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bartxnhood · 5 months ago

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i’m still your boy | a.s.w

anakin skywalker x fem!pregnant!reader

summary: after obi-wan tells you of your lovers betrayal, anakin seeks your forgiveness.

warnings: lots of crying, no happy ending, overall angst

w/c: 1.2k

a/n: hi guys ! i decided to test the waters with this fic. i know it’s short but i just wanted to see if i anyone would be interested in me writing for star wars. let me know! also, ive been working hard on the san francisco book, go check it out if you haven’t !

requests open

not proofread

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you stand overlooking the city but you can’t make out anything from the tears blurring your vision. your hand gently caresses your stomach, unable to fathom what obi-wan had just told you.

killing younglings? turning to the dark side? no. it’s impossible. how could your anakin, the chosen one, the one you had given everything up for? he couldn’t possibly do that to you.

you heart began swelling with an unfathomable amount of pain, your robes felt suffocating, and the room felt as if it was closing in on you. Suffocating your senses and making it difficult to breathe.

your heart races and your palms begin to feel sweaty, a sense of mounting anxiety washing over you as the words of obi-wan repeat in your mind.

the once cozy and familiar space now feels claustrophobic and oppressive, mirroring the turmoil within your mind and heart.

your hand clenches your chest, continuing to stare out the window as you hear footsteps approaching.

knowing it was anakin you didn’t look back to face him, you couldn’t possibly.

instead, you stood there, making out his stature in the reflection of the window.

“obi-wan has told me…horrible things..”

there’s a silence that feels the room, the tension growing by the millisecond. anakin looks at you through his eyebrows at the mention of his master, or; previous master.

though, anakin still looks at you with so much love and affection. a love so forbidden but anakin doesn’t care. he’s so full of love for you he’d do anything for you, including joining the dark side to protect you and the child.

he devoted his life to you and the force, but the premonitions, the nightmares, it was all too much for the mighty jedi.

anakin knows what he did, but you didn’t have to.

“do you believe him?”

you turn on your heels finally deciding to face him. he had an unreadable expression on his face as his eyes examined you. eyes taking in your beauty before trailing down to your swollen stomach. his heart does backflips at the thought of having a child, but he knows it would do no good if your life was in constant danger.

anakin needed to protect you. at all costs.

“i don’t know what to believe..” you mutter, eyes wavering with worry. cautiously, you take a few steps towards him. “did you?” you ask.

“i have to protect you.”

you shut your eyes as he confirmed your worries. your hand guides your body to the sofa, unable to stand much longer. the pain in your chest growing by the second. you can’t bring yourself to face him, not when he’s looking at you that.

“my love..” he coos, falling to his knees in front of you. his gruff hands feeling the soft touch of your silk gown. “please…this is all for you..” he whimpers, the tears staining his cheeks, he has so much love for you it’s turned him into something unrecognizable. evil. dark.

“to protect you,” he repeated. he needed you to know that he would walk through fire for you.

anakin couldn’t stand the thought of something happening to you. the visions, the premonitions he was having. every night it felt so real, he was losing you every time he closed his eyes. every day he could feel you slipping away.

“no..” you mutter, your bottom lip begins to quiver at the sound of his voice. you shut your eyes tight, turning your head to face him, letting out an exasperated sigh.

“ani..if this is about your visions..” you begin looking into his eyes. the anakin you knew wasn’t there. this was someone else. “they’re not real..i’m right here..” she frowns, taking his face in her hands and wiping away the tears staining his cheeks with her thumb.

“i’m real, ani. i’m right in front of you.” you beg him. your eyes searching in his beautiful blue eyes only to notice they were the same eyes you fell in love with.

anakin doesn’t budge, he shakes his head. “n-no..i have to do this, i have to protect you..” his hands find yours on his face, his thumb caressing your knuckles. “i have to protect our little one” his hand moves down the sides of your body and rests on either side of your stomach. “i can’t..i won’t lose you, y/n.”

the heat from his hands radiate through your silk gown, almost a burning sensation on your stomach, protecting your child from whomever anakin has become.

you shift away from his touch, protecting your unborn child from his touch. “no..” your bottom lip quivers, a stray tear escaping your eye. your hands wrap around his wrists removing them from your stomach.

anakin panics, he’s becoming frantic. he’d do anything for you to follow him, to be with him. he needs you. “y/n, we could have everything we’d possibly want. we could rule the galaxy together.”

your brows furrow as you look into his eyes. “ani…i have everything i could possibly want. i have you, our little one, i don’t want to rule the galaxy.” you tell him, hoping he’d come to his senses.

“we could leave this place, go to the lake. no one would know..we could be at peace” you plea with him, staring into his eyes searching for anything. anything at all that would tell you he’d let go and leave with you. anakin doesn’t budge. he takes your hands in his again, hoping you’d see his reasoning. “you’re going down a path i can’t follow.” you whimper. your eyebrows knit together as you squeeze his hands. “you’re not the man i married, ani.” you sniffle.

anakins eyes flicker between yours, his brows furrows and his lips part. “he turned you against me..”

his voice was low but held so much anger and resentment to his master. holding anakin back, subsiding his powers, his voice. anakin would never become anything.

at least that’s what he thought.

anger fuels his emotions, he stands up from the floor and removes his hands from your grasp. his hands ball into fists by his side, taking in a deep breath and holding it in. his face twists, looking down on you.

you didn’t recognize him. this wasn’t the same man you awoke to this morning. this man was consumed by his anger, aggression, and fear.

anakin eyes you, “no. i won’t have this.” he says and turns away from you towards the exit, his hand hovering over his lightsaber.

every step be took was fueled by a fierce sense of determination, tinged with an undercurrent of aggression. mixed with a cold, burning hatred that seemed to radiate from his very being. as he walked away, her every movement was a testament to a man on the brink, with a fire burning in his soul that threatened to consume anyone who stood in her path.

“anakin!” you yell as your stand from the sofa, wanting him to stop and come to his senses but he doesn’t. instead, he flips the hood of his robes over his head and you watch his silhouette disappear.

you felt your stomach turn, thinking of the unimaginable. the stress of the situation was taking a toll on your body, and you felt a sharp pain in your stomach.

your hands instinctively went to your belly, a protective gesture as you tried to catch your breath.

your anakin, the chosen one, the one you loved with all your being was gone. the dark side had taken him from you and the child.

a broken sob escapes your throat as you fall back onto the sofa. you cover your mouth as you cry, unable to contain the sadness.

#bartxnhood writes #bartxnhood asks #anakin skywalker #star wars anakin #anakin x reader #anakin smut #anakin x you #anakin fanfiction #anakin skywalker x reader #anakin skywalker x you #anakin skywalker x female reader #star wars fanfic #star wars #anakin imagine #anakin fluff #anakin angst

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shrewsburysworld · 3 months ago

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YANDERE POPULAR BOY JUNGKOOK | PART 3

Part 1, Part 2, Part 4

Warning:- Accusations of infidelity, murder, delusion behaviour.

*This is a fan fiction. completely fictional. The behaviour of characters in this fiction is not something to emulate. You are responsible for your own consumption. Thank you.*

Yandere Jungkook spoiled you rotten with his luxury, be it the latest market pieces of jewellery or designer clothes.

Yet it never fascinated you, your world became a gilded prison. he showered you with every comfort, yet it was a life devoid of freedom.

Jungkook believed his love was pure and his obsession was justified. To him you were everything, he didn't force you to sleep with him. and you were thankful for that. Maybe he actually loved you, but he was a mentally ill person.

You felt sorry but being trapped in your golden cage began to suffocate you under the weight of his so-called love.

So you took your chance and tried to play with his mind and sanity. you accused him of things he couldn't understand - infidelity, deceit - things that baffled him because his devotion to you was absolute.

One evening, in the grand but empty mansion you shared, you confronted Jungkook. "You're seeing someone else, aren't you?" you whispered, tears brimming in your eyes.

You couldn't afford to take someone else's name because what if he hurt them, you know he is capable of doing that. Jungkook stared at you confused and hurt. "No!! There's no one but you. How could you think that?"

But you wouldn't listen. You wanted out, wanted to escape the suffocating grip of a love that was slowly killing you. In your desperation, you filed for a divorce, hoping to use the accusation of infidelity as your escape route.

The thought of losing you Jungkook to madness. He didn’t understand your accusations, but if there was someone you believed he was cheating with, that person had to be eliminated. His love for you was so consuming that it twisted his logic, turning his actions into something dark and dangerous.

Jungkook began to watch those around him, scrutinizing every woman he interacted with, searching for a hint of the betrayal you believed existed. Then, one day, a colleague’s innocent touch on his arm during a business meeting ignited a spark of rage within him. She was the one you feared. She was the one who would take you away from him.

Driven by his delusion, Jungkook arranged a meeting with the colleague, luring her under the guise of business. It was there, in a secluded penthouse suite, that he ended her life with cold precision. He felt no remorse—only a sense of duty fulfilled, believing he had removed the threat to his marriage.

When you heard the news, you were horrified. Jungkook confessed to you, not out of guilt, but out of love. “I did it for us, Baby!!. She was the reason you wanted to leave. Now we can be together, without anyone coming between us.”

Your blood ran cold. You realized that your accusations, born out of a desperate need to escape, had pushed Jungkook over the edge. His love was not just obsessive; it was deadly. You was trapped, more than ever, in a nightmare from which there was no escape.

Jungkook, oblivious to the terror in your eyes, pulled you close, whispering sweetly, “Now, my love, you’ll never leave me.”

As the walls of the mansion seemed to close in on her, your dreams of freedom shattered like glass. You were his, forever bound by a love that was as painful as it was powerful.

*This is original work. Do not copyright*

Hey Army!! Thank you so much for loving Yandere Jungkook series. If you guys have any further ideas or imaginations for the continuation of this series drop a message/request. 🫶🫶

#bts imagines #yan blog #yandere bts #yandere male #yandere #bts fic #jungkook fanfic #jungkook ff #jungkook fiction #jungkook fluff #yandere jungkook #yandere jungkook × reader #jungkook imagine #jeon jungkook x reader #jungkook fic

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wakebymoonsleepbysun · 2 months ago

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Thoughts on Baba Chops (I assume that's the name of the Smiling/Nightmare sheepie because it would be strange to copyright that name and then give it to something other than a sheep.)

It's been confirmed by Amber that this is largely a reference to the youtuber sheeprampage, so it being a black sheep (or a sheep in general) may not be all that deep. Just going to get that out of the way. Still, in case it IS that deep, let's go:

Literally a black sheep, possibly figuratively too? The "black sheep" of the Smiling Critters, eventually ousted (or quits) to join or form the Nightmare Critters

Possibly a counterpart/replacement for CatNap? CatNap deals heavily in sleep and dreams, but counting sheep could be an alternative sleep aid to the red smoke

Some kind of shepherd/flock connection around the religious angle? Is Baba part of the "Somniferous flock" or is he trying to take it over?

Wolf in sheep's clothing. A wolf Nightmare Critter disguised as Baba, with the twist that Baba is on the side of good like DogDay had been? I figure if a few dozen lil' Smiling Critters can climb into DogDay and pilot is corpse like a mech, then one Critter wearing another's skin is at least a possibility worth considering

The skull charm. Probably not something he had while he was a Smiling Critter (if he ever was one), so maybe the other Nightmare Critters also have more "edgy" charms.

Those are just my half-formed/spitball ideas around what him being a sheep may symbolize. My actual theory: I do think the Nightmare Critters are a separate toyline from Smiling Critters, a spinoff sort of deal like Garbage Pail Kids or perhaps the villains in the cartoon. I think these consist of scarier animals, like a gator (Alister Gator) and a shark (Maggie Mako), and that Baba defected from the Smiling Critters and ended up joining them. I don't THINK Playtime Co would put the sheep in the Nightmare group in the official cartoon canon but you never know, maybe there is a reason in the Smiling Critters lore or maybe they did it to be funny.

As to why he defected? Possibly he was meant as a replacement for CatNap, and the other Critters took issue with this OR he was resentful of living in CatNap's shadow.

(EDIT: I was referring to Baba as he/him because I just guessed that based on her being somewhat of a reference to Sheeprampage, but about a day or two after I made this it was revealed that she's she/her.)

#poppy playtime #smiling critters #nightmare critters #baba chops

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mowu-moment · 9 months ago

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ranking food tokens by how much personally i want to eat them

- Throne of Eldraine -

i have reason to distrust this meat pie thing, not only because of its wails of anguish but it also seems to have burst a bit in the oven. still not honestly opposed, at least the dishes are clean. 5/10.

how does one unpeel a curly banana? why are there sliced-open fruits on what appears to be a stone in the woods? where is the light coming from? i'm going to be taken by the fae and it's not even gonna taste too good while i'm at it, these things look dirty. but idk i don't mind someone else taking the wheel of my life rn. 2/10.

again, concerns about the floor food, but at least it looks more like some deliverygirl got eaten by a wolf and dropped her basket than a trap. someone already took a bite, though, maybe i should leave it be. 4/10

i have been invited to the Goblin King's Feast and while i don't fully agree with his choices i will certainly partake. boar looks wonderful apart from the hair. 7/10

- Commander 2020 / Strixhaven Commander -

i'm pretty sure cattails are poisonous to humans (not to mention the actual poisons in there) so i unfortunately can't oblige gyome's swamp soup. that crusty bread looks pretty nice though. i'll pick this thing apart like high school cafeteria lunch. 3/10.

- Modern Horizons 2 -

i at least know who cooked this one, and i trust asmor a decent bit, but this is still food for demons, so maybe it's not too good for me. goddamn do i wanna know what it tastes like though. 4/10.

- Unfinity -

i'm considering these two together. as a filthy american, i am allured by these fat-filled foods, but as a lad with a tiny stomach, i doubt i could eat enough to feel good about not wasting it. astrotorium's about excess, goddamn. the only funfair burger i've had was the best thing i had eaten in months, but it also made me ill the rest of the day. i really do want some infinity fries though, those look like the golden mean between a steak fry and a curly fry. 6/10.

- March of the Machine Commander -

meanwhile this looks like a texture nightmare. like i respect it, i imagine it's filling and fulfilling, but i don't think i ever could eat more than a bite or two. bread looks a little worse than gyome's but only a little. 5/10.

- Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth -

my white ass loves a charcuterie board. and i'm not going to be intimidated out of it by not eating enough, since it's all in snack-sized bits already. definitely gonna overindulge this sucker. i'm nervous about some of those spreads though. 9/10.

this looks like i'm in a dream, is it actively cooking? or still hot? i can't identify what's in that pan anyway. i'm leaving it alone out of respect. wouldn't mind a drink though. 2/10.

this is not food. for humans. 0/10.

- Wilds of Eldraine -

this is a king's feast i am properly intimidated by. i'm more into it than the Goblin King's, particularly that triple-layer blueberry pie or whatever that is, but i'm going to have to be as polite as possible lest i get a face full of flaming beer. 8/10

i'll probably be eaten before this can eat me, and it barely looks like food, but at least i go down with sugar in the mouth. 1/10.

ogh. that egg looks divine. the bread looks amazing, there's a full glass, i've got like beans or mermaid tears everywhere. we've even got seasonings back there. the best damn breakfast i'll ever have. 10/10.

i would still probably eat this over nothing. there's onion, at least. i will either be hexed or violently ill, but like i could at least get it down. and maybe the witchmother is testing my strength and she'll reward me after slurping an eyeball. a convenient lie to tell myself. 2/10.

- Doctor Who Commander -

y'know, four, i think i would like a copyrighted candy. they look sad and british, which is on point. but like it's not actively killing me like half of these. i think anyway. i don't know doctor who. 6/10.

what is this? i have no idea. custard? raw batter? giant dunkaroo? is he dipping fishsticks? it doesn't look like it's done cooking, like do we need to put it in a fryer again? i'd say it's inedible but it's not poison stew so i have to be nice. 4/10.

get AWAY from me. this is a PERSONAL vendetta. i would rather try to eat spiderwebs. plus he's already eaten half of it. -10/10.

- Fallout Commander -

i can't be too mean since this is literally apocalypse food. i think i prefer this over poison stew? like i recognize it at least, even if it's foul and moldy. man has to eat something. 3/10

i'm not convinced there's actual soda in here. is this just a perspective shot or is this a giant prop soda? i don't like cola anyway. again, worth it in an apocalypse i suppose. 4/10

this soda i trust even less. it glows? does this give me magic powers in the fallout world or does it just kill me slowly? i think it'll kill me slowly anyway. i need fluid to survive in apocalypseland but damn i hate for it to come to this. 2/10.

#mtg #i haven't had breakfast yet today so this is driving me a little looney

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maximumkillshot · 1 year ago

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"I Can't Lose You" Part 4

Warnings: Not as bad as the last 2 but here we go! , Aftermath of a miscarriage, some fluff, descriptions of grief due to losing a baby, Crying Lixie, Hannie, and Binnie. Shock, Grief, slight panic, fear of abandonment.

Pairing: Bangchan x Reader

Characters: OC Doctor Number 2, Stray Kids, Reader

A/N: Okay so this one is different from the other three, we are in a sort of lull in the angst with this one. It's time to be in Bin's head for a bit. Let's just say... this is a "building" chapter. It's time for some fluff as well... IF YOU WANT MORE TELL ME!

Also remember, this is a fan fic. All of the boys are so sweet IRL.

Stray Kids! Masterlist

Overall Masterlist

ALL WORK IS UNDER ME AND MY BLOG. DO NOT TRY TO REPUBLISH OR STEAL MY WORK, AS THAT IS COPYRIGHTED UNDER ME AND IS CONSIDERED COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT WHICH IS A PUNISHABLE OFFENSE.

ANY WORK THAT YOU SEE ON OTHER SITES THAT ARE MY WORKS PLEASE NOTIFY ME IMMEDIATELY.

PREVIOUSLY:

“And you? How’re you doing?” Bin asked. He knows Han has anxiety, seeing all of this and being as strong as he’s been is not easy.

“I’m… Out of all people, Bin.” Han shook his head. Han has known Chan the longest and he would’ve never expected him to do this.

“I know”

“Please tell me you didn’t hit him.” Han said.

“Nah… She needs me more than I need to beat him to a pulp… I don’t think he’ll be bothering her anymore though.” That’s at least what Bin hopes. Everything is so raw. A little less than 6 hours before this you were at a restaurant to celebrate your 3rd anniversary. Now everything was all wrong, a nightmare incarnate and no one can wake up from reality.

“Hyung… She can’t go back to that house.” Han said as he took a deep breath.

“I know. All I know is that we'll do what she’s comfortable with.”

“Agreed…Bin?” Han asked.

“Yeah?”

“It should’ve been you with her from the beginning.” Han looked to Bin, a look of understanding and empathy for Bin. Han could always see the way Bin looked at you when no one else was looking. Everything you said would be committed to his memory, even the smallest things like which brand of sesame oil you like best for your bulgogi marinade.

“I know. That doesn’t mean that I can’t be here for her from now on.”

Han just smiled and both of them went back into the room.

NOW:

Bin POV:

That night was terrible. Every 20 or so minutes, Y/N would twist and turn in pain as the contractions continued to decimate her. After about 5 agonizing hours, they started to subside, now a much duller version of what they once were, at least that’s what she tells me. Felix and Hannie were so strong through it all and helped in any way they could. Feeding her ice chips, holding her hand, even something as simple as massaging her legs helped a great deal. There were no questions, no arguments, and most of all no mention of Chris.

