#i want to watch but i fear the 12 hour shift is getting to me and i'm so so so sleepy

[astonmartingf]

the real winner is yuki, idgaf about the race, he won it for me

[seven-004]

Get Off my Car!

Red Hood x Reader (f!)

Scary vigilante or not after a 12 hour shift anyone would be annoyed with someone refusing to stop using your car as a seat

Warnings: Mild banter and a few innuendos, blood and mild panic

🚫 DO NOT USE FOR ACCURATE MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS OR PROCEDURES OF ANY KIND IM NOT A TRAINED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WHATSOEVER 🚫

Taking on a considerable amount of under paid overtime was less than ideal. More so as a fresh med grad at a Bowery hospital. But you needed the hours and more than anything the experience

Slightly regretting it when needing to cross the dark parking lot after a graveyard shift. In a City brimming with vigilantism and villains. They just had to give the worst shift to the newbie huh

It was a dreadingly long walk to your car that felt like a lot longer than it probably was

But here you were nonetheless. A very large obstacle in your way. Something that not only had your mouth gaping open but also incredibly irritated. Red Hood was using the back half of your cars roof as a seat. Said half visibly closer to the ground than the other. While audibly playing some kind of shooter game on his phone

"Uhm- Red Hood can you-" the current irritation was lower than the fear while you clutched your satchel gathering your courage "please can you get off my car sir?"

He was secretly offended you thought he was old enough to be called sir and it may have influenced in his response

He gave you the finger and promptly resumed his game. Not that he'd even paused it to begin with. You were too tired to deal with this after such a long shift. Your keys were already clutched between your knuckles throughout the walk to your car and accessible. You simply got into your car and in a burst of courage? tiredness? irritation? it could of been anything honestly

Regardless of the reason, you simply put the car in reverse and satisfyingly watched him roll right off. No middle finger now huh

Rolling your window down, he lay on the floor twitching. The adrenaline was certainly there now realizing what you'd done and quite honestly expecting to see a gun pointing at your face through the window

However, Red Hood was now laughing loudly from his position on the floor

"You're crazy! Sure caught me off guard"

He continued to squawk on the floor. Leather jacket visibly crinkling with his movement. Not exactly what you were expecting but you'd take it over a gun to the face any day. Peeking curiously out your window with baited breath just waiting for something else to happen. For anything else to happen

Finally sitting up. His day had been less than ideal and rolling off of a car certainly wasn't something he planned on doing today but it somehow didn't make the day any worse. Especially not when you, a cute person in scrubs watched him intently form the driver seat

"Hey-" you visibly flinched "I'll take ya home" still frozen in your seat as he got off the floor and walked over to your passenger side door

Only turning to look at Red Hood when he knocked on the window. Narrowing your eyes at him. He chuckled. "I won't do anything weird, swear" putting a hand up as if saying an oath. Barely convinced and still suspicious, you very slowly moved to unlock the car

"Try anything funny and I'll run you over as soon as you get outta my car"

He laughed again slipping into your passenger seat "Got it. I'll just see you home"

Your already tense shoulders were now on the verge of cramping. "Put your seatbelt on" Red Hood only stared. Realizing it was a stupid request but persisting anyway now that the words had left your mouth "wouldn't want another incident involving my car now would we"

His presence was both releaving and unnerving. Pro, scariest vigilante was here to protect you should anything happen. Con, a huge buff man was now sitting in your passenger seat in the dead of night with no witnesses should anything happen

He was incredibly amused but still complied. You were extremely gutsy and he applauded that. Meanwhile you had no idea where said courage was stemming from

You began the drive home, Red Hood going back to his game. It wasn't a long drive or an eventful one either. Soon pulling into the apartments parking lot "Alright this is it" he didn't make any effort to move. Your shoulder brushing his broad ones when you gathered your satchel and keys

You'd realized how much his shoulders spilled over the seats width when he first took a seat. But it made you feel small nonetheless

You got out of the car and took a few steps towards the stairs leading up. Red Hood was already half a step behind you without really noticing him get out of the car, proceeding to lock it "That won't really do much"

"Yeah I know... it's more for comfort I suppose?" Shrugging absentmindedly, if you were to get robbed not much could stop it unless there was someone there in the moment brave enough to do something about it

He got in the elevator with you, more than you already expected for little ol' you. Accompanying you all the way to the door "Thank you for escorting me?... accompanying me all the way here. Sorry about the car. Genuinely. Omg I didn't apologize sooner I'm so so so sorry. Are you alright? I'm a terrible person- I'm a terrible doctor." His chuckle brought you back up to earth from that downward spiral

"I'm alright-"

"Are you sure! Should I examine you?"

"Oh? "

"What- no wait not like that" if Red Hood had been amused before by how you rolled him off your car he was more amused now seeing you flustered

"I'll see you around" he waved and simply walked off leaving you dumbstruck and flushed red at your apartment door

"I'll see you around? What a dork"

"Shut up dickhead or I'll punch your teeth in" is heard down the hall and you wonder if he was talking to another tenant

— • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • —

It'd been a few nights now and there hadn't been any vigilantes in sight. Until tonight at least. Similarly as the first time you approached your car after another long shift and there he was on your car roof again

Irritation bubbled up like pasta water reaching a boil about to spill over

"Do I have to roll you off again!" A scowl evident under the street light in the open lot

"Oh no not today haha" he slipped off the roof with a practiced elegance a white paper cup in hand, another next to where he was just sitting

A lid immediately placed on those boiling noodles effectively suffocating all irritation originally there "Coffee?" Not exactly what you were expecting making it quite the pleasant surprise

"Oh sorry, I'll be going to bed soon but thank you though" you felt bad, sheepishly turning him down with pink cheeks

"Oh right, it's decaf!" Red Hood quickly reached for the cup on top your car to present it to you, the sticker on it in fact saying decaf

"Aw thank you, that's really sweet"

There was a slight awkward pause. You took a sip of it, the coffee itself was really good although plain. But still hot making you wonder how he'd done it when it seemed like he'd been sitting there for a bit waiting for you

"Ah can I?"

You pointed at the driver side door. Which he was standing in front of

"Oh right, sure" "Smooth "

"Shut up!"

"Excuse me?"

"Not you! Ugh" he seemed to press a hand to his forehead? Brow? It was hard to tell with the helmet "the coms, ah communications" he pointed to the side of the helmet presumably where his ears were

"Oh I understand, cool... you're not crazy then" you tried to dissuade the awkwardness

Red Hoods shoulders eased down and he chuckled "Something like that" he left it open to interpretation and it made you smirk. You liked his humor

"Right..." You teased moving to try and unlock your door. He didn't move much, shadow cast by the street light engulfing your figure. "You going home with me today too?" He snorted, realizing what you said "No! Stoppp it not what I meant" you attempted to shove him out of the way but struggled which only made him laugh "Meanie"

However once unlocked he opened the door and stepped aside for you, it'd been a long time since someone had opened a door for you "Than- thank you" he nodded

Once both of you were seated "Why so nice all of a sudden?" he hummed mulling over the question while you started the car

"I guess I was in a bad mood?"

You snorted "Aren't you usually" you snarked back without much though "Sorry!" You squeaked "Don't shoot me please, you're just easy to talk to I didn't mean to"

He laughed fully and it made your face heat up in embarrassment "I don't mind, you've got guts I like that" he stretched in the cramped seat bumping your shoulder. Sending a wave of heat upon contact, said heat collecting in your face

Hiding your face behind the cup of coffee "Ah, I wasn't sure how you liked it..."

"Oh it's fine, it's really good coffee"

"Yeah, I know a place"

"Open at this hour?"

"I called in a favor"

"For me?" You spared a quick glance his way, but Red Hood was avoiding your gaze looking out the window. A hand rubbing the back of his neck. It made you feel special

The little of what was left of the ride was silent, until he was seeing you off at your door once more "Would you like to sit and finish the rest of your coffee?" You opened the door inviting him in

Red Hood pondered it but realized that required taking off his helmet to do. Knocking on such "Oh right! Sorry" you bumped your forehead gently with a fist "Thank you for the coffee again" remembering something and gesturing Red Hood to wait while you run into the apartment for a short time

Re-emerging with a small tupperware container with a red lid "A snack for your coffee, I can reheat it for you if it's gone cold if you like" some of that heat radiating off of him crawling up his neck

He takes a seat on the ledge of a nearby roof, removing the red lid to reveal what look like homemade tumb print cookies wrapped in a cloth napkin "Ouuu can I have one?"

"It's alright thanks though" you hand him the container and wave him goodbye

~

"Fuck off Dick" he hides them in his leather jacket from the other vigilantes view

"Pleaseeee, c'mon Jay I let you borrow my electric coasterrr"

The older of the two whining "Fine just one tho" he keeps them hidden however until his helmet is off and he's had one. Only then does he offer one to the blue and black sporting acrobat

"Oh these are good! Bring me some too next time"

— • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • —

"Hood!" You smile seeing his bulky figure sat on top of your car. You could get used to his presence even if just for the short ride home, maybe look forward to it sometimes after a couple nights without seeing him

You approached you car with a slight pep in your step. None of that initial irritation present

"Hey!" Red Hood perked up from his seat where he was previously looking at his phone. "Think you can share that cookie recipe?" He says hopping off

"Of course, I can show you how to make them if you'd like"

"I would actually" you can hear the smile in his voice even through the modulator and it ignites a familiar heat in your face "are you free tomorrow?"

"Yeah, what time works" now you had more to look forward to as you approached the car more

"I can come around noon or sometime later if you'd like"

"No that works just fine" it'd been a particularly long shift and the slight chill to the night air made the exhaustion evident with the large yawn

"Here, I'll drive"

"It's fine I don't mind"

He didn't budge, only holding his hand out waiting of your keys. "What, don't think I can drive" he teased and you begrudgingly handed your keys over. Both of you made your way over to the passenger side and he opened the door for you again. Tossing his leather jacket on you once you were seated

You were about to protest but he gently closed the door and made his way over to the drivers seat. Laughing at him when his knees pressed against the dashboard

Not missing the way his suit fit tightly or how his forearm looked while he held the wheel. The drive was incredibly smooth making it easy to doze off quickly. More so when wrapped in the jacket. It was comfortingly warm and smelled lightly of cologne

Red Hood quite liked how you looked snuggled into his jacket. Made him want to snap a picture but thought against the idea not wanting to seem weird

Soon he pulled into the parking lot but you were still sound asleep. Not wanting to wake you up he gathered your things and with the utmost care picked you up bridal style. Making sure to keep you wrapped up in the brown leather

He felt bad going into your home, more so looking around for your bedroom but he didn't want to just leave you on the couch

He set you gently on the first bed he found. After only peeking into the bathroom. Red Hood decided to leave his jacket too telling himself he'd just pick it up when he came to bake. In reality he just didn't want to risk waking you up. Leaving a little note on the dresser before locking up on his way out

— • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • —

Stirring awake face still shoved under the covers. You didn't remember going to bed

But here you were under the covers, shoes removed in the guest room. But still in your scrubs. And also a brown leather jacket. The one Red Hood gave you before driving you home

Turning to face the edge of the bed and sitting upright, noticing the slip of paper on the dresser

You fell asleep in the car, sorry to barge into your house like this but I didn't wanna wake you. I left your bag in the living room before I locked up on my way out

With a poorly drawn version of his helmet in red pen. You left the guest room with a smile on your face and tidied up slightly before going into your room to shower. You'd slept in slightly and only had a chance to do that before you heard a knock at the door. Rushing, you opened the door in an oversized shirt and still wet hair "Oh I can come back later if you want"

He was in a t-shirt and jeans, still wearing his helmet, tupperware in hand "oh it's alright, if you don't mind waiting a little bit" he nodded and you showed him to the living room. Taking a look around and getting a better look at things now that he wasn't reaching in the dark like last night "make yourself comfortable I'll be right back, you can leave that wherever"

You disappeared into the back room and put on a pair of leggings and patted out your hair down with a towel some more before brushing it through another time "I slept in a bit and didn't have time to get things ready sorry" he's sitting awkwardly on your couch hands on his knees

"It's alright" you go back into the kitchen and he follows you awkwardly. Digging around a cloth cabinet where you keep the clean dish rags and cloth napkins

"Aha!" You hold two aprons proudly "take your pick" the more used looking one is black with white lettering saying I don't know what I'm doing which was tempting but the more colorful one had Kiss the cook

"If I pick that one will you do it?" He asks pointing at the pastel tie dye apron in your left hand

"Depends if your cooking is any good" you challenged with a smirk tossing it to him

He caught it effortlessly "I'll hold you to that" you laughed nodding, tying your own appron and going to fetch the ingredients and preheating the oven

A little bit of chaos and shenanigans ensued. But all small messes and a lot of fun. He was surprisingly good in the kitchen, grasping what you showed him fairly quickly

"Now we can make the jam while the dough chills"

"That was homemade too?" You nod chuckling slightly at the awe in his robotic voice "It's really not that hard"

"It isn't ?" He was being suggestive again and you rolled your eyes at him

"Oh shut it or I won't give you any to take home"

"You wouldn't dare!" He holds a hand to his chest dramatically

"Fuck around and find out" he gasps crumbling to the floor in fake sobs and you laugh getting some strawberries and raspberries from the fridge "now go wash your hands again so you can help me cut these strawberries"

He mock salutes from the floor and kicks up into a standing position going to do exactly what you asked, washing the few dirty dishes leftover from when you were making the dough not long ago

"Oh you don't need to" you try to tell him when you notice but he finishes washing them anyway before rejoining you at the kitchen island to finish cutting the strawberries into 4's. Once that's finished you have him squeeze some lemon juice while you get the berries in a sauce pan with sugar and the lemon juice once he hands it over "now just bring to a light boil and stir constantly"

"And we can blend them or mash" he scavenges a drawer you point at and hands you the masher "now we just let it cool"

You turn off the stove and remove the pan before grabing the dough from the fridge "we can roll and cut the cookies out while it cools" you grab a pair of cookie cutters and rolling pins sprinkling a bit of powdered sugar to the kitchen island before grabbing the two dough balls from the bowl

Showing Red Hood to what thickness to roll it out to, him mirroring as you do it. Same when you cut out the circles and reroll the dough to make more

"Now just press your thumb into it a little bit" you snorted as he pushed holes through the first two before getting the pressure right. Now fetching the sauce pan with the jam and two spoons

"Just scoop a little bit into the indent"

He didn't fill the donuts he made and the first he overfilled but the rest came out nicely, it wasn't long before the two batches were in the oven "So about that kiss?"

You'd forgotten all about it "Hmm I'll give the kiss of approval once I try one"

He grumbles but agrees

"Oh I didn't get a chance to wash your jacket sorry" he hums curiously and you go back to your room to fetch his neatly folded leather jacket

"Oh don't worry about it"

~

The smell of the cookies began filling your apartment and the timer you set once they were in the oven went off

"Alright moment of truth" you grin, grabbing a hand towel and opening the oven to remove the trays setting them on the stove top to cool "aww they look good!" You smile at his single print and your heart print cookies

You grab one of his and blow on it a couple of times to cool it off faster before popping it into your mouth. "Mmm~" you sigh content "that's good" you nod approvingly

"So... does it get the kiss of approval?" Once you finish you lean up to place a peck to the cheek of Hoods helmet

It almost made him want to take it off

— • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • —

It'd been a couple of days since you'd baked together and he'd stopped by to drive you home most nights since. Hood hadn't stopped by tonight however

It made the drive home rather lonely

More so when GCPD had closed off a street and you'd had to reroute the way home. It made it seem longer than it probably was. But you made it home nonetheless

Readying for bed but not able shake off a slight unnerving feeling. The ruckus from the reroute had since settled but you couldn't. Already in your pjs but unable to go to bed instead pacing your living room in the dark and basking in the yellow fridge light every so often. Nearly jumping out of your skin when you heard a tap on your living room widow

Should I look, what if it's nothing or just a stray cat or something. It could be a psycho clown. Or or or maybe it's Hood?

There's another tap only this time it sounds more like an actual knock. Your brain is saying no but your gut is telling you to go look. You end up listening to your gut and rip open the curtain

It is Hood. He's hunched over and his helmet is cracked open on top. A jolt of electricity shooting out of your chest and into the rest of your body

"Hood!" You rush to open the window and climb out onto the fire escape. The bars of the platform are cold and dig into your bare feet. You struggle to lift such a tall dense man and help him inside

He collapses on your floor and you mildly panic "okay okay" you rush to turn the lights on and grab the closest medical equipment

His helmet is cracked open and there's a puncture wound on his abdomen it's not big but it is deep. You snap a pair of gloves on and begin to cut his suit. Cleaning it out and taping a gauze over it. There doesn't seem to be damage to any organs or internal bleeding for the time being, at least not that you could visibly spot without any scans. Now his head "I- I have to remove your helmet alright" he nods off "don't move your head alright" you quickly and carefully take it off, there's a red domino mask over his eyes

God he's gorgeous- not the time! Not the time!

He's bleeding a lot, it looks like repeated trauma to the head. It's no wonder his helmet broke. But the bleeding is a good sign it means it's not gathering in his head building pressure. You go to get a towel to soak up some of the blood

His knee is dislocated! How did he even get here

You get a small hand towel and fold it "Bite this, I'm going to push your knee into place. It's going to hurt alright" he clenches his hands above his head and you adjusted everything "alright one, two, three-" applying enough pressure to pop it into place a muffled cry following soon after

The bleeding on his head seemed to subside and you began to evaluate for a concussion. Then cleaning and bandaging his head

He had lost a lot of blood from his head wound and was starting to loose consciousness but you tried to keep him up until you made sure the head trauma wasn't fatal "I need to remove the mask to see your eyes alright"

Hood could no longer consent to procedures as he slipped further and further into unconsciousness. Guilt heavy on your heart, you peeled off the last physical thing protecting his identity

Prying open his cerulean eyes to examine. They were the most beautiful shade of blue, but clouded by a dizzy haze muddling his head "I'm going to get you through this alright" it was hard to tell if you were comforting him or trying to reassure yourself. Regardless the trauma to his head didn't seem fatal upon an initial, thorough examination

Now that Hood was stable for the time being you began clean up. Mostly the pool of blood seeping out of the towel that was supposed to be collecting it

The adrenaline only barely beginning to ware off now. The cleaning wasn't as thorough as your treatment was but it was efficient. Trembling hands wiping the last remains of the crimson stain that would certainly persist long after this

Now how could you make Hood more comfortable? Attempting to lift him onto the couch or spare bed in the guest room was out of the question. You could hardly lift him WITH his help. Not to mention the risk in moving him would pose to his injuries when done incorrectly, which would be the likely outcome

Deciding it was easier to bring the bed to him you went into the guest room and began to strip the mattress. Tossing the comforter and pillows carelessly to the floor and proceeding to yank the mattress off the base. It was almost as heavy as Hood but far less delicate. Manhandling it onto its side and easily sliding it out of the room across the wooden floor

Was it collecting all sorts of dust and nasties? Most certainly. But you didn't care, you could buy a new mattress cover later. Letting it fall flat behind the couch. Now the next issue. Getting Hood on the mattress

Simply getting the damn thing into the living room was a workout in and of its own right. Doing it like at the hospital would be the easiest, now scavenging your apartment for a sturdy blanket or towel that could fit Hood

Settling for the comforter on the guest room floor. And rolling it the long way under Hood and steadily lifting him one part at a time. This was infinitely easier with another person helping on the other end but this would have to do

Firmly grabbing the quilted fabric by his head and lifting his upper torso half onto the mattress making sure his head rested securely on it. Then going around and doing the same with his feet. And again pulling his upper torso to the middle of the mattress and running back to do the same with his feet and lastly planting yourself firmly on the floor and pulling on the middle of the comforter to straighten him out

You were now running on fumes. And still went and gathered a couple of blankets and the pillows from the guest room floor as well. The blood loss made Hood loose a large part of his natural body heat and you had to make up for it with a thick fluffy blanket that you, with great effort spread on top of him

The adrenaline had now fully worn off and that last twelve hour shift began to take its toll along with all the stressors and grueling labor of this rescue

You wanted to do more for him, you had to. But your body gave out, making you slowly sink to the floor next to the mattress. Curling into the little bit of the blankets that spilled over the edge

— • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • —

The following afternoon he began to stir awake. Groaning at the soreness, everything was hazy until he noticed you. Still laying on the floor near his bed, head resting on a folded arm doubling as a makeshift pillow, other arm tucked away under the thick layer of blankets. One you reached out sometime in your sleep

You had had a rough night he could tell that much. He couldn't remember much from the previous night and a brain splitting headache shoved it's way to the forefront making him try to hold his head

The movement woke you up, immediately reaching for a trashcan you'd dragged closer before collapsing onto the floor and placing it by the edge of the bed

Not a moment later does he begin to hurl. You try helping him sit a bit more comfortable and rub circles into his back until he's finished "Nausea?" he tries to nod but winces, holding the uninjured side of his head

"Yeah" you put the bin down and help him lay back down

"Remember anything from last night?"

He scrunches his face "I remember- patrolling, and then a fight I think"

"It's alright, you sustained a mild traumatic brain injury so your memory can be a bit spotty." You get up and move to the other side of the room to get new bandage for his head, stretching out a few kinks and aches along the way "I'll change your head wrap okay?"

"Yesss Dok" he slurred slightly. Frowning when you returned to his side noticing the dry blood on your shirt, and then pants "were you... bleeding?" He looks between the large stain and your face worry heavy on his features

You smile gently at him, taking a seat on the floor where you were previously sleeping and leaning in to check the bandages on his head "no, you were bleeding"

"Oh, m'kay" you begin to remove the bandage that's covered in dry blood. Gently cleaning the wound again and beginning to wrap it in a clean gauze and bandage. Those same cerulean eyes never looking away, only now it was a conscious effort. He wasn't used to such delicate touches

Once nice and snug "I can get you some pain meds if you like?"

"Tryna get me high?"

"Tryna stay miserable with that headache and the lot?" Hood scoffed pouting slightly at your raised brow "Yeah that's what I thought" you disappeared into the bathroom to see what you could give him, returning to the living room with a little orange bottle "I've got hydrocodone well it's Vicodin... I just can't give you anything for the nausea if I give you any prescription painkillers"

"Thas fine"

Getting a glass of water for him and handing him two pills. The absolute menace to society dry swallowed the pills "You psycho" he cackled before you made him drink the water anyway

Complaining about it after every sip "I'll make you drink another one later" he groaned loudly

"I'm sure you could short stack"

"Well this short stack popped your knee into place and I'll pop it right out, don't forget I know where all your wounds are" a shutter ran down his spine, sending small ripples across his skin. He guessed you were kidding but your side eye made him not want to find out. There was also an attractiveness to the way you threatened him. Though he wouldn't be admitting that out loud, brain injury or not

Going to put the glass and medication on the coffee table "Don't move your knee at all I'ma go find a knee brace" Disappearing into a hallway and returning with a black bulky contraption in hand

"No"

"You're worse than the kids at work you big baby" he flushed pink and groaned again as you slid the thing on his leg, painfully aware of your proximity. Your hands tracing the defined muscle under the tactical pants and realizing just how toned he was. The comforter pooling by his hips as he sat up more, revealing his bulky arms and chiseled abs. Something you somehow didn't notice in the busy haze that had been patching him up

"There, it's not so bad" he huffed pouting, it truly was adorable but you couldn't fold on a patient

"Hungry?"

He tries to nod again but the swirling pain reminds him of the injury very much so still present on his head

"I in fact do not have hospital food for that wound but I can make you a smoothie if you don't mind the noise of the blender?"

"I'll manage" Hood wasn't sluring at all now which was a great sign. Becoming somewhat more at ease with Hoods condition you focused on pulling some fresh fruit from a basket and a few more ingredients from the fridge. All while Hoods piercing blue gaze followed you around the kitchen. Intently tracing your every move, in the all too calculating manor he knew

You were trust worthy, you hadn't given him away yet. You hadn't searched him for anything other than injuries from what he could tell "Hood?" You still called him by his alias so you didn't know his name

"Yeah?"

"Green apple and pear okay?" He hummed in agreement and you began to slice the fruit and toss it into the blender with a splash of milk and sugar "Alright I'm going to turn the blender on now okay" and true to your word the infernal whirring and crackling of the mashine filled the room

Hood gripped his hands over his ears. Acutely aware of the growing pain in his head. Only realizing it was over when you placed a gentle hand over his, a glass with a spoon in the other. Instantly relaxing under the soft touch "It turned out a little more like apple sauce than it did a smoothie, I hope you don't mind too much"

He smiled, chuckling slightly. Only to grimace at the increased pain in his abdomen "Easy there" he swayed a little and you helped hold him up steadying the room for him. "Let me get you a few extra pillows" you stacked the few that you'd already brought out and left for a few more to help Hood into a supported sitting position "better?"

Having learned his lesson for the time being he "mhmm"ed instead of nodding. Taking a seat on the floor once more and setting the apple sauce in his hands "What? You're not going to spoon feed the sick patient?" He teased, face looking too innocent for his tone

"Next you'll be asking me to kiss it better" you grumble amused

"Would you?" He batted his eyelashes and you laughed openly, the gesture catching you off guard. Beautiful. Your laugh left him awestruck. Dick was right

"I'll think about it" you smiled, feeling so much more at ease than only a couple hours prior. Hood was being his own suggestive flirty self and for some reason that brought you a lot of comfort "Hood?"

He looked up, spoonful of the light green smoothie sauce still in his mouth. It made you chuckle before a slight air of seriousness returned

"Why'd you come here?"

He drops the spoon into the large cup gently and he seems to ponder the question "I'm not exactly sure, I can't remember what happened well or what I was thinking at the time. But I suppose I just felt like I'd be safe with you" tears begin to well and sting your eyes

The entirety of having not just a life but his life in your hands and only your hands hit you like a sack of bricks. "Hey hey I'm sorry" his voice had become so soft and gentle unlike anything you'd heard in a long time. He sets down the cup and effortlessly scoops you up into his lap

You shake your head no and immediately crawl off as gingerly as you can "Your- no your knee and- and the wound I need to bandage it" but he pulls you back into his side a firm secure arm wrapped around you

"It's okay" he soothes squeezing your shoulders, radiating warmth again. That same faint smell of cologne you'd picked up from his jacket comforting "Thank you"

"You big dummy" you sniffle into his side finally wrapping your arms around him, careful to avoid the taped on gauze. The physical touch grounding you again. Specifically his warmth that had been lacking for most of the night. No longer cold and bleeding out. A warm bare chest against your cheek that echoed in your ear with the constant drumming of his heart. You kept him alive "You're so lucky I have equipment at home"

He chuckles and the deep rumble of it reverberates in his chest. His face, his voice, his laugh all weren't nearly as intimidating anymore without the distorted muffling of the helmet. You pull away wiping a stray tear "Alright I really do need to bandage you up now, no stalling" he gasps feigning offense

"How could you suggest such a thing, I would never" but that handsome, devilish smirk betrays him

"Yeah yeah yeah" you begin to fully pull away, but the arm that was around your shoulders falls to your hips and pulls you back down when you're halfway off the mattress "Hooood" you groan trying fight back the smile that wants to make it's way onto your features

He lets his arm drop and you crawl off the mattress once more to where the first aid kit and more medical supplies still lay sprawled out on the floor. Opening the kit and retrieving a rolled up bandage as well as a new gauze from the messy floor

You crawled back over to his side "Be gentle with me, I'm delicate" Hood batted his eyelashes at you once more and you snorted

"Clearly" you mused snapping on a new pair of gloves

He gasped once more, but didn't get a chance to put on more theatrics. Cringing at the feeling of the gauze with both dry and new blood being peeled off. You examined the wound once more, there was still no sign of internal bleeding or damage to any organs like in your first assessment. As well as no sign of infection

The object was somewhat blunt and most likely not meant to be used to stab someone with, it was an absolute wonder it didn't get infected because of the object or on the way here. Regardless you clean it again with a saline solution and open a new gauze to place over it. Securely and skillfully holding it in place with the bandage you wrap around Hood

Not noticing the way his set cerulean eyes trailed along. Seeing how serious and focused you became and how your hands pulled around his torso to wrap the tan fabric snuggly into place

Only when you pulled back to see his face did your eyes meet. The way he was already staring at you flustering

He couldn't help but lean in, drawn to you like a moth to an open flame. Clumsily and a little roughly pressing his lips to your forehead "H- Hood?" Your voice soft and cheeks pink at the unexpected gesture of affection. You couldn't deny he was attractive or that you liked how his lips felt "I thought- wasn't I supposed to be the one that- that's kissing it better?" You mumbled timidly

He chuckled, that same deep rumble from before. "So doctor, what do you prescribe"

"Stop teasing me" you pout and punch his chest playfully and he falls back on his elbows in response. "I'm prescribing lots of bed rest and less whining hmph" he gasps in offense again "I, however need a shower and change of clothes"

Hood remembers the blood crusting up the pijamas you're still wearing "Yeah of course" you smile gently at him

"I- do you want to change too? I'm not sure I have something that fits but I can take a look around?"

"Don't worry about that I'm fine" he smiles in return

"Okay, I won't be gone long. Don't move- well just don't hurt yourself more" you give his large hand a squeeze before scurrying off into your room

You desperately needed a long hot shower after everything that happened. The adrenaline long gone and sore tension taking it's place in your muscles. Especially after sleeping on the floor in that awkward position

Once under the water you can feel some of the aches drip away with the dry blood and some grime. A couple more pains being scrubbed away with the body wash

Your hair tangled, as you work shampoo into it trying to ease the knots out with your fingers. Letting the hot water run over your face for a couple seconds after you've rinsed the shampoo out

You're not entirely sure how long you've been in there but decide it's been long enough. Having the urge to check if Hood hasn't dislocated his knee again or the like "Oh, did you call off of work or something? I hadn't realized how late it was"

You see Hood still in bed "I missed my shift and I'm getting fired" you shrug and the look on Hoods face makes him look like a kicked puppy "I'm kidding, just your luck you caught me on my day off" but the look doesn't leave his face

"You spent your day off taking care of me?"

"Yeah?" You return to his bedside and place a gentle kiss on his head "What of it?"

He shrinks in on himself and gnaws at his bottom lip. Guilt evident "Hey-" there's a stubbornness in the way he refuses to look up at you until you guide his chin up "seriously Hood, I'd do it all over again if it meant you'd sit on my cars roof again another night"

The quiver to his lip has your heart seized in its embrace. A grasp you can't pull away from, and his eyes. His eyes so desperate and vulnerable, a vast sea you're drowning in until a glimmer of emerald makes you question if his eyes are truly blue

You don't have time to question it further before he's squeezing them shut and you've snapped out of the trance. Instinctively rubbing your own eyes

"I should do a short cranial nerve exam!" you blurt out suddenly. Realizing you should have done one earlier, he chuckles a bit appreciating the dissipating of the tension that had built up a little too quickly . There was an unexpected swirl of the pit within him that he'd felt with the sudden vulnerability. It'd settled quickly and that he was grateful for, especially with the subject change "I'll get a couple things"

He hums and you retreat down the hall and come back with a small basket of items

"First I'm going to test your sense of smell okay" you take a seat on the edge of the mattress and set the basket on the floor. He's about to glance into the basket when you catch his chin in your hand and stop him from turning his head

"Oh-" he looks flustered

You hadn't meant for the gesture to be as smooth as it had been "Sorry!" Hood doesn't respond but you feel the heat radiating from his face "no peeking, can't have you cheating"

You place a cheap sleeping mask over his eyes that you'd gotten in a bathset as a gift and he pouts "Smell this-" you grab a small brown vial and twist the cap off before bringing it up to Hood's nose hiding the label with the way you're holding it just in case he can peek under the bottom of the mask

"Mint?"

You nod before realizing he probably can't see "Yes good job." You cap the essential oil you'd nabbed from the bathroom

The blush doesn't leave his face at the praise and he only hopes the mask obscures it a bit

You grab the next vial and do the same as the first "Okay, tell me what this one is" he takes a sniff and scrunches his nose in a way that makes you think he'll sneeze but doesn't

"A citrus... orange?"

"Yes" you double check the label to make sure he's right "Alright last one" you retrieve the last little vial of the essential oils "What does this one smell like"

"....laaavender"

"Very good" his heart flutters, never would he have guessed he had something for praise "I'm going to take off the mask now so it'll probably be a little bright" you gently begin to pull away the fabric from his eyes. They remain closed for a bit before he begins to blink to get adjusted to the light again

"Next I'm going to do your eyes" you adjust yourself to be sitting in front of him "I'm going to feel around your eyes first okay?"

"Yeah"

"I'm going to get a bit close-" he's a bit dumbstruck until you gently press your thumbs to his cheekbones "does this pressure hurt at all?"

"No"

"Okay, is it uncomfortable at all?"

