#he's tiredly judging y'all

[backmuscles21]

Moments With You

Poly Recoms x Reader

Summary: some of your favourite fluffy moments with your recom lovers.

Not super long, but I know y'all have been fiending for more of our beautiful recoms.

Warnings: implied sexual content, explicit language, nudity, domestic fluff.

You always found yourself laughing, you would think about the things that you did with your lovers. All these hardened soldiers, these stoic and strong men and women and you’d do dumb domestic stuff with them. stuff they never thought they’d ever do and hear you were acting drunk in love. You’d have pillow fights, bubble baths, tickle fights, you’d fake wrestle, you would bake together, you’d cuddle and watch movies. These people were supposed to be the protector of mankind, the strongest of the front line and they were holding you like the most precious object to them.

They were people who crushed skulls with their giant blue mitts, had so much innocent blood on their hands and they held you like you could break if they breathed too hard on you. Yet somehow, they still liked to fuck the shit out of you and leave you with bruises in the morning.

You would commonly sing a random song that was playing in your headphones while you cleaned, you would start scrubbing the countertops and you’d just have to sing your favourite parts. You’d never hear any of the soldiers coming up on you, you’d be cleaning and singing also probably a little dancing. Then you’d feel arms around your waist, you’d be lifted up against someone’s chest. You’d let out a girly shriek as you’d drop the sponge you were using and took an earbud out. You had a feeling it was one of your lovers and as you turned around you saw Lyle who was smirking at you and trying not to laugh as he let go of you.

“Asshole,” you’d laugh out at him at slapped him on his arm.

Lyle laughed and pulled you into a hug, your head rested on his chest as his arm wrapped around your shoulders.

“You scared the shit out of me.”

“You looked cute. Not to mention these tights you wear while cleaning -mmm- damn baby, I could eat you up.”

You let out a scoffed laugh, you kissed his chest and pushed away from him. “Okay, I gotta finish otherwise this place would be a mess.”

“Wow, what a cockblock.”

“I’ll block your cock later. Or get Miles to do it,” you smiled to yourself as you grabbed the sponge on the floor.

One of your favourite things to do was get in a shower after a mission, you were dirty and sweaty and nothing was better than getting clean and smelling good. It got better when you had company, which was often, one of the boys heard you showering or followed you into the bathroom. They’d open the shower curtain and see you scrubbing your body, now they had to admit you were extremely good looking but this was about sex.

Commonly Miles was the one to join you, he’d be the last in the communal recom bathroom since as the colonel he had to do so many different reports and debriefings. Well, he would shower before writing any reports, there were always things he had to do. You just took your sweet time showering, especially when you didn’t have someone with you to judge you for wanting to be in the warm water for 30 minutes.

You’d see him tiredly walking in and removing his clothes, when he walked into the shower stalls you reached out and pulled him into you. He sighed tiredly as you held him close, you then grabbed some soap and got started on scrubbing his body. You started to scrub all the dirt and blood off his arms before ensuring that you really got into the knuckles of his hands and under his nails. You started to scrub at his scalp, he purred at the feeling of your nails massaging his scalp. His hands held onto your waist as his forehead rested against yours, you just stood in the shower connected by your hands and your foreheads. It was the most intimate of times you had with any of them, although Zdog enjoyed it, she’d get freaked out after a while and try to start getting handsy.

Even better when you heard about this the following morning, but you were in Prager’s room for the night. You had woken up to use the bathroom and slowly trudged out of the bedroom to the bathroom. You barely had your eyes open so you didn’t see Lopez and Ja snickering on the couch as you shuffled along the floor in Prager’s sweatpants. They were too big on you and sat low on your hips not to mention how you were stepping on them and you were in a tank top that was showing off your midriff and your cleavage.

“Whose room is she in tonight?”

“I think Prager’s,” Ja responded.

“I mean she’s wearing his clothes.”

“They probably smashed and she threw on his clothes to go to the bathroom.”

They laughed as you walked back out and went back into Prager’s room. They told you about it in the morning and you smiled embarrassingly at them.

“Come on, you looked cute,” Ja said kissing your head.

“She was wearing your clothes, Prager. Time to get primal,” Lopez said while snickering.

“She wasn’t wearing it when she went to sleep,” Prager smirked back.

“You guys are gross.”

“Shoulda just come out wearing nothing. It's not like we haven’t seen it before,” Lopez said hugging you.

“I have decency you know. I hang out with too many boys.”

Another thing that happens often is you’d wake up earlier than them and go to the gym before them. you liked that more since you could blast your own music and actually focus on working out rather than knowing that you had so many different eyes on you watching your ass or your tits as you worked out.

You’d blast your rap music at a high volume and get your squat rack ready, you were already dripping sweat from sprinting earlier. You would occasionally sing along to some of your favourite parts of the different songs. As you were in the zone squatting away, you didn’t even notice a few of the recoms enter the gym.

“Didn’t know you listened to this,” Zdog said to you as she stood in front of you.

You nodded to her and looked around to see Walker, Mansk, Lyle and Miles.

“You’re looking good babe,” Lyle winks at you from the free weights.

You rolled your eyes and smiled at him.

Walker walked up to you as you put the bar back down, she smacked your ass hard.

“Ow,” you looked at her while you rubbed your butt cheek with a pout.

“Come on, you’re wearing the tightest of spandex shorts and a sports bra. Your ass is just too good to resist.”

Walker gave it another lighter smack as you stood chest to chest. Her one arm stayed on your butt after smacking it to just hold it and squeeze it, the other stayed firmly around your waist. She ran her bottom lip through her teeth as she looked down at you hungrily. She moved her hands up your body to grab the straps to your sports bra, she pulled them down your arms as tits popped out. She smirked down at your boobs.

“These are real fucking nice.”

“Did you have to just take them out?”

“Nah, but I am enjoying myself.”

Your hands went to your hips as Walker’s hands cupped your boobs.

“Shit, are those (y/n’s) tits?” Fike said as he walked into the gym getting everyone’s attention. Zdog walked over to you and Walker and breathed out a laugh, Zdog went up behind Walker and rested her chin on Walker’s shoulder.

“So, whatdya gonna do with them?”

“Not sure yet. I just like looking.”

“You’re more than looking now, babe. You’ve got ‘em out and about and squeezing them in your hands.”

“Lemme get all up in there,” Lyle said as he came up to you three.

“Girls only,” Walker smirked at Lyle.

Later on, as you were in the shower, Mansk went to follow you, he had been riled up earlier. He walked into the communal bathroom and immediately heard you humming and singing. He walked a little further to see the showers, you had water dripping down your body and hair. Mansk could see your lips moving, your eyes were closed as you belted out one of your favourite songs that you felt you could sing well.

“Damn that’s hot,” Fike said as he rested his elbow on Mansk’s shoulder.

Mansk hummed and shrugged Fike’s elbow off of his shoulder.

“Are you guys just gonna stare?” You said with your back to them.

After your shower you got dressed and got ready for the day, you had to rebraid your hair and get it up out of your face for any of your military responsibilities. You were sat on your bed as you brushed all your hair back, you had tied it into a lower ponytail and started to brain down your que. You were still completely naked as you like to dry off completely before getting dressed.

“I see you’re all ready for me.”

You looked at your doorway as you saw Miles leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed and a smirk plastered on his forehead.

“I’m not like this for you, but I could be. After I finish my hair.”

“Do you want a hand?”

“The big bad Miles Quaritch knows how to braid hair?”

“Had to learn after we came back, yaknow, for this,” Miles said as he lifted his braided que.

“Who taught you?”

“I had two sisters growing up and in Texas, they taught me so I could do their hair.”

You laughed.

“You tell no one.”

“I’ll say Z taught u if someone asks.”

“Just don’t bring it up.”

“It’s cute that you did that for them though.”

Miles came into your room and closed the door; he sat down right behind you and finished your braid. He grabbed you and sat up on his legs, he held you close to his body, and your head rested on his shoulder as he rubbed your bare back.

Now this happened often, it honestly was one of your favourite things to do with the recoms, especially when all in the common room together. You’d stand behind someone, this time it was Prager, and your chin rested on his head. Your arms were wrapped around his neck, your hands rested on his chest and after a few moments of talking all around you stood up straighter and rested your hands on his shoulders.

Your hands just absentmindedly started to massage his shoulder; your hands squeezed at his tense muscles. He groaned lowly and rested his head back against the couch.

“Fuck that’s good.”

You smiled down at him as he had his eyes closed, you rubbed into his neck a little as well, his muscles were so tight.

“You enjoying yourself. You’re very tense.”

“Baby it’s fucking amazing. I needed this.”

“Wanna do me next?” Lopez says with a smirk.

“Sure, why not.”

Now, this rarely happened but occasionally things would get a little out of hand, but when it did, it had to be your favourite.

Currently, you were completely topless as Lyle chased you around with just his standard issues RDA track pants on. You held your boobs in your hands as you jumped up onto the couch to try and get away from Lyle. You would occasionally scream a little as Lyle laughed, he would follow you trying to catch you. You and him were playing around, he would answer one of your questions and you’d take an article of clothing off. It ended up with him lying and you being chased, it didn’t stop even as some of the other recoms entered the room.

“What is going on in here?” Miles asked in his commanding tone.

“Lyle cheated,” you said as you kept trying to run away.

“What are you talking about?” Mansk asked.

“We were playing a game and he cheated.”

“What on earth kind of game were you talking about?” Zdog asked.

“He was answering my questions and every right answer, I’d strip. But he lied.”

“So, that’s why you’re running around half-naked?” Miles asked.

