#jess and i hid in her room all night basically

[robynlilyblack]

The Holiday

Part 2

Fred Weasley x fem! Potter! reader

Summary: After a colourful morning Fred and y/n get to spend some alone time together

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of eating, sex and food, slow burn, mutual pining, lil to a lot of sexual tension

A/n: 7.3k words, this is so cutesy, completely self-indulgent fluff and I love this to utter bits x

Navigation | Fred Weasley Masterlist | Part 1 | Part 3

You scrunched up your nose as you felt the sun hitting the side of your face, slowly becoming aware of everything around you, feeling the warm body pressed against your back, an arm wrapped across your chest and a hand placed on the mattress just under your arm. You smiled to yourself, it wasn’t the first time you had been spooned by Fred, but it had been years and he had never held you this close, this intimately, like you weren’t friends napping but something more, something you had always longed for.

Your eyes fluttered open to see the clock, 06:32, the sight made you smile wider, eyes shutting as you hugged his arm closer to you, placing a kiss on his bicep and feeling him hum in his sleep behind you, nose nuzzling into your hair as you drifted off once more

About an hour later the sun had moved in the room, now hitting Fred with more intensity than it did before causing him to groan and hug you closer. He smiled before he froze, eyes opening to see your pretty head of hair in front of his face and feeling his feet dangling over the end of the bed as he must have shifted down in the night to be the same level as you. He then felt you squeeze his arm with your own as you whined in you sleep, his heart practically exploded, letting his head lean in and smell your hair

As he smiled into you he glanced over at the other bed, seeing his brothers knowing grin, currently sat up a small prototype in one hand and a small screwdriver in the other while Jess lay on her stomach sleeping, soft snores coming from her

“Cosy” George says quietly wiggling his eyebrows 

Fred felt his face heat, George had teased him for years especially the first time you two had ever slept beside one another. It was just after the Quidditch world cup, you were utterly exhausted and couldn’t bring yourself to walk up to Ginny’s room to sleep so Fred stayed with you on the couch, letting you use him as a pillow and you lay on top of him. The following morning George found you both, taking a photo to tease his brother with, of course Fred couldn’t steal it from him without moving you and to this day he had no idea where his brother hid it

“Shut up” he rebuts but makes no effort to move away from you, if anything he held you tighter, although he did become rather aware of his arm resting between two soft parts of you which made his blush increase

George just smirks “You two are acting like a couple already” he notes shaking his head as he returns to tinkering with the device 

Fred looks at him strangely “We aren’t, we’re…we…” he struggles to explain it, his heart aching that this was all one-sided and you merely seen him as your friends’ sweet older brother…who was definitely having not so sweet thoughts about you

“You’re what? So, in love we’re all planning the wedding…we are by the way, Sirius is going to be the ring bearer, well his Padfoot form will be” he says with a smile

Freuds eyes widen “Who…?” he asks a little panicked causing you to stir but not wake, shuffling back into him to which he can’t stop himself from smiling “Who is we?” he asks quieter

“Gin, Ron, Mione, Jess, Lee, Angelina, Luna…Nev��basically everyone Freddie, we’ve had bets for years…oh Dumbledore and Minnie too we overheard them once”

“Harry?” he asks nervous

George shakes his head “Nah, he’s as oblivious as they come” he laughs lightly “Pretty sure James and Lily know though” 

“What?” Fred sits up waking you this time as he hears you groan softly, waking up from his sudden movements

You shift to look around at him, arms still tangled but looser than before “I was having a rather lovely dream you know” you say groggy pouting so cutely Fred eyes linger on your lips as you rub the sleep from your eyes sitting up

“Sorry love” Fred cringes, nudging his shoulder with yours before remembering his hand was still resting on your stomach and reluctantly removes it 

He stays close to you however, knee laying over your upper thigh as he shifts to sit properly “It’s fine, least you didn’t kick me out of the bed” you giggle “Mornin George” you send him an adorable little wave like he isn’t less than a meter from your own bed

The younger twin matches your energy waving back “Mornin” he smiles at you 

“Do I not get a good morning?” Fred says with false annoyance

You turn your head in his direction then back to George “You hear something?” you shrug with a grin on your face

George muses for a second “Nope must have been the wind” he shakes his head

“Ha ha very funny” Fred waves his hands in the air 

You furrow your eyebrows “I think it was a squeak actually…oh something nudged me...weird” you act confused to which Fred huffs crossing his arms

