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nkirukaj · 3 months ago

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Fawning for You (19)

Pairing: Alastor x Voe (Fem!OC)

Warnings: Swearing

Genre: Angst (& Humor!)

Word Count: 3.4K

19. Your Fault

Two months. Two long and harrowing months Voe was gone.

“That’s a bad way to go too,” Angel gossiped to Cherri “Childbirth? You know my sister almost died in childbirth, it was crazy!” he nodded to emphasize the story

What was wrong with them all? They had just moved on as if she had never existed. They spoke in their same crude manner, not even acknowledging her passing. Alastor stormed in and out of rooms in silence, his anger filling the room before he entered it. She was gone and had left him with…children. Two children. Alyson, with gorgeous brown eyes and skin sometimes with little radio dials as her pupils; and….Vernon. he didn’t know what to think of his supposed son. He kept staring at Alastor as if he wanted to tell him off or thought he was better than Alastor. He was sure Voe would agree with him on the boy’s impertinence. Usually, Alastor passed him off to Niffty, who was ecstatic to have a toy to play with finally. But he couldn’t get enough of Alyson, she was a gorgeous child, reminding him of Voe in every way, she was attached to his hip wherever he went and whatever he did. Fighting the urge to kill again was quite difficult with all the hotel patrons and residents acting as if his wife’s life was not important, but he was willing, for her.

Their laughter was thunderous on one occasion, and all of them gathered in the kitchen when Alastor arrived looking for Alyson, he could hear the sounds from up the stairs.

“These kids are classic!” Angel laughed

“Love this kid!” said Cherri Bomb

“They’re so cute I just can’t” Charlie added

Alastor stood outside the kitchen, indignant at the sound of their joy. he cleared his throat “So, I see you’re all enjoying my wife’s absence,”

They all turn to him and stare.

Charlie says “Oh hey Alastor! You gotta see this! The twins are doing this super cute thing! It’s-“

“No wait! I wanna say it! I found it out!” Angel interrupted “If you touch Vernie’s nose, Aly’s nose scrunches up!”

“Oh yes! It’s so funny!” Alastor places his hands together

They look around “Well, we thought it was cute,”

“So cute that my wife isn’t around so you’re replacing her with my daughter?! It’s sickening!” His grin is menacing

Angel turns to Cherri “What’s happening?”

She shrugs “I think he’s mad,”

Lucifer rolls his eyes “Oh here we go,”

“Tell me about it,” Vaggie agreed

“You all should be ashamed of yourselves!” he points to Lucifer “Especially you!”

Lucifer puts his hand on his chest in faux shock “Me?”

Alastor stalks up to the King “If you hadn’t put the stupid idea in her head, this would’ve never happened!

Lucifer waves his hands in front of his face “Woah woah woah, I did not give her the idea. It was her idea,”

“That you decided to go along with! Both of you keeping this from me, and you encouraging it!”

“What? That was her idea too!”

“I bet you were glad to keep this from me. Wanted to see the Radio Demon look stupid!”

“Uh no! I was the one telling her to tell you, she said she didn’t want to!”

Alastor chuckles evilly “Sure you were,”

Lucifer sighs “Okay Alastor, whatever,” He waves him off, walking away

“Hm! Going to abandon your daughter once more?”

Lucifer turns back to him “No actually, I was going to my room. Are you abandoning your son like how your father did to you?”

“Oh shit!” Cherri covered her mouth

Alastor’s eyes turn black “Excuse me?”

“Yeah, I read your file ‘Al’. That’s what he called you right? ‘Al’?”

Alastor looks furious but straightens up, knowing that he can’t fight Lucifer “I am going,” then goes over to the table and scoops up Alyson “She is the only one here worth my time,” and dissipates away

Vernie sits on the table, leaning forward to keep himself up on his hands, staring at the spot where his dad was just standing.

“Come on Sam,” Niffty picks him up and drags him off the table

Angel turns to Cherri “Is it just me or is that not his name?”

“Oh look at you!” Alastor tells Alyson as he teaches her hand games “So smart! And such a cutie pie!” Alyson smiles at her dad, putting her palm out for Alastor’s game. Vernie crawls into the bedroom and up to his sister and father. He hits Alastor on the knee, looking up at him with a big smile. “Can I help you?” Vernie just laughs and smiles bigger, trying to crawl onto his father’s lap. Alastor rolls his eyes and picks his son up, holding him as far away from him as he can “Niffty dear!” she does not come immediately “Niffty! Niffty!” She comes running around the corner

“Yes sir?”

“Do please come when I call you dear. Take this,” he gives her Vernie “And off with you,” he waves her off as Vernie reaches for him with a smile

“You got it,” she giggles, dragging him away “Let’s go, Sam!”

Alastor dusts his hands off and returns to Aly “Now where were we? Ah yes, we had gotten up to two,”

Lucifer found himself wandering over to the room where Voe’s body lay still and cold. They had decided not to move her when Carmilla had declared her dead. Alastor had entered a fit of screaming rage after Voe had finally closed her eyes, while Lucifer stood in silent shock and confusion. It had been his job to make sure that nothing went wrong, and Alastor made sure that he knew it. Screaming at the top of his lungs at the confused King, he didn’t even know what had happened. Had his blood caught up with her? Had she done the pentagram wrong? Was she too stressed? He knew that he had been warning her that she could die during this process, but he didn’t actually expect her to.

“I know that you’ll come back but I need to know, what happened?” he whispered to her lifeless body

In truth, he didn’t know if she would come back, they had used angelic steel on her, it was just to cut the umbilical cord, but he didn’t know how that affected sinners, since this was something that had never been done before. Maybe he just didn’t have the power to make it so both the children and the mother could live. Perhaps that was part of the punishment of being a sinner. Do you want kids? Here, do this and you’ll get them, but in return, you die permanently? He hated thinking that he might have been the cause of her death, maybe Alastor was correct, perhaps he should dissuaded her the kids would not exist, but she would still be here.

She may have broken his heart, but Lucifer liked Voe, even if he knew he couldn’t ever have her, he enjoyed her company. She was such a dynamic person, and to see her, her body at least, lying that way, motionless and cold, was chilling. Alastor didn’t want him near this room, but he was the King of Hell, he did whatever the hell he wanted.

“Was it worth it?” He asked the body “I told you that you might die, and you did it anyway. You wanted this so badly!” Lucifer inhales deeply “Why did you need this so much? Why did you need his babies? Why did you need him?”

He stifles a sob “And now you're gone and nobody gets you.” He throws up his arms, kneels by the bed, and grabs her cold hand “You left them. Your babies, your husband, the Hotel. Why did you leave us? Why did you leave me?” he stifles a sob. “I admit it, you were right, I’m not a very good king. I couldn’t even save you from this. I don’t even know if you’ll come back,” The tears stream down his face and land on the bed “And I lied to you, I never stopped loving you,”

He choked down some air “I don’t know why but I just can’t,” he put her hand on his forehead “Please come back, please!” he begged her “I know I can’t be with you, but I need you to come back, come back to us, come back to me, I need you around,”

After his confession, he stares at her body, still motionless and limp as he drops her arm. Her lips slightly parted, he thinks about kissing them but decides against it. He didn’t want to be creepy, and he didn’t want to get his hopes up for the real thing instead. So he leaves, as stone-faced as he entered.

“Going somewhere?” Alastor asks, just outside the room Lucifer had left

Lucifer rolls his eyes, ignoring Alastor, continuing to walk

“Although I’m more interested in the place that you left,” he shadows in front of Lucifer in the hall “What were you doing in that room?”

The King opens a portal to the parlor and steps through it, not wanting to deal with Alastor’s nonsense, but Alastor simply shadows and follows him there. “What? What would you like to hear? Do you want me to tell you that I was fucking your wife’s dead body? I mean, I wasn’t but, is that what you want to hear?”

“I want you to stay away from my wife,” Alastor squints

Lucifer sighs “Are we still doing this? She is literally dead,”

“And yet you still find a way to be around her!”

“Since you care so much, why was I able to get in there in the first place?”

“Most likely because you’re a sneaky little bastard,”

The King widens his eyes “Oh I’m the bastard?’

“Get fucked,”

“I would! If you weren’t in the way!”

“Really classy, this is our King everyone,”

He crosses his arms “And your wife probably wishes she’d chosen me,”

A loud static is heard emanating from the Radio Demon, his eyes glow and his teeth are bared. He is smiling of course, but he is not happy.

“It’s all your fault!”

Lucifer is aghast “My fault? How about your fault for stressing her out!”

“You keeping it a secret stressed her out!”

“For the last time, that was her idea! And you not trusting her was not helping!”

“And as the leader, you just listen to everyone else? Excellent Kingship!” he claps sarcastically

Lucifer grits his sharp teeth “I was helping out a friend!”

“Right, by leading her to her death? Common friendship activity!”

“I warned her that she could die and she wanted to do it anyway!

“So again, you allowed your ‘friend’ to do something potentially dangerous. No wonder your wife is still with you- Oh wait!” He grins down at the King

Charlie holds her ponytail, hearing everything they’ve said “You guys, can we maybe not argue? At least not in the parlor?”

“I don’t want to hear anything from you either! You with your silly redemption project having her every which way, making her think she could somehow be better!”

“Do NOT speak to my daughter that way!” Lucifer’s eyes turn red

Alastor turns back to the King “You! Your ‘concern’ for my wife is laughable. What’s this really about hmm?”

“It’s about you not deserving her. I cannot believe she married you. You’re a terrible husband and a useless fucking father. You are just…awful!”

Alastor smirks “Well I am in Hell for a reason,”

“No, it’s not cute or funny. Voe needs to know what kind of person you are and not who you pretend to be!”

Alastor rolls up his sleeves “I don’t pretend to be anything. I am who I am, and she knows that. The fact that you’ve convinced yourself that there’s some secret hidden layer of me that you believe she’s not aware of is comical. You think she only chose me because she doesn’t know me when the truth is,” He leans down to be at eye level with Lucifer “She chose me because she does,”

Lucifer shakes his head “No no no!”

“Yes indeed,” he grins evilly “Perhaps there are some parts of her that you are overlooking yourself because she and I are not that different. So if you hate me, why do you love her?”

Lucifer doesn’t know how to answer that question, so he opens a portal to whoever knows where and steps through it.

“Come on Sam!” Niffty calls after Vernie as Lucifer walks by later

He kneels “Why do you keep calling him Sam?”

“That’s his name!”

“No, it’s not,”

She waves him off “Whatever!”

“Did his father not tell you his name?”

“He doesn’t call him by his name. He just says ‘Hey you’ all grumpy like, ha ha!” She goes and starts dragging the baby, which Lucifer promptly scoops up

“His name is Vernon,” he tells her while holding the baby. He looks into Vernon’s eyes and sees so much of Alastor, but the spots remind him of Voe “That’s what his mom named him,”

Niffty crosses her arms “Pssh, he doesn’t even have a mom anymore,”

Lucifer bounces Vernie on his hip, smiling while looking into his eyes, how could this have come from Alastor’s blood? He thought until he used his claws to scratch Lucifer’s face and then smiled about it.

Oh, that’s how.

Lucifer took it upon himself to care for Vernie, playing with him and treating him as though he were his own son. They sit in the parlor playing.

“Hiya, how are you doing? How’s your day?”

Vernie leans forward and grabs onto his nostrils, smiling all the while.

“Oh, this is so funny for you isn’t it?”

Vernie claps his hands and laughs, flapping his hands happily. He grabs Vernie’s nose.

“Well I’ve got your nose!” he tells him, Vernie slaps his nose and whimpers in worry “Okay! Here!” he pretends to give the nose back. Vernie curls up his lip.

“What? What? Did I do something wrong?” he asks the baby “You don’t want it? FIne I’ll keep it,” he pretends to take his nose again, and Vernie reaches out for it, almost falling over.

“Sam!” Niffty called “There’s my baby!”

“His name is not Sam!” Lucifer corrects her

“But Alastor said it was okay! And I wanted to give him a surprise when he woke up from his nap!” She picks up Vernie and drags him to Voe’s bedroom, where Alastor lies with his daughter, both of them sleeping. She places Vernie in between the two of them, who climbs up onto his father’s chest, snuggling between his father and his sister.

Alastor wakes from the sudden intrusion, seeing Vernion on the bed between him and Alyson. Vernie looks up at his father and smiles

“Niffty! Niffty!” she does not respond so, he picks him up like he’s something that belongs in the garbage and brings him downstairs “Niffty!”

“You woke up from your nap!” She answers from behind the bar with Husk

“You were meant to be keeping him, why was he in the bed?”

She sits on the counter “I put him there. I thought it would be cute for the whole family to nap together!” She laughs

“It’s not!” he yells at her, Niffty’s smile drops and so does Husker’s jaw “You do what I tell you, not what you want! Are we clear?”

Niffty’s eye teared up at Alastor’s volume. “Whoa Boss, that’s not cool,”

“Was I speaking to you Husker? I do not believe I was!”

“Why you yellin’ at Niffty?” Angel came up from behind him

Alastor puts Vernie on the floor “I don’t have to tell you anything!” Vernie crawls to Alastor’s feet, he looks down at the boy “Hmm,”

Lucifer steps in “What is your problem?” He picks up Alastor’s son off of the floor “Now you’re yelling at the housekeeper? I mean seriously, you have completely lost it these past few months,”

“Mind your business, I own Niffty, therefore I can do whatever I like,”

“And why does it bother you that your son is in the bed with you?”

“Probably because I told Niffty to do a job and she didn’t do it,”

Lucifer shakes his head “Let’s get to the bottom of this, for some reason, you hate this little boy” He shakes Vernie’s tiny had

Alastor rolls his eyes “For goodness sake!”

“No, why do you never interact with your son?” “The same reason you didn’t interact with your daughter!”

Lucifer tilts his head “Depression?”

“Enough of the depression nonsense. There was nothing wrong with you, you just didn’t want to deal with your kid,”

“That’s where you’re wrong snobface. Charlie is the light of my life. Depression is real and it is serious and you do not have it!”

“Mhmm, are you done?”

“No! Take care of your kid!”

“If you care so much you take care of him!”

“I am! Because you’re not, and you’re his father!”

“Lucifer, why don’t you start worrying about being a good ruler and stop worrying about my parenting skills,”

Lucifer is appalled by Alastor’s behavior “Like father, like son huh?”

Alastor gives a fake chuckle “Eat shit,”

“You eat shit, what kind of man has a bone to pick with a baby?”

“I’m not picking anything with him, that’s why I give him to Niffty,”

“You know you’re an awful father,”

“And you’re an awful husband, no wonder you’re wife didn’t want to be with you,”

He steps closer “You think this what Voe would’ve wanted?”

“We don’t know what she would’ve wanted because you killed her,”

“I killed her?”

“Yes, you did,”

“You’re honestly ridiculous,”

Alastor nods “Mhmm, you’re probably glad she’s gone because now you don’t have to fight the urge to fuck her. Unless you fuck her dead body,”

“What? No!”

“Sure Lucifer,”

“This isn’t about me, this is about the innocent baby that you won’t even give yourself a chance to love!”

“Sure Lucifer, keep changing the subject,”

“That was the subject from the start!”

“Mhmm”

“Uhh guys,” Vaggie calls from upstairs “Sorry to break up this dick fight (not really), but where’s Voe’s body?”

Both men look up at her on the stairway “What?” Alastor snaps

“Her body, it’s not here,”

They look far and wide for the BIllboard Doe’s body but can’t find it anywhere. Alastor goes to wake up Aly and bring her to his radio station, the stress has overwhelmed him. He thought that perhaps a nice broadcast would calm him down, however, he found that he had no signal. No matter how he tried, it would not work.

“What in Hell is going on?”

He noticed his little Alyson up against the window, slapping her little hands up against it “What is it? What do you see?” she tapped the window harder “No no no, I may be impenetrable, but these windows aren’t,” he laughs and picks her up, pulling her to his cheek “What is it, sweetheart?” Aly just reached out for window once more.

Alastor looks out the window and sees nothing, but when he stands still he can hear something on top of his radio station. He puts Aly down on the opposite side of the station and opens the window, leaning out as far as possible. When he looks up he can see a lump, a person sitting on the tip top of his radio antenna, his antlers grew along with his rage. Who would dare disrupt his broadcast? He almost climbed out to give them a piece of his mind, when large wings spread and they jumped, gliding down and coming directly toward him. Alastor retreats inside the window and grabs his daughter as the stranger flies in through the window. They’re wearing all black as they stand directly in front of them. Alastor steps forward before the demon sheaths their dragon wings, before he can react, they open their gorgeous plump lips and speak.

“Well hello handsome,” Voe smirks at her husband

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heleizition · 11 months ago

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Hi! OC anon here! The ones from your two most recent reblogs, sorry I don't know their names but I'd like to know about them! ☺️

their names are vik (ginger, white, heterochromia, the one in the whumpy rb whos being kissed in the second rb) and nell (blue hair, darker skin, yellow eyes, the one who is KISSING)

ive had these two for 5 years ! the first setting i had them in was . unvolontary world travellers : the story would follow them in different universes, hows they'd meet, fall in love over and over again, until one of them would start to remember their past lives but one of them would DIE (im dramatic)

It was an excuse for many aus lol which i'm still......... sort of doing lol

i have three main stories for them atm !

1 - the first one is an angel/demon story where the main characters (most of my ocs) come together to form a third party who basically . wants to fight god . nell is a demon who summons knives and vik is an angel who uses a bow :] (cupid hehehhehehe) he also turns out to be a secret spy for one of the antagonist. in this au they have lives from before they died as humans,,,, i've been very into the "past lives" things for someone who hates reincarnation aus LMAO

in this au they jumpstart the third party accidentally by cooperating, and die in each other's arms <3 i think they would have kissed just before the last battle........ my little meow meows

2 - the second one is basically a spooky stardew valley au aka the Farm Au (i played a lot of stardew for a few months AND i like horror so). It follows mainly nell, vik, belly (nell's twin sister), and jasper (the sweetheart of all sweethearts and belly's future husband) with belly being a farmer in a little village after she escaped her and nell's past, nell needs help and reaches out to her, ends up living with her and disocvering that there is more in life than living in ur past trauma.... except ofc the valley the village is is NOT an ordinary valley, with fantastical horror :3 some people melt. vik is once again sort of a "traitor" in this. its a running theme for him but like he's always an unwilling participant in it lol groomed into the situation ...

3 - third au is a naruto au bc after binge listening/watching the anime openings like 3 times in a day i realised i rly enjoyed the universe even if i did not care much abt the story lol. it's basically just . ninja au without the naruto characters, with backstory and fighting style and roles for most of my ocs,,,, yes vik is ROOT in this (groomed into being a bad guy)

ANYWAY i rly enjoy them and put them in the brain rotisserie oven with the flavor of the month wehehhe

#ask me #the unwanted #vik #nell #my ocs #I LOVE HTEEEM #the naruto au is pretty recent but i crave a new au . who knows #id love to answer more questions if u have some wehe i love talking abt them !!!!

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littleladymab · 4 months ago

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TODAY is Liam's birthday and I like to celebrate OC birthday's :') so here's a little snippet of how they celebrate his birthday in the story! At this point, only Liam knows he's a knight, the others don't!

happy 22nd birthday liam!! don't worry you'll get revenge on mateo in a few months.

+++

Liam knew, going into this, that beaches in California are just inherently different from beaches most anywhere else, but especially Scotland. France’s Languedoc and Argelès sur Mer are closer, both in the quality of the sand and the temperature, but his parents were never overly fond of fighting the August tourist crowd at the beaches to make the trip with any regularity.

Los Angeles is already threatening to melt him with its shocking lack of trees, and the beach itself reflects sun off sand in a blinding display of ‘SoCal’. Postcard perfect.

He can already feel the sunburn threatening him.

As he tugs his shirt off over his head, he says, “If anyone else needs sunscreen, I do have some in my bag.”

He is met with silence.

Liam ruffles his hair self-consciously as he returns everyone’s startled looks. “Are you going to tell me that using sunscreen is some sort of faux pas in LA?” He knows that there isn’t any on his face, because it’s been almost an hour since he put it on and they would have said something on the drive over, or maybe he’s just that pale and they’re all blinded by the sun reflecting off his torso the same way he is with the sun on sand.

