to watch him drift out of the room, quickly pocketing the keys on his way out.

Your head fell back, hard, but the sensation did nothing to ground you. You felt all too lost and adrift; trapped in a situation you had created. This wasn’t how things were supposed to end up.

Your hand drifted silently under the pillow, and wrapped around the barrel of the pen that was still hidden there.

Suddenly, grotesque understanding of all the reasons why no one would want you to have such a thing flooded into your consciousness. The possibilities were many and bleak, but they all led back to the same conclusion. It was just like you had told Crane earlier.

If your life together didn’t exist in this place, then the only solution was to leave.

You smiled. With resolve swirling dangerously inside your veins, you vowed to make sure that nothing like this ever happened again. You were going to be together, no matter what.

There would be no getting away.

This fic now has a Part 2! Read it HERE

#jonathan crane x reader #jonathan crane #cillian murphy x reader #angst #LemmyFics

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yourwosogirly · 1 year ago

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don’t you dare - Ruesha LittleJohn

Word count: 2.7k

ruesha and I sat on the balcony of our hotel room. we were at the women’s world cup, and it was a dream for all of us. luckily, I had been paired with ruesha which came with benefits of our new blossoming relationship.

it was just the pair of us tonight, which was quite lucky. as much as we loved our amazing teammates and friends, it was nice to escape the chaos for once which lead to us in this position, me in her lap, her kissing my shoulder as we enjoyed the cool breeze as the sun dipped below the horizon.

“baby, stop”i giggled, squirming under her touch, trying to push her away as she kissed my shoulder .

“no, aren’t I aloud to show my love for you?”she whined, burying her head into my shoulder, continuing her movements despite her protests as I held onto her tightly .

“baby, as much as I love this, your being clingier than usual, you okay?”i said pulling away, my hands on mg shoulders as she sighed .

“It’s just”she stuttered, not from nerves but I could tell she was just trying to get her words out so I stroked her hair and kissed it, showing her I was there.

“you know, with the whole Katie thing, it was so rough and I was struggling a lot, but you got me through it, I am only this happy because of you, you got me out of that dark place but I’m just so grateful to have you”she looked up at me with love in her eyes.

“rue”i said softly but she cut me off slightly, placing her finger on my lip.

“don’t talk”she whispered, her voice suddenly hoarse as she grabbed my neck and well, in PG terms, snogged my face off .

“ow, what the fuck, katie?”I groaned, now on the ground from a subtle chip katie had given me making me grab my ankle in pain.

“watch your back”she smirked and walked away as the ref played on and luckily I was able to get to my feet with the help of rue.

“you okay?”she asked and I nodded.she patted me on the back before we both jogged back to our positions.

I narrowed my eyes at katie from across the field, I didn’t know what was up with her, I knew she was quite an aggressive person on the field but never to her own teammates and I know I was dating her ex but she had no reason to dislike me.

and it wasn’t just on the field either in training their had been aimless tackles that I had just brushed off or I saw her always glaring at me from across the cafeteria where I was sat laughing with rue but I didn’t worry too much .

that was until she has sent another tackle your way, clearly directed at you and not trying to get the ball, from her own team.you let out a wry cry as you banged your fist into the grass, holding your ankle in pain.Katie sent another aimless threat in your ear, and stood up not without spitting down on you .

“baby, can you get up?”rue crouched down in front you holiday our her hands and you tried to push yourself up but couldn’t and fell back down.

“no,no,no”you mumbled and ruesha bit the inside of her cheek, seeing your face filled with pain and she waved the medic over.

they took ages to get there even though I was clearly in a lot of pain which infuriated rue but I managed to calm her down enough to stop her from lashing out.one touch to my ankle got me screaming bloody mary so they quickly got me on a stretcher.

“baby, I’m coming off”rue told me adimantlty but I shook my head, already knowing she was gonna do this as she held my hand tightly, walking to the touch line.

“no, rue”I just told her sternly, letting go of her hand as I was lead to the medical room leaving rue staring down the tunnel, my figure becoming blurrier to her by the second .

meanwhile, in the medical room I kept quiet as I was out on a medical bed as our physio, joanne checked over my ankle and I waisted in anticipation, glancing my eyes over the tv screen in the corner of the room that displayed the game I was in not too long ago, every once in a while .

I was pulled out of my trance as I felt my ankle being tapped by joanne.I could see she had wrapped it up and held some ice against it .

“right y/n, so it looks to me that you’ve got a sprained ankle, right now all we can do is rest it up and keep it elevated, but don’t stress you should be able to start the season”she told me with a smile .

“yeah, that’s fine”i muttered quietly listening to her words as I took a sip of my water which was besides me.

knowing I wasn’t gonna be able to play in the rest of the tournament sucked but I knew that it was for the best. I guess if you look at it from one point it was no stress I could just enjoy the rest of my time in aus and with rue.

I had the option to go outside seeing as their wasn’t long left of the game and I had nothing else to do but I decided against it and watched from inside. sadly, we lost which didn’t feel great but what could you do? I still felt very proud of the girls and what we had accomplished.

the medics had gone back out by now, leaving me alone in the room, but I let them, wanting a little bit of time alone.

I was scrolling on my phone when I heard the door open and I looked up, thinking it was rue but it was quite the opposite.

the last person I wanted to see right now.

“katie”i said emotionless turning my head to look up at the ceiling avoiding all eye contact as she came towards me and sat at the end of my bench.

her energy was totally off, and I didn’t like it, nor her, one bit .

“hi, y/n, doing well?”she asked smugly with her arms across her chest and her voice was laced with sarcasm.

“no thanks to you”i said with a smirk on my face and we both fake laughed together before both our faces turned blank.

“yeah let’s just cut the crap katie, what’s your problem?”i said abruptly and she looked kind of taken back but that quickly changed .

“you.your my fucking problem”she told me angrily, our foreheads touching, that was how close we were .

"katie, I don't understand what your fucking problem is with me, people very rarely hurt their teammates, especially on purpose"

"we may be on the same team, y/n, but that doesn't mean we're friends" she leaned closer to me, pretty much on top of me as our noses were pretty much touching.

“I still don’t understand what I even did to you?”i asked confused and it was true I had always been very civil towards her even though we weren’t close friends .

she groaned, rubbing her head in frustration. “ugh, I don’t even know why ruesha goes out with you, your so infuriating”.

“oh so that’s it, your jealous? pathetic, I mean you have a girlfriend get over yourself”i told her rolling my eyes and i choked back a shocked gasp as she grabbed my chin harshly.

“just stay the fuck away from rue, or your gonna have a lot more than a sprained ankle”katie said, her voice deepening and i visibly gulped.

“baby are you okay?”she pulled away from me suddenly as rue barged into the medical room, stopping in her tracks as she saw me and Katie thigh to thigh.

“oh Katie, what are you doing in here?”ruesha paused, her voice slow in confusion.

“just came to check in on y/n”Katie gave her a fake slash sinister smile and slapped her hand around my shoulder making me feel uncomfortable. I looked between the two girls, this whole situation was very awkward.

“oh okay, you mind giving us some privacy?”ruesha asked nodding her head to the door.Katie nodded and got up to leave but not before she leaned down and whispered in my ear.

“you better do what your told, or your gonna have a lot more than a sprained ankle”she pulled away and I gulped at her words. then suddenly it was just me and rue.she came over and sat down next to me .

“baby, you okay?”she asked, making me lean on my shoulder as she wrapped her arm around me .

“yeah, it’s just a sprained ankle”i said nodding and she smiled, kissing me forehead, thankful that it was nothing too serious.

“okay, that’s good, you just gotta rest up, and are you sure your okay your acting a bit weird and your face is pale”she said moving her hand to touch my cheek.

“I’m fine, rue, just a bit tired”i told her pulling away from her slightly and she looked at me weirdly like she didn’t fully believe me but eventually nodded.

“baby, why is the door locked?”I heard ruesha shout through the door making me lift my head up from my pillow which was now wet from tears.I looked at the door seeing the handle rattling and continuous knocking from rue. she must have forgot her key.

“nothing rue, just go away”i almost shouted, trying to get her away as quick as possible, but I was stupid to underestimate rueshas stubbornness.

“no, what’s gotten into you?, open the god dam door, y/n”she gave a loud bang against the door with her fists, putting all her might into it as she rested her forehead against it .

I knew she would go as far trying to break down the door or going back down to reception to get another key card so I quickly rushed into the bathroom, trying to make myself look presentable but my face was blotchy with blood shot eyes which was a clear signal that I had been crying.

“hi”i whispered, keeping my head down as I opened the door and ruesha rushed inside .

“what the fuck, y/n?”she raged confused by my weird and distant behaviour but her words made me flinch slightly and gave her a few of my face.she haltered in her place, stuttering slight not sure what to say.

“omg, y/n”her face softened immensely, hands coming up to cradle my face.I bit my bottom lip to stop myself from crying but this was a sign the floodgates were about to open. “what’s wrong, baby?”.

and I broke.sinking to the ground, her arms going around me and pulling me into her chest as she did her best to calm her down but to no avail she just aloud me to cry into her chest which would become soaked with tears but that was at the back of her mind right now .

she continued to hold me tightly, not wanting me to feel rushed as she brushed back my hair so it wasn’t in my face and whispered sweet nothings in my ear.

once I had calmed down enough that I would be able to talk with just small staggered breaths, rue picked me up by my legs, walking me to the bathroom and sat me on the counter.it was silence as I played with the skin of my nails while rue got a clean towel and wet it to dab it over my eyes which she knew would start to burn from exhaustion.

“here”she mumbled, giving you the cloth and you mumbled a small thanks back to her starting to pick at the material, looking at the ground.anywhere other than rue.

“you wanna talk to me about it?”she asked in her strong accent, leaning against the counter and rested her hands on my thighs, rubbing them in comfort.

“no, it’s not important”i shrugged, feeling embarrassed about the whole thing, even though she was the person who I should’ve felt safest to confide in.

“not important? baby I’m sorry, but it’s gotta be pretty important if I’m worried sick when my girlfriend locks the whole world out and then once I get to you, you break down in my arms”she told me and I sighed as she lifted my chin to look into her ocean blue eyes .

“I’m sorry rue, I can’t”I told her after a few minutes of silence, Katie’s words ringing in the back off my mind.

“why not, huh? why the fuck not? okay I haven’t mentioned it but we’ve been so happy, you make me so happy and all of a sudden you become distant and then I find you in a state like this? oh and acting weird when I saw you with katie..”she trailed off, watching me with a pointed look as I shifted when she mentioned her exes name and looked down at the ground uncomfortably.

“baby?, something you want to tell me?”she asked, grabbing my hands and intertwining our hands together and I looked up at her .

“rue, it’s nothing”I told her shaking my head but we both knew that was a lie at this point.

“y/n, you tell me or I’m going to find out”she told me, brushing hairs out of my face and I knew I could no longer hide this from her .

“okay, so the reason is, we have been really happy, but that isn’t enough for some people, and umm, when you saw me with katie she was threatening me to stay away from you or she’d hurt me, and obviously I didn’t so in the game against canada, the tackle was by her and in the medical room and in spair time she’s been messaging me”I decided to tell her everything and I felt a massive weight being taken off my chest and I even handed my phone so she could see .

“rue”i asked after I watched her eyes scan over the messages and she closed my phone her eyes closed and she had been as quiet as a mouse.I touched her arm and that was when she snapped.

“that fucking bitch”she snapped, slamming my phone down on the counter and storming out the bathroom and then the door to our hotel room and down the haul.

“rue, wait!”I screamed, but she didn’t listen and I quickly slipped off the counter and raced out or our room to follow her and she knocked loudly onto room 23, Katie’s room.

megan opened the door, confused and her eyes widened seeing rue but the blonde payed her no mind, rushing in towards Katie and I followed not long after, but I stayed by the door frame.

“are you fucking joking?”ruesha fumed, grabbing Katie off her bed where she was on her phone and pushed her against the wall.

“woah, rue!”lucy exclaimed followed by a few other gasps throughout the room at the sudden action but rue just glared at them and they all turned silent.

“what’s your fucking problem?”katie asked disgustingly looking up at rue as she tried to move away and escape her hold but couldn’t so she just huffed.

“you.your my problem, who do you think you are threatening my girlfriend?”ruesha glared down on Katie .

“Oh please I’m aloud to do what I want”Katie said smugly, crossing her arms against her chest, not caring about the dirt looks she was being given .

“why!why do you fucking do this?you can’t just leave someone I love alone can you?, you can never suffice with the fact that I can be happy, work or without you”rueshas hands raised to her hair in frustration.

“cause she doesn’t deserve you!”she let out making everyone in the room look at her shocked .

“you can’t deserve what I do or don’t deserve, anymore. you have no fucking right after everything I did especially since you found someone else and so did I, so let.it.go. fuck off out of our lives!”she raged.

“rue, please”i rushed forward, tugging on her arm slightly trying to get her to stop, I didn’t want her to get into more trouble or worse, get hurt. she looked at me quickly from the corner of the eye and her face softened slightly.

but she turned back to katie, making me think she hadn’t listened to me and her glare hardened, grabbing a fistful of her shirt and leaning in. “your fucking lucky I found y/n, or I’d beat the shit out of you”.

she pulled away from katie, making the shorter girl shrink back in shock feeling embarrassed and defenceless but ruesha paid her no mind, grabbing my arm and pulling us back to our hotel room.