“Come on, it’s not like you guys are complaining. She’s shirtless,” Lyle said as he caught up to you and picked you up.

He pressed kisses all over your face and down your chest, “gotcha.”

“Shut up,” you said as you rolled your eyes with a smile.

[jakeysbuttsheeks]

Godfather | 111

Warnings: profanity, age gap , mature themes , overdose , drug use , substance use , death of parent , orphaning , eating disorders, other weird shit

Parings : Jake X fem reader

Jake woke up stretching slightly, finding something restricting his movement ; you.

A smile cracked against his sleepy face when he was reminded of what happened last night and how the two of you had fallen asleep together.

You were still hugging Jake tight with your cheek squished against the pillow right infront of his face , his eyes danced over your face and at the way your lips pursed out slightly.

He sucked his own lips in , fighting the urge to just lean in, barely an inch and press his lips against yours. Your lips look so inviting and irresistible and all Jake could do was stare at them , imaging what they would feel like against his lips , or on his neck or around his coc-

no.

He immediately got out of your hold as fast as lighting and sat off the bed , looking down between his legs to find himself semi hard. Morning wood.

He looked back at you still sound asleep. He cursed himself under his breath and headed out your room quickly and silently , softly shutting the door behind him .

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You woke up later , hurrying out of the house to work. You were almost half an hour late .

"slow down! Have breakfast" Jake yelled as you hopped your shoes on.

"I'm so late I can't" you shake your head.

"Don't go then" Jake says and you stare at him "haha" you say sarcastically.

"no I'm serious. Let's go out today. It's Saturday" Jake speaks , walking up from behind the kitchen island . Jake didn't have to go to the studio on weekends so he was free.

"but- my boss will yell-" you sigh .

"he's gonna yell anyway since you're late. Might as well enjoy it" Jake says .

"point" you sigh and look at floor , trying to think .

"you work too hard. Give yourself a break. It's my treat" he pressed.

"this isn't because you pity me because of yesterday right?" You squint at him with a smile and he bursts out laughing.

"it might be" he joked , his smile wide as ever .

"C'mon, where'd you wanna go?" He asks , pulling his phone out of his pocket .

"oh! Let's go shopping! Let's go to the mall. You always complain about your clothes" Jake says , looking through his phone at something in excitement.

"I do not!" You defend and he laughs again.

"oh- or we could go for a movie. Or we could just go for a drive" Jake rambles . And you stand there wondering why he so desperately wanted to take you out.

"or! We could just do all of that!" Jake looks at you with his eyes wide and bright in excitement.

"what- no-!" You immediately disagree.

"why not?!" He asks , still excited.

"don't worry about the money y|n. It's my treat!" He says.

"no but I can't-" you hesitate.

"oh c'mon, please?" Jake tilts his head with a put on pout and you couldn't help but shy away and smile widely, Looking down at your feet before looking back up at him .

"fine-" you barely say as Jake lets out a Yelp of victory , making you laugh again .

"imma go get dressed. Have some breakfast and we'll go" he says as he walks off .

☆⋆⋅─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────⋆⋅☆

The two of y'all went on a long ride of just judging people and listening to music in the car , screaming out the lyrics while vibing hard in your seats .

Until the two of you got hungry and decided to stop at the mall . Y'all wandered around for almost an hour deciding where to eat. You were laughing the entire time with him like the both of you were high on something or something.

Y'all finally decided to have some Chinese, snickering at how Jake struggled to eat with chopsticks, the two of you almost choking on your food at the constant laughing, you were almost in tears.

"oh my god, I think I I'm dying" you tiredly say , you face red from laughing and so was Jake.

You looked at him and he looked at you too before the both of you started laughing again for no reason, practically wheezing as y'all left the restaurant.

"oh my god! There's a spa!" Jake gasp .

"no!" You choke out between your laugh as you tried to stop him from going in , but he dragged you in with him .

"we should get facials! And mendicures!" He gasped . And you burst out laughing so hard you almost caught the attention of of the whole store.

"it's a manicure!" You wheeze , tears pooling in your eyes as you stomach ached.

"and a pedicure is for your toes" you explain and he looked at you with a shocked squint , making you laugh harder.

"let's get both then" he says, laughing with you .

"mendicures!" You exclaim .

"mendicures!" Jake repeats as the two of you wheeze , trying to be as quiet as you possibly can .

People wouldve definitely thought y'all were high . And y'all were . High on eachother that is .

☆⋆⋅─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────⋆⋅☆

"my face feels like a fucking baby's ass!" Jake laughs as he touches his face while exiting the spa place with you.

"it does!" You laugh in suprise , touching his cheek .

"oh! You have a baby's ass face too" Jake touched cheek before pinching it making you yelp and pinch his cheek back .

"OW! I DIDN'T DO IT THAT HARD!" Jake slapped his hand over his cheek in pain .

"you did too! I just wasn't so dramatic about it" you say , lifting your chin slightly to tease him .

"I'm not dramatic! It's not my fault you've got bloody caveman hands!" He teased back and you gasp as he laughs at your reaction.

You remembered the last time you were at the mall with Jake and your dad's friends and Jake had carried you around everywhere on his shoulders as you pulled on his hair making him walk around in pain , and you kept giggling at him . You were about 5 or 6 years old that time .

"y|n?" A voice called from behind you , distracting you from Jake .

"Ethan!" Your eyes widen in faux suprise as you turn around, not expecting your ex to be here , walking over to you .

"hi!" He says as he flexes his arms with his hands in his pockets , looking behind you at Jake.

"didn't expect to see you here. How have you been?" Ethan asks. And Jake notices you were suddenly uncomfortable.

"I'm- I've been good how are you?" You ask back even though you wanted this conversation to end as fast as possible. It took you ages to get over Ethan after he broke you after your dad died . He was being an asshole while you needed him.

"who's this?" Ethan asks , looking at Jake .

"oh this- this is my- Jake- he's my guardian parent thing" you muttered.

"godfather" Jake corrected , moving next to you .

"ohh I thought he was your boyfriend or something. Yaknow how you told me you liked older guys?" Ethan explained with a light laugh, clearly looking up and down Jake from head to toe , judging him .

"no" you laugh lightly panicky, looking at Jake who seemed unamused and somewhat irritated.

"you look pretty" Ethan said , tilting his head , making you cringe out of your skin.

"thanks. I just got a facial done" you throw your thumb over your shoulder at the spa behind you.

"we should hang out sometime" Ethan says.

"uh-" You look at Jake and he seemed to be looking away at other stores in the mall . Pretending to be uninterested in your conversation with Ethan , but you could see his jaw clenched tight from his side profile.

"uh- ok- sure" you force out a smile as you watch Ethan finally walk away while waving at you. What a nice day completely ruined, you thought. .

"alright let's go to the arcade" jake says , his voice too flat for something so exciting. But you smile widely anyway and follow him to the escalator to go to the arcade .

Jake seemed down but tried to pretend to push it off while playing games with you like a child. You wanted to ask him what was wrong but you couldn't bring it up .

"so who was that guy?" Jake finally asks, curiosity getting the best of him.

"Ethan? My ex" you answer and Jake immediately snapped you an "are you okay" look.

"I needed him after dad died. And he wasn't there for me" you explained.

"prick" Jake cursed at him before giving you a look of sympathy and rubbing your back.

"focus! We're losing the game!" You yell as you gestured to the dinosaur jungle setup in front of you.

Jake immediately got back to shooting the dinosaurs . And you ended up losing as you yelled at him playfully because he was playing badly.

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"wow we wasted the whole day" you say as you drive out of the mall parking to find the sky being pitch black .

"it wasn't wasted" Jake seconds. "I had fun" he says , taking a turn onto the road.

"I did too" you smile .

"just like old times" he says as he pats your knee , except he keeps it there .

"just like old times" you repeat with a nostalgic smile , paying not much attention to Jake's hand on your knee until his thumb gently caressed your knee before pulling away .

His touch was so inviting. You wished he kept his hand there always . And everytime he moved his hand to say something you wished he would put it on your knee again but it kept going back to the steering.

Obviously he wasn't going to have his hand on your thigh the ride home . You weren't his girlfriend. Wait- what about his girlfriend? Would she mind? I mean- obviously not .

"is Carrie coming over today ?" You ask , and you notice panic set in Jake's eyes.

"what's the time?" He asks , looking at the phone you held in your hand . You pressed the power button to see 7:36pm as the time .

"shit" Jake mutters under his breaths as he drives faster .

"w-whats wrong? Did you forget she was coming over or something?" You laugh , but he didn't laugh .

You watched as he sped down the road . In no time you reach home but he didn't turn to park and you look at him confused.

"go home I gotta be somewhere" he says and you nod and get out the car as he quickly drove off . How shit.

☆⋆⋅─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────⋆⋅☆

Jake came back earlier than you expected. You heard him breathe out a heavy sigh as he took his shoes off by the door .

You were watching tv , sitting horizontally with your feet up on the couch . You turned your head and looked over the backrest to watch as he came in .

"hey I'm back" he say with a slight smile , noticing you watching tv.

"what's wrong? What happened?" You ask as he walked to the couch and lifted your legs up to make place for him to sit down at the other end of the couch , letting your legs rest on his lap .

"Carrie broke up with me" he said nonchalantly.

"what!? Because you were late for one date?!" You yell. But he didn't really seem to be bothered.

"nah. It wasn't just that" he says softly , his hand massaging your feet barely with his eyes fixed on the tv , trying to catch on the show you were watching.

