#i have never felt like such a Little Guy tm than i do running around there lol

[likehellohello]

ive been having a real dead girl summer at the local morgue

[inawickedlittletown]

Don't Make A Shadow Of Yourself (BuckTommy fic) - 5/8

Summary: "A man who's pure of heart...may still become a wolf when the autumn moon is bright" - Howl (F+TM)

Throughout most of his adult life, Tommy had dealt with what he was. The duality of being a man and also an animal…a beast. Werewolves weren’t born, they were made. 

Words: 3,136

Read on Ao3

Chapter One - Chapter Two - Chapter Three

Chapter Four

-

Chapter Five

Tuesday, Tommy drove to Evan’s apartment. He felt nervous and excited all at once. It’d been a while since he transformed anywhere other than at his house. Back when he was still with the 118, Tommy had been a little more adventurous. He’d drive out somewhere and transform and then run into a forested area, Even on his own, he’d gone on camping trips that left him somewhere in the woods where no one could bother him and he could transform and run around and then sleep under the stars and take another run in the morning before he made his way back to civilization. It had never seemed worth it when he wound up making the trek and then really only enjoying the woods as a wolf for a few hours. He didn’t like to think about how lonely it had made him feel to be out there all on his own. 

He sent a text after parking and feeling a little antsy, got out of the car to stretch his legs. He kinda wanted to shift right there and then to shake the feeling off. It didn’t take long for Evan to appear. He carried a gym bag with him and a small tupperware container. 

“Hey,” Evan said with a grin. “Ready?” 

“Here, let me get that,” Tommy said, reaching for Evan’s bag. 

They were on the road a few minutes later. Evan immediately connected his own phone to the radio rather than let the station Tommy wasn’t listening to play whatever was considered popular at the moment. It was only after he’d pressed play that he bothered to ask if it was okay. 

“Doesn’t bother me,” Tommy said. 

“Good. I should have made us a playlist.” 

“Are you a big music guy?” 

Evan shrugged. “I guess a little. I do own a record player so if I really like an album I’ll try to get the vinyl. Haven’t really liked anything new lately.”

They talked music for a while. It seemed like Evan had a taste that ranged through genres in a way that Tommy had somehow not expected. It was cute though, especially when Evan brought up going to a concert with Bobby a couple of months after meeting him. 

“I won these tickets from a radio station,” Evan said. “I think Bobby actually went with me out of pity. But we had a good time. So maybe not.” 

Tommy told him about Bobby’s first day as Captain. About how out of place he’d seemed and yet how he’d brought a different energy to the firehouse.

“Before Bobby we were the house that Captains went to retire,” Tommy said. “Well, before that we had Captain Gerrard. He made the 118 repressive and every bit of horrible that it could be for everyone that wasn’t a white guy that agreed with him.” 

“Hen and Chim mentioned him once,” Evan said. “Didn’t sound great.” 

“He really wasn’t. I, uh, I wasn’t all that great back then either. Just kinda went along with the crowd because the last thing I wanted was anyone looking too closely at me.”

He didn’t tell Evan that it was because he was gay and a Werewolf and that it was the being gay part that he was hiding more.

“You didn’t want anyone to find out,” Evan said. 

“I really didn’t,” Tommy confirmed. 

Halfway there, Evan popped his container open and handed Tommy a cookie. “I made them with Chris and Jee yesterday.” 

“You bake?” 

Evan’s cheeks flushed pink. “Yeah…sometimes.” 

The cookie was delicious. Tommy ate another. 

When they arrived, Tommy felt his nerves return. 

“Alright?” Evan asked. 

“I, uh, haven’t done this in a while,” Tommy said. 

He turned to look at Evan. “What?” 

“Haven’t come out to run in the woods,” Tommy said. “I have a big backyard.” 

Evan smiled at him. “That couldn’t possibly be the same as this.”

“It’s not,” Tommy admitted. 

“You’re not alone. It’ll be fun,” Evan said. 

Tommy hated it a little, how reassuring that was. He could tell that Evan was excited and that there was an ease about him. He was confident about this and Tommy could be as well. When they got to a good spot where they could stash their stuff, Tommy was already feeling better about it. They hadn’t seen many people around, and it didn’t take long for Evan to drop his bag and turn to Tommy. 

“Ready?” 

Then, Evan lifted his shirt up like it was nothing, his pale skin becoming unveiled. He was lean and muscular and Tommy had seen his shirtless pictures on Instagram, but there was nothing to seeing Evan with his own eyes. To see how his movement stretched and flexed his muscle, or how smooth his skin was. 

When Evan dropped his shirt atop his bag, Tommy had to make himself look away. He busied himself with getting his own shirt off and then his shoes and socks. He tucked those away and saw that Evan was already stashing his bag, camouflaging it among the leaves at the base of a tree. Evan was down to boxer briefs that hugged his thighs and his pert ass. Tommy turned away, taking his own pants off and stuffing them in his bag. His face felt too hot and he wanted to shift quickly. 

He put his bag near Evan’s and when he turned to look for Evan again, he found the wolf staring right at Tommy, ears perked up and his tail swishing behind him. 

“Turn around, Evan,” Tommy said. 

Even as a wolf, Evan could give a reproachful look. He made a yipping noise and he turned and walked towards the nearest trees. Tommy tucked his own underwear in his bag and then he transformed on the spot. 

—

It wasn’t fair how big Tommy was. Not Tommy as a wolf — though he was a big wolf too. Tommy in general was just big. Buck hadn’t meant to get stuck watching him after his shirt came off, but he just couldn’t help it. He was just so solid, built in a way that was almost intimidating and Buck…well, he’d always admired hot people and Tommy was hot. He looked literally like one of those marble statues and Buck had always liked museums. 

His first sight of him as a Werewolf left him breathless too. For one thing, he was definitely bigger than Buck. Thicker and taller with brown fur and as expected, gorgeous blue eyes that stood out even more on the wolf than on the human. His paws were somehow white and when the wind shifted Buck was hit by his scent. It was stronger as a wolf and Buck recognized it because it was Tommy, but also because he just smelled good and Buck wanted to bury himself in it. He’d thought that it had been a cologne the day of the barbeque, but it was just Tommy. Musky and woody but minty with something that could have been some kind of citrus. 

The closer Tommy got to him, the stronger the smell was and the more that Buck just wanted to nuzzle his snout into his neck so he could get a better whiff. Restraint was hard for Buck, but he turned and walked and tried to focus on the smells of the forest. Tommy followed and there was no denying that he was a bit more cautious as he walked. 

When Buck started to walk a little faster, Tommy matched his stride and then Buck started to run. He loved to run as a wolf. There was power in his legs, and he loved the way his paws dug into the soft ground. He couldn’t imagine not existing among nature as a wolf. 

Tommy chased him and they ran for a while, Buck always a little bit ahead which he was sure was only because Tommy allowed it. He only slowed when they got to a stream, the water gurgling over rocks and branches. Buck went right in for a drink. The water was cool and refreshing. 

It was weird to drink as a wolf. It had taken Buck some time to figure out properly how he was supposed to use his tongue to catch the water. He still nearly always managed to get his whole snout wet. Tommy looked messy too, dripping water off his fur. He shook his head, throwing off water in Buck’s direction and then he ran and Buck gave chase. 

Buck followed Tommy’s scent, captivated by the way that it mingled with the trees and the leaves and the earthy wet smell of the forest. He had never smelled something so good, something that he wanted to entrench himself in. 

When Tommy finally slowed down, Buck slowed with him, brushing his side against Tommy’s. Tommy turned to him, nosing at his neck and ears. Buck sat back and Tommy sat next to him. Wind rustled the trees above them, dropping a few leaves, but nothing could tear them apart.

Eventually, they looped back the way they came. Buck tried not to scare a small red fox, but then got to watch as the fox ran as fast as it could from them when Tommy snapped a twig. 

Only once did they have to hide amongst the trees when people appeared, walking the trail. They made it back to their bags a little while later and they both turned away as they shifted back. Nudity was a part of being a Werewolf and Buck was used to it. He and Eddie didn’t even care enough with how often they shifted around each other. 

Somehow it felt different with Tommy. Tommy made him nervous for some reason that Buck couldn’t pinpoint. It made him dress just a little bit faster and once they were both fully dressed, he felt like he wanted to jump back into his wolf and run out again just so that he could keep Tommy longer. 

“That was fun,” Tommy said, breaking the silence. “I didn’t realize how much I missed it.”

Buck tugged at his shirt, fixing it. “We’ll have to do it again,” Buck said. “Hey, uh, what are you doing at the next full moon?” 

“I usually just stay home,” Tommy admitted and he looked away. “Used to go to the Division sometimes years ago but it wasn’t really my thing. So, I…I made sure I had a big backyard.” 

To Buck that sounded more than a little sad. “Eddie and I come out here sometimes. Or a different spot. One time we spent it at the beach which was…well, not the best idea. You can join us. If you, uh, if you want.” 

He tried his hardest not to show how much he wanted Tommy to say yes. He felt it desperately, like he didn’t know if the full moon would go alright if Tommy wasn’t at his side and that…that was new. 

“Oh,” Tommy said and he couldn’t hide his surprise. “I wouldn’t want to intrude.” 

“You won’t be,” Buck assured. “Eddie will be excited to have another wolf and I really…I want to spend it with you.” 

He could feel the warmth on his face, but Tommy just smiled at him and it was a different smile than Buck had gotten before. It was pleased and just a tad unsure. Buck found it endearing. 

“Can I think about it?”

“Uh…yeah, sure. Sure. Of course.” Buck tried to not be too disappointed at not getting a concrete yes. 

On the drive back, they ate the remaining cookies. They’d been out there so long that they had skipped right over lunch and Buck was starving. His eyes couldn’t help but track Tommy’s mouth as he chewed, or how he licked up crumbs and chocolate from his lips. 

“How does Bobby deal with two of you being Werewolves?” Tommy asked. 

Buck looked away and gulped. 

“Oh. He, uh, tries to schedule us both off,” Buck said. “If he can’t, then we’re usually scheduled until a few hours before sundown. It’s not easy sometimes, but we’ve managed it. I only had to transform at the station once.” 

He saw Tommy’s eyebrow shoot up. “How was that?” 

“Well, not everyone knows. So Hen let me out and then I just left. She left me clothes out in the back for when I got back in the morning.” 

“Wow,” Tommy said. 

Buck chuckled. “I know, it’s a bit crazy. I was always waiting for the day when I lost track of time on a call and I had to just transform there and then. How, uh, how is it for you?” 

“They all think I’m superstitious about full moons,” Tommy said. 

“Really?” Buck said through a grin. “No one suspects a thing?” 

“Why would they? To the normal person, we don’t exist, Evan.”

He loved the way his name sounded coming from Tommy. It was why he didn’t think he would ever correct him on how most people called him Buck. Usually, he hated it whenever anyone used his first name — had hated it ever since he became Buck when there were three Evans in his class at the fire academy. He hadn’t known how much was attached to his name until he had a new name. Tommy just…he said it with care, like his name was important. 

“I know. Uh, you ever wonder about what else is out there?” Buck asked. 

“Like what, Vampires?” Tommy asked and since they were at a light, he turned to look at Buck with a perplexed expression. 

“Yeah. I guess. I mean, it’s not implausible is it?” 

Tommy sighed. “I guess not. Next thing you’ll tell me is you think unicorns are real.” 

“Hey,” Buck said, “you don’t know they aren’t. What if they went extinct.” 

He loved the way that Tommy laughed, how it crinkled the corners of his eyes. 

“Never change, Evan.” 

—

Tommy didn’t really go around smelling people. At least, not when he could help it. Sometimes colognes or perfumes were just that strong or worse it was bad hygiene and bad BO that could hit a Werewolf nose — even in human form — like a punch. He hadn’t known that Evan would smell so good. At first, he thought it was something else, but it was Evan. He smelled like something sweet, which, of course he did. His scent was warm, it was also earthy and Tommy thought lavender was mixed in too. It wasn’t until they were running and the wind was catching Evan’s fur that Tommy knew why he found it familiar. He smelled like tea. More precisely, earl gray. Bergamot. Evan smelled like Bergamot. 

Tommy had forgotten what it felt like to run with another wolf. How it felt to chase and be chased or how wonderful it was to lean against Evan and have his scent surround him. 

Afterwards, when they were back in his car, it was like he couldn’t stop smelling him. Really, it was that he didn’t want to stop. He knew he had never reacted to anyone like this. He’d never been something like obsessed with anyone’s scent before. Scent drunk, some Werewolves called it. 

By the time they were back at Evan’s apartment, Tommy didn’t want to leave him. Evan didn’t get out of the car. He lingered and then turned to Tommy almost nervously. 

“Are you hungry?” 

“We skipped lunch,” Tommy pointed out. 

“Pizza?” Evan asked and the way he tilted his head, smile on his lips was so puppy-like. This man was far too precious. 

“Sure,” Tommy said. 

Evan shot him an even bigger smile, as if he had thought that Tommy would turn him down. Instead, he followed him up to his apartment. He was impressed. It had a nice loft space and then the rest of it was open concept. Everything was neat and tidy. As nice as it was, he couldn’t imagine that it was ever a space where Evan could shift forms. 

“Uh, if you want to clean up a little the bathroom is through there,” Evan pointed at the half open door. 

“Thanks.” 

He wasn’t too messy. It wasn’t like they had rolled around in the mud or anything. Still, he splashed water on his face and ran his wet fingers through his hair. When he rejoined Evan, he found him in the kitchen with a paper menu for a nearby pizza place and two beer bottles. He handed Tommy both the menu and a beer. 

“I liked your wolf,” Evan said a while later, when they’d settled at Evan’s table. 

“Yeah?” 

He was blushing for some reason that Tommy couldn’t determine. At times, Tommy did think that Evan was trying his hand at flirting with him. He stared at Tommy enough. Still, he couldn’t be sure and he liked Evan too much to risk it and risk the friendship they were forming. If he was reading things wrong or if anything went badly, he didn’t think he’d be okay with losing Evan. 

Evan called their order in. 

“Twenty minutes,” Evan said. “I’m glad we can agree on something. Eddie is crazy and likes pineapple on pizza.” 

“That’s a choice,” Tommy said.

“It’s horrible is what it is,” Evan said with a shake of his head. 

Tommy took a few sips of his beer and smiled against the lip of the bottle. Evan took a sip of his own and then motioned for him to follow him further into the apartment towards the living room. 

“Uh, we could watch something? If you want?” Evan offered. 

Tommy would have done anything with him and to ease the awkward way that Evan reached for his remote, he grabbed it out of Evan’s hand. Evan gasped. 

“What is your favorite movie?” Tommy asked. 

He walked around Evan to sit on the couch. It felt firm but comfortable. Evan eased into sitting at his side. 

“Evan? Favorite movie?” 

“I really liked Star Wars,” Evan said, but he said it like a question. “What, uh, what’s yours?” 

“Love Actually,” Tommy said. 

“Never seen that,” Evan said. “Uh, I haven’t seen a lot of things. But we could watch that if you want? I mean, if it’s your favorite you like it so…”

Tommy let out a breath. This hadn’t been his aim in asking and yet, he didn’t hate the idea of sharing a movie he loved with him. 

“Okay,” Tommy said. “Just, uh, be aware we won’t be able to be friends if you don’t like this movie.” 

“Oh, that’s how it is?” Evan asked, settled further into the couch and brought himself closer to Tommy. 

Tommy busied himself figuring out Evan’s tv without any input from the man, but when he finally looked towards him he found a fond little smile and something like wonder in Evan’s eyes. 

[freckleslikestars]

For the asks: 9, 12, and 16! :DDDD

9. Do you believe in ghosts? This isn’t about writing I just wanna know

Okay this is a really loaded question because I was raised by two people who both believed in ghosts but in very different ways, which I don't really wanna go into for reasons^tm and so I grew up being like 'uh ghosts don't exist that's so fucking stupid hashtag science.' but the house I grew up in was haunted - like footsteps across the landing, things going missing and then being returned, shadows moving and stuff. And, sure, fine, as an adult I kinda just brushed that off as my young mind dealing with a not-great household and living situation. And then I started working in my current workplace.

hoo boy.

So, I work in a basement of a building that was built in 1865 and is definitely haunted. Like, we all see the people wandering about down there when there are no customers in. There's a little white terrier that runs in front of the bar. There's a young lady who likes to say our names. And like...most of the ghosts are friendly - they turn lights off for us when we forget, they keep us company, they're all right. But there are three times when things haven't felt right, and I'll list them chronologically.

the first time was when my manager was working in the office cashing up on his own. He'd locked the doors and windows, there was definitely nobody in there, and when he was just about done, the lights all flicked off and a young girls voice screamed 'help me, please, stop them.' I've seen the CCTV footage of him sitting calmly, then all of a sudden the lights going out and him bolting out of there.

The second time was over the first lockdown. Nobody had been in in a week, and my manager gets a call from the security company saying all the motion alarms had been triggered, and someone needed to go check. So he goes in and nothings been touched. The doors are all locked, the lights are all off. So he goes into the office and rewinds the CCTV and in the bottom corner of each camera screen a green dot appears when there's motion in frame, and you can track, from the front door, all the way to the office, the motion alarms triggering, one by one, at the speed of someone casually walking through, but nothing moves on the screen. It's fucking spooky.

the third time was about a month or so ago. We're closing down, and it's just my manager, myself and the other bartender, and we're on the second to last batch of glasses in the washer when my manager and I both see something move down the back corridor. Now, I made sure the door was locked when I let the last customer out, but we have to check because we can hardly have people wandering around. So my manager goes out to check. And we're being jovial and joking until he comes sprinting back and with the most nonchalant expression is just like 'uhhhh so I'm not going back in there, but there's a guy sat in the armchair in the far corner of the dance room' and like he looks pale and spooked and we kinda laugh it off, but also if there really is a guy we have to get him out for obvious reasons. So we decide to go through, all of us together. And yeah, he's right, over in the far corner, in the shadow, is a guy sat in the armchair. And the room feels oppressive and heavy but I'm like...no it's just a trick of the light. I made it half way across the room before the temperature dropped so much that I could see my breath, and I had sudden, shooting chestpains. At which point I turned on my heels and dragged the other two out. That was when we called my dad and stood outside waiting for him to pick us up rather than waiting inside in the warm.

So, long story short...yeah i believe in ghosts.

12. If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules.

Never having writer's block

always being able to think of and spell the word that's just on the tip of my tongue

always being able to come up with a good title and a quick, pithy summary.

16. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever used as a bookmark?

I don't use actual bookmarks, so I guess everything I use is a little weird. Also, in unimportant books (read: books that haven't cost me a fortune and aren't special editions) and books that are mine and not borrowed, I tend to dogear because I lose bookmarks constantly (hello adhd) like...I'll put a bookmark down whilst I'm reading and then forget where I put it and have to find something else to use. It's really bad. ummm...I use playing cards a lot. old photos. receipts. bus tickets used to be a common one. scraps of fabric. I once used the flattened box of a toothpaste tube. teabag wrapper. I used a condom as a bookmark once (still in it's foil). pocketbook of matches. Okay actually some of those are quite weird, yeah.

[obabyobeymeme]

Resting with the Boys[TM]

summary: what i think falling asleep with them around would be like. that- that’s it, that’s the post note: yayayayy first post! this has been in my notes app for a Long time, so.. buckle up, this is going to be kinda long no matter what i do, thoughts went brrrrrr, sorry lmao.

Lucifer ➛ Good luck getting a moment alone with him. With all the work he has assigned by Diavolo, the time he spends cleaning up after his brothers’ shenanigans, and his duties as the eldest, it seems like he never has free time. ➛ When you do catch him alone, he’s either not in the mood for any sort of interaction or he’s taken the liberty of passing out at his desk, pen still in hand as he rests. ➛ You aren’t doing so well yourself, being a human exchange student doesn’t mean R.A.D. will go easy on you. Classes, assignments, and sometimes even just having to deal with the rest of the student body can be pretty tiring. ➛ Your patience pays off when the day finally comes that he’s mostly free of duties and your assigned tasks at the moment are all finished as well.

➛ You two don’t really do much, you spend the time talking over hot beverages and enjoying each other’s company in his office. Just having you around and not causing a ruckus is already more than enough for him. ➛ Lucifer ends up going on a halfhearted rant about his brothers as he organizes some papers next to you. How he found out about another one Satan and Belphie’s plots to inconvenience him and how he’ll turn it against them, wondering how the house hasn’t been decimated while he went on business trips sometimes... It’s nice seeing him not as uptight as he usually is. ➛ You end up getting a little drowsy despite your best attempts to listen to what he’s saying. Eventually your drowsiness wins over and you kinda.. nod off. Hopefully he doesn’t mind. (He does mind, actually. Sleeping sitting down may sound like a good idea at first, but Lucifer knows your neck will hate you for it when you wake up.) ➛ He doesn’t want to wake you, so he carefully nudges your head onto his lap before finishing up with the papers, occasionally running his hand through your hair. ➛ Once he’s done, he carries you to your room and makes sure you’re comfortable before leaving a kiss on your forehead and leaving, closing the door softly behind him.

Mammon ➛ When you suggest a lazy afternoon to him, he’ll act as if he has no time for a silly activity like that. Why would he? The Great Mammon has better things to do with his time than spending it lazing around with some- ➛ He trails off once he sees your slightly disappointed face. When you say you’ll find someone else to nap with, he changes his tune almost instantly. ➛ He just.. takes your wrist and goes “W-well, if ya want it THAT badly... but just this once, got it??” as he sorta tugs you along to his bedroom. ➛ This is where you learn that he has no idea how to share a bed with someone else. He seems torn between wanting to scoot closer or give you as much space he can without actually leaving the bed. ➛ You decide to make the decision for him, resting your head on his shoulder as you start rambling. Mammon warms up eventually and slings an arm around your shoulders, pulling you a bit closer. ➛ You drift off during a lull in the conversation, unintentionally leaving him hanging for a full minute before he realizes you’re asleep. ➛ He watches you for a while and makes sure you’re really out, then reaches for his phone and takes a picture (or five) of your sleeping face. What? You’re cute even when you sleep apparently! He’d rather go through one of Lucifer’s scoldings than admit that to your face in the near future though. ➛ You know that meme where people say they can't do anything because a cat fell asleep on them? Yeah, that happened to Mammon because of the arm he placed around you, he ended up falling asleep with you wrapped in his arms. ➛ When you wake up, you cannot move without his grip getting just a bit tighter. Greedy even in his sleep, it seems... rip if you have to go to the bathroom lmao

Leviathan ➛ You two spent pretty much the whole day in his room, geeking out over shared interests, catching up on anime Levi introduced to you, trying (and occasionally failing) at the games you both play ➛ You don’t even notice it’s well past 1 AM until you feel like you’ve been staring at a screen for an awful long time now, what time is- oh. ➛ Levi’s slightly disappointed that your hangout has to end, but yeah, he gets it. Everyone needs their sleep, even hardcore otakus. He’s about to tell you that you can leave when you flop into his bathtub bed, saying you’re too tired to walk all the way back. ➛ He short-circuits at the sight of you wrapping yourself around one of the many body-sized pillows, and when you realize he still has to get in the tub to sleep? And instead of getting out, you sit up and insist on him getting in with you??? ➛ A system error has occurred. Please restart your Leviathan. Come on, this is like that one scene in this shoujo anime he’s found where the main character and the person they’re pining for share a bed! ➛ He doesn’t say anything, but judging by the expression he’s making and how he’s clambering in behind you, you don’t think he minds too much. ➛ You two end up with his upper body propped up by the pillows and you kinda laying on top of him. It's a bit awkward considering the unconventional sleeping area, but it’s honestly more comfortable than you expected. ➛ Levi actually ends up falling asleep before you. You thought you were tired? Try being awake for 22 hours straight waiting for an exclusive merch drop you just couldn’t miss. He is out, and nothing you do can wake him. ➛ You both end up waking around noon thanks to your little late night stunt. Consider yourselves lucky that Satan saved you guys a plate before Beel got to it.

