#his eyes show up a lot redder than everyone else’s | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

coneyislandbabey · 2 years ago

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the boys are back in town. -> g.dunne

WARNINGS: canon typical profanities and drug use

SYNOPSIS: The Six are back in Pittsburgh during the Numbers tour, and Graham runs into his high school crush. word count: 6,810

NOTES: okay babes this fic is finally here 😭 I hope it doesn't flop and that you love it! The idea was inspired by the Thin Lizzy song of the same name :)

The afternoon sun stretching bright and golden across Pittsburgh looked just as Graham remembered it, a boyhood summer day snatched up from the past and deposited into the present of his life. Sliding into a booth at Dino’s Bar and Grill with the rest of the band, he felt a strange blend of nostalgia and new experience. Ever since the Numbers tour had been arranged, Graham had been looking forward to the Pittsburgh show, to getting to go back home for a few days, as well as the added privilege of getting to show home to Karen and Daisy.

“I really never thought I’d say this, but it’s good to be back,” Eddie said, settling into his seat. He was wearing the same satisfied smile that Graham was sure rested on his own face.

“For a few days, at least,” Billy nodded. Even he was in a more agreeable mood than usual, a sure sign that the rose-tinted nostalgia of memories had washed over him, too. There was something sweet and satisfying about coming back to the place where it all started after reaching success. It was a penance paid, a duty fulfilled to the home that had cared for them, nurtured them into all the things they became.

A waitress came to the table, sandy hair tied back in a long braid falling to her waist, a weary expression on her face, and took everyone’s drink orders before flitting onto the next table. Eddie was pointing out the window across the street, showing Karen an alley that led to an abandoned lot where they often used to get high. Graham settled back in his seat, taking in the conversation and the warm atmosphere and the usual excitement of an afternoon preceding a show.

“No fucking way,” Warren said suddenly across from him, sitting up straighter to get a better look at something across the restaurant. “No way we run into (y/n) fucking (l/n) while we’re here.”

Eddie paused his conversation, eyes widening as he looked in the same direction as Warren. Graham valiantly fought the urge to whip his head around to look, his cheeks tinged pink.

“Who is that?” Daisy asked, turning around to look with a detached interest.

“Oh, only the girl that Graham here had a crush on for basically all his life,” Eddie responded, a teasing grin on his face.

“It was not all my life!” Graham insisted, feeling his cheeks go redder.

“It was a good chunk of it,” Billy responded, looking at his brother fondly. “Had to be all the way back in eighth grade when you started talking about her all the time at home.”

“Sweet,” Karen said, smiling at him.

“She’s real pretty,” Daisy said, raising her eyebrows at him suggestively. Finally, Graham couldn’t resist anymore, and he slowly turned his head to find you in the building. You were standing all the way on the other side of the room, but he recognized you right away. You were wearing the Dino’s waitress uniform, a wine red dress that fell just above your knees with a white apron tied around your waist, hair pulled away from your face, jotting down a table’s order. Graham felt his stomach swoop at the sight of you; he couldn’t believe you incited the same reaction in him now that you did back in high school.

“You should go talk to her, man,” Warren suggested brightly.

“Yeah, you never know when’s the next time we’ll be in town,” Eddie agreed.

Graham shook his head fervently, firmly keeping himself from looking back at you again. “No, no, she’s at work and it’s really busy in here. I don’t wanna bother her.”

“Oh, come on–” Daisy started, and Graham was grateful when she was cut off by their own waitress coming back to take down their dinner orders. By the time she left, something else had caught the table’s attention, and he was safe from being interrogated about his boyhood crush any longer.

After the check is paid, and everyone has filed out of the booth, ready to get out to the car, Graham was still thinking of you. Covertly, he had tried to sneak glances at you throughout the meal, hoping that you would come to his side of the restaurant, notice the table, and drop by to say hello of your own accord. But the restaurant was so busy you stayed firmly in your section, frazzled and flitting back and forth between tables like a hummingbird.

He knew he would regret it forever if he didn’t talk to you while he was in Pittsburgh. Eddie was right, none of them knew when they would be in Pittsburgh next, and who knew if you would even be in town the next time he was. He should count his lucky stars about the coincidence of the two of you being in the same place at the same time.

“Uh, you guys go, I’ll meet you outside in a minute,” Graham said as the group approached the door.

Warren looked back at him, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. “Alright, man. Good on you.” Graham rolled his eyes as they left, turning around to scan the room for you. He found you at the bar, leaning on the wooden surface to write something down. It was the first time that whole evening where you hadn’t been running around, and he figured it was now or never.

As he was standing rooted to the same spot attempting to work up the courage to just walk over, someone called his name.

“Graham Dunne, is that you?” His head shot up and you were looking at him, a surprised smile gracing your face. His heart stumbled over itself and he fought the urge to press a hand to his chest. Instead, he returned the smile, striding over to you and trying his best to project an easy confidence that he did not feel.

“Hi, (y/n), how are you?” he asked, leaning on the counter across from you. You tucked your notepad back in your apron, giving him your full attention.

“Well, right now I’m exhausted, but overall I’m good,” you laughed. “What about you, Graham? What are you doing back eastward?”

“I’m glad to hear you’re good,” he responded earnestly, and your smile widened at that. “We’re on tour right now, actually. Playing a home show tonight.”

“Oh, how nice! Bet it feels good to come show off your talent for the home crowd.”

“I can’t lie, it really does,” Graham laughed. “What have you been up to the last few years?”

“I’m putting myself through college! I’m pre-law over at UChicago,” you explained. “In the summers I work here, and all that money goes to tuition, of course. It’s a nice job, though, Dino’s like family and he always makes sure I get my fair share of the tips.”

“UChicago, wow,” Graham said, letting out a low whistle. “I always knew you’d go to some prestigious college. You were the smartest kid in our year.”

“Oh, I don’t know about all that,” you replied, waving the compliment away. Graham was pleased to see the shade of your cheeks deepend with blush. You looked down, brushing a few stray hairs back behind your ears. Graham watched the movement of your elegant hands, couldn’t help but notice the way your thick eyelashes kissed your cheeks when you looked down.

“Hey, what do you say to coming to our show tonight?” Graham asked, wishing immensely that he had all evening to stand at this counter and ask you about every detail of your life since the last time he’d seen you. He sensed your hesitation and spoke again. “Really, it’d be great. You could say hello to the rest of the guys. I promise we put on a good show.”

“Alright then,” you smiled, and Graham couldn’t help but grin as well. “But it better be a really good show.”

“For you? It’ll be our best of the tour,” Graham said seriously. “I’ll put your name in at the box office, okay? The show starts at nine.”

“Okay, Dunne. I’ll see you later,” you said. Someone called your name from the kitchen, and you sent a small wave his way before disappearing through the swinging doors.

You felt ridiculous.

Standing in front of your vanity, you smoothed the fabric of your dress again, fussing with the sleeves and your hair. You picked up your mascara, swiping another coat over your lashes for good measure. God, you couldn’t believe how nervous you felt about seeing Graham Dunne again. Graham Dunne– making you nervous! It felt like high school all over again. Actually no, it felt worse than high school, because the guy had really come into himself, filled out and confident in a way he never had been in high school.

You were surprised that he even remembered you enough to strike up conversation earlier, let alone invite you to his band’s show. In high school you had been friendly enough with Graham, but looking back, you definitely spent more time talking with his other friends than with the boy himself. He was reserved, a little shy and easily flustered. You always thought it was cute. You didn’t think that Graham had spent much time thinking about you, though. Maybe you were wrong about that, after all.

Before you can make yourself late by fussing too much over your appearance, you step into your shoes and grab your bag, avoiding looking at yourself in any of the mirrors in the house on the way out lest you get distracted. The venue wasn’t far so you decided to walk, taking in the fresh summer evening air and the feeling of anticipation that had been steadily building in your stomach. As you got closer to the venue, you began to spot other people who were clearly going to the show, hair long and wild, outfits far more elaborate than one would usually find in Pittsburgh on a summer night. A few were even wearing The Six t-shirts, and you felt a strange flush of pride whenever you saw one. You loved thinking about those boys you had known in high school, lanky and awkward but working so hard toward their dreams, having actually achieved all they wanted.

You approached the box office, smiling politely at the bored looking attendant. When he finally looked up and noticed you standing there, you gave him your name.

He slid a ticket across the counter and said, “There was a note left with the ticket, you’ve been invited backstage after the show. Enjoy.”

“Oh! Well, thank you,” you responded, holding the ticket tightly in both hands and trying to hide your surprise. You felt your cheeks flush with pleasure, and chastised yourself for acting like a smitten child just because an old friend was extending a kindness to you. Really, it was so ridiculous that he was having such an effect on you, considering he wasn’t even near you at the moment.

As you walked into the venue, your eyes idly perused your ticket, and your surprise doubled to see that it was about as close to the stage as you could get. On your way to your seat, you stopped at the bar to buy your overpriced drink of choice, growing more excited about seeing Graham by the minute. In fact, you were excited by the mere act of being at a rock show; it felt as though it had been centuries since you last got out of the house to do something fun.

The opener of the show was Daisy Jones, a woman you knew nothing about but ended up enjoying her music immensely. She had a raw, magnetic energy on the stage, and a voice that silenced all else and commanded total attention. By the time the Six took the stage, you were a little drunk off of your overpriced drink and discovering that you really loved the atmosphere of rock shows. This was definitely helped by the fact that the Six were really fucking good. Watching them play, you couldn’t believe that you had never gotten around to listening to either of their albums, especially considering you knew them from back in the day. You had already resolved to hit up the record store before your shift tomorrow and pick them both up.

Billy was an enigmatic front man, of that there was no argument, but you couldn’t pry your eyes from Graham. You were standing right in front of where he was positioned on stage, and from your vantage point could take in every detail of him as he played. He had complete, intoxicating command of the guitar, playing so effortlessly that he would have looked bored if not for how clearly he was enjoying himself. By the end of the set he was sweaty and exhausted, his chestnut curls sticking to the pale skin of his neck, but you swore you had never seen him look so alive, so himself in the years you’d known him.

After the encore, you squeezed your way through the crowd toward backstage, where a large and intimidating bouncer was guarding the entryway. A crowd of other fans jostled you around as they tried to find a way back, but you made your way, determined, through them, giving your name to the bouncer and telling him what the box office attendant had told you hours ago. He consulted his list and, without a word, moved to the side to let you through.

Graham spotted you a few minutes after the gig ended, standing in the chaos of backstage and looking unsure of yourself. Really, he had spotted you as soon as the set started, eyes going straight to the seat he knew he’d reserved a ticket for, and had needed to look away almost immediately because you looked so beautiful it was distracting him and he almost missed the first few notes of the opening song. Throughout the rest of the gig he snuck glances at you, pleased and exhilarated when he found your eyes already on him every single time. He was over the moon that you actually decided to show up; his entire evening had been spent worrying about whether you thought his offer was serious or not, or if you would decide seeing him again wasn’t worth the late night.

“(y/n)!” he called and your gaze snapped his way, a broad smile growing on your face as your feet propelled you towards him. When you reached him, your arms wrapped him in a tight hug, not caring that he was warm and sweaty and still heaving from the exertion of the show. His arms circled you in return, and he had half a mind to be embarrassed about how totally he lit up in your presence. But none of his bandmates were there to tease him at the moment, so he leaned into your touch, letting the goofy grin take over his face completely.

“That was fucking amazing!” you gushed as soon as you pulled away. “I mean, I always knew you guys were talented, but what I just heard? Above and fucking beyond, Graham! I’m so proud of you guys.”

Graham was having a hard time focusing on what you were saying. Your hair was messy from dancing and your cheeks were flushed a valentine red and you were starting to make him feel exactly like you did back in high school.

“Thanks, sunshine, that really means a lot coming from someone who’s known us since before the beginning,” Graham said. That really means a lot coming from you, he wanted to say, because your word used to be akin to gospel to me and I’m thinking that it still is. The fact I still mean something to you and that you have something to praise about me feels like a prayer answered.

“Well, you’ve certainly grown a long way from the boy I used to know,” you said, smile slipping shyly, “the rockstar thing suits you, Dunne.”

“Glad you think so,” he grinned. “Hey, let’s head back to the green room, I want to introduce you to Karen and Daisy.”

“Oh yes, I’m dying to meet them,” you agreed, and when Graham, a little flustered, offered you his elbow like a gentleman might, you slipped your hand into the crook of it without hesitation. You head back to the green room together, which was already filled with the other band members and several people you didn’t recognize, the afterparty already in full swing. Graham led you first to where the blonde keyboardist was sitting, speaking to an older guy in a ridiculous pair of glasses.

“Guys, I’d like you to meet (y/n), she’s an old friend from high school,” Graham said, catching the attention of the pair. He turned to you, saying, “This is Karen, our keyboardist, as you know, and Rod, our tour manager.”

“Nice to meet you both,” you smiled. “Karen, you were seriously badass on stage.”

“I like her already,” Karen said, smirking at Graham. “Nice to meet you, too, (y/n), I hope you’ve been having fun.”

“How could I not be?” you asked, smile growing wider.

“(l/n)! Hey, great to see you!” Before you could register the voice, two hands had clapped your shoulders, squeezing. You turned around to see the grinning face of Warren Rojas, a little more grown looking and way more into vests than he was when you used to toke up together after school.

“Warren!” you matched his enthusiasm, squeezing him in a hug. “You fuckin’ killed it up there! I’m so glad I got to see it.”

“We’re glad you’re here, man. How’ve you been? I heard from Graham that you’re putting yourself through college?” You blinked, momentarily thrown for a loop. Graham was talking about me? Oh, god, you felt more and more like a sixteen year old with a study hall crush with every minute that went by.

“Yeah, I am! It’s not as glamorous as being a rockstar, but I’m really excited about the future,” you responded, and Warren laughed.

“I’m happy for you, man. You always deserved to chase down your dreams.” You thanked him and he swept you into another hug before disappearing into the room. Before you could turn back to Graham, you saw Eddie Roundtree heading your way with their fire-haired opener, Daisy.

“Roundtree! It’s good to see you again,” you greeted, hugging him as he arrived in front of you.

“You too, (y/n). I’ve heard you’ve been doing big things for yourself,” Eddie said, and you felt yourself blush at yet another allusion to Graham talking about you with the band. “This is Daisy Jones; Daisy, this is an old school friend of ours, (y/n) (l/n).”

“I’ve heard a lot about you,” the girl said conspiratorially, surprising you by pulling you into a hug.

“Good things, I hope,” you joked. “You were mesmerizing on stage tonight, Daisy, really.”

She smiled, ducking her head at your compliment. When she looked up she addressed you and Graham, who was still a warm and solid presence at your side. “Oh! You two, come do a line with us.”

She jutted her head back towards a table, where Karen was cutting white powder into a row of neat lines.

“Oh, I better not. Early shift tomorrow morning,” you said apologetically.

“A drink, at least!” Daisy said, waving off your words.

“Okay, fine,” you conceded, laughing. “But just one, I’m already a little drunk from what I had during the show.”

“I can get her drink, you go do your thing,” Graham offered, gesturing to the table. Daisy made no arguments, sitting down next to Karen and pulling a dollar bill out of her pocket, rolling it tightly. You followed Graham over to a different table, where a few handles of booze and some beer were situated.

Graham picked up a cup and turned to you, brow raised. “What’s your poison?”

“Whiskey,” you responded confidently, earning a surprised sound from the man.

“Didn’t peg you as a whiskey kind of girl,” he hummed, pouring some of the amber liquid into two cups, before handing one to you.

You accepted it, taking a sip without grimacing. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Dunne.”

I want to sit in one spot and listen to you talk until there’s nothing I don’t know about you, Graham thought, a little dizzy. The sly smirk you aimed his way as you said those words had gone straight to his head. He said, “Apparently so, sunshine.”

Soon enough, the venue was getting ready to close and the afterparty moved to the tour bus, where even more booze and different kinds of drugs were produced out of seemingly nowhere. You squished into one of the slim couches, Graham sitting on one side and Warren on the other.

Graham had his arm slung over the back of the couch, and you were pressed right into his side, skin touching from shoulder to knee. He knew it was more about the lack of space on the couch and in the tour bus in general than anything else, but the contact still lit him completely on fire. The night was growing old, and Graham was growing pliant from the weed and booze he’d been consuming for the last few hours, and looking at you, he wasn’t sure he could trust himself not to turn into a complete and total buffoon. Already his eyes were lingering a little too long on your lips every time you spoke, his responses a few beats too late because he was getting so distracted just by looking at you, listening to the gentle cadence of your voice.

You said something, and Graham didn’t quite catch it, too lost in his thoughts.

“Graham? You in there?” you questioned, jokingly waving a hand in front of his face. “What’re you thinking about?”

Graham took you in; your soft lips, brought up into the gentle curve of a smile, the humor that brightened your eyes, the way your hair had frizzed slightly in the humidity, the single strands catching in the light.

“You know, I had a crush on you in high school,” he blurted before his mind could catch up with his mouth. Fuck. Idiot. He watched the surprise color your features as his words registered, bracing himself for the awkward turn the conversation was sure to take.

“You did?” you asked, and your voice was all curiosity, no judgment, no disgust, no immediately lifting to your feet to escape him. Graham steadied a bit.

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “I can’t believe you didn’t know. I didn’t think I was doing a good job of hiding it.”

“You barely talked to me Graham,” you laughed. “You were shy. Around me, at least. I thought it was cute.”

Graham nearly choked on his own saliva. “You thought I was cute?”

“Sure I did,” you shrugged. “I might have been harboring a little crush on you myself, come to think of it.”

“What, you mean I had a chance with you in high school?” he asked, mind whirring. Immediately after, he felt like smacking himself in the forehead for the bluntness of his question. It had sent you into a dizzying peal of laughter, though, and he would happily embarrass himself a dozen times over to hear that again.

“If you had ever worked up the courage to ask, I would have said yes,” you nodded, watching the range of emotions that passed over his face in sheer amusement.

“And what if I asked now? Would I still have a chance?” Graham felt like someone else had taken the wheel in his brain, like someone else’s mouth was forming the words. He couldn’t believe he actually had the nerve to ask.

“I suspect my answer would still be the same.”

“Well then, (y/n), we’re here for a few days before our next stop on tour, and I’d like to take you out on a proper date, if you’ll let me,” Graham said, commending himself for getting the whole sentence out without stumbling over any words.

“I would love that, Graham,” you said, that brilliant smile of yours overtaking your face. “And I think I know where we should go. Meet me out front of the show venue tomorrow evening at seven?”

“Okay, yes,” Graham nodded enthusiastically. “Out front of the venue at seven.”

At five minutes to seven the next evening, Graham arrived in front of the venue. The sun was still bright in the deep blue sky, the promise of a warm evening and a humid night hanging in the air. He idled near the wall, looking up and down the street for you and trying to keep the nervous energy to a minimum. He had imagined getting to take you out dozens of times back in high school, when he was still a shy, quiet kid and you were a dream impossibly out of reach. Several times over the course of the day, he managed to convince himself that he’d made up last night’s conversation, that you never agreed to a date. Why would you? In his head, Graham was still that same little boy. You brought out that old shy nervousness, and he didn’t know what to do with himself, or why that would endear you to him.

At seven on the dot you came around the corner, wearing a Led Zeppelin t-shirt with a little pair of denim shorts and big, tall leather boots. Your hair was loose, flyaway strands dancing across your face in the wind. Graham’s heart stumbled; he was sure that he’d never seen anyone so beautiful in his life.

“Punctual. I like that,” you grinned, stopping in front of him.

“Of course, I had to make a good impression on you,” he said and you laughed, rolling your eyes. Graham bent to greet you with a kiss on the cheek and a boyish grin.

“So, where are we going?” he asked, his curiosity getting the best of him.

“Dontcha trust me, Dunne?” you asked, arching a brow. “It’s a surprise.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he responded, hands raised in surrender. “You just lead the way, then.” Satisfied, you started down the sidewalk in the opposite direction from whence you came.

