#he makes jay watch crash with him once and jay sits through the whole thing feeling mildly horrified and simultaneously a little turned on

[digitalcarcrash]

sighs dreamily Do you guys think alex kralie would fw david cronenberg's filmography

[pocketfulofrogers]

To Outlive the Devil

Pairing: Jay Halstead x Reader

Summary: A good save and a case practically solved leads to intelligence almost losing one of their own. Can you get out before it’s too late?

Notes: Canon violence, nothing worse than a typically dark episode. This is a past and present cut together story and it’s just shy of 4k. 

Now

Your bleary eyes open up to a cold and damp bedroom. An abandoned… apartment? The peeling wallpaper had given way to yellow stained drywall. From the small window on your left, it appeared as if you were several stories in the air, but there were no distinguishable landmarks that told you if you were even still in Chicago.

As you begin to come to your senses more, you feel the thick rope tied around your wrists and ankles. The rough material burns against you skin and you notice you already have sores.

How long have I been here?

Your memory is fuzzy and your head throbbed violently. It isn’t until you shift uncomfortably that you realize it’s a heavy metal chair you’re tied to.

Slowly your body begins to pick up on the danger your muddled brain had managed to identify and your pulse begins to quicken. As much as you try, your heartbeat continues to pound in your head as you try to twist your arms free.

The pain that responds is only a small price to pay for even the chance of freedom. Desperately, you continue to twist and pull until one of the knots manages to loosen up enough for you to squeeze your hand out. It’s just a short sprint to the front door in front of you.

You will your frozen fingers to work faster as you pinch and tear at each knot and then internally scream at your stiff muscles to carry you forward just a little bit more.

When your hand reaches the doorknob and it isn’t locked, relief floods your system. But when you’re able to wrench the door open, the person behind the door barely registers in your mind before everything goes black once again.

Then

Jay leans against his fist on his desk and tries to keep his frustration at bay. They’d been at this for two days straight and had been on the case for the last three months. “That’s two bodies in as many weeks. Is no one else starting to think…”

“That maybe hunting Chicago’s very own Criminal Minds level serial killer couple is out of our depth?” You interrupt, tilting your head towards him. “Doubt it.”

In fact, over the last two weeks, it’s the only thing you could think about. A younger woman named Madison roped, at least you were hoping she wasn’t a willing participant, into a horrific and violent life by a man you had yet to learn the identity of. You’d spent many nights pacing your bedroom, ranting and theorizing to Jay when all he wanted was just a bit of sleep.

The further you dove into it, however, the less hopeful you became for a quick arrest.

Voight had about ripped your head off when you suggested passing the case to the FBI and got to hear the ‘this is our city’ speech once again. But the truth was you were running out of ideas, running out of leads to chase down the rabbit hole, and running out of time.

“I hate to say it, but Voight’s right.” Antonio almost looks pained, but he continues on before you can question him. “The first time these two surfaced five years ago, CPD went full force. They shut it all down, had every uniform pulling overtime, and tried to smoke them out. Instead, it scared them into hiding.”

“Five girls in three months, Dawson, they’re escalating.” You take a breath before looking him in the eyes. “I can’t keep notifying parents.” There’s a certain pang in your voice only those who have had to watch a parent’s life crumble around them can hear. Jay reaches out to squeeze your forearm for just a bit of comfort and you run your fingers over his.

It’s enough.

“Then we end this.” Voight’s eyeing you, sympathetic to where you’re coming from, but not willing to give up yet. “Let’s find these monsters and make them pay.”

Pinching the bridge of your nose, you nod and turn to Adam. “Ok, let’s go over everything together, see if we can find something we missed.”

“Since it’s all we have, let’s revisit the address on Madison’s unemployment file.” Jay suggests.

Adam looks confused. “The house was condemned last year, torn down in the spring.”

“I know, but what about the name on the house, did anyone look into it?”

“Figured it was a stolen identity.” Kevin pipes up. “Clara Knight, died in 2012 of a heart attack at 66. No other properties in her name.”

“Knight?” Mouse perks up and starts shifting through his files. “I found a few erased emails from a Robert Knight, but I couldn’t find any relation or connection.”

Adam is already typing ferociously. “Got a death certificate for a Robert Knight, 68, died a few months ago. Seems like the guy barely existed.”

“Any children?”

“A daughter.” His face is grim. “Murdered in 99, she was 16.”

The hairs on the back of your neck prickle. “Pull up a picture of her.” You don’t need to see it to confirm what you already feared, but still the image of her face churns your stomach. A beautiful blonde girl with the hope of the whole world in her smile. “He’s been at this a lot longer than anyone thought.”

“Any property still in his name?” Voight asks.

Anxiety rippling through your chest, it feels like an eternity before Mouse nods. “His nephew Isaac put his house in Roseland on a tax form.”

Now

When you come to, the first thing you notice is that your restraints have been changed to zip ties and for a moment you’re concerned about your circulation. You’re worry is cut short by the cup of water on a table to your right, the plastic straw close enough for you to reach it.

The sudden realization of the searing pain in your throat and the cracked skin on your lips lets you know it’s probably been about two days. It’s the dryness of your tongue that overrides every single rational thought of concern that maybe the glass beside you isn’t safe to drink. But, fifteen minutes pass with no incident so whoever it is probably wants to keep you alive.

The thought sends ice down your back.

Alive for what?

“What do you want from me?” You scream into the empty apartment.

Then

“We need a vacation after this.” Jay declares as he leans the seat of the car back a little. “Somewhere warm with water so I can look at you in a tiny bathing suit all day.”

You roll your eyes, but he doesn’t miss the small smile you give before bringing the binoculars up again. “We’ll see what we can do about that.”

“Hey lovebirds.” Adam calls over the radio from the car down the street from yours. “Have you seen anything yet or are you too busy staring into each other’s eyes again?”

It’s Jay’s turn to roll his eyes. “Didn’t you just take your third piss break?”

“Hydration is very important.” He defends.

“I told him to wear the diapers.” Alvin adds. Adam tries to defend himself, but you can barely hear him over Kevin’s laughter next to him.

Just then, out of the corner of your eye, you see the movement of a curtain, the flash of blonde hair, and the air shifts. Jay immediately catches the tense set of your shoulders and starts asking questions.

“They’ve got a girl up there.” You tell him through gritted teeth.

“Are you sure? I didn’t see anything.”

You nod and get out of the car despite the hushed protests from Jay as he follows you. To do what? You weren’t sure yet but you had felt so powerless these last few months that maybe you weren’t being the most rational right now.

The curtain moves again and, rather than getting caught, you quickly spin around and push Jay against the car before crashing your lips to his. Other than a noise of shock sounding from the back of his throat, he doesn’t miss a beat.

“North corner window.” You mumble against his lips and slide your hands up his chest, tilting your head to the side to give him a better angle.

When he pulls away, he brings his phone up and looks you in the eye. “We’ve got confirmation on the nephew Isaac, but he’s got another girl up there. If we bust in, he might get spooked and hurt her.”

It’s quiet longer than either of you would like.

“What should we do, boss?” Adam asks for you.

“Do you think you can get in quietly?” Voight asks.

Jay waits for your nod. “We’re on it. Going silent.”

Picking the lock was nothing. Sneaking around a house you know nothing about except for a quick glance at a blueprint from 2005 was the difficult part. Jay splits the two of you up, sending you upstairs while he clears the lower level. Circumstance didn’t allow you the option to argue with him that splitting up in a situation like this is the worst thing to do.

He was your partner and it was your job to always have his back, as difficult as he makes it, but he’s rounded a corner into the living room before you get the chance to cuff him to you.

Your breath catches in your throat when a step on the stairs creak, but you keep moving until you find a girl in the second room you clear. She’s blind folded with on leg tied to the bed. She tenses when you approach, but relaxes once you’ve gotten close enough to whisper who you are.

“Tracey.” She says he name with a whimper and your heart breaks as you cut the rope and take off her blindfold.

When she sees you’re really who you say you are, she throws herself into your arms and begins to cry. There’s nothing more you want to do than to sit here and comfort her, but your ears picks up on a man’s voice you don’t recognize.

“Ok, Tracey, I know you’re so scared, and I can’t imagine what you’ve been through, but I need you to be brave a little longer.” You pull back and look her in the eyes. “My partner and I came in here alone. I need you to tell me where the man and woman who took you are.”

She nods. “I don’t know where she went, she left a while ago. He’s here, downstairs I think, in his office.”

There’s a crash downstairs, the sound of broken glass and your blood runs cold. Immediately, you look for any other way out, but there’s nothing. No balcony, no window, nothing. Voight’s on the radio already, but you silence him.

“Stay directly behind me.” There’s a kind of urgency in your voice that puts her even more on edge.

Creeping down the stairs, you can hear Jay struggling in the kitchen, but it sounds like he’s holding his own.

“Bringing the girl out.” You whisper into your radio and glance back at Tracey. “As soon as we get down, I want you to run to the door. Do not stop. When you get across the street there are people who will help you.” She nods but she looks terrified. “I swear I won’t let him get anywhere near you.”

It’s the door opening that alerts Isaac that something else is going on. You round the corner with your gun drawn and the scene before you makes your knees weak.

Jay is bruised and cut up, struggling against the man behind him, the arm around his neck, the gun pointed at his head.

“She said you were cops, but I told her she was paranoid.” Isaac snarls.

“Madison? Is she here?” You ask, your voice as level as your gun trained on his head. Voight is yelling over the radio, but you tune him out. “I’d love to meet her.”

He snickers and smiles wickedly. “Even if she could be caught, neither of you will be alive long enough to see it.”

He only manages a twitch before you pull the trigger and land a shot right between his eyes.

Jay falls forward, breathing heavy and you rush towards him. “Jay’s hurt!” You call out when the door is broken down. Adam kicks the gun away from the obviously dead suspect and you let them handle the scene.

“Where does it hurt? Did you get hit? I told you it was stupid to split us up! How’s your breathing?” Your hands are frantically searching every inch of his body. He has to grab your hand and grip it tight in his to stop the assault of questions rapid firing from your lips.

He sits up with a groan and kisses your knuckles when he sees the panic on your face. “I’m okay. Because of you it’s just a few cuts and bruises.” He manages a smile and you almost cry right there.

Voight places a hand on your shoulder. “Tracey is on her way to Med. Medics said she’s going to be okay. We’ve got another bus on the way for you. Nice work you two.”

Now

The creak from the front door opening pulls you from a daze and you wince at the sunlight flooding the room. A blonde woman stands before you with a duffle in her left hand and a gun in her right.

She tilts her head to the side. “You’re still alive. What a shame.”

You struggle to focus your eyes from the concussion you’re assuming she must’ve given you. “Maddison.” You croak out. “What are you doing?”

She drops the duffle next to you and grips your hair to pull your head back, pushing the barrel of the gun into your temple.

“I’m going to make you suffer.” She hisses and roughly lets you go. “I tried to warn him that you were watching us, but he wouldn’t listen.”

“Isaac?”

“Don’t say his name!” She screams and the sound cracks through your skull. “He told me to get some supplies, but when I cam back, I watched from the back window as you murdered him.”

You shake your head and try to reason with her. “Maddison, he was hurting people. He was going to kill my partner.”

“Partner.” She repeats sarcastically. “You mean Jay Halstead, your boyfriend of 3 years?” Maddison moves in front of you to revel in the fear that has filled your eyes and smiles sinisterly. “Yeah, I know who he is.”

You start quickly, the panic in your voice betraying the training you were struggling to hold onto. “If you want to kill me fine, do it. But don’t hurt him, Maddison. Please, he’s done nothing.”

She tsks as she opens the duffle and begins to pull out long metal pieces until finally, a long-barreled shot gun. “Why would I kill you when the alternative is so much better?”

You begin to struggle against the restraints as your mind starts to put together scenario after scenario of awful images. Maddison pays no mind to you begging and pleading to see reason. Instead, she pauses from building some contraption to walk over to you and jam a needle in your neck.

When you come too again, she’s sat casually in front of you. “I thought hitting you in the head again might actually kill you, and that’s not what I’m going for, so… you’re welcome.”

You glance around again and notice the barrel of the shotgun behind you just to the left of your shoulder. “Yeah, thanks.” You deadpan looking back at her. “What’s with the ‘Saw’ set up?”

She raises a brow. “Hold onto that strength while you can.” She points out the wires and hooks running along the floor and ceiling to trace it back to the door in front of you. “I used to be a STEM major. Did you know that?” She doesn’t stop long enough for you to respond. “Turns out I still remember a few things.”

You stare past her towards the door and then look quickly back to the gun, beginning to piece together her plan.

“Yes.” She coos. “It’s exactly what you’re thinking. The first person that opens that door, if he happens to be the right height, will get a life ending shot to the face. And I’d like to ask you what the chances are that anyone other than your boyfriend will be the first through the door.”

None.

For the first time you feel utterly defeated, hopeless. Madison watches closely, soaking in every moment of your anguish.

“Now you’ll know what it feels like.”

Then

You phone buzzes for the fourth time in the last hour. “Yes?”

“He’s actually insufferable, where are you?” Will speaks quickly, his tone seeping in irritation.

You laugh. “April already sent me out to get him food because he was whining so much. I am in route with a burger and some other stuff from his favorite place. Should be there in 15.”

“Thank god.” He says quietly. “Would you give it a rest? She’s 15 out with enough food to hopefully put you in a coma so I don’t have to.” You laugh as Will continues to yell at his brother.

“I almost died! Where’s your compassion?” You hear Jay yell back and only laugh harder

“You have ONE bruised rib and a concussion. I’ve seen high school football players handle worse with less complaining!”

“If it’s not so bad, why won’t you let me leave?!”

“I’m stepping up the pace, be there soon.” You laugh and hang up.

The Chicago night was chilly, but something else causes the hairs on the back of your neck begin to prickle. You don’t stop walking, don’t even pause a single step. Instead, you glance in a shop window and catch the reflection of a woman, a flash of blonde, not too far behind you.

Casually, you switch the bag of food to your other hand, but before you’re able to grab your gun, there’s a pinch in your neck and everything goes black.

Now

Jay had forced his way back to work sooner than anyone recommended. You’d been missing for 5 days. Disappeared with no trace other than your cell phone and a bag of cold diner food spilt on the sidewalk. If it were up to him, he would’ve been at his desk the moment 30 minutes hit and you weren’t there.

Alvin called two hours later telling him what they found and Adam and Antonio had to physically restrain him, Will almost sedated him. Voight promised him that they’d find you, and Jay knew they’d do everything they could, but he needed to be a part of the search.

“Did she have any enemies?” Alvin asks and he doesn’t flinch when Jay begins to laugh sarcastically.

“Any enemies? Do you hear yourself? She had tons. We all do. But let’s stop pretending like her being taken the day we closed that case isn’t connected.”

Alvin tries to sympathize with him. “We have to ask. You know the drill.”

He throws his hands up in exasperation. “Are you seriously going to treat this like any other missing person? It’s Y/N, Al! Y/N!”

“We know.” Voight says from his office door. “I made a few calls, Jay, we know where she is.” For a fraction of a second, Jay is frozen, but the thought of what you could be going through right now moves him. He’s grabbed his jacket and is in the car before anyone else has moved.

“I thought only the CIA had access to things like that.” Adam whispers lowly in the car into Kevin’s ear.

He shrugs. “Do think it’s out of the question that he’d break several constitutional laws to save any one of us?”

Adam sits back in his seat with pursed lips, nodding.

You struggle against the restraints long after Madison leaves you with only a gag in your mouth. The multiple cars pulling up and all the people shouting told you that you were running out of time. As of this very moment, you were locked into your fate of watching the man you loved die.

This was not an option.

The hard plastic digs into your ankles and wrists, your movements quickening with each door you hear them break down. You try to scream, to warn whoever was on this floor that there was a danger they couldn’t possibly see, but your muffled cries wouldn’t carry.

Tears soak the bandana shoved in in your mouth and you try to scream again.

No! Stop! It isn’t safe!

You hear Voight’s voice a few doors down and begin to try and rock the chair back and forth. It was considered heavy for a good day, and today was not that. Having not eaten or really moved in so long had left you weak and foggy. The adrenaline coursing through you veins only aiding a little in your efforts.

The sound of the front door breaking down sends a jolt of energy through you and you send yourself flying in front of the gun just as the bedroom door opens.

Jay raises his weapon at the sound before his brain can register what has happened. His wide eyes find yours just before you’ve hit the ground.

“Y/N!” He screams and rushes towards you. Frantic, shaky hands move quickly to remove the bandana and zip ties before applying pressure to your shoulder. “I need a medic!” He calls franticly over his shoulder, but when he turns back to you, he has to shut down the thought that you might not make it that long.

“You found me.” You try to say, but instead sputter blood onto your cheek.

“Oh, God.” He gasps. “You’re okay, you’re going to be fine.” But the more he says, the less you hear him.

“I love you.” You try to reach out to his face and graze his cheek, but your fingers won’t cooperate and only leave smudges of blood across his skin.

When your breathing starts to quicken and become more raged, he knows time is running out. So, in defiance of the orders and suggestions coming in through his ear piece, he lifts you up to cradle you to him and runs.

**

An annoying, incessant beeping is the only thing you can hear, but when you move to reach for it, a shooting pain stops you cold. You groan softly and pry your eyes open only to see both Will and Antonio hovering too close to your face.

Will starts to wave a flashlight in your eyes and you push him away. “When was the last time you guys brushed your teeth?”

Antonio chuckles softly and places his hand atop your head, his thumb brushing softly. “We got her.” He says quietly. “She couldn’t help herself. She stayed close to the scene to see the fallout and Kim caught her.”

Will nods his head towards Jay who was sleeping soundly in what you had to imagine was a very uncomfortable position. “We’ve been keeping an eye on him as well as you. Do you want me to wake him?”

You look back over at him and smile before turning back. “Better not. These are the last few moments of peace I’ll get for the next year at least. You would think someone would be a little more grateful towards you for saving their life, but I can already hear how mad he’s going to be.” Only a small part of you is joking.

“Well, I’ll get shot next time and we’ll see how you feel.” Jay’s sleep riddled voice carries from the corner, but he hasn’t opened his eyes yet. “I’ll give you an hour.” He adds before settling back in.

Now that’s the love of my life.

[ladyinbooks]

So, writing Hess things tonight, but also editing Icarus, Burning (for... reasons... 😉), and of course being walloped over the head with my Samiel/Jay feels.

A while ago I mentioned Samiel just talking (thanks to a wonderful Anon who asked about it), and @bluepandawrites - who is a gorgeous enabler - wanted to read that. So. Ficlet time!

Title: Touching Tales Pairing: Samiel/Jay Warnings: Dirty talk, possessive behaviour. Summary: In which Samiel just... talks.

“I want to fuck you,” Samiel says casually.

Startled, Jay drops his book on the sofa. “Pardon?”

When he looks, Samiel is sitting on the floor. He’s up to his elbows in Jane’s borrowed transmitter, tinkering with something out of sight. He’s been working on it most of the afternoon, and Jay had – apparently foolishly – thought he was utterly absorbed in it.

“I want to fuck you,” Samiel repeats. This time he looks up, one eyebrow raised. “I’ve been thinking about it for the last hour.”

“You’ve been thinking about –”

Samiel hums, low and sweet. As Jay watches, he carefully pulls his hands out of the transmitter, and wipes away the grease on his fingers with a bit of rag.

“Mio ades,” he says. Just that.

It’s enough.

Jay hasn’t got his translators on; hasn’t bothered to activate them in the last three days, if he’s honest. They haven’t left the house. Haven’t seen anyone. For three whole, dizzying days, they’ve had nothing but each other.

“Samiel.”