There were some points where she needed all of us. Hannie and I held one hand each, and Felix rubbed her back. When she finally went to bed, well more like collapsed from exhaustion, the sun was out and the clock read 7:00 a.m.

As soon as we were sure she was out cold, that was when we had permission to collapse. First was Felix. I noticed his eyes getting red as he looked at Hannie, and then back to me. "This isn't fair," he petted her leg and tucked her in, trying to comfort her, even though she was completely dead to the world. "She didn't deserve this… they didn't deserve this…" At this point, tears are falling on the blanket freely. All I could do was walk over to him and hug him. I moved us back a little and closed the privacy curtain so that if she did wake up, she couldn't see Lix like this. Felix did his best to cry silently.

He was trying so hard to mute himself as he whispered into my shoulder, "I didn't get to hold the baby, Hyung… we didn't get to spoil the baby, change the baby… look into their eyes, hear them giggle."

I know that feeling. I also wondered what the baby was going to look like. I would’ve bet the baby would’ve had her eyes. What if her quirks were another thing the baby would’ve inherited? Would they giggle at situational humor? Or maybe they would've had her sarcasm? That smile that’d light up a room? That used to light up a room.

I heard Han losing it behind me as well at what Felix was saying.

"S'not fair Hyung… deserved better…both of them did," Felix was doing everything to stay silent, even covering his mouth, trying to smother the sobs before they left his mouth.

"I know… I know" was all I could say. She deserved so much more. She deserved so much more than to be cheated on. She deserved more than to lose her child. She deserves to be pampered, kept safe, loved. The fact that life is this cruel, regardless of the person, that also hit me hard. All she ever wants to do is help. That’s it. So why is she getting punished like this? Why does she have to pay for the sins of her husband? What sense does that make? It doesn’t.

Han’s footsteps caught my attention. As he walked to us I could see in his eyes he was losing it too. His eyes brimming with tears. I could tell, he felt like I did. Helpless. Scared. Broken. He looked at Y/N as he walked towards us. Hannie seems like the type that would cry easily. He’s not. He really only cries when he’s angry, hurt, or frustrated. Otherwise he doesn’t cry in front of people. That’s why he doesn’t watch animated movies with me for the most part. He doesn’t want to cry in front of people. So seeing him like this…

I just opened my arms to him and he walked into them, huddling with Lix, his voice breaking, "There was so much blood, I can't…. She almost died because he was stupid and childish… a fucking coward… we almost lost her… our girl… Bin…" Hannie gripped into my hoodie, trying to ground himself. We always call Y/N our girl. Chris was always working, always distracted, always this or that. It’d take a toll on her. I would tell Chris to stop, to go home, spend time with her. I told him the tracks can wait, that she deserved to have him present for at least an hour or two. He’d always say that he could do ‘better things’ with his time. You’d think that he’d see his own wife as a person that he loves instead of a waste of time, that should’ve been the first red flag right there.

Eventually, Han and I just started leaving his ass at the studio, picking up some food and making a “friend date night” with Y/N. We’d pile up in Han’s room, we’d watch anime, horror movies, or sometimes, just be around her. The first time we did that was a year into the marriage, when we did, she started to tear up. When we asked why she said that she hadn’t seen Chris. Always asleep before he got home and always awake long after he left. Even thinking about it now gives me chills, how could he leave a gem like Y/N at home? Knowing she’s waiting for him. Seeing her face that night squeezed my heart. I could tell that day that Han felt the same way.

After that we always made sure to be home early every Friday and Saturday, and to clear the schedules for the most part on Sundays; Friday was movie night, Saturday was game or anime night, and Sunday was cooking date night, where we picked a recipe and made it together. Eventually Felix and Minho got in on it too, because what’s dinner without dessert and Minho said he wanted to make sure we were doing it correctly. Han and I knew the truth. We love spending time with her. It is that simple.

I felt Han and Lix’s tears soaking through my hoodie. I have never felt this helpless in my life. Y/N almost died in my arms, her baby is gone, Lix is mourning and sobbing on me, now Han is finally releasing some of what he’s feeling. All of these things I can’t control. I can’t help with any of it. The only thing that I can really do is be there for them. Even though, in my eyes, that isn’t a lot.

"I know we almost lost her… but she's here, you see? She's right here." I had them peek through the curtain to see her sleeping form and they both looked at her. "You know what else? A doctor told me that a pregnant woman carries some fetal cells & DNA even after they give birth." I said as both went back to gripping me again behind the curtain.

I continued, "That means that even though the baby didn't make it, that DNA still lives on in her." Just reiterating that fact, I even started crying. When the attending doctor told me that, Lix and Han were sleeping, while Y/N was in the bathroom, with one of the nurses. The doctor came in to check on her and they found me, on the verge of tears, trying to will them away. It was around 4am. The doctor is married to the same doctor that saved her life in the ER.

She was very kind with soft eyes. The doctor knocked on the bathroom door to notify the nurse to take as long as they needed. Then she turned her attention to me. They asked me to follow her and we went into a consolation room.

“The chart says you’re family… But family doesn’t cry like that.” The doctor said as we sat across from each other. “I’m here to listen. Y/N wasn’t the only one who went through a trauma today.”

I couldn’t hold it anymore as I started to sob. Something about the doctor's presence permitted that, “I should’ve protected her from him. Right after they got married he disappeared. He’s my best friend, well was my best friend …” After that I couldn’t stop. I told her how I felt about him, how I felt responsible for it all, how helpless I felt, how it all would’ve been different. I even told her what I almost did to him, how my brain can’t wrap around how she must be feeling, knowing it’d hurt too much. I didn’t leave out one detail as I sobbed.

She held my hand across the table, “You could’ve never predicted this. This is something that is unimaginable. You trusted him with her, and she’s your heart. That in and of itself takes courage, it shows that you truly love her. To put her happiness over everything else. There is a fact that I think is a small consolation, maybe it’ll bring you comfort…”That was when she told me the fact that I just told the boys.

"Binnie?" She asked and immediately I responded as my head snapped to the privacy curtain. I tried to keep my voice as steady as I could make it so that she didn’t get worried needlessly.

"Yes?" I asked as I let Han and Felix go.

"Can I have cuddles, please?" She asked. I immediately took off my hoodie, leaving me in my black sleeveless shirt, and went through the curtain. I saw her face relax when she saw me. It must’ve been scary after everything to wake up alone like that. I also saw her trying to shift in the bed to make room. I went to the other side to help her.

“Don’t worry, let me help you. I got you.” I cooed as I lifted her and helped her make room for me. Within seconds I got in the hospital bed with her.

"How could I say no to cuddles? Come here." I tried to be as gentle as possible with her as I cradled her. I could see in the way her body moves, it’s so sore. It was basically pushing fruitlessly for 5 hours straight after nearly bleeding to death. Her muscles had to be screaming every time she moved, that’s why I helped her do everything, from shifting and turning, to getting her in and out of bed. The only place she won’t let me go with her is the bathroom, which is completely understandable.

I heard her huff in frustration. When I looked at her she was glaring at her IV.

“What is it?” I asked, a little chuckle in my voice. I may or may not have an idea of what it is.

She grumbled, “IV won’t let me wrap around my Dwaekki.” She even crossed her arms as she stared at the offending object. She gets this pout. It’s so cute but she swears she is scary. It’s like seeing a puppy trying to intimidate a Bulldog. It’s not intimidating, it's cute. Even more so when she’s pouting at an inanimate object, if I’m lucky she’ll try bargaining with it.

I laughed at that, “How dare it.” I glared at it too, making her giggle a bit. I got up and repositioned the IV pole, bringing it to behind the bed, giving her more than enough room to move. I glared at it and I said “I don’t want any more trouble from you.” That earned a full on laugh. It wasn’t the same as its normal volume or anything, but it was still more progress. As soon as I laid back down her arm wrapped around me as she sighed with comfort.

She looked up at me and I looked down at her, studying her features. I’ve always cuddled with Y/N. It’s not uncommon for her head to be perched on my chest, but seeing her like this, after what she went through and still is going through is making me think. I’ve never seen anyone as strong, caring, and genuinely good as her.

Being with her is easy, it always has been. When I’m with her it all feels like breathing. She knows what type of person I am and I know what type of person she is. It’s like we balance each other perfectly. She likes comedy and romance movies, I like thriller and horror movies. She likes to learn languages. I hate learning languages, but she makes it fun. It’s like we push each other to be better. She fits perfectly. She molds perfectly to me, her hand fitting perfectly in mine. Every day I shoved all of this away, and every night I dreamed of her. I would hold on to those dreams so tightly. Some dreams are as simple as seeing her smile while I wrap my arms around her waist. Nothing sexual about it, just letting her know that I was behind her. Others we are just existing, laughing. The only real difference was me wearing a matching wedding band to hers. Those hurt. But only for a minute or two.

All of these thoughts are dangerous. That’s what I told myself for years now. The more I see her the more I see those thoughts, not as dangerous, but honest. All of the things that I think about her, it’s not a dramatized version of her. Everything I think is completely possible, how? Because I’ve seen it. I’ve seen her reaction to me and people around me.

Not to mention those eyes I get lost in constantly, the ones that are staring back at me right now. When she looks at me it feels like I am looking into a treasure trove. She is so full of knowledge, tenacity, and love. I could never understand how Chris could have her, and yet he looks to someone lower than her.

Her eyes look different now, inquisitive, making my eyebrows dip momentarily.

"Is it true?" She asked as I held her.

" Is what true?"I asked as I saw Felix and Han pull back the curtain, both a bit more put together. They were both walking to the only two chairs in the room, Felix to the one below the window and Han to the one right next to the bed, on Y/N’s side.

"The DNA? I have my baby's DNA," her voice cracked.

"Yes, it's true," I said as I kissed the crown of her head, "you will always have a piece of your baby with you."

She thought for a few minutes then she started to talk, very calm and very composed.

"I…I'm scared, Binnie." I saw her playing with my shirt. It’s one of those nervous habits she has. Whenever she is nervous, she’ll start playing with the nearest object. I’ve seen her fiddle with glasses, table cloths, and kitchenware. Her favorite is any clothes with texture. When I asked her why she told me that the patterns the stitching makes is just enough texture to help calm her. That is also why she prefers to wear anything with pockets in them, that way she can self soothe when her anxiety kicks up in public.

All of our ears perked up at that one sentence. We are all very much aware that she just went through a nightmare situation. For her to say that something scares her is something that all of us don’t take lightly. I noticed her body tensed up after that. Almost like her internal voice escaped without her permission. She also looked like she didn’t know where to look. Her eyes darted ever so slightly as she spoke. I tried to keep my tone as gentle as possible. I know her nerves are on edge, and honestly, I would’ve been surprised if that wasn't the case.

"Why are you scared? Of what?" I asked. I put my hand over hers to stop her movements, “you can tell me.”

"I can't lose you boys." She started tearing up as her voice started wavering, "I already lost my baby and my husband, I can't lose you guys too." At that point she buried her face in my chest as she shook, tears flowing down.

I thought that I had reached the limit of pieces my heart can break into and yet that one confession turned whatever was left into sand. "What?" I asked, "You think you're going to lose us? What gave you that idea?"

"Your leader is the same man that's been cheating on me. He's also your best friend.” She held me like I’d disappear, like I’d not only leave her side, but go willingly.

"Nonono, he was our best friend." Hannie said as he abandoned his chair, climbing into the bed with Y/N and me, sandwiching her in between us, as gently as possible. He rubbed her back, trying to soothe her.

Felix went to the foot of the bed and he said, "Chris didn't just hurt you. He hurt us by hurting you. We love you so much. For him to disrespect you like that…” Felix is usually a positive person, but his face looked like a cross between hurt, sad, and angry. “ For him to disrespect, humiliate, and degrade you like that? No friend of mine does that. You aren't a friend to me either, you feel like a sister. He hurt my sister, Y/N." His voice started to crack as he said, "he hurt my bubbly, funny, goofy, older sister who would also kill anyone that dared touch me… dare touch any of us. As far as I and everyone else on this team is concerned, he's a co-worker. Nothing more, nothing less." His brows were set at that last sentence, showing her we aren’t going anywhere.

She looked at us and said "I don't want to be the reason why things explode in your group. I don't want to cause trouble," She hid in my chest again, looking so small. I didn’t know how to comfort her in this. My heart just kept breaking and melting at the same time. Even though all of this just happened to her literally hours ago, she was still worried about us?

Han spoke up, "You didn't cause anything. You are doing what you have to do. The only person to blame for all of this is Chris, not you." He rubbed her arm as he spoke.

"Look up, you see Binnie?" He asked.

When she looked up she saw me. She nodded as she clutched onto me when I gave her a little smile.

"Look at your feet... You see Lixie?" He said, and sure enough, when she did Lix was right there. Rubbing her legs gently. She nodded.

"You feel me behind you?" Han completed. And she nodded.

"We are with you, right where we want to be. Hell, Felix ran just to catch Bin before he left, right?". I nodded.“Rain or shine, we are here for you always. Whatever you want to do. Wherever you want to go. We are here."

She started sobbing, clutching onto me as Han said, "We were never going to go anywhere… not without you, okay?"

I cut in with, "And if you don't know where to go or what to do, that's okay too… we'll figure it out together." I looked down at her and I started drying her tears as they fell.

"But what about?" She went to ask.. we all knew what she was talking about. Lix was already ahead of her on that. He dialed a number on his phone and put it on speaker.

A few rings later & someone picked up,

"Finally I was waiting for your call!" I heard Minho on the line.

Felix said, "Hey Hyung".

"How is she? We're all worried sick over here." Minho's voice was crystal clear.

Felix said, "Why don't you ask her yourself?"

I could tell she heard the joy in his voice, "Y/N/N?! Can you hear me, Beautiful?"

Felix laid the phone close to her.

"Y-yeah"

"How're you feeling, gorgeous?"

"Contractions stopped." I saw her wince a little at the mention. The doctors did say that it’ll be a few days until she feels marginally better.

"That's good, Lix was telling me you were in a lot of pain because of them… wish I was there with you." His voice fell a little at those words.

"I'm scared," she said blatantly to Minho. I could see just the thought weighing down on her mind. She seemed like she was trying to prepare for a whole other loss.

"Why, what is it?" He asked, his voice taking a softer approach to her now.

She couldn't say it so Han did, " She's afraid she's going to lose us, Hyung."

I added "She said she's already lost her baby and her husband. She can't take losing us too." I petted her hair back as she started to shake. I hated this, seeing her question everything since mostly everything was ripped out of her hands in the span of hours. Now she is trying to heal but she’s scared to rely on anyone, being vulnerable, all because the two people she trusted with everything were the same ones who stabbed her in the back. The anxiety rolling off of her was dizzying. I did my best to stay calm for her, I’m never leaving her. We aren’t leaving her, ever.

I heard Minho open a car door. "Y/N/N?" He asked as the door slammed.

"Y-yes?" She replied.

"I'm outside the hospital waiting with all the boys until visiting hours start." As soon as Minho said that there was a resounding "Hi Y/N/N!!" Through the phone.

"You will never lose us … Do you hear me?" Minho's voice sounded resolute and final.

“You promise?” She asked weeping, “Because I can’t lose you MinMin… I can’t lose my boys, m’not strong enough.” She pressed herself into me, trying to convince herself that we aren’t going anywhere. Han was rubbing her back while she cried, trying to keep his composure. Lix gave me a tissue for her and I started drying her tears.

I could hear Minho’s voice breaking, "Y/N/N-ie I promise. I want to hold you so bad right now. Just another half an hour. Okay? Then you can see us and we can see you and hug you and hold you… we missed you and we are so worried."

Then Hyunjin's voice rang out, thicker, like he himself started crying, "You deserve so much more than Chris could ever be. You hear me? You deserve to be pampered and cared for. Not taken for granted and lied to. We love you and we'll see you soon, okay?"

I.N piped up with "I can't wait to take you to lunch or dinner if you get out today! Where do you want to go?!"

That whimsical question seemed to make her relax a little as she said, "How about that Ramyeon place we always go to?" She asked,

"Ohh that's a great idea! I'm dying for some Nongshim Shin Ramyun." He sounded so happy.

That half an hour never went by quicker. They stood on the phone as they waited, talking about nothing and everything at the same time. As soon as the clock hit 8:30 am all I could hear was wind…

"We are running to you right now!" Minho said.

I could hear the occasional shove and giggle. A few minutes later there was a stampede of sneakers on the floor and as they walked in Minho said "In 3..2..1.." then he pulled the curtain back and hung up.

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

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ennoshitas-princess · 14 days ago

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𝓕𝓻𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓮𝓷𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓢𝓾𝓻𝓹𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓮

This is the last of my Autumn Treats Request: Pumpkin bread with milk for Oikawa Tooru (your crush Oikawa and you do arts and crafts) (fluff) Word Count: 500

Oikawa just loved fall so much. For one, he fell for you during this beautiful time of year. For two, because of the thought of Halloween costumes. He just couldn't wait for you to show up at the front door of his home, ready to go and trick or treat with his nephew.

His imagination ran wild to all the possible things you wanted to put on. He imagined you as a sweet princess with the most cutest baby blue dress. Maybe the cutest angel costume because in his eyes, you were the most innocent thing he had to protect from the cruel outside world. Or maybe you were going to show up at his front porch as a fairy with the nicest flower crown right on your head and glittery wings ready to grab him and take him to a magical place.

The doorbell rang as he got up to scream to his nephew it was time to get going for the free sweets that were later to cause him a belly ache. By him, it means Oikawa since he could remember.

“Hey Iwa-chan~ Who is this you brought?” His eyes glanced up and down at this nightmare.

“Shittykawa, this is l/n-san.” He deadpanned to his childhood friend.

His eyes felt like they were going to come out of his face. How is this scarlet-covered, looking like a corpse, could be his sweet and innocent l/n-chan? She looks like a princess, so why would she dress up like this ugly looking thing?

“L/n-chan, you're supposed to be a cute princess or a fairy, not this- this hideous looking demon thing!” His blood boiled at the thought of his sweet l/n-chan dressing up like this. If he could, he would clean all of this up.

“Silly Oikawa, I was just trying to impress your nephew, I am pretty sure he will be. Plus, I find this to be cool. I even made it myself. The ebony cape, the staff, and the makeup I didn't even look at references.” You look at him with a ray of hope in your eyes, wanting him to know you dedicated yourself in doing this for him.

“Still, how dare you!” He made a pout.

“C'mon, let's get going! Or else I will beat ya for wasting my time.” Iwaizumi left from the front porch as you grabbed Oikawa’s hand.

“Why would you ever think of dressing up like this? I wanted you to be a princess for me, and I'm your knight. It just makes sense! C'mon, l/n-chan.” His cheeks burned at the touch of your hand intertwined into his.

“Well, I look cool. To be honest, I really thought you would love this. I could be your bloody corpse bride.” You blush at what slipped out of your lips.

“You know, I will accept that. But tomorrow you will dress up as a princess for me.” His face turned even more beet red.

“Deal!” You smiled at him.

A/n: thanks for this request!! Sorry it took so long :( this is a bit too late since it is centered around Halloween. I will be doing more requests eventually, but I will need a theme!! I will soon be posting a poll to ask to all of you!! Suggestions will be appreciated!!

Please DO NOT repost on any other platform!!