"No"

You move your fingers to press gently a few more times repeating the questions. Once satisfied you scooch back "Now I'm going to hold two fingers up. Look at my nose and without moving your head or looking away tell me which finger is moving"

There's a slight confusion at first with your left being his right that you both laugh at before you determine his peripherals are better than you'd expect from someone with a mild traumatic brain injury

"Now tell me when my fingers leave your field of vision okay"

You hold both index fingers together up by his nose before beginning to slowly pull them apart horizontally "Now" you nod and bring your fingers back to their initial staring point to repeat the same motion "Now"

"Okay good"

You repeat the motions going vertically as well as diagonally. His field of vision is reduced very mildly but it's not too serious all things considered

"Cover one eye" you repeat the same exercise with the one finger and then ask him to follow your finger as you trace a square in the air "Perfect, now the other" he covers his other eye "same thing, tell me when my finger leaves your field of vision"

One eye has a very slightly decreased field of view but it still traced movement perfectly

"I'm going to use this pen light to see your eyes okay. Make sure the pupils are dialing and responding to light as they should be. Let me know if you're experiencing any light sensitivity though and we can either take a break or move on"

He gives the okay and you flash the light enough for the pupil to constrict before pulling it away and watching the pupil dilate again. There's an odd comfortable intimacy with the proximity. One that lingers as you continue the tests. All requiring the same proximity that has him smelling the mint of your breath, he can only guess you brushed your teeth when you left to shower

Even as you make sure his facial muscles are functional he can only think of your gentle touches, hands warm and a bit dry. Probably from all the times you have to sanitize and wash your hands at the hospital. Your nails short and filed smooth, for the latex gloves he deduces

He drinks up all of you, every last drop a detail he savours with great reverence

You take a firm hold of his jaw and it makes his mouth run dry. Palms sweaty yet a raging fire lighting up his cheekbones "Say ah" your voice is smooth and it washes over him like a cool breeze but it does nothing to soothe the heat he feels just beneath the skin "What does this taste like?" You bring a dropper up to his lips and place a couple drops of the flavor on his tongue. He swallows, hard

"Its- it's strawberry"

Voice strained and eyes half lidded, he's all but putty in your hand "Yes, very good" releasing his jaw it's like he's able to breathe again. A function he hadn't realized he'd lost during that short period

"Lastly hearing, ideally this would be done with a tuning fork but I don't actually have any so we're gonna use my super legit singing bowl" Hood snorts at the small metal but very professional piece of equipment "yeah yeah yeah you're laughing now but it works"

He only rolls his eyes looking amused but complies when he has to shut his eyes

"Well-" you tap your fingertips together, your lips in a thin line "to no ones surprise I'm sure, you have a concussion. It's about a grade 2 but I'm no neurologist"

"Thank you" you smile at him and reach out for his hand

It's large and calloused but warm "I'd say anytime but I'd prefer if you came crashing down on my fire escape not bleeding out and loosing consciousness"

Hood only chuckles and pulls you into bed with him "Noted"

The first day of any recovery process was usually the most difficult but in-between the good company and some playful banter it was more than bearable. You had offered your apartment for him to stay in while you went to work the next day as well but he insisted he needed to go and check in with the rest of the bats and birds which you understood

[danaewrites]

Helmet Over Heels

part i: the winter of our discontent

din djarin x reader // read it on AO3

word count: 3.8k

summary:  When your path literally collides with a beskar-covered Mandalorian one night, neither of you expect how that meeting will irreversibly change the trajectory of your lives. 

You’re pulled into his powerful orbit, agreeing to take care of his son in exchange for adventure and freedom– when he’s not off hunting bounties and inadvertently saving villages in need, that is. It’s the perfect plan. Or it would be, if only your quiet crush on the man would stop growing into something more with every hour you spend together. There’s no way he’d ever feel the same, right?

And Din? Well, he’s been trying (and failing) to convince himself that he’s not completely helmet over heels for you since day one. But a Mandalorian can only repress his emotions for so long…

(This fic takes place sometime after Season 2. Din’s back on his bounty-hunting business with a Razor Crest that was never destroyed and an adorable green sidekick who won’t stop chewing on its wires.)

tags: strangers to friends to lovers, slow-ish burn, nicknames, touch-starved din djarin and fem!reader, canon-compliant through season 2 and then Jesus takes the wheel :P

author's notes:

hello and welcome to my first ever mando fic!! i binged the entirety of the first two seasons in a week to get me through tedious internship work and accidentally fell in love with our favorite space dad and his cute green child along the way. oops (i regret nothing)

with the outline i currently have for this fic, it’ll be around 11-12 chapters, although that’s likely to grow as we get deeper into the story. the posting schedule might be anywhere from once a week to once a month, but this wip *will* be finished.

the second chapter's scheduled to upload next week as a little treat for y'all, so if you want to catch it then hit that follow button or ask to be added to my taglist! ;)

read it all here: part i, part ii, part iii, part iv, part v coming soon!

You watched the last of tonight’s drunken patrons stumble out of the cantina and into the bitter Nath night with a relieved sigh. Wiping your hands on the stained apron tied around your waist, you fished a set of bronze keys out of a tiny pocket and began your nightly walk around the perimeter of the bar, locking doors and pulling down rusty shutters as you went. The cantina was silent aside from your quiet shuffling– a welcome reprieve from its usual crowded bustle and chatter so hectic you could barely hear your own thoughts. 

You hummed softly as you adjusted booths back to their original positions and swept crumbs off of battered tabletops, wishing that the small holospeaker at the edge of the room hadn’t been broken in a recent bar fight. Swaying to its pre-Imperial oldies throughout your long, exhausting shifts had been one of the only perks of working in this run-down cantina, but without the soothing ambience of music, a chill threatened to sink into your bones and paralyze you with the deep depression this side of the planet seemed to have succumbed to.

You never planned to stay here for as long as you had. No one really did, except for criminals who knew that no one would willingly come here to search for them and locals who had never known anything else. Nath might have been charming, once– all soft snowflakes and peaceful walks under sepia-toned streetlights– but that was before the Empire had destroyed every semblance of comfort and culture and replaced them with brutalist brick structures that were already crumbling under the weight of their makers’ crimes. The fear lingered long after the Imps had finally left the post, reflected in the sad eyes of the fishmongers’ children and the way one would be hard-pressed to find a factory worker who didn’t spend his nights nursing a bottle and the ghosts of blaster scars across his back.

You had your own scars, of course, but you still held out hope that things would change and you’d make it out of here– although that hope was gradually diminishing as off-world shuttles visited less and less frequently and the permanent winter worsened. Five years ago, you’d been unceremoniously dropped off at the town’s dingy port, forced to land after your shuttle to Corellia was damaged by an unexpected detour through an asteroid field. You’d taken the cantina job thinking you’d only stay long enough to pay for passage on an outgoing ship, but soon learned that any shuttle risking the terrible weather to land here would also charge an exorbitant boarding price– one that would take you years to afford with the meager pay you received. And your tentative plan of stowing away on a spice freighter and sneaking off once it arrived at its destination (you weren’t picky about where, so long as it wasn’t Nath) was tempered by the increasingly likelihood that you’d get blown to pieces the minute you entered space by one of the pirate gangs that ruled the atmosphere these days. So��� you were stuck here, at least for now.

The smell of something burning in the back of the cantina drew you out of your thoughts. Cursing, you raced to the kitchen, where your dinner was quickly blackening on the stove. Kriff. You shut off the burner, staring at the charred mess before you for a few seconds before dejectedly scraping it into an almost-overflowing trash bin. Well, there went your plan to eat quickly and head to your tiny flat before the storm outside worsened. Your rental pod had barely enough space for your bed and a miniscule bathroom, so you had to use the cantina kitchen if you wanted to stay fed– but the stove here was so old, it took half an hour longer than usual to cook anything. You resigned yourself to another night sleeping in a booth, since the flurry outside would prevent you from navigating your way home safely. 

You sliced up a few vegetables and set them to simmer in a pot with the last of the herbed broth and sandseed noodles from today’s lunch special, glancing at the bin next to you. It was probably a good idea to take out the foul-smelling waste before you were sealed in next to it all night. Wrinkling your nose at the unappealing scraps of food threatening to fall off the top of the pile, you hefted the bin up and maneuvered it through the back door of the cantina, being careful not to stain your apron any more than it already was. The harsh winds nipped at every sliver of exposed skin and dusted your hair with a pearlescent sheen of snow, making you wish you’d thought to slip on something warmer than your thin blouse and trousers before leaving the protection of the kitchen.

You navigated through the blizzard to the end of the dark alleyway behind the cantina, your path lit only by two buzzing lamps at each end of the narrow corridor. You scrunched your face up against the cold, willing yourself to keep walking despite your extremely limited night vision. Just a few more steps, and then you’d be free of your compostable burden for the night. You turned the corner, stepping to the left where you knew the trash compactor was, and immediately collided with a giant hunk of metal.

Said hunk of metal cursed loudly as it stumbled head-first over the garbage bin you’d dropped in shock after the impact, falling forward into the snow. “Dank ferrik!” 

Your eyes grew wide as the glow of the flickering streetlights illuminated the very-much-alive Mandalorian lying in front of you. It was just your luck that you’d managed to potentially injure the kind of warrior you’d only heard about in hushed rumors, or at least someone who was wearing the armor of one. Okay, injure was a strong word, but all that cold, hard beskar couldn’t be very comfortable to fall on despite the protection it offered. 

“Stars, I’m so sorry, let me–” 

You reached forward, stretching out a hand to help the Mandalorian up when a small green head suddenly popped up out of a tawny bag slung across their side. You yelped in surprise, losing your balance on the icy road and toppling forward. You winced, bracing yourself and preparing for the inevitable impact– except right as you were about to hit the ground, one steel-clad arm shot out to grab your wrist while the other steadied your hips. You gasped at the warmth of the unexpected contact, pulse quickening as you stared at the–man? person?–beneath you, the only thing preventing you from a nasty collection of bruises appearing across your side tomorrow. 

A deep baritone sounded from the helmet– likely modulated, from the slightly grainy tone. “Are you alright?”

Definitely a man, then. You pointedly ignored the butterflies that stirred to life in your stomach at the sound of his voice, praying that he would attribute your shiver to the cold and nothing more. Stars, this was getting more embarrassing by the minute. You tucked away the thought, making a note to do some serious soul-searching later on about the depth of your touch-starvation and its potential impact on your mental state. 

You gave a quick nod, muttering your thanks and carefully rolling to the side as you dusted clumps of snow off of your trousers. You looked up at him to see him gently picking up the little green creature you’d been so startled by earlier and tucking it back into the bag, pulling his cloak over its head to shield it from the chill. That was… rather cute, actually. You thought Mandalorians were supposed to be scary fighters, dedicated to nothing but their Creed, but this one was clearly fond of the small thing clinging to him. You couldn’t blame him; the green creature’s big ears and bug eyes were adorably endearing. 

The cold winds picked up pace, and you wondered why anyone would be out here during such a storm as you got to your feet. Anyone local would have sought shelter hours ago, and no freighter would dare to land in such conditions. 

“Are you... lost?” You tentatively asked. “Can I help you find someone?”

The Mandalorian remained silent for several long seconds, helmet tilted slightly. Whatever he saw in your face seemed to have settled well with him, and he released a quiet huff through the modulator.

“I need to get food. For my son,” he eventually admitted, gesturing to the baby peeking up at you. 

“Oh!” You brightened up considerably as you remembered the flavorful soup you’d started earlier. “Well– I work in a cantina back there,” you said, pointing behind you at the rusted door that led to the kitchen.

“We’re technically closed right now, but I’m sure I can work something out.” You winked at the curious child, smiling as he let out a happy babble. 

The Mandalorian’s helmet hadn’t moved from its focus in your direction, and you suddenly felt nervous. Which seemed stupid, because–yeah, it felt intense, but was he even looking at you from behind the dark visor of his helmet? For all you knew, he was making the most ridiculous expression at you behind all that beskar and you’d never know. The absurd thought made you snicker softly. If no one could see your face, you’d definitely act goofy at people all the time.

The Mandalorian’s head tilted slightly, and whoops, he’d definitely noticed your little moment now if he hadn’t been paying attention before. Your face reddened and you quickly gestured for him to follow you as you unlocked the door to the kitchen, relieved when you heard the soft clink of his armor come through the doorway behind you.

You placed your hands on your hips, surveying the dimly lit cantina and deciding to lead the duo to a worn table close to the bar. It looked unassuming, but the chairs were the comfiest in the cantina and you figured the baby would appreciate something softer than the coarse bag he’d been in. 

Once they’d gotten settled in, you set about finding a mug of blue milk for the kid and some water for the Mandalorian. You brought the drinks over to the pair, hiding a smile at how eagerly the little green baby reached for his. 

“You’re pretty thirsty, huh?” You observed as the baby slurped up the cerulean beverage. Shooting the tall, beskar-clad man a glance out of the corner of your eye, you continued, “Must have been quite the trip. Most people don’t usually travel to this side of the galaxy for vacation.”

To your disappointment, the Mandalorian remained as still and stoic as ever. Well, that just wouldn’t do. He was your first visitor in years from anywhere outside of Nath, and you were absolutely not letting him leave without getting a bit of juicy detail on life outside of your current drudgery. You decided to go for another angle.

“You know, kids need good role models in their lives. Ones that show them how to socialize with others and communicate. Display generosity of the loquacious sort, even.” You shrugged innocently in your best attempt to mimic the overly casual air the old women at the tea shop always used before passive-aggressively attempting to set you up with their stay-at-home-nephews. “Never too late to start.”

You got the distinct feeling that he was laughing at you under that helmet. Rude. Huffing, you sat down across the table from him and crossed your arms, trying to guess where under his visor his eyes were. Once you were half-confident that you’d found the spot, you stared intensely at it with your most intimidating expression. Which wasn’t saying much, seeing as you had the firepower of a soggy Lothkitten and probably came off as more desperate than anything. 

“Isn’t there some sort of honor code for Mandalorians? One that includes being noble to strangers and whatnot?” 

No response. Argh. 

“Well, I’d consider it pretty noble to provide a lonely soul such as myself with a bit of storytelling entertainment on this frigid evenin–”

Your final attempt at prying some information out of the armored man was interrupted by the sound of the kitchen timer beeping increasingly louder and louder until you were sure the whole cantina was vibrating with the tinny noise.

“KRIFF, not again!” 

You bolted out of your seat towards the kitchen, but not before you heard a thinly disguised huff of amusement coming out of the modulator. Okay, he was definitely laughing at you. 

Once you’d successfully saved the soup from imminent destruction-via-cursed-stove and somewhat regained your pride, you finally made your way back to the table with three steaming bowls of noodles. You placed the smallest one in front of the child, who cooed happily and immediately began plopping his hands in the bowl. The Mandalorian huffed in exasperation and began prying little green fingers out of the bowl. “Hey. Quit that, we talked about this,” he grumbled. You winced as broth sloshed out of the bowl, landing dangerously close to the baby’s tunic. The kid’s lower lip started to tremble, a blaring warning sign that a tantrum was going to occur in approximately ten seconds if he wasn’t distracted from his current petulant state. 

“Oh– hey, bug, don’t do that,” you said as both father and son turned to look at you. You leaned closer to the wide-eyed baby and pointed to his bowl. “That’s pretty hard to scoop up, yeah? Look, there are easier ways to eat it,” you explained as you brought the bowl up to your lips and raised an eyebrow, hoping that he would do the same. The kid blinked up at you for several long seconds before turning to his father with outstretched hands. The Mandalorian sighed, but held up the dish as requested. You hid a smile behind your bowl at the sight.

“Good job! Okay, now we’re going to try something fun–” You mimed slurping up the soup with a silly face at the baby, who burbled something incomprehensible in response but finally followed your example and focused on his food.

When you were sure that the baby’s clothes were no longer in danger of being drenched by broth– and by extension, frozen stiff whenever the pair headed back into the storm–you quietly tucked into your own meal, closing your eyes at the warm memories the comforting flavours brought. Not for the first time, you missed the earthy smell and placid weather of your homeworld, a stark contrast to this icy prison of a planet. 

“You are… good with him.” 

Your eyes darted up to find the Mandalorian’s helmet angled directly at you. Your face heated at the observation and you gave a small laugh, willing yourself to resist fidgeting under his gaze.

“I– thank you, I’ve always liked kids. Used to volunteer in the nursery back home, actually, before the Empire stole every resource from it they could.” 

Your eyes widened with sudden realization. “You’re not Imperial, are you?”

The Mandalorian scoffed vehemently, the most emotion he’d displayed since he’d fallen back in the alley. “No.”

Well, that answered a few questions at least. You were prepared to move on from the conversation when he hesitantly spoke, “My ship ran into a few… asteroids. Is there a mechanic nearby?”

You set down your spoon, thinking. The closest asteroid field was four solar systems away and almost entirely inaccessible if one was traveling through hyperspace, so the likelihood that he’d truly run into one was small. In that case, he probably had damage from some kind of fight— seeing as the average pacifist wouldn’t need that much armor— and would want someone reliable who wasn’t going to ask questions about laser-sized holes in his ship’s hull.

He hadn’t tried to kill or rob you yet, so you figured his personal tussles were none of your business and decided to give him an honest recommendation. You directed him to a small mechanical hub close to the ice huts where there were few ships and even fewer nosy citizens. “The owner, Sanna, is the best in town,” you admitted. “I haven’t had the chance to visit her personally, but she’s known for being very discreet.”

He nodded, entering the coordinates you’d given him into some sort of device on his wrist. You tried to contain your pleased expression at correctly guessing his reason for being on Nath. And it had only taken you… well, four tries, but that was better than nothing! 

“What is your price?”

You blinked, confused. “My price?”

There was that increasingly frequent head tilt again. His helmet tipped forward, scanning you. “For the food. And information.” He clarified slowly. 

“Oh,” you spoke, surprised. “It’s okay, I was making dinner for myself anyway. And you’d have found out the location of the mechanic from someone else eventually,” you shrugged. 

You couldn’t see his face, but from the disbelieving tone of his voice you imagined his eyebrows to be raised. “Not many people would turn down credits.” 

You winced, reminded of your costly dream to get off-world, but there was no way you’d accept this stranger’s money for such a small favor when he had a kid he needed to provide for. “Yeah, well. Guess I’m not most people,” you laughed sheepishly. 

The Mandalorian muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like no, you definitely are not. You squinted at him accusingly.

“Hey, you better not be making fun of my interrogation tactics, metal man.” You leaned forward to poke his soup bowl emphatically. Hm, that was strange– he hadn’t so much as touched it. Did Mandalorians follow some kind of special diet? You resolved to look that up the next time you had access to a datapad.

“Wouldn’t dream of doing that to a lonely soul like yourself.” He responded dryly.

You gasped in mock offense, forgetting your previous train of thought and internally groaning that he’d remembered that part of your disastrous attempt to weasel information out of him. Yeesh. Not your most eloquent moment. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you cared,” you shot back in the most syrupy-sweet tone you could muster.

The kid grinned up at you with sharp teeth and blew a soupy bubble towards your face in response. You smiled down at him, adding, “But if you really want to repay me, then bring me back a good story about this little guy the next time you crash land through a— what did you call it? Asteroid field.” You highly doubted the duo would ever willingly return, but if making a deal gave this man peace of mind to know his imaginary debt was settled in some future way then so be it. 

The lights in the cantina began to flicker and you got up with a frown, walking over to the electrical box behind the bar. The dull grey display, crammed with incomprehensibly labelled switches and flashing lights that would give anyone a headache, alerted you that the main generator had been depleted of power. You scrambled over to a window, prying open the shutters a crack only to be met with a dark swirl of snow that completely obscured your view of the street. Stars, the storm had worsened quickly— there was absolutely no chance you were making it home tonight. You slammed the shutter closed and turned around with a grimace that didn’t go unnoticed by the Mandalorian.

“What is it?” He questioned, modulated voice growing wary at the expression on your face.

“We’re running out of power, the main generator’s down from the storm so these lights are going to have to shut off soon. I think there’s enough in the emergency generator to heat the cantina through the night, though.” You hesitated, not sure how to break the bad news. “Unfortunately, the weather is— unmanageable. You’re not making it out of here to the mechanic’s until the blizzard lets up.” 

He didn’t respond for a few seconds, so you continued talking. “I was.. planning on sleeping here tonight.” You muttered, trying to think of a plan. You glanced at the sleepy child resting on the Mandalorian’s beskar chest plate. “I usually keep a couple blankets here for that reason— pretty sure there’s enough to cover the baby, but you might need to be okay with sharing.” 

You worried your bottom lip between your teeth, searching your memory for where the emergency supplies were kept. Kriff. How were you supposed to know that you’d be snowed in, and with guests no less? Your grumpy boss really should have put instructions for this type of situation in the closing shift directions instead of the usual “sweep the floors” or your personal favorite: “if the customer creates a corpse, they gotta clean it up themselves”.

The Mandalorian interrupted your musings with a firm, “No need,” gesturing to the charcoal cloak fastened around his pauldrons. You eyed it dubiously, but supposed that the material looked thick enough. That was probably to your benefit, anyway, since you were something of a notorious blanket hog and didn’t think he’d take kindly to having his sheets ripped off him in the dead of night. That seemed like a quick way to wake up with more bruises than you went to sleep with.

“Well— alright then,” you sighed at last, tossing the smaller of your blankets to the man and tucking the other into the side of a nearby booth. “I’ll shut off the lights in a moment. Refresher’s that way, if you need it,” you pointed to the end of a dimly lit hall. The Mandalorian nodded once, then returned his attention to carefully cocooning the child in his lap. You set to work fluffing up your own makeshift bed, folding the cleanest dishtowel you could find into a pillow before trudging over to the light switch and enveloping the room in darkness. 

Quietly feeling your way back to your booth, your eyes adjusted to the pitch-black little by little. You pulled your hair out of its messy updo and curled up on the seat, body slowly relaxing. It was strange, hearing the muffled rhythm of breaths coming from lungs that weren’t your own, but oddly soothing in its own way. 

“G’night,” you mumbled, half-asleep already, consciousness swirled down the psychological drain by the overpowering storm raging outside. The lull-and-hitch of the baby’s soft snores echoing off of solid beskar set you drifting off to sleep faster than you had as a child, so lost to the world that you were sure you dreamed the quiet, belated whisper that sounded back to you.

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read on: part ii

[mrsshabana]

𝐏𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐕𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 - 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐

꒦꒷‧₊ Summary You've been anxious to see the vampire again after that first night. And when he comes, you learn just how binding your pact with him is. Your life will never be the same. ꒦꒷‧₊ Content Gyutaro x female!reader, modern au, vampires, blood, violence, corpses, biting ꒦꒷‧₊ Note 1.6k words

✧:･ﾟ→ Chapter One

Each shift after your encounter with the vampire was filled with anxiety. You would come in to work, hoping you wouldn’t see him but knowing that it was inevitable. Each day that passed without seeing him your anxiety grew more and more. Would he come today? Would he come tomorrow? 

Well today was your lucky day, because there he is. As soon as you walk into the examination room you see the vampire curiously examining your tools. Scalpels, knives, bone saws, siphons. He looks up at you through his lashes, vibrant red orbs glaring at you. 

He looks a lot different than before. Though still dead so to speak, his skin still pale and lifeless but he looks a lot healthier than before. Not so skinny and emaciated, he actually looks muscular under the black hoodie he’s wearing. 

“Why do you look so surprised?” he growls, “You should have been expecting me.”

“I-I was um,” you stutter and put your things down at the desk, “I didn’t know which day you’d come.”

“Hm,” he hums, walking around the room. Eyeing you up and down. 

“I never got your name,” your voice quivers as you attempt to make casual conversation in this not so casual situation. 

“Gyutaro,” he states bluntly.

“Gyutaro? That’s a nice name,” you smile slightly, trying to hide your fear. “I’m -”

“I already know your name, Y/N,” he cuts you off, scoffing as if he’s annoyed by your attempt to introduce yourself, “Can we just get to the point already? I’m not here to be your friend. I’m here for you to keep up your end of the deal.”

“Right, sorry…” you apologize and quickly put on your gloves before heading into the back room where the cold lockers are. He promptly follows you, keeping his predatory gaze locked onto you. You can feel his stare drilling holes into your back.

The two of you enter the room, the cold temperature causing goosebumps on your skin. You look over the lockers, comparing dates until you find the most recent one. Pulling the handle, you open the locker to slide the body out. Revealing the corpse of a woman in her mid 50’s who passed away only 8-12 hours ago. Then you prepare your tools and begin to siphon the blood out of the corpse, filling up the same bucket as before. 

Gyutaro stands behind you, watching you with a judgmental gaze. The scent of blood fills his nostrils but he’s able to control himself this time. 

Once the bucket is mostly full you present it to him with shaky hands, nervous that he may go ravenous as he did last time. But he stands there unphased, with his arms crossed - looking down at you with a raised brow. 

“This isn’t good enough,” he rasps.

“Wh-what do you mean?” you furrow your brows in confusion, looking into the bucket to see what's wrong. But the blood looks perfectly normal to you. 

“This blood isn’t fresh.”

“Well yeah, I have to take it from corpses. It usually takes at least a few hours for the bodies to get to me,” you whimper, feeling afraid of how he will react. 

“That’s not my problem,” he steps closer to you, “It’s yours.”

“B-But you liked the blood I gave you last time,” your eyes begin to water.

He scowls and raises his voice, “That was my first meal! I was desperate for anything,  I was starving…” he looks down as if he had a sad memory but he quickly snaps out of it and gets in your face again, “Would you want to eat stale food every day? Yeah, I didn't think so. So you better find me some fresh blood or else.”

“But I can’t get fresh blood! I have no way of doing something like that,” your tears slowly begin to fall down your cheeks. 

“You know what happens to humans who break a pact with a vampire?”

“N-No… what?” you sniffle.

“Let’s find out,” he grins and puts his cold hand on your shoulder. Opening his mouth, showing his deadly fangs. 

“Ok ok!” you panic, “I’ll get you fresh blood!” You desperately agree, not wanting to find out what the consequences are of breaking a pact with him. You have no idea how you will manage to get fresh blood, but it doesn’t seem like you have much of a choice. 

“Good,” he smirks and steps away from you. Though he does take the blood bucket from your hands, placing a finger inside then putting it in his mouth to get a taste. 

“Ngh, that’s disgusting,” he coughs, “I’d only drink this if I was on the verge of death.”

You wipe the tears from your eyes and clean up the area. Putting the body back in the locker and cleaning your siphon before you go back to the examination room with the vampire. 

He looks at you expectantly. 

“What? I-I can’t get fresh blood for you that fast! I don’t even know how I’ll do it without, well… killing someone,” the thought of having to kill another human being almost brings you to tears. 

“It’s not my problem that you’re completely incompetent,” he rolls his eyes, “You owe me fresh blood, and your first payment is now.”

Panicked, you look around the room. Trying to find anything to help you out of this predicament. It’s 11:42 pm, how the hell are you supposed to come up with fresh blood? It’s not like you can just walk up to a blood bank and ask for it. Let alone go to the extreme of killing someone. But you got yourself into this mess, so you have to do whatever it takes to keep your end of the deal.

You squeeze your eyes tightly and move your head back, revealing your neck to him, “Fine.”

“Wh-what are you doing?” his eyes widen in surprise and his voice softens. 

“Take my blood. It’s the only option I have.”

“Are you sure…?” he takes a step closer to you, almost unable to believe you’re offering your own blood to him. 

“Yes,” you nod, “I’m sure.”

He grabs your shoulders, your eyes shooting open from the sudden contact. 

“Alright,” he sighs, looking down at you. His vibrant eyes staring into yours, “It’ll be easier if you lay down.”

You take a deep breath and nod. The only place to lie down is right here on the examination table. The metal feels ice cold as you hesitantly lay atop it. The fluorescent lights buzzing above you as Gyutaro looks down at you.  This entire time he’s been cold and calculating, but this is the first time you’ve seen him look so unsure. So nervous. 

Gyutaro carefully climbs onto the examination table, hovering above you. He can hear your heart beating, so fast that he feels like he can see the blood pulsing in your neck. His eyes dilate at the thought of piercing your delicate skin with his fangs. 

Your breath hitches as he leans in. Getting closer to your neck with each second that passes. However, his movements are slow and gentle, much different than they were before. 

You can’t avoid what happens next, no matter how much you wish you could. In the end, it’s your fault that you’re in this situation in the first place. So you might as well embrace it and make it as easy as possible. Turning your head to the side, you offer your neck to him. 

Gyutaro slowly inches closer, the tip of his nose brushing against your ear - sending shivers down your spine. 

He opens his mouth and you barely feel the softness of his lips caressing your skin before the stinging pain of his fangs puncturing your skin, sinking into your flesh and penetrating your veins. 

You gasp and flinch from the initial sting, holding onto his shoulder for support. He groans deeply as your sweet blood touches his tongue, the taste more divine than anything that has ever breached his lips. He becomes lost in your saccharine nectar, losing himself in the addictive flavor of you. Without thinking he puts his hand on your waist, holding you still as he ever so slightly leans his body closer to yours. 

Your fingers and toes begin to go numb, and your heartbeat skyrockets. The sound of your pounding heart is the only thing that snaps him out of it. Resulting in him unlatching from your neck just in time before you would lose consciousness. 

The both of you pant heavily, trying to calm down from the intense experience. Gyutaro’s face goes red when he realizes how close he is to you and he quickly gets off of you, standing up beside the table.

You try to stand but you feel too light-headed to do so, Gyutaro puts a hand on your shoulder as if silently telling you to take it easy. You really don’t know how to feel at this moment. Scared? Relieved? Embarrassed? Probably a combination of all three, but you’re honestly just happy that he didn’t kill you.

“Thanks for being so gentle, Gyutaro…” you mutter.

His blush deepens, “Whatever… Just get me fresh blood by the end of the week. I can’t feed off of you every time. Your body won’t be able to handle it…”

“O-ok,” you gulp, “I’ll have it ready for you when you come back.” 

“Good,” he hands you a piece of paper with a number written down, “That’s my phone number. Just in case you need something.”

“Thanks,” you say shyly as you stash the paper in your pocket for later. 

“Just remember we aren’t friends, this is just business,” he scowls, looking back at you one last time before leaving out the window just as he had before.

[strawbeerossi]

Heartless

Pairing: Unsub!Fem!Reader x Spencer Reid

Part Description: With an old foe breaking out of prison, there are complications when Y/N is left alone with them, exposing her secret to Spencer about just who she is.

Content Warnings: Coarse language, there’s spoilers for season 12 and prison Reid, mentions of drugging, mentions of death, use of a knife, use of a gun, violence, death.

Word Count: 4.4K

Part one || Part two || Part three

Navigation || Masterlist || Request

Confusion had set in the minute that Y/N had gotten to Spencer’s car, watching the clumsy man nearly trip over his own two feet as he was pulling open the passenger side door, his tender touch against her lower back as he was so lovingly nudging her so she’d get in the car. “I thought you said this killer killed men. Why am I going to the office? Her MO isn’t women.” She tried, her boyfriend’s head shaking.

“Just listen to me!” Spencer snapped, bringing his hands to his hair while drawing in a breath. Trying to compose the very overwhelming emotions that seemed to be taking control. After prison, Spencer became more irritable. It was harder for him to control his emotions, he had major tunnel vision, and he was in a post traumatic stress state that wouldn’t ever leave him. Sure, things got better, in spurts. Therapy did so much for him, his girlfriend could only do so much, it was like his mind was against him.

“We need to get to the office now, okay? I promise you that I will explain everything in vivid detail but I need you in the fucking car! You’re gonna get hurt and I can’t lose someone else. Please just get in the car..” Watching Spencer panic and grow fearful was enough to make Y/N’s heart shatter. Her poor baby. In order to fulfill the man’s wishes, she was pressing a soft kiss against his cheek before climbing into the car, the seatbelt being snapped into place as soon as she was settled. “Please tell me what’s going on.”

Who the fuck was trying to take Y/N’s position? To claim all her hard work as their own? There was no doubt those men, no, those dirty pigs deserved to die. However, she was the one doing it. She was delivering justice to women who were failed by the system, by the courts, even by their spouses. What she did was vigilantism, doing what the law couldn’t. Even if her boyfriend was part of that same very law and would look down upon her choices. She had to keep it under the radar. She knew what would happen if her boyfriend was to find out.

She’d have to kill him.

It was almost a little laughable how naive Spencer was with the whole situation with his girlfriend, the way she would come over at all hours of the night, the way she’d always be tightly wound up. However, working in customer service for all shifts was a good excuse for that.

Spencer, the genius FBI profiler who had so much under his belt, had no idea he was in bed with a woman who he wanted to strangle. She’d like to think that he loved her, that he was overlooking everything just because he found solace in her arms. It was something that he told her, saying he needed her, that she made him sane after all the hell that he’d been put through.

Deep down, she knew that he was one of the good ones. The ones who deserved a loving relationship, a woman willing to take care of him, willing to deal with the long nights, days, even weeks when Spencer was off on a case. That was why she was there. To give a man who was the most deserving of love the very thing that he craved, needed. It wasn’t even just the sex that kept her there. It was that studious, lovable dork who always had so much to say, so much to teach her.

“There’s this woman, a woman who has been messing with me for years. I outsmarted her.” Spencer answered, one hand coming up to rub his right eye, the tunnel vision setting in as he was growing more overwhelmed. “Cat Adams. She-“ He let out a low sigh. “She drugged me, she framed me for murder, had me incarcerated, she.. She..” He was taking in a shaky breath while Y/N was reaching over to let her hand rest on his upper arm.

“You don’t have to say it right now, okay? I promise that it’s alright. I’m here for you.” Y/N assured her boyfriend, a weak smile on her face. Oh, she was gonna kill this bitch, for sure. She felt like this was going to be a bigger fight than it needed to be. Way too big.