“What?” he finally asks when no one else says anything beyond Gael’s quirked eyebrow.

“I thought you said you were a lawyer, dawg,” Mateo blurts out.

Liam frowns, folding and unfolding his shirt. “Yeah?”

“I didn’t know you meant like Daredevil,” Bianca says and Gael turns to the side in a failed attempt at disguising his snort of laughter.

His frown deepens before the reference clicks and his ears go pink.

“I’ve never seen a cut lawyer. Like, damn.” Mateo slaps him playfully on the shoulder, which makes the embarrassment even worse because Mateo is fit and knows it from years of playing football.

Liam doesn’t have a good excuse because fighting literal demons won’t fly with most people.

Temmy has a look on her face like she’s trying to find a journalistic scoop. “Two sword tattoos and a six pack, just who are you Liam McGorbund?”

This time, Gael can’t contain the burst of laughter and doubles over with his hands on his knees.

“I do not have a six pack,” Liam argues and then throws his t-shirt at Gael. “You’re not helping.”

Gael holds up a hand to bat away the shirt, grinning. “Sorry, there’s just unexpected depths to you,” they tease.

“Unexpected mountains and valleys,” Temmy says with a nod and a pat to his stomach, then squeaks as Liam swats at her.

Mateo claps a hand on one of Liam’s shoulders. “Bro, let me know if you want to work out together.”

“There is no way I’m on your level,” he says. “Aren’t you in pre-season training right now?”

Mateo shrugs. “It won’t be football season forever, grandpa.” He ruffles Liam’s hair. “At least you have that walker when you get too tired of keeping up with us young’ins.”

“Gael is older than me!”

“You’re the birthday boy!” Mateo considers this, then says, “Sorry, the birthday man.”

Liam tries to kick his shin, but Mateo squirms away with far more ease in the sand. “See if I let you have any cake.”

Bianca pats Liam reassuringly on the arm. “It’s okay. I understand.”

“Understand what?’ he asks, because he sure doesn’t.

“Your secret identity as the LA version of Daredevil!” She beams up at him, though there is something best described as shit-eating about that grin. “You fight crime in the courthouse by day, and on the streets by night!”

He hates that, technically, she is more right than wrong. “Just because I go to the gym doesn’t mean I fight crime. You watch too many movies.”

She just taps the side of her head three times and winks. “Don’t worry, I gotchu. Okay, last one in the water is a rotten egg!” she shouts to the group at large, then tears off down the stand.

Liam sighs and picks up his discarded t-shirt as Mateo and Temmy both take off after Bianca.

“Kids these days, huh?” Gael asks with a grin.

“Whippersnappers,” Liam agrees and gets a delighted laugh in response.

#knight lite #a lil miss original #lil miss writings

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obanzi · 3 years ago

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HII OMG I SAW U WERE TAKING REQUESTS!! would it be possible to have a sanemi x reader fluff where reader is a healer like shinobu, and sanemi would purposely injure himself just to have an excuse to see reader 🥺🤲 id also prefer a fem! reader but gender neutral is okay if you’d like!!!💕 i love your work as well, your oc’s are adorable^_^💞

hello , mhm of course luv !! And thank you <3

༄ Sanemi x Fem!Nurse!Reader !

Summary ⤳ Sanemi purposefully injures himself to see his little nurse friend !!

Mentions / TW ⤳ needles & blood .. full fluff !!

Featuring ⤳ Sanemi Shinazugawa & Shinobu Kocho

Author’s Note ⤳ i really like this idea !! i hope u like it :D

Sanemi had just come back from a easy mission , just keep that mind .. EASY MISSION . Even so , he had a large cut on his hand .. although the blood had already dried up it still looked painful .

Sanemi didn’t think it was painful , actually he could barely feel it — I mean .. he has a bunch scars so I think he doesn’t find the big cut hurtful !! Either way , Shinobu approach him during a Hashira Meeting ..

“Shinazugawa-san , please go back to the butterfly mansion so my assistant ( you ) can check up on your wound . It looks a bit infected .”

Oh wow , his plan worked . Actually his plan was quite simple , get a little hurt ( failed but still worked ) , meet Shinobu , make Shinobu tell him to go visit the Butterfly Mansion , and meet his favorite nurse . Done and done .

After the Hashira meeting , he made his way to the Butterfly Mansion . You were actually helping another patient right now , so you had no idea he making his way here —

Aoi ended up taking him to a private room since Aoi didn’t want the cut to affect anyone else who may or may not have wounds !!

“Y/N-san , Shinazugawa is here . It seems like he has an infection .. can you go check up on him ?”

You did get a bit blushy but managed to response an agreement . You weren’t going to lie , you did have a small crush on the Wind Pillar !! You couldn’t help it . He was a handsome young man .. even if everyone disagreed .

You quietly made you way to his private room , bringing a few supplies to help him with his injury !!

“Hello Shinazugawa-san , how are you feeling ?” , you asked in your soothing bubbly voice . Oh how Shinazugawa loved your voice .

“I’m okay . Shinobu-san just told me to come here .”

“Oh , okay ! Well that cut seems a little infected .. let me just have a look at that . Okay ?” You took his arm , eyeing the huge cut on his right arm . It didn’t really look pretty . Even so , you were actually a bit confused .. he claimed it was a simple mission but he had this large cut . Hmm ?!?

“Shinazugawa-san , how did you get this cut ?”

“... That stupid demon somehow got near me .”

Oh wow , what a weak lie !! He didn’t want to ruin his pride . Just imagine , telling someone .. “oh yeah !! I purposefully injured myself just so i could meet someone who I really really like!!” That would ruin his pride .. a lot .

Anyways , he was a bit blushy when you started touching him . You were applying alcohol to the wound , just to not spread the infection !

Honestly you were also blushing , your were a few inches away from his face .. you tried to put yourself together but it was hopeless .. although Sanemi was to stupid to even notice you were blushing .

When you were done ( applying the alcohol and Bandages ) . You decided it’s okay to make a move .. you thought just maybe he liked you too . “Feeling better Shinazugawa-san ?” You asked , somewhat ready to do a small move .

“I feel okay .” He said , even though he was blushing from you being so close to his face .. along with touching him — even just hearing your sweet voice made him blush !!

mwa ! You gave him a small kiss on the cut . “Kissing makes the pain go away !” You exclaimed .. giving him a small smile .

DUDE let me tell you ... sanemi is red ..... LIKE RED RED . He covers his face quickly with his other hand .. he didn’t want you to see what you did to him !! Sanemi was stuttering .. he honestly didn’t know what to say .

He made a cough and just left the room . Even so , you could see just a bit of blush . You looked outside and saw Sanemi quickly walking back to his estate ..

You laughed at how cute he is . When you turned around , you saw a small note . “Had he put it here while you were away ?” Maybe . The note read ..

“Meet at restaurant next to the flower shop.”

.. Will you go ?

Another Authors Note ⤳ anzhxk i dont know if i did good for the ending — BUT UM I HOPE U LIKED IT !!

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wayward-mikaelson · 3 years ago

Text

Shallow (Dean Winchester x F! Reader)

Word Count: 4549

About: Set during S15 finale, so SPOILERS. You and the boys pick up a vamp hunt while at a Pie Festival. The hunt ends tragically.

Characters: Dean, Sam, Jody, Cas, Young Dean (s15), Lyla (OC)

Pairing: Dean Winchester x F! Reader (Anyone can obviously read it)

Warnings/Trigger Warnings: Language, Angst, Character Death, Depression (mentioned), Time Jumps.

A/N: It's been while since I did a SPN fic! Writing it made me miss the them more!

A/N 2: This might need some tissues.

***This work contains content for the 18 and up crowd, so please read at your discretion. This work is cross posted on other sites. Please don't copy and paste my work; I work too hard on all my stories. You my copy the link to share or you may reblog. I am NOT taking requests at this time. Feedback is welcomed!***

Forever Tags: @hobby27 @donnaintx @myinconnelly1 @elansaidaris @magssteenkamp @440mxs-wife

Supernatural Tags: @lyarr24

Dean/Jensen Tags: @akshi8278 @sandlee44 @squirrelnotsam @thougts-and-funnies

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You laid there, feeling the cool body paint move around on your back. Dean’s gentle fingers tracing over your back could put you to sleep. This had been the most calm and rest you had in the last couple years. You deserved it! Hell, Dean deserved it more than you. He had been fighting longer than you ever had.

Dean and you crossed paths six years ago during a demon hunt. It really was your hunt and you wouldn’t want to admit it, but you really weren’t doing too hot. You were extremely lucky the Winchester’s stumbled across your hunt when they did. If it weren’t for them you’d probably be some demon's meat suit or doing the conga in hell with the devil himself. That was until you learned of where the devil really was a few years later.

You and Dean rarely got along over the first few years. The two of you always butted heads and argued during most hunts. It annoyed Sam so much that he actually told the two of you “Sleep together already! I can’t take the sexual tension and the bickering any longer.”

It didn’t take longer after that for Dean to grab your face and kiss you.

“Are you done back there?” You tried to twist a bit but a hand gently pushed you back into place.

“Nope,” Dean enunciated the word. “Almost. This is going to look epic though.”

“Doesn’t need to be the Sistine Chapel,” You buried your face back into the pillow.

Dean gasped. “Excuse me? Your back deserves a painting better than the Sistine Chapel. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t give you the best?”

You chuckled and mumbled something into the pillow.

Once Dean was finished, he reached for his phone and took a picture of it. “There we go,” you heard the smile in his voice. “Now that’s what I like to call the Sistine Back. Here, take a look.”

You lifted your head to see Dean lay on his side next to you. A huge smile painted his face as he showed the screen of his phone to you. What you saw, had you laughing uncontrollably. “Oh, Dean,” you breathed in between laughs. “This is better than the Sistine Chapel. I love it!”

Dean’s face lit up so bright, it could have brightened up the dimly lit room. “Yeah? Maybe I should get this printed out big enough to fit the ceiling in here.”

You shook your head as laughter took over your body once again. “Oh, God, yes! We can stare at the hamburger and apple pie every night we have sex.”

“Yeah,” Dean pushed you onto your back, getting the body paints onto the sheets under you. He plants a gentle kiss to the base of your neck, making you shiver through your entire body. Dean began to kiss down your body until he got to your belly. He looked up at you with those bright green eyes. Instead of slinking down further, he crept back up and hovered over you. Those eyes seemed to stare right into your soul. This man has shown you more love than any other man, including your father, has ever shown you. “I love you, don’t you ever forget that.”

“Never,” you reached up, wrapped your arms around his necK and pulled him to your lips. “I have a surprise for you.” Twisted to the side and pulled a piece of paper out of the side table drawer and handed it to him. You watched as his face lit up and looked between the paper and your face.

“A pie festival?” The excitement was clear as day in his voice. “Oh, Sweetheart, we are so going to this thing. The three of us. A huge family road trip.”

And that’s what you all did.

It was the best trip you all had. Dean tried every single pie he could get his hands on. You and Sam watched as he ate each slice. Looking like he was in heaven with each bite he took. It made you happy to see him so at peace not worrying about anything. There’s no end of the world evil to take care of. There hadn’t been for awhile.

LIfe seemed to be normal.

“You gotta try this one,” Dean sat next to you with another big box full of piece samples. He gave you a fork and pushed a pie towards you. “Don’t give it that look. It’s a honey apple pie with a tad bit of rosemary. So much sweeter than normal apple pie.” You took a small bite and Dean was right. It was sweeter.

“Not going to lie, that was pretty good,” you went for another bite.

“So, guys, get this,” Sam sat down with a newspaper in hand. Can’t be a fun trip unless Sam had his paper to look at. “There was a kidnapping last night. Father murdered and the mother’s tongue cut out. Both kids are missing.”

“Okay, doesn’t sound like our kind of thing,” you reach for the paper. “Maybe leave it to the local PD?” Suddenly, Dean took the paper from your hands and stared at the picture to the article of the tragic story.

“I’ve seen this before,” he mumbled. “Do we still have Dad’s journal?”

“Yeah, why?” Sam asked.

“I think I’ve seen these masks before.”

And Dean. Once he found the drawing John Winchester drew years ago, they matched the ones in the paper. You guys were looking at a pair of masked vamps and you guys were pretty much the closest hunters to take care of it.

“It’s one little hunt,” Dean shrugged as he checked out the weapons in the trunk. “Why don’t we take care of it and then head on home.”

It didn’t take long for you guys to locate the missing children. They were being held in an old barn on the outskirts of town. There three of you, so it shouldn’t be too hard to fight a small nest of vamps. You guys have taken out larger nests in the past.

“Come on, just this once?” Dean had asked. You peaked your head around the trunk and saw Dean holding up ninja stars with a huge smile on his face. Sam on the other hand just stared at him and shook his head.

“Not this time, man.”

Dean put the stars away while mumblings about how Sam was no fun. You smiled and patted him on the back and told him that there will be another time to use them. Dean gumbled some more and you had to remind him that you book a separate motel room away from Sam and that you brought some fun toys.

Even his favorite one to use on you.

Getting into the barn was too easy. Sam and Dean fought the two vamps that jumped out, making it easier for you to grab the two kids and get them to the impala. Once you strapped them in, you were making your way towards the driver side, you were tackled by one of the vamps.

The two of you wrestled in the dirt until you were able to break away and grab hold of your machete. You get to your feet and are tackled again, this time the vamp pins you firmly to the ground. The vamp removed his mask and bit down onto your neck, making you cry out. When the vamp pulled back, you took that small opening to headbutt him and kick in in the groin. You rolled away and quickly stood up and swung your machete. The vamp's head rolled onto the ground. You looked up and saw the terrified look on the children’s face.

“Hey, it’s okay,” you told them when you opened their door. You pulled the blankets over them and gave them some water and the sandwiches you made. “Drink and eat, we’ll get you home soon.” You heard it go quiet in the barn. It was too quiet and something in you told you something wasn’t right. “Hang on tight,” you closed the door and ran inside the barn.

What you saw, it almost knocked the wind out of you. There, Dean’s back was pressed firmly against a wooden pillar with a pained expression on his face. You ran up to him and looked at the damage and felt the tears fall as your heart begin to break.

Dean wasn’t going to come back from this.

“Dean,” you whispered as you met his eyes.

“I know, sweetheart,” He winced as he spoke. You saw his breathing get deeper and more shallow. “I love you. Don’t you forget that when you find someone else.” You squeezed your eyes shut because there was nothing you can do or say that will change the outcome of this. You felt Dean’s hand on your face pulling you towards his lips.

This kiss wasn’t like past kisses. It was firm and passionate and slow. He wanted you to remember this kiss for years to come. “Until we meet again,” Dean whispered, pressing his forehead to yours.

“Take care of her, Sam,” Dean added.

Everything that followed after that, felt like a dream. Your body felt heavy as you drove the kids to the nearest police station with some story about how you found them. The man that you loved, the man who you spent many nights talking about some kind of future, that man was now gone.

When you got back to the barn, the sun was just beginning to rise. You saw Sam sitting next to a covered up heap and the realization, again, hit you hard. The cover heap was Dean’s body. You stopped the impala and got out. Sam looked up at you with red eyes. You knew he had been crying hard. Probably as hard as you had. Sam got up and effortlessly picked up Dean and placed him in the back seat.

The whole way back to the bunker, neither of you spoke. You just took turns crying and driving. Stopping on the side of the road and just letting the other scream out in whatever pain the two of you had left in your bodies.

Back at the bunker, the two of you worked and got a pyre ready. When it was ready, you watched as Sam carried his big brother's body and gently placed it on the wooden display. You stood, with Miracle standing next to you. She had been whimpering off and on. She knew Dean was up there. You knelt down and let her nuzzle you while you let some more tears fall. Miracle was all you had left of Dean now.

Sam had some trouble lighting the pyre so you went up and helped it light it. Soon, the pyre and Dean were on fire. Then the two of you stared at it until it was nothing but ash.

***

You sat in Jody’s spare room while Miracle laid at your feet. You still wished all of this were a dream because neither you nor Sam, could adjust to the new reality that Dean was gone. So the two of you packed up what you could and left the bunker.

You guys drove until you were on Jody’s doorstep at midnight. She knew something was wrong when she looked deeply into your faces and asked where Dean was. When she saw the tears in your guys eyes, her whole face fell. She pulled the two of you into the tightest hug and held on tightly as the three of you cried silently.

A gentle knock on your door startled you. You got up and answered the door and saw Sam standing there. He was dressed in fresh clothes holding two cups of coffee.

“Are you, uh, doing okay?” Sam asked as you took the coffee from him. “I know it’s a stupid question but…”

You gave a pained smile, “I know I’ll be okay, but I feel like I won’t be okay. I’ve tried praying to Jack but I’m pretty sure he’s busy fixing Heaven.” You recount the hours you cried out to Jack about the loss of Dean. You cried about how you wanted him back. You cried about how you were supposed to move on from an epic love like that. You cried about how you just missed him and needed him to make it better.

“Same here,” Sam ran his hands through his hair. “I’m going to go look at places, apartments, that we can share and see what kind of jobs we can get. Do you want to come along?”

You took a deep breath and looked at the ground. “Not today, maybe tomorrow. I really want to spend time alone and process these last couple days.”

“Okay, no worries,” Sam nodded his head. “I’ll see you when I come back.”

“Okay.”

You waited until Sam had been gone for an hour to pack your bags again and head down stairs. You were in the process of opening the door when you heard someone behind you. Turning around you saw Jody standing in the entryway with you. She didn’t say anything, she just pulled a pair of keys out of the bowl next to her and handed them to you.

“Call me when you're safe,” she placed a hand on your face and gave you a smile. “I can’t bear to lose another kid.” A few tears slipped down her cheek.

Agreeing to call her, you slipped out the door and to the car Jody let you use. You got in and made sure Miracle was settled in the passenger seat. Then you were on your way out of town. You weren’t sure where you would go but you knew you needed to get far away from everything.

You needed to start fresh somewhere.

***

Years have passed and you’ve found that the pain of losing Dean has lessened. You’re able to have random memories of him without crying or hours and days on end. You were able to wake up without feeling like there was a hole on your chest. You were finally able to tell Sam why you ran after you were states away. You promised him it would be for a bit and that you’ll contact him.

Sadly, that day never came.

Two months after losing Dean you began to feel sick. You weren’t sure if it was the stress of losing Dean or starting a new life or both. So, off you went to the doctors and there you sat on the papery bed feeling like you were hit by a truck. The words that the doctor told you, they echoed around in your head.

“And the father?” the words were almost like a whisper in your already loud and spinning head.

“What?” you shook your head.

“That father?” the doctor repeated. “What do you know about the father?”

You took a deep breath and looked at the ground. “Um, he’s not in the picture.” Your voice had been quiet. Your heart felt like it had been breaking all over again. Part of you couldn’t believe this was happening. Part of you believed it, Dean and you were never really safe when it came to sex.

“One night stand? We do have options,” the doctor began to say.

“No no,” you shook your head. “The father, he’s um...he passed away.” You choked on the words. Hearing it out loud, made his death all the more real.

“My apologies,” The doctor whispered.

You took the pamphlets and walked out of the doctors. You didn’t know what you would do. This was all so new and all so painful at the same time. Dean was supposed to be here with you whenever this happened. In the end, you chose to keep the baby. You called Jody and Donna and told them, making them both promise not to tell Sam.

Over the years, you heard about Sam through Donna and Jody. He got married and had a kid of his own. You wanted to reach out but at this point it had been years and the two of you had settled into non hunting life. It wouldn’t be fair to disrupt it.

As more years passed, you saw Lyla become more and more like her father. She had his green eyes and his smile. She was smart and would get her hands on just about anything and that made you wonder, where did she get that from. Smart brains ran on both sides. Maybe something from Sam or something from your father. She loved pie just as much as Dean, and you’d take her to the pie festival every year.

As Lyla grew, she asked about Dean from time to time and you told her what you could. You also told her that when she turned into an adult you would tell her more, that telling her while she was young and child wouldn’t be safe or wise. In the meantime, you told her all the things asked about.

“What was Daddy’s favorite food?”

“What did Daddy like to do for fun?”

“What was Daddy’s favorite color?”

“Did Daddy have a favorite movie?”