Reblogs are acceptable

#haikyuu #haikyuu!!#haikyuu x reader #reader x character #haikyuu x y/n #haikyuu x you #haikyuu fanfiction #oikawa tooru #oikawa x reader #hq oikawa #oikawa fluff #iwaizumi hajime #hq iwaizumi

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lucascecil · 5 months ago

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Doctor Who - Eighth Doctor Guide

This incarnation first appeared in the 1996 movie ‘Doctor Who’ in which was, at the time, an attempt to bring the show back while trying to bring in American viewers. It was a total failure and the show would only come back on TV in 2005 with the new series. However, these were exciting news to the expanded universe: the Eighth Doctor opened a door to explore new and imaginative ideas in this second half of the wilderness years (as we call the show hiatus from 1989 to 2005).

Virgin Books would lose their license to Doctor Who and therefore their publication of the Seventh Doctor books, at the time the only continuation to the show we had, stopped. Instead, the Eighth Doctor Adventures were released, a book series focusing on the adventures of the Eighth Doctor with new, original companions. And, five years later, Paul McGann would once again step into the role in Big Finish.

These guides include only tv, books and audio stories, but this time only I will make an exception: we’ll include the Doctor Who Magazine Comics too. You totally should give these comics a chance for other Doctors too, but Eight is getting special treatment because the Magazine did its own thing with him just as the other media. It has four well defined narrative arcs/”seasons” and introduces their own original companion. So let’s start!

INTO THE COMICS

‘Season one’ – Adventures with Izzy

[ ] Endgame

[ ] The Keep

[ ] A Life of Matter and Death

[ ] Fire and Brimstone

[ ] By Hook or by Crook

[ ] Tooth and Claw

[ ] The Final Chapter

[ ] Wormwood

[ ] Happy Deathday

This season picks up a plot point from the Seventh Doctor DWM’s comics regarding a recurring villain, but you’ll understand it fine enough even if haven’t read what came before. This is collected as The Eighth Doctor Comics Strips volume 01, as that edition has a summary of what you need to know. Otherwise, it’s a perfect jumping point. The Doctor meets Izzy Sinclair, a young girl from Stockbridge that helps him fight the Toymaker when the elder god takes control of the town, quickstating a long road of self-discovery for Izzy.

‘Season two’ – Continued adventures with Izzy, plus Kroton

[ ] The Fallen

[ ] Unnatural Born Killers

[ ] The Road to Hell

[ ] TV Action!

[ ] The Company of Thieves

[ ] The Glorious Dead

[ ] The Autonomy Bug

This season is collected as The Eighth Doctor Comics Strips volume 02 and introduces a temporary companion I love: Kroton, the good Cybermen. It also has one of the best Master stories ever. It also features the only other proper Grace story ever since I think they just ignored the copyright issue and used her anyway.

‘Season three’ – Continued adventures with Izzy

[ ] Ophidius

[ ] Beautiful Freak

[ ] The Way of All Flesh

[ ] Children of the Revolution

[ ] Me and My Shadow

[ ] Uroboros

[ ] Oblivion

This season is collected as the Eighth Doctor Comics Strips volume 03. This season finishes Izzy’s story while also introducing the next companion, Destrii. It also has one of my favorite Daleks stories.

‘Season four’ – Solo adventures, then joined by Destrii

[ ] Where Nobody Know Your Name

[ ] The Nightmare Game

[ ] The Power of Thoueris!

[ ] The Curious Tale of Spring-Heeled Jack

[ ] The Land of Happy Endings

[ ] Bad Blood

[ ] Sins of the Father

[ ] The Flood

This season is collected as the Eighth Doctor Comics Strips volume 04. For the most part it shows the Doctor rebounding from his goodbye to Izzy (platonically, I see their relationship as paternal), kinda trying to find a new companion (he is pathetic in The Nightmare Game) and dealing with solitude. Then the story picks up when he is reunited with Destrii and they begin travelling together. It has a great Cybermen story.

INTO THE BOOKS

‘Season 01’ – Adventures with Sam

[ ] The Eight Doctors

[ ] Vampire Science

[ ] The Bodysnatchers

[ ] Genocide

[ ] War of the Daleks

[ ] Alien Bodies

The Eight Doctors is a terrible first book, just skip it and start with Vampire Science – which is much better. There is a certain character there who was supposed to be Grace but then they couldn’t use her because of copyright and I do think knowing that gives an interesting perspective to the book. Alien Bodies (great, too) starts a story arc about the War in Heaven. Or, simply put, a much more engaging time war done in the books years before the TV series ever thought about it.

‘Season 02’ – Continued adventures with Sam

[ ] Kursaal

[ ] Option Lock

[ ] Longest Day

[ ] Legacy of the Daleks

[ ] Dreamstone Moon

[ ] Seeing I

‘Season 03’ – Continued adventures with Sam

[ ] Placebo Effect

[ ] Vanderdeken’s Children

[ ] The Scarlet Empress

[ ] The Janus Conjuction

[ ] Beltempest

[ ] The Face-Eater

‘Season 04’ – Adventures with Sam and Fitz

[ ] The Taint

[ ] Demontage

[ ] Revolution Man

[ ] Dominion

[ ] Unnatural History

[ ] Autumn Mist

[ ] Interference – Book One: Shock Tactic

[ ] Interference – Book Two: The Hour of the Geek

‘Season 04’ – Adventures with Fitz and Compassion

[ ] The Blue Angel

[ ] The Taking of Planet 5

[ ] Frontier Worlds

[ ] Parallel 59

[ ] The Shadows of Avalon

[ ] The Fall of Yquatine

[ ] Coldheart

[ ] The Space Age

[ ] The Banquo Legacy

[ ] The Ancestor Cell

‘Season 05’ – Exiled on Earth

[ ] The Burning

[ ] Casualties of War

[ ] The Turing Test

[ ] Endgame

[ ] Father Time

[ ] Escape Velocity

Following the ending of The Ancestor Cell, there is this smaller story arc with the Doctor stuck on Earth for plot reasons I will not elaborate because I don’t want spoil it too much.

‘Season 06’ – Adventures with Fitz and Anji

[ ] EarthWorld

[ ] Fear Itself

[ ] Vanishing Point

[ ] Eater of Wasps

[ ] The Year of Intelligent Tigers

[ ] Dark Progeny

[ ] The City of the Dead

[ ] Griim Reality

[ ] The Adventuress of Henrietta Street

‘Season 07’ – Continued adventures with Fitz and Anji

[ ] Mad Dogs and Englishmen

[ ] Hope

[ ] Anachrophobia

[ ] Trading Futures

[ ] The Book of the Still

[ ] The Crooked World

[ ] History 101

[ ] Camera Obscura

[ ] Time Zero

‘Season 08’ – Continued adventures with Fitz and Anji, joined by Trix

[ ] The Infinity Race

[ ] The Domino Effect

[ ] Reckless Engineering

[ ] The Last Resort

[ ] Timeless

[ ] Emotional Chemistry

[ ] Sometime Never…

‘Season 09’ – Adventures with Fitz and Trix

[ ] Halflife

[ ] The Tomorrow Windows

[ ] The Sleep of Reason

[ ] The Deadstone Memorial

[ ] To the Slaughter

[ ] The Gallifrey Chronicles

INTO THE AUDIOS – THE MAIN RANGE ERA

‘Season 01’ – Adventures with Charley

[ ] Storm Warning

[ ] The Sword of Orion

[ ] The Stones of Venice

[ ] Minuet in Hell

[ ] Solitaire

[ ] If I Should Die Before I Wake

The Eighth Doctor joined Big Finish a little bit after Doctors Five to Seven, but it was still quite early when their main releases were ‘just’ a monthly two-hour long story in the style of the classic series. We call this range of releases the Main Range. As the current Doctor at that point, having McGann back in the role was obviously a novelty and he was instantly joined by India Fisher as Charlotte Pollard, Edwardian adventurer.

Solitaire and If I Should Die Before I Wake are not main range releases but I do think they fit tonally well enough with theses stories and therefore I don’t think there is any problem listening to them here.

‘Season 02’ – Continued adventures with Charley

[ ] Invaders from Mars

[ ] The Chimes of Midnight

[ ] Seasons of Fear

[ ] Embrace the Darkness

[ ] The Time of the Daleks

[ ] Neverland

[ ] Zagreus

This finish the story arc of Charley’s life as was set up in Storm Warning. It all culminates in Zagreus, which is also a 40 years anniversary story of the series. Romana and Leela, former companions of the Fourth Doctor, reappear at the end of this arc and their interaction starts a spin-off just about them in Gallifrey – a series also called Gallifrey. I will not elaborate on it in this post, but let it be noted it happens.

‘Season 03’ – Adventures with Charley and C’rizz

[ ] Scherzo

[ ] The Creed of the Kromon

[ ] The Natural History of Fear

[ ] The Twilight Kingdom

[ ] Faith Stealer

[ ] The Last

[ ] Caerdroia

[ ] The Next Life

Also known as the Divergent Universe arc. It continues at the point Zagreus ended, with Doctor exploring a brand new universe – but there is something disturbingly wrong there. He and Charley are joined by a new companion from this universe, C’rizz.

‘Season 04’ – Adventures with Charley and C’rizz

[ ] Terror Firma

[ ] Scaredy Cat

[ ] Other Lives

[ ] Time Works

[ ] Something Inside

[ ] Memo Lane

[ ] Absolution

[ ] The Girl Who Never Was

The end of this era of Eighth Doctor audios. A goodbye to C’rizz, but a see you soon for Charley. There is a huge cliffhanger at The Girl Who Never Was that is continued on later releases – look at ‘beyond the Eighth Doctor’ if you wanna know about that, but ONLY if you are fine with being SPOILED. Again: THERE ARE SPOILERS THERE.

More from Charley and Eight

‘Season 01’ – The Further Adventures of Charlotte Pollard

[ ] The Mummy Speaks

[ ] Eclipse

[ ] The Slaying of the Writhing Mass

[ ] Heart of Orion

Specifically, this was one single released of four one-hour long stories that are set during the first story arc of Charley in the Main Range. So, certainly before Neverland but you could argue about the when specifically. I like to put it between Minuet in Hell and Invaders from Mars. But why didn’t I put it there, then? To be honest, it’s because I don’t think they fit tonally with the Main Range adventures and therefore it will break immersion if listened then. They are much, much closer to the new who style and just don’t capture the era, for me. So, listen to them as an extra to Charley story, when you miss her.

‘Season 02’ – Adventures with Charley and Audacity

[ ] The Devouring

[ ] The Great Cyber-War

[ ] Twenty-Four Doors in December

[ ] The Empty Man

[ ] Winter of the Demon

2023 saw the Doctor being joined by a new companion, lady Audacity. The first release, which included the first stories in this season, had a cliffhanger that placed them as the Doctor was still travelling with Charley, in their earlier days. So this is also a season that happens during the first story arc on the Main Range, but I wouldn’t place it there because not only it’s still happening, being published, but also because it’s better if you listen to it as its own thing already having the knowledge of how Charley’s story originally developed.

Beyond the Eighth Doctor

‘Season 01’ – Adventures with Charley

[ ] The Condemned

[ ] The Doomwood Curse

[ ] Brotherhood of the Daleks

[ ] Return of the Krotons

[ ] The Raincloud Man

[ ] Patient Zero

[ ] Paper Cuts

[ ] Blue Forgotten Planet

I already WARNED you of the SPOILERS. So, at the end of The Girl Who Never Was, the Eighth Doctor and Charley are separated. He thinks she chose of leave him, and she thinks that he is dead. She is isolated in a terrible situation and sends a distress signal, hoping that someone will rescue her. A TARDIS arrives and she thinks Eight is alive and came for her, but when she enters, she finds an unexpected face – the Sixth Doctor. And they would have a handful of adventures together, as listed here.

‘Season 02’

[ ] The Lamentation Cipher

[ ] The Shadow at the Edge of the World

[ ] The Fall of the House of Pollard

[ ] The Viryan Solution

But Charley story doesn’t end with Six. They do eventually part ways, as told in Blue Forgotten Planet, but Charley got her own spin-off that continues from there. There have been two seasons since then, but the story is unfinished: there is a third series that should be released at some point to wrap the story but we haven’t gotten any news from it for a long, long time.

‘Season 03’

[ ] Embankment Station

[ ] Ruffling

[ ] Seed of Chaos

[ ] The Destructive Quality of Life

THE CLASSICALS

‘Season 00’ – Adventures with Mary Shelley

[ ] The Company of Friends

[ ] The Silver Turk

[ ] The Witch from the Well

[ ] Army of Death

The Company of Friends is a ‘special’ Main Range release as it’s the only audio story that features the Eighth Doctor exclusive companions from other medias. It’s four half-a-hour story: the first with Benny, former companion of the Seventh Doctor. The second have Fitz and the third have Izzy. And then there is the fourth one, that shows the Eight Doctor meeting Mary Shelley. She wasn’t a companion, but would soon become one as a trilogy featuring their travels together would be released in the Main Range.

These stories happened before Eight meets Charley and honestly could be listened at any point, but I put them here, after Charley, because I do think it’s a better experience to enjoy the Eighth Doctor main range era in the order the stories were published.

INTO THE AUDIOS – THE LUCIE MILLER ERA

Beginning 2006, it all changed for Eight. His stories were probably the most popular of the Main Range – much because of the novelty of exploring the Doctor that never had anything on TV – and so he got his own range. The Main Range was now only for Doctors Five, Six and Seven, and ‘The Eighth Doctor Adventures’ began. But it was also 2006, Doctor Who was back on TV. And much because of that, this era is structured more alike to a new who season than classic.

You can jump into this era without any prior knowledge of the Eighth Doctor if you want to.

‘Season 01’ – Adventures with Lucie

[ ] Blood of the Daleks [two-parter]

[ ] Horror of Fang Rock

[ ] Immortal Beloved

[ ] Phobos

[ ] No More Lies

[ ] Human Resources [two-parter]

Notably, Horror of Glam Rock starts a ongoing arc through the seasons about Lucie’s aunt Pat.

'Extras Season’ – Continued adventures with Lucie

[ ] The Dalek Trap

[ ] The Revolution Game

[ ] The House on the Edge of Chaos

[ ] Island of the Fendahl

This was actually a release called The Further Adventures of Lucie Miller, four one-hour stories that makes a small season. It fits the tone of the era very well and it happens relatively early in her timeline, so if you want to listen to it between seasons 1 and 2, you can. The finally feature the Fendahl, a villain from Classic Who, so it’s a good idea to check out Image of the Fendahl from the Fourth Doctor era if you want more context.

‘Season 02’ – Continued adventures with Lucie

[ ] Dead London

[ ] Max Warp

[ ] Brave New Town

[ ] The Skull of Sobek

[ ] Grand Theft Cosmos

[ ] The Zygon Who Fell to Earth

[ ] Sisters of the Flame/The Vengeance of Morbius

The Zygon Who Fell to Earth is part of the aunt Pat story arc. The finale features Morbius, a villain from Classic Who, and it’s a good idea to check the Fourth Doctor story The Brain of Morbius if you want more context.

‘Season 03’ – Continued adventures with Lucie

[ ] Orbis

[ ] Hothouse

[ ] The Beast of Orlok

[ ] Wirnn Dawn

[ ] The Scapegoat

[ ] The Cannibalists

[ ] The Eight Truths/Worldwide Web

There are plenty of villains from Classic Who this season. You don’t need to watch any of their original stories to understand theses audios, and this is valid for the previous seasons too, but as I said if you want more context… You can watch The Seeds of Doom, The Ark in Space and Planet of Spiders.

‘Season 04’ – Adventures with Lucie and Tamsin

[ ] Death in Blackpool

[ ] An Earthly Child

[ ] Situation Vacant

[ ] Nervermore

[ ] The Book of Kelis

[ ] Deimos/The Resurrection of Mars

[ ] Relative Dimensions

[ ] Prisoner of the Sun

[ ] Lucie Miller/To the Death

Lucie’s era ends with a bang. Death in Blackpool is a Christmas special that wraps up the aunt Pat storyline. In An Earthly Child, the Doctor is reunited with someone from his past. Then, the rest of the season deals with Lucie and Eight’s friendship and how they are dealing with everything that happening recently, while also introducing new companion Tamsin Drew.

INTO THE AUDIOS – THE BOXSETS ERA

With the end of Lucie’s era, the publishing format shifted again. Now, the stories were released four at a time, as a boxset. These stories also build up bigger arcs, in sixteen parts, and therefore should be listened sequentially: Dark Eyes, Doom Coalition, Ravenous and Stranded. You can jump into the Eighth Doctor audios with Dark Eyes, but it’s better appreciated after listening to Lucie’s era.

‘Dark Eyes’ – Adventures with Molly and Liv

[ ] The Great War

[ ] Fugitives

[ ] Tangled Web

[ ] X and the Daleks

[ ] The Traitor

[ ] The White Room

[ ] Time’s Horizon

[ ] Eyes of the Master

[ ] The Death of Hope

[ ] The Reviled

[ ] Masterplan

[ ] Rule of the Eminence

[ ] A Life in the Day

[ ] The Monster of Montmartre

[ ] Master of the Daleks/Eye of Darkness

Liv Chenka is a character introduced in Robophobia, a Seventh Doctor story that you can listen to if you want more from her, but isn’t necessarily needed here. It’s good, though. She didn’t become a companion until reuniting with the Doctor, this time Eight, here in Dark Eyes. This season explores a temporal conflict between the Daleks, some Time Lords and an enemy from the future, the Eminence. It’s not part of the Time War, tho.

‘Doom Coalition’ – Adventures with Liv and Helen

[ ] The Eleven

[ ] The Red Lady

[ ] The Galileo Trap

[ ] The Satanic Mill

[ ] Beachhead

[ ] Scenes from her Life

[ ] The Gift

[ ] The Sonomancer

[ ] Absent Friends

[ ] The Eighth Piece/The Doomsday Chronometer

[ ] The Crucible of Souls

[ ] Ship in a Bottle

[ ] Songs of Love

[ ] The Side of Angels

[ ] Stop the Clock

Molly’s story wraps up during Dark Eyes, but Liv goes on a companion. She is then joined by Helen, introduced here in The Red Lady. This season is full of time lord political conflicts and if you have watched New Who you’ll notice River Song is a recurring character.

‘Ravenous’ – Continued adventures with Liv and Helen

[ ] Their Finest Hour

[ ] How to Make a Killing in Time Travel

[ ] World of Damnation/Sweet Salvation

[ ] Escape from Kaldor

[ ] Better Watch Out/The Fairytale of Salzburg

[ ] Seizure

[ ] Deeptime Frontier

[ ] Companion Piece

[ ] L.E.G.E.N.D.

[ ] The Odds Against

[ ] Whisper

[ ] Planet of Dust

[ ] Day of the Master

This season deals with a terrible fairy tale from the Time Lord’s past that seems to be real. Liv reunites with her sister Tula in Escape from Kaldor, and then spends one year with her before the Doctor and Helen pick her back. This is que start point to a spin-off, The Robots, which explores focusing on her and Tula during that one year. I will elaborate on it later on.