“Looks like there a breeze too” George comments with a shit eating grin on his face

Fred shakes his head “Right you’ve had your fun but please stop, I can’t survive 3 days like this again…it’ll ruin the holiday” he pouts while you and George chuckle

“Fine” you lean into him, loving the way his lips quirk up “So, what you working on?” you ask noticing the device in Georges hands

His face lights up “I think I’ve finally fixed the little…glitch” he grunts a bit as turns the screwdriver “Wanna see?” he asks to which you bounce up and down on the bed

“Yes!” you say excitedly lifting up the covers and attempting crawling out of the bed, only to slip as you do, face going into the mattress “Oww” you groan as the boys chuckle, propping yourself up on your elbows as you look at George “At least I didn’t swan dive off the bed this time” you say giggling but only register Georges laugh

Fred was busy trying not to go crimson as your arse was basically in his face, shorts tight and rode up, eyes lingering there even though he knew it was wrong to. His gaze was only broken when you sit back on your feet then swivelling them around to get off of the bed and head over to join George, settling in between him and Jess

“Freddie you not coming?” You tilt your head as you gesture

His mouth opens then shuts “Nah I-I’m good here, I’ve seen it” he chuckles nervously, shifting the covers over himself an act his brother notices, raising an eyebrow

As you turn to look at the product he mouths ‘fuck off’ at George as he wiggles on the bed, trying to focus on what you’re being shown than the pretty sight he just witnessed and the lewd thoughts that were swarming his brain

“What does it do?” you ask smiling 

Both of their hearts warm at your enthusiasm, you never judged them for their products, in fact you helped with them, came up with your own ideas, even helped them design the packaging. It was then they were reminded that you were going to make an excellent addition to their shop, if you chose to join them of course

George shifts to face you and Jess, who was still sound asleep “Just watch” he says as he places down the screwdriver and presses a little button on the side

You hear a couple of clicks like gears being turned before a soft ding and then the lid bursts open. You barely heard Georges and Fred’s in union ‘oh no’ as you feel some kind of water, maybe paint blast over you. Poor Jess who hears the rather loud pop of the lid lifts her head up at the wrong moment and is covered in the liquid too

“What in the flying fuck!” she cries wiping her eyes and staring daggers into George before looking at you “Gal your hair is all rainbow…” she starts giggling before putting at the coils of her own hair finding them mutli coloured too

You don’t reply as you struggle to wipe the paint from your eyes, luckily George helps you “Here doll” he gently removes what you figure must be multicoloured goo

“Thanks George”

You feel the bed dip next to you followed by a voice “You alright love?”

Humming you finally open your eyes “Yeah…is my hair really a rainbow?” you turn to Fred, you weren’t mad in the slightest, if anything you were excited to know how they’d managed it

He nods grinning as he gently takes at strand of it between his fingers “Here” he takes out his wand muttering something to clean the goo and dry yours and Jess’ hair 

You smile at him “Thanks Freddie” you say gently squeezing his arm before turning to see Jess, her gorgeous chocolate curls now rainbow “Jess you look so beautiful!” you gush over her

The girl’s eyes light up “Me what about you” she cups your face giving your nose a quick kiss before grabbing a mirror from the best side table “Alright I’m not even mad anymore, I do look fab…how long will this last and can you make it permanent” she look up at George with a hopeful expression

The boy was about to answer when the door opened revealing your father and Harry “We heard a scream and though we should investigate…wow!” James starts to explain before he looks between you and Jess “When you do that? It looks amazing” 

Harry nods beside him “You both look really pretty” he says sweetly

You and Jess cuddle into each other at the compliments “You can thank a product gone wrong for that…although that glitch could be a great seller, what was it supposed to be?” you wonder looking to Fred

“Well we were hoping it would shoot rainbow sparks for pride but it seems like it didn’t travel through the device quite right…” he picks up the device pointing “...see it shot out this tube instead of the charmed one, hence it just shot the goo instead being turned into colourful sparks” Fred explains looking at you as he finishes, loving the way your attention was on him the full time

“You know Marlene always wanted hair like that, could I commission one? Her birthdays coming up and I need brownie points after I set her couch on fire” James cringes as all of you start giggling 

George and Fred theorised you and Jess would be stuck with rainbow hair for at least the rest of the holiday but neither of you minded much. Your parents, Molly and Arthur were planning on spending the day down by the lake, but mentioned to everyone there was an ice cream shop in the village and we should all go out since it was a bit breezier today, perfect weather for exploring.

