#i should throw reyes into it for no reason at all

[liufilms]

i kinda want to make like a co-ed nct unit

[deathsbestgirl]

idk how to write reviews at all but i think perihelion dealt with with msiv so well. its all pain & grief & denial that we see in the finale, its complicated and i never felt it reflected what they truly believed or felt. mulder & scully just went through hell. mulder watched his biological father shoot him, they watched william die after trying so hard to find him, and not abandon him. the whole revival is about william even if we don't see him until s11.

perihelion assumes mulder & scully believe csm, because it's something they've both always feared. scully was going to leave csm in en ami because she was suspicious. mulder was always afraid william was an experiment, much like emily. and his birth was traumatic for not just scully & william, but mulder & everyone who helped them (doggett, reyes, skinner).

mulder & scully are so vulnerable when it comes to william, and that's literally what the whole thing is about. and now scully is pregnant again, and they have another child coming under questionable circumstances again!! and now they have more reason for concern because of scully's dna, like that's part of why scully was reignited, why she wanted to find william (and everything in home again with losing her mother, and the visions jackson sent to her).

i don't think you can fault scully or mulder for believing. sure, they have experience with csm, maybe they should know better. but they're also constantly discovering they've possibly believed lies. and this is personal.

i think their relationship develops perfectly in it. they've decided to coparent and move in together. they're both terrified to fail again. what if the x files is all that ties them together, and they're about to lose them again? what if sleeping together doesn't mean the same thing to the other as it does to them? their communication has improved greatly, but they're still mulder & scully, always trying to protect each other & not put the other through more hell than necessary. always extremely independent, as "codependent" as they can be.

and as we have seen many times before, their coping mechanisms conflict and it's addressed. they're together but they're not, as with most of the series. but now it's from a place of knowing what being together is, how their personal struggles impact the other, and a deeper understanding of themselves. and eventually, this only gets them closer. they've always moved at their own pace and perihelion is no different.

it isn't fanfiction, it's meant to fit in with the series and follow the arc of the revival, and take it further. i think it makes complete sense with the scope of the show, and the interests of people today.

and i know i'm probably one of the few in fandom who loves it, but it has so much goodness. the words & phrases & names claudia gray uses are a callback to so many episodes, some widely loved scenes. scully has a friend! she's temporarily working a job maybe harder than her last job as a doctor (until they know the fate of the x files) and it's extremely difficult for her. mulder has no idea what he's gonna do (they'll figure it out). there are new players, some closely related to ones we already know and others who are basically Brand New.

idk!! but in talking about the revival, i also felt the need to throw my two cents in about perihelion. i'm just a big fan and i hope she makes it a series.

[joanofexys]

ocs ask • Inner Life • For Bad withhh Jude 🥰

For Bad: Is there anyone who had an undeniable negative impact on your OC’s life? How did your OC deal with that change? Have they been able to move on?

Jude has a string of bad relationships before Merrick. I’ve threatened before to talk about his shitty dating history. But yeah high school through college is just a series of disasters. And this man is a professional at breaking his own heart

By far the worst is his first boyfriend. Quinn Rhodes ruins Jude Reyes’ life and he swears he’s never going to fall in love with anyone ever again.

Just imagine it. You’re a 16 year old Jude, a junior in high school, you just made starting dealer, and you are head over heels for senior starting striker, Quinn Rhodes.

You have your silly high school crush. You become best friends with him. You’re pretty sure he’s straight. He knows you’re not but he doesn’t seem to mind. And one night, a few weeks after prom, as he’s venting about how he and his girlfriend broke up prom night, he kisses you. And Jude is completely and utterly fucked.

There’s no label on it. They finish up the school year, Quinn graduates, and their little thing continues into the summer. They tell no one.

Quinn signs with USC, he’ll be just a few hours away, but they’re going to be seeing each other a lot. Jude becomes captain of his high school team his senior year.

Quinn asks Jude to be his boyfriend that October, over a midnight phone call. They’re attached at the hip during their breaks. Quinn meets Jude’s moms, they love him.

Jude signs with USC later that year. The two are ecstatic that they’ll get to play together. Their relationship doesn’t even make it to their first game of the year. Beginning of September, Jude’s freshman year, now stuck on the same team together, Quinn Rhodes breaks his heart.

I think we should see other people. I don’t want you to feel like you can’t explore in college. You deserve the chance to experience college dating. It was nice but we both knew it was never gonna last. I mean, it was high school, everyone knows high school dating is casual.

Jude hates him. Jude loves him so much. Jude wants him dead. Jude wants him to show up on the porch of his moms’ place in the pouring rain with a rose and say he wants him back.

He’s so fucking distraught. And this is a man who wears his heart on his sleeve 90% of the time. Quinn is the reason Jude learns to hide a lot of his emotions. This breakup has him obviously devastated and it fucks with the team hard. He’s just fucking miserable throughout September. He checks Quinn too hard. He practically runs out of the locker room. He begs to never be partnered with him again.

Fall break works some type of magic. When he comes back he’s the Jude that they remember signing. He’s the Jude that everyone thinks of fondly in later years.

He and Quinn still avoid each other like the plague but they make it through the year. Then Quinn transfers to Edgar Allan University. And that somehow hurts worse. Jude hates it. He wants to reach out to Quinn now and he can’t. He sent a few texts, make a few desperate calls, all for them to never get a response.

But he deals, and he moves on. And he deals some more with the other shit that life throws at him. And then he’s got too many of his own problems to be worrying about Quinn. And he’s got his team and new friends to look out for. Eventually Quinn becomes a distant memory. Something that aches if he lets himself linger for too long. Someone who still makes him feel bitter. But someone he can’t let himself get hung up on ever again.

So yeah, he moves. He deals, poorly at first, and then learns how to cope better. It might hit him again when he meets Emiko, Mara, and Florian. When he learns more about The Nest. Maybe then he’ll look Quinn up. He’ll see that he crashed and burned. Played too violently with his new team, got a career ending injury. That he’s an assistant coach now. He won’t pick up the phone. He’ll think about it. Wonder if Quinn even has the same number, draft a dozen texts that he’ll never send. And he’ll move on all over again.

[missacidburn928s-heathenhideaway]

Eff Being Friends

Steve Rogers x POC!Goddess!Avenger!Reader “Ci”

? x POC!Goddess!Avenger!Reader “Ci”

Ex!Thor x POC!Goddess!Avenger!Reader "Ci”

Ex!Loki x POC!Goddess!Avenger!Reader "Ci”

Wordcount: 4191

Summary:

To say the relationship between Steve and I was complicated would be an understatement. But I’m not the one to blame. That honor goes to Captain Indecision, himself. So why would he ever think I would make things easy for him?

Warnings:

18+ Only MDNI, Angsty with some mild smut and surprise feels.

Notes:

Heavily inspired by “Fuck Being Friends” by Jessie Reyes. I have this need to fuck with Steve. Also there be a twist abound. Who could the mystery person be?

Banner by @cafekitsune Divider by @firefly-graphics

Your off and on relationship with one Steven Grant Rogers, is once again off. This hot and cold shit is for the birds. If it weren’t for his dick game being almost magical you would have written him off a long time ago. Well that and you might possibly be in love with the fucker too.

When he’s not self-conscious and feeding into his own paranoia, things are great. It’s when he lets his intrusive thoughts and the opinions of others guide him that things take a turn.

Like when he starts acting a fool now that Thor is on the compound for a visit with Loki. Both of whom are technically your exes but as you’re gods you don’t hold the same morality standards when it comes to multiple partners. You were actively hooking up with both of them at the same time, ages ago.

It may have even become a bit of a competition between the brothers at one point.

So why should you shy away from all the wonderful flirty banter and not so innocent exchanges being thrown your way. Steve needs a reminder that you’re not from this realm and he can’t toy with you as such. Just because you’ve put up with his bullshit thus far, does not mean you will continue too.

Being green with envy serves him right.

Tony has gotten into the habit of throwing a game night once a month for ‘morale’ or whatever. Honestly, you think it’s just an excuse to get everyone shit faced enough to reveal or do embarrassing things so that Jarvis can hoard it all to be used later. Whatever the reason, you are more than excited this months is happening while the Asgardians are here.

You’ve been having the best week with them. Reminiscing the good ol days and creating some hot and heavy new memories to add to the list.

“Watching you surrender to my magic. Wrapped tight in my shadows. Is a sight that will never cease to amaze me. Offering up your body, the perfect altar, for me to worship. To show my own devotion through your surrender. A gift I have never taken for granted my dear. Steven really is quite the fool.” Loki professed before rendering you brainless and cock drunk for hours.

Steve’s eyes have been attached to your frame all night. Begging for you to give him some attention. But you pay him no mind. You’re preoccupied being very flirty and touchy feely with everyone.

Tony has decided that tonight’s game is Truth or Dare. It seems the man of iron is also enjoying watching the gods get under Steve’s skin.

You take every dare, and they get raunchier by the ask. You give Nat, who is sat next to Captain Cranky, a sultry little lap dance that ends in a heated kiss. Only to be broken up by Steve’s quiet growl.

On your next turn your dared to make Thor get a boner without touching him. You saunter behind the loveseat he is perched on. Leaning in so that you can whisper in his ear. You regale him with all the dirty things you love that he does to you. The way his lightning makes you sing like no other. All stated low enough for only the gods and the super soldiers to hear. Your mission is a success of course. Thor’s unable to hide the ‘hammer’ tenting his slacks as he pulls you over the back of couch onto his lap and bites down on your throat making you giggle.  

The game continues with Clint having to admit that he most certainly has seen his teammates getting it on when he has been up in the vents. “Some things you can’t unsee unfortunately.” He shivers.

Sam, having confessed who he thinks has the best ass, turns to you. “Truth or Dare Ci?”

“Dare of course. Why change it up now.”

“I dare you to get Loki to genuinely smile.”

You look at him quizzically. “You think you’re so smart. Prepare to be knocked down a peg or three bird boy.”

Standing you walk over to Loki, who has been leaning against the wall, observing all night. With a cheeky smile you wave your fingers and cloak yourselves in darkness that's not only soundproof but is also time spelled as well.

You lower to your knees and snap Loki’s pants out of existence. The visual of you before him is enough to turn his cock hard as steel in front of your very eyes. You waste no time attaching your lips to the foreskin covered tip. Teasing the sensitive flesh with your tongue before sinking down to the hilt. You pull out all the stops. Sucking his cock until he comes down your throat with a roar. Savoring every drop as he fills your belly.

Removing the spell, it seems to the room as if only 1 minute has passed. It does not go unnoticed that Loki is relaxed while he continues to lean against the wall. Grinning like a loon.

This is when Steve notices your slightly swollen lips and quiet panting. Having been on the receiving end of that look many a time, he seethes. Cracking the glass of whiskey in his hand.

You give your turn to Loki so that you may catch your breath. It’s no surprise to anyone that he chooses Steve. “Truth or Dare Captain?”

“Truth. I have nothing to hide.” He challenges the God of Mischief.

“Alright.” He glances at you quickly. Catching you subtly lick your lips, most likely still tasting of him, grinning to yourself. “When was the last time you got your cock properly serviced and with who?”

Everyone assumes the answer will be you when you were still together a couple weeks ago.

With a cocky grin and sip of his drink he answers as he stares you down. “Yesterday after training with Sharon. She caught me on my way to change in my room and said I looked tense and needed a release. I took her up on her offer. Plus she gives decent head.”

He must have thought that you were going to be upset that he let poor lovesick Sharon suck his dick instead of getting the best head of his life from you. You couldn’t care less actually.

Not when you were getting dicked down in your own post training bath with Thor. It really is a great way to help stretch out and relax your muscles.

“Good for you Steven. You always are so tense after a rough training session. I know I was. Thor helped sort me out though.” You sweetly state.

“Are you serious right now? You two were practically on the verge of killing each other in the training room.”

“Great foreplay. Don’t tell me you never partook in post battle coitus with her. She is ravenous after any kind of rough play.” Thor, the sweet himbo that he is, adds in.

“Fuck this. I’m going to bed.”

“Should I call Sharon to come lick your wounds?”

“Fuck you Ci”

“Sorry not tonight, Cap.”

In the state-of-the-art training room only Stark money could provide. Left to your own devices. You and Bucky are engaged in an intense sparring session.

Each move is calculated, precise, and born from years of relentless training. Bucky, a seasoned veteran, exudes an aura of quiet confidence and strength. While you, a woman of equal skill and determination, possess an uncanny ability to anticipate his every move.

As you grappled along the training matts, your bodies intertwined in a dance of submission and evasion. Knives glinted in the dim light, their edges a constant threat that kept you both on high alert.

On an instinct, you feigned a strike. Your body language, a masterpiece of your deception. In that split second, you seized the opportunity to swiftly maneuver behind the super soldier and lock him in a chokehold.

Triumph flashed in your eyes as you tightened your grip around his throat. Victory soon at hand.

But Bucky was not a man to be outdone. With a lightning-fast reversal, he spun on his heel, catching you off guard. His powerful muscles and Vibranium arm strained as he flipped you over, pinning you to the ground. A wry smile played on his lips as he secured his victory.

Though the training session had ended, the unspoken tension between the two of you lingered in the air.

“Still too cocky for your own good, Doll.”

“Are you ever going to get tired of saying that?”

“You ever gonna stop letting me best you?”

“And miss gazing into those icy blues of yours. I don’t think so. I’ve been a goner for them since the first time you laid eyes on me.”

The first time you met James Barnes was not in Germany like every likes to think. In fact, you had a prior and very intimate relationship with the Winter Soldier. You nursed him back to health long ago when he was still under Hydras thumb. He had wound up collapsed at your doorstep in the middle of nowhere when a mission went wrong and his handler died.

That was the first time he was able to begin remembering. You spent countless nights in front of the fire. Keeping each other warm as you explored these new feelings together. Keeping your skills sharp by engaging in sparring sessions that always ended up pressed flesh to flesh and covered in sweat. Helping him hold on to whatever memories would pop up. It was both sweet and dangerous.

When Hydra tripped your alarms, he begged you to just let him be retrieved. He couldn’t bare knowing any harm came to you because of him. So you let him go with a sweet kiss. But not before placing mark on his ribs that only other gods and those spelled to do so can see.

“You never told him did you?” You inquire.

“Neither did you.”

“I did it for your protection. You were on the run and I didn’t want anything to happen to you. It’s not my fault he went on the run for you. Who do you think helped him break everyone out and gave Shuri the extra juice to reverse those nasty words in your head.”

“I can’t keep watching him do this to you Ci. I’ve tried talking to him but he cant get it through his stubborn skull how good he has had it. I would give up my humanity to have you back again. I would never take you for granted. Hell, I’d happily let you keep him as a lover in our life if that’s what you so choose. I wouldn’t care who I had to share you with. Just as long as I had you.”

“James.” You whisper. “Take your shirt off.”

“What? Why?”

“Just do it please.”

As he does, the rest of the team file in along with Thor and Loki to run some training exercises of their own.

“Buck why do ya got your shirt off already pal?” Steve questions.

“I asked him to.” You deadpan.

“Why the hell would you do that for Ci? Don’t you have Thor and Loki to play with. Bucky is off limits.”

“I’m afraid that’s where you wrong Steven.”

Bucky looks at you with pleading eyes. Unfortunately you just don’t care to keep this secret anymore.

“James, lift your left arm and turn your side towards our team please.”

“Oh! Your finally going to do it. I was wondering how long, if ever, you were going to let them in on it.” Loki teases.

“On what?” Steve grits out.

“On this.” With a wave of your hand a symbol appears on Bucky's ribs. Glowing a soft golden light that matches your eyes. A chalice overflowing with wine.

“He already is mine. He has been for a quite some time. And will remain that way until he draws his last breath. Which wont be for a very long time as his soul is tied to mine.”

Bucky looks at you with confusion in his eyes. “You gave me your soul bond? Even though I was under Hydras control.”

“I did. It was what gave you the extra strength to endure and survive. I knew you would make it back to me one day. As an immortal I have all the time in the world to wait.”

“But you were with me when I brought him back here.” Steve blurts out.

“Well aren’t you the observant one Stevie. It changes nothing. If he had come to me that day and declared he wanted his place by side, he’d of had it in heartbeat. After a discussion between all of us of course. I’m not actually heartless. I just come off that way.”

“What the fuck Ci?! My best friend! You couldn’t tell me you had been with my best friend when he was brainwashed.”

“Watch your tongue, Rogers. You have no room to speak upon what I did or did not disclose to you. I wasn’t the one playing games with the others heart and emotions now was I.” You seethe.

“I asked her not to.” Bucky imparts. “I was free of Hydra, and we were rebuilding our friendship and I didn’t want to mess it up by intruding on what you had. I was just happy to be near her again and that she had someone I trusted by her side. But man was I wrong. What the hell happened to you Steve? Little Stevie from Brooklyn would have never treated a dame, let alone a goddess, the way you have Ci.”

“Don’t try and turn the blame on me Buck. You could have told me you’d been with her. We shared girls before back when I couldn’t get any on my own. What was so different with her?”

The team looks at each other after that comment with curious brows.

“Because she means more to me than just sex and that is what you would have reduced it to. I told myself, I would either get to have her fully, out in the open or not at all. Keeping my love tucked in the shadows.”

“So you’re the only one who can love her?” Steve shouts.

You clear my throat. “Ahem. You gave up that right when you kicked me to the curb yet again two weeks ago.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t love you. I just get all lost in my head thinking about starting a family and how would that even be possible with a goddess if I couldn’t even get my dance with Peggy. Then I get angry and need space so I just end it so I can really think things through. I always come back though, Doll. Always.”

“Wooow.” Tony says with a clap. “Capsicle really stuck his foot in it this time.”

“So, your telling me, that instead of just having a conversation about what’s prattling around in that stubborn ass head of yours you thought it prudent to just break up with me then turn around and ask for me to take you back time and time again?” Your eyes alight with golden fire as your temperature raises.

“Avengers, I’d advise you to get behind me and Thor for your safety. I’ve only ever seen her this angry a handful of times and it usually does not end well.” Loki nonchalantly states.

“Yes. No. I-I don’t know. I was confused okay!” He shouts back. “Needed to work some shit out.”

“And that required you to be between Sharon's thighs and any attractive woman who gave you the time of day?”

“Well no, not exactly. That just helped me shut my brain off. But it never felt as good as being inside you.”

“Well, congrats to me for having such good pussy. Why is that though? Does my pussy beat better than my heart does? Boy, please, you aren’t blind. Your too smart for that lie.”

“I’m an idiot when it comes to women and love in general okay. Give me a fight and I know exactly what to do. But love? I’m clueless.”

“Don’t expect pity from me for you playing with my heart. I gave you more than enough room to grow and explore and figure things out as they came. It’s not my fault you chose to throw those things in my face. It is my fault for taking you back so many times though. Especially after Bucky arrived. But he wanted to stay loyal to you. His oldest pal. So I catered to his wishes. Even if it ended up to my detriment.”

“Seemed to be doing just fine to me while you were hooking up with Loki and Thor.”

“My Godly exes. Who I was in a relationship with a millennia ago in another realm. Men who I trust enough with my body to understand that carnal pleasure is all I am able to afford them at this time?”

“Makes no difference to me. Not when you were parading it around. I now can only imagine how it made Buck feel.”

“Didn’t bother me. I know all about how their relationships worked. Gods are different. She’s not in love with them like that. Not anymore at least. They were no threat to me. Plus I was still staying in the shadows.”

“Also.” Thor interrupts. “That lovely little soul bound symbol along Barnes’ ribs can only be seen by other Gods and anyone the bond holder deems fit to see it. So we already knew where at least half of her heart was held. Plus she is such a great lover. I never pass up the chance for such pleasure when I am afforded it.”

“Aye Aye” Loki agrees.

Steve throws his hands up and storms off. Most likely to go ruin a punching bag or five.

Bucky takes the opportunity to embrace you in front of everyone. At his acceptance of your claim, gold and black lines appear on your left shoulder. Matching the pattern of his Vibranium arm.

“Seems the bond has formerly been reciprocated. Welcome to Immortality White Wolf.”

“What are we going to do about Steve?”

“Let him go pout or fuck or whatever he needs to do. When he’s calmed down, we’ll have a conversation and figure out if he deserves a place by our side. You do have a very very long life ahead of you now.”

“Oh he has a looong way to go before I’m okay with letting him get close to you like that again. I think you gave him far too many chances.”

“I gave you a chance from the start didn’t I. Wasn’t planning to fall so quickly or for you to have such an impact on me but sometimes the fates like to play games.”

“Doesn’t help when you spell their lovers for making a pass at you.” Loki discloses.

“Excuse me, but I was spelled for my protection. If they had tried to keep their hands to themselves nothing would have happened to them.” You defend. “And If I remember correctly, you benefitted that night from the spell as well. Bedding down 3 fates at once is quite a feat. You’re welcome.”

Loki grins that devilish smile. “I’d be happy to show you my gratitude once more.”

After family dinner later that night…

“Are you serious Steve? You can’t possibly be serious right now. Who the fuck gave you the right to even speak with such vitriol on your tongue about him? He may care about maintaining his salvaged reputation but honey I am a whole mess of I don’t give a fuck. There is nothing you can do or say to me that I haven’t already done to myself. So come on. Try me. I love stupid games. I always come up with the best prizes.”