‘Stranded’ – Continued adventures with Liv and Helen, joined by Tania and Andy

[ ] Lost Property

[ ] Wild Animals

[ ] Must-See TV

[ ] Divine Intervation

[ ] Dead Time

[ ] UNIT Dating

[ ] Baker Street Irregulars

[ ] The Long Way Round

[ ] Patience

[ ] Twisted Folklore

[ ] Snow

[ ] What Just Happened

[ ] Crossed Lines

[ ] Get Andy

[ ] The Keys of Baker Street

[ ] Best Year Ever

Stranded picks up where Ravenous ended: the TARDIS have been damaged and now the Doctor, Liv and Helen are stuck for one year on Earth while it heals. And so, they start their lives in a house the Doctor used to own in Baker Street, but are met by unexpected neighbors. This season starts very slice-of-live/sitcom-like, kinda, but then evolves in a temporal conflict.

‘Season 05’ – Continued adventures with Liv and Helen

[ ] Paradox of the Daleks

[ ] The Dalby Spook

[ ] Here Lies Drax

[ ] The Love Vampires

[ ] Albie’s Angels

[ ] Birdsong

[ ] Lost Hearts

[ ] Slow Beasts

It’s the current era. Big Finish is still releasing Liv and Helen stories, but they are not the only ongoing story arc for Eight (see: Audacity; and the Time War). However, things changed a bit. They are still released in boxsets – with three one-hour stories rather than four -, but there is no sixteen-parts epic anymore. They are just standalone stories that starts where Stranded ends.

Spin-off – The Robots

[ ] The Robots of Life

[ ] The Sentient

[ ] Love Me Not

[ ] The Robots of War

[ ] Toos and Paul

[ ] Do No Harm

[ ] The Mystery of Sector 13

[ ] Circuit Breaker

[ ] A Matter of Conscience

[ ] Closed Loop

[ ] Off Grid

[ ] The Janus Deception

[ ] The Enhancement

[ ] Machines Like Us

[ ] Kaldor Nights

[ ] Force of Nature

[ ] Face to Face

[ ] The Final Hour

As I said in the Ravenous section, there is a spin-off about Liv reuniting with her sister Tula that is set during Escape form Kaldor. They are both from Kaldor, a planet from the Classic series, and to better appreciate what this spin-off is doing I recommend watching the Fourth Doctor story The Robots of Death. And, why not, listen to Robophobia, which itself is a sequel to The Robots of Death.

INTO THE AUDIOS – THE TIME WAR

And of course, we have stories with Eight set during the Time War. We can divide it into eras: the first four boxsets, when he is travelling with the new companion Bliss; and the current releases, with him travelling with Alex – listen to Lucie Miller season 4 for more context – and Cass. Yes, Cass from the Night of the Doctor. How that’s possible given the circumstances of that story have not yet been fully explained, but of course it’s safe to assume it’s the War’s fault.

‘Season 01’ – Adventures with Bliss

[ ] The Starship of Theseus

[ ] Echoes of War

[ ] The Conscript

[ ] One Life

[ ] The Lords of Terror

[ ] Planet of the Ogrons

[ ] In the Garden of Death

[ ] Jonah

‘Season 02’ – Continued adventures with Bliss

[ ] State of Bliss

[ ] The Famished Lands

[ ] Fugitive in Time

[ ] The War Valeyard

[ ] Palindrome

[ ] Dreadshade

[ ] Restoration of the Daleks [two-parter]

The Valeyard is a villain from Classic Who. You’ll get more out of The War Valeyard with more context – so watch season 23, Trial of a Time Lord, or simply know that he is a “version” of the Doctor from the future that encapsulates everything bad and evil that exists in the Doctor.

‘Season 02’ – Adventures with Alex and Cass

[ ] Meanwhile, Elsewhere

[ ] Verpertine

[ ] Previously, Next Time [two-parter]

[ ] Nowhere, Never

[ ] The Road Untravelled

[ ] Cass-cade

[ ] Borrow or Rob

OTHERS

The stories ‘Day of the Vashta Nerada’, ‘The Sontaran Ordeal’ and ‘The Silent Priest’, all of them featuring monsters from New Who, are set during the Time War. However, the Doctor is travelling alone and they are all standalone stories.

There are plenty of ‘short trips’, short stories set in the Doctor Who universe, featuring the Eight Doctor. Both in prose and in audio. I did not include them in this guide, and they are not really essential, but they can be good. So, listen or read them if you ever miss a companion or the Eighth Doctor.

ABOUT THIS GUIDE

I will be updating the guide as new stories are released. I will also do one for each classic Doctor, at least, at some point.

#Eight Doctor #Doctor Who #Doctor Who Expanded Universe #Big Finish #Doctor Who Books

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fedoraspooky · 3 months ago

Note

Okay Spooky, if you don't mind random questions- what's your favourite Disney movie?

Oh I don't mind at all! I'm actually quite tickled to get one out of the blue like this. nwn

But yes! Answer! Uh, well... Honestly a lot of the ones in the 80s and 90s hold a bit of sentimental value to me due to the fact that my dad worked on them. I would always leave the tape running through the credits until I spotted his name. ;w; In fact, on the DvD for Treasure Planet, if you go to the special features you can actually see him in the making of featurette, where they're asking him about how he sculpted the cyborg parts for John Silver! But, er, yes- favorites!

I would say, it's kind of a toss up between two-

I LOVE The Great Mouse Detective. It encapsulates a lot of stuff I like about that era of Disney, and I do enjoy me a good detective story. The animation is smooth and full of character, and has that rough-lined charm of the xerox era, and the backgrounds? Absolutely gorgeous. The story is fun and full of great comedic moments and also moments that downright terrified me as a kid (That Fidget jumpscare and everything leading up to it still gives me the heebie jeebies). But most of all, I love the characters and the dynamics between all of them, especially whatever Basil and Ratigan have going on. Dear lord. Really not surprising this movie ended up being part of my big list of inspos when writing Kilroy. XD

Second movie- and I know some people don't count it as Disney but to hell with it, it was in kingdom hearts so it darn well counts in my book- The Nightmare Before Christmas. GOD, this movie. When it first came out, I couldn't make it past the opening song because I was scared of the clown with the tearaway face. I shit you not. BUT once I was past that, it quickly became an obsession in my little kid mind. My mom actually showed me a PHOTO she has of me from when I was still in my single digits of age, in which apparently I had taken a black permanent marker to my face to draw rings around my eyes and lines on my mouth so I could look like Jack Skellington. My mom still has it framed in her living room to this day. XD But yes, I sang all the songs, I drew Jack and Sally and Zero all over whatever paper I could get my hands on, and I even made a christmas ornament of Jack's head out of sculpey that we put on the tree every year since. It was probably a huge reason that I became such a huge Halloween and spooky-things lover. And even to this day, it resonates a LOT with me as a movie about someone who is just experiencing the WORST artistic burnout. That's really what this movie is about, I've written a whole-ass essay of a post once rambling about Jack's Lament as a song because of the feels it gave me (i tried to find it but idk if i deleted it during a scare of tumblr copyright striking blogs for music a long while back or if tumblr's blog search function is just poop, either is possible).

Anyway I've talked your ear off long enough, my apologies for the long post but sadly that is what happens when you get me talking about stuff I like. <XD ; Every time I say I won't, but then I become this:

#asks #Anonymous #disney movies #disney #tl;dr:#the great mouse detective #the nightmare before christmas #there you can read the tags if you don't want to be buried under my text mountain XD ;

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avoxrising · 2 years ago

Text

True Romance - A Hunger Games One Shot

Finnick x Reader

So this fic is inspired by the song True Romance by Tove Lo. I recommend giving a listen before and after you read this. There will also be ~lyrics~ scattered throughout.

Synopsis: You and your soulmate/fellow district 4 victor Finnick are both reaped for the Quarter Quell. Your worlds shatter as you both realize you could not live without each other… and you won’t.

Note: This fic deviates from cannon as in the story, there is no rescue plan/rebellion plan to get the victors out of the QQ/save Katniss. The rest of the characters are the same outside of you going in for Mags.

Also, I do not own the rights to any of the lyrics I sprinkled throughout this story. They all come from the song True Romance by Tove Lo and thus belong to their respective copyright owners.

Content warnings: severe emotions and suicide - please do not read if you are not in the right headspace. Warning you will cry (I cried writing this). Fluff and angst but no smut outside of kissing. Normal hunger games violence/murder. Mention of bullets in the song lyrics.

Also it’s a long one! About 5.5k words but I didn’t want to split it up into parts as I felt the story was better being one long part. Also sorry for the formatting I write my fics in my iPhone notes. Enjoy!

———

“I walk in a vision in red

Your favorite movie playing on my silhouette”

He had been your everything for as long as you could remember. You grew up as neighbors in a small neighborhood on the edge of District 4. You remember walking to school with him every day, convinced all you would be was best friends and nothing more would come of it.

That all changed when at the age 14 he was reaped for the Hunger Games. You have never cried so much in your life. Holding onto him as you said your goodbyes in the back of the justice building, you made him promise that he would win and return to you.

He kept his promise, just as he has kept every promise since that day. When he returned to you a few weeks later, you were the happiest person in all of District 4. Even though he was no longer your neighbor, you visited him constantly in Victor’s Village whenever you could sneak out of your small neighborhood.

You grew closer together over the years until at age 16 you were reaped for the Hunger Games.

“I’m not coming back Finn,” you cried as you said your goodbyes to your mentor.

“Yes you are,” he said. “If I can come back then so can you.”

You wanted to believe him more than anything, but at the same time you felt hopeless. When you did actually make it out of the games, you were so completely numb and ready to shut everyone out, but he wouldn’t let you. You were back to being neighbors again, but it wasn’t the same.

Slowly, but surely you returned to him. You became even closer as he became your reason for living. Slowly your feelings started to develop past friendship, but you didn’t have the heart to tell him. He was one of the only people you had left, and you were so scared of losing him and messing up the friendship you had.

“You turn to me just for a minute

Do you know my real secret?”

Returning to the capital every year to mentor was hard, but at least you got to do it with him. You often spent the night curled up in his bed on the fourth floor, unable to sleep due to the nightmares. You were worried that he would soon catch onto your feelings for him, but you needed him more than anything and we’re too scared to push him away, or let your feelings for him go.

Over the years, he started to catch onto your feelings. He had always felt the same way, but never thought you would feel that way about him. He was equally scared though to voice his feelings in fear of messing up the dynamic you two had. You were his everything, and he couldn’t bear the thought of losing you over confessing his feelings.

“Make my move

Spillin' all my popcorn over you

You're confused

What does a girl like me want with you?”

After a particularly long day of training your newest tributes for the arena, you slid into bed with him and curl up in his arms. This was your normal routine, but you could tell something was off tonight. He was nervous and you could feel his chest rise and fall faster than normal.

“What’s up Finn,” you asked concerned as you pulled away to look at him, sitting up on the bed.

“Nothing,” he mumbled as he refused to make eye contact with you.

You raise his head to look at you as you reply, “I know you Finn, you can tell me anything. No judgement, just honesty.”

He tried to hide his nervousness as you looked at him, hoping that you would let this whole topic go for once, but he knew you. And he knew you would keep asking until he gave you a straight answer.

“I love you,” he said nervously. “I’ve loved you since we were 7 but I never wanted to tell you because I was worried it would end our friendship…”

You tilt his head up to look at you again as you pressed your lips into his. It felt so good to finally hear him say those words to you, knowing you had felt the same way for quite a while. He kissed you back slowly pulling you back into his arms.

“I never thought I would have a chance with you,” he mumbled. “You were always the pretty one growing up and I was the class clown who was constantly getting in trouble. I put you through hell and back when I was shipped off to the games and I know you went through hell and back to return to me after yours.”

You kissed him again in reassurance.

“I love you Finn,” you told him. “Forever.”

“I want your hands

Your future plans

To the bitter end”

Three years later, you were walking down an aisle of rose petals on the beach with a beautiful bouquet in your hands. Your friends and family had gathered for your special day and you couldn’t be more excited to finally marry your soulmate. As you looked at him, you could see tears gathering in his eyes.

“You’re so beautiful my love,” he whispered in your ear.

“Forever and always Finn,” you smiled.

“You may now kiss the bride.”

Your kisses were always passionate, but this was the best one of all. You both were over the moon to finally cement your love in eternity for each other, and you couldn’t wait for your happily ever after to finally begin. Unfortunately, that happy ever after was short-lived.

A quick six months later and you were both sitting in front of the TV of your home, anxiously awaiting the announcement of the 75th hunger games. When the words came out of President Snow’s mouth, stating that the tributes would be reaped from the existing pool of victors, your heart shattered into millions of pieces. Finnick was the only living male victor of district 4, and there was no way you were sending Mags into that arena. After her stroke a few years ago. Her health had rapidly deteriorated and you don’t even know if she would live long enough to make it to the reaping let alone the games.

You fell asleep that night, and every night after, completely numb and crying in his arms.

“Take a life for me, you know I'd do it instantly

In danger of a true romance

We are meant to be, I'd die for love and loyalty

In danger of a true romance”

Mags passed just two weeks short of the reaping. Her funeral was brief and intimate, with only a few gathering. You were grieving the loss of your mentor as well as both you and your husband’s impending end.

Are the reaping was painful as you were forced to look out over the sorrowful faces of your community who gathered for your send off. They knew that they were most likely going to lose their only remaining victors in a few short days.

You held his hand as your names were both called, putting on a brave face for the cameras, but you both knew neither of you were making it out of the arena. Although you both had a good shot of winning against the other victors, you knew he would die for you and you for him.

You held onto each other the whole train ride to the capital, wanting to spend each and every moment together. You were angry at the capital. You would never get to have his kids, you would never get to grow old together and you would never have your happily ever after that you had worked so hard for.

The tribute parade was bittersweet. You were both adored in the capital and were seen as the royal couple of the capital. The people lived vicariously through your love, and were devastated to see both of you back and headed into the arena.

“You look beautiful as always love,” Finnick stated as he took in your parade outfit. Your long, baby blue dress perfectly hugged your curves as it flowed down your body, gently giving the impression of water. Your husband was dressed in a flowy blue dress shirt that matched your dress as well as a pair of tan slacks. You grabbed his hand as he pulled you up onto the chariot, handing you a sugar cube as you anxiously waited for the parade to begin.

Tears streamed down your face as you rode your way down towards the cold eyes of President Snow. You couldn’t bear to look at the crowd or Finnick. He squeezed your hand as your chariot pulled around the circle and started back towards the tribute and remake center.

Finally, the ride was over and you were able to go back upstairs with your husband. You collapsed in his arms, drifting off to sleep under the warm comforter of the bed.

“I don't like the real world

I don't like the real world

It's tough out in the real world

Let's go back to our world”

Over the next few days, you didn’t leave his side at all. You held his hand as he practiced with the tridents in the training center, and he held yours as you threw knives at the dummies, pretending they were Snow. The rest of the victors gave you both sad and knowing looks as they could see the pain in both of your eyes.

Every night you held him tighter and wished that you could stay in bed forever with him.

“I don’t want to leave you,” you cried as you held onto him.

“You’ll always be with me love, forever and ever,” he whispered as he kissed your forehead.

“I wish we could just run away and escape all of this,” you mumbled through sobs. “Never enter the arena. Never have to leave each other.”

“I know,” he whispered. “I love you forever.”

“Bullets fly, you took him down

And now we're honeymooners dreamin' 'bout tropical skies”

Peacekeepers had to pry you two off of each other as they sent you to your respective rooms under the arena. You cried the entire way to your room, desperately, hoping that you would find him quickly in the arena.

“It’s a wetsuit so I would expect a hot climate with water,” your stylist stated as she got you ready.

Looking at it, made you sick as you knew this was Snow’s twisted way of separating you from Finnick. He knew that both of you would have the advantage in the arena with there being water and he wanted one of you to survive without the other. He wanted you both to suffer.

Tears began slipping from your eyes as you rose into the arena, but you quickly wiped them away. You couldn’t let the other tributes see you as weak as they would quickly pick you off before you could find Finnick. You desperately looked around for him, but couldn’t locate him. He must be on the other side of the cornucopia. Your hands began to shake as the countdown neared zero.

When the gong sounded, you dove into the water, swimming with all of your strength towards the spoke to your right. You quickly pulled yourself up and sprinted towards the cornucopia, but not before the male tribute from nine tackled you back into the water. You struggled against his grasp as he tried to pull you under, but you knew you could hold your breath for at least three minutes. All you could hope is that he couldn’t hold his breath for as long as yours.

He began thrashing about in the water as he repeatedly kicked you in the ribs. You managed to kick him a few times yourself, but you were mainly focused on holding your breath. Gasping in pain would only allow the water to enter your lungs faster and there is no way you were drowning less than five minutes into the games.

Slowly, you noticed him starting to struggle as he tried to pull you back towards the surface. You yanked him down with all of your strength, trying to stop him from swimming upwards in his panic state you managed to kick him in the ribs enough times to knock the air out of his lungs, he began choking on the water as you were able to get out of his grasp and quickly swim towards the surface. As your head breached the water you heard a cannon go off, and the male tribute’s body floated to the surface.

Panicked, you looked around at the carnage surrounding the cornucopia. Bodies laid everywhere and cannons went off every minute or two. Suddenly, you heard Finnick screaming for you and saw him running around the cornucopia trying to spot you. You were out of breath from your struggle, but managed to pull yourself up on one of the spokes as he came running over to you.

“Oh my god I thought you were dead,” he said as you shook in his arms.

“I killed the male from 9,” you said as sobs racked your body.

“Come on we have to go now,” he said as he pulled you into the woods.

After about an hour of running, you sat down to rest. The adrenaline was slowly wearing off, and your ribs were beginning to bruise under your wetsuit. Luckily Finnick had grabbed some knives for you and a trident for himself from the cornucopia.

Suddenly 11 cannons rang out through the area, marking the end of the bloodbath.

“How many people did you get,” you asked Finnick as you both were trying to catch your breath. The arena was unbelievably hot and you had yet to find drinkable water.

“Two,” he replied. “Both from 5.”

You held onto each other for a few more minutes until you decided to start moving again, desperate to find fresh water.

A few hours later, you still have no luck finding water. You decide to set up camp under some large trees and settle down for the night. You both snacked on some of the food Finnick harvested from the surrounding trees and talked about who was going to take the first watch.

Suddenly the familiar chimes of a parachute grow louder as a gift from your sponsors floats down to your camp. Finnick lets you open it, and you discover a small metal object with a note that says “drink up”.

You turn to Finnick as you exclaim, “do you have any idea what this is? It’s way too small to store any water.”

He laughs at you as he takes it from your hand and walks over to a tree.

“Honey it’s a spile,” he laughs as water starts flowing from the tree. “Come here and drink.”

“Honestly, I have no clue what that is but I’m not complaining,” you state as you start drinking from the tree.

After you both rehydrated and washed your faces, you settled down for the night. Finnick insisted on taking first watch so you could get as much rest as possible. Suddenly the anthem started playing as the fallen we’re about to be shown. There had been no cannons since the bloodbath but you were anxious to see which faces appeared in the sky.

The faces of Beetee, Wiress, Blight, Wolf, and Seeder appeared in the sky along with both tributes from 5, the female morphing from 6, both tributes from 9 and the female from 10.

“Eleven down, thirteen to go,” Finnick muttered.

You squeezed his hand and gave him a sad look as you laid down to rest, quickly dozing off.

“In trouble again

When does it end?

Will it ever end?