You put on some denim shorts, vest and light cardigan before heading down to wait for everyone outside. As you leave the house you see Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione taking amongst themselves, Ron’s arm lazily around his girlfriend and Ginny with her arm linked with your brothers, head on his shoulder

“Hi!” you greet cheerily

They turn to you smiling “You look cute” Ginny notes with a wink “Love the hair” she nods the three others nodding in agreement

“Looking cute too Gin, when you realise you choose the wrong twin let me know” you flirt back making Harry chuckle, for years you and Ginny flirted just to annoy him, at one point he really did think you and she were serious

“Where’s the twins and Jess?” Hermione asks

“Jess wanted to braid her hair so George and Freddie are doing one end each when I decided to head down, it was such an adorable sight” you scrunch up your nose as you recall how giddy she was

“They loved doing that with my hair when I was younger” Ginny notes

Ron chuckles “They did it with mine when we had long hair…oh merlin you remember that”

“The year no one got haircuts…how could we forget?” Hermione says sarcastically, earing surprised giggles and a proud look from her boyfriend

A few minutes later Jess and the twins appeared, all of you giggling as she poses with her braids while George and Fred did little jazz hands behind her. 

Soon you all headed out, Jess linking her arm with yours as you all make the walk down to the village, catching up and reminiscing about things that happened back at Hogwarts. 

When you get into town the group stops in the small square “Wanna split up and explore for a couple hours then meet back for ice cream around 1 or something?” Hermione suggests, taking Ron’s hand, clearly excited for a mini date

Everyone nods 

“So two groups of four or four groups of two?” George asks

Ginny and Hermione eye each other, having a mental conversation of whether they want a double date or not “Four groups of two” Ginny decides 

Fred sees Jess about to ask you to be with her so he butts in “Dibs on y/n” he says pulling you into him “Then it’s a cute, boy, girl, boy, girl situation” he tries to justify it, mostly for Harry as by the knowing looks everyone but you and your twin were well aware of what he was doing

“Grand” Jess smiles turning to the younger twin “Wanna go cause mischief?” she asks

He nods “Hell yeah, come on rainbow girl” he gestures letting her link her arm with his as they wander off in a random direction

The others head away, leaving you alone with Fred “So, what’s the plan Freddie?” you link your arm with his, heart fluttering you’re going to spend some real time together

He grins down at you “Close your eyes and hold your hand straight out, I’m going to spin you. Whatever direction you point in when you stop is where we shall go” he asks, heart melting as you do as he says without question

He starts to spin you, ducking as he realises he should have asked you to point afterwards but when was anything he did not chaotic “Freddie if you don’t stop me soon I might puke” you warn him giggling away

“Alright, stop anytime love” he says before quickly moving to help when you stumble coming to an such an abrupt halt “Wow there” he grips your hips steading you, followed by him nuzzling his nose into your hair without thinking

You close your eyes once more at the contact, you could stay like this forever “Thanks Freddie” you say opening them and seeing where you were pointing “Looks like we are going down that cute side street” 

Fred is pulled from his daze and remembers the point of the whole spinning thing “Perfection” he says but he isn’t looking at the direction you’ll be headed

You step forward out of his grasp, turning and grabbing his wrist “Come on then” you say excitedly pulling him along with you, both smiling the whole time

As he lets you drag him towards the entrance to the small street he stops you just before you enter it making you peer up at him oh so cutely. He chuckles at you before taking your hand in his properly and continuing to walk into the side street

It was just big enough for two people to walk down side by side, old painted white brick walls of the large cottages on one side and a shorter painted white wall on the other with hanging branches from the gardens behind it

“You picked a good one little Potter” he notes

“Little Potter? Haven’t called me that in a while” you say running your fingers along the grooves of the brick

He squeezes your hand “It’s an accurate nickname being the baby of the group” he smirks to himself 

You huff “Ginny’s younger than me” you pout at him, taking you hand out of his and crossing your arms over your chest “and Luna” you add 

“They don’t count, because Ginny is more way more mature than most of us and Luna isn’t here. Besides back at Hogwarts you did hang out with most of my year instead of your own” 

That was true, even Jess was a year older than you as well. The reason for it was because Jess lived nearby your uncle Remus’ cottage, hence the two of you became friends before Hogwarts and through her you became friends with Cedric. Then you met the twins and through them became friends with Angelina and Lee. However, you would be a liar if you didn’t hung out with them just so you could be near Fred

You scrunch up your face mocking his voice as you repeat some of his words making him chuckle at you

“I had my reasons” you say after a couple seconds

“Mischievous ones I hope” he leans down to your ear

You turn to look at him in the eyes “Very mischievous” you smirk

He mirrors your expression, watching that beautiful glint in your eyes that he just adored. 