“Doll, you don’t need to do this. I’m okay. Steve's just hurting.”

“Like hell you are James. I know that look in your eyes and I’m not okay with it. Everything inside of me wants to make a scene right now. To bring America’s Golden Boy to his knees. But I know you don’t want that. So, this is the best solution.”

“Oh, wow. You need the goddess to fight your battles for you now Buck. Just look at you pussy whipped already. I must say I much preferred when I didn’t know you had had my woman before me.” The angry blonde spouts off.

That was it. That what the last nail in his soon to be coffin. Your shoulders relaxed, as a calmness took over. You turned to smile sweetly at the group of hero’s lounging around you in the common room. “If you’ll excuse me.”

You rise to your feet. Bucky reaches out with his metal arm, giving your hand a squeeze and looking into your almost vacant eyes. “Doll?”

You just squeeze his hand back before releasing it and starting to walk away. You could hear Steve’s teeth clenching as he bites down on his jaw. A quiet had settled within the room.

“Sure can dish it out. Too bad you can’t ta-“

That was all he was able to make out before your hand tightened around his windpipe. No one moved to help the hero.

“What was that? We’re you going to imply that I couldn’t take it. Tsk tsk tsk.” You make sure to dig your nails in, allowing little rivulets of crimson to take the course of gravity and stain is alabaster skin.

His eyes begin frantically searching the faces of his friends around him. Surely someone would come to his aid. He was the leader of the team wasn’t he.

“Oh, they won’t help you my dear. As you know I’m not exactly mortal. And therefore, even with all their nifty enhancements. They are no match for me. Expect Wanda. Although I really don’t want to know the truth to that. I very much like the Scarlet Witch.”

You allow him to take a quick breath and he squeaks out. “Thor. Loki.”

“My demi god exes?” You start to laugh. “You think the can or will save you?”

He nods.

“Oh you poor unfortunate soul. That’s not going to happen. You see, I can control the elements and well all that lovely Thunder can be rendered useless with a snap of my fingers. I’m also the mother of magic. Only one close to me is Freya. Loki’s magic technically stems from me.”

You turn to the blonde Adonis and dark prince with a smile. “I wouldn’t do anything to you without just cause. You know that.” You send them a wink and they beam a smile your way.

“Doll, he’s starting to turn red.” Bucky states.

“Oops.” You loosen the pressure on his windpipe but keep your hand firmly in place around his thick and bleeding neck.

“I think it’s due time for you to retire to your wing for the night Captain. Wouldn’t want anything to happen to you that can’t be reversed.”

You take a step back, releasing him. Watching as he clutches his neck. Eyes brimming with hurt and anger.

You lean forward and run your tongue along an errant trail of his life force. Making sure he watches as you trace it along your lips, before pulling it into your mouth and swallowing. With the snap of your crimson covered fingers all traces of blood disappear.

“Now run along. And remember,” You step forward so that you may whisper in his ear. “This was but a warning. It would more than please me for you to fuck around and find out what I would do if you slight what is mine again.” You place a kiss to his cheek and return to your White Wolf.

Everyone watches on as he huffs and puffs. Stomping towards the elevators.

Everyone except for Bucky. He only has eyes for you.

He pulls you down to straddle his lap. You can feel exactly what that little display of your power used against his best friend did to him pushing against his zipper. His flesh hand grips your hip tightly as his metal thumb runs along your bottom lip. “Say goodnight to our friends, Doll.”

“Why? Steve’s gone. We can enjoy the rest of our evening in peace now.”

“Say goodnight, георгин. Unless you want our friends to see you get fucked stupid.”

You bite your lip and maintain eye contact with his steel greys. “Goodnight, Earth’s mightiest.”

He grips your thighs tight and rises from his seat. Heading for the elevators. “Tony, up the sound proofing for our floor. Oh and can you funnel the audio to my Asshole best friends room as well.”

“Damn that’s pouring lemon and salt into the wound.” Clint quips.

Tony messes with a screen on his watch for a moment. “Done and done terminator. Try not to break too much furniture this time please. I’m gonna have to start a tab soon with you two.”

Before the elevator doors can fully close you shout out. “What’s the fun in that!”

[hobartsaglet]

Let’s talk about Foggy Nelson

TL;DR- if you’re gonna kill him off, make it more compelling.

Chase ranting under the cut:

TW: mentions of g-ns, bl00d, getting sh@t, c@ncer, gr!ef and l@ss

God, the news about cutting Foggy’s role in Born Again short makes me and so many other fans devastated.

I was shocked by these set picture, because Deborah’s face is bloody and it looks like Elden on the ground. And why does it have to happen in front of Josie’s, of all places! That’s so so fucking heartbreaking if what I think happens will happen.

Fuuuck.

I first watched the series just over a year ago, and I instantly connected with Foggy. He’s not one of the big beefy guys beating the snot out of each other on screen. He doesn’t have any radioactive superpowers, he doesn’t know how to fight (unless he has a softball bat), and he could use some work with his Spanish.

But god, I’ve never felt so warm around another character.

He’s kind, he’s a servant heart, he loves unconditionally, and dammit, he loves food! I’ll never forget how hard I cried over the scene of him and Matt in college- sure, it’s a rarity to see Matthew so happy, but it’s even more meaningful that Foggy is there. He’s been by Matt’s side since the day they met. And god, if that isn’t some rugged loyalty, I don’t know what is. Matt treated him like garbage, especially in season 2, season 3, and Defenders, and yet Foggy stays because he just loves his best friend. He wants the best for him.

And so this choice by the Born Again writers, to just throw it all away, seems so cheap.

For people who know me and how I write, I know I’m no better when it comes to killing off characters. I’m not opposed to Major Character Death. But this choice, this way of killing him off seems careless, given the impact he has on the show (and not just his emotional influence. Foggy is part of the reason why Matt does all he does).

Foggy can still be killed off and given a dignified death. I don’t care if the writers killed him off for shock value. Dardevil was never a shock value type show.

Fine, we kill him off.

It makes no damn sense to shoot him on the side of the street, getting it over with in a 2-minute scene.

(Let’s assume that this is what they plan to do, for the sake of what I’m trying to say.)

It’s called Daredevil: Born Again, right?

Rebirth is fucking painful. Sure, so is a gunshot wound to the chest. But so is knowing your best friend is dying and you can do Jack. Shit. about it.

A huge struggle for Matthew is the way he’s constantly fighting tooth and nail for control. Knowing your best friend is dying of cancer (as he suffered in the comics), slowly waning away and there is not a thing you can do about it would hit him so hard and make him lose himself (His metaphorical Death). And he’s trying to hide it all.

Throughout the show, Foggy is there, playing his usual part, but we all have this sense of loss, knowing he won’t be here for much longer. Around the climax of the show, maybe even the finale, it’s time.

For fans of the OG show, we all remember Foggy’s way with words. We remember how he talked down the gang members in the hospital and saved lives. We remember how he had the guts to stand up to Reyes on multiple occasions. We remember his prowess in the courtroom, just as equally matched as his best friend.

So I think Foggy should be the catalyst for Matthew to be Born Again. I think some of his final words are going to make him remember himself.

(And this is not to romanticize cancer in the slightest, and if I were to write this out in full, Foggy’s struggles would be real as they could get. Sending love and empathy to those battling with cancer and those who have lost loved ones. My heart is with you.)

That’s how to make Foggy’s death significant and impactful to his place in Matthew’s life and the narrative.

As Charlie Cox once famously said,

“Foggy Nelson is the beating heart of Daredevil.”

And it would be a damn shame to stop it so soon.

———

(Thanks to @kutpot who helped kickstart this whole rant)

[dc-said-bi-robin-rights]

BEEP… BEEP… BEEP

Jaime Reyes, the superhero known the world as Blue Beetle, lazily throws an arm over his face as the alarm continues to go off next to his ear. He doesn’t wanna get up. It’s still so early…

“Jaime Reyes,” his Scarab chides, its flat machine-like voice perfectly audible even with the loud, insistent beeping in the background—which makes sense, given that’s its not actually speaking, but rather communicating directly with his mind. “It is almost—”

“I’m going, I’m going,” Jaime groans out loud, sitting up and rubbing the bleariness out of his eyes. He looks at his alarm clock, and his eyes widen. 3:15 in the afternoon. Damn.

“Tres y quince,” he mutters out loud, kicking the blankets away and leaning over to turn off his alarm clock. He missed breakfast, he knows, and is about to miss lunch too if he doesn’t hurry. “Conchale, Khaji, y porque no me despiertas?”

If it was possible for sentient alien WMDs to be irritable, he’s certain Scarab would be shorter-tempered than even Cassie is these days. “Jaime Reyes—”

“Ya, ya, ya,” he interrupts impatiently, waving Scarab off with a sweep of his hand and getting up to walk towards the closet. “Olvidalo, da igual, me visto y ya. Hormiga de miercoles…”

The Scarab mercifully doesn’t bother correcting him, and before long Jaime is sitting down in the living room across from Cassie and Tim, neither of whom spare him a glance, with Tim too busy with his tablet to even bother looking up and Cassie just melancholically glaring down at her food like it is the reason for the mess they’re all in. Jaime isn’t really surprised—no one on the team really spoke to each other all that much anymore after the incident down at the docks two months ago, but it still rankles him for reasons he can’t fully verbalize. Cassie killed someone. They should be trying to figure out what that meant, together, as a team, not closing themselves off in their own little worlds to process what happened by themselves.

He tries to just keep his head down and get with the program, he really does, but after ten long minutes in complete silence the awkwardness becomes too unbearable.

“Soo,” he tries, absentmindedly picking at his food with his fork. “Nice weather we’re having, huh?”

Great start, Jaime.

Cassie completely ignores him, which isn’t a surprise, but he does succeed in making Tim at least raise his head. “Do you need something, Jaime?” he asks neutrally, his eyes cool in a way they really shouldn’t be.

“I… no, I guess not,” he says uncertainly, off-put by the sudden coldness that came over Tim’s demeanor over such a bland, inoffensive statement as the one he just uttered. “Just…”

“Just what?” he asks.

It’s not aggressive.

It’s not Tim, either.

“Nothing,” he replies, swallowing thickly before getting up from the table. “I think I lost my appetite.”

“Did you?” He sounds so… bored. With Jaime. With everything. “That’s too bad.”

Jaime gathers up his plate and half-turns to the kitchen, getting more and more creeped out by the moment. “Right. I, um, I’m just gonna go, if that’s alright with the two of you.”

“Fine by me,” Tim says simply, lowering his gaze back to the tablet. “Just clean your plate before you put it in the dishwasher. We don’t want a repeat of the Bart incident.”

“Sure thing,” Jaime mutters absently as he turns and walking away, feeling Tim’s gaze burn into his back despite the fact he’s not even looking at him. “I’ll get right on it.”

He shakes his head as soon as he’s out of the room. What the hell was up with everyone lately?

~~

“And don’t do it again!” Eddie roars in a strangely deep voice, slamming the door in their faces. They hear it lock a moment later, and an awkward silence engulfs the hallway for a good ten seconds as he and Bart try to process the fact that Eddie Bloomberg just screamed at them over them knocking on his door to invite him to play video games.

“He’s…” Bart tries, before falling silent. Jaime doesn’t know what he was gonna say. Stressed? In a bad mood?

“Yeah, I bet he is,” Jaime mutters, not even completely sure of what he means by that, before tapping his fist against Bart’s shoulder and walking away. “Sorry, hermano. Another day.”

“Yeah,” Bart says quietly, still standing there staring at Eddie’s locked door like it held the keys to some great puzzle. “Another day.”

~~

Jaime holds a fist to his mouth in an attempt to stifle his chuckling as he walks towards M’gann room. In his hand he holds a long, rambling letter from his conspiracy nut uncle warning him about some supposed behind-the-curtain happenings in the military—generals being quietly sacked and replaced with no justification overnight or going missing outright, whole weapon caches disappearing from the official logs, tanks and airplanes being found irreparably damaged from one day to the next, that sort of thing. It’s nonsense, and it reads like the sort of thing a QAnonist might come up with. Jaime wants to do a dramatic reading of it in front of M’gann—he has a feeling they both need more reasons to smile these days, and the last time he read out one of his uncle’s fiery letters the sound of her helpless giggling made him unable to stop smiling for a whole week. Goofing off like that again will do them both good, he decides.

“Hey, chica, come look at this!” he calls out, knocking on her door twice in quick succession.

There’s no answer.

Jaime’s brows knit together in concern. “M’gann?”

Nothing.

“M’gann, come on!” he calls out, knocking frantically on her door, despite the fact that he knows he has to be in there—no one has seen her leave her room in days. “This isn’t funny!”

No answer. He tries the door. Locked.

She’d been burnt after the crisis, Jaime remembers. She’d said she’d be fine. She’d promised.

Please, not another one. We can’t take another one.

“Jaime Reyes,” the Scarab says, and he extends his arm as the left side of his suit materializes over his body. Thanks, Khaji, he thinks, flexing his fingers before curling them into a fist and smashing through the door with a single punch. He gropes blindly for the handle on the other side before his fingers settle around it. He twists, opening the door and walking inside.

The room beyond is empty and devoid of color, completely unlike what it had been the last time Jaime was here. All of M’gann’s belongings are gone, taken. There’s no body, no evidence whatsoever of a fight or of a wound gone bad. It’s as if she simply… vanished.

“M’gann?” Jaime whispers.

The curtains flap in the wind through the open window, the only movement in the lifeless room. It is his only answer.

~~

“Hey,” he greets Rose as he passes her in the hallway, handing her the coffee in his left hand but keeping the one in his right for himself. “Sleep well?”

“Not really,” she admits, taking it from his hands with a grateful nod. “You?”

Jaime sighs. “Not really.”

Nothing more needs to be said—what happened last night was horrible enough without needing to discuss it.

And still… he feels the urge to cover for his kind-of friend, even if what he did was seriously shitty, accident or not. “Listen, I’m sure Eddie thought he was being sweet when he… you know. Are you sure you want to drop him over it? You two were like best friends, right? Maybe if you ju—”

“If the next words out of your mouth are anything like what I think they’re about to be, it’s gonna be you that gets a broken nose next,” Rose warns, closing herself off so fast Jaime has to swallow hard to vanish the sudden dryness in her throat. “Drop it.”

“Fine, okay, sorry,” he says quickly, holding up his hands in surrender. “I won’t bring it up again.”

“Good.”

There’s a long silence, and then, “What are you going to do, then?” Jaime asks, biting his lip. “About Eddie, I mean.”

Rose snorts. “Whatever the hell that thing is, it sure as hell isn’t Eddie anymore.”

Jaime’s eyebrows rise his hairline. “The heck’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, nevermind,” she says, moving on before Jaime can press the topic. “I… probably punch someone who cares about me really hard, knowing me.” She pushes her hair back with one hand and sighs, a little bitterly. “It’s what I do best, it seems like.”

Jaime doesn’t dare touch that last part with a five foot pole. “You mean Cassie?”

“Might be best,” Rose agrees, taking a long sip from her coffee cup and licking her lips afterwards… before suddenly grinning widely at him. “Mmh, this is good. Thanks for making the trip, by the way. I know it wasn’t a short one.”

“I was going there anyway,” Jaime lies, wondering why Rose was acting so nice to him all of a sudden. Maybe it was the coffee? He might need to fetch her a cup more often if it meant she’d be nicer to him in the future.

“Uh huh,” she snorts, turning to walk away. “See you around, Jaime.”

“You too, Rose,” he replies, before something suddenly occurs to him. “Hey, wait a moment, actually.”

Rose stops, turning her head to look back at him. “Yeah?”

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to spar with Cassie right now?” The image of her glaring furiously down at her plate for no reason at all flashes through his mind. “I don’t think she’s in a good mood today.”

“Worried about little old me now?” Her tone turns bitter again all of a sudden, so fast Jaime’s head spins trying to keep up with her sudden mood shifts. “And here I thought I ‘scared the poop out of you’.”

Jaime has the decency to look sheepish. “You… heard that, huh?”

“I did. So why don’t you keep your advice to yourself and let me worry about my own girlfriend, huh?” she sneers, walking away before Jaime can come up with a reply.

“Oh, come on, I didn’t even…” Jaime trails off. Wait. Girlfriend?

Huh.

That’s new.

Guess they finally got it over with.

And yet… hadn’t Rose told Cassie to never lay a hand on her again after they’d pulled her out of that vision? What was that about? Did they…

Oh, whatever, he thinks, mentally cutting himself off. It’s none of my business anyway.

He doesn’t think much of it until later, when he walks into the unisex bathroom on the fifth floor and sees Rose standing in front of the mirror dabbin at her face with a makeup stick in the dark.

“Uh,” he coughs, taking a step back towards the door. I didn’t even know Rose wore makeup. “Sorry, I didn’t know you were in here. I’ll, just, um—”

“Go in the stall,” she cuts him off, not turning to look at him. “I’m just using the mirror.”

“Uh, okay,” he says, too taken aback to argue. He turns towards the stall, but as he does so, he catches sight of Rose’s reflection in the mirror—and pauses misstep, his eyes widening.

Rose’s one good eye was encircled by the blackest, nastiest bruise he’d ever seen, so large and ugly the eye itself was nearly swelled shut. Jaime starts—he didn’t even know Rose could get bruised, had always assumed her healing factor would take care of any minor injuries like that before they became notable. He’s certainly never seen her with a bruise. Cuts, yeah. But bruises? Nope. Not once.

“Are you…” Jaime starts, his voice trailing away when Rose makes an annoyed noise in the back of her throat.

“Sparring injury. Don’t worry about it.”

“Sparing’s not supposed to leave injuries.”

“Well, it did this time,” Rose says impatiently, turning her head to glare at him. “Do you mind? I’m trying to do something here.”

Her words from earlier run through his mind. “Did Cassie…?”

Every muscle in Rose’s body tenses so suddenly he visibly flinches. “Did Cassie what?” she grinds out, her tone the angriest he’s ever heard from her.

Holy poop, I’m gonna die, he thinks first, quickly followed by, no, wait, Khaji, I’m fine, don’t deploy the suit.

“Well, did she, uh…” he starts, trailing off. It’s such a ridiculous thought he can’t even bring himself to voice it. Cassie can be pretty intense at times, sure, passionate, yeah, stubborn, absolutely, angry, definitely… but she wouldn’t let herself seriously hurt fellow Titans no matter how on edge she was. He quickly change tracks. “Y’know, go overboard a bit by accident?”

Rose relaxes so quickly it gives him whiplash. Her shoulders loosen, her features soften, her fists unclench… it’s like some higher entity flicked her anger switch off and reset her to an earlier mood. Before he can comment on this, she turns her face back to the mirror and goes back to dabbing at it with the stick. “It’s nothing I couldn’t take.”

That’s… not reassuring, either.

“You know you don’t have to ‘take’ anything from a teammate, right?” Jaime asks slowly, not only kind of alarmed now but quite frankly disturbed. A nagging voice in the back of his head keeps telling him something about this just… isn’t right. Rose has been so… off lately. It’s like someone crawled under her skin and found it a too-snug fit, like someone was sat down and told to study a list of all of Rose’s mannerisms and speech-isms without bothering to provide them with the context to them. “Much less from someone who’s supposed to be your partner in… well, everything.”

“Uh huh,” Rose says disinterestedly, turning her face this way and that to observe herself. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

There’s something strangely familiar in the way she’s…

A memory flashes in his mind’s eye. He had once walked in on Traci standing in front of the mirror, dabbing at a spot on her cheek with a stick just like the one Rose is using now.

“What’s that?” he had asked, pointing at it.

“Oh, this?” She had held it up. “It’s…”

Concealer.

It’s not makeup, he realizes with a start. It’s concealer!

Rose isn’t giving herself a foundation, she’s trying to cover up the bruise!

He… he shouldn’t point this out. He shouldn’t. He knows he shouldn’t, after how Rose just reacted to him even vaguely implying Cassie might have hurt her on purpose.

And yet…

“If it’s really just a sparring injury,” he says, very carefully, “why are you trying to cover it up?”

Rose stiffens. Very slowly, she drops the stick into the sink—Jaime can hear it clank against the marble—and grabs the edges of it. Then she just… stays like that, staring down at the sink like it was a divination pool in one of those shitty mmos people swore were supposed to be fun. Jaime waits, and waits, and waits, and just when he has given up on her ever answering and turned towards the door she speaks again, her voice quiet. “It made daddy feel guilty.”

His hand freezes on the doorknob. “What?”

“Looking at it,” she elaborates, like that explained anything. Jaime hears the creak of her gloves as her fingers tighten on the sink. “She… she didn’t mean to. She told me so.”

There’s a very long pause as Jaime turns around and just… stares at Rose.

“What did you just say?” he finally asks, just to make sure it wasn’t his imagination.

For a moment, nothing happens, and then Rose slightly turns her face, her one eye piercing Jaime with its intensity. He can’t move. He’s pinned in place, speared through the heart by the cold blue ice swimming in its depths. “What do you mean?”

“I… what you just said, it was���”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rose says cooly. “I never said anything to you.”