The questions were endless, but you loved to answer them. Then one day, Lyla came up to you one morning, her dark hair looking like a bird's nest. Her face was beaming with happiness.

“Mommy,” Lyla’s voice was an octave higher. “Did you know, Daddy is in Heaven?”

You almost choked on your coffee. “What, Sweetie?”

“Daddy, he’s in Heaven. An angel told me,” she walked off and grabbed her stuffed chicken, one that she named Chickie Meow Meow, and hugged it tightly.

“What angel?” you asked. You got up and began to check all your warding, the ones that kept the bad creatures out. Everything seemed to be in place, even that salt that still blended in with your window panels. Then you checked to see if Lyla still wore the anti-possesion charm necklace you had made for her. She still did. “What did the angel look like?”

“He wore a funny brown jacket,” she answered. “He said his name was Cas. He wanted me to tell you that Daddy is fine. That they are looking over us.” You pulled Lyla into a hug and let some tears fall.

***

You walked into that old abandoned barn. You had left Lyla with Jody for the weekend. You sat down and placed all that you needed to summon Cas. You didn’t want to pray, you knew Cas all too well, he probably wouldn’t show up. But if you summoned him, you knew he had no choice but to come and see you. You lit the match and dropped it into the bowl and waited.

“Y/N” The deep, rough voice said your name.

You turned to see Cas standing there. In the same thing that he had been taken away in. But it was cleaner. “How are you alive?” you asked outright.

“Jack, he brought me back,” Cas took a few steps closer to you. “You know you could have prayed and I would have come.”

“But would you?” you gave the angel a smirk and raised your eyebrows.

“I did it for Lyla,” Cas looked into your eyes. “She prayed about Dean and wanted to know if he was in Heaven. I thought it best that it was me to come to her.”

You looked down, you couldn’t bear to look into the angel's blue eyes. You always assumed things and that always backfired and kicked you in the ass. “Then why didn’t you come to me when I cried out to you or to Jack?”

“I did,” Cas closed the distance and placed a hand under your chin and lifted your face to meet his eyes. “Each night that you cried yourself to sleep, I was there sitting at the foot of your bed. Each night that you drank yourself to sleep, before you found out you were pregnant, I sat there and rubbed your back the way Dean told me too. Then when you were in that delivery room all by yourself, I was there to make sure things went smoothly. Then when you were sleeping, I memorized everything there was about Lyla. I have watched over the two of you these last nine years. Dean would be so proud of how far you have come.”

You stood there and cried silently as Cas spoke. “Cas,” you whispered, wiping the tears from your face. “I don’t know what to say.”

“I can’t be on Earth as much, Jack and I are still fixing Heaven but I can tell you that Dean is waiting for you.” Cas moved his hand to your shoulder. “I have to go, but I was told to tell you, I love you by Dean.”

Then you were alone.

***

Twelve year passed and you’re helping Lyla with a college event. She had just turned twenty-one and was nearly done with her bachelor degree. At this point, she knew all that there was to Dean. She knew he was a hunter, that he saved the world countless times, that he had some faults, and so on.

Lyla knew of what goes bump in the night. She’s read every note and the journal you kept during the time you had been hunting. When she asked if Dean kept one, you had told her that he didn’t. That he used his fathers and you weren’t sure where that ended up. Lyla even went above and got whatever protection tattoos down her spine.

So, while you’re helping Lyla you had a boy, about nineteen years old come up to the booth and look around. He looked familiar to you. He wore a long sleeve flannel, that was probably why. Sam and Dean always wore flannel. That was probably why and it made you miss the younger Winchester. You should have kept in contact with him or at least told him of Lyla.

“Y/N?” A familiar voice called out to you.

You turned around and your heart just about fell from your chest. There standing with grey hair, was Sam Winchester. He hadn’t changed too much except for the hair and the fact that he wore glasses. He still looked like the Sam Winchester you knew all those years ago.

“Sam?” You crossed your arms.

“The one and only,” he smiled. “What are you doing here?”

Before you could answer, Lyla came up to you. “Mom, we’re going to need some more pamphlets, we’re just about out.” You turned to Lyla who saw Sam. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“It’s okay, take my keys and you can go print some out at the UPS down the street,” You motioned to your bag.

After Lyla had left you turned back to Sam who had watched her the whole time. It was like he knew. “So, you have a kid too?” You heard the tone in his voice. Lyla looked so much like Dean these days, you knew someone from your past was bound to notice. Sam most of all.

“Yeah,” you answer quietly. “Her name’s Lyla.”

“Cool, that’s great you found someone to populate the Earth with,” Sam gestured towards you. That tone he held was still there. The look in his eyes was the very same one he used on you when he called you out on yours and Dean’s sexual tension.

“You know, don’t you?” you lowered your arms.

“She looks a lot like Dean,” Sam whispered. “Is that why you ran? Is that why I never heard from you?” You stared at Sam and tried to hold back your emotions. “Dean’s final words were to take care of you. I failed at that when you ran.”

“You failed when you didn’t come and look for me,” you lashed out. “I thought you would have looked for me despite everything I told you. You should have found me. Then I find out through Jody your married and have a kid, I thought it best not to mess up what you got for yourself.”

Sam stared at you and nodded. “I should have and I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too,” you whispered and looked around. The boy in the flannel was still there. Then it hit you. “Is that?”

“My son,” Sam’s face lit up brighter than you’ve ever seen it. “His name is Dean.”

For the next five years you kept in touch with Sam. You guys spent holidays and birthdays with each other. That was, until you got sick and the doctors couldn’t help you. So, in your hospital room, Sam sat beside you. He wasn’t doing too well either, but he held your hand and smiled at you.

“Tell Dean I said hi,” were the last words you heard.

***

When your eyes opened again, you were sitting on a bench. Around you was a field of just plain old grass and a few trees. You knew this place all too well. You stood and realized you were back in your younger body. Having that kind of movement again, it was amazing. You began to walk around, feeling the warmth of the sun on your skin. It all felt nice and it made you smile.

“Hey, Sweetheart.”

You spun around at the familiar sound. There he stood, looking handsome as ever in his jacket and leaning against the Impala with that heartwarming smile. “Dean,” you said his name like he hadn’t been dead for almost three decades.

Dean pushed himself off the impala and closed the distance between the two of you. He placed a hand on your cheek and brushed his calloused thumb over it. You closed your eyes and took in the touch. “You know, time is different up here. It doesn’t feel like it’s been twenty-six years.” Then he pressed his lips to yours and the feel almost knocked you off your feet.

“Are we allowed to kiss in Heaven?” you pulled away from him.

“I don’t think Jack minds,” Dean smiled and gathered you into his arms and pressed his lips more firmly to his. You wrapped your arms around his neck and pressed yourself against him. “Wanna go for a ride?” He asked when he pulled away.

“Sure, I missed this beauty.” You ran your hand along the impala and just as you were about to get in, Dean staring at you caught your eye. “What?”

“Cas says you had a baby,” Dean crossed his arms on top of the hood. “I have to ask…”

You smiled at him and leaned on the hood as well. “She’s yours and she’s incredible. Loves pie just like her daddy. I thought Cas would’ve told you.”

“Time moves differently up here,” Dean repeated what he said earlier. “What’s her name?”

“Lyla,” you smiled. “Lyla Winchester.”

“I wish I got to know her,” Dean spoke softly.

“You will,” you got into the passenger side. “I can tell you all you want about her.”

Dean followed you into the impala. “I don’t have to worry about some random dude coming here and claiming you as his wife or something?”

“Nope,” You sat back. “Now drive or I’ll start walking.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

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wiypt-writes · 4 years ago

Text

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch6: That Makes Two Of Us

Summary: Things heat up between Katie and Steve as their relationship progresses, but when Tony caches them out, he’s on the war path.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Warnings: Bad Language, Smut (dry humping, oral- male receiving) NSFW, 18+. and a VERY angry Big Brother...

A/N: One of my favourite chapters. Thank you to @angrybirdcr , its a pleasure to have your edits for the repostings!

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 5

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

End of May 2013

“For the one hundredth time, no, Tony I am NOT coming.” Katie groaned as she pulled up outside Steve’s apartment building “I have work to do.” “But the damned meeting is in DC!” Tony protested “Surely you can manage to spare an hour! You’re part of the board!” “You know full well that’s only to make sure that Starks maintain a controlling stake!”

“So basically what you’re saying is that you don’t care about our business.” Her brother’s voice took on a petulant tone. He could be such a child at times. “Stop being a dick.” She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose “Look, I’m busy with work, I can’t just drop everything you know just because you-” “Have you got a man on the go?” Tony asked suddenly, cutting her off “Because I’ve not seen you for weeks. Do I need to prep a Shovel Talk?” “Goodbye, Tony.” Katie cancelled the call before she stepped out of the car and headed to the lobby door.

In his apartment Steve was reading a proposal and groaning to himself. They wanted him to record videos to talk to high school kids about puberty, keeping fit, being in detention, not doing drugs…and he had agreed, just to shut them up mainly, but he was already regretting his decision. With a final wrinkle of his nose, he threw down the document he was looking at and was about to make himself a coffee when the buzzer to his apartment went off.

“Hey, Handsome.” Katie’s voice rang over the intercom and he smiled just as he always did when she called him that, a habit she’d slipped easily into over the last three weeks of dating, which had consisted of early morning breakfast meets on their way into work, stolen lunchtimes away from the office where they could hold hands with a slice or a burrito as they walked around the Mal, three more intimate evening meals at quiet restaurants and one trip to the cinema. That had been Steve’s favourite date so far, not just because it had been his first time in a movie theatre since the 40s, but more so that he he’d enjoyed the feel of her as she leaned into him when he’d put his arm round the back of her chair, sharing popcorn, stolen quick kisses on the lips in the dark as they sat on the back row in between their bursts of hysterical laughter at the film. They had gone to see the third and final instalment of the Hangover trilogy, which Katie had been ridiculously excited about. She loved those films and Steve had to admit he agreed they were pretty good, as all three had made him laugh in places until tears rolled down his face. Movie and TV nights in their apartments had also turned into something special too as they snuggled down together, sharing snacks and personal space along with deep kisses that left him wanting a lot more… “Hey Sweetheart, come on up.”

He waited for her by the door and felt his breath catch as she emerged onto the landing from the stairs. She was wearing a blue and white LA Dodgers T-shirt, which was tight and finished just above her hips and clung to her chest flashing a strip of her toned stomach, tight grey jeans which fit snug to her ass and black baseball boots. Steve had seen her in all sorts of clothing items- jeans, tops, dresses…but never like this.

And fuck, she looked hot.

“Hi!” She greeted him with a huge smile and a gentle kiss, standing on her toes to meet his lips, before she stepped into the apartment and headed into the living room. Spotting the file on the coffee table she picked it up.

“What’s this?” She asked, opening it.

“A proposal from Fury. I’m going to be doing some videos, for high school kids..phys-ed classes that kinda thing.” “Videos?” “Yeah, apparently they get Celebrities to do them normally but they thought they’d use me this time.” Steve shrugged. “You’re not some kind of performing monkey they can trot out when they want.” She winkled her nose in distaste as she remembered those awful USO videos as she thumbed through the file.

Steve smiled at her indignation on his behalf. “It’s only a couple of videos.” he assured her.

“Hmm.” she dropped the file with disdain onto the table “Anyway, enough about that. You busy?” “When it comes to spending time with you? Never.”

“Oh that was smooth, Captain Badass!” She smirked and he gave her a quick shrug and a smile.

“What you got in mind?”

Grinning like a Cheshire cat she pulled out what looked like two tickets from her back pocket and suddenly it became apparent why she was dressed as she was.

“Are we…no, you’re kidding?” Steve couldn’t help the childish grin which flickered across his face “Baseball?” *****

“Oh what?” Katie cried out, jumping to her feet as the umpire made an atrocious decision for what felt like the 100th time, turning to Steve in disgust. “Is this guy blind or just really fucking dumb?”

Steve let out a snort, leaning back in his seat with his hand gesturing to the field. “Blind, he has to be. No one can be that stupid. I mean he’s been calling bad ones all game.”

Katie angrily dropped to her chair and Steve gestured to the vendor for two more beers. He passed one to Katie who hesitated as she took it.

“I bought the car.” She said, looking at him.

“Sweetheart,” he leaned over, kissing her cheek, “ridiculously fast metabolism, remember? I can’t get drunk. I’ll drive home…”

He handed over his money, waved away the little bit of change he would have received before he turned back to his girl who was pouting at him.

“The last time you drove Rainey you didn’t respect her. You drove her through a fuck tonne of puddles.”

“Doll, it’s a…”

“Er, she.” Katie looked at him. “She is not an it…”

Steve rolled his eyes. She was ridiculously attached to her Range Rover. He had to admit, as far as cars went it was pretty damned nice both to be driven in and to drive. White with black wheels and windows, and every gadget in it known to man. Mind you, he expected nothing else from the Starks.

“Ok, she is a damned four by four…” He raised an eyebrow for her. “They’re supposed to go off roading, so what’s a few puddles?”

“Off roading?” Katie spluttered, her eyes wide. “No! You’re so not driving her ever again.”

“Fine I’ll drink both of these then.” He shrugged, moving to take the beer he’d handed her back, and she moved it out of his reach, glaring at him. The desire to drink and have fun won out over protecting her car from a haphazard Captain who was on the sly a bit of a speed demon and probably never actually completed any kind of driving lesson in his life, let alone a test. She dug into her pocket and handed over her keys.

“One scratch and you’re a dead man.” She narrowed her eyes playfully.

“I’ll take good care of her.” He said solemnly, putting the keys into his pocket.

As the game progressed, despite his protestations that the LA Dodgers just weren’t his team, he found himself rooting for them and he was getting more and more frustrated at the current batters method. The guy was swinging it around with more force than Thor wielded his hammer and it wasn’t working. But just as Steve was about to let out another cry of frustration, the bat suddenly connected with the ball, and it was a good hit. Both Steve and Katie got to their feet shouting for the players to speed up and go for home. When they made it the pair both let out a loud cheer, and Steve hugged Katie, grinning wildly. At that moment, stood there, surrounded by strangers but with the girl who made him feel so grounded, he had never felt so normal since coming out of the ice, and he loved it.

The rest of the innings passed far too fast, but at the end of the game, the Dodgers won, much to Katie’s delight. They joined the throng of people streaming out of the stadium hand in hand and Steve, still grinning like an idiot felt Katie tug on his hand.

“Shall we head for a drink?” She asked as he looked at her.

He nodded, tilting the peak of her cap back slightly and giving her a quick peck on the lips. “Sounds great.” And it was a great idea. Until they parked up, walked into the sports bar and spotted half of STRIKE in there round a table.

“Turn around.” Katie hissed with a groan and, just as they were about to do so, Rumlow yelled from the bar.

“Hey Cap, Nova…”

“Too late.” Steve muttered as Katie rolled her eyes and turned round.

“Fancy seeing you here!” Rumlow smiled and Katie shrugged.

“Yeah, small world, huh?”

“You want a beer, Cap?” Rumlow gestured to the bar and Steve nodded.

“Sure, thanks.”

“Stark, what do you…woah, what is this shit?” Rumlow pointed at her shirt and it didn’t escape Steve’s notice that the man’s gaze was lingering far too long on her boobs. He took a deep inhale, his fists clenching in his pockets as Katie let out a scoff.

“This shit just kicked the Nationals asses!” she responded, jabbing Rumlow in his chest.

“Whatever man!” Rumlow shook his head. “Fucking Dodgers…” They didn’t have much option then but to join the rest of the team. Rumlow took the opportunity to eyeball Katie at every given opportunity and it was really starting to piss Steve off. At one time Katie looked up and caught Steve simply glaring at Rumlow, and in an attempt to keep him calm she gently squeezed his knee under the table. Steve was glad when it was his round, giving him an excuse to leave the table, Evans following to give him a hand.

“Enjoy your date?” Thee ginger haired man looked at Steve with a smirk.

“What?” Steve replied, a little too quickly. “I saw you and Stark kissing.” Evans popped a shoulder. “Outside the stadium. Don’t worry, no one else did.” Steve let out a sigh. It wasn’t like they were doing anything wrong, but he knew that Tony didn’t know yet and the pair of them were simply enjoying the early stages of a new relationship on their own before the inevitable tornado of interest hit once they did go public. Glancing at Katie who was talking to Rollins and Rumlow at their table, he turned back to Evans and dropped his voice slightly.

“We’re not deliberately keeping it from everyone, it’s just early days, don’t want everyone sticking their noses in, get what I’m sayin’?” “Secret’s safe with me.” Evans nodded. “Although I suspect it won’t be a secret for much longer if Rumlow keeps eye fucking your girl.”

Steve let out a snort as he took his change from the bar tender. “He’s a pain in the ass.” “Yeah well do me a favour, Cap.” Evans chuckled, picking up three of the glasses “When you do eventually snap and beat on him, make sure I’m there. Been waiting for someone to smack the shit outta him for years.”

****

Later that evening the coffee table at Katie’s apartment sported a number of empty plates, which had previously contained several frozen pizzas, and a good quantity of empty beer bottles. Katie was happily snuggled under Steve’s arm, curled against him and he was enjoying the closeness and comfortable silence that had fallen over them as they watched another ‘Game of Thrones’ episode. Katie had gotten him hooked on the fantasy programme and promised not to watch any of the latest season until he had caught up on the last two. As the episode finished he felt her stir and he didn’t want her to move, thankfully she didn’t too far, simply shifting her head slightly.

“So I never asked if you enjoyed yourself” She asked, looking up at him.

“Doll, it was amazing. Thank you.” “We should go more often” She mused “I haven’t seen a game live in years but I really enjoyed it.”

“You know what I didn’t enjoy?” He looked down at her, the soft light from the lamp illuminating her pretty face, highlighting the freckles spattered across her nose. “Sitting in that bar with Rumlow watching him looking at you.”

“Aww were you jealous?” She teased, sitting up.

“Not at all.” He shook his head, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as he recalled what Evans had said at the bar “Just don’t appreciate him eye fucking my girl.”

She let out a large snort before she looked at him, as her brain registered what he had just said.

“Your girl?” Her tone was teasing but the look in her eyes told him she was anything but, in fact she looked almost nervous. “Is that what I am?”

Steve hesitated, realising that he’d never actually asked her that question before. Was three weeks too soon? He had no idea. To him it wasn’t, he’d been waiting to be able to call her his for months now, but was he outside of modern day dating etiquette?

He looked at her and took a deep breath, before he swallowed and spoke quietly, the nerves making his stomach flip slightly. “Well I’m kinda hoping you wannabe. I mean, if it’s not too soon.”

“It’s not too soon, it’s not too soon at all.” She whispered as she looked back at him, her features soft, eyes alive in the dim light of the lamp. “Stevie, I already am.”

And that was it, his lips crashed onto hers and he was kissing her like he’d been wanting to kiss her all day, his arm curling tighter round her, pulling her close. Katie took the initiative, every inch of her body was on fire for him, and she wrapped her arms round his neck and pulled him down as she fell slowly backwards, sinking into the couch. The movement came as a not-entirely unwelcome surprise to Steve and he didn’t resist. Automatically his hands crept to her hips, settling just under the hem of her top as she placed both hands on his face, the pads of her finger tips cupping his jaw. She broke away this time to breathe, head laying back on the arm of the couch and he dropped his head, pausing his lips inches from her neck.

“Can I kiss you here?” He whispered softly. .

“God, yes.” Katie sighed and he obliged, pressing his mouth to her neck. He gripped her hips again and they gave a little jerk of their own accord, pushing up against him and they she let out a soft moan at the feeling of his crotch bumping against hers. At the noise Steve pulled back to stare at her again, almost as if he was needing her permission to carry on. Katie wordlessly answered by tilting her hips up again, causing him to give a little grunt as she did so, before he took a deep breath and swallowed.

“Doll, I don’t want to rush you or do anything-”

“It’s okay Steve,” Her voice was low and slightly breathy as she looked at him, her eyes, locking onto his. She wanted this, more than she’d wanted anything before. She pushed her head upwards, lips pressing back to his and her hands slid under his t- shirt. His muscles twitched at her touch as the sensation of her gently dragging her nails across his stomach sent a spike of desire, like a red hot poker through his entire body. At that point, something snapped inside him and he let out a growl and Katie paused, hands still on his stomach.