“Jason.” Samiel’s still watching him. There’s something thoughtful in the way he’s looking; something gentle and soft, but undeniably hungry. He drops the bit of rag to the floor and gets up onto his knees.

“Give me some warning please,” Jay says, and finds he doesn’t quite mean it.

Samiel grins. For a moment he looks impossibly young: hair falling in his eyes; the wide curve of his mouth. He shuffles across the floor until he’s pressed up close, chest warm against Jay’s shins. Carefully, he folds his arms across the tops of Jay’s knees, and rests his chin on them.

The pose should be subservient and somehow, impossibly, it’s anything but.

“What are you up to?” Jay asks suspiciously. He can feel the small burst of mischief in his soul – knows full well it doesn’t belong to him.

Samiel licks his lips. “I just want to talk.”

“Talk,” Jay repeats flatly.

“Talk.”

“About what?”

“Oh,” Samiel glances down, still smiling. “I can think of a few things.”

Jay reaches out, thumbing the line of Samiel’s cheekbone. Under his touch, Samiel’s skin is warm; soft. “Alright,” he says. “Go on then.”

For a long moment Samiel watches him. He blinks slowly, the deep, vibrant gold of his eyes hidden behind the thick veil of his lashes as he looks up at Jay. Like this, on his knees, he’s a strange, feral creature. There are shades of Mas-Hain in the way he is looking: an odd, sharp hunger that Jay hasn’t seen in quite a while.

“Well?” he asks.

Samiel’s lips part a little; Jay can see the tip of his tongue, caught between his teeth. He remains still, breathing steadily. “Jason,” he says at last.

It’s different, this time.

The word crashes through Jay, punching into his chest in a short, sharp, shock. Samiel’s voice is always vibrant when unfiltered, but it is hardly ever like this. There is a deep, terrible chorus of want in it; harmonies within harmonies that tug at something instinctive in Jay’s hindbrain.

Give in to me, Samiel is saying, all at once. Please me. Love me.

“What –”  

“In a minute,” Samiel says, “I want to kiss you. I want to press my lips to every part of you, darling.” He doesn’t move. “I want to breathe you in; hold you as close as I can, because it’s still never close enough.”

“Samiel –”

Samiel tilts his head a little. “I want to swallow your fingers down; let you push them in as far as you like; let me slick them up, get them wet for you. For me.”

The tone of him makes Jay’s heart stutter. It sets off a low, deep-seated throb of want. He’s not expert in the language of Lenians, but he’s not so deaf that he can’t hear the sweet, dangerous sound threading through Samiel’s words. Were he anyone else – were Samiel anyone else – Jay would already be sliding off of his chair; crawling on hands and knees across broken glass if he had to, just to please this beautiful, beautiful man.

Samiel hums again, a tender little symphony of need. “I’d want you to strip yourself, darling. Mio ades. Peel yourself out of your layers, until there was nothing between us. Nothing at all.”

And Jay’s – he’s halfway towards doing it without even realising. Pulse thundering, spreading his knees a little wider as Samiel moves with the motion. One hand hovers, useless, near the collar of his own t-shirt.

“You could,” Samiel says, breathless, and Jay realises he’s watching the movement of his fingers too; studying the way Jay’s caught between the need to listen, and the need to do.

“I –”

“Bare skin.” Samiel’s teeth sink into his lower lip, hard enough that Jay can see the pressure of it. “I’d keep you naked every day, if I could. I don’t think you realise, beloved, how much I always want you.

“There are freckles, across the backs of your shoulders. Did you know that? Sun kisses. Stardust. Every time I see them, I just –” He breaks off; inhales sharply.

“Every part of you,” he says at last, and his voice is darker. Greedier. “Every single perfection of you, and I get to see it. Me. No one else. To study that every day – to study you every day – it’s paradise.”

“You already do,” Jay says, hoarse. He drops his hand to his lap; resists the urge to press down, to find pressure. Instead, he lets the tips of his fingers graze Samiel’s forearms. “Study me, that is.”

“Not enough,” Samiel croons. “Not nearly enough. There’s never a time I don’t want to be touching you. Never a heartbeat I don’t want to live in you. Breathe in your chest. Break you open and push in as far as I can.”

He’s a web of light, humming under Jay’s skin; burning in his ears. Delicious, golden sound; a thousand voices, bell-like and screaming. The grinding of rocks and the beautiful, delicate notes of a song, half-heard and familiar. Every word is a knife, a weapon. Every syllable a terrible desire that sings of pleasure. Of pleasing.

“I could now,” Samiel says softly, “couldn’t I?” He licks his lips; runs his tongue across his teeth and tilts his head back, just a little, in dreadful submission.

“My master. Mine. You’d let me devour you, wouldn’t you? You’d let me please you, until there was nothing left for either of us, but each other. Tell me you’d let me.”

Jay tips down a little, breathless. Arousal is sinking through him, a warm, pleasurable burn. He slides a hand to Samiel’s shoulder, then up, around. He twists his fingers into those burnt-sugar curls, tangling tight.

“Go on,” he says.

“I want to fuck you open. I want to just… push inside, on nothing but us. Maybe let you open yourself up on your fingers first; let you tell me when you’re ready, when you want me.” Samiel grins, feral, teeth bared. “Command me. Anything you want. Anything at all, as long as you let me have you.”

“And?” Jay tightens his hold, just a little.

“Oh.” Samiel’s eyes flutter shut, little golden sparks of pleasure in Jay’s soul. “Kallia ikthos doulen, mio ades.” He shivers gently, under Jay’s fingers. “And I’d start off slow. Deep. There’s no rush.”

The picture he’s painting, the intent, is almost tangible. It’s enough to have Jay shifting a little, half certain he can already feel that deep, satisfying stretch.

“I could take minutes,” Samiel says, breathless. He opens his eyes, and the look in them is… “Hours. I could just exist, like this. Just to bring you pleasure. Just to make you mine.”

“I’m already yours,” Jay says.

Carefully, Samiel rises to his knees. The stretch of him is long, glorious. He pushes his way between Jay’s thighs until he is pressed up close, strong and solid. His lips brush Jay’s ear, painfully tender.

“It’s still not enough,” he says.

The words hit, one after another. The brutal, naked want of them a crescendo that freezes the air in Jay’s lungs. They take all room for thought from his head. Nothing exists, in that moment, except the way Samiel’s mouth moves; the deep, pulsing want in his voice.

The fact that he is singing for Jay, in the only way he knows how.

Jay swallows hard. He winds his fingers tighter in Samiel’s hair, just to stop them shaking. To hide the blind, white-hot want.

“Jason,” Samiel says one last time. Just that.

And Jay closes his eyes. Surrenders to it.

“Samiel,” he says. “Please.”

[demonsandmischief]

Sleepy

Ghost Adventures - Zak Bagans Imagine

Zak Bagans x Female Reader, 1200 words

-Sleepy-

Imagine Zak is very grouchy when traveling and filming. He learns that you are his best remedy.

----

You had just arrived at the filming location which was a pretty isolated mining town. You worked for Travel Channel doing photography, and some setting up and taking down, but you never got up close and personal with the Ghost Adventures crew - Billy, Aaron, Jay nor Zak. You got along great when working, but that was as far as the interaction went.

Because the ghost town was in the middle of nowhere, staff was limited for the episode. Those that you worked with regularly would only be around for today before flying home tonight. You, however, were needed the whole time. This meant you would be staying in an RV with the crew. Three days and two nights.

You were extremely apprehensive about the whole thing. The mobile home was huge and luxurious, easily sleeping up to 8 people and there were only 5 including you, but you didn't really know any of them that well. They were like that group in high school who only hung out with each other, and you were the outsider.

"It's a slumber party," Aaron grinned, taking the bags that you were clutching nervously in your hands as you took in the beast of an RV.

You followed him up the steps. Billy was sitting at the dinette, working on his laptop. He greeted you kindly.

Jay had followed you in with multiple bags of his own, and you quickly moved out of his way so he could dump them onto the plush couch.

"All of those are cameras for set-up later," Jay said, seeing your perplexed look.

"Has anyone seen Zak?" asked Aaron. "The first person we're interviewing should be here within an hour."

"Y/N," Billy started, catching your attention. "Zak sleeps in the room with the queen sized bed. The rest of us will crash in the other room which has four bunks. I'm assuming you won't want to be in there. The couch folds out into a bed."

You laughed softly, imagining the tall men sleeping in beds meant for children. "I'm good with that, thanks. Who exactly will be sleeping on that top bunk?"

The three guys exchanged looks before Jay spoke, "Bill is the shortest."

"There's no way I am, dude," Aaron chuckled.

"I'm shortest by like an inch," Billy argued, shutting his laptop.

"That inch matters," Aaron retorted.

"Y/N can pick then," Jay said, and they a turned expectantly towards you.

"No way," you shook your head. You didn't want to get in the middle of it. "Draw names or something."

"If Zak chose, he definitely would pick Aaron," Billy said teasingly.

"Whatever," Aaron rolled his eyes.

Speaking of the devil, Zak climbed into the RV right into where you and the guys were talking. You've always had a small crush on him. Zak was very good looking and very intelligent, but you had never really had a conversation with him. Today, he had a deep frown on his face, his eyes also dark. He was disturbed by something.

"Come on. There's lots of things to get done. We don't have all day, guys," Zak said, before leaving. They could all feel the tension.

Billy blew out some air before standing up with his laptop and leaving. Aaron and Jay followed.

You dug through your bag to pull out your favorite camera along with the right lens. Your job was to take promotional pictures for the website, social media and whatever else. It had to be one of the best jobs you have ever had.

You were startled when Zak came back in the RV.

"Hello," he greeted, not even looking at you. He had a small bag, carrying it with him into the bedroom.

You fiddled with your camera, checking the settings and battery. You decided it would be a good idea to start walking around and taking some pictures. The place was huge.

You stood up, nearly knocking into Zak who had left the room so quietly you didn't even notice.

"Watch it," he said, clearly irritated. You didn't know if it was because of your presence or what you noticed earlier, but it still bothered you.

"I'm sorry," you whispered, but he was gone once more. You frowned, a million thoughts running through your head.

You kept to yourself the rest of day, until night came and everyone headed in early. Tomorrow was set-up and it started as soon as the sun was up for you, Billy and Jay. You were lucky you didn't have to stay up all night like they did.

----

You were startled from your sleep by someone making a lot of noise in the fridge right by the couch.

You sat up with squinty eyes, trying to clear and focus them.

"Shit, sorry Y/N. I was just getting some water," Zak whispered. He was in sweatpants and a t-shirt, the black was illuminated by the light of the fridge. His hair was ruffled, and he had deep bags under his eyes.

"It's fine," you mumbled. It looked like he hadn't slept at all, yet he was dragging on his feet. "Are you alright, Zak?"

"I'm fine," he said dismissively, shutting the refrigerator harshly.

"You're going to wake up the whole RV," you said, becoming more awake by the minute.

Zak released a breath, cursing something under this breath. He was agitated by something.

"I can listen, Zak. I promise I won't say anything," you patted the bed beside you.

He hesitated, before sitting with his back against the wall. It was silent between the two of you.

"I might fall asleep if you don't start talking," you yawned, leaning your head on his shoulder. Your eyes were becoming heavy.

"I've been irritated since that last investigation a few weeks ago. I can't shake it," he whispered. His low voice vibrated your whole body and it was quite soothing.

"Have you slept?" you murmured.

You could feel him shake his head no, and you sighed. "Zak, you're going to get sick. It's been weeks."

"I can't sleep undisturbed anyway."

"You should try. Just close your eyes," you were struggling to stay awake. Zak had started running his fingers through your hair, and combined with his voice, you were comforted like nothing else.

Zak smiled down at you, but you couldn't see. He was beginning to like you. He had noticed you before, but had never taken the chance to get to know you. That clearly was a mistake. His head was surprisingly quiet in this moment, and he felt like he could truly fall asleep if he wanted to.

----

The more he thought of it, the more it threatened to take over. He could feel your soft breathing even out. You had fallen asleep, and he wasn't too far behind. He rested his head on yours and sleep found him.

Here's Part 2

A/N: I love this one. So soft and simple 🥺. I think it deserves a part 2. What do you think?

[spinchip]

writing prompt: zane not always being comf with repairs due to repeat trauma, and how the various ninja comfort him and help him thru it

This got out of hand, not exactrly what you asked for waughkjhm. 3000 words, post s12 ;; Mountainshipping/polyninja

Warning: Panic attacks, trauma, PTSD

In the Aftermath of Unagami, the city rejoices. People gather in the streets to reunite with those they lost, children and parents embrace, tears and laughter ring out across ninjago city like bells far into the night. Pixals own friends cheer and holler, the adrenaline riding high still, and Zane throws his arm around her shoulder and draws her close. She laughs, wrapping an arm around his back as Jay chatters on and on about what happened after the others were cubed, filling them in on every detail.

Halfway through the story she realizes Zane is much heavier than he was a moment before.

She stands a little straighter, hauling him into more of a standing position before turning to face him- worry freezes her joints. He’s not smiling like he was earlier, his face blank and vaguely confused, his eyes hazy and glazed as he slumps more and more, and now that she’s paying attention she can feel him trembling around her. Her mouth works but no sound comes out before she gets her feelings under control, reaching out to set a palm on his chest to steady him.

“Zane?” She asks quietly, paying no mind to how the conversation died at the fear in her tone.

He blinks sluggishly, turning towards her voice but his eyes are too distant to focus on her. He opens his mouth to say something, shaking his head as if he were trying to force himself to stay awake before his knees give out and he collapses, nearly taking her down with the sudden weight. She cries out his name in alarm and Wu jumps to take his other arm, lifting him up with Pixal. The others rush forward, hovering their hands uncertainly, worry sharp across their face.

Pixal pats his cheek a few times, “Zane? Can you hear me?” She can barely keep her voice level and she bites her lip when he doesn’t respond, his eyes closed and head lolling listlessly.

Jay leans down and presses the side of his face to Zanes chest, eyes searching empty air for a tense moment, “His mechanics are still running.” he confirms, hearing his internal parts working. He winces openly at a sound the others aren’t close enough to hear, “Something’s wrong. We need to get him back to the monastery.”

“What happened out here?” Cole asks, hands fluttering nervously at his side.

Pixal fills them in while they wait for the Bounty to make it to their location- Autopilot was a blessing. There’s no room for the Bounty to land in the crowded streets, so when it arrives Kai scrambles up the chain from the anchor and drops the gurney for them. In a scene almost too familiar to stomach Pixal helps Wu and Cole load Zanes unconscious form onto it, taking the same route Kai took to get on deck afterwards. Nya and Jay have already taken him into the back room and Pixal sheds her Samurai X armor without pause, sweeping her bangs off her forehead as she strides into the room.

They’ve already got his chest panel open, Nyas sleeves are rolled up to her elbows as she pushes aside wires and inspects the damage. Jay is running a diagnostic through their central computer, a thick cable plugged into Zanes head. Lloyd lingers at the door nervously, watching them work with worried eyes.

“What’s the problem?” Pixal asks, resting her hands along the bed and peering down at his chest.

Nya face looks grim, “His core’s been overloaded, it’s fried a majority of his main power lines to near ruin- but even with something like this, they should have been able to work. The Mechanics adapter shouldn’t have caused this much damage.”

“What do you mean?” Pixal finds her mouth is running dry, looking down at the scorch marks across his arms where the violent electricity had burned lines across his metal.

Jay leans over, pointing out several twisted wires, torn and broken and out of place, “His wires were already messed up.” his voice is grave, “The effect of the Mechanics portal combined with these damages? It made everything so much worse.”

“Already…?” She shakes her head, “The Never Realm.”

“We think so too. Something must have happened that he didn’t tell us about.” Nya pulls back and glances at the monitor, “He’s stable for now, his body forced him into low power mode to stop the spread of the damage. We have a lot of work to do when we get to the lab.”

She nods, turning to look at him. His face is slack in sleep, his lips slightly parted, and she realizes with a jolt this is the first time she’s actually seen him rest since he came back. He wont talk about it, about any of it, she didn’t realize he was hiding something so serious.

Jay sighs deeply, leaning onto the table with an exhausted slump to his shoulders, the excitement catching up to him all at once. Nya leans her back against the table and runs her hand over his shoulders soothingly, “Why don’t you go rest? Pixal and I can handle this.”

He nods his head slowly like he’s considering it but Pixal watched him still suddenly, his eyes narrowing. He sits up and leans over Zane’s chest, searching his wiring with increasing fervor, “We need Kai.” He says, looking up at Nya with wide eyes, “He’s- He’s freezing over.”

Pixal lunges forward, nearly knocking into Jay headfirst to look, and sure enough ice is crawling across Zanes' parts slowly, encasing each of his damaged wires in a protective layer of frozen water. If she had blood, it would have drained from her face. Nya practically jumps the table, calling her brother's name and Lloyd scrambles out of her way, each of them splitting up to pin down the fire user.

Frost spreads from his fingers where they are resting against the table, his lips are turning blue with ice, Pixal doesn’t know what to do.

“What is this?” Jay asks breathlessly, “It’s… conducting.”

She can see visible arcs of electricity flickering through the ice as it grows stronger, each chunk connecting broken wires and damaged pieces to make him whole. Their elements never responded like this, not normally, but something happened in the Never Realm and this- it must be second nature to him, to protect himself, to keep himself going.

Kai appears in the doorway half a second before Zane snaps awake.

He comes back in a blind panic, twisting on the cot and hyperventilating, crashing to the floor in his chaotic thrashing. Pixal jumps back to avoid him bowling her over, stumbling in shock. He digs blunted fingernails into his head, scratching and clawing desperately at the cable above the back of his neck until he rips it out, scrabbling against his own skin for a few hysterical seconds before he realizes that the cable is gone.

He scrambles to his hands and knees, shoving himself back until he’s squished into a corner,  “Where am i? Where am i? Where am I?” He repeats in a hysterical mantra, chest heaving, his eyes wide and unseeing. Broken ice litters the ground in little chunks, handprints from where he’d crawled away turning to slick ice across the floor, frost crawling out from where he’s huddled against the wall. He clasps his hands over his head in distress, pulling at his ears and squeezing his eyes shut tightly as if willing them to work again, whining in fear.

“Zane!” Pixal cries, hovering and unsure, “Zane, please- can you hear me?”

Jay is by her side in an instant and he puts a reassuring hand on her arm, guiding her to crouch down on his level. He turns around and waves the others off so Zane won’t be so overwhelmed, Nya herding them back, “Zane, hey, it’s Jay.” He says soothingly, “You’re in the Destiny's bounty.” He repeats this a few more times and on one of the repetitions, Zane’s eyes slowly bleed into focus.

“See? Pixal is here, you’re safe.” He tells him gently, making sure not to touch him unless Zane asks.

Zane gasps loosely, a shuddering intake of air, “What did I do?” his eyes fill with tears as he looks at Jay miserably, “What did I do?” he asks desperately, moving both hands to grasp at the cable port in his head, tugging at it hard.

Pixal connects the dots, she knew enough about the violence in the Never realm to put his fears to rest, “Nothing, Zane. You haven’t hurt anyone.” She reassured him firmly, “You were hurt, we were running a diagnostic. You’re okay.” She sneaks a glance at Jay who nods at her minutely.

“Is this the first time this has happened?” Jay prods as respectfully as he can.

Zane shakes his head, “a couple of times.” He rasps, struggling to keep his voice even, trembling all over.

“What do you need?”