Spencer was pulling in the parking garage soon after that, sitting in a deafening silence while he tried collecting himself the best that he could. He had to think clearly. Not only was he at risk but his girlfriend was too. Cat had so many people to do her dirty work outside of prison, he knew that. This was her handiwork. He didn't know how he didn't see it before.

Cat made the most sense. She was a 'Black Widow' killer. She used her seduction and charm to lure men in. She saw all men as threats, considered them all as evil and dark as the next. She never spared a thought for most of them. Spencer though.. Oh, Cat was infatuated. He was the only man to ever outsmart her, to arrest her while winning the game that she rigged against him. That woman wouldn't ever leave him alone, not until she was dead.

Being locked in a maximum security prison didn't deter her. Instead, it fueled her. It drove her to dig up every piece on Spencer that she possibly could. Hell, she had him drugged and imprisoned all the while blaming Mr. Scratch.

Emily Prentiss, the unit chief of the Behavioral Analysis Unit, was the one who greeted Spencer and Y/N by the elevator. "I'm glad you could make it. I know you've been busy with your personal investigation." She hummed, turning her attention to Y/N. "I had a suspicion our beloved Dr. Reid had a secret girlfriend." She joked, holding a hand out. "I'm Emily."

Y/N did her research on the BAU leader. She was strong willed, determined, and loyal to her work family. However, the mommy and daddy issues were apparent in her work ethic. The way she took on a more demanding tone, the way she looked at Y/N with that hint of mistrust. It was enough to make the other woman almost respect her. Emily was definitely going to make things difficult if she didn't play things smart.

The leader gets suspicious, and the team turns against her. No thanks.

"I'm Y/N. It's nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you." Y/N greeted, a smile gracing her features while her hand was reaching out to hold Emily's, the two shaking hands before their hands were falling back to their usual places.

"Spencer. If you wouldn't mind taking Y/N somewhere she can get comfortable, everyone else is waiting on us." Straight to business.

"I know it's not really work appropriate," Spencer began, his gaze falling on his girlfriend before he was taking her hand. "I'd really appreciate it if she came in too. She's been my rock throughout all of this and I don't think I can even talk about.." He paused briefly, making Emily look at Y/N before letting out a sigh.

"Alright. If you would feel more comfortable with her there, she can sit in. However," Now her attention was on Y/N. "I don't know what Spencer has told you but this is a violent case. We are going to be talking about a lot of dark subject matters." She spoke, a warning to the very woman who was behind every single murder except the most recent one.

"I understand. I think that I can handle it. If I can't, I'll quietly excuse myself." Her tone was soft as she offered a gentle smile.

Following close behind her boyfriend and his boss, Y/N was looking around the bullpen. There was a lot of structure and order, yet a hint of chaos judging by the piles of files and other papers on certain desks. She could already guess which one was Spencer's, which made her smile.

Inside the conference room though, the talking was coming to a halt when a new woman was stepping in the room, hand tucked in Spencer's.

There was a blonde woman that was speaking up first, a wide smile on her face. "Who is this?!" She asked, the case at hand almost being forgotten by the woman with purple framed glasses, a dress that was littered with unicorns amongst other fantasy style items. She didn't look like someone who would willingly choose this career, seeming very overjoyed and kind, too kind for the world.

"I'm Y/N. You must be Penelope." Y/N spoke up, the woman perking up even more if it was possible. "You've been talking about me!" She laughed, putting her hands together. "Is this your girlfriend? Oh! Spencer she's so-"

"Garcia."

Emily's voice was bringing the woman back to the heavy reality of the situation, making her smile fall as she nodded. "Sorry, sorry. Um," She began while grabbing the remote on the table. "We have Matthew Thornton." She began, clicking a button on the remote to pull up the crime scene.

Whoever was trying to take Y/N's thunder didn't even do it right. They stabbed the body about seventy times, which was far too much work for her to even attempt. Besides that, she'd never think to leave behind a note taunting anyone. However, this wasn't her. With the way she could feel her boyfriend tense up, she knew this was the work of the woman he told her about in the car.

"She ended up being a part of a well coordinated prison break." Tara was speaking up, her gaze looking over the files in hand while frowning. "How did the guards not notice?" She asked while Matt was looking over at the woman's direction. "Guards were in on it. It doesn't help that some of those same guards were killed while on their shift once the break happened and their clothes were stolen. Makes it easy to scan an ID and open the doors for everyone."

"So, wait," Y/N interjected herself into the conversation, however nobody seemed against her speaking her thoughts out. "With the break and how it flew under the radar for so long, do we know how long they've been out?" She asked, her eyebrows raising in curiosity. Maybe blaming this on Cat Adams could potentially get her fully off the suspect list.

"According to reports, this went on months ago." David responded, making Luke nod. "Meaning, Cat has been fighting for Spencer's attention in the only way she could. It looks like the killings led up to Spencer's apartment at one point but they stopped, now they are back on track."

Oh. Blessing in disguise maybe?

"What do we know?" Spencer finally broke his silence, his hand reaching over for one of the files before he was opening it, although it was almost like he had it to where Y/N could see too. Was she unknowingly getting signed up to help?

"She was seen in a convenience store security footage." Penelope answered, quickly pulling up the files. As they went through the footage a couple times, the blonde was pausing it on Cat's face. There was no doubt about it being her. Why was she playing the long game though? When Y/N found someone she wanted dead, she got on with it. There wasn't any doubt going through her mind.

"She's taunting us. We could be walking directly into a trap." Emily pointed out the obvious, her hands resting against the tabletop while keeping a sharp eye on the screen ahead of her. "I think it's time for us to go off of our leads. Garcia, send us coordinates for her last known locations. Judging by how recent this footage is, she's close. I’m pairing all of us off. We need to play this safe.”

Emily just didn't know how close Cat really was.

◆:*:◇:*:◆:*:◇:*:◆

Cat had successfully evaded police capture for months now, keeping her eyes on one specific person. She saw Y/N approach Spencer in a bar a few months ago, getting cozy with him before going back to his apartment. So.. Cat did what she did best, digging.

She followed Y/N around on her nights of leisure, watching her use her intoxicating voice and seduction to lure unsuspecting men back to shitty motels and other discreet places just to kill them. Yet, after all that, she’d made sure to not leave a trace of evidence behind before she left.

Going straight home to her boyfriend, an FBI agent who would no doubt kill her if she found out.

That was when Cat decided to make her escape known, attracting the attention of the BAU in order to throw this woman under the bus. Cat’s obsession with Spencer knew absolutely no bounds. She would do what she could to make him suffer, all the while managing to keep him all to herself.

He didn’t deserve to be happy. No, he deserved to be with someone who was meant for him. She knew from the moment she met Spencer that he was an evil person, harboring a dark side that only she had managed to bring out after being part of completely breaking him down, making him crumble into a form of himself that he would never fully recognize.

She knew they’d be catching on soon. The BAU never disappointed her, she was going to one place where they wouldn’t be looking. In fact, it was the place where Y/N was sent after Emily was making the woman leave due to the fact that no normal civilian needed to be part of this. Spencer was against the idea entirely but at the promise of an agent going to guard his girlfriend, he had to deflate and accept she needed to go home, where she was safe.

So, as she was being ushered home by some big agent to keep her safe, Y/N could help but frown. They thought she needed a man to protect her?? She knew what she was doing. If Cat even showed up on her radar, it’d be easy to kill her. No guard would be able to hold her back either. She’d pieced together every horrible thing that Cat coordinated against Spencer, the way she pulled the strings in an elaborate plan to completely break him.

There was going to be a long, painful death in store for the notorious escaped convict, that was all she knew.

“You don’t have to be here you know.” Y/N murmured to the man beside her, her hand reaching in her purse so she could unlock her front door. “Sorry, ma’am. Orders.” He wasn’t gonna let up. It was enough to get under her skin, wanting to grab her blade tucked away in her bag and slit his throat. However, she wasn’t going to fully incriminate herself after seemingly getting away with murder.

As soon as the door was unlocked, she stepped inside and closed the door behind her. Thankfully, the man outside would just be standing guard, which was a shitty decision if Cat was as good as they said she was.

Y/N had gotten her shoes off before heading to her kitchen, flipping on the light before raising an eyebrow as she saw Cat Adams, the woman the whole team was looking for, at her kitchen table. She had a folder resting on the table, labeled for Spencer. “You’re home! Thank god, I was worried I’d have to go find you!”

“What the fuck are you doing in my apartment? How did you get into my apartment?”

“I have my ways! Now, why don’t you sit down?”

The way that this woman was talking to her had Y/N rolling her eyes. “I think I’m gonna have to ask you to leave before I shove a knife in your throat. I mean, it would be self defense, after all. You broke into my home, you’re a convicted murderer.”

“Ah. You’re a murderer too though.” Cat stated, opening the file in front of her to reveal the prints linking Y/N with each victim. The same bar where she met Spencer, the same drink, the same body language. “I mean.. This is plenty of evidence. The cameras may not work there but people have their eyes open. Always. I know so many people around here, you’d be surprised.”

Cat didn’t give Y/N time to ask any questions. “Now, what I wanna know is, what are you doing with Spencer Reid? Your whole crusade is to kill men who have gotten away with violence against their partners and/or their children. Men who are violent, harboring dark thoughts and using their strength to either take life away, or to try and end it.”

“I don’t see what that has to do with Spencer.”

“You don’t? You do know that Spencer murdered a woman, correct? In cold blood, might I add. She was trying to help him and he returned the favor by stabbing her to death.”

“Because you drugged him, Cat. I’m not fucking stupid, I’ve already been made aware.”

“Were you aware that after his release from prison, he came to visit me? He had to talk with me about my involvement, which I’m sure you know that I had his precious mommy under my lock and key. Do you know what he did to me? What he said?”

There was silence from Y/N’s end. That was something she hadn’t heard yet.

“You see, I was pregnant in prison. Spencer had come to question me, asking me all sorts of bullshit questions. So I answered. He got impatient with me. Started yelling, threw a table out of the way, and slammed me against a brick wall. He was going to choke me to death, Y/N. I had bruises for months after that. I even miscarried. If JJ hadn’t been there, I would’ve been dead.” The story wasn’t as tragic as Cat believed it to be. She deserved it.

“You fight for women and children who have been fucked over by the crooked structure of law enforcement. The same law enforcement that your sweet boyfriend is a part of. Killing all of those men was a waste of time. If you truly cared about those people who you claim to be fighting for, Spencer would’ve been dead a long time ago. I respected your choices leading up to that moment. The moment that you grew weak. The moment you betrayed every single thing you were fighting for.”

As if right on cue though, there was the sound of banging right outside the front door, Spencer’s voice being muffled by the front door as he called out to his girlfriend. He willingly sent her home, thinking she’d be safe. All the while, Cat left plenty of clues as to where she was. “Right on time! I knew Spencie wouldn’t fail me.” She grinned.

“Go be a good girl and unlock the door. I think you and him need to have a long talk about what you did.” She spoke, leaning back in her chair while nodding towards the front door, where Spencer was still yelling for his girlfriend. If she didn’t open the door soon, he’d have to pull a Derek and kick the wooden door clean off its hinges.

This was where Y/N’s heart fell into her stomach. Realization was setting in. Spencer was going to know. He was going to see the incriminating bullshit that Cat had in front of her. Everything was going to fall down to Y/N killing Spencer. This was what Cat needed her for. What she used her for.

She quietly approached the front door, unlocking each individual lock before pulling it open. “Oh thank god!” Spencer croaked, his arms wrapped tightly around his girlfriend while he held her flush against his chest. The comfort of knowing she was okay was enough to have him sobbing in her arms, unaware of what darkness was looming in the kitchen. “She’s on the way here.” He spoke, him against her shoulder while his eyes were closed.

The moment was gone in an instant. “I’m already here, Spencie. It’s so nice to see you again. I bet that you thought you were doing justice here,” Cat smirked, body leaning against the kitchen archway as she let an eyebrow raise. “I suggest you come inside, sit with us in the kitchen. We both have a lot to discuss with you.” She began, causing the couple to break apart from the hug as Y/N grabbed her boyfriend’s hand. “Come on.” She whispered, tears rolling down her pale cheeks as she led him into the kitchen.

“Now, I think you guys should recruit me into the fbi. Because I solved this case for you!” Cat grinned, pushing the closed file to Spencer. “Your killer, the one you’ve been searching for, has been right under your nose this whole time. It’s not even me!” She had a wicked smile on her face. This was another shot to Spencer’s heart, making him go through pain all over again. As long as she was alive, Spencer wouldn’t ever escape her.

You could hear a pin drop the minute that Spencer opened the file, his eyes staring at the pictures inside while his mouth ran dry. That was Y/N. His girlfriend. With the men who were murdered, the same bar they met in and everything.

“What the fuck is this?” There was anger in his voice, betrayal. “You’ve let me nearly kill myself from lack of sleep and bringing me to near heart attack level because of you?!” The venom in his voice had Y/N flinching upon impact, her eyes squeezing shut. “You don’t understand-“ She began, though it wasn’t long before Spencer was throwing the file down and standing.

“Was I another victim?! Were you playing the fucking long game with me? You wanted to catch me fully off guard?” He growled, the woman being backed up to the wall. Y/N felt powerless, her heart beating out of her chest as the man she loved was towering over her, keeping her trapped between himself and the wall.

However, once his back was to Cat, it was almost like something else flashed in his eyes. There was anger but now there was something else. Encouragement? She didn’t think much about it until Spencer was reaching over to take a knife out of the knife block, holding it out to his girlfriend. “Do it then. Go for it.” He growled, though there wasn’t fear behind his eyes. No.. There was a fucking smirk on his face, egging her on to make a move.

Y/N was slowly taking the knife once Spencer backed up, this time sitting in a chair. There were a few moments of silence while Y/N was looking at her reflection within the blade of the knife, something ticking inside of her. Something she’d been waiting to act on for a while. “I’m sorry.” She whispered, looking over at her boyfriend who seemed unbothered. “I don’t wanna fucking hear it. Just hurry up. We don’t have much time.” 

The way she was encouraged made her face Cat, then everything went black.

The first thing she did was charge the other woman, knocking her out of the chair. The air was thick with adrenaline as the woman was wrestling the other to the ground. This was a long time coming. However, cat put up one hell of a fight, the woman ending up getting a good hit on Y/N and knocking her to the ground, which had Cat be the knife wielder.

As the woman was climbing on top of the other, she was pushing the knife deep into Y/N’s shoulder, the woman letting out a loud cry. “You’re pathetic, you know that? All that promise? All that strength. He was going to take it away from you anyway. You never loved him and he never loved-“

BANG

Blood was splattered all over Y/N’s face, the sound of a gunshot echoing through the apartment. The deadweight of Cat falling on top of her was enough to shock her. Did Spencer just.. There were a few moments where Y/N used the adrenaline coursing through her veins to shove the dead weight off of her.

“How dumb do you think I am?” Spencer asked after a moment, using a lighter to light up the incriminating evidence in the sink to let the pictures burn completely. “I’ve known the whole fucking time. You’re not exactly subtle. Be real. I was in that bar on a stakeout.” He continued on while looking back at Y/N.

“I was supposed to go in, do my job, and get out. However, you sat beside me. The way you were talking to me, touching me, and your body language gave you up immediately. However.. Against my better judgment, I had some sort of trust in you. I took you home with me.” He began while turning on the water to put out the fire from the burning evidence before grabbing the unidentifiable pictures and throwing them in the trash.

“I fell in love with you. Even if you didn’t deserve that love. Quite frankly, you still don’t.” He was taking off the purple scarf around his neck, wrapping it around her bleeding wound while he was moving to grab his microphone, putting a finger up. “Prentiss, send up medics. Cat’s down and Y/N is wounded.” He sent off the message while letting his arms cross as he looked over his girlfriend.

“I’m not gonna say a word about any of this. I told you that I refuse to lose you and I mean that. You’re not going to be locked up in a jail cell the rest of your life or mine. But you have to promise me that you’re not gonna fuck around and keep doing this bullshit. I mean it, if I feel like you are killing anyone else..” He was grabbing her chin by making her look up at him.

“I’ll kill you myself. Now, go get stitched up before you bleed out.” There was a soft kiss pressed against her lips while he was standing straight again, walking out of the apartment to greet the other team members downstairs.

He left Y/N to stand there, mostly in shock.

What the fuck just happened?

[thegodmother007]

My New Neighbor Chapter 12: Sick Day

TRIGGER WARNING: This story will eventually contain violence, angst, threat of death, swearing, dark humor, adult themes like sex & drugs, racism, classism, sexism etc. Do not say you have not been warned

Chapter 12:

It’s been about 2-weeks since the party where I almost drowned in beer, was tossed around like a toy & played with like one. But I was ultimately grateful to be saved by my neighbor who I watched choke Myra over & over again on the video that Foster texted me the morning after. 

Something in me burned watching that video again and again. I felt the satisfaction of Myra’s stupid face contorting into real fear of Vi & what she was going to do. Served her right, she should know how it feels to be overpowered. Then rage fills my chest when her brother, Bo, steps into frame & stops it. What I would have given to watch this play out in real life & not just hear it from my friends & a poor quality video. 

Since the party though, I have spoken to Vi more & more. It started out with her checking in on me, probably to make sure we were still cool. Then it turned into simple memes being sent back & forth, then quickly escalated into full-on text conversations, from there. I found it was much easier to talk to her in this way than in-person. I may have noticed my feelings shifting with Vi, but that did not get rid of the intimidation I felt being around any giant’s presence. However, when I texted Vi this morning, continuing a conversation we started last night, I did not get a response back from her. I knew she was home, because I felt her walking around once or twice, so I was not sure why she was avoiding me. Eventually, I texted her to ask “Are you mad at me or something..?” I waited for a while. One hour turned into 2 hours, turned into 3 hours, turning into 4 hours with no response. It was about 3:00pm at this point and when checking my phone to see she still hadn’t read my messages, I decided to give her a call, just in case. I held the phone to my ear, waiting for her to answer. To my immediate relief she did, but she certainly did not sound like Vi. 

I got a groggy voice answering me, which sounded horse and withered, say “hello..?” on the other side. “Vi?” I asked her, not 100% convinced it was her with how tired she sounded. “Yes?” she asked, thinking I needed something, which I was quick to correct “Hey are you alright? You haven't answered any of my texts & although you’re not obligated to, I got worried.” I confessed the last part with no shortage of embarrassment lacing my words. A pause between us made me wonder if I had made her uncomfortable. Vi quietly answered with a sniffle & a cough clearing her throat “I’m sick. My head’s spinning, my nose is stuffed, I have a cough, I’m cold, I feel weak and tired. I haven’t found it in me to text anyone today, sorry.” I felt bad that she felt the need to apologize to me “No, no don’t apologize. I didn’t know you were sick. Anything I can do?” I offered automatically, realizing only after I offered that I must have sounded silly to her. What could I, a small Human, do for her at this moment? I couldn’t go to the store to get her medicine or make her soup. Hell, I can’t even get her another blanket if she wanted it. Vi coughed up a lung on the other end before answering and when she caught her breath replied “No, not much anyone can do right now, really. Just gotta ride this out.” She said in a way to try & spare my feelings. “Alright. Well get plenty of rest, okay?” I say before I go to hang up, but not before an idea hits me. 

“Actually…what’s the passcode to your apartment?” I asked with a mischievous tone I could tell unsettled Vi a little. After she gave the code to me, I say into the phone “See you in 5” before quickly hanging up on her without letting her respond. I grabbed my guitar & hurried to punch the 4-digit code into the door that separated our spaces. This code is for emergency situations & although not an emergency, I think Vi was going to like my idea. 

As fast as I could, with my guitar in hand, I walked towards Vi’s room. I did stop to admire her apartment space like I’ve never gotten the chance to. Looking high above me, I observed some of the most mundane items, like a dining table, chairs, couch, pairs of shoes by the door & books on the shelf. Except, due to their immense size, I looked at everything with a sense of wonder only giant-sized items could invoke. Anytime I entered her unit, she was always there keeping my attention or a bunch of giants were there to distract me. I marveled at the opportunity to see where Vi lives daily, feeling calmed by idea that her apartment hardly looked any different than my own, outside of stylistic choices. 

I turned to the hallway & notice that Vi’s door is open halfway, giving me more than enough room to enter. When approaching her bedroom, I knock as hard as I can on the doorframe, giving her a heads up I was here. I walk into a very dark room, sans the daylight that shot through the cracks of her window blinds, which gave me enough light to make out her darkened silhouette. I can see her long hair hanging off the side of the bed & I watch her head slowly poke out from behind the blanket, to see me standing in the doorway. Vi’s eyes look tired and her skin pale, even in this light. I could see her muster a small smile but then quickly fade out as I walked closer to her bed. 

“What are you doing here?” She asks me, voice scratchy and obstructed by phlegm. I smiled and held up my guitar “You said there wasn't anything I could do for you, but I thought of something. Do you mind if I sit?” I ask, pointing to a spot directly in front of her line of vision on the floor. Vi shakes her head, confirming she wouldn't mind, but obviously unsure of what I had planned. I find my spot, sitting cross legged while I gaze up at a very sick Vi. “I was hoping a little music might help you feel better…” I say strumming my guitar. 

For a moment I saw Vi’s eyes light up, before the energy in them was dimmed once more by her sickness. I could tell she was hiding a smile behind her blanket while only her eyes were exposed. I started out with something slow & cheerful ‘Here Comes the Sun' by the Beetles. Hoping I wasn't making a fool of myself, I started singing “Here comes the sun, do do do do. Here comes the sun & I say-”

Now, I am not the greatest singer in the world, but in that moment, I felt like it. I would occasionally peer up at Vi from my seated position to see her eyes sparkling at me, glossy & focused. I wasn't sure if it was her cold that was making them do that, but it fueled me to play a second song. I followed ‘Here Comes the Sun’ with Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’. Again I sing to Vi, whose eyes never leave my form. “There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold

And she's buying a stairway to Heaven-” 

When referring to ‘the lady' of the song, I glance at Vi and shoot her a smile, one similar to the one that she keeps hiding behind the blanket. I take my time, playing slowly & not loudly at all, hoping not to disturb her, but rather give what little comfort I could as I strummed.

************************************************

I wasn't sure what Cain was thinking after he called & asked for my apartment code, only to have him hang up once I gave it to him. “Whatever” I thought to myself, putting my phone back on my bedside table, sneezing a few times before blowing my nose and laying back down. I started shivering after having my arms outside the blanket, so I nestled back into my cocoon, covering my whole head when I heard a knocking at my door. I wasn't shocked to see Cain standing there, but what did surprise me was he had his guitar with him. I felt my pale face go red, realizing Cain might intend to play for me. For the first time today, I wasn't focused on how crummy I felt. I watched Cain sit on my floor & start playing ‘Here Comes the Sun' for me. I felt a wave of goosebumps begin crawling up my body for the first few chords. 

I couldn't help but stare in awe at Cain’s gesture. It was the kindest thing someone had done for me in a long time & I couldn't help but tear up as he began singing too. His voice was calming & slow, perfect for acoustic guitar. My heart leapt for joy as he winked at me during the part of the The Beetle’s song: “Little darlin', it's been a long, cold, lonely winter” I felt my smile involuntary sneak onto my face while I hid behind my blanket, trying to play it cool. Inside however, I was tickled by how genuinely sweet he was for doing this. I used my blanket to discreetly dab my tears away when he looked back down at his guitar, watching his hands & making sure he plucked the right strings. Had my voice not sounded like an old hag’s, I would have sang along with him. For now though, I was happy to just listen. 

Cain’s taste in music only got better with each song because after he played ‘Stairway to Heaven', he played ‘Wish You were Here’ by Pink Floyd. I closed my eyes, allowing myself to be carried away by the music, imagining laying under the blue sky with white fluffy clouds passing by & next to me in the soft green grass was Cain, the sun warm on our faces. 

*********************************************************

It wasn't too far into ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, that I watched Vi slowly close her eyes & drift off to sleep. I made sure to finish the song, not sure if she’d really fallen asleep, until I let the last chord fade out. When she didn't open her eyes again & I noticed that her breathing had deepened, I knew my work here was done. I felt a sense of accomplishment that I was able to lull a giant to sleep in under 5 songs. This was going in my portfolio for sure, I joked to myself.

Before standing to take my leave, I just watch Vi sleep for a bit, admiring how she was completely at peace. In a very weird way, she was very beautiful in this moment. I'm sure she covered her face because she didn't feel like it, but I liked seeing what she looked like underneath make-up & the stress of having me as a roommate. In an effort not to disturb her, I slowly put my guitar back in its case and carefully locked it, slow in my movements back to my own unit where I make sure to shoot her a text to wake up to, before closing our shared door behind me: “Sleep well” 

AUTHOR’S NOTE: I’ve thrown a lot of angst into this story, I think we needed a change of pace 😉

Sorry the story is a bit short, but the next chapter I am working on is much longer than many of the ones I've written so far.

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TAG LIST: @gt-daboss

[violetriorsons]

—in a world alone (we're all alone);

a collection of missing moments based on xaden's letters to violet. // pre-FW; iron flame spoilers.

part one.

“sgaeyl watched me kill another cadet for bullying garrick during threshing. she says she chose me for my ruthlessness, but i think i just reminded her of my grandfather.” — chapter 12 (iron flame).

.::.

The number one objective: don't die today.

It's proven to be a shockingly easy goal over the last few hours. A quick glance at the sun in the sky tells Xaden it's the start of the afternoon, and the biggest problem he's faced since Threshing started at nine this morning is the uncharacteristically strong heat for the beginning of October.

It's unsettling — he knows damn well that Fen Riorson's son is at the top of the hit lists of a number of cadets in his year (and the other years, for that matter). And he also knows Threshing is the best opportunity any of them are going to get to finally settle any bets.

It's why when his year dispersed this morning, Xaden had made a point to move in the opposite direction than Garrick and Masen. The target on his back is too big today to risk his only friends.

But so far, it seems his worries were for nothing. The few cadets he's come across over the last four or so hours have paid him nothing more than a wary glare, clearly far more interested in finding their dragons than wasting time trying to run a sword through him.

The dragons Xaden has passed by have also ignored him, both to his relief and mild dismay. The jitters in his chest persist, but for new reasons.

For months, the most common and accepted rhetoric he's heard spread throughout the quadrant is that no self-respecting dragon would go through the disgrace of bonding a marked one. That there's nothing worthy in the children of the people who had threatened the safety of human- and dragonkind all over Navarre.

Up until now, Xaden hadn't let himself dwell on the theory. His priority was keeping himself, his friends, and the rest of the marked ones in his year alive (a feat he's already fumbled, twice). But now, walking through the disturbingly quiet forest, there's no escaping the nauseating fear that everyone was right.

If he'd had the choice, Xaden thinks he might've gone into infantry to honor his father's wishes. He hadn't had the time to figure out for himself what he'd wanted to do with his life before fate and the lost Battle of Aretia had written his destiny for him. Before he knew it, the apostasy had come and tragically gone, and he was suddenly saddled with a hundred and seven souls to keep out of Malek's all-too greedy hands.

Three years ago, Xaden had brokered a deal with General Sorrengail to keep the orphans of his father's allies alive. He knows his father would've abhorred the agreement, but the man had also taught him well about making tough decisions. And making it through the riders' quadrant was their only shot at survival.

But now he's dreading that he might've sentenced them all to a worse fate: if the dragons aren't interested in bonding them, they'll all be doomed to relive their first year in the riders' quadrant over and over until Malek finally decides to collect his due.

Xaden hears the crackling of dragonfire in the near distance— too near for his liking. He quickens his steps as he searches around him in vain for any spot of blue.

Unlike Garrick this morning, Xaden did have a certain dragon from Presentation on his mind. An enormous, navy Blue Daggertail that had left him stunned when he saw it near the end of his deadly stroll yesterday.

He'd stopped dead in his tracks when he'd first caught sight of it, and had Garrick not given him a shove from behind, he's sure that he would've ended up a pile of ashes for daring to look a dragon in the eye for as long as he did.

It was an honest mistake. Xaden had felt something shift inside of him when he locked eyes with the beast, a sharp thrill that lingered long after the first-year cadets had all retreated to their bunks for the night.

Though judging by the icy narrowing of the dragon's eyes as it stared back at him, he thinks maybe the feeling was not mutual.

The thought is reinforced by the fact that he hasn't caught a single hint of her presence anywhere this morning. Idly, Xaden wonders if perhaps the Daggertail had picked another cadet at the start of Threshing, and his mood begins to sour.

But before he can linger any longer on his newfound worries, he hears a familiar shout nearby that has his stomach dropping.

It's Garrick.

All thoughts of the Blue Daggertail are forgotten as Xaden races in the direction of the shout.

The number one objective: don't die today. It goes for himself and especially for his best friend.

Xaden may or may not bond a dragon today. But if nothing else, he'll gladly spend the rest of the day making damn sure his friends make it out of this forest alive.

The shouting continues as he approaches, and Xaden recognizes the voice of Garrick's opponent just before they both come into view.

Prince Alic.

Xaden should've seen this one coming. He'd been too concerned about the target on his own back to consider that his friends have also made enemies in the quadrant all on their own.

The limp-dick, sorry excuse of a prince had wasted no time trying to assert dominance in the quadrant after crossing the Parapet this summer. He's been a terror to most, the Riorson son included, but Alic has had it out for Garrick since he lost to him during assessment week on the mat.

And apparently, he's decided Threshing is the perfect setting to enact his revenge.

Garrick's one of the best in their year when it comes to sparring, but the royal training the asswipe of a prince has under his belt makes him more than a worthy adversary. And though Xaden would be willing to bet that Alic snuck up on Garrick, any matters of honor and dirty tactics don't matter much if Alic makes it out of this forest with Garrick's head in the end.

Rage waves over Xaden and he barely manages to wrangle it back under control so he can slow his steps and assess the situation from a distance.

So far, Garrick seems to be holding his own well enough.

Xaden wavers, unsure of whether to step in or let his friend prove himself to any dragon who may be paying attention.

"I'm betting the prince loses his head."

The unfamiliar, feminine voice startles him out of focus from the fight. He hadn't noticed the giant shadow under his feet that now blankets his immediate area, and when he twists around to look for the source of the voice he finds himself face to face with the navy Blue Daggertail he'd been seeking all morning.

"Holy shit," he curses without thinking, and he just barely stops himself from scrambling backward. Dragons typically don't respond well to cowardice, and he doubts this particular one is any exception.

Her size had been daunting during Presentation, but having her right in front of him now, with her head lowered to his eye level and a bit too close for comfort, it dawns on him what a monstrosity of a creature she is — especially compared to the other dragons he's come across in the field today.

Suddenly, Xaden can't remember exactly why he'd been searching for her in the first place. Does he have a death wish?

The dragon's head moves forward, and Xaden locks his knees in place as she gives him a quick sniff at his chest before lightly blowing steam in his face through her nostrils.

"There's something very familiar about you." Her voice echoes in his head again, and his heart is threatening to break through his ribcage as she stays in his personal space and continues her perusal of him.

Xaden arches an eyebrow. Familiar? "Yeah, we kinda met at Presentation..." His joke falls flat, but he pushes forward. "I'm Xaden —" He stops short of saying his last name, and his earlier fear surges back with a vengeance.

Despite all it's cost him, Xaden has never been at odds with the war his father had started. Their country was corrupt, rotten to the core, and the price Xaden has been made to pay for his father's actions has only strengthened his belief in Fen Riorson's cause.

But would the dragon agree with that?

"Riorson," the dragon finishes for him, rather absentmindedly — uninterested, even — as she sniffs at his hair. She says nothing more, all her focus on her odd inspection of him, and some of Xaden's nerves give way to confusion.

Is it a good sign that this dragon is currently covering his leathers in snot?

As if in response, the dragon chuffs. "Better that than being charred by dragonfire, I would think."

Xaden's eyes widen in return. Did she hear his thoughts?

"Very true," he breathes. He tenses again, keeping quiet as he awaits judgment from the dragon he'd spent all night thinking about.

With no warning, the dragon lifts a claw and swipes it over the upper left side of Xaden's face, too quick for him to see it coming. The claw breaks the skin deep over his brow, nicking the eyelid he'd managed to close out of pure instinct, and digging through the top of his cheek.

"Fuck," he swears without thinking, instinctively lifting a hand to his eyebrow. His fingers come back bloody.

"There," the dragon says, sounding satisfied as she lowers her head to his level again. "Now I see it."

"Interesting word choice after almost taking my fucking eye out." He can't help himself from expressing his disdain as he works to keep the blood from seeping into his eye. "What do you see?"

"I'd given your grandfather a similar scar during his Threshing. It'd been accident then."

Surprise quells the anger. His brows knit together, the movement making the sting from his new wound worse. "You knew my grandfather?" He didn't even know his grandfather. From either side of the family.

"He came before you. But he didn't make it out of the quadrant." Her words are matter-of-fact, but there's an undertone of sadness that has Xaden believing she feels the loss far deeper than he ever could.

"I'm sorry...," he trails off, not sure how he's supposed to address her. He wipes more blood away from his brow before it gets in his eye.

"Sgaeyl," she offers distractedly, her eyes moving beyond him, to the sword fight still being waged in the tiny clearing behind him. "I said the prince would lose his head today. Why don't you go prove me right?"

Xaden turns back around and tenses, cursing himself for forgetting about Garrick.

