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antebunny · 5 months ago

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...i've never been threatened like this before and i'm not sure how to feel about it but hey. here you go.

Premise: Tim gets adopted late AU where Bruce never took Tim on as Robin, and Dick didn’t come back from Blüdhaven. As a result, Bruce ended up killing idk a gangster or something, lost it, broke into Arkham to kill the Joker, and then retired. That got Dick to come back and reconcile with Bruce, and it made Jason’s return to Gotham go smoother, cause while he doesn’t understand why that caused Bruce to “lose,” the Joker is dead and he knows that the no-killing rule is vitally important to him.

The only problem is that Tim remains un-found familied. He continues running rooftops, collecting evidence and dropping it off at the GCPD or at the Batcave, who try their best to get him to stay home. Steph got mentored by Dick and Barbara, and later Jason a little bit. Then Cass came and got adopted by Bruce. She’s not a vigilante, but she comes out sometimes when her family needs help because she too has eldest daughter syndrome. So: Nightwing, Phoenix, and Spoiler patrolling the streets, Oracle on the cameras and Batgirl as backup.

Tim stalks Phoenix to confirm for himself that it’s Jason, returned from the dead. Unfortunately, a little big birdie told Jason to be on the lookout for a little stalker, so he finds Tim.

"Listen. I’m only gonna say this once. Go home. Next time I see you out I’m tattling to the ‘rents. Got it?”

Oh great, so Dick told Jason every embarrassing thing Tim did when he was thirteen. He must have been a special type of evil in his past life to have his most embarrassing teenage memories constantly thrown back in his face by his heroes. Heroes who now all despise him. Wonderful.

Janet dies. Jack ends up in a coma. Tim sends his mom texts he knows she’ll never answer. So nothing changed. Nothing has changed, so why can’t he stop crying? Tim buries his feelings by going out and videotaping idk something.

Nightwing stops by. “Hey, Tim. We, uh, heard about your parents.”

Oh, God. He’s trying to be sympathetic. Sure, he knows what it’s like to have your parents ripped from you, but not parents that never wanted you in the first place. Plus this doesn’t change the part where he despises Tim and is only trying to comfort him because it’s the nice and right thing to do.

Nightwing awkwardly tries to say that Bruce is willing to take him in, which strikes so many visceral emotions so quickly that Tim has no idea which one prompts him to say “No! God, no.”

Yeah, no. He’s not getting pity-adopted into the family of vigilantes who think he’s a creepy little stalker with no sense of boundaries and no respect for those grieving lost loved ones. Especially since they’re right.

“I already filed for emancipation.”

“Well, if you’re sure that’s what you want,” Dick says doubtfully. “But remember our door is always open.”

I bet you say that to all the half-orphaned kids of Gotham, Tim thinks spitefully. Well, not as spitefully as he would like. He knows Dick says that because he’s stalked him for years. It’s good that Dick can find the kindness to comfort even the kid he hates.

“Okay,” Tim lies.

Dick offers to take him home.

“Oh no, that’s okay, but thank you for offering,” Tim says politely. “I was just about to call an Uber.”

Damian asks who this Timothy character is. (Ah yes, the newest member of the Wayne bunch. His integration into the family is…going. It’s going). Dick gives a sanitized version of the story, and they end up trading stories about Tim.

“Remember when he hacked into Babs’ servers?" Steph recalls. "I’ve never seen her so embarrassed.”

“He used to drop information off with Gordon in person, dressed up in all black and doing his best imitation of Bruce’s growl. Called himself Shadow.”

“Wait, seriously? Tell me you have footage,” Jason begs.

“He even tried to copy Bruce’s disappearing trick,” Dick says between bouts of laughter. “Stopped when the Comish got too worried about this random kid who knew more about Gotham’s criminal underbelly than him. That’s when he hacked Babs’ servers.”

“He only stopped that when I threatened to tell his parents,” Babs cuts in, fondly exasperated. “And that’s after he tried to give me tips on how to encrypt files. And I only found his identity ‘cause I told Dick about an anonymous informant who referenced an alarming number of memes and he immediately guessed who it was.”

“Seems like that’s the only way to get him to stop,” Jason remarks.

“We could never get him off the streets, though.”

“Couldn’t stop me, either,” Steph points out cheerfully.

“Yeah, well, you were too annoying.”

Tim, about a mile away, takes off his headset with shaking hands. He has only himself to blame for overhearing all this. None of the Bats would've recommended stalking and placing hidden mics in their living room as an effective method of getting to know them. Yet his face is burning. Ears ringing. Annoying. Please. Tim is annoying. Spoiler is annoying like a little sibling. Tim annoys them the way a civilian not dangerous enough to be a Rogue but still engaging in criminal activity is annoying. Like the disposable goon of a Rogue, but without the violence. He bugged them because he is, as previously established, a creepy little stalker. He wanted to learn more about the newest edition to their family. Instead of hearing from Damian, he heard about himself instead from the mouths of his heroes. Heard too much. Learned that it’s so much worse than he thought. They don’t despise him because of a handful of crushingly embarrassing things he did when he was thirteen. According to them, he never stopped being a bother. All of it, the information tips, the hacking advice, was annoying to them. According to their own words.

[end of chapter one]

go away

After Bruce Wayne dies, it only takes Tim about three weeks to show up on Dick Grayson’s doorstep with a 3-ring binder full of evidence. He runs a finger along the top metal ring of the binder over and over as he waits for a response to the doorbell. All at once he feels thirteen years old again, clutching months of painstakingly collected notes written up neatly and sorted into sections. Dick never read any of it, yet Tim did it all again. Had his photos developed for ease of viewing access, included sources for all of his claims, stuck to his main points for clarity’s sake but has pages and pages of extra information in the back of the binder for when–if–Dick decides to give his idea a thorough look.

But Tim is seventeen years old now, old enough to know where he went wrong the first time. Yesterday he spent hours coming up with argument after argument, approach after approach, to get through to Dick. Mr. Grayson, I’m so sorry for your loss. He’s probably tired of hearing that. Mr. Grayson, I have something I think you’ll want to see. Too quick to the point. If he doesn’t recognize Tim, maybe he’ll try Mr. Grayson, I know about your night life and I want to help. If he does, then maybe Mr. Grayson, I want to say I’m sorry about last time, but this isn’t like last time, I swear–

The door opens. Tim knows that it’s Dick by the smell. Sweat, unwashed clothes, and misery. How like last time. Dick looks like the epitome of grief, which is to say, not like himself. Dick Grayson is a creature of happiness by nature, of high-flying freedom, of beloved family and friends, a picture-perfect cover boy, always adored, always with a beautiful redhead, Batgirl or Starfire or Arsenal, yes Tim knows his type, always kind, always charming, always happy to be there. But Tim only ever seems to know him in these liminal states of horrible tragedy.

Worst of all, Tim can’t quite tell if Dick recognizes him.

“Mr. Grayson,” he begins, heart pounding so loudly he cannot hear himself speak, “I don’t think Mr. Wayne is dead.”

For a moment longer than Tim’s entire lifespan, Dick just stares at him. Blue eyes hazy and unfocused. One hand on the doorframe, one hand dragging through the stubble growing on his half-shaved jaw. He’s wearing an AC/DC shirt. Given Dick’s fashion tastes (bright colors) and Bruce Wayne’s music tastes, neither of which Tim should know, he is 98% certain that the AC/DC shirt used to belong to Bruce Wayne.

When Dick finally speaks, his voice sounds like the death of all joy.

“How many family members do I have to lose before you let me grieve in peace?”

Tim’s pounding heartbeat becomes a deafening white noise as Dick’s question pangs around his chest. His eyes sting so fiercly that Tim knows it is as visible as Dick’s misery. Nevertheless, he persists, if only for Bruce Wayne. No one else will save him if not for Tim. So even though his hero thinks Tim is a creepy little stalker with the unbelievable audacity to swagger into Dick’s life and tell him how to fix it, well. He’s not wrong, is he? What does it matter if Tim once upon a time dreamed of more? Saving Bruce Wayne is far more important than Tim’s nonexistent chances of becoming friends with Nightwing.

“Jason came back.” Tim’s chin, lifted stubbornly, trembles.

Dick’s face clouds over with a rage so terrible that Tim sincerely believes he’s about to get punched by Nightwing. Which wouldn’t be so bad. Tim deserves it, doesn’t he? Intruding on a stranger’s grief like this is probably a punchable offense. He’ll bear it all if only Dick listens, but it looks like he managed to blow it in the span of two sentences.

In the end, though Dick’s hands curl into fists and his shoulders shake like traintracks, he turns his head at the last second and rests his forehead on the doorframe. Tears streak down his perfect jawline. Watching Dick Grayson cry is like watching Atlantis sink. It’s like watching the Mona Lisa go up in flames. Tim knows stuff like this is why Dick treats him like a celebrity-obsessed stalker living in a weird fantasy world where he’s a part of the Wayne family. He knows it’s why Dick hates him. Tim still can’t help that it’s captivating to watch.

“Go away,” Dick begs.

Tim has never felt more like the scum of the earth, yet still he’d persist if he thought there was a chance of getting Nightwing to listen to him. But there isn’t. So Tim, as lonely, rejected, unworthy and fucking correct as he is, sees himself out of the apartment building.

Two weeks later, he catches a flight to Lahore.

#my writing #snippet #fic outline #batman #batfam #tim drake

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cosmicgrapevine · 2 years ago

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Mr. Hudson’s printer hummed as Lynd’s temporary ID came out. Tabby took it gently; the paper was still hot. The photo quality was awful, but it still said ASH, LYND (M) (JR), and gave a locker number and ID number. It was real. This was really happening. “I’d recommend not losing that one,” Mr. Hudson said, “Seeing as how your birth cert, social, legal address, name of legal guardian, medical records, and educational history are, uh, ‘temporarily unavailable’.” Lynd smiled guiltily as he took the ID. “I understand this is…less than ideal, from your perspective, sir. You have my gratitude.” “Well, I’ve gotten some funny looks from the registrar before, but this was a wild one.” He sat down and reclined in his office chair. “I’ll be honest, guys, I wanted to move slower here. Enrollment here is over twenty-five hundred, and 99% of ‘em are just living their normal lives.” “You think I’m a danger?” “I didn’t say that,” he answered. “But in terms of blending in, this is a trial by fire, and, well, you’ve barely been living in civilization for two weeks. If you get found out, and if the Fullmires hear about it…it’s my job to keep my students safe.” He shrugged. “But hey, get out there and prove me wrong, Mr. Ash! Welcome to Kahoti High, and go Knights!” “Go Knights.” Tabby responded. She wasn’t much for school spirit, but he’d earned some. Miss Verne gave him the news Sunday afternoon; he hammered out a ‘remedial-oriented’ schedule for Lynd and got it approved by the school, and now it was Wednesday morning. He’d have a familiar face in class every hour but one, and with an early start, be done at 1:30 every day. It would be her early start now too, some days. She’d had her license for a year and a half, but ‘Driver’s Ed’ with Lou and Lynd, far away from prying eyes and ears, was a perfect place to talk shop. Today, though, she’d just walk him through his day before her own started; he said that if he was showed every room and how to get there, he wouldn’t even need a printed schedule: “Marksteppers are good at retracing our paths; we need to be.” So, in control for now, Tabby stopped them in an isolated corner and asked the question she’d been wondering since Sunday. “You spilled to Mr. C about my mom, didn’t you? I didn’t; it’s none of his business. But as soon as she showed up and started bitching me out, it turns out Mr. C had a card up his sleeve.” “Yes, it was me,” Lynd said. “He and I had a minute alone that night. And with what you’ve said about your mother…” he shrugged. “I wanted to show my gratitude, so I asked him to intervene on your behalf. Was I in the wrong?” “Well, apparently it means I owe him a big favor, but what else is new?” She tried to keep her chin steady. “I was all ready to show Mom how much I’ve changed, but as soon as she walked in, I just…it’s like I was in a trance. I was all ready to just do what she said, even though I’d hate her for it, and hate myself for obeying. Because that’s just…what I’m used to. It’s the safe thing, even when it sucks ass. If Janet didn’t step in, I might have just followed Rita out the door.” “I’m scared, man. I keep it hidden from Dad and Mel, but God, I’m scared. I’ll never really get away. Rita still owns me, way deep in here.” She pointed to her head. “And now Mr. C knows that and who knows what he’ll do with that. I thought…I’d be free here. But it’s only been two weeks and I already feel like a puppet on a string again, I’m just—” Lynd silently drew her in for a hug. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “Next time, I won’t interfere without asking. But I don’t regret doing it. Someone who caused you so much pain…they don’t deserve you in their life.” Tabby blushed as she buried her face in his shirt. He’d gotten all spiffed up for his first day, and she didn’t want to stain his button-down with her tears. “C’mon…‘don’t deserve?’ That’s a bit much.” “No, it’s not.” He gently lifted her chin from his chest. “I was scared too. That first night, I thought it had all been for nothing. But you stood up for me when no one else did. And now I’m here. Do you think anyone could do that? Do you really doubt how…incredible, and wonderful a-and beautiful you are?” He took her hands in his, pressed them against his chest. His heart beat rapidly under them. “It’s my turn to help you. Whatever Florentino asks of us, we can face it together.” She stared into his sunset-colored eyes, framed by dark, shaggy bangs. Then he kissed her. This was the only time of day that the school building could be called ‘romantic’. 6:45 AM, freshly cleaned, still an hour before the horde arrived to yell across crowded hallways and miss the garbage cans with their wadded-up snack wrappers and sneak cigarette breaks in the bathrooms. So she took a nice long time, putting her arms around Lynd, running her fingers through his hair and playing with his necklace. After all, who knew what the future held, or if the moment would ever be so perfect again?

#prose sample #tabby #lynd

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youvebeenlivingfictional · 2 years ago

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You Spin Me Right Round Part Three

Previous Part | Masterlist | Next Part

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader

Rating: M

Notes: Set after the series because Eddie is fine he graduated no worries. Not beta-read. I hope y’all are having a lovely week! 🖤

Some people asked to be tagged and tumblr would not let me add them. If this is the case, I've noted it in the taglist below.

Warnings: Cursing, mentionsof w e e d, fluff, some angst, negative feelings toward Reader’s father; Reader’s father is an absent figure.

Summary: The day has been absolutely rotten.

It started with your favorite pair of jeans snapping a belt loop. Next, you’d opened the fridge and found the last of your milk expired. You’d eaten cereal—dry cereal—by the handful, and chased it with the last of that orange juice. Then you’d gotten downstairs and your car wouldn’t start, so you’d had to walk to work. You’d opened late, and had to deal with one tween trying to steal a Madonna cassette, and one older woman that didn’t understand that being out of stock on a record didn’t mean that you could magically conjure up another.

And now this—

By the end of the first week of your little arrangement, you’ve racked up four pre-roll joints. You expect Eddie to pop in and out as he has sales, but Eddie starts popping in well before the sale, and lingering afterward. He drifts up and down the aisles, pokes through records and cassettes. He doesn’t do so quietly, either. He talks to himself as he does it; he talks to you, too. When you don’t answer, he’ll fill in the blanks for himself.

“This one?...Nah. Nah, you’re more of a Janet Jackson gal, aren’t you...No? Full of surprises, aren’t you...Oh, I know. This one. You’re a Patti LaBelle fan if I’ve ever seen one…But then again…Maybe not, huh?”

You rarely say a word when he asks, just tip your brows up and eye the album or cassette cover. Your lack of communication never stops him, though. There’s something almost admirable about his incessant chatter, and something incredibly sweet about it, too.

“Here you go, pretty lady.”

You look up, straightening a touch as Eddie slides an envelope across the counter. You arch a brow at it, unable to help your twitching smile as you spot his scrawled handwriting: Rent :)

“You’re very funny,” You say dryly, sliding the envelope off of the counter and tucking it into your back pocket.

“I know. Hey,” He shifts in front of you. “Why don’t you ever play music in here?”

“What?”

“Well, it’s a music store,” Eddie’s head tips to the side, smiling teasingly. “And I know you’ve got the equipment. I’ve seen the speakers.”

“...I dunno.”

“Your boss doesn’t want you to?”

“He wouldn’t mind, I guess.”

“So?”

“I don’t know what I’d play.”

“Play what you like. Whaddaya like?” Eddie springs up, resting his hands against the counter and pushing himself back and forth. You hesitate, lowering your eyes down to your book again.

“I dunno.”

You see Eddie go still in your periphery then, and it’s only a moment before he’s ducking his head to try and meet your gaze.

“You don’t know?”

You scoff irritatedly, leaning back from the counter. You take a full step back, picking your book up and raising it to hide your heating face, pouting in your retreat as his judgement rolls over you in full-force.

“...Hey. Hey, c’mon.” You hear him step around the counter, and a moment later, his hands close gently around your wrists. He tugs them gently, and when you don’t lower your hands, he peers over the top of your book with wide, beseeching eyes.

“‘M sorry. Do you hate me now?”

You’re quiet for a moment before you lower your book enough to see his entire face.

“No,” You mumble.

“You can be honest. I’ll throw myself to my knees and beg for forgiveness right here.”

“Eddie, seriously, it’s…Whatever.” You lower your head, looking down at your book and turning the page. But Eddie doesn’t move, or let go of your wrists. Instead, he drops down to a crouch, peering up at you imploringly.

“It’s just, like…Music is so…” He gives your wrists a gentle shake, making a sharp, excited grin and letting out a little growl, “Ya know? It’s like audible joy, you know, it’s like the glue holding fucking humanity together. How can you not like glue!”

Your brows raise. “Solid words from someone that sounds like he’s sniffed a lot of glue.”

Eddie wrinkles his nose, sticking his tongue out at you. He springs up suddenly, causing you to draw in a startled gasp.

“We’re gonna fix this,” He warns.

“Fix what?”

“Your severe music deficiency. I cannot and will not stand idly by. The situation is too dire. It’s unhealthy.”

You raise your brows, watching Eddie round the counter again. You expect him to start darting around the store, to take up tapes and records and stack them on the counter, demanding to know where your deck was. Instead, Eddie keeps walking, and to your surprise, heads for the door.

“Where are you going?” You laugh.

“Deals are done for the day, and I have a job to do.” He spins around in front of the door, stopping to face you. “I am on a quest of the utmost importance.”

“...Which is?”

“I am making you a goddamn mix tape. If you don’t see me tomorrow, try not to miss me too much.”

“It’s gonna take you that long?”

“It’s gonna take as long as it needs to take.”

He raises both hands, tongue flashing from his mouth as he fingers fold into the universal sign for rock on. You shake your head in disbelief, watching Eddie turn and leave—and then flash you the sign again once he’s outside.

The day has been absolutely rotten.

It started with your favorite pair of jeans snapping a belt loop. Next, you’d opened the fridge and found the last of your milk expired. You’d eaten cereal—dry cereal—by the handful, and chased it with the last of your orange juice. Then you’d gotten downstairs and your car wouldn’t start, so you’d had to walk to work. You’d opened late, and had to deal with one tween trying to steal a Madonna cassette, and one older woman that didn’t understand that being out of stock on a record didn’t mean that you could magically conjure up another.

And now this—

“You coming to the show tonight?” Cliff asks. You don’t answer; you don’t even look or move to show that you’ve heard him. You’ve never gone to one of Cliff’s shows, though he’s always asked. You just…Well, you know what kinda music he plays. He’s told you. You don’t think it would be your thing, and you don’t think you’d do well at faking it. When you don’t answer, Cliff dips his head beneath yours, grabbing your book and turning it toward himself.

“You close in a bit, right?" He presses. "I can drive you there and take you home after. The hell are you reading, anyway, what is this?”

“The Personal History of David Copperfield.”

“I think I was supposed to read that in Sophomore year,” Cliff huffs, picking the book up and turning it over in his hands. You shrink back at the reminder, fingers curling into your palms as you pointedly look anywhere but at the book.

“You like it?” He adds.

“Did you?”

“I said I was supposed to read it, not that I did.”

“So you’re reading my copy right now?” You reach out and try to snatch it, but Cliff pulls it just out of your reach, brows raising.

“You haven’t answered my question.”

“Gimme my book back.”

“Answer my question.”

“Clifford—”

“You know I hate it when you call me that.”

“You know I hate it when you take my fucking book, dude.”

You’re so distracted that you don’t hear the door open, nor do you see anyone come in. You just lean across the counter, pushing yourself up against it and jumping slightly to reach for the thick tome. Cliff just holds it higher and higher—and then, like a flash, it’s out of his hands. Your brow furrows, and you watch as Cliff turns around, desperately looking for the culprit. You see just a flash of a familiar jean jacket, and a shaggy head of hair that you’ve come to know well. You laugh in shock as Eddie darts between the rows, making for the door.

“Hey!” Cliff yells, running after him. You watch the two run out the front door, and expect Eddie to pop back in and fling the book into a random bin. You huff, plopping down on your stool, staring at the front door. You wait, and wait, and wait—but after nearly half an hour, neither of the guys have come back. You’ve all but given up hope when Eddie takes two steps inside, chest heaving, and collapsing to the ground. Your heart leaps into your throat, and you startle out from behind the counter. You run down the aisle, sliding down beside him and looking him over. He pants heavily, eyes closed, bangs matted to his forehead.

“I need…I need…” He breathes.

“What! What do you need?”

Eddie raises a shaking hand, digging into his jacket and drawing out a cassette tape.

“I need you…To listen to this.”

You frown, eyeing the cassette labeled Awesome Music Mixtape 1.

“...What?” You ask dumbly. Eddie’s eyes pop open, cheeks stretching with a grin. Your panic melts to annoyance, and you scoff, “Oh, you—!” as you slap his chest lightly. You stand up, groaning as you stride back to the counter. You hear the scrape of his jean chain against the floor as he rolls over, followed by the thud of his boots behind you.

“Hey, what!” He laughs, “What’s wrong?”

“You—” You whirl around and Eddie stops hurriedly, startled by your turning so suddenly. You raise your hands lightly tapping and then pushing at Eddie’s chest again. “You scared the shit out of me!”

“Well damn, I'm sorry. I can go lay back down on the floor.”