It goes on like this for almost twenty minutes with Jay and Pixal talking soothingly with him, at this point the Bounty has docked at the Monastery but Zane isn’t stable enough to move without panicking. Slowly, he calms down, until he’s sitting slumped and exhausted on the infirmary floor, uncurling himself from the clenched ball he’d forced himself into. Ice still insists on clinging to his skin and crawling around the floor without his permission, but he’s not in a blind panic anymore.

The tension in Jay's shoulders has begun to relax, “Hey, you back with us?” he asks gently.

Zane looks at him through bleary, but focused, eyes, “Yes.” He says quietly, “Thank you.”

Pixal chooses to avoid the elephant in the room, glancing at Jay with an appraising eye, “You handled that well.”

He shrugs, “I get them too, Panic attacks. After Nad- after everything. Nya does the same thing for me.”

“Do you think you can get inside?” Pixal turns back to Zane.

He takes a moment to think before he nods slowly, “I-” His face pinches and he swallows roughly, “I will need help.”

He holds his hands out and she takes them, pulling him slowly to his feet. He stumbles and she finds herself catching him for the second time that day, taking his full weight as his legs refuse to hold, until he can get his feet under him again. He whines, low and almost too quiet to hear, pressing his palm against his chest and squeezing his eyes shut.

Jay takes his other arm and wraps it over his shoulder, “We just have to make it inside and you can rest again, okay?”

“Keep talking.” Zane says, opening his eyes just barely enough to see where they’re going, and Jay obliges. He runs his mouth nearly non stop as they help him get to the repair center of the garage, and with each word Zane seems to be edging back from another panic attack. He talks about nothing, but Zane nods along like he’s explaining the meaning of life.

Nya is there already, replacement wiring, tools, everything laid out in preparation for Zanes injuries. She’s got her hair pulled into a tight bun, a headband she only breaks out in emergency repairs keeping her bangs out of her face, the soldering iron warming up on the table. Jay and Pixal help Zane collapse onto the bed they have there, and Pixal helps adjust it so he’s sitting upright.

Kai appears at his side and hoists himself up to sit at his waist, the bed dipping at his presence, “Hey,” He says gently as the air is flooded with warmth, reaching over to cup Zanes cheek. He runs his thumb over Zanes cheek, ice flaking off at his gentle touch.

Zane tries to smile reassuringly, but it comes out thin and reedy, “Hello, Kai.” he leans into his boyfriend's touch, exhausted.

Jay goes to help Nya but she stops him, cupping his shaking hands, “You’ve done great, but you need to rest.” She squeezes his trembling fingers to prove her point. He wouldn’t be able to be steady.

He hesitates, but concedes her point, stepping back but hesitant to leave. Cole and Lloyd linger in the doorway before Cole nods to himself and quietly slips inside, speaking softly to Jay until the smaller man concedes and herds Lloyd out of the garage, both of them disappearing inside.

Nya motions to Pixal and the nindroid jumps into action, rounding to the other side of the bed to give Nya a hand.

“Hand me that?” She asks, motioning to a bucket in the back corner of their work station. Pixal holds it out as Nya turns to Zane, “I’m going to open up your chest panel, is that alright?”

Zane squeezes his eyes shut and Kai takes his hand reassuringly as he summons the bravery, “Do it.” He nods, and Nya unlatches it quickly.

Kai grimaces, looking at the frozen over electronics. Pixal can’t look away. It’s smart, in a pinch- it kept him running, it kept him awake and aware and alive. It does not look like a kind way to live.

Nya’s expression matches her brothers, “In order to do the repairs, I'll need to clear out the ice, Zane. I can turn you off-”

His whole body tenses, his breathing coming fast, and she acknowledges the reaction silently, “-Or I can do my best to do it while you’re awake. can you pull your powers back?”

“I don’t know.” Zane’s hands shake, his hard-won composure cracking, “I’ve been doing it for so long.”

“It’s okay, I can help.” Kai reassures him, stroking his hand soothingly, “I’m going to melt the ice now, and Nya is going to pull out the water before anything is damaged.”

“Alright.” Zane says, bracing himself.

Kai keeps one hand intertwined with Zanes and the other he holds out over his chest, pushing heat and warmth. Pixal ends up holding the bucket as Nya carefully and delicately draws the melted dropplest from his chest. Exposed wires spark and Zane jerks, his fingers digging into the sheet over the bed, gritting his teeth loud enough for pixal to hear.

He whines and Nya glances at his face with a wince, “You’re doing really well. You’re doing great, Zane.”

Cole approaches from where he’d been trying to stay out of the way, leaning over the bed and looking down at zane, “Hey, hey,” He coaxes Zane to open his eyes, blue laser-focused on Cole's face, “You’re alright, I’m right here. I won’t let anyone hurt you.” he promises, and Zane lets out a shaky breath, blinking away tears.

“Sorry.” Zane pushes out past his teeth, “I am stronger than this.”

“You don’t need to apologize.” Cole tries to hide the heartbreak on his face, “You’ve been through a lot. You’re tired, you’re in pain, it’s okay if you take off your mask. We’ll be here to help you.”

Reaching out to cup his cheek and strategically angle him away from the others ministrations, Cole keeps his boyfriend's eyes on him, “I will keep you safe.” With each reassurance, Zane seems to relax more. He knows that the others wont hurt him, but the fear response is so engrained he can’t calm down. The words help.

Raw wiring greets Pixal when Nya finally sits back, the bucket sloshing and full, and Kai has to blink away tears at the usually neat mechanics looking so mangled.

Nya takes a fortifying breath and picks up the soldering iron and starts in on the thick of it. She explains each of her actions to Zane in perfect detail before she does them, each time she has to touch him she announces it, each time she has to unplug a ruined wire she warns him. He braces and flinches and whines each time, and there’s several moments Nya has to turn away to try and compose herself.

Hours of grueling work pass before Pixal realizes they’ve run out of repairs to make.

Nya leans back, and swallows deeply, rubbing at her tired eyes. She takes another moment to double check her work before she carefully closes Zanes chest panel. There’s a little cosmetic damage from the mechanics chains across his skin, but that can wait until another day, “Okay. I- I think we’re done.”

Zane exhales as if he’s been holding his breath the whole time, closing his eyes and sitting up fully, his shoulder slumped. Kai and Cole move back to give him space as he runs his hands over his face, exhausted, “Thank you.” His voice wavers. He swings his legs over the side and allows Cole to take his hand. His feet are firm when he stands on them, and he raises a hand to his chest automatically, his shoulders relaxing when there’s no aching pain.

“Zane?” Pixal says, and he turns to face her, “Why didn’t you tell us?” she prods gently, and Zanes face tightens.

“I…” he shakes his head, “I don’t want to talk about it. I didn’t want to talk about it. I wanted to pretend none of it ever happened.” he gathers his courage, “When I was sent to the Never Realm, it hurt. I’ve been protecting myself ever since.”

His eyes skate over the mess of broken wires and miscellaneous gear from the repair session, “I didn't realize it was so bad.”

She thinks maybe he’s talking about more than just the physical aspect, his panic attack still at the forefront of her mind. She takes a step forward, the bed a frustrating obstacle between them, “We love you, Zane. we don’t want to see you hurt. If you ever need to talk to someone, i’m always here- or we can help you find someone else together.”

He blinks hard, staring at the floor. Kai moves closer and cups his cheek, murmuring soft words. Zane nods, “Thank you.” He says to Pixal, “I will think about it.” It’s the most promising thing they’ve gotten out of him yet. Baby steps.

The door opens, and Lloyd pops his head in cautiously. He brightens at the sight of Zane up and about, “Um,” He says, smiling, “If you guys are finished, Jay and I made dinner.”

“You did?” Zane blinks, clutching Cole's hand as they begin the trek over to the door, “I’m impressed.”

“It’s nothing fancy.” Lloyd ducks his head, and Zane assures him anything they made will be just perfect.

Pixal watches him leave and dares to hope that things will get better.

[parachutingkitten]

The Samurai Swap

Chapter 1: Nya's Problem - In which Nya and Pixal make a very large mistake.

TW: gore

“I am Samurai X.”

The smile beamed from her newly revealed face, now finally able to see her friends without the filter of a mask. Several arms instinctively surrounded her, the first of which being Jay’s, the second of which was Zane’s and a few more that she wasn’t able to identify in all the commotion.

“I knew it was you!” Jay broke away, now excitedly jumping. “I didn’t say it, but I had a hunch!”

“Yeah right,” Cole rolled his eyes, offering her a high five, which she gladly took.

“You look brilliant!” Her father smiled, taking her hand. “Brand new body and everything! It looks fantastic!”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Zane asked, his arms still wrapped around her.

“I didn’t want you to worry about me.” She nervously shrugged.

“Worry about you? You totally saved our butts on more than one occasion this week.” Lloyd broke in. “As far as I’m concerned, you can be the new Master.”

“Temporary Master Pixal, in training!” Kai added, hitting her in the arm.

“Yeah, yeah, this is great and all,” Nya sighed, speaking from behind the crowd. “But what about Wu? We lost him in the time stream. We have no idea where he could be.”

The whole group’s tone shifted, the energy being sucked away in less than a second.

“If I know my uncle, he’ll be alright,” Lloyd assured her. “Wherever he is, whenever he is, he’ll find his way.”

Silence stayed with the team a moment before Cole finally stepped forward.

“Lloyd’s right! We lost a friend today, but we also gained one back. Sensei would want us to do what he taught us and keep moving forward.”

“Hear, hear!” Jay cheered him on.

“And I think we start with this.” Lloyd picked up the reversal blade, its orange glow illuminating the faces all around. “We need to get rid of it. It’s far too powerful, and we don’t know the extent of its abilities. I say we put it back in the boiling sea. You think you two can handle that?” He glanced up at Kai and Nya as they exchanged a look.

“We did it once, didn’t we?” Kai chuckled.

“Good.” Lloyd agreed. “Then we leave first thing in the morning, and we take shifts guarding it tonight. I don’t want to take any chances, not after everything that’s happened.”

“But aside from that…?” Jay broke in.

Lloyd sighed. “But aside from that, everyone deserves to celebrate. You’ve earned it.”

Cheers went up throughout the group, Zane squeezing Pixal just a bit tighter, before finally letting go.

“I missed you so much,” he whispered.

“Zane,” Pixal smiled. “I’ve only been out of your systems for a couple of days.”

Zane took both her hands, bringing them to his chest. “I missed you.”

Her smile softened, her hands gripping his. “...so did I.”

“Pixal!” Kai’s voice came barreling into their vicinity. “I should have known it was you! You’re just as annoyingly perfect in costume as you are out of it!”

Pixal chuckled, pulling out of Zane’s grasp.

“And hey,” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “I can’t think of anyone better to replace my sis.”

“You don’t remember what it’s like having both of us on the same com link, do you?” Pixal smirked.

“I am choosing to ignore that right now and assume that the stupidity that used to happen just… won’t happen now.” Kai smiled blissfully.

“You’re right, it’s been what, 5 years since the jet fuel incident? I’m sure we’ve both matured immensely since then.” Pixal winked.

“I make no promises.”

“Hey guys!” Jay’s voice called out to them. “Let’s get back to the bounty! Zane’s making cake to celebrate!”

“I am?” Zane called back.

“You are now!” Cole waved them over as the group headed for the ship. “Come on!”

“I guess I’m making cake now.” Zane sighed, resigned to his fate as they began moving.

“Oh! Can you do your cream cheese frosting?” Kai asked.

“I suppose,” Zane shrugged. “Pixal, you have any requests?”

“I like your cream cheese frosting.” She smiled.

“Cream cheese it is then.”

Pixal’s smile faded, one of her hands still linked with Zane’s as the group quietly continued forward. Everything should be right with the world now that her identity was off her chest. This weight that she’d been holding onto should be gone now - but something felt off. She couldn’t pinpoint what, but there was still some unsatisfied strain of tension left within her. Her eyes instinctively wandered, looking for what it was that was out of place before it struck her.

“Kai, you really think Nya’s okay with… me?” she asked.

He looked at her puzzled. “Yeah, why wouldn’t she be?”

“I don’t know,” Pixal sighed. “I’m taking over one of her creations, it’s strange that she didn’t really address it when I revealed myself.”

“Don’t worry about it!” Kai shrugged it off. “You’ve definitely proven you can take care of Samurai X, and I’m sure she’s excited to have another girl on the team.”

“You’re right, I’m probably just in my head about it,” Pixal shook her head, this nagging feeling persisting with her. Nya hadn’t really acknowledged her while she was code, seemed to antagonize the new samurai X she had created, and hadn’t even attempted to pass on good will to her after she had revealed herself. Her brother approached her before she did.

Something had to be bothering her.

---

“Who is she again?” Ray asked.

“Part of Zane's brain that decided she wanted to be a real girl.” Nya grumbled, taking a swig of milk.

“Zane's old girlfriend who got stuck as code inside his head,” Jay clarified. “So, it was like two brains in one body. Which, I don't know if that's like the ultimate relationship status, or a terrifying hellscape I never want to experience, but either way, it worked for them for like… what, 5 years now?”

“Yeah… I'm still not sure I get it,” Ray shrugged.

“Well, she seems nice!” Maya smiled. “Have you talked to her much? Maybe you could give her a crash course in Samurai X or something.”

“No mom, I’m not really in the habit of training people who try and replace me.” Nya sighed, lifting her glass to take with her as she moved away from her parents and the rest of the celebration taking place inside.

Everything about this felt wrong. This new Samurai X had certainly surprised her when they first appeared but knowing who it was somehow made it worse. Seeing her creation be appropriated by someone else, put it on like a cheap costume as the whole team celebrated, it didn’t sit well with her.

“What’s your problem today?” Jay’s voice came from behind her. “You saved all of space time, is that not enough for you?”

Nya sighed, leaning back on the wall. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have a problem. I’m completely problem-less.”

Jay paused a moment, joining her on the wall, and following her line of sight. “You know, Pix is a really great person.”

“It’s just not right.” She grumbled. “I don’t even know her!”

“Well, maybe that’s your fault.” He gently suggested. “She’s been living with us for years now.”

“Yeah, well, I haven’t been living with her.” Nya sat up. “It’s like she’s been spying on us, quietly observing us, collecting information before popping up again. Isn’t that off putting to you? You’re gonna sit here and tell me that’s not the least bit suspicious?”

“Yeah, it is.” Jay shrugged. “And it would probably make a great plot for a horror movie or something, but this isn’t a movie, this is real life. And that’s a real person over there, who obviously looks up to you. So maybe, just maybe, you should at least go over and talk to her.”

Nya’s gaze turned again to Pixal, slowly transforming into a glare as she thought, all her emotions still furiously stirring inside her.

“No one’s guarding the blade.” She turned to Jay again, holding out her drink. “I’m gonna go watch it for a bit.”

Jay looked at the milk, disappointed. “Nya, honey-”

“Jay, darling.” She pressed, her words now forceful as she gestured the cup towards him again.

Jay sighed, taking it. “Yeah okay.”

And with that, she was gone. Down the hall, and towards the time blade, away from her problem still chatting away in the living room. Jay meandered back to the kitchen, setting down the glass in a pensive defeat.

“You get her out of her funk yet?” Maya asked.

“No,” Jay shook his head, ideas still churning in his mind. “...Not yet anyway.”

---

Pixal could tell that her presence wasn’t welcome the moment she stepped through the door. It wasn’t a great feeling, but it wasn’t a new one either.

“Everything okay in here?” She asked, scanning the room, her eyes lingering on the glow of the reversal blade sitting in its center.

Nya stared at her for a moment, puzzled. “…Yeah.” Her answer was hesitant and questioning. “Who sent you in here?”

“Jay” Pixal answered, still hugging the wall.

“Of course he did.” Nya sighed. “Look, I’m fine in here, you can go back to your party or whatever. I’m sure you’ve already missed like five people telling you how great you are.” Nya rolled her eyes, shifting as they lingered on the blade, waiting for her to leave.

Despite Nya’s insistence, Pixal remained in the room, her eyes narrowing. She was sick of this. Sick of the dismissive tone, and the constant avoidance. She was a real person, with real feelings, and certainly had more reverence for the Samurai X title than Nya ever had. She deserved some respect, and she wasn’t about to let this fickle, arrogant, lowlife deny it from her.

“Did I do something to you?”

“What?” Nya’s attention snapped back to her.

“It’s just, you’ve been really cold to me, and I can’t think of a single good reason why.” She took a few steps further into the room, Nya standing to match her.

“Well, for starters, you stole my stuff, I thought that much would be obvious.”

“It’s not exactly like you were using it.” Pixal crossed her arms.

“It’s my tech!” Nya tensed up, her voice raising quickly. “I made it! I built the cave! It’s my stuff!”

“Yeah, and it was covered in dust, broken down, and abandoned!” Pixal waved her off. “You clearly didn’t care about it anymore.”

Nya pressed her tongue against her teeth for a moment, attempting to stifle her anger. “I made Samurai X with my own two hands-”

“And you forgot about it the moment you became a ninja.” Pixal cut her off. “Are you really going to stand here and criticize me for saving lives?”

“No, but you’re certainly not the best person to be doing it.” Her tone was increasingly accusatory. “I mean, you’ve essentially been a ghost person for years, and now you suddenly want to be put in charge of, not only your own body, but my legacy, and countless innocents? I don’t think so. That’s something you have to earn!”

“Oh, like you earned your powers?” Pixal mocked her.

“Like I earned my place on the team,” Nya corrected her. “Which you clearly haven’t.”

Pixal laughed in defiance. “Five years of dealing with your crap, saving your lives countless times, without as much as a voice isn’t enough for you?!”

“I don’t trust you.” Nya shrugged. “It’s as simple as that. And you think I’m supposed to just hand over my life’s work to you?”

“No, you’re supposed to pass it on,” Pixal pressed. “But you were too lazy to even do that.”

“I don’t know you!” Nya screamed. “I don’t know anything about you!”

“Yeah, well, I do,” Pixal snapped. “And maybe I should have thought twice before attaching my legacy to yours.”

“The hell is that supposed to mean?!”

“You know what, you don’t really seem in the right frame of mind to be watching the time blade.” Pixal shook her head.

“Well, I think we’ve established that you’re not exactly qualified to watch it either,” Nya sneered.

Both of their eyes darted to the blade and back, their status quo hanging in the air for a moment. And in an instant, both of them were scrambling towards it. Nya’s hands reached the blade first, with Pixal getting a hold quickly after, the two of them now stuck in a tug of war over the weapon.

“Let go!” Nya screamed, her grip quickly slipping from the edge of the handle she had a hold of towards the blade.

“You first!” Pixal demanded, readjusting her own grip.

“You stupid second rate knock off, just give it to me!”

“Not a chance, you-” Pixal stopped short, the glow from the from the blade growing increasingly brighter.

“What the hell?” Nya’s grip softened for a moment, both of them concerned about the light.

Pixal seized the opportunity, yanking the blade forward, Nya’s hands slipping down, and Pixal’s hands moving up, both towards the glowing blade of the weapon.

“WAIT-!”

But before either of them could stop their momentum, the room was consumed in the orange light, a pulse of energy going through them both. Neither could tell exactly what happened in the moment, but one thing was clear to the both of them:

Something had gone very, very wrong.

And it was definitely their fault.

---

It was cold.

An unearthly, deathly, sort of supernatural cold. It wasn’t just surrounding her, but actively extracting heat from her core. She had never felt anything like it before.

It was dark.

She waited for her eyes to adjust, but they never did. It was pitch black in all directions, no trace of light anywhere.

Nya sat up, a pounding echoing in her head as she tapped around, trying to discern her surroundings. She instinctively recoiled as her hand hit something… wet. It wasn’t water, it was thicker. Smoother between her fingers. Stickier to the touch.

What was this?

Where was she?

She listened for anything that might help her determine her situation. It wasn’t completely silent. There was a definite mechanical hum in the space, and… was it… getting louder?