In love with this fic

#woso x reader #woso fanfics #woso imagine #woso one shot #ruesha littlejohn #ruesha littlejohn x reader #ruesha littlejohn imagine

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pnsteblnme · 1 year ago

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wrong impressions ✿ k.m.

pairing: katie mccabe x reader

summary: a misunderstanding leads to conflicts and tension between katie mccabe and arsenal’s newest signing.

warning: cursing, katie and reader being idiots, bad writing

word count: 5.1k (i don't even know how this happened)

a/n: here’s a little something in honour of ireland's second game today ;) also, this was my first time writing something like this and english isn’t my first language, so bear with me please <3 anyway, i hope you enjoy this and i’m always happy to hear your thoughts :)

“Oh, McCabe isn’t good. She’s borderline reckless and very petulant, plays way too aggressively and all she does is collect cards for her team.”

“The fuck,” muttered Katie with a quiet scoff after hearing Arsenal’s newest signing’s words as she walked into the training facility. Not wanting to hear more comments, she quickly made her way to the locker room and sat down at her designated spot, an annoyed frown still etched onto her face.

As the brunette was tying her shoes, a shoulder nudged hers, “You excited for our new additions?” Katie looked to her left to be met with the buzzing smile of her blonde friend.

“Mhm.”

The corners of Leah’s mouth dropped, “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Finishing the tie on her shoe Katie leaned back up, let out a small sigh and opened her mouth. Before she could utter a word though, the door opened.

“So, as you all know, we have two incredible players joining us this season. I’m sure you’re all acquainted with Alessia,” Jonas pointed to the taller of the two women, who sent everyone a friendly grin, “and this is Y/N Y/L/N. Before coming to us she played for Barcelona but because of an injury, our paths haven’t crossed yet,” after he finished his sentence, you raised your hand for a timid wave and looked at all the girls with a nervous smile, a blush coating your cheeks, resulting in a few excited greetings being thrown your way. “I trust that you’ll make them feel at home and yeah, that’s all. I’ll see you on the pitch in 5,” were his last words before disappearing behind the door.

Turning around to face your new team, you were welcomed with open arms - literally. In front of you, you found almost all the girls waiting to greet you, each pulling you into a hug and introducing themselves.

After you were done introducing yourself, you quickly changed. The warm welcome they gave you resulted in your heartbeat finally slowing down (maybe not to a normal pace, but considerably slower than when you arrived). Later, you would also realise that your hands had stopped shaking halfway through the training, filling your body with warmth, that felt like the sun thawing the frost off of colourful flowers on a warm spring morning.

Right now though, your shoulders slumped as you noticed that the forward you were most very thrilled to play alongside of, didn’t greet you (and if you weren’t imagining things, even sent a glare in your direction).

Shaking off those thoughts, you made your way to the pitch, walking next to Leah. “How are you feeling?” she questioned, looping her arm through yours.

“I’m literally shitting my pants,” you chuckled, “but I’m also excited to play in this amazing team like, I don’t know, I feel like I can learn so much from you.”

Leah waved you off, “Don’t worry, you’re gonna be just fine and I have a feeling it’s gonna be the other way around.” When you felt the blonde’s hand ruffling your hair, you jokingly pushed her away, muttering about how you were going to get back at her.

And that you did. The end of the training came with a scrimmage, in which Leah and you were on opposite teams. Getting the ball from Lotte, you quickly made your way towards their goal and consequently came face to face with the blonde defender. Before she could do much, you nutmegged her and sent the ball straight to the far post, Alessia scoring a goal with a beautiful header.

Fidgeting with your sleeves, you turned to your friend with a sheepish laugh, “Sorry, I just don’t like people messing up my hair.” Chuckles coming from the girl instantly relaxed you as she patted your shoulder, “That was a nice play.”

Heat crawled into your cheeks as you muttered a quiet ‘thanks’ and made your way back to your side.

Sadly, not everyone took the scrimmage as light-hearted as Leah. With the frustration growing after each goal your team scored, the game quickly became physical. You would feel the wrath of that a few moments later.

Running along the sideline, you were just about to send another ball into the penalty box when you felt cleats connecting with your ankle and your legs being swept from under you.

You let out a groan as you held your foot, trying to stand up. Rotating your ankle a bit, you attempted to take a few wobbly steps, the new blonde forward approaching you, “Are you all right? That looked like it hurt.”

“No, it’s fine, I just have to walk it off.”

Limping a few metres, you felt the pain slowly subside and glanced at the girl that had tackled you. Not seeing her making any moves to apologise nor a glimpse of remorse on her face, a crease formed between your eyebrows, wondering why Katie was acting this cold towards you.

When the game continued with you, in particular, being the one the Irish woman directed her fury at, the uncomfortable feeling in your chest grew. That was why, when Leah and you were collecting the balls that had been shot to god knows where, you inquired, “Does Katie not like me?”

“No, what makes you think that?”

Putting the last ball into the bag you shrugged your shoulders, “I don’t know, I just feel like she has it out for me, you know?”

“Hm, it looked like she was already in a lousy mood before you came in, so she probably just had a bad day. I’m sure yous will hit it off tomorrow,” consoled the blonde with a comforting touch to your arm.

Alas, it didn’t seem to get better the next day.

Being on the receiving end of her tackles once again, this time even from the beginning of the training session, your patience was wearing thin. Your dislike for conflict made you keep quiet though, not wanting to cause drama on your second day and because no one else said anything, you just presumed that it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

After a particularly gruesome duel, where Katie had stepped onto your feet multiple times, you couldn’t push your agitation down anymore, the anger bubbling inside of you like an active volcano, fiery red lava spewing out of your mouth, “Okay, what the fuck did I do to you? Why do you hate me?”

Surprised at hearing your angry voice directed at her, the Irish woman turned around with a scoff, “Don’t pretend like you don’t know what you did.”

“I don’t, I wouldn’t be asking if I did, Sherlock.”

You watched as her eyes rolled into the back of her head before she turned around and marched to her position. Feeling a presence behind you, you tried to get your whirring thoughts under control, “Everything alright?”

Pulling your shoulders to your ears and letting them drop again, you returned, “Yeah, I’m not so sure about her not hating me, though,” eliciting a frown on the blonde’s face.

Unfortunately, for you two and for everyone who had to hear your petty arguments, you were paired up with Katie on one of the gym days.

For the most part, everything was fine. Even though the Irish woman couldn’t help but follow a few drops of sweat that rolled down your abs with her grey eyes, which sparked her irritation, wondering how she could be thinking about a person like you like that, you two didn’t exchange any words.

That is until you were supposed to spot Katie. Padding over to her waiting by the bench press, you thought about how you could finally relax for a moment after all the tiring exercises you had to go through.

Boy, how wrong you were.

Standing at the head of the bench you had a perfect view of Katie doing her tasks. It felt like a magnet being pulled to the strongest metal, the way your eyes were glued to the forward’s arms. Not knowing what hit you, you couldn’t pull your gaze away from the heavenly sight.

Katie noticing your dazed expression, rolled her eyes with a smirk, before an idea formed in her head. Pretending to lose her grip on the weight, she laid it down on her chest and let out struggling breaths.

After she tried to get your attention with faux breathless words, you suddenly jumped out of your stupor and quickly lifted the weight off of her.

“Do you want to kill me?!”

“Oh god, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” you mumbled, regret filling your voice as you looked down sheepishly.

Shaking her head the brunette enjoyed teasing you further, “You can’t do anything, can you?”

“I said I was sorry, relax.”

Across the room, Leah and Alessia were watching the scene unfold with confusion written over their faces, “Where did this weird tension even come from? It looks like they want to kill and fuck each other at the same time.”

“I don’t know,” Leah responded, “but I think we need to separate them or one of those two things will happen any minute now.”

These little quarrels eventually developed into a common component of Arsenal’s training sessions, even being present outside of them, like on team bonding nights.

All the girls were gathered at Leah’s house to watch a few movies and just enjoy each other’s company. Everything was fine until Katie got up from the couch to get another drink for herself. During that time you arrived at the blonde’s flat, having had an appointment before, and unknowingly sat down at the spot that was previously occupied by none other than the fiery winger.

When she strolled back into the living room and saw exactly who had stolen her spot, the brunette let out an annoyed sigh. Making her way towards you, she stopped in front of your frame, “Did you make it your personal life goal to annoy me whenever you can, or what?”

Only being met by you looking at her with those stupid eyes and your stupid button nose and a stupid mischievous grin on your face, she scoffed, “Move out of my seat, you knob.”

About to stand up, you felt a few drops of something land in your lap, which made you look up only to see the brunette raising her eyebrow, “Oh no, I’m so sorry, I guess my glass was too full.”

“Tell me, Katie, is it hard being such a relentless asshole, or does it come naturally to you?” you sent her a fake smile, before moving to the other side of the room, not before jamming your shoulder into hers though.

Before Katie could retaliate, Beth let out a tired sigh, “Girls, can we just enjoy the movie now?”, gaining agreeing mumbles from everyone else.

It all came to a head when Katie tackled Alessia, who you had grown very close to in the last two months and now considered one of your best friends.

You were running along the sideline, waiting for Alessia to pass the ball, when you heard her outcry and immediately stopped. Hastily making your way to the blonde, you kneeled down and softly put your hand on her left leg, trying to calm her down, “Oh my god, Less, are you alright?”

“It hurts,” she groaned, still holding her foot.

“Don’t worry, everything’s gonna be fine, the medics are gonna be here in a second.”

Looking up when they arrived, you also saw the woman that had caused Alessia to fall to the ground.

Only seeing red, you stood up so fast you were surprised you didn’t get whiplash, shoving the brunette with both of your arms, “What the hell is your problem?! You don’t get to just treat people like that, jackass!”

“What did you just say to me?” barked Katie as she invaded your personal space, your faces only a breath apart, meaning you could see the vein on her forehead popping out and almost smoke coming from her ears.

“You heard me, McCabe,” taking one last step towards her, your foreheads touching, you poked your index finger into her chest, “stop playing like a fucking hazardous idiot and go apologise to her right now! I know you hate me and you can come at me all you want, be my guest, but if you ever hurt her again, I’ll break your goddamn kneecaps!” Your chest heaved up and down with the rage inside of you, “Stay. The fuck. Away. From her,” punctuating each word with a jab of your finger, you gave her one last push before turning back to Alessia still laying on the ground.

With it being the last training before the first match, it wasn’t a surprise when the atmosphere was a bit tense.

So, when you accidentally bumped into the one and only Katie McCabe, because the exercise had you all running backwards, and somehow landed on top of her, her snappy remark came almost instantly, “Watch where you’re going and get the fuck off of me.”

Putting your hands on either side of her head, you started to pull yourself up, scoffing at her overdramatic reaction, “Go take a walk and calm down, babes.”

As she quickly stood up and pushed up against your body with her glowering eyes, that reminded you of the sea after a terrible storm, the gray rolling clouds reflecting onto the almost-blue surface of the water, her intoxicating scent invading your nostrils only infuriating you further, “Why don’t you take a walk back to Barcelona?”

Having had enough of this constant back and forth, you raised both of your arms and let them fall back to your sides, “What’s your goddamn problem?!”

“You! And don’t try your stupid innocent act on me, you know exactly what you did.”

Seeing the frown on your face, Katie continued, “Unless you’re gonna admit it, you can take your shit-talking self elsewhere.”

“God, you’re so full of yourself, I’m not gonna kiss your ass and apologise for something I didn’t even do!”

“Are yo- ”

She was interrupted by Leah separating you two, “Let’s take a deep breath, ladies.” Still glaring at one another you two slowly parted ways.

The locker room was buzzing with everyone’s excitement for Arsenal’s first game of the season, excited chatter coming from every corner. As you were all about to enter the pitch for warm ups, Jonas appeared, “McCabe, Y/L/N, a minute, please.”

He waited for the other girls to leave before addressing you, “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but you need to get it together,” his tone emphasising his disappointment. “When I made you the offer, Y/N, I thought you two would come together as a fantastic offense, because I know Katie has wanted to be winger again for a long time now and your styles and techniques just compliment each other perfectly,” the words causing you to look at your shoes shamefully.

“Now I know that you can destroy Liverpool’s defense out there but in order to do that, I need you two to work together, okay?” he looked to the two women in front of him expectantly, causing both of them to nod, his last words only making them repeat the motion, “And if you pull anything like the the shit that went down yesterday, you’re instantly being subbed off, understood?”

Jonas’ words apparently made something inside the both of you switch. Throughout the whole game, Katie and you seemed to link up every chance you could and waltzed through Liverpool’s defense like a hazard. Even when you were behind the Irish woman, she could somehow feel your presence and get the ball to your feet. You had to admit that playing with Katie when you were both working together felt amazing, giving the impression of flying over the pitch.

Even though the game went as well as it did, you went back to being at each other’s throats afterwards.

The snarky comments exchanged in the locker room extinguishing any hope your teammates had that you would at least be civil now.

One day at lunch in the team cafeteria, Katie couldn’t help but let her gaze float towards her self-appointed enemy.

Watching as you laughed with Alessia, made her thoughts run wild. Why would you say that about her? And why was she so bugged by it, when she normally just let the nasty comments brush past her without giving them a second glance?

A fork dropping to the floor startled her, making her eyes flick towards the direction the sound came from. She could see Alessia leaning down to pick it up and noticed you putting your hand between the blonde’s head and the edge of the table, efficiently sparing the forward an uncomfortable collision with the table.

This wasn’t the first time, the brunette picked up on your kindness. All the other times, for example, you staying behind and helping the staff clean up or you giving the girl you’d walked onto the pitch with your jacket, making her wonder why you were treating her so differently.

The heavy feeling in her gut made a crease form between Katie’s eyebrows. Turning to her right she questioned the captain of England’s national team, “Why is she literally the nicest human being to everyone but me?”