Blood is now flowing from Garrick's left shoulder but he's paying it no mind as he raises his sword up to block Alic's attempt to slice Garrick's right arm off. As the two swords clash, Alic gets in a sloppy, but effective kick to the side of Garrick's calf that has him going down.

Garrick manages to twist his body last-minute to land on his side and avoid getting the wind knocked out of him. But the maneuver has his wounded shoulder taking the brunt of his fall.

Xaden's moving toward them before he even realizes it, silently drawing his own sword as he approaches. His heart is hammering again as he watches Alic raise his weapon to take the final strike.

Xaden sword is quicker, and he runs it through Alic's back, deep enough that it reappears through his abdomen. Alic's response is a garbled groan, and Xaden lifts his foot to kick the prince off his sword.

Alic falls forward, the force of Xaden's kick sending him face-first towards the ground — right where Garrick is lying.

Garrick rolls out of the way just as Alic hits the dirt. His eyes meet Xaden's with a flash of gratitude as he works to get himself up.

Xaden waits to make sure his best friend is good before turning his attention back to the dying prince, who's working mightily to get up onto his knees.

"You're a... worthless piece... of shit, son of a... traitor..." Alic's rambles are out of breath as he continues to bleed out on the ground.

Xaden hears the dragon grumble behind him, and he can feel the wordless expectation emanating from her as she waits impatiently for him to follow her earlier command. He spares a quick glance at Garrick again, who's retrieved his sword but is distracted by the dragon who's stepped out from the trees and into view.

"Sorry I butted in," Xaden tells Garrick with a sheepish grin. "But I've been asked for his head." He tilts his head in the dragon's direction as means of explanation. Garrick's eyes widen, but he chooses to stay silent in the presence of the dragon, giving Xaden a firm nod instead.

Before he can think too hard about it, Xaden swipes his sword through the neck of the still-rambling royal. The man's head hits the ground with a sickening thud, and Xaden works to keep his breakfast down.

Though not his first kill, it is the first time he's ever decapitated someone. It turns his stomach in the worst way, even as he feels a small twinge of satisfaction in getting to behead one of King Tauri's sons.

Perhaps he's not quite as monstrous as he's come to feel over the last few months — yet.

He's still got a dragon to impress, so he forces down the nausea, compartmentalizes any horror he may feel over adding to his body count, and bends down to retrieve the severed head by its hair.

He turns toward the dragon and tosses the head at her feet, making sure to keep his eyes off the ground and on hers the entire time.

She chuffs in what seems like approval. "Ruthless."

A heady rush of pride sweeps through him, giving him confidence as he admits to her, almost accusingly, "I've been looking for you all morning." Her earlier words about his grandfather finally sink in.

He came before you.

She'd chosen him. And now she's choosing Xaden.

She lets out another chuff. "I woke late. And I refuse to skip breakfast, even for Threshing."

Xaden smiles, glancing behind him to see that Garrick has disappeared. His smile wavers, and he worries over the wound in his friend's arm. Will he be okay to keep dragon-seeking?

"You care a lot for him. And for the others." It's a statement, not a question.

"Yes," Xaden answers anyway. He forces down the trepidation over letting her in on his secrets.

The marked ones and Aretia are who he's dedicated his life to, and there's no point in trying to hide it from her. She needs to know who she's choosing, and what he'll be continuing to fight for. And all the types of monsters he's willing to fight against.

"You carry scars for the ones you're devoted to," she notes. "And now you'll carry one for me as well."

The reminder of the wound on his brow cuts through the adrenaline enough for him to feel the sting again. But her words erase any lingering resentment he may have felt over the scratch.

She steps forward. "Get on my back. The cadet you saved will be just fine, and your other friend has already been chosen. There's no point in spending any more time around here tempting the cadets who'd love to take your own head off your shoulders."

Xaden exhales in relief at the news about Masen, and decides to trust her certainty that Garrick will make it just fine on his own.

He hesitates for just a second, calculating the best strategy to make it up her leg. The gauntlet didn't quite prepare him as well for a dragon of her size. It's a challenge, but he makes it up to her back, avoiding the spikes at her neck, and reaches the divot with only minor embarrassment.

"Didn't you practice?" she chastises him, but her tone is light.

"Of course I did." He rolls his eyes. "But you're huge."

She chuffs. "Wait until you see my mate. You'll see who's the real monstrosity of a creature."

Xaden lifts a brow, fighting the discomfort of her knowing what he had been thinking earlier. "Is that always...?" He trails off, not sure how to phrase the question.

She scoffs. "Get used to it, cadet. I know everything about you. I always will." It almost sounds like a threat.

He nods, mostly to himself, knowing he'll just need time to adjust to it.

As a means of distraction, the dragon formally introduces herself. But she also launches into the sky as she does so, and her words are lost to the wind whooshing past Xaden's ears as he directs his focus on staying seated as she flies high above the trees.

He remembers her earlier introduction, though — her name is Sgaeyl. She's a navy Blue Daggertail, once bonded to his grandfather.

Unbidden, a memory from many years ago of his mother rises to the surface. She'd told him once that her father had entered the riders' quadrant while she was a baby. She never got to meet him.

"Dragons aren't allowed to bond direct descendants of their previous riders," Xaden notes lightly, trying to shake off the heavy feeling that comes from remembering his mother.

Sgaeyl stays silent, and Xaden interprets it to mean that she has little care for any rule that may stand in the way of what she wants. And what she wants at the moment is him.

"I could go mad," he continues absentmindedly. Judging from the excited flip his stomach just did at the thought of being wanted by this dragon, he may already be half-way there.

"You won't go mad," Sgaeyl asserts.

He arches his wounded brow. "And how do you know that?"

"Because I chose you," she scoffs.

He grins at the arrogance, but his chest fills with pride. And anticipation, as he sees the flight field getting nearer in the distance.

Soon, they'll be landing in the field. Soon, he'll be walking up the dais to look the roll keeper and General Sorrengail in the eye and announce the name of his new dragon — and relish in the shocked faces of Commandant Panchek, Captain Fitzgibbons, Colonel Aetos, and anyone else who doubted that a dragon would choose Fen Riorson's son — or any marked one.

Sgaeyl knows everything about him. And she chose him.

Xaden Riorson is officially a rider.

[bobaandasiandramas]

The Truth Untold

Pairing: Lee Rang x F. OC

Rating: Mature

Trigger Warnings: Stripping of clothes, oral (both F and M receiving), small dirty talk, Rang getting his way, grinding, overstimulation

A/n: This is the longest chapter I have ever written. It's 17k. Thank you all for being so patient with me.

Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13

Rang was laying in his bed, Eun-ji curled around his body, her nose pressed into his neck and her fingers rested against the pulse point on his wrist. It was as if she was keeping track of his beating heart. She wasn’t in a deep sleep, in fact anytime the fox shifted her eyes would snap open, fearing that something terrible was happening to him.

In those moments, despite the throbbing pain he felt coursing through his veins, he would whisper that everything was fine and press a kiss to her forehead or hand. She'd looked worriedly at him, trying to force herself to stay awake but he would lull her back to sleep with the tips of his fingers on his free hand.

"Thank you, Fox."

They had agreed to talk when he was feeling better but he really just wanted to get the discussion done and over with. The fox wasn't sure how the conversation would go, was she angry with him? Possibly, but right now she just seemed too worried to process any other emotion. He would have to let her know he was ready in the morning, which was only a few hours away.

He knew he shouldn’t feel surprised that she figured out he was a fox. Things were getting messy and now that Imugi seemed to be using him in ways that were not agreed upon - he feared for Eun-ji. He knew she was pulled in by Eoduk Sini and he was worried what she would have to face next.

Rang looked over her body, she had some small injuries, thankfully nothing like he was going through. It still made him angry. Suddenly, another pain shot up his leg and he grit his teeth tightly to fight the urge to jerk from it. He didn’t want to disturb Eun-ji anymore. He could tell she was exhausted and could only imagine what her brain was going through as she was learning all these new things about herself.

This wasn’t the way he wanted to tell her about their world - but nothing could change it now. He noted she was still wearing the wolf and fox necklace he bought her. He felt his chest fill with something he never felt before. He knew deep down that he loved her. He finally admitted it to himself. He would do anything he could to protect her - even if he couldn't admit his feelings toward her.

Lee Rang wasn’t sure what time it was anymore, but he laid there fading in and out of sleep until Eun-ji shifted as the sun started to peek through the cracked curtains. The wolf nuzzled into him before moaning in a stretch. Her eyes slowly cracked open to meet his own. Said eyes widened a little in surprise - apparently not expecting him to be staring back. “Morning Wolf.” He whispered.

“Morning Fox.”

He gave a weakened smile. “Do you want to talk now?”

Eun-ji frowned at him and thought for a moment. “I only want to talk when you’re feeling better.” She answered.

“I feel better.” He lied.

She stared at him for a moment. “I highly doubt that. Is it your preference to just talk now? I just want you to rest.” She spoke softly.

“I would prefer sooner than later.”

“Okay.” She bit her lower lip thinking about how she wanted to start. “You’ve always known I was a wolf." She watched him nod his head in agreement. "Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Would you have believed me?”

She shook her head immediately. She didn't even believe Lee Yeon at first. “Probably not at the beginning. Maybe after we started getting closer. You know that I trust you the most out of everyone I know, right?” She sat up on the bed, allowing him to shift upward as well. "Do you know who I really am?" The wolf was nervous for his answer, what if everything they went through was just another twisted joke to play on her? She twisted her fingers in her lap. She didn't want to think like that of Rang and her heart started to twist with the tiniest inkling of it being true.

Rang watched her, the uncertainty coursing through her veins and making her scent a little sour to him. He placed his hand gently over hers, giving a small squeeze before speaking. “The truth is that once we realized you had no idea about your wolf self I wanted to find out who you were first. I didn’t know how you were going to react or if you would accept the truth." He used his free hand to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. "When we first found you, you were so frightened and nervous. I wanted to do this carefully, ease you into it all.”

Eun-ji nodded her head. “I understand. It’s a lot to accept. I know a few days ago I told you I had a memory come to me, but it's been more than that. I've had bouts of memories. They're all memories of my wolf self. I can clearly remember some while others are hazy and I don't get to see the whole picture. If I told you about them then maybe we could have figured them out together. But I also thought you were human and I didn't know if you would think I was crazy." She turned over her hand and laced her fingers with his.

"I’ve seen things recently that lead me to believe I can unlock all of my memories. It could also potentially unlock some for other people, people who should remember me - like Yeon. He appeared in a few memories."

Rang felt his heart jump at the confession she just dropped on him. "You knew Yeon before?"

"Apparently, I knew him when he was the Mountain God. The memories are fuzzy, extremely fuzzy. But he's there and I'm there and we talk in these memories. I had one when we were locked away in our minds. I don't remember much of it though, just that we were on top of the mountain and I was upset with him. "

Rang's head was spinning. If Eun-ji knew Yeon as the Mountain God, then could it be possible he knew her too? He was more invested in her past now than ever so. "What can I do to help?"

"From what I saw in my memories is that there is an oblivion box at Kyong’s place.”

Rang stiffened as he gripped her hand tighter. That bastard definitely knew more than he led on.

Eun-ji’s thumb rubbed over the back of Rang’s hand. “The Wolf Spirit is the one who gave it to his family so many years ago. I think my memories are locked inside.”

“We can go get them if you want.” Rang started to sit up but a hand on his chest pushed him back down gently. He was confused, staring at the hand on his torso and then over to the female it belonged to. “Do you not want to go?”

The wolf shook her head. “ I do, but not right now. You’re my first priority. I want you to be better first.” She smiled at him.

“Are you sure? These are your memories that we could be talking about.”

“I’m sure.”

They stayed in silence for a moment before the fox spoke again. “I apologize for not telling you. I thought I was going about this the right way. You must have been confused.”

“Rang, seriously, it’s fine. Please don’t worry about it. I really just wanted to know why you didn’t say anything. I guess at first you tried to when you greeted me as ‘Wolf’. The only thing I want now is to get to know the real you, there shouldn’t be anymore reasons for secrets. The people in my life are more connected than I realized and I just want to put the story straight. Like Yeon being your brother.”

“Half - brother.” Rang corrected her.

“Still - I’m surprised that it didn’t come up sooner. Though, you don’t normally get along with him - do you?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “I now understand all of your secrets of the work you were dealing with. Thank you for trying to keep me safe and out of the loop of your business.”

“This wasn’t how I was expecting this talk to go. I honestly thought this was going to be harder on you. I guess you did have a few days to think about it all.”

“Yes, but things also surprised me - like you being a fox - but that makes things a little better as well. I was worried about you being a human and finding out I was a wolf for real.”

Rang went to chuckled but a pain shot up his leg so it turned quickly to a hiss of pain. He clenched his teeth tightly as if to hold back any sounds of pain. After a moment the pain subsided and he opened his eyes to see Eun-ji looking at him in worry. “That face doesn’t suit you wolf. Where’s the smile you always give me?”

“I don’t like seeing you in pain.” She stated. There was an idea that shot into her head and she wasn’t sure if it would work at all. Lee Yeon has told her that wolves could heal others, could she heal Rang? She had to try. There was no way she’d let him stay like this. “Can I kiss it better?” She asked him softly.

Rang smiled at her, amused with her sweet gesture.lo “You can try if you want.” He replied.

Eun-ji blushed and shifted to her knees causing the fox to move back so he rested against the headboard. He gave her a knowing look as waited for him to be settled in his spot. She had put together that he didn't realize what she was going to try - but she wasn’t sure if it would work anyway. Once the fox was settled she shifted closer to him, placing her hands on his shoulders and she carefully crawled over his lower body. “Is this okay?” She asked.

Rang reached forward, wrapping his hands around her thighs and tugging her closer to him. His ears picked up the soft gasp as he did so. He sat her comfortably on his lap and looked up at her eyes. “More than okay my wolf.” His voice was soft and husky and he felt a shiver run down her spine.

The wolf pressed her lips to his in two short kisses before landing a much longer kiss on his lips. At first she did nothing but kiss him, his hands sinking into her hair, their heart rates increasing steadily, mouths moving against each other opening slightly in needy kisses. It was when she decided to sink her hands into his hair that his hands slid down to her waist, grabbing firmly but not too tight.

Eun-ji focused on imagining that she was pulling the pain from his body and into her own. It took a moment before she felt a tingling sensation around her and the kiss became a little more desperate, Rang’s hips bucked up once as the wolf licked his bottom lip. A groan left the male’s lips as he tasted her.

The wolf could feel the pain seeping in more and more, and she kept pulling it in while the fox was unaware. She didn’t want to stop until all the pain was gone from him, she was determined even as she felt herself getting weaker.

It was then that Rang noticed something was wrong, there was a strange sensation that he felt running through his body. He tried to pull away only for the headrest to be in his way. Eun-ji had him trapped between her and the bed frame. He bucked his hips again hoping to throw her balance a little bit, but she kept him pinned down in his spot. Quickly he opened his eyes and was shocked, Eun-ji’s whimsical ears and tail were glowing a bright blue. Since she wasn’t letting up he took matters into his own hands, cradling her head he started pressing his lips harder against hers, pushing forward to have her leaning back, he flipped her over to the side, his lips still locked on hers as he hovered over her body.

He didn’t want to stop kissing her as she wrapped her legs around his hips and pulled his body flush against hers. The more primal part of his mind was running the show as he found himself grinding into the apex of her thighs. The now obvious bulge in his pants brushed against her core causing them both to moan loudly and he used this moment to rip his lips from hers.

The results were instant for her. The pain that she collected from him hit her all at once and she cried out in shock, her eyes opening as she gasped loudly before snapping her teeth tightly as she gritted in pain.

“Wolf, what did you do?” Rang asked through his labor breathing. He frantically looked over her body, unsure what he should do as she curled into a tight ball. He noted her eyes had flashed a bright blue and in his memories he thought of the time he first saw them that color. It was when he first met her.

“Yeon told me wolves have some great powers. I tried to heal you.” She whimpered as she felt his pain run its course through her body, waking every fiber of her being.

“Why, why would you do that? Don’t ever do that to yourself ever again.” He carefully looked over her body, hands hovering over her, unsure if he should or could touch her. He then looked down at his leg, it wasn't healed but he felt great.

She saw his wound as she pushed the pain down deep in her body before she threw him a tired grin, ignoring his concern. “It didn't heal, so maybe I just took your pain. It feels a little better, right? I don’t know how long it will last but if it is some relief for a little while then it was worth it.”

He was still looking at her closely, even though it seemed like the pain didn’t last long for her, he hated that she did that to herself. “I don’t want you to hurt on my behalf.”

“Oh well, too bad tough guy.” She chuckled before leaning up and pressing her lips to his. Before she could pull away she felt his hand sink into her hair and held her to him. His lips worked against her own slowly and she never felt anything more right.

Once he finally released her, they were both panting slightly, the tenison of wanting something more was felt in the air but Rang pulled away some. Now was not the time for that.

“Let’s nap some more, and if you’re feeling up to it - I’ll take you to that loser’s place after to look for the box.”

She nodded her head but knew they wouldn't be going there for a while and she was okay with that. She wasn't going to push Rang when the poison was still running in his veins.

*****

When Eun-ji woke up later that morning, she decided to let Rang sleep as much as he could. Quietly she detangled their limbs before slipping out of the bed. The house was quiet, and she found Yuri sleeping in the other bedroom.

The wolf moved to the kitchen quietly, setting a timer for a pot of coffee to go off in half an hour and pulling out some supplies to make breakfast. She decided on making dakjuk, it would take some time but the meal would be good for all of them. She first started washing and soaking the rice before cutting up the vegetables.

She was a little lost in her thoughts, trying to recall the memories that have most recently arrived to her. She remembered being on a mountain with Yeon and she was mad or upset with him. He looked guilty as she yelled at him but she couldn't recall the words she said. She remembered sinking into his arms, heavy with her feelings and he held her with such care. She knew the two of them sat that way for quite some time. She hoped if she replayed it in her head then she would finally hear the words she spoke so harshly at the fox. Nothing came to her and so she grew more and more disappointed.

Eventually the coffee maker kicked on, and the scent of the ground beans filled the air. She looked down in front of her to see that she had absentmindedly started prepping the rest of the ingredients. The wolf took a moment to pour herself a cup of coffee when the soft pit-pat of feet caught her attention. She looked to the entrance of the kitchen, ready to greet them.

Yuri swept into the room, the scent of coffee had pulled her out of her bed. "Morning Eun-ji." The fox greeted her with a tired smile.

"Good morning Yuri. I'm making dakjuk for breakfast, it shouldn't take much longer. Is that okay for you?"

"Sure, sounds fine. How was Rang last night?"

Eun-ji shrugged. "I don't think he had the best sleep which is why I let him sleep for now." She told her friend about taking his pain away that night and how she hoped it helped - it has seemed to at least for a little bit. The two females sat in silence after that while breakfast was coming together. The wolf added the vegetables to the pot and started mixing occasionally. The vixen took slow sips of her coffee, enjoying the subtle sound of kitchen work.

Rang appeared in the doorway sometime later, right before breakfast was done being cooked. He limped on his leg slightly as he crossed the room to the small island table Yuri was sitting at.

Both females watched him closely from their peripheral vision to make sure he was doing okay. "I made dakjuk for breakfast." Eun-ji stated as she started pulling bowls out of the cabinets. “Would you like some?” She questioned and was pleased by the head nod as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

Rang gave her a soft smile. "Thank you Wolf." He could tell her mood was lifting as her scent started to fluff out. He watched her place the bowl down in front of him. The food smelt devine as usual and he felt his mouth water a little.

Eun-ji served Yuri and then herself before sitting. "I have to go into the clinic today. I really don't want to but I have no idea if Shin-Joo is going in with Yeon still being out." The wolf spoke softly. "Will you be okay?"

Yuri answered before Rang could. "I'll stay here today and make sure Rang doesn't push himself."

"I'm not a child." Rang hissed through his teeth.

"I wasn't saying you are. You were injured badly and the poison is still in your veins. I just want to make sure that you're okay." The wolf sounded a little hurt at his response.

Rang looked away and sighed. "I understand. I'll be okay. Yuri will make sure of it."

The rest of breakfast was sat in a slightly awkward silence. Each of them had something weighing on their minds but none of them wanted to discuss at the moment.

******

The yellow lab stood at her side, tail wagging and feet tapping on the ground. The happy personality faded away once he realized that they weren't moving. Anastasia barked impatiently causing the female to snap her attention away from the building she was staring at.

Eun-ji shook her head and looked down at the puppy. She wasn't sure how long she was standing there. She wasn't even sure how she ended up here. The original plan was to take Anastasia out for a walk around the block but somehow it turned into a walk to Kyong's apartment building. Thankfully she hadn't seen him outside or vice versa considering she fell into a daze and could have easily been approached without notice.

For a brief moment she thought about going in and asking about the box that could be holding her memories. Along with anything else he might know. As the wolf went to take a step forward she felt her whole body tense up, anxiety filled her veins. She didn't want to go in alone and even though she had Anastasia with her, it wasn't the same as having Rang with her. Now that she thought about it Rang would be unhappy she went without him.

The wolf also suddenly felt like someone was watching her. She took a look around her, searching the shadows for glowing eyes. It wasn't even dark out and there were plenty of people walking around but she could feel it. A shiver ran down her spine and she tried to pinpoint exactly where she felt the person was.

Anastasia barked impatiently and whined at the female. He jumped up, placing his front paws on the female's thighs, giving a grumble as he nipped gently at her fingers. As he saw her shake her head and look down at him, he sat on his rear and grumbled again before tugging her pant leg with his teeth.

“Okay, okay. Sorry pup, let’s go.” She started walking again, the yellow labrador trying to tug her quickly. She looked back over her shoulder and her eyes widened at the man she saw standing there. She was so surprised that she stumbled over her own feet and fell. Hurriedly, she brushed her hair from her face and looked back again, this time no one was there. Before she could think about questioning it more, there was a puppy licking her face. “Ah, okay, okay!!” She jumped up to her feet and decided she should probably get out of there quickly.

Most of the walk back to the clinic wasn’t bad - at least that she knew of, her mind wandering back to the man. She knew she saw him before in a few flashbacks and it made her stomach twist.

She stared at the box in his hands, flight or fight was racing through her head. She knew he said she would forget, that they all would but she didn’t think it would have anything to do with an obliviation box.

“IS IT NOT?!” Duong growled at her.

“Y-yes.” She whimpered and looked down.

It was him. It was Duong, the wolf spirit. Was he really there or did she imagine him? She bit her lip and looked back behind her. There wasn’t anyone following behind her but she felt her steps quicken, like a child who is running up the stairs from a dark basement escaping the monsters below. She made it back to the clinic in record timing, Anastasia was extra excited from the sudden ‘race’ that the woman started.

Once in the building, Eun-ji locked the door and found herself gasping for air while her legs shook. Her back slid against the front door as she crumbled to the floor. ‘It’s just all in my head, right?’ She thought to herself when suddenly a chewy toy was dropped into her lap. “You don’t let anyone think about stuff, do you?” She joked fondly as the distraction was more than welcomed. She sent a text to Rang to check-in and see how he was doing, but she knew she was doing it a little more for herself. She needed a little comforting and seeing him reply gave her heart the flutters that she needed.

She kept the hospital closed that afternoon as discussed with Shin-Joo. So she sat there and played fetch with Anastasia for a little while. She fed the rambunctious canine and gathered her things before leaving. She pulled out her phone and dialed the person whom she wanted to hear the most.

"Hello Rang." She greeted him with a smile on her face that could be heard in her voice. "How are you doing?"

The fox responded, sounding a little winded. "I'm okay sweetheart. Are you on your way home from work?"

She bit her lower lip. "I'm going to meet Shin-Joo for a little bit at the Snail Bride and check on Yeon."

"You're walking alone?" He sounded annoyed and concerned.

"Not exactly. I have you with me right now."

"Okay, I'll talk with you until you get there." He sighed, happy to know when she would arrive safely. "What time should Yuri get you?"

"No worries about that. Shin-Joo agreed to drive me home after. You stay home and let Yuri take care of you."

Rang scoffed and rolled his eyes. "She's being a little insufferable. I'm not broken but she's acting like I am."

"No, but you are hurt. We're both concerned about you. I only went to work today because I knew you'd get annoyed with both of us fretting over you. I also had to take care of Anastasia."

"You could have stayed. I would have sent Yuri to care for the dog and go home."

She giggled at him before the conversation went quiet. The wolf had been keeping track of her surroundings but suddenly she felt it again, the watchful eyes of someone. She stopped in her tracks, she had mixed emotions of looking over her shoulders. She scolded herself mentally and started walking again, this time with a faster pace.

"Darling, are you okay? Your breathing changed." Rang shifted to sit alert, ready to run out the door if needed.

"Huh? Oh no, I just had a weird feeling. I'm almost to the restaurant. Do you want me to pick up dinner on my way out?"

"Don't change the subject so quickly. Food is fine. But I don't like that you feel uneasy. Always trust your gut." His mind was racing, what if it was Imugi? She wouldn’t know what he looks like so she could stay away from him. He started to shift in his seat.

"Don't worry handsome, I started walking faster. I see the sign for the front door."

"You're staying on this phone until you're inside and I hear Shin-Joo greet you." Rang stated. He needed to know she was safe, his gut had been twisting the whole time that her breathing increased.

The doorbell chimed in the background, signaling her entry into the restaurant. Eun-ji greeted the owner and moved toward the back where she found Shin-Joo sitting at a table waiting for her. "Eun-ji, hello." He greeted her.

Rang let out a sigh of relief. "I hear him. I'll let you go, darling."

"Okay, see you soon honey."

The term of endearment made him smile. "Let me know when you're on the way." He waited for her to hang up first.

Eun-ji looked over to Shin-Joo who was giving a knowing smile. "How is Rang?"

"He said he's okay. Last night he was in pain and I tried to heal his leg, but it only relieved him of some of his pain. He wasn't pleased with me for it. He told me he doesn't want to see me hurt."

"Wow, I'm impressed you were able to take some pain from him. Your powers are incredible so you should learn how to use them properly. But I also agree with Rang, no one wants to see you hurt."

"Yes, yes. Let's go see Yeon." She spoke quickly trying to change the subject as she grabbed his arm and tugged him toward the back. She reached forward to open the sliding door only for it to open before she could touch it.

The woman on the other side of the door stared at her. "Who are you?" She questioned before her eyes slid over to Shin-Joo.

"Ah, this is my friend and employee - Mae Eun-ji. She also knows Yeon and came with me to visit him." Shin-Joo introduced the wolf.

"Oh, it's nice to meet you. I'm Nam Ji-a, Yeon's girlfriend." The woman bowed politely.

Eun-ji bowed in return and her eyes skimmed over the other woman’s body. She noticed the female looked tired. She probably spent most of the day watching over Yeon. "Very nice to meet you as well. Are you heading out?"

"I am. It's been a long day. Have you known Shin-Joon and Yeon for a long time?" The way her tone of voice hinted she was asking a deeper question.

Eun-ji was able to pick that up. She had remembered that Shin-Joo stated Yeon's girlfriend was aware of their true identities. "I've known Yeon longer than I can remember.” ‘Literally.’ She thought to herself. “ I’m not a fox though. I'm a wolf." She explained.

Ji-a's eyes widened. "A wolf?"

Eun-ji smiled and nodded her head.

Ji-a looked conflicted, she wanted to stay and talk more but she was exhausted. "I'd love to talk sometime, I'm exhausted. Shin-Joo, can you let me know if or when there are any updates."

"Of course. Take care and have a good night." The three of them bid each other farewell.

********

Eun-ji returned home, waving Shin-Joo goodbye before entering the building. She felt bad for her boss, he was acting so strong but she could see the tears gather on his lashes as he talked softly to his best friend. Yeon had not moved a muscle during their entire visit, it almost felt like a funeral.

She opened the front door to see Rang and Yuri sitting in the common area, watching something on the television. She slipped her shoes off and walked into the room.

Rang's attention immediately snapped over to her and he greeted her with a soft smile. "Welcome home Wolf. How was your day?"

She froze for a split second, Rang looked pale with dark rings around his eyes. "Rang…"

He knew exactly what her worry was. "I'll be okay pup. Let's eat the delicious food you brought."

"Sure. I'll get it on plates." She wasn't convinced but she didn't want to upset him by arguing before he even got to eat.

"Oh, I'll come help." Yuri stated as she all but jumped off the couch and joined the wolf in the kitchen. Once away from Rang, Yuri almost broke down. "He doesn't want any help. He's been in pain all day. Eun-ji I'm worried he won't get better and that the poison will win."

Eun-ji frowned, she was saddened but she needed to be strong for Yuri. "It's okay Yuri. I will take his pain from him and hopefully that will give him the strength he needs to heal. I could try to heal him but I haven't had success with it yet. I worry that it is a power that is locked in with my memories."

"Thank you Eun-ji. It's a comfort to know you are worried as well. Thank you for taking care of Rang. I fear you're the only one he will let help him."

Eun-ji frowned. "He doesn't want me to help."

"But you will anyway." Yuri spoke softly.

"Yes, I will anyway."

*****

After dinner Rang excused himself to his bedroom while the vixen and wolf cleaned up dinner. Eun-ji did notice that he took a bottle of wine with him. If that was his way of dealing with the pain - she rather him ask her for help. Drowning it out wouldn’t truly help.

Yuri decided she was going home for the night and would return the next morning. Eun-ji bid her farewell at the door, locking it before heading around the house to turn out the lights. She headed toward Rang's room, he was sitting up in bed, his back against the headboard sipping the wine straight from the bottle.

She took a moment to just look at him and her heart cracked a little at his depressed expression. She knocked on the door frame and she watched him mask his emotions. "Want some company?"

Rang stared at her, knowing he couldn't turn her down. "Go get your blankets and bring them here."

Eun-ji gave a questioning look but did as told. Once she returned she found Rang standing to the side of the bed. "You should be resting." She spoke while holding the bundle of blankets.

The fox smiled at her. "Make your blanket nest first. I want to sleep in it with you."

Eun-ji nodded her head and quickly went to work. She didn't know why but she felt like this needed to be perfect, so she worked diligently, fluffing them just right and making sure they were right enough to feel around them but loose enough that they wouldn't feel claustrophobic. Once she was pleased with the set up she turned her attention back to the fox. "All done."

Rang was pleased and slid into the nest as noises of content escaped his lips. "This is comfortable, no wonder why wolves make them. Good job sweetheart." Once he was settled he reached a hand out to her.

"Wolves make nests? I just thought this was a comfort thing I had thanks to you."

"Wolves have dens, they’re usually filled with softness and comfort items, like blankets and cushions. Wolves stayed close together for comfort and were usually found cuddling together. I couldn't make you a den but a blanket nest was something I could encourage you to do. All I did was give you the supplies and your natural instincts figured it out."

Eun-ji grabbed his hand and allowed him to pull her into the nest. Once she was fully in the nest she couldn't keep her eyes off of him. He just looked so exhausted and tired. "Rang let's rest."

He didn't say no but he also didn't agree. Instead he grabbed her wrist and tugged her to him, making her sit on his lap. "I can rest in a moment." Rang placed a hand under her chin and pulled her lips to his. The kiss was soft but firm. He moved his lips slowly against hers in open mouth kisses, sliding his fingers into her hair. He smiled against her mouth as he felt her one hand move behind his neck and the other tangle in his necklace. The scent of orange blossoms and azaleas filled his nose and he couldn’t get enough of her. He moaned quietly before deepening the kiss, brushing his tongue against hers.

Eun-ji kissed back with all her might, she could taste the wine he was drinking on his lips. As much as she wanted more she whined as she forced herself to slow the pace before it became too much. She pulled back to disconnect their mouths, both of them panting quietly, and pressed her forehead against his. Looking into the black abyss of his eyes she felt her stomach clench in need. She wanted more and knew he did as well but he was hurting and needed to heal before they continued any further.

Rang thought otherwise as he dipped down and started pressing open mouth kisses to her neck. His teeth scraped just right on her clavicle, causing her to gasp and tighten her grip on the back of his neck. He chuckled and did it again, earning him the same response.

Eun-ji whimpered and forced herself away from his body. "Rang, please, you need to rest. I want this, I want you but I’m concerned about you and hurting you more. Let's sleep and I will give you endless kisses tomorrow."

Rang looked at her. “What if I want more than kisses? What if I want to devour you?”

Her core clenched at his words and she bit her bottom lip as her cheeks warmed suddenly. “Rang… I…”

He chuckled. “It’s okay pup. I won’t devour you today, but I will soon and you’ll be begging for more.” He knew his words affected her greatly as her eyes dilated and he could smell her want in the air. “Lay with me sweetheart.”

The wolf did as told, pulling the red blanket over them. She was pulled close to him, he breathed her scent in deeply and he placed soft kisses to her head. If she said she was surprised at how fast he passed out, it would have been a lie. She was more surprised he had the energy to make out a few moments ago. Eun-ji laid there for a little while longer, making sure he was in a deep sleep before she untangled herself from him.

She placed a hand over his leg and began to try and pull the pain out, she could feel an energy flowing through her and focused on that more and more until her fingertips started to tingle. As soon as she stopped the pain was instantaneous, and she forced it toward the core on her stomach, hoping it would mask away like it did the first time she took his pain. While it took a few moments longer, it finally settled down. She felt winded but wanted to try healing him this time.