“Where is my book.”

“I hid it.”

“Where’s Cliff?”

“I don’t know, I lost him, like, fifteen minutes ago.”

“Then where have you been?”

“Hiding your book!”

You sigh heavily, turning away from Eddie and turning to get behind the counter again. You plop onto the stool there, leaning back to peer at the shelves under the counter. Surely there’s another book that you’ve already read somewhere in there.

“Okay, in all seriousness, do you have, like, some water or something?" Eddie asks, clearing his throat. "I’m parched, and that could be fatal.”

You glance up to see Eddie watching you as he leans against the counter. You reach down, snagging your half-full water bottle and holding it out. Eddie lets out a greedy moan at the sight, snatching the bottle up from you and twisting the top off. You blink up at him as he gulps it down. Your eyes wander over the expanse of his long neck, and the steady bob of his adam’s apple. You look away hurriedly as he lowers the bottle, poking through the shelves under the desk again.

“So,” Eddie swipes his sleeve against his forehead before he reaches back into his jacket, drawing out the mix tape. “I started super simple. Okay, not super simple, not Mary Had a Little Lamb, but I didn’t wanna overwhelm you, right? Listening to such magnificence is obviously going to be a shock to the system. I loaded this up with some Black Sabbath, some Zeppelin, some Doors, some Kinks, and some Cream.”

A couple of those names prick your memory, but you try not to dig too deeply into why. Eddie waggles the tap in front of you, and waggles his brows in sync.

“No sugar?” You ask, unable to help it. Your attempt at teasing falters at Eddie’s confusion, and you shake your head, reaching for the tape.

“What?”

“You said Cream, I said no sug—Can you just hand me the tape?”

“What!” Eddie laughs, “That was funny!”

“It clearly wasn’t, just, c’mon,” You take the tape from him, eyeing the hand-listed tracks along the back.

“How long did this take you?” You ask.

“...Couple’a days. Between, you know, my sales, band practice…”

“Washing your hair,” You mutter. You glance up to see Eddie smiling, his lower lip drawn between his teeth.

“You would not believe the hours of maintenance,” He teases, raising his fingers and twirling a few strands of hair between his fingers. He raises it under his nose like a mustache, twizzles it, then drops it, pointing at the tape.

“Now remember, that’s your first lesson. There’ll be more, so pace yourself.”

You smile a little, looking down at the tape and turning it over in your hands.

“Thanks,” You mumble. You glance up at the clock, eyeing the time. “I gotta clean up here.”

“Okay.”

Eddie makes no move to leave, just leans heavily against the counter, drumming his fingers against the top. You take your time counting out the drawer and making note of the contents before taking up the drawer.

“I have to um,” You nod toward the back.

“Yeah! I’ll wait,” Eddie smiles widely. You nod a touch, hurrying to the back office. You crouch down in front of the safe, glancing back nervously, but you don’t hear anyone coming closer. You tuck the drawer into the safe before shutting it and twirling the combination lock. You straighten, poking your head out of the back office. You can’t help but smile when you find Eddie poking through a bin of discounted, second-sale records. He stops as you draw closer, reaching in and holding one up.

“Eh?”

You frown a touch, coming closer and eyeing it.

“I don’t know that one,” You admit.

“Fleetwood Mac!” Eddie cries. “Rumors! The Chain?”

You give a shrug and pass it back to him to put away. “Ready to go?”

“I’m gonna remember this,” He warns, wagging a finger at you as he puts it back where it belongs. “This is gonna be part of your next assignment. I’m making a mental note.”

“Careful. Wouldn’t want it to get too crowded up there.”

Eddie slaps his hand to his chest, pushing a long breath out between his pursed lips.

“You’re killin’ me here—but it’d be an honor to go at the hands of such a pretty lady.”

“I gotta close up, Munson, or people are gonna think we’re still open here.”

You lock up quickly, warmed as Eddie jumps up to grab the gate and pull it down for you. You fasten the large, clunky lock.

“Thanks.”

“If you wanna wait by your car, I’ll go grab your book.”

You flounder for a second, glancing around, then shake your head a little. “I’ll come with you.”

“You just wanna find out all my secrets.”

“Well if you take off with my book again because’a Cliff, you won’t have to get it for me.”

“Touché.”

You fold your arms over your chest, walking down the block with Eddie. The two of you go on in relative quite, though you feel him turn to look at you now and again.

“Here, c’mere,” He nods you towards a row of bushes near an abandoned house. He glances around, looking around the hedge and eyeing the empty sidewalk before he crouches down. You watch him wince a little at the jabbing of twigs before he straightens, your book in his hand.

“Sorry about the, uh…” He trails off, brushing the dirt off of the cover, turning the book from the spine to shake it from between the pages. Then he proffers it with both hands and a bright smile.

“Thanks,” You nod. “This your usual drop spot?”

“Nah, new to me—but I figured it was as good a spot as others. It was between this and up that tree.” He points up, and you glance up at a precariously dangling branch. You nod.

“I think you made the right choice.”

“Yeah. I can walk you back to your car?”

“Oh, um…” You trail off, looking down at the book. “I’m gonna walk. I walked this morning.”

“Why? Where’s your sweet ride?”

“It wasn’t working this morning, so I cut my losses so I wouldn’t be late—Well. Later.”

Eddie bites his lip and looks around.

“How about I um…Do you want me to drive you back to your place? Doesn’t have to be the whole way back, but like…Close?” He raises his hand, scrubbing at the back of his neck.

“You don't have to do that. ‘Sides, don’t you have a show to get to?”

“Show?”

“Yeah—Well I mean Cliff is playing tonight, so…He said your band plays ahead of his sometimes.”

“Oh! Yeah, we do, but our bassist broke his thumb a few weeks ago, so we are out of the lineup for at least three more weeks.”

“Ah, sorry.”

“Yeah. So? Ride?” He jerks his thumb over his shoulder.

“Hey, you know, if you want,” Eddie glances toward you from the driver’s seat, “I can take a look at your car.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I mean, I might be able to get it going enough to get it to a garage or something, you know.”

You smile a little, turning to look through the windshield.

“Maybe,” You nod. “I don’t wanna keep you out late or anything.”

“Hey, I don’t have a curfew.”

You feel Eddie glancing toward you again, but your ears are honing in on the murmur of music in the background. It’s not loud enough for you to make out, but it sounds…Different from what you’ve heard before. It’s not different in a bad way, just in a noticeable way.

“So you doin’ the college thing?”

“What?” You ask dazedly, turning to look at him again. Eddie seems pleased that he’s gotten your attention, and he glances between you and the road.

“You’re always reading somethin’, ya know, when I come in. I’ve never seen you with the same book twice.”

You’d be more flattered at his attention if you weren’t so nervous about answering the question.

“Uh—No. Just something I like to do.”

“I dig it. It’s like…Eye music.”

“Think you just call them ‘words’, Munson.”

“Hey, either way, brings joy.”

“Uh-huh.”

“What makes you pick what you pick?”

Missed opportunities? You think.

“I guess I just go for books that I’ve heard good things about…Make a left here.”

Eddie turns down your block, chuckling and nodding.

“Yeaaaah, there she is,” He coos, pulling his van up behind your car. You reach down, undoing your seatbelt.

“Thanks for the um—The ride, and the book, and the tape…And the heart attack.”

“Glad I could be of assistance,” Eddie raises his hand, tipping an imaginary hat to you. Then he mumbles, “Oh!”, and hurries to park and shut the car off. You frown, watching as he scrambles around the front of the van. The frown shifts to a smile as he opens the car door for you, holding a hand out to help you down. You take his hand and slide out of the seat a touch awkwardly, steadying your other hand on the seat.

“Thanks—Again,” You huff a laugh.

“Sure. I’ll be by tomorrow for a,” Eddie shoves the door shut, “A deal, so. Lemme know then if you want me to come over and take a look at your baby.”

“I’d appreciate that. Night, Eddie.”

“Night, pretty lady.”

You get up early to make sure you can walk to work on time. You’ve grudgingly packed a baggie of cheerios and a thermos of coffee. Frankly, you're still half-asleep as you head down the stairs that morning. But the sight of a familiar van wakes you up more than the coffee ever could. Eddie straightened from where he was leaning back against the car and flick away a half-finish cigarette.

“Morning!” He greets with a bright smile before jerking his thumb over his shoulder. “Need a ride?”

Taglist: @missredherring ; @fantasticcopeaglepasta ; @paintballkid711 ; @massivecolorspygiant ; @blueeyesatnight ; @recklessworry ; @amneris21 ; @ew-erin ; @youngkenobilove ; @carbonated-beverage ; @lorecraft ; @moonlightburned ; @milf-trinity ; @nolanell ; @millllenniawrites ; @chattychell ; @dihra-vesa ; @videogamesandpoorlifechoices ; @missswriter ; @thembosapphicclown ; @brandyllyn ; @wildmoonflower ; @buckybarneshairpullingkink ; @mad-girl-without-a-box ; @winchestershiresauce ; @munsonsuccubus ; @peaches-and-plums-motherfucker (tumblr wouldn't let me tag) ; @heyndrix ; @dragonfly358 (tumblr wouldn't let me tag)

#Eddie Munson x Reader #Eddie Munson x You #Eddie Munson/Reader #Eddie Munson/You #Eddie Munson fic #Eddie Munson imagine #You Spin Me Right Round

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sun-lit-roses · 2 years ago

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The First Commandment

I’m not going to say I’m prepared for anything this time, because the last episode seemed to take that as a challenge.

Thank you for your comments, I’m learning a lot! The cute doctor has a name (Janet) and will be returning, which is the best news ever. Sam and Jack are apparently A Thing in the fandom, which is interesting and now I’m waiting to see why (???). And the idea of protocols for alien diseases and whatever else they might bring back from this collection of 6-digit planets is funny, which is alarming. On the bright side, I guess that means we’ll see lots of Janet!

Let’s see what season 1, episode 6 brings! The title is... ominous.

A spooky forest! How very Halloween-y.

Uh oh, they’re already in trouble.

Wait, these aren’t our heroes.

Oh no, he’s been shot! Hey, dude, your buddy’s gone!

Did... did he just leave an open gate back to Earth unattended? There HAS to be a rule about that.

Oh no, what are they gonna do with Frakes!

RIP Frakes.

Hang on, why do those guys look like they’re wearing fatigues?

Okay, now it’s our people.

You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sci-fi show where they actually put on sunscreen before. Very responsible, I dig it.

I buy the explanation that the Goa’uld had a thing for forests. Makes sense. (And it’s totally not at all because the easiest filming location was probably in a bunch of trees 😁 I like that they took the time to make an in-universe explanation for it, though. That’s fun!)

This must be the planet the one guy escaped from before. The only survivor of SG-9 it sounds like. What explanation did he give when he got back?

Huh, a world with no birds does sound odd.

Spinny vision!

OH no, is Daniel gonna get kidnapped again?

Yay, Jack to the rescue!

It’s someone from Earth!

Wait, he didn’t make it back through the gate?

Aw, buddy, I hate to tell you about Frakes.

Those other guys were in fatigues because they’re a part of SG-9! On the one hand, glad that their whole team wasn’t killed. On the other, oh boy, that’s a heap load of trouble.

It makes a lot of sense, though - every planet we’ve seen so far that SG-1 has visited, they start out thinking the team are gods. If you sent someone through who - hm, has a certain level of egotism or a need for that kind of worship, then it would absolutely be a temptation. I bet when we find this Hanson, he’ll make excuses, like ‘compared to them we are gods, we’re so much more advanced’ and ‘they’re better off’ and ‘they asked us to be their gods’ and a whole lot of other mental gymnastics he’s gone through to excuse his need to be a dictator.

Sorry, got distracted from the episode. Let’s tune back in to Sam refusing a direct order. This’ll go well.

That was a very pointed ‘Captain’ lol

‘Gave back the ring’???? Oooo the plot thickens. Also, she gave back the ring ‘because she knows him.’ That doesn’t sound great. What kind of guy did they put on SG-9? Well, the kind who’s down with fancying himself a god, I guess that question answers itself.

Also, I’m with Jack here. Do you really want to add that sort of emotional involvement to an already complicated situation?

Insubordination is spreading rapidly 😂

‘Does it say colonel anywhere on my uniform?’

No one wants to go home!

Oh good, so we’ve got one person on the retrieval team who used to be romantically involved with the guy and another person who wants revenge on the guy because his friend was killed. This is such a good idea. Fun party, guys!

I genuinely feel bad for Jack leading this mess. Also, bit surprised he isn’t threatening charges to get them to follow orders back through the gate.

‘We’re not on Earth.’ 😁

Why do I feel like the evil radiation is going to be a plot point?

Hey, it’s Evil Dude!

Well Evil Dude’s Minion. Now Evil Dude.

How big are the other SG teams? If they’re all four people, then there’s just the two of them playing god, right? Because Frakes was murdered and Conner escaped. Hansen sounds like he was already a bit off, what’s this fourth guy’s deal?

Would it really be a scifi military-type show if no one complained about the food? 😂 That said, chicken mac and cheese sounds like an interesting experience.

Why does their perimeter alert sound like a car alarm.

Yep, from Connor’s tale it sounds like Hanson started down the slippery slope early - ‘it’ll be safer if we don’t correct them.’

The sun and radiation got to him! Hopefully our group has enough sunblock. I don’t want a rehash of the Rage People with everyone going off the deep end. Let’s save that for the second season.

Oof that’s an escalation right there, ordering the death of the ones who disagree with you.

Also, kind of concerning that Connor is debating the way he wants to die. Man’s been through a lot, he should definitely be getting some counseling.

Evil Dude time!

Has he got them mining something? Or building something?

Is Daniel using a sock as a sleep mask? 😂

They’re doing better with dark vision than the last episode.

Man, I still want a fire stick.

Were they scared off already? Wait, they took Connor!

They’re building a template, sure, that’s very - religious.

Again, why’s this other guy going along with things? Afraid of Hanson turning on him could be a reason, I guess.

‘A soft spot for the lunatic fringe.’ Well, that explains why she’s with the team.

‘He liked control. He had this in him. I’m not surprised’ There are just red flags all over for that relationship.

Also, loved Daniel talking about how soldiers are crazy and looking back at Jack. Get a little roast in there on your eavesdropping buddy 😂

No, being staked in the sun, just what Connor was afraid of!!

Where’s Jack going?

‘Need help getting in the front door.’ Is Sam going to get to blow something up?? YES

Aw no, she has to flirt with the homicidal maniac, that’s less fun.

I am unsurprised that she isn’t waiting when there’s someone being hurt.

‘We should have stopped her.’ “We would have failed.’ Teal’c is unsurprised as well.

Yeah, Sam! Give him what for!

Jack is unhappy, but also unsurprised. Yeah, everyone pretty much has her number by now. 😂

Time to face the Evil Dude. Dun dun dun....

Yep, thinks he’s saving them, as expected.

‘It’s a matter of definition.’ Oh yeah, he’s deep into Delusionville.

Is that local guy trying to escape? You can do it!

‘Healer of the emotionally wounded.’ Even this guy is unsurprised she showed up - although I don’t think he understands why as well as he thinks he does.

Sam’s got a gun!

Come on, shoot him. Just a little.

Dang it, Sam.

Great, now we have to listen to him talk about how powerful he is.

Okay, I need to pause so I can appreciate Teal’c’s attempt to ‘look friendly.’ 🤣 Yeah, he should really work on that.

Time for a little de-brainwashing session.

‘The sky. Up there.’ I like this kid.

Turning the sky orange? Some sort of protection against the radiation?

Evil Dude time again.

Is he just mixing a bunch of biblical stories together? Why do Evil Dudes always pick that book to get fixated on?

There is a device!

Ooo I’m getting the feeling that I know why he was waiting for Sam to show up. Weird alien devices aren’t his area of expertise - but they are hers.

Actually, since the Prime Directive isn’t a thing, I guess there’s no real reason she couldn’t set it up. Except that it might make the locals think that Jonas really is a god, which wouldn’t be great.

Yep, that’s essentially what he just spelled out. Except that he also wants her to be his ‘goddess.’ Ick.

Huh, well, needing two will put a crimp in Evil Dude’s plan. Time for the team to divide and conquer! Hopefully!

Is Teal’c gonna use the fire stick?!?!

YESSS

I WANT ONE

Although how did it blow out a perfect circle? Nevermind, don’t underestimate the might of the fire stick.

Did no one notice Jack taking that guy out? He rolled down the cliff pretty dramatically.

OH NO Guess someone noticed. And they were on their way out.

Jack can’t help but snark even when he’s been captured. I appreciate that.

Ooo Jack’s laying a guilt trip on Sam there. I mean, she did run off on her own. Kinda valid here.

Can we just appreciate that it took Sam basically no time to figure out how to turn on an alien device that she’d never seen before? #we love a genius

What have they done to the Stargate?

Uh oh, burying it is not good news.

At least Jack and Connor get to go back.

Or maybe not. He’s going to kill them with the Stargate iris!

AND they have to listen to him go on about how great he is. That’s almost worse.

Yay! Team to the rescue! And the kid gets to use the fire stick. That’s probably fair considering what’s been done to his people.

Did Jonas just hit Sam?! Shoot him with the fire stick, kid.

Time to prove that Evil Dude is evil!

The sky up there really is very orange.

He’s gonna kill Sam!

Way to go, Jack! Definitely winning points against the ‘is he just a jerk’ poll. Also, it’s been Jack to the rescue a lot this episode. I hope he gets a few days off after this.

On the one hand, it’s hard to argue with the angry mob. On the other, watching your former fiance die would be hard in any circumstance.

I think they’re starting to consider the principles of the prime directive on their own: should they come back? have they done enough, too much, already?

See I like this little bonding moment a lot better than the tank top quip. Not sure I see a ship yet, but maybe the beginnings of a friendship. Jack can be okay when he’s not being a creep!

(Though I still think she could have shot Jonas just a little.)

‘There’s so much more outside the cave.’ Was this all a giant Plato’s Cave allegory??

So what’s everyone’s bets on how long before those people are going to get curious about how the Stargate works and start experimenting?

Rating:🔘🔘🔘🔘

4/5 Gates This was a good time! New planet (woot!), interesting dilemma, got to see some fire stick action, everyone survived (except the evil dudes), what more could I ask for? I’m tempted to give it a five, but I don’t have enough of a frame of reference. That said, this might be my favorite one so far!

#long post #stargate sg-1 #reaction post #the first commandment #i.e. why they should maybe double down on the psychological testing for new sg members

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sincerelynamkook · 4 years ago

Text

Hennessy (01)

Latina Y/N x Jungkook

Genre: Angst, Fluff

Warnings: alcohol/drunken behavior (drink responsibly friends), mentions of smoking, sexual tension

Word Count: 2.6k

Playlist: “Yo Perreo Sola” by Bad Bunny // “Frikitona” by Plan B // “Te Extrano” by Xtreme // “Imitadora” by Romeo Santos”

Series Masterlist

“You ready?” I roll my eyes with a pout instead of verbally answering my best friend’s question. I’m still lowkey butthurt she not only forced me to get up from my umpteenth day in bed, but also forced me to get dressed and put on makeup. I’m barely into my 30th day of getting over a breakup, I had plans to dive deep into the pits of my depression and despair for another month or two.

“Stop being a brat and get over it. It’s not like you were in love with the guy.” Britt sasses back.

“Maybe so. But I really gave that fucker 6 months of my life thinking he would eventually be the one only for him to go out and cheat on me...let me be depressed, damn bro.”

“Dude, c'mon. Tony said this would be the party of the year and you know how Latinos love to throw a party.” She grabs my hand and drags me up the driveway to the front door. I could hear the loud blast of Merengue music all the way from where we parked down the street. Serves us right for being 2 hours late to this damn party. But we were running on Latino time.

“Bitch did you forget I’m Latina?” I ask her. Of course I know what Latin parties are like.

“Really? You sure ain’t acting like the bad bitch Latina I know you are.”

“I-...whatever.” I mumble, not having a retort.

She giggles and opens the front door, coming fact to face with Jimin who has the brightest smile on his face. “Finally bitches! I’ve been waiting for y’all for over an hour.”

Music, laughter, singing, mixed with conversations from every direction bombard my ears. Jimin drags Britt and me to the back of the house, bee-lining straight to the kitchen counter that's covered in alcoholic beverages. He goes around to stand next to Tony who’s behind the counter, dressed in an all black fit, gold chain around his neck, nose pierced with a stud and a septum, and small black rectangular framed glasses perched on his nose.

“What, you on your Bad Bunny phase or something?” I ask him as Jimin hands me a cranberry vodka, knowing it’s my favorite drink.

With a smile, he sticks his tongue out and places his pinky fingers near his glasses doing the iconic Bad Bunny pose, “You already know babyyyy,” he says garnering a laugh from me. “I made sure to stock up on cranberry and vodka for you babe. Britt warned me so we on that ‘Bring Y/N back to life’ gang shit tonight.”

“Oh god,” I grimace. When Britt and Tony get together on their “missions” there is no hope for us. “Well you got food around here? I ain’t getting shitfaced on an empty stomach.”

“This ain’t the first time at the rodeo, Y/N.” Hoseok says as he appears behind Tony with a platter of appetizers on a plate for me. “We take care of our favorite girls around here, Y/N, c'mon now, especially when you're my girlfriend’s best friend” he winks at Britt and she giggles. Gross.

“My hero.” I respond sarcastically, inspecting the chips and guac. With a raise of a brow I ask, “This better be some legit guac boys, not that store bought kind y’all got that one time at Costco.”

“Omg get over it! I didn’t realize it was expired!” Jin yells from behind me. He gives Britt a kiss on the cheek before pinching my arm. I stick my tongue out before giving him a genuine smile. “I wasn’t even the one who bought it. It was Jimin!”

Jimin giggles, “Well that’s what y’all get for sending me grocery shopping when I’m hungover.”

“I was sick for days! I almost died!” I yell back. Not gona lie, this guac is hella good. “Dude, who made this guac. It’s legit, I’ll give you that.”