“Hmm, let me think, maybe because you’ve been nothing but mean to her since day one?” spoke the blonde after tapping her chin with a faux thoughtful face that turned into an ‘are you kidding me’ look.

Grumbling and stabbing her food with her fork she retorted, “She started it.”

“What do you mean? There’s not a bad bone, not even a bad cell, in that girl’s body.”

“Well, when I came in on her first day, I heard her talking to someone and she was saying pretty nasty things about me,” Katie claimed with a defeated tone.

A confused look crossed Leah’s face, “Are you sure it was her? What did she say?”

Thinking back to said day, she tried to get the words together, “Yes, I’m a hundred percent sure, and she was saying something like ‘McCabe is way too aggressive, all she does is get cards and she just isn’t good’ and I don’t know, normally I don’t really care about what people say about me, but I was just so excited to play with her and-”

“Are you serious?!”, exclaimed the blonde incredulously.

“What?”

“Did you listen to her until the end?”

Grimacing, Katie replied, “No, why would I? So that I could hear more of her borderline offensive comments?”

Fishing for her phone in her pocket, Leah grunted, “I can’t believe you sometimes, you useless lesbian.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” the Irish woman starting to feel lost now, as her friend put her phone down in front of her, a video playing.

Scanning the screen she could see the title of said video ‘Y/N Y/L/N’s first Arsenal interview’ and the fog in her brain only thickened. Then she heard a voice behind the camera, “So, what are you most excited about?”

You smiled nervously, fiddling with the rings on your finger, “Uhm, I’m really excited to play with this team cause their style is so different and I just think, uh, I can learn a lot from these amazing girls.”

“And who are you most excited to play with?”

“Oh, that’s easy, Katie McCabe,” you told the interviewer animatedly, “many people might say like ‘Oh, McCabe isn’t good. She’s borderline reckless and very petulant, plays way too aggressively and all she does is collect cards for her team’,” you imitated while doing air quotations.

“But I’m like, have you seen this girl play? It’s amazing to watch and maybe she’s a bit more physical but it’s working, isn’t it? I don’t know, I just think it’s very admirable and just so unique cause you don’t see a lot of people playing like that, you know? Sorry, I’m rambling,” you chuckled with rosy cheeks.

The blonde taking her phone back, brought Katie back to the real world. The realisation of what she had done came crashing down on her like a ton of bricks.

She hid her face behind her hands before she muttered ashamedly, “I’ve just really been an arsehole to her this whole time for no reason, haven’t I?”

“Yup, you have,” Leah patted her on the shoulder consolingly, “but I’m sure she’ll forgive you if you apologise.”

“Well, here goes nothing.”

When you heard footsteps approaching your table, you looked up from your plate to come face to face with the most infuriating person you knew, “Hey Y/N, could we maybe talk for a minute?”

Expecting her to start another fight, you couldn’t hide your surprise. “Uhm, sure I guess,” you told her as you got up to follow her out of the crowded room, shooting Alessia a confused look and only getting a shrug in response.

You arrived outside and when she stopped, you let your gaze study the woman in front of you. With her head down and her hands fidgeting, your eyes caught a sight you never would’ve thought to see. Used to her confident and feisty persona, you were astounded when you heard her speaking in a voice softer than you’d ever heard it before.

Trying to calm herself down, Katie took one last deep breath, before rising her eyes to meet your questioning ones, “I know you hate me and that this will not make up for the horrible way I’ve treated you and the awful things I’ve said, but I still want to apologise and explain why I acted the way I did.”

Your eyes widened as you took in her words and noticed that she looked to be on the verge of crying, so you sent her an encouraging smile, which she gratefully reciprocated.

“God, this is gonna sound so dumb,” she put one hand on her forehead and the other on her hip and continued, “Uhm, you remember your first day?” You nodded your head. “Well, I came in when you had your interview and I may have overheard a bit of what you were saying, only it was just a snippet of what you actually said, so I got the impression that you hated me, which I hope I didn’t make true, because I walked away before I could hear the rest of your answer.”

“I was just so excited to be able to play with you that I felt devastated after hearing your words, and I don’t really know why I did what I did but I just want you to know that I’m very very sorry, I truly am. When Leah showed me the whole video, I felt like the biggest fool ever. I know that this doesn’t excuse my behaviour but I hope you can forgive me and if not, I totally understand! Just tell me and I won’t get in your way until the end of time,” spoke Katie with her voice wavering on a few words.

The melodious sound of your laugh is what breaks her eye contact with the floor. Perplexed, she looked at you, trying to make out what your reaction meant.

“Sorry,” you let out another chuckle, “this is just the most rom-com movie type of shit I’ve ever experienced.”

You could see the girl in front of you visibly relax at your words, her shoulders finally dropping and letting out a quiet sigh of relief.

“And I should also apologise, it was wrong of me to treat you the way I did, especially because I just joined and don’t really know what everyone’s like and I also shouldn’t’ve provoked you like that and said the things I did, so yeah, I’m sorry too. I hope we can move past this,” seeing the hopeful glint in your shimmering eyes, Katie herself felt something inside of her spark.

With a thrilled smile, the Irish woman held her hand out as she proposed, “Friends?”

A beaming grin broke out on your face, feeling a tingling sensation in your tummy, you nodded giddily and pulled the woman into a tight hug. Your arms wrapped around her back as she leaned up to snake hers around your neck, squeezing tightly.

The warmth that encompassed you couldn’t even compare to drinking a hot chocolate under your fluffy blankets with your favourite movie playing on a snowy winter night.

The following weeks were filled with Katie and you spending more and more time together. One particular day, Katie couldn’t keep her eyes nor her thoughts off of you.

It all started with her struggling to get a glass that had been placed on one of the higher shelves in the cafeteria.

She had been trying to reach the goddamn thing for at least two minutes now and was just about to give up, when she felt the heat of a body behind her. Before she could turn around, the person took one last step towards her, their front touching Katie’s back, and reached out to hand her the item she had been failing to grasp.

If the familiar smell of your vanilla scent wasn’t enough of an indication of who exactly was pressing their body (a very fit one at that, if Katie’s sinful thoughts were anything to go by) against hers, your teasing voice definitely was, “You know, I’ve always wondered, has anyone ever mistaken you for being in middle school before?”

Ripping the glass out of your hand with a glare on her face the brunette retorted, “Fuck you.”

“Don’t mind if you do.”

Seeing her dumbfounded expression only caused your smirk to spread across your whole face, enjoying the sight of the usually confident woman trying to hide the heat rising up her cheeks and squirming in her place.

You found her flushed face extremely adorable, so there was nothing else to do but squish her cheeks between your hands - and that’s exactly what you did.

With you still squishing her warm face you exclaimed, “Aww, aren’t you the cutest?”

Slapping your hands away, she grumbled something unintelligible and turned on her spot, strutting back to her table. The laughter coming from you (which still put a slight grin on her face) didn’t help her face cool down, making the teasing from Leah inevitable.

“If you two don’t get together soon, I’ll lock you in my basement until you do, I just can’t watch this anymore.”

Katie already knew the comment would irk her, so she didn’t try to resist herself, “You don’t have a basement.”

“I don’t care, I’ll find something else to lock you in!”

A few hours later, her lack of concentration led to another incident involving you. She wasn’t paying attention for a minimum of two minutes (her thoughts being on anything but the exercise) when she collided with someone.

Tumbling to the ground, she grunted at the impact of the floor and the person landing on top of her. As soon as she saw who was almost laying on top of her, every last complaint flew right out of her head.

She looked up at your eyes to find them slightly creased at the edges, “I thought we would stop meeting like this, since we’re friends now,” you laughed.

“Maybe I just like having you on top of me,” retorted the girl laying on the ground, sending you a wink, which allowed Katie to see your eyes roll into the back of your head, as you jokingly swatted her arm and walked away.

It was her last straw though, when you two were the last ones in the locker room and you pulled a box out of your bag, “Oh, I almost forgot! I made these blueberry muffins cause you said you haven’t had any in a long time and they were always your favourite.”

You handed her the box and she sent you a grateful smile, the butterflies in her stomach awakening, “That’s really nice, thank you, Y/N!”

You waved her off with a ‘No problem’ and trudged back to your bag to continue changing.

Remembering what you had wanted to add, you snapped your finger, “Also they’re glutenfree so your niece can have some if she wants! She’s coming to yours tomorrow, right?”

The butterflies reappearing with what felt like twice the power, Katie’s whole body was overflowed with a warm tingly feeling as she realised that you had remembered every little detail.

Lost for words, the Irish woman just stared at you from across the room. Unaware of the watching eyes trained on you, you took of your shirt.

On the other side, Katie stood, still in a daze from your kind gesture, and now unable to look away from your almost uncovered upper body. The way the sweat glistened on your toned abs enchanting her with a seemingly unbreakable spell. When she broke out of her stupor, she strode over to you with quick steps.

Hearing the hurried footsteps approaching, you turned around alarmed, “Wha-”

Before you could get out another word, the smaller woman had pushed you against the wall behind you, and like the oceans being pulled towards the moon, your lips found one another.

If before Katie had butterflies, she could now feel a whole zoo dancing in her tummy, a kind of warmth overtaking her that she’d never felt before. When the woman’s soft lips caressed yours, your heart stopped for a moment before picking up at double its pace.

Warm hands landed on your bare waist, pushing you further against the wall and impossibly closer together, you felt the thud of your combined heartbeats getting quicker with every second your lips were connected.

Your hands quickly found themselves tangled in her brunette hair and when you slightly pulled on it, Katie let out a raspy groan against your lips, sending tingles shooting from your fingers to your toes, the smell of her perfume dizzying you further.

Pulling away and getting a short breath of air into her lungs, you fisted her jersey in your palms and yanked her back, her lips landing on the silky pillow that was your mouth.

Just feeling the careful swipe of her tongue on your bottom lip, you breathed out a blissful sigh before being forced apart by the need for oxygen.

Your eyes were still closed as you felt Katie’s breath wavering across your face, “Why didn’t we do that earlier?”

Finally looking at her, you were enthralled by the sight before you. Katie McCabe with messy hair, rosy cheeks, a dazed look in her dazzling eyes and her swollen red lips slightly parted would be the death of you.

“I don’t know but we need to make up for lost time,” declared the brunette with a dreamy smile and pulled you back in by your waist.

#woso #woso x reader #katie mccabe #katie mccabe x reader #arsenal #arsenal wfc #arsenal x reader #woso fanfics

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judesmoonbeauty · 7 months ago

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Love Begins From a Mean Lie: Liam Evans Collection Event Story❥︎

Fan translation only. Not 100% accurate. Please expect grammatical errors. Cybird owns everything. Feel free to re-blog, but please do NOT post my translations elsewhere. What I obtain is what will be translated. Translation notes are marked with *** Alternate translation is marked with/// Dividers: @/natimiles

Liam: Victor, what's going on? Katie and I are going to be separated for a few days…..

Victor: I'm sorry. I've been making adjustments and considering things, but... due to circumstances, it just ended up happening.

Victor: ...... First, Kate I want you to infiltrate a women's club where there are rumors of drug deals going on.

Kate: When it comes to women's clubs, only women can infiltrate them.

Victor: Given Crown’s busy schedule, it would be impossible for him to dress as a woman, so I have no choice but to ask you Kate.

Liam: Can't I sneak into that women's club, too? I can even cross dress!!

Liam approaches Victor, threatening to take off his clothes and put on the dress at any second.

Victor: Liam, I would like you to work with Harrison to investigate illegal gambling establishments in the suburbs.

Victor: We need tickets to enter the gambling hall, but I only have one available.

Victor: So, Liam I want you to use your ability to disappear and infiltrate.

(There are places where only women can enter, and places where you have to disappear to enter……)

(……both of those missions are irreplaceable.)

Liam: ……

Liam: ……ok, I get it.

Victor: I’m sorry, Liam. Thank you for understanding.

Victor: While you can't be by her side, I'll be more careful than usual to make sure Kate is never in danger.

Victor: How about having Roger on standby, so he can be there when she needs help?

Liam: Yea... In that case, I’ll feel a little relieved.

When Victor told him about the schedule for the next mission, he was satisfied for a while…….

On the way home, Liam was completely depressed.

(......Liam, are you sure you're okay?)

So far, I've seen him get anxious many times before just because he can't see me even a little bit.

(This lasts for several days.…..)

Kate: Um, Liam…..

Liam: ….okay!

Liam suddenly slapped his own cheeks with his hands.

Liam: I'm sorry for looking so bitter, Katie. I changed my mind.

Liam: Even if you’re not here Katie….I'll be fine!

Kate: Really....?

Liam smiles and holds out his little finger to reassure me.

Liam: I'll complete the mission perfectly and come back to see you soon …. I promise.

Kate: Then I'll finish my mission safely and wait for you to come back Liam.

I smiled back at Liam as we intertwined our little fingers.

Liam: Haaa……Katie.

Harrison: Hey, how many times have you sighed? They say that when you sigh, happiness escapes from you.

Liam: ……Which direction is Crown Castle in?

Harrison: From this position, it's southeast... so, isn't it over there?

Liam: Haaa…..

Liam: I hope the happiness that escaped from me reaches Katie.

Harrison: ……We’re about to go on a mission, and you're not ready.

Liam: It's a symptom of Katie deficiency.

Liam: …..Don't you think the picture on that signboard looks a bit like Kate?

Liam: I feel like the flowers on the roadside there also look like Kate……

Liam: Katie…..I’m fine.

Harrison: Don't talk to the flowers .....

Harrison: .…I thought you told Kate you were okay to come out.

