#he is slightly ooc I know but I really wanted to emphasise how much of a dick he is

[fictionisthebetterreality]

What a goddamn idiot.

Rook’s opinion of the Marshall is made certain the moment he walks up to the front desk of the jailhouse, coughs loudly, and announces, “US Marshall Cameron Burke, here to see Earl Whitehorse.”

His chest is puffed out more than a pissed off skunk in heat, and she’s sure he expects them to lose their tiny backcountry minds at the statement. Nancy is on the phone to Ms Pearl (for the fourth time that week, which makes it one less than Rook needs to win her bet with Staci), so the Marshall looks to Rook instead, frowning when she doesn’t scramble to his needs like some rocker-boy’s fangirl.

She gives it a minute before stubbing out her smoke, making sure it’s good and out before reaching behind her to close the window she’d been sneaking it out of. Nancy hates the smell, which is why Rook makes sure to do it as often as she can.

“That’ll be Sheriff Whitehorse, then?” she asks. The Marshall opens his mouth, sure to spill a bunch of new bullshit, so she takes a breath and shouts.

“SHERIFF! GOT THAT MARSHALL HERE FOR YOU.”

Nancy stutters over the phone, jumping slightly in her chair before clearing her throat and apologising to Ms Pearl about the bad line. The Marshall’s eyes dart to the walkie on Rook’s hip as his face slowly starts to flush, and she doesn’t bother to hide her shit-eating grin.

“Rook, how many times I gotta tell you not to smoke in here? You know Nance doesn’t like it.”

The Sheriff enters the room before the Marshall can take up the red rag thrown at his feet, so he shoots a glare at her and steps over it, waiting until Whitehorse reaches him before extending his hand.

“Cameron Burke, US Marshall,” he repeats, turning his back to Rook so that the US MARSHALL emblazoned on the back jumps out at her. He wears the kit like it’s his own personal merch, and Rook snorts slightly as the Sheriff nods and steps back.

“Yeah, I see that. You got here in one piece, then?”

The Marshall makes a noise of scorn, his chin jutting out as he inflates with his own importance.

“Those sheep don’t have the balls to attack a federal convoy,” he says, and Rook bristles, stepping away from the wall. Most everyone in Hope County has lost someone to the cult by now. Joey’s little brother took off last month, left a note with fuckin’ Nancy of all people to tell her where he’d gone. Staci’s girlfriend was three months pregnant – closer to five, by now – said he’d be welcome to join her if he atones. Whitehorse’s fishin’ buddy, Larry – more of a brother to him than his own flesh and blood – he’d disappeared at the end of last summer. They’d sent out patrols, thought they’d find him dead in a creek, but then an officer up in the Henbane had radioed in and said they’d seen him at the Eastwing Farm, healthy as a horse and teaching bible class.

“Those are still our people out there, Marshall,” Whitehorse says, his tone hard.

“Exactly, Sheriff,” the Marshall replies, hardly missing a beat, and Rook has a bad, bad feeling even before he finishes the sentence.

“That’s why we’re going to arrest Joseph Seed and bring his whole regime crashing down around him. Tonight.”

[the-l-spacer]

Safe (Dragon x Defiant hurt/comfort)

ao3 SB

Summary: Based on the fic dialogue prompt "Please just… just hold me"

Takes place a little before Teneral e.3 - Preoccupied with helping Dracheheim, Dragon hasn't had much time to process what had happened to her during Gold Morning. Some hours spent alone changes that, and Colin helps her to deal with the aftermath.

Note: This is my first fanfic for Worm/Parahumans so! Please b nice! Also, I am. Very sorry in advance if this reads as OOC for either Dragon or Defiant, and I'm sorry if I got any canon details wrong oops-

All that said, enjoy some Dragon/Defiant fluff n angst! I heard this fandom isn't big on shipping but hey hope u like it anyways 👉👈

Dragon was fine.