“Did you just growl at me?” Her eyes flashed, dark, a smirk on her face. She was enjoying the effect she had on him, and right now so was he.

“Yeah.” he nodded, simply.

Her smirk grew wider as she grasped the bottom of his T-shirt. He held his arms up so she pull it over his head, and once he was free, he glanced down to see Katie looking at his chest.

She’d never seen him topless before and she was momentarily stunned. She let her hands wander, tracing the lines of the flowing muscles and Steve let out another groan wanting to feel her skin against his. He interrupted her hands exploration by gripping her top and looked back at her, ever questioning. As means of an answer she moved her arms and sat up slightly to allow him to yank it up and off, her hair falling around her shoulders, his lips catching hers as he gently slipped one strap of her bra down at a time placing a soft kiss on each of her shoulders. Her breasts spilled over the tops of the lace lined cups and his groin twitched, the crotch of his jeans now painfully tight.

“You’re beautiful.” He whispered gently, and then he kissed her again. Her fingers gently took his hands and she guided them onto her, sliding them up her rib cage to her chest and he obliged, boy did he oblige. Gently at first, softly squeezing and kneading the soft flesh and white lace, before his hand slid into the cups, teasing her taught nipples with his thumbs, acting completely on instinct, listening and watching her as she groaned gently, arching her back, her reaction telling him he was doing something right as all the time his groin bumped against hers.

Katie could feel the fabric of her underwear sliding in her jeans with every thrust of his hips against hers, that’s how wet she was. Steve was rocking hard against her and she buried her fingers in his hair, pulling sharply, forcing his head back, almost violently. As she tugged he let out another low growl and when she let go he stared down at her to see her smirking as she watched him, his pupils blown so wide there was hardly any blue left.

The rhythm of his hips was growing more frantic and their kisses were growing more desperate. “More,” she moaned into his mouth, and he gave her what she wanted, moving his hips even faster, rubbing against her in ways that had her clutching at his back like her life depended on it. Steve had never felt anything like this in his life. It was so good, so right, in a way nothing had ever felt so right before. This was a first for him, rutting up against someone fully clothed. Making out, Bucky had called it, but none of Steve’s bedroom experiences had ever entailed anything like this, and God, his head was a whirl of lust, desire, and he didn’t give a fuck about anything else at that moment other than her as she lay underneath him.

He started to lose his rhythm and he let out another groan as the tell-tale tightening across his lower stomach warned him he was fast approaching his release. This was too soon, he needed to get her there first. Clenching his teeth he desperately fought back the high as he pushed his hips down hard, making her gasp and claw at his back.

“Sweetheart, I’m close.” He breathed. “You almost there? Tell me your close baby, please?”

He needn’t have worried, at his words it was all she could do to moan brokenly and nod and his mouth fell to that spot on her neck which seemed to drive her wild. She tipped her head back as he gently nipped beneath her ear with his teeth and a few more thrusts of his hips against hers and she was done, fingers wrapped around his hair as the lights exploded in front her eyes and she felt the coil in her stomach unravelling as she came hard underneath him, hips bucking upwards, almost violently. Her voice was broken as she gasped out “Stevie…”and it was the single most beautiful sound he’d ever heard in his life. Her name for him, the name that no-one in this day and age called him other than her, tumbled from her lips and seeing and feeling her fall apart in his arms sent him over the edge right behind her in a pure surge of ecstasy. He fell forward, his arms shaking as he fought to keep his body up, not wanting to crush her under his weight. His head dropped forward, as he lowered himself ever so gently onto his elbows, his face pressing into the crook of her shoulder and she gently ran her fingers through his hair as they both breathed deeply as they waited to regain control of their bodies. Eventually both of them evened out and he raised his head to look at her, to find her smirking a little, her eyes twinkling with what looked like humour.

“What?” He managed to ask, his nose sliding against hers.

“I haven’t dry humped since I was about sixteen.” she said closing her eyes again with a smirk.

“Dry humped?” He snorted. “What-“

She laughed “Dry humping, making out, whatever. It’s been a while, Rogers.”

He felt himself chuckle again and she pressed a soft kiss to his lips, one of her hands running up and down his spine causing the muscles to gently twitch at her touch, neither of them in a hurry to move, but Steve’s arms were starting to hurt.

“You ok?” Katie looked at him, seeing the tension in his muscles and he nodded.

“Yeah, just, my arms.”

“Lay down.” Her hands moved to his biceps, gently trailing shapes on his skin.

“Doll, I don’t wanna hurt you.”

“I’m not made of glass, handsome. I promise you, it’ll be fine.”

Steve licked his lips and with a deep breath he lowered himself down gently, shifting and moving lower, pressing as little of himself to her as he could, despite the fact he could have happily smothered her to feel her body pressed against this. He closed his eyes and lay his head gently on her chest as she carded one hand through his hair, the other softly trailing down his neck and across his shoulders. Her touch was soothing, relaxing, loving even, and h felt himself beginning to doze off.

Katie was also growing sleepy, so she gently kissed his head and whispered a single word to him.

“Stay?”

It was a question to him, an invitation to stay with her that she was desperately hoping he’d take up.

He opened his eyes to blink lazily up at her. “Do you want me to?” he asked, his voice thick.

She nodded, “Let’s go to bed.”

He made to stand before he remembered his trouser predicament having just shot his load into them like a pubescent teenager and stilled, his cheeks flushing even more.

“I uh…I think I need to…”

“There’s some stuff of Tony’s in the spare room.” she said, looking at him cutting him off knowing exactly what the problem was because she was also in need of a clean-up “Should be a pair of sweats in there. Might be a bit short on you but…”

With another soft kiss, he pushed himself up off the couch before offering her his hand. She took it and he pulled her up, a little more forcefully than he had intended and she fell forwards, crashing into his chest.

“Steady on Soldier.” She grinned and he apologised, dropping a kiss to her forehead as his gaze once more dropped to her chest. With a certain glint in her eye she turned around, undid her bra and slipped it off before bending over in front of him, picking up his T-shirt from where she’d tossed it to the floor before heading over to the stairs.

Steve was hard again like it had never left.

After he had cleaned himself up and managed to calm himself down, he thrown on a pair of Tony’s sweatpants retrieved from the spare room and exited the main bathroom, heading to her room. She wasn’t asleep as he found out as he settled down in the bed next to her, and she moved to rest her head on his bare chest tangling her legs into his as his hand stroked her back, gently underneath his T’shirt, light fingers brushing her soft skin.

“This is mine…” He teased with a yawn as he tugged at the bottom of his shirt and she moved laying a soft kiss onto his lips.

“You can have it back tomorrow.” She said, laying her head back down on his chest. As her breathing grew even he felt himself start to drift off too, the warm feeling in his chest made him want to burst with happiness.

*****

When Steve woke the next morning it was peacefully. Katie had shifted positions through the night and now her back was to him pressed as close as she could get, he still had his arms around her, his face buried in her hair. She smelt so familiar and comfortable. As his sleepy brain reminded him of the previous night he smiled and felt a familiar twitch. He was hard, again, which wasn’t uncommon when waking up, but suddenly he felt her stir, and then he realised with horror that she was going to feel him poking her in the back.

It took Katie a few seconds to recall the night before, but when she felt a solid, warm wall of muscle pressed against her, a small hum of contentment rumbled in her throat as she pushed back further into him. They both lay there for a moment, silently, basking in the warmth and softness of each other before Katie turned over and looked up at him. Her face was devoid of any make up, not that she wore a lot anyway, but her freckles were more pronounced, clear skin was bright, cheeks flushed and her hair was tousled in waves around her shoulders. He reached out to tuck a long strand that had fallen over her cheek behind her ears, when she looked up at him, her eyes glinting.

He was about to wish her good morning, but before he could she kissed him, hard and fast, tongue tangling with his. And then she was straddling him, his head against the pillow, as her lips began to trail down his chest. By the time his sleep and lust addled brain had caught up with what was going on, she had reached her destination and had flipped the waist band of the sweats he was wearing down, taking his erection firmly in one hand, making him hiss slightly.

His size had taken Katie slightly by surprise, although she knew with retrospect it shouldn’t have. She looked up and locked eyes with him before she gave him one final smirk and took him in her mouth. Steve panicked for a second, this had never happened to him before, his hands flying to the bed sheets either side of his waist, but it wasn’t for long, as all worry flew out of his mind as she began to work him.

From the noises he was making Katie knew he was enjoying himself. Which was her aim. After a short while, she pulled off of him to suck at the tip and worked her hands over the rest of his length. When she glanced up at him, he had his head thrown back against the pillow, face contorted in utter pleasure. She continued to lick, suck, and when she pulled away slightly to suck at the sensitive tip, working the rest of his length with her hands he let out a loud groan and he looked at her. Her eyes locked onto his and he felt that tell-tale warmth rising in his groin and stomach.

“Katie, sweetheart, shit.” His voice was raspy from desire and the fact it was morning and Katie was beyond aroused at the sound as he babbled the first words either of them had spoken since waking. “I’m gonna-” his words caught in his mouth as she took him in hers again, this time all the way to the back of her throat. At that, he was gone, his fingers gripped her hair tight the other clutched at the bedsheets, noises escaping him that he’d never heard before as he spilled himself down her throat and slumped back completely blissed out.

Katie rolled onto her side watching, as he finally opened his eyes and looked down at her.

“Morning, Handsome.” She grinned and he felt himself chuckle.

“Morning, Gorgeous.” he said, still fighting to control his breathing.

“You want breakfast?” She asked, leaning over to peck him on the lips. He hummed a response and she smiled once more before climbing out of bed. Steve watched her head into the bathroom and found himself thinking that as far as mornings went, he’d had worse.

She emerged a few moments later, her hair slightly less wild, and she was still in his T-shirt, which fell to midway down her toned thighs, giving him a better look at that intriguing tattoo that adorned her right which he still hadn’t seen in full properly. She flashed him a smile, fully aware he was looking her up and down, and then she left without a word, clearly with no intentions of getting dressed fully yet. Which was fine by him.

Katie turned the radio on and set about making coffee, singing softly to herself as she replaced the filter paper. She tossed in a liberal amount of Columbian Roast and was just pouring two mugs when Steve, who was now out of bed, appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. She smiled at him and slid a mug of the coffee over the island where the creamer and sugar already lay waiting and he took it with a thanks.

“How hungry are you?” she asked and he arched an eyebrow over the top of the mug and she gave a laugh. “Sorry, dumbass question. Fancy pancakes and fruit?”

“Don’t got to any trouble, Doll.” He began to protest but she shook her head.

“It’s no bother, I can whip up a batter in five minutes.”

Turning away from him, she reached up into the cupboard for the flour and the T-shirt she was wearing rode up slightly giving Steve a perfect view of her ass which was clad in black lace panties. The fraying tendrils of self-control he had been holding onto snapped completely and stood up from the stool he’d been perched on, right hand still clutching his coffee. He rounded the island in three long strides and placed the mug down on the counter beside her, his hands falling to her hips and he gently spun her to face him. She giggled slightly before his lips met hers and he reached down and cupped her ass in both hands picking her up easily and setting her down on the counter.

“Something got you worked up Captain?” She teased, looking up at him. Last night had clearly unlocked something in the Soldier, and she was liking what she was seeing, and feeling.

“Yeah, the sight of you wearing nothing but a pair of panties and my t-shirt…” He said raising an eyebrow as he reached for his mug again, taking another drink, trying to play it cool. But it wasn’t working clearly, as she simply laughed and slid both arms around his neck as she leaned in to kiss him again. His free hand slid to her thigh, tracing a path up until, just as he had reached the bottom of her panties, they were interrupted by the sound of the lift doors opening.

“Hey Kiddo, you in?” Steve and Katie exchanged a look, utter horror spreading from Steve’s head to his toes as Tony’s voice hit his ears.

“Kiddo?” he shouted again. “I can smell coffee, you in the kitchen?”

“Shit…” Katie said as she gently pushed Steve backwards, jumping down from the counter, adjusting the T-shirt. Steve was now a shade of crimson pretty much from his neck upwards as he desperately tried to rearrange his pants to hide his once more ebbing arousal. She debated telling Steve to hide in the bedroom but there was no way he’d get across the open plan living space to the stairs without Tony seeing him.

They were well and truly caught.

As she clocked the utter horror on Steve’s face she was suddenly overcome with giggles at how ridiculous the entire situation was. A super soldier and a SHIELD agent, both of them having faught aliens, deadly terrorists and weapons traders, were stood in her kitchen panicking about being busted fooling around by her brother.

“So, the damned board meeting was cancelled which would have been fine had I not already been on the jet over, so I thought seeing as I now in town with nothing to do we could hang for the day or if you’re too busy at least have breakfast…” Tony’s voice was getting louder as he walked through the apartment.

Steve looked at her in utter astonishment as she began to laugh now because frankly he couldn’t think of a single thing that was funny about this situation if he tried. Her laughter didn’t stop even as her brother walked into the kitchen, his brown eyes flashing from his sister to Steve and their various state of undress, a look of utter horror on his face as he processed the implications.

“Oh you have gottta be fucking kidding me…” Tony muttered, dropping the box he was carrying onto the kitchen counter. “Please tell me there’s a perfectly innocent explanation for this…” “Explanation yes, innocent…not so much.” Katie said through her laughter and Steve let out a groan. This was not how he wanted Tony to find out. “Don’t you know how to buzz Dickwad, before just walking into my apartment?”

“I have a key…” “For emergencies…” she shot back. “Stop changing the subject.” Tony demanded his eyes flashing dangerously and Katie folded her arms and tilted her chin up defiantly.

“Look, this isn’t a big deal, Tony…”

“No, this…this is a very big deal…” he snapped back as he looked from her to Steve, every line on his face was contorted with anger and shock.

Steve took a deep breath and placed his mug down on the side. “Tony…” he began trying to placate the billionaire but he was cut off.

“What, you gonna tell me this aint what it looks like?” he shook his head. “That Captain America isn’t banging my little sister? I might be like nearly 60 years younger than you old man but I wasn’t born yesterday.”

Steve took a breath, his nostrils flaring at Tony’s snipe.

“Tony, I’m 29 next week, I can do what or who I like” Katie snapped at him “And besides you’ve no room to talk, the amount of times I’ve walked in on you and whichever bimbo you decided to bring home that night…”

“That is completely different!” Tony spluttered.

“No it isn’t” she shot back, hands going to her hips.

Tony’s eyes locked onto hers, before he looked back at Steve who held his gaze evenly, before the dark haired man shook his head and looked at the super soldier.

“Can you go and put some clothes on please, frankly the amount of flesh on show is disturbing me.” “Well I would but your sister is still wearing my shirt.” Steve shot back, his temper rising. Tony gave another growl and then he stopped, open mouthed.

“Are those my sweats?” He spluttered, his voice practically a squeak.

“Yes.” Katie replied simply, and at that point she grabbed Steve’s hand and pulled him out of the room and up the stairs. The initial humour she had found in the situation had ebbed away and now she was livid at her brother.

“He is…” she started, opening the various drawers to pull out a hooded top. Taking Steve’s T-shirt off, as she threw it over the bed to him. “The biggest hypocrite going…”

“To be fair I can kinda see it from his point of view…” Steve said shrugging on his T-shirt and making a point of averting his eyes as she strode over to her dresser, naked bar her panties.

She pulled on a hoody and narrowed her eyes at Steve. “Don’t defend him…”

He chuckled and crossed the room, walking round the bed. “I’m not.” he placed a peck on her lips “But I do think that I should go, let you talk to him alone…”

“Yeah, probably for the best…” she breathed out a sigh and followed him down the stairs where he retrieved his sneakers.

“Wait, do you wanna take my car or…” He gestured up and down his body, and she took in his trainers, slightly too short joggers and a T-shirt “Nah, Baby Girl, I’ll run.” She smiled at the term of endearment that he hadn’t used before then, as he dropped a kiss to her cheek.

“I’ll call you later.” He promised, before disappearing in the elevator.

Katie took a deep breath and walked back into the kitchen. Tony eyed her from where he was leaning against the counter, mug of coffee in his hand.

“Don’t start.” Katie warned him, to no avail

“Oh I’m gonna!” Tony spat, before he paused and looked around “Where is the Star Spangled Ass-hole?”

“Gone home.” Katie folded her arms.

Tony snorted “I bet he has…” “You know I don’t remember me reacting like this every time you brought a girl home, which from my recollection happened quite a lot.” Katie sniped back, as she walked to where he was stood by the coffee pot and reached round him to pour herself a fresh mug.

“That..that was different…” Tony stammered at her back as she walked to the counter for the creamer.

“How so?”

“Because, well, it’s him…” he whined “I mean, seriously? Of all the men in the world…”

“Yeah because the last one worked out so great…” Katie said sarcastically, replacing the carton down with a slightly harsh action, causing some to spill over the top.

The room fell silent bar the chink of the spoon on the edge of her pink unicorn mug as she stirred in sugar and milk. She took a sip of her drink and turned to face her brother who was hunched over the counter slightly, eyes on his mug. Eventually he straightened up and met his sister’s eyes before he spoke again, this time his voice was softer.

“How long?” he asked,

“Three weeks, give or take.”

“Three weeks, and I’m only just finding out?” “Yes, Tony.” she groaned, with the air of someone talking to a small child “And your reaction is exactly why I didn’t want to tell you.”

To be fair, Steve was right. It wasn’t an ideal way for him to find out, but she knew the reaction from Tony wasn’t about her being caught, it was about her being caught with Steve. The two men got on okay, which hadn’t always been the case, but after the battle of New York Steve had spent a lot of time with them both at the tower. Tony was still a little reserved with Steve, more so due to the fact that Captain America was someone their dad had idolised but, whilst the two men were immensely different, there was a mutual respect between them and Katie was hoping now that that was going to be enough for Tony to be reasonable about the situation.

“Please don’t kick off about this. I care about him, a lot.” She said gently, looking at her brother, appealing to his better nature and the fact that she knew he would want her to be happy.

And sure enough, that was exactly what Tony asked as he looked at her.

“Does he make you happy?”

“More than anything.” she replied honestly. “I really like him Tony, I want this to work.”

Tony studied her face for a moment before he let out a deep sigh, looking away. “Damned it.” He groaned “I can’t believe I’m going to have to have the Shovel Conversation with Captain America.”

In the silence that followed Katie debated pointing out that Steve wouldn’t be frightened in the slightest of Tony’s various threats anyway, but who was she to rob her brother of his opportunity to try and protect her? Instead she placed her mug on the counter and leaned forward, wrapping her arms around Tony who sighed again and reciprocated the gesture.

“Suppose he is an improvement on Agent Shitweasel” he said, resting his chin on her head.

“That’s not exactly a glowing endorsement.” she snorted.

*****

Steve was reading a book in his lounge when Katie messaged him later that afternoon. Apparently Tony had calmed down enough to take her for lunch at some Italian place in the Business District following which they’d had a walk round the city together before Tony had left to go back to New York. Steve was pleased, he knew that despite the fact that he drove her insane at times, she loved the bones of her brother which was why his reaction before had pissed her off. He messaged back, telling her he was glad she’d had a good time and that he would call her later before he picked his book back up, but he’d only managed another chapter or so before there was a buzz on his intercom.

“Rogers, it’s me.”

Steve sighed “Come on up.”

He wasn’t surprised Tony was on his doorstep, he’d been half expecting it. And, judging from the lack of stupid nickname, no Spangles, no Capsicle, no Old Man, he wasn’t here to exchange pleasantries. A fact that was confirmed when Stark didn’t wait for Steve to invite him in, he simply pushed past the door into his flat and stalked inside, glancing around.

“You can tell Kiddo helped you decorate and furnish this gaff, far too modern to be your doing. There’s no Dig for Victory posters or wind up radios…” Tony said, causing Steve to roll his eyes “Holy shit, is that an original Dekka?”

“Katie said you’d like that” Steve watched the inventor cross the room and run his hands across the sleekness of the record player’s casing. “But I have a feeling you didn’t come here to admire my music equipment.”

“Perceptive” Tony turned to face him, his eyes flashing. Steve took a deep breath.