Liam: Because if I cried forever about not wanting to leave, Kate would be troubled, right?

Liam: Even if I didn’t mean it...I have no choice but to say so.

Harrison: You sound like a toddler who is reluctant to go to preschool because he doesn't want to be away from his parents.

Liam: ….Hey, Harry. Can you do me a favor?

Harrison: What?

Liam: ..... I hope you'll imitate Isla and support me.

Harrison: Huh?

Liam: I need to intake Katie’s dosage……I’m already on…..

Liam: I may go back to Crown Castle right now without completing my mission.

Harrison: ..... Can you promise me that if I imitate her, you’ll get back on track and complete the mission perfectly?

Liam: I promise!

Harrison: ..... You're not lying. I'll do it because I have to, but don't laugh.

Harrison: Hmmm …….Liam! I'm rooting for you Liam! Keep up the good work! 😭

Liam:……Not at all.

Liam: Katie’s arms are angled like this. The direction of her neck is like this. The way her legs open is like this..... Haaa.

Liam: Harry, your poor impersonation has made me want to see Katie even more….

Harrison: ........ I can't do it.

(Haa….)

Kate: Liam! Welcome back!

A few days after Liam and I were separated for a mission.

Liam finally returned to Crown Castle after completing his mission.

Liam: Isla, I'm back……!

Liam hugged me tightly while we were talking.

The painful embrace made me feel that Liam was indeed here, and I was very happy.

Harrison: I'll report back to Victor on the mission, so Liam can go off with Isla, okay?

Liam: No problem! Thanks, Harry!

Harrison: You can buy me a table full of sweet treats later and we can call it even about the mission.

Kate: About the mission….? What happened?

Liam: While on the mission, I asked Harry a rather difficult request.

Liam: For Harry's honor, I can't go into details...

Liam: I was faced with the obvious fact that there is no one who can replace you Katie.

Liam, who must have been exhausted, took me in his arms and ran in a straight line from the entrance hall to his room.

Before the open door is completely closed, my lips are quickly snatched away.

Kate: Mmm…….haa…..

Liam: ….I missed you, Katie…..

After many intense kisses to fill the missing time, we finally pull away.

Liam: I've done my …….mission perfectly, just as I promised. How did you do while I was gone, Kate?

Kate: The mission I was on went off without a hitch! There was nothing dangerous about it.

Liam: Good…..

Kate: I was also relieved. Even though we were a part, you were able to carry out your duties without any problems, Liam.

Liam: That’s…..

Liam: …. It was more like I was the one who had the problem by being a part.

Liam: ….What?

Kate: Even though you weren’t there Liam, when we were eating, I'd turn around to the one next to me and say, “It's delicious, Liam.”

Kate: Even when I was writing my report, I mistakenly wrote your name Liam for a completely different person...

Kate: I was worried about you before I left...but I was the one who wasn't okay.

I remembered my days at Crown Castle with Liam by my side.

Meals that were supposed to be delicious were tasteless, and even when the sky cleared, I didn't feel better.

With each passing day, the world seemed to gradually fade away.

Liam: That's not true! I wasn't okay at all either!

Liam: I didn't want to worry you, so I lied and said I was fine......

Liam: I was lonely and sad and pained when I left you Kate.... I was going crazy.

(I wasn't the only one...)

Liam: I'm sorry. I keep telling you I want to change……

Liam: Katie, I can’t leave you, I’m still so weak and useless…..

Kate: That's not true! I like the Liam, who is trying to change and moving forward.

Kate: There is no time limit, so don't be in a hurry to ……change.

Kate: Besides, if you were to leave me so quickly, I would feel lonely too.

Liam: Yeah…..

We smile, we kiss, and we make love again.

Liam's brazen lies taught me that we’re deeply in love, and I don't want to be apart even for a moment.

And then -

Liam: Hey, Isla. Actually I think I bumped myself a little bit on my mission......

Liam: May I ask you to check to see if there are any bruises?

Kate: What? That's a big deal ...... I have to check it out right away!

I rush to undress Liam.

Kate: There's nothing in particular about the upper body, but….

Liam: Then maybe it’s on my lower body?

Kate: Lower body…….

Liam: Yeah, I'd like you to help me check! I can't see much by myself.

Liam, who replies, is very energetic and doesn't look like he is in any pain.

Kate: Um……Liam, I'm sorry if I'm mistaken.

Kate: Are you lying, by any chance?

Liam: …..You found out?

Kate: Liam, you said it yourself, you’re a bad liar…

Liam: I wanted you to spoil me and take off my clothes, so I lied to you Katie…Sorry!

Kate: If that's the reason, I can't get angry.

Kate: In exchange for forgiveness, Liam I’ll ask you to help me get undressed as punishment.

Kate: Now are you going to undress me Liam.....?

Liam: …..Then it's not a punishment, it's a treat, Katie.

Giggling and giggling, we kissed again and…naughty lies deepened our evening.

I shed a tear over Harrison today LOL!

[Master List]

#ikevil liam #liam evans #ikevil liam evans #ikevil #ikevil translations #ikemen translations #cybird translations

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denaliwrites · 11 months ago

Text

Something Good to Celebrate

Cale Erendreich x GN!Reader

Summary: It's your birthday.

Soundtrack: Birthday by Katy Perry

Requests: Open!

Warnings: It's Cale Erendreich. Y'all know the score by now.

You were pretty sure Cale had forgotten your birthday.

Not that you did all that much to celebrate it, anyway. But you at least expected him to say just the two words, "happy birthday." It was literally the bare minimum. Yet he said nothing as he passed you your morning coffee with a peck to your lips -- your daily routine now that you lived with him.

He continued to say nothing, also your routine, as the two of you got ready for your respective day at work, and even as the two of you parted ways, entering your respective cars and driving off in opposite directions.

Your coworkers remembered.

They awkwardly sang the song, you awkwardly blew out the candles on the cheap and no doubt dry-as-bone storebought cake, and you all awkwardly milled about the meeting room making small talk until your boss declared the party over.

You returned to your desk, and the rest of your day went as it always did. Uneventful. Boring. A little lonely, despite being surrounded by people.

Despite the "party" at your office, the fact it was your birthday meant very little to your boss, who ended up keeping you late -- much later than you'd anticipated.

It was dark when you finally entered your home, something that was unusually reflected in the interior. You wondered if maybe Cale was late too, but that thought quickly died as you realized that there was light -- dim as it was -- coming from the dining room.

You kicked your shoes off and padded into the room, finding the table set for a romantic candlelit dinner. In the center of the table was a vase full of your favorite flowers, surrounded by lit candles. On the end of the table you were nearest to, two place settings for dinner, and on the other a veritable collection of gifts.

Cale was nowhere to be seen, though noises you were sure were him emanated from the kitchen.

And, sure enough, he stepped into view holding two plates, which he set down before greeting you.

You weren't sure what you expected, but him pulling you into a luxurious kiss wasn't it. You were left breathless as he pulled away with a smirk.

"Happy birthday, babe," he all but purred as one of his arms circled your waist and he led you to the nearest chair. You dazedly took your seat, staring at the meal before you.

It was your favorite. You hadn't even known Cale was aware of your favorite meal.

"C-Cale," you whimpered, taking it all in, "this is... it's so much. It's..."

"Ssshh, babe," he told you quietly, taking the seat next to yours, where the other plate sat. It wasn't packed nearly as full as yours, and you couldn't decide if it was due to Cale's usual eating habits, or if it was so there'd be more for you.

"I... thanks," you finally managed, fighting tears. "It's perfect."

"I know," he admitted with a loving sigh. "This isn't even half of it. Wait until you open your gifts."

You couldn't even think about that right now -- you were still reeling from how thoughtful your meal was. If you thought about what waited for you in the mass of boxes and bags and wrapping paper, you'd probably actually cry.

"Thank you, Cale," you said quietly, looking at him meaningfully. "Really. This is... probably the nicest birthday I've ever had."

"I know," he said again, more somberly. "I wanted to give you something worth celebrating this year."

#cale erendreich x reader #cale erendreich x you #bad samaritan fic #bad samaritan fanfiction #cale erendreich fic #cale erendreich fanfiction #david tennant #denali strikes again

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the-kr8tor · 7 months ago

Note

This #$@% has turned into a 2,294 word fic and I'm not even at the plot point yet 😭 Someone save me please-

Today's ttn fic was so cute! I loved it and read it instantly because thankfully I had the time. I really have to lock in because I have finals tomorrow and the day after so excuse my absence please pookie. How are you by the way? I'm a little stressed but overall happy.

Indulge me ok? Bc @pleaktale has given me a lot of inspiration recently. Pirate Hobie in a port town gathering supplies with the crew. They have some downtime or Hobie just wanders off a stumbles across villager r. Just playing or walking around in the sand and it's love at first sight for my guy (favorite trope ngl).

r owns a shop whether it's a bakery, bookstore, apothecary, etc and Hobie finds out after he does some digging around. Purposefully seeking her out and damn if she isn't the cutest and sweetest thing.

He comes back to the ship with like six cases of bread or books on charting and sailing. Things he doesn't need.

Makes the crew come back to the same port each time they need to resupply. Eventually the crew finds out after seeing him (aka following him) talking with r. They make fun of him and tag along on his visits just to irritate him. Even better if they flirt with r and Hobie gets jealous. Like pouting in a corner while Ned talks about how pretty you are. (Which is nice but you'd much rather hear it from Hobie's lips-)

Gwen has had enough after months of Hobie hoarding whatever he buys from you on the ship (she be sinking a little too deep into the water) as well as those little sighs he lets out while looking out into the direction of your town. She threatens Hobie with a "if you don't tell her I will".

r is obviously smitten too but doesn't know what to do. Maybe Hobie's just being friendly? He flirts with nearly everyone he comes across. He's just naturally charming. It's a "she fell first but he fell harder" kind of deal because spoiler alert, r noticed Hobie long before he noticed her.

Conclusion, you're both idiots in love and honestly should just go makeout already because damn if this isn't the slowest burn (I'm looking at you Katy. ttn ruined me in the best way possible. It's so good 💗)

Ahhhh i get what u mean!!! The set up is so much harder to write than the main plot point bc you've had the vision for it now u just need to write the build up!! Just think that after writing the first part you can finally get to the part you really like and you can use that as your motivation to finish the first half ❤️

Ahhhh! Thank you so much! I loved writing it sm it gave me nostalgia even though I've never experienced the 80s or 90s lmaooo

I'm doing okay, angel! I hope you're taking breaks in between studying ❤️ good luck on your finals ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Are you in my walls, lovely? Bc the part where Hobie stumbles across r was the original idea for bdas!! But it didn't fit with the rest of the plot so I scrapped it in the end (we're twin hearts fr fr)

THAT'S SO CUTE!!!! HOBIE'S PINING IS SO AUGHHHH 😍😍😍😍😍😍🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

Hobie with heart eyes while in R's store: I fancy yo--- I mean I fancy your merchandise, give me one of everything

R: 🤨🤨🤨

Gwen threatening to tell R 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Hehehehe I have infected everyone with slow burn disease 😂😂😂

#ask answered #hobie thoughts #🫶🫶🫶#chatting with moots

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goodluckclove · 4 months ago

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Edgar Gallow's 31st Birthday Party (Migration Excerpt)

For those who feel like joining the sad guy and their friends in some of the most family-centered fluff I've written in like a billion years holy shit this is wholesome.

There was a faded, blue and yellow checkered tablecloth draped over the kitchen table. Scott spent the better part of an hour diligently gathering the best wildflowers and mustard sprigs from the field behind the house, all of which were now bundled in the family’s one crystal vase.

In a better world there would be streamers or balloons. Something to hang from the walls and ceiling. When Edgar called Regina to let them know that they’d be coming back with Katy soon, Scott stood at the entrance to the room and nursed a general sense of dissatisfaction.

“It looks very nice,” his mother said, stirring the simmering pot at the stove as Edgar directed before leaving.

Scott huffed. “It’s not enough.”

“I feel like any more might overwhelm the poor thing.”

Yes. Scott wanted to overwhelm them. Just tuck them into a snug cocoon of love and keep them there until all the self-loathing and confusion has been thoroughly digested. He caught his mother’s eye and, perhaps reading that intent in the sadness of his expression, she let out a small laugh.

“It’s very nice, Skylark,” she said again.

“Oh god.”

Edgar stood at the center of the kitchen with their eyes wide. There was a dreamy look in their face, complete with a grin that was buffering between wide and even wider.

Still near the stove with Regina, Scott made a noise that expressed how he was about to denigrate the work he put into the day. Before he could get a word out, his mother gently jabbed him in the side with the wooden handle of the ladle.

“Ow,” he muttered. “Fuck, Mom.”

He watched Edgar drift towards the table and reach a hesitant hand to the tablecloth. They touched the lace edge and exhaled softly.

“You even got the – wow,” they breathed. “I don’t think we should use this. I don’t want it to get ruined.”

Regina chuckled. “It’s survived plenty of dinners with Skylark. I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

Scott started to protest until he felt the sheer warmth radiating from Edgar across the room. Another standing-by-the-heating-vents moment. He looked at his lover and saw them watching him fondly, their eyes beginning to glass up.

Something in him relaxed. He didn’t realize how tense he’d been up until now. “Happy birthday, Edgar,” Scott smiled.

Edgar let out a single disbelieving, but very happy laugh.

Katy wasn’t surprised by the state of Scott’s family home. She wasn’t surprised that his mother, who looked like a taller and fatter version of him, greeted her with immediate warmth and was eager to welcome her into the home. The only thing that surprised her when Edgar took her back to the beach house was the way Tenzin reacted when they saw each other again.