Save me”

You woke to the sound of heavy rain hitting the canopy of the jungle that surrounded you. It couldn’t have been more than a few hours since you dozed off but Finnick was still alert and on guard. Suddenly, the rain became heavier and you and Finnick quickly realized that the rain was not water- it was blood.

Hot thick blood coated your bodies as you ran through the jungle, desperate to find anything to shelter you from the rain. You felt like you were suffocating but Finnick held your hand tightly as you stumbled over roots and vines.

After running for what felt like hours the rain finally stopped. Finnick grabbed some moss off of a nearby tree and began to clean the blood off of you. He managed to get the spile working again and you were both able to somewhat rinse yourselves off using the small stream from the tree.

Once you both were clean and had a moment to catch your breaths, you heard the scream of a man in the distance. You couldn’t see anyone but you could sense that they were too close for comfort.

“Which way Finn?” you whispered to your husband.

“This way,” he replied as he slowly started moving in the opposite direction of where you heard the screaming from. Your hands were clasped tightly together as you tried to sneak away quietly but that all changed the second you heard the cannon go off.

“Run!” you whispered as both you and Finnick took off into a sprint away from the other tributes. You couldn’t see them but you had the feeling they were following you.

Suddenly an axe flies past your head as Finnick pushes you to the ground. You quickly get up and turn to face your assailants. You were met with the faces of Johanna Mason and the male from district 10 wielding a spear. You slipped a knife from your belt and quickly flung it at Johanna who was getting ready to throw her other axe. She dodged and it grazed her leg but not enough to stop her from charging at you with the axe. You rolled underneath her as she swung down at you, narrowly missing your head. Pulling a larger knife from your belt, you took a swing at her, slashing a gash into her cheek.

You lose focus for a second when you hear Finnick grunt and then a cannon go off. Johanna and you both look over to see Finnick standing over the body of Johanna’s ally, fresh blood dripping from his trident. You stab Johanna in the arm before she kicks you hard in the ribs and flees into the jungle. You would have bolted after her but Finnick was suddenly by your side to checking to see if you were injured.

“I’m fine Finn she just kicked me in the ribs,” you said as you stood back up. You looked over at him and saw his shoulder was bleeding.

“It’s fine,” he said as he noticed you looking at his shoulder. “He barely grazed me and it’s not deep.”

You gave him an annoyed look as you went to gather some moss to press on his wound. As you returned you both agreed that you should get moving as your fight wasn’t exactly quiet and you didn’t know if others were on their way, eager to capitalize off of the carnage of your fight.

“Running from the scene, more money that we could ever dream

In danger of a true romance”

You set off back towards the beach. Johanna had run further into the Jungle and you weren’t looking for another fight just yet. Both of you knew the beach was a risk but you wanted to wash the remaining blood off from the rain you had encountered earlier.

After an hour or so of walking you decided to pause for a snack break. Finnick had gathered some nuts and berries earlier that you had deemed edible so you both sat down to eat. Quickly you are both on your feet again as you hear the all too familiar sounds of water crashing- a tsunami. You can’t remember the last time you ran that fast. Memories flooded into your head of the tsunamis you had seen in the past but you had never experienced one first hand. Feeling the water getting closer you looked back, only to notice that the trees weren’t falling from the impact of the water.

“Quickly Finn! We need to climb the trees!” you gasped, out of breath from the running. You only had seconds to spare as he hoisted you up into a tree before climbing up behind you. You both climbed up and up until the branches were too thin to hold your weight. The water had shook the tree violently upon impact but you both held on tight. Looking down, you saw the body of a woman being swept in the current. It was too loud to hear if a cannon had gone off but you think you could make out the dark hair of Cecelia, the woman from District 8.

“Bodies left to bleed, they all had it comin'

In danger of a true romance”

When the water had finally subsided, you climbed down from the tree and walked the remaining distance to the beach. Finnick went ahead to check if the coast was clear and you followed once he gave you a nod that it was clear.

He gathered some leaves from the trees to use as cushions as you got the spile working again. After a few minutes, Finnick had woven a picnic blanket for you to both sit on. The familiar chime of a parachute sounded as a picnic basket full of bread floated down from the sky. You laid there for hours with him, snacking on the bread and talking about the beaches of home. He quickly dozed off into a nap as you soothingly ran your fingers through his messy hair.

You didn’t realize that you had fallen asleep until he woke you up to watch the sunset with him. There were tears in both your eyes as you realized this might be your last sunset together.

“Thank you for everything Finn,” you said as tears ran silently down your face. He wiped the tears from your eyes and planted a kiss on your forehead.

“You don’t have to thank me love,” he replied. “I would do it over and over again in all of my lifetimes with you. I love you forever”

You both sat their crying until the sky grew dark.

Dread filled your chest as the anthem began playing. The faces of the male morphling, Cecelia, and the district 10 male populated the sky before it went dark again.

You took the first watch, waking Finnick a few hours later so you could rest. He kissed you gently as you fell asleep in his arms.

You slept until dawn when he shook you awake and quickly pulled you back into the forest. He hushed you he pointed you towards the cornucopia where you could make out a fight happening on the rocks. The siblings, Gloss and Cashmere, were taking on Katniss and Peeta from 12. You were terrified that they had seen you but Finnick steadied your breathing and held you tight. He didn’t think you guys had been spotted but he wasn’t sure.

A bloodcurdling scream broke out followed by a cannon, Katniss lay bleeding on the rocks, her throat slit, while Peeta was frozen in fear. He quickly snapped out of it and began sprinting away from the siblings down one of the spokes. He wasn’t running directly towards you, but he wasn’t running away from you either. Maybe he had seen you and was hoping Cashmere and Gloss would be more interested in hunting you down than chasing him.

“Thought I watched you die, I killed a man with tears in my eyes

In danger of a true romance”

He was partially correct. Cashmere continued to follow Peeta into the jungle but Gloss quickly turned towards you and Finnick. You thought it was stupid that he would try attacking both of you without his sister until you saw the rage in his eyes. He was full of adrenaline and was not messing around.

You threw two knives at him in quick succession as he sprinted straight towards Finnick, holding a long dagger in his hand. One of the knives lodged in his torso but it wasn’t enough to immediately take him down. He dodged Finnick’s trident and jammed his knife into Finnick’s thigh. It must have penetrated a few inches in as Finnick fell backwards onto the ground. Before Gloss had the chance to finish him off you flung a knife straight into his throat. The cannon was almost immediate as he fell onto Finnick.

Relieved, you thought the fight was over until a screaming Peeta was suddenly silent as another cannon boomed. You knew Cashmere was going to come looking for her brother and so you had to act quickly. Finnick was not in any position to move so you gave him a quick kiss before running off into the jungle towards where you thought Cashmere would be.

Peeta had put up a better fight than you had expected as Cashmere was bleeding from her nose and ear. She flung a knife in your general direction but it was clear her balance was effected by whatever damage Peeta had done to her head. You flung your last two knives at her before she had a chance to throw anymore at you. She fell to the ground as your knives had hit her right eye and her heart. The cannon sounded and you quickly picked up your knives as well as the remaining knives she had on her belt and ran back towards where you had left Finnick.

You found him pressing moss to his leg, the dagger laying besides him.

“Why did you take it out! You aren’t supposed to take it out,” you cried as you looked at the dagger next to his leg.

“It’s ok it’s not that bad,” he said as he tried to console you, but you were violently sobbing on the ground next to him.

“No you can’t do that. You’re gonna bleed out,” you cried.

“Shhh it’s ok,” he whispered as he pulled you into a hug. You laid on him sobbing into a parachute made it’s way down through the canopy and onto the ground next to you. Quickly opening it, you found first aid supplies for his leg. You apologized as you pressed alcohol onto the wound and your husband cried out in pain. He squeezed your hand as you gave him stitches and then bandaged the wound. You moved him a few yards away from where Gloss’s body still laid and made him rest so the medicine on his leg could start working. He could tell how exhausted you were so he made you take a nap while he took watch.

“No you need the rest,” you complained as you brought him water.

“I can’t sleep until the pain meds kick in,” he stated. “I’ll wake you up before they make me sleepy or if any danger appears as I’m not in any shape to fight right now.”

You reluctantly agreed and laid down on his lap. Sleep came quickly as you were exhausted from the morning’s events. Eventually Finnick woke you up as the meds were making him sleepy.

“Stay awake for a few more minutes,” you said. “I’m gonna go grab some more moss for your leg.” He hummed in reply and you quietly got up to grab some moss.

“Saved you from that room, the powder and gold and the men were all doomed

Against our love, they never stood a chance”

A few steps into the jungle your head began to vibrate and you felt a weird energy come over you. Paranoid, you looked around as the trees changed colors. The green leaves were turning blue and the trees seemed to be leaking a yellow sap. Suddenly, you noticed movement to the left of you and you quickly flung a knife towards the movement. A grunt was followed by a swift punch to your jaw. You guess your assailant was closer to you than you initially thought. Dizzy, you fell to the ground as the world started spinning around you. Swirls of color clouded your vision as the man who had punched you moments before was now on top of you, his spear pressed against your neck. Looking up at him, you saw the face of Finnick.

“Finnick it’s me!” you screamed. “Get off!”

He pushed down further on your neck as you began to choke. Grabbing the spear you began trying to push it off of you and away from Finnick. You grabbed at his hands only to realize he only had one. Where his other hand should be was a stump of flesh. Your mind continued to race as you quickly realized whoever you were fighting wasn’t Finnick. For one, Finnick didn’t use a spear, and secondly he had two hands and the stump of flesh did not look like a recent injury.

You continued to scream until the person on top of you was shoved off of you and impaled with a trident. He slowly morphed into Chaff as the real Finnick pulled you up into your feet and dragged out away from the body. The cannon sounded and your vision slowly returned to normal as your head stopped vibrating.

It suddenly made sense- the missing hand, the spear, the trees changing colors.

“It’s ok love it’s ok,” Finnick said as he held you tightly. “You’re safe.”

Finnick brought you back to the tree line by the beach and laid you down. He held you tightly as you took a nap.

You woke in a panic to the sound of another cannon but quickly relaxed when you saw Finnick was ok. You noticed his leg was looking better which made you relax further.

“Your leg looks better,” you said as you smiled up at him.

He gave you a quick kiss and a smile as he replied, “I told you I would be alright.”

“Who do you think is left?” you asked.

“There’s just two besides us,” he stated. “I don’t know who’s cannon that was. It’s a toss up between Johanna, Brutus, and Enobaria.”

“Who do you hope it was?” you asked.

“Brutus or Enobaria,” he replied. “I am hoping Johanna is still in a bad shape from our last fight and Brutus and Enobaria are probably teamed up.”

You agreed with him but quickly realized the finale would be starting soon. There were only four of you left.

“Take a life for me, you know I'd do it instantly

In danger of a true romance

We are meant to be, I'd die for love and loyalty

In danger of a true romance”

The sound of mutts startled you but you could tell they were coming from the other side of the arena, probably chasing the other victors towards you. Finnick and you both stood up quickly and gave each other a kiss as you readied for battle. A bloody Johanna emerged from ten jungle about 100 yards away from you, and both you and Finnick bolted towards you. Taking her out now would mean you could face the final other victor together.

Finnick was faster than you as you raced towards Johanna. Suddenly, you were struck in the collar bone by a sword and stumbled to the ground. An enraged Enobaria stood over you, ready to pounce. Thinking quickly, you kicked her sword out of her hands but she quickly jumped on top of you, her full weight on your chest as she clawed at your stomach with her hands. You desperately grabbed for your knives but Enobaria put her knees on your arms, pinning them to the sand.

You let out the most blood curdling scream as Enobaria’s teeth ripped into your torso, taking a good chunk of flesh and probably some of your insides with it. You heard a cannon, honestly thinking it was yours, until you saw Enobaria get impaled by a trident. Another cannon sounded as your vision started to fade out.

“I don't like the real world

I don't like the real world

It's tough out in the real world

Let's go back to our world”

You feel Finnick pick you up as sobs racked his chest.

“Please don’t die on me!” He sobbed. “Please.”

You felt like you were floating until you realized you were. Finnick had laid you in the water as he held onto you for dear life.

“Please don’t leave me,” he cried.

It took all of your remaining strength to reach your hand up, cupping his face.

“I love you Finn. Forever.”

His final promise- “I promise I won’t live without you.”

He cried harder as your vision faded out. The last thing you felt was his lips on yours as you lost consciousness.

The last thing you heard was a cannon going off as Finnick impaled his heart with one of your knives, sinking into the water next to you.

The last thing you remember was how much you loved him.

The final cannon sounded.

They would have no victor.

——

I hope you enjoyed/cried!

#finnick odair x reader #hunger games fic #hunger games angst #finnick x y/n #thg finnick #finnick deserved better #finnick odair #hunger games #the hunger games #finnick x oc #everlark #district 4 #mags flanagan

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braveclementine · 5 months ago

Text

Chapter 34

Warnings: 18+readersonly, teasing, threats of brat taming

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own a few OCs like Elizabeth, Katherine, Stacy, and Jessie. I do not condone any copying of this.

Elizabeth, Jessie, Katherine, Pietro, Vision, and Hogun all got married three weeks later. It was a beautiful ceremony where Jessie wore silver, Katherine wore light pink, and Elizabeth wore white. Pietro wore silver as well, Vision was in human form wearing red, and Hogun was wearing a deep blue lined with black and silver.

The bonding ceremony was beautiful, though shorter than your own. In the end, Elizabeth, Pietro, Vision, and Hogun got a wave symbol for their soulmate bond. Jessie and Pietro were a simple flower while Katherine and Pietro got sun symbols.

Eventually they all dispersed after the ceremony- Wanda included.

Time seemed to pass afterwards. They still stayed with you, even after the wedding, as they were preparing to buy their own house- without Tony's help. They had decided that they would be moving to Florida, and by the time our children were born, they would be leaving.

It was only a month after the wedding that both Elizabeth and Jessie got pregnant. Jessie was obviously carrying Pietro's kid, but Thor let the others know that Elizabeth was carrying Hogun's child.

Elizabeth was ecstatic. I mean, they all were. Everyone was happy and everything was great.

Nothing had changed in your family dynamic- which was fantastic. You were still rotating through everyone, though you did spend just a bit more time with Fury, T'Challa, and Bucky.

Bucky had some fears about being a child, especially with his soldier serum coursing through his veins. And though he had been cured of being the winter soldier a long time ago, there was still a part of him that feared it might come back. That he might relapse. That his metal arm was a danger to any child that we had.

A few sweet, honest words and he was settled back down though. Shuri's surgery had worked and there was possible way for Bucky to become the winter soldier again except by choice. Not to mention, it had been a few years since Thanos, so the only bad thing was his nightmares.

As Rhodey and Bucky had predicted, Alpine did have kittens. Tony made sure that F.R.I.D.A.Y. captured Fury's reaction- which had been priceless.

"Guess what?" Bucky had asked, walking into the kitchen, holding Mini Loki.

"What?" Fury grunted over his cup of coffee, eyeing Mini Loki with dislike while Maria rubbed his shoulder soothingly next to him.

"Alpine had kittens! Isn't that wonderful!"

Fury spit his coffee out. "Maria, we need to get out of this house! There's um- a shopping center that just opened up and I want you to um, take a look at it!"

He grabbed her hand, slamming the cup of coffee down and basically ran the two of them out of the house.

Tony laughed once Fury exited. "F.R.I.D.A.Y., please send that to my email and make sure to save that in my favorite videos. I'd like to post it to YouTube later."

"He will kill you." Coulson and Steve said together, not bothering to look up from the breakfast table.

The months were slow but steady. Around the fifth month, you were quite large. Stephen became your main caregiver, just as he had a lot more experience in the medical field with this sort of thing. Not that he had ever been a birth doctor, but he had gone through medical school and knew more than the others.

Of course, none of this stopped the others from having sex with you. In fact, you even seemed hornier just by being pregnant. And they were all more than willing to satisfy your needs.

Stacy had her baby. A little boy that her and Jackson named Alexander Drake Portolio. He was a sweet little thing with Stacy's green eyes and Jackson's red hair. It was a strange mix on the little boy with freckles already dotted across his face, but he was cute.

You rolled over, coming face to face with Rhodey as you woke up one morning. "Hey hot mama." He mumbled sleepily, running his hand through your hair.

"Hi Sugar." You smiled, closing your eyes again to rest your head on his chest. It was hard to lay on your side anymore- especially now that you were nearing the nine-month mark.

"How are you feeling about the baby shower today?" James asked, running a hand along you're protruding stomach.

"Nervous. I can't wait to know what the genders of the babies are though." You said. "I wonder what Elizabeth will do with the cake, since its' triplets."

"Something Harry Potter themed probably." James joked and you laughed. "How about a bath this morning?"

"That sounds good." You said, sitting up while James slipped from the bed, running a hand over his hair as he made his way to the bathroom, flipping on lights. You could hear the water running in the bath while you stretched your arms above your head.

You picked up the glass of slightly stagnant water from last night, drinking the rest as your throat was still a bit sore.

"It's ready Hot mama." Rhodey said, coming over to help you to your feet. He grinned down at you, brushing your lips together, which you met with eagerly. He chuckled, pulling away when you let out a needy moan against his tongue. "C'mon, bath. You need to relax."

You didn't want to relax, you wanted to ride him, but you reluctantly let him lead you to the bathroom. He helped you over the bath edge and then helped you into a sitting position before climbing in with you.

"Hair or body first?" He asked, motioning to the shampoos and soaps on the tub edge.

"Hair." You said, scooting forwards some so that he had plenty of room behind you.

You always loved when one of your boys did your hair, especially if it was Fury, Sam, or Stephen. They seemed to have rather magical hands when they did it. Bucky was the only one who didn't want to wash your hair- afraid he'd use to much strength with his metal arm, or that the armor plates would retract and your hair would get stuck between the joints.

He was a bit better with the vibranium arm of course, no joints there, but he was still rather careful.

Rhodey's fingers seemed to almost massage your scalp. You smiled a little, finally relaxing like he wanted you to.

Rhodey grabbed the nozzle, rinsing the soap out of your hair. You conditioned the ends of your hairs, rinsing that away, while Rhodey grabbed a blue bar of Dove soap, rubbing soothing circles all over your body.

"James." You mumbled as he finished washing his own body.

"Damn Y/N." Rhodey muttered, a small smile on his face. "Last night wasn't enough?"

"It's never enough with anyone." You grumbled, being a slight brat. "I don't know why I'm so horny all the time."

Rhodey just chuckled, helping you to your feet again and handing you a towel to dry off. "We have to get ready for the baby shower. Later all your needs will be satisfied."

You grumbled a little, but didn't argue because- god damnit- he was right.

You dressed in a F/C maternity dress with flat, sturdy white sneakers for support. Wanda helped you pull back your hair, tying it up in an elegant knot with white ribbon.

"Thanks Wanda." You said with a smile.

"No problem Y/N." Wanda said, fixing up her own hair now while you started on the makeup.

"Has Elizabeth finished the cake yet? Cause none of us are allowed downstairs till she has." You said.

"She's putting the finishing touches to it right now." Wanda said. "She said she'd text when she sticks it in the fridge."

"How are you feeling about the upcoming move to Florida?" You asked. They'd decided they wait. Give birth here, and then that was when they would move.

"I'm kind've excited." Wanda said sincerely. "It will be far away from you guys, but its' not as far, especially with magical portals, no?"

You smiled, "Very true."