The two of you were so caught up in each other you hadn’t noticed you were approaching a small shop until the owner called out “Hello there” the older man greets

You and Fred tear your eyes away from one another and towards the man “Hi” you smile at the man while Fred gives him a nod

“You two look like you are in need of an adventure” he says as you approach, handing you a map

You take it from him, it detailed the whole village and surrounding trails, little red x’s marking specific locations “Is it some kind of scavenger hunt?” you wonder

He bobs his head “Sort off lass” he says with a thick accent “It’s called geocache huntin’, this…” he gives you another sheet “…had riddles you need to solve in order to find the cache. Each one is filled with little trinkets and whatnot, you can’t take from it but you can swap something of yours” he explains making you and Fred smile

“What do we get for finding them all?” Fred asks

The man raises his eyebrows “A surprise, depends on how many you find, no one’s gotten them all yet so the big ones up for grabs” you and Fred look at each other excited “My stalls open till one…you two in?” 

“Yes” you and Fred say in unison 

The man lets out a large smile “Brilliant! Hopefully I’ll see you two in a wee while then” he gives you a nod

You both smile back before walking off

You begin reading the map “Looks like this is us here” you point to the man’s shop “So if we head straight…” you start but Fred cuts in

“One second love we need one of those muggle pens, I’ll be back” he quickly kisses the side of your head, leaving you a little dazed but a huge smile on your face

“Found them already” the man jests 

Fred chuckles “No no, but you don’t happen to have a pen” he asks making a writing motion

The man nods reaching into his pockets “Ah here you go lad” he hands Fred the pen before glancing briefly at you looking at the map with a big smile on your face “She’s a keeper that one and just between us the prize is for couples” he winks

Fred’s cheeks heat that the man assumed you were a couple “We…” he stops himself “She is, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna marry her if she lets me” he says genuinely making the man give him a charmed nod

With that Fred jogged back up to you “You get one?” he nods “Great” you shine up at him, holding out your hand and letting him take it “The first one is just up here”

You and Fred walk hand in hand down the lane, coming out you are in a small community garden, lots of bushes of flowers, even an apple tree “This is nice” Fred nods “So what’s the hint?” he inquires

You turn to him with a straight face “I am hidden in a bed without sheets, where I’m always dirty” you say coyly your eyebrows raising

His eyes flash with the same thing you saw yesterday while swiming in the loch, a smirk appears on his face “If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were flirting with me little Potter” he bends down to your eye level

“Call me little Potter one more time and I’ll stop” you challenge him leaning closer to him noses almost touching 

He lets out a laugh “You want me to stop little…” you face flashes with disappointment making his heart ache but it quickly recovers “…bird?” he says remembering the previous night’s conversation

Your eyes brighten immediately and Fred makes a mental note to call you that from now on

“Never” you say turning away from him and back to the riddle “So bed without sheets and always dirty” you ponder eyes looking over the garden until you land on a row of flowers “Look” you grab his arm, tapping it

“What love” he follows your hand as you point “Flowers? Oh, flower bed, dirty ah, muggles are quite clever” he admires  

You walk over to the bed, gently moving the flowers and finding a small plastic box “It’s a lil owl” you hold it up to Fred “It’s so cute!” you say as you figure out how to open it

Fred kneels down beside you, loving how excited you are

Opening the box, you see a bunch of items, mostly keychains, some beaded bracelets as well as a small plastic packet with a signing sheet and the code to prove you found it

“You want to do the honours, your hand writing is much prettier than mine” he gives you the pen

You giggle “Not only my handwriting” you say earing an endearing ‘cheeky’ from the boy

Y/n and Fred, 2nd June 1998

“There we go” you say as you write the first code down

There were 10 in total and you both were determined to get them all, especially Fred, since he knew you would be gifted some kind of fancy date out of it and maybe, just maybe, one he could take out on later in the week

The some of the puzzles where quite simple

I am hidden under something that goes up and down, but never moves, beneath a staircase 