“I asked my sister to make some for us. She also made some tamales for you and Britt, you know she loves y'all more than me.” Tony says as he pours me another drink. Tears start to well in my eyes, food being the only thing that weakens my tough exterior.

“Tony...tell your sister to divorce Jackson and marry me. I’ll treat her better!” I exclaim making the group laugh.

“Y’all lets move this party to the den.” Hoseok says, grabbing Britt’s hand and leading us to the next room, away from the bigger crowd.

We each take our usual seats. Being a tight knit group since our college days, we have our traditions, one being movie night at Tony’s every weekend, thus leading us to have our own unofficial assigned seats.

The music can still be heard from the den, albeit not as loud as it was in the main rooms.

“So we getting Y/N shitfaced tonight right?” Jimin asks with a smirk in my direction.

“Hell yeah. I can’t believe you skipped out on movie nights this whole month.” Jin responds with a shake of his head. “I thought we were family.”

I roll my eyes at his dramatics. “Whatever. Y’all know how I get when I’m in my moods.”

Hoseok stands and comes around the couch to hug me from behind. “I know you’re not a hugger but accept this quick hug and let go of your sadness friend.”

I giggle and hold back my witty remark, knowing his heart is in the right place. “Thanks Hobi. Give me a few more drinks and I’ll be begging for your hugs.”

He jumps at that and runs to the kitchen yelling, “You don’t have to tell me twice!!” Brittany gets up and follows him, muttering something about going to make sure he doesn’t get dragged into dancing.

“But in all seriousness, Y/N, are you okay?” Jin asks next to me.

“Not gona lie, I’m hurt because y’all know how I feel about cheating. But it is what it is right?” I exhale and gulp down my third cup of cranberry vodka.

“You’ll be okay babe, c'mon lets go get more drinks.” Jimin takes my hands and drags me out the den, just as Yoongi and Joonie were walking into the den.

“Hey fuckers. I brought the Henny!” Yoongi announces with a smirk. At the sound of Henny I turn around and walk back into the den, grabbing the Hennessy bottle from Yoongi’s grasp and opening it to pour myself some shots.

“Oh so that’s what we doing huh?” He smirks and I just wink at him raising my shot glass at him.

“The night is young my friend.” I say as I raise up my second shot in a toast. Joon takes the bottle from me and pours me another one, clinking his own glass with mine.

“Let’s get this bread!” he says to which I grimace and retort back, “Grandpa, don’t ever say that again.” He chuckles with a roll of his eyes and downs his shot.

The heat from the alcohol going down my throat and coursing throughout my body has me removing my jacket. Jin whistles saying “aight mami, you sure you're getting over a break up?”

Giggling, I look over at him to see him checking me out. I’m donned in black ripped skinny jeans, black platform Jadon docs, and a green satin tank top; meaning my tattoo covered arm is out on display. “Boy please, be quiet before you get me in trouble with Tree. Where is she anyway?”

“She had to work tonight. She’s gonna come after her shift which should be soon.” He says checking the time on his phone.

Another shot is placed in my hand by Jimin, “bottoms up bitch!”

I down my shot just as I hear the sounds of “Yo Perreo Sola” by Bad Bunny start to play. “Oh shit! This my song!!!” I yell, clearly feeling the effect of the alcohol contents fueling my body. I grab Jimin’s hand and drag him over to the crowd dancing in the large living room.

Jimin positions himself behind me, holding my waist as we start to dance to the song. We grind up on each other, perreando like the song describes, screaming the chorus together with the crowd. I turn around to face him and push him backwards, ready to perrear sola. The other girls around me start to hype me up and start to grind against me. We put on quite the show but the crowd goes even wilder when the song switches to “Frikitona” by Plan B. Jin dances up next to me with Tree on his arm and hands me two more shots, “double fist time babyyy” he yells over the crowd. I take the shots all the while I’m dancing, I don’t even notice when the two empty glasses are replaced with new full ones by Jimin, knowing it's him with the pink hair on his head, but I down those two. I vaguely notice Hoseok and Brittany dancing not too far from me, practically making love on the dance floor. Wouldn’t surprise me if they disappeared upstairs real soon. The reggaetón bops keep going and Jimin and I keep dancing amidst the crowd. Whoever picked this mix deserves a reward because it got all the throwbacks. I smile big when I hear Don Omar’s “Dile.”

I’m sweating, pushing my hair back from my face every few seconds, regretting not bringing a scrunchie with me to put it in a bun. The reggaetón mix fades off into a bachata mix with “Te Extrano” by Xtreme being the first song to play. Not wanting to go back into my feels, I decide to take this time to grab water and sober a bit. Now that I’ve stopped dancing I realize just how drunk I really am. I lean against the counter and grab a cool water bottle from the cooler, snickering when I see Yoongi making out with some girl across the kitchen.

The bachata mix turns sensual, as “Sobredosis” by Romeo Santos starts to play. I sway softly in my spot against the counter, singing along to the song as I try hard to sober up.

I hear Tony yell a “Look who finally made it” and the crowd starts to shout their greetings at whoever just walked in. I turn around to see what the commotion is all about and see Jungkook walking in holding two bottles of Hennessy, one in each hand.

“What the fuck” I whisper softly, but not soft enough when I hear Taehyung reply, “yeah, he’s back.”

“Whoa when did you get here TaeTae? And when you say ‘he’s back’ you mean cause of summer break right?” I ask without turning back around to look at him, my attention at one man and one man only.

“I got here a while ago with Janet, we were outside smoking though.” Ahh that makes sense. “And no, he’s back for good. He graduated last week.” He says with a smirk in my direction.

My eyes go wide, muttering a soft, “fuck.” I turn around to face the kitchen, hands in my hair in exasperation. How did he graduate already? He’s like three years younger than me! I close my eyes and focus on doing the math only to realize that he in fact was graduating college this year. Shit.

Tae pats my back, “what’s got your panties in a twist love? It’s not like you fucked the guy on his 21st birthday and never spoke to him again even though he’s one of your best friend’s, Yoongi’s to be exact, younger brother.”

I open my eyes and face Tae. He yells an exaggerated ‘OW!” when I twist his nipple.

“Kim Taehyung what the fuck?! I told you never to mention that again.” I exhale and make the decision to continue my “getting shitfaced” mission. Pouring a line of shots, I start to take them one after the other until Tae decides to take the last 3 himself earning a “fuck you” from me.

I lean against the counter, facing the living room only to see Jungkook walking towards me. I roll my eyes at him when I see his smirk directed at me. He walks up next to me and opens the bottle of Hennessy, not saying a word. Taehyung chuckles and leaves with a “have fun lovebirds.” Jungkook pours two shots and hands me one. But he doesn’t just give it to me like any decent person would, no way, he has the audacity to bring the shot glass to my lips , softly nudging my lips open with it to make me drink. Not one to back down from a challenge, I hold his hand holding the shot glass against me and throw my head back to down it. His big brown eyes, those that were so full of innocence, are now full of lust and focused on my lips. I don’t miss the way they subtly move down to look at my neck when I swallow the alcohol, or the way his hand still near my lips slightly twitches when my tongue flicks out to lick my bottom lip, making sure I take every drop of alcohol he gave me.

He leans closer to me, his scent which now surrounds me making me even drunker. My hands go up to his chest instinctively, as if I had the willpower to actually shove him away. I could feel his heart beating faster against my hands, his pecks feeling tight...woah when did that happen?

I feel, rather than see, his face lean closer to my ear where he softly whispers, “wana show me what else you can swallow?” His deep melodic voice has me closing my eyes and gulping in a millisecond, feeling a rush of wetness pool at my core.

I open my eyes, reminding myself who I’m talking to and laugh the nerves away. I shove him back, needing some room to breathe and he chuckles at my antics.

The playlist starts to play “Imitadora” by Romeo Santos and I can feel a change in the atmosphere. Jungkook takes a step closer to me, arm going around me to softly push me against him. He leans close to my ear again to whisper “dance with me” but I’m too high off his scent and to the beat of his heart that’s vibrating against where my hands rest on his chest to answer. He takes it as a yes and walks us backwards to the center of the makeshift dance floor.

I bring myself back to the present and raise an eyebrow at him, “You sure you can keep up Korean boy?” I feel his chest softly vibrate from his chuckle.

“I have a few tricks up my sleeve preciosa” he answers with a smirk as he twirls me around. I swoon at his honey like voice calling me “preciosa,” with the subtle hint of his accent. But I feel my pussy clench when he dances bachata like a Latin born man.

My heart feels like it’s about to burst out of my chest when he starts singing the chorus of the song in perfect Spanish close to my ear. Hitting every note like if he was Romeo Santos.

He must've heard my swift intake of breath by the way he smiles. A smile I feel on my neck as he leans even closer to me to drop a kiss at my nape, sealing it with a lick.

The song comes to an end, quickly transitioning to a more up tempo bachata song. Jungkook drops another kiss on my neck and whispers “wana see what other tricks I got?”

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nettles-bo-bettles · 4 years ago

Text

Day 1: Best Friends

Maribat War Day 1: Prompt: Best Friends

Third Person POV:

Tim Drake and Marinette Dupain-Cheng have been best friends for as long as they can remember. It all started when they were five years old. Tim had been running around Gotham at night pretending to be Robin when he found Marinette scavenging a dumpster for food and perhaps clothing.

“Hi! What are you doing in a dumpster?”

“Oh...I’m looking for food and maybe new clothes if I can find any.”

“How come? Why in a dumpster?”

“Well, my parents died or left me before I was born...I’m not really sure but I’ve been a street kid all my life. I usually find everything I need in dumpsters.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t usually get to spend much time with my parents, they’re always busy but they let me do whatever I want and I usually got everything I need at home.”

“I’m sorry too, it’d probably be worse to have neglectful parents rather than dead parents.”

“It’s alright, I still got a roof over my head right? That’s why I feel bad for you. You don’t seem to have a roof over your head.”

“Yeah, I don’t but I’m used to it.”

“Hey! I got an idea! Why don’t you come stay at my house?”

“But wouldn’t that be intruding? And I don’t even know your name or anything about you.”

“Oh, I forgot about that. Well, I’m Tim Drake! My parents are Jack and Janet Drake, though, they’re always busy so you probably won’t see them around very often and I’m trying to figure out who Batman and Robin are!!!”

“I’m Marinette! I don’t know who my parents are or what my last name is and I think you’re pretty cool!”

Throughout the days Tim and Marinette spent together they grew closer, they were almost attached to each other by the hip. The only time you wouldn’t see the two together would be when they went to sleep, had to change or went to the bathroom. They named each other as best friends and swore to never leave the other’s side.

One day when Tim was sick and couldn’t go outside Marinette started wandering around Gotham again. Eventually it turned night and she started to head home, though, she got stopped by three adult men who looked to be drunk and in their mid-thirties, Marinette, at the time was 8.

The men were clearly about to rape her so she got into a fighting stance and got ready to teach them not to mess with 8 year olds, right before she punched the middle guy someone swooped in and knocked them all out. The mysterious person patted down the men, seemingly looking for something. Once the mysterious person found what it was Marinette discovered that this person was most likely only there for stealing valuable items from drunk men.

Although she was right the mysterious figure turned to her and looked her up and down, seemingly looking for signs of injury.

“Are you okay little kitten?”

“Uh yeah I guess I just stayed out too late, who are you?”

“I would’ve thought you would’ve known but I’m Catwoman, and you little kitten seem like you can be quite the feisty one.”

“Well I mean I was about to punch those guys but you got here before I got the chance.”

“How do you feel about me adopting you and you being my little kitten sidekick?”

“Um...I don’t want to leave my best friend. Can I talk to him about it first?”

“Of course little kitten, just meet back here tomorrow if your friend is okay with it.”

“Okay!”

And with that Catwoman left Marinette. Marinette walked back to her home and thought about what Catwoman had said. She went to her room and got ready for bed, contemplating about whether she would even want to accept her offer. A few minutes of thinking about it she decided that she did want to accept it and went to bed.

The next morning Marinette woke up and did her usual routine, grab an outfit for the day, take a shower, go to the bathroom, get changed and meet Tim out in the hallway.

“G’morning Tim!”

“Morning Bean!”

“So last night I ran into Catwoman and she wants to adopt me but I immediately remembered our promise so I wanted to run the idea through you before making a final decision about letting her.”

“I say go for it, we’ll still see each other all the time right?”

“Yeah!”

“Then go for it!”

“I will! I’ll let her know that you said that!!!”

They continued talking while walking down the steps and on the way to the kitchen for breakfast. Once in the kitchen they grabbed their usual breakfast foods, Marinette got her usual froot loops and Tim got his usual yogurt.

The day went on as usual until it was 8pm and it was time for Marinette to go back to the alleyway to meet with Catwoman. She grabbed a good amount of clothes and her favorite pair of shoes along with some slippers and put them in her backpack. She left and said goodbye to Tim, telling him that she’d see him the next day. Little did they know that they wouldn’t see each other until they were 15 due to Catwoman training Marinette to fight and to flirt for when Batman got a new Robin.

It was the day after Catwoman had adopted Marinette and Tim was waiting in his usual spot where he met with Marinette, however, she didn’t show. He went back inside, disappointed that his friend ditched him. He decided to try again the next day, and the next, and the next. This went on for three weeks before he decided to give up. Years passed by quickly and Tim was now thirteen and in the beginning stages of growing into an adult. One day he wandered around Gotham City and bumped into Bruce Wayne, the older man saw something in the young boy and decided to adopt him. Tim’s parents agreed to the adoption, though, they weren’t paying much attention.

When Bruce adopted Tim he told him about all of his nightly activities and asked if he would like to become Robin or to watch everything from the batcomputer. Tim chose to be Robin and Bruce gave him two years of training for it. Eventually it was time for Tim to go out as Robin for the first time and it ended up being against the Riddler. However, a few hours after the Riddler incident there was a robbery going down because of Catwomen who had broken into a jewelry store and stolen thousands of dollars worth of diamonds...at least that’s what she made them think. In reality she just wanted to see Batman and introduce her little kitten to Batman’s new Robin. And it worked. Catwomen’s new apprentice was going to use the tricks that Catwoman had taught her with flirting and everything but the minute she saw Robin she knew it was her old friend, Tim Drake. The one who she would trust with her life with no hesitation, the one she missed oh so much, the one that she would give anything just to see again.

“Long time no see Marinette.”

“I missed you so much, I thought I was never gonna see you again.”

“Me too, that day after you got adopted, and you didn’t show up I- I was devastated. And when you didn’t show up any time at a later date I just gave up all hope to see you again.”

“So...you’ve grown taller.”

“And so have you…”

“This is awkward so I’m uh- I’m just gonna go.”

“Yeah..OH WAIT!”

“Yeah?”

“Can we exchange numbers so we can still be friends?”

“Oh uh sure.”

The two teens exchanged numbers and went on their way, deciding that it was too awkward to continue being in the same place. Soon though, they ended up texting each other every night, they grew closer to each other yet again and the next time they met they ended up becoming inseparable.

One day, Selina decided to bring Marinette to the Wayne’s so she could meet her adoptive mother’s close ‘friend’. When they arrived at the Manor they were greeted by Alfred who welcomed them in. He led the women into the living room where Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson and Tim Drake stood. When the youngest of the Waynes saw Marinette he immediately ran up to her and hugged her.

“Um- Tim, buddy why- how do you know Selina’s adoptive daughter?” Dick asked his younger brother.

“Oh, we used to be best friends when we were little until I got adopted by Selina.” Marinette answered for him.

“Yup, she’s my best friend who also happens to be addicted to caffeine and an insomniac just like me,” said Tim with a grin on his face.

Dick and Bruce wanted to get to know Marinette better so everyone socialized for hours until eventually the Waynes had to kick Marinette and Selina out as they had to patrol Gotham soon.

~Time Skip~

It had been a year since Marinette and Tim got reunited and they were hanging out at Selina’s house and talking about everything and nothing at the same time. Soon, however, there was a knock at the door. Marinette opened the door to see who it was and surprisingly it was child services.

“Your name is Marinette Kyle correct?”

“Yes that’s me.”

“I apologize for any inconvenience but you’ll have to come with us because Selina Kyle is not fit for having a minor under her care. A couple in Paris, France has taken interest in adopting you so you will be moving there to be under their care for the next two years until you are a legal adult, you will then be able to move back here if you wish to do so.”

“Wait- WHAT?!?! YOU CAN’T DO THAT!!!”

“I’m afraid I can and it’s going to happen. Please come with me. And, young man if you could please inform Ms.Kyle of what has happened here.”

“I- but- she- she’s my best friend, my only friend you can’t take her.”

“Sir I’ve already explained everything please don’t make me do it again, now once Ms.Kyle arrives back home please inform her of what has happened here today.”

The man grabbed Marinette by the arm and took her with him, he drove to the airport and watched as she went into the plane.

After a long flight Marinette was finally in Paris. She got off the plane and the french couple who adopted her walked up to her and asked if she was Marinette. She said yes and they took her with them to their home, it was a bakery on the bottom floor and an apartment on the top floor. They took her to the room they set up for her, it was insanely pink but she didn’t say anything about it. A few days later she was enrolled in Francois Dupont Highschool, though she made many friends it wasn’t the same as Tim. Years passed and she moved back to Gotham, when she did, however, she couldn’t find her long-time best friend.

Eventually she did find Tim and they became closer than ever before, she met his other two brothers and his sisters and became their honorary sister. It was a few days before Wayne Gala and Tim still didn’t have a date, he told his coworkers who were going to be there that he would have a date but he still didn’t...until he got the best idea, ASK MARINETTE!! And so he did. He asked her to pretend to be his girlfriend for his coworkers and like the good best friend she is, she said yes.

They went to Wayne Gala pretending to be dating and managed to fool everyone, however, during the middle of the Gala when Bruce was introducing everyone, the Riddler decided to show up. He chose Tim to give his riddles to and told him that if he got any of them wrong that he would kill him. Marinette was just hoping that he was going to get them all right.

First Riddle, he got it correct.

Second Riddle, he got that one too.

Third Riddle, he got it again.

Fourth Riddle, and again.

He got them again and again and again. Eventually he was on the 15th riddle, the last one. At this point everyone was holding their breath. He answered it...but he got the answer wrong. It was wrong and before Marinette could even comprehend the fact that he got it wrong, Tim was dead. The Riddler had shot her best friend, he was gone, forever. Her best friend since she was five years old was gone. She would never get to make any more memories with him, all the time she had with him was over, she had too much to say and not any time to say it. He was gone.

#lettuce #mgi civil war #timari #lettuce supremacy #timari supremacy #day 1 prompt

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babyspiderling · 4 years ago

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Up To Interpretation Michael Jackson x reader

(Victory Tour)

I stand on the corner of the stage, the arena dead silent around me. I hear a radio playing softly from somewhere backstage and I sign along, closing my eyes and letting my hands dance and tell the story the singer weaves. I hear the click of hard souls on the concrete, their clacks drawing closer to me. The squeak of sneakers, or some kind of rubber soled shoe follows behind the first set. I don't stop signing through the interruption, focused on keeping up with the speed and the intent behind it. I hear both feet whispering to each other, but I don't pay them any mind. I have to be perfect for the first performance of the tour. The rubber soles squeak away as the click clack of the other pair grows closer. A hand is placed on my shoulder and I turn to the hard soled feet. I am met with one of the singers I am interpreting tonight. I concentrate on his eyes, signalling him to go on. Behind him, I see one of his brothers run up behind him, his rubber sneakers squeaking across the stage, a notebook and pen in hand. He shouts "I got what you asked for Mike!" Mr. Hard Shoes glances over his shoulder and accepts the items. Opening the book, he scribbled down on the paper. He quickly shoves the book into my hands and gestures to me to read what he had written. "Hello, my name is Michael Jackson. Who are you and what are you doing here?" His handwriting is a bit difficult to read, random capitalization's here and there, and the words scribbled quickly and carelessly. I guess I was taking too long to read the note, sneakers huffing out a "Great, not only is she deaf, but illiterate." I swallow and hand the book back to Michael, turning to sneakers. I stare him in the face as I sign. "Me not deaf. Me hearing. Me don't speak. Me sign. Me sign for you."

A/N: This is ASL Gloss, The sentence structure for ASL is a bit different than regular English. ASL is quick and to the point, since there are no signs for words like "and" "the" "or" etc. Deaf People are not cavemen, they can express the same thoughts, feelings, and ideas we can, they just do it a little differently.

His mouth drops open a little bit in confusion, his eyes locked on mine as he says to Michael, "What is she saying and why is she staring at me?" I roll my eyes and turn back to Michael. I sign "Your book, you give me? Please?" Michael gets the picture, the sign for book clueing him in. "Oh! You want my notebook? Here." He hands me the notebook and pen and I write carefully and legibly. "I'm not deaf. I'm actually hearing. I'm mute, so I sign. I'm your interpreter for the U.S leg of the tour." I hand the book back and patiently wait for him to read it. He playfully smacks sneakers upside the head, laughing out a "You idiot, she's not a crazy fan. She's our interpreter for the show! And she heard everything you said." I smile, seeing the relationship the two have.

Sneaker's eyes widen comically as he realizes how far he stuck his foot in his mouth. He walks up to me, holding out his hand for me to shake. "Sorry 'bout that. I'm Jackie. We just saw some girl standing on stage waving her hands around like a crazy person, and didn't know what to think." I shake his hand, signing book again so I can properly introduce myself. Under my previous message I write "I'm Y/N, I understand the confusion. I'm mute, meaning I can't talk, but I can hear everything just as well as you can. For some reason, the fact that I can't talk made them hire me on the spot. I was actually about to ask for the set list so I can rehearse, or at least be a little prepared for tonight." I hand the notebook to Jackie and keep the pen to myself, writing on my wrist to purchase a few notebooks myself. He nods and leads me to the backstage area, Michael following close behind. "I'll introduce you to the guys and get you the set list, alright?" I nod my head, memorizing the path since I probably won't be able to ask for directions if I got lost.