Satan ➛ He finds you in the House’s library, bent over at a table studying three textbooks at once. Understandable, given that it’s exam season, but it doesn’t look like you’re doing yourself any favors. ➛ And he’s right. You can’t make sense of anything in the books and you can feel a small headache coming on ➛ Satan offers to give you some help with your studies... after you’ve rested. He won’t take no for an answer, and since his room is much closer, he thinks it’s fine if you crash there while you take a break. ➛ He just has to... actually make space for you to rest first, though. He can navigate the chaos that is his room just fine, but you could easily trip on something, or worse, accidentally activate something cursed. ➛ Once that’s taken care of, you take a seat on his bed, scrolling through your D.D.D. as he takes one of the chairs, picking up a novel he bookmarked.  ➛ The scent of the books and the occasional sound of a page turning as Satan reads, along with his occasional hums of interest really helped put you at ease. After a couple of moments, despite yourself, you curl up and drift off. ➛ In between page turns, Satan would turn to check on you. When he realizes you’re asleep, he marks his novel and sets it down, turning to face you instead.  Since he knows his room can get a bit drafty sometimes, he drapes a blanket over you, smiling softly as you wrap the blanket more around yourself. ➛ You looking so cozy almost makes him want to join you, but just seeing that you’re comfy and much less stressed than before is enough right now. He instead gives you a head pat and goes back to his novel, the smile never quite leaving his face.

Asmodeus ➛ You know Asmo loves spending time together, from shopping trips to going to new places to even simple things like a tea spilling session every other night. ➛ So when you come to his room one evening to tell him sorry, you don’t really feel like a night on the town right now and would rather stay in and recharge, he’s not even as disappointed as you’d thought he’d be. ➛ He insists on pampering you both tonight, that way, you get to rest and relax with him, and he gets you all to himself for at least a couple of hours, uninterrupted. It’s a win-win scenario, in his opinion, and who are you to decline? ➛ You let him work his magic with whatever he has laying around, falling into your usual routine of talking as he does his and your nails and readies a face mask for the two of you as ambient music from his D.D.D. fills the air. ➛ When you find yourself getting sleepy, Asmo doesn’t mind at all! He puts away the stuff he used and suggests a little impromptu sleepover. ➛ You shouldn’t have been that surprised when he climbs into the bed after you, and you should’ve realized he’d be just as clingy in bed as he is normally. He can and will be all over you if you let him— running his fingers through your hair, cuddles like there’s no tomorrow...  ➛ His ridiculously soft and comfy bed definitely isn’t helping matters, and you drift off in record time. ➛ He’ll make sure you’re all tucked in and maybe internally squeal at how adorable you’re being, leaning into his touch in your sleep makes his heart do a flip ➛ You wake up the next day feeling like a new person, and next to you, looking surprisingly photogenic for someone half-asleep, is Asmo, tugging you back under the covers because it’s warmer with you in there. 

Beelzebub ➛ He’s been waiting at R.A.D.’s entrance for 20 minutes now. You were supposed to meet him so you could head to Hell’s Kitchen and hang out for a bit, but there’s still no sign of you and you haven’t read any of his texts. ➛ He gets a text from you then. Turns out your phone was on silent, because you felt a little burnt out from school and juggling hangout times with everyone else and went straight back to the House, wanting some quiet time. ➛ You send another message apologizing for the sudden change of plans and for not seeing his messages sooner, but Beel is pretty understanding. ➛ He isn’t letting his chance at being with you go that easily, though. He drops by a store to get you a little care package (and a handful of snacks so he still has something to give you by the time he gets to the house) and heads home. ➛ A few moments later, your door opens to reveal Beel. He leaves the food he brought on your table and sits down on the edge of your bed. You decide a cuddle buddy doesn’t sound too bad right now. After all, you already had the experience of sharing a room with Beel, surely sharing a bed will be similar? ➛ ... Not exactly. He’ll unintentionally take up half your bed no matter what you two do; you’ll either be searching for space or be pulled into the space he’s occupying like some sort of demon-shaped black hole. ➛ The solution: lay on his chest. He assures you that you aren’t too heavy for him, and if he’s being honest? Your weight is actually kinda comforting. ➛ You stay like that for a while, listening to his breathing and heartbeat, and eventually the stress of the past few days melts away, and you fall asleep with your arms draped over him like a pillow. ➛ He doesn’t mind, since you’re pretty much a living teddy bear to him, and he lets himself relax, a hand resting on your back. He just hopes his stomach won’t wake you both up...

Belphegor ➛ Let me get this straight. You want Belphegor, the literal Avatar of Sloth, to take a nap with you? Chances are he’s already half-asleep and all that’s left to do is join him... if he lets you. ➛ He’ll look at you, slightly irritated, but he’s too tired to argue, and you’d be warmer than a pillow, at least, so he motions for you to get in next to him. Just don’t move around too much or he’ll hog all the blankets in retaliation. ➛ If you’re close enough with him, either one of you has unspoken permission to join the other while they’re resting, no questions asked.  ➛ Probably has a bunch of pillows and blankets stowed away in various parts of the House, so nap supplies are readily available. Saves him from having to drag his stuff from place to place. ➛ The one downside to sleeping with Belphie is that he doesn’t need any time to unwind. He can go from full attention to catching Zs in minutes, leaving you no choice but to follow him into dreamland. ➛ He does cuddle a lot, though he’ll brush it off as using you as his personal heater. He’ll complain if you try to do it first, but he won’t make any moves to actually stop you. He actually might lean into you, making up an excuse about your side being comfier. ➛ If he really, really trusts you, he’ll lend you his beloved cow-print pillow. Only five minutes tops, though, then you have to give it back. ➛  When nights are bad and he doesn’t want to wake Beel up, he used to head to the planetarium to calm himself down. Now he slips into your room and takes comfort in knowing that you’re still safe and sound. You’ve woken up several times finding Belphie nuzzled into your blanket. ➛ If he feels especially clingy, his demon form’s tail will appear, slowly but firmly wrapping itself around your waist. Good luck getting out of bed without him knowing.

[fandom-strumpet]

Evil

Pairing: Kai Parker x Reader

Summary: Kai has gone off the rails and it's up to the reader to get him back again.

Word Count: 1140

"Really?" you wince.

Elena grabs your shoulders, "Yes, Y/N. You're the only one who can get through to him."

"And why is that? Huh?" you raise your eyebrows.

Stefan chimes in, "Because somehow, Kai has developed feelings for you."

You scoff and Damon rolls his eyes. Kai having feelings was new so naturally it was hard to believe that he could experience something as strong as love. The supposedly reformed sociopath snapped a couple days ago, the group didn't know what could have caused it, but you had a dreadful hunch from the start it had something to do with you. His spiral started when he killed the barista in your favorite coffee shop. Now your friends were bringing out the cavalry- aka you- to talk him down.

"That's huh...Okay fine. Just know that I'm not killing him."

"We're not asking you to." Elena gave a reassuring smile and leaned forward to whisper in your ear, "I know how you feel about him."

She stood back and winked at you, making the action of zipping her mouth shut. You knew she wouldn't tell anyone. Probably. You knew she might tell Stefan but even if she did you would never know because he was good at keeping secrets.

You huffed out, "Wish me luck then."

Stefan nodded at you while Damon stood back and gave an almost inaudible growl. You let a shaky breath out and turned to walk out of The Grill. Today was supposed to be just a regular day out for lunch but it turned into Grand Scheme TM to get Kai back. Standing outside you stopped and raised your head to the sky. It looked like it was going to rain today, the sky was already turning a dark blue from the clouds and a slight breeze was making your wisps of hair fly around. These kind of days were your favorite, and hopefully the storm would cheer you up after this has all played out. You set your sights for the coffee shop, The Bean Broker. It was where this whole mess started, where you hurt his feelings, where he started his random killings again. There was no room for regrets now, there was only trying to make up for what you had caused. All because you were a coward who was scared to face her own feelings. Pushing the cafe door open, it gives a little ding. The noise echoed around the strangely empty building, sending chills up your spine. Sitting alone at the counter was Kai who turned his swiveled chair to greet you.

"You're here to do one of three things," Kai tilts his head exasperated, "one- to join me, two- to talk with me and 'persuade me to behave' or three- you're here to stop me forcefully. As in killing." He throws the knife he had been twirling into the old hardwood by your feet, making you flinch.

"You don't really seem like the kind of girl who has the guts to kill someone, but you do have an edgy vibe," Kai grins wickedly, "which I like."

"Kai, you don't have to pretend to be the bad guy with me." you said slowly, testing the waters to see where his mental train was at.

His grin faded into a solemn expression. You had only seen him so serious once before and it made your stomach sink allowing the guilt to flood in.

"Look, I know I hurt your feelings and I'm sorry...But you can't just kill people when you're upset. That's not how regular people handle their emotions." you cringe hearing yourself say 'regular people'. You were supposed to be winning him over, not making him feel more isolated than before.

"Upset? You think I'm upset?" Kai spit at you, "No, Y/N. I'm not upset, you BROKE MY HEART!" Stepping towards you menacingly, he stopped when he was mere inches from your body.

You look up at him, glaring into his grey blue eyes and with an equally heated tone you respond, "And I said I'm sorry."

If looks could kill you would be dead but you knew Kai would never hurt a hair on your head. He would probably kill anyone who hurt you.

"That doesn't fix it!" he retorted.

"Then what do you want me to do Kai?

"Say it back!"

"Stop KILLING people first!"

"Fine! Say it! Say you love me because I know you do and you can't keep lying!"

"I'm not lying!"

"YES YOU ARE!" Kai pounds his fist on a table making you jump, "I may be a sociopath but you are acting like a psychopath, toying with me!"

Your face scrunches up and he recognizes it as the look you get when you're trying not to cry. Rain starts to beat roughly against the windows, covering the sound of your feet pounding against the floor as you run towards the door. Phwam. You slam the door open and the wind comes screaming into the building, spattering rain across Kai's body.

"Get back here!" BOOM. Lightning cracks across the sky, lighting up the torrent flooding the streets. "YOU DON'T GET TO WALK AWAY FROM ME!"

You whipped back to look at him, hair sopping wet and mascara running down your cheeks. Kai stomped into the street over to you, sending water splashing up from the rushing stream.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" your voice cracks as you scream at him.

Kai falters standing before you, he's not used to seeing you with such a broken facade.

"You want me to say I love you? Fine!" you bring your face close to his, "I love you." you breathed out.

His hands cupped your face and his lips met yours greedily like he was a starving man. His tongue parted your mouth open and you bit his bottom lip. A moan of pleasure vibrated from him making you feel warm despite the chilly June storm. His hands moved down to your waist as you wrapped your arms around his neck. You both resurfaced from the needy kiss, panting and creating a misty cloud together in the crisp air.

"I love you, Y/N."

"I love you too, Kai." you rested your forehead against his.

"Now let me take you back home and get you all dried off, sound good?"

"Mhmm," you smiled and nodded, giggling as his head moved in sync with yours. Kai planted a kiss on your forehead and put his hands on your thighs making you wrap your legs around his waist. You laid your head on his shoulder and a great warmness filled you as you felt his chest rise and fall against yours. Peacefulness took over you and you knew there was no going back to being friends. The universe was now in balance as love reigned sovereign between the two of you.

@sxturn-stars @rome5683 @1-800-khaleesii @imagine-that​ @genevivetaylor​ 

[promisedneverwrite]

Nightingale

Masterlist

Taglist:@ashleyfenner @veenast @simpforolderwomen @shrzdm @maskedalienfreak @plutoscape @shows-simp-card @baexpoppy @iamsimpforpoppy @dreamofyouu @feliiix @thescarycatishere @xryu-minx @tragic-tm @stanzoeywade @sister-solaris @starofeden @kamilah78taeko @calraquin @t4nuk1 @soft-round-bees @mysel08 @noixngn @readerlovers @camisstee @somewillwin @wolfietheduckyou @calraquin

Previous chapter

Chapter VII

Like she predicted, it hurt. Zoey had taken her to the ER the next morning, her wrist had swelled really bad and she was given a cast and some pain medicine for it. 

“I left you for a day with Poppy and this is what happens.” Zoey had coddled her making sure she drank her medicine before leaving to meet up with Poppy again. 

“I didn’t do it on purpose Zo.” Zoey frowned and pulled her into a hug petting her head. Bea snuggled into the affection as they sat on the couch.

“You need to take better care of yourself babe, are you sure she didn’t push you.” Bea shook her head. 

“No she didn’t, said something about not wanting to be a culprit to my demise or whatever.” Zoey snorted and patted her head. 

“Of course, the queen never gets her hands dirty. The convenience of minions." She sighs squeezing Bea in a hug one more time squishing her cheek on the crown of her head. "Try not to strain yourself, and text me if she tries to pick a fight, I'll come running.”

“Yes mum.” 

Bea gets to the shelter a bit early to play with the little cuties. Bea didn’t know if it was her meds but when one of the shelter workers handed her one of the puppies Bea felt like crying. 

“I’m so happy. But I don’t have enough hands to hold them.” The shelter helper had laughed holding the other animals for her. Bea sniffled pressing her face into the soft fur of the puppy. “Thank you.” 

Poppy was waiting for Bea to arrive having gotten there on the dot to see if everything was set. She had gotten up early today smirking at the girls who caught her gaze as she went down for breakfast, who blushed and avoided her gaze. Veronica had grimaced at her as she sipped her coffee, she had the room on the left of her to her so of course she had heard. Chloe had the one on the right of her and she still didn’t show her face to her. 

“Nice to see so many new additions. I guess that means a lot of these little guys are being adopted?” 

“Yes, Ms. Min-Sinclair. We have a ten percent higher adoption rate than last year.” That was good, these babies needed a good home. Poppy looks down at the little puppy in her arms softly scratching its tummy. 

“I’m glad to hear it, Julian. Hopefully, this project we’re doing will get us some good press for you, and we’ll get that rate up to 20 percent this year?” 

Poppy catches Julian looking behind her and she turns finding Farmsville and her expression sours marching over to her. 

“You’re late.” Bea gives her an infuriating smile.

Poppy glances at her outfit and like always wearing that same,  but different, colored henley her eyes however stop at the cast wrapped around her arm and her eyes narrow. “What happened to you?” Bea looks down to where she was looking. 

“Oh this? Turns out you didn’t need to push me off the balcony to kill me, I’m perfectly capable of doing it myself.” 

Bea snorts at Poppy’s disturbed look as she stares at her.

“There’s something seriously wrong with you.” Bea just shrugs. “You’ll be okay with holding a puppy though right? You won’t drop them?” Bea purses her lips.

“So long and they don’t squirm.” Poppy’s brows furrow.

“I’ll see what I can do.” Bea hums as Poppy leaves. She didn’t know if concern was what Poppy was exuding but it could be a possibility. Not concerned for her mind you, but maybe for the puppies. She couldn’t really be sure with her given the mixed signals she was feeling.

Poppy raised her brow, impressed by Farmsville as she watched from the sidelines. Farmsville was a natural charismatic on camera, even adopting a little pupper. In the end Poppy was just happy that this would bring publicity to her little shop that could, that’s all that mattered to her anyway. 

“Congratulations on not being completely useless today.” Bea turned to Poppy seeing a look of appraisal in her eyes and Bea smiled.

“Thanks, you too.” And just like that the look was gone in a split second after she said that. Poppy sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. 

“I’ll see you in class, Bea. Champ, come.” Bea just watches her go looking down at the little pup in her arms. She still had to find a name for the little bug, maybe Zoey could help name him. 

“I think she’s a real softie don’t you?” Her puppy barked cradled in her arm. “For sure, let’s go home and see your auntie hm?” Bea had called a cab as she wouldn’t be able to drive for the foreseeable month or so.

Bea had sprained her left wrist so she wouldn’t be playing at the port club, she had called Crystal about it. There was some argument about her to just sing but Bea declined. She also called the cafe owners and they understood and wished her well on her recovery. It was a small blessing in disguise for her to relax and distance herself from Crystal. But while she injured one of her playing hands, her writing hand still had other work to do, like grading papers and such. 

Bea had gotten home midafternoon to Zoey screaming excitedly at the dog carrier all but hogging the little dog to her just as the little pup waddled out of the carrier. 

“Wait, this isn’t a therapy dog is it, you didn’t sprain your wrist that bad did you?” Bea blinked. 

“They have those?” 

Suffice to say, when she got the text from the professor, Zoey kicked her out taking the newly named Beppy on a shopping trip to the pet store. Zoey though did make sure Bea took her pain medication before kicking her out. 

Bea stayed late grading papers diligently in silence with her earbuds in to concentrate and focus on anything else other than being in the same vicinity to a teacher who had almost kissed her at the bar. It was awkward as hell, and she didn’t do well with awkward confrontations. 

“Thank you for your help Bea.” Bea just nodded as she packed her things and quickly left. It was around 12:47 when they finished up and Bea trudged home tired and hungry. She silently opened the door to the dorm and went to her room finding Beppy in her room napping on a doggie bed surrounded by many toys, Zoey had already gone to sleep it seemed. Beppy seemed to wake up from his power nap sensing her as he skidded to her legs jumping up and whining.

“Hey buddy.” Bea dropped her bag by the foot of her desk and scooped up Beppy and brought him to the bed as she changed her clothes before laying down on it. Beppy seemed content to lay flat on her stomach looking at her, tail wagging as she pet him absently. Such a sweet boy, Bea remembers the dogs she raised in the farm to shepherd the sheep. The puppies always dug into her hair when she laid down and all but ripped her hair out, they did grow up to be obedient though it was just the beginning stages that were the struggles. 

Bea laid there for a moment just thinking over the past two days with Poppy. When a text alerted her and made Beppy jump and look to the ground tapping in place. Bea let him down and he went to his toys rough housing them. Bea chuckled then looked at her phone seeing a notification from Poppy. Must be awake scheming, Bea chuckled at her own idea of what that looked like as she opened the text.

Poppy sat lounging on her faint couch while listening to her recording of Robin’s songs in the security of her room. She had been planning since the start of Chloe’s reign, and made up her own plot of killing two birds with one stone. She would be the mastermind, Bea would be the stone, and Chloe and Bradley would be the birds. It was no secret that Farmsville had a heart of gold, she could use that to her advantage to make the blow to Chloe less hurtful knowing Bea would take pity and warn Chloe of her impending doom. But it was up to Chloe to trust her or not. Bradley could die in a ditch, she didn’t really care for him.

With Bradley sliding into Chloe’s dm’s for the past week she’d think he was into her. Chloe was a sucker for romance, well any romance really so she’d fall for Bradley’s attempts at flattery. By Friday she’d have Bradley tell Chloe to meet up at Club Malibu and to wait for a special announcement. Poppy and Bea would keep tabs on Chloe with Poppy taking the left and Bea the right, knowing that Chloe, for some reason, liked being on the right since shes known her. Bea would work her Farmsville charm and hopefully Chloe would listen, and take charge of the situation. And Bradley would be labeled a dick giving her the means to break up with him from the bad PR he would get from an attempt at humiliating a St. James. And viola, problem solved. She’d regain her status and get rid of that ass kisser fake boyfriend of her’s. It was fool proof.

Next

[magictehnique]

One Wish

Jax Teller x Reader

Disclaimer: I do not own SOA or the song. Just the plot.

This little idea came to me the other day. I hope you guys like it!

As a matter of fact I was the one who said I love you first.

It was about eight years ago don’t act like you don’t know. 

Y/n and Jax first laid eyes on each other in high school. Y/n was brand new to Charming and caught the blonde biker’s eyes walking through the halls in ripped jeans, combat boots, and a rock band t-shirt. Throughout high school, she became close to both Jax and Opie. Spent most of her time after school at TM. From day one her and Jax felt there was something other than just friendship between them. Hell, the club and school peers could see it. Many women tried to win over Jax, Tara Knowles included, but none of them could seem to catch his heart like y/n did. 

At one of the infamous Friday night parties, the two friends escaped up to the roof, for some time away from the rowdy men and women. By this point, Jax and Opie dropped out of school to prospect for the club. The two of them sat for awhile, just enjoying each other’s company. Jax being the first to break the silence, “so, you thought about what you are going to do after you graduate?”

Y/n thought for a minute. “I don’t know Jax. I know my family wants me to go to college, but I don’t know what I even want to do. Your mom has offered me to continue working in the office and tending the bar. Couple of the guys said they would teach me mechanics.”

Jax smirked, “they love having you around. You may not have grown up in the club, but you understand this life as if you did. I know it’s your choice but I know I would love to have you around more.”

Y/n smirked back and met his baby blue eyes, “what’re you saying, Jax?”

“I’m sayin’ I love you too much to let you go Darlin’.“

If I had one wish, you would be my boo

Promise to love you. Trust me I’ll trust you.

Y/n and Jax were married five years after the night he confessed his love for her. They didn’t have the easiest of relationships. The club had gone through a lot of shit in those years and theirr relationship was tested numerous times. In the end, y/n and Jax always pulled through. 

The wedding took place during one of the many lockdowns at the clubhouse. Y/n and Jax had been engaged for a few months. Both were sitting at the bar with Jax and Gemma, y/n looking around at all the family and friends gathered here. Gemma looked over at them and said, “so, have you guys set a date yet for the wedding?”

Jax was first to answer, “nah not yet. Been waiting for all the shit to die down. Not only have we had the Mayans starting pissing matches, the other charters have been going through shit.” Gemma nodded in agreement.