“I bought your records today, before work,” you told him as you went.

“Oh?”

“Yup, figured it was damn well time. Basically everyone in Pittsburgh owns them as a point of hometown pride, even the ones who didn’t have a crush on the guitarist in high school,” you said matter-of-factly.

Graham laughed, shaking his head. “Did you only buy them ‘cause you think I’m cute?”

“Oh that was a big factor,” you nodded seriously. “But actually I just really cannot deny your talent.”

As you walked on, you filled him in on something funny that happened during your shift earlier in the day, and he told you about how the rest of the band had teased him the whole time he was getting ready about finally getting a shot with you. Finally, you stopped in front of a familiar building with a kitschy facade, sporting the name ‘Miller Lanes’.

“Ta-da,” you shrugged sheepishly. “I figured some nostalgia was appropriate for the evening.”

Just the sight of the Miller Lanes sign brought Graham right back to teenagehood, when the neighborhood bowling alley had been the place to be on Friday and Saturday nights. On the rare weekends that the Dunne Brothers weren’t playing a wedding or prom or some other shit gig like that, they usually came in for a game. Graham could easily call to mind dozens of memories of seeing you there over the years, splitting milkshakes with your friends and laughing a lane or two over.

“Man, I almost forgot about this place,” he said, peering up at the sign. “Just so you know, I’m a terrible bowler.”

“Oh, so am I. That’s what makes it fun,” you assured him, extending your hand. He took it, and you led him inside. Inside, nothing had changed since the last time Graham had been there. Polished wood floors, red vinyl seats and shining chrome ball machines, paintings of bowling balls and pins on the walls. There was a bar in the center of the room, and he was almost certain that it was the same curmudgeonly man standing behind it, drying a glass, that had been there when he was in high school.

“You get us a lane, and I’ll go get some snacks?” you offered, and Graham nodded. He watched you trot over to the bar and strike up a conversation, even managing to get a smile out of the grouchy senior manning it. He set up a lane for the two of you, and a minute later you came back, balancing a pitcher of cheap beer in one hand and a towering plate of nachos in the other.

“I can’t believe you picked this place,” Graham said, unburdening you of the nachos and setting them down on the little table at your lane.

“I know, I picked it to surprise you,” you responded easily. “Ready for me to kick your ass at bowling?”

“I thought you said you were terrible, too!”

“I am! But I hate losing, so I won’t,” you said. Graham desperately wanted to tell you how cute he thought the look of determination that settled on your face was, but he held his tongue, figuring that wouldn’t go over well.

“Don’t bet your money on it, sunshine. I’m pretty competitive myself,” he said instead, sauntering over to pick his ball.

“We’ll see about that one.”

An hour went by in the blink of an eye, and all too soon most of the game was over. As promised, you both had bowled terribly, but you were beating Graham just marginally. Truthfully, he hardly noticed; he was too caught up in the way you looked under the dim glow of bowling alley lights, and the way your nose scrunched when you laughed (at his jokes!), and how funny your stories were, how charismatic your quips. You came up with witty comebacks to everything he said just as easily as you left him flustered, and he felt all turned around in a way that was brand new to him.

“Well, do you remember Jenny Cranston from school?” you asked, still laughing from the story Graham had just told. At his nod, you said, “She up and dropped out of college a few months ago to be a groupie for the Eagles! Can you believe it?”

“Isn’t Jenny Cranston the one who’s been telling everyone she’s going to be a doctor since we were ten?” Graham asked in disbelief.

“Yes, but that’s not even my biggest problem with it! I mean, why the Eagles of all the bands you can be a groupie for? If you’re gonna throw away all your dreams, pick someone more relevant!” Graham couldn’t help but laugh at how incensed you were over the whole thing.

You turned away from him for a moment to aim your ball down the lane, cheering when you managed to knock over four pins. You ran back over to Graham, peering up at the scoreboard, jumping and letting out a cheer when you confirmed for yourself that you won.

“In your face, Dunne! Told you I’d kick your ass,” you said triumphantly.

“I wouldn’t call winning by five points kicking my ass,” Graham argued, a fond smile on his face as he watched you celebrate.

“Oh, I would beg to differ, actually.”

“Well, in that case,” Graham said, dropping into a mocking bow. “Hats off to your majesty, queen of Miller Lanes.”

“Why, thank you,” you said haughtily, before dissolving into laughter. “Guess it’s time for you to be a gentleman and walk me home?”

“I guess it is,” he sighed, offering you his elbow again, just as he did after the show. And again, you happily slipped your hand into the crook of it, unable to avoid thinking about how right it all felt. Graham led you out of the building, turning down the sidewalk in the direction of your house.

The two of you walked in a comfortable silence for a while, taking in the nocturnal symphony of summer crickets and downtown traffic. A few blocks down, Graham stopped under a streetlight, turning to face you. You peered up at him, a silent question in your curious look.

“I’ve been wanting to kiss you all night,” Graham said, the volume of his voice barely above a mutter.

“You should stop waiting and just do it,” you encouraged. Your face was open, eyes shining brightly under the streetlamp, skin cast in a bluish glow from the neon sign of a nearby storefront. You were more beautiful every time he looked at you, and he couldn’t puzzle out how you managed it.

He stepped forward, closing the distance between you, one hand coming to rest almost tentatively, nervously on your waist, the fingers of his other hand brushing against your jaw, drawing in to cup your chin. His heart was beating in his throat. It was ridiculous; Graham had had a girlfriend or two since he left Pittsburgh, and had messed around with his fair share of girls, but the simple prospect of getting to kiss you on the sidewalk after a first date had him more nervous than he’d even gotten before the release of his first album.

Gently, his lips brushed against yours, and you fisted your hand in his shirt, pulling him down closer to you, firmer. He responded in kind, breaking away from you for a second before surging forward to kiss you again, this time with much more fervor.

When you broke away he was grinning like an idiot, his baby blue eyes scrunched in the corners, and you knew in that moment that you would do anything in the world to see that bright, affectionate smile a million more times.

Breathlessly, Graham said, “Come on, we better get you home.”

“Ah, worried I’ll miss my curfew?” you joked as the two of you resumed walking.

“Actually, I’m the one with the curfew,” Graham laughed. “Billy and I are staying at our mom’s tonight. Makes me feel like I’m seventeen again.”

You laughed, leaning your head on Graham’s shoulder. “We better hurry then. Wouldn’t want to make Mrs. Dunne angry.”

“No, trust me, we would not,” he agreed, laughing with you.

Still, when you reached the sidewalk in front of your house, neither of you were quite ready for the night to end. You wandered forward, sitting down on the stoop and patting the concrete next to you for Graham to sit as well. He did as instructed, easing down next to you, leaning his weight on his arms.

You glanced down at his strong hands, splayed across the concrete and glowing pale and blue in the moonlight. The whole of Graham Dunne was glowing pale and blue in the moonlight– he looked like an angel. Your breath caught in your throat, and you resisted the urge to reach up and brush those soft curls out of his face.

“It’s a shame you’re leaving so soon,” you said, giving voice to the thought that had been plaguing both of your minds all evening. A perfect evening, the perfect person, but with a rapidly approaching expiration date. Tomorrow, Graham would leave with the rest of the band, moving on to their next tour date, and all you would be doing is working an afternoon shift at Dino’s, missing him with every thought not occupied by your job.

“It’s more than a shame,” Graham said softly. The thought of getting up tomorrow and getting on the tour bus, leaving you behind again after this kiss, this night that he could see easily becoming so much more, was absurd. The only thing more absurd would be for him to stay.

You yawned, cupping a hand over your mouth.

“It’s time for you to turn in for the night, I think,” Graham said softly.

You smiled apologetically. “I’d stay out here all night if I could, you know. But that damn job leaves me exhausted.”

“The lady needs her beauty sleep,” Graham said in return, standing up and offering you a hand. Even after you stood, he didn’t let go of your hand.

“Listen,” he started, scratching the back of his neck with his free hand. “The tour bus is leaving from my mom’s house tomorrow morning at eleven. Just– I just wanted you to know.”

He stopped just shy of asking you to come, worried that such a request would be too much, worried that this night hadn’t stirred quite as many feelings in your chest as it did for him. You squeezed his hand, smiling up at him.

“Thank you for a wonderful night, Graham,” you said, trying to convey all of your emotions with those simple words. “I can’t tell you how lucky I feel that you walked into Dino’s on my shift.”

“Believe me, I feel ten times luckier,” he said emphatically. He dipped his head down, pressing his lips to yours again. You wrapped your arms around his neck, tugging him closer, needing him as close as he possibly could be, even if just for a second. He captured your bottom lip between his, scraping it just barely with his teeth; your fingers looped into the curls at the base of his neck, tugging, immensely pleased with the low sound the action elicited out of Graham.

You broke away for a breath, foreheads resting against each other. Graham’s thumbs comfortably caressed the skin of your hips, easing up and under the hem of your t-shirt and back down again. Breathlessly, you said, “If you didn’t have a curfew, I’d take you upstairs.”

Graham groaned, closing his eyes. “Oh, don’t tell me that.”

You laughed, pressing up to kiss the corner of his mouth. “If only.”

“If only,” he agreed, fixing you with a look that you couldn’t quite parse. “Goodnight, sunshine.”

“Goodnight, Dunne. Get home safe.” Graham watched you walk up the stairs and unlock the door, making sure you got safely inside. Then he stood on the sidewalk outside your house for a minute more, gazing up at the second floor light that had turned on in your bedroom and wishing more than anything that he still had you in his arms. He wanted to knock on the door, call you back down to him. He wanted to make absurd proposals, ask you to quit your job and come on the road with him for the rest of the summer. He wanted you to ask him to stay, because he was sure that if you did, he would do it without question.

Instead, he turned and carried on down the road, towards home.

The next morning, Graham kissed his mother goodbye, shouldering his duffel bag and making his way back onto the tour bus. The very weight of his own bones felt heavier today– it had never felt harder for him to leave a place.

“Hey, Dunne!” Graham paused on the bus steps, turning around so quickly that he almost fell over. You were standing on the sidewalk, dressed in your Dino’s uniform with your hair pulled back, a bright, bittersweet smile on your face. He dropped his duffel bag in the aisle, trotting back down the steps to engulf you in a hug. “I couldn’t let you leave without a proper send-off, could I?”

Graham pulled away from the hug just enough to be able to look at your face. His voice was heavy, as bittersweet as your smile when he said, “I wish I had more time.”

You waved him off. “I’m not through with you yet, Dunne. I’ll be here the rest of the summer, and I’ll be back in Chicago for school in the fall. So, you know where to find me, and you better find me.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” he said.

“Promise?”

“Cross my heart.”

You grabbed either side of his face, pulling him down into a kiss. His grip tightened on your waist, but you pulled away before things could get any harder for both of you.

“Time for you to go,” you said softly, nodding toward the bus. Graham turned from you, climbing the stairs once again. You stepped back a safe distance from the curb, and waved at Eddie and Warren who had been unabashedly watching the events unfold from the window as the bus pulled out onto the street.

Just like that, Graham Dunne was gone from your life as fast as he’d crashed back into it.

tag list: @ariianelle

#daisy jones and the six #graham dunne #graham dunne x reader #warren rojas #warren rhodes #eddie roundtree #eddie loving #camila dunne #karen karen #karen sirko #daisy jones #billy dunne

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lailuhhh · 1 month ago

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so. what DID you mean with Gentle Hands + Jack? the people want to know

@erinsworld you come read this too lol

Just like

Jack having a much darker time in the army. Like DELTA is the guys that get sent in to like level the place if necessary, and you have to think they see a lot of horrible things

I mean what if the one time Jack tried to be his regular self that we love, is the one time where everything went wrong? What if he was the only survivor of a mission and that just sent him down a dark path?

Jack would be a quieter person, no smiles or jokes or stories about home. He’d just be closed off because the last time he tried to be himself is when everything went wrong

Imagine that Jack meeting Mac, almost the same meeting we know, except Jack knows he could do so much damage to Mac if he laid a hand on him, so it’s basically just a lot of yelling until Martinez tells them they’re partners

They do eventually warm up to each other, more in a sense of mutual respect, but they’re still really closed off and don’t really talk to anyone. They’re still known as the best team, but their dynamic is weird because they don’t really interact with anyone

When Jack steps on the IED in Kabul, he figured it was finally time to join all the others he failed last time and just accepted the fact that he was gonna die, and having Mac save him was a real surprise because he didn’t have as good of a read on Mac’s character like originally

Things kinda stayed the same after that, except maybe they ate together once in a while, or hung out after a difficult day, or they were actually starting to see each other more as friends than just partners. They both slowly start opening up about their lives and get a better feel for each other. Mac can see that Jack is actually really cool and goofy under all the tough guy exterior, but knows not to pry about what happened because the army changes people and couldn’t begin to think about what could’ve happened to make Jack shut out the light completely and take on the killing machine aura

Over time, Jack does start to slowly show his true colors, because Mac helped him find that light again, and he can’t thank Mac enough for it

But then, Mac’s gone.

Maybe he got captured by the enemy, or maybe there was an issue with a temporary transfer, but all Jack knows is he has to get Mac back because Mac was the one that saved him from being completely consumed by the darkness, and he definitely wasn’t going to allow him to be consumed by the same

So maybe he takes just a team from their camp, maybe it’s the Delta squad we know and love, but there’s not a trace of the enemy left when Jack’s through

Mac’s not fully aware when he and others are rescued, so he doesn’t recognize Jack with his uniform and face bloodied, but he’s felt Jack’s rough, callused hands enough to know he’s safe. He doesn’t flinch when they glide over a particularly tender spot, or when they’re wiping blood out of his eyes. He panics when they go away, and only calms when one is resting on his arm in transport, before reaching for it with his own, and settling completely when Jack placed his hand in Mac’s

And then after all that, after they’ve grown into who we know and love, Jack doesn’t like showing the other side of him because it’s just a reminder of the bad times, or how close he was to forgetting himself, but there’s been instances of him needing to go back to that to save the people he loves, and he just sees his hands getting redder and redder

But everyone else sees them as an anchor, as something that’s used to save and to heal and protect, because that’s the kind a person he actually is

#this kinda went off topic #but still #Jack has such a big heart and loves and cares so much #but can only see himself as a killing machine #so he needs others to show him that he’s so much more than that #i’m having feelings #lailuh speaks #macgyver #macgyver 2016 #ask #answer #hello thank you i love you #whumped-up

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giggles8899 · 2 years ago

Text

3.10 Shows Packed

Written part below

You were glad you guys were all in the pit area, because boy, was this place PACKED. You don't think you saw a single empty seat in the stands. The pit area had some seating, with a dance floor in the middle, and luckily not a lot of people were in this area. You even saw the bar, where you made a note not to drink too much tonight, you actually wanted to do well when you eventually sang. You guys arrived around 6:15 and were all currently chatting it up with other people in the area. It was mostly other people who were actually playing in the Battle of the Bands, and a few sponsors, to which you found out that Child had sponsored Kazuha. You watch Childe sneak away for a few moments, coming back 15 minutes later. He came over to you, nodding, a knowing look in his eyes. Kazuha also walked away, having to go make sure everything was set for his and your performance.

You were talking to the 4 lovebirds, asking them if they were excited. You had made note that Scara was standing a lot closer to Lumine than normal and that Xiao’s hands had not come off of Aether. “Yeah, I can't wait to see who all plays during the battle!” Lumine says, excitement evident on her face. You got Scara looking at her happily, chuckling at him. This causes him to notice you looking at him, his face turning sour, asking “What the hell are you looking at?” “Awwwwwwwwww,” you said, “You've grown up soooo much!!! Come here let me give you a big kiss and a hug.” You started walking towards him, his face scowling, but he opened his arms to reciprocate the hug, knowing that you would be an ass until you did it. You rocked him back and forth, hearing the other 3 laugh behind you, before grabbing his face and giving his forehead a sloppy kiss, much like how you gave Xiao a kiss on the night you two had made up.

When you pulled away, a bit of blush on his cheeks had risen, causing you to laugh more. You turned to look at Xiao and said, “don't laugh too much now mister, I gave you a hug and kiss on the night we made up, I'll do it again!” You pointed your finger at him, seeing Aether turn and laugh at him a little bit. Xiao had looked away, hand on his neck, blush on his face, though his other hand hadn't left the small of Aether's back. At this point, the other of your big group had returned, and them all going to the bar to get drinks. Kaeya had a laugh overhearing you say that last bit, asking, “You gave them a hug and a kiss?” “Yuppp,” you reply, hands on your hips, “we're basically family at this point, so I see why not.” Everyone else laughs at your statement, and hears Childe say, “Man, I want a hug and a kiss on the forehead too!!”

You laugh and tell him to “come here”, giving him one as well, causing the group to laugh more at your hysterics. When you pulled away from Childe, you wiggled your eyebrows at Yoimiya, causing her to laugh and get even redder in the face, and you practically pulled her to replace where you were at Childe’s side. As you step back from the two of them, you hear someone ask you, “So are you like the mom friend of the group now?” You turn, looking at Albedo who was the one who asked the question, shrugging, “I guess? I mean it's between me and Yanfei!” You had pointed to her when you said her name, causing more people to laugh.

You all continued talking while waiting for the performance to start, even talking about how you had called Kaeya “zonked out of his mind from sex” on the day he had come into the marketing department right before the beginning of the semester. Kaeya got a good laugh out of that, saying it was actually true. At this point, you hear the announcer come over to the speakers, saying the battle was about to start. You hadn't realized that Kazuha had walked up behind you, lacing his arms around you. It shocked you for a second before you relaxed into his arms. “Are you excited?” He asks, a knowing smile and look on his face. You nodded at him.

About a week and a half after that first night you two stayed together, Kazuha had come to you and asked if you would ever sing in front of people again. You told him you weren't quite sure if you ever would, saying that it would have to be on one of those days when your confidence was through the roof. You had told him that the reason you only sang at Venti’s party was that you had a few in you and were inspired by his singing. He nodded, and you two didn't talk about it for a few days. He eventually asked if you would ever sing with him at the concert, and you were very hesitant at first. You had gone to a few of his shows at Diluc’s bar, and eventually one of the days, you decided to get up on stage and sing with him. You were surprised to find that you had ACTUALLY LIKED singing with him. You on stage with him gave you the confidence boost to sing your heart out. After that night, you said that in the future you would and could sing with him at the concert. You two had practiced a bunch of songs together throughout the weeks leading up to it. Every time you got done singing, he would praise you up and down, like you were some kind of goddess. You would always blush, knowing that he was just praising you to bring your self-esteem up, which worked.

You had also sung once with him while your grandmother was on the phone. In fact, that was how your grandmother met Kazuha! She and you both text each other quite frequently throughout the week, usually having an hour-long call twice a week as well. She was very happy about your relationship, and when she heard you sing for the first time in a long time, she actually cried. She knew you were happier than you ever have been in your life, and she couldn't stop the tears from flowing because of that. You had worked so hard to get where you were today, and she couldn't have been more proud.

The battle of the bands was an absolute blast. You all had fun dancing to the different music that was playing. There was even a country artist that played a few songs, and Yoimiya and Child started showing off their square dancing moves. You were happy at how those two were getting closer. You looked over everyone, laughing to yourself at how lost in their own little were your 4 lovebirds were. Hell! Even Scara was dancing, spinning Lumine around, his hands never leaving hers. You remember how you told her Scara actually knew how to dance, and her falling head over heels at the chance to dance with him. They couldn't take their eyes off each other. Xiao and Aether were both dancing as well, Xiao's hands never leaving Aether's waist. They both had such loving looks in their eyes, much like Lumine and Scara. You didn't think your heart could swell any bigger with joy.

You got a peck on the cheek from Kazuha, causing you to turn back to him, a smile on his face at your joy, the same loving look in his eyes.