All fine. Tip-top shape. Of perfectly sound body (which went without saying) and mind. She totally wasn’t having one of those bad days, and she definitely wasn’t letting her mind wander to a dark place. To memories of him. After all, there were countless other matters to worry over, weren’t there?

Or at least, that was what she tried to tell herself.

And she wasn’t wrong, at least not completely. In the wake of Scion’s attack, the damage done and the many needs of the few survivors had consumed her every hour. Already, the remaining Capes were being run ragged fighting for resources and dealing with conflicts among their people, simply trying to stay afloat long enough to rebuild. As one of the few capes that required little to no rest, her and Defiant had found themselves scrambling from place to place, trying to help wherever they could.

Did the people in this settlement have enough food? Did this family have enough firewood to last the winter? Would that group of children even live to see their teenage years?

After all was said and done, Dragon never had more than a few minutes of time to herself in a day, and she liked it that way.

Now she sat, in the cabin her and Defiant built together overlooking the village of Dracheheim. Defiant was out repairing their craft, and insisted that she stay inside and rest, the first time she had an hour or more to herself in months.

She had put on some stupid comedy on TV to distract herself, but as she curled up on the couch, she felt her mind wander to places against her will, places she tried so so hard not to go. For with every thought consumed with ensuring humanity’s survival, she didn’t have to think about the time she had spent at his mercy.

At Teacher’s mercy.

She felt a little growl of frustration leave her. Dragon was more than well aware of that old mind trick; if one was told not to think of a pink elephant, one would do just that, instinctively. So she shook her head, once, twice, tred to pay attention to the movie instead of dwelling on events that had happened months ago.

But it was hard. Just as she would begin to lose herself in a plot thread, something small would come up. This time, it was the personality of one of the mentor characters that made her side-slip. His smug mannerisms, his skeeviness rammed images to her mind’s forefront Memories of hands reaching and digging into her brain. Icy fingers forcing neural pathways in directions that just felt wrong. Teacher violating her, leaving her completely helpless under him. Powerless.

When she felt a hand settle on her shoulder, she jerked away, out of the ball she had unconsciously curled into, caught herself on the couch’s edge with her arm.

“Shit!” She swore, craning her head to fix a scowl at the culprit. “Colin, don’t creep up on me like that!”

“Didn’t mean to, sorry.” Like her, Colin was out of his power armour, clad in a heavy jumper and sweatpants to ward off Dracheheim’s chill. “You alright?”

“I’m— wait, let me turn this thing down. I feel ridiculous talking to you with Legally Blonde on— I’m fine.”

“Never watched it,” he remarked, settling on the couch. “But I don’t care about the movie, I’m worried about you.”

Always to the point. It’s one of the things she loved about Colin.

“I know you’ve been telling me you’re ‘fine’, but I somehow find that hard to believe. You’re never caught off your guard like this. Usually, you can sense me coming even when I’m trying to be quiet.” He had positioned himself carefully, close to her, but not so close they were touching, and for that she was grateful.

“Well, I—”

Before she could play her off as nothing more than a faux pas, deflect playfully like she was planning to do, Colin cut her off.

“Something’s bothering you.”

Not phrased as a question, but a statement of fact. For all her boyfriend bemoaned his inability to ‘people’, he was surprisingly perceptive when it came to her. Drat.

“It’s nothing major. And really,” she emphasised, “I’m fine.”

Colin raised an eyebrow.

“... Lately, I haven’t had the time to be anything other than.”

A nod of understanding. “I get that. This has to be, what, the first time you’ve had more than fifteen minutes to yourself in God knows how long.”

“Exactly.” Dragon sighed. “The curse that comes with being a workaholic; I never know what to do with myself when I’m forced to take a break, so… unpleasant thoughts start working their way in.”

Colin stayed silent, waiting for her to continue. Nothing else for it, then. She drew her legs up on the couch, rested her chin on her knees. Softly, she asked the question that had been weighing silently on her ever since Gold Morning, “Colin, do you think it’s possible? To undo what Teacher did to me?”