“What about now?” y/n said, breaking the silence. Both Gemma and Jax’s heads snapped to her.

“You mean like now? Here?” Jax asked.

Y/n shrugged her shoulders. “Why not? Our friends and family are all here. Chibs is ordained and could marry us. Nows as good as any. I don’t need some lavish wedding Jax. As long as I’m saying vows and kissing you at the end, I don’t care how it happens.”

Jax broke out into the biggest smile she had ever seen. He grabbed her face in his hands and gave her a passionate, and loving kiss. Gemma was beaming at the pair in front of her. She couldn’t have picked a better girl for her son than y/n. 

Jax separated from y/n and whistled, getting everyone’s attention, “hey everyone! Y/n and I decided that instead of waiting, we’re going to get married right here, right now. We love all of you so much and want you to be apart of our big day. So Chibs, you mind marrying me to my best friend?”

Everyone starting clapping and cheering for the couple. Chibs walked over and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. “I would be honored brotha.”

The rest of the night was spent celebrating y/n and Jax’s marriage biker style.

If I had one wish, we would run away

Making love all day. Have us a baby.

Three years had passed since the wedding and y/n picked up more hours at the office while Gemma took a step back. Clay was getting close to stepping down as president and the two wanted to have more free time to enjoy their “retirement”. Jax’s demands and time with the club had started to increase. Y/n knew it would happen, but it didn’t stop her from missing her husband. She made the best out of the time they were able to spend together.

She was sitting at the desk in the office, rubbing her temples to ease the headache she woke up with. Gemma walked in the door, “hey baby how are you feelin’?” For the past couple of weeks y/n hadn’t been feeling well. She was always nauseated and tired. The past few days she spent her mornings hunched over the toilet seat throwing up. 

“Awful. I haven’t been able to shake the nausea and the headache,” she replied leaning back in the chair.

Gemma looked at her for a second before replying, “when was the last time you had your period?”

Y/n’s head snapped up. “I don’t know, maybe a month ago? I think. I don’t actually rem... wait, you don’t think I might be pregnant do you?” Y/n replied.

“Only one way to find out,” Gemma reached into her purse and pulled out a  couple pregnancy tests. “I got these the other day at the store. Wouldn’t hurt to do them.”

Y/n grabbed the tests and headed towards the bathroom. A long three minutes later she was staring at all three tests bearing the same result: positive. 

Gemma let y/n take the rest of the day off and relax at home. She was happy Jax had been taking care of club business and hadn’t been at the shop that day. As soon as she got home, she was pacing back and forth, thinking about how she was going to tell him. Sure, they had talked about babies and how much they wanted kids. Any other time she would be ecstatic, but the club was going through shit and Jax already had enough on his plate. He had been getting home late at night and leaving before she woke up in the morning. She couldn’t think of the last time they shared a meal together. 

The rumble of a bike pulling into their driveway pulled y/n out of her thoughts. She turned around right as Jax was opening the door. He looked at her with a smile that quickly turned to a look of concern when he saw her face. “Hey darlin’, what’s going on? Are you okay?”

Y/n took a deep breath before answering. “You know how I’ve been feeling a little under the weather lately? Well I found out why. I’m pregnant Jax.”

Jax stood in shock. She could see various emotions flashing through his eyes; shock, confusion, fear, and happiness. “Wait, really? You’re serious, like hundred percent sure?” He asked, walking to her and cupping her face with one of his hands. 

“Yeah. I took three tests. They all came back positive.” Jax leaned down and gave her a hard kiss. He didn’t have to say anything else, the kiss conveyed everything.  

When they finally broke apart, he crouched down and lifted up her shirt, placing a few soft kisses on her stomach. Y/n ran her hands through his hair, eyes tearing up at her husband’s actions. 

He looked up at her and said, “you don’t know how happy you just made me.”

If I had one wish, I’ll make you my whole life.

Sitting on the picnic bench, Jax reflected on his life and how it’s turned out. He had no clue what he did to deserve the life he had. He looked across the lot where y/n was talking to his mom. She had their youngest child on her hip, the second oldest was playing with other kids in the play area, and his oldest was in the shop, learning how to work on cars with their uncles. Y/n was his rock in this life. She kept him grounded, always his support to lean on, always willing to help the club when she could. She never once tried to change him. Never once asked him to leave this life. She trusted him to turn the club around make it safer. Legitimate. And that’s what he did. 

If he had one wish, to go back and redo his life, he wouldn’t. Y/n, the kids, and the club were his whole life. He already has everything he could have ever wished for. 

[just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi]

So um, I have this really bad fear of needles so I was wondering if we could have caretaker comforting the tough guy(tm) after he had to be sedated

A little different from what you asked, but I hope it hits right!

Shoutout to @greenhouseofwhump @myst-in-the-mirror @onlybloodandwhiskey and an anonymous friendo for beta reading!

TW: implied military operations, implied past torture, escapee whumpees, needles/getting a shot.

Bodyguard hit the door open with xyr shoulder, holding Caretaker in xyr arms. Others flooded into the base behind xem, pulling the doors closed and locking them. Finally - safety. The assailants had been chasing them for god knows how long, and had caught up to them at their last stop. It was Bodyguard's job to keep Caretaker safe, and that was what xe was going to do.

“You can put me down, Bodyguard. I’m fine. Bodyguard, Bodyguard - I’m fine. You can put me down now.”

Xe paused, xyr heart still beating in xyr ears. Oh, right. Carefully, xe set Caretaker down on their feet and stood back. One of the medics rushed forwards to check for injuries as Bodyguard tried to catch xyr breath.

“You’re bleeding,” Medic commented. Bodyguard’s attention snapped to Caretaker. Had xe been careless, had xe missed something? If Caretaker was harmed then xe had failed. Xe failed and betrayed them even after all that Caretaker had done for xem. Worried eyes searched over the other person’s smaller frame quickly, seeing nothing wrong with them.

Something poked xyr side and Bodyguard jolted.

“Looks like you scraped up against some debris somewhere,” Medic commented as they examined Bodyguard’s torn shirt. Now that xe took another breath, xe felt it. Xe grit xyr teeth and turned away. Just another scrape to add to xyr litany of bruises and cuts. There would be time to heal later, when Caretaker was back where they belonged and safe.

“Doesn’t seem that deep, but I’ll give you a tetanus shot just in case.”

Bodyguard's face never changed a fraction, but xyr mind was spiraling. Needles. Fucking needles. Of course. Out of everything xe’d enured, the integrations and captivity and torture, it was fucking needles that made xyr blood run cold. Always had, and probably always would.

“Bodyguard?” Caretaker asked softly, sensing something was wrong.

“Are you hurt? Do you need something?” xe asked, secretly hoping xe could direct Medic’s attention elsewhere. Caretaker’s brow was furrowed, concern lining their face.

“I’m fine - thank you for that by the way - but you…. You don’t seem all that happy with the prospect of getting a shot.”

Bodyguard huffed, muscles in xyr jaw tensing. Caretaker tilted their head and gave xem that look, and xe sighed.

“I’m… not a fan of needles. Pathetic, I know.” Medic led xem back to one of the cots with Caretaker quickly trotting after them.

“No! It’s not pathetic!” Caretaker interjected with a whine. “Why on earth would you say that. It’s totally normal to be spooked by needles and stuff.” The Medic had Bodyguard sit down and left to gather the materials.

“It’s not my job to get scared by a piece of fucking metal smaller than my finger. I, I know it can’t hurt me, but…. Damn,” xe lamented, not wanting to go much further down that route. Another deep breath to steel xemself, staring at xyr boots on the concrete. Why didn’t xyr composure training work for this? Why couldn’t xe get this under control?

A hand touched xyrs and xe jolted, not ready. Wait, wait, wait -

It was Caretaker’s.

“It’s okay to be scared of things - there’s no shame in it. And, you don’t have to ‘conquer’ every fear. It’s not cowardly or bad to look away if it grosses you out, it’s not weak to ask for help or to want to hold someone’s hand. You don’t let me be scared and hurt and alone, so I won’t let you either. Despite everything you try to be, you’re still human. You still get comfort, too.”

Bodyguard stared back at them, gently giving their hand a squeeze. When Medic came back into the room, Caretaker started talking - again - about different kinds of apple trees and how to care for them. Bodyguard had heard the chatter before, but smiled slightly all the same. They were so good.

Medic lifted xyr torn shirt and Bodyguard winced, feeling a little queasy. The alcohol wipe was cold, and Medic’s hand to stabilize the area was highly unwelcome. Xe couldn’t bring xemself to squeeze Caretaker’s hand in case xe broke it, but it was such a welcome anchor in xyr anxiety. Xe closed xyr eyes and faced away, taking a sharp breath when xe felt the small prick. It was only a few seconds, but fuck, that sentiment didn’t help.

“And, done.” Medic bandaged the area and left, far too busy with other refugees and injured to stay. Bodyguard let out xyr breath and opened xyr eyes to see Caretaker smiling up at xem.

“I think you’re brave.”

Xe rolled xyr eyes with a smile and pulled xyr hand away. “Yeah yeah. Now, did you eat? There should be a canteen around the base somewhere.” Caretaker rolled their eyes back at xem and stood, peering out the curtain. For a brief moment, Bodyguard looked down at xyr hand and flexed xyr fingers. It hadn’t taken away all of the anxiety, but fuck -

It had helped.

[casnextdoor]

CASSS!!! HOBI SNEAKS Y/N IN the POTTERY BARN Where he works SHE'S UPSET but not for long, HAVE FUN WITH THE PAINT IS ALL I ASK everything else is up to you.

let the record show .,, that i was originally gonna make this a Canvas Sex (TM) drabble .

——————————

“Babe, would you calm down for like, two seconds?” Contrary to his words, Hoseok’s voice was light and filled with laughter. He had been laughing at you since you had gotten in the car.

The night had started off normal. You’d invited him to come watch a movie and eat junk food, which would progressively turn into a bedroom rendezvous and a good night's sleep. Hoseok seemed to have other plans.

You should’ve known something was up when he showed up at your apartment still dressed in his jeans and hoodie instead of sweats.

He demanded you get dressed into something comfortable and get in the car with a blindfold on, thus bringing you to the present moment, where you sat quietly begrudgingly beside him, complaining about the sensory deprivation.

“I just wanna know where you’re taking me. I can’t see and my eyelids feel like they’re about to get stuck together. What if I’m never able to open my eyes again? You won’t ever get to see my eyes while I suck your dick again-” You were cut off by a burst of loud laughter as you felt the car roll to a stop.

“Okay, one, if you were to still suck my dick after your eyelids get stuck together, I’d love you a billion times more than I already do, and I love you a lot. Two, we’re here, so get your eyelids unstuck and come on.” He’d untied the blindfold from your eyes, waiting patiently as you blink them open and adjust to the darkness.

You’d glanced up at the familiar building before looking at the man watching you from the side.

“You’re job?” You deadpanned, crossing your arms over your chest stubbornly, only earning a playful eye roll as he exited the car.

“Come on. There’s something I wanna show you.”

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

You wandered around the room as Hobi chose unglazed ceramic pieces for the both of you to paint.

You hadn’t noticed it before, but his name popped up a lot around the room. He had dozens of finished pieces that he’d either done on his own or helped finish. That thought alone made your body warm with love. He loved his job and what it came with, that much was known by the many pictures he was featured in on the studio wall. There was one specific picture that caught your eye. It was one of him and a little girl. She was clinging to him for dear life and you’d never seen him smile brighter. This picture alone brought a swell to your chest and a question to your head.

“Baby, do you want kids?” It was a question that he’d asked you more times than you could count in your two years of being together. But you’d never gotten around to asking and he found it endearing that you even cared.

“Yeah! I want a bunch of them. Maximum ten, minimum four.” He’d glanced over at you, laughing at the face of disgust you’d pulled.

“I’ll give you two. No more.” You’d walked over to him, running an arm over his shoulder.

“Mhm, we’ll see.” He looped his arm around your waist and pulled you down into his lap.

He'd poured out a little bit of each color of paint, even going so far to mix some into colors he knew you’d like. You’d stared at the assortment for a while, head partially empty due to fatigue. Until you’d conjured up the brightest idea ever.

He’d been so entranced by the side of your face that he hadn’t seen when you landed your hand palm-down onto the pallet of acrylic paint. Nor had he foreseen you lightly slapping the side of his face with the paint covered hand.

He was quick to recover from his shock, grabbing the bottle of blue paint he’d only just sat on the table and squirting it all over you. Your recovery time was quick as well, because soon you guys were chasing each other around the studio with paint, covered in different shades of blue and orange.

It’d taken four bottles of paint and lots of slipping for one of you to finally call a truce.

“Uncle! Baby… Babe, Uncle, Uncle, Uncle. I’m done, you win!” Your hair was matted to your head and your clothes were ruined. Alternatively, you hadn’t had this much fun in a while.

He dropped the now empty bottle of paint onto the floor before sliding toward you. When he’d reached you, he wrapped you in his arms and pulled you close, kissing your paint-covered forehead.

“How are we gonna get this cleaned up before I have to open tomorrow?” His voice was low and hoarse from how much he’d laughed at you tonight, but he was content.

“We’ll get it done together. Thank you for bringing me here. I love you.” You nuzzled your face into his ruined hoodie.

“I love you, too”

[everyothermouse]

A lil group portrait of the time au adventuring gang!! Them <333

Basically tol fucked up as a kid and is now on the run from the law, but realized that since his life was so crazy he could live off of telling stories of his wacky adventures. When he met Jay he wanted him to come with him, and when he found out jay couldn't come cus he was virtually a demon/god/magic magnet he decided he NEEDED to bring him to capitalize on how it'd make more cool stories. And yeah it worked so since then he's been collecting wackos to aaa go crazy aaaa go stupid (and also bcus safety I numbers or whateva, pop and pip are also criminals and pastel and jay are crimes against god <3) more about each individual under the cut!

Doin them from left to right :)

Pastel: died when she was messing around with some friends and got stuck under a big rock and left to starve. But because of a fluke in the underworld her God decided to resurrect her, a right usually only belonging to saints. Because of this she's now poorly pretending that she totally did something to deserve being revived (she tells a different story every time someone asks, she thinks it's funny) to avoid being persecuted for suspected witchcraft. She met Jay when they were both drunk and they had fun fucking around in the city, and she spilled the beans to him that she was revived for no reason. She regretted it, but jay didn't kill her because even though he's religious he knew what it felt like to be magically cursed and have everyone be pissed at u for it. Also she's really funny with jay so tol begged her to come with them to add more Comedy(tm) to his memoirs

Pop: a time traveller and angel who is trying to hide both of those facts but only really succeeding at hiding the time travel thing. When they were a kid they traveled to this time with his friends Lustre and Cherrybomb, but when they were attacked by the vicious royal guard they weren't able to escape without leaving Lustre behind. Cherrybomb super repressed that memory, and while pop recovered from some minor injuries they vowed to never time travel again. Yeah they only kept that up until they were like 15, but they still couldn't bring themself to go back to when they left Lustre. But now they're 26 (well technically they're like 33 but in their time their supposed to be 26) living with their boyfriend cherrybomb and have years of time travel experience under their belt, and they're ready to go back. Except they can't go back because they created a travel block for themself by accident because of how upsetting the event was, so instead they traveled as close as they could, about 10 years in the future of the time. Now they search for any form of closure, all they need to know is what happened to their friend, and they will do whatever it takes to find this out. But angels aren't super welcome in the past, especially not with uncut wings, so it's not exactly easy for them to navigate this time period. But after a while of their search they met two lovely children (well young adults), a demon and a "cursed" (nowadays they call em spiritually gifted) and felt so bad for how much the world seemed to be against them they decided they could travel with them, just for a bit, to protect them. They tried not to get attached. They failed. They're in it for the long run now aren't they TwT also as they explore this time and learn more about the gods, they start to realize that they might... be the God of longevity???? Or at least an older version of them became them? Time travel is fucked man

Btw Lustre plays a big role in this plot, her hyper futuristic knowledge, 'blessed' white eyes, and strange God gifted clothing would all lead to him rising to a much different role than fugitive rather quickly, but they're not who this post is about ;) also I'm gonna go bottom to top for the 3 in the middle let's go

Lune: just a little guy :) lune is a young rancher/gardener who worships the God of the wood, who kind of goes missing sometimes and is lowkey the least loyal God but shhhh he loves them. Lune and tol were childhood friends (along with their pal cleo) but on one of their little excursions tol took something very important to a very powerful king, and refused to give it back. As retribution the king destroyed their entire town, and cleo put all the blame on tol, tol and lune both knew lune had to take the side against tol in order to not have the town turn on him. So yeah he moved with the town to bring up a brand new farm, long awaiting the day when tol would come home and say that things were OK and they could settle back in town together, hopefully with cleo too. That didn't happen, but tol did come back and peer pressure lune into part time adventuring with him! So yeah generally lune just runs his lil farm and prays, but when tol comes to pick him up he gets a chance to go be free to act batshit crazy, just like when he was a kid 🥰

Pipes: DEmon! One time lune and tol had a little squabble so lune was like 'im gonna get a new best friend and ur gonna regret this' and tol was like 'yeah right, u live with a bunch of criminals right now no one's gonna wanna be ur bestie dumbass' so lune just walked into a cave at night and dragged out this little nonverbal demon because demons who live alone in caves don't have high standards for friends. Even tho it was just a ploy to make tol jealous lune went super hard on it and now pipes is actually friends with the gang lmaoo

Tol: like I said with lunes, stole something important from a king as a kid, monarch got pissed, blew up the town, town got pissed at tol for it, and since then he's been on the run because he's too stubborn to give back the damn thing (they could have just attacked HIM for it, but since la queen decided to fuck with his town, his family, tol thinks he doesn't deserve to have it back.) He had to run from town to town and got into a lot of danger in his attempts at finding places to hide, but he lacks fear and tended to fight stuff off. As a kid he found that he could get enough pity to be welcomed into towns if he told people he had to fight a monster to get there, so he told stories at every town and camp he went to of his hardships. But as he got older, those he stayed with beckoned him to keep talking, and more and more people said they had heard of his adventures. And that's when when it clicked, his shining ticket to true freedom wasn't a place, it was his stories. They gave him food, shelter, fun, memories, a life. So he made it his mission to never settle down, to make his life as crazy as possible and to talk about it as much as possible, and if he ever ran out of energy to adventure, he'd spend the rest of his dying days writing and writing his entire life story. He thought this was a life he'd live alone, but one day he sought refuge in jays little lonely house because he thought it was abonded, luckily though Jay had just been praying for a second chance at life and decided that considering the timing, tol must be that second chance. So yeah jay patched him up, found out on his monthly supply route he was harboring someone very wanted, and took care of tol even harder because he didn't know or care why he was wanted, he just knew that anyone who had a drawing of them as a child on a wanted poster definitely didn't deserve it. So yeah they're besties now.

AAA I wrote out a really long description for jay but tumblr glitched and I lost it :'O ble here's a shorter rewrite cus I'm not writing out that whole thing again >:P

Jay: brought up in a church village,, he was born with the curse, which allows him to tap into magical properties very easily, and be very easily controlled, manipulated, and possessed by them. This allowed him to be very connected with his god (the god of longevity) but also meant he was often treated as a security risk and a monster by the adults of his town since he could let in evil spirits so easily. He spent most of his time praying and he became obsessed with acting on compulsions (repeated prayer, overscrubbing, scratching himself, touching religious things until he felt like he touched them "right") because he believed they were messages from God and would prevent him from becoming evil (look he was a teenager and everyone told him he was a monster his whole life leave him be.) He gets possessed twice, mage as a rep of the town is like "either have ur cursed removed or leave town forever" (uncursing is only hypothetically possible, it's hella dangerous) and he's scared itd sever his connection to his god so he leaves and he's upset bcus his entire life plan was built around his church, so now he's livin alone on a hill and leaving like once a month, he stays up there and sews and prays mostly, he sort of works on himself and becomes vaguely mentally stable, so he prays for a second chance at life since he lost his original path and needs a sign where to go, and then boom tol shows up and the rest is history. Now he has his own little family and things are going great :) other than the still getting possessed like once a week but shhhh

Pip: in between the entrance to hell and the religious central of the continent is a little town that sides with neither. They mostly fuck around and find out, and in this town lives a monster researcher and her less formal wife, pip! Pip is just a silly goofy little guy livin life, and when the crazy bunch shows up she feels like he's finally found her people :3 and for the first time the group gains a member who's begging to join them as opposed to the other way around

Ya and together they all go on wacky lil adventures with demons and monsters and monarchs and what not.

Tldr pastel is a funny lil dead guy, pop is a time traveller and the Adult of the team, lunes a lil farmer man, pipes a hobo demon they picked up off the side of the road, tols a little criminal demon adventurer, jays a religious weirdo who tol dragged out of his hermit hut, and pips an insane little guy

[comingtothetree23]

It’s Gone

Paring: Peter Parker x reader

Summary: This is the beginning of how Reader loses something important to her and tries pushing people away but Peter won’t let that happen.

Warnings: Swearing. 

Word count: 2.3K

A/N: I am planning on making a part 2 of this that focus more on how Reader will be dealing with it. 

"Remember kids, Don't mess this up." Tony reminds you as You and the team enter an abandoned building. You and Peter share a look before nodded at Tony, "I'm serious. This is an important mission." 

"Don't worry, Tony. We'll be fine. No touching anything." You raise both hands before nudgeing Peter, "Right, Spidey?" You wrap an arm around his shoulder.

"Right!" Peter wraps an arm around you with what you assume a goofy smile under that mask. Tony gave you two a dad TM look before walking away looking around the building.

"What are we after again?" Sam asks as he looks around the creepy building. There wasn't much here so why would anybody go here? You frown as you light up a ball of flame in your hand, lighting up the way.

"This man with strange appearance," Steve answers looking around for anyone or anything. You frown as you run your hand against the wall, flinching when you felt what strangely felt like words.

"What do you mean by strange?"

"No one really knows yet." Nat answers as she stops next to you, "Everyone who sees's him always flees before he can do any real damage. Prepare for anything." 

"That's ...vague." You frown as you move your flame covered hand closer to the wall to get a better look at the wall. 

"What's that?" Peter asks as he stares at what looked like a tomb of some sort. You frown as you look over at the tomb, "It looks old." There was what looked like to see a puzzle on it.

"Is that a puzzle?" Steve asks as he moves closer to it. Tony walks over to stand next to Peter and smirks as he gives Peter a pat on the back.

"Pete, this looks your kind of thing." Peter looks over at Tony with drooped shoulders, no doubly frowning under the mask. That made you chuckle before looking at the wall again.

"Can anyone understand this?" You turn toward everyone as Nat and Wanda walks over, taking a good and long hard look at the wall.