“I…”

“Did you hear something, Jaime?” she asks slowly, and something about her voice makes Jaime feel like the bug his persona is named after.

“I…uh, I…”

“Did you?” she insists, her gloves creaking again, and suddenly Khaji Da is screeching alerts into his mind, demanding he summon the suit, threatening him with assuming direct control if he doesn’t comply. He forces his alien ride-along back as harshly as he can and takes a step back, then two.

“No,” he says, his voice almost a whisper, but he can’t for the life of him make it louder. His throat is so dry…

She looks amused. “No?”

“No, I didn’t,” he breathes. “I never heard you say anything.”

“I thought not.” Her lips slowly curl into a half-smirk, and like a switch, it’s Rose again. “See you later, Jaime.”

“I… see you later, Rose,” he breathes, blindly groping for the door knob, unwilling to turn his back to her after whatever the heck that was about. His fingers close around it and he hails it open, harder than he meant to, and he has to consciously slow down to cover up the terrified action before Rose is tipped off to his rapidly rising terror. He holds the door open with his foot and slowly starts exiting the room, keeping his eyes on Rose the entire time, like she’d change again if he looked away.

He waits until he hears the door shut behind him to breathe again, only now feeling the way his heart is pumping a mile a minute.

What the actual duck?

~~

He’s fully convinced himself the entire thing in the bathroom was some kind of cuckoo hallucination by the next day, despite Khaji doggedly insisting it wasn’t and requesting permission to label Rose as an enemy in his systems.

“For the last time, Khaji,” he says out loud as he pushes open the door to the gym—Cassie had gotten rid of the automatic doors some days ago, for reasons Jaime couldn’t really understand—something about buying newer, more reinforced models. “Rose isn’t…” he trails off, catching sight of the titular ex-mercenary running on her personal treadmill near the back wall, her hair pulled back, a towel slung around her bare shoulders. He smiles, reassured by such a normal sight; he’s scared poopless of Rose by his own admission, but just because he knows she could totally crack his skull like a watermelon if he put his head under her foot while she was running doesn’t mean he’s not still glad to see someone acting normally around here for once.

“Jaime Reyes, nothing about this situation is normal,” the Scarab warns, it’s robotic voice sounding actually frustrated. “Do not go near her. I repeat, do not—”

“Hey, Rose,” he calls out as he walks past her, receiving only a grunt in response. “What’s up?”

Khaji Da screeches it’s displeasure into his mind, but he pointedly ignores it.

“Nothing much,” Rose replies in between bouts of heavy breathing. Jaime looks at her machine’s display and sees she’s running at an average speed nearly twice that of Usain Bolt at his prime. “You?”

“Nothing much,” he says, reassured by how normal she’s acting that the whole thing in the bathroom was just his imagination. “I just felt like doing some weights today.

“Good for you,” Rose pants, a grin in her voice. “You could use some bulki—augh!”

Jaime turns to see something impossible—Rose Wilson collapsed on the ground, clutching her leg, having fallen off the treadmill like an amateur.

“Uh, you okay?” he asks hesitantly, more confused than concerned—he’d been pretty sure Rose was biologically incapable of being clumsy up until now.

“Fuck… off,” Rose spits, gritting her teeth and trying to stand… only to fall on her ass a second time with a pained grunt. It’s kind of embarrassing, actually.

“Hey, I’m just wondering if you’re okay,” Jaime protests, instead of voicing that particular out loud, because he’s not in fact suicidal.

“Well, stop wondering—I’m fine,” she snarls, trying to stand up again and failing for the third time. “Just… tripped. I…”

“Jaime Reyes,” Khaji Da says in his mind, making Rose’s voice fade into the background. “I have detected information you might want to hear.”

“Spill,” he says out loud, cutting Rose off mid-sentence and earning himself “The Look”—his name for the weird looks people always gave him when he started seemingly talking to himself.

“Subject Rose “Ravager” Wilson has a severely torn muscle in her lower left calf,” it reports, “likely due to to significant overtaxing over a very short period of time.”

“That’s…”

“Not all,” the Scarab interrupts. “She also has several slightly older injuries that would typically require medical attention, including two cracked ribs, a bruised pelvis, and a fractured leg.”

Jaime rounds on Rose, incredulous. “You were running forty two miles an hour on a broken leg?!”

Rose scowls up at him. “How did you…?”

“Nevermind that,” Jaime interrupts, kneeling down in front to Rose and offering her his hand. “Are you insane or what?”

Rose slaps aside his hand and slowly, painfully, gets up on her own. “You don’t understand,” she grinds out, teeth gritted against the pain.

“Then help me understand,” he demands, reaching out to steady her as she stumbles. “You’re gonna kill yourself at this rate.”

“She needs me,” Rose snarls, pushing him away. “That’s worth a little pain.”

“Who, Rose?” he retorts, exasperated, feeling like he’s going insane. What the hell was up with everyone? “Who needs you so badly you’d kill yourself to help them?”

“Hey,” a familiar voice says, and he turns to see Cassie standing in the doorway. “Everything okay in here?

He doesn’t miss the way her eyes jealously linger on the closeness between him and Rose for a moment longer than excusable.

Jaime opens his mouth to say something like, “Did you do this to her?”, but Rose beats him to the punch.

“Everything’s fine, da—dear,” Rose assures her, and it’s so obviously such a not-Rose thing to say that Jaime seriously contemplates whether he’s actually still asleep and this isn’t some really weird dream.

“Good,” Cassie says, her eyes flickering again to Jaime before they round on Rose, “cause I was wondering if you wanted to spar again today.”

A flash of dread crosses Rose’s face, so obvious and unveiled even Cassie must have plainly caught it. “I’d love to.”

“Great!” Cassie beams, and the world’s not only gone off its axis, it’s detached completely and is currently heading towards a black hole. “Training room 3A?”

Rose gives a pained grin. “It’s a date.”

Cassie’s smile widens, and she turns and walks out of the room. Jaime turns to Rose, aiming to silently implore her not to go… only to find her already following after Cassie, trotting a bit—fractured leg notwithstanding—to keep up.

I’m in a freaking madhouse, Jaime realizes.

~~

Jaime taps his fingers against his leg, carefully not looking at either Conner or Bart, who are seated on the floor in front of him playing a fighting game. It’s his turn next, but try as he might, he finds he just can’t concentrate on that with everything that’s happened.

He tries to dismiss the urge to ask the others about it, but it eventually it grows too strong for him, and he concedes to it. “So… Rose has been acting pretty weird lately.”

There’s a long, pregnant pause.

“Has she?” says Conner, too curiously for it to be genuine. “I haven’t noticed.”

His heart skips a beat for reasons he can’t entirely articulate. Conner probably notices. He tries not to think about that.

“Hmm,” he says noncomitally, his eyes flickering over to the other boy. “What about you, Bart? Have you noticed anything?”

There’s an even longer pause.

“Nope,” Bart says slowly “Can’t say I have.”

~~

“She’s just stressed,” Rose tells him later, as they both sit on the roof looking at the stars. It had been her and Eddie’s favorite spot once, he knows, but Eddie never comes out of his room anymore. “Fighting me helps her, lets her gauge how hard she can go on normal opponents now that she’s not holding back as much anymore. She’s been doing a pretty good job of pulling her punches back so far.”

He’d be more inclined to believe her if it wasn’t for the brand-new cast over her wrist, the sheer white of it at a stark contrast to the thin strings of Rose’s blue bikini. “If you say so .”

“I do,” she says plainly, taking a long puff from her cigarette with her free hand. When she exhales, she blows out the smoke in a perfect ring. She watches it rise high up in the air for a moment, before wrestling a small stone free from the railing and handing it to him. “Throw it.”

“Huh?” Jaime says intelligently.

“Throw it. Through the ring. It should be pretty easy for you…” She grins. “…unless it’s actually the suit that does all the aiming for you.”

Jaime’s feels his lip curl into a smile. “What do I get if I do get it through?” he asks, cocking his arm back.

“You’ll see. Throw it.”

He does. It gets through. His smile widens.

“What’s my prize?” he asks, turning to Rose… before his smile fades at the look of dread on her face. “Rose?”

“I thought… I thought it was just a dream,” she murmurs, more to herself than to Jaime. “That…”

“Thought what was just a dream?” Jaime asks, frowning.

Rose turns her head to look at him. There’s something in her eyes he can’t quite place. She doesn’t say anything for a long moment, but just when Jaime opens his mouth to speak again, she says, “Don’t do it tomorrow.”

“Do what?”

“You know what. Don’t do it tomorrow,” she says, before standing up and walking away without another word.

Jaime blinks. “Rose?”

She does not look back, but Jaime swears he can hear her mutter, “Trust me.”

~~

“Ok, let’s see what you’ve been hiding,” Jaime says, cracking his fingers and getting to work on cracking Tim’s encryption.

I took a hacking class in high school. How hard could it be?

Very hard, as it turns out. Jaime’s on the verge of giving up when he finds a note taped to the bottom of the desk that reads, “New password is SpoilerAlert. Don’t forget this time. You owe at least that to her, you utter failure.”

It’s written in Tim’s hand. Jaime decides not to think too hard about it.

“Ok, let’s see what the hell is going on here…”

As he logs into Tim’s private files, the grandfather clock set against the far wall of Tim’s office chimes with the coming of the hour.

Tick

“—this is mercy!”

He shuts his eyes when Eddie starts screaming. Goddamn it. They should’ve realized…

Tock

“You made me do it. You made me.”

Tick

There’s a horrible squelching noise as the thief’s head yields beneath the force of Cassie’s fist, spraying pink matter and bits of flesh everywhere. The video wobbles as the person holding the phone steps back in shock, an action mirrored by everyone in the small crowd of criminals… until the screams begin.

“No, wait!” Cassie yells as everyone in the crowd save for the mysterious recorder starts to run, holding her hands out in a gesture of peace—which might be more effective if the dead thief’s brains weren’t still dripping from them. “I didn’t mean to! I…” she trails off, looking down at her hands like she’s never seen them before, like they belong to someone else. “I didn’t… I didn’t mean to.”

Tock

The clock chimes again by the time Jaime stops vomiting.

Tick

“If you’re seeing this, it means I’m leaving,” M’gann says into the security camera. “Please, Tim, show this tape to the others. I don’t want… I can’t say goodbye in person after what I just saw in your mind, but…”

Tock

“Ravager, huh?” The thing that wasn’t Eddie asked, grinning at the picture on his phone, which is pincered carefully between two massive red fingers. “Mmmh, I’d like to ravage her. I think she’d make a wonderfully feisty bride, wouldn’t you agree?”

“What, uh, makes you think that?” asks Tim, who is clearly uncomfortable with the situation… though not uncomfortable enough to leave it, clearly.

“Call it a feeling,” Not-Eddie says, his grin widening. “I have several, you know. I know these things.”

“Several…?”

“Brides,” the demon clarifies, his eyes literally blazing with mirth. “All of them beautiful and very happy with their place in life, I’ll have it said. I’m nothing if not a sensitive and attentive husband.”

“Right…”

“How much for the Ravager?” he asks, leaning forward and placing his palms on the desk, unaware or uncaring how his fiery hands singe the wood black underneath them. “You mortals do still like gold, don’t you?”

“Uh…”

“Or perhaps… it is power you seek?” Not-Eddie presses, his grin widening. “I can see your desires… you think yourself intelligent, little boy, but I can give you a mind that would dwarf all others. Would you like that?”

Jaime wishes he couldn’t tell Tim was tempted.

“I… no,” he says finally, swallowing thickly, as if mourning the opportunity he’s just rejected.

“No?” The demon raises an eyebrow, then shrugs. “Hmm… perhaps I misjudged you. It happens sometimes, it must be said. Very well, I could also offer you…”

“No, I meant…” he trails off, and for a moment Jaime thinks it’s because he’s struggling to think of a way to explain the concept of women having rights to a demon before Tim’s next words smash that optimistic hope to bits. “I meant, she’s really not mine to sell in the first place. She’s Cassie’s thing, not mine.”

Jaime’s breath stutters in disbelief. What the actual…?

“Oh?”

“Yeah, and even if she knew about your, uh, transformation, she’d never give Rose up after all the trouble she went to keep her around, even though it’s obviously the pragmatic thing to do. Sorry.”

“I see.”

But, um,” Tim starts, licking his lips. “That doesn’t mean I couldn’t get you… other things, if you made it worth my while… and didn’t tell Cassie.”

The demon looks intrigued. “Go on.”

Tim leans forward, a greedy glint coming over his eyes. “Well, you demons like making deals with desperate people, right?”

“You could say that.”

Tim’s lips slowly curl into a smile, and something about it makes Jaime’s mouth go dry. “How would you like to get your hands on a few supervillains?”

Tick

“Oh, G-God, Tim, I-I actually d-did it,” Cassie sobs into Tim’s shoulder, nearly incoherent with regret. “I-I did it, and… she… she didn’t even wake up! She… she trusted me, subconsciously, and I… I…”

“Hey, hey, don’t do that,” Tim says softly, rubbing soothing circles into Cassie’s back. “You had to. She left you no other choice.”

“That’s b-bullshit, and you know it!” Cassie yells, pushing away from Tim and wiping furiously at her eyes. “Great Hera, what have I done? I… I… I’m worse than Slade.”

Tim rolls his eyes. “Oh come on, even you don’t believe that.”

“And why not?” Cassie snaps, furiously rounding on Tim, tears running down her cheeks. “At least Slade had the decency to look her in the eyes when he did it! I snuck up on her while she was sleeping! Like some… some coward!”

Tim sighs. “Look, we both know we couldn’t just let someone with as much intel on us as Rose just walk out of here weeks before the operation… and if it makes you feel better, I condensed the formula so that you would only have to do it once instead of every weeks, like Slade.”

Cassie sniffs, wiping away a tear in the corner of her eye with her finger. “I… I need to tell her.”

Tim’s face visibly twitches in a way that makes Jaime’s heart fearfully skip a beat. “You’re kidding.”

“No, I’m not,” she says fiercely, blinking to clear the moisture in her eyes. “This is wrong, Tim. What I did was… horrible. I knew how scared she was of being controlled like that again… and I still did it!” She wipes at her eyes and turns towards the door, and for a moment it seems everything is gonna work out okay. “I can’t stand it a moment longer. I have to tell her.”

His eyes flicker to the date of the recording. It’s nearly a month old.

Rose had still been acting weird less than a day ago.

Dammit, he thinks, squeezing his eyes shut. Goddamn all you people, you’ve all gone insane.

He suddenly wants nothing more than to be at home with his sister, and his parents, in that place he grew up in, where everyone speaks Spanish and there are barbecues every Sunday and things are simply and easy and people he used to care about don’t turn out to secretly be massive douchebags, and—

“Do what you want,” he hears Tim say, seemingly uncaring. “I’m just wondering if you’ve thought the consequences through.”

Don’t stop, he feels himself thinking, even though he knows full well she is going to stop. Don’t listen to him. Keep going. Tell Rose. Make it make sense again.

“What do you mean?” Cassie’s voice asks hesitantly, and he doesn’t need to open his eyes again to know that she’s stopped. He still does it anyway.

“I mean, what do you think is gonna happen when you tell her you drugged her?” Tim asks sardonically, chuckling a little when Cassie’s expression tightens. “See, even you know I’m right. Remind me, how many times has she tried to kill Slade by now…?”

“I…”

“Four? Five?” He grins. “And like you said, at least Slade had the decency to look her in the eye when he did it. You… not so much.”

“I… what are you saying?”

“I’m saying, if you tell Rose what you did, you lose her forever,” Tim says, a bit more gently. “I mean, she was gearing up to leave even before you drugged her. She’s not ever going to forgive you if you tell her. You know that, right?”

“That… that doesn’t matter,” Cassie says, too firmly, like she’s trying to convince not only Tim but herself too. “What I did to her was wrong. I have to make up for it.”

Tim looks at her, then sighs, standing up and walking towards the medical cabinet in the back of the lab. “Okay.”

“I… really?”

“Yeah,” Tim says, pulling open one of the drawers and pulling out a long, thin syringe filled with an unfamiliar green liquid. “This is the antidote. You give this to Rose, she’ll be back to normal within the hour.”

He turns around and holds it out for Cassie to grab. “Take it.”

Do it. Come on. Please. It’s right there. You can fix everything if you just take it. It’s right there.

Cassie hesitates. “The serum… it’s not really mind control, is it?”

Jaime can Tim’s lips quirk up slightly. He’s just won, he realizes. “Nope. It just enhances feelings that are already there.”

By which he means it sends all of her emotions into overdrive and makes her extremely unstable. Goddamn it. How are you falling for this? You’re Wonder Girl. Use your freaking brain.

“Maybe… maybe it would be best to wait a bit before giving her the antidote,” Cassie says slowly, looking like she herself doesn’t believe what is saying. “Just to make sure the whole… thing is not as raw as it would be right now. Besides… since it’s a new version, it could have side effects we don’t know about, right? Maybe it would be best to stand back and study her case for a bit to make sure we don’t accidentally put her in distress by ‘curing’ her.”

Tim’s lips curl into an open smile. “I knew you’d come around.”

Tock

Operation Titanomachy.

It’s a strange name for a file.

Jaime clicks on it, more by curiosity than anything else, and his eyes widen at what he sees inside. There are plans for a full takeover of the government, graphs showcasing “military infiltration levels”, monthly political pie charts that are steady turning more and more extremist with every month, blueprints for state-run super-weapons, everything and anything an up-and-coming supervillain would need to—

An alarm suddenly blares in his head, and he turns, his suit materializing around him as the smoke pellets roll along the floor and hiss open, expelling what Khaji labels a deadly neurotoxin into the air. It’s about as dangerous to his suit’s air filtration system as a pebble and about as useful, though, so Jaime simply switches his vision settings to thermal and blasts Tim straight in the chest with his hand cannon. He flies back, out of the cloud of smoke and into the far wall, which he collapses against with a pained moan. Jaime marches right over to him and grabs him by the cape before he can recover, dragging him along the floor as he marches straight to the conference room.

One way or another, this insanity ends now.

“Jaime Reyes, this course is I’ll-advised,” the Scarab warns him, but he doesn’t care anymore. Six months. Six months of sitting there like a lamp, watching his friends turn into murders, and for what? For them to plot to take over the government? For Tim to sell incarcerated supervillains to a demon—and not just any demon, but the one that had killed Eddie? For Cassie to drug Rose the exact same way her father drugged her? No. He’s not stopping to consider a better option. He’d already let this go too far.

“J-Jaime,” Tim gasps, but it isn’t Jaime he’s speaking to anymore, it’s Blue Beetle. He has just enough time to squawk out a “w-wait!” before he founds himself picked up and lobbed through the door, which breaks under his weight and deposits him on the floor amidst a pile of broken wood.

“Nobody moves!” Blue Beetle snarls, his arm cannon raised and pointed at the room’s inhabitants, who look up in shock at his entrance. “I’ve had just about enough of this!”

The conference room is a little different from how it was the last time he was in here. The table is new, a holographic map of the world with several places outlined in red. At the back, Wonder Girl’s chair, recognizable by the ‘W’ symbol on the back of it, has been placed on a slight dais, all the better to look out over the contents of the map… and, perhaps unintentionally, down on the people around it.

Looks like they’ve already gotten started on all the fascist imagery. Figures.

Not that there were all that many people around the table—for whatever reason, only Wonder Girl, Superboy, and now Red Robin were in the room with him, with Rose obviously absent and Impulse nowhere to be found. As for Superboy and Wonder Girl, they were both seated some distance apart, but jumped to their feet at his entrance.

“Jaime, wh—” Wonder Girl cries, before she is cut off by an energy blast hitting the wall an inch from her ear. “Hey!”

“I know. I know what you’re plotting,” he reveals, taking a step forward, his helmet retracting rom his head so he can look her in the eyes. “And I know what you did.”

Wonder Girl visibly swallows. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Liar,” he accuses, lips twisting into a scowl. “How does it feel knowing you betrayed everything you stood for? That you betrayed the one person who’s never going to forgive you for it?”

Wonder Girl looks stricken for a moment, before her eyes flicker to his cannon hand.

“Jaime, think about this,” she warns, in a tone usually reserved for stupid, misbehaving children. “We’re your friends. We don’t wanna…”

“Lady, I don’t know who the hell you people are anymore,” Blue Beetle interrupts, priming his cannon, “but you’re sure as hell not my friends.”