“Tony, I…” “No, you don’t get to talk, you get to listen. And you better listen good.” the billionaire cut him off “Katie was heartbroken when Agent Shitweasel did the dirty on her. She came home and I held her as she cried herself to sleep for 2 goddamned weeks before she shipped out to New Mexico… ”

“Tony…”Steve began, knowing already where this conversation was going. He wanted to assure Tony that he would never do what Ward had done, ever. But Tony ignored him.

“I hated him.” Tony said “he was an absolute dickhead with her at times and she changed because of it. And then, after New York she seemed to go back to being her old self. She was laughing, socialising…and that was down to you” Tony looked at the Super Soldier, who cocked his head slightly to the right as he listened, a small smile tugging at his lips “ She had a friend, something she hasn’t had much time for since my little sioree in an Afghan cave, my bad, and for the first time in ages I can see she’s over it, you know…” he took a deep breath and Steve waited for him to finish “But Katie puts her heart into everything, and I gotta ask Cap, is this serious for you or you just after getting your dick wet?”

“What? No, of course it’s serious for me Tony…” Steve said, his temper flaring slightly at his crass tone. “I can’t believe you think that little of me that you had to even ask me that!”

“Oh get off your high horse, Rogers!” Tony shook his head, and Steve raised his eyebrows “This has nothing to do with what I think of you, this is about my sister…you know the girl I brought up from the age of 7. The girl I couldn’t love any more if she was my own. I’d die for her you got that? Die for her!”

“Well that makes 2 of us!” Steve said loudly, silencing the other man. There was a moment where no sound was heard in the apartment bar the ticking of the clock on the wall and Tony raised his eyebrows slightly as Steve looked down at the floor taking a deep breath.

“Look, I know you’re not happy about this…” Steve sighed, looking at Tony again “But do I care about her Tony, more than you know, and nothing you do or say to me is gonna change that.”

Tony’s eyes softened, but his jaw remained set. Steve took a deep breath and wet his lips before he continued. “And, for what it’s worth, I think you did a damned good job of raising her. She’s an incredible woman.”

“She’s a pain in the ass…” Tony sniffed, Steve was glad to hear his tone was less confrontational “And she’s stubborn, always thinks she knows best…”

“Wonder where she gets that from?” Steve said cheekily

“Absolutely no idea” Tony deadpanned back.

Steve’s face cracked into a smile as did Tony’s.

“Look.” Tony sighed, “I just want her to be happy and with someone that treats her right…”

“I don’t ever want to hurt her, Tony. You have my word…” Steve said, honestly.

“Good, because if you do, make no mistake I will fucking kill you, slowly and painfully and there will be no defrosting 70 years down the line.” Tony’s brown eyes flashed slightly as he stared at Steve, And Steve knew, absolutely 100% that he meant it. He was surprised to find himself slightly unnerved by the threat. Hoping that his face didn’t give him away her merely nodded and then Tony’s demeanour changed completely and he turned back into the Tony Stark that Steve knew, and had to admit quite liked after all.

“Good, this was a good talk…” Tony said, clapping Steve on the shoulder.

Steve smiled as the weight he hadn’t even realised he’d been carrying was lifted off his shoulder. Having Tony’s, albeit grudging, approval would mean the world to Katie, and if he was honest, it meant a lot to him as well. Not only was Tony his friend also, but he was the closest thing Katie had to a father, and he wanted him to be alright with the fact the two of them were together.

He offered the man a coffee which he politely declined, stating he needed to get back to New York. The two shook hands on the threshold of Steve’s door before Tony gave him one last look, raising his index finger and middle finger of his right hand to his eyes, before turning them to point at Steve in an “I’m watching you” gesture. Steve raised his eyebrows in understanding and felt his mouth tug upwards at the side as Tony turned on his heels and left.

He retreated back to his living room and pulled out his phone.

“Hey Badass” Katie greeted and Steve chuckled.

“I’ve just had a visitor.” Katie groaned into the phone as he sat back on his couch

“Let me guess… my darling brother turned up to give you the shovel talk?” her tone was exasperated. “No mention of a shovel, just threatened to kill me slowly and painfully if I hurt you, and you know what? I have absolutely no qualms about the fact he would.” Steve grinned as he spoke.

“Don’t tell me Captain America is scared of Iron Man?” she questioned playfully. “No, Steve Rogers is slightly disconcerted by Tony Stark.” He corrected as she let out a chuckle.

“Best make sure you don’t hurt me then aint ya?” “I’ve no intentions of doing doll.” He said, honestly before he let out a breath, smiling “I really enjoyed last night.”

“And this morning?”

“Yeah, another first.” He said, unable to stop the smirk on his face spreading into his voice “I’ve never, errr, had a woman use her mouth on me before…or vice versa for that matter.”

“I like being your first.” she said softly and his chest warmed at her words.

“You know what else was a first? Waking up next to my girl.”

There was a pause before she replied, and he could hear the smile in her voice.

“And you know what else I like? You calling me your girl.”

A shit eating grin crept back across the Captains face. “Well, you better get used to it, Doll.”

**** Chapter 7

**Original Posting**

#stark spangled banner #steve rogers #steve rogers x ofc #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers x original female character #steve rogers fic #steve rogers smut #chris evans #chris evans characters

144 notes · View notes

babeyvenus · 3 years ago

Text

The Wolf Among Us

Bigby x Oc

Summary: Sonya Blaze, A.K.A. Hell Rider, is a half fable, half mundy girl who comes to Fabletown to learn more about her side of the folktales. She works alongside Sheriff Bigby Wolf as his newest partner and together they strive to find out who's behind the unexpected murders in Fabletown.

TW: Mentions of death, gore/blood, alcohol, smoking, drugs, sex implications, suicide, guns and ofc language.

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Chapter 18: What a Twist

Everyone turns their head to see the mermaid running towards them, panting softly as she runs up to Sonya. “Easy. You’re not late.”, Sonya smiled, holding her arms.

“Excuse me, dear.”, Crooked Man says to Nerissa. “I….I wanted to make sure I had the chance to say something.”, Nerissa said, catching her breath.

“Why don’t you take a moment to catch your breath, little one?”, Crooked Man suggested.

“What’s she doing here?”, Bluebeard asked, crossing his arms.

“I’d like to…I–I need to say something.”, Nerissa declared.

“We’re kind of in the middle of something.”, Bluebeard said. Sonya glared at him. “Fuck off and let her speak.”

“She has something to say and we’re gonna listen.”, Bigby said. He nodded at Nerissa. “Go right ahead.” She smiles at him, and then glares at the Crooked Man. “You probably don’t remember me. I don’t know why I was afraid to come here.”, she said.

“My dear, I don’t know what it i–”

“Just shut up!”, Nerissa ordered, making him look at her in surprise. “You enslaved us for years. Let us hear stories about what you’d do….told us we would lose everything if we stepped just one toe out of line. And we couldn’t say a word about it because of these damn ribbons.”

“Wait….”

“But you know what….now it’s my turn to talk.”, Nerissa said, smirking. “How are you–?”, he asked, clasping his hands.

“I found Vivian’s body. Did you kill her?”, she asked. She turns to Sonya and Bigby. “Did he?”

“He might as well have.”, Bigby says, looking at the Crooked Man. “Vivian wanted you guys to finally be free. She explained what happened. Figured she knew she was gonna die regardless.”, Sonya said. Nerissa looks down in sadness. “I’m sorry, um….I don’t think I know your….”, Crooked Man excused himself.

“Nerissa! My name is Nerissa!”, Nerissa yells at him.

“It’s okay, my dear, it’s going to be just–”

“He ordered them dead, this fucker. Faith and Lily–"

"That’s a lie!”

“I was in the goddamned room when he did it!”, she exclaimed to the crowd. She turned to Crooked man, angrily. “Faith and Lily are dead because of you! The only two people who ever gave a damn about me… and now I can finally say, you’re an asshole. And I hope you rot at the bottom of the Witching Well for what you did."

"Then this just confirms it.”, Bigby says, grinning. Nerissa turns to the crowd. “He made Georgie do it, it was always him, Georgie would’ve never done anything without his say-so, ever.”

“You’re going to take the word of–”

“At least five other girls will back me up on this.”, Nerissa cuts him off. “We all heard you say it!”

Crooked Man glared at her. “Did you now…”

“There goes our evidence.”, Sonya grins at Bigby. “She saw it first hand….”, Beauty says in shock.

“He’s guilty!”, Bluebeard declared.

“Sounds good to me. What about you, Deputy?”, Bigby smirked at Sonya. “Sounds good to me.”, Sonya agreed, smirking at Crooked Man. “So, we’re all in agreement.”, Snow said.

“So that’s it, right?”, Beast asked.

“Throw him down the Witching Well!”, Johann ordered.

“No! That’s too fuckin’ easy for a crook like that!”, Gren disagrees. Bigby looked at him in confusion while cuffing the Crooked Man.

“What do you mean?”, Beast asked.

“He’s gotta pay for what he did!”, Gren shouted. “That’s what we’re doing!”, Sonya exclaims in confusion. “Listen to yourselves!”, Greenleaf yelled.

“You’re all rats fleeing from one sinking ship to the next. So quick to latch onto whatever will keep your miserable lives afloat. This is how you want to repay all I’ve done for you?”, Crooked Man asked, glaring at the crowd.

“What, you take two people’s lives away and now you want mercy?”, Gren asked, in disbelief.

“You know we can’t let you go free after this.”, Snow said. “Are you seriously trying to get sympathy for ordering a hit on fables?, Sonya scoffed, amused. He narrowed his eyes at her. “Well done then.”

“Now, for your sentence–”, Snow starts but is cut off by Greenleaf. “We don’t have to become murderers.”, she suggests.

Sonya turns to her. "You're still trying to excuse his actions? He killed people. He threatened you all and you want us to make it easy for him? You're not saving him."

Greenleaf frowns. "I don't need to be taking orders from a half fable.", she says, quieting everyone.

Sonya frowns. "What's that got to do with the situation here?"

"The hell is she talking about?"

"Half fable...?"

"Greenleaf, where are you going with this?", Bigby asked. She pointed at him. "Did you really think that no one was gonna figure it out? The new fable in town, the new deputy– no one's even heard of this girl!"

Greenleaf turned to the crowd. "They've practically let a mundy run amuck in our town!", she exclaims making the crowd gasp.

Snow and Bigby's eyes widened. "Now, hold on-"

She turned to glare at Snow. "You let this happen. You're worried about what the Crooked Man would've done, what about her? What if she blabbed to other mundies about us!? What safety would we have then!?"

Sonya could feel everyone's eyes on her as she glared at Greenleaf. The old woman continues. "The wolf and the princess are no better. They just do what they want. If you're so willing to let a half mundy enter Fabletown, what's to stop you from letting other mundies in!?"

The Crooked Man clapped. "Well. This is a surprise to remember."

Sonya glared at him. "Now hold on, whether or not Sonya's a half fable, it didn't stop her from trying her best to find my sister. They care about us. About this town.", Holly interjects.

"They only cared when they thought it was Sonya that bit it, though.", Gren added. Holly shook her head. "But it wasn't her fault. It took me too long to come to terms with that.", she said, looking down. "I trust them. They've gotten this far when Crane never bothered and the Crooked Man is here. That's all we wanted was for justice to come to this town and they've done it. What more do you want?", she asks Greenleaf.

Sonya smiles at Holly, giving her a nod before turning back to Greenleaf, crossing her arms. "Are you done? Can I speak now?" The old woman scoffed, keeping herself quiet.

"Alright then.", Sonya says but Bigby puts a hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to explain yourself.", he says. She gives him a small smile. "As your deputy, I'd want everyone to trust me and put their faith in our jobs. What better way to do that than to be honest?"

His expression softened and he lets go of her shoulder. Sonya claps to get everyone's attention. "If you're all writing a book and you must know, I am a half fable. I don't know if you all have heard tales of the Ghost Rider. But I am the next Ghost Rider. My dad was the previous one before me. He died a couple of years ago and I swore and prayed to every god I could think of to bring him back.", she frowns.

She paces in front of the crowd as she continues. "A demon of some sorts, Mephistopheles, or Mephisto, offered me a chance to "help" those in need of saving. To help wary souls find their place in the after life. My dad did the same thing. The only reason why his soul wasn't saved is because he traded it with Mephisto. Same as I have."

She looked down. "He told me about this place. Hell, he worked with Crane outside rather than working at the office. He told me stories about how great this place was. Living fairy tales commuting amongst each other like any regular old person. I thought he was just telling stories but a few years after he died, I decided to look for Fabletown myself."

She looked at Snow. "That's when I met Snow and Crane. Crane gave Snow the rundown of my situation because he knew my dad. Which then helped me get a job as deputy.", she says, glancing at Bigby. "And now we're all here."

Sonya glared at Greenleaf. "However, me being a half fable wouldn't mean I'd rat everyone out. I'd have no good solid proof to the police anyways. I'd look like a damn loon and would probably get arrested for wasting their time. So, I dunno what your little plan was to get everyone's attention onto me and off of the task at hand, but we're still at a trial. And, last time I checked, I wasn't the guilty one."

Greenleaf looks down in shame. “He’s guilty! I know that, but we don’t have to kill anybody. Like you said before, there's another way we can go about this. We can imprison him. Lock him up forever…somewhere he can never hurt anyone again.”, Greenleaf says.

“How can we be sure he won’t escape?”, Snow asked, frowning. “I can help! We’ll use magic. I assure you–”, Greenleaf said, making Sonya look up in thought.

“That’s not good enough!”, Bluebeard shouts.

“There will be more if he isn’t stopped!”, Nerissa says. “So we get rid of him!”, Gren says.

“I don’t know…”, Beauty says, uncertain. “We can send him away!”, Beast suggests.

“Everyone! Listen up!”, Snow announces. “Clearly we’re having trouble agreeing on a suitable punishment. So I think we–”

“This is going nowhere!”, Bluebeard cuts her off. “Someone needs to make a decision!”, Snow exclaimed. “Who?”, Beauty asked.

“I hope you aren’t suggesting yourself.”, Bluebeard says, stepping up to her.

“We should have a vote. Make it democratic.”, Bigby says. “Do you really think that’s going to work?”, Bluebeard asked. “He’s right. Nobody can agree on anything.”, Snow said.

“What about Bigby and Sonya?”, Nerissa asked. “What about them?”, Snow asked, turning to her.

“They were appointed, they’re….the only official representatives, really. They should be the judges.”, Nerissa said.

“That makes sense to me.”

“I guess it does.”

“Okay.”

“Fine.”

“Are you sure? This isn’t how it’s–”, Snow says before Bluebeard interrupts her again.“It’s what the people want, Miss White.”

“Okay.”, Snow said, then turned to Sonya and Bigby. “Mr Wolf. Miss Blaze. It’s your call.”

“Snow, I–”

“Just….do what you two think is right.”, Snow said, interrupting Bigby. Sonya rolls her eyes as he pulls her aside. “What do you wanna do?” She looks at him, incredulously. “Why me? You’re the boss.” , she says.

He rolls his eyes. “Forget that. He kidnapped you.” She sighed. “Good point but he nearly got you killed.”, she argued. He clenched his jaw for a moment and looked at the crowd as they looked at them.

He nodded. “Smart.”, he let out a soft sigh. “Fine.” They walked back to the crowd.

“We could try Greenleaf’s plan. The only thing I’m worried about is whether or not he’d convince her to stop doing it. She’s so hellbent on keeping him alive even though Faith and Lily are dead. And the fact that we could’ve died….”, she says, catching his attention.

She closed her eyes, sighing again. “Let’s just see what Greenleaf has in mind. If things go south, we could always make a plan just in case it does.”

“Everyone, we’ve–”, Bigby started to say until suddenly Crooked Man charged forward and wrapped his cuffed wrists around Sonya’s neck, shocking everyone. “Not this way!”, he yells, tugging her back toward the Witching Well. She coughed and choked, struggling against his hold as Bigby ran to her.

Just before they touch the well, she grips onto the chain that connected the cuffs and melted it, making her drop to her knees. Bigby grabs Crooked Man’s shirt and punches him in the face, holding him over the Witching Well. “Aaahhh……there you are….”, Crooked Man said, creepily as Sonya catches her breath.

The crowd runs toward them, wary of the next move. “I hope you all….remember this moment…..think of me when you try to sleep.”, Crooked Man says.

“You know, we were gonna make the choice of letting you live. But you just tried to murder my deputy. That’s a problem.”, Bigby said, shaking him above the well.

“You’re going to miss me….”, Crooked Man croaked. Bigby looks at Sonya with an unsure expression, watching her rub at her neck. She frowned and nodded.

Bigby looks back at Crooked Man with a smirk. “No. I won’t.”, he says and he drops the Crooked Man down into the well, watching him disappear in the darkness.

“For Lily. And Faith.”, she hears Holly say. Sonya takes another deep breath, as she clasps her neck softly, now coming to terms that she could’ve died.

The Crooked Man was going to kill her because he wasn’t getting his way. That had to be enough proof to show everyone. Bigby looks at her and kneels down to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She snapped her out of her rampant thoughts and looked up at him with red rimmed, glassy, wide eyes.

He frowned, softly taking her hand away from her neck and lifted her chin up to examine it. His expression turned displeased as he saw a red mark on her neck. “I’m fine…”, she says, standing. He stood up with her and nodded, not saying a word and left.

Everyone else leaves the chamber, unsure, afraid, unsettled or otherwise. Sonya could only watch their retreating backs before looking into the dark well for a moment and finally leaves.

She walked out of the office, walked past Bigby’s office. She paused, turned to the door and opened it slowly. She peeked her head through and smiled at Bigby’s sleeping form as he snored softly on his desk.

She walked in, quietly moving over to him and lifted a hand to gently shake him awake. His eyes popped open as he looked around and relaxed when he saw Sonya.

“Why didn’t you head home if you were gonna sleep?”, she asked. He sat up straight, rubbing his eyes. “I was gonna get some paperwork done...hadn’t realized I’d fallen asleep.”

She leaned on his desk. “You might wanna go home instead of being here. You deserve a break.”, she said, looking down at her shoes.

He looked up at her and looked at a nearby clock. “Hey…”, he says, getting her attention. “You wanna go grab something to eat?”, he asked, giving her a slight smile. She chuckled. “At this hour?”

“I don’t hear a complaint.”, he says, raising an eyebrow. She rolled her eyes playfully. “Fine. We can go find something that’s open.”

Subway Late Night

Sonya sputters a laugh, nearly choking on her drink. “So, you mean to tell me, he’s making you owe him a place to stay because you blew his house down?”, she asks, after hearing Bigby explain his roommate situation. He swallowed his bite of his meatball sub, giving a sigh and nods. “He’s a pain in the ass.”

“Well, if we’re being fair, in the stories I’ve read, the pigs boil you alive. I think that’s way more than enough.”, she says. That intrigued him. “Really?”, he asked.

She nodded, taking a bite. She looked up at the sky as they walked away from the shop. “To think I’d be living among actual fairy tale characters….”, she mutters. “I mean, I knew the sugarcoated stories had to have some type of dark history behind it but jesus…”

“Yeah… no sugarcoating with this one.”, he says, pointing at himself. “It just sounds like you were hungry.”, she says, smiling. He nodded. “I was.”, he says. “Okay, so let me get this straight. Every fairy tale character is here? Or at least nearby?” He shrugs. “More or less.”

“So...does that mean that Rapunzel is here too?”, she asked. He nodded. “I was wondering because I read a story that the guy that saved her fell from the tower and got his eyes poked out by thorns.”, she says, making him grimace. “That’s dark.”, he says.

“Is it not true?”, she asked and finished up her sandwich. “I wouldn’t know… Not a lot of fables talk to me. That or they’re at the Farm.”, he replied.

“Sounds boring. Looks like I came here just in time to spice up your life.”, she says, grinning and making him roll his eyes in amusement. He threw their trash away in a nearby trash can before they walked in the Woodlands and pulled out a Huff n’ Puff, making Sonya reel back once he lit it. “What is up with you and the cancer sticks?”, she asked, pinching her nose.

“It helps.”, he says. “With addiction??”, she asked in disbelief. He chopped her head softly, “No. It helps drown out smells from the city. My nose can’t take everyone’s scent all at once. Especially if I’m trying to pinpoint someone’s location.”, he says, leading her to the elevator.