You had not left Kazuha's arms at all, loving every minute of it. About 3 songs before the battle was over and the winner would be announced, he, unfortunately, had to break away from you. “I'm sorry my Dove, but I have to get backstage for the first part of my performance.” He said, a sad look in his eyes, though his smile was as big as ever. You nod to him, giving him a loving kiss, before pulling away and saying, “I'll be here till then!!” He nods, making his way through the group to head backstage. As soon as he was out a few, you smiled and chuckled to yourself, knowing what the second half entailed, you being excited to see everyone, including Kazuha's face.

You were ready.

You continued dancing with the 4 lovebirds, laughing with them as the battle was drawn to a close. They announced the winner after a short while, the country music artist being the winner, causing the crowd to cheer and whoop. You guys cheered as well before the announcer came over to the speakers again.

“Well, folks, that was the battle of the bands. We're so glad you all enjoyed the first half. Now without any more delay, we have an artist ready backstage, for our second half. He was last year's winner, and now he is ready to close out the night. It’s Kazuha!” Your group cheered the loudest, ready for his performance. The light turns off, and it was the crowd's cue to quiet down before Kazuha started singing. For many in the crowd, they were here to hear Kazuha singing, as this has been the biggest crowd ever to grace the competition. He had gotten quite popular over the first half of the semester, and you knew it was only a matter of time before someone would come to him to sign him into a studio.

He started out with one of his newer songs, causing the crowd to get riled up (NEFFEX - Go! 🚀). You were singing along to every one of his songs, having memorized the lyrics to every single one. You continued to dance with everybody till it was your cue. Throughout his performance, his eye constantly landed on you, seeing you singing along bringing him so much joy and warmth to his heart. He loved you with everything he had, and his lyrics showed it. He constantly had to tear his eyes away from you, in order to keep his mind on his performance, but you were just too beautiful in his mind.

Eventually, a couple songs before you knew it was your turn to get up there and sing, you told everyone you had to go use the bathroom and that you'll be right back. Childe had also managed to sneak off from the group, and he managed to lead you to Kazuha’s dressing room, where your change of clothes was. You were extremely giddy, ready to knock his and your friends' socks off. As Childe walked away, you hear him call out, “Good Luck Y/n!” You wave back at him before entering the dressing room. You quickly got changed, and you put on the necklace that Kazuha had gotten you. It was the Anemo charm that was originally on his necklace, but he gave it to you as a symbol of his love. The electro symbol, which was a symbol of Tomo, was still on his necklace.

You hear a knock, and as you opened, you saw the event organizer who was going to lead you to your place backstage. As he led you, he was excited, saying how Kazuha practically begged to have you come on stage, and how once he got approval, Kazuha was practically over the moon. He also said that he was able to add one more song to the end, a song you were going to sing by yourself. You nodded, and as you reached backstage you heard him end his final song before you came on. The event organizer gave you a mic, nodded at you, and you nodded back, signaling you were ready.

“Now, normally I would continue on, but tonight I wanted to do something different.” You hear Kazuha say. You smiled, pumping yourself up. “I've got someone who I love with all my heart backstage right now, who's going to help me finish out the night.” You hear your friends screaming after he said that, now realizing what the big secret you two had been planning was. You could only smile and laugh to yourself.

You couldn't have been more ready.

“Please help me welcome to the stage, Y/n!” you hear Kazuha yell into the mic, excitement lacing throughout his voice. You hear the crowd go wild. That was when the first song started playing, and it was your cue to start singing. The second you walked out on stage, everyone's jaws had fallen to the floor in a collective gasp, mostly coming out of your friends and Kazuha, who looked like a deer caught in headlights.

(At this point, NEFFEX x NEONI - Pinky Promise starts playing, and I would recommend you listen along, to better immerse yourself.)

Y/n:

I’m just a cynic

Can you give me a minute

Cause faith is hard to place when you can fake everything you ever thought you could say

Got trust issues

I’ll admit it

Scar tissue to prevent

The pain that waits

When I look away

During this first part you sang, you walked out from backstage, walking towards Kazuha. His eyes were wider than ever, mouth agape. You looked like an angel had just descended from the heavens, and he wondered how he was so lucky to have you.

As you reach him, you look down at your group of friends, eyes focusing on your two best friends and cousins. If you had not met them before, you would've thought that the smiles on their faces were a common occurrence. They were amazed at the fact you were on stage singing. In fact, your two cousins were cheering as loudly as possible, while your two best friends simply looked shocked. After knowing you for so long, they couldn't even understand that you were currently on stage singing. Guess you still had a few tricks up your sleeves.

Turning back to Kazuha, adoration all across his face, before taking his hand and continuing singing. You start swaying with him, a gigantic smile on your face.

Do you pinky promise

You won’t screw me over

Leave me in the cold yeah

I need honest

To my coffin

Do you pinky promise

You won’t screw me over

Tear me up like vultures

I need honest

Tell me do you

Pinky promise

Kazuha:

Look, I’ve been thru some fucking shit

So I’m over it

I’m about to split

If you can’t commit

I don’t wanna see you promise, make your actions fit

I can’t trust that you’ll be honest and I’m passionate

Cuz this dating culture no one takes it serious

We all swiping till our standards are delirious

We all complain that there’s no one out there to attract

But when we look in the mirror, would we date the person looking back?

You entice the same energy your putting out

So if your ready to commit maybe I wouldn’t doubt

Don’t wanna be a pessimist but I’ve been feeling down

Cuz I don’t feel like anybody wants to grow up now

You two were practically singing to each other, and the crowd was loving it. You kept looking down at the main group, smiling at them, and even waving at one point. You got waves back from all of them, and you could see a smile on both Xiao’s and Scara’s faces. They looked proud that you were up there singing your heart out. You turned back to Kazuha as he finished.

Y/n:

Do you pinky promise

You won’t screw me over

Leave me in the cold yeah

I need honest

To my coffin

Do you pinky promise

You won’t screw me over

Tear me up like vultures

I need honest

Tell me do you

Pinky promise

Kazuha:

You get one chance

One opportunity

To make a first impression, so impress me and speak truthfully

I’ll match you energy

If you don’t wanna enemy

Then be friendly

And maybe we can mend some things

Our brain chemistry Is taking us to therapy

Our inequities are filling us with jealousy

So get the fuck off your phone when your next to me

Let’s have a real conversation about all the remedies

Anything but checking DM’s for your next to-be

Cuz all this access is the true fucking enemy

The grass is greener right? That should fix everything

But the issue is our damn insecurities

Y/n:

Do you pinky promise

You won’t screw me over

Leave me in the cold yeah

I need honest

To my coffin

Do you pinky promise

You won’t screw me over

Tear me up like vultures

I need honest

Tell me do you

Pinky promise

You ended the song, wrapping your pinky around his, signaling to him that your pinky promised to love him for the rest of your lives. From the look of love on his face, you could tell he was doing the exact same thing.

You guys continued to sing the other songs, dancing with each other, singing to your heart's content. After every song, the crowd went wild cheering. You even saw the two boys who were your best friends, hell, they were your BROTHERS, singing along to a couple of songs, singing to the ones that they were dancing with. It was amazing, and you felt lighter on your feet than you ever had before.

At what was supposed to be the last song, where Kazuha knew at least, he ended up wrapping his arms around your waist, picking you up, and spinning you around. You threw your head back laughing, before looking at him and giving him a big old kiss on the lips. You two broke away quickly before he realized another song had begun playing. He looked at you, eyebrow raised with the biggest shit-eating grin one could ever see. You then started singing again.

This time though, by yourself.

(Davina Michelle - Beat Me is an amazing song and one that I thought would fit for you to end the show with. It's an amazing song, I absolutely love it. I feel like it encompasses the story very well. Especially the next part.)

Livin' in the fast lane

Tryna catch up with my own game

But the world is movin' fast

I know that at the end of day

When the ceiling keeps my night away

I made it home at last, oh-oh

Give me stress

Give me pressure

Make me crash

And I'll come back faster

Beat me till I am first

Beat me and make me work

I'll show you what I am worth

So beat me and make me first, hey!

So beat me till I am first

Ready, set, go!

Shake me, wake me, make me

Pull up even faster, chasin' after

Everythin' that breaks me, aches me

Watch me pass it all

Love it when you shake me, quake me, make me

Pull up even faster, chasin' after

Everythin' that breaks me, aches me

I'm a race it all, hey!

Beat me till I am first

Beat me and make me work

I'll show you what I am worth

So beat me and make me first, oh!

Till I am first

Beat me and make me first, hey!

I know that till the end of time

I will never meet the finish line

But I'll come home at last

This song meant a lot to you. You knew you were singing it to yourself and someone else you had actually seen that was there. It was the guy who you almost drank yourself to death because of. He had made it seem like you were someone special, but turned around and make you feel like you were never enough. He went from talking to you every day to acting like you two didn't have each other numbers. You found strength in what he did to you, turning it into the loving relationship you have now with Kazuha. He may have tried and break you, but you're still standing here at the end of it all. You came out first in the end. You had Kazuha to prove it.

As you ended your song, you got crushed in the most loving hug you have ever received from the platinum-haired man. You could feel a couple tears down your neck. You hugged him back, before separating and nodding your head towards the crowd, you took your hands into his, and you both took your bow together, causing a standing ovation from everyone.

Everyone, except a certain ex-freind.

Eivane Longfellow.

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@starryeyedkoko @phyot @tokkishouse @eutopiastar

#kazuha x reader #genshin smau x reader #genshin fanfic #genshin impact x you #genshin smau #genshin impact x reader

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spacenutspod · 1 year ago

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When Brant Robertson saw a new measurement of the distance to a familiar galaxy, he laughed out loud. For more than a decade, the galaxy had been a contender for the most distant ever observed. In 2012, Robertson and colleagues used data from the Hubble Space Telescope to show that the galaxy’s light had shone across the universe from about 13.3 billion years ago — less than 400 million years into the universe’s existence. Not everyone believed it. “We got a lot of flak,” recalls Robertson, an astrophysicist at the University of California, Santa Cruz. “It seemed too implausible that it was at such a great distance.” It felt like he was going around claiming to have seen the Loch Ness monster. But in September, the James Webb Space Telescope, JWST for short, aimed its massive mirror and sensitive spectrograph at the same galaxy and showed that Robertson and his colleagues were right. The galaxy’s light is indeed incredibly old, dating to just 390 million years after the Big Bang. It was like someone had drained the lake, and the monster was sitting there at the bottom. And this galactic Nessie is not alone. So far, in its first year of observations, JWST has turned up thousands of distant galaxies dating to the early universe, many more than astronomers had expected. Some of those galaxies are brighter, more massive or more mature than astronomers would have thought. They are now scratching their heads trying to explain how the galaxies could have grown up so fast. Studying Maisie’s Galaxy, which dates to about 400 million years after the Big Bang, helped astronomers gain confidence in distance estimates derived from initial JWST data.S. FINKELSTEIN et al/arXiv.org 2022 (CC BY 4.0) A lot of the extreme distances still need to be confirmed, but initial evidence suggests there’s reason to believe that many, if not most, of the galaxies really are that far away. “I was expecting to find some galaxies at this [distance]. Some people were pessimistic; I wasn’t,” says Steven Finkelstein, an astrophysicist at the University of Texas at Austin. “But I was not this optimistic. I thought, ‘Yeah, yeah, we know what we’re going to see.’ And I was wrong.” The Hubble Space Telescope’s distant galaxies For longtime galaxy hunters, JWST’s bounty may feel like déjà vu. In the 1990s, Hubble took a long, deep look at an apparently blank patch of sky, just to see what was there. The result was thousands of galaxies, some captured as they looked when the universe was only a billion years old. Those galaxies looked mature, like they had already been through multiple rounds of supernova explosions and star formation. Thus, they were not the first to form in the universe, astronomers realized. The first galaxies must date even further back. The hunt for those original galaxies was part of the motivation for building JWST, says astrophysicist Erica Nelson of the University of Colorado Boulder. “The reason we have JWST is, they launched Hubble and saw that the things in the early universe were very evolved,” she says. “They were like, ‘Wow! There are galaxies way earlier than we thought’ ” — even further back in time than Hubble can see. Hubble wasn’t designed to see all the way back to the universe’s beginning. The telescope is sensitive to ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared wavelengths of light. But by the time light from the universe’s early days reaches us, it has stretched all the way into infrared wavelengths that are longer than Hubble’s (or human) eyes can see. That’s because the universe is expanding; everything in it is moving away from everything else. And as light sources move away from us, their light stretches — the wavelengths of light grow longer, or redder. The amount of stretching of that light, known as the redshift, is astronomers’ proxy for cosmic distance and age. The present-day universe is at redshift zero. A redshift of 1 corresponds to about 6 billion years after the Big Bang. A redshift of 4 is about 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang, and so on. In 1995, redshift 4 was the furthest back that Hubble could detect. Over the next 20 years, upgrades to the telescope and new observing techniques pushed the frontier back to redshift 7, which corresponds to 800 million years after the Big Bang. In 2012, the galaxy that Robertson studied appeared at a possible, though at the time unconfirmed, redshift of 11.9. Later, a galaxy called GN-z11 clocked in at a redshift of 11.1, or 400 million years after the Big Bang. These tantalizing discoveries set off a search for even more distant galaxies. “This has kind of become a game in extragalactic astronomy, where everyone wants to find the highest redshift, most distant galaxy,” astrophysicist Jeyhan Kartaltepe of the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York said in April in Minneapolis at an American Physical Society meeting. “Become the new record holder, right? It’s fun.” By 2016, when GN-z11 was discovered, the hunt had stalled. Astronomers had wrung everything they could out of existing technology. “It really requires JWST to push to even earlier times,” Kartaltepe said, “which we need to understand the very beginnings of galaxy formation.” The JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey, or JADES, scanned a swath of sky (shown) that has turned up hundreds of galaxies that appear to date to within 650 million years of the Big Bang (reddish dots are the most distant galaxies).NASA, ESA, CSA, M. Zamani/ESA and Webb Why astronomers want to find early galaxies The quest to find the earliest galaxies is about more than just bragging rights. These galaxies could shed light on a key event in the universe’s infancy called reionization. In the beginning, there was the Big Bang. After that initial cataclysm, the universe continued to expand and cool. After about 372,000 years, it had cooled enough for electrons, protons and neutrons to combine into hydrogen atoms. That hydrogen gas was diffuse and opaque, plunging the universe into what astronomers call the cosmic dark ages. Sometime during these dark ages, the first stars formed and began to clump together into galaxies with the help of an invisible and still mysterious material known as dark matter. But because of the opacity of that neutral hydrogen, all astronomers can really observe is that the universe became transparent again at about 200 million years after the Big Bang, as hydrogen atoms lost their electrons. “We know there was a transition where the hydrogen was reionized somehow,” Robertson says. Thanks to observations with Hubble and other telescopes, “we think galaxies are very likely the agents of that process,” he says. Light from the youngest, most massive stars in those early galaxies might have knocked electrons off atoms in the hydrogen gas between galaxies. “But how that process unfolds, we have relatively little information on,” Robertson says. JWST can help fill in those details. Taking a census of the galaxies that were around during the era of reionization could help illuminate how it got started. And so, astronomers were giddy with excitement when JWST launched on Christmas Day in 2021 and started collecting data about six months later. The first images were unveiled with great fanfare on July 12, 2022 (SN: 8/13/22, p. 30). But astronomers had to wait until the next day to download the rest of the data the telescope had acquired while getting up and running. “We knew, somewhere, on some computer, our photons were sitting there, waiting for us to see them,” Kartaltepe said. “As soon as the data were released in July, we jumped on it and started analyzing.” Astronomers sifted through the images like a cosmic Where’s Waldo, picking the reddest-looking candidate galaxies out of the pack. Extremely distant candidates popped out quickly. In several different regions of the sky, JWST found little red dots corresponding to galaxies that appeared to be at astonishing redshifts: 10, 13, even 17. Some of the galaxies seemed small and dim, as expected. But others looked big and bright, suggesting they were heftier than astronomers would expect for such early galaxies. “These galaxies, they’re just at phenomenal distances. It’s a little hard to swallow,” Robertson said in June in Cambridge, Mass., at the JWST First Light Conference. “But it’s really important to actually confirm the distances to these very, very distant galaxies, and then learn about their properties.” The most distant galaxy ever confirmed Most of the cosmic distances reported for JWST galaxies so far have been preliminary estimates based on data from the telescope’s cameras. The cameras scan broad areas of sky and use filters to let in certain wavelengths of light. These filters allow astronomers to estimate “photometric” redshifts. But to know for sure how far away a galaxy really is, astronomers need to use JWST’s spectrograph. A redshift calculated from a galaxy’s full spectrum of light uses 1,000 data points compared with a photometric redshift’s seven data points. “Until we have spectra, nothing is ironclad,” Nelson says. As part of a project called the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey, or JADES, Robertson and colleagues collected spectra for four galaxies with photometric redshifts higher than 10 — likely close to the beginning of the era of reionization. One of the galaxies was the one Robertson studied in 2012. The distance of that galaxy, now known as JADES-GS-z11-0, was downgraded a bit, from a redshift of 11.9 to 11.58. But with one of the other galaxies, the team claimed a new record for most distant galaxy ever confirmed, with a redshift of 13.2, just 325 million years after the Big Bang. The spectra the team analyzed were detailed enough to reveal some properties of the galaxies, Robertson and colleagues reported in April in Nature Astronomy. They’re all about a hundredth the size and mass of the Milky Way, but they are forming stars at a comparable rate — a lot of stars for galaxies this small. All those newborn stars produce a lot of ionizing radiation, meaning it’s possible these galaxies could be some of the earliest agents of reionization, Robertson says. JADES has since reported about 700 more galaxies whose photometric redshifts place them at redshift 8 or greater, or less than 650 million years after the Big Bang, Robertson said at the June First Light meeting. Those galaxies’ distances still need to be confirmed, but the sheer numbers are amazing. “We’re really in a remarkable age,” Robertson said. Trusting JWST’s measurements The huge galaxy haul raises another question: How many of them are likely to be at such great distances? A potential record-breaking galaxy called CEERS-93316 is a cautionary tale. The galaxy was identified in JWST images taken for the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science, or CEERS, survey. Those images put the galaxy at a photometric redshift of 16.4, or just 240 million years after the Big Bang. “That was higher redshift than we expected to see with CEERS,” says Finkelstein, the survey’s lead researcher. CEERS was designed to practice using JWST in its different observing modes and give astronomers some data to play with, not necessarily to set new records. In its first chunk of data, CEERS contained a surprising number of apparently high-redshift galaxies. So Finkelstein and colleagues asked the director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which operates JWST, for some extra telescope time to chase down the spectra of CEERS-93316, as well as a galaxy that Finkelstein had found with a photometric redshift of about 12. He named that galaxy Maisie’s Galaxy in honor of his daughter, because he found it on her ninth birthday. (Maisie didn’t mind that her dad had to work that day — “I got other birthday presents,” she says, though she did wish her galaxy was the potential record holder.) When the spectral data came through, Finkelstein’s colleague Pablo Arrabal Haro, an astrophysicist at the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab, based in Tucson, worked through the weekend to write up results before anyone else. CEERS-93316’s 16.4 redshift turned out to be wrong. The galaxy was actually at a redshift of 4.9, putting it 1.2 billion years after the Big Bang — practically modern compared with some of JWST’s other finds. The galaxy’s photometric redshift was so high because of a weird coincidence. Light streaming from hydrogen in the galaxy was redshifted such that it looked like it jumped in brightness at a wavelength suggestive of the huge distance. But when the full spectrum came in, that single jump was revealed to be several separate peaks, suggesting a smaller redshift. Maisie’s Galaxy, however, is almost as distant as the photometric redshift implied, Arrabal Haro and colleagues reported in a paper posted in March to arXiv.org. And in an April paper posted to arXiv.org, the team reported spectra for more than 30 other galaxies with redshifts of roughly between 8 and 10. So photometric redshift estimates are generally reliable, Finkelstein says. Timeline of early galaxies JWST has detected many galaxies from the early universe (a few are shown on this timeline). These galaxies could shed light on reionization, the process that ended the cosmic dark ages, when the universe was shrouded in darkness. Some of these galaxies, the “universe breakers,” appear to be more massive than theory can explain. JWST: ESA; Background: NASA, ESA, P. Oesch and B. Robertson/Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, A. Feild/STScI, adapted by C. ChangJWST: ESA; Background: NASA, ESA, P. Oesch and B. Robertson/Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, A. Feild/STScI, adapted by C. Chang “Although we have this notable failure case, that’s a pathological case,” he says. It’s “not devastating.” That’s good news for JWST’s observing schedule: Astronomers won’t have to follow up with the full spectrum for every distant galaxy. They can believe that most of the redshifts are legit and save the extra effort of taking the full spectrum for the really interesting ones. “It is exciting that the photometric redshifts tend to hold up,” Robertson says. “It gives us some hope that some of these really distant things could be real.” Distant galaxies too bright to explain Another outcome of JWST analyses so far is that there are more bright galaxies around redshift 10 than expected. Galaxy brightness is an indicator of galaxy mass, and thus star abundance. The brighter the galaxy, the more stars it must have to produce all that light. Galaxies are born in halos of dark matter, whose gravity pulls in and concentrates ordinary matter. Cosmologists know from simulations and theory how many dark matter halos the universe would have had when the first galaxies formed. They also have a decent idea of how massive those halos were in the universe’s first 500 million years and how much of that mass ended up in the form of hydrogen and helium, the raw material for making stars. Theoretically, if all that gas turned into stars, the largest a galaxy could get would be about 10 billion times the mass of the sun. In reality, researchers expect early galaxies to be much less massive, because modern galaxies never convert all their gas into stars. JWST has not turned up any galaxy near the theoretical upper limit. But it has found many more hefty early galaxies than predicted. The confirmed JADES galaxies weigh in at about 100 million solar masses, just 330 million years after the Big Bang. Some of the CEERS galaxies seem to have over a billion suns’ worth of stars as early as 450 million years after the Big Bang. Two galaxies discovered in another JWST survey, called COSMOS-Web, appear to be about 5 billion solar masses as early as 350 million years after the Big Bang, astronomer Caitlin Casey of the University of Texas at Austin said at the June First Light meeting. “With these massive beacons, you can test the limits of how fast you can assemble that much matter in the short time between the Big Bang and the time that we’re observing them in,” she says. What astronomers find from these galaxies could point to where our existing understanding of galaxy formation is wrong. Or researchers might discover that some of the galaxies’ light doesn’t come directly from stars but instead from the ionized gas in between stars that are actively forming, Casey says. That would mean the galaxies aren’t actually as massive as they look. Finding out how early galaxies were put together is the first step to understanding our own galaxy, Robertson says. “That’s ultimately what drives a lot of galaxy formation research, is trying to understand how our home, the thing that’s important to us, the place that we live, came to be,” he says. “We’re never going to complete that full story without looking at how galaxies at redshift 10 were put together…. That’s the starting place for how we got here.” Breaking the universe … or not One set of galaxies has sparked debate over not just galaxy formation, but the theoretical foundations of the universe itself. In February, Nelson and colleagues reported six galaxies spotted with CEERS that seem to have grown so big, so fast that they directly challenge the standard theory of how structure forms in the universe (SN: 3/25/23, p. 14). These galaxies have photometric redshifts between about 7 and 9, meaning they grew up in the first 800 million years of the universe. But their stellar masses appear to rival or exceed that of the Milky Way, about 60 billion solar masses. Nelson affectionately calls them the “universe breakers.” Nothing that massive should have been able to form that fast, she says. “As soon as we saw it, we were like, this is bananas.” Barely enough ordinary matter is even believed to have existed back then to create the universe breakers, says astrophysicist Mike Boylan-Kolchin of the University of Texas at Austin. Regions where budding galaxies formed would have had to turn all their atoms into stars. Six distant galaxies (red dots, above) spotted by the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science, or CEERS, survey appear to be too massive for standard cosmological theories to explain, though one of these “universe breakers” (top row, middle image) is not as distant as originally thought.NASA, ESA, CSA, I. LABBÉ/SWINBURNE UNIV. OF TECHNOLOGY; IMAGE PROCESSING: G. BRAMMER/COSMIC DAWN CENTER/NIELS BOHR INSTITUTE/UNIV. OF COPENHAGEN “We have this reservoir of atoms,” he says. “Almost every single one of them has to be in stars or in galaxies” if the universe breakers are for real. “If these observations and their interpretation is correct … it’s very hard to accommodate them in our current models,” he says. Over the last few months, theorists have come up with several ways to explain the universe breakers. One of the most dramatic options would be to add some extra dark energy, the mysterious substance that drives the universe to expand faster and faster, to the early universe, which would speed up all sorts of cosmic processes. “That would go in the right direction here, in the sense that there’d be bigger reservoirs [of atoms] and maybe more of them at earlier times,” Boylan-Kolchin says. “These early dark energy models do predict faster evolution of structure at early times.” More mundane options include super-compact early galaxies that could have converted all their gas into stars before the oldest stars had a chance to go supernova and blow it away. Such efficient star formation could explain the universe breakers without breaking the universe, physicist Avishai Dekel of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and colleagues suggested in a paper published May 25 in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. And there’s still the question of whether the universe breakers’ masses and distances will hold up. A spectrum of one of them has already revealed it to be a galaxy at redshift 5.6 with an actively feeding black hole creating extra light — so not a universe breaker after all. JWST’s second observing cycle began in July, and Nelson will take spectra of the rest of the universe breakers to find out if they are truly abounding with stars, filled with black holes or something else. Meanwhile, another group of astronomers will test JWST’s limits, hunting for galaxies at redshift 15 or greater. So by the telescope’s second birthday next summer, there may be new distance records.