Suddenly, A bright flash of light illuminated the space, almost like lightning, but brighter and more artificial. And for a brief moment she could see her surroundings, still dark, cold, and mechanical, but there was only one thing she really processed.

Her corpse.

Her own limp, disjointed, misshapen corpse hanging on the wall in front of her. The throat was slit, a stream of blood running down her chest, meeting with the sword sent through her center, affixing her to the wall behind. All of it formed a river of blood, trickling down the walls, and trailing onto the floor.

The flash of light came again as she stared at her hand, untouched by the blood she had so clearly felt between her fingers.

What the hell happened?

Where the hell was she?

And if she was here…

Where was Pixal?

[many-gay-magpies]

@loabivey @honeyseungz @angelhee @ofaffectionate @yixiangs @cherry-riki

so uh. heyyy <3

pt 2 (technically pt 1 because it happens before) of blood bonds is here!! tagging everyone that i tagged for blood bonds (except for kyu </3) bcs why not

i'm not 100% on this, but that's mostly because i've been staring at it for a week, and y'all haven't, so i hope that you'll enjoy it thoroughly more than i do

wc: 1.7k, tw for blood, blood-sucking, death and mentions of death, and vague descriptions of a car crash. same as the last one pretty much, let me know if there's anything i missed!

that being said, have some bloodlust.

It's a scent that stops him in the middle of the street, blaring alarms through every inch of his body—thick and sweet, intoxicating, like the richest chocolates and tenderest meats. For a second, it brings him back to his days in the castle; feasts coating tables upon tables in every decadence he could imagine. He hasn't felt that kind of indulgence in a long time.

Jungwon is immediately aware of his instincts overcoming him; he knows what the smell is, he's smelled it coming off the other boys enough times to be familiar with it. But not this strong. Never this strong.

His head swims. Stars cloud his vision, and yet everything is ten times brighter, more crisp; his senses sharpened, sensitivity heightened. Jungwon battles with himself for a moment, there, on the side of the road, watching the car with the contents of it's driver's seat smelling so delectably like food as it drives by; no, no, don't give in, don't succumb, you've made it so far already, just hold on a little bit longer—but the gut-wrenching hunger inside him is like none he's ever faced before.

It tears at him, the unbearable hunger, the emptiness; twists his insides into knots and makes him double over against the brick wall beside him. He doesn't want to give in, doesn't want to take, doesn't want to hurt—but he's so, so hungry, and it smells so, so good and he just can't take it anymore. It's a kind of longing that burns him from the inside out, and maybe... maybe it wouldn't hurt, to... to give in, just this once.

He's hungry. He needs food. Really, when he thinks about it for long enough, rationalizes it in his mind, that's all there is to it. Lions don't feel bad when they hunt gazelle, do they?

(Something is different here, though. Lions, unlike vampires, will stop. Lack of food will make their body grow cold, their energy sapped until there is nothing left; they grow tired, bodies moving slower and slower, until they breath their last breath. Vampires do not. Vampires will not stop. The hunger depletes them, eats at them, and then when it can eat no more it consumes them completely—writhing black hole taken ghastly, human shape. Death evades them, and so they become death in it's place—emptiness so great it would eat the whole world if it could.)

So, with his resolve melting as his hunger rages, Jungwon presses onward—taking advantage of the scenery's sudden clarity to slink towards the moving car at a truly frightening pace. Plus, it could be... fun, he finds himself thinking; fun, to play around a bit, see how much fear he can truly instill. In the past, Jay and Sunghoon's jokes to Sunoo to "not play with his food" when me mentioned spooking his victims the tiniest bit before feeding had left Jungwon feeling sick to his stomach—but now, the idea doesn't seem so bad.

A voice in Jungwon's head (the more logical Jungwon; the one that isn't starving, the one that's still on the edge of rational) tells him, you're being stupid, as he throws caution to the wind and teleports directly in front of the car. Someone could see you, do you even have any idea what you're doing? But the voice of hunger rises above all others, and Jungwon, smirking at the screech of tires on asphalt as the car skids to a stop in front of him, tells the voice, it's dark out, and we're in an abandoned part of the city; who, really, do you think could see us?

The voice protests, but the drone of Jungwon's hunger drowns it out. He feels cool metal on the palms of his hands, hears the metallic clang of his boots against the car's hood. The trembling of the man inside tinges his nerves with delight.

He raises his finger to his lips in a single gesture, shhh, and wonders if his eyes gleam red.

Thoughts run one by one through his mind, though they are fleeting, like mice; skittering into the darkness as soon as he catches sight of them. He should have listened to the hyungs, he should have been more careful, he shouldn't have waited this long—he knows the consequences of vampires going too long without blood from Sunghoon's stories, how could he have been so stupid?

But it all fades, irrelevant, in face of what sits before him now—food. A meal. Satiation, finally, an end to his hunger. He can feel his conscience slipping away more and more as the moments pass, the little Jungwon in his head letting go of it's logic.

It is with this quieting of the rational voice and sudden booming of the instinctual one that Jungwon teleports himself to the back seat of the man's car. It doesn't take long for him to be noticed—even the lack of his reflection in the rear view mirror cannot disguise the creak of expensive leather and the sigh he lets out.

"Jesus Christ--" the man nearly shouts, car jolting forward as he slams on the breaks. Jungwon doesn't flinch. He turns to look over his shoulder and meets an unblinking vermillion stare. "W-what the hell are you, kid?"

"Go on, guess," he says, brow raised. "I have all night."

Though even as he speaks, Jungwon knows the statement is a lie—he's the closest to the man, the closest to a human he's ever been since turning, no plexiglass or metal barrier between them—the smell of the man's racing heart and pumping blood chokes his senses like smoke, so thick he can barely breath. Jungwon doesn't know how long he'll be able to hold out—but he can feel how the seconds tick by, as if there's a pocket watch embedded in his skull. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Agonizing. Even so, Jungwon delights in the fear, the rabbit-quick pace of the man's heart. Equally as amused as he is overwhelmed, he decides that quickening it a little more won't hurt, and smirks, doing well to lick over his fangs in perfect line with the man's eyesight.

"Shit--" Eyes widen comically, and breath grows shaky with the reckless fumbling at car door handles in an effort to escape, pure, cold fear jolting through bones and bringing goosebumps to unsettled skin. It's useless, though; because all the doors lock, jammed shut, and the most he can do is huddle as close to the door as he can, as far away as possible from the boy with glowing eyes suddenly perched in his passenger seat.

"Surprised?" Jungwon asks with a grin.

The man gulps. "Th-this isn't happening," he mumbles, eyes focussed somewhere off in space, past Jungwon. "This can't be happening to me. This... this is impossible."

"Oh, it's very possible," hums Jungwon. "You'd be surprised to find out how much is." And he smirks wide again. He probably looks like a madman, but he doesn't care. He can taste the man's blood on the air.

"Please, don't kill me," he whispers. "W-whatever it is you want, I'll do it, just-- I don't wanna die. Please."

Any other day, the pleading would have gotten to him—any other day, Jungwon would have cried and screamed and torn at his own skin at the prospect of ever killing anyone, let alone drinking from them. But now, the logical him (the human him, he thinks for a moment) has been tucked into the deepest recesses of his mind, and the sound is like music to his ears.

"H-have mercy," the man stutters quietly.

Jungwon tilts his head. Mercy? a voice in his head whispers. It is a voice he hardly sees himself in, and yet it consumes him completely. There is no mercy. You are only prey.

It's funny how suddenly it hits him—how long he's waited for this, and how he can't stand to wait a second more. Faster than lightning Jungwon blinks on top of the man, pinning him down; the protests (physical as well as verbal) make no difference to him. He searches for a carotid artery with shaking fingers and, once he finds it, sinks his teeth in with a groan.

The car swerves in a panic, and the sound of it crashing into a streetlight is a distant ringing in Jungwon's mind. Everything is muffled, as if he's been thrust underwater, and he might as well have, with the way the smell and taste of blood blooms around him, inside him. He feels himself wanting more, needing more, craving more, the hunger never-ending as he sinks his teeth even further into his victim's neck.

Nothing else matters in that moment, and he knows, now, he knows what the others were talking about—how good it feels to feed when you've starved for so long.

His victim loses consciousness soon after that, but still Jungwon drinks. He can't find it in him to stop—it tastes so, so good and he's still so, so hungry, and it seems his hunger only grows the more he feeds; every bit of blood he drains, the sickness and lethargy drains away with it, leaving a hunger larger than he had known behind. Eyes closed, the world spins around him, and Jungwon can feel himself slowly revitalizing as he drinks, and drinks, and drinks, and drinks.

Jungwon loses track of time the longer he sits there.

The hunger is less ravaging, now, only a low growl in the back of his throat; and soon it peters out entirely. The body under him has grown cold—it's warmth taking new ownership. He feels the stolen blood and pulse humming under his skin.

There is plenty to worry about, he knows—plenty things he should, realistically, care more about than he does. But for the life of him he can't pick out what they are, buried beneath layers of cotton he doesn't care to reach through.

His mind is heavy with fullness, and heavy with sleep, and for the second time that day a little voice in the corner of it urges him to just give in—so he does.

[elfboyeros]

Where She Belongs

Before We Start:

This show and I are going to throw hands! I shouldn’t have to do this! AGH! I had to rewatch this ending to do this so the cast doesn't seem out of character, good lord! Tell me if you liked it not, valid me doing this and please enjoy

***I will go through and edit it in a bit I have been writing this for the whole evening and need a break.

Let me @ some peeps @zeeboomblebee @crow14-raven

Spoils for Season 15

“NYA!”

“Yeah!”

“I know you could do it!”

Everything is very loud. It sounds like standing on a beach, alone, when the wind is high and the waves are crashing on the shore, and instead of standing on the sand, enjoy the grains of sand between your toes, you are standing in the middle of the ocean. Then, even though you are only waist deep in water it feels like you are completely submerged in it but you are not drowning.

“Nya, You did it,” Jay excelled before hugging her.

He then gasped, as his arms went through her clear body, Kai let out a laugh, “that’s going to take some getting used to,” he said, “but we’ll figure out a way to change you back. Don’t worry.”

“Back,” she questioned, her voice monotone.

“Back to normal! You know the old you,” Jay answered, his voice had a sense of awkwardness as his words came as a laugh.

“Normal,” she questioned again. “What wrong,” he asked, “are you okay?” He tried to touch her again to no avail, as the sun peaked through the clouds and she looked beyond him, not like she was making eye contact with, to begin with, “do you hear,” Nya posed.

The sound of the roaring ocean was only getting louder. She could barely hear the ginger ask, “hear what,” as she stared at the ocean that sat above many buildings in the city.

“The sea,” she answered, “it’s so loud, so powerful.”

“It’s calls to her,” Benthomaar stated.

Her body began to move a pulse as she stood in place, “Nya,” Jay gasped.

“Sorry it is difficult maintaining this shape,” she informed.

Shape, but this is who I am?

“What do you mean shape,” Jay asked, his voice a bit frantic, “that’s… that’s what you are?!”

“What I was,” she replied.

What I was?

Jay, Kai, and the other looked at her in disbelief, “I have to go now,” she said, beginning to walk to the edge of the roof.

Wait, I don’t wanna leave!

“I will remember you.”

No, I want to be with them! I want to be with HIM!

“Remember,” Kai inquired, “What are you talking about? You’re not going anywhere!”

He is right, I don’t want to go!

“Nya, stop, wait, listen,” Jay yelled, his voice cracking while on verge of tears.

Please stop!

“Something is wrong with you,” Jay added, “you have to concentrate, you have to focus, you have to turn back!” She walked through him leaving him soaked, “no,” he whined, grabbing for her hand, making her stop, “don’t leave me.”

Please, I don’t want to leave him!

Nya turned around smiling at the blue ninja, taking a hold of his hands, caressing her cheek, and walking away.

NO, LET ME BE WITH HIM!

“I implore you,” Wu begins, his voice breaking, “whatever you’re hearing, whatever you’re experiencing, fight it Nya! Remember who you are! Remember!”

“I am Nya, I am the…”

There was a pause as she stood on the edge of the roof, she only stared at Jay, as if she was unable to finish her sentence.

Yeah, that right stop! This is my life and my body; I want to stay here with Jay! I’m not the sea!

“Nya, I,” Jay cried, “I love you.”

As if on cue her body begin to convulse, shocking the group watching her, who were then blind by the sun reflecting of water body she now had. Once Jay was able to see again, he watches the love of his life, spilt in two. Leaving a water form standing on the edge of the roof and a semi-conscience human Nya falling on the cemented roof.

“NYA,” Jay screamed.

The boy in blue raced his paramour, falling to his knees, and catching her in his arms, “Nya, please say something,” he pleaded, as Kai made it to his side.

Nya groaned, “what happened, did we win?”

Jay laughed as tears rolled down his cheeks, “yes, we won, you won!”

Jay held her close burying his face in her neck, crying as he did so.

“So, what are we going to do about her,” Kai asked, slaying wiping his own tears, pointing at the water form still staring at the Nya and Jay.

The water form extended her hand to stock Nya’s cheeks, smiling, “she said, she’s going to fix things,” Nya responded, weakly.

The water form jumped off the roof, dropping into the water below, making the water receded and return to its place on the shores of the beach, and below the decks in the shipyard. While leaving the merry band of ninja to rejoice that their friend was back.

“Nya, you out here,” Jay asked, as he walked closer to the makeshift hot tub, on the side of the mountain that the monastery at on.

“Yeah,” she asked back, playing with the watering in the pool.

Jay smiled seeing her sitting near the tub, her hugging her knees to her chest, swirling water around in the air, “you are feeling, okay?”

“Yeah,” she sighed.

“You don’t sound okay,” he replied, sitting beside her, “talk to me, please.”

“I just thinking,” Nya muttered, watching the water she was playing fell back into the pool, “and recovering.”

“Does it still feel weird?”

“Uh-mhm, my powers have been spilt,” she explained, “I’m a lot weaker then I was just a few days ago, I can feel it.”

“Hey, at least you still have powers,” Jay chuckled, feeling his girlfriend narrow her eyes at him, “look at it this way: you are here, with me, and regardless if your powers are weaker, you are still incredibly powerful. Even if the water fusion got some of your powers, it is probably the ones you don’t need.”

Nya smiled, “I doubt you really need to talk to fish,” he joked, “we fight on land anyway.”

“It would have been cool though,” she giggled. “Yeah,” he said, standing up, “we could have got a goldfish and you could have a little fish friend.”

The water ninja laughed looking up at him as he held out a hand to her, “come on, Zane made you some sweet,” Jay stated, “though I think him, and Cole are now in a bake-off because the robo-buddy made a comment on his cooking.”

She took his hands standing up, “I also think Skylor bring over food,” he added.

Nya smiled as her fingers intertwined and Jay kissed her cheek, she was where she beyond.

[wordsfromthesol]

Just A Facade (1/2)

Author: @wordsfromthesol Pairing: Jason Todd x Reader Summary:  Dick is very confused that his brothers seem to all be getting along with you, and worse…wanting to help you. And wait…were you dating his brother?! Warnings:  Violence, getting shot, cursing Word Count: 2.2k Taglist: @zphilophobiaz @anousiemay @malfoys-demigod @pricetagofficial

“What do you mean we are working with Y/N?” Dick questioned his brother.

“It’s her case, she needs back-up.” Jason simply stated.

“She tried to kill me last week!”

“That sounds like a you problem.”

“I have no problem with her, what’s the case?” Tim chimed in.

“I’m glad you asked, replacement.” Tim rolled his eyes at Jason’s nickname. “But I’m going to let her explain it. Be here tomorrow, 10am.”

“She has not entrusted you with the information, has she?” Damian grunted out.

Jason swiftly punched him in the arm, “Shut up demon.”

“Did no one hear me?! She tried to kill me last week! Why are we helping her?” Dick attempted to plead his case once again.

“Can you really blame her though…” Jason reasoned as he turned to walk away, Tim and Damian following closely behind. Dick was left dumbfounded at the table.  

**

10 am rolled around quickly for boys that spent all night patrolling, but they all sat at the table holding back yawns when you sauntered through the door.

“Hello boys, good to see you all.” You sent a knowing smirk Dick’s way. Before any of them could reply you continued, “So here’s the deal. Kids have been going missing.” You slid a file over towards Tim. “I need you to find the pattern.” Your voice wavered on the last syllable. In one second your demeanor completely changed as you accidentally let the façade drip away. “They’re just kids and someone is taking them, but no one seems to care.” You closed your eyes, as you caught your mistake. Taking a breath, your persona slowly morphed back into that which you had carefully constructed. “They don’t have the same birthdays, none of them seem to be from the same socioeconomic class…I could list the differences for days. I found two things connecting them: one, they’re all 12 years old, two, their guardians don’t notice or simply don’t care.”

“Well, they all have different zodiac signs. Someone could be trying to collect them all.” Tim blurted out as he continued to scan the pages.

“I didn’t notice that…” your voice went somber. Maybe if I had, one less kid would be missing…You shook yourself back into character. “Guess that’s why I came here. Anyways, four kids have been taken so far. I circled the most likely locations where they went missing. I count four little birdies, so I was thinking you could each hit a scene. Find something I missed.”

“And that leaves you where?” Dick questioned your intentions.

“I’m going to stay here and review the file, that computer there has more resources than mine.” You stated blatantly while pointing at the large monitor across the room.

“You, stay in the cave, alone…I don’t think so.”

“Ask Alfred to come babysit then. I’ve been to those scenes a dozen times.” You sucked in a breath, attempting to hide your sorrow and frustration. “I’m more useful here.”

“Lighten up Dickie, she’s been alone here dozens of times.” Jason taunted his older brother as he gave him a quick jab to the side.

“SHE’S WHAT?!” This caused an eruption of laughter in everyone…except Dick.

“Come on Dick, we’ll have more luck while it’s light out. Let’s go.” Tim composed himself and tried to ease the situation. “We’ll let you know if we find anything.” Tim directed the words towards you as he turned to leave.

“Tt, when we find something.” Damian mumbled before following his brother.

Dick sighed as he realized he was outnumbered, “Fine, but I’m getting Alfred before I leave.”

“Whatever makes you feel better sunshine.”

**

The boys didn’t get back until nearly dark, and none of them had very good news.

“Look, Y/N/N, we all took pictures.” Tim sighed, not wanting to admit defeat just yet. “I’ll compare the scenes and hopefully something will pop up. We’ll get this…” Tim consoled you as he placed a comforting hand on your shoulder.

“Yeah.” You took in a deep sigh, mentally reminding yourself to stay composed. “Do you still need this file?”

“No, take it. Remember to sleep though.”

You nodded walking over to table, where both the file, Damian, and Jason were sitting.

“I would be honored to pose as bait.”

A faint smile graced your lips, “Thanks Dami, but I’m afraid you don’t fit the bill. They’ve all been 12 years old, remember?”

“I can pass for 12!”

“I’m sure they go on more information than looks…but thanks.” You turned to leave but stopped as you felt a hand on your shoulder.

“Y/N, leave that here and take a break. When we do find these people, you need to be sharp.” Jason leaned in closer and whispered, “I can’t let you get hurt.”

“I’ll be fine, Jay. I’ve survived worse…”

“Heh, yeah. Guess so. Want me to walk you home?” Jason tried to mask the obvious concern in his voice.

“So you can just take the file as you leave?” You followed his cue and leaned in, whispering, “I think not my little Jaybird.”

Jason threw his hands up in defense, knowing you weren’t going to let this go. Dick waited for you to leave before he erupted.

“Are you all friends with her?! SHE TRIED TO KILL ME!”