Taking a deep breath she placed her hand gently on his leg and imagined pulling the poison from his body. This was different from pulling pain from his body into her own. She could feel pain instantaneously, fire spread through her veins followed by a burning freeze. She felt hot and cold all over. She grit her teeth and continued to try to pull more poison from him but she wasn’t trained correctly for this and felt her eyesight darken with the threat of passing out. She ripped her hand away knowing that if she passed out Rang would know what she did and be unhappy with her.

The pain didn’t stop right away, it flowed through her blood, pumping into her heart and caused her to grip her chest. Tears started to flow down her cheeks, she had never felt pain like this before. She felt horrible, like she could die. Curling up with her knees to her chest, she silently sobbed. She could only imagine how much more pain Rang was in considering she only took a little bit from him.

Once the pain finally settled, she slid her body next to Rang’s and held him close, her worry of losing him increased tenfold. She needed him to get better soon.

*****

In the morning she decided the pain she felt was worth it. Rang looked so much better as he hovered over her body, sucking marks into her neck and upper chest. “Morning darling.” He smiled against her skin as she opened her eyes. “Good morning dear.” She responded as she took in his features. No dark circles, his skin was glowing and he looked happy - filled with energy. “You look better this morning.”

“I feel better, not fully better, but more so than yesterday.” He dipped down and caught her lips, pressing several kisses on her lips.

“Rang!” She giggled and tried to push him away.

“Ah, ah. If I recall correctly, you said endless kisses today.” He gave her a knowing look.

“I suppose I did.” She wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him to her.

*****

Each morning and night he would familiarize himself with the softness of her skin and the taste of her lips. Always ready for more but never taking it - the tenison building higher and higher. They would wake up tangled in each other. For the next five nights Eun-ji would wait for Rang to fall asleep before trying to take some of his pain and try to heal him. She'd place a hand hovering over his leg and imagine pulling the pain and poison into herself. Each time she felt like she could pull more and more. The agony she felt afterward was always excruciating but it ranged to lasting for just a few to almost a full hour before she could force it deep into her body.

The pain was always worth the reward, Rang would wake up looking refreshed and acting himself. During the day the poison would sweep in and weaken him. He would stay home because of this while Eun-ji went to work or to visit Yeon's body with Shin-Joo. When she wasn't home Yuri stayed to help Rang out, though he acted like he didn't need the help.

Yeon had been down for days, no movement had been noted from his body. They didn’t even know if he would return and it made some very anxious. Eun-ji would accompany Shin-Joo whenever he went to visit. She had met Ji-a in passing a few times and once they sat briefly to drink some tea together. Most of the time though, the fox and wolf would show up to visit just as she was getting ready to head back out.

Shin-Joo was usually a constant mess. He would start off fine and end up sobbing for Yeon to wake up. Eun-ji felt for him, Yeon was his best friend and Shin-Joo must have been feeling so lost without him. She did her best to comfort him, letting him drop all of his weight on her, his tears soaking her shoulders. "It will be okay Shin-Joo. He will wake up soon." The wolf always tried to be the positive voice.

"What if he doesn't?" Shin-Joo would question with his bottom lip trembling.

“Don’t think like that. We need to believe in Yeon. How can we give him our strength if we don’t believe in him?” She questioned as he wiped the tears from Shin-Joo’s eyes.

“You’re right. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. You miss him. I know that. I can feel your sadness pouring off of you. Come, let us go now and we can return tomorrow.” She helped her boss stand from the floor and guided him toward the door. She looked back at the former Mountain God and frowned. “Please wake up soon Yeon, everyone needs you.”

When Eun-ji returned home that particular night, Rang was already asleep. Yuri was sitting on the couch looking into the distance, eyes unfocused in thought. "Yuri?" The wolf called out to the vixen. "Is everything okay?" She approached the female slowly.

Yuri's eyes cleared as she heard the wolf speak. She snapped her attention over to her friend and tried to force a smile. "Sorry, just thinking."

"Want to talk about it?"

The fox curled her legs up on the couch, looking small and scared, something that didn't suit her. "I'm terrified." She confessed, twisting her fingers in her fingers in her hands.

The wolf didn't say anything, worried that if she did the fox would stop talking. Instead she took a seat on the other end of the couch, watching closely.

“I have no one besides Rang. If it wasn’t for him I would have been put to death at that zoo he found me in. I was abused by the zookeeper and visitors would tap and kick the glass of my enclosure. I have no friends and no family. If he dies I have no one.”

Eun-ji felt hurt at the comment. “You have me. You also have Shin-Joo. You-”

“He’s another confusing factor. Why do I feel so flustered near him?”

The wolf gave a soft smile to her friend. “It could be because you like him. You should really give him a chance. Shin-Joo is really a great guy, loving you would come naturally to him. In fact I’m pretty sure there is a piece of him that already loves you.”

Yuri scoffed at that. “I haven’t needed anyone before until Rang came. I can’t falter in my loyalty to him. I can’t abandon him as well.”

“Yuri… Rang would want you to live your life as you see fit. You also wouldn’t be abandoning him, just because you have a new person in your life doesn’t mean you have to let go of the oldYou speak as if he’s on his deathbed. Rang will make it through this. .”

“You take his pain and heal him every night but as the day progresses he gets worse and worse. He couldn’t even wait for you tonight - he said he was tired. I’m worried. What will happen if we lose him?” Yuri’s lip trembled as she looked over to the wolf. “I can’t lose him, the world won’t make sense without him.”

“Yuri,” Euni-ji stood up and moved across the length of the couch and sat down next to her friend, pulling her into her arms. “We have to stay strong for him. Have faith he will be okay.” The wolf was no longer sure if she was talking to Yuri or herself. Between the fox brothers her heart was heavy with grief that she kept masking.

“I will try. I really will.” Yuri sniffed back her tears and hugged her friend tightly. “Rang is so lucky to have found you, Eun-ji. You’re exactly who he needed in his life.”

*******

Eun-ji sat on the bed after Yuri left, looking at the male fox. Yuri was right, he looked worse today than he did yesterday. Maybe she wasn’t helping at all, or maybe it just wasn’t enough. She shifted closer and placed her hand over his wound like she did for the past few nights. It was now second nature to her to pull the pain and poison into her body. She found if she tried to think about the few memories she uncovered then she could deal with the pain longer than usual.

She knew there was someone else in her memories, she would see a shadowed figure in some memories of Yeon and she hoped with her heart that it was Rang. Then again she never asked when Yeon ‘abandoned’ his brother, it could be Shin-Joo who was the mysterious character. She didn’t have the full story, her memories still very hazy as frustrating as it was. The shadowed person seemed to be very important to her, always standing closer to her figure than Yeon. Or maybe it was a family member - a packmate? She wanted to know more, unlock her mind, and figure it all out. She was tired of not knowing, being in the dark sucked and the worst was that no one could remember her, not even Yeon could when she first had her flashbacks but he wanted to help her regardless.

“WOLF?!”

Her eyes snapped up as the words reached her ears and the leg moved out from under her hand. Crippling pain rushed through her making her yelp out and close her eyes tightly again. She had gotten so lost in her own thoughts that she didn’t realize how much she took in. She hugged herself tightly, keeping the pain in her, afraid she would snap it out of her body and back into Rang’s.

The fox was sitting up in bed, he tried to grab her arms but she shook him off as sobbed ‘don’t’ came from her lips. He stared in worry as he watched her battle whatever she was feeling coursing through her veins. He felt hopeless as he watched her battle the pain for minutes and minutes on end, he wasn’t sure if it would stop anytime soon. Finally he allowed himself to relax as she took a shuttering deep breath as her body relaxed and opened her eyes. “How long?” He asked.

The wolf suddenly found the ground to be more interesting as she turned her attention away from him. Her fingers were pinching the fabric of her pants and she bit her bottom lip.

“Don’t make me ask again. How long have you been doing this to yourself?” His voice remained gentle - not an ounce of malice in it even if he was extremely upset with her.

“Every night. At first it was for a minute but over the days I’ve been trying for longer moments.” She couldn’t bring herself to look at him.

“I told you not to do it again, didn’t I?” He asked.

“I’m sorry, but also not. I couldn’t stand by and just watch you when I knew I could help.” She spoke quietly as if her own voice would scare her.

His eyes softened. He understood why she did it, he also understood why she was being so wary. He asked her not to do something and she went against that. With her history he was sure she was thinking she was about to get yelled at. Then again he wasn’t anything like Kyong. He shifted, moving closer to her and wrapping her wrist gently. “Wolf, look at me.”

She did as told and as soon as her eyes met his, she felt him tug on her wrist pulling her close to him. She followed his silent instructions and laid down next to him, watching him closely.

Like every night before this, he connected their lips, tilting her chin toward his face. He rolled his body on top of hers, his one leg resting between hers and he grabbed both of her hands, lacing their fingers together before pinning them above her head on the mattress. Tonight was different, more passion filled as he heard her moan against his lips, her scent pouring out into the room. He found himself deepening the kiss, his tongue tangling against her own.

More.

His brain demanded it. He brought his leg up and pushed against her core, her fingers squeezed his hands tighter as she gasped into his mouth. He swallowed any sounds that followed after, rubbing against her gently a few more times. He dragged his tongue against hers, the taste of something sweet, perhaps chocolate was on her mouth. He felt drunk off of her, pulling back their lips were only connected by a string of saliva that broke after a second. He wanted to move back in again like he always did but his brain decided to move forward, he moved to her neck making pretty scarlet marks into her skin again.

“Rang…” His name was a breathy moan in her throat. He let go of her hands, stripping his shirt off, throwing it and tugging on the bottom of hers. He almost lost it when she quickly sat up and shed her shirt and bra before lying back down, her eyes blown wide with lust. His eyes drank her in, her skin so soft and inviting. His fingers traveled her skin, one hand traveling to the mound on her chest. He gave one nipple and experimental twist between his thumb and forefinger causing a breathy moan to escape her lungs.

Her hands danced gently on his pectorals, running down until her one hand touched his scar. He wanted to flinch away but curiosity got the better of him, waiting for the look of disgust on her face. After a moment there wasn’t one, instead she pushed him gently so he gave her the upper hand. She looked at the scar and then at him. Slowly she brought her lips down on his skin, kissing the length of the scar from bottom to top. Once she traveled the scar she moved to above where his heart was and placed a kiss there as well. “So handsome.” She whispered over his skin.

Rang lost it at that point, flipping them back over and kissing her relentlessly. His hands traveled to her pants and he tugged gently twice as if asking for permission. Her hands joined his as she unbuttoned them for him and he took care of the rest. He almost laughed when her mouth chased his for a moment when he pulled back. “Is this okay darling?” His ears tingled at the whimper of a yes that fell past her lips. His hand traveled to her underwear, a finger dipping under the elastic edge and tugging gently. “Can I remove this too?”

Her hips bucked up as she gasped. She was starting to be overwhelmed by everything her body was feeling at this exact moment. She nodded her head frantically as she grabbed his shoulders, needing something to ground her. “Y-yes.”

Rang smirked and started kissing down her body, stopping to give each side of her breast an appropriate amount of attention. He loved that he could hear her heart rapidly beating. Moving again he could take a moment to stop a few times to either nip or suck more scarlet marks into her flesh. Slowly he pulled the fabric from her skin as he latched his mouth on the top of her hip bone.

She sobbed out, nails digging into his shoulders. This was the furthest she had ever gone with him and everything was feeling more intense than she could ever imagine. Her mind was at war knowing he was injured but also he was making her feel so much at that moment.

He parted her legs, his firm hands keeping them parted until he settled himself between them. He started down by her knee, kissing and giving her skin kitten licks. The smell of her arousal was mouth watering as he peaked at her glistening folds. He moved up slowly, enjoying the way she would wiggle and squirm under his ministrations. “So responsive to me.” He mumbled against her skin. He licked her groin and the noise she made was music to his ears. “Can I devour you now, love?” His breath tickled her core as he hovered it.

She choked back a sob as the question reached her ears. Her hands went from his shoulders to the bed, gripping into the blankets of the nest she made him nights ago. “Yes.” She willed the word from her mind.

He smirked, knowing what he was doing was a little unfair. “Promise me you won’t do it again.” He watched her brows furrowed in confusion.

“W-what?” She stuttered as she looked down at him. The sight of him between her legs alone made her weaken more, abdomen clenching in need.

“Promise me, you won’t try to heal me or take my pain again.” He frowned as she shook her head. He licked a strip of her core teasingly and had to hold himself back. She tasted so good and he just wanted to dive in but resisted. “Promise me, my wolf,” he teased a finger at her entrance, touching gently but not entering. “my sweetheart,” he nipped her skin. “my love.” he looked her right in the eyes, flattened his tongue and licked a slow strip up her folds. He thought he was going to have to force himself away from her but she broke under his tongue.

She whimpered and snapped her eyes shut. “I promise, I prom-”

He latched onto her, sucking gently before slipping his tongue between her lips, tasting her essence tenfold. He groaned as her fingers gripped his hair tightly, pulling him closer, her hips trying not to buck against his face. He wrapped his arms around both legs and pulled her closer as well. He enjoyed the way his name fell off her lips like a mantra. He moaned as he stuck his tongue into her entrance, the vibrations of the noise making her tightened her grip on him. His nose brushed against her clit with each stroke of his tongue.

Eun-ji felt her legs shaking, she didn’t know this could feel so good. She sobbed again as he dipped his tongue into her. When Rang said he was going to devour her, he meant it. There were places in her that she could feel his tongue touching that had her baffled. He would change his pace from slow to faster, building her up and letting her fall gently. She felt her stomach tighten and she whimpered as she unconsciously gripped his hair tighter. “Rang, please I’m…” She couldn’t even finish speaking before he wrapped his lips around her clit and sucked. She felt her back arch as her orgasm washed over her.

Rang was pleased, and pulled back as he watched her ride her high. “Mm, my love, look at you. You’ve already come for me and I can tell you crave more. What a pretty little mess you made.” The fox was riding his own high, craving more of her and wanting to make her fall apart completely.

He licked her gently, letting her come down a little bit before sinking two fingers into her and flicking his tongue against her clit. The response was instantaneous, her legs snapped up against his ears, she tugged him impossibly closer by his hair and her hips started bucking against his face. He pumped his fingers in and out of her, curling forward at the right spot inside of her. He could tell she was getting close again and he moaned at the thought of her cumming right on his tongue. Just as the tension snapped in her again, he removed his fingers and replaced them with his mouth, digging as deep as he could in her velvety walls, twirling his tongue to taste her more. As he cleaned her thoroughly he could hear her crying out in pleasure and before her second orgasm could fade away, he triggered her third. It was worth the reward as she came again, her slick thick on his tongue as he gulped it down hungrily. She was like ambrosia to him and he couldn’t get enough.

More!

His inner fox was yelling it as he lapped at her cunt, her thighs fell away from his ears as she started to come down from her high. Again, he wanted it again. His two fingers sunk into her again, trying to work her up once more. By now his own hips were rutting against the bed, looking for sweet release.

Eun-ji’s eyesight started to focus, the sounds of Rang’s moans and squelching noises of her cunt could be heard over the buzzing of her ears. “Rang, please.” She felt weak, he couldn’t possibly make her release again.

He heard her plea but instead of hearing it as it being too much he thought she was asking for more. He carefully added a third finger and he latched onto her clit again, staring her in the eyes. She looked more than beautiful like this. He didn’t even fuck her yet and she looked this damn gorgeous.

She caught him staring her in the eyes and it was breathtaking, his one eye was glowing a golden color and she saw the orange whimsical swirling of his hidden fox features. This time it didn’t take long for her build up to snap and she felt herself gush out arousal. She sobbed, her whole body shaking and thrashing as she tried to pull the fox from her core, she was highly sensitive to the licks of his strong tongue. “Rang, no more please.” She pleaded with tears of overstimulation poured down her face.

The fox stared at her, the request made him huff, but he removed his fingers before cleaning her up, his tongue flat and slow over her core and clit, making sure nothing was left behind. He felt her shutter under him, soft whimpers falling from her parted lips. Once he was done, he licked his own fingers, groaning at the taste. “Love, you’re a dangerous one.” He stated as his fox features faded away again.

She let out a shaky laugh. “Me? You wouldn’t stop.”

“Of course not, you’re delicious. I could eat you for days if you’d let me.” He wasn’t lying, even now he wanted more. It was almost as if he was addicted to her slick.

She let out a breathy moan at his words and covered her face in embarrassment. After a few moments, she was able to settle her breathing and she put her hands back down. “That was wonderful.” She stated.

“The best you’ve had?” He asked jokingly.

“The only one I’ve had.” Eun-ji responded.

Rang growled as he sat up on the bed. “Well that’s changing now.”

Eun-ji blushed again and found her eyes darting toward his clothed groin.

“You do not need to return the favor.” He stated as he noticed her direction on vision.

“What if I want to?” She asked, feeling confident again. She found herself reaching for his pants. “Off.” She demanded.

“Only if you want to.” He was serious, he didn’t bring her to the heavens just for her to feel obligated to do the same for him.

She started helping him pull the article of clothing off his body. Once he was bare she had him sit against the headboard. ‘Gods he’s so handsome.’ She thought to herself as her eyes drank him in. She turned her attention to his cock, it was erect and throbbing from the lack of much needed attention. He was a perfect size, not too big or small and his girth was perfect as well. She wasn’t a huge fan of giving head, but that’s because Kyong gave her bad experiences - not that she would tell Rang that. She licked her lips before pumping him a few times with her hand.

His reaction encouraged her more, his eyes slid close as he took in deep steady breaths. He felt her free hand circle around his wrist. As she pressed two fingers to his pulse point and she felt his heart rate jot at the idea of her feeling his heart rate increase as she took care of him. He gave a small gasp when she licked the tip and groaned loudly as she took him deeply in her throat.

******

The next morning Rang woke up to find Eun-ji still passed out next to him. They didn’t have sex and he was more than okay with that. He was still feeling great from her healing him, but he could tell it was starting to fill his body again. He started pressing kisses to the wolf’s neck, for a moment he considered having her wake up to him eating her out again but he wasn’t sure if he would let her get up to go to work. He would have to settle for morning kisses instead.

Eun-ji shifted and rolled over to face him. Her eyes cracked open slowly. “Hmm, morning handsome.”

“Morning, angel.” He pressed a kiss to her lips. “Sleep well?”

“Mmm, very much so.”

“I’m glad,” He stated.

They laid in bed for a few more minutes before they both decided to start their day. Eun-ji made breakfast while Rang made coffee. They ate in comfortable silence, Rang holding her hand on the top of the table. He cleaned up as she went to get ready for work. Just when the wolf was about to leave Yuri showed up. The vixen stopped and looked between the two of them, something was different but she didn’t know what.

“I’ll see you later. Yuri, thank you again.” Eun-ji stated.

Rang stopped her before she could walk out, grabbing her cheeks between his hands and pulling her lips to his. Their mouths moved against each other in slow open kisses. He finally let her go. “Have a good day love.”

Eun-ji peaked over to see Yuri’s mouth wide open in shock. She gave a nervously happy grin. “Thank you dear. See you soon.”

****

Rang was sitting comfortably on his couch, Yuri was less annoying, asking less about how he was doing, he knew she wanted more information about what happened between Eun-ji and him. He had never kissed her so openly before. His phone started to ring on the table in front of him. He would never admit he was thrilled to see Yeon’s name on the screen. “You’re here?” He asked as he answered the call. “I thought you had died in the Ah Gwi Forest.” He noticed Yuri peeking her head into the room as if she was trying to figure out who was on the phone.

“Whatever. I’m disappointed.” Rang sighed into the phone. Yeon had asked if he could head over there. “Now?” Rang nodded his head. “Well, come or not. Whatever.” He smirked as the call ended. He was feeling a sense of peace between Yeon and him. Leaning forward to place his phone back on the table, he gasped out in pain, his hand immediately clutching his side as heavy coughs escaped his lungs.

Yuri had not heard Rang complain or cry out in pain any of the last few days, always masking that he was. Now that he was suddenly making painful sounds she rushed into the room. “Are you alright? Should I call Shin-Joo? Eun-ji?”

“Stop freaking out. It’s nothing.” He spoke through painful gasps, while he held an arm up to tell her to stay back.

Yuri couldn’t believe him. She sat down next to him on the couch. “It isn't the poison, is it? Your life is expiring. I’m right, aren’t I?”

The pain finally settled and he sat back a little bit. “I’ve lived pretty long for a half fox.”

Yuri turned to him. “Please get a Chinese Lantern. You can steal years from people and live for as long as you want.”

“Yeon is on his way here. I’m going to tell him where Imugi is. I’m the only one who knows what he looks like.” He stated.

“What about you?”

Rang looked down. “It’s not like I’ve ever dreamed of a future.”

“Don’t do it! Please stop! What about Eun-ji? Don’t you want a future with her?”

Rang paused. He did, he thought about it often now that he was practically dying. It was a hopeful thought - he wasn’t going to make it. It was useless though - there was no reason to get anyone’s hopes up. “I do.”

“Then why must you go that far just for Yeon?” Yuri snapped at him.

Rang sat up, moving his body closer to hers. “What I feel for Eun-ji is something I never felt before. I have ways I can talk with her about everything. There is no hope for a good future with her.” He sighed. “Yuri, you can’t tell Yeon.”

“Don’t meet with Yeon.” Yuri whispered, the threat of tears in her voice. “Go to Imugi and ask him to save you. Or tell me where they are, I’ll get you a Chinese Lantern.” Finally the tear slipped from her lashes and ran down her face.

Rang looked at her closely and shifted on the couch. “Yuri, why are you crying for me? I told you never to cry for another person. Don’t make your life a B-movie.”

“You said that I should be the one that takes, not loses. That’s what you said to me when we first met, as you were drenched in the zookeeper’s blood. You told me to live like that.” She was sobbing now.

He was impressed she remembered that. “I tend to be fickle.” He grabbed a tissue for her and passed it. “Stop sniffling, and go buy me some naengmyeon.”

She cleaned herself up before standing and looking back at him. “Eun-ji needs to be in the loop of your plan. She’s already suffered enough in her life.” With that she walked out of the room.

Rang sat on the couch, feeling good about his decision. He would need to have a serious talk with Eun-ji though. Their relationship grew tenfold and he had finally admitted to himself that what he felt for her is what he presumed love felt like. He sat there feeling content when a knock sounded on his door. He forced himself off the couch and moved his way to the front door. When he opened the door, ready to greet his brother when his smile fell from his lips.

“What’s wrong? Am I not the person you were waiting for?” Hae Ryong gave a wicked smile.

****

“Why do you two keep staring at me?” Eun-ji questioned the foxes on the couch. The whole morning had been strange, Shin-Joo stared at her with eyes as wide as saucers when she entered the building at the start of her shift. When she questioned him initially he cleared his throat and sputtered something incoherent and leashed up Anastasia before walking himself and the pup out the front door. It was almost as if he was trying not to look at her after that.

Yeon had arrived in the afternoon, having woken up recently, he came to catch up with Shin-Joo. Eun-ji was so happy to see the older Lee brother, that upon arrival she rushed over to him and gave him a big hug. The fox froze in her arms for a second before grabbing her arms and removing her quickly. For a moment she was saddened but then recalled that Yeon didn't have memories of her past with him. She herself had very few and even so the more recent one showed that she was mad at the fox.

This behavior between them was different though, the two foxes kept glancing at her and whispering in hushed tones. It was starting to make her self-conscious. So when they didn’t answer her question she felt the tears well up in her eyes. It had to be something bad right? That’s why they didn’t want to tell her. “The appointments are light today, I’m just going to go.” She began to gather her things to rush out of there.

The male foxes jumped up from the couch obviously now aware that they upset the wolf. “Eun-ji, please don’t go.” Shin-Joo pleaded, his voice thick with apology but never actually saying it.

"No, I'm going home. I won't stand here while you both whisper about me like I'm not here. I need to feel this low right now." The wolf's voice cracked with emotion as she tried to hide her face.

"Hey Pup," Yeon grabbed her before she could take another step toward the door. "We are sorry. We didn't mean to make you feel anything bad. Let me drive you home and we can talk."

She stood there for a moment, her wrist still in Yeon's hand as she turned back to look at him. She contemplated his offer quietly. She wasn't sure what he would want to talk about but she didn't want to feel worse than she already did. "I don't know if I want to talk. I'm already feeling bad."

"It's nothing that you're probably thinking about. I promise. I need to meet Rang anyway."

"Okay." She whispered as she nodded her head. The wolf glanced at her boss and he looked upset and regretful.

"Sorry Eun-ji."

The wolf nodded her head and waved goodbye before following Yeon out to his car. She sat herself in the passenger seat and watched the fox slide into the driver's seat and start the car.

For a moment neither said anything as Yeon started to drive toward her residence. The wolf felt her nerves getting the best of her so she turned her attention to the fox. "Well?" She questioned.

"Did you mate with Rang?" Yeon asked bluntly.

The wolf choked on her own saliva at the bluntness. "I'm sorry, what?" She almost shrieked at the question.

Yeon blinked at her, unamused. "Did you have sex with Rang?"

"I - what?! No, and even if I did - why would I tell you? Why are you even asking that?" She felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment as she thought back to the activities that Rang and her did partake in the night before.

"You smell like him. Not in the way he normally scents you. This is different, stronger. It pours off your skin in waves as if it's deep in your bones. Shin-Joo told me he smelt it as soon as you walked in this morning. He was so sure you had mated with Rang so we were discussing that a little bit. He is more bashful over topics such as this, which is why he was talking so secretively."

“Why would you guys even discuss that?” She was confused and flustered, the heat of her cheeks refused to fade away. The wolf was quickly wishing she declined the offered ride home, walking would have been less tortuous.

Yeon was quiet for a moment as he made the turn at the light. “Shin-Joo stated that Rang has not been doing well. The female fox had reported to him that you have been trying to heal Rang but it’s only helping at a minimum.” He stopped at the next red light and turned to face the wolf. “Did you know wolves and foxes are monogamous?” He was pleased to see that she nodded her head. “Shin-Joo was worried for you. If you had mated with Rang and he didn't heal, then you would never find another mate. You’d either spend your life alone or waiting for Rang to be reborn. Shin-Joo already had to deal with me when I had gone through that.”

Eun-ji was speechless. Shin-Joo had always been so kind to her and now she felt ashamed that she thought so ill of him. “I’m so sorry for how I behaved.”

“It’s okay Pup.” Yeon gave her a soft smile. “You’ve been dealing with a lot lately.”

****

Eun-ji walked behind Yeon, following him to the front door of her home. She had never seen the Lee brothers together and so she was unsure how this meetup was going to go. She used her key to open the door for him and allowed him to walk in first.

Yuri was pacing the room, a bowl of food sat ready at the coffee table. “Where did he go?” She questioned loudly, catching the wolf’s attention. As the vixen turned on her heel she spotted the two of them “Yeon?”

The male fox looked her up and down. “Do you know me? Where’s Rang?” He looked around as if his brother was hiding somewhere.

“I don’t know. I stepped out and he wasn’t here when I got back. He won’t answer his phone either.” Yuri answered. "I'm sorry Eun-ji. He requested food and so I went to get it for him."

"It's okay Yuri. Yeon, this is -”

The male fox cut her off. “Seeing what a rude punk you are, you must be her.” He raised a brow as she sneered at him. “The necklace thief. The dog owner. The best friend. The one with 99 points.” He cut the wolf off.

“What gibberish is that?” Yuri asked.

Eun-ji was at a loss for the last thing Yeon said, but she was more surprised to hear she was the necklace thief. The stones of her life just keep getting unturned. How was she so left out at the connections between those in her life? She was starting to question her own self awareness.

“It’s just something.” Yeon replied as he continued to look around. “Oh, pyongyang naengmyeon.” He crossed the room and hurried over to the bowl, taking a seat at the couch.

“Don’t eat that! It’s for Mr. Lee.” Yuri scolded.

“Naengmyeon tastes bad if the noodles get soggy.” He explained as if that was more than enough justification to eat his brother’s food. He looked up at the wolf, knowing she just worked and didn’t have a break. “Did you want some Pup?”

Eun-ji declined and watched as he dug into the bowl. She looked at her friends and decided since they didn’t seem like they were going to murder each other then she could slip away and get changed. As she pulled out a comfortable outfit to wear, she tried to call Rang’s cellphone. It reverberated in her ear four times before going to his voicemail.

****

Rang sat on the couch, ignoring the vibration of his phone in his pocket as he held onto himself. He felt horrible. This was an aching coldness that had seeped into his body. He felt the darkness, he was sure he was approaching death’s door.

“Gosh, you look so pale.” Ryong stated as he leaned over the back of the couch toward Rang’s body. The man had the most sickening smile on his face.

“Will you keep a distance? You smell like rotting corpses.” The fox felt his nose burn at the scent.

“It's the scent of death.” The old man stated as a matter of fact, pulling himself into an upright position. “Since I’ve lived much longer than I should’ve, as have you.”

Rang coughed and winced in pain.

Ryong moved around the Chinese Lantern tree and looked at Rang before pointing to a bulb. “Want one?”

The fox shook his head. “No thanks.”

“Do you plan to sacrifice your life for your pride? Is it worth it?”

“Do you think I’m desperate to stay alive as you are?” Rang questioned the old man.

“Definitely not. But why does it look like you don’t want to go? It is that wolf that you have around you? This is unlike you.” The man stated as he watched Rang clench his jaw at the mention of the female.

“Get to your point.” Rang was already tired of this. He had tried to keep Eun-ji from his personal affairs but now he could see it was pointless.

“Do you plan to defy our master? It’s best to not disappoint him, we wouldn’t want anything to happen to your dear wolf, would we?” Ryong took a seat on the couch across from the fox.

“First, he’s ‘your’ master, not ‘our’ master. Second, keep her out of this, adding more people just makes it more messy.” He shook his head.

“I know you’re upset because of what Eoduk Sini did. But that was a misunderstanding.”

Rang scoffed. “You threw me into the Ah Gwi Forest, but what? A misunderstanding?”

“It was a risky move that we took to catch Yeon. We wouldn’t have left you there.”

“Sorry, but I can’t bear to listen to your lies anymore.” Rang stated as he thought back to the moments in those dark woods. Yeon was fighting off the ghosts while he desperately climbed the cliff when an unknown hand reached down for him and helped him up. The fox stood up from the couch. “I’m sure you know that, even in this state, I can kill you with no problem.” He reached down to his waist to reveal his hidden weapon.

“Wait. Wait a minute.” Ryong stood quickly, backing away from the fox just for an axe to be thrown at his face, but hitting the wall instead.

“That’s odd. Your master should show up by now.” He slowly came toward the older man. “ Shall I take a guess? Imugi is not in this house.”

Ryong stared at him for a moment before laughing.

“You’re laughing?”

“You can’t kill me. You shouldn’t even think about it.”

“What?” Rang was slightly confused where this man’s confidence was coming from.

“I’m the one who saved you from that fatal wound inflicted by Yeon. What you own me hasn’t been cleared yet.” Ryong held his hand up, showing the glowing orange ring on his finger that was the bind of their contract. “You have a deal to abide. A fox can’t go back on a deal it made.”

It didn’t make sense, he should be cleared of that deal. “Thanks to me, you were able to bring Imugi back.”

“No, that was my doing. All you added was a bit of flair.”

“You approached me so that you could use me someday, knowing that Yeon was my brother.”

“In what other way would a half-fox be of any use?” Ryong reached back to the Chinese Lanterns and grabbed one off the tree. “Please consume the lantern. Live and return the favor you owe me.

“What do you want from me?”

“You have two days to bring me Lee Yeon. It’s his body I need.”

****

Eun-ji tried several times to get Yuri to either leave the room or at least sit down and be civil, but the vixen just huffed about Yeon eating the food that was meant for Rang.

Meanwhile, Yeon found it all quite amusing. He happily enjoyed every refreshing bite of the food in the bowl. It was a reminder to him that he has not eaten anything for days which could explain why he felt so ravenous. “Well, that was good.” He wiped his mouth and looked over at the two females. The wolf was sitting at a bar stool, eating a small helping of fruits while the fox stared at him. “ What are you looking at?”

“Get out. Scram.” Yuri spoke.

“Yuri, be nice.” Eun-ji pleaded but the vixen wrinkled her nose against the idea. The wolf sighed in defeat and placed another apple slice in her mouth.

Yeon walked past them, giving a pat to Eun-ji on the head before opening the freezer. “All you have are ice cubes. Is ice cream not something you enjoy?” He asked, looking at both females.

“I do, but I haven’t had any in a long time.” The wolf replied, the idea of a cold treat sounded good to her right now.

Yuri, however, remained quiet.

“I can’t believe he adopted some rude pet from overseas. Eun-ji, I would return this one to the shelter if I were you.” The comment made the wolf choke on her fruit.

“I hate you, you know?” Yuri snapped.

“I never asked your opinion.” He approached the fox purposely.

“Stay away from Mr. Lee.” She growled, snapping her teeth at him.

“What if I don’t?” The male asked.

“I’ll kill you.” The vixen spat the words from her mouth like venom.

“Yuri!” Eun-ji gasped.

“Who do you think you are?” Yeon asked.

“I’m Ki Yuri. Why?”

“I never asked your name.”

“But you just asked.”

“You don’t seem all that smart to me.”

“Yeon!” Eun-ji now gasped at him. The back and forth between both foxes was becoming childish enough where she was going to send them both to a different room.