#space #astronomy #news #science

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candidapple · 2 years ago

Note

Love your work on ao3!

I was wondering if I may request Leona with a female reader? If it isn’t too specific, could it be like a beach day and the reader is wearing a swimsuit for the first time and Leona’s getting jealous because she’s getting a lot of attention? NSFW if possible :)

Have a nice day!

a/n sorry this took so long, anon, it's just that i... got a little carried away. i hope you like how it turned out 👑💛

cw adult content, possessive behavior, some of the other boys get a little grabby, leona has a barbed dick. minors dni 🔞

leona kingscholar x f!reader

Ruggie stops slurping on his piña colada mocktail to push up the designer sunglasses he borrowed from Leona and give an exaggerated wince. “Oof. That one’s gonna hurt.”

You frown at Ruggie over the tops of your own oversized sunglasses. They were also bought with Leona’s money, but they were a gift rather than a hand-me-down. “What?” you ask Ruggie. “What’s going to hur —”

A pained cry startles a nearby flock of hungry seagulls into flight, and you snap your mouth shut, whipping around to face the source of the noise. Some distance away, Deuce is clutching his nose with both hands, the volleyball he and his teammates were playing with lying discarded at his feet. It must’ve smacked him right in the face; no wonder Ruggie cringed when he saw where it was headed.

You rise onto one knee, toes digging into your sand-speckled beach towel. “Deuce!” You want to run over there and check on him, but you don’t want to embarrass him by acting like a mother hen, either. “Are you alright?”

Deuce waves you off, flashing a weak thumbs up. You’re relieved to see that his nose isn’t bleeding, although his face does look a little red. At first you can’t tell if he’s flushed with mortification or sunburn, but decide on the latter when something Ace says makes him turn even redder. Deuce rounds on Ace and smacks him hard on the shoulder while everyone else on the volleyball court hoots and hollers, and you plop back down with a scoff. Idiots.

Ruggie snickers, widening his eyes and (poorly) feigning innocence when you shoot him a quelling look. “What? I’m only laughing ’cause he brought it on himself. If he didn’t wanna get beaned in the face, then he should’ve been paying attention to the game instead of you.”

You shift uncomfortably and glance at Leona, who’s stretched out on the towel between you and Ruggie, sunning himself. When he only flicks his tail in irritation at all the noise, you turn back to Ruggie and say, “I really don’t get it. I mean, it’s just a swimsuit.”

A fairly modest two-piece suit at that, comprised of high-waisted bottoms that cover your navel and a ruffled top that doesn’t even show cleavage; hardly a string bikini. Is it because you’re the only female student at an all-boys’ boarding school? Is it the novelty you present that has them so fascinated?

Ruggie rolls his eyes, sucking up the last dregs of his drink and smacking his lips. “Just a swimsuit, she says.” Impatiently, he hitches up the waistband of his dangerously loose trunks (also hand-me-downs, and dangerously loose because they belonged to Jack). “Lessee if you’re still singing that tune when the riot breaks out.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” you say stiffly, then steal another peek at Leona. Still no reaction. Maybe he’s asleep? “That’s not going to happen, and even if it did — which it won’t — the Headmage would put a stop to it before anyone got hurt.”

You and Ruggie both look over at Crowley, who was very quick to volunteer his services as a chaperon when Kalim announced his intention to sponsor a trip to the local beach. He’s not doing much in the way of chaperoning at the moment, fast asleep in a reclined lounge chair with a paperback book draped over his face. You won’t be surprised if he winds up buried up to his neck in sand before the day’s out.

“Or not,” you mutter. You don’t know what you were thinking, really.

Just then, Leona rolls onto his stomach with an appropriately feline stretch and reaches lazily for the drink cooler, grumbling under his breath when he finds it empty. He props himself up on his folded arms, back arching and biceps tensing, the neck of his tanktop swooping low to flash dark brown nipples and a sculpted chest. He doesn’t say a word, but he doesn’t have to; his accusatory glare speaks volumes. Sagas, even.

Ruggie, who’s holding a sweating bottle of Mystery Drink you didn’t even notice him take, answers Leona’s silent rebuke with a shrug. “Hey, if you wanted it that bad, you should’ve done somethin’ about it before somebody else came along and took it.”

For some reason, Ruggie’s looking at you when he says this. Leona makes a disgusted noise and lies back down with an imperious wave of his hand.

“One of you go get some more, then,” he says, and shuts his eyes to resume his nap.

You frown at him, not that he notices or cares. “Would you like us to fan you with palm fronds while we’re at it, Your Highness?”

Ruggie snickers into his Mystery Drink, and Leona smacks you on the hip with his tail without opening his eyes. Biting back a reluctant smile, you push to your feet and heave a pointed sigh.

“I’ll go get them,” you say, heading in the direction of the communal coolers. “You’re welcome.”

Ruggie lifts his drink in a respectful salute, but Leona just rolls onto his side, putting his back to you. You resist the urge to kick sand over his head and continue on your way.

A few of your classmates wave hello or call out to you in passing, but the majority of them can only seem to stare in captivated silence — some more discreetly than others. Self-consciously, you peer down the length of your body, at the curves of your breasts and stomach and the stretch of your bare legs. You shake your head, baffled, and hug your arms to your chest as you pick up your pace. Just a bit farther to the drink coolers, and then maybe you’ll detour to the changing room and throw on a t-shirt —

Or maybe you won’t be doing either of those things, seeing as a pair of long, lean arms just snaked around you from behind and squeezed.

“Where’re you off to in such a hurry, Shrimpy?”

Dammit. Of all the times to run into these two.

Jade steps neatly in front of you, looking distressingly good in a pair of sleek purple trunks, his cheeks and shoulders freckled with scintillating grains of golden mica. You imagine Floyd looks much the same. Too bad you’re in no mood to enjoy the view.

“Afternoon, Prefect. Are you enjoying your day out?”

Jade makes you sound like a dog at the park. You push at Floyd’s arm, but it’s no good; you don’t think he even felt it. The diplomatic route it is, then.

“Look, guys.” You try to sound firm but not rude, because you really don’t want to piss them off when Floyd’s in the perfect position to squeeze your innards out through your eye sockets. “It was nice of you to stop by and say hello, but I’m kind of busy right now.”

“Huh?” Floyd digs his fingers into your abdomen — not painfully hard, but with enough of a pinch to make you think of sharp teeth trying to burrow into your guts. Ulp. “You didn’t look busy. Why don’t you come and play with us instead?”

What, as in play with their food? Hard pass. “I really don’t think that’s —”

Jade smiles disarmingly. You are not disarmed. “No need to look so untrusting, now. We only wanted to ask if you were in the mood for a swim. The water’s quite pleasant, you know.”

You’re probably overreacting, but you think of every story you’ve ever heard about mermaids drowning hapless sailors at sea and instinctively start to struggle in Floyd’s arms, throwing desperate looks across the beach toward Leona and Ruggie. Leona still has his back to you, but Ruggie’s frowning in your direction. He leans down and says something to Leona, but you can’t tell if Leona responds, or if he’s even awake.

Either way, you can’t just wait around for them to rescue you. You’re preparing to execute Plan C (Plan C is biting Floyd on the arm and hoping you’re fast enough to outrun them) when someone reaches into the fray and pulls you free. You’re tucked safely into the newcomer’s side, their smooth skin brushing yours, a glossy tumble of coppery curls flirting with your peripheral vision.

“C’mon, boys, give the poor thing a little breathing room. How’s she supposed to enjoy her day of fun in the sun with everybody fighting over her like the last strawberry tart at an unbirthday party?”

Liquid relief courses through you. You’re so happy to see a friendly, ulterior motive-free face that you stop checking if Leona’s gotten up. “Cater!”

Cater hugs you around the shoulders and tosses you a wink. “Hey there, cutie. Thought you could use a Cay-Cay in shining armor.”

Floyd pouts, thwarted, but Jade only clasps his hands and smiles agreeably. “As gallant as it was of you to come riding to the lady’s rescue, Cater, I can assure you that we bore her no ill will.”

“Oh, no doubt,” Cater says breezily. “But sweetie pie over here was looking just a tad bit uncomfy from where I was sitting, so I thought I’d swing by and make sure. It’s an upperclassman’s job to look out for the little baby freshies, right?”

You give Cater’s waist a grateful squeeze, and he flashes you a camera-ready smile. “Hey, light-bulb moment.” Cater produces his phone from who-knows-where — do his swim trunks even have pockets? — and taps the screen awake with his thumb. “How ’bout we take a quick selfie? We’re bound to get a ton of likes with this scrumptious little thing taking center stage. Hashtag #BeachDay.”

Jade cups his chin and chuckles quietly — at your expense, you’re sure. “I certainly wouldn’t mind. What do you think, Floyd?”

“Um, actually,” you cut in, “I was just on my way to get changed, so…” You shrug Cater off and start to back away slowly. “Rain check?”

“Awww,” Floyd whines. “You’re gettin’ dressed already? How come?”

So people will stop staring at me like I’m an exotic animal at the zoo? “Uh, well, I kinda ran out of sunblock —”

“You can borrow some of mine,” Cater says helpfully. Shit. You scramble to formulate a new excuse.

“That’s, um, really sweet of you to offer, but the thing is if I don’t use this one specific brand of hypoallergenic sunscreen I tend to break out in super bad hives — not a pretty picture, let me tell you — so I’ll juuust — beonmywaynowbye!”

With that, you turn tail and flee, kicking up clouds of sand that irritate your eyes as you practically sprint to the changing room. You don’t even stop by the coolers first; if Leona’s that thirsty, he can march his ass over here and fetch his stupid drinks himself.

The changing rooms are located on a silty patch of land where the beach rises to meet the scrubby grass. The building itself is nothing to write home about; just a long, low wooden shack with an open doorway and a pitted tin roof, a half-deflated orange life preserver hanging off the northern wall as if to add a splash of color to an otherwise painfully drab view. To you, it might as well be the goddamn Palace of Versailles.

You begin to relax the moment you step inside the narrow building with its two rows of wooden changing stalls, your feet sifting through the thin layer of sand that’s been tracked in here by all the beachgoers who have come before you, and which will eventually be washed away the next time it rains. The shack isn’t wired and the rough-hewn walls are bare of the magestone-powered lamps that light much of NRC, but there’s enough sunshine filtering in through the doorway and the high paneless windows for you to see by. You pluck off your sunglasses, fold them, and set them down on the narrow ledge that serves as a shelf.

You should hurry up and change before someone comes looking for you, but you hesitate, frowning down at the glasses. They’re sleek and sturdy and they look like money, and when Leona first gave them to you you’d badgered him about the price until he finally told you just to shut you up. When you tried to return them, reluctant to accept such an expensive gift, he said if you didn’t want them then you might as well throw them out, since he had no use for them.

You kept them, obviously. Mostly out of spite, but also because you were not-so-secretly happy he’d thought of you.

You huff, irked (with yourself, with the twins, with him), and crouch by the pile of duffel bags and backpacks to dig for your things. So Leona didn’t throw a hissy fit just because some other guys looked at you sideways, so what? It’s not like you want a crazy possessive boyfriend who can’t stand to see you breathe in anyone else’s direction.

You successfully excavate your bag and yank the zipper open with a hiss of metal teeth. You tell yourself your eyes are stinging from all the sand you kicked up earlier, that’s all.

But, god, couldn’t Leona have acted just a little bit annoyed?

“The hell’re you hiding out in here for?”

You startle and clutch your shirt to your chest, right over the uneven kick of your heart. You swivel around to scowl at Leona, looming in the doorway and backlit by a halo of sunlight that dyes the tips of his hair and ears a dark, molten gold. It almost looks like he’s wearing a crown. You suppose that’s fitting.

“What am I doing?” You stand up, still gripping your shirt like a cotton shield. “What’re you doing, sneaking up on me like that? Should I get you a collar with a bell for your next birthday?”

He crosses his arms and leans a shoulder against the door jamb, then hooks one ankle over the other to complete the picture of perfect of indolence. “Try it and see what happens. And I didn’t sneak. Ain’t my fault your senses are so dull.” He wrinkles his lips back from his fangs and yawns. “I saw you scurrying off this way like a scared little mouse, so I followed. Got a problem with that?”

You twist your fingers in the folds of your shirt, tugging the elastic collar out of shape. “I’m just surprised you bothered to notice,” you mumble, mostly to yourself.

Of course, since Leona’s senses aren’t nearly so dull as yours, he hears every word. He puts back his ears, jaw ticking. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” you say curtly, and pull your shirt over your head before bending down to root for your denim cutoffs. Maybe you’ll head back to campus early; with the mood you’re in, what point is there in sticking around other than to make yourself even more miserable?

But then a broad, dry hand fits itself to the curve of your shoulder and tugs you back against a warm, firm chest, and your senses may be weaker than his but the scents of sweat and sunshine perfuming his skin are still strong enough to make your nostrils tingle. You didn’t even hear the sand rustle beneath his feet when he snuck up behind you, again.

Collar, you think, squeezing your hands into fists. Bell.

His jaw brushes your cheek as he lowers his head, long hair falling over his shoulder to tickle yours. “If you’ve got somethin’ to say, then say it.” He curls his other hand around your hip, palm burning you like a firebrand through the worn cotton of your shirt. “You know I hate that passive aggressive shit.”

“You’re one to talk,” you retort, thinking of the petty heights Leona’s capable of climbing whenever a certain fairy prince is involved. “And I’m not being passive aggressive. I just don’t feel like picking a fight with you right now.”

“Heh. Maybe I wouldn’t mind a fight.” The hand on your hip roams up and over to your belly, well-maintained claws plucking at your shirt. “What’re you wearing this thing for, anyway?”

You snag his wrist with half a mind to push him away, but you just end up holding on to him, feeling his pulse thump steadily away beneath your fingers. You lick the taste of salt from your lips and say, “I was thinking of heading home.”

“Yeah? What were you gonna do — walk the whole way back?” Leona hooks his fingers in your collar and tugs it down your shoulder, sweeping his thumb over the newly exposed skin to trigger a wave of shivers that start at your neck before crawling all the way down to the root of your spine. “What’s the matter, herbivore? Sun getting to your head?”

Something’s getting to your head, alright. “Sure,” you say thinly. “Let’s go with that.”

Leona makes a chuffing noise and presses his nose to the crook of your shoulder to breathe you in deep. You feel something tickling your leg and realize it’s his tail just before he slips it beneath your shirt to wrap it tightly around your thigh.