Once again, Katy was aware of how awful she looked and felt. Tenzin’s mouth twitched slightly like she had something to say. Like she had a few things she wanted to say. Katy’s nerves heightened as she reacquainted herself with how hard her new phone companion was to read in person, until she remembered when Tenzin confessed her own personal difficulties in reading emotions.

“I’m...I’m really tired,” Katy said. “But I’m happy to see you.”

Tenzin’s brow raised when she said that. Her lips quirked up in a smile that stuttered before she managed to calm herself.

“I’m happy to see you too,” Tenzin responded. “I can show you were the bathroom is if you want to wash up.”

Katy sighed. “I’d like that a lot.”

While showering in the house’s comically over-sized bathroom, she thought about Jeff and Fern. They were settled into a temporary housing situation closer into town, where Jeff told Katy he��d be driving back to Lincoln in the morning. They spoke for a while, keeping their voices down even though Fern had their implant off in the adjacent bedroom.

“You’re going to see that friend of yours?” Jeff asked, making himself comfortable on the couch. “The one you talk to every day?”

“Yeah,” Katy was a little absent on the armchair across from him. “She’s just a friend, I think.”

“Just..? Katy, a friend could be a lot of things.”

“I know, but –”

“A friend could be someone you spend the rest of your life with. If you actually like them, a friend can be the most important thing in the world.”

He spoke with a particular passion. It sounded like he’d been wanting to say this for a while. Katy thought about sand in a bottle on the Boardwalk and suddenly felt a little itchy and sad and excited and confused.

Jeff turned towards her on the couch. “I’d like to meet her before I leave tomorrow,” he said. “If you’re comfortable with that. I hear you talk, it seems like you really like her.”

While Katy thought nothing about Edgar meeting her brother, didn’t even find it significant until she saw the two of them chatting at the Mess Hall after her impromptu tattoo session, this was different. Thinking about Jeff introducing himself to Tenzin gave Katy a deep swell of feeling she was unable to place.

She looked down at the bandaging around her forearm that covered the small new tattoo. It stung, but was mostly numb. Feeling and not feeling. There was maybe a parallel there.

Tenzin spent too long at her closet trying to pick something clean for Katy to wear once she got out of the shower. Despite living in a family of people shorter than her, and despite spending her life in a town where she was one of the tallest biological women, she didn’t spent too much time obsessing over her height. But when trying to think of some clothes to lend to someone half a foot shorter than her, Tenzin suddenly felt like some sort of massive, gangling kaiju.

So she figured, after Scott made a habit in their adolescence of borrowing from her closet, she could finally return the favor. She crept into his room and grabbed one of his two pairs of jeans and an undershirt. By the time she left with her bounty Katy had just stepped out of the bathroom, and the two met in the hall in awkward silence.

Katy looked better. Still drained, a little heavy in the eyes – but certainly fresher. She held the towel around herself and took in the sight of Tenzin openly stealing clothes from her brother’s bedroom.

It looked weird. Tenzin knew it looked weird. “What size jeans are you?” She said to Katy.

“Uh –” she looked down at the bundle of jeans and raised a single brow. “Men’s or women’s?

“Men’s.”

“Thirty-six.”

Tenzin checked the label on the inside of Scott’s jeans. “Hah,” she scoffed. “Look at that. Perfect match,” she pushed the clothes towards Katy. “Here.”

Katy snickered low. She adjusted her grip on the towel and brushed a few strands of wet hair out of her face. “Is Scott going to care that you’re lending me his clothes?”

“He won’t miss them. Scott’s not really a...pants kind of person.”

“Well,” Katy took the clothes with her free hand and flashed Tenzin a wry smirk. “If these are real Levi’s then that’s his loss.”

After Katy changed the two of them laid across Tenzin’s bed, staring up at the ceiling. Their silence was hard to parse. Things felt so much stranger than it did over the phone. Tenzin could see the curve of Katy’s nose and the soft flush of her pale cheeks that lingered from the hot water. She was reminded of how glamorously beautiful she was, and forced to confront that the feeling she had when Katy called her attractive wasn’t really there anymore.

She thought about how she knew a bit about Katy’s childhood, and how Katy knew about hers. Tenzin was apparently the only person in the world aside from Katy’s youngest brother to be privy to her deathly fear of horseshoe crabs. In turn, Katy was the only person to know that Tenzin still kind of had a crush on the shape shifting, cat-like yokai from My Neighbor Totoro.

There was certainly a relationship here. It was hard to understand it more than that, though.

“Can we keep lying here for a while?”

Katy’s voice was distant when she said that. Her eyes were already drifting shut. Tenzin didn’t answer, and once it occurred to her to say something Katy was already starting to snore.

Tenzin watched her sleep. Was that weird? It was hard to tell. She felt better seeing her there, though. Knowing she was clean and resting and, for the moment, safe.

Thinking that made her body start to feel heavy. She heard the croaking rattle of the heat vents above her bedroom door turn on, and something about the sound was so kind to her that Tenzin closed her eyes and allowed herself to relax.

Edgar thought they’d be better at this.

They knew that an actual birthday party after decades of ignoring the date would be a shock to the system, but they hoped they’d eventually acclimate to the situation. This simply wasn’t the case. An hour into watching the table be set and the food be served, tasked with nothing but sitting at the head of the table, Edgar had no idea what to do with themselves.

It was easy to smile. They couldn’t stop smiling. This felt like something out of a dream and they stayed very still just in case moving too much would cause them to wake up.

Scott ended up sitting beside them, and he softly laid his hand on top of Edgar’s on the table.

“It smells amazing,” he said, motioning his head towards the serving bowl of chili that steamed in the center of the table.

Edgar stared at Scott. How long was it supposed to be between blinks? Their eyes were starting to sting. They still couldn’t stop smiling.

“It’s smelled great all day,” Scott smiled playfully. “I tried to sneak a taste but Mom wouldn’t let me.”

Scott must’ve been working so hard while they were gone. Diligent Scott, determined to exorcise today into being something worth celebrating again. Beautiful Scott, with a few curved strands of black escaping his bun.

Skylark, Skylark, Skylark.

A note of concern made the shapes on Scott’s face look all the more profound. “Hey,” he cooed, touching Edgar’s cheek and the underside of their chin. “I hate to be the one to say this, but – did you take your Petrichor today?”

“I’m gonna’ marry you,” Edgar said in voice clear as day.

Scott’s eyes went wide. Regina, who was laying out a basket of freshly-cut bread, paused midway into the gesture. She noticed he and Edgar both staring now and blinked a few times, nonplussed.

“If you’re looking for surprise you’ve come to the wrong place,” she let the jesting comment settle, and then warmed. “Congrats, kids. Na zisete.”

She went back to the kitchen to pull out the bottle of cider that was chilling in the fridge. Edgar leaned forward, elbows propped up on the table and chin supported on his fists. Their heart was a sparkling, swirling pool of about a dozen different perfumes and body washes, a veritable emotional bubble bath with the consistency of expensive syrup. It coated their skin with the smallest touch, and as the rest of the world moved along they were sinking blissfully into its depths.

They felt Scott graze his fingernails up and down their back and sighed in utter peace. They gazed at him, eyes partially lidded, and snickered as he started to squirm shyly.

“Wow,” Scott breathed.

Edgar laughed again. “I feel your feelings,” they reminded him. “You should be used to this by now.”

Scott shook his head. “No no. No, this – this is all you, I think.”

If Edgar manipulated the emotions reflecting in them, it did feel differently than Scott’s emotions did. More fluid. Different hues. It was hard to explain. It was also hard to think that Edgar would be capable to creating anything as beautiful as what they were currently experiencing.

They closed their eyes and grinned with a scoff.

The table was just big enough to fit the five of them. Scott and Edgar, Katy and Tenzin, and Regina between the two couples. The conversation was quick-fire, boisterous and frequently overlapping. They spoke of traveling, hot dogs, children’s books, music choices and bad motels. Regina mostly listened. She made a comment or two every so often, but for the most part she was happy just hearing the others talk.

The chili was intricately spiced in a way that echoed in the mouth long after every bite. The chew of the diced cauliflower was so close to ground beef that she barely registered it wasn’t actually meat. She dressed her bowl as Edgar suggested, and the hefty serving of shredded cheese turned the entire bowl into something with the consistency of paste. Regina questioned the choice at first, though once she took a bite she noted the dense creaminess, the smooth texture made complex with onion and bell pepper. It was like fondue she was meant to eat on its own.

Edgar’s capabilities with something so simple were deeply impressive. She’d actually forgotten how useful it was to have a variety of fresh produce in her own backyard. And Scott was charming in a new kind of way – with an effortless quality that she could see not leaving him exhausted. He spoke to their new friend Katy so eagerly. Clearly he thought of her as a friend, and by the way Katy joked with him so easily Regina hoped she thought of him the same way.

Katy was a clever one. She reminded Regina of Goose in a way that made her miss having Goose in the house too. The bandage on her arm proved that she was willing to get a permanent sigil (Because Edgar can do sigils! How smart of them!) just to stay under her roof. Regina regretted that being the lengths it took, but the fact that Katy would go so far for a chance to spend quality time with her children earned her respect in an instant.

Once they finished their meal, Scott and Regina quickly cleared the table. While her son loaded the dishwasher she lingered close by, momentarily hesitant.

“You sure you don’t have a problem with it?” She whispered to him.

Scott paused. “With what?”

“Edgar’s present.”

“Oh,” Scott closed the dishwasher with his foot and leaned against it. “Of course not.”

“Tradition calls for it to go to you. Or – or to Tenzin, maybe.”

“Yeah, but – we don’t wear jewelry. I hate the feeling of it, and Tenzin likes her style simple. You know that.”

Regina still wasn’t certain. She had her hand in the pocket of her slacks and anxiously palmed the small box inside. Scott took her by the shoulders, forcing her steady in one bold movement.

“You’ll keep it in the family,” he said. “That’s what you want, right?”

Her son was an adult now. He looked so much like her, and even more like Levi. The gleam in his eyes and the promise of mischief at the edge of his smile. He used to be the littlest of babies. He used to wriggle around the mustard fields well into adolescence.

Past him, Edgar was listening intently at Katy while she told a story about some chaos she passed on the road. They were so considerate and polite. So aware of other people and how they fit into any given room at any given time. She remembered the weekend she cared for them as a child where they finally worked up the courage to learn against her. Even then, they kept asking if what they were doing was okay.

“Edgar?” She called out. “I have something for you, if you don’t mind.”

Edgar laid in bed that night, still buzzing so madly that they might’ve been floating a few centimeters off the mattress. They tried to stay quiet. They tried to stay still, so as to not bother Scott. But they couldn’t keep from touching Regina’s gift as it hung in place just above their collarbone.

It was a necklace on a long leather cord. In the center there was a pendent, a carnation lovingly etched from wood and then painted orange. Edgar felt its shape in the dark with their finger and tracked every breath as it cycled through their chest.

Regina explained that birthright jewelry used to be more commonplace, a way for witches to signify their presence to each other in civilization. The orange carnation was the marking of birthright magic back then. Nowadays it was less important to be discreet, but the pieces that remain are still passed down in certain families in the remaining witch towns.

Scott assured Edgar that he used to wear the necklace and hated the way it felt on his neck. Tenzin agreed that the pendent was slightly too large, and the color slightly off for her skin tone. So Edgar had it. Now it was Edgar’s.

He tied it around Edgar’s neck in the privacy of his bedroom. Edgar looked at themselves for a long time in the full-length mirror and marveled. Just marveled. They never considered any sort of adornment for themselves, but the small splash of color made them feel remarkably stylish. That was a new feeling for them. The person in the mirror with the fuzzy green sweater and the rustic orange flower necklace, their red curls vibrantly fluffy, was an appealing stranger Edgar would love to get to know more.

“Are you ready for tomorrow?” Scott asked them as they laid in bed together.

Edgar grinned, weary and ecstatic. “I wasn’t even ready for today.”

Scott took their hands and pressed them to his chest. He held them there for some time, eyes closed, saying nothing. It looked like he might’ve fallen asleep like that, but then he spoke again.

“I’m with you,” Scott said.

It was an odd feeling. It was so strange to look at a part of yourself that has been wrapped up after an injury for years and years and suddenly rip off all the bandages, only to realize that what used to be a gaping wound was almost fully healed over. There was still a scar. There would probably always be a scar.

But one more scar wasn’t enough to break Edgar Gallows. Not anymore.

songbird tag, let me know if you want on or off

@inadequetecowboy

@kuebiko-writing

@cartoonghosts

@atlasthecactus

@aroaceghosties

@booksntea6982

@xarrixii

@mushroommanchanterelle

#writeblr #songbird elegies #migration patterns #novel excerpt #writers of tumblr

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magics-neptunes-things · 6 months ago

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Nightmare

Hi guys :)

This a short one from a request . Sorry for the time it took me to write it dear anon!

Please enjoy it ♥

TW : Creepy nightmare, Angst.

You feel uneasy, but you can’t explain why. You know the room you are sitting in, it’s the common room in the Arsenal building, but you have a strange feeling in your stomach. You are waiting for your girlfriend after a game, it has been so long that there are no one around you. No noise too, the stadium is empty now and the night has begun to fall. Katie never takes so much time to get ready.

You sigh softly before getting up and going to the locker room, where your girlfriend is supposed to be. The light on the ceiling made a noise while it gets on, showing you that there is no one here, only a bag forgotten by someone – probably Beth.

“Katie?” you try, even if you know there is no way that she’s here.

You shiver when your voice resonates, reverberating against the walls.