"I'm sorry- this is my fault- I should've gone to work-" your voice cracks when you realise you were the whole reason he was late .

"what? no! Y|n. Don't be stupid" he glares at you and you look away shaking your head, you couldn't help the corners of your mouth dropping down.

"Jesus- it wasn't your fault!" Jake speaks , noticing the look on your face like you were close to tears as he moves his hand up your leg , trying to reach out for you to look at him .

"honestly I don't even care I didn't even like her" Jake confesses.

"promise?" You ask as you turn at him . You knew the guilt would eat you up.

"sweetie I swear" Jake said , looking right in your eyes .

"okay" you mutter to yourself before looking back at the tv .

"why were you dating her if you didn't like her then?" You ask .

"can you let it go? It wasn't your fault and I'm not heartbroken or anything okay?" Jake speaks calmly.

"I promise" he says again , his warm hand rubbed your leg in reassurance before giving it a slight tap .

"okay" you breath deeply, deciding to believe him.

"I'm going to pour myself a drink. You want one?" He asks as he slowly stands , giving you time you lift your legs off his lap.

"no. But can you get me that tub of ice cream you got me? It's in the freezer" you ask with pleading eyes .

"ofcourse" the corners of his lips lift as he pets your head while walking behind the couch to the kitchen.

You hear glass clattering on the cold slab and the fridge door opened a couple times as you wait anxiously for your ice-cream.

According to you , eating during your period wasn't going make you put on any weight . It was dumb and you knew it . But you just liked to tell yourself that .

Your stomach had been starting to ache, the cramps getting worse , you knew you were going to have a hell of a night. So why not treat yourself?

"thank you" you smile as he hands you the tub of icecream with a spoon . You move your legs for him to sit down on the couch next to you with his drink in his hand . But he stretched your legs back on his lap and places his free hand over them .

You and Jake had gotten pretty into the show until your cramps began to make you sweat . You couldn't sit still anymore.

You whine as you sit up in discomfort, pulling your legs away from Jake's lap, trying to find a position on the couch to soothe the pain .

"you okay?" He asks as he watched you grab a pillow and cover your lap while folding your legs , leaning against the backrest.

"cramps" you answer , eyes fixed on the tv.

"c'mere" Jake gesture for you to sit in his lap . Which you gladly did . Crawling up to him as he turned you to sit horizontally on his lap with your legs stretched out on the couch, and your head resting on his shoulder , the both of you letting out comfortable sighs as y'all made yourselves comfortable.

Jake switched his drink to his other hand , resting it on your thigh . while he began to massage into your lower back with his now free hand , making you hiss in relief .

"better?" He asks and you nod against his shoulder, your eyes stuck to the tv in front of both of y'all. But all you could think of Jake. His scent and his strong hands kneading into your sore flesh , his warm breath tickling your face , his chest raising as he breathed.

How you wanted to just turn to him and nuzzle your face into his neck and take in a deep breath of him before kissing his neck and leaving new marks on him to cover Carrie's almost faded ones .

You groan and wriggle on his lap as another cramp hits you.

"my poor girl" Jane coos , his words making your mind to blank. His voice deep and manly. HIS. POOR. GIRL?? Oh god he was going to be the death of you.

You wondered if he could hear your heart thumping out of your chest. Good thing the room was dark and only lit up by the light of the tv , or he would've been able to see how red you were .

Despite how distracting pJake was being, the two of you were actually catching onto the show.

"you want me to get you anyone one?" You ask , pointing at his glass in his hand that had been empty for quite some time . Probably because he didn't want to make you get up.

"no it's alright I'll get it" Jake says as you stand off him , he was getting up with you but you don't let him.

"I got it" you say as you grab his glass and walk off to the kitchen. You knew exactly how Jake liked his drinks.

"thanks doll" Jake takes the glass back from you as you make yourself comfortable on his lap again. Was it normal? To feel so comfortable with him?

You guessed being away from him for a while and talking about stuff really broke the barrier of awkwardness y'all had before. Y'all were never awkward before your dad died though. Jake was always your favourite.

Whenever your dad and his friends hung out to do anything, you'd be on Jake's lap . Ever since you were little. It's weird how age and time changes so much , only to bring to back to the same.

About two hours went by and you had started to drop of again. You knew Jake's thighs were probably cramping and you could easy get up and go to bed . But you didn't want to . You wanted it to last forever.

Jake didn't really seem to be bothered with you dropping off on his lap . He was busy enjoying the show with his drink , his hand firmly holding your legs with his other arms around your body as you lay on his shoulder.

Jake only realised you'd fallen asleep when he laughed at something at the tv and looked at you to see if you caught the joke too. But you were fast asleep already.

"okay let's get you to bed then" Jake smiled , knowing this was the second time in a row that you'd fallen asleep on him .

NEXT PART

Tags:

@mackalah @mindastreamofcolours @jjwasneverhere @themoreyou-love @gvf23 @sarah-gvf01 @violetstarcatcher @thetroublegetssoloud71

[thetwstwildcard]

Y'ALL- 🤣

Guess I'll make more Yuuto art for y'all Yuuto simps

YO YUUTO KINDA

YEP- @/thetwstwildcard GAVE US A BLESSING YALL-

also @thetwstwildcard UwU-

[moonydaydreams]

𝐣𝐮𝐱𝐭𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮

Fandom: It Lives In the Woods

Pairing: MC x Noah, MC x Connor (past)

Words: 7.363 (holy cow)

Summary: Lightning never strikes the same place twice, but a second chance does. Even for someone like Noah Marshall.

Warnings: SMUT SMUT SMUT, angst 101 and swearing for dummies

Author’s note: This is my first Choices story and, holy cannoli, this is longer than I intended to be. But nonetheless, this an AU of what could have been had neither Noah or MC sacrificed themselves to take Jane’s place (THIS IS, IN ANOTHER WORD, A FORM OF DENIAL, Y'ALL. CAUSE THAT ENDING WRECKED ME) and Noah fled from Westchester. I’m sorry if the characters seem OOC or the story feels meh. So if you’re digging it or simply detest it, let me know, yeah? thanks!

———————————————————————————–

In a city where the subway stations smell like after-shave and peanut butter and jelly breath smelling college students at nine in the morning, and half of the street names that he still can’t recall to this day, a young man in a beanie, who couldn’t have been more than twenty or twenty-one enters a small 24/7 convenience store with his hands thrust deep inside his coat pockets.

A burly, beer-swilling, 6 feet of a man behind the cashier, elbow-deep in the football magazine in his last season’s Real Madrid jersey, glances up from his reading upon his arrival. His eyebrows narrow.

“Never seen you visiting this late,” Romero comments dryly over the trip-hop music that is playing over the speakers and flicked his eyes back to the magazine. “Did you accidentally shoot your dealer or some shit?“

Romero’s attempt on making small talks with him, albeit as condescending as it sounds, does not fall on deaf ears. But it’s cold outside and he’s hungry and broke, he simply doesn’t have the will to entertain him.

“Shut up. I’m hungry,” replies the young man, stopping by the instant food section. His eyes finding the many varieties of flavors and brands and feels his stomach sick at the amount of artificial food he’s been consuming over the years. It’s like being eight all over again.

“Well, knock yourself out. We just stocked up those crazy spicy Korean ramen you kids can’t seem to stop feeding.” Romero’s face breaks into a mocking grin. “Can’t wait to see you all die from cancer.”

“Instant noodles don’t directly cause cancer on its own, actually.”

Romero burst into laughter. “And how the fuck does a two-bit junkie like you know that, Malcolm?”

The boy’s face involuntarily twitches.

And it isn’t because of how alien the sound when someone addresses him with his fake name or how Romero somehow thinks he has his character all figured out. The thing about living in incognito for years, he’s already become accustomed to those; to prejudices and living up to the persona that people design for him just to inflate their egos and ward them off of his tail in the process. No one wants to affiliate themselves with “the junkie” or “the hot-headed mechanic with suicidal tendencies” and he is more than fine with his solitary.

No. It is the nature of the question that throws him off guard and how his mind all too soon, against his better wishes, refers to her.

Suddenly, he is Noah again. Thirteen years ago at the age of eight, looking out of the window with Jane as they watched a girl about their age in a short tutu dress and combat boots climbing up the oak tree in their backyard to save a distressed kitten.

Their parents saw this, did a double-take, went hysterical and called her parents. He later learned her name was Liz and that she’d just moved into the neighborhood a week ago.

Then he sees Liz again, now a few months after their first encounter, running off to the forest with Jane’s arm linked with hers. He remembers her messy braided hair and freckles multiplied by the sun as they led Noah and the rest of their friends to abandoned ruins they’d somehow stumbled on a week ago. 

His memory of her somehow jumps forward. Now, he sees her in a different light, a different vignette. It is from three years ago this time and she was no longer the Liz all knees, elbows and mud on her shoes young girl from his childhood. She was Liz, on the edge of seventeen, her hair nine shades lighter than when she was a kid (she also had bangs now) with a barbed wire bat in her left hand, and a fire axe in the other, but still the same dark-eyed sprite that made his cold, dead heart skip a beat whenever she looked at his way and smiled that smile of hers; the kind that radiated her cheeks and lit up her eyes. 

The same light that he watched slowly waning from her eyes when she discovered his ulterior plan. 

His heart feels like shattering into smithereens all over again. He doesn’t realize he’s been squeezing on the noodle packet too tight until he hears the contents shatter in his hand. 

“A friend told me,” Noah finds himself saying even before his brain can halt it. Staring blankly at the packet, his mouth dropping into a frown.