“Did she really though?” Tim questioned his eldest brother, who just looked at him perplexed. “I mean…you’ve seen her fight, was she pulling her punches? Did she seem to move in slow motion? Did she stop as soon as whatever league members with her were gone?”

Dick’s mouth opened wide, as if to begin to answer, but he quickly shut it as his brows furrowed.

“She’s tried to kill me too…” Jason said with air quotes around the words.

“Same here” Tim chimed. Dick looked to Damian.

“Do not turn your gaze upon me, my mother would never allow the league to come after me.”

“I think there are other things at play that you don’t know about Dickie.” Jason tried to reason with his older brother as he turned to leave.

**

Dick still didn’t trust you, so a few hours later he made his way to your apartment. Crouching on a nearby ledge, he watched as you poured over documents scattered about the table before you. Suddenly you thrust your hands across the desk and collapsed to the floor. Is she crying? Now Dick was thoroughly confused, but his gazed was still fixed on you. After nearly a minute, you stood up and carefully began picking up the papers and photographs and placing them back on the desk. He watched as your head jerked towards the door, and as you stalked into the kitchen and reached for your gun. Seconds later the front door flew across the living room. As Dick swung towards you, he saw you place a bullet directly between the man’s eyes.

**

The crash of the window caused your focus to falter, however, you were relieved as you noticed the familiar black and blue costumed character glide across the floor and land at your side. Nodding at him you leapt over the kitchen counter and threw your body weight at the next assailant entering your apartment. His head rammed into the wall, knocking him out cold. You looked up and saw a gun pointed your direction. You quickly positioned the unconscious body between yourself and the gun. Unfortunately, this gun-for-hire didn’t care much for his coworker and shot directly through him. The bullet lodged itself in your stomach.

“Nightwing, give me some cover!” You screamed out and ran for the table, throwing as much as you could into a nearby backpack. Grabbing your phone, you took pictures of all the information that was plastered on your walls. You looked back to see Dick landing the final punch and called out again. “Window!” Before you had time to check that he heard you, or was behind you, you jumped.

Immediately you spread your arms and legs out in order to slow you down as much as possible. Part of you almost wished that you didn’t feel that arm wrap around your waist. You held back a pained scream as the hand fell directly over the fresh bullet wound. Dick turned to you as your feet hit the ground.

“Are you fucking crazy?!”

You only shrugged, “How many are left? Where’s your car?”

Even with the domino mask, you could tell Dick was glaring at you. “Three more were in the hallway. I noticed two vans, and an armed man at each exit. Motorcycle is three blocks down.”

“Alright, lead the way.”

As you walked through streets, you pulled one of the backpack straps loose and tied it tightly around your stomach. You could only hope the adrenaline was enough to get you to the cave. Just as you passed the first alley, an arm grabbed you and slammed you against the brick. Your arm reached up and wrapped around his neck as you kicked off from the wall. His body collided with the adjacent wall, as he struggled to free himself from your grasp. Soon you felt his body go heavy in your arms and you laid him to the ground just as two more assailants rounded the corner. You lunged at the closest one, while Nightwing came up behind and kicked the other’s legs from under him. Suddenly you began hearing gunfire ring through the air. Before you could get to the ground another bullet pierced your side, a mere inch away from the first. Thankfully, Nightwing quickly disarmed the man shooting blindly around the corner.

As the two of you rounded the corner you tossed your backpack to Dick. “Make sure Tim gets this. It could be helpful.” You could feel the pain burning through your whole body, the initial shock worn off. Dick looked at you, confused, but took the backpack anyways. The two of you made it to the motorcycle without any more fighting, but you looked at it wondering how you were going to hold on. You still don’t even know how you made it.

Walking into the cave you ignored the boys who quickly began to pour over the new information that Dick scattered across the table. You headed straight to the medical station, which thankfully Alfred had neatly organized. You quickly found what you needed and set up a table near the hospital bed.

You began cutting through your shirt but stopped short of the backpack strap as you noticed black spots creeping up in your vision. “Fuck.” Blinking rapidly to push them back, you threw your hand out, searching for the tweezers on the table. Your hand hit the tray instead, you winced at the sound of the metal clashing with the floor. Soon, all eyes were on you.

“Y/N? What the fuck? Are you hit?” Jason words rung through your head as he raced to your side.

“I got it…” You swung your legs over the side of the bed, in a sad attempt to recollect the tools on the ground. Jason steadfastly pushed you back into place.

“No you don’t. Stay. Please.” His head whipped around towards his brother, “I know you don’t like her…but really?” The disdain rose up in Jason’s voice before his attention turned back to you.

Dick’s head fell, “I didn’t know.” He whimpered before heading back near the computer to help Tim.

Jason made quick work of the wound, “Alright doll…I know it’s not the prettiest, but you’re all set.”

“Uhm…Jay…” Your eyes blinking heavily, you reached for the scissors in his hand. Reluctantly, he let you have them. You cut away the strap revealing another wound.

“Dammit Y/N!” Jason screamed a little too loudly, his eyes filled with worry. Dick rushed to his side.

“What happened?!” He was already thinking the worst.

“Nothing pretty boy. I just need more supplies.” Jason pushed passed his brother. “She was hit twice, apparently.”

“Twice? How did I not…” Dick mouthed under his breath. “Is that the backpack strap?” He began to question you. “When were you hit?!”

“Uhm…first at the apartment.” You winced as Jason dug into your skin with the tweezers. “The damn bullet went right through him.” A faint smile graced your lips. “Not fair…” you mumbled. “Second one got lucky.” Your voice grew more brittle. “Shooting blind…”

“I gave her some morphine. She’s probably going to be out of it for awhile.” Jason said without looking up from his work.

“I didn’t know, Jay.”

“Somehow, I don’t know if that’s better.” Jason chided as he pulled the final stitch through the wound.

“Awe, come on Jaybird. You can’t be mad at that cute face.” Your head moved upwards motioning in Dick’s direction, the morphine taking hold.

“Looks pretty punchable to me.”

“Don’t worry,” you brought your hands up to cradle his face, “yours is still so much cuter.”

Dick’s face dropped, “Wait…are you two –”

His words were cut off as Jason quickly shut down the conversation. “Doll, I think it’s time for you to get some rest.”

You pursed your lips, “But I’m not tired.”

“I think you are.” Jason quickly scooped you into his arms and practically ran up the stairs, headed towards his old room.

[waywardwrestlewritingwaif]

Raise the Stakes, Part 8

I swear, I will wind this one up in the not-too-distant future but I keep kind of thinking of different things to do with it. Bad writer, bad. Finish your work!

You can find the previous bits of the story:

Place Your Bets

Part one two three four five six seven

Pairing: David Finlay x OFC (referenced Jay White x OFC)

Word count: 3,824

Content advisory: graphic sexual content, cursing

You feel like an idiot for actually believing that he was going to talk to you the next day, or that he was going to do anything other than ignore you the way he has since your arrival. If anything, he’s ignoring you harder than ever, or at least taking greater pains to be anywhere around you. If you see him, he’s always moving and with others. The wall between you is so thick you start gaslighting yourself, wondering if you imagined the tryst in your car.

The whole company is buzzing. It’s the last few days before the big Slammiversary show, the peak of their year. The excitement for the show and for finally having a small audience is mingled with the knowledge that every year, there are some surprises. THe bigwigs play their cards close to their chests, which means that the talent and behind the scenes people, yourself very much included, don’t know who could pop out at any moment. New Japan has been frustratingly tight-lipped. It’s supposed to be your job to bridge the gaps between New Japan and Impact but no one will tell you who might be trying to cross those bridges.

Is Nagata coming back? You’ll find out.

Another appearance by Phantasmo? Wait and see.

Tama and Tanga are mouthing off at the Good Brothers all the time on social media. Are they showing up?

It’s like shouting at a wall.

Finlay and Robinson are there, they tell you. Take care of them.

It’s almost more frustrating to hear that because, of course, you’d like to do that but one of them is very determined not to let that happen.

By Thursday afternoon, you’ve done everything you can.

“Take a day off,” Scott Damore, the man tasked with keeping this little beehive running tells you. “Go home and relax. You’ll want to be rested for Saturday.”

You want to tell him there’s no need for you to leave now but your aching back, neck, and head disagree.

“What time do you need me here Saturday?”

“Morning?” He looks surprised. “Just come in an hour or so before the show.”

“But what do you need me to do?”

“Sit in the audience, cheer at the right points, look excited if the camera passes you.”

“That’s it?”

“There’s nothing that needs to be liaised in the middle of a show. Grab a seat, have some fun. Be a fan for a few hours.”

You laugh a little because you can’t remember the last time you were able to just be a fan.

“You do like wrestling, don’t you?”

“I do,” you chuckle. “I just don’t really have the opportunity to indulge that very often.”

“So go home, have a nice dinner and a glass of wine. Do whatever it takes to get rid of that headache that I can see right through your skull. Spend the day in your pajamas playing videogames with teenagers online.”

You rise slowly, thanking him as you move to go.

“Hey,” he calls softly, “you’re doing a great job. Don’t think they’re not going to hear about it in Tokyo.”

It’s such a sweet note to leave on that you’re most of the way home, or to the temporary rental that’s passing for home right now, before you think about the fact that you haven’t laid eyes on David all day. He’s been around, because if he hadn’t been, you’re the one who would have had to field questions about it. But he’s been invisible to you.

You end up taking Scott’s suggestions very much to heart. You order dinner from the Chinese place you’ve become addicted to, watch early episodes of The Walking Dead, and have a couple of drinks until you can feel a warm blanket of sleepiness wrapping itself around you.

And that’s when your doorbell rings.

You grab your phone, although there’s a large part of you that wants to ignore it because it’s a little unnervingly late to be getting callers. But you pick it up just on that off chance, because there’s that sliver of hope that it’s…

“It’s David.” He sounds tired and grumpy but you don’t even care because he’s there, at your door and it makes your heart race. You buzz him in and then just stand in front of your apartment door like a complete idiot until you hear him knock.

As soon as you open the door, though, your heart sinks.

“Seriously?” he snaps, holding your panties up for anyone to see.

“How long does it take you to go through your damn pockets,” you hiss, trying to hide how close you are to crying.

“What the hell is wrong with you? You want me to get a restraining order?”

“I’m sorry,” you croak. “I know it was stupid, I just thought maybe if I left you a little reminder that… I don’t know. I thought that if I could get you back once…”

“You did not get me back. I’ve been lonely and I had a weak moment. And even then I couldn’t bring myself to fuck you.”

“Fine. I misinterpreted and thought it was me you wanted. Happy to have given you a show and a nice warm surface to rub one out.”

He throws your panties on the floor without another word. Now you have a problem. You know perfectly well that the second you let him out of your sight, he’s going to disappear. But the door to your apartment is going to lock automatically if it closes unless you step back inside and adjust it. So if you want to avoid giving him the chance to run away, you have to find a way to reach your discarded panties without allowing the door to close behind you.

Awkwardly, you bend forward but it’s immediately obvious that the offending garment is still out of reach. You try looking at him but he seems amused by your predicament. So you have to get right down on your knees and stretch, all while keeping your foot on the door, which weighs a ton. You’ve never felt less elegant in your life, nor more ridiculous than when you glare up at him. His expression is scornful and amused, but there’s a hint of something else you can see in his eyes. There you are, the bitch who he believes used him, the one who’s been begging for his attention, now on her knees in the most humiliating position.

You grab the scrap of fabric and scramble into a standing position before starting to speak. Unfortunately, you move enough that your foot slips from the door. You flinch as you hear the heavy thud.

“Fuck!” he yelps, loud enough you think the neighbors will show up.

It takes a second for you to register that he stuck his hand up to stop the door from closing and that the full weight of it crashed onto his fingers.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” It’s like every time he gets near you, something awful happens to him.

You push the door open and take his hand, trying to see if there’s any damage. He’s obviously irritated and tries to pull it back but it occurs to you that this could be serious.

“Come on, you have to at least let me put some ice on that.”

“No.”

“You have to. If it swells up, your hand could be screwed up for Saturday.”

He looks positively disgusted as it dawns on him that you’re right but he lets you lead him gently into your apartment.

You take out your ice tray and wrap a few cubes in the dish towel, pressing it softly against his hand. He swats you away and holds the makeshift ice pack himself. There’s a little grunted sound that might be a thank you.

“What even happened?”

“I thought the door was going to lock if it closed, I just tried to stop it. Don’t know why I did that.”

“Thank you,” you say softly, guilt soaking your voice. “I would have been locked out.”

“Boohoo.”

“I’m really sorry about the panties, I just-”

“You’re just a disaster area and I need to stay the fuck away from you. I should have just thrown your little present in your face at the show.”

“I’m so glad you didn’t.”

“I’m going to wait a few minutes until I’m sure my hand is ok. I would really appreciate it if you would just not speak for the rest of the time I’m here.”

The look on his face is so pained, so defeated, that you just nod and look at the floor. But you can’t hold it in. The insanity of the situation you’ve put yourself in and the feeling of having him close enough to touch while also being so remote burns through your insides like a wildfire and you just… break.

You let one loud yelp out and then it’s nothing but tears and loud sobbing. He immediately looks up at you and although your vision is blurred, his expression isn’t unsympathetic but that just makes it worse and you cry harder as you try to speak.

“You’re right, you should stay away from me… I thought that if I came here… I thought that if you knew I left him… that I left him for you…”

Your voice breaks up and you have to wipe your face just to keep yourself focused.

“I didn’t think about how bad I am… for you… for whatever… I just wanted…”

You break down in sobs again and you’re just about to go and hide on the balcony until he leaves when it happens. A miracle. He lays the towel on the counter and walks towards you. Even through your tears, you can see that his expression is much softer and that allows you to hold it together until he lays his hands on your shoulders and pulls you just a little closer.

At that point, once again, you lose it, the memory of how that touch felt back before you’d made a mess of everything. He presses you close to his chest, which amplifies the feeling and you feel like you’re going to pass out.

“Look at me,” he murmurs, cupping your face with his hand.

You open your eyes a little and he makes a face.

“You’re a mess.”

“I know,” you blurt. “I don’t know why I do the shit I do, it’s just-”

“No, I mean your face… there’s mascara stuff happening. It looks like an oil spill.”

Despite yourself, you laugh, holding back the tears as he uses his sleeve to wipe your face.

“Your hands are freezing.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t have another pair with me. Besides, it helps with swelling, remember?”

You laugh a little again, trembling when he holds your face in his hands. For the first time in ages, he doesn’t have any of that vicious resentment in his eyes. It’s almost like the way he looked at you that day you had breakfast in the cafe, just sadder.

He looks at you that way for what feels like a long time, allowing you to regain control of yourself.

“You have really cute ears.”

“Wh- what?”

He smiles. “Your ears. They’re so cute, you have no idea. You always have your hair pulled back or up and I just remember noticing at one point. I’d smile about it all the time when you weren’t looking.”

“How do ears… be cute?” You can’t imagine what he’s talking about and yet the weirdness of the compliment makes it wonderful.

“Come here.” He takes you by the wrist and leads you into the bathroom. He positions you in front of the mirror, standing behind you and pulling you back against his chest. He takes your jaw in his hand and gently turns your head so that you can see the side of your face and your apparently adorable ear.

“You see,” he explains, running his thumb delicately along the outer ridge, “it’s kind of big and round up here, and then it tapers right off into this perfectly proportional little lobe and it looks like a half a heart. So they look like two halves of a heart. I can’t believe you’ve never noticed this before.”

He laughs softly and presses his face against yours, the scrape of his beard on your skin sending shivers through your whole body. His lips touch your cheek so fleetingly that you almost wonder if you’ve imagined it.

“Crying takes it out of you,” he sighs. “Let’s put you to bed.”

You feel numb as he leads you into the bedroom and helps you onto the bed before turning to close your blinds.

“Do you like being back in the States?” you ask, hoping you can stretch out his visit a little longer.

“Yeah, I do. I mean, it’s weird, all the back and forth lately. I swear I think I’m still jet lagged, or I’m just permanently fucked up.”

You smile as he sits down on the side of the bed. He smiles back but he makes no move to touch you or get closer.

“How do you like Impact?”

“I like not working Japanese hours.”

“Damn, I’ll bet. It’s one thing with the wrestlers but they don’t give you guys a break ever.”

You suddenly realize that you don’t want to talk about your work in Japan at all.

“I heard your brother is getting into wrestling too now?”

“Yup. I’m not sure Dad wanted either of us doing this for a living but I guess it really is in the blood.”

He takes your hands and places them on your stomach, very ladylike and demure, and pats them with his.

“You need to get some sleep. I’ll go fight with the door to get out.”

“Tell me a bedtime story?” You try to make yourself sound as cute and harmless as possible and not like some crazed broad desperate to prolong the moment.

“No.”

You pout a little, gratified when you hear him chuckle.

“Ok, once upon a time there was an extremely silly little princess who could never figure out what she wanted. And no one ever seemed to be able to help her decide what that was, no matter how hard they tried. The end.”

You can’t help but give a wry laugh at that. “At least it’s nice to be a princess.”

“Who said I was talking about you?”

You stare at him a long time, trying to figure out how to untie all the knots of what you’ve done. You can’t even imagine. You’re still trying to figure it out when he bends down and touches his lips, very softly, very quickly, to yours.

He pulls back but then almost immediately repeats the gesture. Then repeats it again. And again. He shifts so that he’s hovering over you, continuing to give you these little kisses.

“Stop that,” he rasps.

“Stop what? You’re the one kissing me.”

“Hm. I guess you’re right.” He leans in again. “Stop me.”

“I don’t want to.”

He doesn’t stop.

“Yeah, I don’t really want you to stop me either.”

And from that point, it gets more insistent, more romantic, and more passionate, until you feel him easing your pants down and running his hands over your thighs and ass. Determined that he is not just going to turn this into another resentful mutual masturbation session, you pull at his shirt. He wriggles free of it immediately easing you out of yours.

“How do you manage to run around without a bra on like that?” He squeezes and licks at your breasts with a little wink.

“I’m in my own apartment. I’m allowed to walk around however I want.”

“Yeah. But you don’t always wear one at work either, do you?”

He crashes his mouth into yours, tongue eagerly breaching your lips.

“Don’t think I don’t notice,” he pants.

He slides down and presses his face between your legs before you can think of a witty comeback, and once he does, you can’t think of anything. It’s so intense, so determined the way he goes at this, the way he picks up on every little twitch and tremor in your body, how he paces himself and you enough that it never feels like a rush to a goal. You don’t deserve this. You have no right to have him be this good to you.

You twist your hand in his hair, pulling it loose from the disheveled bun he’s always sporting. The parts of it that were trapped inside are still damp and you tug firmly to make him look up at you.

“Did you shower before you came over here?”

He smiles coyly and presses two fingers inside you, curling them like he’s beckoning you forward, making you moan and twist even as you’re trying to keep your mind focused.

“I shower pretty frequently,” he grins, “what’s it to you?”

He presses his lips close to your clit, allowing his tongue to flick ever so lightly against it.

“I don’t know,” you breathe, trying not to get overwhelmed by what he’s doing, “I like thinking you got yourself all cleaned up and handsome for me.”

You feel the soft vibrations of his laughter as he dives back into you, tongue pushing up inside you and making you scream before you grab at his hair again.

“I don’t know why you’re doing this,” you whimper.

“Oh I love doing it.”

“I mean I don’t know why you’re doing this to me, when I’ve been so-”

You’re cut off as he goes right back at it, licking and pushing harder for a few seconds before he whispers, “If you had any idea how often I’ve jerked off fantasizing about eating you out, you’d probably stop speaking to me.”