"I can try?" Wanda shrugged before putting a hand on the wall before closing her eyes. Her hand lit up for a bit as she is apparently reading what the wall is saying.

"Hey buck, help me with this," Sam smirks as he starts to do the puzzle, it was surprisingly simple so far. Bucky smirks before helping him with the puzzle. Peter frowns as he watches this happen.

"Guys, c'mon, this might be a bad idea," Peter says walking closer to the two men, who were at least halfway through the puzzle. They both froze before turning to face Peter.

"C'mon, it won't do any harm." They resumed the puzzle making Peter huff with a cross of his arms. Steve and Tony were walking around looking for any signs of anyone being there.

"I don't understand." Steve sighs as he turns to Tony, "There were witnesses saying the man hid here. where could he have gone?" Steve looked toward a large door.

"He probably left." Tony shrugged before walking toward the doors, "Smarter than other villains." Steve frowns before walking toward the door, completely forgetting about the puzzle and wall the others were distracted with. Wanda opened her eyes with a gasp.

"Stop!!" Wanda turned toward the two adults as they finished the puzzle. She raised her arms to stop them but it was too late, The doors open and a tall bulky man walks out with a frightening smirk.

"Well, well, well, look who it is." You all stand in fighting positions, "The Avengers are the ones who finally free me from my cold dark prison." He let out a dark throaty chuckle at that. 

"You heard of us?" Wanda asks making you all look at her before turning toward the man. The man smirks as he looks at each and every one of you. 

"Kinda hard not to. You can hear and feel everything in that tomb, drunk teens love talking about a group of heroes saving their lives." The man rolls his eyes, "Getting sick and tired of it. But you freed me."

"Not for long," Tony says before sending a blast his way, That causes you all to start fighting him all at once. You sent fireballs his ways, as many as you could.

"The fire warms me." The man says before standing up and taking steps closer, "That tomb is cold the fire warms be greatly." He makes eye contact with you making you frown. He suddenly smirks at you, "I will take your fire." 

"What?" You ask with a confused tilt of the head. You turn to Peter and ask, "No one can do that. Can they?"

"I don't really know. There have never been reports about that happening." Peter explains and for some reason that makes you even more creeped out. Steve took a step forward with an indicating look.

"That won't happen. Avengers!" You all try to charge at him but an inviable force pushes the Avengers behind you as you are lifted into the air, close to the man. The necklace around the man's neck starts to glow, making you fear the worst.

"This won't be long, dear." the man smirks before opening his mouth, your whole body is suddenly covered in fire and the fire is being sucked into his mouth. You let out a scream as you struggle before your body goes limp.

"(H/n)!" Peter yells as the enviable force holds him and the others down. Peter frown before using all his strength to standing up with some struggles and charging at the man. Peter was able to send a hard kick the man way before the man punches Peter making him fall to the ground. 

Your eyes suddenly start to get heavy as you tried to keep them open, you were quickly losing the battle as you feel something being taken away from you. You make eye contact with the man one last time before closing your eyes and passing out. 

Tony flies over and tries to blast him the same time Steve stands up and runs over, throwing punches the man's way. The man momentarily stops taking your power to fight the two. You were just floating in the air as the man was able to get the two down. Tony and Steve got good hits in tho. The man chuckles before continuing what he was doing. 

"We have to stop him!"

"How!?"

"I don't know!" 

The last of the fire leaves your body and goes into the man's mouth. He chuckles as your body slowly goes on the ground. The others finally were able to stand up and run over to your sleeping form.

"(Y/n)!"

"Is she alright!?"

"Oh fuck man!"

"Kid..."

"C'mon (Y/n), show me those beautiful eyes." Peters's voice was almost breaking as he puts your head on his lap, moving a piece of your hair out of your face.

"Thank you, Fire Elemental." The man's voice rang through the room, "For my gratitude, I will give you mercy."  He smirks before using his magic to chain the group up, including you, "I should get going. Thank you again, dear." He smirks before flying off using your flames. 

"Great, just great," 

~~

"This is Sam and Bucky's fault," Tony grumbled as he looked at the chain. You all have been there for quite a while and Peter was starting fear even more since you still haven't woken up.

"Our fault!?" 

"Who opens a tomb before knowing what it does?" Nat raises a brow at the two adults as they all hung from the wall. 

"Dumbass move." Tony grumbles. Peter agreed as he looked over at your hanging frame, no one has asked about you for a bit which made Peter annoyed but they needed to focus on escape. oh wait, they aren't! They're doing the blame game.

"What about (Y/n)!? She got her powers stolen!"

"Hey! Watch it!" Peter nearly growled as he glares at them, "This wasn't her fault! She didn't know this was going to happen." Peter was angered that they could even say that. He looks over with a frown as your hair covered your beautiful face. He sighed angrily as he looked up at the ceiling.

"Peter's right, how is she?" Steve asks as he looks over at Wanda, who was right next to you. She looks at you closely, probably using her magic before nodding.

"She seems to be fine. She should wake up soon." She explains with a nod of her head, sending a look at you. You stirred a little in your sleep before going back to unmoving, Everyone stared at you for a moment.

"Do you guys think she'll be alright?" 

"She'll be fine, she always is," Nat answers as she looks at your sleeping form. Peter knew that she was worried for you, they all were. You loved having your powers, even if there were cons with them. He can't imagine how it'll be for you, how it'll feel for you. 

"She won't like it." Wanda quietly says, already feeling fear and worry through your body.  No one said a thing but they were all thinking the same thing, This was going to destroy you. 

"I don't like this."

"We need to find a way out of here," Peter speaks up before moving his feet in a way that he could push against the chains better. He grunts as he pulls with all of his strength against the chains. He opens his eyes as he realized something, "...Mr. Stark?"

"Yea, kid?"

"You have your suit still, right?"

"...."

"Are you serious Tony!?"

"We've been here for an hour!"

"Did you seriously forget about your suit?" 

"Goddamn it, Stark." 

"Okay, Okay, I got it," Tony grumbles before using the suit. He was able to free all of you, "Who will take sleeping beauty?" He motioned toward your body that was gently laying on the floor. 

"I got her," Peter grunts as he picks you up gently. He holds you bridal style as he tucks your face in the crook of his neck. Tony nods at him before moving forward. Peter stood there for a moment as everyone walks ahead of him, He looks down at you and frown, "Don't worry (Y/n). I gotcha." He started walking toward the group.

~~

The light was on your face making you stir as you try moving away from it, that didn't work. You let out a small groan before sitting up and holding your head. You looked around to see that you were in the medbay bed. You felt a hand in your other hand as you squeezed the hand before looking at the owner, Peter.

Peter was sitting in a chair next to you snoring quietly, still in his spider suit. Honestly, that suit looks like it wouldn't be comfortable in his sleep, not realizing that Peter hasn't left your side since you were freed. 

"Your awake." a voice speaks, making you jump before looking over at Bruce. You let out a sigh in relief as you saw him walking over to your bed.

"Bruce, You scared me." You held your chest as you let out a few giggles, "I had a horrible nightmare." You looked at the floor before sighing, "So what happened?" You looked at Bruce, waiting for an answer. All he did was sigh heavily, making you frown. 

"(Y/n)...." He started but it seemed like he couldn't finish his sentence. You look down in thought before thinking back before flashes of you in the air screaming, fire leaving your body, feeling so helpless.

"It wasn't a dream." You turned toward Bruce, "Was it?" Bruce just stared at you, giving you your answer, "No..." you whimpered out, holding your head leaning forward on the bed.

"(Y/n), It's alright. we'll figure something out." Bruce tried to reassure you but you quickly stood up, "You need to rest." You shook your head before running out of the room. Bruce leans back in his chair with a deep sigh, this was going to effect you greatly.

"Bruce? Where's (Y/n)?" Peter's rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he looked around the almost empty medbay, "Did she wake up yet?" 

"Yea, She didn't take it well." Bruce explains with a frown as he puts some equipment away, "She ran out of here, don't know where she's heading." 

"I'll look for her." Peter stood up getting ready to leave the room, "thanks Mr. Banner." He left the room to see where you have gone. Where do you normally go when your upset? Think, Pete, Think! Got it! Peter thinks he figured out where you were.

Peter went to the roof to see your peacfully sitting there, knowing you your thought were anything but peaceful right now. Peter started walking toward you. 

"Heya Pete." your voice was quiet, "What are you doing here?" It sounds like you've been crying for a bit, making Peter frown. He silently opened his arms which you hugged him back, snuggling your face in his shoulder.

"Hey, are you okay?" you sigh in his shoulder and hug him tighter, Your shoulders were shaking. You were trying your hardest not to cry in front of Peter, "Hey, Hey, It's alright." he soothes while gently rubbing your arm. 

"Is it?" You whimper as a few tears leave your eyes, "Will it be okay? Every time I pass someone they always yell me 'You'll be fine', 'we'll find him', or even 'it's okay, you'll live'." You let out a sob as you cling to Peter, making him frown.

"It's going to be hard but... We'll get through this." Peter pulls away before giving you a small kiss on the forehead, "I'll be there every step of the way, alright? How does that sound?" 

"Perfect." You hug him again before letting out a few sniffles. It's going to be hard but you might get through this. You just need some time, hopefully.

[daisy-day-dreams]

A/N: Hey everybody I hope you’re doing well ❤️ Here’s part one of Little Lies! I hope you enjoy and pease let me know what you think!

Little Lies Masterlist

Word Count: 1,461

*gif not mine*

Annie sat back in the chair in the office of Teller Morrow. She took a sip of the tea Chucky had brought her earlier this morning. The hot liquid burned her tongue then her chest as soon as it sloshed out spilling onto her. Cursing she set the cup back down. She grabbed a tissue dabbing her skin until the sting passed. She didn’t know why she was still drinking hot tea in this California heat, force of habit she guessed. She really needed to find a new drink.

The rumbling of the motorcycles pulling into the lot pulled her away from her previous thoughts. She quickly tossed the tissue into the trash bin before standing up.

It was time.

Gemma passed through the office smiling at Annie. “They’re here.” It finally felt like home once again to Gemma. The past 14 months were rough without Clay or Jax or a full clubhouse. There was definitely a change in the atmosphere while most of their men were locked up. “Come on sweetheart, the boys will be eager to meet the new secretary.”

Annie followed after Gemma to greet the guys. What Gemma didn’t know was that Annie already knew one of them. Maybe he wouldn't recognize her or remember her but she recognized him the first time she saw his mugshot up on the wall of the clubhouse. She’d never forget him and she’d never forgive him for how he broke her sister’s heart.

Annie watched him as he took his helmet off before hanging it up. He was immediately pulled into a side hug by Chibs who had the biggest grin on his face. She couldn’t hear what the older scott said but whatever it was made him laugh. It sounded exactly the same as she had remembered.

She almost didn’t notice the handsome blonde man, Gemma’s son she had recognized from pictures, approach her and Gemma. Gemma gave him a big hug before turning him towards her. “Annie this is my son Jackson.”

“You can call me Jax, darlin’.” He grinned looking her up and down.

“I’ve heard lots about you.” She smiled back at him giving him a good once over as well. She had seen plenty of pictures but none of them could compare to seeing him in person. His hair was now shorter, suiting him much better in her opinion than the longer locks she had seen in the photos.

“And I’ve heard not nearly enough about you,” Gemma never told him the new girl was smoking hot.

“If you’re good you just might learn a hell of a lot more.” Annie sent him a wink. What could she say? The man was hot and she wasn’t shy when it came to being flirty.

“Alright kids that’s enough flirting for now.” Gemma teased the two. “You’ve got plenty of time for that later and I think there is someone who is really wanting to see his daddy.”

Just then Neeta came out of the clubhouse with Abel. She laughed as Able broke away from her running into Jax’s arms. Jax scooped him up with the biggest smile on his face holding him close to him.

Annie couldn’t help but feel her heart warm at the sight. She had come to care for the small boy herself while working for TM and from spending time with Gemma.

Gemma was the first person who she and Delilah befriended in their move to Charming. They were currently renting a little place from her just a block away from Gemma’s place. Gemma was actually the one to tell Annie about the opening position at their garage. With Jax being locked up Gemma had less time for working there while becoming Abel’s sole guardian.

Her older sister Delilah had a job at the hospital already but Annie still needed one herself. She wasn’t good with being idle, it gave her too much time to think. The offer was perfect for her. She fit in perfectly and never felt more safe or welcomed than she did with Gemma and the MC.

“See? I told she was hot.” Kozik bragged as he approached with Tig just behind him. He had been talking up Annie to all the guys, bragging about how she would be his date for Opie and Lyla’s upcoming wedding. “And she’s all mine for the night.”

“Yep all yours.” Annie leaned into Kozik’s side as he wrapped his arm around her waist. In the six months she had been working with them she had become closest to the big, goofy, man.

“Nope, still don’t believe it.” Tig shook his head. “Now why would you want to go with him when there are clearly plenty of better options? It’s still not too late to change your mind, doll.”

“You must be Tig.” Annie giggled. “Kozik has told me so much about you.”

“Anything he says, all lies.” Tig made sure to tell her. “You can’t believe a word out of his mouth. Come find me later and we’ll set things straight but for now I have some shit to catch up on.”

“Make it quick,” Clay called out after him. “We got church in ten minutes.”

“Oh it’ll be quick after all that time with no pussy.” Bobby joked before introducing himself to Annie with a hug.

She was then introduced to Happy who just gave her a grunt with a nod of approval before both followed behind Tig into the clubhouse.

The last was Juice walking towards them with Chibs. He was looking down still smiling when Chibs made the introduction. “Juicy boy meet our very lovely Annie.”

Juice looked up to meet the new girl he had been hearing about all day. His smile immediately fell when he saw her. The last time Juice had seen her she was still just a gangly teenager. Now she was everything but that.

“Hey Juan, long time no see.” Annie said.

Chibs and Kozik exchanged a look before looking at Juice. Neither one of them knew anything about Annie knowing their Juice. Chibs remembered catching her looking at their wall of mugshots. Her gaze had landed on Juice so Chibs told her about him and the rest of the guys but he never thought the reason she stopped on the younger Son was because she knew him.

“What are you doing here?” Was the first thing he could think of to say.

“Delilah got a job offer here, I thought I’d come join her on her new adventure.” Annie watched all the thoughts run through Juice’s mind.

“She’s here?”

Just as she figured Juice was still in love with her sister, she could see it in his eyes. “Yeah, small world huh?”

“We’ll let you two kids catch up.” Chibs spoke, excusing him and Kozik feeling as if they weren’t welcome to this little reunion. He looked back once more at the two pausing at the door before disappearing into the clubhouse.

“Does she know I’m here?” He couldn’t help but wonder how she was feeling about all this.

“She knows you’re here.” Annie crossed her arms. Her gaze hardened on him. “I know what you’re thinking but this isn’t some sign or fate or some second chance bullshit. You had your chance with my sister and you gave her up,” she emphasized, “so keep your distance from her, yeah?”

“Delilah is an adult Annie, if she wants to see or talk to me that’s up to her. And we both made that decision to split up.” Juice clarified. Yes he left Queens but she also chose not to join him and together they decided long distance would never work, that splitting up was the best option for both of them.

“Like she had much of a choice?” Annie scoffed, rolling her eyes. “She loved you Juan, more than anything. Of course she wasn’t going to make you stay! Certainly not for herself and not even for the damn baby!”

“Baby?” Juice barely got out as his mind started replaying the moments just before he left and then started running wild with the image of his child.

Annie knew what she was doing. She had him right where she wanted him. “Don’t worry, you’re not a father. She didn’t keep it.” She wanted to hurt him, just like he hurt them.

Juice didn't have the time to fully process what was just said before Tig ducked his head out of the clubhouse yelling out. "Juicy church now! Get your ass in here!"

Juice looked back at Annie once more. He had a million questions he wanted to ask but he knew now wasn't the time. He had church, he had his responsibilities with the club, that had to come first right now.

Tagging: @starrynite7114 @carlaangel86

[angstyaches]

hello! can we get the trope where the sickee starts crying over something trivial and that’s how everyone realises they’re sick, except : it’s shayne, who is extremely stressed out and/or just having a bad day tm and he just?? starts crying?? over something v small?? and charlie and rin are going ???? is he okay?? and then they take care of him. thanks!🍄

Hi and welcome to Carried Away Inc., where I’m the founder and CEO. I decided to flesh this out and let the babies talk about college and stuff. All happens after the exams and grad ball, but before they receive their exam results and college offers.

CW: references to past trauma and disordered eating, anxiety, crying, angst (comfort will be in Part Two)

PART ONE OF TWO

The chair didn’t have a back, so Shayne’s shoulders were pressed against the wall. The music in the shopping centre had turned to complete white noise at this point, blending in with the sounds of customers shuffling about, hangers being slid onto railings, cash registers clicking open and shut. The worst of all was the sound of toddlers whining for the justified reason of being torn away from their cartoons and toys, only to be dragged about town for hours, with only the promise of a shitty balloon and a Burger King at the end of the day.

He hadn’t realised how hard he’d been clenching his jaw until it suddenly popped inside his head, making his back teeth grind and slip. He sank forward on the stool and cradled the side of his face in his hand, begging the ache not to travel deeper into his head. He already had so much tension in his stomach and chest that breathing had grown uncomfortable, though he hadn’t realised it had gotten quite so bad until he was left alone outside the changing rooms.

His heart was pounding, and his limbs tingled with adrenaline, like he was running away from something he couldn’t see.  

There were less than twenty-four hours to go until the first round of college offers went out, and although they were freaking out too, Charlie and Rin seemed to be able to keep themselves occupied. The shopping trip was supposed to be about getting ready to leave for college, but Shayne suspected it was a distraction.

Fuck, there it went; the tension in his jaw sprouted lightning bolts of pain through his skull at the thought of what would happen the following morning. The Aldridges had promised the same thing to him that they’d offered to Felix and Elliott in the past; financial and familial aid for as long as he was in formal education. The way Ryan had mentioned it, it seemed as though it was a given. As though him going to college was a given.

But what if there was no offer?

Shayne had to bite his lip to keep it from trembling. The knots in his stomach seemed to bunch up tighter. If the Aldridges would only help and support him if he got into college, there would be nothing to stop the Devines getting their (literal) claws back in him.

“Hey, what do you think of these?” Charlie asked, suddenly appearing from around the corner without his jacket and without his shoes.

God, he’s perfect, Shayne thought, swallowing hard against the pain in his throat and his chest. That should have been your first hint. Nice things aren’t for you. You’re good for one thing and one thing only and that’s –

“I wasn’t sure of the colour at first, but they’re growing on me.”

Shayne realised Charlie was asking about the light blue jeans he was wearing, with the red cardboard tag still attached. He was also trying on a navy-blue knitted cardigan, with two of the four buttons closed, but by the way he was glancing down at his legs and twisting his calves in different directions, he was asking specifically about the jeans.

“Yeah, they’re alright,” Shayne said quietly, sitting up and releasing the hold on his jaw.

“Only ‘alright’?” Charlie turned to the side to examine himself in the full-length mirror at the end of the row of fitting rooms. “Is that code? Does that mean you hate them?”

“What?” Something twisted in Shayne’s gut at the quiet despair buried in Charlie’s tone. It was like the dark feelings inside him were creeping out and infecting his friends. “No, I just – I’ve worn the same outfit every weekend for the last three years, Charlie. I’m not exactly qualified for this.”

“I know what you mean,” Charlie admitted, his palms grazing gently over the thighs of the stiff jeans. “That’s sort of why I wanted to get some new stuff for college. Re-invent myself a bit. Can’t be the hoodie guy forever, I guess.”

“I like your hoodies,” Shayne mumbled, without really meaning to.

“I know you do.” There was a warm smile on Charlie’s face, and it made Shayne wince internally. “But if I’m wearing them less, it means you can wear them more.”

The feeling in his stomach was far from the light, fluffy sensation he used to get from Charlie’s smile. Are you going to leave your hoodies with me, Charlie? When you go off to college and I go back to -?

“Charlie Bear, you look so cute!” Rin gasped, appearing on the opposite corner. She was trying on a pair of floral pants and a blouse, and her hair seemed to have fallen loose while she’d been changing. She looked more like a young teacher than a student about to start college.

Charlie saw her in the mirror and turned around. “God, so do you. I never thought I’d see you in any pattern other than stripes.”

“Hey, shut up,” Rin laughed. “I never thought I’d see you without scuffed Converse and a hoodie.”

Charlie glanced at Shayne. “That’s literally what we were just saying, huh?”

“Yeah,” Shayne nodded. He awkwardly got to his feet, so as not to be the only one of them that was sitting down. He shifted his shoulders inside his leather jacket, suddenly conscious of the fact that they could also have been calling him out on his predictable fashion choices, but weren’t.

“I’m still not sure about the light blue denim with the cardigan,” Charlie mused.

Shayne cleared his throat, panic building up in his head the longer he stood there without saying anything. “If you like them, you should get them.”

Charlie frowned, despite the look of pleasant surprise on his face. “What? Just the jeans, or do you mean the cardigan, too?”

Shayne shrugged. “Both.”

“I think so, too,” Rin said, folding her arms as she watched Charlie turn back to the mirror. “Add a little pair of brown boots, and you’ll look like a cowboy-slash-bookshop worker.”

Shayne heard Charlie laugh, but didn’t quite catch what he said back to Rin. He felt his stomach growl quietly, untying itself from one knot and immediately twisting into another in the opposite direct. His throat didn’t seem to want to let him swallow.

Fuck. Why did he feel so lonely right now? He’d been alone for years, never even entertaining the notion of friends, never mind a boyfriend too (the word still made his insides quiver), and maybe he’d have been better off without either. When he’d had nobody, it was easier to accept the fact that he’d never make it out into the real world.

When he’d had nobody, he didn’t have to think about anybody leaving him behind.

“Sorry, Shayne, we’re taking forever; you must be so bored,” Rin said, catching his attention by picking up a baseball cap that someone had left on the opposite seat, tag still attached.

Shayne’s spine stiffened. Rin placed the cap on his head, smiling at him as she finished tugging it gently into place.

“We should find somewhere to eat, once we finish up here,” she suggested. “Are you hungry?”

The back of Shayne’s neck prickled, as though Madelyn were already standing right behind him, cold fingers clutching his shoulder as her words moved breathlessly past his ear.

Are you hungry, you useless little runt? Isn’t it about time you put your existence to good use? Shouldn’t you stop draining the world of things that aren’t meant for you? Why can’t you be more like your mother?

He wasn’t sure why he had put a hand over his own mouth, until he felt the tension squeezing his throat, and then he was glad of it, because the scream died behind his palm before he could voice it. His stomach rolled, stopping just short of making him gag.