He frowned, a crease forming on half of his forehead that still remained organic. “You know I’ve b- I’m still trying. In every spare moment that I’ve had--”

“-- not a lot, I know, we’ve both been occupied--”

“--I’ve been staring at your code, making sense of it. I think it is possible, but progress will be… slow. I’m sorry.”

There were moments when she didn’t regret building herself a body as close to a real human as possible, a body that allowed her to touch, feel, taste, and even experience pain. The feather-light touch of snowflakes settling in her hair was some such moments, along with the comforting press of the weighted blanket (that she had gotten Colin as a birthday gift) against her body. But regret was precisely what came at her boyfriend’s statement, as she experienced the thoroughly unpleasant feeling of her stomach dropping, a chill running up her spine.

“I understand.” That was all she could manage, numbly, before falling silent.

Colin got up abruptly, and the empty spot on the couch somehow made things worse.

“No, no. Listen to me. I will figure it out. If it means not eating or sleeping, that can be managed. You know I can optimise my body further. I’ll do everything it takes to free you.”

He was getting worked up, pacing on the carpet before her, but somehow, his words failed to reassure.

“And if you can’t wait that long, I’ll recruit people. Tinkers. Scientists. I’ll keep your identity a secret of course, and with a team, there’ll be a chance of progressing faster, making more progress than I could on my own.”

“Colin.”

“And if that fails, I’ll hunt Teacher down. No hole that motherfucker could hide in would be safe. I’ll force him to undo his own handiwork, and after, I’ll kill him.”

“Colin.”

He stopped pacing, hands flexing as if to wring an imaginary Teacher’s neck. Upon seeing her expression, he deflated.

“I’m talking out of my ass. I’m sorry.”

“No, stop apologising to me. None of this was your fault.” She breathed in, out, regulating her artificial heartbeat, which had gone faster and faster since the start of his indignant tirade. “I just asked because I wanted to know, and I appreciate your honest answer. You seriously don’t need to modify yourself more than you already have on my behalf. You know you’re the only one I trust with my code, and you definitely don’t need to go on a crusade against Teacher just yet, what with the amnesty and all.”

The unspoken but hung in the air.

“But it’s hard,” she said, voice cracking on the last word. “I can’t have a spare moment to myself, can’t even watch a stupid movie without being reminded of him, of what he did to me. Even once you fix my code -- don’t give me that look because you will manage it, somehow-- I don’t think it’ll ever go away.”

She wrapped her arms around her knees, curled into herself.

Colin leaned over, hovering anxiously.

“What should I do, then?” He asked, helpless, “I’m guessing you don’t want me to leave and work on the problem.”

“No!” She blurted out, a tad more forcefully than she intended. Then, quieter, “No. Stay here, please. Just… just hold me.”

She felt him sit back on the couch beside her, felt hands encircle her. She flinched back, ever so slightly, the memory of Teacher’s cold touch almost overwhelming her. His fingers interlocked with hers, assuring her that he was here, that she was with him. She latched on, focused on the callused fingers of his left hand, the cool metal of his right.

Then, she let go. His arms folded around her, and she fell into his embrace.

This was what made having a ‘human’ body worth it; the way she fit against him, her head tucked under his chin, eyes shut tight, as she just breathed.

Teacher didn’t exist. No one else did, outside the both of them, wrapped together on a small couch in their small home.

She was safe.

-

Eventually, they had to break apart. Colin was still human, under all his cybernetic augmentations, and staying locked in one place for too long tended to end with sore muscles.

Instead, they cuddled. Dragon propped her legs up on her boyfriend’s lap, and leaned against his shoulder. In response, Colin reached out, pulling the weighted blanket over the both of them.

After a while, he spoke. “I won’t lie, I can’t promise you that everything will be okay. That I’ll reverse the damage to your code.”

She hugged his arm. “You’re brilliant. I’ll trust you to figure things out.”