“Can you and Rang even communicate?” Yeon asked, ignoring the wolf on the bar stool.

“I’m smart, you know.” Yuri stated.

“As if.”

“Mr. Lee only adds mustard to his naengmyeon, gets blisters on his lips after eating crabs, and hates cucumbers in gimbap.”

Yeon scoffed. “All you can name are his eating habits.”

“But because of you…. Because of a jerk like you he…” Yuri froze, catching the attention of Yeon and Eun-ji.

“Go on.” The male encouraged.

“Darn it. Just forget it.” Yuri mumbled as she finally turned away.

Eun-ji watched Yeon studying Yuri for a moment before he headed to the couch. She herself looked at her female friend. What was Yuri going to say? Eun-ji was curious but left it at that. She could question it later when Yeon left. The wolf glanced down at her phone and pressed the button on the side to light it up - no notifications. Where was Rang?

It grew quiet in the house, Yuri was standing off to the side, arms crossed as she waited and waited. Yeon sat on the couch mostly quiet but would ask Eun-ji a question from time to time. The wolf wasn’t sure how much of the tension in the air she could take. She watched Yeon shift, trying to hide his laughter as he looked over at Yuri’s serious stance.

“Well, I should get going.” He spoke loudly as he stood up from the couch.

“Yes, go ahead. So long and farewell.” Yuri stated quickly as she whipped around to look at the fox.

“Rang talks about how miserable his life has been, but I guess it wasn’t all bad.” Yeon stated as he stopped right in front of the vixen.

Yuri pursed her lips together and looked at him.

“Since you live to protect him, please do so until the very end.” Yeon held out a small branch of azaleas and handed them to Yuri. “Give Rang this. It’s for the naengmyeon.” With that he walked away from her and approached the wolf. “Have a good night, Pup. Take care of Rang and let me know how he’s doing.”

****

The walk back home from Ryong’s was long and Rang got a little lost in his head. He wasn’t aware of his entire walk home, but he was at the front door, twisting the knob and walking in. It was quiet in the house but the lights were on. He walked into the room and spotted Yuri sitting on the couch. The vixen hopped up quickly and walked toward him.

“Where were you?” She sounded concerned.

He didn’t deserve her concern. Dark thoughts swirled in this head. “I want to be alone.” He spoke as he walked past her.

Yuri looked at him closely. “Rang you look…” She saw him pause in his steps. He looked better, so much better. And she couldn’t stop the smile that came to her face. He must have gone to see Ryong and Imugi. “Did you take a Chinese lantern?”

The male fox swallowed thickly before speaking again. “Please…let me be alone.” He pleaded softly.

The smile slipped from her mouth slowly. “Look over there.” She gestured to the coffee table, though Rang wasn’t looking at her. “Yeon came and left it for you.” She then turned on her heel to leave. She would have to send a text to Eun-ji that she left. Rang wanted to be alone and she wanted to respect his wishes.

As the front door closed with the vixen’s departure, Rang looked at the tablet and spotted the bright pink flowers on the table. He decided to sit on the couch instead of burying himself in his bed like he had originally planned. What Ryong was asking him to do no longer sat well with him. All of his feelings about his older brother had changed over the past few days.The inner turmoil was more than he could handle at the moment. He grabbed a singular petal from the flowers and ate it.

Rang thought back to when they were younger. “I wish we could go back to those days. There were azaleas everywhere. It’s strange. I can’t remember how the azaleas tasted back then.”

“If you don’t remember how azalea tasted, get out alive and eat some, you idiot!” Yeon was back in front of him, looking down. “At least try to survive, will you?”

The flower petal was filled with flavor. It was just like he remembered. His eyes filled with tears and he tried to keep himself together but there was just so much going on in his head that he had to release it all.

Eun-ji had stepped out of the shower a few minutes ago and saw the text from Yuri immediately. The vixen stated that Rang wanted to be alone and so Eun-ji waited a little bit before heading to the living room. She spotted Rang sitting on the couch, he looked so broken, tears sliding down his cheeks and he covered his shaking breaths with his hands. She shuffled over without a word and placed a hand on his shoulder as approached him.

A cracked sob broke from his lips and he moved quickly, grabbing the wolf by her wristing and tugging her into his lap. He tucked his face into her neck as more sobs wracked his body. He held her tightly as if he let her go she would vanish. He held her tightly, his fingers clutching her shirt, as if she would fade away if he let her go. He felt her run her fingers through his hair, and her sweet voice met his ears. For a few minutes it was hard to hear and understand the soothing and comforting words she spoke to him but after a while the gentle cooing was helping him calm himself.

“It’s okay Rang, I’m here. Please let me help you. Deep breaths honey.” She began to hum a gentle song when she wasn’t sure if the words were reaching him.

He pressed a kiss to her throat and gave a shaking breath right after. “I’m sorry Wolf.”

She, in return, kissed him on the top of his forehead. "You don't need to apologize. There is nothing to apologize for." She stated as she pulled back to look him in the face. To say she was shocked was an understatement, he looked so much better than he did that morning. Her fingers danced across his cheekbones, checking to see if makeup was covering the dark circles that were once under his eyes. "Rang, are you feeling better?"

He nodded his head. "All healed my dear."

Eun-ji frowned. She was happy he was healed, but considering the fox didn't sound happy about that and it made her concerned. "Do you want to talk about it?" She cradled his face in her hands, her thumb rubbing over his lower lip once.

"I'm okay, love. I just have to get myself back together. Tomorrow I have to make a quick stop somewhere in the morning. Then I would like to take you to your old home to find that box." The fox had things to take care of just in case things didn't go well for him. He promised Eun-ji he would help her so he needed to make sure that if her memories were in that box, then she was to get that back.

"Okay. Are you hungry? Did you want something to eat?" She changed the subject, shifting off of him, ready to rush to the kitchen and make him a small meal.

He tugged her back down by her waist. "No, I really just want to lay down with you. If that's okay?" He sounded so unsure like she was going to deny him her comfort.

"Of course." She pressed another comforting kiss to his forehead before she slid off his lap and held out her hand, which he took before she led him down the hallway into his room.

*****

Eun-ji sat in the car waiting for Rang. He said he needed to talk to a woman named Taluipa. He explained that she managed the office of Afterlife Immigration and also was in charge of the list of dead souls. The wolf grew even more concerned when he pressed a long kiss to her lips before getting out of the car and disguised himself as Yeon.

She stared at the building, wondering if she should go in after him. He had been in there for a little while but he also didn’t say how long he would be in there. The wolf blew out a puff of air as she tried to get comfortable in the car. She decided that she should text Shin-Joo and apologize for her behavior the day before.

It was during mid conversation with her boss that she noticed Rang exit the building as himself instead of Yeon. Eun-ji sat up quickly, watching the fox move across the pathway and toward the car. He looked deep in thought and she watched him stop in his steps and look back at the building, as if he was deciding if he wanted to go back in or not. Ultimately he decided to continue to the car, and he caught her staring. He shot her a small smile, it made her heart skip and she dropped her phone into the cup holder, leaving the conversation to pick up again later.

Rang entered the car and looked over at the wolf. “Ready?”

“How did it go?” She had asked him at the same time.

“Not how I wanted it to, but Hyun Ui-Ong told me to try something else.”

“Oh, who is that?” Eun-ji questioned as Rang put the car into drive.

“He’s Tapulia’s husband, he’s the gatekeeper of the Samdo River.”

Eun-ji blinked twice. She wasn’t sure how Rang was able to approach such important and intimidating beings with such ease. Maybe it was normal for their world. “What did he tell you to do?” She had no idea what exactly what Rang was trying to do in the first place.

“He told me to untangle the mess.” He didn’t say more than that. “Now, let’s get that box, shall we?”

Eun-ji nodded her head though now she was curious to what he was talking about. If he wasn’t sharing the information then it probably wasn’t something he wanted her to know. She was torn about that fact, did he not trust her with the knowledge or was it too dangerous?

*****

Eun-ji stared at the door and frowned. She thought she wouldn’t have such a hard time coming here again but there was still the lingering sadness and fear that ran through her veins. “Why am I still so nervous?”

Rang stepped closer to her, hand on her lower back as he leaned toward her ear. “It’s because you have bad memories of this place. We can make them all go away if you want. Yeon or myself can help erase that for you.”

The wolf bit her lip as she thought about it. She was just happy that she didn’t feel like someone was watching her this time when she approached the building. She had yet to tell Rang about that but then again she might just keep it to herself. “Okay, let’s just get this done. I want to go home.” She stepped forward and knocked on the door, louder than she intended and winced at the noise.

Rang chuckled and pulled her back next to him while they waited for the door to open. It took a few moments before it did, just an inch as the person behind it peaked out. The fox was amused to see the man cowering.

“What do you want? Who are you people?”

“Kyong?” The wolf questioned as she inched closer to the door.

“How do you know my name?”

Eun-ji looked back at the fox and saw his grin. “I don’t understand.”

“I did say that the last time he wouldn’t be fixable.” Rang shook his head. “Guess I did a little too much.”

“What do you mean?”

“WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?!” The man yelled from behind the cracked door.

Rang looked up at him, unamused as his eye started to glow. “Open the door.”

Kyong did so, without any hesitation, stepping back to allow them inside.

The wolf followed the fox slowly as she was still not used to his powers and was a little in shock. The home was a mess, clothes everywhere, dishes in the sink and garbage overflowing from the trash can. She was sure she smelt rotting food somewhere in the house too. “What happened to him?” Eun-ji looked back at the man that she used to live with, he was motionless like a statue as he waited for another command.

“When he tried to take you away last, I messed with his mind a little bit, scrambled it up so he would leave you alone. I never thought we’d have to come back to him.” Rang explained as he turned back to Kyong. “I really don’t want to reverse it, but I suppose it might need to be done if we can’t find the box ourselves.”

Eun-ji knew she shouldn’t feel anything remorseful for Kyong, but the way he was living now did make her have pity on him. “I’m sorry you had to do this to him.”

“I’m not, for how he treated you and what he said to you - he deserves worse.” The fox started to look around the room, not sure what the obliviation box looked like.

The wolf glanced back at Kyong again before deciding to check their old room. This was even worse, the clutter could mean the box was bound to be buried somewhere. She’d have to start cleaning up just to look for it. She decided to check his drawers first, opening them all and checking the back of each one. Once she knew it wasn’t in there, she went around the room collecting what she assumed was dirty clothes and placing them into the laundry basket.

Rang walked into the room and found her tidying up. “What are you doing Wolf?”

“I’ll never find anything in this mess. It could be buried anywhere. I already checked the drawers and found nothing of importance.” The wolf grabbed another dirty shirt and tossed it with the others. “There has to be a better way. I’m not cleaning this entire apartment - I don’t even want to be in here. It makes me feel sick.”

Rang frowned and nodded his head. “Okay, give me a minute.” He stepped out of the room and walked over to the still human. “Where is the box?”

“What box?” Kyong asked, his voice monotone like a robot.

“The obliviation box.”

Kyong made a confused face as he stared out into nothing. He shook his head. “Don’t know.”

Rang cursed and sighed. “Stupid idiot probably doesn’t even know what it is.” He snapped his teeth in annoyance. “Guess I should bring you back.”

Eun-ji sighed as she opened the closet in the room, hoping that Kyong hid it somewhere on the top shelves. There wasn’t a step ladder nearby but there was a small rolly chair and so she rolled it over to use as something to help her up. There were boxes alright, mostly show boxes filled with nonsense and nothing useful.

“W-What are you doing here?”

Eun-ji snapped her attention back to the door and stepped carefully off the chair. She could hear Rang speaking calmly while Kyong was panting loudly and the sound of feet scrambling could be heard against the floor. The wolf stepped out of the bedroom quietly, she didn’t want Kyong to notice her but he was hyper aware of his surroundings and as soon as she moved in his peripheral vision he snapped his eyes to hers.

“You! What are you doing here? What did you do to my house?” Kyong snarled only to choke on it as Rang took an intimidating step toward him.

“Play nice or I’ll make your life even worse.” The fox threatened.

“Just get out. I’m done with you and your shit.”

“Kyong…” Eun-ji took another step forward, as she felt her legs shaking. “I need your help.”

“My help? You want my help after everything this asshole has done to me? Well, you can go fuck yourself.”

“Watch it!” Rang snapped.

Eun-ji took another step forward. “Please, just this one thing and you’ll never see or hear from us again. I’m just looking for a box.”

“I threw all your shit out. So check the dump, bitch.”

Rang stepped forward and the human flinched. The fox stopped only when Eun-ji held her hand up to have him stop. “There was a box, passed down in your family. Duong paid you to keep it safe and just hold onto it. Then something happened to it…” She paused to think back to the memory. “A seal was broken and then you were stuck with me. Where is that box Kyong?”

“Why should I tell you? What’s in it for me?”

“Rang will let you keep your mind this time.” Eun-ji stated. “Look around you Kyong. Your life is a mess.”

The man looked around at his home and sighed. “You’ll both leave me alone after you get this box?”

“Yes.” She stated.

“Fine. It’s in the box under the bed.”

The wolf ran back to the bedroom and bent down to look under the bed. It was a mess there too but she located a large box and opened it. Inside were a bunch of trinkets and old newsletters but buried in a corner was a small box with chains on it. When she grabbed the box she felt a connection, something rushed through her and she gasped. This was it, this was definitely it. She ran back down the hallway and over to the fox. “I found it!” She cheered happily.

The fox smiled at her. “Good job sweetheart.” He turned his attention back to the human who was just staring at them. “ I guess we will be on our way.”

“Wait.” Eun-ji grabbed his sleeve. “Make him forget us. I don’t want him coming back in my life anymore.”

“Hey, that wasn’t the deal. You said I could keep my mind.”

“I did and you will but any memory you have of me, doesn’t belong to you.” Eun-ji felt confident again. She has her box and hopefully all her memories will be hers again. “Rang, please.”

“Of course, Princess, anything for you.” Rang smirked at the human as he allowed his eye to glow again.

*****

The wolf looked over the box as they drove back to the house. There was a crack on the side that ripped the seal talisman. “This must have been the reason I came out of the box.” She stated as she turned the box over slowly in her hands.

The fox looked over at the box. “What are you thinking?” He asked, looking at the nervous expression on her face.

“I don’t know. A bunch of things. What if I don’t like who I was before, or what if the memories change me? What if it’s better for me not to remember?”

“Wolf, you’re second guessing everything. You’ve been waiting so long to have your memories back. Don’t you think you deserve to know who you are and who you know? You said you have memories of Yeon, don’t you want them all back?” The truth was he wanted to know if she knew him too. “Plus, if you don’t like the person you were back then, just remember you don’t have to be that person now.”

“I suppose you’re right. Thank you. I guess I’m just nervous.”

Rang parked the car as they reached home. “That’s okay too.”

The wolf tried to pull at the chains to take them off but they wouldn’t budge. “I can’t get these off.” She explained as she passed the box over to the fox. He too couldn’t get them off after struggling for a moment.

“Let’s go inside. I’m sure I have something that will open these.” Rang held the box as he exited the car.

Eun-ji wasn’t sure why, but she felt as if she got her hopes up for nothing. Instead of saying anything she followed Rang up to their home.

[sunchaserwings]

Incoming rant about The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Herlock Sholmes from The Great Ace Attorney, and the BBC Sherlock (no major spoilers ahead I promise).

A preface before I begin; I was never a big fan of Sherlock Holmes or any adaptation of the stories. I've seen Elementary although I was very young so I only have the vaguest of memories of enjoying it, and my roommate had me watch a couple BBC Sherlock episodes when I was a tween/young teen. My mother claims she tried to get me into Sherlock Holmes but I'm rather skeptical. Anyhow, onto the story.

Back in March my boyfriend bought me the Ace Attorney games for my birthday which included the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (or Dai Gyakuten Saiban for those who are still stuck on the pre-localization names ;p). I was on my flight home from my birthday trip after I got the news my manager fired my brother while I was out of the state and figured why not, I'd start playing the first TGAA game on the flight. I'd probably enjoy myself and I couldn't sleep.

Second biggest mistake of the year (first biggest was trusting Les Schwab to do my brake job). I. Was. Hooked. I played the first case and fell in love with Kazuma instantly (he's so Zero shaped!). I played the second case and realized that calling him Zero shaped was way too accurate. We all know what happened there. Most important to this rant, I met Herlock Sholmes (more on my opinions on him later). I could barely put the game down but I had to take a break due to finding a new job and getting adjusted. I ended up finishing the game in June or July, one of the two. I finished the final case of the first game in one long 12 hour gaming session it was that good (my back didn't thank me though).

Now, the man of the hour: Herlock Sholmes. I didn't think much of him initially. He was simultaneously charming and annoying in the second case but as I played more he grew on me. I cried when the start of 1-5 happened. He clawed his way up into like the top 7 favorite characters at the time. The ending of the game with him playing his violin made me bawl my eyes out. I. Loved. This. Game.

It took a few more months to start and finish the second game. In between Adventures and Resolve I played Skyward Sword, Minish Cap, and some others so I had a healthy break. I came back to play Resolve and finished it like two months ago. It hit me in the gut just as hard as the first game did although there are a great many things I'd tweak and do differently. But Herlock Sholmes... man, he's not my favorite but he's up there underneath Kazuma and Van Zieks.

Anyhow, I finished the game but the hyperfixation had started and would not let me go. I've never been one to go out and seek fanfiction due to... personal stuff but I had a feeling I didn't want to go probe the depths of AO3 yet for fear of crying. I started a graveyard shift at my job which severely limited my ability to talk with people about stuff and also there's so many major spoilers but very few people I knew had played the game. A thought occurred to me, however. What about Sherlock Holmes audiobooks? I have an auditory processing issue which has made listening to audiobooks hard but I decided to give it a go. Perhaps it would satiate the TGAA hyperfixation hunger.

I found the ones produced by Magpie Audio, expertly narrated by Greg Wagland. Go check him out, he has over 77 videos of Sherlock Holmes audiobook recordings and all of them are a minimum of 40 minutes, often times far more. I went through over 30 hours of audiobook in a few weeks listening to these. Sherlock Holmes is such a good character and I can understand how and why he took late Victorian England by storm. And you know what the best part is?

Herlock Sholmes is the most faithful adaptation I have personally seen as a character of the original Sherlock Holmes.

They got so many of Sherlock's little idiosyncrasies right and you can tell the entire team were genuine fans of the books. I listened to Mr. Wagland's narration *and I saw 221B Baker of the games*. Especially the jack knife impaling the communications to the mantle being referenced in the game? The sheer mess of the flat? It's so good!

My roommate (whom is also a Sherlock Holmes fan) noticed my newest hyper fixation that spawned off of TGAA and that reignited his Sherlock Holmes obsession. He was a fan of the BBC Sherlock and now recognizes it was not a very great show but it's a comfort media for him nonetheless. He just dragged me into rewatching it and... okay, it's playing into a lot of inaccurate Sherlock tropes I don't like but goddamn Martin Freeman carries the whole show. I love his John Watson because it feels like a reasonable version of a modern, younger Watson. He feels real in a way. I do like the fact that even in the first episode, it's established that John and Sherlock can make each other laugh and smile just like in the books. I don't forgive them calling Sherlock a sociopath, however (speaking as someone with a brother that has been diagnosed with being a high-fuctioning sociopath). He's AuDHD to the max and deserves recognition in that department.

All of this to say, I can trace my current Sherlock hyperfixation back to Mega Man. Finding Mega Man in 4th grade led to watching the Ace Attorney anime in late 2021 which led to playing The Great Ace Attorney and that led to listening to Sherlock Holmes. I don't know why I decided to make this post but maybe I might start live blogging this shit? All in all, this is going to be a wild ride.

[thelightsandtheroses]

Between the Shadow and the Soul | Joel Miller x female reader

Pairing: Joel Miller x female!reader, Summary: In the wake of your brothers leaving the QZ, you find yourself drawn back to Joel. What follows is something neither of you can vocalise, you are one thing outside of closed doors and another together. As time goes on, it gets harder and harder to keep this divide this though until something happens that leaves you no other option. Content Warnings: 18+ Minors DNI please and thank you. By continuing to read you affirm you’re over 18, f!reader, smut, drinking, swearing, description of an almost assault that is stopped and fears of walking home alone, with that there are allusions to fear of SA but nothing happens, and there is a blink if you miss it element of PTSD. Author’s Note - This links to Into The Fire but you do not need to have read that to understand or follow this at all. They’re separated but linked and I’m toying with extending this in the future if people are interested as I have some ideas about how this could extend into a series that follows the main plot and then into Jackson either as a chapter fic or interconnected one-shots. Let me know if you have any thoughts here as I’d love to gauge if there’s interest. Also, there’s a little Easter egg for episode one in this fic, so let me know if you catch it. Title is from Pablo Neruda’s sonnet XVII. Word Count: 6k

 Into the Fire | Masterlist

Your brother leaves the QZ on a Wednesday. It’s him, Tommy, and the other Fireflies.

It’s been just 48 hours since he said he was leaving, less than 36 hours since you went to Joel Miller’s apartment to try and get him to join you in stopping this. It’s been 12 hours since you have been able to make some semblance of peace with your brother.

You lied through my teeth when you said that you would support my brother’s decision, blatantly fibbed when you said you respected the fact he felt he needs to go.  You both knew you were lying but we both pretended you were convincing. If the worst happens, you can hang on to that. 

Your older brother squeezes your shoulder and says that he’s proud of you as you watch your baby brother leave and you oscillate between wondering whether you want to cry or punch him hard in the face for not helping you stop our little brother from doing this.

It’s strange to feel both hurt and numb at the same time.  You feel too much and too little and all you know is this feels like an ending.

Days pass without major event. That’s the thing; your world can change in a moment, but the QZ endures and everyone else carries on unaware. There are ration cards to earn, trade or covet, jobs to do. 

You throw yourself into extra shifts of work, into finishing that book you’ve been meaning to. Distraction is your best weapon. Your apartment has never been so clean, your work so exemplary. If you’re not too exhausted to think at the end of the day, then that’s what the pills and alcohol are for.

Joel and Tess went on a supply run the day after that night so you’ve been able to avoid them both. You’re not entirely surprised; you knew he wouldn’t be there when Tommy left. There was enough said and left unsaid that night that told you everything you needed to know about how Joel felt about his brother’s decision.

 They’re gone for nearly a week before you hear that they are back.

You can’t quite articulate what brings you back to Joel’s apartment. You don’t expect anything; you’re curious though; curious about how he’s taken Tommy’s departure, about the supply run and what they’ve found or traded, about him in general.

It isn’t Joel who answers the door though; it’s Tess.

“Huh,” she says before opening the door wider for me to walk through.

Everything in you tells me to turn around, to make your excuses but you don’t. You walk inside instead.

Tess has made her way to the kitchen area, picks up a half-drunk glass of alcohol. It strikes you that she’s so comfortable in Joel’s space doing this, that it’s obvious Joel isn’t here right now, but he trusts Tess enough to let her be here.

You’ve made a mistake. The two of you clearly made a mistake.

Tess takes a gulp of her drink and then leans against the kitchen cabinet. “You’re looking for Joel.” It’s a statement not a question.

You nod slowly. “I can go.”

“Don’t.”

You pause in the hallway, nod and then walk back to the table, toy with taking a seat but instead dig my hands into your worn jean pockets.

Tess doesn’t move from the cabinet but just meets your eyes, an unreadable expression on her face.

Is this where she confronts you? Where she confirms your fear that her and Joel are like that that Joel lied, or you ignored my gut and it’s you, you are the one at fault here.

Will she yell, will she lay down her territory?

“So, was it a good run?” you ask after a moment; you’ve always hated silence. It’s the way that silences feel like a weight above you, keep you anticipating something. Eventually something has to break the silence, right?

“Same old, same old,” Tess says, shrugging insouciantly.

“Oh.”

“I should go, really, please don’t tell Joel I was here. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Look,” Tess begins, her fingers pinching her brow, “you don’t know what you’ve got yourself into.”

“I do,” I protest stubbornly because even if you don’t, if Tess says that you don’t know then you will argue until you’re blue in the face that you do.

“No, you don’t.” Tess looks at the floor for the moment and then meets your eyes. “Don’t put something on him you know he can’t give you, it’s not fair. It’s not fair to either of you. Look, you seem like a good - or maybe an alright person. We’re not.”

It’s not that simple, you think. You know all too well that men who seem charming and nice at the start can be the most heinous of them all - that good and bad don’t feel like binary values in this world anymore. You thought you were good once, but your survival has come at a cost.

You open my mouth to protest her words but she shakes her head at you. Neither of them seems bad; yes, there’s an air of danger, they’re certainly competent and you wouldn’t necessarily want to cross them. They don’t seem actively malicious though. Or is that just the version of them you’ve seen?

"He told you what happened?"

“He didn’t.”

“Then how did you know?”

“I came over the morning after - saw you leaving. Also, even if I didn’t, you just confirmed it. You’re not very good at this, if you don’t mind me saying.”

“Oh.” You have to say what’s next. “I didn’t - if I - I’m sorry if I stepped into something. I didn’t - I didn’t know if you were together. I’m honestly sorry if you are and I’m sure it didn’t -”

Tess laughs, it’s slightly bitter. “That man can’t be 'together' with anyone, sweetheart, that is the whole goddamn point I am trying to make.”

“It was a one-time thing.”

“Then why are you here, huh?“ She’s got you there.

You shift awkwardly in the kitchen, drag your foot on the floor and try not to look at you. Why are you here? What were you thinking?

“I’ll go,” You repeat, tightening the fist in my pocket.

As you open the front door, you walk straight into a solid weight. It almost takes the breath out of you.

“Crap.”

“What are you doing here?” Joel asks, because of course you would walk into him. Literally.

“I was leaving,” I say. “Sorry I uh -walked into you.” Walked into you, walked into this mess, walked into your apartment in the first place.

He clasps your wrist as you move to leave, he’s surprisingly gentle considering there’s a bruise on his knuckles. It looks fresh. You look down at the discoloured flesh and then back up at him.

“It wasn’t important, it can wait,” you say, swallowing and then looking anywhere but at him or Tess.

Joel doesn’t say anything. He loosens his grip on your wrist and then moves slightly to your side. “The problem’s sorted, Tess,” he says lightly. “Won’t happen again.”

You wonder if there’s a correlation between the problem and his bruised flesh.

“Fucking Robert,” Tess says, a mix of bitterness and almost cheer in her tone that you can’t quite reconcile.

You turn around and look at them both, trying to figure out what to do, whether you should just leave.

He hasn’t even said hello to you.

Joel drops a pack of ration cards on the table and places both hands on the table.  From where you stand you can see the outline of his back, his broad shoulders. It takes you back to the week before, to the way you had kissed the freckles on his shoulders and the way you’d felt beneath him.

There’s some sort of unspoken conversation taking place with him and Tess. She finally finishes the rest of her drink, takes a handful of the ration cards and then walks towards the front door, shaking her head at you and mumbling something you can’t quite decipher.

“Why’d you come?” he asks gruffly.

“No idea,” you say.

“Oh yeah?”

“They left safely, think they’ll try and radio in the next month or so, Tommy said,” you say as though that’s the message you came with, the mission you needed to carry out.

Joel turns and he’s facing you. “Right. Good.”

“Yeah.”

“You uh, doing okay now?”

You’re not sure how to reply to this; you’re surprised he’s asked, that it seems genuine. You’re also not sure what he’s asking; are you okay your brother left, or you okay after hooking up with him?

You nod. That seems an appropriate response.

There’s a protracted silence. It’s not entirely uncomfortable and you’re taken by the way Joel is carefully looking you up and down, calculating, making some sort of assessment.

“Since you’re here, you want a drink?”

“Sure,” you reply as you walk back to the kitchen table.

You know where this is going. You knew from the start after all, didn’t you?

The QZ has a sense of security; it’s strange, there’s comfort in the known, even when it’s corrupt. At least you know who your enemies are most of the time, who’s running the show. There’s a safety in that. It’s when you don’t know who to avoid you find yourself in trouble.

Since Joel came back from the last supply run, you’ve fallen into a new pattern. At least two nights a week you’ll find yourself in his apartment, tangled up together in secret.

You don’t think anyone but Tess knows about this. You haven’t mentioned it to your friends, to your brother. They seem oblivious to it all, each of them ensconced in their own dramas and relationships. Even Maria, who you live with and has been your closest friend for years doesn’t know. However, as she’s a smuggler too, you’re not sure how she’ll react to you being with Joel. They have a loose truce, but in the QZ all connections are fragile.

You’re not even sure how to describe what is happening with Joel and you to them.

There are no words, no platitudes, Joel Miller is not going to hold your hand in public, after all he can’t betray that he has emotions or vulnerabilities to others, can he? How would that work with his reputation? You’ve heard that even some of the FEDRA soldiers are scared of him. Joel Miller is a man whose reputation truly precedes him.

Around others, nothing has changed between the two of you. It’s when it’s the two of you alone that it’s different.

Then it’s kissing against kitchen counters as you pretend the edges aren’t digging into your back, hands entwined as you move to his old bed held up by breeze blocks. It’s fierce, desperate kisses and roaming hands. It’s heat and fire and safety wrapped together.

It reminds of you that Alanis Morrissette song you used to hear on the radio, the one where the only ironic thing about it was the fact that the song wasn’t actually using examples of irony. Outside of these walls, he’s one of the most intimidating men in the QZ, but when it’s just the two of you, well then you feel the safest you have in years.

You wake to a bright apartment. Next to you, Joel is still asleep and radiating heat that as winter sets in is far less unwelcome than before. One arm rests above your head while the other lazily hangs over your waist, his hand loosely entwined with yours. You lie there, listening to the sound of his breathing, the sound of his heart beating. He’s a solid, grounding presence like this.

For a second you allow yourself to indulge. You’re not in Boston, you’re not in a QZ in a ramshackle apartment that doesn’t even have a fridge. You’re in the Before. This is just another lazy Sunday morning and Joel’s here.

You can’t fully picture the man he might have been then, how you and him would have been something different in that world. Just thinking about the Before is strange for anyone who’s survived this long though. It’s hard to remember a time when people would run into a coffee shop after classes ended, when we’d think about supermarkets and buying groceries because there was so much choice. Which of the different tomato types or cheeses did you fancy today, how many types of toilet paper could there be? It’s almost obscene to remember it now.

The reality creeps in too soon.

The problem is moments like this; the ones where you can dream and imagine this is something else. It’s been months and neither of you have defined yourselves, there have been no words, no spoken confessions of feelings. Inside these four walls, there’s something, but outside you feel like he treats like an acquaintance at best.  You haven’t told your friends or your brother about this because you’re not even sure what this is. You don’t know what you mean to Joel. You started out in desperation and shared loneliness, what even can this grow into?

You try and ignore this, to live in the moment, but it eats at you a little. You wonder if it would be the same if you were Tess?

He turns over, removing his hand from your side.

“Hey,’” you say gently.

“Mornin’,” he mumbles, the Southern drawl thicker in his voice as he wakes up.

He props himself up on his elbow, regards you carefully. His gaze is piercing, like he can really see through you even with half-awake eyes and a drowsy expression. You watch how his expression sharpens.

“I’ve got work in a bit,” you say just to fill the silence.

“Okay. Tess and I are going on a supply run later today, might be a couple of days.”

“Bill and Frank?” you ask.

He nods and then shifts himself so he’s hovering over you, meets your lips and skims his hands down your waist.

You hum in approval, slipping your own hands around his neck and pulling him closer.

In these moments, these fleeting quiet moments, things don’t feel so bad.

There’s a louder and louder question in your mind though - what is this? What are we doing? What does it mean to Joel?

It might be sensible, but there’s a weight to whatever has developed between you and Joel. You can justify and understand why things are different outside to when you’re alone, but even when you know the reasons it tugs at old anxieties. Is it you, are you the problem? Maybe if you were more like Tess, maybe if you were different then he wouldn’t keep you a secret.

He’s never even told you how he feels about you. The two of you started in desperation and shared pain - what was you said to him back then? Don’t overthink it? Well, now you are.

 

It’s been a long day; your shift ran long after a clash between Fireflies and FEDRA. It’s strangely familiar; even when the world ends, we all still find a way to fight with one another. Perhaps that’s too reductive though.

Curfew is close, you walk a little faster down the street because you know you’re cutting it fine. FEDRA have been difficult recently; you don’t want to spend any more time in lock up.

 It’s this that motivates you to take the shortcut, to walk down the alley that will take you out closer to Joel’s apartment and mean you probably make curfew. You’re tired, exhausted from a long day of work and all you want is to be with Joel.

You hear the footsteps creeping behind you and your heart sinks.  In the Before you’d walk home with keys between your fingers in a clasped fist in your pocket for just this reason. How could you be so stupid? This is a moment you’ve been actively avoiding since you were a teenager, since before the outbreak. What have you done to save yourself a minute or two?

You’re angry too because why can’t you just walk down a street without this fear? What’s wrong with people?

You can’t berate yourself, not right now. You carefully look around you, try and think of a way out of this. You need to be practical, to swallow the panic that’s rising and get out of this. What would Joel or Tess do?

You’re almost out of the alley when it happens. He grabs at your shoulder, pulls you and then pushes you against the wall.

You don’t recognise him but you recognise the look in his eyes.

Mentally you try and remember the self-defence you’ve learned over the years; you’ve fought more people than this. This is nothing.