You might get stumped by this one, within the roots of an old cut down tree

Then they slowly got harder:

These too easy? Okay I lay behind the place where today comes before yesterday, behind dictionary in the local library

Stay tuned for this next hint, I am within something that has strings but can’t be tied, that one was difficult as it was in an old guitar that had been refashioned into a diy flower bed

“This way Freddie” you call out as you find the spot 

You hear him jogging up “You find it?” he asks as he joins you

Humming you point to a tree “I lay in a small house preached upon something that dies once every year but it only strengthens it. Must be that birdhouse…it’s so high though” you giggle “Good think I brought a big tree”

He nudges you “Big tree? I’m offended love”

“You shouldn’t be” you say as you both head to the base

“No?” he asks as he reaches up

“No” 

“We have a problem” he says hands resting on his hips “I’m ironically too short” he states

You let out a laugh “First for everything. How are we going to get it?” you say looking over at him, met with a cheeky look “Oh no what?”

He places his back against the tree “Come on lil bird let’s get you to your bird house” he winks at you, bending his knees

You bite your lip, if you only knew Freddie, you were excited to reveal your form to him but there were too many muggles around that could see you right now, because you really would have flown up to get the cache instead

You hesitantly placed your foot on his knee “Come on” he gestures 

Fred watches as you place your hands on his shoulders pushing yourself up, slipping a little but he’s got you “Sorry” you say with a giggle as you had unknowing fell into his face chest first, something he certainly wasn’t complaining about 

“You never explained why I shouldn’t be offended” he says looking up at you while your reaching in for the box

You lift the box out placing it on the edge of the tree “Pen?” you make a grabby hand at him

“One second” he extends the syllables as he reaches into his pocket retrieving it before handing it to you, intentionally brushing his hand over yours before it goes to steady you once more

You start signing and jotting down the code “Because you’re the best kind of tree” you answer simply “You’re an autumn tree, the prettiest kind”

He smiles to himself, most people made fun of him being ginger, not that he really cared nor listened to them but hearing you call him pretty because of it made more than his day. It was something he never knew he needed to hear until that moment and it made him adore you more that he did already

“You calling me pretty?” he teases you as you finish writing

You look down at him as you shove the map and sheet into your shorts pocket “You know you are” you say moving to push the box back in, griping onto a branch as you do

“I learned that from y…ooooo” he says before hearing a crack followed by a squeal from you as you slip and send both of you to the forest floor “ugh” he groans as his back hits the ground followed by you landing on top of him

You scrunched your eyes together, legs setting either side of his stomach as you sat up “Freddie are you okay, I’m so sorry the branch snapped” your hands go to cup his cheeks before moving to check for any kind of injury 

He just watches you fawn over him, how worried you were “I’m okay love” he assures you, moving to rest on his elbows “You got the code right” he makes sure, as much as he loved your current position he didn’t need a concussion

You nod shifting down so he could sit up if he wanted “Yeah I did. Need help big guy?” you hold your hands out for him, his eyes lighting up at the pet name

He takes them letting you pull him up “Thanks…” he says a little breathless as you were seated closer on his torso than either of you realised, faces centimetres apart

Your eyes are fixed on each others, breathing slowly as everything else begins to fade out. His eyes wander, unable to help themselves, down your nose then to your parted lips, before cheekily flicking once or twice further down, she’s so pretty...more than pretty

You do the same, eyes roaming his pretty freckles, how his shirt had been pulled down and you could see the top of his toned chest and sculpted collar bones, merlin he is perfect

Your eyes return to his face, catching him checking out your cleavage and smiling to yourself. When his eyes return to your face, you swear they flick down to your lips and he was moving in…

“You both better not be canoodling over there…children are about” a women’s voice interrupts you

I was gonna try for a bit of canoodling, Fred thinks, a little annoyed yet another moment with you was disturbed 

You giggle “We were just trying to get the geocache up there...” you point to the bird house “...and I fell on him” you explain with a smile although your cheeks did feel hot

The lady raises he eyebrow, giving you a slightly sassy ‘mhm’ before heading on her way, you turn back to Fred finding him already looking at you. The tension before had dissipated again, leaving the two of you to burst into giggles

Harry comes out of the shop with a huge ice cream cone taking a lick as he takes a seat outside with the others. 