“That right?” he drawls.

You’re not surprised when he cups your breast and circles his palm over your nipple until it flares up full and stiff, but it still rocks you. Good thing he’s holding on to you, because you don’t trust your legs to support your weight right now.

He drags his tongue up your neck, and as you shudder in helpless reaction you wonder — not for the first time — how you might taste to him. Beneath the sweat and sunblock, do you taste savory or sweet? Can he taste the heat of your blood pounding beneath your skin?

Leona’s tongue retreats with a parting nip of shivery-sharp teeth. He pinches your nipple between his thumb and forefinger, pulling on it through two layers of fabric until it almost hurts, only to let go just when you’re ready to whine for him to stop. He draws you back against him and presses down on your stomach, coaxing your hips to rock.

“’Cause I can think of a few good reasons for you to stick around.”

You’re awfully interested in hearing these reasons, all the better if they’re accompanied by a practical demonstration, but then a dark smudge flutters by one of the windows and kicks you back to reality with a cold, hard jolt. The shadow you just saw was too small and too high up to be anything but a bird, but there’s a very good chance that next time, it won’t be just a bird.

You dig your nails into Leona’s wrists and feel him lift his head to look at you. “Not here. Anyone could walk in. There’s no door.”

“Huh?” Leona stills his movements, tail coiling tighter around your thigh before abruptly loosening. He growls low in his throat, then says in the aggrieved tone of someone who is being greatly inconvenienced, “Fuck, fine.”

You’d be lying if you said you weren’t disappointed, but it’s for the best that you pumped the breaks. Exhibitionism as a concept might give you a wicked little thrill, but being fined for indecent exposure decidedly doesn’t. You start to turn in Leona’s arms, reaching up to give his satin-smooth cheek a conciliatory stroke.

“It’s okay,” you tell him. “We can always —”

Pick this up later, is what you were going to say, but the words get caught in your throat when Leona turns you the rest of the way around, settles your feet on top of his like he’s teaching you to dance, and walks you backwards until your back thumps gently against a wall. The sunlight beaming in through the open doorway is extinguished with a creak of unoiled hinges, leaving only the light coming through the narrow windows to see by, and you blink rapidly as your eyes struggle to adjust to the sudden change. Leona shifts against you, and you hear the scraping click of a rusted lock being shot into place.

He’s shut the two of you up inside a changing stall.

“There’s a door now,” Leona informs you, just in case you missed it. His breath warms your lips and his lashes scrape your cheek, the green glow of his eyeshine flickering as he blinks. “Happy?”

“Um.” You grip the hem of his top and fidget, then go still when he presses his hips flush to yours, tail sliding up your leg to circle your thigh once more. “Someone could still walk in, though?”

“Let them,” Leona says dismissively, bowing his head to drag his teeth over your shoulder. You have to lock your knees to keep them from wobbling. “If they try to peep, I’ll kick their ass.”

“Because violence is the answer to everything,” you say, more breathlessly than you’d like. You’re supposed to be the voice of reason here, but you can’t help but press your face to his shoulder in turn to take a deep, shuddering inhale of his sweat-and-sunshine scent, tongue darting out to taste him.

Leona’s tail flexes around your thigh, the tufted tip rubbing up against the cleft of your cunt through your nylon bottoms. A gasp escapes your open mouth, and his answering laughter rumbles down your spine like a sine wave through a tuning fork.

“Not everything,” he says. He slips his hand down your back to give your ass a smug squeeze, and something inside of you snaps, then dissolves. Your sense of shame, maybe.

By now, your eyes have adjusted well enough for you to just make out the fanged curve of his smirk. You’re going to wipe that look right off his face, you decided, and push up on your toes — still overlapping his — to catch his full lower lip between your teeth and bite down, hard.

Leona snarls and jerks back his head, lip pulling free of yours like a stretched rubber band snapping back into shape, then presses back in to take your lip between his teeth. He bites down, more gently than you had, but it still stings because he has fangs. He worries your lip between those fangs like it’s a tender cut of meat he wants to savor, only relenting when you yield with a whine. He swipes his tongue over the bloodless dents his teeth left behind, then tilts his head and gathers you close to give you a proper kiss.

Your lips bloom beneath his, one hand fisting tightly in his shirt while the other burrows beneath his hair to curl around his nape. You licked the taste of salt from your mouth only a few moments ago but now you taste it again, along with the tang of sunblock and the fizzy sweetness of some soft drink. Leona’s tongue is rough in your mouth, the heavy ridge of his hips pinning you in place against the half-rotted wall, which groans in protest beneath your combined weight.

You are briefly concerned about splinters, then quickly forget to care when you feel a tugging on the hem of your shirt. Leona’s trying to undress you, and you know from experience that he’ll just tear your clothes and replace them later if you don’t move fast enough to suit His Highness.

You obligingly raise your arms, then help him wrestle out of his own shirt, blue arcs of static crackling through the air when you drag it over his head. You smooth down his mussed hair and twine your arms around his neck, every square inch of your skin prickling with delight at being pressed so close to his. Your pulse pounds in your ears, your bruised lips a slick, swollen echo of how you feel between your legs. You turn your head to kiss him again, but he denies you, nipping your chin before dropping to his knees.

Your knees start to wobble again, and you brace your hands against his shoulders to keep yourself standing. You’ll never get used to seeing him like this, never get used to knowing that you’re the only person he’d ever kneel for, that he’d make his beautiful face into a throne just for you. You’ve already sweated through your bottoms in the heat, but now a pulse of anticipation slicks your cunt with a thicker, more viscous kind of moisture, your suit’s stretchy nylon crotch clinging to you like sticky paper.

Leona wets his lips and inhales through his nose, scenting your arousal like a wine bouquet. You whimper, knees finally giving out, and he catches you. Squeezes your hips. His hands are so big his fingers curve all the way around to your ass.

“Hey. Were you really gonna make me wait until later?” He licks a filthy trail up your inner thigh, spined tongue abrading your skin like a pumice stone. “Smells to me like you wouldn’t’ve lasted that long.”

That earns him a tug on his hair, another privilege afforded only to you. “Shut up.” The sharp tone you meant to adopt is belied by the obvious quiver in your voice. “Don’t be disgusting.”

Another slow, indulgent lash of his tongue makes you wonder if he enjoys the taste of salt on your skin, be it sweat or sea spray. “You like it.”

You do — not that you’d ever admit to it. “I told you to shut — ah.”

Your legs jerk, thighs trembling so hard your knees would knock together if Leona hadn’t shouldered between them to mouth at your sex through your swimsuit bottoms. The fabric is just thin enough for you to feel each individual spine on his tongue as it scrapes over your lips and clit like sandpaper, rubbing you raw. It’s not an unpleasant sensation, but it does skirt the edge of too much, to the point that you’re already squirming even with the fabric in the way.

He lifts one hand to tap you smartly on the ass, making you jolt. “Knock that off and hold still. You’re gonna gimme a black eye.”

You bristle at the order but lock your knees and do as he says, because if you don’t he might stop, and you don’t want to have to beg him to keep going. Leona chuffs, pleased, and hooks his fingers in your bottoms to ease them down an inch, then two, uncovering your navel and hipbones. He sweeps his tongue up the slope of your lower belly, so you have to fight even harder not to squirm — but then he stops, and hisses. Really hisses, not at all like a human but exactly like a cat, a wet, angry, spitting sound that makes your skin break out in goosebumps.

“The fuck is this?”

The fuck is what? you wonder dazedly. You look down, eyes skittering past the angry glow of his to land on the hands wrapped jealously around your waist. Only then do you comprehend what he meant: etched across your stomach are a series of thin, shallow scratches, brilliantly red in color and obviously the work of someone’s nails. Looking at them, your heart gives a hard, anxious thump.

“It’s nothing serious,” you say quickly. Your hands flutter like nervous birds across Leona’s shoulders, which feel coiled to spring. “I’m not hurt. Floyd was just messing around earlier and I guess he must’ve scratched me on accident.”

Leona’s upper lip lifts at one corner to flash a curved canine tooth. He’s not angry with you, but you’re still shaken by the intensity of his reaction to something so minor. What happened to his earlier indifference?

Maybe… maybe he wasn’t as indifferent as you’d thought?

“Yeah, I know,” Leona grumbles, surprising you into silence. “You think I didn’t notice him hanging off of you like a damn coat? I was about to come over there and knock him on his ass when you ran off.”

He rocks forward on his knees and pulls a mouthful of your flesh between his pointed teeth, sucking hard like he intends to cover Floyd’s marks with his own, then releases it with a damp pop just as you begins to ache. He leans his forehead against your stomach like he doesn’t want you to see his face, ears laid flat along his skull.

“Bad enough I had to listen to Hunt singing your praises from all the way across the damn beach earlier.” The low register of his voice rumbles through your abdomen like an echo in a chamber, sinking into the cradle of your hips to hum through your clit. “Now I’ve gotta go gut a fuckin’ fish, too.”

Ah. So he is jealous.

You school the dopey grin that wants to unfurl across your face and say, reasonably, “Rook sings everyone’s praises. And you’re not going to gut anyone.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Leona says in a way that makes it clear he’s not really listening and is only acknowledging that you spoke at all to keep you off his back. He tugs your bottoms down another inch, bunching them up around your hips, then wraps his tail around your right ankle and pulls. “Now c’mon and lift your foot so I can get you outta these fuckin’ things.”

Your stomach swoops as if he reached inside you and tugged. Oh, you think, okay, and hurriedly lift your foot, clutching Leona’s shoulders for balance while he works the bottoms down your legs. With one leg freed, you start to lower your foot so you can lift the other just for Leona to leave the bottoms slung around your left ankle and rise fluidly from his crouch, muscles flickering beneath his skin like shadows cast by the noonday sun. He braces one hand beneath your ass to hoist you up and pushes the other between your legs to squeeze your cunt.

You yelp and cling to Leona’s arms, your head spinning drunkenly as the floor falls out from under you. Chuckling, Leona nuzzles into the crook of your neck and dips two fingers inside of you as if testing the waters. When he feels how wet you already are, sweating in the humidity and sticky with arousal, the folds of your cunt squishing beneath his fingers like carpels of pulpy, overripe fruit, he breathes out a satisfied groan that seems to resonate in the very core of your stomach.

You answer that groan with a pleading whine, hugging his hips with your thighs and digging your toes into his waistband to try and push it down. You can feel the bulk of his dick through his shorts, so close to where you need him but not close enough, driving you half crazy with hot, frustrated want.

Leona gives your throat a reprimanding nip. “Pipe down. Someone could walk in, remember?”

Leave it to Leona to throw those words back in your face while he does everything in his power to ensure that you can’t pipe down, angling his wrist to stroke his thumb over your clit and thrust his fingers deeper inside you like he’s searching an oyster he dug out of the sand for pearls. You tighten up around him, digging your nails into his arms to press little red half moons into his sun-warmed flesh.

If he’s gonna play it like that, then so will you.

“If you’re that worried about someone walking in on us” — you push your heels against the small of his back, nudging his trunks down another inch — “then why don’t you hurry up and fuck me before they do?”

Leona snarls in your ear, and your scalp pulls taut, the hair on the nape of your neck standing straight up. “Who the fuck’re you ordering around?”

He pulls his fingers out of you with a harsh twist of his wrist and yanks up your top, smearing your breasts with warm, gooey streaks of your own slick, then shoves his hand back down between your legs to push at his shorts until his cock springs free to slap your cunt. Your thighs tense and your clit tingles, heart leaping into your throat.

Leona huffs impatiently and hauls you closer, claws scratching lightly at your ass. “Why’re you clamming up now? You’ve taken it before.” He curls his hand around the root of his cock and presses the damp, flared head to your opening like he’s nocking an arrow in a bow. “You’re the one who said to hurry up and fuck you, so let me fuck you.”

Your cunt wrings out another gush of syrupy moisture at the blunt reminder of what he intends to do to you, and because you want him to do it to you, you try your best to unclench even as your thighs begin to shake from the strain of staying spread around his hips. Leona grunts through his teeth and hefts you up a little higher, cockhead slipping further down your slit to breach that first shallow inch. Shallow, yes, but still deep enough for you to feel a familiar prickle.

Unlike him, you are entirely and mundanely human, but you still arch your back like a cat in heat to take him deeper, your clit throbbing so hard you can feel the pulse of it in your ears as the barbs crowning his shaft rake your cunt like dozens of blunted claws. The first time you saw them, you nearly balked, certain that the two of you would never be able to fit together without blood and pain. Obviously, he proved you wrong — again and again and again.

Now he scrapes his cuspids down the apple of your cheek and laps up more of your sweat with a pass of his rough tongue. “Maybe you don’t want me to hurry.” He drags his hand up your thigh, hitching your leg higher around his waist to tilt your hips and sink in another prickling inch. “Maybe you want somebody to walk in and see.”

You mean to tell him that’s the very last thing you want, but all that comes out is a gasp, that wicked little thrill from earlier returning in full force to quiver in your belly and tighten the walls of your cunt. Leona hisses through his teeth at the squeeze and pushes forward till his chest crushes your breasts flat, hooking your knees over his elbows so he can palm two covetous handfuls of your ass. You feel strung up, weightless, pinned on his cock as if on a spear. Your legs tremble harder, your toes curling so tight they cramp.

“Fuck,” he bites out, half growling, half laughing. “You really do, don’t you? Who would’ve thought the little herbivore had it in her?”

When he says “in her,” he braces his feet and thrusts up his hips, fucking the rest of the way in until there’s no more room left, barbs snagging on your walls to hook him deep inside of you. Those barbs catch against your clit on the way out and your foot gives a reflexive kick, a garbled moan falling from your mouth. Leona licks your chin, a gruff purr rumbling in his throat. It’s a comforting gesture, but if you thought it meant he was finished teasing you, you really should’ve known better.

“You want those assholes outside to see me fucking you like this? Huh?” His tail bats your legs as it lashes back and forth, his spined shaft scouring your cunt as he fills you and fills you and fills you with cock. “You want them to know I’m the only one who can?”

His next thrust knocks your ass against the wall but you are too far gone to spare even a fleeting thought for splinters, for anything that’s not the wet glide of his cock inside you, stuffing you to the brim. There’s sand between your toes and a growing ache in your back and you are going to walk away from this stiff and sore all over, and you don’t care, you don’t care so long as he keeps fucking you just. Like. This. You duck your head to lick a trickle of sweat from the swell of his chest and he growls, butting your head aside with a thrust of his chin so he can run his nose up your neck and suck your earlobe between his teeth.

“But I’m not gonna let ’em look,” he mumbles, grinding his hips in a tight, hot circle. He pushes your knees back till they almost touch your shoulders, winding every muscle in your body tense as a spring with your cunt coiled taut at the center. “I’ll fuckin’ kill them if they look.”

Something in you seizes but doesn’t release, trembling, waiting. Waiting for him to drag his cock halfway out of your sex, barbs raking your clit to pull your building orgasm out of you by the heels. You bite at his shoulder with your nubby human teeth, stomach cramping, cunt pulsing, and he buries his groan in the crook of your neck like he doesn’t want you to hear it. One-two-three more thrusts plant him so deep inside you you can feel his head pressing at the back of your throat as a treacly warmth floods your cunt and trickles down your thighs, dousing you in the scent of him.

You don’t doubt that was his plan all along.

You come down in fits and shivering starts, your orgasm’s pulsating aftershocks growing weaker and weaker with each passing minute. Enough of those minutes have gone by in total silence for you to wonder if Leona’s fallen asleep standing up when he finally speaks.

“Hey,” he grunts. He doesn’t lift his head from your shoulder, either because he’s too lazy to bother or because his cheek’s been glued there by your sweat. “The next time some grabby asshole touches you without your permission, you fucking tell me.”

You blink over his shoulder at the dust motes spiraling through a bright beam of sunlight, a ticklish kind of feeling stirring in your chest.

Oh, you think. Not just jealous, then — worried, too. You hug him as tightly as you can with your noodly arms and legs and comb your fingers through his sweaty hair, even daring to give him a brief scratch behind the ears. He grumbles and butts your cheek lightly with his forehead, and you smile.

“Okay,” you say softly. “Just don’t get yourself expelled for my sake, alright?”

Leona scoffs. “If Crowley didn’t expel me for wrecking the Spelldrive Stadium, then he’s not gonna kick me out over a couple of snot-nosed brats who had it comin’.” He shifts his feet, dick tugging at your insides and making you wince. “You good to walk?”

“No promises.”

You let him ease you out of the human pretzel he’d contorted you into, pulling a face when his cum oozes down your leg to splatter on the floor. Leona smirks faintly, unrepentant. Not that you ever expected him to be.

“Hold on.” He hitches up his trunks with one hand and unlocks the door with the other, ducking outside. He returns a moment later with a t-shirt dangling from his fist and proceeds to wipe you clean, gentler in his post-coital contentment than he ever is otherwise.

The shirt isn’t his, or yours. You frown at him, tugging your swimsuit into place while he loops his tanktop over his head. “Whose is that?”

Leona just shrugs and tosses the soiled shirt aside. Someone’s going to be extremely unhappy about that. “Leona, you can’t just —”

“Trust me, you do not wanna go in there.”

You freeze and shoot Leona a panicked look, but he just scrubs his hands through his hair and yawns, sleepy and satiated. You don’t hear the rest of the conversation clearly, just an indistinct back-and-forth, but it doesn’t last long. When the voices outside fall silent, Leona flicks his ears and turns to leave.

“C’mon.”

You really don’t want to, but it’s not like you can hide in here all day — or you could, but you doubt Leona would let you. Resigned to your fate, you grab your sunglasses and head outside to face the music, the music in this case being Ruggie’s disgusted scowl. You don’t ask him how long he’s been standing guard for; you’re probably better off not knowing.

“Ugh, seriously?” Ruggie mutters, already turning away like he can’t bear to look at the two of you. You can’t say you blame him. “You owe me a week’s worth of meals for this, Leona. No, two. No, four —”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

Leona presses a hand to the small of your back to nudge you forward, and it’s only when you feel his bare skin on yours that you realize you forgot to change into your t-shirt. Peeking at Leona’s profile and taking stock of the aching tenderness that persists between your legs, you decide you actually don’t mind going without it so long as Leona’s there to scare your more tenacious admirers off.

Crowley’s being buried up to his neck in sand by Epel and Grim, and Ruggie’s going on about how he doesn’t get paid enough for this crap. You take Leona’s warm hand in yours and he lets you keep it, tail twining loosely around your thigh.

You think you’ll have a talk with Kalim about funding another trip to the beach sometime very soon.

#leona kingscholar x reader #twst x reader #!candid fic #!apples of my eye

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fxckmiup · 3 years ago

Text

𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 ♡

A/N: Just a fun quick lil one-shot. Hope y'all enjoy it!

Genre: Fluff ♡

Warnings: None

Pairing: Scarlett Johansson x Reader

Summary: The reader has no filter while doing a podcast interview.

Words: 1,218

Navigation || Scarlett's Masterlist || Taglist

»»————-　♛��————-««

Host: Welcome you two!

Y/n: Hello!

Scar: Hi!

Host: How are you two doing?

Y/n: I'm doing amazing

Scar: I'm doing great, life is great.

Host: So from Y/n's Instagram, I've gathered that you both are on break together right?

Y/n: You would be correct!

Scar: Oh my gosh babe, what kind of things do you post?

Y/n: Good to know you keep up with me baby, for all you know I post nude pictures.

Scar: You better not! That's for my eyes only.

Y/n: Damn right baby.

Everyone laughs

Host: Wait so how did y'all make that break happen with your busy schedules?

Y/n: Well when I found out when Scarlett was going away for filming for the avengers, I made sure that the tour was to happen around the same time we can finish around the same time as well.

Scar: I finished filming first so then I decided to join Y/n for the rest of her tour since she had like three more weeks left when I finished.

Host: That's real smart you two! Y/n you did your first world tour, right? How was traveling all over?