He can feel Romero’s gaze on him, curious and confused. Shifting between the packet in his hand and his glazed-over expression. Noah, realizing he’s just projected his emotion right out in the open, huffs and throws the squeezed noodle packet into his shopping basket. 

Romero clears his throat. “Sounds like quite a friend.”

Noah pretends as if the jig isn’t exactly up and decides to actively ignore the older man. He gets the rest of his needs, holding the last of his composure against slipping and brings his groceries to the cashier, looking down at his feet whenever Romero glances at him in genuine concern.

“Catch ya later, Malcolm,” Romero says as he hands Noah the change. “And, uh… stay safe, you hear me?”

Noah, in return, only nods his thanks, probably a little too curt according to the polite society and leaves.

Outside, thunder begins to roll overhead. Noah eyes the sky nervously. It’s going to rain soon. And hard judging from the way the clouds are moving across the black midnight sky.

Noah rifles for his cigarette pack from his pockets, lights one and begins making his way back to his hellhole of an apartment. Treading slowly through the deserted streets, steering clear from alley-ways and suspicious characters until he can see the window of his apartment.

Then, Noah’s feet skid to a hard stop.

His jaw drops, his cigarette falling unheeded to the ground.

Sitting on the front steps of his apartment building is Liz, swathed in an oversized overcoat, her head leaning onto the railings, she seems to be sleeping.

What in the sweet fuck?

For a good minute, Noah stands stock-still. He simply gazes at his former best friend, nonplussed and borderline panicking. A migraine begins to form in his head. He gazes over his shoulder, watching and waiting for anyone to jump at him from the alley or anything, because there is no way in hell this is not a trap. This can’t be. 

He waits and waits, but no one comes out. Confused, Noah looks at her again, his expression inscrutable. If this is not a trap, then this must be a cruel dream the universe pulls on him for all the wrongdoings he has committed in his life. That, or Noah must have tragically died on his way back home and ascended to heaven. 

But then, if this is heaven, why is he here?

Eventually, Noah kneels before her. He reaches his hand out to her, hesitating mid-move and touches her shoulder.

“Liz?” he gives her shoulder a gentle shake. “Liz, wake up.”

She does. Slowly, her eyes flutter open, bleary and brown, and meets his gaze for the first time in three years. Noah feels like his breath stuck in his throat.

“Noah?” Liz blinks sleepily, twice, then yawns into the back of her hand. “What time is it?”

He glances at his phone. “A quarter past two.”

Liz’s brows furrow. “Huh. What were you doing out so late?”

“Had to do a supply run.” Noah gestures to the shopping bag in his hand. Then, “Liz, what are you doing here?” he asks, his voice a broken whisper.

Liz doesn’t answer his question, merely wraps her arms around herself, attempting to keep warm and sighs tiredly.

“Noah, can we go inside?” she pleas, instead. Desperation fuelling her voice. “I’m tired and cold and I…” she trails off.

Consideration flashes in Noah’s eyes for a moment. The logical part of his head insists for him to take her to the nearest train station and send her off back to Westchester. It’s the right thing to do. Considering that he’s been laying low for years now, the last thing he needs to add to his ongoing headache is for the police to suspect that she’s an accomplice.

But he’s never been the wiser one.

So, he takes her gloved hand and helps her to stand and, after giving one last look at their surroundings, of course, ushers her inside the apartment building. 

Neither says anything as they make their way to the staircase, as they venture through the grimy hallway where the dim and shadowed lights overhead following their every step like vultures and past the occupied doors where a loud, sexual moan comes from behind one of them.

She doesn’t make any comment about the awful state of the place he lives in, while he simply doesn’t have the capacity to be embarrassed because everything happens so sudden, Noah himself is still second-guessing if any of this is real. 

Finally, they stop by his door. Noah produces the key from his wallet when he hesitates, remembering the state of the room the last time he left it.

“A bit of warning, though…” He rubs his neck, embarrassed. “it’s pretty messy inside.”

“It’s fine.”

Noah turns the key and eases the door open.

The rain has started to pour. Noah turns the side lamp on and takes off his coat, his groceries on top of the kitchen counter. He watches as Liz, as if in a daze, tosses her coat and gloves to his bed and walks towards the direction of the window. A hand against the windowpane, the flare of the street lamp outside illuminating her features in the dimness, she silently watches as the rain falls on the pavement. Lost somewhere in the tangled cobwebs of her thoughts.

And it occurs to Noah that she is no longer Liz, on the edge of seventeen with a barbed wire bat in her left hand, and a fire axe in the other. She is Liz, older, with circles under her eyes, the world on her shoulders and a few pounds lighter than he remembers, but still the same dark-eyed sprite and with the pale shades of haired girl that he yearns to wrap his arms around and tells her how sorry he is for all those years ago, for leaving without saying a proper goodbye and how all these years it is her that keeps him going through every day and drives him insane at the same time. 

But he can only remain in his place and forces to quell his desire to do the aforementioned. Because Noah’s pretty sure that privilege is long gone the moment his betrayal came to light. Even to be standing in the very room with her is a crime, yet here they are.

Here she is.

“Liz?“ 

“Yeah?”

“Have you, uh,” his gaze finds the ramen packets, suddenly feeling inspired. “Have you eaten anything?”

She is silent for a while. “No.”

“I’m making ramen, you want some?” 

“Okay.” 

With that, Noah rolls up his sleeves, takes two eggs and a few vegetables from the fridge and begins to work. He ditches the salty packet of MSG and makes his own broth while at the same time, mincing the garlic and green onion and grating the ginger. By the time he sautées the aromatics, Liz makes a beeline from the window and hops onto the counter, watching him distractedly as he continues cooking. 

She stays silent and so does he. Despite the lack of words, everything feels strangely… domestic? Under different circumstances, Noah can easily get used to this; him cooking for her, with her becoming his taste tester whenever he’s experimenting with new recipes he finds on the internet and simply impresses her on a daily basis. Yeah, he can definitely get used to that.

Ten minutes passed, Noah then moves the ‘upgraded ramen’ to the bowls and serves one to her. The taste will probably pale in comparison to the one that her mom used to make, yet it earns him her first smile of the night, albeit small and closed-mouthed, it’s still a smile nonetheless. 

He grabs two cans of beer from the fridge and moves onto the couch with her. They finish their meal within minutes, still in silence. For a moment, the only sound that encompasses the room is the rain and his next-door neighbor who has the TV going in full-blast. That asshole.

Noah reaches out for a cigarette pack from the coffee table, dexterously flicks his wrist so a single one pops halfway out of the carton. He casts her a sidelong glance.

“Do you mind if I…?” he trails off, gesturing to the cigarette. 

Liz’s stare zeroes on the cancer stick, scowling, as if she doesn’t approve of this vice of his, but shrugs nonetheless. 

“So, how, uh…” Noah clears his throat, gathering his courage. How does he do this? How do you break the ice with your former best friend who you happen to have a crush on for more than a decade and almost murdered because your dead twin sister compelled you to do so without being awkward? 

“How are you, by the way?“ he manages to ask behind a plume of smoke. 

“I’m doing okay,” she says but in a tone when someone is obviously not okay.

“Just okay?”

“I…” she hesitates. “Yeah, just okay.” Liz lies and manages a weak smile. Noah decides not to press for more information. “Though I’ve been busy these days. I’m trying to finish my dissertation sometime around next year.”

"Already?” And she nods. Noah whistles, obviously impressed. "I’m guessing you did take the English major?”

Liz’s eyes widened slightly. “You remember." 

"Yeah.” Noah looks down. Of course he remembers, not when it’s impossible to forget the very idea of Liz Mortimer. “And your old man doesn’t try to fight you for this?”

“Nope. After Ja–” she clamps her mouth shut. “I graduated, let’s just say he had a hard time saying no to me.” She chuckles, but just for a good three seconds and Noah doesn’t have to ask why to know the reason behind her father’s sudden change of heart.

“How about you?” she asks, then shakes her head. “I mean, how are you?” She amends.

Heaven knows I’m always miserable, Liz. But he doesn’t say that. “I’m okay, too, I guess." 

"Just okay?” Liz parrots his own words at him and he smiles, the left side of his mouth higher than the right. They may still be painfully awkward to one another, but it feels so good to be talking with her again.

“Nothing new under the sun for me, but I’m thriving. And, um, how’s the others?” a.k.a the bunch of group of friends I hurt.

“They’re alright. Lily started her own video game called Pixie Moon, which I have no doubt will take the world by storm the way Candy Crush did; Ava is writing a book about witch trials; Stace is studying journalism and basically kicking ass; Dan is pursuing psychology; His majesty King Kang himself is playing for the Bighorns; and Lucas, as you can expect, is off to save our earth.”

Noah swallows the information one by one. His face an inscrutable blank. All of his friends somehow have found a place on this earth, they all have moved on except for him, again, who’s still scratching around in the same old hole; his future derived, his past an endless pitfall.

“And Connor?” he asks quietly, when in truth he doesn’t give two-shits about the man. But he knows she does, and Noah loves her too much to let his jealousy dictate his behavior. 

Suddenly, her face falls. Teeth chewing nervously on her lower lip. “He's… fine. He’s probably at home now as we speak.“

“And now you’re a long way from home.”

“So are you.”

Noah shakes his head. “Westchester stopped being my home the moment I turned eight.” He sighs forlornly, looks the other way, hands fidgeting. Force of habit. “Liz, as much as I’m glad to see you, but why did you come here?”

“How long have you been staying here?” Liz evades his question as if he never asked it in the first place.