He looks up to see George and Jess coming, the gingers eyes searching as he speaks “Where’s Freddie and Y/n?” he asks 

Everyone shrugs “No clue, it’s only half twelve though” Hermine says checking her watch

“Maybe they got lost” Harry suggests to which his girlfriend laughs “Gin?” he smiles weirdly at her

Her eyes widen a little “Nothing sweetie, I’m sure they’ve just found something cool” she assures him and as he goes back to his ice cream she makes kissy faces to the rest stopping as your parents come around the corner 

“Hi mum” Harry greets as he sees her “Hey dad”

“Hello honey” Lily smiles back “Ooo that looks good” she points to Ron’s small tub

He sucks on his cheek swallowing “You want some?” he offers but she shakes her head

“I’ll get my own you enjoy that one” she assures him

“Where my little fawn?” James asks looking around

The group looks between each other before you appear “Hi Y/n…you lose Freddie or is he stuck up a tree again?” George jokes making the others laugh

“That was one time” Fred calls out coming out of a different alley

The group was about to question what you were doing before you called out “I got the 8th one”

“I got the 9th, one more to go” Fred says

“What’s happening?” Ginny asks

“No time to explain sis” Fred says jogging towards you “Need to get the last one by 1” he says grabbing your hand, both of you smiling and laughing as you run off together

James and Lily share a look while everyone else just giggles at the two of yours antics 

“I’m shattered” Fred says falling into the bed, wanting to wrap himself in the covers but he waits for you

George and Jess laugh on the other bed, already tucked in while you were just brushing your teeth “Can’t believe you went on an adventure with me” George pouts

Jess rubs his back 

“Sorry Georgie but there was a time limit” Fred shrugs, he did feel a little bad for his twin…nah he didn’t, he got to spend the whole day hunting with you, alone, hand exclusively in his the entire time

“Did you win the prize?” Jess asks

Fred nods “Yeah we won a free day out” he smiles, of course he was leaving out that it was a couple’s day out filled romantic and fun things to do with one’s partner

“Lovely” George says slyly “That just for the two of you?” he smirks at his twin as does Jess beside him

Fred’s cheeks heat, faint blush appearing but hidden in the dim light “Shut up” he mutters as you open the door

“I’m gonna to sleep well tonight” you announce climbing into the bed with Fred, neither of you speaking, just knowing as he opens his arms and lets you crawl into them

“Night” George sings

“Sweet dreams” Jess copies him 

You and Fred both respectively stare daggers at them, saying your goodnights to them before turning to each other and saying your own goodnights. 

However after around half an hour Fred still couldn’t get to sleep “Y/n” he whispers “Y/n” he squeezes you in attempt to wake you as gently as he could

“I’m sleeping” you say with a smile breaking across your face, his heart skips “Is this your turn to ask me a weird question?” you open your heads looking up at him

He shakes his head, shifting under you “Would you mind…can you…” he was nervous to ask but you got it, just like you always got him

You wiggle out of his arms, shifting back and opening your arms, hithering with your hands “Come here big guy” you say a little tired but with complete endearment

He doesn’t say anything just tries to contain his smile as he lays his head on your chest, arms slithering around your torso while yours wrap around him gently 

“Night” my little bird

“Night” my big tree

Your eyes fluttered open to see the cutest view, Fred snuggled into you, a small smile twitching on his face as he dreamed. The only downside was his weight was pushing into your bladder and now you needed to pee. You slowly shifted him over, hearing the sweetest whine as he lost contact with you

“Mornin” you hear a soft whisper, turning to see Jess coming out of the bathroom

You smile “Morning” you greet before standing up, joining her side looking over the two twins both fast asleep, looking so peaceful “You thinking what I’m thinking?” you glance over at Jess

“I already have the pens”

Fred scrunched up in face at the bright light “What the…” he mutters to himself as he opens his eyes, greeted with the sight of you with a camera and that gorgeous smile of yours

He also saw the mischief “Something tells me you didn’t think I was sleeping cutely enough to take a photo” he stretches his hands out in the bed, letting out a groan as he sits up

“It can be both” you quip as you take the polaroid and wave it in the air gently

He chuckles looking over at George who was just waking up as Jess finished her masterpiece “Why does my nose feel wet” he says groggily before seeing the pen “What’s this then” he eyes the girl

“Payback” Jess scrunches her nose playfully

George and Fred chuckle “Alright kitty cat” Fred teases his brother, finding his twins new whiskers rather amusing along with that fact Jess had gelled his hair in a way to give him false ears too

He nods “Well played puff” he shakes his head a Jess before turning to his twin “Alright my good sir” he says doing a little bow and flare with his hand 

“Oh” you bounce on the balls of your feet “Freddie the fancy man” you copy Georges movements

“The fanciest of all the men” Jess joins in 

Fred just laughs “Give that” he gestures to the polaroid

You hand it to him, watching the amusement on his face but also the admiration “Simple but every effective love” he comments “Maybe I should grow a tash?” he pinches the place it would be, to which you giggle “George wanna grow tashes?”