Y/n: It was the most amazing, exciting, fulfilling, and exhausting thing I've ever done in my life.

Scar: Yeah I agree with that, I only traveled for three weeks with her and I was exhausted. I don't know how musicians do this whole thing. Having to go through so many different time zones in just a week was crazy!

Host: I can only imagine how that would be like. Did y'all get to explore the cities at least?

Y/n: I was able to a couple of times during my rest days but to be honest it was rare.

Scar: Since I came at the end of the tour, there weren't many rest days to go out and explore. We were able to probably walk around 3 cities in total, other than that we did a lot of take-out after her shows. Or we would be on the tour bus on the way to the next location or we'd be on the plane.

Host: I know that y'all had long plane rides, what did you two do to kill some time on the plane, other than sleeping? I mean what can you do right?

Y/n: A few things ...

Scar: Babe!

Y/n: What?! I'm just saying, there are a few things you can do!

Scar: Oh my goodness, I can't with you.

Host: Well share those few things with us.

Scar: Do not! Y/f/n Y/m/n Y/l/n I swear.

Y/n: Oh shit, she went for the full name. I don't think I can share.

Host: Not even a little bit?

Scar: Don't or else you're sleeping in the dog house tonight.

Y/n: That's bull because you know you can't sleep without me beside you.

Scar: Oh screw you!

Y/n: What she just said is exactly what we do to kill time in the plane.

Scar: *gasp with wide eyes and red cheeks* I can not believe you just said that you little shit!

Everyone laughs

Y/n: You know that isn't my nickname babe.

Scar: Right, your nickname is, asshole.

Y/n: Nah that's just a hole you'd like to try.

Host: Oh my goodness did I just hear that?!

Scar: You are so dead!!!! Shut up already!

Y/n: I'm sorry, my mouth has a mind of its own.

Scar: I'm about to put your mouth to use.

Y/n: We can't do that here babe unless you're into that kind of thing, then I can try it out for you.

Scar: I will smack you.

Y/n: Smack my ass?

Scar: Shut up you ass!

Y/n: Make me then. Joke okay okay serious now, Scarlett looks redder than a tomato and I for sure will be in the dog house chained up tonight.

Everyone doubles their laughter

Host: Holy shit I can't breathe

Y/n: My publicist is going to murder me.

Scar: I'd murder you first.

Y/n: That's true, okay now that my adrenaline is fading away I'm actually terrified for my life. Oh my goodness, I hope my mother doesn't listen to this podcast. That would be triple murder.

Scar: You should be scared of your grandma the most. She old but she would pounce on you.

Y/n: Imma tell my nana you called her old, she'll then have to kill you first before me.

Host: Oh this is amazing to watch, this is hilarious.

Scar: I'm glad that you and everyone else find amusement from this.

Y/n: What do you mean? We're amazing baby!

Scar: That I'll have to agree with.

Host: I mean the whole entire world agrees to it. Everyone is rooting for you two to get married!

Scar: Aww that's too cute.

Y/n: It is babe, they keep saying all over the internet that if we ever broke up then there must be no real love in life.

Scar: Oh damn the pressure.

Y/n: Hey!

Scar: I'm joking, I love you, baby girl.

Y/n: Hmm I guess I love you too then.

Scar: Such a goofball.

Host: Speaking of love, any wedding bells in the near future for you two?

Scar: Well as you can see she hasn't put a ring on it yet, no idea what's taking so long to be honest. Goodness.

Y/n: What if I was waiting for you to put the ring on me? Hmm.

Scar: Nope, no. You're putting the ring on me.

Y/n: Who says?

Scar: I did so you must do it.

Y/n: See what I have to deal with?

Scar: Ha! You love to deal with it anyway.

Y/n: That's, unfortunately, true, that's why I'm marrying you.

Scar: Really? Couldn't tell, there's no ring.

Y/n: I have someone mining for the most extraordinary unique stone out there so it might take a while.

Host: I heard Scarlett doesn't care if you propose with a ring pop so might as well do it now.

Y/n: Who do you think I am?!

Scar: I feel like she wants the most extraordinary unique stone to sit on my finger just so she can brag to everyone that she got it for me.

Y/n: Listen here, other people have spent good money in the past on a ring that sat on your finger. I can't just buy any other ring, especially a ring pop when I have to live up and be better than in the past.

Scar: Babe you know it ain't about the ring. I'd say yes and marry you with or without a ring because I only care for you. I want all of you. I unconditionally love you, what I feel for you I truly never felt with anyone else so you're already way past them. Trust me.

Y/n: I love you.

Scar: I love you more.

Y/n: I love you most.

Scar: I love you the mostest.

Y/n: I love you to infinity and beyond.

Scar: I love you unconditionally. Ha!

Y/n: Does this mean I'm out of the dog house?

Scar: Absolutely not.

»»————-　♛　————-««

Thank you for reading!

Tag: @nooshe

#scarlett johansson masterlist #scarlett johansson x reader #scarlett johansson #scarlett johansson fluff #scarlett johansson fic #fxckmiup

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kritzkrieg-kiss · 3 years ago

Note

I dunno if you do romance stuff, but if you do and requests are open, could we get uhhh,,, kisses from the mercs?? 👉🏼👈🏼

Y'all I knew this one was gonna come up sooner or later

Kisses from the Mercenaries 💛

Scout: Unsure of himself. Scout's confidence is rock solid, able to handle anything that happens. That is, up until the point of him actually taking the shot and leaning in. He feels their breath on his lips and the weight of the relationship suddenly washes over him and drags him down in the undertow. He tries to pull away but is just one second too late. And good thing too, because all his doubts instantly melt the moment his lips meet theirs for the first time (and second, and third, and twelfth).

Soldier: Confident. Forget time and place, forget those around, forget public decency. He's in love and it's everyone else's problem. His heart has been captured and he's not getting it back anytime soon. He's full of affection and there's no good reason not to show it so why wait? Patience be darned. He sees them. He loves them. He kisses them.

Pyro: Wholesome. Getting a kiss from Pyro is akin to getting a school valentine only to open it up and find a lollipop. He's always there to kiss booboos should they occur, or catch a smooch under mistletoe, or at the new year's stroke of midnight. Either way, he always leaves 'em blushing.

Demo: Blissful. He's drunk a solid amount of the time anyway, so he's not exactly the best at hiding his feelings. But it's okay, because his kisses are on par with red wine and chocolate cake fresh out of the oven with the frosting melting down the sides. They go on for a while, leaving a lasting memory guaranteed to bring a gushing grin at a moment's recall

Heavy: Stoic. Heavy is not man of flowers and fluff, so it really means he cares if he goes out of his way like that. Just because there isn't much feeling doesn't mean there isn't any meaning behind it. If anything, it shows how much someone means to him to be willing to take a risk and put himself out there like that. It's something to be reckoned with, as it can't just be brushed off easily. And it's important that it is, because it may just lead to something greater.

Engie: Comforting. Ironically, the lips of someone so rugged sure feel an awful lot like coming home. It's like the feeling of a hot shower after a hard day's work, like sore muscles hitting soft pillows and clean sheets, like the sweet relief of the first sleep after a broken fever. From burnout to heartbreak, one kiss is enough to balm the soul. And Engie has a lot of balm to give.

Medic: Unexpected. Look, Medic is a man of focus. And who could blame him? I mean an entire team under constant gunfire, barely kept from a bloody grave by a single man? He doesn't have time for sap! So of course he doesn't even notice himself slowly piling up his feelings, putting his affections aside as they cloud his better judgement, steadily fraying at the seams until the thread suddenly snaps and before he knows it his lips are on theirs. He pulls away almost as quick as he went in, scarlet faced and lost for words. But little does he know that something entirely new may have flickered to life between them, only time will tell.

Sniper: Secretive. Sniper would sooner be caught with a bullet between the eyes than give anyone the impression that he even could be in love. He swallows it as best as he can, but it's difficult to keep calm when he feels his face turn redder than a sunset after a desert storm. But on those few and far between occasions, late at night, when he gets them alone in the nest or out among the open mesas, his worries are finally put to rest enough for him to press a gentle kiss against their mouth. He lingers on for a bit, leaning into the safety of solitude as he at last lets himself be known.

Spy: Tender. Aloof and debonair as he is, if Spy really loves someone, his demeanor starts to crack and a much softer side begins to drip out of him like wax from a candle. His words are kinder, his hands are gentler, and his lips are sweeter than the taste of midnight maple creme on an old brick-and-ivy balcony. His kisses can soften the most jaded of hearts, and are best pressed against tears and injuries.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! 💛

#tf2 #tf2 headcanons #tf2 scout #tf2 soldier #tf2 pyro #tf2 demoman #tf2 heavy #tf2 engineer #tf2 medic #tf2 sniper #tf2 spy

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justnerdthings · 3 years ago

Text

Frigid Heart Ch. 6

F!Reader x Bi-Han

Bi-Han finally gives you a name! Also, drama!

@poor-unfortunate-soul-85 @whitelotusfighter @icy-spicy @crazytxgradstudent @d-taslim @bihansthot @legends-of-apex @lilliannmac @missroro @shang-hung

Bi-Han’s eyes slowly opened. Vision blurred again. But this time he recognized his surroundings and the ceiling he stared at. Stone masonry. He was in the Lin Kuei palace.

And he could breathe. Air, real air, felt so good. And his heart… he could feel it beating in his chest. It must have been a dream. It had to have been. He drew in a deep breath--as deep as he could before a sharp pain stung his side.

Hushed voices were all around him. The lanterns were low. What time was it? He moved to sit up, but immediately regretted it as pain shot through his chest. He grunted and let himself back down.

You had been sleeping only a few feet away, curled up on the bare stone floor when a gruff noise woke you. Your tired eyes opened to see your Master stirring. Your heart skipped a beat and you quickly sat up and moved to his side. “Master?”

His eyes opened again and shifted to your face. His brows knotted. You were there… Good. Then it really must have been a dream. He lifted a hand, surprised how much effort it actually took, and was secretly grateful when you took hold of it, allowing him to relax his arm. You frowned at him, at how weak he was. But he was alive. He would recover. You squeezed his hand gently. “You’re alright, Master,” you told him softly, watching his eyes close again. “You’ve lost a lot of blood. They said you’ll recover.” You lifted your free hand to brush it against his cheek gently… He was soaked in sweat and you wondered if that was normal for him. You hadn’t seen him sweat since you’d met him. Did cryomancers sweat? He didn’t even feel all that cold… Did… Did he have a fever? You frowned.

“Where is Kuai?” He rasped. His throat was so dry.

Your brows knotted. “Kuai?”

He was silent for a moment before sighing. Right, you didn’t know Tundra’s real name. Bi-Han was sure that you hadn't even known his own name. “Tundra,” he answered slowly.

Tundra. His real name was Kuai? You nodded, storing that bit of information deep in your memory. “He’s gone to help the others repair the village. He’s safe.”

Bi-Han seemed to relax further at the news, as if relieved. You watched him quietly before letting go of his hand. Eyes were on you. Servants and assassins were watching you. You felt your face grow hot.

Bi-Han's eyes had opened and shifted to your red face. A small grin tugged his lips. It only made your face redder and he chuckled weakly. "Interesting," he whispered, which made your brows knot in confusion. "For someone who runs so boldly into battle, you are quite timid."

Your jaw hardened. "This… I am not used to this, Master."

He grunted and shifted uncomfortably. "Stop calling me that."

You opened your mouth to protest, but decided against it. "What should I call you?"

"Anything else," he answered.

You frowned. That was unbelievably vague. Anything else? That could be… anything.

"Everyone calls you Sub-Zero," you said.

He nodded weakly. "My name is Bi-Han," he whispered.

You smiled. Somehow learning his name seemed a privilege. You bowed your head respectfully.

"What was your name in the Snow Ninja clan?" He asked.

You lifted your head to look at him curiously. "Y/N," you answered.

His eyes shifted from your face as he stared at the ceiling. "Do you like that name?" He asked.

Your brows knotted. That was an odd question. Did you like your name? How could you answer that? It was your name. It was the only name you've had. "I don't understand," you told him.

"Do you want to keep that name, or would you like a new one?" He asked, looking back to your face.

Oh… You had assumed he would just give you one. But here he was, asking if you wanted one…

“What would you have named me?” you asked curiously. If you liked it better than your name, you’d probably take it.

Bi-Han closed his eyes as he pondered for a moment. “Bao-Zhong,” He’d finally decided.

Your cheeks turned red at the name. You supposed the last bit was accurate… But that first part? Did he really feel that way?

His eyes had opened and looked to you. He grew amused at your red cheeks again. “Do you not like it?”

“Oh,” You straightened, then bowed your head again to him. “Yes, Master—” You stopped yourself. “Bi-Han,” you corrected yourself. “I do.”

“Will you take it?” He asked.

“Yes.” You nodded. “Thank you.”

He gave another tired nod and a sigh left him as he relaxed. It suddenly hit you that the Grandmaster had wanted to know when Bi-Han woke. Your eyes widened. You’d nearly forgotten.

You signaled for a palace guard. He’d made his way over to you curiously. His arrival had caught Bi-Han’s attention.

“The Grandmaster wished to be notified when Sub-Zero woke,” you told the guard.

The guard nodded and looked to Sub-Zero. Bi-Han simply closed his eyes again as he rested. The guard looked back to you. “I will send word to The Grandmaster.”

“Thank you,” you said gratefully with a small bow. The guard returned the gesture with a bow of his head and took his leave.

You sat with content at Bi-Han’s side as you waited for the Grandmaster. You watched Bi-Han’s chest rise and fall slowly with each breath he took. He looked so peaceful as he rested there. You wondered if he had fallen asleep again. What did he dream about? Were his dreams full of glorious battles? Or were they uneventful and mediocre? Did he dream about you? Is that why he thought you were valuable?

It wasn’t a long wait. The Grandmaster came and acknowledged you with a smile. You bowed your head to him. Lily hadn’t come along and you were grateful. You breathed in relief.

“Sub-Zero has woken?” He asked.

Before you could answer, his attention had shifted to Bi-Han, who had opened his eyes weakly.

“Ah. Good,” The Grandmaster nodded and stepped closer.

You moved to give them space, but Bi-Han’s hand reached for you. Your brows knotted, but you obeyed. You sat there with your head bowed as the Grandmaster looked between the two of you. A small smirk pulled at his lips, but he didn’t bring attention to you or Bi-Han’s seemingly growing feelings for you. He only turned his attention back to Bi-Han.

“Once again, Sub-Zero, your will to survive surprises me. How many close calls has it been now?” The Grandmaster said with a playful tone.

“Too many,” Bi-Han breathed, before succumbing to a small coughing fit. The Grandmaster didn’t seem concerned with it.

“As I understand, it seems your servant here was the one to save you this time.”

Bi-Han’s brows knotted as he looked over to you. You were glancing at him out the corner of your eye, but quickly looked away as you noticed his gaze shift to you.

“Ah, a modest one. How refreshing,” the Grandmaster said. “Do you not remember, Sub-Zero?”

“I do not… the last thing I remember—” He paused. Bi-Han couldn’t remember much of anything other than that dream. He frowned in his own defeat.

“I’m sure it will come back to you,” The Grandmaster assured him. “Your house has been repaired. Though, I understand your dinner has been ruined.” The Grandmaster looked back to you. “I will send a replacement when you are ready.”

Your cheeks flushed as you nodded and bowed gratefully.

“Can you walk?” The Grandmaster asked, looking back to Bi-Han.

Bi-Han sighed, as if dreading the thought of it, but began to push himself to sit up. His face showed his discomfort. You could see just how much he was struggling. You thought of offering to help him, but something told you not to. As if to save Bi-Han some face, you averted your eyes as he grunted through his pain as he finally managed to sit up. A shallow breath escaped him. He was already exhausted.

You peeked back to him. His eyes were on you as he tried not to take too deep a breath. You could see now, as the sheet covering him had fallen from his chest, that he was wrapped tight in bandages. Glancing back to his eyes, he nodded towards the clean robe which had been dropped off earlier. You quickly grabbed it and carefully helped him slip into the long robe.

The Grandmaster watched, hiding his amusement behind a stone face. Sub-Zero had always been a fighter. He’d fight death itself it seemed. That was precisely why The Grandmaster was so concerned with him. Sub-Zero reminded him so much of himself.

Despite his stubbornness, Bi-Han knew he wasn’t going to be able to get up on his own. He sighed in his defeat. He looked back to you. He didn’t have to ask, the look on his face was enough. Shifting behind him, you gently wrapped your arms under his. After making sure you weren’t hurting him, you gave him a small count off before pushing yourself up with your legs, doing your best to support Bi-Han’s weight as well as you pulled him up with you. Once about half-way up, Bi-Han managed to get his feet under him and help take most of his weight off you.

Once he was up, you kept your eyes averted as he put a hand on your shoulder to steady himself and straighten out. You caught glance of the Grandmaster, smirking at you, before he looked back to Bi-Han. “Do you require a walking stick?” The Grandmaster offered, but even you could hear the teasing that lurked in his tone.

Bi-Han let go of your shoulder with a grunt and made to take a step. You felt your heart skip a beat as he stumbled, but managed to catch himself. The scowl on Bi-Han’s face made the Grandmaster chuckle and nod. The Grandmaster gestured for the door with an outstretched arm. Bi-Han looked in the direction.

The door was on the other side of the large room. And before you could offer to help him, Bi-Han had started to shuffle his way towards it, refusing any more help. That didn’t stop you from staying close behind him. You watched him carefully. Your body was tense, heart pounding in anticipation of him misstepping and falling.

But he didn’t. He’d made it to the door. A guard had opened it for the both of you. You gave the guard a bow of your head. Once in the hall, and the door shut behind you, you heard a heavy breath escape from Bi-han before he put a hand on the stone wall and leaned against it.

You moved to his side. “Don’t push yourself,” you said just loud enough for him to hear.

He shook his head. “I can’t let him see me weak.”

“You almost died,” you reasoned. “I’m sure he—” You stopped when you caught his stern eyes. You straightened. You gave him a single nod. “Take your time,” you said then, and he seemed to relax with your words.

After a few moments, he began walking again, using the wall for support. You didn’t leave his side.

Outside however, Bi-Han was without a wall to support himself. He put a hand on your shoulder again. You let him use you to support himself as you both made your way back to his house. You didn’t notice anything new about it, the repairs had been seamless. The Lin Kuei must have had some remarkable builders.

Helping Bi-Han inside, he let go of your shoulder to use the walls again. Once you shut the door and locked it, you followed him as he made his way to his room. You helped him lower himself to his bed.

“Thank you,” He said, barely above a whisper. Your eyes shifted up to his. You weren’t sure he’d ever said those words before, they sounded so strange coming from his mouth. But you didn’t mention it. You just nodded to him.

“Rest for now,” You told him. You helped him lay back and pull over his covers. You sat on the edge of his bed. He didn’t protest in the least and closed his eyes.

It didn’t take long for Bi-Han to drift back to sleep. You had sat on the edge of his bed for a moment longer before moving to the kitchen. There was black markings all over the place. Apparently a fire had broken out in the chaos. Thankfully, it didn’t spread to the rest of the house. You sighed at the mess however. This would take hours to clean.

A knock had pulled your attention. You looked up from scrubbing the floor. Who could that possibly be at this hour? You could have sworn most of the assassins had turned in for the night and would get back to work in the morning. You pushed yourself up and wiped your hands on a towel. Knocks came again before you could get to the door. Hopefully they weren’t loud enough to wake Bi-Han.

You opened the door a crack and peeked out. The dirt covered face of Kuai stared back at you. Your brows bunched as you opened the door for him. He stepped in, covered from head to toe in dirt. “What have you been doing…” You mused as you shut the door behind him.

“Where is he?” Kuai asked, voice rough.

“Resting. Do not disturb him,” You told him.

Kuai’s brows rose. “Are you ordering me?”

You gave him a stern look. He grinned and headed for the kitchen, trailing dirt through the house. You sighed. More cleaning. You followed him.