Wonder Girl’s eyes flicker again, this time to something behind him, and by the time Blue Beetle thinks to turn two fiery-hot hands have clamped tightly onto his face from behind. A sizzling noise fills his ears, and it takes him a moment to register its his own flesh that’s burning. He screams, feeling his face boil beneath his assailant’s fingertips, and turns, shoving away the thing that wasn’t Eddie and then sending him crashing back with an energy blast. The massive demon—for, it seems, Red Devil had been metamorphosing somehow in his room and has now emerged as a muscular, eight feet tall version of himself—lets out a grunt and lies still as its back hits the wall, but Blue Beetle doesn’t let his guard down; he turns and transforms his left hand into a blade just in time to block Wonder Girl’s descending fist. Sparks fly as the alien metal clashes against her steel bracelet, but Blue Beetle doesn’t lean into the lock, knowing Wonder Girl is much stronger than he is, instead choosing to send a kick quick to her stomach to get some distance in between them and turn to face his other opponent—not fast enough, though. Superboy tackles him around the waist and flies them both into the wall, prompting a pained gasp from Blue Beetle as all the air is forced out of his ribs, and he doesn’t stop there: hits start raining down on his head, one after the other, so hard his helmet starts cracking, unable to protect his head from the powerful blows until… now, Khaji! His chest opens up, expelling a highly concentrated beam of energy that sends Superboy crashing into and through the ceiling, going up and up and up at an angle until he is blasted well out of the Tower. There’s no time to catch his breath, however, as Wonder Girl’s lasso suddenly snaps taut around his wrist and pulls him, first into the wall, then, as he crashes down, into a punch that completely shatters his helmet and leaves him seeing stars on the ground.

Ouch. He needs to—

He rolls back, jumping to his feet and into the air as bomb pellets explode on the ground beneath him, summoning his wings and manifesting an energy shield to protect himself from the blast. The force of it crashes against his shield, and he can feel the searing heat ford around him like a stone in a river, but he is unharmed, and a moment later he makes Red Robin pay for getting up by strafing him with his energy cannon. He dodges the first, the second, but not the third blast, and Blue Beetle lands on the ground to finish him off… only to find his cannon hand pulled away by Wonder’s Girl lasso at the last moment, directing his blast into the floor instead. He turns and yanks on the lariat with his free hand, aiming to pull her off her feet in a move he once saw Rose use in one of her and Wonder Girl’s sparring matches, but he isn’t Rose, and this isn’t sparring; Wonder Girl not only keeps her feet, but pulls back, and the short tug of war ends the only way it could—with Blue Beetle speeding through the air straight into Wonder Girl’s grip. She wastes no time raising him high into the air before turning and smashing him down into the fancy new holographic conference table, which breaks under his weight, leaving him dazed in a pile of broken glass.

Okay, might have beaten bitten off a bit more than I could chew here, he thinks, shaking off his discombobulation and dodging just in time for Wonder Girl’s fist to leave a crater where his head had been a moment prior.

Looks like Rose was right, she really is pulling her punches. Not.

Cassie doesn’t let up, her fists surging towards him with the speed and accuracy of homing missiles, and he—he—

He feels his neck be seized from behind, and knows in that moment it’s about to be snapped.

No, that can’t be, he thinks inanely in his last moments of life, reaching up to grab futilely at the arm around his neck. Rose said don’t do it tomorrow, and I didn’t, unless… he focuses his gaze on the window. There is light coming from underneath the curtains.

It’s morning.

“Oh, he breathes, and he hears the crunch long before he feels it.

~~

There is a very long silence as Eddie stands over Jaime, panting.

“Eddie,” Cassie breathes, feeling a pit open in her stomach. “Eddie, what did you do?”

Eddie looks up… and slowly smiles.

“Doomed boy,” the wind whispers in their ears as it fled them, like the crowd had fled Cassie after what she did. “Doomed, doomed, doomed.”

[spaceyaceface]

Do you think Hogwarts has anything like senior superlatives? If you haven't heard of those, or have never heard them go by that name, it goes something like this:

Person A - most likely to be a celebrity for reasons xyz

Person B - most likely to be late to their own graduation because of reasons xyz

What superlatives would you tie to Ominis and Sebastian (and possibly the rest of the companions in HL) during their last year or their current year?

If Hogwarts doesn't, they most definitely SHOULD. I couldn't help but think about ones for most of the gang lol, please enjoy my silly thoughts.

Sebastian Sallow - Most likely to break a world record

It's no secret to anyone in Hogwarts that Sebastian usually throws himself at things full force, so it wouldn't shock anyone if he became the best at whatever he chose to do. It's what record he'll break that's the question--youngest Hogwarts professor? Most destructive Confringo? Who knows?

Ominis Gaunt - Biggest gossip.

I'm sorry, but I FULLY embrace the headcannon that Ominis is a total gossip. People often say things around him in quiet whispers, but he has EXCELLENT hearing. While he doesn't start or spread rumors for the sake of causing drama, he can't help but love being a fly on the wall to learn all about it.

Natsai Onai - Most involved

When Natty came to Hogwarts, she decided she wanted to be part of everything she could. Crossed Wands, Head Girl, Chaser on Gryffindor's Quidditch team... she couldn't get enough. Everywhere you look, there she is.

Poppy Sweeting - Most likely to brighten your day

Poppy Sweeting is a ray of sunshine, as long as you're her friend. Thankfully, she's friends with most everyone--as long as you don't mess with magical beasts. She's alway there to give hugs and let you pet one of the nifflers she's hiding in her bag.

Imelda Reyes - Most likely to be a professional athlete

Pretty self explanatory. Everyone knows Imelda is destined to be a world-renowned Quidditch player. Not only does she have the drive to reach the top, but the skill and passion, too. People are placing bets for which team will offer her a position first.

Garreth Weasley - Most accident prone

Again, pretty self explanatory. The boy's a walking fire hazard. While Professor Sharp has a secret fondness for the troublemaker, he's also looking forward to the day that he won't have to use Reparo on his classroom tables every time he leaves the room.

Leander Prewett - Most likely to be married first

This is all because of @ellivenollivander 's headcannons of him, honestly. He's a family man and can't wait to start that chapter in his life. He doesn't feel the need for excitement and adventure like many of his peers--he's ready to settle down and create his own adventure, beside someone he loves.

Amit Thakkar - Most likely to talk your ear off

Do you know anything about this kid??? He can't WAIT to tell anyone who will listen about the comet coming in March. Or about the new book he read in Gobbledegook. Or about the hippogriffs he saw flying out of the forest the other day, he can't believe you missed them. Or---

Bonus: MC - Most likely to save the planet.

They already saved Hogwarts. It wouldn't be any surprise if they did more!

[idontbeatgames]

What's that? You guys want another major reason as to why people should support DC's Blue Beetle ? Say less, I got you!

A big focus of Blue Beetle is displaying the importance of family, yeah yeah get your Fast and Furious jokes out you guys, as confirmed by Moviemaker.com:

As the first superhero film with a Latino family at its center, it stands both as a fun summer popcorn movie, and as a parable about the immigrant experience in the United States. While Blue Beetle is hardly short on action, it’s grounded in everyday issues like paying the bills and the roles people play within their families.  Xolo Maridueña appreciates that Blue Beetle is a joyful Latino family story.

“I don’t want to throw shade because that’s not my point at all. But a lot of Latino stories are rooted in trauma or how hard it is to be a Latino,” he says. “I love that the Reyes family is proud, and although yeah, they struggle and go through hardships, it’s always something that they can overcome — and they never ask for pity.”  He adds, “Everyone deserves to have these happy stories and that’s something that I hope more movies in the future will be able to naturally incorporate.”

So, yeah, continue to push the hype cycle and support force for DC's Blue Beetle. Representation matters y'all.

[katatonicimpression]

1, 4, 6, 10, 30, 40, 45 for Monet, 47. also if this is too much feel free to just do whatever ya feel like

Putting this under a cut because it got long.

How has DC/Marvel/publishing company wronged you, specifically?

They keep hiring Gerry.

I'm sure there are better answers, but tbh drawing me back into comics so thoroughly with the promise of some allerdrake and the set up of Marauders in general and then failing so hard to deliver is up there.

4. Worst decision for [x]’s “new direction”?

Nature Girl. What. The. Actual. Fuck.

Oh, and I guess Beast just basically being Dark Beast now can be an honourable mention.

6. Worst coloring error you’ve seen.

Off the top of my head, this notorious panel from Marauders (2019):

10. What’s the most cursed panel you’ve seen?

Consider yourself warned.

This is from Generation X #72. There's a reason I cut the panels down a lot when I talked about this issue.

What you are looking at is a drawing of a 17 year old girl, training with her adult teacher. Her labia majora are drawn in an exagerated way, prominent and .... er.... "bulging."

Now you've seen it too.

30. What side character do you hate?

Howard the Duck.

Hmm.. actually I don't know if they really count as side characters when they're acting as individuals, but as a group I don't really get the Cuckoos. It's not hate, but I just don't really understand the appeal.

40. What’s your most detested plot point?

"Snap" Wilson (thankfully it's been re-retconned now)

Monet/Sabretooth

Jet Zola - specifically the thing with her and Sam but also the character in general... also throw in Sin. No one needed "sexy Nazi teenager" and we certainly didn't need it twice.

Bonus: it's such a minor point but I would like to erase most of that x-force issue with Shinobi and Mindmeld. Keep Mindmeld, I like her. But everything with Shin should go. He's way too evil and way too competent. And he actually kills someone with his powers which is something that he's generally portrayed as being all talk with. That's something that should've been built towards and treated as big change, but it isn't and I dislike it.

I'm sure there's more. I am a fountain of bitterness.

45. What’s the worst take you’ve seen about [x] (popular or not)?

You said for Monet. This is kind of fudging the question because it's not a specific take.

There's a thing that happens with Monet where she is mostly remembered and mentioned as "the other Black woman in x-men who isn't Storm or Reyes." And the way she gets utilised in fandom is frequently very much like:

"Here's my fantasy x-team line up. I needed someone who wasn't white so here's some lady. I skimmed the intro to her wiki, maybe, but tbh I'm just making this up."

And I don't want to be mean about this, because it is good that people are thinking about her even if they don't currently know much about her. I don't want to gatekeep. And also, far be it for me to tell people how to approach racial diversity in this kind of thing, I am far from an expert.

But it bothers me that so many of the times that she's remembered, it's just to meet some imaginary quota.

Hell, if we're talking about representation, there are so many boxes that girl ticks with her background and character history. But so often they don't bother with any of that. Some random white dude is the neurodivergent one, the one with the trauma. Or whatever.

And this is bigger than fandom, obviously. It's a big thing with a lot of POC characters, especially Black characters, in comics. They get included with little thought to their actual background or characterisation, and just get slapped with a random personality the author feels is appropriate.

Urgh, this is unfocused. But I guess what I'm saying is I wish people would bring her up as herself, with more actual personal detail and attention to her background. And not just mention her to round up a line up, or drag her into some nebulous attempt to cancel an author after the fact (lol that is a specific subtweet but I'm not going to elaborate). Maybe at the very least don't assume she's American. That would be nice.

47. What’s the worst blatantly untrue fanon take you thought was canon?

I don't really have one for this. Not that I haven't seen a bunch of blatanlty untrue fanon takes - dear lord it's like 90% of them - but I'm usually pretty skeptical... I think...?

Lol it's going to turn out I am 100% wrong about something and I discover it, like, tomorrow.

[lire-casander]

#40 not wanting to leave their embrace

not wanting to leave their embrace original prompt list here

this chapter was written before the airing of 911ls s04 big finale!

“Please don’t go,” Carlos mumbles into TK’s neck.

“You know I need to,” TK says for the umpteenth time, his words contradicted by his stance as he doesn’t move away from Carlos’ arms. “It’s just one double shift, I promise. No more overtime.”

“You can’t promise that,” Carlos complains. “You’re a paramedic. The risk of overtime is real.”

“And you’re a police officer, so you should understand,” TK tells him as though he’s speaking to a young child. “I’m sorry I switched all those shifts, only I’m not really sorry.” Carlos grunts, not lifting his face from TK’s skin. “You know I can’t be sorry, babe. I was here looking after you, helping you get better so you could marry me tomorrow.”

“It’s just one day,” Carlos almost whines. “Can’t you call in sick for one day?”

TK chuckles. He loves this side of Carlos that only he gets to see; the collected, cool, serious Carlos Reyes throwing a tantrum because his fiancé has to go to work when Carlos himself has the day off. TK enjoys teasing Carlos just a little; he’s sad too that he needs to leave the house right now, when all he wants is to stay in Carlos’ embrace forever.

“You know I can’t,” he tries to reason. “But I’ll be here before you know it.”

“Only you won’t,” Carlos reminds him. “Neither of us will. We’ll spend the night separately, remember? I’m coming back to my parents’ in about an hour or so, and you’ll go sleep at your father’s.”

“See? You won’t be alone for long,” TK insists. “Your mother will smother you with love the second you set foot in the ranch. And you have a lot of talking to do with your father, babe. Remember that offer? He’ll need an answer, and no better man to ask any doubt you have than a Ranger himself.”

“Still going to miss you.”

“I’m going to miss you too,” TK reassures him. he holds on tighter. “But it’s just for a few hours, and then we will be getting married. To each other. I won’t be just a Strand anymore.”

“And I won’t be just a Reyes anymore,” Carlos acquiesces. He lifts his head from TK’s neck just enough to kiss TK’s cheek, but he never lets go of TK’s waist. “Okay, go on your double shift. But remember to come back to me, okay?”

“That I can promise,” TK says. “I promise you I will always fight to come back home, and I will always remember you are my home.”

“And you are mine.”

TK shivers as the words sink in. He’s still getting used to the fact that he is loved for who he is, that he is worthy of a love that’s bigger than anything he could have imagined. But Carlos doesn’t falter; he looks up at TK as his arms fall to his sides and he whispers, “I love you, future husband.”

“And I love you, future husband.”

And with a heavy sigh, TK steps back, grabs his bag and walks out of the house before his heart wins this battle with his head and he calls in sick.

so this is it, my friends. the end. how fast time flies!

thank you so much to those of you who have been constantly reading and commenting. you own a piece of my (old) heart. you are the best and i love you so much for your support and patience.

and just like that, in less than twenty-four hours, i'll be forty! i'm feeling old, but a little less old thanks to you all.

[thenixkat]

also the next issue is the prelude to the Death of Superman and hah also like Superman really got into a knockdown slugfest with a fucker as strong as him and died because of it instead of fighting smarter just chuck the bitch into space at mach speed get any of the psychic people you know to chuck the bitch into space with their powers from a safe distance Doomsday couldnt fly and didnt have ranged abilities in its first appearance other than throwing rocks really hard Superman didnt have to try punching it to death to win is what i'm saying

also apparently this was a containment suit suppressing Doomsday's powers and the heroes by fighting the fucker kept peeling away more and more of the suit

when again, they could just chuck him into the space. or the psychic fuckers could squeeze his brain enough to likely make the fucker pass out not enough characters with telekinesis just fuck around with fuckers insides yeah actually that's a containment suit Doomsday only has one arm free here

this fucker really crawled out of who knows where in a containment suit just killing shit and destroying shit with no explanation later retcons made it a Kryptonian experiment, originally it was just bitch that came out of nowhere

local escaped thing that has been stated to not be that much more intelligent than a cunning animal that only hates and desires to destroy very effective at fighting fuckers with one arm tied behind its back

granted perhaps dont get that close to a fucker with superstrength they tend to be a bit fast too again fuckers getting up close to punch a bitch

yer priority should be mentally chucking the fucker away from teh road and the bystanders

Ted is lucky to have survived that with no enhanced durability.

and he got thrown after the getting his head bashed. man is lucky lucky lucky to have survived and not been permanently paralysed

me: damn Khaji Da worked hard to keep that man's body from getting too befucked by that incident

like, of course the writer didnt think about shit from Blue Beetle 1986, let alone the fact that Ted's bonded to an alien parasite/magical talisman that has brought a man back to life and healed his fatal injuries but I'm thinking about it heh like, Ted very much probably should have died from someone that strong denting mental with his face. and then throwing him. Magic is a better reason than sheer luck for his survival and coming out of a months long coma able to fight fuckers as soon as he woke up with no lasting damage other than what sounds like some chronic pain

man's face aint even broken that. A higher power was looking out for him and its Khaji Da

Booster's costume here isnt that much torn up than how it was at the end of the 1000 arc in his solo series. He didnt have to wait for Ted to fix it when he could have gone back to Dr. Soos

cause like who would reasonably expect a man that just got out of a coma cause by getting his head slammed into metal to be able to do fine circuitry work involved in fixing a suit from teh future without at minimum a year of rehabilitation/physical therapy (and frankly should be a lot lot longer than that)

like fucking wild and unreasonable that the moment Ted woke up from that coma he was fighting a villain, still in the damn hospital gown and everything. Man was just actively dying like 5 mins ago but he woke up and can do backflips One of Ted's kidneys shut down, do organs boot back up or is the dude just down a kidney forever cause that has health complications too

Booster medicine in the 80s aint that good

again Booster you know a a guy who's fixed yer shredded suit b4. The same fucking writer. Same fucking writer acting like Booster doesnt know a guy who's fixed his suit before

huh. well i will assume they got Ted's kidney working against since they dont mention him being down one later. Granted writers do just decide that characters arent disabled anymore all teh time. See both Ted's heart condition not coming up at all and Mr. Reyes no longer needing a cane in the most recent Blue Beetle run

it still bothers me that the Thanagarians arent actual bird people aliens their wings are fake i hate it

again I would like to like Booster and Ted's friendship. There's some decent moments but good lords is everything around it terrible

Just the knowledge that shit started with fuckers being ooc and cut off from their original support groups and used as vehicles for jokes, turned into the comic relief in a comedy series AND derided for it at the same time by the writers like…

most of this issue was just superheroes mourning Superman …Maxima's costume… is formed by her powers…ma'am are you naked? no, Martian Manhunter is bad enough pls put on undies at least under that power-projected costume Booster continues to forget that Dr. Soos exists and has fixed his shredded ass costume before this comic is set in the year 1993 Also Booster being casually ableist towards Oberon

just cause he's mad Guy Gardner harasses, attacks, and forces the Ray (a teen just getting a handle on his powers) to join the Justice League. I hate these people so much.

like I have no reason to belive that if Ray said no, that Guy wouldn't have beat him up and made him join. And we know that once Ray talks to Max and expresses any desire to leave he'd get brainwashed to stay just like Huntress ah yet again the notion that if a person has superpowers they have to be a superhero its their duty. Which is all kinds of bullshit

Also Booster turned Skeets off and put him in storage. Just that is the most blatant 'what the fuck writers' to me with the handling of Booster Gold in the Justice League International/America stuff. why the hell would Booster be so callous to turn his friends and partner off and put him in fucking storage?

that is his friend, the only person around who also knows the future that Booster misses and has been there for him just also Skeets is a person turning him off is fucking awful to begin with. The only reason anyone should do that is to fix him if he got badly damaged just… people like the JLI/JLA comics even tho they did so much bullshit just assassinated the character of these characters

just I do genuinely think that Booster Gold and Ted Kord/Blue Beetle 2 could be friends just not how this shit was done. Skeets should be involved. Ted's friends should be involved too. Also just Ted shoudl actually be in character and not some money-grubbing fame-seeking schemer using the Blue Beetle name as a brand that shit aint him. Ted actively avoids the press and the cops in his superhero work and the Blue Beetle name is not something that he'd use to make a buck off

also why is Skeets not angry about being turned off

its not like he's programmed to want to help Booster. Helping Booster is a choice Skeets made to help with teh fucking time loop shit. That doesnt mean he cant get snippy with him about treating him like that

Wonder Woman joined teh League and Ice leaves to go back to her homeland b/c she's not vibing with all the danger and friends dying and frankly that's fine again fuckers with teh argument that if you have powers its yer responsibility to be a superhero and save lives

i guess every ablebodied person in the world is failing our duty in having any job other than being a cop, firefighter, or paramedic

[ingeniousmindoftune]

The Sextape , Part Three.

Words: 2K

Masterlist>>> here.

Discord>>> here.

Gif cred: @angels-reyes

“You keep fucking with that girl, Ez. She’s going to be the death of you.” Angel preached.

I couldn’t just let her slip through the cracks again. I did before, there was no way I was doing it again. I knew Rio was her husband, I also knew he was dangerous but I was just as dangerous. “I got you all backing me, right?” Angel shook his head, “You know you do. But remember, Y/N not your girl anymore. She’s a married woman now. Whom is only using you to get to her husband.” He turned up his beer, taking another sip.

“If he knew what he has, he wouldn’t of cheated in the first place,” I turned up my beer.

I met Y/N way back when, when she was in college and I was a prospect. Of course, she never knew what none of that shit was. All she knew I was in a biker gang, she never knew the cold, direct, violent and dangerous truths. Part of me didn’t think she would’ve stuck around if she knew the truth, so I left her. Something I regretted every day since. Placing the beer down on top of the table, I grabbed the darts. “I’m just not letting her go so easily this time,”

“Is she that damn good in bed, or what?” He shook his head. “She still got you hooked after all this time?”

Hooked wasn’t even close to how she had me feeling. Throwing the dart at the board, missing the center by an inch. “The sex is great, beyond great but that’s not what got me. Y/N, she’s different. I can’t describe it but she is. That’s all I’m saying. She’s never been anything but loyal, ambitious and driven. She’s never been easy. And that’s what I love about her. It took me a year just to get her attention back then, it took her car breaking down for me to get to her.”

“You mean, you taking a piece out of the car?”