Once the elevator stopped on their floor, it opened, allowing them to enter.

Her eyes widened in realization. “Ohhh, so its like being in a perfume store and taking in too many scents all at one time.” He nods, taking a drag.

“Does your nose get stuffy from smelling a lot of things simultaneously?”, she asked. He shook his head, letting the smoke out. “It gives me one mean migraine, though.”

She smiled, enjoying the new info. “So, you are like a pup.”, she joked. He narrowed his eyes at her. “Don’t start.”, he says, making her snicker.

He did have to admit, he felt lighter. The Crooked Man was gone, Faith, Lily and Nerissa got their justice. All that was left was to deal with whatever came their way next. And he was fine with that.

He smiled at Sonya as they arrived on their apartment floors. She rubbed her eyes, sleepily. “I actually miss that stupid couch…”, she muttered.

“Go on home. I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”, he says. She looked at him, remembering what Snow said. She gave him a faux smile. “Yeah. G’night, Bigby.”

He nodded before she walked away and entered her apartment. Locking the door, Snow’s words echoed in her mind. “When this case is over, you’ll be on leave until we need you.”

She walked over to her couch and laid into the cushions, curling up. “Damn that Snow.”, she grumbled, shutting her eyes.

The Woodlands Next morning

Bigby rubbed his eyes sleepily as he waited for the elevator doors to open. He pulls out a Huff n’ Puff, lighting it up as Flycatcher catches him. “Hey, Sheriff.”, he greets Bigby. “You gonna see the truck off? We’re leaving for the Farm in a few….I already informed the Deputy and she’s helping outside. Just thought you might wanna, I don’t know…”

“I’ll be down in a minute.”, he says. “Okay…great.”, Flycatcher smiles as the door to the elevator closes. He hears someone walk up to him and sees Sonya. “Hey.”

He greeted her back. “You’re up pretty early. Thought you would’ve slept in after everything that’s happened.”

She shook her head. “Nah, I heard that Toad was getting sent to the Farm and I didn’t want T.J. to be too upset.”, she explains as they walk up to a long line outside of the Business Office. “This fuckin’ line.”, Bigby hears Gren mumble.

As they walked past everyone, they were given smiles or uncertain looks. He lifted a hand to the door of the office until Snow White rushed out, holding some files in her arms. She stops when she sees them. “Oh….Mr. Wolf! Flycatcher left his keys.” She holds out the keys to Bigby.

He holds his hand out and she drops the keys in his hands. He looks down at the keys before looking back at Snow. “Is everything okay? You look–”

“I’m–I’m sorry, Sheriff. I have to take care of this.” , Snow said, before giving Sonya a look. “We’ll talk later, okay?”, she said before walking back into the office. Sonya frowned deeply and walked away, much to Bigby’s confusion.

She walks past Bluebeard and he gives Bigby a look as he walks to the office. “Good morning, Miss White.”

“You’re late.”, Bigby hears her say. He walks to the elevator, ready to get away. The elevator doors opened and his eyes widened at Colin, holding a six pack in his mouth. “Someone’s gonna see you, Colin.”, Bigby said. Colin smiles and winks at him before walking away. He sighed and shook his head, entering the elevator.

As he walked outside, he could hear Toad fussing at Flycatcher as Toad and T.J. climbed in the trunk. “Fly.”, Bigby calls, catching the younger one’s attention. “You forgot these.”, he says, tossing the keys to him. “Oh! Thank you. It’s, uh, been pretty busy around here.”, Flycatcher said as he caught the keys.

“Morning, Sheriff. Nice fuckin’ day.”, Toad said, angrily. “Shit.” He fussed at T.J. “Just go grab that, would you?”

“Sorry about all this. We tried to help.”, Bigby said, standing next to Sonya. “Just why the hell did she have to send me and me boy away? Huh? You two promised me I’d get another chance, but Miss White said I had to go up to the damn Farm anyway! I told her I had the money but she wouldn’t hear it!”, Toad shouts.

“That’s because she’s stuck up about it…”, Sonya mutters, crossing her arms. “Sheriff Bigby! Sonya!”, T.J. called. “I have something.”, Sonya and Bigby walk up to T.J. as he sniffles. “You know he was up cryin’ all night. Poor kid.”, Toad said, shaking his head.

“Can you give this to Miss White? Please.”, T.J. plead as he holds out a little wooden box to them. “Dad says there’s no time to say goodbye, so…if you guys could bring it to her…she was nice.”

“What is it?”, Bigby asked him, holding his hand out.

“I couldn’t take them all with me. And she said she liked that one the best.”, T.J. explained as he hands the box to Bigby. Bigby opened the box and saw a pretty blue beetle inside of it.

To: Miss White

From: TJ

“It’s a Willow Beetle. That’s a big one. They’re cool, ‘cause when they’re little they have these pouches that squirt juice at you if you touch 'em.”, T.J. informed as Bigby closed the box. “She’ll definitely love it.”, Sonya gave him a smile. “She said it was pretty.”, T.J. said.

“We’re about ready to head out.”, Flycatcher said as he walked back towards the truck. “What’s it like at the Farm? I’ve heard ogres live there. And they eat people in their sleep sometimes.”, T.J. said as Toad places a hand on his shoulder. “God, I hope not.”, Toad said. “Do we have to go?”, T.J. asked him. “I wanna stay here.”

“Well, we don’t have a choice anymore.”, Toad said. “We’re sorry, T.J.”, Bigby said. “But look on the bright side, okay? There’s plenty of space to run around, and a nice river nearby so you can swim all you want.”

“Even in daytime?”, T.J. asked, with hopeful eyes.

“Yeah.”, Bigby nodded, smiling. “You won’t have to worry about the mundies seeing you. It’ll be nice.”

T.J. sniffled some more, making Sonya rub his back. “Come on….it won’t be so bad.”, Bigby said.

“Have you been there before?”, T.J. asked, looking up at Bigby.

“No….I’m, uh—some of the animals aren’t comfortable around wolves.”, Bigby says, rubbing the back of his neck.

“So you wouldn’t know, would you?”, Toad asked, making Bigby lower his head. “Hey, if they won't let Mr. Wolf be there, I doubt they'll let any ogres touch you.", Sonya grinned at T.J. He gives her a small smile.

"And hey, I think I got something for ya.", she says, walking over to her bike and dug into a small bag. She pulled out a bag of gummy worms and handed it to him.

"Thought you might like to try them. Wasn't sure whether or not you could have candy but it's a mundy snack.", she says as he takes it with wonder.

“We’re all set.”, Flycatcher says, getting in the truck. "Bye, Mr Wolf. Bye, Miss Sonya.”, T.J. said, with glassy eyes. “Goodbye, T.J.”, Bigby says. "Seeya kiddo. I'll try to see if I can visit you!", she said, giving him a grin.

Bigby pulls out a cigarette, grumbling when he gets interrupted. “Hey, Bigby! Where’s your friend, Colin? Where’s the fuckin’ pig?”, Toad asked, angrily. “I dunno. He must’ve run off.”, Bigby shrugged as he lit his smoke.

“What a crock of shit.”, Toad said, angrily as they drove away. Sonya sighed. “I hate that he cusses like that around T.J. He’s so sweet.”, she says to Bigby and looks up as it starts to rain. “Where are you headed off to?”, he asked.

“Well, I-”, Sonya starts before she gets cut off. “Saying goodbye?”, a familiar voice asks. Sonya and Bigby look across the street to see Nerissa, in a white shirt and a jacket, and jeans, smiling while holding an umbrella. They smile at her, walking across the street.

“Hi.”, they say as Sonya gave her a hug.

“Hi.”, she says, returning it. “You’re still wearing that thing.”, Bigby said, pointing at her neck. Sonya’s eyes trail to Nerissa’s neck as she sees the purple ribbon and frowns.

“Oh….yeah.”, she said, nervously. “I guess I am…it’s not easy to forget.” They walk under a shade, shielding themselves from the rain. “I know it seems like I should be able to….it’s just….”, she sighs.

“Could I…?”, Bigby asked, reaching out to her. Sonya slaps his hand, making him retract it. “What did I tell you? You’re so impatient.”, she fussed. He grumbled, rubbing his hand.

Nerissa rubs her arm. “I’m sorry... I-I know you’re just trying to help, but this is just something I need to do on my own. Okay?” He nodded, putting his hands at his sides.

“Listen, I-I came here because….I have to tell you guys something.”, Nerissa said. “What’s wrong?”, Sonya asked.

“It’s about what happened to Faith and Lily. I’m not sure where to start….”, she said, biting her lip. “Faith, Lily and I, we had this plan. We were gonna find a way out. Leave the Pudding 'n Pie for good….but then Faith decided to get some…leverage. She stole a picture of Crane and Lily together. The minute Faith stole that photo, we had dirt on one of the Crooked Man’s allies. If he found out–!”, she took a breath.

“I-I had no choice. You two have to understand. You’ve seen how they kept us quiet at that place. Can you imagine the lengths they’d go to just silence someone who had physical evidence?”

“Nerissa, what did you do?”, Bigby asked, confused and shocked.

“I freaked out. Okay? I thought if I came clean to Georgie, he’d get the Crooked Man to leave us alone! We could just forget the whole thing….maybe try again in a few years.”, Nerissa confessed.

“You…what!?”, Sonya asked, shocked.

“So I told him everything. And I begged for mercy. For all of us! I didn’t want anyone to die over a picture!”, Nerissa says, tearfully. “So you sold them out?”, Sonya asked, crossing her arms in disappointment. “No!”, she exclaimed.

Sonya looked at her with an eyebrow raised. “Yes....”, Nerissa looks down at her feet. “Georgie promised he’d smooth things over with the Crooked Man. But then….Oh God.”

Sonya sighed, reaching to rub her back but she flinched, making Sonya’s eyes widen. She gave her a weak smile, appreciative of the attempted comfort.

“I don’t know what happened, but that night, at the club….Georgie came back and told me things had changed. He had to make an example of us…we had committed treason. And while the two of us were sitting there…as he was telling me this….Faith walked in. And I had to watch while Georgie–”, she explained, sniffling.

Bigby’s eyes widened. “Wait, so Georgie told you all this? Not the Crooked Man? Back at the Well you said….”

“I know what I said.”, Nerissa said firmly. Sonya frowns. “But it wasn’t the truth, was it?”

“What does it matter? I know the Crooked Man did it. So what if it wasn’t the whole truth? It was true enough!”, Nerissa exclaimed.

“So you think that makes it okay to lie?”, he asked, frowning at her.

“I know he ordered their deaths. I wasn’t going to let him get away with it because of a stupid technicality. Especially after-” She sighed and looked at them.

“That night, after Faith….I tried to warn Lily, but she wasn’t with her scheduled appointment. So I did the only thing I could do. I-I left Faith’s head at your doorstep.”, Nerissa confessed.

“You?”, the other two asked. “So that piece of fabric I found near there….that was you?”, Bigby asked. Nerissa nodded. “Yeah…I cut my leg trying to get over the fence.”

Sonya looked at him. “Its no wonder why she was placed there with care.” She turned to Nerissa. “So you started all of this?”

“I just…. I pointed you two in the right direction. People like us get forgotten all the time. The Crooked Man was counting on that. When we suffer, we do it in silence. And the world likes it that way. We just….fade. Like we never existed. I couldn’t watch that happen to Faith. Or Lily. Nobody cares about us. Not really.”, Nerissa says, shaking her head.

“I’m sorry, Nerissa.”, Bigby said. “I’m sorry that’s what it took to get us to pay attention.”

“It’ll be different now. You guys will make things right…. The two of you and Snow.”, Nerissa said, smiling. Sonya crosses her arms. “It just feels like it won’t matter.”

“It seems like no matter what we do, it’s just not enough for her or anyone.”, Bigby says, sadly. “We just can’t win with these people.”

“I know it might feel that way, but….they need you two. All three of you. You three make a good team. The way you look out for each other….and look out for us. You don’t see that a lot these days.”, Nerissa nods..

“I don’t really know where we stand anymore. Things are just...different.”, Bigby shrugged, looking at his feet.

“Things are always different. Look, after everything you two have done for us… Maybe they don’t want to admit it, but…without you two, none of this would’ve happened. You two listened when no one else would. Both of you protected your friends….no matter the cost. And you brought justice to this town….finally. Because you two brought the Crooked Man in, everyone saw who he really was. So from where I’m standing, you guys did the right thing. You guys have been given these jobs for a reason. And I left Faith at your doorstep, because I knew, if anyone stood a chance against the Crooked Man, it was you two.”, Nerissa reassures.

“That’s all we wanted was for things to be right. To be better.”, Sonya says. “You two have changed this place. For better or worse. Fabletown wouldn’t be the same with you two.”, Nerissa says, grinning and opening her umbrella as she starts to walk away from them.

She pauses and turns to Bigby. “You’re still not as bad as everyone says you are.” Bigby’s eyes slowly widened in realization. He looked at Sonya as she looked at him and back at Nerissa in confusion.

“I need to tell you something.”

“I have to tell you something.”

“I feel like we’ve met before.”

“You’re trying to place me.”

“You like my ribbon?”

“Do you like it?”

“Faith wore one too.”

“Would hide her beauty, so she could escape his kingdom.”

"They used to call me The Little Mermaid."

“Did Dr Swineheart ever get back to you about Faith?”

“He said he wanted to run more tests.”

“I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

I’ll see you two around.

“No way…”, Sonya mutters and turns to Bigby. “Should we go after her?” He looked at “Nerissa’s” retreating back and shook his head. “I think she deserves to be free.”

She sighed and walked back to her bike with him, placing her helmet on her head before climbing on.

“So...you’re headed where now?”, Bigby asked. “You’re not leaving too...are you?” She looked at him with a small smile. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”, she chuckled, tugging her bag on her back. “I’m gonna visit my mom.”

His eyes filled with curiosity. “Your mom…? How come? Did something happen?” She shook her head, “I haven’t been able to keep in touch with her since we were working so I thought a little visit would ease her mind.”

He nodded in understanding. She smirked, teasingly. “What, you gonna miss me?” He rolled his eyes. “No, I was just thinking.”

She leaned on the handle bar of her bike. “About what?” He rubbed behind his neck. “Apologizing to your mother.”

Her eyes widened a bit before she snickered. “What?”, he asked, frowning. “You sound like you’re gonna get in trouble. Relax.”, she says, smiling. She sits up. “Did you wanna come with?”

He looks at her bike. “You sure I can fit on that?” She shrugs. “I’m more worried about your poor pup ears.”, she teased, making him roll his eyes again. “I think I can handle the sound of a muffler.”, he says. She scoots up. “Get on then.”

He awkwardly gets on the bike, hesitantly wrapping his arms around here as she starts up her bike. “I don’t think I have to tell you to hold on, right?”, she asks. He narrowed his eyes, making her shrug. “Okay.”

She pulls off, the loud roar of the engine making Bigby’s ears twitch and his hold gets a little tighter.

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laufire · 3 years ago

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i want to hear more about the following wips: megstiel role reversal, lesbian mary, and all the kaia ones?

(from this list)

MEGSTIEL ROLE REVERSAL

The idea came from this anon’s prompt and it’s evolved into a series of prospective one-shots, each focusing on a different episode from s4-5 (not all of them, as I have little interesting in rewriting some of their plots. Just the ones where I’d get a lot out of Meg, Castiel, or their dynamic with each other).

They’ll be mostly from Meg’s or Castiel’s POVs, although Sam and Dean will have theirs here and there; for example, “The End” is from Dean’s POV. I considered starting 4x01 with his too, but lately I’m leaning towards Castiel’s, as he’s sort of another Lazarus in that one -I’ve made him a brand new demon (although he spent his sweet time in Hell before that), because I wanted to explore how that perspective could be, and as a contrast to Meg as this ancient creature who’s Seen It All.

I want to keep most of the AU choices I’ve made for this series to myself, at least for now, but a couple I don’t mind throwing in is that Crowley is the demon Castiel made his original deal with (I’ve posted a tiny snippet about it here), and that Ruby survives 4x22 (Castiel is not an angel and can’t send Dean to the convent, while Meg remains loyal to Heaven’s cause at least at that moment, so things go down a little differently).

LESBIAN MARY

This WIP was born due to my frustration with fandom’s utilitarian lesbian headcanons, especially when it comes to this fandom. They’re way too often solely to remove a female character from the shipping board. If it was more about the f/f pairing, there would be no reason not to make them bi if they canonically showed feelings for men, js. Plus frankly, it leaves a bad taste whenever I see specifically the Cool Lesbian, Seductress Of Men variant. A lesbian who sees themselves cornered into having to respond or use men’s attraction to her isn’t a Cool Story, it’s fucking tragic. And it just... bothers me that fandom takes lesbianism, something removed entirely from men, and makes it about men, and their ships. Ugh.

That thought process led me to think about the possibility of Mary being a lesbian, because there’s NO way to think about it as “cool”. It’s horrifying. It takes Heaven’s violation of her to another level. And it could be interesting, cathartic, and painful to explore in a fic.

My disappointment with her s12 plot further shaped the story. I’ll likely ignore a lot of the BMOL content because uhhhh. It sucked xD. So plot-wise, idk what I’ll do. It’ll be a more internally driven story, with Mary finding out about the cupids’ plot reclaiming that part of herself, figuring out what she and her sons are going to be to each other, learning about what happened in her absence, etc. Also, with 4x03 and 5x13′s actress in mind, because that’s who I’ll always see as my Mary, and I reiterate it would’ve been a lot more impactful when it came to her dynamics with her sons.

KAIA & KAIA TBP / RESURRECTED DARK KAIA

I’m putting these two together because it’s not unlikely they’ll be part of the same story, or at least the first and last parts of a series.

“Kaia & Kaia TBP” is about Dark Kaia nursing Kaia back to health et al, from the original Kaia’s POV and entirely canon-compliant, going roughly from 13x10 to 15x12 to encompass all the time we missed with her.

It’s also VERY likely that there’ll be an interlude between the two stories (15x12-15x19), with Claire and Kaia’s reunion, the two of them getting together and finding some balance, etc. In Claire’s POV.

“Resurrected Dark Kaia” is exactly how it sounds. Since Jack already brought back the people Chuck killed in their world, I don’t see how his god-like powers wouldn’t allow him to restore the destroyed alternate universes, that he also canonically worries about (Jack Ex Machina, my favourtie post-series plot device asñdlkfjaf). So Dark Kaia would be back, in her world, and the two Kaias would dreamshare again. I don’t know much yet about what happens next, but it’s in Dark Kaia’s POV.

DARK KAIA LIVES

Instead of needing to be resurrected, this time Kaia tries and convinces Dark Kaia to save herself and return with her. Reluctantly, she’s made a space in Sioux Falls as well, where both she and the rest will struggle with the situation. Lots of Claire-Kaia-Kaia shenanigans will occur. For now I’ve only written snippets in Claire’s POV (one where she and Kaia talk about the complications with Dark Kaia, and how both Kaias are the same, but not, but yes, but-; and another after the WS hear about Dean’s death which is... tense -Dark Kaia is NOT a fan lmao), but that might change.

WAYWARD SISTERS AU

This is probably the most ambitious one of all the above. It’s a “what could have been” story about exactly that -what Wayward Sisters as a show could’ve developed like. I want it to follow a structure similar to an actual show: chapters as episodes with their own monster of the week, a “seasonal” plot (firstly, Claire’s search to find who “killed” Kaia), etc. Being VERY ambitious, it’ll cover the remaining SPN canon, maybe a bit more, while likely rewriting a lot of it Because.

It’ll have POVs for each of the characters: Claire, Patience, Alex, likely Jody and Donna, and maybe both Kaias, although probably not since the beginning.

It’s going to need me to create waaaaay too many OCs if I want to do it right, but I think it’s doable. And I plan to use this WIP as an excuse to bring here all my beloved female characters whenever possible. For example, I already have a plot all laid out to bring my dear Bela into the fold xDD, with significant Claire & Bela scenes, and an appearance of the SPN characters for a reunion or two.