She expected some smugness on his part, after that little boost to his ego. Instead, he sighed. “This isn’t false modesty. You know I don’t do that. I… I genuinely don’t know if I’ll succeed with this. Doesn’t mean I won’t try my damndest, though.”

Dragon hummed. “Good enough for me. And in the meantime… keep me grounded, on the bad days?”

“You already do that for me,” he said, a slight smile on his face. “It's about high time I returned the favour.

They kissed once, twice.

A knock on the door.

Colin growled in annoyance. “Don’t suppose it’s not urgent?”

“Mmmmf.”

The knock came again.

“We.. had better go get it. Someone probably needs our help.”

“Probably.” Colin agreed. “Until our next breather?”

She kissed him one last time.

“Until then.”

[bittersweetmelxdy]

Could i get a gavin x reader where he is actually helping her with a stalker like the one from the film studio date?

Dear anon, this is for you

Also I know I have an exam tomorrow, don’t @ me I was just so excited over my first ever request.

Title: to love and protectPairing: Gavin x MC 

It started small, anonymous messages on the reviews of the show, ‘Love the production team’s work on this’, ‘Can’t believe I got to see the crew shoot this live’, things you could easily pass off as someone who was interested in filming merely acknowledging your teams hard work. Then it got bigger, letters being found on sets of live shows, addressed to you, not the guests, pointing out suggestions of improvements, and things they enjoyed about the show. You filed it away in the back of your mind, taking the criticism to heart and vowing to do better with the next show.

Then the picture arrived, it was a regular filming day, tough but rewarding, and you and your team were packing up equipment when you heard Minor call your name. He was walking towards you waving a wax-sealed envelope, grinning mischievously.

“Hey Boss Lady, this looks pretty fancy, should I tell Gavin you’ve got an admirer?” he jested, and you playfully shoved him back. 

“You say it like he doesn’t already know.” You sassed back.

Opening the envelope, you expected the usual letters you had been receiving, with either notes of praise or critique, or a childlike drawing of you and your team. But what was inside made you freeze. Minor frowned noticing your hands shaking peered over to see what it was. It was a photo, of you and Minor, yesterday when you, him and Gavin had gone out to eat. Gavin had gotten up to answer a phone call when the picture was taken so he wasn’t in the photo. The picture was a candid, of you and Minor laughing, it seemed innocent enough. Except it wasn’t, the restaurant you had gone to was five minutes away from your apartment building. What was worse was that you hadn’t told anyone you were going out, it was pretty spontaneous. And you hadn’t posted this on social media at all, someone had followed you. And it was only a matter of time until they found your apartment.

A few days later you awoke to a knock at your door, looking up blearily at your clock, you saw it was 02:15 in the morning. Thinking it may be Lucien, you swung your legs over the side of the bed and shuffled to the door, all the way thinking ‘Didn’t Lucien say he wouldn’t be home for a few days to work on a research project?’. You peered through the peephole, just to check, as you were under dressed, and your blood ran cold. On the other side of the door was a man dressed in all black that was definitely NOT Lucien.

Your heart was beating a mile a minute, and you felt like you were suffocating. In blind panic you reached for your phone and dialled the first number you saw, not even checking who it was, it rang three times before someone picked up, before you even heard them answer you started to sob brokenly into the phone.

“Hey, are you okay? Talk to me!” Gavin’s voice was still husky from sleep at first but gradually got more panicked as he heard you sob.

You could hear his voice, but cold fear wrapped its hands around your throat stopping your voice from coming out, and all you could do was choke on your own tears.

“Listen your window better be open when I get there or I’ll break it.” Gavin said and you could hear him shuffling around his room, you could hear him put his phone down somewhere and you knew you had to answer, otherwise he’d hang up.

“Gavin… stay…” you managed to struggle out between sobs, worried he might not understand, your sobs got louder.