With that he pins you down and continues in earnest, going at you with a zealot’s vigor so that you can’t question him or do anything but scream and beg him to continue what he’s doing until you fall apart, trembling and gasping.

You feel him wriggle out of his pants before he pulls you onto his lap, kissing you and playfully biting at your lips, his arms wound tight around your waist. You run your hand slowly down the length of his shaft, smiling at the little gasp this elicits.

“I want you inside me.”

“Yeah…” the hesitance in his voice terrifies you. “I was… I was hopeful enough to get all showered and freshened up before I came over but I wasn’t so confident that I actually brought any kind of protection with me.”

“I’m on birth control. And I get checked regularly, I swear, I’m-”

He kisses you hard, so passionately that you almost tumble over.

“You sure?” he whispers when he breaks the kiss.

“Very sure.”

He flips you onto your knees and pulls your hips back towards him. As he enters you, you realize that you’d convinced yourself you weren’t ever going to get this again. It’s like a reprieve from prison, feeling him fill you up.

He leans down enough that the feathery tips of his hair brush against the skin of your back, a stark contrast to the powerful hold he has on your hips. There’s an unbroken stream of praises coming from him but all you can think of to whimper in response is, “Thank you.”

“What?”

He slows his pace just a little.

“Thank you,” you repeat. “I didn’t think you’d want to touch me again. I don’t deserve you being this good to me.”

“Oh sweetheart no.” He pulls you up and holds you against his damp chest, one hand immediately falling to your clit while he continues to thrust inside you. “It’s ok, I’ve got you. I want to feel you come again, I want you to come on my cock.”

You let yourself relax into his touch and it takes very little time until he has you falling apart for him again, your muscles contracting sharply around him as he clearly fights to keep control.

He flips you onto your back like you’re nothing and smiles down at your dazed face.

“Let’s do this right.”

He leans down and pushes himself back inside you slowly crushing your body close to his and planting a fierce kiss on your lips. His movements are agonizingly slow, letting you feel every bit of what’s happening, picking up only when you hitch your hips against his. He keeps you wrapped up tight and close, faces practically touching as he finally lets himself come, eyes locked on yours. It’s a long, tender few minutes while he holds you, touching his lips to your forehead.

“I love you.” You just put it out there before the post-coital haze can fade, hoping it’ll stop him from closing himself off again.

“I love you too,” he whispers, nuzzling against the side of your head. “But you knew that already.”

You dig your nails into his shoulders a little.

“Stay with me. Sleep here, please.”

He looks thoughtful but it doesn’t take long for him to smile, stroking your cheek as he does.

“Yeah,” he beams, “I will.”

He rolls onto his side and pulls you close again.

“Did you seriously think I was going to be able to stay away from you forever?”

“Yes. I was pretty sure that you didn’t entirely want to, but I figured you’d fight it off.”

“How long have we known each other?”

“About six years.”

“You were working at the dojo and we all used to hang out together, right?”

“Yes.”

“How long had we been there before I asked you out to dinner?”

“I don’t know. A few months.”

“Closer to four. And I was already so hung up on you that I could barely think straight when you were around.”

You look at him in surprise. Yes, you’d known that he’d flirted a lot, but at that point all the boys at the dojo were trying to scheme their way into your pants. You’d always assumed that his real interest had developed much later.

“Yeah,” he says, noticing your expression, “I was that into you that early. And you know damn well it only got more intense from there.”

He wraps his arms around you and presses your head against his chest, kissing your hair. “And you thought that having finally gotten to take you to bed, having gotten you to say that you liked me, that I was going to be able to walk away?”

You squeeze him tight and nestle against him, your head immediately finding its way to the hollow of his shoulder. And as soon as it does, your whole body feels warm and safe and content. You want to keep talking to him but you can’t because this sort of bliss doesn't allow you to stay awake.

[yespleasetommyshelby]

Love in the 21st ~ Jay Halstead Fic ~ Four

It's been an hour since we got the news that Antonio's son, Diego went missing from an alley behind his mothers restaurant, someone who we are assuming is one of Pulpo's associates is demanding Pulpo's release by midnight for the life of Diego, like the life of a little boy is worth less than the life of a sick son of a bitch who likes cutting heads off.

"Hey, I got something." Adam said standing up from his desk and heading over to the board which so far only has Pulpo's and Diego's picture on, slapping on one more. "This guy, Ernesto, he's a midlevel in the dealing scene but he's got his eyes on a spot in Pulpo's gang." He finished just as Hank, Al and Antonio left his office.

"Boss, if we can get this guy we could easily flip him into telling us what he knows about the gang and who might have Diego." I suggest giving Antonio a small hopeful smile as I said his son's name.

"That's a good idea Platt, we just gotta find the guy first." Al nodded giving me a little confidence that I know I'm not wasting mine and their time being in intelligence.

"I got an address." Adam pipes up sticking his head over the top of his computer. "It's a stash house, a CI  just texted saying he'll be there to pick up  some gear in the next hour or so." He said standing up.

"Alright, Platt and Ruzek you sit outside the front, wait till he gets close then make you're move. Don't spook him too early." Voight instructed pointing at the two of us. "The rest of us will wait close by and keep eyes on the scene. Let's go." He almost yelled as he walked away.

We all scrambled grabbing our coats and guns before going down to the armory and grabbing our vests just in case anything goes wrong. Just as I'd finished doing my vest up a pair of hands steadied themselves on the straps around my waist, looking over my shoulder I saw a pair of spar killing blue eyes, Jay.

"Hey, just checking that it was done up properly, don't want mini Platt getting shot now do we?" He chuckled slightly patting my waist before letting go and rechecking his own vest.

"I also doubt you wanna get shot yourself Chuckles, so," I started as I stepped forwards noticing that one of his straps was only half on pulling it off of his shoulder, I strapped it back down in the right place. "You might wanna check you're own vest before worrying about me." I winked at him quickly before turning around and waiting for Voights call.

"Alright! Let's move out." His voice came just as I'd expected, running over to the SUV I jumped in the drivers seat before Adam had even reached it.

"Wait, wait, wait, you're gunna drive?" He asked sarcastically as he climbeed into the passenger seat looking over at me with wide eyes.

"And what is wrong with me driving Ruzek?" I asked turning the key in the ignition whilst watching him, a small smirk on my face.

"Nothing, but after your batting phase at the store who am I to question you?" He shrugged laughing as he looked into my narrowed eyes.

"Hold on tight." I grinned at him before slamming the pedal down and wheel spinning for a second before shooting off, me laughing at the white knuckle grip he had on his door handle.

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

"So, where were you placed before the 21st?" Adam asked as we sat watching the entrance to the stash house, so far it's been forty-five minutes and nobody has gone in or come out.

"I was at the 31st District, not even nearly as exciting though." I shrugged looking over at him to see he was already watching me.

"How come you transferred?" He asked as he scratched the stubble under his chin.

"Uh, let's just call them 'unprofessional arrests." I laughed slightly shrugging at him, him laughing along.

"Like your baseball practice?" He asked with a smirk and raised eyebrow like he already knew.

"Would you stop calling it that." I groaned with a slight laugh. "But yes, like that, according to Trudy Intelligence was the perfect spot for me." I smiled before something caught my eye. "Isn't that him?" I asked lifting my binoculars to get a closer look, it was him.

"We got eyes on the suspect, he's walking towards the front entrance now." Adam spoke into his radio as he get ready to open his door.

"Stand by, wait for him to get closer." Voight's gruff voice instructed though the radio making Adam shake his head.

"I can get him now." He muttered without taking his eyes off of Ernesto.

"We just  gotta wait Adam." I sighed knowing that he was getting impatient, especially with the guy being right there.

"Screw waiting." He mumbled before opening his door and climbing out.

"Adam wait!" I called getting out of the car just as Ernesto took off.

"Suspect is running, heading east away from the front entrance, officer Ruzek is in pursuit." I called into the radio before jumping in the car and racing in the direction that they were heading.

----------

Long story short, the plan failed. Adam went in for the arrest too early and spooked the guy, there was a pursuit on foot but as Erin tried to block his path she was smacked in the head with the butt of the gun and the guy got away, to say Antonio was pissed was an understatement.

"This is your fault!" He yelled pointing his finger in Adam's face once we got back to the bullpen, Al and Jay holding him back by an arm each.

"Walk it off Antonio!" Voight's gravely voice demanded as he walked up the stairs behind the ongoing commotion.

"Sarge." Dawson started before he was cut off. "I said now, Detective." Was all Voight had to say for Antonio to grab his jacket and storm out.

"I need some air." Adam muttered as he walked towards the stairs, hearing the gate slam a few seconds later I looked over at Erin, Jay and Al who were all watching what had just happened.

"Go talk to him." Al said looking directly at me.

"What? Why me?" I asked confused seeing as I was still new to this whole intelligence thing too.

"Because he seems to connect with you more than any of us at the minute, plus you're both new, it might be some comfort to the kid." Al said wisely before motioning to the stairs with his head.

"Okay, where do I find him?" I asked unsure, having no real idea of where to start looking.

"Try the changing rooms, seems to be where everyone hides." Jay suggested sharing a knowing look with Erin, must be some kind of inside joke type thing.

"Uhm, okay, I will be back then." I said quietly as I made my way down the stairs, through the gate and down to the sergeant's desk. "Hey Trudy, did you see where Adam went?" I asked looking around to see if I could spot him in the lobby.

"I think he went to the changing rooms, one second." She told me before turning back to the two patrolmen I had met on the first day. "Atwater I am telling you that there is no chance that you can swap shifts tomorrow it's too short notice and It's not really my problem what you're missing out on." She said to Kevin before turning back round to me. "Anything else Kyles?"

"What's tomorrow Kevin?" I asked looking up at him since he's at least a head taller than me.

"My little sisters got some kind of sports and activity day at school tomorrow, she didn't tell me till yesterday afternoon and she's been begging all night." He sighed rubbing his hands over his face as Kim patted his shoulder.

"I'll do it, I'll cover the shift, no need to swap." I said smiling at him before turning to Trudy. "I can do that right?" I asked unsurely.

"You can, but you'd have to go out on the beat, uniform, partner and all. You okay with this?" She said nodding down at Kim.

"That is absolutely fine sergeant." She nodded sending me a small smile.

"Fine, whatever." Trudy sighed defeated before a crash was heard coming from the changing rooms, Adam.

"Oh shoot, I totally forgot, I gotta go talk to him." I said motioning down the halls with my thumbs as I backed away from the desk slowly. "I'll see you guys later!" I called turning round and practically sprinting into the room.

"Hey." I said quietly as I spotted Adam sitting on one of the benches with his head in his hands, a bin lying on it's side a few feet away, I'm assuming that's the source of the crash we heard a minute ago.

"Hey." He mumbled looking up at me before rubbing his hands over his face.

"Wanna tell me what's up?" I asked as I took a seat next to him.

"It's my fault Kylie, I'm the reason that he got away." He sighed bowing his  head to the ground.

"Hey, you can't pin this on yourself, I don't know about you but I wasn't expecting him to run." I began placing my hand on his shoulder and rubbing slightly. "He may have got away but we're still going to find Diego and bring him home safe and sound." I reassured him making him lift his head and look at me.

"But we could've already had him by now, if I hadn't rushed it." He groaned looking up before back down to me.

"You can't think like that Adam." I sighed standing up and holding my hands out to him, looking at me sightly confused he took hold of my hands and pulled himself up. Letting go of one I pulled him slightly by the other. "Come on, we've got a little boy to find."I told him letting go completely before leaving the changing room, Adam right behind me.

As we walked up the stairs back into intelligence Jin came running in with his laptop, placing it on Antonio's desk we all gathered round, It was a video of Diego, his hand and legs were tied to the chair with rope.

"When was this filmed?" I asked looking over at Jin.

"It's happening right now, it's a live stream." He said looking over at Dawson who stood up and stormed into Voight's office, slamming the door behind him, Voight following a few seconds behind.

"Uh, any chance we can track where it's coming from?" I asked getting back to the case at hand.

"I'm trying, but it's pinging different locations around the world." Jin said sighing.

Nodding my head I sighed and made my way into the break room to make myself a tea, as I'd reached the kettle I heard the door close turning round I saw Adam walking towards me with a small smile on his face.

"Thank you, for uh, earlier." He shrugged reaching up and grabbing his own mug before pouring the coffee.

"We're a team Ruzek, I'll always be here for you to talk to, no matter what." I smiled up at him leaning back against the counter.

"I appreciate it, I really do." He said quietly as he looked down.

"Guys, Antonio's got something." Erin said opening the door and poking her head through, motioning back to the bullpen.

Walking back into the bullpen I couldn't help but feel eyes on us, looking over I spotted Jay looking between me and Adam with a blank expression, okay then.

"My CI gave us info that they could be hiding Diego here." Antonio said slapping a picture of a rundown hotel up on the board. "It's an old hotel that's not been used for a couple years."

"Alright, Let's go get Diego." Voight said patting Antonio's back before leading the way out of intelligence.

[descendantofthesparrow]

Audrey confronts Mal - D3 Rewrite clip (not poyw)

=

Mal let out a soft sigh as she stepped outside of Evie's house, re-gripping the purple gift bag in her hand as she went to set it on the small picnic table while she waited for her friends to be done getting ready for Jane’s party.

She squealed and jumped as a loud crash of thunder echoed in her ears, she spun around, eyes widening as Audrey walked toward her, dressed head to toe in dark tones of blue and pink, her mother's scepter in her hand, and the queens crown perched on her head.

“I was hoping you were home~” Audrey purred, Mal's hand twitching as the scepter hit the ground. Mal looked back and forth between the scepter and Audrey.

“is…Audrey what’s is going on?” Mal set her bag on the table and held her hands up, palms facing towards Audrey “why do you have the crown and scepter?”

“well, I wanted them so I took them” Audrey stated, as if it was obvious “you of all people should understand that Mal~” Mal mentally cringed, knowing exactly what Audrey was referring to. Mal yelped as Audrey’s other hand started to wave around the gem.

“Audrey! Stop please, you have no idea what that thing can do, I don’t want you getting hurt-“ Audrey’s dark brown almost black eyes looked at her, rage bubbling beneath the surface.

“don’t want me getting hurt?...that’s a first…and here I thought you only cared about yourself” Mal shook her head gently, reaching out slowly to Audrey.

“Audrey, I’m sorry for whatever I did that’s causing whatever is happening right now but you need to give me the scepter, it's dangerous!”

“I want to be dangerous!” Audrey snarled, her eyes flashing magenta, making Mal take a step back in fear. “my life was perfect till you came here…and then Auradon turned its back on me” Audrey’s eyes turned sad for a moment, looking at nothing before she whipped around, walking away from Mal “but this time, I will be the one in control”

‘Control?’ Mal thought, immediately following Audrey “Audrey please! Stop-“ Mal reared back as Audrey spun back around, a cruel smirk on her face.

“Now you’ll know how I felt when you stole everything from me” the scepter glowed a bright pink and Mal screamed in pain as she felt every bit of energy being ripped from her, the crackle of fire beneath her skin dimming.

She collapsed to the floor, gasping for breath.

“How does it feel to be powerless~ to be like me~” Mal opened her eyes, her blurry vision doing nothing to block the odd color of her hair.

She let out a quiet scream, sitting up and pulling her hair in front of her eyes.

Brown…it was just brown...no purple in sight, Mal shoot up, but collapsed back on her knees as the sudden rush of energy left her just as fast as it came. “You’ll pay for everything you’ve done and so will all of Auradon!!!” Mal looked back at Audrey, reaching out for her one last time.

“Audrey please!”

“so long suckers~!” in a whirlwind of smoke Audrey was gone.

“woah!” Jay gasped, his arms wrapping around Mal and pulling her to her feet, catching her as she stumbled “um, you might want to think of a spell for this?” Mal looked up at him, Jay gasping in shock again.

“what?” Mal sighed, pulling away from Jay and standing on wobbly legs “what's wrong? I know my hair's brown but?” she gestured to the rest of her, looking at her friends. Carlos just pointed at her eyes as Evie covered her mouth and stared at her. “my eyes? What's wrong with my-oh” Evie pulled out her phone and turned on her camera, setting it to selfie mode and giving it to Mal.

Mal's eyes were brown, not a speck of gold or green to be seen. “that’s…different” Mal muttered, pulling the phone back at getting a good look at her hair. All brown.

Her face and cheeks were paler too. “what did Audrey do?” Evie asked, running her fingers through Mals hair “is there any way to reverse it?”

“there’s no spell to reverse the curse of the scepter” Mal muttered, handing the phone back to Evie “and I’m not even sure I could if I tried” her friends looked at her oddly “I think she took the rest of my magic away”

Their eyes widened in shock and they stared at her for a few moments in disbelief. Evie snapped out of it first, tilting her head “how do you know?”

Mal sighed, looking down at her hands and clenching her fingers “I-I don’t know…it felt like being shoved behind the barrier again, I felt like I was being drained of all my energy…and remember how I said my magic felt like fire crackling underneath my skin, even on the isle?” the boys and Evie nodded “it’s all gone, I feel nothing, even as a kid I felt more magic then I do now”

“then what are we going to do?” Carlos groaned, running his fingers through his hair in frustration and starting to pace the patio “Your magic is gone and Audrey has the scepter which basically holds your magic! If anyone could defeat it's you but you don’t have magic anymore!” Mal just watched, having no energy to stop him or come up with a plan.

“Fairy godmothers wand” Evie started already having come up with a plan, she turned to the boys “Carlos call jane and tell her to tell FG to meet us at the museum, it’s an emergency, and tell her as much as you can so she's prepared for anything” Carlos stopped in his pacing and nodded, pulling out his phone and calling Jane “Jay, get our gear and the bikes ready, we need to be able to move fast and quick” he nodded, running back into the house with Celia hot on his heels. Evie turned to Mal.

Mal just smiled, glad someone had their head on right to take control…hell knew if she could the way she was “thank you E” Mal muttered, curling into Evie’s shoulder as Evie pulled her into a hug “I don’t know what I’d do without you”

“be powerless forever and probably get yourself killed?” Evie joked, smiling as Mal let out a chocked laugh.

“yeah…how bad is it?” Mal asked, looking up at Evie and tugging at the ends of her hair, pressing her lips together.

Evie pulled back and gave Mal a once over, before she smiled “Brown is a good look” Mals stressed look softened into a smile.

“really?” Evie nodded, reaching to Mal and tugging at one of her locks. “yes, now let's just get you into something fabulous!” Mal laughed a bit as Evie grabbed her hand and pulled her back into the house.

“okay”

-end of preview/test-

Sooo this was just a little test/preview of what my rewrite is going to be like, in the hhxr (y/n) will be in this scene while in the “official” rewrite they won't be since (y/n) won't exist in that version.

This is the “official” rewrite Audrey confronts Mal excerpt and I hope it satisfied yall heh. But this is basically what it's going to look like and there might be some changes by the time I actually start writing the whole thing instead of excerpts n stuff.

Thank you for reading~

[nordens-lejon]

Pervitin and Skis

Sufin oneshot I wrote last night.

During WW2, Timo finds himself in the hospital after an accident. Berwald comes to visit him. Based on a true story.

7 April 1944

Timo had never imagined he’d be grateful to find himself in a hospital. But then again, he’d never expected to find himself spending a week in a snow-filled ditch with one calf reduced to mincemeat. A lumpy hospital bed felt like heaven compared to that. The bed was warm and clean, and he could sleep as much as he wanted. The nurses fed him spoonfuls of broth and mashed potatoes. Small portions, so as not to upset his stomach after two weeks without proper food.