“Why are you here?” You asked Kuai as he sat at the table, taking note of the burned marks. “Don’t lean on that. It’s unstable,” you warned him.

“I was burying our dead,” he answered. Your brows knotted again. “Did you not ask what I was doing?” He asked. Oh, right. You nodded with a sigh. “My house had burned down,” he’d then added, answering your other question. “I would have stayed in the palace, but I never liked staying there… Too many eyes.”

You nodded and moved to the sink. A basin of clean water was in it. You took a clean cloth and wet it. You moved to Kuai and offered it to him. He took it and wiped his hands clean. “Should I set out a couple bed rolls for you and Snowflake?” You offered.

Kuai shook his head. “Just one,” he said and used the rag to wipe the dirt from his face. You looked to him with confusion, but as he looked back to you, you suddenly understood… One bed roll… all the dirt… ‘burying our dead…’ You frowned and bowed your head respectfully.

“My condolences,” you said gently.

Kuai sucked in a breath. “Do not concern yourself with her. There’s nothing you can do.”

But guilt had already taken hold of you. Maybe if you had just stayed at the bath house, you would have been able to save Snowflake. Maybe the others? You hadn’t seen any of them since that morning. “If I had stayed at the bath house—”

“If you had stayed at the bath house, then my brother may have perished instead.”

You fell silent. You supposed he was right. You sighed heavily in your defeat.

“How did you command the beast?” Kuai asked, looking into your eyes, as if trying to find some secret. You’d turned your head away and he reached out to grip your arm tightly, almost threateningly. “What did you do?!” He demanded.

You gasped and tried to pull away from him, but his entire hand was big enough to completely close around your arm and he wasn’t letting go. “Please, Tundra… Let me go,” you plead as fear began pumping through your veins.

“What did you do?” He demanded again and easily yanked you back towards him.

“I didn’t!-- Please!”

Kuai wasn’t having it. He knew you had done something. He didn’t know what, but he’d been suspicious the moment you’d stood up to that ice beast and didn’t have so much as a scratch from the encounter. How had you gotten out without being harmed? How had everyone else gotten harmed or killed. But not you?

“Kuai!”

Kuai’s eye shifted up to look beyond you. You turned your head to look back. Bi-Han was leaning against the wall, pain covering his face under the glare he was giving his brother. Kuai looked to you, then practically threw your arm back at you. You quickly backed away from him, well out of his reach.

“She did something,” Kuai said, looking back to his brother.

Bi-Han kept his eyes on Kuai, but spoke to you. “Did you do something, Bao-Zhong?”

Kuai shifted uncomfortably hearing your new name, he looked back to you.

You shook your head, “No… I… I just spoke to it.”

Kuai scoffed. “You commanded it!”

“No--I…” You frowned and caught Bi-Han’s curious eyes now locked on you. “I… I just told it to stop…”

“And it listened,” Kuai added.

Bi-Han was looking back and forth between you two. He knew what Kuai was accusing you of.

“I’ve never known Ice Beasts to be that violent,” you told them.

“So you communicate with them regularly?” Kuai interrogated.

You were panicking. Now you were catching on to the accusation. “I didn’t do this. I swear!”

“You’re the only one unscathed!” Kuai shouted.

“No! No! That’s not true! It was attacking me too!” You plead.

“And yet there is not a scratch on you!” Kuai countered.

“I just…” Tears were starting to roll down your cheeks now. “I didn’t cause this!”

“What happened?” Bi-Han asked, trying to keep his voice clear and calm. “Why would an Ice Beast listen to you?”

“Do… Do they not listen to you?” You asked them, but they just gave you bewildered expressions. “They… We…” You swallowed the lump in your throat. “In the Snow Ninja clan, they help us. We have them do the work that would take several of us to do… They protect us…”

“You enslaved them?” Kuai asked in disbelief.

“They made life easier…”

“Like horses?” Bi-Han asked.

“Yes.”

Bi-Han and Kuai exchanged looks before looking back at you. “Did you know the one who attacked us?” Kuai asked.

You shook your head.

“And you did not command these Ice Beasts to attack the village?”

“No.”

“Then why did they attack?”

“I don’t know,” you admitted. “I thought the Lin Kuei had killed all the Ice Beasts in my old village. The one that attacked us… There was something in its eyes… Something unnatural… Like it wasn’t in control.”

“What are you saying?” Bi-Han asked.

“It was as if… it was under a spell,” you answered.

“A spell?” Kuai said, looking back to his brother. Bi-Han looked just as confused. “Who would put a spell on an Ice Beast to destroy our village?”

“We have no shortage of enemies, Kuai,” Bi-Han reminded him.

“Please. Believe me. I did not bring them here,” You plead again.

Kuai had side-eyed you, not entirely convinced.

“I do believe you,” Bi-Han reassured you. Kuai stared back to his brother in disbelief. “You would not have saved me if you had sent them to destroy us. You would have ran in the chaos,” Bi-Han reasoned.

The tension that was building in your shoulders had melted away. Bi-Han believed you. And he had been right. If you had gotten the Ice Beasts to attack the village, you certainly would have run. And you certainly wouldn’t have saved Bi-Han or Kuai.

#mortal kombat #mortal kombat 2021 #mortal kombat fanfiction #fanfiction #fanfic #mk fanfic #mk fanfiction #sub-zero #bi-han #lin kuei #bi-han x reader #reader x bi-han #sub-zero x reader #reader x sub-zero #joe taslim #reader insert

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waitimcomingtoo · 4 years ago

Text

In Case You Don’t Live Forever

~chapter two rewritten~

Pairing: Peter Parker x Venom!Reader

Synopsis: you are Peters greatest love and Spider-Man’s greatest enemy

Masterlist and Series Masterlist

Moving and finding an apartment can be an incredibly long and stressful process. Unless you’re you, and life likes to throw a lot of curve balls at you for the utter hell of it.

Your dad dropped dead three weeks after you told Andy you were moving to New York. Coincidentally, right in the middle of you trying to find a place to live. He drank himself to death. Figures. You doubted you’d ever had a conversation with him that he was sober enough to remember. His untimely demise was unfortunate for him, because he died or whatever, but very fortunate for you. As his only child, you got his apartment in Queens and all his smelly hoodies.

You said your goodbyes to Andy and Dani after a night out in the streets of San Francisco. You had originally moved there after high school to start your show, The L/n Report. San Francisco was known for its crimes against the homeless population and you wanted to start with a story on that. You ended up interviewing Andy at the police station while investigating a missing person, and dated him for two years. Now, you were spending your last few hours in San Francisco with the very boy you once loved and the very girl he now did.

“Are you all packed?” Dani asked you, snapping you out of your thoughts.

“Pretty much. I gotta put my toothbrush and hairbrush in my suitcase in the morning. Other than that, I’m good to go.” You answered her. She smiled fondly at you as she linked her arm through yours.

“Hey, I’m really gonna miss you. More than that guy over there.” You whispered, nodding towards Andy, who had his head buried in his phone. Dani laughed and nodded in agreement as you continued to walk.

“I’m going to miss you too. You’re my best friend here.” She sighed sadly.

“I’m glad we’re friends. Most women in our position would hate each other.” You thought out loud.

“Uh uh. You’re thinking of women in films. It’s 2021, baby. Women support women. You and I are two talented, smart, beautiful women who would never be caught fighting over some boy. Especially not one who can’t take his eyes off his phone for two seconds.” Dani said loudly and smacked Andy’s arm. You laughed at the domestic moment but couldn’t help feeling a pain in your heart knowing he used to be that way with you.

“What, sorry?” Andy looked up. You and Dani looked at him before looking at each other and laughing.

“What’s funny?” He asked, growing annoyed.

“We’re laughing at you babe. Put your phone away. It’s Y/N’s last night here.” Dani scolded playfully. Andy sighed and reluctantly put his phone in his pocket.

“Right, sorry. And it’s not her last night here. She’s coming back. You are coming back, right?” He asked you. You nodded, though you weren’t entirely sure.

“Of course I’ll be back.” You shrugged. “I just want to experience something new for a while. I’ve done a million pieces on homelessness and poverty. I want to see what fresh stories New York has to offer.”

“You’re quoting the Daily Bugle, aren’t you?” Dani teased you.

“That is verbatim what they said to me.” You admitted with a laugh. “But hey, it worked. As of tomorrow, I’m the Daily Bugle’s newest investigative reporter.”

“Who are you reporting on anyway?” Andy showed a rare interest in your work.

“Some guy named Cletus Kasady.” You answered. “He’s some hot shot serial killer down in Queens. No one knows how he’s hiding his victims bodies. Apparently none have ever been close to being found.”

“And they want you to write the story on him?” Andy raised an eyebrow, always with the condescending tone.

“Well they heard about the whole Carlton Drake situation and decided I hadn’t been through enough trauma in my career.” You replied, earning a laugh from Dani but not Andy. You and Andy had already broken up by the time Carlton Drake contracted a symbiote and tried to kill you and Venom. You stopped him before he could hurt anyone and wrote a career defining article on his lethal human experiments. You managed to leave out all information regarding symbiotes from the article, so your secret was still safe. You were a fairly well known reporter since the incident and your next job was waiting for you in New York.

In the morning, You and Venom got on a plane and made your way to New York. Being on a plane with Venom turned out to be the equivalent to traveling with a toddler. You tried to sleep, but every two seconds you had to stop Venom from getting into trouble. She kept trying to open the window, even after you explained to her that everyone on the plane would die horrible death if the window were to open.

“Stop that.” You whispered when you noticed a black tendril creeping towards the window. The lady in the seat next to you shot me a look of confusion. You gave her a fake smile and turned back to the window, doing your best to conceal the small black tendril that was coming out of your body and fidgeting with the airplane window.

“We want it open.” Venom replied telepathically.

“Do you also want us to blow out of the plane and into space?” You said through my teeth.

“We didn’t anticipate that but it’d be appreciated.” Venom answered, making you groan. The rest of the plane ride followed in similar fashion.

Seven hours later, you arrived at the apartment building. You had never been to your dads apartment, you didn’t even know he had one. You wondered what happened to your childhood home as you looked around the place. The apartment wasn’t too small but not too big either. The rent was practically nothing compared to how expensive San Francisco was, and The Daily Bugle offered to cover your expenses until the story was done. You figured after some redecorating and moving in, it would make a fine new home.

The first seven days in the apartment went by smoothly. You unpacked, with little to no help from Venom, and set up the furniture. On the eight day, you sat on the couch, aimlessly flipping through channels in the TV when you had a thought.

“Oh shit.” You said out loud.

“What?” Venom, who was curly nestled around your neck like a neck pillow, asked.

“I forgot mail exists.” You frowned. “We better go check the mailbox before it overflows.”

You and Venom grudgingly walked to the mailboxes and back again. No one was around, so she manifested herself and rested on your shoulder as I looked through the mail.

“Oops. I grabbed someone else’s mail too.” You clicked your tongue when you read a strangers name off the envelope. “I gotta find them.”

“Let’s go.” Venom said and pulled you towards the front door.

“Sorry, babe. This is a me thing, not a we thing. You know I love you but I don’t want to scare our neighbors. Not yet anyway.” You reasoned. Venom grumbled and went back inside your body.

You checked the address of the envelope and discovered that it belonged to the apartment directly across from you.

You knocked on the door and patiently waited for someone to open it as you mindlessly cracked your knuckles. Just as you were about to walk away, the door opened.

“Hi, are you May Parker?” You asked right away. You looked up from the envelope and your face instantly flushed. The person staring back at you definitely wasn’t May Parker. It was a boy around your age, maybe a little younger. He had soft brown eyes and wavy brown hair. It was gelled back loosely and you could see the outline of soft curls. To your surprise, he was just as flushed as you were. You stared at each other for a moment, no one wanting to be the first to blink.

“Yea. I’m May Parker.” The boy said finally. He shut his eyes in embarrassment and shook his head.

“I mean, no I’m not. But that’s my Aunt. May is my Aunt but I’m not May. That’s my Aunt May. I’m her nephew…obviously. Aunt May is my Aunt May. I…what?” He stumbled over his words and somehow turned even redder. His blush reached all the way down his neck, to his blue jumper that read “Midtown Tech” in yellow letters. You recognized the name of one of the most prestigious high schools in New York, already impressed with your new neighbor.

“Well hello, not May Parker. I’m also not May Parker. But I seemed to forget that when I grabbed your mail this morning. Sorry about that.” You said sheepishly as you handed his mail to him. The boy rubbed the back of his neck as he looked at it and attempted to redeem himself.

“It’s not problem. She and I always forget to check the mail so you actually helped us, um, whoever you are.” He smiled weakly. His voice was cute. He had that Queens accent that the people of San Francisco lacked, for obvious reasons.

“Oh, right.” You laughed in embarrassment. “I’m Y/N L/N. I just moved here from San Francisco. I live across the hall.”

You pointed to the door behind you as if he didn’t know what “across the hall” meant. You didn’t know what was wrong with you. You were never this awkward.

His eyes lit up a bit once you told him where you lived.

“Really? I thought that smelly guy lived there.” The boy said and you stifled a laugh.

“That smelly guy was my father. He died a little while ago so I live there now.” You told him, malign the boys eyes widen. They were so brown. Like little pools of honey. Or little pools of the Hudson River. You had seen a million pairs of brown eyes before, but none like his. They were quite distracting to be honest.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry! I had. I had no idea-“ he began to frantically apologize but you cut him off.

“Don’t worry about it. We never got along. And you’re right, that man stank.” You chuckled. It was the first thing you said that felt like your old self. You hadn’t really talked to anyone since moving to New York, with the exception of Venom and the occasional phone call from Andy or Dani. You liked talking to this boy, though you still had no idea who he was.

“Oh thank God. I thought I screwed this up before it even went anywhere.” He immediately turned red when he heard his own words. You saw the regret in his eyes and decided to throw him a bone.

“Well it certainly can’t go anywhere until you tell me your name.” You flirted. Again, he relaxed. You felt a surge of confidence knowing he wanted this to go well.

“Parker. I’m Parker Peter. I mean, Peter Parker.” He fumbled over his words again, making you smile fondly.

“We like him. He’s cute.” Venom said telepathically. You looked down at my shoes and blushed, knowing you liked him too.

“And he looks delicious.” She added, ruining the moment.

“It’s nice to meet you Peter Parker.” You gave him your best smile. “I’m glad there’s someone my age around here. Everyone I’ve met so far is either an old bitty or a creepy uncle type.” You regretted it as soon as it left your mouth. You didn’t know what his sense of humor was like and he might not find you the slightest but funny. Andy always told you you were bad at telling jokes, and you feared he might be right.

Lucky for you, Peter burst out laughing.

“Ah. I’ve seen you’ve met Henry.” Peter pointed a finger down the hall. “Yeah, I’d stay away from him. He asked me if he could have pictures of my feet once. He said he’d “pay me handsomely” for it too.”

“Damn. So he beat me to asking you.” You pretended to be upset, which made Peter laugh again. The sound of his laugh made your heart pick up speed. You weren’t used to feeling like this. Boys rarely impressed you, Andy was just lucky you liked a man in uniform.

“Yeah. You better stay away from him.” Peter advised.

“It might be hard.” You clicked your tongue. “Our mailboxes are pretty close. I’ll make a mental note to never check my mail while wearing flip flops, though.”

Peter smiled at your joke. He had the kind of smile that you would make the person laugh just to see it again. It was brilliant.

“Well my mailbox should be directly above yours. So don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” He grinned, and you grinned back.

“My hero.” You gushed as you put your hands over your heart. The tips of his ears went pink, like he was shocked that you said that.

“I’m no hero.” He sounded almost panicked, like you touched a nerve or something.

“We’re hungry. We need to eat.” Venom interrupted abruptly, causing you to jump. Since Peter couldn’t hear her, he looked at you strangely, not knowing the cause of your sudden jolt.

“Sorry, I uh, I thought I saw a spider.” You lied.

“If there was a spider, we’d eat it. We need food. Now.” Venom demanded.

Peter looked up at his doorframe for the imaginary spider.

“Yeah, New York is full of them.” Peter said skeptically. “Not that full, though. And some spiders are nice. One might even call them friendly.”

“Right.” You laughed at his strange wording, unaware that you were both keeping a secret.

“Would…” Peter began but trailed off, seemingly mulling something over in his head. “Would you like to eat dinner with my Aunt and I? I remember when we first moved in, it took us a while to get into the swing of things and make dinner every night. If you like, you could join us. And, you know, we could get to know each other.” He offered. It all came out in one breath. You could tell he was nervous and that only drew you in more.

“I’d love to Peter.” You said, and he smiled in relief.

“Great.” He gave an awkward thumbs up. “We usually eat around six so maybe come around then? She’ll be so happy to meet you. She loves cooking and she always tries to get me to learn but I once burnt cereal and I still don’t know how.” Peter began to ramble. He cut himself off and shook his head again. “Sorry. I’m rambling.”

Then, you did something stupid. You put your hand on his arm like the dumb bitch you were. You barely knew this guy. Who the hell were you to touch him? He must’ve been thinking the same thing, since he instantly froze under your touch and stared at your hand on his arm.

“Don’t apologize. I can’t cook either. Unless you count making tater tots as cooking. Then I’m Gordon Ramsey.” You assured him, feeling him relax under your touch.

“You’re just gonna mention tater tots without warning us first? Our mouth is watering. Can we eat Peter?” Venom asked, making your eyes widen.

If it was socially acceptable to scream at your symbiote in public, you would’ve yelled “NO, WE CANNOT EAT PETER” from the top of your lungs. But since you didn’t want to scare Peter and the rest of the neighbors away, you merely smiled and made another mental note to smack the shit out of Venom later.

“I love that man. “Where is the lamb sauce?” Peter mimicked in a bad British accent. He had no right being as charming as he was.

“No no no.” You shook your head. “His best line is “I’ll get you more pumpkin and I’ll ram it right up your ass. Would you like it whole or diced?”. He’s said some pretty wild things but that one makes me cry.”

Peters laugh rang through the halls. To be the cause of that laugh was a feeling like no other. You stood there for a while, just looking at each other. His eyes grazed down your body, but not in a crude way. You berated yourself for not dressing better when going to meet the neighbors, clad in nothing but a grey hoodie and some leggings. Peter looked cute, but you had a feeling he always did. His jumper was pretty baggy and you could see a collared shirt poking out the top. He was dressed almost professionally and you found it incredibly endearing.

You wanted to know more about him. You wanted to know his secrets and his hobbies and what makes him itch. You wanted to see if he dresses this way on weekends too or what his summer clothes looked like. Your gawking was interrupted by Peters phone ringing. He broke out of his trance and answered it quickly.

“Hi, Mr. S. No I’m not busy. I mean, I’m super busy but I can totally make time for you. Yea, Happy talked to me. Okay. Okay. Where? Okay. See you in a bit.” Peter hung up and looked at you apologetically.

“That was my job. I have to run but I’ll be back in time for our dinner. I live at…you know where I live. I’ll see you then. Don’t be late.” Peter called as he ran down the hallway, towards the elevator.

“I won’t. See you later.” You called back.

You went back to your apartment and like a kid, broke out into a happy dance.

“Venom!! Did you see how cute he was?” You gushed. “And how funny he is? I have to get ready for tonight.”

Venom manifested and swirled around my arm.

“Someone has a crush.” Venom smirked. Well, as much of a smirk as she could muster with that huge mouth of hers.

“I don’t have a crush. I just think he’s cute okay?” You replied coyly. “Cute. And funny and sweet and charming and amazing. But that’s it.”

“We can feel your heart beat.” Venom reminded you. “It was going ten miles an hour. What would Andy say?”

You had been rummaging through your closet and stopped in your tracks. With Peters new inhabitance in your mind, you had forgotten all about Andy. You moved to New York to avoid his wedding and his moving on, and you might’ve succeeded.

“I don’t care what he’d say.” You decided. “He’s not my boyfriend.”

“But we want him to be.” Venom insisted. “We want him back, remember?”

“I don’t know what I want.” You answered honestly. “I just want to get ready for tonight.”