You haven’t stopped eating since you were born.

“Shayne? Babe?”

Are you still hungry, Shayne?

The screaming in his head tapered down his throat, making his ears ring, and all that made it past his lips was a simple, “No.”

He grabbed the cap by the peak and flung it back at the seat.

The motion was so quick and unexpected that Rin took a step back from him. In the quiet seconds that followed, Shayne got the feeling he’d stuck a needle in the air and let something leak out of it. Something important. Something he didn’t have a grasp on because it was for fun, normal people, and he was never going to be fun or normal.

He swallowed, trying to ignore the ache spreading through the pit of his stomach as he glanced down at the ground, sensing Charlie and Rin watching him. His jaw was twinging as his teeth began to clench together.

“Shayne?” Charlie asked softly.

“What?” The tone of his own voice took Shayne by surprise, and so did the tears that he felt drop from his chin.

“What’s – what’s wrong, lovely?”

“I don’t want to go back.”

The undiluted confusion and worry that had suddenly drained the excitement from Charlie and Rin was enough to make Shayne’s ears start to ring again. He could barely believe he’d said the words out loud, and he couldn’t imagine what they’d sounded like outside of his own thoughts.

“Go... go back where?” There was pain in Rin’s voice, like her words were being wrung out of her. “All I - all I asked was if you wanted to go for food.”

Shayne sighed shakily and wiped at the tears that had already streaked his face. He took a step back, ears ringing again, craving space between him and his friends. “I’m n-not hungry, so, um – I’ll just – I’ll catch up with you later.”

Tears started welling in his eyes again as he turned to leave. He heard Charlie say his name, and then Rin telling Charlie he couldn’t leave the shop in the clothes he was trying on, and then his friends fizzled out into white noise and blurry white lights and you’re good for one thing and one thing only -

[noladyme]

The Crown Princess of Charming - Part 1

Welcome to Charming - its name says it all. Cat needed a fresh start; and though she hadn’t planned on that being in the arms of the crown prince of this little town’s bikerclub - that was what happened. This Charming CA would either be the death of her - or a whole new life. 

This story is obviously non-canon. It will include characters from multiple seasons; some of them having never met on the show. In this universe, Tara didn’t come back from Chicago. I’ve done this to get the story I wanted.

I’ve also decided to give the protagonist a name in this story. I hope you’ll enjoy reading it.

1

“Move, you goddamn piece of shit!”. My car had stalled just a few yards before a sign that read Welcome to Charming – our name says it all. So far it hadn’t been very charming at all. Multiple cars were passing me and blaring their horns. “Do you think I just decided to park here?”, I yelled at a white Honda, with a blonde behind the wheel. She gave me the finger in response. “Shit!”.

I heard a roar of engines behind me; and a leather clad man on a motorbike pulled up next to my window. “You found a hell of a place to break down, luv’”, he said, with a Scottish drawl. “Yeah, thanks. I hadn’t noticed”, I sneered. “Pardon me, I was just stating facts”, he smirked. I frowned. “Sorry. I’ve just had a long ass drive”, I mumbled. “Mind if we take a look at it?”, he asked. I gestured for him to go ahead; and stepped out of the tired, beat up car; that had been my home for the last 4 days – driving from Chicago, to my new home in the town I’d chosen by its name alone. Charming.

I needed something charming at this point in my life – the last few years having been chaos – so I’d thrown everything to the wind; and had basically run away from the city, when I’d applied for, and been offered a job at Charming Middle School.

Behind my car, two more mc’s were parked – one of them a tall bearded man who sent me a friendly smile; and the other a blonde, lean guy, wearing a white t-shirt and white sneakers. Interesting choice for riding a motorcycle, I thought. All three men had the same patch on their backs – a skull-headed reaper. The writing said Sons of Anarchy – California.

The scot had opened my hood, and was looking into the steaming entrails of my car. He let out a long whistle. “When was the last time you checked our oil, luv’?”. I decided to ignore his choice of nickname for me. “I have no idea. I just bought it a week ago; haven’t really done anything but drive it”. He smiled and shook his head. “Jackie!”, he called. The blonde man looked up; and took of his sunglasses – revealing a pair of piercing baby blues. “We’re gonna need the tow-truck”.

The blonde got off his bike, and joined the scot at the front of the car. “Shit”. He drew out the word, ending it with a full-on laugh. “Darlin’, you’ve killed it”. I sighed. “Great…”. “Were you going far?”, he asked. “Charming was my destination; but I didn’t even make it past the sign”. I ran my hand through my hair. “Shit!”.

Blonde guy called out to the bearded biker. “Ope! Call TM. Get Rat out here with the tow”. “We can’t leave her here, on the side of the road”, the third man answered. Blondie chewed his lip. “You up for a ride?”, he asked me. I was caught off guard. “What?”, I asked. “We’ll get your car back to our shop. You can wait there for it; and figure out your next step”. I shrugged. “Yeah, why the hell not”.

Blondie walked up to me and stuck out his hand. “I’m Jackson. Scottie here is Chibs; and the kind man calling a tow-truck for you, is Opie”. I took his hand and shook it. His grab on mine was firm, but gentle. “I’m Cat”, I said cautiously. He smiled brightly at me; a glint to his eyes that made me blush slightly. “Welcome to Charming”, he said. “Now, come on”.

He handed me his own helmet; and got on his bike; patting the seat behind him. I grabbed my purse from the front seat; leaving my keys on the left front wheel. Welcome to Charming, indeed, I thought, and got on Jacksons bike with him, looking for something to grab on to “You’re gonna have to hold on to me, Cat”, Jackson smirked. I put my hands on his waist – noticing his firm and muscular frame – and he started up the bike. The force of the engine between my legs made me jump a little; and I heard Jackson chuckle in front of me. “Don’t worry, I got you”. He revved the engine, and we rode in to town.

—

We drove into a big lot about 10 minutes later. I noticed a large amount of motorcycles; and more bikers clad in leather. They all wore the same patch as the three men I’d just met – though some said Nevada. There were two large buildings; one was an auto shop – Teller Morrow – and the other seemed to be some sort of a clubhouse.

Jackson halted his bike at the end of the line of motorcycles; seemingly a spot reserved for him. I climbed off, almost stumbling; and he grabbed my hand to steady me. “You good?”, he asked. I nodded.

A tall middle-aged woman, with an amazing rack, came out of the office of the auto shop. “Jax; Clays been looking for you”, she said. Jackson smirked, and backed his bike into his spot. “What else is new?”, he said. The woman kissed his cheek. “I’m picking up the kid in a few. You need anything at home?”. “Milk. And coffee”, Jackson answered. He looked towards me. “Ma; this is Cat. Her car stalled just by the edge of town”. The woman looked at me; her eyes enquiring, but mostly friendly. “The one Rat and Juice went out for?”. Jackson nodded.

She shook my hand. “Gemma Teller”, she said. “Cat Rose”, I smiled. “You’re the new teacher down at the middle-school”, she said – more a statement than a question. I nodded. “Yeah, I am. How’d you know?”. “Gem knows everything”, the biker named Chibs said; and kissed Gemma’s cheek. “Hi, mom”.

I chuckled. “You seem a little too young to be his mom”. “Around here, I’m everyone’s mom”, she answered. “Though my only biological kid, is the cheeky blonde you rode bitch with”. I took that as meaning Jax was her son. The cheeky blonde sent me a smile. “Gemma will take care of you from here on”, he said. “See you around, teach’”. I smiled in return; and Jackson walked towards the clubhouse.

I followed Gemma into her office. “What’s the Sons of Anarchy?”, I asked. “Sweetheart, stick around long enough, you’ll find out”, she said. “Coffee?”. “Yeah, thanks”, I smiled.

I didn’t see any of my new biker friends the rest of the day; as my car arrived not long after we did. A mohawked Latino named Juice, of all things; informed me that my cooler was shot; and I needed a completely new starter. None of this made any sense to me; as I didn’t know anything about engines – but looking at the costs of repairs needed to have the vehicle function again; I decided to sell it for scrap.

“Too bad, honey”, Gemma said. “I had one of those as a teenager”. “You wanna buy it?”, I grinned. “I wouldn’t be caught dead in it”, she answered, and lit a cigarette; offering me one. I accepted. “Juice; is Tig still selling his old chevy?”. “Yeah, he hasn’t gotten a buyer yet. I think it’s ‘cuz it smells like wet dog”. I shook my head. “I won’t be able to afford it; with or without the smell”. Gemma winked at me. “I’ll get a you a good deal; and you can make payments”. I smiled. “I’m gonna like this town”. “We all do”, she smiled back.

—

Gemma gave me a ride to the motel I was going to stay at, until I found a new place. I got my four boxes and two suitcases out of her trunk and backseat; thanking her for all her help. “It’s me who should be thanking you. The school had been looking for a good arts teacher for over a year”. “I’m taking over 6’th and 7’th grade English as well”, I said. She laughed. “Mrs. Bloom finally decided to retire, huh?”, she said. “She taught both me and Jackson”. “Wow…”, I grimaced. “I’m not that old”, she said. “That’s not…”, I began. “Just pulling your leg sweetheart”, she smiled. “See you around”. She drove off, and left me to settle in to my new temporary home.

I spent the evening scanning the newspaper for cheap rentals. Money was scarce; but I knew the motel needed to be short term – especially after noticing the thin walls inability to hide the sounds of my neighbors having kinky sex. Some woman kept screaming Yes, Daddy!; making it difficult to concentrate on my apartment-hunting .

In the evening; after ordering a pizza; I decided to take a shower. I let the water run for a bit; before stepping in – trying to ignore the metallic smell of it. Washing 4 days of roadtripping off my body; I finally felt clean enough to face my new situation.

I’d left Chicago in a hurry; leaving my furniture, and only bringing my most cherished belongings. I wanted to get as far away from the city as possible; but a ticket to Hawaii was out of the question on my teachers’ salary – and I wasn’t ready to go back to dancing at clubs. Most of my last cash had been spent on the now dead Ford; that I’d sold for scrap through TM.

Chicago wasn’t my home town; but I’d thought it was the place for me. I’d been proven wrong, when a relationship had gone wrong. Very wrong. I’d needed to get away from the guy in question; as his possessive nature throughout our relationship had ended up scaring me. Trying to get a restraining order hadn’t worked due to his own contacts within the court-system. I wanted a new life. Maybe Charming could be the base for that.

Stepping out of the shower; I wrapped myself in a towel. There was a knock on the door, and I went to open it. Outside stood Jackson; a grin the size of the county on his handsome face. “You’re not pizza…”, I said. “Not the last time I checked”, he chuckled. “You left behind some paperwork at TM”. I looked down at my lack of clothing. “I should get dressed”, I smiled. “Come on in. Sorry about the mess”. He stepped inside. “It’s fine, darlin’. You should see my place”.

I grabbed a pair of pajama bottoms, and a tank top from an open suitcase; and went into the bathroom. “Do you usually order pizza in just a towel?”, he called after me. “Only if the delivery-guy is really cute”, I called back. Shit… now you’re flirting with the biker. Good one, Cat. “I’ll have to change professions”, I heard him mutter.

I stepped back into the room, fully dressed. “What’s the paperwork?”, I asked. He handed me an envelope. “Just a signoff for the scrapping of the car”, he said. “It’s too bad. My mom had one of those back in the day”. “She told me”, I smiled. “Coffee?” He smiled. “Nah, sorry, I gotta run again”. “Too bad”, I said. Dammit! Stop, you idiot.

He chuckled. “It’s good to have some fresh blood in town. I hear you’re starting at the school. You’ll be teaching one of Opie’s kids. Ellie – sweet kid”. I signed the papers he’d handed me, and gave them back. “I’ll remember to give her good grades”, I said. “Yeah…”, he answered sadly. “She’s been through it. Her and Kenny both. Their mom died a year back”. “I’m sorry to hear that”, I answered earnestly. “Donna was a good mom. And a good old lady”, he said. “What’s that?”, I asked. “An old lady? Shit, you are new in town”, he smirked. I shrugged. “Just not used to biker lingo”, I winked. “I’ll have to get you used to it, then…”, he said with a smile. I chewed my lip, a rush of heat going through my body.

He remembered himself. ��The car – the one you’re buying”, he said. “Tig will be down at the shop tomorrow night. You can pick up the keys then”. I exhaled; trying to calm down my budding crush on the gorgeous man in front of me. “Thanks. I’ll be there. 7 pm good?”. “We should be done with church by then”, he said. “Tomorrow’s not Sunday”, I answered. He chuckled. “Not that kind of church”. I narrowed my eyes playfully. “Biker lingo…”, I said. “Biker lingo”, he smirked.

We stood there for a while, both unsure what to say; before Jax broke the silence. “Tomorrow; it’s Gemma’s birthday. There’s gonna be a party at the clubhouse”, he said cautiously. “If you wanna stick around for a while…”. “Maybe”, I smiled.

“Yes Daddy! Slap that ass!”, we heard from next door. We both laughed. “If I’m not mistaken; Tig might be right next door. But it’s probably not a good time to disturb him”, Jackson said. “I’ll wait”, I agreed. “See you tomorrow?”. “I’m looking forward to it”, Jackson winked; and walked out the door; giving me a final grin; before closing it behind him.

Cat. You can’t have sex with the biker, I told myself. But the warm sensation streaming though me, told me I’d probably have a problem sticking to that, if I had the opportunity.

—

The next day I slept in; enjoying the feeling of being in an actual bed for the first time in days. I did some light shopping for groceries – the fridge in my motel room not being very big. The people I met seemed friendly enough, though a bit standoffish. I figured it was because I was new in town.

Walking back towards the motel; a group of bikers rode by – one of them being Opie. He lifted a hand in a wave at me. I noticed that the bikes were ridden almost in a procession; with a leader in front; and everyone else keeping to their assigned position in the group. It was led by a grey-haired man with a prominent jaw. He looked at me, and nodded. I nodded back.

Back in my room, I had a light lunch; and decided to figure out what the hell one wore for a birthday party at a biker club. I figured some skinny jeans and an off the shoulder, black t-shirt would have to do. Putting on my favorite necklace – a silvery hand with an eye in the middle; a Hamsa symbol – I let my hair hang lose; and put on a little makeup. Black cat eye; and red lips. It usually did the trick. You’re actually dressing up for the biker now, I smirked at myself.

I was early; so, I tracked down a coffee shop to sit and read a book. My shoulder bag usually had at least one volume in it. This week, it was American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. I was completely concentrated on my book; when suddenly Chibs and a large curly haired man stepped in to the shop. “Well, look who we have here!”, Chibs smiled. “Bobby, this is the young lady who killed her car just outside town”. I grinned. “Thanks”, I said. “I needed a reminder of my bad mechanic skills”. “I aim to serve, madam”, the scot grinned. Bobby stuck out his hand. “Welcome to town, my lady”, he said; and kissed my hand chivalrously. “Careful Bob. VP’s got his eye on this one”, Chibs said. “What’s that supposed to mean?”, I asked. “Don’t worry about it”, Bobby grinned.

I took a sip of my coffee, and shook my head. “What are you doing here?”. “Coffee run for church. It was a long night”, Chibs winked. The man behind the counter handed over some coffees to Bobby; who pulled out his wallet. “Your money’s no good here”, the barista said. Bobby nodded. “How’s your mom?”, he asked. “Much better, thanks”, the man answered and smiled. “I’ll pay you back”. “We know you’re good for it, Gary”, Chibs said. He looked at me. “See you later?”. I nodded.

The bikers left the shop; and drove off towards TM. The barista walked up to me with my check. “Welcome to town”, he said warily. “Look… Samcro; they’re a part of this town; and they do a lot of good. But they’re in to some pretty bad stuff as well. Be careful”. He didn’t wait for an answer; but just went back behind his register. I frowned, and tried to wrap my head around his words. I paid Gary, and left the shop myself.

I decided to do some light sightseeing. It was Saturday; so most of the small shops closed early; but I made my way to the middle-school that would be my new place of work the coming Monday. The trek was a bit longer than I’d anticipated; so I was glad that I had a newish car set up for me. The building wasn’t large, but I figured it was large enough for the amount of kids in the area. The look of it gave me some peace of mind. It would be an easy start, I thought. And I was looking forward to it.

—

Walking back towards TM, I stopped by a florist who was closing up. I got a nice bouquet for Gemma, and walked into the auto-shop lot. The place was bustling with people. At least 20 bikes were parked in the lot; and everywhere people were shaking hands, and grabbing wrapped presents out of their cars. The men were all clad in leather; except for a man in a sheriff’s uniform; and the women were mostly wearing miniskirts and dresses – their boobs on display as much as possible.

I didn’t recognize any faces, and felt a bit anxious, before someone grabbed my shoulder. “Hey, darlin’”, Jax was beaming at me. He leant in and kissed my cheek; his stubble and short beard scratching my chin in a delicious way. “I’m glad you made it!”. “Yeah, me too”, I smiled. He took my hand, holding it confidently. “Come on. I’ll introduce you”.

We walked in to the clubhouse. It smelled like motor oil and whiskey, and the air was heavy with smoke. It should have put me off; but I was enjoying it. It reminded me of my former profession as a  dancer, and the kind of trouble I’d gotten in to then. Jackson let go of my hand, and put his own on my lower back, leading me to the bar counter. “You remember Opie”, he said; gesturing at the tall bearded man. With his helmet off, he was now wearing a hoodie, and had a beautiful blonde on his arm. Opie shook my hand and smiled at me friendlily. “This is Lyla”, he said softly, and gestured at the woman. “Nice to meet you”, she smiled. I thought I recognized her face from somewhere, but I couldn’t make the connection. “Cat”, I smiled, and shook her hand.

Jax led me on. “Chibs and Juice, you know as well; and I’m told you already met Bobby”. The men both nodded at me. “Then there’s Happy…”. A tall menacing man sent me a warm smile. “Piney; Opies dad”; Jackson said, gesturing at an elderly man with an oxygen tank hanging from his shoulder. Jackson looked at a scrawny looking guy, and a tall heavy man standing next to him. “Those are the prospects. They don’t matter”. I scrunched my brows at him. “Trust me”, he chuckled.

We walked towards a dark-skinned, kind looking woman, holding a beautiful baby in her arms. “Hey Neeta”, Jax smiled, and took the baby from her; holding it to his chest. His face was glowing with pride. “And this is my boy. Abel”. I let the baby hold my finger, and smiled at his chubby face. “Hi, Abel”. Jacksons eyes met mine; gleaming. “Is… his mom…”, I tried – fearing the answer. “Not around”, Jax answered. “It’s better that way”, he said meaningfully. I nodded. It wasn’t the time.

Abel started fussing. Jax took a baby-blanket from a diaper-bag on a table. “Did you bring…?”, Jax said, before Neeta handed him a bottle. Jax smiled warmly in thank you. He put the bottle to Abel’s mouth. “Here you go, little dude”. He bounced the baby up and down softly. “You’re good at that”, I smiled. “My mom would have my ass, if I wasn’t”, he grinned. “Besides, he’s my little man”. I stroked a finger over the baby’s forehead. “He’s perfect”. Jax looked at me proudly. “Yeah”, he smiled.

I looked around. “Where is your mom, by the way?”. “Shit, yeah”, he said, looking at the watch on his wrist. Jackson kissed the top of Abel’s head, and handed the bottle back to Neeta. “Gemma and Clay will be here in 5”, he called into the room. “She doesn’t know why she’s here. So quiet the hell up!”. There was a rumbling of an engine outside. “Shit, they’re early!”, Bobby said. “Turn off the lights!”.

Someone hit the lights; and about ten seconds later the door opened. “Goddammit, Clay”, Gemma grumbled, as she walked in. “You promised to take me to dinner, you jerk!”.

“Surprise!”, everyone yelled; and the lights turned on again. Gemma stood, mouth agape; flanked by the grey-haired man I’d seen on the road earlier; and a black-haired man with piercing eyes, I figured was Tig. “Oh my God!”, Gemma cried out. “You assholes!”. She laughed, and began hugging the people around her. Jackson walked up to his mom; and embraced her warmly; Abel still in his arms. Gemma kissed first Jackson; and then the baby, taking him from Jax’s arms. “You guys are dicks”, she said; happy tears in her eyes. The grey-haired man – Clay – put his arm around her waist, and kissed her warmly. “Happy birthday, baby”, he said. “At least you remembered it this year”, Gemma pouted playfully at him.

She looked towards me, a sense of wonder in her eyes. I smiled, and mouthed happy birthday. She mouthed me a thank you in response; followed by a warm smile. For a second her eyes shifted from me to Jackson, and she narrowed her eyes at him; whispering something in his ear. He laughed in response, and looked at me, biting his lip. He nodded at his mom, and walked back to me.

“Do you want a drink?”, he asked. “Please”, I said, smiling nervously. “Don’t worry, babe, you’re here with me”. I laughed. “Maybe that’s why I’m worried”. He winked at me. “In that case, you should be worried. Word around the street is, I’m dangerous”. He kissed my cheek again, and put his arm around me. “Rat, get this lady a beer”. The scrawny prospect handed over a cold bottle, and I took a welcome sip of it.

Opie joined us. “You’re teaching my kid this year”, he said. “Yeah, Jackson told me”, I answered. The tall man looked a bit uncomfortable. “She’s been having some issues… It’s been messing with her schoolwork”. I smiled comfortingly. “Don’t worry, I won’t be a hard-ass”, I said. Opie smiled softly. “Thanks”, he muttered.

Jax looked at his friend. “I told Cat about Donna”, he said. Opie nodded and met my eyes. “So you get it”, he said. “I do”, I said. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help”. Opies expression warmed. “Thanks”, he said. “Cheers”, he said, raising his bottle at me. We clinked our beers, and both took a sip.

Opie looked meaningfully at Jax. “We got that thing, brother”, he muttered. Jackson frowned slightly, and looked at me. “I need to do some business”, he said, and put a strand of hair behind my ear. “Be back in a bit”. He walked off with Opie, leaving me to sit on a stool by the bar.

The black-haired man walked up next to me. “I hear you’re in need of a car”, he said, accepting a beer from the larger prospect. “I’m Tig”. “Cat”, I answered. “I know”, he winked at me. “It’s a piece of shit old chevy, but it’s better than the one you came to town in”. “Anything is better than that”, I laughed. He handed me a set of keys. “80 a month for a year work for you?”, he said. “That’s cheap”, I said, frowning slightly. “We take care of our own”, Tig said, and patted my shoulder. “By the way; if you get sick of the VP, let me know”, he smirked. I laughed again. “Sure, Daddy”, I grinned. “So the was you, next door”, he chuckled. I shrugged, and nodded.