Maybe she went to the parking you decide, so you take that way too. You still have a strange feeling and can’t help but look over your shoulder from time to time while walking.

You just have to take a look at the parking to see that it’s empty and there is no car left. Did really Katie go home without you?

While looking for your phone in your pocket, you realize that you forgot it somewhere, probably where you were waiting for her. Going back make you groan, but it’s there that you finally find someone else. She’s back facing you and you only see that she has blond hair. It could be a lot of your teammates honestly. Leah, Alessia, Stina, Beth…

“Hello?” you call.

When the girl turns around, you are frozen in horror. She hasn’t a human face. Her eyes are black, and her large smile reveals disturbing white and sharps teeth. All of this on a pointed face.

You just have the time to scream before she jumps on you and you are suddenly sitting on your bed, screaming in real life too.

Coopurr jump off the bed while hissing and Katie probably has a heart attack next to you. Wide awake, she however sits too, looking around to find something who could make you scream in terror like that.

“Babe what’s happening?” she asks when she realizes that there is no one in your room.

“I - There was a - You weren’t…” you try to talk.

But your breathing is too unhinged, your heart is beating too fast. You aren’t able to make a sentence who means anything. Ignoring your sweaty face, Katie takes it softly between her hands and looks right in your eyes.

“I need you to breath, ok? It was just a dream. You’re home with me. You are safe.”

You nod, trying to steady your breathing. To help yourself, you copy it on the Irish women. You close your eyes when she strokes your cheeks with her thumbs, wiping the tears you don’t realize you had.

When Katie is happy with your breathing again, she takes you in her arms while she lies on the bed again. She is right. You feel safe in her arms like this.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asks softly.

Her tone let you the choice, she would listen if you chose to talk about it. But if you answer no, you know that she won’t get mad. So, you tell her, without forgetting any details. Your feelings during it and everything that happened. Katie listens with attention, playing with your hair in a way that calm you every time.

“Must have been awful” she whispers before kissing your head. “But for the record, I will never leave without you.”

“You better” you mumble, rolling on your stomach to cuddle totally against her.

She hums and kiss your cheek softly several times. If it was anyone else, you probably have felt stupid about that dream and the way you wake all the house up.

(Ella will make a remark to you tomorrow morning, asking you with a smirk who made you scream this way, adding that it was certainly not her sister. That said sister who throw a book in her direction and almost knock her out.)

But with Katie you feel safe enough to talk about it and let yourself being vulnerable. You know that she will never make fun of you or that she will never say anything to anyone. Your nightmares were always a part of you, they sometimes are coming around for several nights before leaving for two months before coming back again.

“Your cat probably hates me now” you mumble tiredly.

It makes Katie laughs and she moves a little bit on the mattress to find a better position.

“Give him one of his damn cats treats tomorrow morning and you will be forgotten”

You smile softly, feeling sleepy again. You can tell that Katie is feeling the same, her breathing coming slower and deeper.

“Wake me up if you need me, yeah?” she asks before sleeping for good.

“Promised” you whispers.

She strokes your cheek with her nose and kisses it one more time before closing her eyes. In several seconds she’s off. You need a little more time, but you easily fall asleep too. You are safe in Katie arms, you know that she will protect you from everything, every day of your life if you need to.

You take some minutes to look at the face of your peaceful and asleep girlfriend. If only people could know how soft, caring and sweet she can be with the one she loves. It’s not a surprise that she has so many friends around her. Even if she doesn’t like to show her soft side to everyone, you love that part of her.

Well, to be honest, you love everything about her.

You kiss her jaw softly, putting your head on her shoulder before closing your eyes for good this time.

“I love you, Katie” you whisper against her skin.

“Love you too” she grumbles in her sleepy state.

It makes you smile. You will thank her properly tomorrow morning, but for now you both need to catch your sleep.

#woso imagine #woso x reader #woso fanfics #woso one shot #katie mccabe imagine #katie mccabe x reader #katie mccabe

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the-widow-sisters · 1 year ago

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The Catching Fire of Freedom

Summary: It's the big Independence Day bash at the Avengers Compound, and Yelena, Kate, and Peter are in charge of setting off fireworks after Steve finishes his big, patriotic speech. However, disaster has a tendency to follow the three stooges, and mixing fireworks, matches, and dry grass is a recipe for only the biggest of disasters.

Word Count: 3.8k+

A/N: Happy Independence Day to all who celebrate!!!! This is one of my favorite holidays because of what it means and its vital importance to our history as a country 💖💖💖

I hope y'all enjoy! Positive comments are always welcome and encouraged! 🥰🥰🥰

“Hey, everybody! Can I have your attention?!” Steve spoke up, and everyone slowly came to a stop as they paused in their mingling and celebrating, patriotic music going in the background as it grew softer with Steve’s announcement.

Natasha nudged Yelena.

“That’s you guys’ cue,” Natasha whispered near Yelena’s ear. Yelena nodded to her.

“Alright.”

It was Independence Day, and they were holding the Avengers Independence Day celebration at the compound. Tony, Steve, Natasha, and Carol had planned the entire thing, and they had invited all of the superheroes that the Avengers knew and worked with.

People ranging from Jennifer Walters to Monica to the Wakandans had managed to make it for the party despite the Wakandans not having much of a care for American independence. They more showed up for the chance to reunite and talk with some old friends.

Currently, Steve was about to give his speech that he had planned on the temporary stage they had made for him, and it was Yelena’s time to go behind it with Peter and Kate to get ready to go and set the fireworks off at just the right time.

But before Yelena could escape with her two accomplices, Natasha caught her arm in her hand.

“Hey, don’t set them off until he’s done, okay? You remember the cue.”

“Look, I am in charge, not Kate Bishop,” Yelena informed her with some exasperation in her voice, and Natasha sighed.

“That’s what I’m worried about,” Natasha resignedly answered, and Yelena placed her hand on her chest in utter offense.

Peter leaned around her, moving past Kate as he craned his neck to look at Natasha around Yelena.

“Is it time for us?” Peter questioned, and Natasha nodded, lightly pushing Yelena in the direction of the stage.

“Yeah, you guys get going,” Natasha told him.

Yelena grabbed the back of Kate’s neck as she guided her forward with her, releasing her as Kate got the message. Kate hurried along in front of her, and Peter sidled up to her, shooting a grin back to MJ where she was standing with Aunt May in the midst of the crowd of superheroes gathered.

Yelena reached for his neck and grabbed him as she had done to Kate as she redirected him to what they were currently doing.

“You can go making googly-eyes at the MJ later. Let’s head back and get ready,” Yelena told him, moving her hand so that her arm was around his shoulders. He responded with an arm around her waist, the both of them rounding the back of the stage.

“Remember, everybody, the punch has liquor in it if you need a little distraction while he’s talking!” Jennifer called to everyone, fully and completely drunk off of her rear end as she drunkenly gestured to the punch bowl not too far off on the snack table.

Yelena could hear Steve’s groan, and she could not resist a self-satisfied smirk.

He deserved it. He was doubtlessly about to bore everybody with a fifteen to twenty-minute speech that should realistically be around five minutes long. One thing was for sure about him— he liked to talk.

“How long do you think he’s going to take?” Kate questioned almost instantly, and Yelena acted as if she had asked the most ridiculous question in the world despite the fact that she had been wondering the same thing herself.

“Good grief, Katie-Bear. At least wait until we’re back here for longer than five seconds,” Yelena complained, and Kate instantly huffed.

“Don’t call me Katie… Yelena Banana.”

“You better watch yourself, Kate Bishop. Don’t call me that.”

“Then be a good little monkey,” Kate risked saying, the impulsive sarcasm coming out quicker than she could quite control. Yelena just glared at her for a long moment, wordlessly warning Kate, and Kate offered her a nervous grin, looking down at the ground anxiously.

Yelena let it go after a brief moment, deciding to pull out her phone with a grumble.

They all settled in behind the stage, Kate on her phone alongside Yelena and Peter crouched down on the grass as he shot his webshooters experimentally out into the expanse of yard. He had brought his webshooters just in case they might need them and so that he could have something to mess with while they waited for their cue to start blasting fireworks.

They would end up moving some of the fireworks when it got closer to the time to set them off.

Around five minutes passed before Yelena finally let out a loud sigh. Peter looked up at her and Kate looked away from her phone.

Yelena reached into her pocket, pulling out several firecrackers that she had strategically managed to smuggle past Natasha.

“Want to have some fun?” Yelena offered, trying to keep her voice down since there was mostly silence outside of soft music and Steve’s speech over his microphone, and Peter and Kate shared a brief glance before eagerly nodding. They both enjoyed explosives, and firecrackers were some of the most harmless yet fun noisemakers around.

“Oh, yeah!” Peter agreed.

Kate eagerly put her phone away in favor of following Yelena over a small distance from the fireworks containers.

“What do you say I do them all at the same time?”

“That’s a good idea. That way Tasha won’t be too upset if it’s just a one-time interruption,” Kate pointed out.

“And we get all the fun of a bigger bunch of crackles,” Peter acknowledged quietly, grinning like a maniac. He was a boy after Yelena’s own heart with the way that he thought about things when it came to fireworks.

Yelena waggled her eyebrows as she pulled out a match. She struck it carefully as she carefully put it to the firecrackers’ fuses, trying to hit all of their fuses with how she had lined them up.

All three of the group shared a crazy, conspiratorial laugh that was characteristic to individuals who were participating in the creation of explosions, and they jumped back.

The crackles went off in a satisfying series of pops, and the three of them grinned widely.

However, as the firecrackers went off, they only had a moment of brief gratification before Yelena suddenly spotted the flames that had started up with it and that were quickly spreading.

Tony had not watered the grass for a little while because the sprinkler system had gone out for a little while and he had been getting someone to look at it. When they had finally gotten it repaired, he still had not turned it on because he did not want to make a muddy, wet mess for the partygoers.

Therefore, this made for some extremely dry grass. Which was very flammable.

And which led to their current predicament.

Yelena instantly started furiously stomping at the flames, trying to extinguish them as they licked at the dry grass. Kate was just staring in horror alongside Peter, their smiles having quickly disappeared as soon as the flames had started up.

The fire was spreading too quickly to put it out via snuffing it with a shoe, so Yelena swiftly backed up as looked around, trying to figure out something to do for it. However, as she spotted Peter and Kate just staring at her blankly, she glared back at them as if they had sprouted two extra heads each.

“What are you standing around for?! Do something!” Yelena whisper-yelled at them, trying not to be heard over the speech.

More than anything, she did not want anyone finding out about this fire situation. They had been put in charge of the fireworks only after Yelena had done some begging, so she did not want to give them a reason to regret it forever after and never let her around explosives again outside of a mission.

So, it was up to them entirely to put out the flames. She could not even tell Carol because Carol had been on the planning committee, and she might tell Natasha.

Peter suddenly started to shoot webs on the fire, his panic spurring him into action without thinking.

However, just as he started covering the fire with webs, the flames got even larger, the web fluid apparently having been flammable.

Peter looked like he might have a heart attack on the spot, and Kate gasped as Yelena stared at the now even larger fire.

“What did you do that for?!!!” Yelena cried, and Peter shook his head swiftly.

“I forgot that I used the old fluid!”

“What’s the old fluid?!” Kate asked, completely panicked, and Peter gestured to the fire jerkily.

“The flammable kind!”

Yelena shook her head as she threw her hands up in the air.

“We’ve got to do something before somebody finds out!!!”

Kate glanced around before spotting the punch bowl on the snack table not too far off.

“I’ve got an idea!” Kate declared before promptly running for the punch bowl. She grabbed it and she took off back toward the fire. She dumped the liquid all over it, the stuff splashing up and onto the curtains around the stage.

To their utter horror, the flames simply spread where the liquid had been, and the fire started to feast on the fabric of the curtains, making their mess significantly worse than it had been before.

Now they had to worry about keeping the flames away from the fireworks and about trying to get the fire off of the curtains and out of everyone’s sight up front.

But they quickly found that they were not going to have think about that for too long because the fire was climbing up the curtains quickly and everyone definitely knew about the fire now.

“You idiot!!!! What is wrong with you?!!! Jennifer put her Hulkbuster alcohol in that!!! She announced it to everyone earlier! Really loudly!!!” Yelena whisper-yelled, the sound bordering on an actual yell.

“I’m sorry!!! I panicked!!!” Kate cried in defense.

Yelena groaned heavily, figuring that they were not going to head around the other side of the curtains until they found a way to put the fire out and keep the fireworks from going off. If Natasha and everyone saw the fire and were upset like they doubtlessly would be, they could come around the back of the stage and talk to the three of them about it.

“What are we going to do?!”

“Let me think!” Yelena interrupted, trying to get her to be quiet and quit panicking so that Yelena could actually try to think of some way to fix this and get the fire under control.

This was definitely not what they had hoped for…

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

“And that was what we fought for all those years ago. For the chance to be the nation we are today. To have the choice to be who we are and to live freely,” Steve continued in his long speech that he had been telling for at least fifteen minutes now.

Natasha happened to look to the side as she gazed at the snack table where Darcy and Monica were currently catching up. To her surprise, the punch bowl was mysteriously missing. Natasha furrowed her brow, lightly bumping into Carol who was standing next to her.

Carol looked away from the speech at hand, gazing at Natasha with some confusion and concern. Natasha pointed to the table and Carol followed her unspoken instructions.

“What happened to the punch bowl?” Natasha questioned, and Carol shrugged before letting out a soft laugh as she spotted Jennifer.

“Jennifer must’ve just decided to clear it out finally.”

“It’s probably for the best if she did. I’ve seen you on Hulkbuster stuff, and I don’t care to see it again,” Natasha pointed out, and Carol grinned widely at her, raising a playful eyebrow.