It’s just the way he’s so close and the panic and the -

“Let me go,” you say loudly, “You let me go now and we forget about this.”

“But I don’t wanna do that.”

“Let me go.”

“Hey, I’m just sayin’,” the man slurs, his foul breath on your neck. You push him off you and scramble to get away from him. He’s behind you and you manage to grab a loose brick from rubble on the ground and you’re ready. You’ve done this before and you can do it again.

He grabs at you and you raise the brick ready but something holds him back.

“Stop it, stop it! “a man yells, “Jesus, you’ll get yourself killed. Get away, now.”

He shoves the man away and takes a step toward you, hands raised in surrender as you take a step back. The alleyway exit is just ahead of you, you can make it through this.

“Look, you need to tell him what I did, okay? I stopped him, helped you out.”

“I had it covered.”

 “Look, you need to tell your guy that I helped you,” he says firmly.

“My guy?”

“Yeah, now he,” the man points in the direction of the other man who has run in the opposite direction, “he owes me too because I know your guy would have destroyed him.”

“My guy?” you ask again, the adrenaline starting to wear off as you drop the brick to the ground.

  “You tell your guy that Robert -” The name clicks straight away, this is the man who Tess and Joel deal with, who neither of them like. They won’t like owing him.

The QZ is alarmingly similar to high school. Gossip spreads faster than fungus.

You shouldn’t be surprised people know about you and Joel, you shouldn’t be surprised there are rumours.

You are though and you know Joel will hate this if he ever hears about it. About the way Robert already wants to exploit it into something else. A wild thought that this was a set-up immediately comes to mind before you squash it down.

You break into a run back to Joel’s. You won’t tell either of them what’s happened, you can’t.

Joel’s counting out ration cards on the kitchen table when you walk into his apartment. He spins around, a tense expression on his face, fists ready and teeth grit, and then he softens at the sight of you.

“Hey,” you say, walking over to him before getting a glass of water. “So, I take it you and Tess have been able to trade the stuff from your last run then?”

“Yeah.” Joel stands up, his posture stiff and it instantly raises an alarm bell. “So, Robert said some things today,” Joel says in a low voice. “You know him, don’t you?”

You swallow, feel the ground drop a little below you. You finish your water and place it on the counter, taking the time to think through what you say next.

“It was nothing,” you say, moving to him and placing a hand on his side in what you hope is a reassuring way. When you meet his eyes, you realise it though.

There’s some worry there, sure, but more than that, he’s annoyed. He’s annoyed because someone knows about what’s happening with the two of you, that you didn’t deny it or tell him, didn’t warn him.

It stings.

“I didn’t say anything to him.”

“You didn’t have to. Now he knows - or he thinks he knows something and the asshole is looking for a way to use it against me. Are you happy with that?”

“Why are you mad at me? I didn’t confirm it and I -”

“You didn’t tell me. If you’d told me before -”

“I thought you might worry, and I was - I was embarrassed, okay? I took a risk because I thought I’d miss curfew and I almost - it could have been really bad.”

Joel’s face hardens and you’re not entirely sure you’re making the situation any better.

“How bad?” For a second he softens, reaches towards you and cups a hand to your chin. You realise he’s checking for marks, he’s realised what could have happened, his eyes are dark with worry and anger and something else that you can’t identify.

“It was fine, I had it handled.”

“Sure. That’s what Robert said, that’s why he intervened and that's why he now he thinks I owe him.”

“I did have it handled,” you say, angry that Robert would use that moment against you like this. “I didn’t need him to intervene but he did and I didn’t ask him to. Nothing happened to me, okay? I stopped it. I stopped it.”

Joel is so close to you now, hands on your shoulders, eyes heavy. He nods at what you say, more reassured that nothing had happened to you. His head is bowed slightly, leaning against you and you move your hands down his arms to clasp his.

“Who was it?”

“No idea, just some guy -” Even if you knew him, you wouldn’t say his name with that expression on Joel’s face.

You pause before you continue because this will be the contentious part. “When Robert said about us- I didn’t confirm anything - and so what if I did?”

Joel scoffs, takes a step away from you and breaks the moment you start speaking.

“This isn’t fucking high school, sweetheart, we’re not going to announce we’re going steady in the cafeteria.”

“Who on Earth says going steady? Did you ever say that before?”

“No, of course not. It’s an expression. That’s beside the point. The point is - “

“What is the point?” you snap.

”You should have told me.”

“Maybe, maybe I should have. However going off this conversation, I’m pretty sure anyone would understand why I didn’t.”

“You’re impossible. How many people have you told about us, huh? Your friends been spreading it all around Boston?”

“You’re being a jerk,” you say, eyes fixed on the ground. “I’m not asking you to hold my hand and skip along the QZ in unison, Joel, don’t fucking be like this. I don’t know how Robert found out about us. Just please don’t blame me for something that wasn’t even my fault. Do you think I don’t realise that this - us - could put a target on my back? I’ve known that from the start and it’s why I’ve never pushed things.”

He swallows, clenches his fists and you realise that’s his main point. That’s the part that’s worried him. You’re not Tess - you’re not feared, you could be a vulnerability for him to others if it got out. Robert’s realised this, exposed a sensitivity Joel never wanted visible. You are tired though, you’re tired of being a tool for other people’s games.

You have survived too much. You’ve endured things you never can talk about, think about even, to get where you are today. You have fought and you have won some fights and lost the others, but you’re here.

You’re so tired of this though.

“You’re not being fair, Joel.”

He doesn’t say anything for a moment. You raise your gaze to look over at him again, to take in exactly how he looks, how he’s reacting.

His expression is blank but his body betrays him. He fidgets, how he scrunches and loosens his fist, moving his fingers.

“I know,” he says finally. “I know you didn’t say anything.”

You wait for a moment, hoping for more but he doesn’t say anything.

“Okay then.”

“I just - ‘s not, everything’s complicated.”

“You think I don’t get that? I understand why you want to keep us in here, I get that. It’s just if I don’t even know what we are? How could I say anything to Robert when I don’t know whether there is an us?” Now you’ve started you can’t stop.

He reaches for you, takes a step closer as you step back because if he touches you, if he holds you right now and you swallow these words, you’ll betray yourself. 

“I’m not as weak as you think. I know I came to you and I was upset about my brother but I’m not weak.”

”I don’t think you’re weak,” Joel says, looking up at the ceiling. “I didn’t think it then, I’ve never thought that. We walk in different worlds ‘round here, sweetheart so I have to keep it separate.”

“And I understand that. It’s just that I don’t even know how you feel about me and now we’re talking about it, I can’t not say it, Joel. We’ve been - doing whatever this is for months and I - I - I’m a person, Joel. I have feelings.”

He says your name; all desperation and despair.

“I don’t think this is working for either of us anymore,” you say, taking a deep breath.

You glance over at the breeze blocks below his mattress again, how it sums everything up perfectly.  A makeshift bed for makeshift love.

“I should go.”

You should have gone a long time ago, you should have left when you came to his apartment and spoke to Tess all those months ago and saved both of you this pain.

So this time you do and you ignore whatever Joel says behind you.

It’s for the best.

You scowl as you take in your apartment and listen to rain hitting the window. You are itching to do something different, but you’re not sure what you should do, or even what you have the resources and energy to do.

You can’t talk to your best friend about what has happened with you and Joel because she doesn’t know that you ever even slept with him the first time. It’s the same with your older brother and to be honest, things have been strained between the two of you since he supported your other brother in leaving with the fireflies.

You feel alone. You feel numb.

Hell, the only person you could talk to is Tess and you’re not even sure if she likes you.

There’s a knock at the door. You freeze. It’s past curfew which never means anything good. You quickly look around your living room for any visible contraband in case it’s FEDRA.

Joel’s standing there. You take him in for a moment; the way his six-foot frame dominates the door frame, his wet hair and unreadable facial expression.

“What are you doing here? It’s curfew!”

Joel raises his eyebrows smugly. Like curfew could ever stop him. You bite your lip so you don’t smile like you usually would because no, no you can’t smile at these things anymore.

As you turn away you’re sure you see his face fall slightly.

“Can I come in then?”

“Uh, yeah, sure.”

Since you’ve been together, most of your time has been spent at Joel’s. It’s quieter there, which may be more of an indictment of your own accommodation than a recommendation for his.

Joel stands awkwardly in your living room.  He’s rarely here as you live with your friend so his apartment has always been the choice. You’ve noticed before how every time he has been in your apartment, which has usually been to talk to you friend, he seems to be taking in some of the details, gleaning what he can from the small personal touches. Today is no different.  There are photos on your coffee table; you and your brothers, you and your best friend. Your brother found one of those Polaroid cameras once, it’s long broken now but there are some markers of your life, some semblance of normality.  You notice how he takes in the pile of books stacked next to your sofa, picks one of them up and flips the cover over to read the back. You almost smile at the fact he instinctively knows the books are yours and not your friend’s.

“Is - is it just you?” He asks tentatively.

“Yeah, uh - just me tonight. Maria’s over at Jason’s tonight.”

“Do you want a drink? I have some but it’s not the best quality.” Which is a polite way to say it’s really shitty quality moonshine.

“I’m good.”

“Why are you here, Joel?”

“You said some things.”

“So did you.”

“You said you didn’t even know how I felt.”

“I don’t.”

“You can’t mean that,” he says quietly. “You know, you have to know.”

“Joel, outside of your apartment I barely even exist to you!”

“I wanted to keep you safe, keep you away from what I do.”

“You think I’m safe from all of that? Maria is a smuggler too, I might not be, but I’ve been at risk if their operations fall apart from day one.”

You think about Joel’s words for a second, the ones you’d almost ignored as you launched straight into your planned words and defences.

“How do I have to know? What do I have to know, Joel?”

Joel doesn’t look at you. He doesn’t look like the Joel you see on the streets anymore, he doesn’t even look like the Joel you know from those nights, the one who knows every spot to touch and kiss and makes you feel like someone else entirely.

“ Look, I don’t know how to do this anymore, bein’ with someone, I mean. Reckon I wasn’t much good at it before the world went to shit.”

You raise an eyebrow at him. “I think you’re more than adequate -”

He smirks. “Not that,” he whispers, “You know what I mean.”

You do.

“It’s a lot for me too.” It is, there are parts of your history you haven’t shared with Joel, that you’re not sure if you ever will. It isn’t because you don’t trust him, it’s that those memories live locked away and you don’t want to release them, not now, not ever.

Joel closes the gap between you. “I was worried because you didn’t even tell me someone tried to hurt you. How do I keep you safe if. -”

“I could have told you, but I was embarrassed. God, Joel, I’ve known not to cut through alleys in the dark since I was a kid. I’m just mad that I have to think like that.”

“You shouldn’t have to,” Joel says, his tone softer.

“I should have told you about Robert, but Joel, I - I didn’t want to lose you.” You laugh bitterly. “Guess that worked out real well though.”

He puts his hand on your chin, guides you to meet his eyes.

“You haven’t, haven’t lost me. I was - you were right,” he mumbles. “I was a jerk. ‘M sorry. ”

You lean in to him and you’re about to say something back when he kisses you and every word you thought fades away. It’s gentle at first but he doesn’t break contact even as he moves you to your bedroom.

You work the buttons of his chambray shirt with your fingers. It’s damp from the rain outside, clings to his skin more as you peel it away, move down to undo his belt.

His kisses are becoming more familiar, more desperate by the second, as though you’ll stop him, you’ll tell him it’s over at a moment’s notice.

He guides you to your bed. 

His fingers skim the bare skin on your hip where your top has risen up with the movement, then  he traces up your waist to the edge of your breasts.

“You okay? This okay?” Are we okay? He’s asking that too you realise.

“More than,” you whisper, nod, and then wrap your arms around his neck to bring him back closer to you because you need him close, you need him.

He pulls you up to ease your shirt off, to unclip and remove your bra, kisses the hollow of your throat and traces a line down to your breasts.

Joel Miller might be terrible with words, but you realise he communicates in other ways.

He moves his right hand down to the edge of your jean, into your underwear and you bite back a groan at the heat building between your legs as he slips a finger inside you.

You moan as he finds the spot he knows turns you into putty.

“Joel -”

“I know,” he says, removing his fingers and making you gasp.

He tugs your jeans and underwear off, places a kiss on the inside of your knee as he uses his hands to prise you open more as he works soft kisses up your thigh to between your legs.

You buck against him as he presses his tongue against you. You grasp his hair as he kisses, sucks and teases you to oblivion. You shudder against him as you come and he eases himself up over you, kisses you so you can taste yourself on him.

“I need you,” you say, “Joel, I need you.”

“I need you too, you get that, right?” he asks before pulling off his own jeans, his boxers. He kisses you fiercely as he lines himself up and sinks into you.

As he moves in you, he wordlessly tells you everything you needed to know. It’s in each thrust, each sound, the way his hands entwine and interlock with yours as he gets even deeper.

Afterwards, after both of you have collapsed into each other, let go completely, he moves so he’s lying next to you.

His body glistens with sweat and you absentmindedly trace a scar on his shoulder. He kisses your hand and then looks at you seriously.

“You know?” he asks, running a finger down your cheek. “You know now, right?”

“Yeah, I do,” you whisper, because you think you’re finally a step closer to figuring this man out. You get it now, you get it.

Tag list: @harriedandharassed @pedrostories

Please let me know if you would like to be added to my tag list.

[katyawriteswhump]

power of love, part 15

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 16

(also on AO3 here and as part of my steve whump fic series)

Steve’s back in the loggers’ cabin. He’s kissing Eddie stupid, and he’s loving it.

They’re both done with drinking bad beer, and even more done with pretending this thing between them isn’t real. They’ve gotten their arms flung around each other. Steve’s tongue is happily exploring the depths of Eddie’s mouth.

Kissing Eddie is totally unlike any make-out session Steve’s ever known. The scratch of Eddie’s lightly stubbled jaw against his is… Gnnng, mindblowing! Steve slides his knee into Eddie’s lap, wishing Eddie would jump his bones already. When Eddie snags his fingers through Steve’s hair, it sends literal sparks down Steve’s spine. The insistent brush of their lips is actual fire, until…

… it’s all too much. Steve moans with something other than dumb teen passion, and it feels like his head’s gonna explode. That familiar crimson tide washes through his brain, and then…

“Steve?”

Robin’s voice wrenches Steve back to the present. Oh, yeah. They’re wading along some shitty little stream, hidden between high banks. Somehow, while getting lost in memories of that kiss, his feet shifted forward on autopilot.

She’s following behind. “I haven’t heard those woofy search dogs for a while,” she says. “You?”

I’ve not a clue, Robin. My head’s zoning in and out of Christ-knows-what-crazy-ass-shit, and I’ve gotten a boner from daydreaming about Eddie. Which is fading fast, because when I remember I might never get another shot at kissing him for real, I wanna stuff my fist in my mouth and bite down hard.

“Gonna trust you on that one,” he mumbles.

“We can get out of this disgusting drain then?” He shrugs, climbs up the bank to check all’s clear.  “See anything we need to worry about?”

“Not sure.” Steve frowns, surveying a few dumped cars and a burned-out trailer. It’s a familiar patch of wasteland, a known hang-out for pretty much every teen in the area. “We’re back in Hawkins already.”

“You’re kidding?” She scrambles up to join him and visibly pales beneath her grime and freckles. “Oh my God. We must’ve travelled at least ten miles. In less than an hour and a half.” She glances at her watch and nods emphatically. “Any explanations, Steve? Any cryptic messages from your water-fairy-godparent?”

“Gimme a break! You’re the one who said we’re off to Magic Camp. At this stage—boom! Whatever! Crazy is to be expected.” He sounds chill. Despite the fear jostling him from every angle over what the hell is happening now?  Their gazes lock, and… Jesus, he can read in her manic eyes how her last ragged nerve is about to snap.

“Okay, okay,” she says, “we won’t panic.”

“I’m not panicking."

“Well, I am! One plus side—there’s plenty of nice dry paths leading to Lover’s Lake in that direction.” She points to the wasteland. “Don’t you dare make me get back in the ditch. I am literally wearing duckweed for mascara.”

He considers her suggestion for a few seconds, before that stupid waterfall roars in his head. “Sorry.” He bounces back into the stream. “If we’re believing in this bullshit, then I gotta go the way I get told.”

With the biggest sigh ever, she skids down after him. They paddle onward, hand in hand. She’s shaking weirdly, gasping and gulping, like she’s giggling and crying all at once. Oh, and shivering too. He wants to check she’s okay, but he doesn’t dare speak. Sounds bombard them from every angle, including shouting, maybe a quad bike, and plenty of distant and not-so-distant sirens.

“Look, Robin,” he whispers, when it seems safe. “You’re not in deep shit, like me and Eddie. Maybe you should go home to your mom.”

“Nice thought. Mommy Dearest has probably rented out my room already.”

Steve hums sympathetically, while pausing to mindlessly kick off his trashed sneakers. “If it’s any consolation, when I was reported missing, nobody noticed my parents rushing back.” He’d asked Hopper, casually enough. “I’m guessing they didn’t bother."

“That sucks, though…means we could nip back to your place for a warm shower, clean clothes?”

“Trust me, I’d murder for that. You really should go, but—” The sound of way-too-close voices interrupts him. After a minute longer, shuffling forward, she wrings his fingers crushingly tight. 

“Uh, Steve? Look.”

Up ahead, the waterway flows into a culvert. The entrance is barred with a metal grid. 

“Oh, thanks a bunch, fairy-guardian-water-spirit-angel-parent,” says Steve. “Great short cut, just great!” A dog growls so close that they startle as one, resulting in a loud splash. He shoves Robin toward the opposite bank. “Go! I’ll try… something.”

“How’s that gonna help?” she hisses, letting him bundle her ahead. “It would be kinda sad if you lightning-fried the dog because it’s not the dog’s fault—"

“Scram, will you? I’ll give it a quick shot—mind the freakin’ dog—and be right behind.”

She scrambles into some bushes at the top, and he prays she keeps going. All he hears is goddamn barking. Christ, can it smell my blood? Still, he has to keep it together and come up with some damn heavy rain, and fast, to destroy her scent as she escapes.

He crouches down, conjures up their recent discussion about parents. Eleven told him to channel anger, so that’s a decent start…

Grrrrrr!

Steve jumps up, whirls about. A foam-flecked mouth snarls at him from the top of the bank. He’s faintly relieved to see the canine owner of this huge and scary mouth is on a leash. Unfortunately, the leash is held by a tall guy in khaki, a semi-automatic tucked at his side.

He shines a flashlight directly in Steve’s face. Steve meekly raises his hands. He’s too stunned for real fright.

“You shouldn’t be here,” says army guy. “Woah, you’re filthy! You got papers?”

“Huh?” Hopper hadn’t been kidding about the military dictatorship.

“Got a name, kid?”

He glances down at his Hellfire Club t-shirt, cringes back into the dazzling beam. “Eddie Munson?”

“Outta the ditch. Keep your hands where I can see them.”

Steve doesn’t instantly obey. He’s still trying to figure out if this is really happening, and why exactly he said he was Eddie. To protect him, right? Then Eddie can get clean out of the state. Oh, and because he’s so obsessed with Eddie that he can’t stop thinking about him.

A second later, the dog-handler is in the stream with him. He grabs Steve by the arm, and snaps into a lapel radio: “This is MWD-handler 7. Inform O’Sullivan that fugitive 1 is apprehended.”

…

Eddie POV

The forces dragging Eddie home to Hawkins are suddenly spooking-him-the-hell out. 

It’s not all about Steve anymore. He’s hearing water. Loud running water, which draws him toward what turns out to be a nonsensically pathetic-as-piss stream. He jumps in and follows, even as he starts to panic for real.

Steve said he was hearing water. Now I hear it too. What does this mean? Wtf does this BS mean!?!

He presses on anyhow, finding he simply can’t stop thinking about THAT KISS. He’s reliving it over-and-over. At least, the good parts, before Steve fainted on him. Did Eddie daydream the delicious twisty, flirty things that Steve did with his tongue? 

Then he’s thinking about Steve’s butt. 

You never gave THAT BUTT the squeeze it deserved. Holy shit, Munson, you’re such a loser. 

Most torturous of all, the idea that it might be all over between them… Crap, it makes him feel physically ill. How can the idea of losing somebody he never really had hurt so much?  Oh, and when the heck did he kick off his sneakers and start wading bare foot? He has absolutely zero memory of doing that. Still, the cold water doesn’t seem to bother him.

As darkness falls, he spots some familiar landmarks, and realises he’s only a mile or so out of Hawkins. Which is also totally cuckoo, because there’s no way he should’ve travelled back so fast. For the first time since he set off, he stops dead.

Reality check, Munson—pretty much everybody in this dump you call home believes you to be a freakshow-turned-serial-killer. And you’ve come storming back for some douchebag rich kid who dumped you.

There is, however, a single good side to his progress into Hell. He pulls out his walkie-talkie out of his pack, switches it on, and tunes into Dustin’s coded wavelength:

“Anybody there? This is a code-red. CODE RED!” Okay, being officially too ‘old’ for the Party, he’s not supposed to say that, but desperate times call for desperate—

“No way! Is that you? Over.” 

At Dustin’s reply, some dam deep inside Eddie bursts. His face crumples, and he shamelessly, softly weeps. “Yeah, it’s me, buddy. It’s me.”

“Roger that. What the hell are you doing? This place is overrun with wannabe Nazis.” The hairs on the back of Eddie’s neck stand suddenly on end, and not because of Dustin’s news. “It’s a warzone. You should be in the next state by now!”

Eddie drops the walkie-talkie and shoves his hands in the air. Some military-fascist-knucklehead is pointing an assault rifle at him, though he’s weirdly numbed to the horror of it all. He honestly hadn’t expected it to feel this inevitable.

“Roger that?” says the walkie-talkie.

Eddie grins, so manically goofy that his face aches. 

“Name or papers,” demands the son-of-a-bitch.

“Uuuuuh…” Okay, he’s blown this. Nobody with nothing to hide, blunders THAT answer. “Steve Harrington?”

He said that to protect Steve, right? If they think I’m him, they’ll… torture me instead. Oh shit. Oh Shiiiiiiit!

A big angry dude pummels into Eddie from the side, crushing him into the mud. 

Part 16

tags: @estrellami-1 @kal-ology @finntheehumaneater If anybody else would like to be tagged on this fic or any of my writing, please let me know. Thank you for reading so far :)

(also part of my steve whump fic series on AO3)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 16

[baronessvonglitter]

Questions tag game!

merci beaucoup to @strang3lov3 for the tag!

Do you make your bed? Yes. Not always right after I get up, but definitely before I start whatever's on the agenda for the day.

Favorite number? I don't have one. I prefer letters over numbers.

What's your job? Classified. But the most time I ever spent at a job was at a library for almost 12 years.

If you could go back to school, would you? I waffle about it. But honestly I loved college and I'd definitely go back to further my education.

Can you parallel park? I have only achieved it once, during my driving test, and even then, the state trooper said, "Eh, good enough" So, essentially... no.

Do you think aliens are real? I've seen a couple of UFOs.. I saw a strange set of lights in the sky - four red lights perfectly parallel to one another, and then they vanished. Another time before that, I was watching the sky and saw a slow-moving dot of light. I figured it was a plane until it seemed to jump into hyperspace and zoomed upward, out of sight.

Can you drive a manual car? Listen, I like relaxing while I'm driving. If I have to worry about shifting gears and other nonsense, I'm not doing it. Automatic all the way, baby, zooming down the freeway at a whopping 50 miles per hour while blasting Duran Duran.

What's your guilty pleasure? I don't feel guilty about the things that bring me pleasure. But there are pleasures that I don't talk about often, and my main one is when fights break out between major league baseball teams. It just does something for me.

Tattoos? None (yet). I have a fear of needles. Also, I can't commit to the same nail polish within a day, so I don't want to put something on my body that would be there forever. Although I think it'd be hilarious to get the "Hiya Buddy" hot dog post-it from The Office tattooed on my hip or lower back.

Favorite color? Sunset colors: peach, lavender, magenta, violet. Also dark green, dark red, dark blue.

Do you like puzzles? Jigsaw yes, Sudoku no. Ooh I love crossword puzzles!

Any phobias? A lot. Needles, insects, the dark, probably too many to count. I can proudly flex, however, that I have zero fear of public speaking.

Favorite childhood sport? I was not an athletic child, but I did play tennis in high school and I really loved it. Still play from time to time.

Do you talk to yourself? I'm sure I do, but not often. I usually have TV or music on as background noise.

NPT: @604to647 @ashleyfilm @greenwitchfromthewoods @coolranchdavidian @untamedheart81 @shessweetsour

[newtonsheffield]

molly, when you write kate and edwina`s relationship in your fics that is always so sweet and caring it like more based in the books right??? becasue they did such a mess in the show with kate lying to edwina and with edwina not paying attention to kate. In fact, do you belive that edwina should have listened to kate when she command her to not let anthony court her??? that feel bad honestly, kate was like being bossy with edwina.

Okay, I’m going to run through this one more time really quickly because I have like 12 hours of videos on season 2 that you can watch that details all of my opinions on these things but the dynamics at play here are a lot more complicated than we’d like.

It’s below the cut. This post is not tagged for a reason.

First off, I had my characterisation of Mary and Edwina set long before the show came out. Basically: I’m the one writing it so I’m gonna do whatever I want tbh. There are plenty of other people who write the dynamics differently.

Before we discuss Kate lying to Edwina let’s discuss the events of the show up to the point where it would have been best if she had told Edwina.

Kate Sharna meets a handsome man in the woods. He was cute, and charming, and sure they flirted a little and Kate liked Anthony a little. We see this because-

She sees Anthony again at Lady Danbury’s ball and she confirms that she thinks he’s handsome (Mary’s look to Kate in this moment is so sweet, don’t even get me started). She then seeks out Anthony’s company again after she sees him dancing (poorly) and sees him talking about how he’s not interested in getting to know the woman he’s marrying. Worse, he talks about them as though they’re all the same, interchangeable and only really good for one thing: Having children so you can fulfil an obligation and move on with your life. Anthony immediately tries to flirt with her again and Kate feels honestly stupid. She came to London thinking she was prepared for the task ahead and at the first hurdle she’s found out that she wasn’t. She feels awkward and uncomfortable and upset and she needs to regroup.

Anthony has now set his sights on Edwina. There’s no interaction here.

Anthony makes an idiot out of her by essentially organising someone to spend time with her. It’s insulting and disrespectful. Edwina then has her moment of teenage rebellion

They go to Aubrey Hall and this is where the shift starts to happen. They play Pall Mall and they have a moment of shared sameness where Kate starts to realise that maybe the version of him she saw at first is the real Anthony. They then have that moment with the bee but this is only the beginning of Kate recognising what she;s actually feeling for Anthony. She’s still not very sure.

They have their moment in the library they go hunting, they actually spend time together, learn about each other and they dance together and this is when Kate begins to be sure that she;s having actual feelings for Anthony. Here. Following the fact that Edwina already wants him to propose. So she’s already in a difficult position. This was the perfect time to tell Edwina and get I think some blowback but it would have been minimal.

Anthony has already proposed out of his own fear.

The window was minimal because of the fact that Anthony acted out of his own fear for what he felt. He was so sure that if he just proposed to Edwina all of this would stop. It was more than expected of him at this stage. To the outside world, Mary is right, he has shown her every attention in the world. He took her and her family to his home privately, if he had withdrawn even then there would have been questions about what was wrong with her. Bare in mind, that Kate has no confirmation from Anthony that he has feelings past lust for her so even if she told Edwina she was in love with Anthony: What could come of it? She feels it would be selfish to ruin it for Edwina, to ruin it for Anthony because if what she feels.

This is further complicated by the fact that Kate is used to sacrificing what she wants for what Edwina needs. This started because it was made clear to Kate when Edwina was about 10 that she needed to marry nobility for them to have any hope. Kate couldn’t marry because she herself would have then been expected to look after her husband’s family and there was no guarantee that they would allow her to have the same amount of contact with Mary and Edwina so I think this just seemed best at this point. Because Kate, in a way, feels that she owes Mary the life she gave up in Marrying her father. In choosing Kate and her father Mary gave up her life in England and Kate wants to give it back. This is misguided because Mary doesn’t actually want it back but alas, Kate hasn’t asked. So Kate’s entire life focuses on Edwina’s education now. Mary is obviously deeply depressed and I think when they were in India was probably less distant with the girls than we see. Being in England has likely brought up a lot of shit with her husband and family and the ton in general so I think we’re seeing Mary struggling more than she has for a while. Somewhere along the line Kate has likely stopped only doing what Edwina needs and has started giving Edwina what she wants. Frankly, we need to stop viewing their relationship as sisters and start seeing it as an unequally mother daughter relationship. Edwina is also, very used to getting what she wants, and she’s 18. So I think when she learns that there’s more going on with Kate and Anthony and even with Mary to a certain degree: She’s surprised because she is used to being at the centre of their family unit. So that shatters as well. Do I think this was managed perfectly in the show? No, I have my own ideas about how to fix that but Netflix isn’t paying me so I’m not gonna hand them out.

So we’re now in a situation where really: Everyone feels betrayed

Edwina feels betrayed by Kate.

Kate feels betrayed by Anthony but more importantly she feels betrayed by herself. Because she should have put aside her own needs she shouldn’t have been there in the way.

And Mary feels betrayed by herself as well. And here’s where most people get this wrong (in my opinion) Mary does not feel betrayed by Kate. Mary feels guilty. Because the second she saw Anthony kneel in front of Kate she realises exactly how much she has let slide. Exactly how much Kate took on herself. Because I think until that point she genuinely thought she still had the kind of relationship with Kate where Kate would have told her this. Kate was telling her the truth. Kate is her daughter, who she has never known hide sections of herself away. Why would she now? Thus isn’t even to mention the fact that Anthony gets a lot of praise for defending Kate to the Sheffields but Mary did it first. Mary stood up to her parents and said: That is my child, take it or leave it.

So no. I don’t think Kate was bossy with Edwina. She was very hurt at what she’d done and she was trying to make Edwina see that Anthony wasn’t going to love her. Which she was right about. Edwina probably should have listened. Would have saved everyone a lot of time but I also think she was a young girl who got swept up in the romance of being in a Different place and being so sought after. I’m not saying she’s vain, I’m not saying she’s frivolous, there are plenty of signs that she too was under a lot of pressure. But she got swept up in the moment. It’s easy to do.

[darling-i-read-it]

Hi Maya<3!

I saw that your requests were open n I was wondering if you could do a Ethan x reader where they are rose's parents, n being first time parents they are new to everything, I recently saw that babies in their 6 months need to take a medical exam where they have to stay awake all night for 12 hours to check something in their head idk😭 so I imagined ethan n reader on their first and almost impossible mission as parents to keep rose awake all night for the exam n panicking n stressing out every time rose tends to fall asleep n every hour it gets harder to keep her awake that even the TV on full volume doesn't wake her up lmao🐱

It can be short or long as u decide<3

(sorry for any mistakes english is not my first language)

hello dear!! this is so funny to me. I tried to google this but couldn't find anything, HOWEVER it's so funny that we're just gonna pretend lol. dad ethan will always be my baby lol. i hope you enjoy love!!

When the doctor explained it to you and Ethan you nodded but there was nothing going on behind your eyes

You were both exhausted anyway. You had been exhausted since the day you gave birth. This seemed like an impossible task that was being given to you

Ethan, who had literally lost his hand, was practically shaking in fear the whole way home.

Even if we don't manage it, we can reschedule right?

And go through all that again? Please Ethan.

The task was daunting but months away! you were fineeee

AND THEN THE TASK WAS THERE

you saw it on your calendar, starring at you in the face. Keep Rose awake for 12 full hours before the appointment.

You told Ethan right before, who was sitting with her on the couch. He gave you a numb look, thinking, pursing his lips. You had been taking shifts with watching her while you were both asleep

but a full 12 hours seemed annoyingly impossible. Maybe if you could just do the most then it wouldn't really matter!

Ethan suggested taking shifts just like you do at night. That way, one of you could get a mental break

He did not think about how much mental strain it would be to do it alone. Always watching her. Eyes on her the whole time

After his first half hour of his shift he decided that was dumb and went to grab you from upstairs

Cue the insanity

For a while it's okay. She stays awake anyway, it didn't really matter. You set a timer on your phone so that you were keeping track of everything. She played with her toys on the ground, ate dinner with you guys, pretended to watch a movie

You tried to get her to walk around but she just kinda wriggled

Spending time with Rose was not weird to either of you, so it started fine. you and ethan just kind of watched her and hung out with her.

Then it started to get darker and Ethan started to set his head on your shoulder and the movie got quieter. Rose naturally started to get sleepy.

then it got annoying

"We should've gotten more coffee," Ethan muttered. He was looking in the kitchen cupboards. You sat with Rose, holding her up on your lap. She was so much to watch when she was awake.

"I went shopping last week," you said. He shook his head.

"It's not enough." He turned back to you as he poured water down the coffee pot. "It's gonna have to be strong if we stand a chance."

"The appointment's at 7 in the morning Ethan. I think we'll be okay." He narrowed his eyes at you. You half smiled, already starting to get sleepy.

"We can give her a bath," you suggested. "It'll keep her awake for a while."

"She does like playing in the bath," he muttered. "Do you want one?" You nodded, gesturing for him to bring it towards you. He nodded, waiting for it to be finish.