Juice stepped up to stand on the other side of me. “Hey”, he said, giving me a crooked smile, and a lifted brow. Tig tapped him over the head. “Hands of, Juicy!”, he said. “Jax territory”. The young biker took a step away from me. “Sorry”, he laughed nervously. I shook my head, laughing. “This place is weird”, I said. “Welcome to town”, Tig said; and clinked his bottle to mine, taking a sip of beer. I joined him in the drink. We took a shot of whiskey together, before Tig’s attention went to a busty brunette in the corner. “Excuse me”, he muttered; and sauntered off, leaving me alone again.

I decided to look for a friendly face in the crowd, being a bit uncomfortable on my own. Jax hadn’t come back for his business yet, and I was worried he’d leave me alone all night. Lyla was standing with another woman, looking like they were gossiping about something. She caught my eye and waved me over. “How are you holding up?”, she asked. The other woman walked off; climbing on to Happy’s lap, where he was sitting on a couch. “Uhm…”, I began. “I just got in to town, and I’m already having drinks with the local biker gang. I’d say I’m a little out of my comfort zone”. She smiled friendlily at me. “You’ve already bagged the vice president. You’re doing just fine”, she said. “I haven’t bagged anyone”, I smiled. “He’s known you for 2 days, and already invited you to his mom’s birthday. I’d say you’re a bit more than some crow-eater”, Lyla responded.

I took another sip of my beer. “What’s a crow-eater?”. Lyla chuckled. “Ok, quick lowdown on the women in the club”, she began. “Most of the women in here, are what we call crow-eaters. They hang around the club, make the men feel good about themselves… you know”. “An easy lay”, I muttered. “Yeah”, Lyla smiled. “Some of us are what you’d call old ladies. We’re the ones who have locked our men down. See this…”. She showed me a tattoo of a flying crow on her shoulder. “This means no one but Opie touches me”. “Doesn’t it feel weird to be… marked, like that?”. I grimaced. “Sorry… I didn’t mean…”. “Don’t worry about it, honey. I get it”, Lyla responded. “This is just my way of showing everyone around me that I belong to Opie; but also, that Opie belongs to me”.

She smiled, and took my hand, squeezing it. “You seem nice, so I’ll let you in on a secret. This life… it’s not easy; but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love Opie – and his kids. He takes care of me and my boy”. She looked at me meaningfully. “But if you’re unsure about whether this is your idea of a good life; you should walk away. I mean that in the nicest way. Please don’t take it as anything else”. I gave her a crooked smile. “I’ll take it a day at a time”. She nodded.

A hand grabbed mine. Jax was standing next to me. “Hey”, he said softly. “Come say hi to my mom”. I followed him over to Gemma. “Hey sweetheart”, she said. “Thanks for the flowers. They’re beautiful”. “You’re welcome”, I smiled. “This is my husband, Clay”, she said, and the man at her side shook my hand. His eyes were deep and menacing; and I was unsure whether to be afraid of him or respect him. “Welcome to town, teach’”, he said. “Thanks. It’s been good so far”. Clay nodded at me, and looked at Jax. “Did you finish that business?”. Jackson clenched his jaw. “It’s done”, he said. “I made the call”. “Good”, Clay said. “Let’s just hope it doesn’t blow back on us”.

Gemma patted his chest. “No club business on my birthday, baby”. Clay smiled at his wife, and kissed her again. “Yes, ma’am”, he muttered. Gemma looked at Jax. “Do you need me to take the baby tonight?”. Jax looked at me, and then back at his mom. “Would you?”. “You know I love taking him”, she smiled. “Make it my birthday present”. Jackson chuckled. “Shit, I’ll take back the diamond necklace then”, he said. He took my hand. “Come on, let’s find somewhere quiet”. My breath hitched, and I followed him out of the clubhouse.

We sat down by a picnic table just outside the door. Jax had brought us a pair of freshly opened beers. “You doing ok?”, he asked earnestly. “Yeah”, I smiled. “Just … a bit out of my element”. He bit his lip and looked at me enquiringly. “What element is that?”, he asked. “I dunno… I usually don’t go to mc-parties”. He chuckled, and took my hand. “I’m glad you’re here”. “You don’t even know me”, I said quietly.

He sighed. “Tell me, then”. “What do you want to know?”, I smiled nervously. “Whatever you want to share”, he shrugged. “Why?”, I asked. He looked at me with a genuine warmth. “Because I’ve been thinking about you ever since you wrapped these hands around my waist, and it sent chills down my spine”. He took my other hand, linking his fingers with mine. “Where did you come from?”.

I didn’t know how much to tell him. I was still mentally sore from my ordeal with the guy in Chicago – but his serious expression made me trust him. “Chicago”, I said. “I was a teacher there as well. It didn’t work out…”. “Why?”. I sighed. “The city can wear a girl down”, I smiled theatrically. “And there was… a guy. He didn’t know how to take no for an answer”. Jacksons jaw clenched. “What’d he do to you?”, he almost growled “At first he was fine. We had a few dates, before he suddenly proclaimed his love for me”. “You didn’t feel the same way?”, Jax asked. “No. I mean; back then, he was friendly, had a steady job… He saw himself as a catch; and I guess he was. But I just didn’t care about him like that. He was… possessive. I tried to call it off, but he acted like I’d never said anything, and continued dropping by at my school; sending me flowers; and showing up at my apartment at all hours of the day”. Jackson bit his lip. “Sorry… I guess you’re off men for a while”, he said, and met my eyes again. I smiled. “No. Just him”. “Good to know”, he muttered. “But why didn’t you get a restraining order?”.

I sighed again. “I tried… he has connections. When he didn’t like my way of handling things, he let the word spread in the school council that I had an issue with drugs”. Jax shook his head angrily. “Asshole”. “Yeah”, I agreed. “I managed to get the drug accusations of my record – but it was too late, and I was fired”. “So you came to Charming”. I nodded. “I looked at names of towns on the west coast; and Charming seemed promising”, I smiled. “There was an opening as a teacher the elementary school; so I applied – and they must have been desperate, ‘cuz they gave me the position with just a phone interview”.

He squeezed my hands again. “I’m glad you’re here”. “Me too”, I muttered.

Jax put his hand on my cheek, and stroked my temple. “So if you’re not off men… mind if I give it a shot?”. I bit my lip, trying to stifle a smile, and shook my head.

He leant in, and stroked his nose against mine. Our lips brushed each other for a second; and he kissed me. I parted my lips slightly, and the tip of his tongue met mine. He put his hand on my lower back, pulling me closer to him. He smelled like leather and some musky cologne; a warm smell that fit him perfectly – and his kiss tasted like the beer he’d been drinking, and mint chewing gum.

He exhaled deeply and pulled back a bit. “Do you want to get out of here?”, he asked softly. My body was screaming yes, but I was desperately trying to control myself. “Jax… I just moved into town. We’ve known each other for 5 minutes… I don’t think…”. “I get it”, he smiled. “I’m not expecting you to jump in to bed with me. But I do want to see you again”. “I’d like that”, I smiled.

Our lips met again. “You taste like… pancakes”, he smiled. “Is that good?”, I smiled. “It’s perfect”, he said against my lips, kissing me deeply one more time.

The door opened, and Juice stepped outside with a ginger girl. “Shit, sorry”, he smiled. “It’s fine, Juice, the table is yours. Just clean it up afterwards”, Jackson smiled. “Come on”, he said to me, pulling me with him.

“I think it’s time for me to go home”, I said softly. He looked at me with a kind smile. “You want a ride?”. I jingled the keys in my pocket. “I got a new car; remember?”. Jax groaned. “Shit; I would have loved to have these legs wrapped around me, in one way or another”. He slid a hand over my thigh; squeezing them gently.

Juice looked impatient; and Jax took my hand – leading me over to a black, classic looking Chevrolet. “Wow…”, I said. “I popped an air freshener in there for you. It had a pretty gnarly smell”, Jax chuckled. “Thanks”, I smiled, and looked at him warmly.

Getting into the car – immediately thanking Jax an extra time for the air freshener; as it was needed – I rolled down the window. “Thanks for inviting me”, I smiled at the blonde man. Jax took the hand I had resting in the window-opening, and squeezed it – winking at me. His face suddenly dropped. “Shit, Cat. I didn’t get your number…”. I grinned, and rattled of my digits, and he punched the number into a flip phone from his pocket. Who uses flip phones anymore?

Jax leant in, and planted a final soft kiss against my lips. “Bye”, he whispered, and bit his lower lip. I smiled and started up the engine. My new car purred, and I had a wide smile on my face, as I left the lot – sending a final look towards the picnic table, where Juice was face deep in the red-haired girls cleavage.

Welcome to Charming, I grinned to myself, and drove off.

—

Tag-list: (let me know if you want on it)

@wolf-lover-bookdragon

@wonderlandfandomkingdom​

[chrisevansgoodgirl]

it isn’t that hard to like you or love you. i’d follow you down, down, down

summary: ransom’s an insecure bitch TM and there’s no character development happening here. (mostly before that other ransom thing I wrote, but a small peak after bc i couldn’t resist)

warnings: sex toys. a lot. and a lot of sex. and you know, ransom always entails some weird, rough shit, so.

word count: a little over 10,300

pairing: ransom drysdale x reader

It had been years since you’d felt something inside you other than Ransom*.  (x)

*Seriously. Years.

Your relationship with Ransom didn’t have the purest start. The ski-lodge was something both of your families looked at as a restart for the year, almost a form of damage control. He needed to stop partying so much and you needed to settle down. His group included his parents, Joni, Meg, Walt, Donna, and Jacob. He told you later that they never invited Harlan because this was usually their time to get wasted and say terrible things about him.

Your group was your mother, father, his two sisters, their husbands, a few of their children, and your boyfriend, Jeremy Vanderbilt. You hadn’t invited him, however, that was your father’s doing. Why? Because he was smart. He was a businessman. And Jeremy was nowhere near as attractive as you—at least, that was what you heard Dad tell Mom one night—so, there was no chance of him leaving you for someone else.

You’d confided to your father that the relationship wasn’t going well. You’d met Jeremy in high school and yes, you’d recognized that he wasn’t the most attractive man, but he was sweet, and you just got along with him. As time went on and you discovered he had absolutely no ambition, you worried that you were just going to be stuck with a sad replica of your parents’ life.

Eventually, your father would give him a job at the family company—a position that should be yours but never would be, never mind that, though. You would be a model up until he got you pregnant, the absolute last thing you wanted right now, and then you’d spend the rest of your life bitter and unsatisfied, tolerance would soon turn to resentment and you’d probably kill him one Christmas Eve with an axe. You wanted more, you wanted exciting.

Ransom was…in a way, exciting. Though the first week you’d been made aware of his unfortunate existence, you tried to avoid him like the plague. It started when your families were checking in, which happened to occur at the same time--something you often thought about because if it had just happened at a completely different time, you might have never met the Thrombeys. You might have never met Ransom. Now, you weren't sure you believed in soul mates or anything like that, but it always just kind of seemed like fate to you.

You were trying to get out of the lobby as fast as possible, just retire to your room because the trip up there was nothing short of sickening. Mindlessly, you’d walked into Ransom and because you were an actual person, began apologizing. Since he was just a beast, not a person, he was a total dick about it.

Whatever, you had encountered that a lot. People with money were often the worst. It didn’t bother you all that much. By the time you were in your room, soaking in a bath, you had completely erased it from your mind.

You didn’t see him again until three nights later when you pretended you needed to take a call outside to duck out of a dreadful dinner. Meg was there and she was in desperate need of something to smoke, which you happened to have on you. She was nice, telling you about how she intended to start college in January after spending two years on a break to try to figure out what she wanted to do.

When Ransom appeared, he was radiating arrogance. And heavy intoxication. He instantly started in on Meg, making every comment he could think of to get under her skin. Maybe it was that you guys had been out there smoking for nearly half an hour that diffused her anger, but she refused to engage and returned inside.

At that point, he had nothing to focus on but you. He’d asked for your name and you told him to fuck off. From that moment, Ransom showed an interest in you that you simply did not understand.

You refused to play his games for a while. You liked Meg, she was nice, unlike the rest of the family. And Ransom constantly tried to antagonize her. But see, your family and his family were the only obscenely rich families there at the moment. Most people were likely in Colorado, unfortunately, your moronic father insisted on Utah. Linda was an elitist, and well, you guys were all officially best friends.

It started with joint dinners, then breakfasts, then it was every god damn meal of the day. Your mother, Linda, and Joni needed to get away from their husbands constantly. Richard, your father, one of your mother's sisters, and Walt liked cigars and card games and would disappear anywhere they could to play out some pathetic knock-off casino scene. Meg loved the children and didn't mind babysitting, something you helped with when you could. Oh, and Ransom had taken quite an interest in Jeremy.

He hadn't really been around much at the start. You'd heard he was making his way through the female staff anyway, just trying to cause as much drama as he possibly could. No one in the Thrombey family seemed surprised and they didn't comment on it at all. Your family had the decency to wait until you were all in your rooms and could gossip about it behind their backs.

But then he did start showing up. Whenever Jeremy would hug you, kiss you, or just try to touch you in any unnecessary way, Ransom would give you this knowing look. That was around the time you started trying to pull away but that was only annoying Jeremy and sometimes Ransom would find you alone and you had no excuse to leave. You would have to admit that you were scared to be alone with him. You would have to admit why.

He was gorgeous, that was why. And dangerous and had clearly never heard the word 'no' before. You wanted to be the one to introduce him to the concept but you doubted your ability to tell him no.

One night, when Jeremy came to bed drunk and very handsy, you ended up screaming at each other. He was a drunk idiot with impaired judgment so you were the one that left the scene. It was stupid, but you decided to look for Ransom. Maybe you had wanted to tell him to stop getting your boyfriend drunk or maybe you just knew you had an alibi for not returning to your room that night. Not like Jeremy would be awake any time soon anyway.

Nothing happened, not really, you made it very clear that you were still with your boyfriend. But Ransom knew how to get all the information about your life that he wanted. Surprisingly, at some point, he started telling you some things back. He hated his family and you hated yours.

Perfect match.

Now, you guys would sit next to each other at those family breakfasts and dinners and whisper condescending things about everyone, Jeremy included. One thing you noticed, Ransom was a lot nicer to Meg and you figured it was because he knew it made you uncomfortable. In fact, Joni and Meg were the only people at the whole table who you could tolerate for more than two hours. Jeremy was starting to notice your new friendship, but what was he going to do about it?

One night, which would turn out being your last night at the lodge, Ransom showed up at nearly three in the morning. You'd figured he was with your boyfriend as you were alone, but he showed up solo.

You were hardly in anything, it was late, late enough that you wanted to hit him for being there—however, manners, you assumed, were foreign to him.

Amid a snarky comment you could no longer remember, he just moved forward and kissed you. You shoved at him, walking backward until you were forced to stop at the entertainment center in the main living room. He grabbed your face, holding you there, making it impossible to pull away from him. It was then that you sort of just crumbled, you wrapped your arms around his neck, a cue for him to pick you up.

He did, grabbing one thigh at a time and hauling your body up so your exposed cunt brushed against the stupid sweater he was wearing. He set you atop the entertainment center and you dropped your hands to his pants, yanking them out of your way. His hand found your center and he groaned when he felt how wet you were.

"Damn, is that all for me?"

You snorted. "I was fucking my fingers when you rudely interrupted."

He grabbed your jaw, locking his eyes with yours. "You’re going to show me that before I leave."

Without patience, he used one of his hands to shove yours away and pulled himself out of his pants. 

You were going to turn down but he used his hold on your jaw. "Just keep looking at me, baby."

You felt his tip against your skin, he began to run it through your slit, just barely brushing your clit every now and then. "Ransom, please—"

He slipped in just barely and you gasped. The head of his cock alone was a stretch you’d never quite felt.

You eagerly spread your legs further. "Keep going."

He slid in just a little more, groaning. "Fuck, you are tight."

And he was huge, but you could not tell a guy like Ransom that. He made you keep looking at him as he continued giving you more of his cock. His eyes showed pleasure, amusement, and definitely mischief. He wanted you surprised, it was why he didn’t let you look. You thought several times that you truly couldn't take any more of him but you knew that letting him know that would just get you that smug smirk, so you kept your mouth shut.

He gave you all the time you needed to adjust to him. He kissed you until you were the one bucking your hips and squirming. Then he fucked you hard and rough, and it was disgusting. He used you like you were a doll, whispering filthy things in your ear and sometimes making you say some back. He pulled your hair and choked you.

When you could hardly keep holding on to him, he decided it was time to go. He scooped you up and carried you to your bed, and didn’t cover your body or clean his cum off of you because he wanted Jeremy to find you.

Which he did, and by the time you woke up the next morning, everyone was packing. Jeremy had told your family about it and everyone knew immediately that it was Ransom. Your parents were furious, your aunts were entertained, and Jeremy was heartbroken. You’d never been a cheater so you had no idea what the hell to say to him. It didn’t seem like he’d wanted you to try anyway so you just shut up while everyone around you moved to get out of here quickly.

When your mother and her sisters went to lunch, you decided to head down to one of the many coffee shops. You took your youngest niece with you because she couldn’t help pack and you hardly wanted to be alone. With some coloring books and a wide collection of colored pencils, you guys settled in.

She was telling you all about her favorite tv show as you sipped on a latte. You’d order her a hot chocolate that she’d already downed like the demon she was. 

As you looked up to ask a server for another hot chocolate, you spotted Meg. She waved at you and you were just hit with this terrible idea. You told your niece to stay at the table and you would return with more hot chocolate. After a little small talk with Meg, and a dismissive hello from Linda, you’d asked if you could borrow Meg's phone. Per your lie, your boyfriend was supposed to meet you and your niece but had yet to show and you’re phone had died.

You slipped outside and searched for Ransom’s number. Thankfully, even though she clearly hated him, she had it. You pretended to make the call and then headed back inside. You returned to your table with some hot chocolate and sat back down to color again. Everything was normal, you had not made any irreversible mistakes as of yet.

Emphasis on yet, however. When you guys returned up to the room, Jeremy was on the phone trying to get a separate flight from the rest of you. As soon as he’d seen you, he headed out onto the balcony and slammed the door shut behind him. Good.

You disappeared into your bedroom, he wouldn’t dare step in there. You slipped into a cream-colored lacy bodysuit that actually covered nothing and hopped onto your mattress. You took several videos and faked even more orgasms, your only concern was that the videos looked good. Ransom had said he was going to watch you touch yourself before he’d left. Maybe he’d forgotten, but you didn’t exactly want him to.

You weren’t sure you had a winner but you had to stop when your father banged on your door and gruffly told you it was time to leave. Later, when you located your favorite video, you sent it. No name or explanation. You just included: you’re welcome. Blocking your number, by the way. Xoxo

Three days later, once you were home and back in your apartment, just trying to work and avoid the embarrassment of all your friends knowing you’d cheated on your boyfriend, there was a knock on your door. No one knew where you lived, it was a small, cozy place not meant for anyone but you.

Opening the door, you were not expecting to see Ransom there. "You didn't say goodbye."

You snorted. "I would have assumed you would be used to getting fucked and then forgotten about."

He smirked before glancing around. His expression soon showed his distaste. "Are you poor or something?"

"It’s meant to keep away the rich."

"You know, I woulda called..."

But you’d blocked him. "Some would take that to mean that I just didn’t want you to come at all."

"Well, I don’t much care about what other people want."

You’d been living together a month when he had located one of your toys. You thought he’d be excited to bring something in for just a little extra when you two were fucking. Nope, you were very wrong.

He was irritated beyond comprehension. He took your favorite shower toy—the one with a suction cup—stuck it on a kitchen chair and made you sit on it. For hours. Not allowed to move or touch yourself. All while he told you what he would do to you. You know, if you were a good girl. Which, according to him, you were very much not.

He’d then proceeded not to fuck you for a week. Seven motherfucking days. Despite your best attempts. Joining him in the shower. Blowing him in the Beamer. Sending pictures. Leaving voicemails begging him to let you feel him inside of you. Not a thing could crack his resolve.

Well, except you pouting about it on that 7th day. It was Christmas. You were watching Cartoon Network, waiting for the bests. Thinking back, you were sure it was in addition to the stress he felt over having to deal with his family. But whatever, he’d still fucked you and you’d still been three hours late to the annual Christmas party. 

He’d proudly told everyone it was because your cunt was the only present he’d wanted and didn’t care when you nearly choked on your wine because of it. Donna tried to throw a chair at him afterward, imploring him to consider the children present. Not that Jacob had even heard, as he was too busy on Twitter. He did live stream the fight, though, claimed it got turned into a meme.

Even though Ransom didn’t tell you why you weren’t a “good girl”, you’d figured it was his insane pride. Ransom would be the kind of guy to freak out over their girlfriend fucking anything else, even inanimate objects. You didn’t get rid of the rest of your toys, you just tried to hide them better. 

So, the ones you thought you couldn’t part with were placed in your suitcases because you knew he wouldn’t find them. He had quickly come to terms with your extensive collection. You loved airports and loved being photographed at them, that meant suitcases were of the utmost importance to you. They lined the walls of your closet, the one he had added to his house for you when you moved in—because the idea of you two being able to share a closet was hilarious. He had twice as many sweaters as you and you had more dresses than he had scarves. In short, you guys weren’t interested in sharing closets. A house, a bed, sure. But trying to fit into a single closet probably would have ended your relationship.

Speaking of ending the relationship. You’d walked in, dozens of shopping bags in hand, finding him sitting at the table with your favorite vibrator just inches away from his coffee mug. You’d wanted to know why exactly he was in your closet in the first place! It was your closet, your suitcase! He had no right!

It took a total of three seconds before you were screaming at him. And about ten seconds for him to start screaming back. You were both fans of angry fucking, which was the only reason he’d fucked you then. Bags and new clothing was strewn all around, a chair on its side because he stood up to intimidate you, and you decided to try to kick the chair at him. He pushed it over and then shoved you against the wall.

A blink of an eye later, he had your skirt pushed up and your underwear pulled out of his way. He indelicately thrust into you until you were so, so, so fucking close. But he’d just kept saying wait for me, baby. Just wait a little longer. I want to feel it together. And you being stupid, believed him. You were just about to slip, despite your sheer desperation to experience the pretty picture he was painting, when he pulled out. He stroked himself several times, leaned over to bite down on your shoulder, and then he spilled out onto your skirt, your thighs, and the fucking floor.

He kissed your shoulder, then turned, tucked his cock back in his pants, and left. Oh, but not before he grabbed the vibrator. You didn’t speak to him for eleven days and he didn’t seem to care too much.

This was at the same time your parents were doubling down on their efforts to make you leave him. They constantly introduced you to their friends’ children, men your age who were kind, smart, and a lot less spoiled and entitled than Ransom. 