“What? I don’t get to have a bit of fun now and again?”

“Not since you’re the strongest one of us and I don’t think anyone could stop you from making bad decisions while under the influence unless you let us stop you,” Natasha replied with a shake of her head and Carol smirked widely.

“Hey, I’m apparently a happy drunk given my track record from last time. Which is an improvement given how I used to be back in the day.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow in silent question, and Carol offered her a playfully warning expression.

“Trust me. You don’t want to know the amount of barfights I got into back then,” Carol chuckled, and Natasha could not help the small smile that came onto her face at the thought of a pre-superpowers Carol starting bar fights with people.

Suddenly, Natasha caught sight of flames licking at the curtains and drapery on the stage. She had no idea where it had come from, and she immediately felt some amount of panic grip her. Natasha’s eyes widened a bit and just as she noticed the fire, Steve seemed to as well.

He faltered in his speech for a moment, stopping in his obviously very planned words as he took in the sight of the fire.

“Oh, wow… Well, umm… I guess Tony did promise a big surprise, so I suppose this was what he meant,” Steve somewhat nervously commented as a small interjection in his speech.

While everyone around let out a breath of relief and seemed to accept the explanation, Natasha was not overly convinced that this was meant to happen. She remembered Tony promising a big surprise, but she figured that if he was planning a fire show, he would have at least let her know about it.

She looked at Carol, wordlessly questioning her to see if she knew if this was the big surprise or not. Carol shrugged uncertainly, looking a little uneasy herself as she watched her boyfriend on the stage worriedly.

Natasha looked back at the fire, noticing that it did not look controlled enough to be a planned thing, and she instantly started to make her way through the crowd as she looked for Tony. She had to know if this was a Tony special or if it was a big mess courtesy of Yelena, Kate, and Peter.

She soon spotted him, his back to the entire spectacle taking place currently, and Natasha approached him quickly. Natasha knew that he did not love Steve’s speeches regardless of what they were about and that he would much rather be looking at whatever he was currently engrossed with on his phone. She tapped his shoulder, moving to his side, and he briefly looked up from his phone to take in who she was before making some sound of relief.

“There you are. Red, you think you can tell Sam and Bucky to ease off of that barbecue some? They’re killing us with the fumes,” he asked her, and Natasha rolled her eyes at him before leaning in a bit closer to keep anyone around from overhearing.

“Was your big surprise intended to involve fire or were you just hoping to take out Steve in a flame of blazing glory?” Natasha questioned softly, and he furrowed his brow.

“What?” he questioned, looking at her as if she had lost her mind, and she tilted her head in the direction of the fire taking place on the stage.

He followed her gesture, and his eyes went wide as his jaw slackened just a little.

“Somebody screwed the pooch bigtime on this one,” he muttered to himself, and Natasha patted his shoulder briefly.

“Figure out a way to put it out. I’ll head back there and figure out what the three of them did this time,” Natasha commented, and Tony nodded before starting to speak quickly to the AI connected to his glasses.

Natasha was going to kill them when she got her hands on them.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

“Yelena, we’re not getting anywhere fast!” Kate cried as she emptied her last water bottle out on the fire. It was so far not working at all, but they had the forethought to actually squirt some of the water on the grass around the fireworks containers to hopefully deter the fire from setting things off.

“Keep going!” Peter urged her, and Kate shook her head.

“I can’t! I don’t have any more water!” Kate replied, and Yelena rolled her eyes heavily, rubbing at her head.

“If you just wouldn’t have dumped the entire bowl of punch on the fire, we might not be in this mess!”

“I’m sorry, okay!” Kate apologized, now holding the punch bowl. She was hoping to go and fill it up with water to dump it on the fire.

“Wow… this definitely snowballed.”

The three of them froze in place as they looked up and stared at the origin of the voice that had just sounded off not too far from them.

To their shock, none other than Michelle Jones was standing there. She was just looking at them boredly, leaning against the wooden pillar on the opposite side of the burning curtains. Her eyes were half-lidded and she was just gazing up at the mess they had made before looking back at them.

“How long have you been standing there?” Peter stuttered a bit. MJ just shrugged effortlessly.

“Long enough to sketch you guys.” She smirked a bit to herself and reached into her bag to withdraw something. She held up her notebook on its opened pages, displaying the two pages filled with their chaos and little speech bubbles.

“Look, that’s you,” she pointed out with a small chuckle, tapping the part of the page where Peter’s goofy, panicked expression was drawn out.

“And you didn’t find it in your heart to I don’t know, HELP?!” Yelena yelled at her, her accent as thick as ever as she practically snarled at the girl. Peter flashed her a pleading glance to try to get her to take it easy just a bit on his girlfriend.

“Nah, you can’t interfere in canon events,” MJ nodded to her, drawing her lips into a thin line as she nodded to them. Yelena growled under her breath, rolling her eyes heavily, but Kate’s eyes went wide as she looked at Peter swiftly.

“The sprinklers! We can turn on the sprinklers to kill the fire!” Kate cried, and Peter nodded swiftly.

However, just as he started to turn to go and turn on the water, the supports at the top of the stage suddenly started to crack and fall just above MJ. They instantly started to fall, and he leapt for her, pulling her out of the way as the burning support beam landed on the pile of fireworks.

Yelena’s eyes went wide, and on the other side of the stage, she caught sight of Natasha coming around the side, her gaze stern and suddenly horrified as she raised her voice.

“What is happening back here—”

However, Yelena knew they did not have long to worry about Natasha since they were about to have ignited fireworks going off. As Peter rushed away from MJ and safety to knock Natasha to the ground so she would not get in the line of fire, Yelena leapt for Kate, the both of them falling to the ground with Yelena squishing her.

The fireworks started blasting all over, some shooting into the sky and others blasting into the stage and across the yard.

Yelena closed her eyes tightly, making sure her hand was on the back of Kate’s head as she tried to keep her head forced downward and out of the reach of all the fireworks going off. Kate raised her head just enough under Yelena’s grasp to look at all of the explosions, and the both of them wordlessly watched as the insanity went off.

“Hey, maybe we didn’t totally screw up,” Kate raised her voice just a little as Yelena shifted so that she was not completely crushing Kate’s head to the ground. Yelena glanced down at her briefly before huffing softly.

“If you do not count the enormous fire burning down the stage right now,” Yelena replied, but there was a certain fondness in her voice that softened the sarcasm.

After what felt like an eternity, the fireworks stopped going off, and there were soon the deafening cheers of all of the superheroes across the yard, loud patriotic music playing in the background.

However, just as Yelena started to get off of Kate, the sprinklers started going off and there were several autonomous Iron Man suits putting out the fire, and both Yelena and Kate gasped as they got sprayed directly in the face. They quickly got up, and they could hear the shrieking of the party-goers as the cold water hit them.

Quite a few of them were drunk thanks to Jen, so the cold water was a special shock to them.

Yelena and Kate hurried over to where MJ, Peter, and Natasha were gathered, and Yelena slowed her pace as she met Natasha’s eyes, realizing that the older woman was looking at her as if she might kill her. Kate practically shrunk under the heat of Natasha’s gaze, and Yelena dared to laugh and risk a grin.

“You wanted us to light things up,” Yelena pointed out, with a shrug as the water dripped off of her. She was doing her best to offer her best winning grin and try to win Natasha over despite the fact that she knew she was going to get a tongue-lashing anyways.

However, Kate was not helping with how she was just looking like a scolded puppy that had been caught red handed. Peter was glancing between Natasha and his two friends, starting to try to step away with MJ in tow.

Before Natasha could speak, they were interrupted.

“Kid, stop right there,” Tony’s voice sternly sounded off, and they watched as Peter froze in place with MJ’s hand in his own. Peter instantly went a little pale as he stared at his hero.

Tony moved his fingers in a beckoning gesture, calling Peter over to him. Peter looked between MJ and Tony, and it was clear that he did not want to embarrass himself in front of MJ. Tony rolled his eyes at him.

“Look, kid, you’re already going to have to deal with the big lecture from your aunt with Juliet in the car with you, so you might as well suck up the pride, hot shot.”

Peter instantly turned redder than the shade of pale white he had become, and MJ just huffed, ruffling his hair as she let him walk ahead of her and accompany Tony as they had their discussion before he handed him over to May.

As they watched them walk away, Natasha looked back at the two she had to deal with, an irritation definitive in her countenance.

Knowing better but trying for one last-ditch attempt to win her over, Yelena smiled.

“Maybe in the spirit of Independence Day, you could let us off the hook?” Yelena offered up winningly, and Kate glanced at her uncertainly, her apologetic puppy-dog eyes primarily focused on the older woman before them.

Natasha sighed, rubbing her head before pointing at them.

“We are going to have a serious talk.”

They both trailed after her defeatedly and without a word as they headed inside for what was doubtlessly going to be a serious lecture.

Well… It was worth a try anyway.

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allaboardthevespa · 2 years ago

Text

Unconditionally

I got bored, and I suddenly felt the urge to write some really sappy (with some angst) Milo Murphy’s Law fluff. I know who Melissa should end up with is a matter of debate, but I’m a proud Team Zalissa member so this fanfic will be about that. Milossa or Bradlissa fans, sorry, but hope you can enjoy this nonetheless. I wasn’t sure what to call this at first, but I listened to the Katy Perry song “Unconditionally” and my brain was like YES so here.

I’m not proud of how this ends, but eh, my brain sucks at ending things. Just hope y’all enjoy this bit of adorable sickfic fluff ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

WARNING: contains relatively graphic scenes of vomit…and becomes extremely tooth-rotting fluff

It was an ordinary day in Danville – or as ordinary as it could be with the Murphy family’s usual chaos. Milo and Zack’s walk to school had been a heck of a ride, as usual. Runaway concrete pipes, surfing on busted plumbing, falling off cliffs, the whole nine yards. But, as is the norm for Milo Murphy and his friends, everything worked out and they got to school in the nick of time.

But of course, it didn’t take long for them to realize someone was missing.

As the students sat in class waiting for Ms. Murawski, Milo looked between him and Zack and noticed a conspicuously empty seat. “Hey, wait a minute,” asked the jinx, “Where’s Melissa?” “I have no idea,” replied Zack, scratching the back of his head in confusion. The other students surrounding them began chattering among themselves, wondering what could’ve happened to the rough-and-tumble redhead. “Maybe she blocked one of her chakras?” Mort suggested with a shrug. Bradley facepalmed, “Mort, she’s not a hippie like you are. She doesn’t do chakras.” “MAYBE DRAKO GOT HER!” panicked Chad, shivering like a leaf and covering his head with his hands. “Don’t panic, everyone,” Amanda cut in, “Knowing what happens in this town, she’s probably caught up in time-travel shenanigans to save a cart of pistachios or something.”

“Pipe down, class!” came an adult voice. The kids turned to see Ms. Murawski entering the room, just hanging up a phone. “I know you’ve all noticed that Melissa Chase is missing today. Well, it’s simple. She’s just come down with a stomach ache and can’t come in today. No matter, she’ll be able to catch up some other day.” She took out a pencil, “Now, turn your textbooks to page 421.”

As the other students got to reading, Milo turned to look at Melissa’s empty chair. “That’s too bad,” he sighed, “I don’t even remember the last time she got sick.” He turned to look out the window. “Poor Melissa. She must be feeling pretty down right now.” “Yeah…” Zack agreed, looking crestfallen. “I wish I could help out.” “Well, if you want to, you could,” Amanda suddenly spoke up, “It’s just a little science work, you don’t need to worry about missing it. I think Melissa would be happy to have a little company today.” “Yeah,” Milo agreed with Amanda, “Besides…I’m sure you would love to have a little…” He cleared his throat sarcastically, before giving a smug grin, “Quality time with her.” “Oh, of course,” laughed Amanda, as snickers and ‘oooooh’s went up around the rest of the classroom. Zack flushed a beet-red, flustered by Milo’s joke. “Yes, yes, I’m aware of the, ahem, ‘chemistry’,” he chuckled bashfully, “Alrighty. If you think I should go hang out with her, I’ll go. She could use the company.” “You go, Zack!” cheered Milo, as Zack went to Murawski’s beloved front desk.

“Excuse me, Ms…may I be excused? I need to use the restroom,” Zack innocently asked, hiding his lie expertly well. “Fine, very well,” Murawski huffed, “Just don’t get lost.” “Thanks, Ms,” he chirped, waving goodbye to the students as he left the room. The moment he slipped out, he scanned the halls for the arrow sign that was labeled “Way Out”, and the minute he saw it, he scampered in that direction. He heard hall monitors yelling at him to not run in the halls, but he couldn’t give less of a damn. Detention could wait. He had a friend to help.

After a lot of running and following directions on his phone, Zack had arrived in the street where Melissa and her single father lived. Seeing Mr. Chase standing outside his house watering a bush, Zack got on his way to talk to him when he suddenly noticed a butterfly flitting in front of him. Zack watched it fly upwards and noticed it settle on a tree branch covered in wisteria flowers – and an idea registered in Zack’s mind. He reached up and grabbed a small branch covered in a healthy amount of the flowers, wrapped the wood in some tissue paper he brought with him, and wrapped a bow around the flowers to keep them straight. Holding tightly onto the bouquet, he soon made it to the house he was looking for.