“Why are you getting ready now? You have 5 hours until you have to be there and it’s right across the hall.” Venom teased.

“Only 5 hours?” You sighed. “We better get moving.”

#peter parker x reader #peter parker x y/n #peter parker x you #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker imagine #peter parker x venom!reader #venom!reader #tom holland x reader #tom holland x you #tom holland fluff #tom holland fanfiction #iron man

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bwbatta · 4 years ago

Text

blush

Abstract: Aaron Hotchner makes you blush. You just so happen to have the same reaction on him.

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x reader (gender neutral)

Warnings: some swearing, some teasing from the BAU, mentions of sexy times, death by fluff, get ready for some blushing red cheeks gang

Word count: 2455

A/N: the super cute dividers are by @firefly-graphics!

You’d never thought you’d be dating someone from your team let alone it being Aaron, aka, your boss.

The two of you gave into your feelings for each other after one angsty night when a case went wrong and you ending up in the hospital.

Admissions of love were shared between the two of you and by any definition you were now together, however deciding to keep it to yourselves for now.

Though hiding your new relationship from a team of profilers was difficult, especially as Aaron thought it funny to use it to his advantage.

“Delivery for Y/N” a voice was heard through the office as your head shot up and mouth fell open slightly at the display of red and white roses held by the delivery man.

“Over here!” Garcia’s excitable voice was heard and you can tell she was just brimming with questions along with Emily and JJ who had also caught sight of the amass of flowers heading your way.

The man popped the vase down on your desk and held out a keypad for you to sign for them.

Scribbling your signature down, you were half in slight shock and half in awe of the floral arrangement in front of you.

“Who are these from?!” Penelope gushed “you never said you were seeing anyone!”

Plucking the small note from the top of the bunch, you flipped open the small envelope and pulled out the card.

“Just to see if I can make you blush. I love you -A “

Immediately your face flushed.

Damn you, Aaron.

“You’ve been holding out on us” JJ grinned at hot cheeks as you resisted the urge to look up at the window of Aaron’s office, knowing he was already probably watching.

“They’re just from someone” you said offhandedly like it wasn’t a big deal

“Just someone?!” Derek’s voice was heard from behind you now “I’m guessing it was a guy who sent you these and he’s ‘just someone’ to you?!”

The gathering of the girls around your desk now had caught the attention of the rest of your team, all eager to find out who the flowers were from.

“So, who’s the lucky guy?” Emily grinned leaning against your desk as she admired the flowers “you’ve got to tell us something about him”

“He’s just a guy I’ve been seeing” you could help the smile which appeared across your face

“A guy who likes to send our Y/N flowers” Derek teased

It was slow day in the office and the arrival of your delivery was enough to make the team grasp the excuse of a break. Rossi had wandered down from his office and so had Hotch, the latter concealing the smile he wanted to show.

“Who’s sent Y/N flowers?!” Rossi’s teasing tone was heard as everyone was now gathered

“A mysterious boyfriend” JJ answered as you bit the inside of your cheek

“He’s kind of a dick to be honest” you shrugged catching Aaron’s eye “sending me flowers knowing all of you will bombard me with questions”

“So he knows about us?” Emily’s eyebrow shot up

“Mmm, told him everything about you lot” you mused “it’s almost as if he already knows you guys”

You held back the chuckle that desperately wanted to escape your lips.

“Seems like he obviously cares about you. The red roses are typical signs to show romance and love as well as commitment where as the white is traditionally about a new beginning or loyalty” Reid rambled off about the roses to the team as Hotch had raised an eyebrow at you as if to tease you.

Not trusting yourself to not expose the both of you, you dropped your eyes to the roses again as you felt the slight grin on your lips.

“So this guy loves you?!” Derek teased wiggling his eyebrows

“Alright that’s it” you rolled your eyes with a smile “you all know too much now, I’m not saying anything else”

“You should know better than lying to a bunch of profilers, Y/N” Aaron’s voice was heard humorously

“Exactly” Penelope grinned “Now of you could just tell me his first and last name along with his date of birth and blood type that would be great”

“I can’t believe you” was the first thing to come out of your mouth as Aaron opened the door to his apartment that night.

A grin sat on his face as he took in your exasperated look

“I don’t know what you mean”

“Don’t know what I mean?! I mean you delivering flowers to me which was obviously going to cause an avalanche of questions”

“Ohh, that”

With a look through narrowed eyes you passed him, walking further into the room, expression changing as soon as you and Jack both spotted each other.

“Y/N!”

“Jack buddy! Hi!”

Leaping off the seat he was on, his little legs sprinted over to you as you caught him and lifted him onto your hip with arms right around him in a hug.

“Are we having another sleepover tonight?!” He asked excited

“I don’t know, you’ll have to ask your dad” you said as immediately you both turned to Aaron with matching puppy eyes

“Please, Daddy!” Jack asked as he wrapped his arms around your neck tighter “can Y/N stay over?”

“Yes please, Daddy” you smiled at your boyfriend who’s neck has grown a little redder at your teasing tone, knowing exactly what you did to him

“If Y/N wants to stay over, then yes” he grinned, face falling into a genuine smile as his son’s eyes lit up, though he remembered your teasing tone and stored it in his mind for later.

The evening consisted of building with Lego’s, followed by a meal made by Aaron who had happily watched on with genuine heart eyes as his two favourite people bounced off each other’s energy.

Before long a large yawn escaped the boy’s lips as he was snuggled in between you both, his head just dropping onto your shoulder, a key sign he was growing tired.

Picking up his son, Jack waved a sleepy goodnight to you before Aaron placed him in bed and the boy was out like a light.

“All the excitement of creating a huge Lego truck must’ve knocked him out” you chuckled as Aaron settled beside you, pulling you into his chest.

Tugging your legs over his own, you cuddled into his chest as you both relaxed into each other.

“He adores you” Aaron kissed the crown of your head “as do I”

“He’s my favourite Hotchner man” you shrugged with a slight smile on your face acutely aware of the narrowed eyes you now had staring down at you

“So, it’s not your wonderful boyfriend who sent you flowers at work today?”

“He’s a close second”

“Not even when you call him, Daddy?”

“You little-“

Feeling Aaron’s fingers immediately tickle your side your whole body blushed and convulsed trying to get away from the offending action of his hands.

With a bubble of laughter escaping your lips, Aaron immediately covered your lips with his own as you laughed into his mouth still.

His hand wound through your hair pulling you ever closer as if he couldn’t get enough of you as his other hand wrapped firmly around your waist pulling you into his lap.

His assault on your mouth lessened slightly until small sweet kisses were shared and you pulled back slightly to just take him in.

“I love you” he whispered leaning downward to find your lips again

“I love you too” you smiled running your thumb over the bridge of his nose “more than you know”

No other words were said as Aaron lifted you up, you wrapping you legs around his waist in second nature as he wandered down the hallway to the master bedroom, closing the door behind you as you went.

“Holy hell, you obviously had a good night” came Dereks teasing tone as he took the seat next to you on the jet.

“What?”

“Well, as much as I can tell you’ve tried to hide the immense hickey on your neck, it’s still pretty obvious” he snickered

A hand immediately went to your neck as you narrowed your eyes at him as he just continued to laugh

“Hey, Em, check this out” he called as you slapped his arm, cheeks flushing

“Nope, no, nothing to see” you shook your head trying to downplay your colleagues teasing

“See what?” Emily grinned taking the seat opposite the two of you

“Take a good look at our Y/N’s neck and tell me a good night was not had by this one?”

“Oh wow” the girl opposite grinned at you “is that from your boyfriend who you’ve told us absolutely nothing about?”

“...might be”

“What about Y/N’s boyfriend?” JJ took the other seat in the pod

“Well considering the damage done to Y/N’s neck...” Emily snickered

“Oh my god you guys, stop it” you rolled your eyes as you could see Aaron trying to hide a smile as he took the couple seats opposite with Rossi

“Come on, tell us something else about this guy?” Rossi grinned “When are we going to meet him? Invite him to pasta night!”

“It’s still very new and as much as I love you guys, if you were to find out who he was, you’re guaranteed to overload the poor man”

“Overload the- are you kidding?” Derek shot you a look “when would we ever do that?!”

“Greetings my fine furry friends!” The bubbly voice of Garcia popped up “what are we talking about?”

“Y/N’s man” JJ snickered as you shot her a look

“Ooh has anything else been mentioned?”

“Not yet!”

“As much as I love talking about my love life could we, I don’t know, focus on the case?”

The snickers came from the two females opposite you as everyone began to settle in as the briefing begun.

“If you need to borrow some concealer, let me know” Emily whispered as you shot her an unamused look

The gentle knock was heard on your hotel door at around 1:30am. Knowing exactly who it was, you didn’t bother to grab a jumper or anything as you opened the door in just your underwear.

“Well, hello”

“Hello to you too” you grinned at his slightly stunned expression

“Want some company?”

Holding the door open further as an invitation for him to enter, Aaron slipped past you into your room, stealing a kiss from you in the process.

The door shut behind you as the two of you made your way over to the bed you had just come from.

Making yourselves comfortable, you curled into his chest, your favourite place, as he ran his hands up and down your sides.

“As funny as it is seeing the team joke about your neck, I didn’t mean for it to be that bruised” he said running his fingers over the large hickey he had created only the night before.

“I’m not complaining, the others are just joking anyway, though you leaving me out to dry isn’t so much fun”

He snickered into your hair, completely unapologetic

“Would you want me to intervene?”

“I’d want you to stop egging them on!”

Aaron grinned at the thought of the teasing throughout the day which he had unashamedly taken apart in.

“Even when they asked about our sex life?”

You groaned remembering Emily cornering you to ask about the mystery man who was currently in your bed. You didn’t give her any answers until JJ showed up and the two started pressuring you with more questions.

When Aaron had entered the room you were never more grateful, thinking the two would stop interrogating you but when JJ had asked about where he ranked in regards to how good he was in bed, the man couldn’t help but involve himself in this interrogation.

“He’s the best you’ve ever had?” He questioned eyebrows raising “he must be smug about that? I know I would be”

Aaron had supplied the two women with even more questions after that, leaving the room shortly after with a fiery glare from you.

“You just threw me to the lions” you rolled you eyes at the memory

“But how could I not after knowing I’m the best you’ve ever had?” He grinned

Your cheeks flushed again wishing you’d never said anything with him being in hearing distance.

“Smug bastard” you muttered burying yourself into his chest further

“Aw, come on Sweetheart” he lifted your chin with two fingers to meet your eyes “don’t you want some of the best sex you’ve ever had?”

Your remaining underwear hit the floor not to long after that.

“I swear I didn’t get any sleep last night” Derek complained to Reid at breakfast the next morning as you joined the two along with Aaron and JJ.

“What do you mean?” Spencer asked eyebrows furrowing together

“I mean there was a couple on our floor last night who were going at it like animals” the man rolled his eyes “Weren’t quiet about it either. Didn’t you hear them Y/N, your room was only a few down from mine”

You just held back the snicker that threatened to escape your lips as you nodded in agreement.

“Yeah I heard them, it was so loud, almost like they were in the same room as me” you shrugged

“You guys just got unlucky with your rooms this time then. On our last case, there was a couple a few doors down from me with the same thing. What is it with hotels and people acting like rabbits?” JJ questioned

That time you were both definitely in Aaron’s room which was near JJ’s.

“Anyway, hopefully you’ll be able to go wild with your man when we land Y/N?” JJ teased “Add a few more hickeys to the collection?”

Aaron thought you’d blush and shoot her teasing questions down but was surprised when you just laughed and shot her a smirk.

“Oh definitely” you grinned “to be honest though I bought this little red number I can’t wait to try out, hopefully he’ll be the one with a couple hickeys next time”

The man next to you nearly choked on his coffee at the thought of you in a red number.

Trying to flush the idea from his mind, it did nothing as the red blush grew on his cheeks slightly not being able to think of anything else other than what he’d do to you when you got home.

Seeing the slight blush on his cheeks, you grinned slightly, thoroughly happy you had the same reaction on him as you knew he did on you.

#aaron hotchner x reader #Aaron Hotchner imagine #bau #Aaron Hotchner fluff #hotch x reader #spencer Reid x reader #Emily prentiss x reader #Aaron hotchner #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds x reader #criminal minds

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reidsnose · 4 years ago

Text

completely and utterly, wholeheartedly and hopelessly (spencer reid x reader)

overview: spencer helps his best friend talk through her emotions

genre: angst? and fluff

warnings: mentions of cheating, bad coping mechanisms, idrk what else reader being upset for a little bit

a/n: this has been sitting in my notes app FOREVER but idk how i feel ab this one im usually strictly fluff so yall lmk :)

masterlist

you hated talking about your feelings. you knew it was unhealthy to keep it bottled and and 'deal with it on your own' but that didn't stop you from doing exactly that.

the worst part about your feelings right now was that you isolate to cope with them. you didn't want to interact with anyone at all because more likely than not you would lash out at them on accident. it just slips out sometimes.

when you trudged into the bullpen with your head down and your hands fidgeting with your zipper, you didn't even notice all eyes on you. you werent your usual happy self. you weren't being loud, you weren't cracking jokes. you were just begrudgingly existing amongst your favorite people and they knew there was something wrong.

"good morning gorgeous, its a paperwork day! that means no traveling!" garcia informed you brightly, trying to lighten my mood.

"oh. cool. thanks." you answered back, flashing her as much of a smile as you could muster after realizing the harshness of your words.

she shot morgan a look, to which he raised an eyebrow.

"hey pretty lady," he began as he walked over to you, "whats going on? did you drink some grumpy juice for breakfast?"

"no. im fine." you replied flatly, making your way to your desk.

"what in the world.." he whispered to garcia, not knowing you could still hear.

or maybe he did know. maybe he was trying to get on your nerves. no. this is the irritability talking. morgan was just being a good friend.

you groaned at your computer, retyping the same password for the 4th time.

this time Prentiss shot you a look.

"is everything ok?" she asked, smiling slightly.

"yeah my computer is being stupid." you rolled your eyes as it finally let you in.

"oh i know the feeling. if you need any help-"

"I'm alright. thanks." you cut her off, eyes glued to the file you were working on.

JJ, who had witnessed the whole interaction unfold, stood with her mouth agape.

"spence, your bestie needs you!" JJ tapped his shoulder and motioned to you.

he watched your jaw rhythmically clench and unclench. your tell. thats what you always did when you were irritated or angry.

"hey y/n," he hummed, sitting lightly on the corner of your desk, crinkling some of your paper work.

"Reid! my files!" you cried, swatting his thigh. he got up and murmured an apology.

"are you ok?" he asked simply, crouching down to meet your height as you sat in your chair.

"why does everyone keep asking me that!"

you knew why. you were being a bitch.

"you just called me Reid." he stated.

"its your name." you replied, not meeting his gaze.

"yeah but you always-" he began.

"I'm not in the mood right now."

he sighed, "if you need someone to talk to-"

"i don't need anyone to talk to because theres nothing to talk about!" you interrupted, causing him to furrow his eyebrows at the tone of my voice.

'i shouldn't be mean to him. why am i acting like this?' you thought to yourself

"ok, ill be over there if you need me," he threw his hands up in surrender.

you mumbled an ok and went back to distracting yourself with work. you were so invested in filing these cases you completely lost track of time and before you knew it, it was just you, Hotch, and Spencer left in the office. you vaguely remembered waving goodbye to your other coworkers but you didn't remember it being nearly 6pm.

"guys go home, you've done a lot today," Hotch said as he crossed the bullpen, making his way towards the glass doors.

"yeah i will i'm almost done," you answered, not looking up from my screen.

"good night, Hotch," Spencer called from the break room.

you stared at your screen, eyes burning. you did enough. you cant escape confronting your feelings much longer. you sighed as you began packing up.

as if on cue, Spencer walked out of the break room with two cups in his hands, steam rising from the both of them. your mood softened just a bit.

"here," he handed you your drink which he had filled with your favorite tea and sweetened just the way you like it.

"you didnt have to." you replied, setting down the warm cup as you finished packing up. he mirrored your movements, resting his satchel across his torso before picking his drink back up.

"i know." he answered simply, a gentle smiling resting on his lips before he took a sip of his own tea.

"im sorry for snapping at you earlier." you apologized, finally meeting his gaze. his eyes were soft and sweet and you felt a pang of guilt in your heart as they looked into your own.

"its ok. do you want to tell me why?" he asked, walking to the elevator with you.

"no. yes? i dont know. its stupid." you replied, looking down at the floor as you recounted your reason for my anger today.

"its not stupid." he spoke softly.

you scoffed lightly, "you dont even know what it is."

"so tell me."

"but its dumb!"

"y/n." he warned.

"my ex boyfriend, Ashton, is getting married to the girl he cheated on me with." you sighed, walking through the parking lot with Spencer.

"ah so Trashton put my favorite ray of sunshine in a bad mood." he joked, breath swirling around the cool air as he spoke

you let out a weary chuckle, "its not like i miss him or anything, i just wish i had someone! not him- i just- i want- ugh i don't know how to word this!" you grew frustrated, furrowing your eyebrows and balling your hands into fists.

you knew exactly how to word it.

you wanted Spencer.

"its ok, take all the time you need." he whispered, leaning on the hood of your car. you joined him, resting as you took a sip of your tea.

"why am i not good enough to be loved." you stated the question rather than asking it, eyes filling with tears.

"you are good enough and i promise you that you are loved more than you know." he affirmed gently, turning to face you.

"do you know why we broke up?" you asked, knowing if you acknowledged his previous comment you wouldn't be able to continue without sobbing.

"because he cheated on you." he answered confidently.

"no." you shook your head, fighting back tears.

"what? he didn't cheat on you?"

"he did. and i was going to forgive him for that."

Spencer started getting riled up, "what! why? you're worth more than that scumbag! you shouldn't ha-"

"Spencer just let me finish!" you cut him off. he went silent, chest rising and falling more rhythmically than it had seconds earlier. "he wanted me to chose. him or you."

"him or me?" he furrowed his eyebrows, voice much quieter now.

"mhm." you hummed not meeting his gaze, your cheeks redder than you'd like to admit.

"i don't understand." he breathed.

"he thought i was cheating on him with you. he had no proof and it w-"

"oh this is all my fault. y/n i'm so sorry!"

"no! spence its not your fault!" you grabbed his arm to reassure him.

"it is! your boyfriend broke up with you because of me! and now you're sad and lonely and its all my fault!" he cried, looking worriedly into your eyes.

"first of all, i broke it off with him, he just gave the ultimatum. secondly, you did me a favor."

"how?"

"by showing me who i was really dating. a cheating, insecure scumbag who was quick to replace me when i left."

"i guess thats true."

"and id pick you over him any day." you admitted, looking back down at the ground. he nudged your shoulder playfully and you cracked a sad smile

"im sorry i made you sad and lonely."

"you didnt. id be sad and lonely anyway."

"why? you would still have a boyfriend if it wasn't for me."

"i don't want a boyfriend if it isn't you."

shit. shit.

the words toppled out of your mouth before you could stop them.

"what?" he asked, wide eyes and looking a little shocked. spencer was sure in that very moment that if he heard you correctly hed simply explode.

"i- no this was a bad idea. i just ruined everything didnt i!" you were speaking more to yourself, exasperated at your own stupidity.

"no," you felt him place a finger to your chin and lift your gaze to meet his, "im glad you said it because now i can admit it."

"admit what?"

"that im completely and utterly, wholeheartedly and hopelessly in love with you."

"spencer dont play with my heart like this. are you being serious?"

"yes. i am." he said with a strange confidence than you had never heard before. hesitant but sure.

"oh thats so lucky because i am completely and utterly, wholeheartedly and hopelessly in love with you too." you admitted, feeling about 100 pounds lighter, like you could fly. he pulled you into a bone crushing hug which you eagerly accepted. "i should talk about my feelings more often."

he chuckled, pressing a soft kiss to the crown of your head, "yes you should."

world littlest taglist:

@mac99martin

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