Jackie leads me to a dressing room filled with four other guys and two girls. Michael introduces me to the group, "Guys, this is Y/N, she's our interpreter for the U.S leg of the tour. Y/N, this is Jermaine, Marlon, Randy and Tito. These are our sisters La Toya and Janet." I wave to them, staying silent. Marlon says "Cool, signing even when off the clock, nice gimmick." I look back to Michael and sign "They read book." He stutters out "Oh right. Here guys, this should explain some." He takes the notebook from his pocket and tosses it to Jermaine, who then passes it around. La Toya walked up to me with this glint in her eye. "Oh! You're so pretty! If we were going anywhere else, I wouldn't do a thing, but those stage lights will completely wash you out, even the guys have to wear makeup. Can I get you ready?" I think about it, and nod. I hold up a finger, and write down. "It has to be simple. Nothing flashy. Rules of the game. No jewelry, no distracting clothes, no sparkle eye makeup. Not up to me, just comes with being an interpreter." She reads it quickly and sags her shoulders a bit. "Fine, I get it. Nothing too flashy. But I promise, we're going to have some fun." She drags me to a second dressing room, one with lit up mirrors and vanities. She sits me down and pulls out a giant makeup case. I relax my face and let her do her thing, trusting her to not go overboard. She plugs in a curling iron as she finishes up my makeup. Without any paper around, I try my best to communicate. I pull my hair back, off my face, another rule of interpreting. Luckily, La Toya got the message. "Oh! Hair back, got it." She curls my hair, completely covering it in hairspray, and gives me a beautiful bun on the top of my head, leaving the second half of my hair down. I inspect myself in the mirror, never feeling this beautiful in my life. I turn to La Toya and sign "Thank you", hoping that if she doesn't understand my hands, she can understand the look in my eyes.

I walk out into the hallways, now hustling and bustling as it gets closer to show time. I was given the set list and lyric sheet for the night while I was made over. I run the entire show at least 5 times before being called to take my place, the instructional prologue getting ready to play.

By the end of the show, my wrists and fingers ached from the fast movements to stay on pace with the band. Walking backstage, I just want to take my makeup off and stretch out my aching joints. Michael stops me in the hall and asks me, "Hey, you want to fly with us? I'd love to get to know you more, plus give you the set list for the next show to let you practice." I nod, wanting to answer his questions. He lights up. "Maybe, you can teach me some sign language? Don't get me wrong, I love writing back and forth, but it'd be cool to sign to each other" He leads me to the limo that is taking him to the hotel and then the airport in the morning. "I'm not sure where your room is, but I can have your stuff sent to mine and we can talk some. If you'd like." I shrug my shoulders, I didn't know either. He makes a quick phone call and I watch the lights move past. "Hey, Y/N, you were really cool there. It was like you were singing and dancing with your hands at the same time. Why don't you talk? If you don't mind me asking. You don't have to answer." I hold out my hand for the notebook and try my best to write on the bumpy road. "Long story. I'll tell you at the hotel, roads too rough to write it out on the way." He reads my writing and nods in understanding. "I get it." We fall into a comfortable silence as we drive to his hotel.

I follow Michael through the lobby, up the elevators and to his suite. My bags are placed in the main room, and Michael stretches his arms above his head. "Hey, Y/N, I'm going to go take a shower. If your story really is as long as you're saying, go ahead and start writing it down. I can read it while you shower." I nod and he hands me a legal pad, much better than the little hand notebook Michael carried around at all times. I sit down and start writing.

"I've been mute since I was 6 years old. My dad and I were going to the record store to listen to some and take others home to add to our collection. The light turned green, and we went, but someone else swerved into our lane, causing a head on collision. My dad died on impact, but they said he didn't feel any pain. Pieces of glass got caught in and cut my throat. I woke up in the hospital with no vocal chords, no voice. The damage done was too much for them to take and they had to be removed. I don't want your pity, I've gotten nothing but pity since I was 6. I'm not fragile and you do not need to treat me as such." I put the pen down just as Michael finished up in the bathroom. I gestured to the pad, and grabbed clothes for the shower. When I came out Michael was just staring at the paper, some areas warped with his spilled tears. He looked up at me with glossy eyes and enveloped me in his arms. "Oh, Y/N, I am so sorry. We don't have to talk about it or anything. We can just go to bed right now if you want." I shake my head. I break away reluctantly and go back to the paper. "No, it's ok. If you have any questions I will do my best to answer them." He thinks for a moment and asks, "Can you make any sounds? If you don't have vocal chords, how can you be vocal?" I hum a little tune, and make a couple of noises. We sit down, and he asks me to teach him to sign. We start with finger spelling.

"What's your favorite candy?" "(F-A-V-O-R-I-T-E C-A-N-D-Y)" "Wow! I love those! I like S-K-I-T-T-L-E-S. Oh! And P-E-A-N-U-T M-N-M-S!" I smile at him. He's a really fast learner. I yawn and glance at the clock. I sign "time" and point at the clock. He follows my finger and reads the time. "Oh wow, 1:30. We should probably get to bed. I'll take the couch and see you in the morning." I reach for the pen to protest but he snatches it before I can lay a finger on it. "No Ifs ands or buts. I'm taking the couch." I roll my eyes, signing "Silly boy" and making my way to the bed. I fall into a blissful sleep easily.

The next morning Michael and I are on our way to the plane, the next stop being Irving. We sit across from each other, Michael signing what he can, and writing what he can't. I teach him little words and phrases as we go, and specific ones at his request. Sooner than expected we touch down and make our way to the venue. The entire tour goes by in a flash, performing every night with the boys, only watching from the wings our eight shows in Canada. On our last night in LA and my last night on the job, Michael drops a bomb on everyone around the world. That this was the last show for the tour. I translated what he said for the audience, a look of complete confusion on my face. I struggled to focus on the task at hand, translating for those Deaf at the show, unable to comprehend what had just happened. The show had ended finally and it was chaos backstage. People yelling at Mike for his cancellation, calling it selfish, immature. I couldn't help but feel a little hurt. I knew that this was my last show, and that I would no longer be working with the band, but I thought he would at least tell me since I thought we were close. I pushed through the throngs of angry managers and crew members back to my little corner.

I gathered my things, coming across one of the notebooks that Michael and I had practically filled. The others full of writing were in my suitcase back at the hotel. In my heartache, I accidentally dropped the notebook, its pages falling open on impact. A page filled with shading and lines caught my attention, its place in the back making it invisible to me. Examining it closely, I realize it's an incredibly done sketch of me, done by Michael. I was asleep when he did this. I think it was on the plane to Denver. I gently closed the pages, and placed it into my bag.

I turned my gaze to the sound of the door opening, revealing none other than the artist himself. With creased eyebrows, I simply sign "Why?", not understanding why he did it a bit. He sagged, as if all the air had been let out of him. "Because, Y/N, I couldn't stand being under their thumb anymore. I couldn't work with Joseph anymore, I need to be the one in control. I want to make my own music, send my own message, without anyone telling me otherwise." I nod, understanding where he was coming from, but sad to see him go. I wiped at my tears and signed "I'll miss you Applehead." This made him chuckle and pull me in for a long, large hug. "I'll miss you too." He kissed the top of my head and took a step back. He signed "You always in my heart." something I had taught him, but fragmented. He picked up the notebook laying in the top of my bag and tore out an empty page, as well as a pen. He handed both to me. "Write down your address and I promise I will write to you practically everyday. And if I ever go on tour, I know just who I'll hire to be my interpreter." With one final tearful hug goodbye, it was time for us to go our separate ways. I would miss him, but I knew I would always be in his heart, and he in mine.

Taglist: @accio-boys

#michael jackson #michael jackson imagine #michael jackson x reader #80s imagines #80's imagine #80's fanfiction #80's x reader

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bradassholemajors · 5 months ago

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bradass holemajors

insightful. much to think about

#says this on my government id #hey janet. i’ve got an answer to your ask

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bluejaysandblackbats · 1 year ago

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Catch and Release

Fandom: DC Comics, Batfam

Summary: AU where Jason doesn't die in the explosion and he and Tim end up attending the same high school months later.

Chapters: 15/?

Characters: Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, Sebastian Ives, Jack Drake, Janet Drake, Donna Troy

Relationships: TBA

Additional Tag: Jason Todd Lives, Jason Todd-centric, POV Jason Todd, POV First Person, Tim Drake Has Issues, Tim Drake Has Issues, Tim Drake is Not Robin, Jason Todd is Not Robin (Anymore), Bruce Wayne Needs a Hug, Alfred Pennyworth is the Best, Alfred Pennyworth Knows, Stalker Tim Drake, Jason Todd Has Chronic Pain, Jason Todd Has PTSD, Angst with a Happy Ending, Unlikely Friends, Injury Recovery, Emotional Baggage, Rage, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Communicating

Chapter Fifteen: Picture

I got up before Tim and Dick, showering before either of them could stir. I was restless. “Jason, are you okay?” Dick asked with his eyes shut.

“Yeah… I’m alright,” I lied. Dick made a soft noise in the back of his throat, like a low grunt. He wouldn’t push me for the truth. “They’ll find Tim’s parents,” Dick reassured me, “Are you nervous about seeing Donna?” Dick questioned. I didn’t answer.

Luckily, I didn’t have to. The ping of Dick’s phone woke Tim and interrupted a potentially awkward moment with Dick. “You should get that,” I whispered. Dick walked to the front door and let Donna in. I froze the moment I saw her. Tim wiped his eyes and looked at me. “Jason, what’s going on?” Tim asked. Last night probably felt like a bad dream. I smiled at him.

“Good morning, Tim,” I whispered. Tim smiled before squinting at Donna. “Donna, this is my little brother, Tim. Tim, this is Donna.” I stood up, and Donna hugged me.

“You look great,” Donna whispered, “How are you?”

I forgot how strong she was. “Hey, Donna? Can you put me down?” I chuckled. She gasped and let go of me, dusting my clothes off. “I’m alright. We’ve got a few days out of school, so we took the ferry here.”

“Hey, Tim, can I steal your brother for a second?” Donna asked. Tim nodded. I promised Tim I’d return as I grabbed my phone and followed Donna outside. She took me to the roof, and we sat on the ledge together. “Dick told me you got in a fight a few months ago… And that you were in a dark place. I hope you don’t mind that he told me.”

“I don’t… I’m doing bet—.” I was bombarded with an image of Janet and Jack’s lifeless bodies. I covered my mouth, fighting the urge to vomit. Sheila. Janet. Jack. Mom. Dad. So many graves. So many dead parents.

“Jason?” Donna asked. She touched my arm.

I blinked hard. “Sorry… I—. I was in a dark place, but it’s been better since I met Tim. It’s been—. I’ve never had a normal life, but living with Tim’s family feels normal. I hope it stays that way,” I whispered. She smiled. “Normal sounds good… But—. Jason, what are you hiding?” Donna asked.

“Tim’s parents’ plane didn’t land where it was supposed to… They might be fine, but—. Donna, when I picture my parents in my head, I see corpses. I can’t remember what they looked like when they were alive. I don’t want that for him,” I answered. I needed to tell her. I didn’t expect Donna to understand, but I expected her to sympathize. She cared about me. I truly believed that.

Donna sat with my words and swallowed hard. “Jason, is there anything I can do to help?” Donna questioned. I shook my head.

“Batman’s on it… It’s funny. I left home because I wanted to show him what I could do—. I didn’t want him to think I needed him. I wanted to be independent of him, but I was useless to Tim. I can’t fly to the Caribbean and track his parents—. I’m not there yet. I still need him. I still need help,” I whispered.

“There’s no shame in that. Jason, I have superpowers, and I need help. The League, the Titans, the Amazons, and the Green Lantern Corps… One strong person doesn’t make a hero. The best heroes know they can’t do this all by themselves. Do you understand that?” Donna asked. I smiled.

She didn’t know my plan would only work with Tim’s assistance and the help of a mystery teen hacker. I wouldn’t go in alone ever again. I was smarter than that. I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. “You’re right. I’ll be strong enough to be on a team again,” I whispered, “But I should go downstairs and check on Tim. I don’t think he remembers what happened last night.” Donna nodded and escorted me to Dick’s apartment. Tim hadn’t come out of the fog yet. I could see it in his eyes. “Good talk?” Donna whispered.

“Great talk… Thanks, Donna,” I smiled.

“Tim, do you want break—?” My phone pinged, and I checked my notifications. Tim’s parents were kidnapped, and the man responsible wanted a ransom for their safe return. My stomach turned.

I could see them staring at me, but I couldn’t hear anything outside my heartbeat and the ringing I heard after the warehouse explosion. The apartment closed in, and I saw Jack and Janet again. I couldn’t wake up from the nightmare in my head. I tried to speak, but no sound came out. I shut my eyes until I could hear their voices, and I dragged Tim into Dick’s bedroom to talk. I sat beside him on the bed, hiding my face in my hands while I collected myself. “Tim, I—.”

“My parents died, didn’t they?” Tim interrupted.

“Wha—? No. Your mom and dad are alive. They’re alive, but they’re—. Tim, I don’t know how to put this. Someone kidnapped your parents,” I whispered. Tim swallowed hard. “You have a right to know.”

“You found out right now, didn’t you?” Tim questioned. I nodded. “What was it like for you when you lost your parents?”

I shook my head. “No. Tim, don’t—. Jack and Janet are still alive. We don’t have to think that. Tim, you can’t think that,” I answered. The question sent me spiraling into another panic. I covered my face again, and Tim plopped backward on the bed.

“Jason… Can we take a walk? I need to take a walk,” Tim whispered.

I nodded. “Come on, Tim. I’ll buy breakfast,” I mumbled. Neither of us moved. “Tim, I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Tim answered, “I need a distraction… Okay?”

“We’ll go to the park after breakfast, and I’ll time you on your run,” I whispered. Tim patted me on the back on his way out the door.

“Dick, we’re gonna get breakfast and take a walk!” I announced. I had to swallow my fear and keep going for Tim’s sake. Dick and Donna stayed behind to catch up.

We went to the skate shop near Dick’s building on the way back and decided to skate around the neighborhood. “I thought you were gonna get a new board… I didn’t think you’d put on rollerblades,” Tim laughed.

“Rollerblading is sick. Come on,” I replied.

Tim shook his head, laughing as he skated ahead of me. We needed the distraction. Donna and Dick hung out on the fire escape when we arrived at the apartment. “Hey, Tim? Is he embarrassing you?” Dick joked.

I rolled my eyes as we stopped in the alley. I changed into my shoes and followed Tim up. I felt a sharp pain in my back, and I lost my grip, but Tim caught me. Donna pulled me up by the back of my shirt. “I’m okay. I’m fine—.”

Donna dusted me off and breathed out in relief. “Are you sure? I’m sorry that I jumped in like that, but I—. Instinct,” Donna replied. I nodded.

“Thanks, Donna. Thanks, Tim,” I answered.

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wiypt-writes · 4 years ago

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Too Loose And You’ll Lose It

Ch4: You Don’t Know What You’ve Got Till It’s Gone Part 1 Co-written with @icanfeelastormbrewing

Summary: Jake and Stella are both home for Christmas, and the annual New Year’s Party at the Jensen’s sees some unexpected guests in attendance…

Warnings: Bad Language words.

Pairing: Jake Jensen x OFC Stella Stevenson.

A/N: Another long updated, so split into 2 parts for you to read at your leisure!! Part 2 to follow shortly.

TLAYLI Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 3 Part 2

“Knowing what you don't want can often be more valuable than knowing what you do want.” Melchor Lim

"So when do I get to meet Evan then?" Rey asked as she handed Stella the plate she had just rinsed.

It was the day before New Year’s Eve and both sisters were in the kitchen finishing doing the lunch dishes while their mother watched TV in the living room. Stella loved Christmas, she always had, and this was the first one she was getting to spend at home for 3 years. But, the trade-off for being able to do so was having to put up with Rey constantly nagging about her home-based shopping business not doing quite as well in the last weeks as she expected and her constant struggle to get pregnant. And, honestly, Stella was a little bit tired of having to sooth her sister's same worries every time they got together. But now a new topic had been thrown into the equation- Evan. And Stel found herself wishing that they were still talking about ovulation cycles and how many times on average in a week a couple wanting to conceive should be ‘doing it’.

"Jesus, will you give it a break? That’s all I heard when I was home for Thanksgiving…and over Christmas dinner and every day since then!” Stella finally snapped “God, you and mom have talked about nothing else, even Jane was poking for more information when we were at the spa because you can’t keep your mouth shut."

True to her word Rey had spent Rick's money on a girls-only spa day which in all fairness Stella had gladly welcomed. She had relished all the treatments, each one with a more flamboyant name than the other, and as their day culminated they all were relaxing in the hot tub, enjoying the Mean Steam treatment while sipping Mimosas out of rather expensive looking glassware, Jane had started prying because Rey had told her about Evan. Luckily Janet, Jake's mum, had spotted Stella’s discomfort and had come to her rescue by scolding Jane for being a nosey bitch.

"It’s Christmas. He’s spending it with his family in Boston." Stella shook her head at her sister.

"Boston’s only an hour or so drive Stel…"

"So what? We don’t get to see our families that often Rey." Stella replied, snatching a big round plate from Rey's hands.

"Whoaa, easy Stelly. Anyone would think you were trying to keep him away from us!"

"That’s exactly what I’m doing, yes." she rolled her eyes at her sister, who could clearly read the annoyance in her features and voice as when she spoke again her voice was a little whiney.

"Stel, don’t be like that."

Stella sighed. "Why are you so desperate to meet him anyway?"

"Hey, it’s not every day your baby sister gets herself a new man. At least not when she’s been dating her childhood love for what? Twenty years now? Come on, let me bask in the novelty, Stel."

"Fuck off Rey, I haven’t been dating Jensen for years and we were together nowhere near 20." Stella protested again, this time her voice a little louder.

"Felt like it to me." Rey shrugged.

Stella grit her teeth. Though her sister was exaggerating it was true she’d been with Jake for a long time all things considered, and doing the whole dating thing during the last 8 weeks had felt new and exciting in a sense. She was enjoying every part of getting to know a person while dating them, something she hadn't been able to experience with Jake as they already knew each other inside out when they had finally gotten together. And whilst that had been nice, and she wouldn’t change it for the world, with Evan everything was new and she had learnt what the cliche I want to know you better really meant during the dates which had following the first.

At the weekend following their trip to DC, Evan had taken her for another meal out, this one at a local Mexican place not far from HQ. Then the following weekend they’d visited a posh cocktail bar Stella had been eyeing up for a while which just wasn’t the Losers’ scene. There had been a trip to the cinema, an evening at the bowling alley, beers one Sunday afternoon whilst watching the Patriots’ game in a sports bar, a walk round one of the local parks with a burgers, grabbing a shake and ice cream on the way home….it was easy going, nice, no pressure… and then it had morphed naturally into something a little more serious.

The Friday before Thanksgiving Evan had invited her to his and he’d cooked, which in itself was a novelty as Jake could burn a pan of water. He’d whipped up a spectacular seafood linguini, followed with a simple baked vanilla cheesecake, and after 2 bottles of crisp white wine, one thing had led to another and they’d ended up making out on the couch before Evan had taken her into his room.

"Is he good?" Rey asked out of the blue as if sensing where Stella’s inner thoughts had led her.

"Oh fuck off Rey, do I ask you how Rick is in bed?"

"Better than Jake?" Rey insisted, ignoring her sister rhetorical question.

"You had to ask." Stella groaned.

Rey looked at her and Stella sighed, knowing she wasn’t getting off the hook. "Look, he’s good, ok, really good…but as for being better than Jake he’s…he’s just different."

As a matter of fact that first time they’d slept together on that Friday, despite Stella’s nerves, it had been fucking Earth shattering, and every time since hadn’t disappointed. Evan was a generous lover, giving before he took, making sure she was satisfied in every which way she could be. But Stella still found herself getting a little nervous beforehand. Evan was the one who instigated the sex, and whilst Stella was a more than willing participant, she was craving the day she finally felt happy enough to take charge a little.

"And that’s a problem?" Rey asked and Stella looked at her.

"What?" she frowned.

"Him being different to Jake?"

"No, I didn’t say that. It’s just…well, me and Jake know each other inside out, it’s bound to feel a little different, isn’t it?"

Rey's eyes suddenly opened wide with realisation. "Oh my god…"

"What?" Stella asked, a little bit exasperated.

"You’ve never been with anyone else bar Jake, have you?"

Stella groaned but that was all the confirmation Rey needed to know she was right. Her sister had hit the spot but she was fucked if she was getting into that. "Look, enough about me. Any progress on baby Fitzpatrick?"

Rey sighed, not fazed in the slightest but Stella’s forced change of topic had redirected the conversation to one of her major concerns and Stella knew she wouldn’t be able to resist talking about it. "No, not yet. I don’t know what we’re doing wrong? We stick to the schedule, I’ve got an ovulation tracker…"

"God Rey, you talk like you’re baking a cake or putting an Ikea cupboard together, that’s what’s wrong." Stella scoffed.

"Science doesn’t lie Stelly." Rey said, as if lecturing an ignorant little girl.

"Science says it’s a matter of PH." she shrugged, a small grin playing in the corner of her mouth.

Rey rolled her eyes. "You know Jake made up that shit, right? I googled it."

"No… really?"

"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, Stella." Rey squinted her eyes at Stella who grinned in response. "And speaking of low forms of wit, did you know Jensen’s new bimbo is coming to the New Year's party tomorrow?"

"Oh, is she?" Stella asked, trying to hide her surprise as much as possible, knowing that she was failing miserably. The news had shocked her a little, not that it was her business, but still.

"Careful Stel, is that a trace of disappointment I sense in your voice?"

"No, I just hadn’t realised how serious they were. Mind you, I haven’t seen him for a few weeks. Work has been busy and we don’t hang out much now." she tried to explain herself without sounding scorned or bitter.

"You sure?" Rey asked, examining her sister's expression as she finished loading the dishwasher.

"Yeah, it’s just…well, you’ll know when you meet her."

And boy, would they all know. Because, Britney was, how to put it? Something else.

Stella sat at the table opposite Pooch and Cougar in the bar, sipping at her beer. It was the day before they were all due to head home for Thanksgiving so they had decided to head out for a few drinks, a way to celebrate with one another.