Wanda's phone lit up with a text from Elizabeth giving us the all clear. Rhodey knocked on the door to let us know that he was heading downstairs.

"Is everyone else here?" You asked.

"Nat and Bruce are the only ones left to show up." Wanda said. "Even the Guardians got here quicker than them. But," She smirked, "they probably had a late night."

You giggled, "Very true."

Oh right! The Supreme Court had made some changes to the law. Those medically unable-like Nat and the widows, or Vision- were not required to have children. The rules had lightened up a bit- including the penalty for not having enough children- and things were a bit more relaxed now.

You got up, leaving the bedroom with Wanda. Wanda went down the hall and down a set of stairs that led to the guest wing, while you took the main staircase to the kitchen.

Elizabeth looked tired, like she had been up for hours. Her own baby bump was rather large, though nowhere near as big as yours.

"Morning Y/N!" She said cheerfully enough, setting out a plate of eggs, sausage, and a bowl of fruit in it. A small piece of avocado was on your plate as well, making you wrinkle your nose.

"Oi!" Elizabeth scolded, pointing the spoon at you. "I hate avocado too but you are carrying three babies! Eat healthy!"

You let out an exaggerated sigh, eating the nasty green vegetable- fruit whatever- first, rinsing the nasty taste out with a mixture of milk and delicious sausage.

"What time is it?" You questioned Clint next to you.

"Ten in the afternoon. The official baby shower starts at twelve though."

"Where is everyone?"

"Peter and Gamora are showing their daughter around town. Nebula and Kraglin might be with them, although I don't know where the tree and raccoon are." Clint said with a shrug before eating more of his oatmeal. "Thor is probably with them. Bucky is probably wherever the racoon is not."

"He keeps trying to buy my arm." Bucky grunted, coming into the kitchen. He was wearing a leather jacket and a glove was covering his metal hand.

You hid your smile as Bucky grabbed a bowl of apple jacks to eat, leaning against the kitchen counter with his back to the wall so that Rocket couldn't sneak up on him. His eyes continuously roved the kitchen.

"Hey T!" You called over to T'Challa, "Does Shuri still have Bucky's old metal arm?"

"It is possible, why?" T'Challa questioned, confusion written all over his face.

"To give to Rocket." You said with a shrug and a grin. "Might get him away from Bucky's arm he's using now."

"Yes, give that to him." Bucky groaned. "Please!"

"I will let Shuri know." T'Challa said with a bit of a smile.

"You locked up all of the guns, right?" Clint asked everyone in the room, "Cause Rocket will take whatever guns he can get."

"Shit!" Tony jumped up from the table, "My lab!"

He raced down the hallway towards his lab.

"Yeah, Rocket would definitely pillage that." Clint smirked.

"Yes, Steve, Sam, and I locked everyone's guns up safely." Bucky grunted.

"I don't think that would stop him." Loki deadpanned at the table.

The breakfast table banter continued while Elizabeth slaved away at the stove, dishing out plates and plates of food, though you didn't actually ever see her eat anything herself.

"Tony should start paying you." You smirked as Elizabeth set another bowl of eggs in front of us, the boys immediately digging in, though you could've sworn that they'd already had three plates of food.

She just shrugged, a small smile on her face. You knew she really didn't mind. This was exactly what Elizabeth wanted in life. A peaceful life where she cared for her husbands and children. This was just a practice for her- and she was damn good at it. She would be a fantastic mother you were sure.

Twelve o'clock came sooner than expected and things were moved outside, under a large canopy. The Guardians were back. Bucky sat tensely by your side while Rocket sat on the other side of the table, his eyes never leaving Bucky.

"Can I stun him?" Bucky muttered under his breath.

"No." You muttered back, smirking. You knew that he and rocket had actually made a really good duo back during the war. Unfortunately, Rocket had grown an obsession over his arm and it was all he could think about now.

Bucky sunk down in his chair while Steve took a seat next to him, hiding the smile on his face.

"It's not funny punk." Bucky gritted out of his teeth.

"I didn't say it was." Steve said mildly.

"How are you, my Nkosazana?" T'Challa asked, coming up behind you to hug you from behind. He rested his hands on your stomach, feeling the babies kicking inside. "They are extremely active today."

"They've been active all week." You said with a little laugh. "They want out."

"Well Stark did just finish off their rooms." Fury said, sitting on the other side of you. Maria and Coulson sat down on the other side of him, both of them in deep conversation about something.

"Really?" You asked, surprised. "Everything? Without even knowing their genders?"

"Well, he did say that the probability of them being all girls or all boys were very slim so he made two rooms up that could fit two of both genders in them, technically more, but he's prepared." Fury smirked.

Elizabeth brought out the cake, setting in front of you, winking. "It is a bit. . . unconventional, I admit."

You couldn't see anything wrong with the cake. There was a plain, white frosting on the outside of it, not unlike the frosting that had been layered on Steve's cake. The decorations on top were very simple, just a black eyepatch, a small black cat, and a red star.

Elizabeth cut the cake directly down the middle, sliding the two pieces aside. They looked liked two halves of a different cake. On one side, there was a double layer of chocolate cake, and blue frosting in between each chocolate layer. On the other side, it was only layered once, white cake and pink frosting.

Everyone looked at Elizabeth, who was blushing slightly. She pointed the knife at the chocolate and blue. "Fury and T'Challa are having boys." She turned the knife towards the vanilla, "Bucky is having a girl."

You started to laugh, realizing the colours of the chocolate were the skin tones of your boys and the frosting was the gender of the children.

"So, remember, when you do her cake, you have to make the cake yellow." Sam whispered in my ear, making me laugh even harder.

It was all light humor and then the cake was passed around. Presents were given to the four of you- well really your babies.

Once the baby shower was finally over- about six hours later- and the party was cleaned up, you couldn't wait to get someone to take you upstairs. You had been badgering the others for a long time.

"You know what Stevie is?" Bucky asked darkly in your ear, arms wrapped tightly just above the baby bump. "He's Captain America, he's the golden boy. He's an agent, a killer, a lover, a husband, and he'll be a father. But I swear above everything else doll, Stevie is a brat tamer."

Steve and Sam were the only ones who overheard this, cracking smiles. Steve winked at you and you whimpered, feeling the need to be filled intensity with Bucky's last words and Steve's just utter hotness.

"Please." You whimpered, not even caring how many people were surrounding you.

"Y/N!" Tony shouted, running over to you, eyes bright. You nearly started crying on the spot. "C'mon, I have something I want to show you beautiful."

You let him lead you upstairs and down the unused hallway where he opened up the doors to reveal one of the bedrooms.

"Whoa." You said, horny thoughts banished to the back of your mind. "Tony this is-"

"I want our little girl to have the best." He said, smiling over his shoulder at you. "I can already just imagine her in here. Sleeping under there with her stuffed animals. I can picture you sitting next to her, reading her bedtime stories. I can imagine her during the day, running up those stairs and squealing as she slides down the slide. Of course, she's in the crib for now-" He pointed to a lovely, same shaded pink and white crib that was pushed up against the wall.

Everything was a rather overwhelming pink colour, admittedly. But it was also adorable and very princess like.

"I do need to fix the flooring a bit." Tony admitted, "More carpets. I don't want her running on this hard floor until she's a bit older."

You loved how Tony was calling her his daughter, even though she was biologically Bucky's. You were glad that he was seeing them with any difference of his kids.

"I love you Bubba." You mumbled, kissing Tony's cheek.

He chuckled, "You haven't even seen the boys room yet."

You laughed, taking his hand and let him guide you to the boys room. Upon opening the door, you gaped.

It was definitely larger than the girls room. But at the same time, it felt much smaller as there wasn't as much open space as the girls' room.

It looked as though there was a tree growing in the room, with a house on it. There was a ladder that would take them up and down the inside of the tree. The house opened up to show there was one small bed in there, perfect for a kid up until perhaps the age of 12 or 13, depending on how tall he was.

There were rope bridges on either side, that led out into the bedroom. Tunnels connected beds to other beds, while the bridges led to these beds. There were also two hammocks that were hanging near the tree in case they wanted to sit down and read.

There was a large bookcase as well, already stocked with little kids picture books on one side of the room. Behind the beds was what seemed to be a more open area, with large chairs and couches. A TV was there- although you couldn't see a remote. There were more toys over here with boxes full of huge lego blocks and wooden blocks. Small toy cars and those foam mats that you had to put together like puzzle pieces.

There were also toys for a girl, and you realized now that there was a set of double doors that connected the girls room to the boys. And another door that led to the bathroom.

The biggest feature was another tree house, that was more like a club house. It was attached to the ceiling, the only access was a rock wall, as well as another ladder. A blue slide came down the other side.

There was a window seat with pictures that you hadn't looked at yet, as well as a small rocking horse. Your kids would never want anything, that was for sure.

"What do you think?" Tony asked, gesturing around.

You just gaped, taking in everything. "I'm thinking, 'where was this when I was a kid'."

Tony chuckled.

You looked at the pictures by the window seat and started to laugh, "I love these!"

They were different superheroes with positive phrases on them. Although, it was a bit disconcerting to see a DC character among your Marvel husbands- and the kid of course. Not to mention an X-man.

"Although," You finally said, taking a look around the room, "There's no crib."

"Oh right." Tony said, leading you out of that room.

"There's another room?" You asked with surprise.

"Yep!" Tony said, "Don't worry though, this is the simple nursery."

He opened a door opposite the other two rooms and led you inside. True to his word, it was much simpler, and definitely more calming than the other rooms.

It was mostly white, though there was some black and light blues tossed in there. There was a love seat for you to sit on, lots of pillows, carpets, blankets, and rugs. There were quite a few stuffed animals everywhere as well, along with a few picture books.

It was a much smaller room, probably only a quarter of the boys room. It was divided into two half- rooms. One was obviously where you would play with the kids, and the other was where they would lay down to take a nap. There was also a light, wood changing table in the back corner, right near the black crib. There was a white fringe crib mobile above it. A rocking horse to the side.

"Oh Tony. . ." You mumbled, leaning into his side. "I love it. I love all of it. Thank you."

Tony kissed the side of your head, "I can't wait for the kids to come. I can't wait to have even more kids, although I am sorry that you're in pain so often."

You smiled as the two of you left the bedrooms. Stephen was walking down the hall, his hands in his jean pockets. "There you two are."

"Have you seen the bedrooms?" You asked in excitement.

Stephen smiled a little, "I have. Was he to overboard?"

"No, she wants one too." Tony said, winking at you.

You laughed, "I wouldn't have minded having either bedroom when I was growing up. They both seem so fun. Although I will want to keep an eye out on the kids when they move into the jungle room."

Tony nodded, "Don't worry, we can always alter it to make it safer till they're older."

Suddenly, you felt the slightest tickle of wetness sliding down your leg. You blinked.

'Did my water just break?'

You didn't voice it aloud, afraid that you might be wrong. It certainly wasn't how they described in the books with your water splashing to the floor, spraying everyone. It was just a trickle.

"I'll be right back." You said with a smile. "I need to go to the bathroom."

"Alright, do you want to come back to our room when you're done?" Stephen asked, wrapping his arms around Tony.

You smiled, "Naturally."

Tony smirked, nudging Stephen in the ribs before you waddled upstairs to your own room.

Though you rarely slept in here, there was a calm ambience to your room. It was a very simple room, not a lot of stuff as most of your things were scattered in the several other rooms you spent your time in.

You pulled your pants and knickers down in the bathroom, trying to see if there was any clear sign that your water had broken.

Unable to tell, you pulled out your phone, searching how you could figure it out.

Seeing a suggestion, you pulled on a pair of clean knickers and laid down on your bed, setting a timer for thirty minutes. However, you could literally feel the wetness pooling in your knickers and you didn't even need to wait thirty minutes before you knew- your water had broken.

A strange nervousness, yet excitement, seemed to build up in your core. You also felt strangely calm at the same time.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y." You said. "Can you please alert Nick, T'Challa, and Bucky that my water has broken?"

"Yes Miss Marvel." F.R.I.D.A.Y. replied.

You stayed laying there, in wait.

And then you heard a yell from downstairs that sounded like it was from Bucky.

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clavissionary-position · 8 months ago

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The Kitty of Kogyoku

Azel: Matthias, will you come here for a moment? I have a fascinating theory.

Matthias: (stops poorly-carving an owl from World-Famous Achroite Wood) What is it?

Azel: You'll see. Would you please take Kagari's katana?

Matthias: But he's sleeping with it. He might have nightmares without it.

Azel: Not to worry. I'll simply give him God's Divine Protection™. He'll sleep like a baby warlord.

Matthias: Hmm. I can agree to these conditions. Very well.

Matthias: (takes Kagari's katana)

Matthias: (or tries to)

Matthias: He's got a really powerful grip. And I say that as a part-time logger.

Azel: Oh, my. That makes you the lumberjack lawyer, doesn't it.

Matthias: 😇 I am a man of many talents.

Azel: Like carving uglyー

Matthias: I'm sorry, what was that?

Azel: I said the 😇 emoji is copyrighted to me, and I charge a small fee for every use.

Azel: (slaps Matthias with an invoice)

Matthias: My apologies. I'll wire the fees to your temple immediately.

Azel: Thank you very much, it's always a pleasure doing business with you. But first, our katana problem...

Azel: (nods to Kagari) Tickle his chin like a cat.

Matthias: Like this?

Matthias: (tickles Kagari's chin) Tickle tickle tickle.

Azel: The sound effects are unnecessary, but, oh, look there!

Kagari: (drops his katana)

Matthias: I hope his enemies don't know about that trick.

Azel: We might be his enemies one day. Anyway, now that we're past that life-threatening stageー

Azel: (leans in to whisper) Kagari. What do you do when you're angry?

Kagari: (in his sleep) Resolve things peacefully by talking it out.

Matthias: (gasps)

Matthias: (looks at the katana)

Matthias: (looks at Kagari)

Azel: (uses Matthias' hand to pick the katana up and tuck it back into Kagari's embrace)

Azel: Could you repeat that, Kagari?

Kagari: (sleep-reaches into his pillow) Do you want to see the doodle I made of the guy I killed this morning?

Azel: No.

Matthias: Yes.

☆

Kagari: (recapping the episode) And then I got bored went to sleep for real.

Azel: A fine tale. But just because you don't have anything new to share for storytime doesn't mean you should recap events we were all present for.

Azel: Literally 20 minutes ago.

Azel: ...Sleeping so little will make you a liability to your fellow alliance-members, Kagari. Not to mention the toll it will have on your body. Don't make God watch you waste away.

Kagari: No one's making you watch anything. That's just how I operate. I've got to be ready for the kill at any moment.

Kagari: And, for the record, I do have new stories, but someone keeps insisting I censor all the blood and gore.

Matthias: (the owl carving is now in a special class of abomination) It's a shame because all the blood and gore truly feels like its own character with how you tell your stories.

Kagari: Thank you, Matthias. As always you have... (stares at the carving) ...impeccable...

Azel: Aaand here's your invoice for the chin tickles.

Kagari: You're not the one who tickled me.

Azel: Imagine if I didn't charge royalties for my ideas.

Kagari: Are you imagining it, Matthias?

Matthias: (tears in his eyes) I am.

Kagari + Matthias: The Perfect World.

Azel: Your carving sucks and I hope you fall on your katana.

a/n:

To my knowledge, Matthias is neither a logger nor wood-carver, he simply hails from a country with those industries. But in my head he absolutely is, and in such cases his shirt is always optional.

"Tickle his chin like a cat"—I learned a lot about cats from reading that Yves Like a Kitty bonus story 🤣

Oh also also I was inspired by incorrect ikevamp quotes by @/yanderepuck and @/evil-quartett

#ikemen prince #ikepri azel #ikepri matthias #ikepri kagari #incorrect quote folder

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analexthatexists · 9 months ago

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Jotting down my UTMV AU Ideas because of this guy

@idkhowtoread-ink you’ve inspired me now pay the price

No clue if ANY OF THESE can make canon sense but does it look like I care? Lemme have my fun.

AMV!Ink / AMV-VERSE (AMVV?)

The idea is simple. At least, I hoped it was. Rather than the artistic AUs, fanart, and creative writing side of the community, there was an Ink made for the musical side of the community, like the AMVs, themes, vocaloid covers and what not. I’m sure Ink probably looks over ALL of that junk already but let’s be honest when was the last time you saw him doing it? Yeah I didn’t think so. Ink could be an unfinished animation meme or a vocaloid AMV like that Spring Storm one and eventually find a way to leave it and probably protect YouTube or inspire creators or something, gaining access to all the other things and people on the platform. Error could even tag along as some sort of flawed copyrighting system using Error’s body as a means of moving around rather that being confined to STRINGS of text. (Don’t ask me how he does that I don’t know) He would recognize everything as copyrighted or plagiarism or something and try to destroy it without seeing the creativity and originality in the work. Their designs could be based off the AMVs or covers they came from with Ink being from whatever the hell and Error being from…idk, probably ECHO. I wonder if Inks outfit would depend on which videos and content he delves into almost like Hatsune Miku or other Vocaloid.

LONLEY GUARDIAN

This one is just sad. A Dreamtale AU where, during a fight between Dream and Nightmare, Dream reaches out and gets a hold of Nightmare’s SOUL trying to uncorrupt it, sacrificing himself to be able to restore a part of the original Nightmare. Dream dies and the world is cast into absolute darkness, leaving Nightmare stranded in the cold world with nobody to seek comfort from, nobody to help him. Not anymore.

INK <——> NIGHTMARE SWAP AU

Random idea that I came up with after jokingly writing Nightmare getting drunk off of Ink’s vials. Would that actually work?What if the two got into such a dangerous fight that eventually Ink tried to teleport away but Nightmare lunges at him and two get their “goop” mixed together because Ink teleports via INK. And nightmare is made of a INK like substance. If Ink doesn’t instantly die from lead poisoning or something this mixing could mess up his brain while Nightmare just kind of shrugs it off and steals Ink’s vials. Ink would no longer need the vials and rely off Nightmare’s “blood” to feel real negative emotions, slowly craving the stuff more and more than his vials while Nightmare probably gets drunk off the vials or something and takes on Ink’s role. Error and Dream may have to team up to get them back to normal or at least try to.

SHATTERED DREAM BUT SCARIER

So looking at this post made me consider something. What if Dream tried to eat the apples and yknow do what he did in the original AU, but due to the overwhelming and clashing natures of his apple and the dark ones he just…MELTED AND DIED IN FRONT OF NIGHTMARE. He doesn’t even corrupt or anything (well sort of) he just DISSOLVES ALIVE RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM. Imagine trying to prove a point and failing THIS BADLY. Anyways, rather than Nightmare being haunted by his now corrupted brother, he’s just ACTUALLY HAUNTED. I was thinking this could be like Phantom Papyrus and Dust Sans and that this new “Dream” (going by Shattered) is just a horrible manifestation of this traumatic event. It’s design and personality wouldn’t be the EXACT same especially not the design (would look so much scarier) but it constantly make Nighty feel like garbage and all that. People like Swap and Ink would have to find and help Nightmare get past this trauma, where only then can he and his “brother” finally move on.

EVIL INK AU BECAUSE YES

I know, we literally JUST went over an Evil Ink AU but hear me out. Wouldn’t he WANT a soul again? Idk if it’s possible for him to reabsorb and claim a soul, he probably can’t, but what if he COULD? He’d probably go nuts over Error’s or something. Just ANYTHING to fill that void other than his vials.

wow most of these ideas involve characters getting traumatized or turning evil. I ain’t sorry though!