Noah raises an eyebrow, exhales, but decides to play along. “Since August. So that’s two months. Probably, the longest I have ever stayed in one place.”

“Where have you been all this time?”

“Well, there was Utah and Kansas. Then Minnesota for a couple of weeks, but I couldn’t stand the cold and the rest is history,” he keeps his answer as vague as possible, not when he still has no idea the nature of her visit. “Look, why are you here?”

But still, the girl dodges his question. “Why do you–”

Until his patience can’t simply take it anymore. 

Noah is all but scoots over to her position until their knees are touching, the cigarette forgotten on the ashtray, and grips her arms firmly. His eyebrows knitted as he takes in her stunned face. 

“Liz.” There is a twinge of anger, confusion and desperation in the way he says her name this time. “Why are you here? You know you can’t be here. Goddamn it! If the fucking cops find out that you’re here…” Once he realizes what he is doing, he withdraws his hands as if she’s fire and now he’s burning.

“They won’t. I can assure you that." 

"You don’t know that.”

“I know what I’m doing, Noah. Trust me, I wouldn’t have come here if I knew it’s not safe,” Liz replies, her tone doesn’t leave any room for doubts and he knows there is no way to talk his way around it. Not to mention, he trusts her, if there is anyone who can sneak behind authority and get away with it, it has to be her.

Noah shrugs, agreeable, but he isn’t going to let her off so easily. 

“How did you find me, anyway?” he questions, reaching for his cigarette and takes a deep, long drag just to spite his throat. He has a feeling he might be smoking his misery away all night by the time she’s left.

The blonde-haired girl shrugs and absentmindedly leans her back against the couch, one arm wraps around her midsection. “It wasn’t easy, actually. But I made some new friends in Pine Springs and one of them is acquainted with the newly-minted Police Chief. Pulled a few strings and here we are.” 

“Pine Springs? What the heck were you doing there?”

“It's… a long story. But there were people there needing my help, and in exchange, they helped me track you down. An eye for an eye.”

Lightning suddenly jags across the night sky, briefly illuminating the room, pulling him out of his musings. She jumps at the sound, startled, and instinctively reaches for his hand. Noah freezes at the contact, forgetting how her skin feels like on his or a decent human contact in general. It’s been so long. And somehow he loses the ability to speak, to think.

He definitely doesn’t think when Noah moves his hand under hers, intertwining their fingers together.

Noah feels her head moving, her eyes darting from their joined hands and to his face that turns into a parade of expressions– misery, regret and melancholy. The holy trinity of feelings he’s been bearing for the past three years– for the past thirteen years of his life, actually– and feels her hand squeezing back his. 

“Christ, I can’t believe you went all through that shit just to find me,” he croaks, all but on the verge of tears. “And I left you just like that even without saying sorry.”

“Noah…”

“No, let me say it, Liz. I need to say it.” His hands are trembling, his composure this close from crumbling. “What I did was unforgivable. And I know there is nothing in this world that could help me undo the damage I’ve done to you and how I’ll spend the rest of my day regretting it, but regardless, I’m sorry,” he sobs, his whole body is shaking by now. 

“I’m so sorry for the nightmare I put you through. I was so blinded by my own volition and revenge for Jane’s death that I hurt you, all of you in the process without giving a single rat’s ass about it.” Noah pauses, wipes his tears with the back of his hand. “I’m a monster, Liz. A selfish, heartless, miserable monster. God, I should have died that night.”

“Hey, hey, look at me.” She plucks the cigarette from his other hand, discards it on her empty bowl and places her other hand on his shoulder. “Noah, look at me,” she says again, her voice like a caress. He looks up. “Don’t say that. You are not a monster. You’re just a byproduct of the pain from losing your sister, loneliness and bad parenting. That doesn’t make you a monster. That makes you human.”

“A normal human being wouldn’t lure his friends into abandoned ruins in the middle of a fucking forest where his sister died and put their lives hang in the balance.”

“No, they wouldn’t, but if there is anything Dan taught me is that people react to loss in different ways.”

Noah groans and pushing himself to his feet. “No, don’t try to find a way to justify this. Didn’t you forget, I could have killed you that night. You! The- the only one who gives a fuck whether I’m breathing or not.” The only one who matters. “If you hadn’t stopped her… God, I don’t even want to go there.“

She gets up from the couch as well. “I’m not justifying anything. Yes, what you did to us was… It was harrowing, it was despicable but I also knew the extent of your agony that drove you to do it. I understand… and like what I said that night in the cave; it’s not your fault. Not exclusively, at least. And I forgive you for it.”

“Liz–”

“No, listen to me, we all made mistake–”

He snorts. “Not on a grand scale like this, I bet.”

“Maybe not. But the fact that you give a shit and beat yourself up for years for what you did, that already speaks a lot,” she says. “You’ve tormented yourself enough. It’s not going to do you anything good. It’s not going to erase anything. What you need to do now is to close that book. Get a new one, write a new story, move on. I have forgiven you, I’m sure the others have forgotten about what happened until someone mentions it, it’s your turn now.”

Her words hit him like a piledriver and for the first time in probably like forever, he does feel slightly better. Even if only an infinitesimal amount and even he may won’t be forgiving himself anytime soon, but still, hearing those words coming from her mouth mean the whole world to him. 

“Why did you really come here, Liz?” The question is a tad out of place, but it feels like their previous conversations were made entirely to build up for this. 

Her frown melts away, replaced with somewhere between doubt and conflict. He holds her gaze for a minute, undeterred, then she turns her back on him to face the window once more. The suspense gnaws at him, yet still, he bides his time. 

“I have something to tell you,” she finally says, keeping her voice low.

“What is it?” He replies rather impatiently. When she seems to be hesitating, he adds, “And don’t beat around the bush, Liz.”

A deep breath, foot taps, a hand clutching at the hem of a buttoned-up dress and another deep breath. 

“Connor proposed to me.”

A beat. Then,

“Oh,” and it’s barely audible. And Noah feels like his heart has been torn from his chest, thrown into the ground, drags it through the mud then stomps on it for good measure. And that he feels worse and emptier than he was before she came here. “Congratulations.”

The words that come out of his mouth could have been his, because he can barely hear his own voice in this white noise. He always knew Connor and her were smitten with each other the moment she stepped into the hardware store for the first time, but Noah doesn’t expect it all would extend to marriage.

She looks over her shoulder, half-turned, one eye on him. “I wasn’t finished.”

Noah blinks at her, momentarily confused. “What?”

“I…” her voice wavers. When she turns to face him again, she is pinching the bridge of her nose. Her eyes scrunched up. “Ah, fuck this is never going to be easy. Long story short, I freaked out, made a scene at a restaurant, ended our three-year on-and-off relationship and went here.”

“Wait, what?”

Liz shrugs, guiltily, all Atlas-and-the-weight-of-the-world.

“Yeah,” she, much to his surprise (and concern), chokes a laughter, manic and loud. “Yeah, I did it. I fucked up the longest relationship I’ve ever had and broke my best friend’s brother’s heart because I wasn’t ready, because I’m an idiot.” When she does look at him, her eyes are bright. “Because I’m in love with someone else.”

For a brief, candid moment, Noah’s brows furrow as his mind goes to one of his former friends. Is it Dan? Ava? Or could it be Lucas? Because the last time he saw them together, they were pretty inseparable– although their relationship is strictly platonic as far as he’s concerned. Has that dynamic changed after he left? 

Then Noah realizes her eyes are still on him– and quite expectantly, that is, and that’s not… no, that can’t be right, can it? 

His demeanor shifts drastically as he stands there, stunned silence. Disarmed by her confession. 

He tries to speak, but his jaw won’t shut back to its place; his brains short-circuiting.

“Yes, I have loved you ever since I’ve known you, Noah Marshall,” Liz mutters when he remains silent. He can tell this is something she’s been holding in for a long time. “Even though we hadn’t spoken to each other for years after Jane, there hadn’t been a day that I didn’t think of you. When we finally reconnected three years ago, I wanted to say all these things to you, but..” she smiles wistfully. “Well, shit happened.”

“Why?” Of all the people you could have fallen in love with, why me? What he means to ask.

“Because you understand me like no one else; because you climbed up to my window to bring me your homemade grilled cheese sandwich when I was grounded when we were 8; because you actually listened and showed me that my vulnerability doesn’t always have to be my weakness; because I love the way you wear your beanie like 24/7 and the way you shake my hair whenever I say something stupidly amusing to you. Because it’s you!”

“No.” It’s a denial, it’s an attempt to ward her off from someone like him. It’s a lie. “No, no, no, no, no, Liz, you can’t fall in love with someone who’s-who’s mentally unstable or tried to kill you in the past, that’s like…” he gesticulates wildly. “Crazy! You are crazy!”

“I’m sorry, are you any better?”

“Of course not! But to forgive me is one thing, Liz, to love me, that’s a whole different level of insanity.” Noah begins to pace agitatedly around the room back and forth. “Fuck. I can’t hear this. Not from you.”

“Why not?” He sees the hurt expression on her face. Then interrupts just as soon as he opens his mouth. “Noah, I’m not asking for your answer this instance–heck, I’m not even asking you to reciprocate my feelings, but please don’t invalidate my emotions. Not when I waited for years to say it to you.”

“But this fucking complicates everything!” Noah points out.  

“Maybe. Maybe not, but you don’t know that,” she says resolutely, echoing his words from before. 

Noah doesn’t say anything in return.

She steps closer and slowly raises her palm to cup his cheek, an attempt to calm the storm within him. His hand grasps her wrist before she can make contact. 