I laughed. “Why you keep assuming I stooped that low?” He laughed shaking his head. “I don’t know man, you always been crazy about that girl.” Ez shook his head with a small laugh, turning up his beer again, I watched as Angel took his turn. It was good being back in town. Especially knowing that you had in fact moved back after so many years, and the last few nights with you been amazing, and I’m not talking about the hook ups, I’m talking about the hanging out and talking about old times. He never been one to care for Rio. They bumped heads since the first time they met. Long ago. So I knew why she picked me, I was familiar and Rio hated him.

“Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.” Angel spoke. I looked from the board and over in his direction trying to get a sense as to who he was talking about. Only to come face to face with Rio himself. In the flesh. The rest of the gang stood up, I waved them off. “I’m good,” Rio slightly smirked holding up his hand. “I didn’t come for a fight, just came to talk. I’m armed, so don’t give me a reason to shoot,” he folded his arms in front of him.

I sat on the stool, giving him my undivided attention. “Alright.” I tossed the dart at the board. “I’m listening, what you got to say to me?” He walked closer before stopping. “My wife. She’s off limits. Stay away from her, I’m not telling you again,” he threatened, “This time I come to you mellowed out, but next time, I won’t be so civilized.”

“I think you should be keeping your wife away from me, after all, she came to me.” I retorted.

He sucked his teeth, nodding his head slow. “Mm, I don’t care who came to who first. Y/N is mine. So this little charade you got going on with her, needs to be put to a end today. She’s had her fun. Now it’s done, Don’t let me find you near her, your boys won’t keep me off of you.” I laugh shaking my head. “I don’t need them to beat your ass,” He looked around the room. “Maybe, but I’m not talking ass beating. I’ll kill you if you do not stop sleeping around with my wife.” Angel steps up, “You’re not killing anyone, Rio.”

“You all really think I’m playing games with you, yeah?”

Don’t get me wrong. I knew Rio didn’t make empty threats, but I wasn’t staying away from her if God himself told me. Only way if I would be done with her is if she told me herself she didn’t want this- and as far as I’m concerned- she never told me no. “You think we playing games with you? Rio your threats do not hold weight here. Just remember who she was with long before you came in the picture, and the only reason you’re here is because you know, push come to shove… I’m taking back what’s rightfully mine.”

“She’s not some object, Dumb ass.”

Shaking my head, “Rio, there’s the door. See yourself out or I will gladly throw you out.” Rio gave him a long cold stare before turning on his heels, walking towards the exit, taking look back at him, he said one last thing. “Just remember, I warned you.” Walking out the bar, everyone went back to what they were doing. Including me. “Play me in pool.” I told Angel. Angel looked at me. “You need to give her up, this drama and heat not gonna be good for the gang. You might be a Patch now but still… you need to be cautious on what you do, and second we won’t be around all the time to keep him from putting two slugs in you.”

“If this was someone of your past, would you let her go that easy? Someone you shared history with. Someone you loved, someone you even had a kid with and could’ve had a family? Would you let all that go or would you take the second chance and make it something out of it.”

Angel brushed the side of his face. “She the one who?” Ez sighed and nodded. “Yeah, after the miscarriage our relationship just wasn’t the same and than with me being prospect and trying to prove myself and get answers. I knew I couldn’t be what she wanted or needed back then. Truth be told, I wish I would’ve tried harder. Maybe things would’ve been different. And he knows that she’ll come crawling back in a heartbeat. What we had was real.” Angel shook his head. “It’s been eight years. She’s not the same, she’s married and you all might have had something real but so does her and him.” Call me dumb, call me foolish. But if you had the chance to take back the one person that was right for you, wouldn’t you take it?

“Now, you know you can’t come in here with this on and than tell me you don’t want to fuck tonight,” I wrap my arms around her waist.

She wraps her arms around my neck, “I do. But just not right now, and I can cover up if you want me to.” She planted soft kisses on my lips, I lifted her up carrying her to the couch area of the new hotel room suite. It was either never the same hotel, or never the same suite. I wasn’t dumb. I’m sure he was probably parked right outside. Waiting. “Definitely not, baby. This purple looks so good on your skin, you know what they say, Purple means Royalty.”

“I have heard that, yes.” She smiled planting a soft kiss on my lips again. “I don’t know if I can keep this up though. This isn’t who I am. Sneaking around, cheating, shit like this. I was just supposed to be getting even. Now it feels like I’m dragging it.” I wasn’t trying to hear that, I know she had every right to feel the way she feels but, if it was me and she was doing this- I would never be able to just sit around and let her be with another man, I’ll take matters in my own hand.

But than again, rio wasn’t me.

“Y/n, you deserve the world and to be treated like a Queen. You shouldn’t have to be home worrying if your husband can’t keep his dick in his pants. Why on earth would you even settle for that?” I sighed deeply, lifting her up, she looked down at me. “Rio loves me, and I love him.” I didn’t want to hear no more about her and him, if he really cared, she wouldn’t be here right now.

——————————

“You have a lot of nerve bringing your ass in my place of business. You have a habit of overstepping your boundaries, Beth.” I shoved my gun in her face, finger on the trigger. “You’ve caused a lot of problems. Problems I’m still picking up on, and fixing. You owe me twenty-five grand, you figure out how you’re going to pay it?” I stepped back from her leaning against the chair. She looked at me. “I’ll get you the money. But I need some time.”

I clicked my teeth. “Time is money. And seems you don’t have that. You don’t have time, I want my money Beth.”

“Can we make some type of deal? We always come to an understanding.” I chuckled hard. “Things are different now. And they will be from now on. We can make a deal once you give me my money, you can see yourself out.” Rio knew he had grown closer than he wanted for her, he knew that he liked Beth , but he wasn’t in love with her. Nah, it definitely wasn’t love. “I’m sorry about the other day. I didn’t mean to intrude but in my defense you had been ducking me for weeks.”

I shrugged. “And? I don’t owe you a damn thing. If I want to duck you for a year. That’s my business. Not yours. You broke the rule. You broke into MY home. That better not happen again, or it’ll be you in a body bag.”

“Rio, how was I supposed to know that you were married and you’re always checking up on me and doing random pop ups like I’m your property or something, why couldn’t I do the same?” Rio smacked his lip looking at her. “Beth, don’t get too high headed. I run this, I do what I say and when I say it. Whether I’m married or not, it’s not for you to know. We aren’t there. But so help me, if you ruined my marriage—” She laughs. “Me? You did that yourself by cheating on your wife! Several times if I might add.” I clenched my jawline. “It’s in your best interest to leave right now, Beth and let’s make this clear… You have One week to get me the money you owe me. Not two. ONE. Don’t make me hurt you, Beth.”

“Hey.” I looked over at her as she got into bed after doing her night routine.

She looked over at me. “Hi.” I sat up on the headboard, slightly slunched in the bed. She grabbed her papers to grade off the night stand, I took them from her. “We need to talk about you and Ezekiel.” She smacks her lips. “What’s there to talk about?”

“You know what’s to talk about. You think I’m just going to keep allowing this to go on. It was all fun and games in the beginning when you were just trying to get even but, that’s not going to happen again. If it do, I’ll kill him. And, I mean that, you and I both know I will not hesitate. So if you care about him, you’ll leave him.” I slightly lick my lips, looking her over. She wore nothing but her white robe. I pulled her in closer, “I let you play your game but enough is enough.” I look into her eyes. She looked into mine, “You hurt me.”

I nod my head. “I know,” I brush the back of my hand over her face. “And I’m sorry. We even now. I don’t want to see you with another man, I don’t know what I’ll do,”

Taglist…

@zenxn20

@rainedabrat16

@rosegoldcoco

@bbygirlchristina

@rio-reid-sluttt

@skyesthebomb @laylasbunbunny

This is not edited, I’ll edit later. Excuse any grammatical errors, or any misplaced povs.

Request for Taglist link here ✎❥ https://forms.gle/qCLbePMNqF8V2sTt5

[rebelwrites]

Misunderstanding

Jax Teller x Reader

Requested by anon // Hi! Could you make one with 20/24/29 with Jax? Like pure angst but fluff ending. Thank you💚💚 Prompts: 20. “I’m begging you, please don’t go.” 24. “Please don’t do this to me.” 29. “I’m carrying your child.”

Staring at the photo he had been sent, Anger ran through Jax’s veins, you said you were going to see family this weekend but wanted to go alone and know he knew why as he stared at the photo of you in the arms of a Mayan, Angel Reyes to be precise.

Hearing the front door close, Jax turned his gaze to the hallway as you had a massive smile on your face.

“Good weekend” he spat, venom dripping off his tongue taking you by suprise.

“Yeah” you nodded “very good, it was good seeing everyone again”

“You mean good to cheat on your boyfriend” he hissed.

“The fuck you on about?” You asked raising your eyebrow.

Without saying another word he turned his phone to you showing the photos of you wrapped up in Angel’s arms followed by a few more and a couple with Ez.

Scoffing you looked up at him through your lashes wondering if he had been hit on his head.

“You didn’t want me to go with you for a reason” he glared pushing the chair back to stand up. “So I’m done, I thought I meant more to you but obviously not”

“Do I get chance to explain before you brand me as a fucking cheater?” You shouted as you watched him pick his back pack up.

“What’s the point Y/N the photos tell me all I need to fucking know” he spat running his hand through his hair.

You knew Jax wasn’t the smartest in the world but he was really missing the point right now, you would have thought after dating for a year he would have put the pieces together by now, granted you should have told him but with all the shit going on with the Mayans you decided to keep it quiet.

Taking a deep breath you placed his phone back on the table.

“So that’s it then you just gonna walk out on me without letting me explain because boy you got the wrong end of the fucking stick” you snapped

“You obviously don’t love me anymore” he shrugged “so yeah I’m leaving”

Tears were running down your cheeks now as he walked to the front door.

“I’m begging you please don’t go” you sobbed as he didn’t even turn back to look at you.

“You made your bed Y/N” he sighed.

“For fuck sake Jax, I thought you would have clicked by now just stop for a minute and think what my fucking last name is” you said trying to calm yourself down “please don’t do this to us”

He froze as he reached for the door handle as it hit him like a ton of bricks.

“Reyes” he mumbled running his hand over his face, he was so stupid, you wasn’t cheating Angel and Ez were family.

“Jax they are my older brothers” you said as he spun around “I didn’t say anything because I know there’s beef between both MCs at the moment, that’s why I didn’t want you to come. They know I’m dating you and they are fine but it was best to keep it quiet”

“I’m so stupid” he sighed “wait a minute you said don’t do this to us?”

You wondered how long it would be before he picked that up.

“Do you really think I’d cheat on you especially when carrying your child” you smiled wiping the tears from your cheeks.

“Wait, you're pregnant?” he whispered, taking the information in.

“Yes Jax I’m pregnant, your going to be a daddy” you grinned “I found out over the weekend and the photos you got sent was because they forced me to take a test because I was throwing up”

“I’m so stupid” he whispered pulling you into his arms “I’m so sorry babygirl, I should have let you explain”

“Jax” you whispered into his chest “please sort this beef out with the Mayans, I don’t want our child growing up not knowing their tío’s”

“Their what?” Jax laughed

“Their uncles” you chuckled “you so need to brush up on your Spanish or my brothers will kill you”

[starrynite7114]

always you (angel reyes)

A/N: Good morning everyone! I know I haven’t posted in a while, and you all know why. Thank you all again for being very understanding, it was a rough couple of weeks, and I’m trying to push through the best I can. This story was supposed to be a one shot for a prompt request I received some time ago, but I’m glad I’m able to finally fulfill it. I wrote out most of it already so it should be posted every 2-3 days. I’m also finishing up Roommates this week, at least trying to! 

Hope you all have been having a good week thus far! Hopefully it is also warming up! Exams have been killing me, but my last one is later today, so yay!

The new Mayans trailer looked amazing! Definitely getting the creative juices flowing, even for EZ. 

Anyways, thank you all again, you are all the utter best!

Special shoutout: To @blackmissfrizzle​, you fucking crazy, violent person, my second brain. Because of you, I got a Tiktok guy on here. But thank you for listening to my crazy ideas about this story, a story that was supposed to be a one-shot turned into a series cause of all of those videos, love you though. And to @angelreyesgirl​ you’re the one who helped me figure out as to why certain things happen in the story, thank you, I just, I love you, you already know this, no more sappiness from me today, maybe. Also, happy birthday!

Groupchat for updates! Please join since the tags could be a bit iffy at times!

If you would like to be added to the tag list, please let me know! My tag list is a little messy, but please let me know if you want to be added!

Masterlist

Word count: 8657

Warnings: Mentions of stalker behavior, angst, smut

169: “ What a pretty sight. ”

187: “ Already? Do I really have that much of an effect on you? ”

You sighed, the knocks on the door following the call you just received from Coco made you want to pull your hair out. This has been ongoing since you two broke up two years ago. It was routine at this point and you were slightly getting tired of it. He chose to let you go and here you were opening your door so Angel could spend the night after a drunken stupor. 

“Sorry again hermana, you know I try to bring his big ass home, but you know how stubborn he is.” Coco assisted Angel inside your apartment with Gilly helping him out. 

They assisted Angel down to your couch, he was barely conscious. He had this obnoxious smile on his face as he settled on your couch.

“Where’s my girl?” Angel called out as he grabbed a pillow, resting his head. 

Gilly looked up at you and you shook your head. “She’s asleep bro, just go sleep.”

“Okay, I’ll go to her.” Angel attempted to stand up, but Gilly held him down.

“Hey, remember, you don’t like bothering her when she’s asleep.” Gilly reminded Angel.

“You’re right, I just want to tell her I love her.” Angel laid back down, his eyes closing.

Before long, Angel’s soft snores indicated to you all he was asleep. Coco looked at you as you looked at Angel, confused as always as to why he had to come to you whenever he was drunk. They’ve tried asking him, both Coco and Gilly, and whenever you saw him in the morning, you just gave him coffee and chose not to talk to him. He tried to make small talk with you, but you didn’t entertain it.

Angel chose to break up with you two years ago, your year and a half relationship down the drain. You didn’t fight him when he ended your relationship. You accepted it and attempted to move on. 

Problem was, Angel didn’t let you go. His presence was still felt even though you didn’t see him. Then three months after your breakup, the drunken visits came. At times, he would talk to you when he would come drunk, but you chose to ignore it and just took care of him.

You wanted to turn him away, but you love Angel. It was hard not to do so. Whenever you would think you had the courage to turn him away, you would let him back in your bed just so you could hold him. It was unfair to you, you wanted to move on, yet, when you had the chance to hold him, you never passed it up. You were addicted and you would break the habit eventually, but Angel was just, well, he was Angel. 

“Y/N, we can take him home if you want.” Coco hated doing this to you. He was there from the beginning and he didn’t want to keep dragging you back in Angel’s life. He knew how hard you were trying to move on, but it seemed like Angel held on.

“No, it’s okay Coco, just let him sleep.” You pushed your glasses up the bridge of your nose, sighing as you draped a throw blanket over Angel. 

“We can stay if you want.” Gilly offered. Much like Coco, he felt for you. You were a sweet girl, always nice to the boys and never made a fuss when Angel chose to break dates to hang out with them. For him, you were the ideal girl, you were reasonable, beautiful, and a hell of a cook. When Angel broke up with you, they planned to keep in touch, bug you every once in a while for dinner. But then they realized, Angel had no plans of letting you go either. 

You chuckled and shook your head. “It’s fine, I’m sure you guys want a break from this guy.”

“We do, we really do.” Gilly agreed. “But we want to be here for you too, why did we bring him here man?”

“You gonna try to argue with Angel? He’s fucking unreasonable when he’s sober, it’s another thing when Don Quixote over here is drunk.” Coco shook his head. “If you need anything, just call me.”

“Call us.”

You nodded your head. You gave the two Mayans a hug before closing the door behind them. When you turned back, you gasped when you found Angel standing.

“Let’s go sleep?” His eyes were opening and closing and he was slightly swaying. You took one of his arms and led him to your room.

This was how it always ended. Regardless if you put Angel in your guest bedroom or the couch, he always ended in your bed. 

You assisted him on your bed, going back to close your door. Angel took off his clothes, leaving him in just his boxers. “I love you.”

Your heart clenched hearing him say that. He always told you he loves you. Without a fail, he always did, when he was visiting you intoxicated. Yet, you never felt it, especially with the way things ended. And he never said it when you were together. You did, and that’s when things went downhill for you two. Holding on to the doorknob, you tried to stop the tears from coming. Angel was watching you, waiting for you to come join him on your bed. He just wanted to hold you. 

“You coming?”

You nodded your head and went to your side of the bed as Angel scooted up to his. Moving the blanket, you two settled under the blanket and Angel pulled you flush against him. He caressed your face, before leaving a kiss on your forehead.

Looking up at him, he was looking down at you, he was caressing your face again.

“What a pretty sight.” He sighed.

Your head rested on his chest and you eventually heard his breathing even out. You’re not sure how much more you could take of this. 

You had to move on.

It was time.

The next morning, you hoped it’s one of the days that Angel left while you were asleep. And he did, which you were thankful for. It was always awkward when Angel was still here when you woke up. Rolling over to the side, you sat up, slipping your glasses back on. Yawning, you checked your phone and had a few messages from Coco and Gilly, one from EZ.

Choosing to reply later, you placed your phone back on your dresser and stood up. Stretching as you let out a yawn, you walked out of your room and froze when you heard movement in your kitchen. Rushing back in your room to get the bat you had for protection, you made your way back towards the kitchen, peaking in and found Angel. You contemplated pretending to go back to sleep, but Angel’s voice stopped you.

“Don’t even think about pretending to go back to sleep, I made you breakfast and you have work in an hour and a half.” Angel called out.

You sighed. Placing your bat at its spot in your room, you go to the kitchen and found Angel making a plate. He handed you the plate and you murmured a thank you. Sitting at the dining table, you made sure to sit on the other side since the two chairs beside you were full of presents you have yet to wrap for Christmas. You still had time, but your dining table was basically full.

Angel smirked when he saw where you were situated. You acted as if he wasn’t with you for four years. He placed his plate down at the other end of the table. Moving your stuff to your coffee table, you opened your mouth to protest, but Angel already placed the presents down.

“You don’t have to move them, there’s plenty of room.” You protested.

“Away from you, yes. But I want to sit next to you.” Angel moved his plate and sat beside you. He shot you a smile before picking up his fork. “Come on, eat up.”

“Angel, this really isn’t necessary. I can just grab something on my way to work.” You didn’t like spending time with Angel, especially in this way since it still struck a chord with you. The familiarity of it was a painful memory of what was let go two years ago. 

“It would be rude for you to not eat after I made your favorite.” Angel knew you couldn’t resist a good omelette filled with spinach, bacon, sausage and cheese. “Please, let me do this for you, you did me a solid, again.”

Picking up your fork, you began eating. Letting the silence enveloped between you two. This was better. You didn’t want to talk to Angel. You didn’t want any thank you’s or apologies, you just wanted him to go so you could pretend that the other didn’t exist again.

Angel watched as you ate, keeping your eyes on your food. He hated how he did this to you, how you couldn’t even look at him. Every time he became highly intoxicated, Angel refused to go anywhere but your place, since it’s when he needed you most. Angel hardly drank himself to a stupor, but when he did, he was mostly troubled and was trying to forget the issues that were weighing heavily on him. Even though it’s been two years, you were one of those issues. He saw you around town often and it hurt him whenever he did. You were so close yet so far away. He knew that Coco and Gilly hang out with you every once in a while. Every day, it was a struggle for him to not see you, talk to you, hold you and be with you. 

So he came up with this ridiculous plan after you accepted him into your home one night after he got drunk. 

Whenever missing you became too unbearable, he got wasted and refused to go anywhere but your place. He was always aware enough to know he would be brought to you. And once he was with you, you would take care of him. He felt somewhat bad, but he didn’t know how else to approach you.

“Are you busy tonight?” Angel broke the silence between you two.

“What?” You had to make sure you heard him correctly. Looking over at Angel, he was waiting for you to reply. “I have a dinner thing.” A lie, and you were almost sure Angel could see right through it, but you didn’t want to think that. You could pull this off.

“A dinner thing?” Angel raised an eyebrow, amused by your choice of words. “Sounds like a fake thing.”

“Doesn’t matter to me if you believe me or not, I have plans.” You had finished your food. Picking up your plate, you placed it in the sink and turned to face Angel who was still sitting down. “Don’t worry about the dishes, I can do them. Also, I’m not really sure why you always decide to keep coming to my place when you get drunk, but I would really appreciate it if you didn’t come here anymore.” Your best friend, Marie had advised you to create boundaries, to tell Angel that you no longer want him coming over whenever he was intoxicated. 

That it was time for you both to stay away from one another like you intended to do so when he broke up with you.

“Querida.” Angel stood up, but you shook your head, holding your hand up.

“You wanted to break up, we’re done Angel. As much as I want to be there for you, I can’t keep doing this and hurting myself. You chose to let me go, so go.” You left the kitchen and entered your room, locking the door. 

Angel watched as you walked away, telling himself to run after you, but he couldn’t. He’ll let you walk away for now, but after you put such a decisive end to this whole thing, he couldn’t just let go. It may be selfish, but living without you for the past two years further opened his eyes.

He wanted to be with you and just you. 

It’s always been you.