#sans au #dreamtale #utmv #undertale au #nightmare sans #dream sans #ink sans #error sans #undertale au ideas #UTMV ideas #AU idea #shattered dream #Alex says stuff

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dominimoonbeam · 8 months ago

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Bite to Bruise - 36

This work is mine and I do not give consent for my works to be used, copied, published, or posted without my permission. I am sharing chapters as I work on this story but it is copyrighted material that I plan to rework and publish when completed.

story tags: modern-fantasy mashup, werewolves, witches, monsters, romance, learning to trust, hurt/comfort, blood, violence, explicit sex, explicit language

The earlier parts can be found under the tag or over on patreon. <3

BITE TO BRUISE - CHAPTER 36.

She stumbled into her valley, reaching her ruined cottage. She had never wanted him to find it, even in her nightmares this was never where Baron caught up to her.

His laughter echoed between the trees behind her.

She ran for the side of the house, but he was already there, grinning at her. Fresh blood clung to his cheek, smeared from the mess of a bite he’d taken, while more blood stained his torn shirt and smeared his skin where he had been the one bitten in his short stint in the battle.

“No. You’re not getting away now. To think, you were this close the whole time…” Baron said, looking over his shoulder at the deep shadows of the forest. “Do you know how many of your kind we lost to the woods? They went where we couldn’t follow. I would think they died there, but every so often one comes back out. Tell me, Wilhelm… is that what drew you here? Were you just too afraid to take that leap and go past the river?”

Wren trembled but stood her ground, finally taking a long look at him. He was exactly as she remembered. And why wouldn’t he be? He was unaging. Undying. Nothing she could do could change that. “My name is Wren.”

He nodded slowly. “Yes, it is this time. Forgive me, but you don’t quite look yourself. You’ve been hiding well.”

Her mouth twitched, tears overflowing. She swallowed down reason. Blackwell had been right about that—there was no reasoning with him. Logic would not help her now. “How many times have we done this?”

His eyebrow lifted, head tipping curiously. “You know?”

“How many times have you murdered me?”

His lips twitched, flashing teeth. “How many of my blood did you kill? We’re not even yet. A lifetime for a lifetime…and their lives were supposed to be endless.”

“How many wolves did you kill first?”

He tsked between teeth and she shivered, remembering that mouth on her hand and how easily his teeth had snapped through her finger. “Hardly comparable. You were going to leave me. I did what anyone would have.” He raised a hand. “We’ve gone over this before. Your reasoning and begging will do nothing to change my mind.”

She dragged shaky breaths but nodded in agreement, hearing the roots under her feet wake up after their frosty sleep. “Okay. Then let’s skip that part.”

Baron blinked in surprise, lips parting to say something that was lost in the air when the ground pulled open and tried to swallow him.

He moved fast, somehow climbing the moving soil and rocks as they churned underfoot. He almost lost his footing, knee-deep for a second before snarling and pushing himself faster, climbing high and coming for her.

She had to give up the ground when he swiped for her throat, pulling power in and pushing it out to shove him back, rolling him into a tree.

The black of her magic on her fingers crawled past the low cut of her leather gloves, spreading over the backs of her hands and deep into her palms. She pulled the gloves off and almost remembered clearly a time when her arms and legs had been completely black, screaming testament to how much power she had turned into craft in their world.

A previous life.

Lifetimes.

She had been trapped in this cycle of pain and death with him for so many short agonizing lifetimes but she kept coming back. It wasn’t that she was too scared to cross the river. She wasn’t ready to go. She had lived so many lives but not that one she wanted—not the one he stole.

Her palms hummed with power and when Kish pushed himself to his feet, she saw him doing it a hundred times in her memory. He wore a hundred different outfits, in different places, in different times. Sometimes he was snarling and sometimes he was laughing.

Here and now, he grinned furiously. “You haven’t done this in ages, Wilhelm.”

“That’s not my name,” she reminded, feeling her wolf break through the tree line into the woods, cutting a line straight for her.

She had fought wars in old lives, performed miracles, risen islands from the sea, and sunk cities into the ground. She was nameless and endless. Who the fuck was this shade to stop her from having what she wanted? Who was he to kill her?

Kish snarled and stalked toward her, ready for her attack this time, his cunning eyes studying her carefully. It was a game they had played many times just the two of them.

Behind her, the slush and snow parted, creating a track through the trees to that shadow with teeth.

She didn’t back up. She didn’t run. She waited as her nightmare stepped closer and closer, reaching for her, those fingers close to her cheek. In his dark eyes, she saw her reflection and only then realized she had dropped the glamour of Bellamy. That forever broken face looked back at her and for the first time she saw it clearly—the latest face in a line of faces that had all been hers, just as Bellamy was hers. She smiled when Kish froze, realizing his mistake too late. In his eyes, she saw one shadow burst out of the others behind her, reflected in his pupil. “My name is Wren,” she told him and then stepped to the side as the giant fenrir barreled into his chest, teeth snapping over his face.

Baron almost had his hands on his witch when they slid to the side and the wolf slammed into him. Darkness edged in teeth blotted out the world, enamel digging into the sides of his head and bearing him to the ground.

Baron laughed inside that beast’s mouth. “Again? What is it with you and these dogs?” he called to Wilhelm, his voice echoing in a chamber of flesh and teeth.

The fenrir jerked side to side, as though he might be able to rip Baron’s head from his shoulders. His spine snapped like a whip, breaking only to crack and heal instantly. A heavy paw pressed into his chest, trying to pin him while those jaws continued to dig in and pull.

Baron snarled against the warm, wet breath of a wolf, finally grabbing fistfuls of that body over his. Fenrir were a strange texture, between smoke and fur, but there was muscle underneath. They broke and bled and died like everything else living in the world. He pushed and the dog pulled, his spine breaking and healing again. The pain felt like fireworks in his spine, going off between vertebrae.

He clawed, digging fingers into skin and then pushed his head deeper into that maw rather than trying to pull free. He bit at the dog’s tongue, his teeth much smaller and sharper than the beast pinning him. His mouth welled with that foul blood, earthy and bitter, and… familiar?

With a growl the fenrir threw him, releasing him from his teeth and sending him through a tree and into another.

The cracking and falling of those trees echoed out in all directions, snow and ice hurling into the air between them.

Baron was quick to his feet, swaying for a moment and touching the blood on his lips. The wolf’s blood. He knew this particular flavor. He knew… His gaze snapped up to the fenrir prowling in front of him, furious yellow eyes fixed on him. “No… That’s not how your kind work.”

The past and the present blurred before his eyes. He stood in both places, in this dark and wet forest at the end of winter and at the base of a mountain in summer. The same fenrir. The same blood. The same valiant effort thrown against him. “I killed you,” Kish remembered, staggering a step back as the ground seemed to shift underfoot with those clarifying memories. “I killed your pack. I killed your whole line. He was going to leave with you. He was going to… No. No! You don’t come back! Fenrir don’t come back!” he yelled, voice louder than the falling trees.

Something hit him hard from behind, cleaving flesh and muscle and breaking bone to nestle deep in his back. One of his legs gave out, dropping him to his knees, but he twisted to try to get a look at this new attacker.

Wilhelm stood over him. “You don’t know nearly as much as you think you do, Kish.”

Before he could reply or snarl, before he could even reach back to grasp at the offending weapon in his back, something cold and biting squirmed from it to his shoulder. It sliced through his clothes and skin, digging deep and coiling like a snake made of razors.

Kish doubled forward, mouth agape in a scream that he couldn’t get out of his lungs as that midnight magic surged across his skin, the iron curse digging deep to leech his blood. Shade blood, as rich as they came, first to the vein of his midnight. He clawed at it, at himself, trying to stop it from taking the last he had of his maker.

The scent of it filled his lungs and in his blind panic, his first thought was that his midnight was injured. Solse’s blood was a cloud in the air around him. His second thought was the memory of walking into that dining room to discover all his dead kin—slain by that witch he had once loved.

The curse twisted up his chest and wrapped around his throat. He stretched his neck, clawing at the living metal, forced to look up at Wilhelm.

He felt cold. His body was slow to heal where the long serpentine body of the curse had ripped him open, the metal undulating as it drank more of his blood.

“It won’t be enough,” Wilhelm whispered to the wolf, watching him.

Kish’s hands were shredded from the fruitless effort to pull the curse off of himself, but he tried to smile. No. This curse would not be enough to stop him. Someone would find him or his body would decay and the curse would go inert. Time was always on his side. Always.

“What are you doing?” the wolf asked. Kish had not realized he’d changed forms until then, his voice thick with worry.

Kish swayed on his knees and might have fallen over if the witch had not taken his face in her hands. She held him gently, like they were lovers again, and looked down on him with those eyes—the same eyes in a new face—always those eyes. Kish had held the newborn Wilhelm many times. The eyes never changed, even when everything else did. Those eyes could see through time and behind veils. Kish had carved them out a dozen times. They tasted like power.

“I can’t kill you,” Wilhelm admitted with a woman’s voice. “But I think I can make you forget. Forget me, forget everyone I ever was, forget the wolves, and forget your dead.”

His body convulsed, panic lancing his body deeper than any curse. He tried to scream out but the iron spell around his throat wouldn’t give him the air. Without his blood, his body was weak, and her power pulsed through his skull, violating and rooting around to dig out pieces of him.

His face was cold in her hands and the fear and rage in his eyes more gratifying than she’d ever want to admit. As soon as she started pressing into his mind, digging around for the trails of herself, she realized her magic had been here already. Without realizing it, she had been trying to make him forget her, her magic lashing out on instinct during all those deaths. It felt confused and frightened, making her want to pull away and hide from this monster.

Ever pressed against her back, bolstering her up and watching her enemy like he might throw off that curse and strike out at them again.

She couldn’t run from monsters and she couldn’t kill this one, but she could kill the part of him that knew her.

She learned about all her lives through his memories. Instead of being told the stories of her past by another witch she had to see it—see what he had done and feel the madness of revenge take hold of him. She burned them out of his mind as she went, deeper and deeper. It felt like she was eating those memories, devouring them like a snake in the vast jungle of Kish’s life.

It was tempting to take more—to take everything. His hunger urged her on.

Eat more.

Eat it all.

Take everything until the great Kish, first blood of Solse, was nothing but a newborn drooling on himself.

It was a trick. She could do it. She could take it all, but it would cost her. Vengeance always had a price and was sometimes worth paying. She remembered falling in love and the agony of that loss. Her only regret was that she hadn’t been able to bury Kish back then along with his court. There was no regret for that vengeance, not even for all the lifetimes of pain it cost her, because it all brought her back to where she wanted to be—to Ever. It was all part of a plan and she wasn’t going to lose her chance this time.

She had waited. She had returned lifetime after lifetime, even when most of her kind had stopped, because she was waiting for this moment—for this life.

Vengeance had a price that was sometimes worth paying, but not this time. If she wanted to end it, she would have to be justice—cold and exact.

She reached the last bit of his memory of her, far beyond the first offense. The moment Kish and Wilhelm first met. His spirit writhed, trying to hang onto that last piece.

“I know you will hear about this from others,” she told him, magic thick in her voice and the black ink staining her fingers welling up past her wrists to her forearms. “I know you will see the paper trail of our history, but without the passion, what do you care? I am no one to you. Just a waste of your time. You are Kish, first blood of the midnight Solse and governor of her court until her return. What am I? Nothing but a poisonous weed, Kish. Leave me be and I am nothing, come for me and I will destroy you. That is all you have to remember about me. That is all you will ever know. When you think too long about me, when you hear my name, you will smell your midnight’s blood in the air and feel that curse around your neck.”

He gurgled, the iron spell squirming to leech more from a fountain that would never dry. His body convulsed and his eyes rolled back.

Wren let him go, the air cracking when she broke the connection to his mind and let his body fall back onto the icy ground.

She sagged, knowing that Ever wouldn’t let her fall with him.

#Bite to Bruise #werewolf romance #werewolf x witch #modern fantasy world #<3 #romance #own world #own work #dominimoonbeam #clover down

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thesimulationswarm · 1 year ago

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Balsam, Chapter 5: Mountain Chickadee

This is a story about trauma. What trauma does to a person, and what trauma does to a community. And how, in the midst of it, people find their way to joy, delight— even love.

Pairing: Joel Miller x original female character Summary: After the events of tlou, Joel and Ellie try to establish a “normal life” in Jackson, but neither of them are any good at normal. A town doctor tries to care for residents who have experienced unspeakable trauma, and struggles to overcome her own past at the same time. Joel finds himself drawn to her, as their lives become increasingly intertwined. Meanwhile, outside Jackson, troubling things are happening… Rating: explicit 18+ MDNI Wordcount: 5.5k Warnings: some problematic language around race/ethnicity that would be expected from characters whose understanding of social justice stopped in 2003, condomless PIV sex, v brief mention of infertility, angst, trauma/PTSD symptoms, painful adolescent social dynamics, LGBTQ issues, the Miller clan trying to figure out how to be a family, Joel struggling with getting old

Series Masterlist

It was 6 AM and Ellie was sitting in the dark, looking out the front windows, as Joel’s figure disappeared down the street. The faintest light was coloring the sky to the east and starting to extinguish the smaller stars. She’d been curled up there for a long time, feeling the chill radiate through the pane of glass, her eyes adjusting to the lack of light. There were a surprising amount of animals out there as the dawn started to break— rabbits, squirrels, little birds. She saw how they stilled suddenly when Joel walked by.

She could imagine how the little animals felt, holding themselves like statues, tiny hearts twitching furiously against their ribs. Not daring to breathe until the threat disappeared around the bend in the road.

She hadn’t gone downstairs to say goodbye, and she wasn’t even sure why. Maybe just that she didn’t want him to know she was awake still, didn’t want him to worry. He’d stuck his head in around midnight and told her to stop reading and go to sleep. He’d fallen asleep on the couch for a while after dinner, and his hair had been a wild, off-kilter mess. Standing there like that, bleary-eyed, in a ratty pair of sweatpants and t-shirt, made him look different— older, more…domestic. Like a hapless dad from a cheesy old movie.

He’d pointed at the creased paperback she was holding. Stephen King’s It, borrowed from the eccentric little Jackson Library.

“Sure you should be reading that before bed?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” She gave him a hard look.

“’S just— I’ve never read it, but it’s pretty scary, ain’t it? And you’ve been havin’ trouble sleeping…”

Ellie raised her eyebrows and flipped to the copyright page. “It’s from 1986. It’s about an evil clown. Not exactly the kind of thing that haunts people’s dreams these days.” It was true— the book felt quaint, almost cozy. Hard to imagine what it would be like to live in a small town in Maine and run around with a band of misfit kids. The guy who wrote it thought he was pointing out how everything had a dark underbelly, but a dark underbelly sounded pretty fucking good to her. She was used to towns that were just plain dark.

But Joel looked skeptical. She could see the pinched anxiousness in his eyes, and it made her squirm. She didn’t want him to feel guilty. She didn’t want him to think she was sick or fucked up or weak, and she didn’t want him to pity her.

She’d sighed, tossed the book aside, and turned off her lamp. Curled on her bed, turning her back to Joel.

But she didn’t sleep. Not because of It, but because she was sick of nightmares. She’d had nightmares her whole life, but over the past year or so they’d only gotten worse. There were just more and more things to have nightmares about. Recently, it was like some kind of switch had been flipped in her head, and the only dreams she was allowed to have were nightmares. She felt weird and sad about Brandy and Chuy, but that wasn’t it, really. Maybe that had just been enough to tip her over the edge.

She worked so fucking hard not to think about her bad memories. Not to talk about her bad memories or to acknowledge them in any way. But as soon as her higher brain shut off, they were set free, and she had nowhere to hide. Nothing she could do except stay up as much as possible, until her body ached and her eyes felt gritty and raw. Until, eventually, the dark tide of unconsciousness overpowered her. And hopefully by then she would be too exhausted to even dream.

The morning was pleasantly quiet, especially compared to Nina’s last patrol with Isaac. Joel had barely spoken a word to her as they packed their gear and tacked up the horses, but she was keenly aware of his presence. She watched him in her peripheral vision, appreciating how, despite the substantial shape of him, he moved with a sort of grace.

The sun was just rising above the hills when they road out of the gates, the horses huffing clouds of steam in the cold air. Joel was reserved but polite, following her lead when they hit territory that was unfamiliar to him. As they went deeper into the mountains and further from Jackson, she felt a tension melting away that she’d only been partially cognizant of.

She needed Jackson. The life she had now would not be possible anywhere else. And yet, she was trapped there. Dependent on it, and on its people. She’d lived in other places and in other ways before, and it wasn’t something she wanted to experience again— ever.

That left her vulnerable in a dizzying, sickening way. And instead of doing what the other, sensible people of Jackson seemed to do— instead of leaning into it, letting herself soften into that web of dependency— she chafed at it.

She’d wanted to lash out all week. At smug Linda Hayes, who looked at her like some kind of witch when she picked up supplies at the butcher shop. At chatty old Jack Auden, who came by her clinic to get a tonic for his sister, but clearly just wanted to check up on her, draw her out of something she didn’t particularly want to be drawn out of. At Brandy Burkholder, with her grating adolescent tough-girl posturing.

Her jaw hurt from clenching it shut, from the effort of fixing her face into something like neighborly politeness.

She’d even restrained herself from starting shit with Marisa Robinson, yesterday in the dining hall, when she’d ladled up a bowl of soup for her and then loosed a fat glob of spit right in it, before setting it roughly on her tray. The girl had stared right into her eyes the whole time, her message clear as day.

But Nina had just walked away, picked at the rest of her lunch, and gone back to her clinic.

She had no doubts anymore about who Starkey had been fucking. Which presented another problem— how to get Marisa treated for gonorrhea, when she wanted Nina’s head on a pike. Maybe when they got back she could talk to Maria, get her to have a heart to heart with the girl.

They stopped for food around noon in a sunny patch on the edge of a pine thicket. Nina watched Joel pace around, shaking out his stiff, cold limbs, before sitting down on a rock a few feet away from her. She passed him a packet of jerky and dried berries, and he nodded a thanks.

The sun was high now in a cloudless sky and the air was starting to warm her face. She leaned her head back and looked up at the wide expanse of blue, edged with scraggly tree tops. A round little bird darted from one branch to another and whistled a sweet, three-beat song.

“Mountain chickadee,” she said, pointing at the branches.

“Hmm?”

“They’re a good omen. At least according to the Shoshone.”

“Well, that’s good, I guess.” Joel paused, chewing the tough meat. “Is that what you are? Shoshone?”

She couldn’t help it— she burst out laughing. “Sorry,” he mumbled, his expression darkening. “None of my business.”

“No, no,” she said. “I don’t mind. But that’s the wrong kind of Indian. I’m the dot kind, not the feather.” She took a sip from her canteen. “At least my mom was. My dad was Irish Catholic.”

Joel nodded slowly. “I’m half too. Dad was white, but my mama was born in Mexico. Michoacán.” He looked at Nina and didn’t exactly smile, but he stopped frowning for a moment.

“You and Tommy have the same problem I do. White name, brown face.”

She studied him for a moment, appreciating the warm, deep eyes and strong nose. The rough, wary good looks. He was watching her, with that simmering intensity he had, and she had a sudden urge to run her hand through his untidy curls.