“Noah–" 

His breathing quickens. Noah swallows and shakes his head.

“Liz, we can’t do this. No matter…” he sighs, his eyes boring into hers. Here he is, again, dangling on the edge of damnation, of what’s right and wrong. It’s wrong, yet he knows that she knows, from the heat and electricity that dance between them, from the pressure of his fingers that tell different stories, that he, too, wants the same thing.

“No matter what, Noah?” She murmurs, staring up at him with hopeful eyes. She really wants him to say it, does she?

He extricates her hand from him, taking steps back, putting as much distance he can from her. “Forget it.”

“Look, Noah, if you feel what I think you’re feeling, then what is it that you’re afraid of?" 

Noah whirls around to face her again. "Everything! Can’t you see that if we do this, the world will turn against us?" 

“Since when do you care about other people’s opinions?”

“I wasn’t worrying about me.”

"Well, I don’t give a fuck what others or this thrice-damned world thinks!” she exclaims mulishly. “After all we’ve been through, is it so wrong to be selfish, to follow your own heart just once– just once? Is it– don’t you care about what you want?”

“I want-” Noah stops. His hands tugging at his red beanie cap. “Never mind what I want.”

Her voice is quieter now. “What do you want, Noah?”

For an interminable moment, heavy with the promise of both release and regret, he only stares at her. Contemplating his options.

Perhaps loving her shouldn’t be the sin he thought it was, especially when she wants the same thing in return. Although he’s more than aware that he’s the last person in this world who deserves her affection, but deep down, Noah knows that he’ll never forgive himself if he didn’t run the risk now and spent the rest of his life wondering what it felt like instead.

“You.” Always you.

She holds his gaze. “Then have me.”

And as if an unknown force was taking over his body, Noah crosses the distance between them, his free hands cradling her face, drawing her close and kisses her.

It’s like a dam breaking, everything floods out. They do not kiss gently, desperation orchestrating their every move that the world around him grows distant and dim.  Twelve years of pining for each other, of secretive glances, of murder attempt and mutual misery and it all leads them to this. His thumb skimming the curve of her throat and feels her pulse leaps. He stops. Worrying if he’s crossed the line.

But Liz grabs the front of his clothes, pulling him even closer– as if they aren’t close enough– and kisses him back with a matching fervor. Her body pressed against his, warm and unfamiliarly familiar, and Noah swears his heart skips when she emits a quiet desperate noise that he happily swallows. 

Suddenly, Noah pulls back. “Liz, I’m sorr–” he says breathlessly.

“No, don’t you dare apologize,” she says firmly, her lips still tinged pink from their kiss. “I… I started this.” Her tongue darted out over her lips. “Are you okay with this?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I want this.” Noah’s hands dropped to her waist, his cheeks burned. He’s inexperienced, yes, and it shows, yes, but this is Liz. The last thing she does is to laugh at his face about it. “You?”

“You have no idea.”

His cheeks grow redder. “I’m, uh… now what?" 

"I think,” she leans in, tiptoeing, her arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders and playfully says, “I want you to kiss me again.”

Noah grins, more relaxed now knowing he has her consent. “I think I can provide that.”

He let her set the pace this time. Kissing him softly and sweetly, but as equally mind-blowing as the first time before the next thing he knows, they are kissing senselessly once more; the next thing he knows, she swipes her tongue on his lower lip. Drawing a surprised groan from him. His lips instinctively open up to her ministrations and he is rendered weak when Noah feels her warm tongue delves into his mouth. He tries to follow her example, but can hardly navigate through his own mind every time.

He can feel her fingers toying and tugging his beanie off, her nails grazing his scalp and his desire rocketed. And this time, Noah isn’t afraid to act, as his hands on her waist slowly glide upward; from her hips to her ribs, stopping just under her breasts which results in Liz’s breath to hitch in his mouth. His mouth travels down her jaw, the length of her neck, her collarbone. 

When he finds himself on the bed, on his back, and Noah has absolutely zero clue how or when he got that way. 

He sits up. Without thinking, grabs her hips to pull her onto his lap, hands rough, settling her against him as he tips her head upward and continues his onslaught on her neck. Her hands on his shoulders, coming up to the strands of his hair. Encouraging him, guiding him lower and lower until his mouth reaches her clothed breast. 

“Oh my god.” Liz’s eyes closed in pure bliss, caught up in the sensation, and ground her hips against him and, fucking hell, the friction feels so good and erotic and sets his entire being alight that Noah isn’t fast enough to stop the low, rumbling moan that comes from his mouth. 

“Fuck,” Noah swears and rolls his hips in response. At this rate, even if he wants to, he can’t hide the evidence of his physical desire, growing hard against her, making her produce these small high-pitched gasps every time his bulge brushes her just right, her pupils blown to hell and fucking fuck.

He is dry humping Liz. Liz. His sister’s best friend. His Achilles’ fricking heel. Good fuck, if Jane was still alive, what would she say about this?

“Noah?” She whispers.

He doesn’t realize he’s been lost in his own thoughts. “Sorry.” Noah mentally clears his head. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to space out on you back there.”

She stares at him, seemingly unconvinced. “Did I go too far?" 

"What? No, no, you are incredible. Don’t worry.” To prove his point, he gives her thigh a distracting squeeze. “Liz, what if I say I want more? What if I say that I want you?”

Liz is quiet for a while. “Are you sure?" 

"Yeah. I know the last time we met I said I wasn’t ready for dating and stuff, but it’s you. And if you’re up for it, I’m game, but if you–” Liz chuckles at his stammering. Whispering “You’re fucking adorable” as Noah groans and hides his face on the crook of her neck. “Liz, you’re fucking driving me out of my mind here.”

“Well, I’m game.” Liz leans in and kisses his temple. Noah can practically hear her smile from here. “You know, for someone who seemed adamant on pushing me away, you’re awfully eager.”

He grins, running his finger down her spine until every hair in her body stood up. “Keep teasing me, and you’ll regret it, Mortimer.”

“Bite me, Marshall.”

Noah does bite, literally, on that delicious spot under her ear before flipping her onto her back on the bed, making her giggle like a drunken schoolgirl; making her dress hike up to her thigh, just enough for him to see her underwear. He settles himself atop her, right between her legs. His hips and an unmistakable hardness press firmly against her soft thighs. 

This is it, then. The wheels are in motion now and Noah can scarcely believe this is happening.

She props up on her elbows and begins undoing the buttons of her dress with great speed, eyes never leaving his until she pulls him for another searing kiss. Then Liz raises her legs, wrapping them around his waist and rolls her hips once more.

She moans softly, as Noah’s mouth trails wet kisses down her throat, nipping and sucking as he goes, until it finds its way to her nipple. He bucks up into her, growling, as he takes her other nipple in his mouth. His shaky hand makes to drop her legs away from his waist, yanks the hem of her dress upward and dips between her legs, slipping past the waistband of her underwear to touch her that she jolts, gasping and moaning loudly altogether. 

Liz writhes, her hands clutching onto his sweatshirt like a lifeline, head tilted back as her hips involuntarily move against his hand, desperate for relief. Noah inserts two fingers, watching with heated gaze for her reaction as he pumps in and out, long and slow, short and fast. Pushes deeper, crooks his fingers a little. The rough pad of his thumb rubbing her clit in fast circles until her moan grows increasingly loud and she comes hard, shattering into Noah’s fingers. 

When it’s over, Liz is a panting, limp noodle.  She lays there, properly spent, smiling contently at the ceiling with heavy, bedroom eyes. Noah hovers above her, kissing her nose with a newfound satisfaction as he watches her trying to even her erratic breaths.

“Whoa.” She breathes out. “I guess I should have known those hands weren’t made only for kitchen knives.” And lazily wraps her arms around his neck. “Jesus, I’m wasted.”

His teeth gently nibbling her earlobe, his hand teasing her nipple again. “I’m nowhere near done with you.” Fingers trailing down to her warm, still over-sensitive slit again that Liz shudders like a flower. “Not even close.”

“I can’t–” And Noah freezes, thinking if he’s gone too far. “No more foreplay. Fuck me, Noah. Now. Please, I want you.”

In an uncontrolled frenzy, Noah pulls away from her, removes his sweatshirt while Liz assists with the buttons of his shirt. He works on his belt, freeing his member from the tight confines of his jeans and pulls her panties over her knees. Not bothering with the rest of her dress.

They kiss again as he repositions himself above her. Liz’s hand reaches down to grab him, guides the head toward her entrance, her legs once again settling around his waist. 

In his head, Noah mentally prepares himself, counts to five, then slides his girth into her. The two groan in unison at the joining.

“Jesus fuck.” Noah’s head flops forward, jaw clenching. He is inside her, and it feels a dizzying kind of spectacular. “Fuck, Liz, you feel so good.”

Below him, a crackling gasp escapes her lips, her mouth drops into a perfect circle as her head falls back to the bed and looking oh so beautiful. Noah begins to rock his hips into her, the strands of his brown hair brushing against her damp forehead, the parts of his brain that enable him to think slowly shut down. His hand wanders to touch every part of her body.

Everything is on fire. Everything feels so fucking good.

“Look at me.” She does, through lidded eyes, lashes heavy with arousal. “Say my name.” Noah never really thought he would be this vocal in bed, but there’s just something about Liz that brings this side of him. “Say it, Liz.”

“Noah,” Liz moans his name, clinging to him like mad, nails raking his back. “Noah, shit. Faster.”