The hospital had given Timo a private room, which had annoyed him at first. He’d been fighting with the other soldiers, so sure it was only fair that he got the same treatment as the humans in the military ward. The doctors said it was an attempt to keep the gossip down, and on some level, Timo understood that. The personification of Finland injured and hospitalized? Oh, the Soviets would have a propaganda field day with that.

Someone knocked. That was odd -- the doctors and nurses were coming in whether he liked it or not. Timo thought it might be the timid new orderly, but it was a tall, thin man in an ill-fitting gray suit, messenger bag at his side. A sickly-looking mustache perched on his upper lip.

“Sve!” Timo tried to sit up, but he got nowhere and it only made his stitches hurt. Sure, Berwald was dressed like he’d lost all vestige of fashion sense, but it was him nonetheless. “Oh, I must look horrid, but I never thought…”

“Shhhhh.” It came out as a sharp hiss, but Berwald quietly crossed the room and pulled a chair to the bedside.

“How did you get in?” Timo whispered. He held out a hand, and Berwald immediately took it. “They don’t want anyone to know I’m here. And aren’t you still technically neutral in the war? What if the Soviets find out that you visited? It’ll look like you’re taking sides.”

“The Soviets won’t find out.” Berwald ran his thumb over the back of Timo’s hand. “I set a trail. They think I’m in Malmo. As for the Finns,” he pulled out a badge and a bundle of documents, “I got papers. They think your boss sent me.” The print of the badge was just big enough for Timo to catch the words Director of Cadaver Gynecology.

“So that’s why you grew this.” Timo wiggled his hand free and reached for the mustache.

“Yeah.” Berwald gently pushed Timo back against the pillows with one big hand.

“It’s hideous. I hate it.”

“Sorry.”

“You needed a disguise, I get that, but holy Martin Luther, please shave that thing as soon as you can and never grow it out again. Maybe you should get a wig next time, because with that thing on your face, I can almost imagine myself turning down a kiss. Almost. Just maybe.”

Berwald’s eye sparkled and he pressed a kiss to Timo’s knuckles.

“Oh, you sap. You’re hopeless.” Timo chuckled in spite of himself.

“I am.”

“Of course you are. So you found out I’m here. Something must’ve leaked. What did you hear? They told me they don’t want the story to blow up. There’s the Soviets, and besides, it could hurt national morale.”

Berwald blinked. “They didn’t tell you? It’s been in the papers.”

“The papers?” Timo felt his stomach drop, and he slumped a little. Oh, if this hurt the Finnish war effort, he’d never live it down. “Perkele. What did they say?”

“That you were with your combat unit in Saami territory. On skis. And you took thirty doses of Pervitin.”

“It was an accident!” The words came out louder than anticipated. Berwald would believe him, of course, but he still felt some urge to defend his honor to the universe. “I’d never even taken Pervitin before!” He’d always been wary of those German-made pep pills. Chemists said they contained methamphetamine. “I only took it because I was so tired I was on the verge of passing out. There were Soviets on our tail! And I meant to take one, not thirty. I’d like to see you-- or anyone -- get one pill out of those tiny little tubes while wearing mittens. So I tried to, y’know, just pour one into my mouth.”

“Shhh, it’s okay.” Berwald reached forward and began stroking Timo’s hair.

“And I just, before I knew it, I’d downed the whole tube.” Timo swallowed and took a minute to take a deep breath and enjoy Berwald’s touch. It reminded him of easier, happier times. “Sorry. But please, don’t stop.”

“Mmm. I won’t. But go on.”

“Go on?”

“What happened next?”

“Oh.” Timo paused. “Well, I… I don’t remember much of it. It felt amazing, at first. Ecstatic. Like I’d been born a new man, with more energy than I’d ever had in my life. And then, it got to be too much, I started shaking. I thought I’d blacked out, but it turned out that I’d just kept skiing. I, I think I crashed through a Soviet camp, and they shot at me, but the doctors didn’t find any bullet wounds. Maybe I hallucinated it. But then, I came to my senses, or really, I came down enough to realize that I’d completely lost my unit, and I was all alone in the snowy forest. But there was so much energy in me that I felt compelled to keep going. To find someone. Anyone.”

Berwald’s brow furrowed. “How long had it been at that point?”

Timo shrugged. “I don’t know. A few days.”

“Did you stop to eat or sleep?”

“Sleep. I doubt it. Eat, no. I lost my supply pack.”

“No wonder you’re so thin.” Berwald ran a thumb along Timo’s cheekbones, which had never been visible before. “I don’t like it.”

“Not planning on staying this way, don’t you worry.” Timo managed a smile. He didn’t want to add that his once-portly body weighed only forty-one kilograms upon admission to hospital. That number would only make Berwald worry -- he was too fond of seeing Timo pampered and plump. “Anyway, not too long after that, I stepped on a landmine.”

“A landmine?”

“Yeah.” Timo gestured to his elevated right leg. The cast covered a mess of stitches and surgical pins. “The blast threw me right off my feet, blew out one of my eardrums, and my legs was, well, I remember this awful mess of blood and bone.”

“Christ almighty.”

“Yeah...I guess. I was still so high that I didn’t feel any pain, at least not at first. But I remember lying there in a ditch with my ears ringing. And I thought that this must be the end of my journey. Some hours passed, and nothing happened. So I figured I might live long enough for someone to find me, so I crawled to this sort of, well, dugout, and waited some more. And nobody came. Eventually, the Pervitin wore off enough that I could feel hunger. I could drag myself to a pine tree and I ate some pine buds. A jay landed on my hand, so I ate that too. I ate snow. Sorry,” he added, seeing the horrified look on Berwald’s face.

“Don’t be sorry. I want to know.” There was a pause “And I want to take you home right now and take care of you forever,” Berwald was flushing, as if he’d already said more than he’d intended, “but that, that’s beside the point.”

That was more than enough to warm Timo’s heart. “Maybe you can, if your disguise holds. I don’t think they’re going to let me back to the front.” Inherently, he was ashamed of that. Going back before the end of the war felt like quitting on his people. “There’s talk about sending me to Helsinki. I’m going to need crutches for a while. And physical therapy. But if you can keep up as Director of Cadaver Gynecology, maybe you can stay with me. At least for a little while.”

“Yes, maybe.” Berwald swallowed. “I’ll see what I can do.”

The prospect of Berwald in Helsinki might not take away the shame, Timo realized, but it did make the thought of a long convalescence a lot more bearable. “Thanks, big guy.” Almost suddenly, a wave of exhaustion swept over him. This talking was the most exertion he’d done since he’d been admitted.

“It’s nothing,” Berwald said. Another small pause. “You didn’t finish.”

“Finish what?”

“The story. You stopped with eating snow in a ditch.”

“Oh, right.” Timo fought back a yawn. “I walked.”

“You what?”

“Walked. One night, I could see light through the trees, and I don’t know, I guess I was desperate enough that I got up and dragged myself over to them.”

“With your leg like…” Berwald pointed.

“Well, of course. But I made it to their camp, and I was so beat up, that I think I scared them, the poor humans. They called for an ambulance, and they brought me here.” And that,” this time, Timo couldn’t hold back the yawn, “is how I got myself into this whole embarrassing mess.”

“Embarrassing? Never mind, I should let you sleep.”

“Wait, don’t go!” Timo took Berwald’s wrist. “Not just yet. A few more minutes. And yes, of course it’s embarrassing. All this trouble because I couldn’t pick up a pill.”

Berwald set his jaw and kept silent for a moment. “I can’t say how you should feel, but the story’s earned your people’s admiration”

“Wait, what?” This was so surprising, Timo almost forgot how sick and tired he was. “What do you mean, admiration?”

“You’re still here, aren’t you? Yes, you made a mistake, but you’re still here. Thirty doses of Pervitin and two weeks in the woods would’ve killed lesser men. Men who aren’t as tough as Finns. I mean,” Berwald reached down for his messenger bag. “Plenty of your people have sent you cards and letters. Wishing you well, I’m guessing. Haven’t opened any.”

“Those are letters? What? Where did you get those?” Timo watched as Berwald opened the bag, revealing a heap of envelopes.

“Your public PO box. In Helsinki.”

“Right, forgot I gave you a spare key.” The envelopes were mostly white, with occasional blue and pink mixed in. And there were so many of them. Maybe some of them were admonishing him for his stupidity and carelessness, but if even a few were wishing him an easy recovery, well, it was a small consolation, but he felt better. “Do you think you can open one? Read one to me? Do you remember your Finnish?”

“Of course I remember Finnish.” Berwald cupped Timo’s cheek, then picked an envelope from the top of the pile and tore it open. Inside was a generic get-well card with a picture of teddy bear, but somehow, the mass-produced kitsch made it charming. “How ‘bout you get some rest? I’ll read while you settle down to sleep.”

Oh, wasn’t that right in the money. Timo sank back against the pillows and closed heavy eyelids. Lumpy hospital bed heaven was even better with Berwald by his side.

“Dear Mr. Finland,” Berwald began, “I was shocked to hear news of your accident, but I must say that I have never heard a more remarkable story of survival. That’s truly the Finnish spirit, isn’t it? Carrying on and making do in spite of the odds. You’ve reminded me of...”

Berwald’s voice was lovely and soothing, but that was all he heard before sleep claimed him, heavy, comfortable, and reassuring.

Closing notes: For anyone who’s unfamiliar, Pervitin was an methamphetamine-based performance-enhancing drug that was developed by the Germans, who proceeded to give it out to their troops like it was candy. Timo’s story here is based on that of Aimo Koivunen, a Finnish soldier who accidentally took 30 doses of Pervitin, spent two weeks in the woods, stepped on a landmine and lived to tell the tale. He made a full recovery and lived to the age of 72. You can read Koivunen’s story in his own words here.

[heavenly-roman]

how sweet it is (to be loved by you)

Plot: Prince Virgil makes a new friend.

Warnings: mentions of a dead parent, kissing

Pairing(s): anxceit

Word Count: 2899

for my lovely boyfriend @figurative-siren-song as part of the @sanderssidesgiftxchange !! happy holidays cas, i love you ❤️ (also!! a big thank you to @ratherstarryeyed for acting as a beta!! ur a simp and i appreciate u!!)

chapter one - chapter two

+++

The carriage shakes as the horses trot onto the gravel, Virgil holding his head up with his fist.

“Virgil, please, could you look at least a little interested?” His mother isn’t quite scolding, her tone just edging on exasperated.

“You always told me not to lie, though,” grumbles Virgil. The Queen fixes him with a glare, and he sighs, forcefully smiling. “Better?”

“Much,” she replies teasingly. The carriage comes to a stop, and she turns her full attention to her son. “Please try to be respectful.”

“When have you known me to be disrespectful?” Virgil’s mischievous grin causes his mother to crack a smile.

“Behave, Virgil,” she tells him fondly. The door opens, and the driver helps his mother out of the carriage. He then moves to Virgil’s side, and the Prince grumbles again, something about being able to help himself, thank you very much.

Standing outside of the foreign palace is the royal family, the king and queen—whose names Virgil forgot to remind himself of before they arrived—and their son, Prince Janus. Their guards surround them, and Virgil finds himself counting the amount of men during the small talk.

“A pleasure to see you again, Your Majesties,” Virgil’s mother greets the family, bowing. She flicks Virgil on the back of the head, and he bows as well.

“The pleasure is ours,” replies the King. He faces Virgil and bows, who scrambles to bow again. “Good evening, Your Highness. I believe you’ve yet to meet our son, Prince Janus, who will be your tour guide for this visit. I’m sure you two will get on well.”

Prince Janus bows, and Virgil is getting real sick of bowing already. He holds his gloved hand out, beckoning Virgil. “Our parents have much to discuss, please follow me to your chambers.”

Hesitantly, Virgil takes his hand, letting the Prince lead him to who knows where. Janus doesn’t speak, and Virgil is not about to start a conversation with a near stranger, so the walk is silent.

“Here,” says Janus, stopping abruptly, and Virgil catches himself just in time to not crash into him. “This is your room.”

“You’re a lot less polite than before,” Virgil thinks aloud.

“Congratulations, Einstein, I had no clue,” Janus snarks. “No royal obligation to be polite without my parents around.”

“So no tour?” Virgil asks.

“Not unless you pay me, Prince Purple.” Janus scoffs. “I only willingly spend time with people I like.”

“How do you know you don’t like me if you haven’t spent time with me?”

“Are you royal?”

Bewildered, Virgil gestures to himself. “Clearly.”

“Then I don’t like you,” Janus deadpans.

Before Virgil can defend himself, Janus turns, walking away from the most baffling conversation Virgil has ever had.

+++

“So, Prince Virgil,” the Queen addresses him. “Did Janus give you a satisfactory tour of the palace?”

Janus glares at him from above his wine glass, and Virgil swallows hard.

“Uh, Yes, it was… good,” he says lamely, cringing at his very eloquent word choice.

“Wonderful!” She smiles. “So you’ll have no problem finding your way around for the next few months.”

“Months?” Both Virgil and Janus exclaim, twin expressions of shock on both their faces.

“Yes, well…” Virgil’s mother starts. “We believe the best way to continue the peace between our kingdom would be… a marriage.”

“I don’t have a sister, Mother,” Virgil says, though he’s sure he knows where this is going.

“I do know how many children I have, Virgil,” she says, nearly rolling her eyes. “Dear, do you remember what you told me last month? About your… preferences?”

“Are you saying that we have to get married?” Janus interrupts, his expression a mix of fear and mild disgust.

“Janus, don’t be rude!” his father admonishes. “This is the most sound way to keep the peace.”

“Well,” Virgil shrugs, knowing this is an argument he can’t win. He glances at Janus. “Looks like you’re going to be finding out if you like me.”

+++

Janus, to his credit, does decide to take Virgil on a tour after dinner.

“And here is the library,” Janus says, the same bored tone he’s carried throughout the whole night.

Virgil moves away from Janus’, wandering through the hundreds of bookshelves, awestruck. He plucks book after book, scanning the contents and putting them back.

“What, don’t have a library back home?” Janus snarks, just a hint of fondness in his voice that he will deny if brought up.

“Not as big as this, no,” says Virgil, still starstruck. “I think we have a third of your collection.”

“My father loves reading,” Janus shrugs. “He used to read to me when I was a child.”

“He doesn’t read as much anymore?” Virgil asks absently as he continues flipping through random books he finds.

“No time,” Janus sighs. “Too much responsibility now, being the King and all. Did you ever read with your dad?”

Janus knows he said the wrong thing as he watches Virgil’s shoulders tense and his hands pause.

“No,” he says, his voice tight. “I didn’t get to read with my father.”

“Virgil—“

“Drop it.” He forces a teasing smile. “You may be my fiancé, but save the personal questions for after the wedding.”

Janus lets the silence drag on, watching Virgil once again become mesmerized by the array of novels.

“Virgil?” Janus calls, tentative. His head shoots up, and Janus clears his throat. “We had a nook. Would you like to see it?”

The other prince nods, and Janus grabs his hand—so he doesn’t get lost, shut up—and leads him to a dark corner of the library.

A worn down chair sits there, as well as another, much smaller bean bag chair. There’s a table as well, holding up a desk lamp and a few books, all collecting dust.

“I guess that one was the Kings?” Virgil says, pointing to the bean bag. Janus snorts, shaking his head fondly.

“You’re a handful, Prince Virgil.”

“So I’ve been told, Prince Janus.”

+++

When he’s not being dragged around the palace by his fiancé, Virgil chooses to spend most of his time in his room, overthinking.

The hand holding. The snarky comments laced with fondness. The scooching chairs to sit closer. The flushed cheeks when Janus innocently compliments him—

Fuck.

Virgil has a crush.

Virgil has a crush on someone who he barely even knows.

It’s not like he can help it, with the way Janus smiles at him, and the way his eyes twinkle with mischief before he does something that’s bound to get the two into trouble.

“Virgil?” A knock startles him out of his thoughts, Janus peeking his head in and smiling when his eyes meet Virgil’s. “You okay?”

“Of course!” Virgil says, trying to keep his recent realization to himself. He smiles tightly. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because I knocked on your door about four times before you answered?” Janus raises his eyebrow. He shuts the door and sits opposite of Virgil on the bed. “You’re hiding something.”

“Just lost in thought, I suppose,” Virgil shrugs. At Janus’ skeptical look, he sighs. “Seriously, Jan, I’m fine.”

“Okay,” Janus says after a minute or so. “I trust you to tell me if something is wrong, so I believe you.”

“Wow, thanks,” Virgil’s sarcasm seeps into his words. “So kind of you to trust me after continuous convincing.”

Janus grabs Virgil’s hands, and Virgil’s cheeks do not heat up, thank you very much. “You know I really do trust you, right? You’re one of the few.”

“Of course I do, Jay,” Virgil squeezes his hands. He chuckles. “Gotta trust your fiancé.”

Janus pulls his hands away with a fond head shake, and Virgil resists the urge to pout. “Nope, that’s it, you ruined the moment, we’re getting a divorce.”

“We’re not married yet, you idiot,” Virgil says between laughs.

“You’re right,” Janus ponders. He drops to one knee, miming opening a ring box. “Prince Virgil, will you marry me?”

Virgil gasps, holding an exaggeratedly shocked hand to his chest. “Of course I’ll marry you, Prince Janus!”

“Perfect,” Janus nods. “I want a divorce.”

“You love me too much to divorce me,” Virgil says before he can think about it.

“Gross Virgil, that’s gay,” he scoffs, before leaning in to clarify, “not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course. In fact, my own fiancé is gay.”

Virgil is laughing too hard to respond, and Janus joins in, both laughing until their stomachs hurt.

Janus forgets why he came to visit Virgil in the first place.

+++

“Are you even gay?” Virgil blurts one day.

Janus sputters, almost choking on his wine. “I beg your pardon?”

“Do you like men?” Virgil asks, clearly not backing down. He doesn’t hope for a certain answer, absolutely not.

“I…” Janus swallows hard. “I thought we were saving personal questions for after the wedding?”

“Janus.”

“I don’t want to discuss this, Virgil—”

“My father died when I was young.”

“Virgil, you don’t have to—”

“I never read with him because he was gone by the time I knew how. My mother doesn’t like to talk about him, and I don’t remember much about him, so…” Virgil shrugs. “I avoid talking about him.”

“I… Vee, I’m so sorry,” Janus frowns. “I couldn’t imagine my life without my father.”

“I can’t imagine my life with mine,” Virgil sighs. “So, I answered your personal question. You can answer mine.”

“Virgil.” Janus fixes him with an incredulous look. “Did you tell me about your father because you’re nosy?”

“I’m not nosy,” Virgil huffs. “I just want to know if my fiancé is attracted to me.”

Janus smirks, leaning impossibly close to Virgil. “Why do you want to know? Does someone have a little crush?”

“What? No!” Virgil flushes, and hides his hands in his sleeves.

“No need to be embarrassed, dear,” drawls Janus. His smirk grows wider. “It’s cute.”

Virgil pushes Janus’ chest away from him as the latter laughs. “You’re a jerk, Jay.”

“That’s no way to speak to your fiancé, Prince Virgil,” Janus gasps, an offended hand placed on his chest.

“It is when your fiancé is a jerk,” reasons Virgil.

Janus’ offence doesn’t lessen, and the two playfully argue for the next two hours.

Not that either of them are counting.

+++

[babi-correia]

What Could Have Been (Part 13)

Words: 1655 Warnings: Poorly written medical stuff, mention and treatment of injuries, PTDS (kinda?)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 |  Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12

When you come to, you’re having trouble breathing, and if that isn’t enough, the previous events rush to you all at once and your thoughts spin out of control. Suddenly, you’re not in a building in the middle of Chicago anymore; you can feel yourself being blinded by the scorching sun from Afghanistan, you can see the dust in the air, feel the sand under you.