#replies #talking to the void #spn thoughts #writing woes #megstiel #meg masters #castiel #mary campbell #kaia nieves #dark!kaia #dreamhunter #femslash #wayward sisters #kaia x kaia #claire x kaia x kaia #(it's a very complicated situation lol)#bela talbot #supernatural #claire novak

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angelaiswriting · 4 years ago

Text

The Assistant (15 of ?) | Vladimir Ranskahov x fem!reader

[original picture found on: pinterest]

✏️ Pairings:

(almost official) Vladimir Ranskahov x fem!reader

Anatoly Ranskahov x OC (Paulina) mentioned

✏️ Requested by @kellydixon01 : Y/N–hacker, big mouth, even bigger attitude–is the new addition to Fisk’s team. Sent to help the Ranskahovs, she immediately gets on Vladimir’s nerves. But as time passes, they start to take a liking to each other, even if none of them is willing to admit their feelings. Yet.

✏️ Previously on The Assistant (aka I’m shit at updating): Y/N has moved in with Vladimir and the two have found themselves growing closer. There’s only one problem: Vlad’s old friend Ulyana thinks the two are a couple and has invited them over for dinner to celebrate.

✏️ A/N: y’all. Y’ALL. First off, I just want to apologize, it’s been forever and a month since I updated this; I’m not even sure there are still people reading/that remember this story apart from Alice lol. It took us me 144 pages !!! but it’s finally happening. Enjoy! I literally cried when I wrote the end of this chapter because it was about fucking time!

✏️ Warnings: fluff; and tears, but those were mine as I wrote this lol; Sergei has a doggie!; a smidge of swearing.

✏️ Word-count: 6,060

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: MATCHMAKER

Sitting on the closed toilet seat with the pipe wrench still in his hands, Vladimir could hear Y/N and Ulyana laugh in the living room. He couldn’t make out their words, for their voices were quiet despite their hilarity, and the left-ajar door of the bathroom didn’t help him any.

The most surreal situation I’ve ever experienced, that’s how Y/N had labeled it less than an hour ago, before he helped Lina bring in the tray with the cups of tea. And the more he mulled things over, the more he found himself agreeing. The most surreal situation I’ve ever experienced – and he had lived through plenty of what could be considered ‘weird shit’. Ulyana in general had been a whole exception in his book. Ulyana, with her afternoons spent playing bingo at the daily center for the elderly with all her old-lady friends; Ulyana, with her borscht and her endless words of encouragement and comfort when both he and Tolya had needed them the most.

But also Ulyana, so dead-set on the idea that he was too stiff and needed a gentle touch in his life that she just… mistook Y/N for his woman. As if he needed someone! But it was still a good thing in a way, though, he reasoned as he stood up and moved to stand in front of the sink to stare at his reflection. And probably his brother was right about the fact that he had to open up to her, tell her what he felt – and what he was scared of. And just… try, for once. Make an effort to take his private life into his own hands instead of just wasting it away on cigarettes and underground fights.

As he stood there, hands gripping the sink, wrench abandoned on the counter, he tried to focus on what existed beyond that scar on the right side of his face and all it meant. By now he was convinced that she didn’t see it – not because she didn’t want to, but because she was able to see right through it. She knew about his past, and not just about Utkin, but also about some of the stupid things he had done in his short-lived youth – he had told her about that over vodka, a bit more rarely over coffee. And while he had always had problems with that, he found himself having fewer and fewer now.

Yeah, maybe it wasn’t that bad to pretend he had someone that cared about him, and while that equaled lying to Lina, maybe it was for the greater good?

It came off as a question even in his own mind, but it was one he found himself being willing to put in the time and effort to find an answer to. It was almost stupid, to think that feelings seemed to terrify him to the bone, while he could take a gun pointed at his head any day without batting an eyelash. Because that’s what he did, that’s what the target on his back felt like.

Maybe all he needed was to grow a pair, listen to what Ulyana had always told him, and walk out there a somewhat taken man.

And not taken to the demons in his head, but to someone – a friend, maybe? – that he had learned to respect. In a way, that is; that road still seemed a long one, after all.

When he joined the two women again some twenty minutes or so later, after he had fixed the kitchen cabinet Lina had been too shy to ask him to repair, he found them leafing through an old photo album. Belka – Ulyana’s old, white cat – was snoozing in Y/N’s lap, the tip of her fluffy tail moving up and down every once in a while as she purred at her new friend.

It was a weirdly cozy view, one that seemed to put all the thoughts that were still swarming his mind at ease. He leaned against the frame of the door, arms crossed in front of his chest, and he just stared for a while, half-present in the moment and half-lost in his own mind. He didn’t miss the moment her head lifted up an inch and her eyes met his, though, and before he could realize anything, he found himself smirking back.

“Ulya is showing me the photographs of her wedding day,” she said when he moved away from the door and really entered the room. Her fingers absentmindedly scratched the cat behind one ear as she maintained eye contact until he sat down at the round table in front of the window to her left.

“Those are a must-see when you step foot into her house.” His was a playful huff as he lit himself a cigarette. They had all gone back to Russian, which meant that Ulyana had gotten to know Y/N faster than he had. “Next thing you know, you’re walking down Soviet memory lane.” And then, when his eyes met Lina’s: “You know I’m joking. Tolya and I have always loved your stories.”

The woman shook her head, but there was a smile on her face that somehow warmed his heart. It meant that it was all back to normal now; that, in her heart, she had forgiven him for disappearing for so long and never, not once, calling to check in on her. “This girl’s bewitched you,” she chuckled, patting Y/N’s knee with her free hand. “I don’t remember when the last time he wasn’t serious was, anymore,” she explained as she leaned back against the couch, giving her guest’s unasked question an answer.

Vladimir scoffed and when his phone beeped on the table with a text from Sergei a moment later, he stood up. “We gotta go now. Work’s calling.”

Ulyana had a look on her face that seemed to complain On a Saturday? but she knew he was a busy man with a demanding job, and so she dropped it. “You’re both invited over tomorrow,” she said instead. “I’ll prepare a nice dinner to celebrate together.” She closed the album of photographs and put it down on the coffee table by the side of the couch.

When she stood up, Belka seemed to catch the hint: she woke up, let out a huffy meow, and jumped down from Y/N’s lap to rub herself against one of Vlad’s legs.

“There’s nothing to celebrate, Lina,” Vladimir was saying as he let the old woman fix the collar of his shirt before engulfing him in a hug.

The way her eyebrows rose when she turned to look at Y/N was almost comical on that round face of hers. “He’s still as stubborn as always, isn’t he?” she whispered in her ear when she hugged her goodbye. When she turned back towards Vladimir, she had her hands on her hips and a firm look in her eyes that he knew he couldn’t escape. “You two will come over for dinner tomorrow night if it kills you! It’s so good to see you finally happy, my boy, and not just alone as always. And if that’s not enough, I haven’t seen you in months! Is this how you treat your old Lina?”

“I can’t believe she managed to convince you.”

He was driving to Sergei’s place when Y/N spoke again. They hadn’t exchanged a word after leaving Ulyana’s apartment and truth be told, he was almost afraid to hear her speak again.

“I can’t believe it either,” he groaned, one hand gripping the steering wheel tightly while his left arm just hung out the rolled-down window.

There were heavy clouds behind the buildings in front of them and it looked like it would start pouring soon. But the slightly chilly air was a blessing after that day’s stuffy heat, so he was ready to face the early-summer bad weather when it would come.

After that exchange, the silence went back to being almost embarrassed. She was looking at him from the corner of her eye – he hadn’t missed it, he was good at noticing things about people, even though probably not as good as he thought he was when it came to her. Whether she was trying to come up with something to say or not, though, he did not know.

His own thoughts were all over the place as well.

He had a little less than one day to come up with an excuse to ring Ulyana up with just so that he could avoid that dinner date she had organized. In his heart he knew she was doing this for him: she and Aleksandr had never had children, and that’s exactly how she had always seen him and his brother ever since they had first rented that apartment on her same floor. We’re all Russians, we have to stick up for each other, she had said once, one of the first times she had insisted they’d come over for dinner. She had taken care of them; and it was remarkable, the way they had let her into their lives, one kind act at a time, in a time when the Siberian wound was still tender and they didn’t know who to trust in this new, foreign land.

Then, a little more than a year and a half ago, when Anatoly had introduced Paulina to her, it had become just Vladimir and Ulyana most of the time. Tolya was busier now – he didn’t only have his job, but there was a woman now and he did things with her, took her places, came up with things just to surprise her for the sake of it… It had been a shock at first because that was someone more similar to the old Anatoly Ranskahov, the one who had lived in Moscow and had danced around a different woman every night – with the only difference that he was now a faithful lover.

“Are you upset?” Her voice tore him out of his mind once again and he turned towards her with a questioning hmm? that prompted her to clarify. “About her thinking that we’re together.”

He shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t think I am, nyet,” he confessed eventually.

She was staring ahead, not looking at him, but a smile still blossomed on her face at his words. “If I don’t tell you now, I know I’ll never have the guts to.”

But Vladimir was already slowing down to park the car and when Y/N turned her head to see what he was staring at with such a confused expression on his face, the faint smirk on his lips already fading away completely, she knew she wouldn’t be opening her heart any time soon in that car.

“What the fuck?” was what Vlad mumbled as he hastily turned off the engine, pulled on the handbrake, and threw his door open. “What is this?”

Sergei was standing there, a black and brown rottweiler laying at his feet, panting with its tongue almost touching the asphalt in the somewhat stuffy evening air.

“This,” his friend said, slowly, shoving the handle of the leash in the other’s hand before Vlad could come back to himself, “is Sharik. I need you to look after him while I’m gone.”

Vladimir stared down at the dog, and the dog sat up against Seriozha’s legs so that he could stare back at him better. He was a big piece of meat, and he could already picture him drooling all over the couch he had back at home. “Why?”

“What do you mean, why?” frowned Sergei, dropping the black gym bag from his shoulder to Vlad’s feet. “I told you yesterday, before you and Y/N left the garage. If I need to go out of town for business, I won’t be able to bring him with me. You agreed to look after him for me.”

While his owner spoke, Sharik sniffed at Vladimir’s shin with curiosity, and after a long moment of scrutiny, he lazily wagged his tail in approval.

“You need to take him out in the morning and at night, he loves walks in the park.”

“What?” He wasn’t sure the type of ‘take the dog out’ he was thinking of was the one Sergei had in mind.

“Don’t feed him weird shit. His dry food is in the bag. Don’t give him more than what I wrote down – he loves to beg. And make him play before bed, or he’ll keep you up all night.”

“What?”

“Your apartment complex also has a pool and he enjoys chilling in the water, so if–”

“I won’t be looking after your dog. What?”

Before either of them could speak, Y/N’s What’s going on here? made them turn in her direction. She had gotten out of the car, and while she was still holding onto the door with one hand, Vlad knew she’d soon come forward.

“Solnyshko, hi!”

Vladimir knew he was fucked when Sergei greeted her and hugged her back when she walked up to them. He’d manage to convince her and while she was just a guest in his house, Vlad knew he’d be the one bending his will.

Sharik gave her the same treatment he had reserved for him just moments before, but he sped it up this time, and the wagging in his tail wasn’t as lazy as it had been with him – it was a hard slapping back and forth against his leg that gave him just a slight taste of the dog’s strength.

“Who’s this good boy?” she cooed as the dog sniffed the palm of her hand before giving it a lick and allowing her to pet his head.

In no time, and before he had the chance to register what was going on, Y/N had gone back to the car and, appalled, he had to watch her lead the dog onto the back seats.

As if he had read his mind, Sergei reassured him: “Don’t worry, he doesn’t shed. But you still need to keep him brushed, it relaxes him.”

He stared at the car, kept an eye on Y/N as she put Sergei’s gym bag in the trunk, and then walked back around the car to sit on the passenger seat. She was still caressing the dog, her back turned towards the two men, when Vladimir spoke.

“You know I don’t deal with animals.”

Sergei scoffed. “We deal with much worse. Now, don’t be a brat, I didn’t have to listen to the two of you singing like shit last night just to then not be able to get payback.”

“We didn’t–”

“It’s all cool, Volodya.” Serzh patted his shoulder and grinned at him before turning back to stare at the car his dog had got into. “She’s nice, I don’t mind. It was about time you found someone that would headbutt you every time you headbutted them.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about, brother. Sharik is a good matchmaker, who else do you think got Tolik and Paulina together?” he grinned. “But if he is missing even so much as a hair when I come back, we’ll have a problem.”

He scoffed. “A threat? Over a dog?”

“He’s not just some dog, Volodya. He’s my boy.” He stared him down for a moment before turning around. He had already started to walk back towards the building he lived in, when he said one last I’ll call you when Aslan and I have left the state before Vlad turned his back on him.

Just as he had expected, Sharik launched himself onto the couch the second Y/N opened the door of his apartment. The only thing Vladimir could do was watch him run across the entrance corridor, fly mid-air, and then fall heavily onto the clean cushions of his couch half a second later. And to be such a big and heavy dog, he was fast.

“I’m going to kill Sergei,” he muttered but before he could take another step forward, Y/N stopped him with a hand on his forearm.

“C’mon, he’s just a dog, Vlad. Don’t be mean. I’ll get him down,” she chuckled and toed her shoes off before walking up to Sharik.

Sometime later, after that dog had finally stopped whining and complaining that he wanted to get on the couch despite said couch’s owner didn’t want to, there was silence again.

The next-door neighbor had knocked on the door not long after they had got home: he had heard the noises, and had felt the need to complain about that sudden surprise, and to poke his nose into business he knew nothing about – There’s a pet fee you’re supposed to pay if you want to keep an animal in here. And then, when Sharik had walked up to the door and nosed his way to stand between Y/N’s legs – Vlad has seen it in the mirror hanging on the wall right at the other end of the room – that very neighbor had found something else to complain about. Its size exceeds the limits allowed in this complex, or some shit like that. He hadn’t heard what she had told the dude; all he knew was that less than five minutes after he had shown up at the door, he had left with his tail between his legs, and so Vlad had managed to go back to staring at the screen of his laptop.

He wasn’t doing anything, really. For once, he didn’t feel like burying his head into his work – everything needed for Aslan and Sergei’s trip to Florida had already been organized, and the last touches for the upcoming shipment could wait until Monday. It was very un-Vladimir-like, to take a whole weekend off, but for once, he wouldn’t complain.

What he ended up thinking about – or, rather, whom –, however, was Ulyana. He had been praying for an excuse to cancel that dinner date for the next day, but he hadn’t expected to be actually presented with one. And although he still had the intention to ring her up and apologize, he still had to pick up the phone. He couldn’t possibly leave Sergei’s dog home alone, now, could he? Or did he want to come back to a destroyed house?

“Shari’s napping.” When he looked up, not even taken by surprise by her sudden appearance in the doorframe of the kitchen, he found her standing there, leaning a shoulder against the wood and staring at him. “What are you up to?”

“Work,” was his quick reply. “Checking that everything is in order and… stuff.”

“‘And stuff’?” She didn’t seem convinced, and she stared at him for a long minute, before dismissing it and sitting opposite him at the small kitchen table. “Anyway, why didn’t you tell me about this favor you had to do for Sergei?”

He shrugged a shoulder. “I didn’t know I had to look after stupid dog.” And then, when she raised an eyebrow: “A very smart, but spoiled dog. Better?”

“He’s not spoiled. Serzh just really loves him a lot,” she pouted. And when he glared at her, she continued: “This doesn’t matter, though. You have to find a solution for tomorrow night. Call Sergei and ask him how Sharik deals with cats, and then call Ulyana and ask her how Belka deals with dogs. Or something.”

“Why me?”

“Because I asked nicely? Because you got us into this?”

As it turned out a couple of calls later, Sharik was very gentle, almost submissive with cats and animals in general – despite his size, despite his face, and his breed, and the size of his paws big enough to be as big as at least three cat legs put together. And Ulyana had no problem having a dog over either – she had looked after a neighbor’s dog more times than she could count, and Belka was used to napping in her bedroom when another animal was over.

So, not a problem – as Lina had said. Just come over and bring the dog, I’ll have something ready for him too.

His plan to avoid that dinner date had miserably failed, although there was something inside him at the thought of showing up at Lina’s and pretending like he and Y/N were a thing of some sort that just… pulled at some strings he didn’t even know he had inside. And as he watched Y/N fill Sharik’s bowl just as they got ready to eat dinner, he found himself being almost happy that those strings were being pulled, for once in his life.

“So we just take him over to her place?” she asked him when she sat down, a steaming plate with rice and veggies right in front of her.

His diet had taken a turn for the better ever since she had moved in with him – he still had more vodka than was healthy to have hiding pretty much in almost all the cabinets in his apartment, but at least his fridge was full of food his body could actually digest this time.

“That’s what she said,” he grumbled.

They ate in silence after that, and only when he had done the dishes, did she speak again.

“Do you wanna settle for a story?” She was sitting next to him on the couch, with Sharik’s heavy head resting on a knee. The dog was staring at her with adoring eyes as she gently scratched behind his ears.

“A story?”

“Yeah, about how we met. How we ended up together. Ulyana asked a couple vague-ish questions this afternoon, so I think she’ll ask more tomorrow. No?” She glanced at him when he didn’t reply. “Unless you wanna tell her the truth.”

“I don’t know what I want,” he eventually confessed. “I don’t want to lie to her, but if I hear her ask me about ‘my woman’ another time, I’m going to burst.”

He didn’t expect to chuckle with her, but he did. And when they grew silent again, and she went back to staring at the TV screen after a quick Let me think of something, then, he laid his head back against the seatback of the couch, head turned in her direction, and studied the profile of her face. The way the corner of her mouth rose up into a smirk before she giggled at Sharik’s sniffing nose against her bare shin. The way her chest rose and fell with every breath she took, slow and regular and almost gentle. And before he knew it, his eyes had dropped closed and he had fallen asleep.

When he woke up sometime later – the clock on his phone signaled just a few minutes after half past eleven –, Y/N and Sharik had already left the room, and he was uncomfortably half sitting, half lying on the couch covered by a pile blanket. The TV was off, and not a sound came from inside the apartment – nor from outside in the corridor.

He briefly wondered whether Y/N had managed to come up with a story in case Ulyana would ask questions, but he barely had the time to walk into his room and sit on his bed, that his ears picked up some snoring.

There, bundled up under his blankets, was sleeping Sharik, who had somehow managed to make himself at home. He even had the audacity of staring at him with an accusatory look in his eyes, the fleabag, when Vladimir turned on the lamp on his bedside table to get a closer look.

“Get off,” he groggily ordered, yanking the covers back with a quick movement of his arm. “Get off my bed, dog.”

But for all he tried, the dog wouldn’t budge. And even when Vladimir picked him up and put him back down onto the living room floor, he barely had the time to close the door of his bedroom – something he hadn’t done since before Utkin – that Sharik was already pushing against it with his nose to slip into the room.

“You are stubborn beast, aren’t you?”

Taking him back to the living room by force didn’t help at all, for the dog wouldn’t stop bugging him. He had managed to lower the door handle twice in the half-hour Vladimir spent trying to get rid of him without… yeah, without actually getting rid of the fucking four-legged light of Sergei’s life.

When it became apparent that he wouldn’t have a good night’s sleep in his goddamn bed that night, was when Sharik almost tripped him over from behind just to then launch himself onto his bed much like he had done that evening with the couch – and the at least other ten times Vlad had tried to kick him out of the room. He laid there, on his bed, curled up like a too-big cat, staring at him with eyebrows that wouldn’t stop going up and down until he huffed out a complaint and went back to sleep.

“I’ll kill you, Sergei,” he groaned, rubbing his face with both hands to try and shoo the annoyance away.

He stood in the hallway for a while, then, eyeing the couch from the other side of the living room while mentally cursing himself. Before fixing the spare room, which he had turned into Y/N’s bedroom as the weeks had gone by, he had had to take care of his brother and by giving him his bed, he had had to get the couch. It was too small for him, and uncomfortable – and the thought that she, too, had had to sleep there for endless days before he got his shit together still stung, in a way. And since it looked like he wouldn’t be able to get Sharik out of his bedroom – nor out of his bed, for that matter –, he was left with only two options to pick from: either the couch or…

He knocked on her door before he had the time to talk himself out of it.

“Is something wrong?” She was scrolling through her phone when she told him to come in. The lamps on both nightstands were on, and it looked like she was still far from falling asleep.