Noah wordlessly obliges, liking the way she thrashes underneath him. Her breaths coming faster, higher so he moves even faster, pounding into her with reckless abandon just to show her how much strength he has. He finds himself growling rather animalistic against her skin, biting her shoulder. Feeling himself drawing closer and closer to the edge. He isn’t going to last any longer.

He puts a hand between them to rub her clit and Liz’s eyes roll back.

“Ooohh, god. N-noah!” she cries out, her words quickly morphed into a desperate wail. "Don’t stop, don’t stop, oh, please!”

Liz is a blubbering mess, screaming against the pillow. It is too much. The combination of his cock fucking her mercilessly and the friction his fingers provided on her sensitive spot is enough to make the girl convulse pathetically on the bed. 

When she comes, he follows not long after. Going rigid and groaning gutturally in her ear, emptying himself inside her.

When the ripples have passed, Noah collapses on top of her. Both panting and sweating from… whatever is it that just happened between them. Liz cradles him against her breasts, peppering tired kisses to his hair that is now sticking out wildly in every direction, locking him in her embrace, their left hands intertwining.

They stay like that for a few minutes, in a very much comfortable silence since she first set her foot here before Noah rolls to the side on the bed.

“Holy shit, we just had sex,” he says when he’s regained the power to speak again.

Liz chuckles and turns to face his side, sticking one of her legs between his while he pulls the covers over their forms. “Yep. Though, honestly, I never would have thought we’d end up having sex when I came here tonight.”

“Liz, I didn’t even know you’d be coming over. I can safely say tonight has been one hell of a surprise after another.”

She doesn’t say anything. At least not for a while.

“I hope you know I meant every word that I say to you,” she says kindly. “You’re not the villain in the story, but neither you are the hero. You are human, with your flaws and all, and I love you despite all of it.”

“Except you. You are an angel, Liz.”

“Noah, I basically turned down Connor’s marriage proposal, broke up with him and went straight into your arms in a matter of days.” She sighs guiltily. “No, we all just wear our demons differently.”

“Maybe. But you said it yourself, we are all just humans with our flaws and all. But you,” Noah turns and cups her cheeks in his hands. “you will always be an angel in my book. You saved me, Liz. When the whole world raised their torches and forks on me, you freaking saved me where you could have fed me to the mob. You’re the reason why I’m still here today and I love you for it, you hear me?” He pulls her into his arms when a tear starts to fall from her eye. 

“I’m so in love with you, Elizabeth Mortimer. Always have and always will.” He kisses her cheek. “You’re the kindest, most beautiful, the brightest human being I’ve ever known. I’m the luckiest person to have you be in love with me and if you’re up for it, I want to build a world around you.” He adds, “Instant noodles included.”

Liz laughs, still teary-eyed, shoves him playfully on the shoulder, feigning a glare. “You jerk. Always have the flair to ruin a moment.”

Noah chuckles. “Technically, you love instant noodles, so it’s only right, don’t you think?” She shoves him again. “And I’m your jerk now.”

“My jerk.” Yet she says it the same way someone says ‘my love’. “I love you too, Noah Marshall. And I want to build that world together with you.”

Noah smiles. Because he loves her and because for the first time in forever, his life makes fucking sense.  

Yes, he doesn’t know whether their relationship will last or will it crash and burn in the future, but at this exact moment, he’s happy and it seems that she does too. And that is all that matters now.

And if there is one thing that he’s sure of is that he knows that he doesn’t ever want to let this go. Not in a million years.

[givemeureyes]

I love the idea that next episode Virgil and/or Remus will be standing in Roman's place just kinda standing there with a look on their face like: "I am going to crush y'all for hurting that boy" sooo here you go:

(I decided that both of them would be there)

"Roman!" Thomas summoned

No one showed.

"Roman? Kiddo?" Patton asked

"Roman, we require your assistance." Logan said, unwilling to show his worry.

Still nobody showed-

"Do you need something?" Virgil asked

"Virgil?" Patton asked, very confused

"Better question, do you really think you deserve to need something?" Remus appeared, glaring at everyone.

"AH!" Thomas screamed

"Relax, Thomathy. I'm not here for you."

"Then why are you here? Both of you?" Logan questioned.

"Not that we don't appreciate your presence Virgil but, where's Roman?" Thomas asked

Remus scoffed and Virgil just rolled his eyes.

"We were trying to convince him not to duck out. Then you summoned him. So we came." Remus answered

"Duck out? Why would Roman duck out?!" Thomas demanded

Remus and Virgil just stared at him.

"Do we need to replay the events of last video for you?" Virgil questioned

"Oh.." Patton said

"Yeah 'oh'. You're all lucky Roman said no violence cause-" Remus started

"Remus! He also said no threats." Virgil interrupted

"Did he? I didn't hear him. Did you hear him?" Remus asked with fake innocence laced in his voice

"... No I didn't." Virgil said, a smile spreading across his face

Roman suddenly appeared. His eyes were red and his hair disheveled. He was wearing a shirt that was probably his brothers considering the number of holes in it and sweatpants.

"Roman?" Patton asked quietly

"I don't have enough energy to be my normal happy self so don't expect it. What do you need Thomas?" Roman yawned out the question

"He doesn't need anything bro, we got this." Remus said, softer than he's ever said anything before.

"Roman, are you okay?" Thomas asked

Roman just laughed bitterly, " I'm absolutely fine, Thomas."

Patton gasped, "Roman, did you just lie?"

Remus growled and got in front of his brother.

"Back off, Patton. You have no place to be judging."

Janus popped up

"I heard the word 'lie'", Then he took a quick look around, "Not a good time I suppose? I'll leave."

Then he did.

Roman just sighed. He'll apologize to him later. But not now. He couldn't right now.

"I'm gonna go back to my room if you don't need anything." He said

"Go ahead, Roman. Like Remus said, we got this." Virgil smiled

"M'kay." Roman said tiredly

Then he went to his room and Virgil and Remus turned towards the other sides.

"We're gonna go make sure he's okay. After that, we'll be back. And still pissed." Remus said and sunk out with Virgil

"We need to talk," Logan said to Patton and Thomas, "and then we need to figure out a good way to apologise."

They agreed. It was gonna be a long day.

[vicshush]

[Text ID : A video of Batman expressing his frustration with the results of three separate stakeouts conducted by teams of his kids, with flashbacks to those stakeouts. All characters are played by TikTok user @thepandaredd.

Bruce Wayne (Batman) is looking down, one arm crossed, pressing his other knuckle to his mouth. Stephanie Brown, whispering : "He seems mad." Tim Drake, whispering back : "He is." Batman : "So, real, genuine question for all of you... Um. Do any of you actually know what a stakeout is?" Damian Wayne : "Father, I really don't see what the big issue is--" Batman : "You don't get to fuckin' talk. You're still in trouble. " Cassandra Cain, opens her mouth and raises her forefinger. Batman : "Ah! Zip it! So are you!" Cassandra Cain closes her mouth and curls her finger back down. Batman : "I cannot believe I put the two of you on a team together."

Voice over : "Earlier that week..."

Cassandra Cain and Damian Wayne sit silently in a car. Cassandra looks at Damian. Damian looks back at her. She flicks her eyes toward the windshield and presumably whatever they are supposed to be watching, then back to Damian. Damian glances through the windshield and back to Cassandra, raises his eyebrows and makes a tongue-click and verbal shrug, sounding sort of like "nnya'ight" ["Alright"] and turns toward the car door. Cassandra smiles slightly and gets out of the car. Damian also gets out of the car.

Batman [back in the present] : "You are both very aware that human bodies are not supposed to bend that way." Tim Drake, tiredly scratching at his furrowed brow : "A stakeout is a period of secret surveillance of an area or building in order to observe someone's activities." Batman gesturing to Tim : "So you do know what it is." Stephanie Brown, holding up her phone, looking at the screen : "That is also what Google says, almost word for word." Looking at Tim, she asks, "Do you just have that?" Tim : "Yes, there's more than you think." Batman : "Then please tell me what happened on your stakeout."

Voice over : "Also, that week..."

Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown sit in a car. The song "Industry Baby" by Lil Nas Xis playing ("I must be getting too flashy / Y'all shouldn'ta let the world gas me / It's too late-") and Stephanie is moving her head to the music. Tim pensively says "Hey, Steph?" Stephanie breaks from her groove and turns off the music, saying "Oh, shit, yeah; what's up?" Tim says "There's, uh, I think there's something we need to talk about. I need to tell you something." Stephanie says, "Oh. Uh, yeah.. Yeah, there's something I need to tell you, as- as well." Tim says, "Everyone else already- already knows, and I, I just needed to, uh, tell you personally and now that we're alone, it's a good opportunity, so." He takes a deep breath. "Um, I'm--" Stephanie says at the same time, sharing her news, too, "Bi?" The two of them look at each other in wary confusion. Tim slowly begins to speak again, merging into Stephanie continuing the same sentence, then back to Tim, and finishing with Stephanie : "And I think--" "--That we should take a break because--" "--I want to try dating the same--" "--Gender. Hey!" The two start smiling at each other about halfway through. They high five at the end and Tim says "Holy fuckin' shit!" Stephanie responds "About fuckin' time! When are you and Connor going out?" Tim replies "Wha- Oh! Nuh, ha, nuh- no, no, I'm actually, I'm um, I was planning on going out with, uh, with Bernard. From, from our school?" Stephanie responds, "Oh, you're gonna go out with, with Fred, from Scooby Doo, that-- that, that's a choice." Tim laughs and says "Okay, fucking judgey, who you planning to go out with?" Stephanie says, "Oh, uh, eh, um, uh, with [quietly] Cass." Tim looks at her with wide eyes and says loudly "Cass?!?" Stephanie defends herself, indignantly, "Oh, you're judging me after you want to take a ride on the fuckin' Mystery Machine?" Tim responds "Oh, nuh-nuh-no, no judgement. It's just that the first woman that you ever want to date is by far the most intimidating person that either of us have met." Stephanie replies, "We both know Batman." Tim smiles pointedly and says "Yeah! I know! And on top of that she has the aesthetics of a snake-eyes from a fucking slasher movie, while yours is closer to, I don't fuckin' know, Pinkie Pie, from My Little Pony." Stephanie says, "Will you fuck off? Get off my dick." Tim replies, "That is exactly what's happening here. That's this entire conversation." Stephanie turns away and mutters, "Oh, whatever." But then looks back and asks, "We're still friends, though, right?" Tim answers, "Oh, oh yeah. Absolutely." He then leans forward and looks through the windshield. "Wait, is that--?" Stephanie looks too and says "Yeah, yeah, no, I think that's Firefly, getting away again." Tim, hurriedly getting out of the car, "Dammit, Bruce is going to kill me."