"So where’s Evan?" Pooch asked before taking a sip from his beer bottle.

"Oh, out of town on some intel gathering trip with the Canadian Ministry of Defence or something…he couldn’t say much. I won’t see him now until I’m back from New Hampshire." Stella offered.

"It still going well or..." Pooch pried a little bit more and Stella flushed a little.

"Yeah, he’s nice…"

Cougar grinned and tipped his hat at her and she snorted, setting her bottle down. "He must be, we ain't seen you out of work for the last few weeks, he must be keeping you busy."

Stella laughed and shrugged as Cougar chuckled and then Pooch let out a groan. Stella frowned, and then turned in the direction he was looking at only to see Jensen working his way over with the brunette she’d seen him with a while back hanging on his arm.

"It's Britney, bitch." Cougar chimed in.

"Wait, her name is Britney?" Pooch asked him and Cougar nodded. "How do you know?"

"Bumped into them at the condo one night." Cougar explained and Pooch's mouth fell open.

Stella frowned and turned around again, locking eyes with Jensen and saw him swallow, like he always did when nervous or apprehensive. But as she watched, he took a deep breath and continued his path over to their table.

"No Evan?" he asked once he reached them, looking at Stella, not even bothering in greeting the rest first.

"No. He’s away." Stella answered, looking back at him but gripping her beer bottle for dear life.

"Who’s Evan, another Loser?" the brunette asked then. Her high-pitched voice making Pooch and Cougar scrunch their noses as they shared a glance.

Stella glared at Jake as a grin spread across his face, daring him to say something and Jake's grin slipped under her glare as he turned to Britney.

"No, Evan is Stella’s…actually..." he looked at Stella, "What is he? Boyfriend? Fuck buddy? Late night booty call?"

"All of the above." Stella answered ignoring Jake's jab and necking her beer as both Cougar and Pooch sniggered and she fought to keep the smile from spreading on her lips at the look on Jensen’s face which was somewhere between disgust and disappointment. Instead she stood up and leaned towards Britney. "I’ll introduce myself seeing as he isn’t going to. I’m Stella."

"Hi, I’m Britney." she said and then to Stella’s horror she pulled her into a hug, kissing her cheek. Stella remained stiff, merely concentrating on trying not to choke on the heady combination of Britney’s floral perfume and hairspray from the huge bouffant ponytail she was sporting.

"So does your boyfriend work with these guys or…?" Britney's voice pierced the air again.

"No, I work with them." Stella explained as she took her seat back.

"What? You’re in the army too? Wow, Girl Power!" Britney exclaimed before giggling.

"Yeah…" Stella said as she turned back to Pooch and Cougar, mouthing WHAT THE FUCK?

"Does anyone want a drink or…?" Jake asked, trying to divert the weird situation Britney had just created.

Stella turned back to him and stood up again. "It’s ok JJ, I’ll get them, it’s my round."

"I’ll give you a hand." Jake offered himself, motioning to follow her.

Stella smiled as she put a hand on Jake's chest to stop him. "No, Cougs can. You stay here with your girlfriend." she ordered more than suggested, making sure her eyes locked with his when she uttered the word.

At her use of the term, Britney giggled and grabbed Jensen’s arm. Jake looked at her, and Stella could see the irritation flash across his face and she smirked before she asked what Britney wanted to drink. The girl requested a Malibu and coke, the worst combination Stella could think of if you asked her but then again Britney's choice of outfit and her likeness for glittery accessories spoke of her taste for itself, and then Stella looked at Jake.

"Usual?"

"Yeah, thanks Stel." he said, a little quieter this time.

Cougar dropped an arm round Stella’s shoulder and as they made their way to the bar, Stella could feel Jake’s eyes burning into her back. Point, set, match to Arty…

"From what I heard it was a total accident she got invited. She was on the phone to him on Christmas Eve when Jane was talking to Janet in the background. Apparently she caught the words New Year’s Eve and Party. Jensen, thinking she wouldn’t be able to get a flight at such late notice, told her she was welcome to come." Rey explained with a grin. "Anyway, next thing she’s messaging him, saying she’d managed to get a cancellation seat so she’s flying in on the morning of the party. Apparently he wasn’t best pleased." Rey snorted. "Jane doesn’t think he’s all that into her, but…"

Stella only shrugged. "Who knows what goes on in his head, I don’t anymore that’s for sure." she commented before her sister could ask more, but she couldn’t prevent herself from letting out a deep sigh. Whilst she had nothing against Britney, and despite the fact she was now with Evan, the idea of being at a party with Jake and his new girlfriend wasn’t filling her full of joy.

The rest of the day was spent in relative calm. Richard came back from wherever he’d been following lunch, Stella hadn’t been paying attention when Rey told her, and the 4 of them settled down for a rather furious game of monopoly which Richard won, Stella passing comment on how it would have been ridiculous if he hadn’t, given he was a finance manager.

It was just after dinner when Stella’s phone went off. It was a message from Evan telling her to get to her laptop so he could video call over the CIA network. So she quickly set it up in the kitchen and soon after it pinged and she accepted the call, smiling as his handsome face filled the screen. “Hey Pumpkin.” He smiled and Stella laughed at his ridiculous nickname for her, chosen due to the way they’d met.

“Hey!” she beamed back “How’s your day been?”

“Not bad.” He shrugged “Usual family bullshit at play. You?”

“Same.” She said, sitting back in her chair “I’ve eaten way too much.”

He chuckled “That’s what Christmas is for darlin’. Way too much home cooking, enough alcohol to fill a pool, and a side of chocolate, pie and cake for good measure.”

“Imma turn into a Christmas cake if I eat any more of it Ev.” Stella smiled, reaching for her wine. She took a sip and then looked at the glass “And probably a bottle of pinot too.”

“Well I don’t have a problem with that.” He smiled, waving his own bottle of beer at her “Food and drink, win win.”

Stella laughed and then the door to the kitchen opened and Rey walked in. She made her way towards the fridge and then paused, turning to Stella.

“Oh my God is that him?” she practically screeched and moved, draping herself over Stella’s shoulders to get a look at the screen.

“Rey, piss off.” Stella grumbled, trying to push her away. Rey took the hint and stepped back a bit as Evan looked at her, smiling, before he glanced back at Stel.

“Who’s that?” he asked.

“Oh, hi, I’m Rey.” Rey spoke from behind Stella who rolled her eyes “Stella’s favourite sister.”

“You’re my only sister.” Stella shot back as Evan chuckled.

“Nice to meet you Rey, or see you in this case.” He smiled that damned smile that could melt a fucking polar ice cap and Stella heard Rey’s little gasp. She sighed and turned to her sister.

“Ok, seriously, get what you came for and piss off.”

Rey held her hands up and went to the fridge, pulling out 2 bottles of beer and a can of coke. She headed to the door and stopped, looking at Stella, her mouth open.“O.M.G He is a snack!” she mouthed and Stella rolled her eyes again before Rey left the room, closing the door behind her.

“Sorry about that.” Stella turned back to the screen and Evan laughed.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s a mad house here too.” He leaned back in his chair. “She seems nice.”

“She has her moments.” Stella smiled, “Anyway, enough about her, tell me what you’ve been up to. We haven’t spoken in a few days.”

“Yeah, sorry I was gonna call last night but it’s been manic. My sister and her 3 kids have been over and Uncle Evan was the star attraction. And by attraction I mean climbing frame.”

“Lucky kids…” Stella quipped, arching her eyebrow “I’d climb you too if I was there.”

Evan grinned at her comment and Stella found herself slightly surprised. The ten days or so they’d been apart had made her needy and she'd be damned if someone else could pull off a simple white t-shirt like he could, and that fucking chain he wore which was hanging out of the collar was doing things to her.

“Well a few more days and I’m all yours to climb Pumpkin” Evan smiled “So, any plans for New Year’s Eve tomorrow?”

“We’re going to a party at the Jensens’. They’ve thrown one for as long as I can remember so it’ll be nice to see them again, catch up. What about you?”

“Oh I don’t know yet.” Evan ran a hand over his beard, tugging gently on the whiskers which adorned his chin “I may stay here with the family or go out with some friends. I’ll make my mind up as I go.” He paused for a little before his hand dropped from his face “Will Jake be there?”

“It’s his parents throwing the party.” Stella arched an eyebrow “Of course he will.”

“Right…” Evan mused and Stella narrowed her eyes.

“Are you jealous, Evan?”

“No, I just…” he groaned “Ok, yeah, yeah I am. The thought of you bringing in the New Year with your ex and not me kinda sucks Stella.”

“I know.” She sighed “But I wouldn’t worry too much. Apparently his new girlfriend is coming.” She took a deep breath before she smiled a little sadly “I really wish you were here Ev.”

And she did, not least because she actually did miss him, but the thought of Jensen eating face with the bimbo whilst she was simply there alone wasn’t something she was relishing.

“I promise I’ll make up for it when we get back to base.” Evan said gently.

“You better.”

He chuckled “Being apart from me really suits you sweetheart.”

“What can I say, you spoil me.” She shrugged.

“And you haven’t even had your Christmas present yet.” He grinned.

“I can’t wait to unwrap it.” Stella smirked “And the present.”

“Fuck, Stella…you’re killing me!” he whined. She laughed and at that point a voice sounded in the background and Evan hastily looked over his shoulder before he called that he’d be there in a second. “That’s my ma…I gotta go.”

“Yeah, It’s probably time I bust Rey for eavesdropping behind the kitchen door.” Stella rolled her eyes and Evan laughed.

“Ok, I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, talk then. Night handsome.”

“Night gorgeous.”

With that Stella cut the call and shut the laptop. She stood up, crept across the room and yanked open the kitchen door. Rey immediately straightened up and jumped back. “I was erm…gonna…” she points to the kitchen.

“Spy on us?” Stella folded her arms.

“I wasn’t…I just….ok, I was spying.” Rey shrugged “Because, fuck Stel, where did you get a man like that?”

“The CIA.” Stella said simply pushing past her and heading into the living room where Jules and Richard were watching TV, Stella following her chunnering about Evan.

“Leave your sister alone, Aubrey.” Julie looked up.

“I’m heading up to bed ma.” Stella smiled, “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Julie nodded but Aubrey wasn’t listening, she was still talking about Evan.

“God mom, you should have seen him. And that smile…”

“Erm…” Richard waved “I’m right here.”

“Yeah, isn’t it about time you and your husband went back to your own house?” Stella asked.

“Yeah, yeah…” Rey waved her hand, “We were going anyway.”

“Good riddance.” Stella mumbled.

Rey spun and pointed at her “I heard that. Don’t forget we have a date to go shopping tomorrow.”

“Can’t wait.” Stella said sarcastically and with that she bid them goodnight and headed to her room.

**** “You heading out?” Jane looked at Jensen as he groaned, shoving his phone back into his pocket.

“Yeah I gotta go get Britney.”

“Thought you said she wasn’t arriving until tomorrow?” Jane frowned

“So did I, turns out she messed up with the date on the flights..”

“What?” Jane looked at him.

“Don’t ask me, she’s a dumbass.” Jensen rolled his eyes.

“Woooow…” Jane looked at him as he grabbed his dad’s car keys from the side in the hall “That is love, right there.”

“Fuck off Jane.” Jensen raised his middle finger over his shoulder as he grabbed his jacket of the peg. He then paused and turned to his sister, shaking his head. “Seriously, though…when she told me what she’d done, do you know what she said? The mouse was sticky, Jensen and I booked a day early by mistake” he shook his head.

“Hang on.” Jane held her hand up “If she really had messed up with the dates then she would have been on a morning flight still, just on a different day.” Jake looked at his sister, frowning a little and Jane snorted “If you ask me, I don’t think she’s as dumb as you’re making her out to be.”

“Well I wasn’t asking you.” Jake shot back as he shrugged his jacket on and headed out of the door.

At that point Gracie wandered in from the kitchen, dressed in her pyjamas, followed by John.

“Who's dumb mommy?” she asked with a yawn as Jane held her coat out to pop on ready for the drive home.

“Your Uncle Jake, sweetie.” Jane said.

John chuckled “He told you about Britney arriving earlier than anticipated then?”

Jane snorted “Yeah, and considering she’s supposed to be his girlfriend..." she framed the words with quotation marks on one hand “He doesn’t seem too pleased about it.”

“Yeah well, I think we all know the reason for that.” Janet joined them in the hallway, not even bothering to hide her disdain for the entire situation and John snorted. He leaned over and gave Gracie a kiss “Night Squirt.”

“Night grandpa.” She smiled before she took a kiss off Janet too. “Night Nanny” and then she looked at Jane “When’s daddy back from the station?”

“When his shift finishes baby, now come on, let’s get you home.” Jane smiled before she looked at her parents “See you tomorrow.”

Jane and Gracie exited the house, making their way to her car. Jane strapped Gracie into the seat and then moved to climb into the driver’s side and paused, spotting her dad’s car was still there behind hers. Jake was sat in the drivers’ seat, pinching the bridge of his nose. He looked pissed, really pissed, but before she had the chance to go and speak to him, he’d set off.

“Fucking idiot.” Jane grumbled to herself, and with a shake of her head she climbed in her own car and headed home.

**** The following morning Stella woke up in a better mood, talking with Evan the previous night had calmed her restlessness and though she missed him she was determined to make the most of the New Year's party that very same night. It was just a few days more and they could be together and she could effectively unwrap her gift.

She was getting ready to go shopping, Rey probably on her way to pick her up, when the doorbell rang and she cursed her sister for being earlier than expected for once in her life as she barrelled down the stairs.

"Honey, can you get that? I’m busy." her mother shouted from the kitchen.

"Sure mom." she replied just as she realised Rey wouldn't be using the front door and definitely wouldn't use the doorbell. With a frown she opened it and blinked in disbelief, her mouth falling open. Evan was stood there, wearing a warm, woollen coat, scarf and a huge, million dollar smile. The bastard!

“Surprise Pumpkin…” he chanted, opening his arms for her.

Stella gasped and gave him a quick hug. “Oh my God…Ev, what are you doing here?”

"Well I got nothing on, you were only an hour away and after you saying you wished I was here…" he shrugged, “figured I could drive up to see my best girl."

Stella blinked again, before she smiled shyly. "You drove just to see me? That’s…wait… how did you know where I live?"

Evan laughed heartily. "I work in intelligence gathering for the CIA, wasn’t that hard."

"Ok, that’s kinda creepy, stalker behaviour." she mused.

He laughed again and winked an eye at her. "Perks of the job, sweetheart."

That damned side smile of his made Stella pause for a second before she giggled and jumped at him. He caught her and laughed as her legs wrapped around his waist. “I’m so glad you’re here, Ev..."

He smiled at her fondly before he kissed her tenderly, his cold nose bumping against hers. “Me too, but are you gonna let me in coz it's freezing out here…”

“Yes, let the man in Stella.” Mrs Stevenson spoke from behind her daughter, making Stella drop to her feet and turn to face her. Her mother smiled at her and then to Evan. “Hi Evan, nice to meet you finally.”

"It’s a pleasure Mrs Stevenson." he greeted the woman back, flashing his smile.

Stella looked at her mom as she pulled away to let Evan in the house, if she was surprised by her daughter's boyfriend showing up at her door she was hiding it very well, and then it dawned on her. "Oh my God, you knew he was coming, didn’t you?"

Evan shut the door behind him and looked at her mom, then to Stella and chuckled. "Clever girl."

"He may or may not have called me earlier this morning to check if you were doing anything and I may or may not have suggested he spends New Year with us." Mrs Stevenson conceded.

Stel gasped and looked back at Evan with hopeful eyes. "Are you?"

"Well, I was gonna see if you wanted to come back to Boston with me but your mom said you wouldn’t want to miss the party as you’ve not made one for 3 years so, choice is yours." he shrugged, flashing a dazzling half smile.

Stella bit her lip, Boston sounded good, the fact that he had come all the way to see her and was willing to take her back to his family's place sounded even better, but she was really looking forward to that night's party. She missed Mr and Mrs Jensen, and also Jane and, though the prospect of Britney being there wasn't very appealing, she thought that maybe with Evan there she could have a really nice time. Thus, after pondering the pros and cons she looked at him. "I’d like to go to the party if you wanna?"

"Then party it is." Evan grinned.

"So this means I get to receive the New Year with you!" she grinned back at him.

"Yeah, guess it does." he said with a smile, one that was also loaded with the promise of a very good start to the year, if you knew how to read it that is.

And then the voice of Julie pulled them away from gazing into each other's eyes "I was gonna get the spare room ready but figured you two would want to share so I’ve left fresh towels on your bed Stella."

"Mommmm." Stella protested, mortified.

"I’m happy to sleep wherever I’m told." Evan, ever the charmer, intervened.

But whatever Stella's mom was going to reply it was cut off as the kitchen door opened signalling Rey’s entrance.

"Stel, you ready? I thought we could head down to…" Rey began to say before she stopped dead as she entered the hallway and spotted a masculine presence, her mouth dropping open. "Fuck me!"

"Aubrey!!" her mum chastised her.

Rey blinked and looked at her mum and then at Stel. "He’s here?!"

Evan chuckled at Rey's reaction to him being there. "I am. Nice to meet you Rey."

"Erm, hi…" she managed to say before looking at Stella, smirking a little. "I take it you want a rain check on our shopping trip?"

Evan frowned at Rey's comment and gave her an apologetic look. "Oh, sorry, did I step all over your plans?"

"No, it’s fine. You can come, we were only going into town to pass the time, grab some lunch." Stella assured him. But Rey wasn't that willing to keep their plans as it were.

"No way am I playing 3rd wheel…you two go, I can do…stuff."

"You sure?" Evan asked Rey. "Coz I can just..." he said as he nodded towards what he supposed to be the door that led into some sort of den, but she didn't let him finish.

"No, don’t worry. It’s ok. You two will want to spend some time together, you didn’t come here to sit in our living room."

"Whose living room?" Mrs Stevenson asked, amused.

Aubrey ignored her mum and mused. "Would be a nice addition to it though…"

"Ok so I’m gonna bring my bag in from the car, be right back Pumpkin." Evan said, blushing a little at Rey’s complement before giving Stella a quick kiss on her cheek and heading out the door.

The three women watched him go appreciatively, until Rey shook her head and asked "Wait is he staying? And Pumpkin? What?"

Julie grinned as Stella groaned. She knew that one wasn’t going away any time soon.

****

Chapter 4 Part 2

#too loose and you'll lose it #jake jensen x ofc #jake jensen x original female character #jake jensen #the losers

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masjestickingdom · 4 years ago

Text

My Little Secret (Part 2)

Pairing: NCT Jaehyun x reader

Genre: Angst

Summary: So you made a promise to yourself that you would get over your feelings for your sister’s husband. Except you can’t.

Note: This is part 2 of My Little Secret! If you haven’t read the first part, please check it out here. And if anyone wants to drop anything in the suggestion box, please do so. I’m open to any ideas, seriously, so don’t feel embarrassed--you can send it anonymously.

____________________________________________________________________________

Nothing about that night felt right. Your dress was too tight. The curling iron was nowhere to be found. Half of the jewelry you owned were tangled. Worst of all, you were sweating bullets from walking back and forth from your room to your small office, rapping to your boss, who was also your friend, on the phone.

“What? I was never given that file,” you would repeat when your friend asked you to look something up.

It was only half past seven and all you wanted to do was to go back in time and take back your statement, “I’ll go.” It was stupid of you to agree to go to some charity event to meet a guy when you strongly despised social settings, which was odd because your work required you to socialize all the time.

With one of the most important business meetings ahead of you in a week’s time, Jia was freaking out over how disorganized everything was.

“Jesse,” she whined, calling out your name for the hundredth time in the last ten minutes. “I swear I gave you the file.”

“Maybe I left it at the office,” you said, rushing to slip on your heels. “I’ll be there as soon as the fundraising event is over.”

Once you made it out of the building, the cold breeze of the dark autumn night ran past you, and you instantly regretted not bringing out with you a light coat. You hissed under your breath as you made your way over to your car, which you parked across the street for some reason you couldn’t recall.

“I just had to park it at the farthest corner,” you murmured while your friend kept babbling on about some random dude on the street (and sometimes you wondered how Jia got the position of marketing manager with her tendency to chatter whenever she was anxious). “Hey, I need to get going, so call me when you need something else, okay?” you told your buzzing friend, hoping to free your mind of work for the next couple of hours.

The ride to your sister’s house was peaceful. The street lamps and office lights lit up the navy night sky and, subsequently, your mood. Every passing street had people strolling on the sidewalks, some with families, others with friends, and some alone. With your window rolled down, you listened to the sound of the wind and the delightful screams of children running around. But your peace ended quickly: before you knew it, you were standing in front of an all-too-familiar brown door, across the mowed lawn, with your fingers drumming lightly against your bare thighs.

“Please get me through this night” you whispered to an invisible force before the door flew open with a friendly face.

“Jesse!” your sister excitedly greeted, immediately welcoming you with a warm hug.

“Hi, Janet,” you said, trying to return her enthusiasm. “How’s the stomach pain?”

In a hushed tone, she replied, “Honestly, I’m just using that as an excuse not to call our nanny. I’ve got the feeling that she has her eyes on Jaehyun.”

“Oh, really?” you reacted weakly as you pulled away from her embrace. “That’s a shame.”

That did not at all throw your mind into chaos. Not at all. Your sister quickly changed the subject as she scanned you from head to toe and wiggled her eyebrows. “Well someone cleaned up nicely.”

You simply shrugged, letting yourself in the house. Everything was in the same place, still as boring as ever. The only new additions were the two humans who were approaching you with wide smiles.

“Jesse, long time no see,” Mark and Doyoung said with wide arms, to which you decided to hug both of them simultaneously.

The two black-haired beauties had known you since they moved in, which wasn’t a long time ago, but the three of you clicked. You loved music and had always fantasized about becoming a music producer when you were younger. Mark and Doyoung were living the dream, and you couldn’t wait for big things to happen for them.

While you were catching up with them, your nephew Jaehyung made his appearance out of the hallway with his adorable hands partially wrapped around his father’s, the man you secretly loved.