"We keep the house cold. Come Ethan. It'll be funny."

As the hours droned on it started to become dumb. At like midnight, both of you just wanted to reschedule it completely but knew you couldn't put it off for long. She was only six months for a single month.

You turned on the AC. It was freezing. Both you and Ethan were practically shivering, trying to stay awake. You jokingly tried to give Rose a sip of coffee (which Ethan swatted out of your hands)

You put her in a different outfit to pretend it was a new day. She continued to be confused

You gave her a bath, which killed like an hour more or less.

But she was slowly starting to become harder to keep awake. At closer to 5, only a couple more hours to go, it was nearly impossible. One of you had to be holding her standing up, watching her eyes, just to make sure they were open.

"We should've taken shifts," you muttered, laying on the couch. Ethan yawned. He was still wearing his pajama sweats and tshirt, tricking your mind into thinking you should be climbing into bed.

"You would've gone insane," he commented. You groaned.

"Me?"

"Yes. You." You rolled your eyes and sat up. Your limbs were so heavy.

"We could leave at 6."

"One of us has to keep her awake in the backseat."

"I call driving."

needless to say, it was the soundest all three of you slept when you got home. Rose was fine by the way. It eased both of your nerves to know.

your house, which had been so loud for 12 hours, was finally silent with the sound of sleeping breaths

[jreads]

Unexpected Constellations (Part 12)

Rating: M for dark(er)(ish?) themes

Word Count: 5.5K

Warnings: Warnings: Angst, Mentions of blood, Canon-level violence, Dark themes, Foul language, (small emetophobia again i am so sorry), But genuinely the themes are dark today, please proceed with caution.

A/N: Nothing to say here today except i love you. I am in the headspace of not doing my thoughts justice in writing. The story is good in my brain, please take my word for it. If you're enjoying the fic, kindly consider a reblog; it's really the only way my work gets out there :) Hope everyone is staying healthy and happy. Comment on this post or the Masterlist to get added to the taglist 🫶

You sat cross-legged in your cell, watching the puddle of blood grow larger as it dripped down off of white armour. Some of it had seeped into your own clothes already. Two stormtroopers lay just in front of you, very dead, the food they had been bringing in long forgotten.

But the cell doors activated from the outside automatically, and the soldiers carried no key cards, so it had mostly been for nothing. Mostly, because watching them bleed out slowly had taken the edge off of your bottomless anger, just a bit. 

It was the only emotion you had allowed yourself to feel. Towards him, towards the situation, towards his soldiers… Towards the Mandalorian.

While you had recovered from the internal injuries inflicted by the containment field, you had been overcome with grief. The stormtroopers who attended to you had been armed to the teeth, and you had considered the logic of a more drastic way out. But as the mental fog had worn off, you remembered you had one more thing to do.

“Now look at this.” He tutted at you, as if reprimanding a small child. “Was it really necessary? It’s not as if we have infinite troopers at our disposal now.”

You stared forward, trying to calm your breathing.

“You’re looking better.” He crouched down to be level with you. “Now, I don’t want to use the containment field again, but that means I’ll need you to behave yourself. Can you do that for me?”

You were picturing spilling his blood, in so many ways, across the pristine floor. All the possibilities flashed behind your eyelids. You just had to escape.

So you nodded, one time, still not making eye contact.

“Yes?” He sounded surprised. You couldn’t blame him; the picture before him probably painted you as some kind of feral animal.

He seemed somewhat satisfied with your answer though, straightening from his stoop. “Rest. I’ll come back for you soon. There’s much to catch you up on. You won’t believe the things we’ve been up to in your absence.”

You were clenching your teeth so hard it was a wonder they weren’t cracking. Fissuring and turning to dust in your mouth.

Before he left, he turned over one shoulder. He smiled. He told you he missed you. And from the emotions you read from him, you knew it to be the truth.

--- Years ago ---

You had been lying on this floor for hours. Days maybe. There was crushed glass across the surface, under your curled up body, digging and cutting into flesh anytime you shifted. 

The group had not held back this time, delighting in drawing screams from you. You hated that they could. Each time you would try so hard to stay silent. Bite your lip or grit your teeth, anything to withhold the satisfaction they got from seeing you break. Because it was that exactly.

They got off on seeing you in pain. You could tell from the waves of arousal that would wind through the room as they toyed with you. They weren’t allowed to touch you that way, and that was perhaps the only blessing you had. But anything else was fair game. A stars, could they be inventive.

Fear, pain, rage… those were all emotions that tethered the Sith techniques, strengthened the wieldier. You had learned that much from your brief training. So it seemed this group had taken it upon themselves to give you a fair dose of each. In their minds, they thought they were making you stronger. Fattening you up like a prize hog to eventually deliver to their master.

Only, that was the issue. Palpatine was dead; lost in the carnage of the Death Star. Which meant that this purgatory would go on forever, as they searched in vain. As you grew old and eventually died, maybe on this very floor, on this bed of glass. 

And why not now? If you could manipulate your manacled hands just so, and grab a sharp enough piece of glass, could you do what needed to be done? 

The door slid open, and you feigned unconsciousness. There were arms under your sides, lifting, glass making a twinkling sound as it fell from your body to the tiled floor.

“Come now, let’s get you fixed up.” It was criminal how soft his voice was, as if he hadn’t watched the rest of the group tear you to pieces and leave you in a heap. You hated every place where he touched you, wished you could scrape the tainted skin off.

How sad it would be. That you would never be able to feel the touch of a lover, one that brought pleasure, not pain. How so very sad. It was all you thought about as the medical droid applied bacta and bandages and injected you with a sedative. Even its immobile LED eyes looked sorrowful. You welcomed the fuzzy darkness with open arms.

Boba had cleared off the table and laid a map of the galaxy down, using ornate cut tumblers to keep the edges from curling inwards. “Where was it?”

The two of them had wasted no time in making preparations, and if Din had not been so lost in his own worry and self-loathing, he would have taken a second to appreciate just how willing they were to help. Especially on a mission with so many unknown variables.

“I’m not sure exactly. There weren’t any nearby planets to landmark it. Probably around here.” His had shook slightly as he pointed to a secluded area in the Outer Rim. He knew Fett noticed. “It’s saved in the Crest’s database.”

Fennec came in then, a droid trailing behind her, both of their arms laden with weapons. She dumped her armful atop the stretched-out map. 

“Smoke bombs, grenades, droid poppers just-in-case, and…” She turned a small pistol over in her hands. “…a stun blaster. It’s all I could get on such short notice.”

“It’ll do.” Boba surveyed the stash with an appraising eye. Din couldn’t seem to understand why she’d need non-lethal weaponry. He wanted them all dead. He didn’t say it aloud.

She braced her palms against the table. “Where are we at?”

“Rough coordinates, no estimate on number of hostiles. Din assumes around fifty. Probably more.” A muscle ticked in Shand’s jaw at the information, and she turned to Boba, angling her head towards the hall. He nodded.

“Give us a moment, Djarin.” They both retreated from the war room. 

Din couldn’t blame them. It didn’t look good. He tried not to eavesdrop on the hushed voices beyond the wall.

“…It’s a suicide mission.” 

“It doesn’t matter. We owe him.”

“Is he sure it’s even—” Boba cut her off before she could continue.

“He’s not leaving her. He would never leave her behind.”

She exhaled loudly. “I know.”

“I would do the same, you know? If it was you.”

“Even if it was impossible?”

“Especially then.”

He stopped listening because his throat was getting thick with something, and he felt as if he had been punched in the chest.

Not that it mattered much—they were back in the room within moments.

Fennec didn’t miss a beat. “What ship was it?”

“Nebula… something.” He couldn’t remember the name, just the way it had sounded on your tongue. Silver and beautiful.

“Nebulon Frigate.” She looked towards Boba again. “Shit.”

“Long range sensors… offensive weaponry…” He was thinking out loud. Finally he looked at Din, pointing a finger in his direction.

“I’m going to need you to get those jump coordinates for me. We’re not taking the Crest.”

“What?” Both him and Fennec exclaimed at once.

“The Firespray has cloaking capabilities. We’ll need the element of surprise. We can’t take fifty stormtroopers at once.” He pondered again for a moment. “What class of frigate was it?”

“B, I think.”

He looked intrigued. “Had a long bridge? One larger section, one small?”

“Yes, but it was damaged. Like it had seen battle and been abandoned before they picked it up.”

Boba nodded a few times. “Good. Good, that means it should be immobile. Likely no shields. And hopefully prone to structural warning alarms.”

He shifted the weapons and glasses to the side, rolling up the parchment. “We’re going stealth.” 

The next time the stormtroopers came into your cell, you didn’t kill them. You took the food from them and ate it. If your plan was going to work, you were going to need to keep up your strength.

They had woken you from a light sleep, sliding the tray across the floor, the screech of it seeming to scratch lines into your brain.

It caught on pieces of debris that littered the cell, pushing them out of its path and towards you. You were being sequestered in the main section of the ship, on a lower level, in an area where damage seemed to be at its worst. The lights would flicker at uneven intervals, the floor was pitted and potholed, and every now and again there would be an eerie groaning sound as the ship floated through space.

Everything ached. Especially the wound on your thigh. The bandage was still in place and there was no blood showing through your trousers, meaning the stitches hadn’t pulled, but it hurt.

Din had been giving you pain medication on the Crest which had numbed it for a time, but without them you were starting to struggle. Just the simple thought of him sent another pang through your leg, and a twin one through your chest.

What had even been the point? Of showing you such care and compassion if he was just planning on dumping you here anyway? You could have sworn there were times where you had felt something from him… 

But you were struggling to remember just what it had been. Lust. Yes, there had been plenty of that, but he had been so damn hard to read. Had it really been that easy to play you? He would have cared about your health because he wouldn’t have gotten paid if you were dead. But why keep up the charade with the crystal? Unless he had wanted you and the crystal.

You reached for your food but halted, focusing instead on a piece of metal just beside your knee. An old portion of piping perhaps, scratched and dented and left to rot on the floor. Ironic. You picked it up, tuned it over in your still-manacled hands.

Come to think of it, where even was the crystal?

Din had been keeping it, all too eager to not leave you alone with it. Ah, that made sense now. Perhaps he had handed it over whenever he got his credits. 

Three times the value of the crystal… That’s what you were worth to him. Well, at least it was a lot of money. But what had he been worth to you? The stars and the galaxy and the space in between it all?

Maker, you were an idiot. A lovestruck, naïve, and stupid idiot.

Just like everyone else, he had wanted something from you. And you had let him have it… willingly. You wondered if he knew how much damage he had done. Just how deep it went. How much you loved him.

You would tell him. You would tell him before you killed him.

You finished your meal and curled into a small ball on the hard floor. Clutching the sad piece of piping to your chest, you let the thought comfort you into sleep.

He came for you sometime later, hours, days maybe. It was always hard to tell. Your back had stiffened, and your leg was only getting worse. But when he beckoned you to follow, you stood on steady legs, careful not to let the searing pain show on your features. You tried not to limp as he led you down the halls and up an elevator, flanked by two troopers, with an additional one bringing up the rear.

The control centre was a sorry sight. Only two personnel were working there, standing up from their seats to give a sharp salute. Their uniforms were dilapidated, stained with grime, littered with rips. Quite unlike his own. But, then again, he had always been self-absorbed.

Exposed wires littered the floor, panels had been strewn about, and there was a strange mildew smell to the air. You wondered how many of the ship’s systems were actually still functioning. At least the security cams worked; a wall of them flickered away, showing brief cuts of too many near-identical hallways. It made you realize just how empty the starship actually was. Just how depleted his resources were.

The troopers lined the room, blasters across chests. “At ease.” He ordered from beside you. They obeyed.

“I wanted to show you this.” He motioned to the room, beyond it, where a wide window looked out over the rest of the ship. “We’ll be staying here a while, as we fix the ship.”

You couldn’t help your delirious laugh. “Fix?” He looked unamused. “You mean to tell me the Empire won’t supply you with a brand-new Star Destroyer to go ghost hunting?”

A muscle ticked in his too-wide jaw. Good. You wanted to agitate him.

You laughed again. “We’ll be here for years. This frigate is a piece of junk.”

But he merely clasped his hands behind his back, maintaining composure. “We have time.”

I’ll bet you do. 

Boba activated the ship’s cloaking as soon as it broke from hyperspace. The calculations had worked, and the frigate was still in position, floating idle in space, no signs of life from the outside.

“They must not have expected you to come back.” Fennec mused.

They would have thought he was smart, logical. Eager to save himself. 

They had no idea. If anything had happened to you, he would personally see the whole ship razed, along with everyone inside it. He only hoped he wasn’t too late.

The Firespray took a wide berth around the frigate. “When we dock, there’s a fifty-fifty chance that someone comes to inspect the sound.” Boba punched a few buttons on the dashboard. “If we’re lucky, they’ll just mistake it as debris colliding.”

Fennec queried from the jump seat. “And if we’re not?” 

“Then we stick to plan B.” The ship closed in on its docking port. “Everyone gets out alive.”

There was a tense silence as he maneuvered into position. Underneath the gloves, Din’s knuckles were white, clenched into unforgiving fists.

“Easy… easy…” Boba was muttering under his breath. Finally, Slave One made contact with a short lurch.

“We’re locked in. Din?”

“On it.” He gave the docking port only a second to equalize before opening the shaft door, rifle at the ready. The hall beyond it, mercifully, was empty.

“Clear.” He could hear the others unstrapping from their seats. The hunt was on.

A dull jolt and low clunking noise caught your attention. It seemed to jostle the ground, just a little. You looked at him, and then at the troopers flanking the door for any sort of recognition, but there was none.

“What was that?” 

Only one turned back, acknowledging your question.

“Just damage shifting.”

Some nagging part of you knew they were wrong. It sounded like a ship had docked. And if a ship was here… then that meant you had a way off. One step closer. It was now or never.

“Are you sure?” you asked. “It didn’t sound like damage to me.”

Like clockwork, the comms on his wrist lit up.

“Sir, there’s a small noise disturbance in sector 7. Do you want me to check it out?”

His sigh was patronizing. “Take a look but make it quick. It’s probably just loose steel.”

“Yes sir.” 

He pointed at one of the guards stationed at the door. “You, go with them.”

And just like that, you were one guard down. Only two to go.

You didn’t notice the security feeds along the wall slowly start to go dark, one at a time.

Din, Boba, and Fennec had fallen into a pattern as if it were a choreographed dance. They split up, each taking a different route, sticking to the shadows, and taking out cameras as they went.

By a stroke of bad luck—or maybe in her eyes it was good luck—Shand had run into the bulk of the troopers, including a small party sent to investigate the disturbance. They had made a rule to check in every few minutes, along with a Stromtrooper tally. Boba and Fennec were treating it as somewhat of a challenge.

Din could hear the telltale groan of dying man the next time they checked in. “Espa Three checking in. Nearing the command centre. Six troopers down.”

“Espa two.” Boba replied. “Copy. Headed down to the lower levels. Three.”

Mando was the last to check in. “Espa one. Two down, on route to the sky bridge.”

Still no sign of you. 

In the minutes that followed, his kills got progressively more brutal.

He had been talking at you for some time now, a poor attempt at gloating, or so it seemed. In the meantime, you breathed through stabs of pain in your leg and took the time to examine the room.

The mildew smell meant the presence of water somewhere. Probably a burst pipe under one of the loose panels.

“When the others hadn’t survived the crash, I had to find some new talent.” Maker, would he ever stop talking? “Everyone on this ship volunteered to be here… because they believe.”

You snorted.

“You being here reinforces that belief. It was the first step. I told them that I would get you back, and here you are.” 

You raised your wrists, still circled in cuffs. “I suppose you haven’t been forthcoming about the fact that you’re keeping me against my will. In chains.” At that comment, he dropped your gaze.

“What? You never told them about what you did to me all those years ago? I wonder if they’d still follow you blindly knowing that you used to cut me into ribbons, starve me for days on end, toy with my mind—” The other men had shifted slightly in their seats, perhaps unsure what to do with the new information.

He was inches away from your face then, hissing. “I never touched a hair on your head!”

“No, but you were happy to sit back and watch as everyone else had their fun.”

“It made you stronger!” The veins in his neck were bulging. 

You moved forward, the move so abrupt that he relinquished a step. “You tortured me! For years!”

“I made you powerful!” He was seething. “It was because I cared!” 

There.

Your response was barely a whisper. “Really?” you lifted your hands again. “Then prove it.”

He seemed to assess. You could follow the train of thought in his eyes. The ship was floating out in the middle of nowhere, and he had a small cabal of troopers under his command. They could subdue you if need be. You were a threat but seemed to have come to your senses. Cooperated. He believed what he wanted to believe. You knew the feeling.

Finally, he nodded. And again, to a trooper at the door. 

When he approached you, white armour glinting, and lifted a key you almost sighed in relief. And when the cuffs fell away and the world came back into focus around you, the plan was as clear as day.

Another Stormtrooper entered the room then, delivering a slip of folded paper to the man in front of you. Looking frustrated and somewhat confused, he opened and read its contents. Whatever he beheld had his expression clouding over within seconds.

His order was clipped. “Secure the ship. Now.” The troopers filed out. And then he grabbed you by the elbow, steering you to the front of the room, and into the tattered captain’s chair. Your leg barked at the pain and the edges of your vision frayed a little, trying to keep up with the overload of information available now that you were able to use the Force again.

So, a ship had docked. And it wasn’t a friendly. Good. This could work well.

He was looking out the window with frantic eyes. Scared? Really?

You utilized his distraction to your advantage. The water source was behind the wall across the room; you could feel the steady tick, tick, tick, of droplets falling. It was difficult because you couldn’t see it, but the sense was enough. Focusing enough to make sweat bead on your brow, you manipulated the metal until the dripping became trickling, and then the trickling became rushing. 

It pooled onto the floor of the command room, stretching out perfectly in the direction you had planned, right towards the exposed wires. He was too busy barking orders to notice.

But the uniformed technician beside you had, and now watched you with wide eyes. What caught your attention was how his hand shook, hovered over the power button. A question in his eyes.

You nodded and, after what felt like a millennium of bated breath, he nodded back. You both lifted your feet from the floor.

The power engaged with a zap and it was oh so immensely satisfying to see him go down, comms splashing into the water, body convulsing until it finally went limp. The technician cut the power immediately. You could hear men on the other end of the line. “Sir… Sir?”

“Thank you.” You spoke in an effort to break his eye contact on the immobile bodies of his old team.

He turned to you, palms raised in surrender. “I had no idea.” You could feel the reverence in his gaze. It made you uncomfortable.

“I know.” You backed away in an effort to show you meant no harm. “Go. Get off this ship. Take anyone that will go with you.”

He wasted no time, jumping from the chair and running from the room. Leaving you alone.

You didn’t check the man’s pulse, instead going for the discarded note that lay face-down in the growing puddle.

The writing on it was hurried, messy. The water had already dampened the paper, making the ink run. But the text was still clear enough. It was only one line. And it read: The Mandalorian is on board the ship.

Ah.

Come to assuage his guilt, had he? But all of a sudden, doubt was an insistent kernel in the back of your mind. You were shaking. It was from rage… definitely rage… Rage, and definitely not fear and adrenaline and confusion and perhaps a little, little bit of hope.

A fiery blast hit your periphery as the bridge, visible from the deck window, fractured and burst into flames, the two sides of the ship bowing away from each other. The impact had you struggling to maintain balance.

---Minutes earlier---

His tally was up to 15. Maybe he could have taken fifty at once. It sure felt like he could. He had no idea how many more there were. More, hopefully. Enough to quench his seemingly endless bloodlust.

Mando had run the sky bridge like it was a hundred-meter sprint. His heart was thundering once he took cover in the shadowed corner of the far end, sweat starting to feel uncomfortable under the heavy armour.

A few minutes back, blood spray had caught him across the helmet, partially obscuring his vision. He had wiped at it haphazardly, but he was sure he looked a sight. Not that he had any time to dwell on it. He shot out the camera before he rounded the corner.

He had left Boba and Fennec on the other side of the ship to look for you. He hadn’t liked the idea originally, but it was the only way the plan would work. He was the one they would recognize; he was the one they would come after. The next time he took a left turn, he didn’t bother to blast the camera. He let it run, red light blinking as it oscillated to turn on him. He stared it down.

Come and get me.

He had minutes now, two at most, to get back across the bridge before the big wave arrived. He bolted back the way he came.

It worked like a charm. Of course it did. He had never been any good at planning or strategy, but Fett…

He was concealed in a maintenance closet when the cavalry roared past. Maker, it must have been forty troopers at least. He would have laughed at the insinuation if he wasn’t so tense. 

Forty troopers? To take him down? It was downright flattering. Once the last of them stormed by, he emerged from his hiding place, took two long strides, and fired one of Boba’s missiles right down the skybridge channel. 

The blast doors on each side engaged automatically as soon as the explosive detonated. The force of it almost threw him backwards. But, as expected, the ship split satisfyingly into two.

“Bridge detonated. We’re on our own.”

“I’m not so sure.” was Fennec’s only reply.

You were tracking water down the halls. Strangely quiet halls. Some littered with dropped bodies. You were too exhausted to be confused.

You were dizzy, very dizzy, likely still in recovery from the containment field. Using the Force had only made it worse. As you would turn each corner, you had to brace a hand against the wall for stability. It felt like you were going in circles. Where the hell was the loading bay?

There was a barricade of stormtroopers in the next hall. Enough of them to be more than a nuisance. You could take them, but judging by the way you felt, you might pass out in the process. Then who knew when you might wake up. Your chance at escape was a small, fleeting window. But combat wasn’t an option against that many at once. You steeled yourself, pushing off the wall.

“Stop!” Their blasters were raised, but you knew they wouldn’t shoot. You were much too precious.

One push, just one more. You could do it. As your limbs protested and stomach heaved, you drew upon the Force, a deep pull. One trooper broke from the rest, advancing towards you, holding those damn cuffs. You were so sick of the sight of them.

The ship started to shake. Your fists were curled so tight that your thumbs popped. And then they were choking, all of them, grasping at their necks and flailing before finally falling to the ground before you. Your knees hit the tile hard, the impact jarring your body. There were so many; you could barely see the floor through the throng of their fallen bodies. You wanted to vomit.

Footsteps sounded from behind you, one pair, and you half twisted, delirious with fatigue, ready to throw out another blind attack. It took an extra second for your mind to catch up with your eyes.

“Fennec?” She was already speed walking towards you. “What? What are you doing here?”

“Saving you.” She grabbed you by the wrist, pulling you after her. “Obviously.”

“No, but—” Your brain was failing to keep up. “Din is here.”

“I know. I came with him.” 

You yanked your wrist out of her grip, stumbling again. “You knew?” You were slurring your words as if you had drunk too much spotchka.

“Knew what?”

Stars, no. “He gave me up. He took credits for it.” You didn’t want to hurt Shand. You liked her. But if she had played any part in—

But she looked deflated, pitiful. “What kind of lies did they tell you?”

“Lies?” The hall was spinning again. “He left me.”

“He came to get us so we could get you out.”

A sound came from the far end and you both whirled on it. Your heart dropped out of chest and burned a hole through the durasteel of the floor.

He was stained with blood. It was dripping down the side of his helmet. And he was heaving, breastplate rising and falling dramatically, like he was struggling to breathe. You could swear you felt a tether between his body and your own. You felt him again, anger, stress and above all relief… so much relief.

You were moving before you knew what you were doing. Waking and then running. He opened his arms as if to accept you but—

“You left me! YOU LEFT ME!” You were yelling it, screaming at the top of your lungs, barreling fists against his armour. He couldn’t do a thing, couldn’t think of anything to say to make it better so he stood there, still as death, and took the brunt of your hits. They didn’t hurt, not really, not physically, but every impact seemed to shatter a piece of him. Fennec stepped forward to stop you, stun blaster half raised, but he halted her with a hand. You were exhausting yourself, probably experiencing more pain than you were inflicting. “You LEFT…. Me.” You gasped. The hits were getting weaker. “You left. You—"

Your next throw missed, and you fell forward. Into his chest. His arms were around you on instinct, and your fists curled into the base of his cowl. “You left me.” It was a sob this time, and it was as if all of your muscles had suddenly given up. You weren’t even standing anymore, instead held up purely by the force of his embrace.

Tears were stuffy under his helmet. Din could only breathe you in. “Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum ,” he whispered into your hair. He didn’t even notice Boba enter the corridor, a polished looking man in cuffs behind him, blood dripping from his temple. He just held you. 

“I’m sorry, love... I’m so sorry.”

You passed out in his arms.

Boba had led everyone back to the Firespray, including the man who Din now knew to be your captor. The Imperial loyalist you had told him about only a few days ago. Since then, his guilt and worry for you had made way for a sharp anger, a simmering resentment that he was trying so desperately to keep in check. Because he wouldn’t be the one to deal with the man. As much as he really, really wanted to.

That was a privilege that he would save for you. If, of course, it was something you wanted. If not, he would delight in skinning him piece by piece, roasting the flesh on a fire and then feeding it back to him. No, that wasn’t creative enough.

The group passed hallways strewn with the bodies of troopers, some interestingly dispatched. When Boba cast a look towards Fennec, she only shrugged her shoulders. His smirk was fond.

Din carried you, one arm across your back, the other cradling your bent knees. The small puffs of air you exhaled into his neck were the only thing grounding him. But just to have you in his arms again… Tension was lifting from his back, leaving aches and pains in its wake.

The trip back to Tatooine, to Mos Espa, was relatively quiet. Since the ship was tight on space, Din sat, legs extended on the floor, across from the man whose death he was plotting in an endlessly violent myriad of ways.

He had removed his tasset armour plate so that your head could rest on his thigh, body stretched to the side. A piece of stray hair had fallen over your face, and he tucked it back behind your ear with a gloved hand. You didn’t stir.

A piece of old piping had fallen out of the fold of your bloodstained clothing with a loud clang. He had been relieved to find that none of the blood was your own. But it was a strange thing, practically trash, but for some odd reason, you had held onto it. He would ask you about it when you woke. For the time being, he stowed it away in his weapon’s belt.

“You will never value her, you know.” Din looked up to see the man, who was watching him with an emotion akin to disgust. “Not the way I do.”

He shifted on the floor, bound legs moving awkwardly. “You stunt her potential, shrink her to a miniature size so she fits on your ship, among your kind. “But she’ll always be above you. You don’t deserve to breathe the same air as her. You’re filth compared to her.”

“Will you shut him up?” Shand called from the cockpit.

“She deserves more. She was born for more.” His gaze was piercing. “You know it.”

Din didn’t reply. He wouldn’t admit that he might even agree.

Fennec emerged and shot him once with the stun blaster.

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[hippiemisfit]

Hush (J.K.) 3

*banner made by me

Chapter Three- Police

pairing: jungkook x oc reader

word count: 1,591

warnings: mentions of death, intimidation, fear, manipulaiton, scary jk

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He pulled me all the way back to my house and threw me on the ground next to the box. "Now we are going to try this again and this time you are going to do as I say. Or next time I won't be as nice."

I nodded my head and tried to grab the box. "Why did you kill him?" I asked. 

I was met with no response but I know he heard me.

Ugh whatever.

After struggling for what seemed like 30 minutes, I was finally able to lift the box with all my might. I knew I wouldn't be able to hold it for long so I sped walk over to Carter's house and sat the box on his doorsteps.

I already feeling for the poor soul who was going to open it, either his mom or dad or worse Carter. I bet their reaction would be no different than mine. 

I walked back to my house and of course the hoodie figure, I got to give him a name, was gone. I heard a car come around the corner and saw that it was Carter's. I ran inside and closed the door peeking outside the window.

I watched Carter get out the car, reach into the back to get his shoes, and head to the front door. He looked down at the box and tilted his head to the side.

He bent down to open it and I dreaded watching him open it. I wanted to look away but I couldn't find it in me to. He slowly lifted the tops of the box and when it dawned on him what was inside, he turned and puked all over their grass. Once he was done emptying the contents of his stomach, he dropped his shoes and ran inside.

I quickly shut the blinds and fell down on the floor, tears streaming down my face. I can't believe that I helped cause him so much pain. I should've just called the police but I was given no choice and now that I have helped moved the box, does that make me an accomplice?

My mind raced as my inner monologue screamed at me to get up off of the floor but I couldn't bring myself to.  

.............................................

I guess I fell asleep on the floor because when I woke up it was getting dark outside. I got up off the floor and looked outside to see a couple of police cars sitting outside Carter's house. I see they called them. I saw two police officers walk out of their house and head towards mine.

Shit what do they want?

They knocked on the door,"Hello. Ms. Mahj is it. Can you open the door and let us in? We just have a few questions."

Ugh, just breathe in and out. They don't know that you moved the box. Just open the door.

I opened the door and let them in, leading them to the dining table.

"Where are your parents Mahj?" one of them asked as they sat down.

"They are out of town right now, they'll be back on Monday. Um do you guys want anything to drink?" I asked shifting back and forth on my feet, my nerves not letting me take a seat just yet.

"No thanks," the other one said. I nodded and sat down across from them.

"My name is officer Briggs and this is my partner officer Flanningan, we just have a few questions and then we'll be on our way," I nodded in understanding.

"Ok," he said pulling out a notepad," first question where were you between the hours of 10 pm and 12 am last night?"

"I was here last night," I said.

"Do you have anyone who can confirm that?" I shook my head. I saw him jot something down.

"Ok. Do you know anyone who would have something against your neighbor?"

"Which neighbor?" Yeah, you ain't about to trick me.

"Conner, he was found dead this afternoon. He body was cut up and put into a box."

"Wow um no I can't think of anyone who had something against him. You know other than the silent killer, you know he just goes around killing people for no reason. I mean he probably doesn't even know him and just decided to kill him anyway. I mean I don't know," I rambled out, wringing my hands together.

The cops looked at each other and then back at me," Um, ooook. Miss, we're going to have to ask you to come down to the station for further questioning. It seems you know more than you let on," they got up from their seats," Let's go."

I got up and followed them to the door, but stopped. "Hold on, can I put some food in my dog's bowl. I don't know how long we're going to be."

They nodded their heads and I went to the pantry and opened it. I looked down to get his kibble when I saw a pair of black shoes right beside it.

I slowly rose my head up and came face to darkness with the man who was currently ruining my life. I went to scream when his gloved hand covered my mouth and pulled me in the closet, shutting the door.

"I see that you don't do well under pressure. That's something I see we are going to have to work on. Now you've got two options. The first one is that I go out there and deal with those two officers who probably suspect you of murder.

Option number two is that you go out there and leave with them. But let's just say I'd advise you to take option number one.

I don't really think you'll like what you see as a consequence of your actions, even though for me it'll be very enjoyable. Trust me. Now I'm going to remove my hand from your mouth. The only thing you need to say is the option you are choosing ok."

I nodded my head in understanding. He moved his hand from my mouth and I reached down to grab Poco's food.

I turned and opened the door and whispered back," I guess I'll take my chances with option number two."

I walked out and closed the door. I put food in Poco's bowl and went with the police officers outside.

They escorted me to their car and I got in the back. I looked back at my house and I could see hoodie face staring at me through the window. Damn and I just left Poco in there with him.

..................................................

When we got to the precinct they took me into one of the interrogation rooms and left me by myself. You know the one with the one way mirror. The two officers came in and sat down, and one of them placed a tape recorder down on the table.

"Now Mahj, we're just going to ask you a few more questions and if you answer them truthfully we are going to let you go. If we feel like you are lying then we're going to ask you more questions until you tell us the truth. OK?"

I nodded my head.

"Ok well let's get started. When we were back at your house you said something about the Silent Killer. Now were you trying to say that he was the one who killed Conner?"

I nodded my head," Yes that's what I was trying to say."

He nodded his head and turned to look at Flannigan," Ok and how do you know this?"

"He told me."

His eyes bugged out," He told you? That means that you've been in contact with a serial killer. How long has he been contacting you?"

"Since last night and then again this morning, oh and he was also there before we left. He was hiding in the closet."

"He was in the house?!" Officer Flannigan asked.

"Yep."

"And you didn't say anything to us because?"

"He told me not to and I knew that I would be safe if I came with you two. I don't know why but he's obsessed with me for some reason. I don'-" the lights started to flicker.

Next thing I know both of the officers are convulsing on the ground. I raced over to their sides and started to bang on the glass. "Hey! We need help in here! I don't know what is wrong with them!" I yelled.

Nothing happened. "Hey! Is anyone even in there?!" I heard the chairs scrape behind me so I turned around to see both of the officers sitting back in their chairs.

Officer Briggs turned his head to face me,"If you are done banging on the glass, can you retake your seat." I looked at him like he was crazy. "Wait weren't you just- I know you were- am I going crazy?" I asked rubbing my hand across my forehead and headed back to my seat.

There was something off about the two of them. Like they weren't themselves.

"Ok Mahj, next question. Do you enjoy pissing people off or is it something you just do because you can't help it?"

My eyes widened,"What?"

He leaned closer to me and said,"Do you enjoy pissing people off or is it something you just do because you can't help it?" but this time he said it like I was a little kid and he was trying to explain something to me.

"Why are you asking me this?" I asked leaning back in my chair.

"I gave you two options and I told you that you wouldn't like the consequences if you chose the wrong one," he put his head in his hands,"So here we are," I saw a glint of green in his eyes,"let's have some fun."