=================

A month without any incident with Angel. You're glad he has finally decided to leave you alone. Coco had texted you a few times expressing that he was proud of you about putting your foot down with Angel. EZ has been frequenting the library more as of late, and he’s either had Marie with him, his girlfriend, or he came by himself. 

A new year and new decade ushered in a new era for you.

You caught EZ coming in, a smile appearing on your face.

“We got that book you’ve been waiting for, I saved you the copy since it was the only copy we got.” You grabbed the book and handed it over to him.

“Thanks Y/N.” He looked around. “Um, did Coco come? Or any other Mayan?”

“No,” you gave him a confused look. “You’re the only Mayan that comes during business hours. The others usually come when the library is closed waiting for me to make sure I made it home safely when I was still dating Angel.” 

EZ opened his mouth to apologize but you held your hand up.

“Ezekiel, I’m not fragile, it’s fine to mention your brother.” You laughed lightheartedly to lighten the mood. You knew EZ tried his best not to mention his older brother. “So you and Marie are getting serious?”

“Something like that,” the sheepish smile on Ezekiel’s face made you want to pinch his cheeks. “Just put a good word for me.”

“A good word? My best friend hates hanging out at the library with me, yet, she comes here to what? Watch you read?” You loved teasing Ezekiel. You were glad when he got out of prison, the way everything turned out for him, it was awful but you were grateful he was getting another chance at life. “You should at least take her out on a date.”

“Look, don’t judge me, I just got out of prison.”

“It’s been two years.”

“Alright, fine, Marie is just intimidating. One day she seems impressed with me, the next she’s not into it.”

“I think you’re reading too much into the situation. You two have been talking for four months now and you still haven’t asked her out. Marie is simple, start with the movies.” You suggested. 

“That’s fucking lame though.”

“Okay Netflix.”

“How about the fair? You and Angel can be like our chaperone.” EZ was trying to help Angel, soften you up some, but you were pretty good at blocking EZ’s charm. 

You looked at EZ for a moment, a small laugh escaping your lips. “Nice try.”

EZ smiled and took the book to his usual corner at the library. You knew your best friend would be bursting through the door in the next thirty minutes. Marie and EZ have been playing the flirting game for the last year and have been officially talking for the last four months. It was cute and you were happy that Marie found EZ and vice versa.

You got on the computer, trying to organize the library website like you promised your boss that you would do. The door opened and you expected the usual coffee Marie brought you.

“I feel like I should start requesting for a pastry since you two use my library as your hangout spot.” You teased. “I’m glad you’re here, coffee will help me through the rest of my shift.”

“I didn’t bring coffee querida, but I can run and get you some.”

You froze. That wasn’t Marie’s voice. Looking up, you found Angel with his staple kutte on his back along with a navy blue button up. His body has changed over the last two years, his muscles were more prominent. You weren’t blind, you could appreciate Angel taking care of his body.

“Can I help you?” The professional tone killed Angel, but he was determined to break through that.

“Came to check out a book, maybe you can help me?” Angel leaned against the countertop of the kiosk desk. His scent hit you and it made you want to smack him. How dare this man? You wanted to move on, and you’ve been doing so well. 

“I didn’t know you could read.”

“You know that’s a lie, I used to read to you while I fucked you.”

“Angel.” You hissed out his name, not wanting to yell.

Angel chuckled at your reaction. “Is it not true?”

“Listen, loitering is not allowed here.”

“That’s literally what everyone does around here.” Angel looked over at EZ and he shot his baby brother a smirk. “Well, I was looking for Stanford, I’ll be seeing you.”

You chose not to reply, saying ‘yeah right’ in your head. Marie walked in coffee and a box of Krispy Kreme in hand. The sigh of relief you let out was definitely noticed by her and her eyes immediately roamed the library to see if your creepy admirer was around, but instead she found EZ and Angel.

“Never pegged Angel as a library type of guy.” She placed your drink on the countertop. 

“He actually loves poetry, he really likes the European writers, British novels mostly Pride and Prejudice, Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, Shakespeare.” You mouthed off Angel’s interest which never surprised Marie. When you love someone, you made it a mission to know that person, so you would know their ins and outs. You become invested in any relationship you forge since you rarely make friends as it was. It wasn’t about quantity, it was all about quality for you. A hard lesson you learned over the years. “He’s a big fan of Scarlet Letter and Invisible Man. But he really likes poetry from all generations, when we were still together, I got him a few poetry books from a few authors he liked.” You paused, realizing the tangent you went on. It wasn’t uncommon whenever you spoke about Angel. 

Marie enjoyed it because she got to learn about her old obnoxious neighbor that never deserved her best friend. You met Angel through Marie and in some ways, she regretted letting it happen, but when she saw how happy you were, how could she be so opposed? Even with knowing Angel’s history, she had faith. But then Angel decided that the single life was more of a life for him, something you never knew about. You never wanted to know about it and she didn’t push you.

“It’s okay, I love your tangents, even if they’re about that asshat.” Marie rolled her eyes. “So, have you given any thought of going on a date with Tyler?”

“You mean your co-worker you always refer to as a man slut?” 

“Bitch, we’re trying to get the pussy wet, not a serious relationship.” 

“That’s a no.” 

You and Marie jumped, not expecting to hear Angel’s voice.

“Where did you even come from?”

“You setting her up?” Angel ignored Marie’s question. He was going to bug you for the name of that author you always raved about when you two were together, but he became intrigued when he caught the tail end of your tangent about his interests. It was endearing for him to hear that you still knew so much about him, but his mood soured when he heard Marie trying to set you up. “Tyler, the douche that always gets drunk out of his mind at the clubhouse?”

“Again, just trying to get her dry spell to end.”

“I volunteer.” Angel smirked.

“Not interested.” You replied as you turned to face Angel. “We talked about this, please, just respect my wishes. I don’t even know why you’re here.”

“Hate to break it to you querida, the library is public property, unless I’m disrupting the peace, I have every right to be here as much as you do.” Angel placed his chin on his hand, smiling sweetly at you. 

You grabbed the coffee and the box of donuts. “I’m going to take my break.” 

Your co-worker, Sienna took over the kiosk desk, Marie making her way over to Marie. She knew you needed some alone time. As she passed Angel, she patted his back.

“Give her space, don’t push it.” 

Angel wasted enough time. He knew you. It’s not that you didn’t want to be around him, you were just protecting your heart. He gave you five minutes before he followed after you, finding the trunk of your Toyota RAV4 opened. Walking over to you, he opened his mouth to speak, you beat him to it.

“Eugene, please, I’m on my break, I would appreciate it if you didn’t follow me.” Your day was starting to become shit since seeing Angel helped you realize that you weren’t over him. It’s been two years but due to his drunken escapades, it was hard for you to move on. 

“Who the fuck is Eugene?”

“No one.” You didn’t want to tell Angel about Eugene. It’s not like he would care, but you haven’t exactly told Angel about how your kindness to Eugene went from endearing to him becoming obsessive. “Can I help you?”

“I was going to take a smoke break then I saw your trunk open.” Angel shrugged, taking note of the name Eugene so he could ask Marie later. “Can I join you?”

“No, I’m done.” You closed the box of donut, picking up your drink as you stood up. 

“Come on, throw me a bone here. Can you give me a chance to explain?”

“Explain what exactly? Why you broke up with me? Why you kept me in your back pocket by being your go to house when you're drunk?”

“You gonna let me explain or are you gonna continue interrupting me?”

“I don’t care what you do, just please stay away from me. You’ve made your stance very clear two years ago. I don’t care why you came to me while you’re drunk, but it doesn’t matter. Don’t come to my job, don’t come to my apartment, just please stay away from me.”

“You don’t mean that.” Angel frowned. He didn’t expect things to go like this. Maybe he was an asshole or an idiot, but he expected you to welcome him with open arms.

“I do, I want to move on, build new relationships and be happy. I didn’t break your heart, I didn’t hurt you, if you don’t love me that’s fine. If you feel bad for what happened, you’re good, you’re forgiven.” You pressed the button that automatically closed your car. “I’m suffocating right? I’m too nice right? Then leave me alone.”

“You really just gonna walk away?”

You were about to answer Angel when you heard a familiar voice call out your name. Looking to where you heard the voice, you saw Jay, your ex-boyfriend. Angel cussed under his breath when he saw him. Jay was a sore subject for Angel. You two rarely spoke about Jay and it was mostly due to the fact that Angel never brought him up. When you did bring up Jay, it was a rare occurrence. It’s not that Angel didn’t care about your ex-boyfriend, in fact, he cared too much. Too many times he’s heard people spoke about how epic you and Jay were together. The perfect couple that would have stayed together if you decided to go with Jay to Germany. 

“Jay?” You hopped out of your trunk and was in disbelief. Jay, from what you knew, was still in Berlin, and wouldn’t be back for another three years. You kept in touch with him since you had a quite amicable break-up.

You two had dated for eight years before you two eventually parted ways. High school sweethearts, intended to last forever, but forever wasn’t a thing. You two broke up amicably and remained friends. It was hard not to be friends with a person you spent eight years of your life with. 

It was your ex-boyfriend. 

He couldn’t forget his name, he knew everything about the fucking guy. The first love, the one you would always love, that was the cliche, right? He remembered that he briefly met Jay before he left for Berlin once again. He was bringing you home after a catch up dinner with other friends and he saw just how your smile shone brightly around him. Jay was looking down at you, returning your smile as you animatedly spoke to him about something. You turned to face Angel and what he missed was how your smile changed, it was that smile specifically for your Angel. You had made your way towards him, wrapping your arms around him. Jay first met Angel then and much to your surprise, Jay took a liking to Angel, especially since he was a big fan of his Harley. Angel didn’t show much interest towards Jay, but you knew it bugged your then boyfriend how close you were to Jay.

Angel was not friends with any of his exes, but he also wasn’t with them for a long amount of time. If anything, you were his longest relationship. And seeing you react the way you did with Jay, he regretted it further that he let you go.

“Eugene is still coming here? You told me you handled that.” Jay was annoyed, you told him that you handled your too friendly library consumer. Jay stood at 6’4, 210 pounds, the Marines shaped him well. 

You looked at Angel and Jay did as well. 

“If you’re going to bother her when you’re drunk, you should at least get rid of her stalker.” Jay didn’t have a problem with Angel, but he knew Angel had a problem with him. He could see it when they first met. He couldn’t blame him, he rarely knew of exes that were friends, but Jay couldn’t exactly let you go. 

You two grew up together, you knew him best.

“Excuse me? Who the fuck do you think you are?” You saw how quickly Angel’s face turned sour and you knew you could have a fight in your hands.

“Aright, let’s not do anything crazy.” You got in between them, with you facing Angel. “We’re done.”

You locked your car before making your way inside the library once again, dragging Jay with you, and leaving Angel to his own devices. The broken look on your face, he wanted to take that away, especially since he caused it. He loves you, he really did, he was just an idiot. 

The fact that Jay was seemingly back in town, Angel had to make a move. 

And you should know better, Angel was anything but a quitter.

=================

Angel walked in the library and found you talking to one of your co-workers. He saw her nudge you and your eyes met. Quickly you looked away, shushing your co-worker. Angel took his usual spot opening the book he had borrowed earlier in the week. You weren’t surprised Angel burned through books, people counted him out due to his affiliates, but you knew better than to judge a book by its cover.

Jay hasn’t been back since he saw him two weeks prior. Angel frequented the library and never saw a sign of him. 

“You look beautiful Y/N.” Eugene, a regular at the library, complimented you. What started off as you being kind, feeling bad for a man who appeared to be a loner, was starting to make you feel uneasy. For the last three years, he progressively became bolder and you could tell that he was getting to the point where aggressive behavior was going to come out. Regardless of how nice you were, you always made sure he knew that you two were friends.

“Thank you Eugene.” You faked this small smile on your lips, but you didn’t want to provoke him. Sienna stayed beside you, she was more straightforward and had no problem telling Eugene to fuck off.

“Have you thought of my invitation for dinner tonight? My mother would love to meet you? I speak about you often with her.” The uneasiness at the pit of your stomach was unexplainable and Angel noticed the change on your face.

Sienna looked at you, her eyes slightly widening. She’s had enough of Eugene. It was small talk at first, but as of late, the man was beginning to be more bold. Starting with grabbing a drink or coffee, it evolved to having dinner at his place. You never entertained the idea and always let him down, but he wasn’t understanding.

“I’m sorry Eugene, I don’t think it’s a good idea.” 

“Why not?” You saw how his face slightly scrunched up, his voice slightly raising. A few of the library patrons looked over before going back to their book. “Stop being such a tease and just go to my place.”

Both you and Sienna were appalled by his suggestion. You never teased him. 

“Excuse me? I’ve never done such a thing.”

“Oh please, with the skirts and dresses you wear, how do you expect anyone to not be teased by your clothing. Mother is right, you’re a slut, but no mind, I can repent you.”

Angel heard enough. You saw him from the corner of your eye. 

“Call security, I’ll handle Angel.” You walked out of the kiosk and intercepted Angel. 

“Let go of me, he’s not going to get away speaking to you like that.” The restrained tone in Angel’s voice made you nervous for Eugene. 

“Please, Angel.” The way you whispered his name with a plea, it made Angel sigh deeply, his tongue darting out to wet his lips as he looked up at the ceiling. 

“Make sure he’s gone when we get back.” He instructed Sienna. You led him to the restricted area of the library which was situated at the back. Older books or original versions of books were kept here, with only employees having access and at times guests who were accompanied by employees. 

When you two were all the way at the back of the restricted area, you leaned against one of the bookshelves as Angel paced back and forth in front of you.

“How long has he been harassing you?” Angel questioned, continuing his pace.

“Angel.”

“How. Long.” He let out through gritted teeth. There was no argument. He let you take him away, you owed him this.

 You didn’t want to tell Angel, it didn’t matter anyway. All you knew was that you had to take care of this, he was making your anxiety spike up. “Three years.” 

“Three years?!” Angel’s voice echoed throughout the library. 

“Angel.” You hissed, keeping your voice low.

“Are you fucking kidding me? And you never told me?” Angel didn’t heed your warning. He was livid. How could you not tell him, especially while you two were together?

“Eugene is harmless.” He shot you a look and you sighed. “He was harmless.” You amended your statement. “Angel, please, it’s okay.”

“No the fuck is not, the way he spoke to you?” Angel felt his temper rise again. Fuck security, he would beat the idea in to Eugene that he was to never breathe the same air as you again. “Wait, Jay knew? And you didn’t tell me?”

You cussed under your breath. You accidentally told Jay about Eugene. He was FaceTiming you when Eugene came in after hours. You were able to shoo him away since Jay was on the phone. You never even thought of telling Angel, you didn’t want Angel to make a big deal out of it and you honestly thought you were reading too much into it. 

“I,” you sighed. “It wasn’t on purpose. Jay was FaceTiming me when Eugene walked in after hours.” 

“Did you have him pretend to be your boyfriend?” Angel knew he was being unreasonable, but it irked him that your ex-boyfriend knew about your stalker and he didn’t. He was the one who was in Santo Padre. He was the one who could deal with it. 

“No, Angel, it was years ago.”

“My fucking point exactly, it’s been years and you never told me. I was your boyfriend then, not him. How could you not tell me?”

“I don’t know, it was harmless, I didn’t want to make a big deal out of nothing.”

“Out of nothing?” Angel exclaimed, shaking his head at your ridiculousness. “We’re gonna fucking talk after this, this should have never been an issue.”

Before he could leave, you blocked his way.

“Move.”

You shook your head. 

“Don’t act like I can’t just lift you out of the way.” 

You weren’t exactly the lightest, and hardly looked like any of Angel’s previous girlfriends. You had meat on your bones and some people may poke fun at your weight, but Angel always made you feel like a queen. He loved your curves, kissed and worshipped every part of your body. Well until he broke up with you.

“Angel, please, just stay with me.” You wrapped your arms around him and he wrapped his arms around you.

“No, he’ll never learn his lesson unless,” 

You cut Angel off by bringing his lips down to yours. Whenever Angel became irritated or upset, small touches or kisses from you would always calm his anger. You took a chance knowing Angel doesn’t exactly want you anymore, so you’re not sure what this would do for the situation, but you had to try. Angel immediately responded to your kiss, his hands cupping your face. One of his hands slid down to your neck, slightly moving you so you were against the bookshelves. His hand moved down, brushing against your breast causing you to moan. Angel’s tongue slipped in, deepening your kiss. He pressed you against the shelf, pulling away and pressing his forehead against yours. The anger that had overtook his body was gone, and was now replaced for a burning desire for you.

“You still taste so good.” Angel kissed you again, your back arching so your front was pressed against his front. One of his hands was sliding under your skirt, causing you to pull away.

“No Angel.” You shook your head, moving away from him to fix yourself. 

Angel groaned, his dick was hard and he was at a library with no means of relieving it. He thought of anything that could help his erection to go away, his third grade teacher who was horrific to him did the trick. Turning to face you, he found you looking around before you took his hand and led him further down the restricted area of the Santo Padre library. It was an old library, built by the Spaniards when they were doing their missions along California. Bringing him to the last row where you knew there was an entrance to the inventory the library had for the restricted section. You knew no one ever went in there till closing. You didn’t want Angel to do anything to you, but you could definitely help alleviate some of his anger. 

“Querida, where the fuck are we?” Angel looked around and the shelves were against the walls, a few shelves were in the middle of the room, otherwise, there were books everywhere. You led him to a desk that Sienna used to organize the unlabeled books. You pushed Angel down onto the office chair. He watched as you sunk to your knees, your eyes focused on unbuckling his belt and unbuttoning his jeans. “Hey, you don’t have to do this.”

“I know, but I want to.” You lifted your eyes to meet his and the softness in his eyes was such a stark contrast from earlier where they were dark, anger obviously apparent. Now, it was adoration and lust that clouded his iris. You tugged on his jeans, which Angel assisted you with, lifting himself up so you could pull down his jeans and boxers. Smirking, you wrapped your hand around his semi-hard cock, using some of his pre-cum to help your hand glide down with ease. Angel groaned, leaning his head back. It was his weakness, watching your beautiful lips around his cock, trying to take in as much of his cock, he was a goner whenever you did that. The way your eyes would water, your cheeks hallowed, your mouth full of him, the image alone could make him cum. But he always held back, letting himself enjoy you. 

“Fuck, look at you mi sol,” he watched as you spat down on his cock, holding his thick member with one hand. Placing a kiss on the tip of his cock, you looked up at Angel as you opened your mouth to take him in. Just as he taught you, you took Angel until you could not take any of him anymore, moving your head back up, his cock sheath with your saliva. You took him in your mouth once more, Angel gathering your hair in one hand. He loved your eyes on him. Those hooded eyes under those thick black rimmed glasses of yours. You move your mouth up and down his cock, hollowing your cheeks and swallowing around him whenever his tip reaches your gag reflex. You let go of him with a pop, your hand replacing your mouth. “That’s right baby, take your dick and let me fuck that pretty mouth of yours.” Angel tried not to lose himself with you, but any part of you that was connected always felt so good for him. He didn’t know what it was but everything he did with you was a hundred times more intense when compared to others.

Placing two hands on his cock, you had your mouth on the tip of his cock, running your tongue over and over again over Angel’s sensitive cock. He moaned out your name, gripping your hair tighter. You were licking his cock like it was a tootsie roll lollipop and you were trying to get to the center. You moved so that your tongue was moving up and down his shaft, getting to the top and engulfing his tip with your mouth. Angel groaned, throwing his head back, licking his lips as you continued to bob your head up and down. His hand assisted you, the tip of his cock hitting the back of your throat, swallowing around it.

“Holy fuck princesa, keep going I’m about to cum.” Angel moaned. “You want me to cum in your mouth baby? You gonna swallow daddy’s cum?”

You chose not to answer and continued your ministrations. Just as you felt Angel’s cock pulsing in your mouth, you pulled away, placing a kiss on his cock. Angel slammed his hand on the desk, grabbing your hair. 

“You really want to play with daddy?” His face was so close to you, your hand still around his cock. You tightened your hold, moving your hand up and down causing Angel to close his eyes. He moaned out your name, further dampening your panties. “Put your mouth back on my cock so I can fuck that pretty little mouth of yours.” 

You followed Angel’s instructions, taking him back in your mouth. Angel began to thrust up in your mouth, tears forming in your eyes as he moved in and out of your mouth. Your hands rested on Angel’s thighs, your nails digging into his skin. He chanted your name before he came in your mouth, holding your head against him. You swallowed some of his cum, keeping some of it in your mouth. He let go of your hair, saying how much of a good girl you were for swallowing daddy’s cum. His cock was still semi-erect and you smirked, dropping some of his cum on his cock, making Angel groan as he felt himself hardened again at the sight of you using his cum as lubrication, moving your hand up and down once again. 

“God, my dirty little librarian.” Angel always fantasized doing numerous things with you in the library. You weren’t opposed to it, but Angel hardly came to pick you up from your work. And now, Angel regretted that.

You placed a sweet little kiss at the tip of his cock before you stood up. 

“Stay here, I’ll get you some paper towels.” He grabbed your hand, pulling you towards him.