“Auntie!” your nephew shouted, willingly letting go of his father’s hand as he dashed towards you at full speed.

By instinct, you bent down to receive the speeding little boy who almost toppled you over.

“I’m starting to get the feeling that he loves her more than he loves us,” Mark said to Doyoung in a not-so-quiet manner.

“Well, I’m a blood relative,” you told your same-aged friend, lifting Jaehyung up from his feet and letting him join you and your sight of the world at your freakish height. “Isn’t that right, LJ?”

“Auntie is always right,” your nephew sweetly responded, to which Mark and Doyoung dramatically gasped.

“I don’t mean to break you two apart,” your crush spoke, “But we have to get going if we don’t want to be late.”

Thankfully, you were able to shoot a calm smile at Jaehyun, greeting him very briefly before handing the sweet little boy in your arms to his mother, all without making a fool of yourself. Jaehyun was absolutely gorgeous. With his slick-backed hair and dark blue suit that complemented his eyes, you could just run your fingers along his beautifully placed--

No, you couldn’t. You had to physically refrain yourself from acting out your fantasies by forcefully turning your back to him, and you lowly hummed to a pop song, hoping your amoral thoughts would wash away. However, the fact that the other two called the back seats, leaving you at the shotgun with Jaehyun by your side, forced you to swallow the rising guilt inching near your throat. To your luck, Jia had called you and whisked you into the world of your comfort zone, which was funnily what you were sick of: work.

...

“There is no way you actually got him to get back with his ex.”

You were just about to text back your secretary regarding something Jia requested to have when Mark pulled out the vacant seat next to you and said what he said.

“You actually got Jungwoo to leave the event to talk to her,” the dumbfounded boy said, shaking his head in disbelief.

That’s right. You somehow managed to encourage Jungwoo, the guy your sister and Jaehyun set you up with, to get back together with his ex-girlfriend. There was nothing wrong with Jungwoo; in fact, he was the perfect gentleman you would have dreamed of having in your younger years. He was stunning--physically, facially, and personality-wise. He was funny and considerate. He had a soft, melodious voice that you swore you heard on the radio. He even shared your weird preference of music. But there was one thing: he was the perfect gentleman, except he wasn’t Jaehyun. The amazing skills you had to convince someone, someone as fine as Jungwoo, to leave you for someone else astonished Mark.

“You must be a beast when you negotiate,” he murmured while you typed away on your phone.

“Believe me, I had no intentions of shooing him away,” you told him. “He just mentioned that he got out of a long-term relationship, so I asked him a few questions. I swear that’s all I did.”

Your same-aged friend snorted. “Yeah, yeah.” When you continued to text your secretary, he added, “You should really get off your phone and interact with others.”

You simply hummed and Mark, in response, swiftly snatched your phone and tucked it away, far from your tech-deprived hands.

“What do you think you’re doing?” you questioned your smirking friend, your eyebrows deeply furrowed.

“Getting you to mingle.”

“You’re gonna get me fired,” you huffed frustratedly.

“Mark almost got me fired,” you heard your other mischievous friend say. “It was one of the worst days of my life.”

“I should get ready for that anytime soon then,” you said, rolling your eyes.

“Get ready for what?” another familiar voice spoke.

The apple of your eye joined the table, sitting across your seat. Suddenly, the table seemed longer than it was, stretching for miles and miles. You quietly let out a sigh and decided to look around your surroundings, eyes gliding over the mass of people conversing. In the midst of your scanning process, Doyoung and Mark abandoned their seats to get more drinks. Without you noticing, Jaehyun managed to scoot down to you, stealing Mark’s seat.

“Is there anyone here who catches your eye?”

Startled at the proximity of his voice and suddenly uncomfortable, you began tapping your feet to the rhythm of the background chatter. You didn’t dare look at him in the eye; you didn’t want to face his genuine curiosity--it would destroy you. Instead, you picked up your glass of wine ever so slightly, swirled it around, and answered with a plain “no”.

“I’m sorry that you and Jungwoo didn’t work out,” Jaehyun said with pity filling his voice.

“Well,” you began in an effort to keep the conversation rolling instead of childishly letting your emo-side take over, “I’m 30, and I seem to be wedded to my work. I’ll be alright.”

“Work does seem to like you a lot,” the beautiful man joked. “But you don’t seem to hate it.”

You offered a small smile. “I’m over it with people constantly calling me, but, yeah, I don’t hate it.”

When a moment of silence passed, you deemed it fitting to finally take a sip from your drink. But it was then when Jaehyun thought it was appropriate to say, “Janet seems to think that you’re a work-a-holic.” Now that was a label you had never thought applied to you. A work-a-holic? You? Impossible. What was wrong with simply liking to bow down to fear?

“I guess I need to fill up that loneliness,” you said lightly, setting your glass down. “Gotta have something, you know?”

Jaehyun dismissed your half-hearted comment. “You do know that she’s concerned out of love.”

You simply nodded and added, “Gotta love her too,” earning you a knowing look. “Okay, being my brother-in-law doesn’t mean you get to scold me too.”

A low feeling of heartache stirred in you as the conversation carried out. If this basic conversation about your life had you killing inside, how could you face three weeks worth of the same thing with him in two weeks time? Answer: you couldn’t.

“You know, if you keep working like that, you won’t have time to date.”

“I’ll just date my work then,” you replied sarcastically. “No one needs a human significant other to fulfill their satisfaction.”

For once, you looked at Jaehyun straight into his eyes. Those deep brown orbs of his spoke of genuine curiosity. You were right: they destroyed you. You forced yourself to avert your gaze back to the crowd before you.

“Come on, why don’t you give yourself a break?” he asked, leaning closer to you due to the sudden increase in background noise.

His natural honey-scented self was overpowered by the soft lavender-scented perfume you saw Jia spray on him earlier. It was the perfume you had gotten them for their four-year wedding anniversary, with the card, “Don’t worry: it’s gender-neutral.”

“Okay, I really don’t want my brother-in-law giving me advice about my love life,” you grimaced bitterly while trying not to breathe through your nose. “It’s weird.”

“Then take it as a friend.”

A new wave of the aromatic scent reached your nose as you sharply inhaled at the words that left Jaehyun’s lips. Friends? Friends? Since when were you and Jaehyun friends? Sure, you guys talked, but it was only because of his relationship with your sister. If you hadn’t met him through your sister, you were sure that you wouldn’t have had the guts to approach him yourself. Being friends with your brother-in-law was not something you had in mind, not especially since you were in love with him--not that you were planning on making a move on him. In fact, you wanted to do nothing with him.

But if you were friends, then wouldn’t that be the first step to getting over him?

Thankfully, a fellow co-worker of Jaehyun’s saved you from your train of thought, informing Jaehyun that their boss was looking for him. Before he could leave, though, Jaehyun patted your shoulders and sent you a comforting smile. You watched him go farther away from you as he interacted with his boss whose face instantly brightened. Smooth talker. Sociable. Look at me, sitting and moping as if there’s no tomorrow, you thought bitterly, tasting your wine for the first time.

And that was how you spent the night--sitting by yourself, worrying your phone would be broken from the number of calls Jia would have made, and watching the man you loved mingle with others like the loveable man he was. You were officially pathetic.

When the time came to leave, you were more than ready to sprint out the doors and claim freedom. Instead, your boss called and the cold wind slapped your face.

“Jia, I got the file,” you said to your friend, pushing your company’s tall glass doors open and waving the thick file in your hands even though she couldn’t see you. “Yeah, I told Sophie to leave it at my desk. Don’t worry, I’ve got things covered, alright?”

Before Jia could say anything else, you stepped onto the pavement when you heard someone call out your name. Once you saw who it was, you greeted that person with a bright smile. That man could liven up your day with his mere presence.

“Johnny!” you exclaimed, reciprocating the tall man’s lively tone. As you initiated a hug, you asked him, “You’ve been here the whole time?”

“Yeah, my boss pulled me back,” Johnny said grimly. “What’s with the file?”

“Oh, this? It’s just something Jia was freaking out about.”

Your considerate co-worker sent you a sympathetic smile. “Couldn’t get Sophie to get it to your place, huh?”

To that, you shrugged and said, “It’s not that bad. It’s just weird having people peeking into my house.”

Talking to Johnny was like meeting your long time friend. He was a breath of fresh air, asking you about things that had nothing to do with your love life. You admired the way he could easily change topics without seeming too sudden and appreciated his quick wit. Unfortunately, the fruitful conversation didn’t last long, and you two parted ways, Johnny taking a cab while you jogged across the street to reach Jaehyun’s black, family-friendly SUV.

“Hey, who was that?” Doyoung said suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows in a manner you thought was silly.

“A coworker,” you replied emotionlessly, hoping Jia would stop texting you.

“He was checking you out,” Mark blatantly remarked.

You stopped typing momentarily and shot a glance at his direction. You meant to give him a menacing glare, but you were caught off guard by Jaehyun’s arm resting behind your headrest. You cleared your throat once you realized that he was backing up the car from the parking lot.

“He’s just a friendly person.”

Sick of Jia’s constant demands--you still loved her--and the horrible night full of pain, you rested your elbow comfortably against the window and rubbed your temple. You were not going to be able to sleep that night with that splitting headache, especially with Mark and Doyoung teasing you.

“Come on guys, give her some privacy with her love life,” Jaehyun defended you as he removed his arm from your seat. “I think she’s had enough tonight.”

You offered Jaehyun a weak but warm smile. “Thank you.”

He, in return, gave a cheeky one. “Hey, do you know the song that goes, ‘Jesse and Johnny sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-’”

“-I-N-G!” - Doyoung Mark chimed enthusiastically.

Sinking into your seat, you grumbled, “I’m really babysitting four children next month, aren’t I?”

And the way back to the house of torture was filled with laughter and childish rhymes while all you wished to do was jump out of the car and end your misery. Oh, but you had no idea that the three weeks that awaited you made that night seem like nothing in comparison. Nothing you could do would prepare you for hell.

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vanillapie-80 · 4 years ago

Text

The Road To Recovery Chapter 1: Sticks and Stones Shall Break My Bones

What if Steve found out about Jim’s secret life about magic and trolls differently, and became a part of his team? But in the worst way possible.

AO3

Steve repeatedly tapped both ends of the pencil he was holding onto the desk, his boredom consuming him more and more as the class continued. The words coming out of the teacher’s mouth would quickly be a distant memory from the bully. Steve glanced at the classroom, some students were as bored as him, while others had their complete focus on the subject.

One student, in particular, caught his interest; Jim Lake Jr. was staring with an intense distaste at the paper at his desk, presumably where he was taking notes. The bully saw how Lake's eyes fluttered and how his head slowly moved back and forth. Steve chuckled and watched in amusement as Lake dozed off and had his face slam headfirst onto the desk.

The whole classroom turned their attention to Lake, including the teacher, and laughed as he quickly woke and sat up straight.

Mrs. Janet, clearly not happy, spoke. “Mr. Lake, do you know how many times you’ve disrupted my class over the current school year?”

Lake turned red from embarrassment, avoiding eye contact from anyone in the room. “Uhh, I don’t kno-”

“Too many, I’ve tried my best to excuse it, but frankly I can no longer do that. After school, you shall serve two hours of detention.”

Steve was surprised that Lake didn’t do anything to defend himself, he simply sighed and rubbed his face in frustration. As if the student sitting across the classroom didn’t have any fight in him. It was only when the class was over that Steve realized that he’d have to be stuck with Lake for two hours since he was given detention as well.

Throughout the school period, Steve silently dreaded the thought of going to detention, but it wasn't as if he could skip it without getting into more trouble than he already was in.

When the school was over, the bully made his way to Mr. Uhl’s class. There were a few students already inside, but Lake was yet to appear. Steve mindlessly took a seat and began doing some homework that he was behind. It only took a few minutes for Lake to show up. He just quickly walked around the classroom and sat right behind Steve.

“Great.” He thought bitterly.

Out of all the desks Lake could’ve chosen, he chose that one. It’s as if he wanted to annoy Steve. The bully now had an anxious feeling that Lake was being nosey and glancing at his work. This caused Steve to sometimes turn around behind him in a way that didn’t seem suspicious, but he only saw Lake just minding his own business and reading a book. At some point, Lake stopped what he was doing and ended up falling asleep.

As time passed by, Steve could hear the student behind him mumbling in his sleep, but they were too quiet and incoherent to understand. Those two hours felt it was longer than he needed to be, and you can imagine the sense of relief Steve had when it was time for Lake to leave.

But Lake never left his seat. When Senior Uhl left the classroom to take a phone call, Steve turned behind him just to see his classmate still asleep. Lake’s shoulders were tense and his hands gripped the fabric of his sweater, but Steve didn’t pay attention to those details. He simply groaned in annoyance. If Lake was going to take a nap in detention, at the very least he could've set an alarm on his phone for safe measures.

Steve leaned onto his chair and shook Lake by the arm, maybe a little too rough. “Hey, wake up Lake.”

What happened next was just too fast to process for Steve. The sleeping student jolted awake, and instinctively grabbed and pulled Steve by the arm, making him topple over his chair. The bully felt a sharp pain in his hand and Lake twisted it. The students watched in surprise and curiosity as they quickly tried to take their cameras out but by the time they did, Jim let go of Steve’s hand.

“Aurgghh!” The bully rubbed his presumed injured hand and shouted, “What the hell Lake?!”, angrily.

The smaller student looked at Steve like a deer in headlights. Lake had his hand covering his mouth as he nervously glanced at the students staring at the two of them while whispering to each other. The sound of Senior Uhl slamming the door open made everyone in the room jump.

“I heard a noise. What happened?” He asked while looking at both Lake and Steve for answers.

“Fell off my chair and hurt my hand. Lake tried to help me get up but grabbed my bad hand by accident and I shouted.” Steve responded, much to the surprise of Lake and the students. However, the bully rationalized this “act of kindness” as something he could use to his advantage. If Lake was giving him trouble, Steve could threaten him by telling the teachers what really happened today, simple as that.

“Very well.” Senior Uhl muttered. “Mr. Lake, your two hours are up, you are free to leave.”

Lake quickly said “thank you”, grabbed his bag, and ran out of the classroom. Steve glanced down at his hand and flexed it, only to feel a sharp pain once again. He’d have to go to the doctor after this.

In a small town like Arcadia, rumors and gossip spread fast like wildfire. Which is why Jim wasn’t surprised at the many stares and glances he got from students. The trollhunter sighed as he made his way to his locker, where he was greeted by Toby and Claire.

“So, I heard you tried to break Steve’s hand.” His best friend remarked, mostly as a joke. But Jim only banged his head onto his locker’s door, sighing once again. “C’mon now Jimbo, we both know you wouldn’t hurt anyone here.”

“But it is a rumor that’s going around about that,” Claire interjected. “Maybe I can ask Mary and Darci for help, or-”

“No.” Toby and Claire looked at Jim in shock. “It might make things worse like I’m trying to make myself look better or something.”

Claire gave Toby a look and gestured at Jim. “What did you do exactly?” He asked while moving in front of Jim.

“During detention, I thought it’d be fine if I just took a quick nap while I was there. Then Steve woke me up for some reason and, ugh, I don’t know, I just freaked out.” The trollhunter explained, tightening his grip on his bag’s strap.

“Well, you did just come back from the Darklands, so maybe your mind is still on alert for any danger,” Claire suggested.

“Either way, it’s not like Steve didn’t have that coming,” Toby added.

“Toby!”

“What? I’m just saying Claire, he has always been a jerk, so karma has to come knocking on his door a few times.” Toby explained. “And besides, this isn’t exactly the first time Jim had a physical scuffle with Steve.”

“But that was different.” The trollhunter thought to himself. Jim punched Steve in self-defense. What he did yesterday was uncalled for, Steve didn’t do anything that justified what Jim did.

The school bell suddenly rang, and Jim made his way to his next class alongside Toby. Meanwhile, Claire left for a different class. Coincidently, Steve was in her class, and Claire thought that this could be an opportunity.

“Hi Steve.” She greeted, sitting next to him.

“What are you doing?” Steve asked, obviously confused as to why Claire decided to sit beside him. “Is this about yesterday with Lake?”

Claire shrugged in response. “Kind of. How’s your hand?”

The bully glanced at it for a moment. “It’s not broken that’s for sure, just sprained.” He said, “Nothing I can’t handle.”

Claire hummed in response before asking, “You know Jim feels bad about it, right?”

Steve scoffed at the notion. “He should be, Lake could’ve easily broken my hand.” Claire grimaced at that response. “But that doesn’t matter now, does it? Jim “Goodie Two Shoes” Lake walks away scot-free.” He muttered sarcastically, making a small jazz hand gesture as well.

“But you could’ve told the truth and Jim would have gotten in trouble, but you didn’t. Why?”

Steve stayed silent for a moment before he spat out, “How about you leave me alone and mind your own business?”, with a harsh tone before ignoring Claire for the rest of the class.

The student sitting next to him stared in disbelief, wanting to add her own two-sense to Steve’s remark, but she held back. He was right to a certain degree. This situation was strictly between Jim and Steve, so there was no reason for her to bud in.

A few days later…

It was lunchtime, and the trollhunter used this period as a way to get some time for himself. Yes, he would always enjoy Toby and Claire’s company no matter what, but something Jim just needed some time for himself. So he sat on the school porch alone while he ate his lunch, enjoying the cool breeze and the sunlight hitting his face. Just when the trollhunter finished his meal when the school bell rang. Quickly, Jim raced through the halls to make it to his next class which was history.

During the middle of Coach Lawrence’s lectures, Jim felt a sharp pain on the right side of his abdomen. When he looked down, the trollhunter saw that his blue sweater was slowly being tainted by crimson red. Jim cursed to himself. A little while ago, Jim had gotten into a nasty fight with a rogue troll. In the end, he was victorious as always, but the trollhunter suffered some major injuries. Jim thought he did a good job treating them but apparently not.

So he raised his hand and asked, “Coach Lawrence, can I go to the bathroom?”

The P.E. teacher shrugged. “Alright, you can go Lake. Just make it quick.”

The trollhunter knew that this wasn’t going to be “quick”, but Coach Lawrence was one of the more forgiving and kind teachers in the school, so he felt like there was nothing to worry about in terms of suspicion.

He raced towards the boy’s gym locker room, it was always mostly empty and was very easy to hide if someone walked inside. Jim sat on one of the benches and took out a small first aid kit from his bag. The trollhunter unzipped his sweater and lifted his shirt, revealing the bloody gauze that was wrapped around Jim’s abdomen. As he unwrapped it, it showed a deep laceration that seeped quite a lot of blood out. The trollhunter groaned as he saw that the stitches he had made for the wound had become undone. Jim tossed the used gauze aside and opened the first aid kit. He couldn’t redo the stitches right now, as it would take too long to finish, so the trollhunter just put fresh new gauze on his abdomen. Jim was too focused to notice Steve entering the locker room, or even hear him enter.

Once the bully noticed Jim, he looked at his classmate with a disturbed expression. “Lake?”

Jim froze at the sound of Steve’s voice, and he felt a sense of dread shivering through his body.

The trollhunter tried to cover his injury but Steve had become curious. “Jeez! what happened? Did someone stab you with a knife or something?” He asked, lifted Jim’s arm to get a good look at the trollhunter’s stomach.

Jim immediately pushed Steve aside and shouted “None of your business! And what are you doing here!”

“I just finished soccer practice, my team plays on the field every Friday. And you’re not exactly trying to be discreet.” The bully explained, crossing his arms as he begrudgingly maintains his distance with Jim. “Are you a member of a cult? Oh shit! You’re not gonna kill me now that I know your secret are you?”

“What?! No, I’m- Aurggh!” The trollhunter bent down as pain from his injuries spiked. “I’m not in a cult.” He muttered.

“Then what’s up with you Lake?! First, you attack me at detention, and now this.” Steve asked as he gestured to the person in front of him.

“I didn’t mean to attack you. I was just having a bad dream.”

“Must’ve been one hell of a nightmare. Well if you aren’t in a cult, then what is it?” As Steve continued to question Jim, he could see the panic look in the trollhunter’s eyes, but tried to keep a calm attitude.

“Like I said it’s none of your business,” Jim remarked.

Steve tightened his hand into a fist and approached Jim and got really close to him, the two of them staring intensely at each other. “Either you tell or do I have to beat out of you.”

Both of them knew that Jim wasn’t capable of fighting back well, and the trollhunter at this point couldn’t take another beating, even if it was from Steve. He looked away from the bully in defeat, with Steve smirking in response.

“Well? What is it?”

Jim tried thinking about a lie that would satisfy Steve. Being mugged wouldn’t make much sense, and any other excuse he thought of just sounded ridiculous. Until he thought of one that seemed pretty much perfect.

“I...I’m getting paid to fight others in the street.” He said.

Steve looked at Jim suspiciously before asking, “Like a fight club?”

The trollhunter shrugged without a care. “I guess.”

There was a silent pause before the bully said, “Why the hell are you in a fight club then?”

Jim pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned. “I’m just a little tight on money alright? Nothing deep about my reasoning. Now, if you can do me favor and keep watch? I have to finish this.”

“God, you’re so weird Lake,” Steve commented, but the trollhunter didn’t bother to respond back with his own remark.

As Jim continued to treat his injuries, Steve glanced at the locker room’s hallways to see if anyone would be coming in their direction. Occasionally, the bully looked back at the trollhunter and would see the many scars that were on Jim’s body. It felt so out of place for Steve to see that. Jim was always one who wouldn’t hurt a fly and avoided a fight until now he supposed.

Once Jim was done, he put his shirt and sweater back on, while also putting his first aid kit back in his bag. The trollhunter got up and looked at Steve, wondering if he should thank him.

“Hey, I really am sorry about your hand. The last thing I want to do is hurt someone that doesn’t deserve it.” He muttered, eyes glued to the ground. “And please keep this,” Jim gestured to himself, “between you and me. If anyone found out, we’ll both be in serious trouble.”

What the troll hunter said startled Steve a bit, but why should he be scared? He’s Steve Palchuck, he wasn’t scared of anything. The bully simply scoffed and remarked, “Fine,I’ll keep your stupid secret between us.” before leaving.