She had a feeling he would let her.

But they had a long day’s ride ahead. Maria’s face flashed in front of her, that warning look she’d given her when Joel had agreed to come on this trip. She knew her friend worried about her taste in men. And she knew Tommy’s brother had a reputation--irascible, violent, unfriendly Joel Miller. The kind of guy she shouldn’t be drawn to, and yet always, despite her best judgement, was.

“I found a book about Shoshone beliefs a while back, on the old University of Eastern Colorado campus.” When she mentioned the campus, Joel’s brow furrowed. “It was full of details on the traditional medicines they used, which was huge for me. It’s not always easy to get medical supplies around here, as you might have noticed.”

“You’ve been to the university?”

She nodded. “I came up through there, when I first came to Jackson.”

He looked down and shook his head. “Pretty rough area.”

“Believe it or not, it used to be worse. I heard that after the Fireflies arrived they cleaned things up a bit.”

Joel stood up abruptly and wiped his hands on his jeans. “We better get movin’ again.”

Tommy watched Maria’s strong fingers gliding expertly over the deck of cards. She riffled, she bridged, she did a series of rapid overhand shuffles with a percussive flourish, all while barely glancing at the movements of her hands. The way she handled the cards reminded him of guys he’d known as a teenager, the sort of macho shit they pulled down in Burnet, Texas, to impress the girls. The sort of shit he’d tried to pull, sometimes successfully and sometimes not— shooting coke cans, throwing knives, hitting the baseball out of the park.

Maria, though— she was the real deal. That finesse wasn’t an act, and neither was her toughness. And instead of impressing Dee Ann Schaefer after homecoming, she was impressing him and Ellie.

The girl’s eyes were sparkling as she followed Maria’s moves. He could practically see the gears turning in her head, and he had no doubt she’d be asking to practice with the card deck tomorrow.

Good.

She needed something to do other than mope around in her bedroom all day. She hadn’t wanted to go to the dining hall for a single meal today, instead opting to hang back and read some old X-men comics that Tommy had scavenged. Maria’d made her promise she would eat something at home, but there was only a single empty can of pears in the sink when they came back after dinner.

Joel’d warned him that she wasn’t doing so great, but he’d been too distracted by everything going on lately to pay it much mind. She’d seemed a little quieter than usual when he saw her around town, and apparently she’d stopped hanging out with the other kids. Some kind of falling out.

But now he could see there was more going on than just that. Ellie had lost a few pounds and was walking around with dark circles under her eyes. It reminded him of when she and Joel first came back to Jackson. He knew only the rough outlines of what had happened out there, but what he knew was awful. And it made him feel terribly guilty, knowing he’d sent Joel out there with the her all alone.

“Kids really didn’t play poker in Boston?” Maria raised her brows as she began to deal.

Ellie shook her head. “I’ve heard about it. But all we ever played at FEDRA school was euchre.”

“Euchre?!” Tommy almost spit out his drink, and a wide smile cracked across Maria’s face.

“What’s the matter with euchre?” Ellie fixed them both with an indignant stare, as Tommy choked back a laugh.

“Sorry, kid. It’s just— my gramma played euchre. Never knew it to be popular with young folks.”

Ellie rolled her eyes at him. “Sorry we weren’t cool enough for you.”

“No, it makes sense,” Maria said with a thoughtful nod. “You probably never had a full deck of cards, did you?” Ellie shook her head no. “They’re surprisingly hard to come by.” She looked down fondly at her yellowed old deck. They were classic red Bicycle cards, the kind with naked cherubs riding down the backs, and Maria was very protective of them.

“What’s that got to do with anything?” Tommy felt like he’d missed something.

Now it was Maria’s turn to roll her eyes at him. “If you’d ever payed attention to your grandmother, Tommy, you’d know you only need half a deck to play euchre.” She gave him a fond smile, reaching out to run a hand through his curls. “With a marker and a little creativity, you could use any random set of 26 cards.”

He smiled at her back, getting lost for a second in her rich dark eyes. She was so much smarter than him it wasn’t even funny, but she didn’t seem to mind. I’ve known a lot of men who couldn’t handle a smart, strong woman, she’d told him once. But you don’t have a problem with it. I love that about you.

The doorbell rang while Maria was in the middle of a discussion of which hand beats which. Tommy got up to answer it, not wanting to interrupt the two of them.

He wouldn’t have noticed the path if Nina hadn’t shown him. It was narrow and unmarked, and blocked from the road by strategically placed brush. They carefully arranged the boughs behind them to hide the path again, and walked their horses single file, below the low branches, into the darkening woods. The little A-frame cabin was about a mile in, down a rocky ravine and back up to another ridge.

Nina swung the door open. “It’s probably not wise to make a fire this close to the road, but we’ll be out of the wind at least. The loft is rotten so we’ll have to stay down here.”

Joel looked around at the room, small but clean, with an ancient four-post bed on one end and an enamel wash basin on the another. A pile of heavy blankets was heaped on the floor. “I’ve slept in worse, that’s for sure. I’ll take the floor.”

She looked at him and cocked an eyebrow. “No you won’t, old man. I’ve seen how stiff you are when you get up in the morning after a night on the ground.”

He winced at the ‘old man’ comment, even as he knew it was true— his body wasn’t what it used to be, and she’d certainly feel the effects of the floor much less than he would. But he didn’t think his pride would let him sleep on a mattress while Nina curled up on the floorboards. He paused, still standing by the doorway.

“Look,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “If I was a guy, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. If you’d let Tommy take the floor, there’s no reason not to let me.”

She was right, but he didn’t like it. And he felt embarrassingly disappointed to hear her call him out for his age. Jesus, what did he expect? Like she wasn’t gonna notice he was pushing sixty.

He exhaled heavily, took a few steps forward, and threw his pack down on the bed. “Suit yourself,” he huffed. If she wanted to treat him like an old man, then fine— he’d at least enjoy a night in a bed after a long day’s ride.

Ellie didn’t want to talk to Chuy, but Maria wasn’t budging. She put down the deck of cards and refused to go on with their game until Ellie at least went to the door and thanked him for coming by. As if that was something people actually did. Maybe in nineteen forty or whenever the fuck she’d grown up.

Chuy looked a little awkward, standing on the front stoop with Coco, talking to Tommy. His dark hair flopped over one eye.

“Hi Ellie,” he greeted her with a small smile.

“Hey,” she offered. Her voice sounded weird to her ears. She didn’t know what to do with herself, so she knelt down to rub Coco’s head, scratching the soft fur behind her ears.

“Do you wanna come out for a little walk? It’s a full moon tonight.”

“Uh, sure.” She tried to look casual as she stood, shoving her hands in the pockets of her hoodie. She wasn’t sure why Chuy was here, and the whole thing was making her feel very weird. But part of her was happy to see him, in spite of herself. She’d enjoyed having friends for, like, three weeks.

“Good to see ya, Jesús, “ Tommy said, giving Chuy a pat on the shoulder before he turned back inside. “Ya’ll don’t stay out too late.”

As the door closed behind her, Ellie raised her eyebrows. “Jesús?”

“It’s my full name. Usually just go by Chuy for short.” They fell into step beside each other, walking down the walk and into the empty street.

“In what world is Chuy short for Jesús?”

“Same world where Billy is short for William and Jack is short for John.”

“Okay, that’s a good point.” Something about walking side by side was making things easier. She didn’t have to look at him, for one, and it was much less awkward that way. And when they both fell quiet, she could occupy herself looking at the stars and the luscious silver disk of the moon. They walked a few blocks without talking, just listening to the rhythmic brush of their shoes on concrete.

Coco found a particularly interesting-smelling bush, and they stopped for a minute to let her sniff around it.

“We’ve missed you at the barn,” Chuy said cautiously, turning to look at her face. Ellie looked down at the ground, rocking her weight back and forth on the thin soles of her shoes.

“I’ve just been busy.”

“That’s fine. But you can come by any time you’re free, you know?”

“Mmhmm,” she replied noncommittally.

After a few moments of silence, Chuy spoke again.

“I’m really sorry.”

Ellie turned toward him, startled. “What do you mean?” Her voice came out sharper than she intended, and it was Chuy’s turn to look away.

“Maybe I’m wrong, but… I guess you know that Brandy and I…” He trailed off.

“Yeah, so?” Ellie gave her best impression of nonchalance. Her heart was pounding against her chest, and she had a fleeting urge to just take off running into the night.

“Well, you like her, don’t you?” He must’ve seen the panic in her face, because he quickly added, “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna tell her. Or anyone else, I promise.”

She closed her eyes for a moment and slowly let out her breath. Fuck.

“Was I that obvious?”

Chuy shook his head emphatically. “No, not at all! It was just because I felt the same way about her, you know? You looked at her the same way I did.”

They were both silent for a moment, then Chuy laughed. “Holy shit, I’m so relieved I was right. This would’ve been so weird if I was wrong.”

“Oh, you think this isn’t weird? Because this is pretty fucking weird for me.” Her heart still felt like it wanted to leap out of her throat, but she found herself smiling at Chuy. Grateful to him for being so chillabout this.

But, god— would he really not tell anyone? Her smile faltered.

“Hey, um, I actually haven’t told anyone... about me. So please don’t say anything, okay?” She looked at him pleadingly, biting into the skin of her bottom lip.

“Of course not.” His voice was soft and sincere.

She looked up at the sky again, feeling the cold wind brush the hair back from her face, watching a thin stream of clouds blow gauzily over the moon. The relief crackled through her like an electric current.

When Joel closed his eyes, he felt like he was still swaying on top of the horse. He lay there, warm under the wool blankets, waiting for his exhausted body to give into sleep. But it wasn’t coming.

He felt like an idiot. Nina’s voice echoed in his head: old man, old man, old man. Yes, he was old, and getting older. His body never let him forget it anymore— stiff joints, spasming muscles, bone-deep aches when the weather changed. Those spells he got sometimes, when his ears rang and his breath stopped and it felt like his heart was gonna fucking explode. He should probably ask Nina about those episodes, but he’d rather swallow glass than admit to her how feeble he got sometimes. Not that she couldn’t see for herself.

She could see just fine. Old man, old man, old man. And what was he thinking coming on this trip? He’d had some good reasons to do this, but there had been a lot of good reasons not to.

After Nina mentioned the University of Eastern Colorado, he’d been dogged by unwanted thoughts as they rode into the woods: visions of being shanked and the religious nut jobs and Ellie running hard across the bloody snow. The drive of his knife through skin and sinew, the frantic fear that he would always be too late to save her. As much as he bristled at being trapped in Jackson, at least he could keep an eye on her and do what he could to keep her safe. Now he was a full day’s ride away, and soon he’d be further still— the furthest he’d been from her since that day in the QZ when Marlene had talked Tess and him into smuggling the girl. What felt like a lifetime ago, in a whole other world.

He had to remind himself that Jackson was safe and that Ellie was in good hands with Tommy. She’d be just fine when he came back, aside from her attitude and her foul mouth. Which weren’t likely to change any time soon.

He shifted around, adjusted his pillow, sighed heavily.

He tried not to think about Nina lying a few yards away, and what he’d dreamed about the last time they slept in a room together. He felt a heavy pulse of blood in his groin, at nothing more than the memory. Well, at least his dick still worked right.

He could hear her breathing, turning occasionally as she tried to get comfortable on the floor. He felt like an asshole for letting her sleep there, although he also would have felt like an asshole for insisting on giving her the bed. Goddamn her.

He heard her shift again, then the rustling of blankets falling to the floor. Then the creaking of floorboards.

She was getting up.

He sat up halfway, on alert, tilting his head to angle his good ear toward the window. Had she heard something or noticed something he hadn’t?

His rifle was within reach, and his arm slid silently across the bed toward the wall where it rested. It was dark, but he could see her remarkably clearly by the moonlight coming through the windows.

His heart was beating in his throat as she walked toward the bed and stood beside him.

“What—what is it?” he stuttered in a whisper, confused.

“Can I?” She asked, as she leaned down, pulling on the hem of his blanket. At first he thought, dumbly, that she’d changed her mind about taking the floor. Then she pressed her palms against his chest and gently eased him back down into the mattress. She slid under the blanket, moving her body top of his, until she was straddling his legs.

Oh.

“Yes,” he breathed, and she dipped her head down toward his.

It was so much like his dream that he wandered briefly if he’d fallen asleep. But no, he could feel every little thing too acutely: the scratch of the wool covers moving across his skin, the salty taste of dried sweat as he pressed his lips against hers.

They started out tentative. He sampled her soft lips and gently parted them with the tip of his tongue. She tasted like the baking soda she used to brush her teeth, like salt, like something animal and wild. She tasted good.

His hands had moved up to cradle her face. The cut of jawbone, the whorl of ear against his palm. There was something teetering inside him, a thread perilously close to breaking. All the want he’d been holding in around her, tamping down, was rising up. He felt like he might snap.

He dropped his hands, ran them down the dip of her waist and the wide flare of her hips. Dragged her body up against his until her strong thighs were split open above his groin and his hardening cock could find friction on her. She felt him and rutted forward, moaning softly into his mouth.

Not enough. He flipped her over, his weight spreading her legs wider and pressing her down into the old mattress. His hand snaked up below her sweater and skated across belly, ribs, and there— the soft mound of a breast filling his palm, and she was arching into him, groaning.

“Joel,” she moaned against his ear as he slid rough kisses down her neck. Her voice shook something loose, the nagging thought in the back of his mind— Why the fuck was she doing this?

He broke himself away and sat up on his knees. His chest heaved as he looked down at her. His eyes traced the soft curves of her splayed body. Her words echoed in his head again: old man.

“Are you sure you wanna do this?”

“I’m sure, Joel.” She sat up a bit, propping herself on her elbows to look at him. It was dark, but not too dark to see her expression: eyes narrowed, studying him. She looked, like she usually did, fully in command of herself.

“Are you sure?”

He almost laughed. He wanted to say, I’ve been sure from the moment I first saw you. He didn’t say anything though, just slid down onto his belly between her legs. He nuzzled his face against the fabric of her pants as he started to unfasten them, and she gamely lifted her hips to help.

And—fuck—her underwear was drenched, her arousal turning the pale fabric translucent. He rubbed his finger along the cloth, tracing the dark shape of her cunt underneath. She mewled, pushing herself against his hand. Then he was yanking the underwear roughly, scraping them down her thighs and away.

She tasted amazing there, too— like he knew she would. Sweet and musky, with that electric tang that always reminded him of licking a 9-volt.

She gave him instructions— right there, harder, again, faster— and he complied. He liked a woman who knew what she wanted. And she wanted this, he could tell, as she gripped his hair harder and her thighs shook against him. He worked his jaw frantically, trying to get it right for her. He needed to make her feel good.

When she finally came she called out his name. He slowed down but kept going as she shuddered, coming apart underneath him, until finally she pulled him away from her over-sensitized clit.

He rose up and she grabbed his face to hers. She licked her juices hungrily from his lips and chin, her breath fast and hot against his skin.

“Baby,” he said, running his hands through her thick curls. “I want you so bad.”

She grabbed the waistband of his jeans and peeled down his fly, pulling him loose from his boxers. He was painfully hard, desperate to be touched. And she obliged. When she wrapped a hand around him, he couldn’t help thrusting into her grip, feeling the shuddering relief of her palm stroking down his length.

“I can’t get pregnant. In case you were worried about that.”

He stared at her for a second. Actually, he hadn’t been thinking about it at all, although he should’ve fucking been. He had a sudden flash of how reckless he was being.

But there was no way, no goddamn way he was going to stop now.

He was pressing into her sweet cunt almost before he realized it, his hips drawn into her heat like a moth before a lightbulb. She was arching up to meet him there. Her muscles contracted snugly around him and, Jesus fucking Christ, it had been too long since he’d felt this.

“That’s it,” she breathed as she lifted her legs to bring him in even deeper. “Now fuck me.”

She didn’t have to ask twice. He started out slow— he was too excited and he wasn’t ready for this to be over yet. Holding himself up on one arm, he looked down and watched how his cock slid beautifully in and out of her, the length of him glistening with her arousal. He looked at her face and saw she was watching too, the two of them mesmerized by the machinery of their bodies.

He grabbed her hand and pulled it down. “Touch yourself while I fuck you, baby.”

She obeyed, rubbing rhythmic circles against her clit. Biting her lip as she looked up at him.

She began whimpering with each thrust and he couldn’t hold back. He fucked her harder and faster and she lifted her legs even higher to accommodate him, driving him home.

He was getting there, and he knew he couldn’t hold back for long. “Nina, you feel so good. So fucking good,” he panted. He looked at her pleadingly, trying to will her to come again before he lost control completely.

“I want it, Joel,” she gritted out. “Come for me, baby. Don’t stop now.” She moved in tandem with him, snapping her hips up to meet each thrust.

That was it. He slammed against her roughly, faster and faster as he felt his orgasm bloom outward from the base of his spine. “Fuck, oh— oh baby,” he groaned and buried himself deep inside, the first pulse shooting out of him so hard it was almost painful.

“That’s it, yes, yes,” she moaned, rubbing herself even harder as she felt him throbbing against her.

When the waves of pleasure finally ebbed, he was spent, exhausted. But he held himself up by his shaky arms and stayed inside her, watching as she brought herself to orgasm. Watching how his come leaked out around him and slicked the tips of her fingers, as she circled them hard and fast against her swollen clit. He wanted to burn the image into his brain so he’d never forget.

“That’s it, darlin’,” he whispered hoarsely. “Make yourself come for me. That’s so fuckin’ beautiful.” He coaxed her until she let out a jagged cry and he felt her contracting around him.

He collapsed down to the mattress and pulled him to her, wrapping his arms around her soft body.

Nina sat up straight, spine long, feeling the smooth slide of her horse’s gait as they moved through the woods. Watery morning light slanted through the branches, catching on clusters of new green leaves. She felt fucking amazing. Better than she had in a long time.

This was their forth day on the road, and she and Joel had been going at each other madly for the past three. Her cunt ached with it, pressed against the hard leather of her saddle. She knew she would enjoy Joel, but she had not anticipated how much. How enthusiastic he would be, and how focused on her pleasure. Doing things like eating her out on a bed of pine needles, on the forest floor, during their lunch break. He’d barely climbed off his horse before he was kneeling in front of her, licking a stripe hungrily down the denim that covered her crotch, unfastening the button at her waist. And she’d felt herself already soaking through her panties as she looked down at his dark unkempt curls, buried between her thighs. They had found a rhythm with each other that undeniably worked.

When she dissociated, she left her body. In sex like this, she became her body. Today, she was here. She was alive to the world. She knew it wouldn’t last forever— it never did— but for now she basked in it.

When they weren’t fucking, he was just as quiet as he ever was. He was a man of extremes— taciturn and careful as he groomed his horse, built a fire, hunted a rabbit for their dinner. Then whispering sweet filth in her ear as soon as they’d crawled into a shared sleeping bag. And that was just fine with her. She wasn’t looking for attachment.

Even without attachment, things could get complicated, she knew. Tonight they’d be in Lava Hot Springs, with Mo and his men. An excess of men— men with guns, men with knives, men with pride and schemes and swinging dicks. She was acutely aware of the danger in this. Of the danger in taking her current lover along for protection, as she orchestrated a trade with her charming, amoral ex.

Taglist: @anoverwhelmingdin @blueseastorm @wannab-urs

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