“Let me make you feel good.” Angel smirked when he saw your breast just calling to him. You balanced yourself on the arm rest of the arm chair. Your dress was sinful since it was this black cami dress that you usually wore a cardigan with. He knew without that cardigan, all those fuckers that pretend to go to the library for books would be staring straight at your ample breast. And even though you were wearing leggings under, the imagination was running wild. “Where the fuck is your cardigan?” He hated how your breasts were just out in the open, even though your dress did cover your cleavage well, Angel had fucked you too many times in this dress, pulling the top down, watching as your breast bounced up and down as he fucked you.

“No, it’s okay, I just wanted to make you feel good.” In reality, you were ashamed you let this happen. For two years, you did nothing with Angel besides cuddling and now you not only kissed him but you gave him a blowjob. The only reason you did it was because seeing how protective he became over you, it made your heart melt. “I left it on my chair.” You bit back a moan as Angel grabbed your breast.

“What did daddy say about this dress?” He pushed one of your straps down, licking his lips as his eyes focused on your beautiful skin, calling him to mark it. 

“Angel,” you whimpered as he pulled a part of your dress down, your naked breast immediately greeting him. 

“Where the fuck is your bra?”

“It has a built in one.” 

Angel wrapped his hand around your throat, making you look at him. He growled, squeezing your breast, taking your nipples in between his fingers.

“I’m gonna ask you one more fucking time, what did daddy say about this dress.”

“Not to wear it unless you’re with me.” You gave in and you couldn’t even be angry. Angel was doing a number on you. But you had to snap out of it, pleasuring him was one thing, but you didn’t want to go back there with Angel. “But we’re no longer together.” You moved away, fixing yourself. You were so wet, but you couldn’t give in to Angel.

“I can change that.”

“I’ll meet you at the kiosk desk.”

When Angel eventually joined you at the kiosk desk, you were surprised when he sat right beside you. Sienna threw you a smirk before finishing a few things around the library since you were set to close in forty-five minutes. Eugene was escorted off of the property, but you knew he would be back. You should really be more stern with Eugene, but at the same time you knew he found solace in the library since it was his time away from his mother. 

You were organizing a few things at your desk, trying your best to avoid Angel and making yourself look busy. His eyes were on you, you could feel them. 

“We’re closing soon, you should go.” Boundaries, you shouted that in your head. Boundaries. You had to set up boundaries or you would be in this endless loop with Angel. There was no future between you two, there was no point of prolonging the inevitable.

“I’ll wait just in case he’s waiting for you outside.” Angel’s voice was strained. You knew he was upset about your comment earlier.

“He won’t be, this isn’t some crime drama.” You tried to lighten the mood, but that seemed to upset Angel further. “I’ll be safe, I promise.”

He leaned in, so only you could hear his words. “Stop it, I’m not leaving you, I’m going to make sure you’re fucking safe. You chose to hide this from me for years and now that I’m in the know, you’re not going to be a fucking statistic.” He took the cardigan that was resting on your chair, and placed it over you. “Wear your fucking cardigan. You think just because we’re not together you’re no longer mine?” Angel chuckled. “You’ll always be mine, you can fight it all you want, but you shouldn’t fight the inevitable.”

“I’m not yours, there’s no fighting anything. We’re not together and it’ll remain that way.” You moved away from him, focusing your eyes on the computer in front of you once more.

The library was finally closed and as Angel promised, he remained by your side. You stood up gathering your things and you saw Sienna making her way towards the door.

“Hey! Are we still meeting at that new Thai place?” 

Sienna was about to confirm your plans when Angel shook his head behind you. She refrained from smiling and shook her head.

“Sorry babe, my man just texted me. He’s having some technical difficulties at home. Rain check?” 

“Sure.” You smiled and waved her goodbye. You could feel Angel behind you, his heat was just radiating. “Hey, so, I have to do inventory. You can sweep the parking lot to see if he’s there, but otherwise, we’re good. Thanks again for standing up for me.” You didn’t want to face Angel, you were nervous about what you would see. Resisting Angel was difficult and you just had so much willpower left. You never felt your dry spell, it never bothered you, until today. Now you really had to get laid.

You felt Angel box you in, his front against your back. You felt his hot breath against your skin. “Are the cameras on?”

“Huh?” Being in such close proximity to Angel, you wanted to close your eyes, bask in the feeling, but you have to set up boundaries. 

“Are the cameras on?” Angel repeated his question.

“No, Sienna turns them off, only the outside cameras are on.” 

“Good.” Angel placed his hand on your breast, grabbing it through your dress. Placing your hand on top of his, you incidentally intertwined your hands, with your hand on top of his as his other hand slid down your dress starting from your chest down to your abdomen and under your dress, pulling down your leggings. You felt him smile against your ear when he felt just how dampen your panties were. “You’re so wet, is this all for daddy?” 

You whimpered when you felt Angel press against your clothed pearl. He squeezed your breast making you let out another whimper. “I didn’t hear an answer.”

“Yes daddy.” Your other hand grabbed Angel’s before he could move your underwear to the side. “Angel, let’s not do this.” Your mind screamed boundaries while your heart said fuck it. 

“Why baby, you let someone else touch my pussy?” Angel swatted your hand, slipping his fingers under your panties. “I’m gonna make you feel so good, stretch out this pussy.”

Your phone began to ring and you immediately grabbed it. It was Jay, your ex-boyfriend. Angel saw the name and growled out your name. 

“If you answer, I’m gonna make sure to make you come while he’s talking to you.” Jay was a sore spot for Angel. He was your high school sweetheart. The one that supposedly got away. Fuck that, Angel refused to acknowledge that. Jay was a part of your past, one he never wanted to address since he made him feel even more insecure about your relationship. 

Angel ran a finger up and down your slit, slipping it past your entrance shallowly, moving his finger tip in and out. It was just enough for you to feel him, but not enough.

You let your phone ring, focused on the sensations or lack thereof that Angel was providing.

“You want my finger all the way, so you can feel my rings against that pussy?”

You nodded your head, loving the feel of Angel’s hand against yours. His hands were always so fucking big, it made yours feel small.

“Naw, I know you got a voice,” he kissed your ear, nipping at it. “Fucking use it.”

“Yes, please daddy.” You begged.

Angel chuckled lowly and slipped his finger further in, adding a second finger. “Tight as always, no one touched you baby?” His thumb landed on your throbbing pearl, tapping it.

“No daddy, just me.” You didn’t want to disclose with Angel that Marie’s words were true about your dry spell. You felt him add a third finger and you threw your head back, your head landing on Angel’s shoulder. 

Angel wrapped a hand on your throat, chastely kissing your cheek. He kept his lips on your cheek, his breath against your skin further turning you on. 

“Did you use that toy I got you?” He questioned. He was rubbing his clothes erection against your back, the friction was amazing, but you knew it would be so much better when it was his bare skin against yours.

“Yes daddy, I did.” You were clenching Angel’s fingers, his fingers tightening around your throat. 

Just as Angel was about to unzip his jeans to slide on home, the door opened. You tried to move away from Angel, but all he did was fix your dress and kept you pressed against him. Jay looked at you, the swollen lips, the disheveled state and the smug look on Angel’s face gave it away. 

“Was I interrupting?” Jay questioned, walking further inside the library.

“No.” 

“Yes.”

You and Angel answered at the same time. He looked down at you, but you kept your eyes on Jay.

“You said you wouldn’t be back till next week.” You really wished Jay didn’t come, but at the same time you were glad he came. You were going to cave to Angel and that was the last thing you wanted to do.

“I decided to surprise you.” Jay leaned against the kiosk desk once he arrived, smirking. “You could have continued Reyes, I don’t mind watching.” The smugness on Jay’s face irritated Angel. 

You sighed and pushed Angel out of the kiosk desk. “Go home Angel.”

“I’m not leaving you with this guy.” Angel stood his ground. Jay wasn’t your man, and he never would be again. 

“She’s safe with me, go back to your little club, fix bikes, fuck bitches, and sell drugs.” Jay knew what the Mayans were, he’s had his fair share of run ins with them over the years. He was friends with Neron, a gym buddy of his you could say and he served time with Johnny in the Marines. 

“Jay!” You hissed.

Angel just smirked and shook his head. Jay wasn’t worth it, not yet at least.

“I’ll see you later querida.” He brushed past Jay. It took every fiber in his body to not knock him out.

There was a time and place.

His main goal right now was to get you back. You two had plenty to talk about and Angel planned on discussing things with you. He wasn’t going to let Jay weasel his way back in, especially since he may never let you go again.

Angel understood he fucked up.

He made a hasty decision.

But, it was a new year.

It’s 2020. 

A brand new decade. 

Your past grievances could be left behind in 2019.

Valentine’s Day was around the corner and he was determined to spend it with you.

Angel was more determined to win you back. That kiss, he knew he wasn’t the only one who felt that undeniable spark between you two. And the sexual encounters you two just had, it left Angel wanting more, as he always had.

But he had to take care of Eugene and then Jay.

=================

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[amatchinwater]

Pairing: Steo, background Berica and Isaac/Cora

Characters: Stiles Stilinski, Theo Raeken, Derek Hale, Satomi Ito, Brett Talbot, Lori Rohr, Isaac Lahey, Vernon Boyd, Erica Reyes, Cora Hale, Liam Dunbar

Warnings: None I can think of

Words: 2400

Prompt: Steo jealousy for @adabri02

ao3 link

Projection at its Finest

---

“He’s so obvious,” Theo snorts, leaning on the counter of the rebuilt Hale home- their pack house- beside Stiles. “It’s embarrassing.”

Taking a sip from his drink, Stiles can’t help but let out an amused scoff. He came into the kitchen to escape Brett and his incessant fucking scenting. He should’ve known better that Theo would follow after him. Stiles has tried flirting with the wolf, but it’s never gotten him anywhere. Theo’s done the same, but he’s never once tried to further it along. The Beta has never been good about people touching Stiles or flirting with him however, outside of the pack that is.

Brett doing both during a Hale and Ito pack meeting might as well have been throwing gasoline on a brush fire.

“Wow, Theo,” he turns to face the wolf. “That’s pretty jealous coming from someone who’s never even tried to ask me out.”

“I’m not jealous,” Theo says the word through gritted teeth. His tone doing wonders at betraying him right now. “I’m being absolutely reasonable. If he wants you so badly, he should talk to Derek and then grow a pair and tell you.”

It takes everything in Stiles to stifle the laugh bubbling in his chest. Biting back his comment? Not so much. “Is that so?” Theo nods, so sure of himself. “Well, it seems to me like he’s not the one who needs to grow a pair, Theo. Come find me when you’re done projecting.” Having no problem rubbing salt in the wound- he’s got his own fair share of them from pining after Theo- Stiles leaves the room, following Brett back into the den with the rest of their packs. He doesn’t want the other wolf, and if he wasn’t so aggravated, he’d feel more madly about using the wolf like this just to get at Theo.

Isaac and Cora have commandeered the love seat for themselves. Erica, Boyd, and Lori are at the couch across the coffee table. Liam and Brett stand off to the side by the unlit fireplace. Satomi’s in the armchair where Derek usually sits, but she’s a guest and therefore gets the best seat in the house. So the spark sits down on the remaining couch beside Derek.

It takes no less than five seconds for Talbot to come and take the empty space beside the spark. “Welcome back, gorgeous,” the wolf whispers.

He offers Satomi’s Beta a small smile before turning to his Alpha. Derek knows how Stiles feels about Theo and supports it fully. But being next in line to take the title of Alpha when Derek decides to step down, Theo has to be the one to initiate the process. So far, he’s done nothing but grow difficult whenever someone gets too close to Stiles. It’s infuriating. Theo comes back from the kitchen, eyes narrowing to slits seeing how close Brett is.

“So what is this meeting for?” Derek asks Satomi now that everyone is back. They’ve been trying to work out a way where they can possibly combine their packs for the betterment of Beacon Hills since Derek became Alpha after Peter’s passing. It seemed the smarter option, rather than just working with one another, but that’s been going smoothly, no other meetings should really be necessary at this point. It’s just a matter of finalizing a date.

The other Alpha places her hands in her lap, looking directly at Stiles. Something she doesn’t typically do. It makes him squirm. “I know that our packs have come to a beautiful alliance and will hopefully be joining soon. But it’s come to my attention that someone would like to join them differently.” Derek’s thick brows rise at her statement as dread pools in Stiles’ gut. “Brett,” she motions towards Derek, “state your piece.”

All eyes in the room turn towards Satomi’s right hand and Alpha in training. Stiles doesn’t like where this is going in the slightest. The spark risks a glance over at Theo, his angry expression from before has turned down right murderous. This is bad. This is very, very bad. Maybe the spark can just drown himself in his lemonade and everything will be fine.

“Derek,” Brett clears his throat, sitting up straight to address the Alpha better. “I would like to have your permission to court Stiles.”

“Wha-” the spark breaks off his exclamation, choking on the liquid that burns like a hot poker in his throat. Why didn’t he just pick up water instead?

Not that it matters, because no sooner are the words out of Brett’s mouth does Theo snarl, “no.”

“Oh shit,” Isaac mumbles under his breath. Cora at his side covering her snicker.

Erica doesn’t even try to stop her cackle.

Stiles’ lungs burn with the urge to cough the harshness from his throat, but he can’t even think, let alone breathe. His eyes darting between the two Betas and Derek. Come on, find your voice dammit. Say something! Even if it’s a choked word, just say it. I. Want Theo. Words, for fuck’s sake, please.

“With all due respect, which isn’t much-”

“Brett,” Satomi scolds.

“-you don’t get a say in this. I formally presented this, it’s up to Derek.” Brett puffs his chest out like the other wolf isn’t growling with golden eyes right now. Yes, this is really fucking bad. His next words seal the deal. “At this point, the only thing you can do is challenge me for him. That’s not a fight you’ll win, Raeken.”

“Oh boy,” Boyd curls Erica closer to him.

Liam and Lori share a look, rolling their eyes over their respective brothers.

Stiles is trying very hard to remember how to speak, or blink, but he’s too stunned to do so. When the fuck did breathing get set to manual? He hasn’t seen Theo this pissed since a wendigo tried to kill Stiles a few years after Derek had turned Theo. The wolf had torn Donovan’s throat out with his teeth in all of three seconds. Brett is in so much trouble it’s not even funny.

Theo growls. Looking to Satomi and Derek for approval. But Brett’s right. Now that the offer to court was made public with their packs, a challenge is the only way Theo stands a chance. Both Alpha’s nod, Derek’s a little more reluctant, but needing to uphold pack formalities. “Don’t be so sure, Talbot,” he sneers just as the other wolf had.

“Don’t you be so sure,” Brett parrots back. “He already smells like me.”

Fuck.

Shit hits the fan; quickly. Stiles barely processes it.

“He’s mine!” Theo roars, Beta shifted and leaping over the back of the couch as Boyd and Erica duck.

Just as Theo is about to tackle the other wolf, Derek scoops Stiles up and all but tosses him onto the loveseat with Isaac and Cora. The former says something, but it falls on deaf ears, the spark can’t look away. A growling ball of limbs, rolling around on the ground fighting for dominance- for Stiles holds all of his concentration. He’s half convinced this is a dream and he’s going to wake up in a cold sweat. Not that he has the faculties to pinch himself to check.

Except that doesn’t happen.

What does, takes a matter of seconds that feel like a lifetime. Brett has Theo on his back and the latter laughs. A thick sound in the back of his throat as though he’s enjoying this. Theo knees the other wolf in the stomach, claws sinking into Brett’s side making him cry out in pain. Suddenly Brett is the one pinned to the ground, Theo still digging his claws into the other wolf’s flesh, his other hand pinching into the skin of his neck.

A killing blow should he see fit. By the set shoulders, dripping fangs, and viciously low snarl, Theo absolutely wants that.

Brett may be nice to look at and may be a pretty decent person, but he’s not Theo. If anyone in this room plainly asked the spark his opinion, he would’ve certainly made his choice in a heartbeat. With that being said, Stiles can’t idly sit by and watch Theo kill the other wolf just because he had the courage to say he wanted Stiles for himself. So the spark, despite Isaac’s shaking head and Cora’s hand holding him, gets to his feet.

“Theo, don’t,” Stiles mumbles more than actually speaks. Because the second the words are out, he realizes his mistake asking to spare Brett. Understanding exactly what Theo would think he was saying. Just how badly his words would be misunderstood.

Burning golden eyes whip towards him, fading back to blue. The hurt is crystal clear in Theo’s face, “you’re choosing him?” The wolf’s hands falter around the other’s neck.

“No,” Stiles shakes his head, “but I can’t let you kill him either. Had either of you bothered to ask me what I wanted, we could’ve easily avoided all of this.”

“Shit,” Brett mutters under his breath, his head thunking to the floor, accepting defeat.

Theo, somehow gracefully, scrambles off the other wolf, “I was going to wait until I became Alpha.” Theo explains, a small smile tugging at his lips as Stiles’ previous words sink in fully. “That way there’d never be a doubt in your mind how serious I am or my abilities to protect you.”

“Pretty sure you just proved to him that you’re more than worthy as a Beta as well,” Liam grumbles, more than likely tired of his older brother’s antics.

“You choose me?” Theo asks, completely ignoring the wolf.

“Can we go somewhere private or do you really want to do this in front of the pack?”

“I don’t care who hears,” Theo smirks.

Meaning Brett who’s now sitting up beside Satomi while she brushes him off. “I tried to tell you that he was spoken for,” she whispers. “I’m sorry, Derek.”

“I’m sorry you almost lost a Beta,” his Alpha responds. “They’ve been in love with each other for years now. I wish I’d known that’s why you were coming, I’d have warned you a little better.”

“Please,” Satomi flashes a sly grin, “I knew the first time I met them. Apparently someone,” she looks pointedly at Brett who hangs his head, “forgot how to use their senses. All of them. Otherwise you’d have smelled that they’re practically mates already.”

“Right here,” Stiles waves his hands, the wolf just shifts closer to him, all too amused.

It’s not like he really hid his feelings for Theo. But being told that literally everyone knew about it and Brett still pulled this is astounding. The other Beta certainly has a pair on him. Without further ado, the spark grabs Theo’s wrist and hauls him upstairs to his room. Once he shuts the door, Stiles waves his hand, a faint purple glow shimmers around the wood encasing them in silence. He crosses his arms with a huff.

“Are you mad at me?”

“No,” the spark pinches the bridge of his nose. “Even though you acted a bit like a jealous brat, no. I’m not mad at you. Why couldn’t you just tell me? I know the rules. You talk to the Alpha and then to me. Why haven’t you?”

“I did,” Theo argues. “I talked to Derek the day he told me that I would be Alpha after him.” That was well over a year ago. “I just was going to wait until then because I had this thought that you’d want me if I was Alpha. Because you’ve never said anything substantial to me either.”

“Because it’s not my place!” The spark lets out an exasperated huff, “that’s not how pack hierarchy works! If a Beta wants to mate with someone, they have to ask their Alpha permission. An emissary doesn’t get that choice, Theo.”

“Neither of us would’ve had to ask for permission if I was Alpha,” the wolf continues on in a soft voice, avoiding eye contact. It’s a very good point and kind of sweet if he thinks about it. Theo giving him the opportunity to have a regular love life. “I guess I wanted to see just how badly you actually wanted me. If it was a mate sort of way or if you just thought I was hot.”

“Oh you are, for sure,” Stiles grins like an idiot at Theo’s faux offense, every ounce of annoyance dispersing. “But you’ve known me pretty much our whole lives, Theo. You know that I care about more than just looks. You saved me from Donovan, you help me take care of my dad, and you were there with me and my mom. As if there could ever be any other choice but you. I knew it when we were nine and didn’t even know what the supernatural-”

Theo kisses him.

God, if there was ever a way to tell Stiles to shut up, that’s it, right there. The spark will literally never be upset about Theo telling him to stop talking if this is how he chooses to silence him. It’s a simple hard press of their lips, but it’s enough.

“Sorry,” the wolf says, gasping for air as though he’d been holding it the whole time. That’s okay, Stiles was too. “You just- I couldn’t- fuck, Stiles. What are you doing to me?”

Blinking hard, the spark grabs the nape of Theo’s neck, “nothing you aren’t doing to me.” Stiles draws the wolf in, slotting their mouths together once more. Leaning into the wolf, eagerly opening his mouth when Theo slides his tongue along his bottom lip, arms wrapping around the spark, bringing their bodies flush. Stiles is screaming on the inside, smiling into their kiss like an idiot because he’s so badly wanted this. Needed this. Needed Theo.

All it took was a jealous outburst from the wolf and they both finally got what they crave.

“I still fully expect to be courted, Raeken,” Stiles breaks their kiss. “Don’t think this means you’re out of being all fluffy and doting,” he teases the wolf, willing to take the mating bite right here and now if he could.

Without even opening his eyes, “I will do anything for you, Stiles,” Theo tells him, drawing the spark in to kiss him until Stiles’ brain shuts down completely.

Neither boy caring about what the pack might be talking about downstairs.

[enamoured-x]

Sweet Release | Part 2

Angel Reyes x Reader

Summary: Things don’t go as planned when you attend Ez’s party. 

Warnings: NSFW, 18+, Angst

Word count: 4.8k

Excerpt: “Your salvation and your destruction kneeled before you, ready to prove to you how deadly the mix of the two was. Your angel on his knees ready to sin.”