Honestly, that tenth night that you’d fallen asleep alone, you actually considered listening to them. He must have known something was up that morning, because he did actually know you and care about your feelings even if he didn’t act like it. You hadn’t said or done anything differently, you just took your coffee and left for another brunch with your parents.

When you returned to the house, he wasn’t in the living room. That was where he’d been most days, just reading the newspaper and pointedly being okay with your silent treatment. You briefly thought that if he wasn’t there, then it wouldn’t be so hard to pack a few bags. Maybe if he was going to be gone for a few hours, you could get a few great professionals to pack up your closet before he even knew what you were planning.

But then he called your name from the kitchen. You went if only because you were curious. He handed you a diamond necklace, said he was sorry for ruining your skirt. You were utterly speechless. Your skirt? He was apologizing about your skirt?!

You took the necklace but didn’t say a word to him. That night, he’d come home later than you would have wanted, but at least it wasn’t 3 am. He didn’t try to speak first, didn’t look for your permission. He just climbed into bed and pulled you into his chest.

The following time was more than just wounded pride. Okay, it was all wounded pride, but it was on a severe, personal level. Your parents were still trying and you had to tell Ransom. Why? Because one of his female friends that he used to fuck told him that you were out with Maximus Brandt, a “mutual friend” of just about everyone, even though, in reality, no one could stand him. You included. And well, he and Ransom... you didn’t have the time to explain their level of hate for one another.

Ransom was furious at first, then you explained the situation. He didn’t stop being furious, oh no. He instead just changed his reason for being furious. But he claimed he didn’t care. He claimed that he knew he had nothing to worry about and you told him that he was right, you wanted to be with him. You thought that was the end of the issue.

Nope, the following day, while you were at work, Ransom texted you four times.

How many god damn vibrators can a person have? 

You hadn’t read it when he first sent it, you didn’t have your phone on you. You were just there for a photoshoot, hopefully, a smooth one. Work hadn’t been great as of late, not so much because of Ransom... it was just that you knew he was insecure. He was never going to admit it, but he was terrified of losing you to someone else. Lately, he’d seen you with other people, people who—per his insane, deranged mind—stared at you affectionately and touched you too comfortably. You weren’t complaining, not exactly. See, because, in his attempt to hide his emotions, he fucked you. A lot. Hard. Always with a hand around your throat, edging you until you finally said that you were his.

You liked those moments. Hell, you even liked afterward when he would either silently hold you on top of him, head on his chest to listen to his heartbeat or when he would set you on his side and play with your hair as he answered the questions you asked about his day. Commonly, it was family drama and he would get so angry and worked up a second time that he would fuck you again. Maybe even again after that. But you didn’t actually like the idea of making him feel like you weren’t completely committed to him.

So, you wanted to get in and get out. Maybe make dinner with Ransom, you planned to wear a tiny dress and tease him the whole time. You occupied your mind wondering where he would break. Inside the fancy restaurant? It wouldn’t be the first time. He loved fingering you at dinner with his family because of course, he was just that kind of asshole. Though...you were the one who hardly ever wore underwear... or maybe outside? He’d fucked you against many buildings, in several alleyways throughout your relationship.

His second text read: now I’ve found your plugs, that’s great. 

And the third: tell me where all of these things are. I’m getting rid of them. 

You didn’t even glance at your phone until your Uber was taking you home. It was like watching a murder, and by the time the fourth text came in, you were livid.

Fine, don’t tell me. I guess I’ll just have to find them.

You called him 27 times. He didn’t pick up once. You stormed into the house, straight up to your room. There was clothing everywhere, bras, panties, and corsets because he went through the dressers first. And okay, there were a few in there. The travel toys you’d gathered over the years, the vibrating bar necklace your best friend got you last year. They laid on the bed with the easier to find toys, the bigger toys, but also with that discrete lipstick vibrator that you’d hidden away in your makeup box.

He really had gone through most of your shit. "Ransom!"

"Closet," he growled.

You stormed in, shrieking incoherently when you saw your suitcases thrown everywhere. They were all opened, laying on either the floor or one another. Expensive bags were being treated like they were nothing, expensive bags that you had worked to afford.

"I’ve found 19," he informed, not bothering to turn back to you. He was moving to your jewelry box now and would be finding more. "Why don’t you just be helpful and tell me where they all are?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?!"

He didn’t respond.

"This is my closet, Ransom! This is my stuff, you have no right to be in my stuff!"

He finally faced you, eyes narrowed. "This is my house!"

You slapped him. So hard your hand was stinging sharply long after. And ran away like a child throwing a temper tantrum. It took him a moment, but he was soon chasing after you. You practically dove into the guest room before he could reach you. He wouldn’t hit you, never, but he would force you to apologize to him and you weren’t ready to do that yet.

It was definitely not your finest moment, but you just needed to cool down, think about things, plot how you wanted to proceed. You realized, alone in that room with too much time on your hands that this called for true revenge.

He couldn’t just go through your things. This wasn’t his house anymore. It had been, but then he asked you to move in. This was your shared house, just as much yours as it was his. He was not allowed to just go through your possessions. He had no respect for you or your belongings, and this wasn’t going to go unpunished.

You used two days to lure him into a calm, trusting place. He probably thought this was the worst of it: the silent treatment. You would only leave the room if he was gone and made sure to leave obvious signs about it. You wanted him to know that he wasn't preventing you from living in your house. You did, however, refuse to step foot in your shared bedroom.

On the third morning, you found an outfit in the laundry room and went shopping. The terrified look on his face when he saw how many bags you were holding was exactly what you wanted to see. He knew now that you were serious about this. But no apologies were made. Actually, he said you were acting like a brat, then left to hang out with his friends.

Brat? Not yet.

You moved freely for a couple of hours. He’d cleaned the bedroom, made sure your closet was spotless like it had been before he destroyed it—but it was simply too late. You happily stayed in the living room until you heard his car pulling into the driveway, then you dashed to the room to begin. He may have taken all your toys, but he couldn’t stop you from buying more.

You stripped naked and hopped on the bed. Little prep was needed, you’d been wet since you made the almost $500 purchase at the sex shop earlier, thinking about how angry you were going to make Ransom.

You started with a small vibrating plug and let yourself get used to that first. You could hear him moving about the house, slowly, cautiously, trying to see if your revenge was going to be easily spotted. Next, a simple, but larger vibrator that took you a moment to adjust around. You made the mental note to let him know the size—he would be livid. And finally, a vibrator for your clit.

When he knocked on the door, you were well on your way to your first orgasm. You remained as silent as you possibly could for a moment, eager for him to hear the vibrating. Then you tossed your head back and let out a moan. "Oh, fuck!"

"What...what do you think you are doing?" he demanded.

"Well," you sighed, "right now, I have a vibrator on my clit. 10 speed settings...I’m only on the third and I’m already so close."

"Y/N," he warned, "I swear—"

"And one in my pussy," you informed. “It’s so big... I wasn’t sure it was going to fit at first."

"Well, considering my cock fits, I think most things would. You know a fucking toy doesn’t compare to me."

"And a plug." You weren’t going to argue with him. "This one vibrates too. It feels so fucking good."

"Enough, open the damn door."

You turned off the vibrator inside you and pulled it out. "Can you hear how wet I am?" Slowly, you pressed it back in. You watched the toy sink into your pussy and immediately realized something. Maybe Ransom would like to watch as well... You set aside the vibrator that was pressed to your clit and grabbed your phone.

You began fucking yourself with the toy, biting your lip to keep your noises down. You knew Ransom wanted to leave but the loud, wet sounds from your pussy kept him at the door. Even when you couldn’t hear him, you just knew. He wouldn’t leave until he heard you finish.

You turned on the vibration once more and left it, picking up the other once more. You gasped when you settled it back to your clit. You were close, you knew it would just take a moment. You kept the camera aimed where you were working, no longer trying to stifle your moans and whimpers. You knew he was going to hate the sounds you were making because you weren’t saying his name with them.

"Baby?" you called out.

"You are in so much trouble," he asserted. "If you stop now, I might let you finish."

"If I don’t?"

"I swear I won’t make you come for a month."

"Clearly, I don’t need you." Okay, you were bluffing. An entire month not finishing on his cock? That did concern you, but you knew he was also bluffing.

"Open this door. Now."

"Just a second," you breathed. Your finish followed your words almost immediately. "Fuck! Oh, god, Ransom... I think these toys might be as good as you."

The door whipped open, a deafening crack filling the room. Turning your head, you found Ransom standing there, eyes wide and jaw set. He had never looked this angry.

Your mouth dropped when you saw the damage to the doorframe, you would have to call someone out there to fix it. Soon. Because you weren’t sleeping with him. Not unless he apologized and made it up to you. In diamonds and maybe a new car. "What the fuck is wrong with you?! You just kicked in the door, like, you're fucking ridiculous."

He stormed over to you, yanking the toy from your hand and tossing it on the bed. He pulled the second one from your clenching center, free hand gripping your thigh hard when he noticed how difficult it was to pull free from your tight pussy—god, he was going to miss that because no way in hell was he going to fuck you after this behavior. Finally, he pulled your plug out and you whimpered.

He glared at you.

Smirking, you held your phone out. "Watch the video I made for you, baby."

He tore it from your hand and did just that. He was already hard, you could see the bulge in his pants.

Sitting up, you reached out for him.

He slapped at your hand. "Don’t touch me."

"Fine." You laid back down, dipping your fingers into your folds.

He quickly noticed what you were doing, taking your wrist in his hand and holding it. "Stop."

You snorted, rolling your eyes.

He watched the entire thing and you knew his control was slipping, his fingers were digging into your skin—you couldn’t wait to see the bruises.

He threw your phone on the bed and turned back to you. "What the hell am I going to do with you?"

"You’ve never fucked my ass, you know that?"

His eyebrows pulled together. "You never asked."

"Wanna do it now?" You pulled your wrist away from him and rolled over, pushing your hips back to offer your ass up to him. "You can..."

"If?"

"If you apologize."

You were startled by his hand whipping across your ass. You rolled back over to face him, eyes wide. "What the fuck?!"

He grabbed your left calf and caught your right foot when you tried to kick him.

"Did you just spank me?!"

"You were acting like a brat." He yanked you down close to the edge of the bed and before you could say a word, his lips were against yours.

You had started to push him away by the shoulders but when he shoved his tongue into your mouth, you started pulling him back in. Your fingers tugged at his shirt, tangled in his hair and pulled, touched his jaw and cheekbones.

You guys didn’t make out often, the kisses were brief because Ransom was impatient and sometimes just needed to fuck you. 

He began to lay his body onto yours. You instantly wrapped your legs around him, grinding your bare pussy against his pants. He grabbed a handful of hair and tore your head back. His lips and teeth were all over your neck, moving down to your breasts.

"Ransom." Your hands found the button of his pants and you tore them open. "Fuck me."

He pulled away completely, leaving you on the bed as he re-buttoned his pants. "No."

You scoffed. "No?"

"No," he repeated. He hurriedly grabbed the toys on the bed before you could and left.

"So, you’ll take care of yourself?" you called out. "I could just use my mouth."

You heard his steps stutter, then he continued stomping away. Well, you hadn’t anticipated this turn of events, but you weren’t overly concerned. If you needed, you had fingers. If you were really desperate, you had a shower with a detachable showerhead.

For almost three weeks, Ransom would not let anyone enter the house to fix the door.

 Meaning for those three weeks, he would also sneak into bed with you. His mouth and fingers touched your pussy until you woke up. Then he would stop and just lay down next to you, refusing to let you sleep any place other than locked in his arms and against his chest.

You were furious but all of that was going to have to be placed on hold. Oddly, as much as you two fought, it never really coincided with your period. Though, you had a theory about why that was.

Ransom, control freak, had to know what was going on with your body at all times. Initially, you didn’t know what to make of it. It was always a toss-up with these rich, white men—were they going to be insanely immature about something as small as a period? Much to your surprise, not Ransom.

When you weren’t living together, he would always text you to make sure you were doing okay. If you weren’t, he would bring you food and something very expensive. When you were living together, it was impossible for him not to notice the more worrisome symptoms—the cramps, the headaches. The first two days were really the worst, you generally avoided leaving the house at the start.

That morning, Ransom found you in bed, curled up in a ball with your hand pressed to your forehead. As if that was going to ease the insane amount of pressure you felt behind your eyes. Thing was, you were supposed to be at work. That was one of the better things about only working for friends and trusted associates—they never thought you were calling in simply because you were hungover or something else even more unprofessional that was often associated with models.

"Thought you had a shoot today," he said.

"I had to cancel."

"Why?"

You didn’t answer. Shouldn’t he know by now? You really wouldn’t be surprised if he had a calendar marked with the expected dates.

"Oh."

But then, you guys had been fighting for how long? He probably missed it.

Those first few times he witnessed the cramps, he was actually immensely nurturing. It wasn’t like he had any responsibilities, so he sat with you in bed and let you lay on him, your back to his chest. He would place his hands on you and they were always so warm, you would just melt into him.

That soon changed. You had been in bed together one morning, it seemed just like any other time. But noon came and he told you to get out of bed and into the shower. You thought you were dying, you sure as hell couldn’t shower. But he would not accept that answer.

You weren’t sure why until he had the front of your body pressed to the tile wall, his hands on your hips as he fucked you so. So. So. Fucking. Slow. And after, he grabbed a few towels, set them over the bed, and laid you down to continue. You were confused and let him know, and all he said was that he’d read it would help with the cramps and the headache.

It had helped, but you figured it was a distraction more than anything. After that, it was just routine. Not that you didn’t have sex with him most nights, but he insisted on, every night of your period, fucking you until you were nearly unconscious. Those were the only nights he was gentle.

He sat down next to you, fingers brushing over your shoulder.

You recoiled from his touch. "Go away."

"Come on, baby, you know I can’t just leave you in pain like this." You heard him start to undress but made no moves to do the same. When he laid down next to you, he tried to urge you onto your back with a hand pulling on your shoulder.

"Ransom, stop. I’m not kidding."

He sighed, leaning over to kiss your face. "Let me help."

"You can help by leaving."

His warmth and the blanket you were curled up in lessened your resolve by a lot. He found it much easier to pull your shoulder away from your face, which he took full advantage of and began kissing over all of the skin he could reach.

"Ransom," you whined, trying to roll further away from him. He held you back by a hand on your hip.

"Shut up." Over the blanket, his hand slid up your stomach to your breast.

You hated that you moaned. Your brain knew you would regret this, but your body wanted nothing more than to give in to him. It was Ransom, after all, he was a complete tool sometimes but he always knew how to touch you.

He pulled the blanket down your body until he got to the hem of your sleep bottoms.

"Ransom, stop," you scolded. "I don’t want to ruin the sheets."

"Doesn’t matter, you won’t be sleeping in here anymore."

You turned your head back, catching his hand in yours. "Excuse me?"

"I said you’re done sleeping in here," he repeated. "You’ll be sleeping in our bed again."

"No, actually, I won’t."

He pulled his hand away from you and yanked the blanket away.

"Ransom!" You attempted to start sitting up but he pulled you back down by the shoulder.

Next, he worked on getting your underwear out of his way. There was nothing hot about this—you were wearing a pad because you didn’t want to have to get out of bed for a while and you were probably bleeding heavily. How could he be turned on at all?

He crawled down the mattress until he had your lower half completely free of clothing. He was only wearing his boxers now, the proof of his arousal the only thing you could focus on. You hated this, really, you did...but you knew how good he was about to make you feel...this wasn’t the worst way to deal with your period.

He didn’t want to give you the chance to argue so he quickly returned back to his spot at your back. His large hand pulled at the inside of your thigh, guiding your leg over his hips.

You tried not to want this, not to want him, but you were weak. He wasn’t all bad, you supposed. There was that time he took you to Paris for your birthday, the first one you shared with him. There was that time your parents were sick and had guilted you into taking care of them and the house while they couldn’t, and Ransom had shown up to help—forget all the snark and attitude he received from both you and your parents. And even though you were a completely functioning adult who could do anything for yourself and your career, Ransom was practically your bodyguard. Modeling was hard sometimes. People touched you, they looked at you. And you could always tell when it wasn’t appropriate. Ransom never blamed you, never told you that you’d done something to encourage it. He was unlike past partners in that way.

As he shoved his boxers down, you turned your head back to him.

"What? You okay, you need something?"

You leaned toward him further, paying no mind to the discomfort in your side at the odd angle you were turning yourself. "Just you."

He arched an eyebrow.

You set your hand to his face, fingers gliding along his cheek, under his eye, over his forehead. Why was he so beautiful? Who decided that this man should be given a face like this?

"You sure you’re okay?" he wondered, arm sliding over your waist to pull you in closer.

"My parents think that being with you is a bad decision. That's why they're doing all this shit."

"Yeah, they’re probably right about that."

You shook your head. "You take care of me."

He shrugged a shoulder. "We take care of each other. Now, are you done being sappy? I’d like to fuck you."

You huffed. "Well, that was a rare sweet moment. Thanks for ruining it."

He smiled. "Any time, baby."

Your breath caught when you felt him at your entrance. There was something different about fucking on your period. Maybe it was that you didn’t need the hour of foreplay to be able to take Ransom’s cock semi-comfortably. Or maybe it was just the misplaced intimacy of the whole ordeal. You didn’t hate it, hell, part of you was completely addicted to it.

But why would you ever tell him that? His eyes sparkled like they knew it anyway. Still, he would never have the satisfaction of hearing it.

He took your jaw in his hand, eyes locked on yours as he buried himself inside you.

"Ransom," you gasped. You grabbed his forearm, turning forward to lay your face on the pillow.

He thrust into you at a slow and steady pace. Certainly, he’d fucked you better before, but while you were so sensitive, it was just enough. His hand wound in your hair and he shoved your face down.

You moaned into the pillow as your orgasm built. You ran out of breath quickly and since he had you pinned down, you couldn’t breathe. You began thrashing against him, arms grabbing whatever part of him you could, you locked your leg around him tight so you wouldn’t be able to pull away, and you started to roll your hips back.

“Shit, baby,” he grunted. “Like it when I hold you down?”

You blurted out a response even though you knew he wouldn’t understand. You blamed the thoughtless action on the lack of air you were getting. It was almost thrilling to see where you’d get first, would you finish or would you faint? Would he even care? Would he just keep fucking you? The idea of being used like that did not turn you off as much as you wanted it to.

He did not let you up until you had come and he had gently fucked you through it. You lifted your face from the pillow, greedily taking in oxygen. He moved harder and faster for himself, but just slightly. His hand found your neck and he pulled you closer to him.

You had yet to completely catch your breath but you happily sunk unto his hold, placing one of your hands over his and digging your nails into his skin. He was wrapped around you, warm, maybe somewhat suffocating. This kind of sex was always like this, just toeing that fine line of overwhelming.

His hips stuttered as he turned his face into the bend of your neck. Several more times and he was spilling inside you, body still and cock as deep as you could take it.

He remained inside you as he slowly released your neck and began kissing over the skin there, anything to keep you as full of him as possible. He brushed his hands through your hair and whispered in your ear until he came down from his high.

You both just laid there for a moment, tired and thinking. It was clear he wanted to speak and you were now willing to listen, which were rare states for both of you, even rarer when it occurred simultaneously.

"You’ve been spending a lot of time with your parents lately."

He wanted to talk about your parents? Right now? After that? "They just got back from Scotland."

"Mhm." He leaned over to kiss you for a moment, just a soft press of his lips that was so unlike how he usually kissed you. "But usually, you invite me."

"You never want to go."

"But you always ask."

"I mean, we’ve been fighting, Ransom."

"Or maybe you’re considering other options."

You scoffed. "I’m not doing that, Ransom."

"Well, it’d be stupid if you were. You know no one can fuck you like I can."

You rolled your eyes. "Can you fuck me again? Can you shut up and just fuck me?"

"I understand where they’re coming from, why they don’t like me."

"Ransom," you groaned, shoving his hand away and turning back to the wall.

His fingers began tracing random patterns over your skin. "They think I can’t take care of their little girl, they’re just concerned."

"You know what? Your parents don’t like me either."

"My parents aren’t throwing other women at me—"

"That I know of—"

"No, don’t even try to turn this around. You were on a date with Max—"

"I was not! It was not a date." Only you two. Honestly, only you two would decide to start an argument while he was inside you.

"Megan told me what she saw—"

"And was that after or before you fucked her?"

"Don’t," he warned. "I have been committed to you since the day I met you."

You snorted. "The day you met me? Please. I’m done with this." You began sliding your leg back over but he grabbed your thigh and pulled it back.

He reached forward then, locking his arm around you and sliding his hand under your hip. Finally, he dragged himself back, so slowly.

You shut your eyes and bit your lip to keep quiet.

His hips snapped forward and your surprised yelp followed. "I’ve never dated anyone else—"

"How do I know that?" you demanded. "You’re a liar."

"I’ve never fucked anyone else, I’ve never even looked at anyone else. Since the day I met you, I knew that you were mine."

You weren’t sure if you believed that. Ransom was always complicated, you knew that from day one. You also knew that he knew a lot of women, that he liked to party, that he’d fucked most of his “friends” and that the usual routine was to do so during or after one of those parties.

He had started dragging you along with his friends about four months into your relationship. So, those first four months were always unclear to you. But prior, he would come to your apartment sometimes, smelling of alcohol and perfume and fuck you. You never asked questions and he never offered up the details. He was always gone in the mornings, so you figured that meant no strings.

The relationship change happened somewhat by force. Your parent’s lived about an hour away from your apartment, so it wasn’t often that you visited, but it wasn’t unheard of. One of your oldest friends had had a baby and she decided to return home to stay with her parents, your parent’s neighbors. You thought it would be fun to do the same, so you headed home and easily fell back into that whole scene.

Ransom texted you every day, almost every hour. You weren’t there for more than three weeks when he showed up at three in the morning on a Tuesday, wasted, pounding on the back door. To this day, it is unknown to you how his drunk ass even managed to get into the backyard.

Regardless, he only came because your friend had been posting non-stop pictures on Facebook and tagged you in one that she got of you talking to one of her brothers. Something he'd confessed after he also told you he couldn't stop thinking about you and that he missed you. Your first mistake was believing those lines.

He didn't leave until you agreed to return with him. The drive home was around the time he told you he found your apartment to be a "waste of time". It took him a total of three months to finally convince you to move in with him.

It didn't really matter at the end of the day. You didn't have evidence, but he did. This round was going to go to Ransom if you really kept pushing it. But it wasn't like he was anything near innocent.

"If you ever tell me that this is your house again, I'm leaving. Understood?"

"Yes. And you're not allowed to go on dates with other people. Understood?"

"Understood," you sighed. “Even though it was not a date. I would never date Max.”