Everyone was confided indoors as it was raining pretty heavily outside, the morning spent having a long breakfast and laying on the couches, twiddling your thumbs

“Wanna play board games?” Hermione suggests 

Jess perks up “Yeah…although I think the ones in the cupboard are all 4 players” she pouts

“We could pair up?” You suggest

Fred’s face lights up “I’m into that”

“You’re into her…oof” George whispers in his twins ear earning a nudge “Guess it’s come to this, twin against twin” he says with a smirk “Jess you wanna help me beat everyone’s arse?”

“Hell yeah” She says high fiving him as he moves to join her on the couch, while you stand up and take Georges old place by Fred

As you pass he pulls you down onto his lap, making you squeal “Freddie!” you nudge him giggling

Harry eyes the boy “No funny business with my sister” he warns him to which Fred’s eyes widen lifting and plopping you on the couch beside him

“Sorry Harry…” he appologises before eyeing him back “Bit of a double standard though” he adds making the boy flustered and you smile, does that mean you have a chance?

Eventually you decided to play Cluedo after Ginny flipped the board around 30 minutes into monopoly followed by you all giving up on trying to put the board for mouse trap together

“Do you have…love who’s that one again?” Fred asks a little bewildered

You giggle “Colonel Mustard” you remind him

“I thought that was Krutsy, you said that was his name” Ron pouts looking at Hermione

George lets out a breathy chuckle “Is the whiz kid finally wrong!” he exclaims

“I’m not wrong” she crosses her arms “His name is Krusty in the show but Colonel Musters in this game that’s themed from the show” she explains but all of the Weasleys look at her like she said a bunch of gibberish

“Think of it like this, imagine it was themed on Hogwarts and the people were based on the professors, instead of their real names they used funny fake ones” they all go ‘ah’ while Hermione mouths ‘thank you’ “Perks of being half and half” you smile as does your own twin

“Okay so Colonel Mustered with a poisoned donut in the frying Dutchmen” Fred continues “Muggles are weird man”

Of course Hermione and Ron…okay Hermione...won Cluedo with her beautiful detective brain. 

After that your parents, Molly and Arthur joined for some charades until they when to chill upstairs, to which you split into groups again, deciding to play cards with a twist…and no it was not strip poker

You played in teams but the losers of each game had to do a forfeit decided by the winners. To name a few, Jess and George had to exchange clothes, Jess now in a fluffy jumper and oversized sweatpants, while George was in a form fitting vest top that looked hilarious on his larger body and a flowy skirt which he actually took a liking too. Harry and Ginny had to go the next two games without touching each other or another game was added…a forfeit from Ron as he didn’t enjoy their constant smooching. Hermione and Ron had to eat a spoon of mayonnaise which Ron enjoyed while Hermione almost puked. 

You and Fred hadn’t lost yet, you weren’t winning but you were staying under the radar, that was until Fred threw away the wrong card during a game of dutch and blew it

“Right” George rubs his hands together “I dare the two of you to run around the outside of the house 5 times, in the pouring rain” he smirks

“I’m assuming no jacket or shoes” you ask

Jess giggles “Naturally” she affirms

While you and Fred ran outside, the others headed upstairs to watch you from the big windows in your parents’ room

“Hello” James greets watching as all of them say very quick hi’s as they bunch up at the windows “What we looking at?” he joins them as does Lily

“Y/n and Freddie lost the game so their forfeit was to run around the house 5 times”

“In the rain” Lily pouts mum voice kicking in but James wraps his arms around her

“Oh here they come” Jess points while George opens the window so they could hear you both better

You and Fred raced around the house, with him just in front beating you until he slipped and fell in the mud, allowing you jog past him and technically win your little race

Giggling you held up an ‘L’ with your hand “Loser” you tease him, the rain long forgotten as you watched him try to get up but slips again

He looks up at you “Little help” he holds out his hand

“I don’t know” you shrug making him poke his cheek with his tongue “What’s the magic word”