*gif is mine!

a/n: thank you for all the love on this mini series! With that being said there will be a part 3 and it will be the final part! Enjoy! (part 1 can be found here)

Part 2

One long fucking month. Since the day you left Angel at the clubhouse with his come leaking out of you, you had been a wreck. Honestly, you were proud of yourself for holding it together so well when you broke the news to him. Maybe because you knew eventually you’d break. You were a mess. Hating Angel for what he put you through, hating that he led you to walk out on him in the first place. He tried calling every day for the first two weeks and then it simmered down to a call every few days. None of which you answered. For some reason you couldn’t bring yourself to block his number just yet. You still cared for him, still wanted to be able for him to reach out if something was wrong as long as it didn’t pertain to your failed relationship. You didn’t want to talk about how stupid that logic was because you knew keeping his number was because a part of you still wanted it to work. 

You played with the idea of maybe. But you couldn’t tell him that because you weren’t sure. You put yourself through all of his shit already and if he was going to do it all over again if you gave him a second chance you’d kill him. It would kill you. With that being said, you were going to let this play out. You knew you were supposed to get over him, knew you made a choice that day to end it with him. But a girl could dream that he’d make some grand gesture to win you back like in the movies, but this wasn’t a movie and Angel definitely wasn’t the romantic male protagonist. 

“Angel’s a mess.” You glared at Ez for bringing him up. You ignored his comment and sipped your coffee. You and Ez still kept in close contact over the month, sharing funny videos and checking in, just the usual stuff. Today he invited you to hang out and catch up since you hadn’t seen him since that day and you had agreed, happy to go somewhere that wasn’t work or your home. Happy to see your friend again.

“How’s pops?” You asked, trying to get the topic off Angel. You weren’t here to talk about Angel, he made his bed and now he could lay in it. If you were open to the idea of giving him a second chance, and that was a big if, he would need to do a lot more than having Ez tell you how miserable he’s been. You had been a wreck long before you broke up with him, he deserved to know what it felt like. 

Ez sighed and didn’t bring up Angel again, “he’s fine, he sends his best.” You nodded, making it a point to stop by soon and say hi, just because you and Angel broke up didn’t mean you couldn’t be friendly with his family still. They were practically your family. 

Ez twiddled with his coffee cup and you sighed. 

“Go ahead.” You told him, crossing your arms and leaning back in your chair. The outside seating offered you a breath of fresh air you desperately needed when talking about the one and only Angel Reyes. 

He stopped his movements and looked up at you, “what?”

“You obviously either have an opinion on the breakup or you told Angel you were meeting me and he asked you to tell me something for him. Hell, maybe you only asked to hangout with me to deliver a message. Whatever it is, spill it, Reyes.” You knew Ez enough to know when something was on his mind or when he was holding back. This was one of those times. You weren’t exactly mad at him for it but after your grief died out, you were just confused about Angel. You knew you made the right choice at the time but it didn’t mean you still didn’t miss him. It didn’t mean you were over him. 

Ez held his hands up, “I swear I just wanted to see you. No secret motive. If Angel wants to work things out with you, he can do it himself, I'm not his messenger.” You sighed. You knew he was telling the truth. 

“There’s something you’re not telling me.” He was still holding back. He may not be there for some ulterior motive but there was something. 

“You know I’m getting patched in…” He trailed off and you nodded your head. You were excited for him when he told you the news a few weeks ago. Ez had put all his time and effort in the club and he was finally going to become an official member. He deserved it. 

“The club is throwing me a party.” He stated and you shook your head. 

“No.” He scoffed at your answer and sat up. 

“Come on, you have to come. You don’t have to talk to Angel, just stay with me the whole time.” He begged. You groaned at the idea. 

“Ez, I don’t know. I don’t think it’s the best idea.” Showing up to the clubhouse just a month after you broke up with Angel and fucked him in the middle of it was probably not the greatest idea. 

“Please. You’re my only friend outside of the club, I want you there.” Ez’s brown eyes pleaded with you. You were his only friend and as that friend you owed it to him to show your support, even if it meant having to see your ex again. 

You bit your lip and Ez smiled, knowing he had you. 

“Fine, but I’ll be glued to your side the whole time you’ll regret asking me to come.” You pointed at him and he laughed. 

“This should be fun.”

You should’ve taken that as a warning. 

You hated the fact that you were putting effort into what you were wearing to the party. Trying on basically all the clothes in your closet. You figured if you were going to see Angel you had better make it good. Eventually you settled on a simple red summer dress, flowy enough to be innocent but short enough to showcase your legs. You opted for some white sneakers with it, deciding that you were definitely not going to dress up to this thing, Angel or no Angel. Either way, this night wasn’t about him or you, it was Ez’s night and you were going to be there to support him. 

Your nerves got the best of you when you pulled into the packed scrapyard, Chucky directed you where to park and you took a deep breath before stepping out. The party was already in full swing, people scattered outside and around the fire, already drinking and having a good time. 

“Hey, you made it.” Ez said as he walked up to you as you made your way toward the clubhouse. You had yet to spot Angel and you were thankful for it. 

“I told you I would come.” You pulled him into a hug and he wrapped his arm around your shoulder and then led you inside. 

“Thought you might back out last minute.” He shrugged. You were about to say something when you saw him. The man who had taken up space in your mind this past month. The man you left after reaching one last high with him. He was laughing at something Coco said, his smile not reaching his eyes. You could tell that what Ez told you had been true, that he was miserable. He looked good, just not all there. Both men were standing against the wall, what stirred jealousy in you was one of the club hang arounds to his left touching his arm. You swallowed hard, you forgot that before you and Angel got together, he was a hot commodity amongst Vicky’s girls. Now that he was off the market, you were sure the women were jumping at the chance to share his bed, they probably already had. Lead filled your stomach once again. 

You were about to turn to Ez to take the beer bottle from him when Angel finally looked over and stopped in his tracks. Gone was the smile and in its place was shock. You stared back at him, into those dark brown eyes you loved so much. Seeing him stung more than you cared to admit but you held strong. 

“You good?” Ez’s words snapped you out of your trance and you turned to him, finally taking the bottle from his hands. 

“You didn’t tell him I was coming?” You asked him as he led you over to take a seat at the bar. He looked guilty. 

“If I had he probably would’ve been by the gates waiting for you. Figured this was better.” You couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Hermosa, haven’t seen you in a while.” You turned around to face Bishop. A genuine smile lit up your face and you got up to hug him. He graciously accepted, giving you a tight squeeze before letting you go. Bishop was always so kind to you, always so supportive of yours and Angel’s relationship. 

“Hey, Bish. How are you?” 

“I’m doing good. How are you? Which Reyes brother are you really here for?” He teased you and Ez chuckled. Obviously the club knew about yours and Angel’s split but he still welcomed you with open arms despite it. You were thankful for it. 

“Very funny, but I’m here for Ez.” He laughed and placed a kiss on your temple before excusing himself. 

“Is he still looking over here?” You asked Ez, bringing the bottle up to your lips and taking a sip of the cold liquid. You welcomed the alcohol as it sat in your stomach. 

“Yup and Vicky’s girl does not seem too happy about that.” You felt a sliver of satisfaction run through you. But Angel wasn’t yours, you made that clear. So you had absolutely no right to be jealous, you had no claim over him anymore. At least not in that way but with the way you felt his eyes on your body, you knew you still had some sort of pull over him. He had that same pull over you but tonight was not the night for that. 

“Let’s get you drunk, Eziekiel. You deserve it.” You changed the subject. You weren’t going to sit here and talk about Angel who was a few feet from you during Ez’s party. No, you were going to celebrate the man of the hour. Your friend, arguably your best friend. Also arguably your only friend. 

“Sounds good to me.”

Ez was a bit tipsy but not nowhere near drunk after many rounds of beers and a few shots. You on the other hand kept it to three beers and then opted for some water, not really one to drink all that much. That didn’t mean that you weren’t having fun though. Coco had eventually came over to talk to you during the night and you were glad none of the men held any animosity towards you. It felt nice to see them again and you could honestly say you were glad you came. 

“Six o’clock, mamas.” Coco said and nodded behind you, you were turning around completely ready to see Angel. You were surprised he hadn’t tried to get your attention sooner seeing as how he still tried to contact you weekly. But it wasn’t Angel. The man who now stood in front of you was a stranger, albeit a very handsome stranger who was part of another charter by the patch on his vest. He was tall enough to tower over you, his dark eyes pulling you in. He ran his hand through his raven black hair and smiled at you, even with his facial hair you could still see prominent dimples. 

“Hello, sweetheart. I’m Jay. And you are?” He stuck his tattooed hand out for you to take and you took it into your own. Jay was a tall glass of water, honestly a wet dream. Just not yours. But he could be. At least for tonight. A rebound wasn’t a terrible idea but you guessed there had to have been some rule about finding a rebound at the party of your ex boyfriend's brother’s party while he stood just a few feet away. You still introduced yourself nonetheless. You were a bit too distracted to notice Coco and Ez had left you to your own devices. 

“So, what brings you to this party?”

“I’m a friend of Ez’s.” You told him. You swore you could still feel Angel’s eyes burning through you, you had felt it since you locked eyes with him. Whether he was giving you your space or he really didn’t want anything to do with you tonight, you didn’t know. But judging by the same girl who was still trying to get his attention, you figured he wanted nothing to do with you tonight if it meant him getting laid. 

“Hmm,” he looked you up and down and you shifted under his gaze. You were kidding yourself if you actually thought you’d go through with a rebound. Especially with a Mayan. And you were kidding yourself if you thought a rebound was going to help. As if it was going to magically make your feelings for Angel disappear. As if sleeping with a stranger was going to give you that release you needed again, no, only Angel could do that. You hated it. 

“So, this party is dying down, I was thinking maybe you wanna get out of here?” That was extremely forward, all he knew about you was your name. But who were you kidding, guys like him didn’t care, hell, you’d be lucky if he even remembered your name. You were just about to turn him down when he trailed his hand up your thigh skimming just under your dress. Your eyes widened at the gesture and you shoved him off you and backed up.

“Woah, what the fuck.” You hissed quietly, not wanting to make a scene. He laughed.

“Oh, come on. You're not here for Ez, you’re here to get laid.” What the fuck. You were about to tell him off before a hand wrapped around your waist and a warm body pulled you into his side. You didn’t even have to look to know who it was but you looked up anyways. Angel. Your damn angel.

“You touching my girl, homie?” He asked him, ice in his tone. You were surprised the guy wasn’t on the floor already, Angel’s girlfriend or not, he didn’t like people touching you if you weren’t willing. Maybe he knew punching a guys lights out right now was no way to win you back and it was definitely not needed at Ez’s patched-in party. 

“Nah, man. Sorry, I didn’t know she was yours.” You scoffed.

“I’m not anyones.” You weren’t going to cause a scene but you hated men like this, men who thought women were just objects. You felt bad for the girl he would somehow convince to go home with him. 

“Get fucking lost or we’re gonna have a problem.” Angel told him, fingers tightening on your waist. Your skin ignited at his touch, at him being so close, at his cologne infiltrating your senses once again. It all felt like home. You hated it. The guy held his hands up as he walked away mumbling curses under his breath. Before you could say anything to Angel, he was whispering in your ear. 

“We need to talk. Now.” He didn’t give you room to argue as he led you down the hall and into his dorm room, closing the door. You didn’t like this. You didn’t trust yourself to be alone in a room with Angel right now. Give it another month or two then maybe, but right now? When your breakup was still a month fresh? No. It was dangerous. Angel turned to face you and you crossed your arms looking anywhere but at him, not wanting to look into his eyes. Not wanting to lose yourself in him. 

“What do you want to talk about?” He laughed bitterly, shaking his head. 

“Us. You coming here dressed like that.” He motioned to your dress.

“There’s nothing to talk about, Angel. What’s done is done.” You explained, biting your lip. Seeing him one foot away, eyes locked on you, it was a bit too much. One month was not nearly long enough to get over Angel Reyes. Hell, you didn’t think any amount of time would be sufficient. He was a damn drug, one you couldn’t stay off of.

“So you came here to torture me? Rub it in my face? I fucking miss you and you come to my clubhouse and act like everything’s cool? Act like I didn’t mean shit to you?” He was angry, that was easy to see. But you could tell his tone carried a deep hurt, one he was desperately trying to contain. Your heart ached. You wanted him to hurt, at first. But now seeing him, seeing the desperation and anguish in his eyes? This wasn’t what you wanted. You didn’t like hurting the people you loved, even if they hurt you. 

“Angel, that wasn’t my intention. Ez asked me to come and I wanted to support him. I’m not trying to hurt you.” You explained, stepping closer to him. That was also dangerous, you should be on the other side of the room, not a few inches away from him. 

“Too fucking late.” He ran his ring cladded fingers through his hair. 

“What do you want me to say, Angel? You hurt me, you didn’t make time for me. Our relationship was over long before that day.” It was the truth. You subconsciously knew your relationship was over with Angel before you had officially broken it off. You were just too scared to admit it to yourself, too desperate to hang onto the hope that he’d actually show up for you. But he never did and you knew it was time. 

“I know, I fucked up. I know that. But what you did that day… that was cold.” You chewed on your bottom lip. Part of you did feel bad for giving him a false sense of hope that day, using him for your release and then dropping him. But you needed to end the relationship on a high note, end it with a sweet goodbye and not a bitter storm of curses, in the end it was all just bittersweet. 

“I just… I needed you, Angel. I had missed you so much and I needed something…” You couldn’t find your words but you knew he knew what you meant, even if that day hurt like a bitch for him. He stepped forward, making a move to grab your arm but you backed up and shook your head. 

“Mami, please…” He begged, this time you went still as he grabbed your arm with one hand and cupped your cheek with the other. Your body buzzed to life at his touch, like Angel flipped a switch and you were back on again, like you were just being dragged through life this past month on auto pilot, like he had finally given you the reins back to your body. 

“Angel…” You were weak, your wavering voice gave you away. He leaned forward, his lips grazing yours slightly, his warm breath mingling with your own. You felt giddy as he surrounded you, as he invaded everything you were once again. And when he pressed his lips to yours, you melted into it. He licked along your lips and you opened your mouth, tongues sliding against each other. You moaned into it and grabbed onto his vest, trying to steady yourself at this heady feeling he gave you every time his lips were on any part of you. His hand slid to your waist and you had half a mind to snap out of your daze. You pulled away and he craned his neck, trying to chase your lips. You pushed on his chest lightly, wanting him to stop. 

“No, Angel, we can’t…” You couldn’t get hurt again. You couldn’t just fall back into him just for him to keep you at home waiting up for him and waiting on his call, and when neither came you’d be right back where you started. 

“Querida, I love you… I need you.” He whispered against your cheek. Hearing him say those words only made your heart ache worse and only made you want him more. It was damn confusing. You wanted him but you couldn’t put yourself through that shit again. 

You knew what he meant. I need you. He didn’t just need a release, he needed you. Just like that day you broke up with him, you needed him to give you that high but you quite plainly just needed him. 

“Fine. Let’s fuck and then go our separate ways.” You said, pulling him in for another kiss, needing the distraction. Not wanting to think about how fucking stupid that offer was, how fucking stupid you were. Sex wasn’t going to do anything but fill your base desire, it wasn’t going to give you back that piece of your heart that was ripped away from you when you left. He didn’t let the kiss go on more than a few seconds, pulling away, confusion and despair written all over his face. 

“What?”

“Fuck me, Angel. We need it.” You stated plainly. He shook his head and backed up from you. 

“No. I need you.” His words pricked another pain in your heart. 

“Then take me.” You offered. You were sure you had lost your damn mind. But you wanted Angel, maybe it wasn’t exactly the way you wanted him but you’d take it. 

“Fuck no. That’s not what I want.” You sighed, he wasn’t making this easy. Because it wasn’t what you wanted either. Yeah, you were desperate to feel him inside you again but it’s not truly what you wanted. 

“That’s all I can offer.” Your words came out softer than you planned, sadder. He scoffed, running his hand down his face. 

“You want a release, mami? I’ll give you one, but you’re not getting my dick. I can’t… I can’t be inside you without wanting to stay there. Can’t give you that if I know you’re just going to leave again.” You weren’t sure what he was offering. But it didn’t matter because he was more upset than he had been just a few moments ago. 

“Angel…” You shook your head not knowing what to say. Fuck, if he fucked you right now you wouldn’t want him to go anywhere either. But that wasn’t your reality. The reality was that he fucked up and sex didn’t fix it the first time and it certainly wasn’t going to fix it this time. 

“I’ll make you come on my tongue, and then you can walk out that door but you’ll walk out knowing only I can take you to heaven.” You swallowed hard at his words as he crowded your space again. Your breath hitched as he pulled you into his chest, making you look into his eyes. 

“I’m not going to stop. Not gonna stop calling, texting, not gonna stop until you give me another chance to prove to you how much I fucking love you. But right now, I’ll give you what you want. Even if it kills me.” And with that he slid to his knees. Your whole world stopped at the confession, at him kneeling before you, ready to worship you in a way only he could. The sight of him on his knees, the rush you felt as he trailed his hands up your bare thighs, it was like no other high you had ever felt. Your salvation and your destruction kneeled before you, ready to prove to you how deadly the mix of the two was. Your angel on his knees ready to sin. 

His lips trailed up your thighs and you threw your head back, steadying yourself by placing your hands on his shoulders. His warm breath getting closer to the place you needed him most had your core clenching around nothing, had you squirming, waiting for him. 

“Fuck…” You breathed out as he lifted your dress to get his mouth right on the skin above your panties. You bit down hard on your bottom lip as you felt yourself getting wetter at his teasing. His lips skimmed your stomach before he forcefully yanked your panties down, a contrast to his gentle and slow movements. You gasped at the action but before you could react further, he buried his face in your pussy, throwing one of your legs over his shoulder in the process. You yelped at the sudden intensity, at his wet tongue sliding through your folds and flicking against your clit. 

“Oh god.” You cried, grabbing onto his hair and grinding yourself into his face. He let you, following your movements, never relenting, never taking his mouth off you. Heaven. He wasn’t wrong, only your angel could take you there. 

“Missed your taste. Missed you.” He mumbled against your slick. He said the last part so quietly you almost didn’t hear him, but you did. You heard him and it stung but the pleasure he was also giving you was overpowering your thoughts on his confession. 

“Feels so good, Angel.” Your words spurred him on as he trailed his tongue to your hole, fucking you. You whined at the intrusion and rolled your hips and pulled his head in deeper. You were drowning again, or flying, or possibly dying. It felt too good, felt too sweet to be anything but something so fucking dangerous yet so damn exhilarating. 

You were so lost in your pleasure you almost didn’t notice the door open, Angel obviously didn’t, head still buried in your pussy. The head that peeked around the door was the same woman who had been trying to fuck Angel all night. Her eyes widened at the sight and you should’ve felt embarrassed, but all you felt was that satisfaction again. Angel was here with you, on his goddamn knees for you. Pleasuring you and wanting nothing in return. At your mercy. Your head clouded with need at the thought, not because he was here with you and not some other woman but because he’d only ever do this for you. 

You moaned a little louder and the girl snapped out of her shock and displeasure as she awkwardly closed the door. 

Now that she was gone, you were once again focused on your man. Not your man. Angel said this would kill him, he didn’t know it was going to kill you too even if you got your release. 

“Gonna come…” You cried as he flicked your clit with his tongue. You were yanking at his hair, which only made him moan and made for a sweet vibration on that bundle of nerves. You rolled your hips against his face faster, nearing the edge. The sounds his tongue and your slick were making were enough to put a porno to shame and it only brought you closer. 

“Come, let me take you there.” Heaven. You could see it behind your eyelids, could fucking feel it as your orgasm finally shot through the surface, taking you sky high. You let out a litany of curses mixed with his name, eyes watering at the intensity of your high. Earlier you didn’t know if you were flying or drowning, what you realized now was that you were flying and drowning. A mix of gasping for air while simultaneously flying right through it. 

Finally you caught a breath as your climax started to fade, Angel still licking his way through it with gentle strokes. You whined as you finally came down, finally came back to this world. He lapped you up slowly and then placed a small kiss to your clit before pulling away and looking up at you. Your breath shook as you looked into his eyes, as he kept your gaze and laced his fingers through yours. You let him. Not having the energy to fight him. He knew what this was, he said it himself before he dropped to his knees. It made you feel slightly less guilty about only taking and not giving. 

He finally got to his feet. You saw the tent in his pants but he adjusted himself and cursed under his breath. He didn’t seem to care about that though as he looked at you. You didn’t like the look. A look that held a lot of promise. His beard was slightly damp from your come and your core throbbed at the sight. He licked his lips as if he knew what you were thinking about and took your face in his hands. 

“Forgive me.” He whispered, desperate again. You knew what it was. He said he’d get you off, nothing to it, but of course there was a small part of him that thought you’d change your mind after another orgasm. 

“No.” Your words stung him, you could tell. But his face hardened and you thought he’d pull away. But instead, he stroked your bottom lip with his thumb.

“You will.” And with that promise he was walking out the door, leaving you more confused than ever. 

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