As Mr. Chase was minding his own business, watering that bush, he heard a familiar voice. “Hey, Mr. Chase!” He turned off the hose and whipped around to see Zack, politely standing at his gate with a bouquet of wisteria flowers in hand. “Oh, hello, Zack,” greeted the firefighter, “I imagine you heard about my daughter?” “Yeah, tough break,” Zack replied in a sympathetic tone. “When I heard, I thought I could come down and cheer her up.” “Oh, how nice,” Mr. Chase smiled, “Melissa doesn’t get sick often, but she’s always miserable when she does. I think she’ll be happy to have a friend with her.” “I thought so too,” Zack nodded, following his crush’s father to the door. “Thanks for letting me come around,” he thanked with a grateful wave. “No problem,” the older man replied, “Any friend of my daughter’s is a friend of mine. Hope you two have fun.” “Bye, Mr. Chase,” Zack waved at him as he walked up the stairs to his friend’s room.

It had not been a fun morning for Melissa. When she awoke, the stomach pain had hit her in full force, and it didn’t take long for her father to realize how out of sorts she was. Neither of them liked when she got sick, but Melissa had a special hatred for the concept of illness. She was a real go-getter, and the thought of having to stay in bed for hours on end and not enjoy her usual hobbies made her feel even sicker than she was already.

But the worst part of being sick in bed is that, without her mind being preoccupied by daily events caused by school and Murphy’s Law, it tended to wander to some uncomfortable places…and asked some tough questions she didn’t know if she had the answers to.

Was Milo always gonna be able to keep himself prepared for every situation?

Will his bad luck come to bite him in a way he can’t protect himself from?

Should she even be asking these questions?

Would Milo WANT her asking these questions?

The internal crisis she was having made the stress she had grow all the more, and her stomach’s pain intensified with it.

Melissa was holding her head in distress and shutting her eyes tightly, in a vain attempt to block out those awful questions, when she heard her door creak open. Reluctantly, she slowly opened one of her eyes…and suddenly her heart skipped a beat at who she saw waiting for her in the doorway. She gently pulled herself up from her hunched state as her eyes met his, and gently mumbled “Z-Zack? Is that…really you?” Zack let out a quiet laugh, “Of course it’s me, buddy. I heard you were sick, and I knew I had to be there for you. You are my best friend, after all.” Melissa didn’t notice it, but her cheeks were heating up with a bright red blush as the compliment warmed her heart and soul. “You…really mean that?” she asked, giving a genuine smile. Zack couldn’t help blushing himself at the sight of Melissa giving him a sweet, happy smile with her cheeks tinged red. It was completely adorable.

To respond to her question, Zack revealed the bouquet of wisteria flowers he’d picked on his way. “If I didn’t mean it, would I get you these?” He approached her in her bed and gently knelt down to her level, “Milo’s told me you love flowers, so when I saw these in your neighborhood, I figured I’d get you a little something.” Melissa gave an adorably surprised gasp, then, as quickly as she could, reached over to grab the bouquet with a cute little giggle. “Wow, I…” she stammered, caressing some of the petals, “That’s really sweet of you.” “It’s the least I could do for you being such a great friend,” Zack responded, watching happily as his best friend held the wisteria bouquet to her chest and face and inhaled deeply. “I’m glad you like them.” “Thanks, Zack,” Melissa gave him the cutest smile ever, “I’m glad you’re here for me.” “Well,” responded the former boyband member, “What are best friends for?”

From then on, in the following hours, the two best friends made the most of their time together. The two played all sorts of games, shared all sorts of stories, and just being two kids happy in one another’s company. Zack enjoyed every moment, yet throughout it all he couldn’t stop himself taking his eyes off his best friend. Her smile warmed his heart, her giggles were absolutely adorable, and every so often she’d briefly stop what she was doing, turn around and smell the flowers he’d brought her, now sat comfortably in a vase on her bedside table. That was another thing he found to be adorable. It wasn’t often that he saw the redhead able to just loosen up and be a goofball when they weren’t busy trying to stop Murphy’s Law from causing mayhem, but when they got the chance to just be kids, it was something both of them made the most of.

It was during a quiet break from their fun that things began to take an unexpected turn.

Zack was watching his best friend cuddled up in her bed, stroking her hair gently, when an uncomfortable-sounding groan emitted from her stomach, and she abruptly shot up and looked at him with a deer-in-the-headlights look. “What’s the matter?” asked Zack, gently grasping her hands. “I…I dunno,” Melissa panted, before she clutched her stomach out of instinct. “I…I’ve never felt l-like this…” She took a shaky breath, “But I feel like I…ugh!” She cringed, and without thinking raised a hand to her mouth. Zack connected the dots right away. He didn’t think they’d be able to make it to the bathroom fast enough at this point. Luckily, his eyes floated to a spare empty flower vase not yet filled with wysterias or whatever other flowers she liked. It wasn’t perfect, but it’d do. He scrambled over and grabbed it, before giving it to Melissa, and sat next to her once more.

Melissa opened her mouth to say something, but abruptly, she hunched herself over and heaved unpleasantly. Zack couldn’t help cringing, but he knew he had to provide some semblance of comfort. It looked like this was a new experience for her. He gently rubbed her back as each painful retch came, making sure she knew he was there for her even in a time like this. Melissa’s mind didn’t register much else in that moment other than the horrible feeling of her throat and stomach expunging the nasty liquid from her body, and, in sharp contrast, the warm, soft, gentle touch of her best friend.

In reality, it only took 30 seconds for the retching to stop. To Melissa, it felt like an eternity. Nonetheless, when she was sure she was done, she pulled her head back from the vase and wiped her brow as she set the now puke-filled vase aside. She breathed heavily in an attempt to clear her mind, as what just happened played itself over and over again in her head. She’d never experienced something like that before, and she never wanted to again. Luckily, though, she had her best friend right nearby. Getting a little closer to the sickly go-getter, Zack gently asked her “How do you feel?” Coughing a little, Melissa turned to Zack with a look of pure pain in her eyes. “I…I…” she wiped her brow again, “What…was that? T-that was horrible…” “Relax, Melissa,” Zack did his best to comfort her, “You just vomited. No big deal, it happens to you sometimes if you’re stomach-sick.” “B-But I…” the redhead whimpered, “Th-that hasn’t happened to me before…My dad told me about it when I was super young, and cuz I don’t get sick that often…I never THOUGHT it would happen…” She sighed, “Man, I feel like a dummy now.” Feeling his heart hurt for Melissa’s sorry state, Zack pulled her into a hug, “Hey…you’re no dummy. If this is your first time ever vomiting, no wonder your mind’s in a daze like this. You’ll be alright. You’re always alright, aren’t you?” He put a hand on one of her shoulders and comfortingly looked into her beautiful blue eyes.

Until she said two words that threw him for a loop…

“Not really.”

Zack’s mind took a moment to register what Melissa had just said. Those two, little, mumbled words. “Not really.” What was she implying? Was it what Zack was thinking? No, there’s no way, Melissa was the toughest girl he’d ever known. But, why else would she say that? Gently, he got closer to her, and gently gazed into her eyes, ignoring the blush on his face, and asked “What do you mean by…’not really’?” Melissa flinched a little, not knowing where to begin. The questions in her mind were roaring to get out, and she had to let someone know. She was tired of suffering in silence.

At that moment, Melissa gently grabbed Zack’s shoulders and began to speak, knowing he’d be there to listen.

And all the words came flying out.

“…Zack, I’m scared. I’ve always BEEN scared. Ever since I became Milo’s best friend, I’ve always been worrying myself like crazy about him, worrying that someday he’s gonna get caught in some insane Murphy’s Law accident that he’s not ready for and he’ll get hurt…or worse. And I know it’s really fucking stupid cause it’s goddamn Milo and he’s ALWAYS prepared, but I can’t help myself. And I just feel like a big jerk because Milo wouldn’t WANT me to be worried about him all the time. He’s…fine with the way things are and doesn’t want them to change…but…” She took a shaky breath, and sighed lowly, “I do.” Zack now reached up and rubbed her shoulders as she continued talking, “I don’t want Milo to be stuck with Murphy’s Law. I want him to live and be happy, without always having to look over his shoulder in case of stampeding bison or angry crossing guards or other shit like that. But Milo…he just doesn’t want that…and I feel like a selfish idiot who tries to act like she knows what’s best for everyone…but…” She glanced up, and Zack’s heart leapt at what he saw…

The toughest, smartest kid he’d known in his life…strong, brave, a born leader with a near-permanent smile…

She was crying.

“I just…” she whimpered, not even bothering to wipe away the hot tears streaking down her face, “I feel like such a selfish jackass who doesn’t know what Milo or even you want in your lives…I just don’t want to lose him, or you, or anyone…” She shut her eyes tightly and let a fresh wave of tears out, “And I’ve been lying to you about how I’ve been feeling this whole time…because I just don’t want you guys to see what a fucking mess I really am!” “You’re not a mess-” Zack tried to interrupt, only for Melissa to cut him off. “No, don’t…don’t keep the lie going any longer than it has to…” she sobbed, “I act like I’m tough, but…I’m just a terrified wreck of a person who can’t stand the thought of losing the people she cares about…that’s me. That’s selfish, paranoid, obnoxious Melissa Lily Chase…”

With that, the broken redhead turned away and started sobbing all-out into her hands, her limbs shaking with every loud sob echoing from her body. She could feel the burn of hot tears rushing down her face, dripping from the tip of her nose onto her bed. Between every choked sob, she tried to take some breaths as if to calm herself, but all attempts failed as the tears kept on coming.

With every sob Melissa let out, Zack could feel his heart sink a little more. There was a part of him who still couldn’t believe this. How long had Melissa been keeping these feelings at bay? Did she really think that badly of herself just for being worried about Milo? His mind raced with questions, but he honestly couldn’t give less of a damn about getting the answers. All that mattered to him was giving support to someone who very badly needed it.

Without hesitation, Zack gently put his arms around Melissa’s back, gently rubbing her side with one hand and stroking her hair with the other. It took a moment for Melissa to register what Zack was doing, but the moment she did, she felt her muscles gently ease up at the feeling of his warm embrace. She could still feel her cheeks and nose wet from all the crying she’d been doing, and flushed a little in embarrassment. “I, uh…” she tried to break the silence, “I’m sorry you had to see me like this.” “You don’t need to apologize,” Zack told her gently, “I just wonder why you hadn’t spoken up about your feelings before. Milo’s an understanding guy, he’d be happy to listen to your worries.” “I just…” she sniffled, “I just don’t want Milo to start worrying about what goes on in my head all the time…and I don’t wanna seem like a controlling bitch.” Without warning, Zack put a hand over her mouth the moment she said the word “bitch”. He turned Melissa around to look at him and looked intently into her eyes, and spoke his mind.

“Listen to me, Melissa. You are not a ‘bitch’. You have never been a bitch. You’re worrying yourself that you’re a terrible person because you actually want what’s best for Milo! There’s nothing wrong with that. I know Milo is fine with the way things are but if you’re not, that’s completely okay. We may not be able to change Murphy’s Law, but we’ll always be able to help Milo throughout everything, and I know that cuz you’ve been doing that for seven years now, and I know you can keep doing that.” He gave her the warmest smile he could manage, despite the fact he now had tears of his own welling up in his eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with being scared, Melissa – as long as you don’t let it change who you are.”

In that moment, both 13-year-olds found themselves gazing into one another’s tearful eyes. Then, without another word, Melissa got closer to Zack and collapsed into his arms, wrapping her arms around his back. It didn’t take long for Zack to return the embrace, rubbing her back gently to soothe her emotions. They stayed there, in silence, for what felt like hours. Neither of them said a word. They didn’t have to, not right now at least. All they needed right now was right in front of them.

After so long of being locked in that embrace, Melissa pulled back a little, wiping one more tear from her face, before gently cupping her hands around Zack’s own face and tilted his head up so their eyes could lock once more. Both of them smiled tenderly as the tension that was in their minds evaporated.

Of course, there was just one more thing Melissa felt the need to say…

“Hey,” she whispered, getting Zack’s full attention. She now moved her hands down to gently clasp his own, and gave him a soft smile, grateful for all of what he’d done for her, not just today but in all the time they’d spent together in the past. She took one more deep breath as if to mentally prepare herself, and spoke the three magic words.

“I love you.”

There was a brief moment where Zack felt surprised, but that quickly gave way to an indescribable feeling of happiness, and it didn’t take long for him to respond.

“I love you too.”

Without hesitating for a moment, the tomboyish nerd and the dorky jock soon embraced one another in a long, soft kiss, tears of joy now streaming down their faces. Zack brought a hand up to gently caress Melissa’s cheek while Melissa put her arms around his back, deepening the kiss further.

Once they needed to break for oxygen, the two gently separated their lips, still having their noses touching. Suddenly a knock sounded at the door, and both of them flushed a bit before scrambling off each other – but they were still smiling widely after their passionate love display. The door opened and revealed Mr. Chase with a large cup of tea in hand. “Here you go, sweetie,” he spoke, bringing it over to his daughter, “I made you some tea. See if it helps your stomach.” “Thanks, Dad,” Melissa giggled a little in response. Zack couldn’t help blushing a little at how adorable he found that little laugh of hers. Mr. Chase now thought back to earlier and cringed a little, “I heard what sounded like vomiting earlier. Isn’t that your first time? I hope everything’s okay.” Melissa gave an awkward shrug, “It was scary at first, but…it wasn’t so bad. Especially since Zack was with me.” A sincere smile crossed her face, as she looked over at her best friend-turned-boyfriend, then at her loving father. “I know it sounds weird, but…this has been one of the happiest days I’ve had in a long time. Thank you both, so much. I’m so glad I have you both and Milo and everyone else in my life.” Zack and Mr. Chase now both brought Melissa into a group hug, and the former Lumberzack gently thanked her himself, “And thank you for being in ours.”

The End

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