Tim Drake [back in the present] : "Me and Steph bonded..?" Batman, pinching at the bridge of his nose, eyes squinched shut, muttering : "Oh my god..." Tim, looking a little confusedly around the room : "Hey, weren't Dick and Jason on a team? Where are they?" Batman, still rubbing at his nose : "Alfred's still patching them up after their stakeout."

Voice over : "Yesterday"

Dick Grayson and Jason Todd sit in a car. Jason glances over at Dick and then back out the windshield, before the two start trading insults. Jason : "Birdboy" Dick : "Jiffy Pop" Jason : "Falling Grayson" Dick : "Sloppiest seconds" Jason : "Smooth leg" Dick : "Skunk stripe" Jason : "Old, tassled Elvis" Dick : "White-suited go-go boots" Jason : "Great value James Bond" Dick : "Ginger" Jason looks at Dick again, then deliberately says "Rick" Dick pulls a weapon [It looks like a baton that is electrified... cattle prod?] and yells at Jason "What the fuck did you just say to me??"

/end ID]

Y'all don't understand. I love this man.

[raeofalbion]

Server Access

Before you read, please read this note: Hiya! So, I've been replaying Arkham Origins and I noticed the server room has a work space set up in it that is...very well lived in. And, since we don't see Eddie's desk anywhere in game, I took the idea of him working there and ran with it. But who, canonically, spends a lot of time in the server room? Babs. So this was basically an experiment of "what if, before the Riddler, before Batgirl, before Origins, they knew each other and were friendly?" Gotta say, I'm intrigued with it. I hope y'all enjoy it! Feedback is much appreciated, especially as this is my first time writing a full fic with either of them. Cheers!

“Oh, come on Eddie,” she pleaded, leaning on the railing above him with the kind of puppy dog eyes Edward felt should be illegal. “No, absolutely not,” he rebutted, adjusting his glasses. “Don’t you have something better to do? Can’t you go watch tv in your father’s office or text your friends or…whatever it is you do?” “No,” she laughed, though it wasn’t derisive and that was the only thing keeping her laughter from being annoying. She ducked down to sit on the stairs beside him. “I’m not asking for access to the station’s files, just for internet access.” “Barbara, your father would kill me.” “No, he wouldn’t. Please, Eddie, you’re the only one here who could help me.” Even in the dim light of the server room, she could see him flush at the words. He tried and failed to look busy with his laptop, the harsh green glare made him look almost sallow. Smoke from his cigarette, forgotten on the ashtray, curled sinuously upwards, wrapping around the solitary desk lamp like a lover. Edward’s cuff links—which she abruptly realized were shaped like question marks—sat momentarily discarded on the side of the desk after he’d rolled up his sleeves. He’s going to say no, she thought, heart sinking. Sure, she could break through the firewall herself, but it would take time and, if she got caught, she really didn’t want to be lectured about it. He sucked in a sharp breath. “Fine,” he said crisply, not looking up from his work. He gestured to the empty desk-space to his left and, grinning, she pulled her laptop from her bag and set it on the table. Barbara glanced around the room, impatiently waiting for her computer to start up. There had always been something eerie about this room. The dim lights, the winding rows of servers that made the large room cramped and confining. For some unknown reason, the vents in the floor kept filling the air with mist, making the room look like the lair of some villain in a video game. More than once she’d found herself thinking of the server room as Edward’s lair, though his desk was technically located elsewhere. It was almost painfully cold. “How did you know I was here?” “Ed, you basically live here.” Judging by the wrinkles in his slacks and the number of coffee cups and takeout containers in the nearby trash can, he’d been here a while. Barbara wanted to ask why he didn’t go home—wasn’t there anyone there who missed him? Wouldn’t it be more comfortable there than in the precinct?—and if anyone knew he was staying when he was supposed to be off the clock again. Instead, she said: “Rough case?” “N—uh, yes, actually. You might call it that.” His gloved fingers tapped out a sharp staccato on her keyboard and she settled back down onto the stairs to wait. The faint whirring of electronics filled the air between them and Barbara found it almost relaxing. A nice reprieve from the chaos of the bullpen and not as lonely and stifling as her father’s office. For all his brusqueness, Edward had never outright complained about her being around. Sometimes he even seemed glad for company—sometimes he was quiet, focused on whatever it was he was doing, but more often than not he ended up talking at her about various subjects until he was pulled away or her father came to tell her it was time to go home. “Here's a riddle I'm having a hard time understanding,” he finally told her, leaning back in his chair to stare at her over his glasses. “What are you doing here?” “That's not a riddle, Eddie,” she told him with a faint smile. “And I already told you why I'm here; I need internet access without the precinct's firewall getting in the way.” “That isn't what I meant, and you know it, Barbara. Why are you here? The precinct's not exactly safe—especially for you.” This time she couldn't help but laugh, shaking her head. “You sound like my father. Look, I'm not afraid of these cops. And-and I have a Taser if anyone tries to follow me here after school. I'm not helpless.” He blinked, taken aback at her casual admittance of being...for lack of a better term, armed. She could see the doubt creep back in, though, smothering his surprise. He ran a hand through his hair. “That’s not—” he broke off with a sigh— “You really don't understand what they could do. Jim is...not like most of the force.” “I know they don't all like dad—” “And what do you think that means if they decide to do something about it?” She looked down at the floor, staring at her boots as contemplatively. Her father had said similar things before—that the cops were corrupt and might act out against them in retribution. He'd been trying to warn her for a while now. And, though she'd listened to him, she'd never taken it seriously. There were always going to be conflicting interests on the force, especially in a city as corrupt as Gotham. No one would do anything...would they? “Is it really that bad?” He offered her a short nod and she thought he almost seemed to regret bringing up the subject. She wanted to say it was all paranoia; that her father and Harvey and Edward were all just imagining a worst case scenario, but the more they said the more she began to realize that there had to be a place they were speaking from. Things they'd heard or past experience. Barbara flexed her hand, repressing the urge to fidget with the strings of her coat. “They do this to everyone that isn't on the take, don't they?” His silence was an answer enough and she hesitantly cleared her throat. “And...you?” He looked away, turning his attention back to his screen, and it solidified her suspicions. Anger flared in her gut. She thought about the few friends her father had—how tired and overworked they always looked. What were the others on the force putting them through? What was going on that the public would never hear about? The system was so broken; the pieces didn't even resemble the whole anymore. Barbara jolted to her feet, unsure what she was going to do, just that she needed to do something. “Those bastards.” Edward caught her arm as she turned towards the door, pulling her back until she gave in and came to lean against the desk. The half-smile he gave her seemed bittersweet. “You don’t think you’re going to take on the entire GCPD by yourself, do you?” “I don’t know. I-I just feel like I should do something. Don’t you?” He did, but there was no need to inform her of the steady stockpile of information he’d been collecting, nor of any of his other work. The police would be less than pleased, but that’s why he wasn’t planning on uploading it through the GCPD. He would be working off site, carefully covering his tracks. It was just…taking some time. He wouldn’t pretend it wasn’t somewhat self-serving—even though most of what he had he intended on releasing without ransoming it, some of it? Oh, no, some of the information was the kind of thing worth lording over someone’s head. Perhaps that perverted his work, perhaps not. Edward wasn’t in this line of work to question the morality of his own choices. Barbara gave him all of five minutes of thoughtful silence before she cast a glance toward her laptop. “Do you think it’ll take very much longer?” Edward started, clearly having put the laptop from his mind for the moment. “It started updating when I connected it.” She wasn’t sure if she was exasperated or not that he hadn’t mentioned it was all but ready ages ago. Instead, she settled on gratitude. No one else in the precinct would have helped her and she was glad for his assistance. “Thanks, Eddie. I owe you a hot chocolate—the good kind!” “Promises,” he taunted with an amused snort. “What do you need to look at so badly, anyway?” “EBay,” she replied lightly, reaching across him to lift her laptop into her arms. “I…EBay?” “I’ve been bidding on some new equipment.” He looked up toward the door and the empty hallway barely visible through the barred window beside it and then back at Barbara, leaning toward her almost conspiratorially. “That’s what this is all about?” He leaned back, moving his glasses out of the way just enough to rub tiredly at the bridge of his nose. “I knew it; your father is going to kill me.” “Dad’s not going to kill you, Eddie,” she assured him almost distractedly. “Wish me luck that I can get this as cheap as they’re asking. Maybe we could find you a hat with what I have left.”