Jim hoped Steve kept his word, he couldn’t afford to lie to anyone else. It was starting to get exhausting.

A week later…

It was a Saturday, and Jim managed to get himself into detention again. This time it wasn’t his fault, or alone either. Last night a couple of gnomes went joyriding in Senior Uhl’s truck because why not? The police came before the trollhunter and his friends could flee the scene. Of course, they had to take the blame, but instead of getting arrested, Senior Uhl decided that they should serve detention the next day.

Jim stared outside of the car window and his mother was scolding him and Toby for “stealing” their teacher’s car. “You know, girls don’t always fall for the bad boys, Jim. Sometimes, they appreciate chivalry.” She said.

The trollhunter held back the urge to laugh, and simply responded with, “Uh, thanks for the dating advice Mom, and this won’t happen again, right Tobes?”

“Oh yeah, I rather not add anything else to our criminal records.” Toby added, poking his head out to the backseat and Barbara chuckled in response.

Jim and Toby gave the motherly doctor their goodbyes before leaving the car. The two walked on towards the school’s entrance as Claire waited for them there, while two other students, Shannon and Eli, followed behind.

“Are you ready to get this over with?” Claire said as she joined with the duo.

“I don’t know Claire, maybe this could be a good thing. We’re a school so the possibility of us being in danger is almost nonexistent. Think of it as a fun little vacation.” The trollhunter suggested, then laughed at the thought of it.

Then the trio heard a small commotion coming from the distance. They turned to the source and saw Steve getting out of Coach Lawrence’s car. The two seemed to be talking but they were too far for the trio to hear.

“Huh, is that Coach dropping off Steve?” Claire asked, turning her back on the other student.

“Great. Vacation canceled.” Toby remarked, rolling his eyes.

“Hey now, all you have to do is ignore him and you’ll be fine Tobes.” Jim reassured with a nervous smile.

Claire and Toby looked at the troll hunter curiously. “Since when did you become an optimist?” His best friend wondered.

“When detention became a regular occurrence for me apparently. And besides, we’ve dealt with Steve being in our class before. What makes this any different?”

When the students went to the classroom, Senior Uhl confiscated their phones, much to Mary’s dismay. Toby then decided to take out a Diablo Maximus Breakfast Burrito he bought earlier, despite Jim’s silent gestures to not do that. As the trollhunter suspected, Senior Uhl confiscated that too the moment he saw it, but Toby didn’t seem too bothered by it, which seemed weird to Jim, since it was Toby’s favorite burrito, but decided to ignore it.

After a few minutes, Claire quietly spoke up to both of the boys. “You know Jim, you might be right about us deserving a break, but I can’t help but feel guilty knowing that Gunmar might be out there.”

Oh right. The trollhunter cringed at that reminder. “Listen, Blinky and Aaarrrgghh are looking into it. Without proof that Gunmar escaped out of the Darklands, there’s no reason for Trollmarket to panic.” He whispered.

Then Jim saw Senior Uhl decided to eat Toby’s burrito, muttering that “It can’t be that spicy.”

The trollhunter anxiously looked at his friend and asked, “Tobes, shouldn’t you tell Senior Uhl that it’s a bad idea to eat your burrito?” He never ate it himself, but Jim saw the effect it had on someone, which…… wasn’t pleasant to see or hear.

“I would, but you know how Senior Uhl listens to his student. Which is not at all.” Toby said with a shrug.

Jim looked at his friend in disbelief. He wasn’t wrong, but Toby was acting way too calm for his comfort. As if he was planning for this to happen.

“Wait a minute.”

What happened next was what Jim and Toby expected. Senior Uhl rushed to the restroom, and the two knew that he wasn’t coming back for a good while.

Everyone stayed in their seat for a few minutes, with the trollhunter eyeing his friend suspiciously while Toby smiled back in response. Steve was the first one to leave his desk.

“Where are you going?” Claire asked.

“I’m going to see where Senior Uhl went. Is that a problem?

“Not at all.” She said back.

Jim left his desk as well and stopped Steve before he could open the door. “Don’t bother. It’s not something you want to hear, trust me.”

The bully rolled his eyes and opened the door anyway. The trollhunter cringed at the sounds he could now hear. When Steve turned to look at him, his face filled with regret, Jim gave him an “I told you so” look.

“It’s like a broken yogurt machine.” Claire commented, now out of her desk as she stuck head out of the door.

“Ew, it sounds like lasagna getting shot out of a T-shirt cannon.” Mary added while making a face.

“Not helping.” Jim thought as he tried to banish the mental images those comments gave him.

“That burrito had three ghost peppers in it. Too much spice for his delicate Austrian taste.” Toby explained, ignoring the glare Jim was giving him.

“He could be there all day.” Claire stated.

“That indeed.” Toby went back inside while the other students glanced at him in confusion, except for Jim.

“You knew that would happen Tobes, didn’t you?”

“I cannot confirm or deny that statement. But we could use this to our advantage.” The chubby teen suggested with a mischievous smile.

“How?” Shannon asked.

“Well I’d rather keep that a surprise, so just stay here for a while until Mary and I can get our getaway driver.” Jim was surprised to hear that Mary was in on this.

The supposed queen bee of the group lit up in excitement and walked outside of the classroom with Toby. As the other students waited, Jim sat on top of one of the desks, watching his legs lazily swinging up and down. His mind drifting to an endless void of muted thoughts.

“I didn’t know Domzalski was a troublemaker.” Jim looked up and saw Steve standing right in front of him, his arms crossed.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about him.” The trollhunter said.

The bully stayed silent for a moment before muttering, “How’s the, you know.” He tried to discreetly point towards the trollhunter’s injury he saw a week ago.

“It still hurts, but the stitches are holding up nicely.” Steve couldn’t understand why hearing Jim saying that so calmly made him uneasy.

“So what happened, did you trip and fall in a shard of glass or something?”

The trollhunter let out a sarcastic laugh while forcing a smile on his face. “Oh I wish that was the case, but no. I got stabbed by someone during a fight.”

“Must have been one hell of a fight.” Jim felt a tingling feeling in his hands the moment Steve spoke.

“Yeah.... It was.” When the blonde bully turned his attention away from Jim, he quickly glanced at his hands, but the brief memory of blood, his blood, covering the entirety of his palms made him close his eyes shut. Jim can’t let this happen, especially now at school.

The trollhunter pushed those emotions aside, he can deal with them later. “How did you get detention this time?” Jim asked, hoping to start a conversation as a distraction.

“Got caught copying someone else’s work.” Jim had a surprised look on his face, which then Steve remarked, “Yeah, what a surprise. Steve Palchuck gets in trouble for something that doesn’t involve hurting people.”

“Hey! I didn’t-” The trollhunter paused for a few seconds before he sighed with guilt. “You just have a reputation okay? And not a good one, but you already know that. I know you are capable of being a nice person. You were a good person back when-” Jim flinched at that last part. He shouldn’t have done that, he shouldn't have been digging up the past where at this point it doesn’t matter.

Luckily for Jim, Toby and Mary had returned. “Hey, hey, hey, we’re back! Now if you can please follow us, that’d be really nice.” Toby announced happily.

Jim quickly hopped off the desk and sped walk towards his best friend, while avoiding his gaze at Steve. As the group walked out of school grounds, a car was parked in front of the school's entrance. The front window lowered and revealed Darci seating in the driver’s seat.

“Darci? What are you doing here?” Claire asked in surprise, making her way in front of the group.

“Helping you escape this prison Clairebear. We’re going to have a bonfire party tonight.”

The idea of having a rebellious party is what all it took to persuade her, as she wasted no time to get inside the passenger’s seat.

Mary and Toby looked at the rest of the group with anticipation. “Do you need an invitation or something, come on we don’t have all day.” Mary said, her patience already wearing thin.

Eli and Shannon were the next ones to get inside the car, though it seemed like Shannon had helped Eli to gain the courage to even pursue that action. Steve then went as well and sat in the front seat, much to Mary’s annoyance. So there was one person left.

“Wrong’s Jimbo?” Toby asked while inside of the car as well.

Jim believed this was bad, that this was going to get them into even more trouble than they already were. But Toby took the time to make this happen, and would most likely face the punishment the worst when they face the consequences. So he came up with an excuse.

“Well, there’s no more room for me in the back.” Jim explained, seeing that three people had one person sitting on their lap.

“It’s okay, you can just sit on Steve’s lap.” Darci said.

“What!?” Both the two male teens exclaimed.

“Look, it’s not the end of the world if you two are close to each other for a while.” Mary reassured, who was beyond done at this point.

Jim took a deep breath and reluctantly made his way to the front door and when opened, he sat on top of the blonde bully. “Okay, you guys ready?” Darci laughed at the sound of various happy remarks she got at once.

The ride through Arcadia was a nervous wreck for Jim, and who could blame him. He was sitting on his former bully’s lap after what he had assumed to be an emotional conversation, the trollhunter still couldn’t look Steve in the eye.

At some point, they had stopped at a gas station. “Why did we stop?” Shannon asked.

“Almost out of gas, and also so we can get some snacks as well.” Darci explained, getting out of the car while doing so.

“You didn’t bring any food?” Eli added as everyone started to leave for the store.

“I did. Just thought it’d be nice to get something for ourselves Eli.”

As the young teens ran around the building to see what they could buy. Jim mindlessly wandered around, fidgeting his hands. Darci said she had food so he didn’t really need anything from the store. Just his luck, the trollhunter managed to bump into Steve.

“Ah! Sorry.” Jim apologized.

The blonde bully didn’t say anything for a moment. “Not getting anything for yourself.”

It was then Jim noticed that Steve was carrying a couple of chips and a soda in his arms. “Um, no. We already have food in the car so what's the point?”

“The point would be because it’s fun picking stuff out that you like.” Steve rolled his eyes when it looked like Jim still didn’t get it. “Come on Lake. There has to be something here your craving about.”

The trollhunter could only shrug back. The blonde teen then grabbed Jim by the arm and dragged him towards one of the store’s aisles. He let go and said, “Pick something.”

Jim glanced at the products in front of him. “Why?”

“Because you have to learn how to act like a teenager, starting by buying something for yourself.”

“But-”

“Stop asking questions and just pick something.”

The trollhunter couldn’t understand why Steve was so persistent. Unless he took what Jim said at school to heart. No, that couldn't be the case. Steve hated him and listening to him would be the last thing he’d ever do. Jim sighed and walked closer to the aisle to inspect what was in front of him. Each row had a large variety of sweets and candy, and the trollhunter looked at the price tags to see if he could afford it. Taking into account the cost, Jim started grabbing his favorite candy. And he might or might have not gone overboard, as he was having a difficult time carrying the large amounts of sweets

Steve watched in surprise as Jim turned to him and asked, “Is this too much?”

“Uh no, not at all.” He lied. “Is there anything else you want to get?”

The trollhunter hummed thoughtfully and went to another aisle while the blonde bully followed nearby. Jim took a few more things and when he was done, the two of them went to the cash register to pay. The cashier asked them if they wanted a bag, while also giving Jim a funny look. Steve declined but the trollhunter accepted the offer.

As both of them walked out of the store, the rest of the group were waiting for them in the car.

“Omg, what took you guys so long?” Mary complained.

“Lake had some issues, nothing to worry about. We’re here aren’t we.” Steve answered, getting back inside the car as Jim sat on his lap again.

Mary pouted and crossed her arms while Darci and Claire stifled a snicker. The moment they continued driving, Jim began to get lost in his thoughts. The trollhunter had the window open, as he found the breeze flowing past his face soothing. Their destination was a small clear area that had the set up a campfire and some logs to sit on. Despite never coming here, Jim knew that this was one of the many hotspots in Arcadia that teens would place their parties.

As they all got out of the car, the boys helped Darci take out the firewood from the trunk while the girls brought the food out. While Steve, Eli, and Mary were bickering on how to start a fire, Jim was looking inside the bag that contained what he bought and came to the conclusion that he did go overboard.

“Hey Jimbo, wanna trade some snacks?” Toby asked as it seemed he appeared out of nowhere, which startled the trollhunter.

‘Uh, I don’t know. What do you have?” His best friend took out his snacks while Jim showed him the contents inside.

Toby laughed in surprise and said, “Oh wow! Maybe I should’ve been with you. Man, I forgot that you have a terrible sweet tooth.”

Jim's face turned red from embarrassment and his shoulders tensed. “I do not have a sweet tooth.”

“Right, I’ve been on a diet for fourteen years.” Toby commented sarcastically. “Now about our trade.”

“Forget it.” The trollhunter said. “You don’t have anything I want anyways.”

Jim turned away from his friend dramatically and stormed off as Toby watched with an amusing smile. The trollhunter sat on a log where it had a clear view of his hometown below.

“Nice view, right?” Claire stated, sitting next to Jim.

“Yeah, but I prefer our spot.” He admitted.

The two went quiet for a while, watching the sun slowly disappear from their sight. “So how’s your first party as a teenager going?” She jokingly asked.

But as Jim thought about, this actually was his first time. He was never social enough at school to be involved in stuff like this. The trollhunter wondered if he should feel sad for himself about this fact. “It’s going okay.” He decided to say.

“And I noticed you’ve been talking to Steve quite a lot today.”

“What? Am I not allowed to?” Jim remarked with a smile.

“Not at all. It’s just interesting, that’s all. Steve kind of hates your guts.” Claire explained with a shrug.

The trollhunter hummed in acknowledgment. “I don’t know, today was different. It seemed like I wasn't trying to be mean towards me. I don’t think he’s even messed with Eli all day.”

“Hey, maybe your good vibes are finally rubbing off on him.” She suggested.

“My what?”

Claire rolled her eyes and leaned closer to Jim. “Come on now. You have an effect on people, able to bring the good that’s inside of them.”

“Listen, if I really had that effect on people, then I would have been on Steve’s good side by now. Hell, I wouldn’t have gone to the Darklands if I was capable of doing that.” The trollhunter managed to stop himself before he could open that can of worms even further. Truth be told, Jim thought Steve was just taking pity on him.

“That’s true, but you try. And that’s all that matters really. You did that with Draal and look where it got you. You gained a new friend because of that.” The trollhunter chuckled, she got him there.

“I guess you have a point.”

“I always do.” She remarked with a wink.

The two of them then burst out laughing softly. Claire heard the sound of someone calling her name and turned to the left side to see Darci waving at her. “Well, I gotta go.”

Jim made a small wave goodbye as she left to help out her friend. The trollhunter glanced down at his bag of candy that was on the floor and grabbed a handful. As he took out the wrapper and began eating, his face then beamed with happiness as he felt surgery flavor in his mouth. Jim then felt a newfound warmth behind him, turned around to see the campfire finally ignited.

He saw Steve glared at Mary, who had a smug expression, while Eli tried to hold back his laughter. The blonde bully sat at the nearest log, which was Jim’s, and started wiping off the soot on his face.

“Geez, what happened?” The trollhunter asked, continuing to eat his candy.

“Mary and I were arguing about how to start the fire. It didn’t go well.” Steve explained.

“She shouldn’t have done that, inhaling fumes from a fire can really damage your lungs.”

“Well, not everyone knows about doctor stuff Lake.” He said, placing his hand under his chin.

Jim narrowed his eyes and asked, “Why are you talking to me?”

“Huh?”

“It’s just, really confusing. You never seem to like me and you know, the whole bully shtick. But ever since last week when you found me in the locker room, you’ve been, nicer? I guess. And what I said earlier at school, you don’t look upset about that. I- do you feel bad for me or something?” The trollhunter was rambling, he very much knew that but this was starting to bother him to no end.

Luckily for Jim, Steve covered his mouth with his hand, asking, “Are you done?”

He nodded and the blonde teen retracted his hand back. “That time in the locker room I guess you can say opened my eyes. And I wasn’t mad about what you said at school because it’s true. Maybe I can be a better person, but I never expected it to be this hard. How can I do that if I even don’t know who that better person is.” Steve yelled in frustration and pulled his hair back. “Whatever, it might not even be worth it in the long run.”

“Hey, it is worth it.” Jim hesitated but touched Steve by the shoulder. “Maybe you just need someone to help you out.”

“Like you?”

“I… don’t see why not.” The trollhunter admitted. “And, I’d like to see who the real Steve Palchuck is.”

The blonde teen looked away and huffed. “Fine, but don’t go telling anyone about this and getting their hopes up, in case this doesn’t work.”

Jim laughed and ate another candy from his bag. “You’ve kept your word about my secret, so I’ll mine for yours.” The trollhunter’s smile was so genuine and soft that Steve couldn’t help but smile back.

Not long after, the sun had disappeared completely and the night took over the skies. The group walked closer to where the fire's light could reach. Some were trying to make some while others were simply talking.

“So any clue to what the adults are going to do to us when we come back?” Darci asked while making sure her marshmallow wasn’t getting too burned.

“Other than grounding all of us for like an eternity?” Mary remarked.

Darci playfully pushed Mary. “Come on, be realistic. All I know is that my dad is totally going to take my car away.”

“Well be glad you don’t have parents like mine. They’re going to be on me twenty-four seven after this.” Claire said distastefully, cringing at the thought of it.

“I don’t think it matters what our parents do to us. Because we already know that what we did today was against the rules.” Shannon stated, she then stared up at the stars and asked, “It’s funny, we’re all practically in the same class every year and yet some of us don’t know a single thing about each other. And took getting detention for us to spend time together.”

“What if we can change that?” Everyone looked at Jim, who then stood up. “Everyone talks about how hard it is to be a teenager, well maybe being there for each other can help that.”

“Hey, Jimbo is right. We’re all struggling if mostly the same issues as teenagers, why not suffer together to make this world more tolerable?” Toby stood by his friend’s side like he always does and forever will.

The group looked at each other, and although no one said anything, everyone knew that they were on board with this. Jim was anxious about this, being a part of a group as big as this was new to him. But today, he has never felt this excited and happy since he got the amulet, so the trollhunter knew it must have meant something.

His thoughts were interrupted however by the touch of a raindrop. It soon didn’t take long for the rain to start pouring in.

“Arggh! Are you serious?!” Mary shouted.

“Let’s get to the car and leave!” Darci stated as they began running out of the campsite.

“But where will we go?!” Eli asked.

“How about my house?! My mom won’t be home for at least a few hours!” Jim offered.

The teens got inside the car, all them in the same seats they were earlier, including the ones who had to sit on someone’s laps. Darci said, “Yeah, that’s a good idea,” and began to drive off.

“Man! I can’t believe today was ruined by the stupid rain!” Mary complained with a pout.

“What talking about, we all had fun. So why let a little rain ruin the moment?” Steve remarked.

As they drove back to Arcadia. Jim leaned to the car’s seat while he heard Claire, Toby, and Mary debate about one of the Gun Robot movies. Jim smiled in delight until he looked out the window from Darci’s side. For a split second, he saw a large shadowy figure running towards them. Jim acted fast and tried to shield Darci and Steve but in the end, it wouldn’t matter much in the long run.

The impact was powerful, as it flung the car off the road and towards the wood. The car flipped around so many times since, beyond the road, there was a hill there before they could even make it to the woods. Jim closed his eyes shut as he was thrashed around by the car’s force and because he wasn’t wearing a seat belt. To the trollhunter, it felt like he would be stuck in this endless cycle of recurring pain. So the moment the car stopped moving, Jim laid there with a blank stare for a moment, hearing the soft sounds of the rain pouring outside.

He then looked up and saw Steve and Darci dangling from their seats. If the car was flipped upside down then that’d mean, Jim lifted himself and the pain all over his right side finally registered to him. He was indeed laying on shards of glass. The trollhunter slowly concluded that they needed to get out of this car. Ignoring the throbbing pain that came from the back of his head, the trollhunter made his way to the door.

However, when Jim pushed the door’s handle, it wouldn’t open. He retried multiple times before accepting that the front door was stuck. So the trollhunter repositioned himself, wincing as he felt the shard of glass piercing through his forearms. Jim extended his right leg and tried to kick down the door. An awful sensation traveled through his leg. He tightened his hands into a fist and clenched his teeth with all his might, fighting back the urge to scream. A quiet whine escaped his lips, something was wrong with his right leg but it definitely wasn’t broken. So he tried his left leg, after a few tries the door still wouldn’t open.

Jim needed more strength than he had currently, so he took out the amulet for his pocket, very much grateful that it was still with him, and said the incantation.

“F...for the Glory…of...of Merlin…Day…Daylight is…s Mine to Co….Command…” As the amulet shined a flash of light, the trollhunter felt his newfound strength the moment his armor appeared around him, and once three kicks, the door flew open.

Jim dragged himself out of the car and stood up. A wave of dizziness hit him, and his body felt heavy. He stumbled for a bit but managed to get his balance in check. He couldn’t get like this, Jim reminded himself. Getting to the task at hand, the troll hunter went to Steve’s side and unbuckled his seatbelt. He made sure that his fellow student didn’t go into contact with the floor and carried him outside. Once Jim placed Steve on the ground, he went back and forth doing the same process with the others. First Toby, then Mary, then Shannon.

When he was carrying Eli out, a loud growl echoed through the woods. The trollhunter felt a shiver run down his spine, as the color drained from his face, knowing full well that the sound did not come from an animal. Setting his classmate down, he grabbed the handle of his sword and spun around face whatever troll that would come his way. Jim at first could only see a pair of glowing blue eyes, but as the troll got closer, the trollhunter began to recognize its appearance.

“Draal?” Jim's voice wavered. No, he would never have done this. Something else must be amiss.

The troll wasted no time and charged towards the trollhunter. Jim moved to the side and saw his classmates. He can’t let his friends get hurt. So he ran, as fast as he could, hearing a fearsome roar that felt all too familiar. The trollhunter saw from the corner of his eye Draal spinning towards him. Jim summoned his shield to block his attack, the impact sending him flying off a distance, landing straight towards a tree. The trollhunter had the air knocked out of him as the moment he hit that tree, he heard a loud CRACK! And the pain from his spine shot all over his body. Jim dropped to his knees as tears welled up in his eyes, as he desperately gasped for air.