“Dog’s in my bed,” he said, staring at her from across the room. “Couch is…”

“I know,” she chuckled. “Still not the worst couch I’ve slept on, though, don’t worry,” she continued when he made a weird face. “Stay in your half of the bed, and you can sleep here if you want.”

He didn’t sleep that night, however. He laid on his right side, staring at the wall, and she laid on her left, staring at the opposite wall. She had wished him good night at some point, when she had put her phone away and had turned the lights off, and he had answered with a hum. But then, he had just laid there all night, listening in on her soft breathing – and then her soft snoring – and he remained motionless. When he did fall asleep, sometime in the early morning, just before the first light of day peaked in through the curtains, his last thought was that maybe, this wasn’t that bad.

“Through mutual friends, if so one could say,” Y/N replied over celebratory vodka. Ulyana had kept her best questions for the end of the dinner and Vladimir had almost deluded himself into thinking the old woman would never ask. They had come up with a story to tell just in case, but silence would have been better. “I apparently showed up at the garage at the least opportune time.”

“Oh! So was it love at first sight?” Lina was pouring them all a second shot with one hand as the other one rested on Sharik’s head.

Vlad laughed – what an absurd concept, he found himself musing. Love at first sight? With someone as careful as him? And although Y/N kicked his foot under the table to try and silence him, he couldn’t fully erase the smirk from his face. “Nyet,” he chuckled eventually as he wiped away a tear with a knuckle.

“Hell no! He was very rude and stubborn at the beginning,” confessed Y/N, and Vlad was barely able to scoff at her that Lina had turned in his direction with a gaze of steel.

“Very rude?” she inquired, eyes squinting as she frowned. “With this lovely lady?”

“Don’t gang up on me, she was very stubborn too!” he complained. “Still is.”

“One ought to be stubborn if one has to put up with you, my dear Volodya.” Ulyana patted his hand on the table. “Doesn’t give you the right to be rude. I didn’t raise you like that.”

He had been on the verge of pointing out that he had, in fact, been raised by his own mother and not by her, but he didn’t deem it appropriate tonight – nor necessary. Lina didn’t mean any harm, and he knew what she was trying to imply.

“It’s alright, Ulya, he has learned how to tone it down now.” The smile on Y/N’s face seemed sincere, and at that moment, he wouldn’t be able to tell what she was thinking about. “Ever since we moved in together, he’s learned how to behave himself. Most of the time, at least.”

It was Ulyana’s turn to playfully slap Vlad’s forearm and he found it almost weird, to find himself with his back to the wall in front of those two. And not even in a bad way, with all of them drinking vodka together and celebrating a romantic relationship that simply wasn’t there.

What had he become? Lying like that to an old, dear friend… Without thinking twice; without remorse. He sat there in her living room, eating her food, drinking her alcohol, and he kept on adding lies to the fire without being able to stop.

“Hey, she’s not a saint, either! Tell her.”

Y/N laughed, and it somehow took him by surprise, it knocked the wind out of him. He fully turned his head to stare at her, and it almost felt like seeing her for the first time and for the millionth time at the same time. The way she tilted her head back as she laughed; the way her earrings and piercings caught the light of the lighting fixture; even the way her fingers brushed against his, and the way he ended up holding her hand in his. Warm and soft, the skin so smooth that he almost pulled away.

He watched her talk, recount the story of how they met – or a watered-down version of it, with anything too compromising being filtered out. And as she conversed with Ulya, her fingers played with his and his gaze kept on dropping down on his hand, never missing a movement. She had somehow ended up tracing the three-bar cross between his thumb and forefinger – without looking at it, almost as though she had done just that so many times that she had ended up memorizing its placement, its lines. And as she went on talking, her fingers brushed across the Xs on his knuckles, and he had to fight that sudden impulse that pushed him to pull his hand away.

A couple of hours later, when they had finally bid Ulyana goodnight and thanked her for the pleasant dinner she had offered them, he found himself walking his best man’s dog in the park just across the street from her old friend’s apartment building. He watched Sharik sniff here and there, and for a moment he found himself wondering if that was what a normal life felt like – walking the dog at almost eleven in the night, with plastic bags in a pocket in case the dog pooped, arm in arm with a woman.

“You’re quiet,” she said at one point, when they stopped under a tree while Sharik sniffed just a few meters in front of them. “Is everything alright?”

It took him a while to answer. And it wasn’t because he hadn’t heard her, but because he was afraid of somehow saying the wrong thing as was custom with him. “Da,” he sighed eventually, “just thinking.” He shrugged, but he didn’t make a move to pull away when her hand trailed down his arm and her fingers entwined with his.

“I had a good time tonight. I hope you did too, and that I didn’t push myself too far with that story about… you know, us.”

“It was fine, she bought it.”

“Doesn’t make me feel less bad, though.”

He turned his head to look at her, and for a moment, the thought of how it would be like to do this every night with her crossed his mind. “Eh, I know.” It was quiet for a while after that, but when Sharik steered off the path, he found himself cursing out in Russian. “Come here, you stubborn dog!”

“Don’t be mean, Vlad! He’s just a dog.” She ran after Sharik then, and he watched her take him back by the collar as he fished a pack of cigarettes from the pocket of his pants. He had just lit himself one when she took it from his fingers and put it out against the sole of her high-heeled shoe as she kept her balance with a hand firmly wrapped around his forearm.

“Why did you do that?” It was almost a gasp, half-surprised and half-pissed at a cigarette waisted in such a way.

“I had something to tell you yesterday, in the car.”

“You could’ve done that over shared cigarette!”

“I don’t want to taste cigarettes when I kiss someone, though.”

He almost opened his mouth to retort when her words registered in his brain, and all he could do was stare down into her eyes, not a sound leaving his lips.

“Like that night after the bar, just without drinks. I wanna do this sober.” She had taken a step forward, and they were now standing toe-to-toe. He could almost feel her, even with that short distance separating them – like when she had turned around and had ended up pressing her forehead against his back the night before, with the only difference that they were both awake now. “I want to kiss you again so badly it’s driving me nuts.”

That gasp didn’t leave his lips just because he managed to abruptly inhale quickly at the last second, but her words did make his heart beat faster somehow.

“I kept on telling myself that you’d do it, but you haven’t so far, and I can’t understand if that’s because you still dislike me or –”

He cut her off before she could continue. Her cheeks were burning when he cradled her face between his hands, and her lips were soft against his. Her hands came up to wrap around his wrists. When he pulled her closer, she let him; and when she deepened the kiss, when her tongue brushed against his teeth, he let her.

It was like one of those cliché moments, although it lasted for a couple of seconds at most: his breathing stopped, and the world seemed to stop with it as he kissed her. And then, when everything picked up again – his breathing, his heart, Hell’s Kitchen late-night traffic, Sharik’s tail snapping like a whip against his leg as he stood there – he found himself not wanting to pull away.

She did, though, and she looked up at him out of breath, his hands still cupping her cheeks and her hands still holding on to his wrists. “You’re so stubborn, I swear,” she chuckled. “But if you don’t kiss me again, I’ll go back to being stubborn, too.”

He cackled, and when Sharik pushed against his thigh with his nose, he looked down at him and shook his head. “Maybe Sergei was right, after all,” he mumbled before turning his attention back to Y/N and kissing her again, silencing her question before she had the time to voice it.

This is Sharik :) (pics found on Pinterest eons ago, I don’t remember the links, credits to the owner(s)!)

Comments and inbox are always open for feedback :) pls if you have any ideas you’d like to see in this story, feel free to hit me up, they’d for sure help me out lol since I’m slow AF :’)

TAGS (to be added to or removed from any list, shoot me an ask)

Everything: @idhrenniel @saibh29 @fuckthatfeeling @aya-fay @pebblesz892 @mblaqgi @becs-bunker @gruffle1

The Assistant: @flowers-in-your-hayr

People that might be interested: @kind-wolf @brobachev

#vladimir ranskahov #daredevil #vladimir ranskahov imagine #vladimir daredevil fanfic #vladimir ranskahov x reader #vladimir ranskahov fanfiction #fic series: the assistant #angelaiswriting

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dream-a-little-bigger-x · 4 years ago

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Chapter 7 -- Perfect Harmony | Charlie Gillespie

Summary: Emily Fox is a talented 17-year-old with a passion for all things music. Her dream is to become a successful singer-songwriter one day. But to achieve that dream, she needs to get into one of the most prestigious music schools in her district – it’s all been part of her plan since she was six. Sadly enough, those schools cost a ton of money that her parents don’t want to invest. They don’t even want her to pursue her dream. So, now Emily’s hustling, working at the music store to save up to get into college. That’s until she meets Charlie, an annoying seventeen-year-old boy with the same dream as her. The only difference is, he’s just doing it. He doesn’t need a fancy college to pursue his dream to become famous with his band. He just writes his songs and books small gigs here, there and everywhere. Will meeting Charlie defer her from her dream college, or will he actually help her achieve the dream?

Pairing: Charlie Gillespie x OC (Emily Fox)

Warnings: mentions of death, sexual assault

Important note: the characters of Charlie, Owen, Jeremy and Madison are based on the characters they play on the show and i do not own their names, only OC are mine. The songs aren’t mine either, they’re all from the show except for one.

Chapter seven

~|Emily Fox|~

“Hey, you want to hang out after school today?” Madison asks me on Monday at lunch. “Oh, I—” I think of the most plausible lie, “I promised Ash I would close up again tonight. She’s got this thing with her girlfriend. I don’t know what, but she said it was important.” It’s not even that big of a lie. Ash has asked me that many a times before for the exact same reason. Only this time, she didn’t ask me to close the store. I want to go and tell Ash I will close it, for free, just so I – hopefully – bump into Charlie again tonight. I want to tell him I nearly finished the song and ask him if he has any clue what’s missing. “What about tomorrow?” I take a bite of my sandwich and chew ferociously, guarding my mouth with my hand to show her I can’t talk yet. “Got a shift from four until closing.” That’s not a lie. Tuesdays are mostly shift days anyway. “Wednesday?” I realize I can’t come up with another lie that I have to work. And besides, I think I could hang out with Madi until just before closing time and head down to the Music Store after. “Sure, yeah, Wednesday could work.” The brightest smile appears on her face at the answer. “It’s a date!” she pats my hand twice excitedly. “You know, we’ve been spending a lot less time together since you started working at the Music Store. I feel like I don’t even know what’s going on in that mind of yours.” I widen my eyes at that. If only she’d know. “Seen Cute Douchebag again?” “Uhm, no, I think he’s given up,” I lie. I can’t get into Charlie right now. She’ll know by the first word I’m crushing on him. Like really crushing on him. And she’ll say something crazy that I’m in love with him and it’ll get me to start thinking about that and I can’t have that right now. “Oh, sad. I really think you and him would make a cute couple.” The words nearly make me choke on my sandwich. “And he could help you write songs and get you into that fancy school of yours…” she trails off at the end, and I know exactly what’s coming next. “Or help you become famous.” I mouth the words along, earning a glare from my best friend. “I’m serious, Emmy.” A shiver runs down my spine at the nickname. “Don’t call me that,” I warn her. It’s what Uncle Robert always used to call me and Madi knows. “You know that name is reserved for someone else.” Madison holds up her hands in defense and quickly changes the subject. “You know Brianna’s doing her annual party next week right?” I nod my head. “Are you going?” “I’d rather die than go to a Brianna Holly party,” I snort, trying not to imagine me at that party. “Besides, you do know witches lure their pray into their house to eat them.” “I’m pretty sure that’s just from Hocus Pocus and it was mostly kids,” Madi corrects me. “Seventeen-year-olds are still kids,” I argue. “You’re seventeen years old, Ems,” she points out. I open my mouth to reply something to that, but then close it, not sure what to say. “Besides, she’s no witch. That there,” she points to the other side of the cafeteria, to the “popular table” where Brianna and Jake are seated. “Is a demon.” I watch Brianna as she cackles her witchy-demon laugh and can’t disagree. “You’re right.” Madi and I both pack our lunches back up and grab our stuff. “When am I not?” she wiggles her eyebrows, the way only Madi could. The two of us giggle our way out the cafeteria and to our lockers, getting ready for the other half of the day.

The day went by really slow. School normally has a bit of a slower pace, but I think turtles might go faster than this day went by. And it’s especially agonizing when you look forward to something that’s happening after school. “Ugh, finally!” I groan once Madi and I exit the school. “This day went agonizingly slow today.” “Eh, it was fine,” she says, shrugging her shoulders. “Yeah, because you don’t have a cute boy waiting for you,” I mumble under my breath, hoping she didn’t hear. When I subtly turn my head to watch her reaction, I find her distracted by some other cute boys. The lacrosse boys. Of course. For once I thank heaven for high school jocks. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Mads,” I say before leaving, but I doubt she heard it, so I shoot her a text instead. “You seemed a bit distracted by the Lacrosse boys. Had to go. See u tomorrow xx”

I don’t think I ever managed to walk from school to the Music Store this quickly. I arrive in under five minutes, when it usually takes fifteen, twenty when Madi walks along. “Emily, hey?” Ash greets, a little confused by my presence. “Hey, you mind if I close the store today? I want to work on my songs and don’t want to disturb Uncle Mitch tonight.” Ash gapes at me with big eyes and an open mouth. “I’ll do it for free.” She closes her mouth at this and narrows her eyes instead. “I know what this is about,” she says as the bell over the door rings. “That’s what this is about.” She nods her head towards the door. I turn around to indeed find what this is about entering the store. I quickly turn back to Ash before making eye contact with Charlie and offer her a sheepish grin. “Please?” I almost beg, hoping I don’t sound too desperate, but also thinking I might already be past desperate. “I swear, you don’t have to pay me for this.” Ash shakes her head at me. “You’re so desperately in love with him, sweetie. I hope you realize that.” I furrow my eyebrows at this, now it’s me shaking my head. “No, he’s just –” Ash finishes my sentence for me, “Incredibly attractive? Yeah – I noticed. I’m still bisexual, sweetie.” She winks at me before hopping over the counter and passing Charlie in the store. “My colleague will tend to all of your needs tonight,” she tells him loud enough, so I hear it to. She even turns her head to look at me, just to make sure I heard her. “See you tomorrow, Ems!” she raises a hand as a goodbye before exiting the store. “Tend to all of my needs, huh?” Charlie asks with eyebrows raised. This time, however, it doesn’t sound as fuckboy-y as it did the first night. It has a nervous quality to it due to him not daring to look at me. “Actually,” I say as I reach into my backpack to grab my notebook with all of my songs inside. Most of them written on loose papers, just stuck between pages of the book. “I need you to tend to some of my needs.” He snaps his head up at this, raising his eyebrows at me suggestively. “Not like that,” I scold and make my way to the piano. “I nearly finished the song, but I’m missing something, and I was wondering if you could help me out.” He leans over the paper to take a better look at the paper. Our shoulders touch, and I nearly feel my head explode at the simple touch. “Huh, you did use my bridge,” he says, pointing to the scratched out first version of the bridge and his bridge written very tiny next to it. “That’s not the point,” I say quickly, then point to the part I do want to talk about, “I don’t want to use the exact same chorus twice. I think it might sound better with something like…” I trail off and play a few notes on the piano. “You set me free You and me together is more than chemistry Love me as I am I'll hold your music here inside my hands We say we're friends, we play pretend…” I look up at him for him to add something to it, which only takes him a few seconds. “You’re more to me, we’re everything” I smile at him. I knew he’d be able to fix my problem. “When are you going to show it to me entirely?” he asks after a few seconds. “I am, aren’t I?” “No, I mean, when are you going to sing this with me?” I open my mouth to respond, but nothing comes out. I can’t do this yet. The song isn’t tweaked to perfection yet. I need a few more days before I can really show it to anyone. “Not yet, I want to get it perfect before I can show it to anyone.” I put the loose papers back into my notebook after having scribbled down the addition. “It just needs some tweaks.” I repeat, then look up at Charlie to find him already looking at me with that loose smile on his face and his eyes golden. “So…” he then changes the subject after a few seconds of complete silence that feels like a soft blanket, “We practically wrote a song together… I thought you said you wrote alone?” My heart stops beating for a moment as I think about the real reason why I don’t write with anyone else. Uncle Mitch told me to be honest. So, I probably should. Unless I want him to leave me alone for the rest of my life. Which I don’t. I want to see him every day and spend each possible moment with him. “I—” I take a deep breath, “It’s stupid. It’s a lame excuse, never mind.” I want to turn and walk away from him to properly start closing up the store, but Charlie grabs my hand and keeps me from walking away. My eyes glide from his hand holding mine to the arm connected to it and to the face that I’ve come to enjoy looking at. “You can tell me, Ems. Whatever it is. However stupid. I want to know why. I want to know why you won’t write with me. We’d be amazing together. Look at that song we wrote together without even realizing. From what I can see on paper, it sounds amazing. You’re really talented and I think we could make real magic together.” I draw in a deep breath, my hand shaking a little in his. I wonder if he feels how nervous I am. “Okay… It’s, uhm…” He stares at me with tentative eyes, urging me to continue, telling me to trust him. “I used to write songs with my Uncle Robert. He’s the one that taught me everything. He taught me how to read music, how to play piano and guitar, we used to sing together every day from morning until evening. When I got old enough, around twelve years old, we wrote our first song together. Albeit, it was about my bunny that died, but still, it kind of rocked.” The sniffle that comes after the chuckle makes me realize I’ve started crying. Charlie’s chuckle reaches my ears and encourages me to continue telling him. “Uncle Robert died a year ago. So, I haven’t really written with anyone else because it feels like betraying him. It was our thing, you know? I just… it doesn’t feel right.” Charlie reaches up with the hand that’s not holding mine and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. The simplest touch sends shivers down my spine and butterflies into my stomach. “That’s not a lame excuse, Ems. I get it,” he reassures me with a small smile, “I just think that if you ever feel like you could start writing songs with me, we’d be able to create the most beautiful masterpieces, just like the song we wrote together now. Times ten,” I chuckle at that, “In perfect harmony.” My eyes widen at that as an idea pops into my head. I tug my hand out of his in a rush and grab the piece of paper with our song on, just to write “PERFECT HARMONY” at the top. I turn my face to look at Charlie with the beautiful smile on his face again that makes me feel all warm inside. “That’s perfect,” he tells me, “Can you sing it now?” I raise my eyebrows at him, as if saying “Really, bro?” and he raises his hands in defense, knowing exactly what the simple non-verbal communication means. “Now sit down and play some guitar so I can clean up in here.” He salutes me and goes to grab the guitar he always uses when he’s here. He sits down and strums the guitar. “This is tuned different from the last time I was here,” he notices. “Other people use those instruments, Charles,” I tell him, knowing all-too-well it was me who tuned it differently. On Thursday to be exact. I was missing him and decided to play some guitar myself. The exact moment Owen came in and asked me about the Open Mic Night. “You did that, didn’t you?” he raises his eyebrow. I feel my cheeks heating up but turn quickly so he doesn’t see. “Don’t be silly, Charles. Why would I use your guitar when I’m working?” I question whilst keeping myself preoccupied by sorting some papers, mainly to calm my heart down a little. “My guitar?” he emphasizes the ‘my’. “I mean, that guitar.” He stares at me for a moment, and I hear Madi in my mind going “Mmh-mmh…” “Just play your instrument, dumbass.” I return to my job whilst Charlie plays his guitar for a while. Once I’m done and I can lock up, Charlie places his guitar back in its place and joins me at the door. “Hey,” he says, once outside. I turn to face him after turning the key. “Thanks for letting me play in there. It’s nice not having parents yelling at you for not making so much noise.” I offer him a smile, and hope it says enough about how similar my parents are. “No problem, Charlie,” he startles at the lack of full name-usage, “See you tomorrow?” “Yes, definitely. See you tomorrow,” he gives me a wave and the two of us split ways. Ash is right. I am desperately in love with him. I don’t know what it is. Sure, he’s attractive, but I would be repulsed by boys that approach girls like he did that first day. Overly confident, thinking they own the place. Jake’s like that and I learned from my mistakes. But Charlie is just… different. There’s a warm, golden heart underneath all that confidence. Plus, ever since I rejected him that first day, he’s been really tentative and kind of nervous every time he’s around me. Which must mean he’s not the Douchebag he seemed to be. Charlie is… Charlie. And I am absolutely, totally smitten.

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