He finally smiled. "Great, done fighting?"

You scoffed. "You went through my stuff."

"You hit me."

"I should have hit you more than once," you countered. But you didn't mean that, and you definitely shouldn't have hit him. "That won't happen again."

"I deserved it."

"No, let's just...talk about things, okay? Instead of reacting first and talking later."

He hummed. "Doesn't sound at all like us. But why not give it a shot?"

You’d wanted the house. The shit inside? Gaudy, outdated, mostly picked by Linda. You weren’t in the business of being cruel, however, you told her she could take legal possession of several things. If she wanted to buy it at the yard sale you decided to have.

It was the easiest way to get rid of Harlan’s stuff and to do so respectfully. Fans of his books who were nowhere near as rich as the 1% could still feel a connection to the late author without losing an arm and a leg. Throwing it all away like Ransom had suggested just made you feel like trash. He didn’t understand but he went along with it.

Probably because of how mad it made his mother. You’d decided to let Walt and Joni do a run through and take what they wanted, but since Linda had tried to physically assault Ransom when he told her he’d somehow gotten Marta to sign the house over to him, you were still waiting on her to extend a heartfelt and extensive apology to him. He said it was never going to come, but you figured she just needed a little convincing.

She’d shown up to the yard sale, screaming as Richard tried to reign her in. How could you seriously be selling a nightstand for $5? It was criminal. You were an idiot who had no idea how much this stuff cost. You were a scheming whore who had been planning this from day one. It was a pretty entertaining show, even Jacob agreed. He’d told you that night that her meltdown already had a million views.

Ransom was absent most of the yard sale. He did not want to talk to people and he did not want them talking to him. He showed up when he heard his mother shrieking and called the cops because he was a little bored. When they showed up, she started throwing things. It was nothing short of what you had expected, but when she started throwing things at Ransom, that was different.

She needed more convincing, you decided.

After the yard sale that only lasted three days—impressive considering Harlan was basically a hoarder—you were finally moving in. You pleaded with Ransom to hire no one. You wanted to do this with him. You wanted to pack and unpack just the two of you.

He acted like you were trying to murder him when you’d first asked, but he came around. You guys started with the closets, knowing that would be the most complex process. It took an entire day to move it all in and organize since the house was empty, you guys ended up sleeping on about twenty blankets on the bedroom floor.

Nothing was staying the same, mostly Ransom wanted to upset his family, but you just wanted to create a new home. You didn’t want to feel like you were living in Harlan’s house, you wanted to make it your own.

You weren’t taking Harlan’s room, that would be weird, and it was also an abnormally small room. The biggest room in the house was Joni’s former room, it had been empty since Neal died. Harlan refused to let anyone move anything that belonged to his son, but that was no longer an issue. It was also the only room with two closets, it was perfect.

Meg took Harlan’s room and Joni would keep hers. Walt, Donna, and Jacob were moved into one room, a decision made by Ransom. You didn’t necessarily agree but you weren’t going to start a fight with him for that subsection of the family. Especially since they were hardly ever going to be over, maybe just for the major holidays. Linda and Richard’s room under the stairs would remain but Linda was banned from the house until you felt satisfied with her attempts to gain Ransom’s forgiveness.

Not that he was actually upset with her, but he should have been! Something you did not hesitate to tell him any time you guys spoke about the issue. Regardless, any time Linda stepped foot on the property, the cops would be called.

Anything that belonged personally to Harlan, like his study, his office, the library, Ransom took special joy in taking everything out of it. He got rid of the books, the furniture, those stupid knives. He realized the books and the knives were very valuable and placed those online for bid. He didn’t want the money but he didn’t think it smart to sell them the same way you were selling everything else.

He didn’t tell you what he did with the money, but you saw a few emails a few days after the last knife was gone. He’d donated it. Ransom fucking Drysdale donated money! A few no-kill animal shelters, a couple of cancer foundations, a few domestic violence organizations, and then Planned Parenthood. Was it weird that you went to find him directly after just because you wanted to have sex with him? Like, you still knew he was a fucking asshole, but this was very nice.

The house was empty finally, save for the closets, of course. It was time to move all the boxes in and after, you guys could go shopping. That was the part you were both truly looking forward to. Ransom was going crazy without a bed, but he’d taken to fucking you against the wall, so not a major loss.

It only took about three hours, but Ransom acted like this was the hardest thing he’d ever done in his life. Well, it probably was. You were getting ready to go out furniture shopping. You were thinking of ways to talk Ransom into painting with you, not just getting someone to take care of it. Harlan seemed to be a fan of ugly wallpaper and flat colors. Also, ugly lamps, shades, and curtains. That was the first round of replacements, the furniture would be arriving within the next few days. You had to sign for so much and it was getting difficult keeping the times and scheduling, the last thing you wanted was to double-schedule anything and waste someone’s time.

You were rummaging through the unopened boxes when Ransom came downstairs. “Looking for something?”

“Yeah, have you seen my planner?”

“I think I packed it.”

“Do you happen to remember which box?”

“Keep getting ready, I’ll look for it.”

You smiled, turning up to find him texting. “Your mother?”

“Yeah,” he scoffed. “Just some more threatening. Maybe we should lift the ban—”

“No way.”

“Y/N—”

“Ransom, she tried to hit you. And then she was throwing things at you. Look, as shitty as my parents are, something can be said for the fact that they never hit me. That’s not actually normal.”

“She didn’t hit me when I was younger, don’t try to make this some battered child thing.”

“Ransom, this is our house and I don’t feel comfortable having your mother here until she understands that any sort of abuse directed at you is not okay…okay?”

He sighed. “Why is this the hill you want to die on?”

“I’m sorry that I dislike bad parents.”

“We all have bad parents,” he pointed out. “Everyone rich has bad parents because bad parents raise bad parents. It’s been the cycle since the creation of people who feel comfortable stepping on the poor to further their wealth.”

“Okay, don’t try to distract me by saying things that only an aware person would say.”

“I am aware. I just choose to ignore it. Wish you would do the same.”

“Really? Then why did you donate all that money, Ransom?”

“To get you to fuck me.”

You snorted. “Please, you know I’ve fucked you for a lot less money than that. And you’re wrong, okay? Not everyone rich has bad parents. My friend who had the baby a few years ago? Great parents.”

“I mean, I saw their house, they’re not that rich.”

“They don’t show off!” you corrected. “And don’t imply that you and I will ever be like our parents. My mother was controlling, and my father was dismissive, and Linda is insane and god, I can’t even explain how fucked up your father is. We are nothing like that and we never would be if…”

He lifted his eyebrows. “If we had kids?”

“That wasn’t what I was trying to say.”

He scoffed. “Yes, it was.”

“No, but…sure, that’s true. If we ever had kids…we would not be like that. I wouldn’t force our daughters to model or sing—did you know she tried to make me sing? Like, be an actual fucking singer. And I’m never going to try to make them be in a relationship with someone that they don’t like. You will not hit them, and you won’t…fuck our babysitter or our housekeeper or…whatever else, if we ever hire any of them.”

“Yeah?”

“But since you’re giving me that fucking smug look, you should know, there isn’t enough money in the world that could ever get me to carry your fucking children. Fucking sociopaths is what they’ll be, I’m sure. Terrible, little monsters just like you.”

“Okay.”

“Fuck you, Ransom, I’m going to do my makeup.”

He smiled. “I’ll look for your planner.”

You turned for the staircase with a heavy sigh. This was annoying because he still hadn’t said he loved you. It had been years and you had said it, and he did not, but he felt totally okay making fun of you for hinting that maybe one day, you guys would be a normal couple. Whatever, you would not let it bring you down, you would just retaliate by making him spend a lot of money.

You were just about finished when you heard him storming up the stairs. His mother? Maybe Joni. “Ransom?”

He walked into the room, holding a vibrator that he’d torn out of the box. “Are you serious?”

“Okay, that was unopened! You would know that if you weren’t some entitled child that just goes around ripping open boxes, Ransom!”

“I can’t actually believe you have this!”

“I haven’t used it!”

“Then why do you have it?!”

“Because…” you began.

He lifted his eyebrows.

“You might make me mad and I might need to repeat what I did the last time.”

“I cannot believe you would actually bring this into our house.”

“My god, Ransom, it’s not cocaine. Can we dial down the dramatics today?”

“You know what? You should keep this because I’m not fucking you any time soon.” He tossed it onto the counter and stomped out of the bedroom.

“Oh, my god!” you yelled. “You’re so fucking unbelievable!”

[black-streak]

Waiting for the Worms - In the Flesh?

Part 14

Happy New Decade present. Soo this part got split up as well since I got really long winded on some parts and now this is almost 3k and it was getting ridiculous. No warnings that I can think of here?

CLOSED list of people who deserve good things: @northernbluetongue @thethirdwheelfriend @shizukiryuu @theatreandcomicfreak @michellemagic @karategirl119 @moonlightstar64 @my-name-is-michell @mystery-5-5 @zalladane @queen-of-the-trash-planet-tm @miraculousdisapointment @dorkus-minimus @jardimazul @allthebooksandcrannies @g-arya @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @persephonescat @mycupisbroken @luciferge @18-fandoms-unite-08 @dawnwave16 @alwaysreblogneverpost @kris-pines04 @mysteriouslyswimmingfan-blo-blog @weird-pale-blonde-person @you-will-never-know-how-i-think @kokotaru @naclychilli @slytherinhquinn @clumsy-owl-4178 @ladybug-182 @darkthunder1589 @evil-elf16 @dast218 @lysslovsanime @emilytopaz @naoryllis @iloontjeboontje @thepeacetea @danielslilangel @finallyaniguana @i-like-fairytail-and-stuff @vixen-uchiha @yuulxd @bleeding-heart-romantic @magic-inthe-stars @st0rmy-w1th1n

~---~

Falling back into Marinette's body felt surprisingly gentle. It offered a sense of nostalgia from back when they use to settle in for switches back before… Well, before.

Lifting his head, Jason realized he was leaned into Marc and surrounded by the entire group all watching him wearily in a semi-circle as though to keep him from running. He had to wonder if that's what she'd been in the middle of when they swapped back. Preparing to run to him the same way he planned to hunt with Damian for her.

"What happened?" His voice came out rough and harsh around the French, having switched to English when speaking to the kid.

"Mari? Oh thank god you're back!" Chloe exasperated, moving closer to his side as Juleka spoke up.

"I thought Kagami said you lost your soulmate, but that was them, wasn't it? They're here then?"

"Did you want to find them? We can help, did you find anything out from where they were?" Marc asked next, keeping some distance.

"Horrible timing if you ask me. Must've freaked out, considering they got launched into a rogue's attack. Honestly, I can't say I blame them for taking off the way they did, or panicking when we essentially cornered them," Kagami went next.

"Ran off? Panicked? You cornered them?" Jason spoke in an almost frantic rush, "What the fuck happened?"

"Fear gas, apparently. Took us all out into lala land. Woke up to a bunch of masked guys laying all over the place. No one died, but it was a bloodbath," Juleka offered a dark smile at that, "You were gone though. Nowhere to be found, so we ran out the back door and started calling for you."

"Only when we found you, you shoved me up into a wall and started speaking in something that definitely wasn't a language you knew," Marc pursed their lips.

"Whoever they are, they stood there in a daze and suddenly tried to bolt away. Marc yanked them back and here we are. Not surprised, we are pretty intimidating," Chloe huffed, tossing her hair.

"She wasn't intimidated."

"Why wouldn't she be? Bunch of overly strong strangers crowding her in speaking in a language she doesn't understand? I'm surprised she didn't fight back more now that I think on it," Kagami gave a thoughtful hum, picking up on the pronoun use immediately and adjusting accordingly.

"She understands French just fine. It's her first language after all. English is her second. And she wasn't running away from you."

"Well then, miss know-it-all, why was she running? In a direction that was decidedly away from us," sarcasm thickly layered Chloe's tone at that.

"There's a kid in her apartment. He was shoving me out the door to go find her. She probably wanted to get back to him to make sure he didn't freak out," Jason explained, not really thinking his words through.

"Woah, what? She's got a kid? How much older than you is she?" Marc piped up.

"No, God no, not her kid, like, like a little brother or something. It's complicated. Point is, she probably felt desperate to get back to him. She wasn't intimidated by you four, hell she probably took down Scarecrow and his goons herself. Fuck, I need to find her." He rattled on at this point.

"Mari, what's going on?" Kagami finally moved closer, grabbing his hand and tilting to look him in the eye.

That's when it truly hit him. They didn't know. He never told them the truth and had assumed he never would. Had assumed his soulmate was gone forever and this particular omission would never come to light. Glancing down to where Tikki peered out from his jacket, he saw the little goddess give a solemn nod and look towards a nearby fire escape to direct him. Looking back at the people gathered around him, people who had laid their trust in him for years. Who stuck by his side all this time, never knowing the truth, looking at him with concerned eyes, he took a deep breath and prepared himself to lose them all.

"Come on, I can't have this conversation here," he gestured them forward and led the way up to the rooftops where he peered out in all directions to be sure they were alone, despite knowing the aftereffects of the miraculi made all of their senses too strong to possibly be caught unaware by a non-holder. Taking a seat on the roof edge, foot propped up against the brick and arms folded, he waited for them to gather round and settle in, either on the ledge beside him or against random pieces left up there, before he began.

"I know she understood you. She wasn't afraid or intimidated or any of those things. Wouldn't make sense for her to be. Honestly, she knows more than I do. I have no idea how she's alive. Considering she died for me three years ago."

He was met with confused looks, some more critical than others, but no one interrupted. Letting out a sigh, he decided he might as well start from the beginning.

"We switched often when we were young, but we learned to act like each other. She didn't want anyone to worry and later on, I couldn't afford for us to not switch flawlessly. No one could tell when or if we switched, though you were all aware I had a soulmate. We both lived dangerous lives. We knew the risks. Knew the consequences. We switched in the middle of her morning class three years ago, a week after her fourteenth birthday. I jolted in her seat and had a panic attack. Only a moment before, I had been held captive by the Joker. I tried to switch back, but she wouldn't let me. She held my body hostage. We'd done that before, you know. Taken an injury for the other and held on until it healed up. Been sick for one another. It wasn't that surprising that she wouldn't let me back in. And the tug calmed down, ao I assumed she was fine and going to heal up and we would switch back. Fucking stupid of me. It took a week before I realized something was wrong."

Juleka stepped in here, quiet but sure, "You're not Marinette. Are you?"

Clenching his fist, he shook his head.

"Marinette died, didn't she? She's dead?" She asked.

"Only she isn't, otherwise you wouldn't have switched today. It makes sense why you're so sure then, she would have no reason to be afraid of us," Kagami interjected before he could respond.

"I thought it was you recognizing me when you loosened your grip, but it was actually her realizing what happened, wasn't it?" Marc offered up.

"That's all good and well, but it begs the question. Why didn't you tell us?" Chloe turned towards him, slight betrayal pushing through.

Jason went quiet as they all turned to wait for his answer. How do you explain that? That the depression and guilt became too much? That you couldn't handle being treated as an outcast and stranger by the people closest to her. That you couldn't look them in the eye and tell them it was your fault that she was gone?

Tikki took this moment to come out.

"I knew. Plagg and all the other kwamis as well. He chose not to tell you. But if he hadn't, we would've stopped him ourselves. Even if he wanted to tell you, we wouldn't have allowed it."

"Why?" Kagami narrowed her eyes, flicking her gaze between her and Plagg, who had just now come out of hiding.

"At the time, we were facing an emotional terrorist. It was bad enough he could've been compromised at any given moment, was better suited to me, and had to deal with Chat all the damn time. It'd be idiotic to allow him to emotional screw all of you up. What a mess that would be," Plagg growled, looking grouchy and put out, despite a slight joy hiding in the glint of his eyes, "She's really alive?"

Tikki nodded, moving over to pull the other god into a nuzzle, "I felt it. It's definitely her."

"And after Hawkmoth was defeated?" Marc this time.

"It'd been around two years by that point. And all of us were releasing a lot of pent up anger. How well would that have gone over without the knowledge that she's alive?" Juleka cut in, saving him from having to explain.

All four of them looked to each other, having a silent group conversation, one he was left out of for once. Seemingly coming to a decision, they turned to him once more.

"So what's your name then?" Chloe demanded.

Eyebrows pinching in a weary, guarded expression, he slowly answered, "Jason. My name is Jason."

"Well then Jason, it's good to finally know who we've gotten so close to all this time," she teased.

"You're," he struggled for the word, "okay with this?"

"She's alive. Has been for who knows how long. We've worked by your side for three years now. We know you even if you weren't who we thought. Honestly, this explains a lot about some of the personality changes recently." Kagami shrugged.

"There's no use in getting upset over it now. It wouldn't help us to move forward," Marc added.

"Sure, we're hurt and annoyed and put off, but we get it. It makes sense and we're not going to hold it against you. And you heard the literal gods. You wouldn't have been able to tell us if you wanted," Chloe continued on.

Juleka nudged his side, pulling him from his shock and awe, "You know where to find her? I think I'd like to meet this new Mari."

"Y-yeah. I know where she is."

"Lead the way then," Kagami nudged him on. 

And with a small, shaky smile, taken off guard by their response, he led them back off the roofs and through the streets of Gotham towards her home.

…

Finding the place didn't take long, though he hesitated at the front door to the apartment, a shock of fear and uncertainty pulsing through for what was to come. With a nudge from behind, he knocked thrice and moved away.

After a moment, the door opened two inches and Damian peered up at him, assessing the situation and closing it an inch.

"Who are you?" 

"It's Jason," he breathed out.

The kid glared as he glared at the others behind Jason and turned ever so slightly to the side, switching effortlessly to a language he couldn't understand. A gruff response returned it and suddenly the door closed further only to open up.

"That's the same speech pattern from before!" Marc whispered excitedly.

The open floor plan of the kitchen and living room gave an open view of the dark haired figure sitting on the couch facing away from them. At his confused look, Damian spoke up.

"You need to sit down before the two of you speak. I assume you know why. You four will wait here by the door until addressed."

"Excuse me?!" Chloe gave an indignant screech.

The person on the couch tensed either and Damian growled lowly.

"We do this on our terms or you will be removed forcefully. If you're lucky, it'll be by my hand."

"Damian," the figure called, still facing away but letting off an ominous aura, as though they are aware of everything behind them without needing to see.

Damian glared and stayed in the doorway until Kagami gripped Chloe's hand and nodded their agreement.  The kid gave a huff and moved so Jason could pass. He would've just past him when he started acting up, but Jason knew better for now. Damian was closer to Marinette than any of them were and any cue from him that they were making him uncomfortable or anxious and she'd shove them out in a heartbeat. Well, the rest of them. He's not sure on himself.

Moving slowly, he moved around the far end of the couch and sat down beside her, calming himself. He could see his old body in the corner of his eye, larger and taller and way further built than it'd been the last time he saw it. A white tuft of hair curled in the front. The eyes seemed to have more green from what he could make out. His body looked very much alive. Although he was sure there were far more scars than three years ago. That was okay, hopefully she could forgive him for the scars added to her own body.

He could tell she was viewing him as well. Seeing her body as it is now, at seventeen years old and put through its own hardships and training. It felt very surreal to be sitting next to their own body, feeling like a stranger to it. No longer knowing how it would feel or react or how it moved. It was even more surreal to be sitting next to each other. Knowing that after all this time and everything they'd been through, this would be their first meeting. 

In the next minute, they would greet each other and the bond would solidify. They would either get locked in each other's body or be violently thrown back for what could very well be the last time. They couldn't know for sure which body they would settle more permanently into until they made that step though. Jason could feel the bond strengthening and vibrating between the two like a live wire, but he waited nevertheless.  This was under her terms even if he did feel like he deserved an explanation. He knew she wouldn't keep him in the dark for long, so he waited.

With a soft, almost inaudible sigh, she turned towards him at last and he mirrored her movements, meeting eyes for the first time.

Within a fraction of a second, a crackle of electricity bolted between them and they found themselves looking at the body they occupied moments before with a jolt. This time without any blackouts or confusion or yank on either of their parts. Both were glad to be sitting however as the shock wore off. As he looked at the small woman he once occupied the body of, he watched a soft smile grow on the surprisingly delicate features. How had he never noticed how she looked? He had seen that face nearly everyday for three years whether he avoided looking in a mirror or not and yet he never saw that glow to her eyes. Saw the sweetness to her smile, even when miniscule and sad. Never saw the curve of her jawline and the way her hair framed her face perfectly. How could he not notice how beautiful his soulmate was? He was in awe and he was surprised to see it reflected back at him from where he suddenly found himself looking down at her. They had moved closer as though on instinct. Reaching forward, she laced her fingers with his already partially outstretched hand and softened further as a warmth spread from their point of connection. Opening her soft pink lips, she spoke in a soft, melodic tone, one he could never manage in his time with her voice.

"Hello Jason."

"Marinette," he breathed out the name like a prayer.

Tears sprung into her eyes and with a soft laugh that doubled as a sob, she launched herself towards him, wrapping him in a tight hug and pressing her face into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Jason. You must be so confused and upset and angry with me and I'm so sorry you had to find out like this," she whispered soft enough he was sure even the trained and animalistic hearing in the room wouldn't catch it. Tightening his grip, he curled himself over her, unused to his new size, but taking full advantage to engulf her into his chest in a protective manner.

"It's okay. I. I would've done the same for you," he admitted.

Suddenly a small figure appeared at his side, tugging on his sleeve. Turning to look, Damian stood there, wide eyed and shaking ever so slightly, staring at Marinette.

"What's happening? Why is she crying? What'd you do to her, Jason?" The boy shot him an accusing look. Marinette must have warned him that upon meeting, she would possibly return to her old body and was able to spot the change when it occurred.

"She's just a little overwhelmed kid, relax."

"She's never overwhelmed. Marinette doesn't cry, what did you do to her?" he lashed out once more, expression growing in anger, but also fear.

She chose this moment to pull back, untangling a limb and reaching out for the kid.

"It's okay Dami, he didn't do anything wrong. I never meant to scare you," she soothed, her voice immediately smoothing out and the watery texture to her eyes retracting as if on command. Damian's shoulders came down from their hunched state as he eased forward into her grip, still darting his eyes in Jason's direction as he was drawn towards them.

Jason felt annoyance at her forcing her emotions back into a bottle for the kid but couldn't really say anything without being a hypocrite what with how he avoided the topic like the plague with the others. 

Oh shit, the others. Turning slightly, he caught sight of their bug eyed expressions, taking in the scene before them. Tapping on the back of her hand with the fingers still intertwined with hers, he caught her attention and felt as she steeled herself. Lifting her gaze towards them, demeanor calm and assessing, she looked over the group still in the entrance way. 

"You can come over now."