With a shaky breath, Jim slowly got back up as he felt Draal’s presence. Every moment made the trollhunter feel like he was on fire, but he had to ignore it. He had to. Jim looked up at the troll in front of him, with Daylight in his hands again, and muttered, “What…what did you do to him?” His words slurred.

Draal, or rather whoever was inside of him, laughed. And the trollhunter recognized that voice. “Gunmar.” He thought.

“The mighty trollhunter, defeated by one blow.” The skullcrusher mocked. “I expected more out of one who slain my son.”

“You didn’t defeat me just yet… There’s still a little fight in me left.” Jim lifted his sword with all his strength and went into a fighting stance. “So we’re not done until I say it is!” He said with such rage.

How dare Gunmar take his friend away from him. Was there seriously no limit to how low he will go?

“No matter how different you all are.” Gunmar spun again, but Jim moved to the side in time to avoid his attack. “Every trollhunter will always be stubborn!” The troll leaped and dived down with a punch. Jim swung his sword but didn’t hit his opponent. Despite who was trying to kill him, it was still Draal’s body. And Jim had hope, hope that there was a chance to bring his friend back.

So the trollhunter hoped that it would trick the skullcrusher and force him to keep his distance. It didn’t work. Gunmar grabbed Jim and slammed him against the ground. “You cannot deceive me trollhunter. You must kill this pathetic excuse of a troll or it will be used against you.”

As Jim struggled to breathe while Gunmar tightened his grip, he said, “ I… I’m not going to hurt my friend. A-and you are a coward! Using others to do your dirty work and can’t even face me yourself!”

The prideful smile the skullcrusher had faded away and snarled at the trollhunter. “Let’s see how well you can amuse me?”

He flung Jim away, and the trollhunter quickly stumbled back up as Gunmar charged towards him again. This was a fight Jim could barely remember, maybe for good reason. For the only thing the trollhunter can remember was the unbearable pain the dark overlord gave him.

Steven heard the muffled sounds of the rain before he could wake up. When his hearing and vision became clearer, the blonde teen could now hear voices shouting at each other, but one caught his attention in particular. “Hey, come on wake up. We need all the help we can get.” Toby desperately shook Steve by the shoulder.

The blonde teen turned to see Claire trying to calm Mary down, while Darci was with Shannon, checking for any injuries she might have with the help of Eli.

“Mary calm down! You could hurt yourself more!”

“Don’t tell me to calm down Clairebear! We were in an accident and one of us is missing! And I don’t have any service on my phone so I can’t call for help!” She shouted at her friend. Mary scrubbed the tears coming from her eyes as she sped-walk around the area to get service.

Claire grabbed Mary’s hands and drew her friend close to her. “Listen, you have the right to freak out. But not right now, I have to see if you’re hurt first. We’ll find a way to get help I promise.”

Mary sniffed and silently nodded. Then Toby snapped his fingers in front of him to bring Steve’s attention back to him.

“Hey! I know you’re in some kind of shock right now but I seriously need you to snap out of it.” Toby began to mumble to himself, too low for Steve to hear.

Steve pushed himself forward to a sitting position, his body felt heavy and the world around began to feel dizzy for him. “We… we were in a car crash.” He stated, more to himself than the person next to him.

“Yeah. A pretty nasty one at best. But Jim is missing and I can’t find him anywhere.” Toby explained. “I think he tried to take us all out of the car but it seems like something made him stop.” The redhead had a terrible feeling that this wasn’t a normal accident.

“Lake… was sitting in front of me, he.... he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.”

Toby pulled his hair back and tried to ignore the implications of that comment. “Which is why I need your help to find him.”

The redhead helped Steve get up, who almost stumbled back down to the ground. To be honest, Toby would’ve picked someone else to help him. But Claire was busy with making sure everyone else was calm and alright.

The two made their way through the woods, calling for Jim when Steve began to notice that a lot of the trees were knocked down in half. And among the broken trees, he could see blood splattered around the area.

“Domzalski.” The blonde teen showed Toby his findings.

The redhead felt his blood turning cold, coming to the terrifying realization of the worst-case scenario had come true. All he knew was that his best friend was in serious trouble and that there was something dangerous in the woods.

“Follow me. And make sure to keep up! Being alone right now is too risky.” Steve was caught off guard by how serious Toby sounded, but he couldn’t blame him.

They both knew that if they found Jim, it wasn’t going to be a pretty sight to see. Following the path of the destruction of the woods, the two finally heard something. As they walked closer to the source, the sounds of roaring and scraping became louder and louder. Toby suddenly ran towards the danger while Steve had no choice but to follow. They slid down a short, muddy, hill and very quickly Toby made Steve hide under the bushes.

But he was stronger than the redhead and got up. The blonde teen was going to shout at him until he looked in horror at what he saw. In front of them was Jim, who was laying on the ground with some kind of armor, his face covered in blood. From behind the trollhunter, was some kind of beast that loomed over him. Steve acted on instinct and rushed over there to help but Toby stopped, this time making sure that Steve doesn’t interfere.

“Let go of me, Domzalski.” The blonde teen whispered with such intense anger.

“No. You’ll make things worse.” Toby warned with a shaky voice, never taking his eyes off the beast.

“Worse? How can I make it worse when Lake is over there dying because of that, that monster?!” Steve was beginning to find it very hard to not shout.

“Exactly. You’re going to get yourself killed like that and that “monster” might decide to come after the others.”

Steve knew that Toby was right but was too furious to admit it. And it wasn’t like the redhead was on board with this either. He wanted to help his friend, he wanted to so much but knew the harsh reality of the situation, which was that he wasn’t enough to protect Jim from Gunmar and would endanger his classmates.

As Jim slowly tried to drag himself away from the beast with the strength he had left, it grabbed him by the hair, pulled him close, and whispered something to him. Steve and Toby held their breath at the sight of the beast slamming the trollhunter’s face into the ground, which made the armor disappear. Steve was sure that it was going to kill Jim but to his and Toby’s surprise, and relief, the beast walked away with a victorious smile and disappeared into the night.

There was a moment of silence. No one spoke, no one, only the sound of rain pouring down and the wind blowing the trees. Then, the painful moans that came from the trollhunter made Steve rushed towards him. He fell to his knees, flipped Jim over, and held him close. The trollhunter’s blue sweater was tainted by a crimson red color all over, he tried to speak but the blood inside this mouth made it impossible to do so.

Steve stared at Jim and muttered, “He... he needs to go to the hospital,” before glancing at Toby, who was covering his mouth as tears welled up in his eyes. “Domzalski!” He shouted. “He needs to get to a hospital.”

“My phone broke during the crash.” Toby said quietly. “Maybe... maybe the others already called for help.” Steve was going to follow the redhead but was stopped. “No! He might be too unstable to move. So please, stay here until I come back.”

“O-okay.” No. Steve couldn’t do it, he couldn’t handle hearing Jim desperately trying to talk for whatever reason even though he was choking on his own blood, his wide eyes frantically darting from every direction.

The trollhunter was just as scared as Steve was, maybe even more. Now with a prickly feeling in his blood-soaked hands, the blonde teen moved Jim’s face to his direction and repeated the phrases, “I-it’s going to be okay. Just ha-hang in there. Help’s on the away...” over, and over, and over, and over again with only one thought in his mind:

He never expected to see this much blood to come out of only one person.

#tales of arcadia #trollhunters #jim lake jr #steve palchuk #jeves #the road to recovery au #vanilla writing

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crystalwillow · 4 years ago

Text

The Pregnancy, Part Two

Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x Casey Valentine (F!MC)

Tagging: @kiteplayschoices @brycelahelalover @obsessedheehee @eleanorbloom @fuseboxmusebox @princesslahela @vibrantlyjaz @kaavyaethanramsey @queencarb @schnitzelbutterfingers @ramseysno1rookie @caseyvalentineramsey @ethanramseyswhore @whippedforethanfreakingramsey

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Six months had passed since Casey and Ethan discovered she was pregnant, and she was now in her last trimester. She still wanted to go to work so she had something to do and so that if she went into labor she was already in the hospital. Of course, Ethan got less and less enthusiastic about her going to work, now a few more months that passed. He insisted that she stay home and look after herself, to let him work a little overtime and do the heavy grocery shopping. But Casey, being the stubborn woman she is, dug her heels in saying a firm no, continuing to go to work.

One lunch break, Casey and Ethan were sitting outside round the fountain, sharing a pizza and some fries, when Sienna came over. "Hey. Could I sit with you guys?" she squeaked out quietly, "Of course" Ethan smiled as Casey took another bite of her pizza slice, "Want a piece?" Casey asked as she held out the box to her friend. "No thank you. I'm okay. I've already eaten." She said politely, hoping her lie went undetected, as she took a seat next to Casey. "Do I still smell of blood and bile?" Ethan joked, "Honey. if you smelt of that I would not even be near you. Sienna just doesn't like getting in the middle of people" Casey explained jokingly. Sienna chuckled at the sass levels in Casey's reply, and the three spent the rest of their lunch break together. Late that afternoon, Ethan stopped by Casey's floor to collect the grocery list and her dinner order as he was finishing early, and she had to work late. "oooo someone's coming" a nurse teased Casey, as she walked away from the nurses station with her files, to give the two privacy. "Hey." Ethan smiled as he greeted her with a kiss leaning over the nurses station. "hey" Casey smiled back, as the phone rang. "one moment" she smiled and answered the phone, "Hello, Francis Ward, Dr. Casey Ramsey speaking, how may I help? ... uh-huh, okay. ... Could you hold for just one moment and I'll check that for you." she answered as she put the phone on hold "Janet!" she called out to a passing nurse, who stopped in her tracks and turned coming over to the station "yeah?" she asked, sounding tired. "I've got Dr. Rasheen on the phone calling from OR recovery 4, asking if we have any free beds on the ward for a patient that has just woken up." Casey explained. Janet checked the chart, "mmmmmmm, yep. We have room 783 free." She smiled at Casey, who picked the phone back up. "Hello, Dr. Rasheen? ... yes, we have 1 room free. Could I get the patients name please? .... Holly Barkermann. Alright, we'll have that ready for arrival in the next few minutes okay? .... okay, Thank You. B-Bye" she chimed happily as she hung up the call. After letting out a deepened sigh, Casey leant back in her chair and looked up at Ethan who smiled back at her. "Could I have the lists?" He asked sweetly. Casey sat up and pulled them out of her pocket and passed them to him. He looked at her dinner request and smiled. "I'll pick it up later on the way to get you from work sweetie" He grinned as he looked back up at her. "Thanks baby. I'll see you later okay?" she replied. Ethan nodded and gave her one last kiss before heading off the do the grocery shopping and go home.

That night Casey text Ethan.

Casey: Hey babe! Finishing up here in about 45 minutes!!

Ethan:

Casey: Babe???

Casey: Bubs?

Casey: HELLO! ETHAN RAMSEY! ARE YOU THERE?! T-MINUS 45!!"

Ethan: Can't a man poop in peace? xD

Casey: ... sorryyyy :/

Ethan xD. It's okay. I'll see you soon

Casey: Can you bring Bleu? or is he sleeping??

Ethan: Sleeping. Sorry honey :(

Casey: It's alright. I'll see you in a bit. Don't forget our dinner!!"

Ethan: I won't don't worry :D. Love you!! <3

Casey: Love you too bubba :* <3

After sending the text messages, Casey stuffed her phone back into her pocket and got back to work. It was nighttime so everything was slower paced. She got bored and decided to try and balance a pencil on the tip of her nose because she still hadn't been able to complete that. She was so occupied by it that she didn't hear someone approach the desk. "Ahem." the voice said as the person it belonged to clear their throat. Casey jumped, dropping the pencil then pouting at it "awww! I was so close!" she quietly exclaimed as she looked up to see who it was. "Oh, hey Esme!" she chirped, Esme smiled. "I'm here to take over. Your husband's downstairs, in the main lobby." she told her. Casey checked the clock on the wall. "Oh my gosh. Was I just trying to balance a pencil on the tip of my nose for 45 minutes?" she asked, flushing a deep red, fully embarrassed. "I guess so." Esme chuckled as she came round the desk to switch places with Casey. "Well.... see you Saturday I guess." Casey said to Esme, giving her a hug before grabbing her belongings, checking out and making her way downstairs. As she stepped out of the elevator, she let out a massive sigh and took her tag off over her head, tucking it inside her bag. "Busy shift?" Ethan asked, as he walked over to her and greeted her with a hug. She gripped onto him tightly. "ugghhhh, I missed youuuuu" she whined as she crushed Ethan with a hug. Ethan chuckled as he returned his wife's hug, "I missed you too munchkin" he mumbled, Casey pulled back and looked at him strangely, "Munchkin?" she asked with a confused frown, as she laced her fingers with his. "I was browsing words on that Urban Dictionary site you're always going on about. Munchkin can be used as a term of endearment for one's partner who is playful and mischievous" He explained as they walked to the car hand in hand. "Oh...? So you're saying I'm playful and mischievous now, are you?" Casey teased as they got into the car, Ethan just chuckled as he gave her a knowing look. As Ethan drove them home, Casey sat in the passenger seat chowing down on her fries and gulping down her drink, "Hungry? Ethan smiled. Casey nodded eagerly as she shoved more fries in her mouth, "bank oo bor biss" she grinned. Soon they pulled up on the drive and went inside, Bleu greeting them straight away by barking as soon as they opened the door, "Ugh. My feet are so sooorrrreeeee" Casey whined as she took off her shoes and jacket, she then squealed in delighted surprise as Ethan lifted her up and carried her to their room, content concentration on his face the entire time. I'll go grab us some soda, water and snacks then we can binge whatever it is you wish to watch tonight, okay?" Ethan smiled as he pressed a tender loving kiss to Casey's forehead before leaving the room and heading downstairs to the kitchen, and they spent the night cuddled up in bed doing exactly what Ethan said they would, and fell asleep happy and content, ready for the next day and what it would bring them. In the middle of the night Casey woke up feeling around for Ethan and groaned slightly when she couldn't feel him. She slowly opened her eyes and spotted him sitting at his desk across the room with a creased brow as he stared at his screen, "Ethan?" she whispered, and he snapped his head towards the bed, "What's wrong? Are you okay?" he asked as he swiveled round in his chair. She pouted and held her hand out towards him, he sighed and walked over to their bed, sitting next to her and taking her hand in his, "Is this case keeping you up again?" she asked as she placed her head on his leg. He instinctively started stroking her hair, "mmm" he mumbled staring blankly ahead.

Casey looked up at him an noticed the bags under his eyes and looked at the clock on their bedside table, seeing it read 3:47am, "Honey. Your shift starts in an hour and 13 minutes. Come to bed and try to get some sleep. Please" she begged quietly, looking up at him. Ethan exhaled heavily through his nostrils and got up. "Just let me save this document and I'll come to bed" he said as he sat back in his office chair and spun back so he was facing his screen, sliding his glasses back on his face. "They really enhance your beauty, you know?" Casey spoke out, Ethan just smiled at her comment, gently shaking his head as he saved the document and shut his computer down. About 45 minutes later, Casey was up with Ethan as he got ready for work, she was in the kitchen making his lunch. Ethan walked in a few minutes later, smelling like his heavenly self. He stood behind Casey and wrapped his arms round her stomach and rested his chin on her shoulder, pressing delicate kisses behind her ear and down her neck. "You don't have to be up doing this for me. I can make my own lunch you know." He said, his face and voice full of concern. Casey smiled at him with a look full of love that makes him realize there's no point in making it an issue because today is her day off before her last week working. She looked up at Ethan wistfully, "What?" he softly smiled back, "Nothing.... It's just... Are you sure that you're ready to be a father? Because when we done those scans when I was an intern. You said you didn't see it in your future. You weren't sure you could give them what they would need. And if you still aren't ready. We can put them for adoption. Or into foster care. Or to a same sex couple who wants children. I want you to be ready for this Ethan. I don't want you to feel like I'm forcing you into being a father by keeping this child." Casey rambled as she brought her hands to her stomach, cradling the child inside. Just as he opens his mouth to answer, Ethan's alarm goes off telling him it's time to leave for work.

Later in the day, around noon the doorbell rang. Casey answered it after looking through the peep hole, and greeted Tia and Bryce on the other side. "Hey! What're you guys doing here?!" she asked as she gave them both hugs and invited them inside. They walked in, Casey shut the door and they all made their way to the living room, taking various seats around the room in chairs and on couches. "Ethan caught us this morning and told us to bring you lunch." Tia said as they took their seats, "We brought both enough hot and cold food for all of us and we even brought some for Ethan to have later, he looked drained when we saw him." Bryce added. Casey smiled at her friends, "I'm not surprised. He was up half the night working on the case of Mr. Hopkins again." she informed them. They gave a knowing yet understanding look with a small nod. "Anyway. How's the hospital today?" Casey asked, as her and Tia dug into their food, Bryce walking off the get a fork. Tia swallowed her bite of food and smiled at Casey, "Busy as usual. Same old people shouting the same old things, cases that take only a few moments to solve. Although, there is this one case that's come in this morning and nobody can seem to work out what's going on with them. They have no genetic markers for anything, no test that has been run so far comes back with anything that could be used as a lead to do further tests. Bryce, as always says the simple solution is to cut them open. But I have to keep telling him, you can't randomly go cutting people open, with nothing supporting them needing and operation. You know?" She tells Casey as Bryce walks back into the room. "Your dog is seriously so adorable!" Bryce exclaims as he sits back down. Casey smiles and eats more of her food. The three talk and eat until it's time for Bryce and Tia to head back to work. Casey going back to binge watching Netflix series she needs to catch up on and drinking her herbal teas. Before she knows it, she hears Ethan's key go into the door and sits up as she hears him call out that he's home. "In here!" she calls back as she gets up so she can move to the couch and cuddle him.

He stops off at the kitchen first to get plates and cutlery for them to eat then walks into the living room placing the food, plates and cutlery onto the coffee table before sweeping Casey up into a massive bear hug, inhaling her perfume deeply. "I've missed you today." He mumbled into her neck, she smiled in response "I've missed you too." She mumbled back and they sat on the couch and talked about their days. "... and then the stupid woman tried to take off with a line in her arm and the machine still plugged into the wall. She didn't even grab the pole to wheel the machine with her as she walked. She just walked. Blood everywhere. It took about 10 minutes to get the bleeding under control. I have never witnessed something so daft in all my life." Ethan rambled, as Casey listened intently. Taking in every tone change in his voice as she ate quietly beside him. "So....... You're stressed?" Casey asked as he finished rambling. "hrm?" Ethan mumbled, Casey just chuckled and got up, heading to the bathroom.

Ethan followed and stood outside so they could continue talking. "When I say I missed you at work today. I meant it you know. I didn't have someone I could just walk up to and plop my head on their shoulder, and whine to. I don't know what you done to me rookie... but.. I feel love again now. I have friends. I can be friendly with others without feeling awkward. You're a blonde bombshell of sass. But you're my blonde bombshell of sass. My other half that I gave up searching for and accepted I was going to be a dog dad forever and die old, alone and miserable. Naveen was right. When you started at Edenbrook as an intern, I took my work way too seriously. And my ways were rubbing off on you. You were becoming a mini female version of me. But, somehow I knew you already were. You were serious about your work. You were serious about a lot. You got yourself in trouble for your patients because you care. You put everyone else's feelings before your own and you took time to get to know me, ask me how I was. I.... I'd not had anyone do that there for 10 years, because I was at the top of all the interns in my year as well. They quickly became envious, jealous, angry at me even. I couldn't understand why at the time, I was just an intern doing my best to make sure all my patients were happy, healthy and had the best care provided that they would need. I wasn't actively seeking out pissing them off. I was just being me. I thought it was my fault at first but then I realized, it's not my fault that my brain is on a different level to theirs. It wasn't my fault I worked and ticked differently. Performed my best when I worked on cases solo. When I wrote and published my book I didn't expect it to be such a huge hit. To influence the next generation of medicine and impact it in such a way. Then you walked into Edenbrook and shook everything up. Including me and my heart. You gave me the wake up call I needed, and I fell for you. I fell for you hard. In Miami all those years ago, I wanted you as much as you wanted me. Damn Casey, when I first stopped you in your tracks as you followed me to the new wing of the hospital. I wanted me taking you for coffee to be a date. But I was scared of the intricacy of it all. I was your boss. It would have been wrong. It was wrong. But somewhere along the line I stopped caring. I wanted... no, needed you. I needed to know what it was like to hold you. Kiss you. Dance and laugh with you. I needed to learn to love and open up my heart. I'd both needed and wanted to do that for years, but nobody caught my eye.. that was until I saw you. I'm here today pouring out my heart and emotions, but I want you to know I wouldn't be doing that if it wasn't for you. You went from rookie, to the owner of my heart. And now... well now you're going to be the mother of my child too. Well... children... I looked closer at your last scan, saw something that shocked me so grabbed a sonographer and they confirmed that.. we, we're having triplets Casey.... We haven't conceived just one child. We've conceived t-" He spoke, voice thick with emotion. The bathroom door opened, Casey looked up at him, a delicate smile on her face, with small tears running down her cheeks, "We're having triplets?" she asked softly, trying not to let her voice break as she reached out and rested her hand on Ethan's cheek, he leant into her touch and smiled as she gently stroked his stubble with her thumb. He nodded as his own tears fell from his eyes. "And I want to keep them. I'm ready to be a father to 3 of the most amazing kids I will ever have the pleasure of knowing. I-" He started to speak again but his voice broke. The purity and happiness if this moment shone and lit the whole house up. Some would say you could hear a chorus of angels if you listened close enough. The two stood in the hallway basking in their moment of happiness as Ethan's revelation set in. They cuddled and swayed together to the music in their heads. Neither feeling their current state of happiness ever before.

Soon, Casey spoke quietly not wanting to disturb the happy peace too much, "You mean it? You're ready for parenthood?" She asked as she looked up meeting Ethan's gaze. He nodded. "I'm ready." He answered quietly, pressing a kiss to her lips and then the two headed upstairs to shower and get ready for bed. The happiness still shining bright around them, they enjoyed the peace knowing soon, it would no longer exist for a while.

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