“No, no, this isn’t happening.” You panic, feeling the searing pain on the right side of your hip. Your breathing picks up and your hands start shaking. “I’m in Chicago, I’m in Chicago, I’m not a Marine anymore, Deft Hawk is over.”

You repeat it to yourself like a mantra, shutting your eyes and feeling the tightness in your chest increasing.

“Get me out of here!” You manage to shriek, feeling a scratch in your throat. “For the love of everything, get me out!”

-

Jay looks at Kayla as she stops dead in her tracks, her ears perked up as she presses her nose to the floor.

“You got something there, girl?” He asks, giving her more lead as she moves around and starts whining. “Good girl! Can you find an entrance?”

He unlatches the leash as Kayla searches around, stopping by a displaced slab of concrete. He hears a faint voice coming from under the rubble and his heartrate picks up as he crouches.

“I got something here!” He calls out as he grabs the concrete slab and shoves it out of the way slightly, creating a tiny gap that exposes the hallway underneath.

The firefighters gather around him, someone calling out orders that Jay doesn’t listen; his mind rests solely on the fact that you’re probably down under the rubble, and he must find a way to get to you.

The firefighters join him in moving the concrete slab, opening the gap more and more until a person can go through. Before anyone can process what’s happening, Kayla jumps in and starts barking and running. Jay curses and thinks for a moment before jumping after her, ignoring the calls from the firefighters behind him.

“Halstead!” Severide calls out, making him look up. Jay sees him and Stella peeking into the hole, concern stamped on their face. “Are you out of your mind?”

“I heard her, and I’m not leaving her down here alone.” He says, his jaw clenched tight.

“Wait a bit.” Stella says, earning a confused look from Severide as she gets up and calls someone over. “Move back!”

A bag falls to the floor in front of him, and he recognizes it to be medical supplies.

“Look, we can’t send anyone else in there, it’s too unsafe. We’re going to secure everything the most we can and help you get her out, but for now you’re on your own.” Severide informs, looking glum. “That’s why you shouldn’t have jumped in.”

“I don’t care about that.” Jay says, picking up the bag from the floor and hearing Kayla bark in the next hallway over.

“I’m going to be on channel 3.” Will’s voice comes through before he peeks from the hole too, his red hair disheveled and sweat dotting his forehead. “Be careful, Jay.”

“Always.” He mutters, turning around and calling for Kayla. The dog comes to him and he clips the leash back on her vest before petting her. “Good girl, c’mon, let’s find her.”

The dog runs ahead of him, expertly dodging the debris and apparently following a pre-determined path. Jay slows down as he sees a firefighter’s helmet on the floor, the “3” in the front staring at him and making his heart skip a beat.

“C’mon Kayla, find her, c’mon.” He mutters to the dog, who looks back at him with big eyes and blinks. “You have to find her, I don’t know what I’ll do with myself if you don’t.”

Kayla whines and moves forward, turning a sharp corner and pulling at the leash, making Jay follow her. His breath hitches in his throat once he turns the corner, seeing you laying on the floor with a metal rod stabbing through your stomach and a nasty gash on your right leg. He hooks Kayla’s leash around one of his belt hoops and rushes forward, kneeling by you and removing your SCBA mask, wincing at the amount of blood sticking to your face and his hand shooting to your neck after a pulse. He sighs in relief when he feels a steady heartbeat, switching the radio’s channel with his free hand before pressing down on the button.

“Will, are you there?” Jay asks, flicking the button to leave the radio open. “I found her, but there’s a lot of blood everywhere.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean she’s impaled by a metal rod, her face is bloody, and she has a pretty deep laceration on her right thigh.” Jay says, undoing the front of your turnout coat and cutting it free from the rod with a pair of scissors from the medical bag.

“Expose the wounds the most you can, stabilize the rod, and do a tourniquet on her leg. Then, you’re going to start an IV for plasma, you have it on your bag. If you need more, come back to the hole and we’ll drop some more bags in.” Will says, the strain in his voice letting Jay know he’s dealing with other patients as they speak. “Let me know when you’re about to start the IV so I can talk you through it.”

Jay puts on the disposable gloves and cuts away the shirt around the rod, exposing enough skin to let him look and stabilize it. He feels himself paling as he sees the exit point of the rod, his hands fumbling around the bag in search for tape and gauze. He quickly stabilizes the rod, watching as the gauze quickly becomes red with blood, but moving on to your leg.

He unlatches the suspenders in the front and gingerly sets them out of your shoulders, pointing upwards. Kayla lays down by your head and licks your hand, whining as you don’t respond.

“You did good, girl.” Jay reassures, carefully pulling the turnout pants down. He peels away the fabric of your regular pants and winces at the blood coming out. “Oh, that does not look good.”

“What’s going on?” Will asks, reminding Jay his radio is open.

“There is a lot, and I mean a lot of blood coming out of the gash on her leg.” He mutters, fishing the tourniquet out of the bag and tying it around the very top of your thigh. “I don’t know how many plasma bags you have here, but either Severide stabilizes this fast or it’s not going to be enough.”

“Stabilize her for now, then we’ll see how to proceed. Focus on the task at hand, Jay.”

Jay nods to himself, securing a big wad of gauze against the gash.

“I’m ready for the IV, Will.” Jay says, checking everything in the bag again. “What do I need?”

“Take a cannula with a 16-gauge needle. A cannula is a little plastic thing that looks like a cross. The needle’s color code should be gray.” Will instructs as Jay rummages through the bag, making a victory noise when he finds the materials. “There’s a vein that leads to her middle finger, find it. If you can’t find it, grab her wrist until her veins pop up more. Clean the injection site, disinfect a wider area to make sure the dressing will adhere to her skin and not the dust. Once that’s done, insert the needle right atop the vein.”

Jay takes a deep breath, getting a small square of gauze and alcohol and disinfecting most of your hand before searching for the vein. He finds it fairly easily, but his hands are shaking when he places the needle in place. He clenches his jaw as he pushes the needle in.

“Inserted the needle, now what?” Jay asks, unable to keep the shakiness out of his voice.

“Above all, stay calm. You see the green thing at the end of the needle? It’s the catheter, push it forward slightly. It’s normal for blood to come out, it means it’s in the right spot. After that, take off the needle and connect the cannula to the catheter.”

Jay does as instructed, releasing a breath he didn’t know he was holding when a small stream of blood comes out into the catheter. He removes the needle and inserts the cannula, grabbing some modified tape to secure it against the back of your hand.

“Done. Now what?”

“Get the plasma bag, place the bag somewhere above her and let it drip into the tube. Make sure there’s no air, and then connect it to the cannula.” Will says, his voice steadier than Jay feels himself. “You’re doing great. After that you can see if you can get her to regain consciousness.”

Jay sets up the plasma bag on a small ledge of concrete, watching as it drips down the tube. Once he makes sure there’s no air in the tube, he connects it and sighs, feeling a weight come off his shoulders.

He gently wipes some hair off your face, getting a gauze and dipping it in antiseptic, beginning to wipe most of the blood from your face when a loud crash makes the whole structure shake.

“What the fuck was that!?” Jay asks, getting silence for a while before the radio comes to life.

“Some part of the access you went in through came down.” Severide’s voice comes through. “Everything is very unstable and we’re doing the best we can, but clearly we can’t rush it or everything might crumble down.”

Jay lets out an irritated groan, sitting down on the floor as he looks at you and Kayla, the dog’s muzzle resting on your shoulder as she lazily licks your neck.

-

@thexplosivegirl | @godohammers | @savingprivatecass​ | @princxss-fia | @fullwattpadmusictree​ | @bethii1​ | @doramstr​ | @annaallicce​ | @hehurst23​ | @dreamslove92 | @lostsoulwalking | @magicxshadows​ | @lookatallthefeels | @miranda0102​ | @killjoys-make-some-noise-na-na​ | @corebore123​ | @talicat713​ | @jayxuptons​ | @detectiveinchicago​ | @cozyfandoms​ | @justanotheronechicagofan​ | @redsmemories​ | @nocturnalherb16​ | @lovejessejay​ | @zizzlekwum​ | @music-is-my-escape71 | @inlovewith3​ | @panaitbeatrice​ | @goingwiththewind​ | @sesamepancakes​ | @caitoszmerlo​ | @rebel-without-care​ | @poguesvixen​ | @cookiecakeslive​ | @csigeoblue​

[like-a-bag-of-potatoes]

Playing With Fire - Girls Night Out

A/N: So this is my first crack at Chicago fire fanfiction, so don't judge too hard, alright? This will unfold from the beginning of season three, so if you haven't watched it yet, but plan to; SPOILER ALERT! I tried to follow along with the storyline of the show, but some things have been changed. Shout out to my superawesome beta @thorne93, you rock! 

Fandom: Chicago Fire

Pairing: Kelly Severide x Beth (OFC) 

Warnings: Language probably. Drinking

Wordcount: 2245

Beth stood in front of her TV, coffee in hand as she watched the morning news in disbelief. A helicopter had crashed and landed on top of a building, the reporter on scene kept talking as the camera panned out and captured the unbelievable scene that unfolded. 

“Witnesses say that there are still people trapped inside the helicopter, but luckily the Chicago fire department is on the scene and working tirelessly to get everyone out safe.” 

She couldn't really make out any faces or the names on the uniforms, but the big white ‘81’ on one of the trucks was easy enough to see, and her heart sank in her chest. Everyone she knew and loved in Chicago was on that scene.

With eyes glued to the TV she paced back and forth in her apartment, her heart beating a million miles an hour. “They have to be alright,” she said to herself, feeling more helpless than she had ever done before. 

She didn't really register what she was doing when she jumped in her car and headed for the fire house. There wasn't really anything she could do for any of them right now, but she was sure as hell gonna make sure they returned to a hot meal. The plan was to make some lasagnas that they could easily heat up and then get out of there before they returned, but it didn't really work out like that. 

One by one they poured into the kitchen, their somber faces revealing the impact of the day they had had.

“Beth? What are you doing here?” Gabby asked, surprised and happy to see her friend. 

“I saw you all on the news and figured you’d be hungry when you got back,” she explained. 

“You weren't wrong, kid,” Herrmann said with appreciation in his voice. 

“You’re the best,” Otis chimed in.

“The best,” Cruz repeated, backing up his best friend. 

Beth gave Gabby a tight hug. “I'm glad you’re okay,” she said. Over Gabby’s shoulder, she locked eyes with Kelly and gave him a small smile, but he just averted his eyes and walked away. “What's his deal?” 

“Who?” Gabby wondered, turning around just in time to see Kelly disappear down the hall. “Oh. Brittany showed up to the scene today, all hysterical and shit because he wasn't answering her calls and texts,” she explained. 

“Wow. That's… a lot.” 

“Yeah,” Gabby agreed. 

“Alright,” Beth said a little louder. “I'm gonna get out of your hair,” she announced as she started backing out of the room. 

“You’re not gonna eat with us?” Mills asked. 

“Nah. I have a bar to open. Since my bosses are all busy saving the day and shit,” she said with a chuckle. 

Goodbyes were mumbled through mouthfuls of food as Beth walked away. She had no intentions of looking for Kelly, but she saw him sitting in his office and her feet just walked themselves over there and she knocked on the open door. “Hey,” she said softly. 

“This really isn't a good time,” he said in an annoyed tone. It wasn't Beth he was angry at, he knew that, but he couldn't help the annoyance in his voice. 

“Just wanted to say I'm glad you’re okay. I saw the news earlier and I just… I'm glad you made it back in one piece,” she offered. 

Kelly sighed. “Thanks, Beth,” he said with half a smile. 

“I'll leave you to it.” 

He followed her with her eyes as she walked away, but his mind was on his wife and the inevitable fight that would come later. Beth would never have showed up at a scene like that. 

***

“Haagen Dazs and beer.” Those were the first words out of Gabby’s mouth when Beth opened the door. “I need a girls night.” 

“You know I'm not gonna say no to that,” Beth said, taking the tub of ice cream from Gabby and letting her inside her apartment. 

Things had been kind of rough between Gabby and Matt since she had started working on truck 81 and Matt became her Lieutenant. It was a difficult situation for the both of them and definitely something that would take some time to get used to and to find their new pace. 

They both fell onto Beth's couch with deep sighs. “You first,” Beth ordered. 

“It's this whole candidate/lieutenant thing,” she said twisting open a beer. “It's not working at home and it's not working at work.” 

“I'm sorry,” Beth offered. “You'll find a way to make it work. I'm sure of it,” she tried to assure her friend. Gabby and Matt were strong, solid, so there was no doubt in her mind that they would make it through, one way or the other. 

“Thanks. Got any advice?” Gabby asked through a mouthful of ice cream.

“Dude. I literally drove the guy I like all the way to Vegas where he married a stripper,” she noted with a humorless laugh. “Not sure I'm the best to give out relationship advice.” 

“Graphic designer,” Gabby corrected, pointing her spoon at Beth. 

“Allegedly,” Beth countered, making them both chuckle. “You know what?” She suddenly said. 

“What?” 

Beth got to her feet, Gabby watching her with furrowed brows. “It's Friday night. We shouldn't be in here eating and drinking our feelings. We should be out in some club, getting our dance on. We’re young and half of us are single… let's go paint the town.” 

Gabby mulled it over for a quick second and then jumped on the bandwagon. “You go get dressed right now, and then we’ll stop by my place on our way downtown.” 

Beth hesitated for a second. “I'll just wait in the car while you get ready,” she said, not wanting to run into a certain roommate. 

“Kelly isn't home. He and Brittany had a date night planned. You’re safe.” 

Ten minutes later, Beth reappeared from the bathroom, a short black dress hugging her body, completed with teal accessories to give it a pop of color. “Yay or nay?” she asked

“Definitely yay,” Gabby replied. “Now let's hustle.” 

**

Beth stood in Gabby’s kitchen with Matt and waited for her friend to get ready. The longer she stayed there, the greater the chance she'd run into Kelly, and that was the last thing she needed right now. 

“Want a beer?” Matt asked, but Beth shook her head. “You can relax, they’re not here,” he assured. 

“I don't know what you’re talking about,” Beth lied, making Matt chuckle.

He was just about to call her out on it when they heard the front door and Beth went stiff. 

“Casey, have you seen my wallet?” Kelly called out. 

Beth was hidden from his view and she would really like to keep it that way, but then a sly grin appeared on Matt’s face and Beth noticed the little black walled on the kitchen counter. She looked up at Matt with big, pleading eyes, shaking her head vigorously. 

“Yeah, it's in here,” Matt called out, still smiling. 

“Thanks man,” Kelly said, not noticing Beth at first. “Got all the way across town before I noti…” his words trailed off there as his eyes finally found Beth. She looked amazing, so much so that he had a hard time getting words out. “You look… wow.” 

“Thank’s,” she said shyly. Luckily, Gabby was just done getting ready and walked in to interrupt the awkward scene that was unfolding. “I'll wait for you in the car,” Beth said to her friend before she turned on her heel and started walking away, praying to some higher power that she wouldn't trip on her high heels and fall on her ass. 

“Don't wait up, babe,” Gabby said before kissing Matt on the cheek. “And you might want to wipe that drool from your chin before you get back to your wife,” she said with a coy smile to Kelly. 

***

Couple of hours at a loud club was more than either Beth or Gabby could manage before they hopped in a cab and headed for Molly’s. It was great to be out and about and Beth was definitely taking advantage of her evening off, pouring ‘em down like it was her last hurrah. Gabby held back a little, but she didn't want to be a buzz kill, so she just kept an eye on her friend. It wasn't often that Beth got out and it was great to see her in such a good mood for once. 

Molly’s was packed, but Gabby found them a couple of seats while Beth went to get drinks. 

“One beer and one Mojhito, please,” she requested from Otis with a huge smile, leaning on the bar counter. “Oh, and don't make it too sweet,” she added. 

“Coming right up,” Otis said and got to work. 

“You look really nice today,” Kelly complimented from her right. 

Honestly, she hadn't even noticed him sitting there. “Thank you. Girls night,” she explained. 

“I can see that,” he noted with a smile. She was clearly inebriated, but it was nice to see her relax and enjoy herself. “Don't think I’ve ever seen you all dolled up,” he noted. 

“Well, that's because you never took me out,” she countered, no accusation in her voice. “Thank you, barkeep,” she chirped as Otis returned with her order. “Now if you gentlemen will excuse me.” 

And with that, she went to search for Gabby, who she found at a table with a bunch of people from CPD. 

It was a fun night, lots of laughter, good conversation, and alcohol. The crowd gradually thinned out and about half an hour before closing, Gabby too called it quits, leaving Beth and Halstead behind as the last two of their group. Herrmann and Otis were getting ready for closing while Kelly sat at the bar and nursed his drink still. 

“This has been a really fun evening,” Jay noted, taking a swing from his beer. 

“I agree. Nice to be on the other side of the bar for a change,” Beth said, stirring her drink with a straw. Now that things were quieting down around her, some of the sadness she had been carrying around returned. “Think I'm ready to call it, though,” she added as an afterthought. 

“Alright,” Jay dragged. “Let me call you a cab,” he offered. 

“I literally live 3 houses down from here. But thanks for the offer.” 

“Okay. Can I walk you home then?” he pushed. 

It was pretty obvious what he was getting at, and Beth wasn't completely opposed to the idea, just the circumstances. “Alright. Just know that I have a pretty strict rule. No hookups after three drinks, and I’m definitely more than three drinks in this evening.” She really hoped she didn't come across as conceited, but she was pretty sure that this was where things were heading. 

“Why? I can assure you that I'll be just as devilishly handsome in the morning,” he joked making her laugh. “My intentions are honorable, I promise. Just want to make sure you get home in one piece.” he assured. 

“Meet me outside? I'm just gonna say goodnight.” 

Jay headed outside and Beth made her way over to the bar, as far from where Kelly was sitting as was possible. “Thanks again for covering my shift tonight, Otis. I owe you one.” 

“Don't mention it,” he said, barely looking up from the paperwork he was getting ready before closing. 

“Alright,” she said a little louder. “Night fellas.” 

“Hey,” Kelly called out, jumping off his chair to catch up to her before she left. He had spent the last hour and a half watching her and Halstead get all cozy and he didn't like it one bit. “Let me walk you home?” he asked in a kind voice, not knowing that there was already someone waiting for her outside. 

“Uhm…. no thanks,” she said simply. 

“Come on. Just want to make sure you get back safe,” he told her. 

She looked into those beautiful blue eyes of his and for some reason she felt herself get angry. “No, Kelly. You promised me some space, remember?” 

“You didn't seem so concerned about your space when you came looking for me at the station the other day,” he retorted. 

“I wasn't there for you. I was there to make sure my friends were all safe and in one piece,” she defended. 

Before Kelly could say anything else, Jay stuck his head through the door. “You coming?” he asked and Beth just gave him a reassuring nod and then he was out the door again. 

“Unbelievable,” Kelly snorted. “Halstead?” 

“Go home to your wife, Lieutenant,” she spat before she turned on her heel and made her way out of there. 

“You okay?” Jay asked as they started their little walk back to her apartment, seeing the change in her mood. 

“Yeah, I'm fine,” she assured, looking up at him. “I have a question for you, Detective.” 

“Hit me.” 

“Those intentions of yours,” she started, referring to the conversation they had a few minutes ago. “Still honorable?” 

“As honorable as you want them to be.” 

Beth looked up at him with a coy smile as she slipped her hand into his, lacing their fingers together. That way she was telling him without words what she was thinking. It was probably a bitch move on her part, using him like that, but right then she didn't care. She just wanted to forget. 

Tags: @campingmonkey​ @deansgirl215​ @thevelvetseries​