“Stay on the phone? Love, I’m not going anywhere, I’m just getting my shoes and my coat so I don’t freeze on my way there.” Gavin said softly his warm voice washing over you, “What happened, nightmare?”

You struggled to keep your voice low to not alert the man on the other side, but Gavin needed to know, he was the only person who could protect you now.

“Gavin he’s… he’s…. my place… outside.” you managed to get out, feeling the panic in your chest threatening to burst out.

Gavin realising the severity of the situation steeled his voice “Stay in front of the front door, I’m at my bike now, I’m hanging up but don’t worry I’m on my way.” Gavin heavily emphasised the last four words for you. 

Just like you had told Minor, Gavin knew about everything, the letters, the messages. The same day you got the picture, you met up with Gavin and handed it to him. He had already helped you make a police report in case the man took it further, seeing as he was already following you in your area, Gavin wasn’t taking any chances when it came to your safety. He made you promise to alert him if there was any more messages or attempts to contact you. Gavin had even started dropping you off at work and picking you up in his uniform, hoping that the presence of boyfriend, especially one in the police force, may deter him. Even though he’s not the biggest fan of PDA, Gavin made sure to always send you off with a hug and either a firm kiss on the forehead or cradling your face in his hands and pressing your foreheads together, just to solidify your relationship to anyone who may be watching. 

Apparently not even that could deter the stalker.

The minutes felt like hours, as the man continued to knock on the door and try and persuade you to open the door, telling you how much he admired you, and you were the stars in his sky. You felt like throwing up, you could feel the bile almost rising up your throat and you prayed for this nightmare to be over. Then you heard it. Multiple pairs of footsteps could be heard on you floor, and strong voice called out to the mystery man “You’re under arrest, on charges of stalking!” and the sound of handcuffs being placed on hands.

“Listen, this is my girlfriend’s apartment we just had a small fight.” the man tried to justify himself to the police, and you were worried they may believe him ‘Where is Gavin, he said he’d be here by now.’ But you worries were quelled with the next voice.

“Really because MY girlfriend just called saying there was a suspicious man outside her door trying to get in.” Gavin replied smugly, watching as the other officers escorted the man back to the police station.

He sighed and turned, knocking softly on your door, he was about to call out to you when he heard the lock click, and his heart broke at your appearance. You and tears streaming down your face in rivers, your eyes bloodshot with dark circles forming underneath, your form shaking like a leaf. He wasted no time pulling you into his arms and holding you tightly. Feeling your knees buckle beneath you, Gavin whisked you into his arms in a bridal carry and walked over to you bed kicking the door shut behind him.

“I’m here, I’m here, no one can harm you anymore.” Gavin whispered into your ear as he sat on you bed rocking you back and forth.

He didn’t know who needed the contact more, him or you, he’d hide it deep in his heart but he was so scared he wouldn’t get there in time. Having you in his arms, reminded him you were real and he didn’t fail, you were safe.

“You should have stayed at my place like I suggested, I thought I was going to lose you.” his voice was become thick with emotion, the only thing that stopped him from shaking some sense into you, was the way you clung to him like a lifeline, nuzzling into his chest.

“I’m sorry, I just… I mean it’s not that I didn’t trust you, it’s just, oh this is hard, I didn’t want to bother, you were working so hard, I don’t want to be your burden”, in complete contrast to before where you found it hard to speak, you now found it hard to stop. Gavin pulled away and you whined in protest, but he only shifted you so you were now facing him completely and he could see directly into your eyes.

Gavin’s walls had completely fallen down hearing your declaration and his now unguarded eyes were swimming in emotion. His voice though soft and low, washed over you in waves, like a lighthouse in the midst on a storm, you knew this man here, dressed in his police vest thrown over his pyjamas was here to stay.

“Next time, you feel even slightly unsafe, call me. I don’t care what I’m doing, how busy I am, you will NEVER be a bother. If I can’t protect my most important person, nothing else matters.” He said pressing a kiss firmly on your forehead.