“Please” he pouts at your fluttering his eyelashes

You tut making an ‘x’ with your arms “It was abracadabra” you inform him

He laughs shaking his head “I’ll abraca-dab-a-dab dab you in a minute if you don’t help me” he warns light-heartedly

You gasp dramatically “So rude” you cross your arms turning away “I don’t want to help you anymore”

“Please” he begs so cutely

You roll your eyes “Fine but only because you know I can’t resist that face” you hold out your hands to help

He smirks taking them “Thanks love…oh no” he says as he pulls you down into the mud

You land on your side mud splashing up, I’m going to kill him, you think as you try to sit up in the cold, mushy ground 

“Here let me…” he ‘tries’ to help by grabbing mud before he cups your face “Opps made it worse” he says as he smudges it over your face “Here let me…nope” he can’t stop the chuckles

You play him at his own game “Freddie” you pout sadly, pretending to sniffle

He stops his movements, actually cupping your cheeks and checking on you “Sorry love…you alright? Let me help you…no tricks promise” he assures you in a such a concerned tone you start to feel a little guilty for what you’re about to do

You continue to look sad, before moving closer to him, slyly grabbing some mud as you do. His eyes flick to your lips, leaning in until…smack…you throw mud over his the side of face and scamper away leaving him shocked

His eyes widen before a smirk takes over “You little minx come back here!” he shouts as he clambers to his feet and runs after you

After he chased you for a good half an hour you returned to the house, coming in you were given a quick cleaning spell and a light scolding from Molly before beging told to take a warm shower to heat up

By the time you both had finished, your friends had all fallen asleep on the couches downstairs, you placed a blanket over Ron and Hermione as Fred put one over his twin. You then did the same with Harry and Ginny, giving your brother a kiss to the forehead while Fred tucked Jess in.

You both walked wordless up to the attic, deciding to just go to bed but as you got there you realised both beds were free tonight. Fred glanced at you, he wanted nothing more than to cuddle with you again, he’d sleep beside you every night if you let him, but he didn’t want to force you.

“Looks like we’ll get the beds to ourselves tonight” he says with a semi forced chuckle

You smile at him but your heart drops, you really hoped he’d not say anything “Great no threat of being kicked out” you joke but it’s only half hearted, you hoped he didn’t notice the slight disappointed but he did, and instantly regretted it even bringing it up

The beds were cold without one another, empty, like a part of you both were missing

Eventually Fred forced himself asleep while you lay awake, you sighed as you sat up, you couldn’t get comfortable at all and all you could think about was Fred. Looking over at him you decided to be brave, shifting out of the covers you shuffled over to the other bed. 

As you get in Fred stirs, eyes opening to see you trying to fix the covers, tucking him in again after you had messed them up climbing in 

His heart fluttered that you joined him “Hi” he whispers startlingly you a bit

You smile shyly “Hi” 

He opens his arms “Come here” he welcomes you into his embrace with the brightest smile

Once you were settled in you turned you head up on his chest to look at him “Night Freddie” you lean up to kiss his cheek but he turns accidently catching your lips

You let out the smallest of gasps while he freezes, both of your faces melting into smiles after a while. He then nudges his nose with yours, testing the waters and when you nudge his back he wiggles it with yours, rubbing them together and making you giggle 

When your laughter dies down you both lean in slowly, capturing the others lips in the softest sweetest kiss, lips not moving just pressing them together for a couple of seconds before pulling back. When you Break away he chances one final kiss with you, one you accept happily

Properly pulling back this time you nuzzle your head into his chest 

“Night my little bird” he kisses your hair

You look up, planting a kiss to his neck “Night my big tree” 

Thanks for reading, there will be a part 3 💛

[aackxrmxn]

CHAPTER TWO: Healing Nicely - You're Ours Mesh'la (NSFW) Bad Batch Series

Warnings: Established poly relationship, unprotected sex, slight choking kink, oversensitivity, slight hair pulling kink, Crosshair being mean ASF at the end :(, swearing, being called inappropriate names.

Plot: With your foot healing nicely, and time off from your duties, Tech and Hunter patiently wait for their promised time to spend with you.

Word Count: 3.7K+

Pronouns of Reader: She/Her

Gender of Reader: Female

Pairing: Hunter x Reader, Tech x Reader, Crosshair x Reader, Echo x Reader, Wrecker x Reader.

Author's Note: I'm back and better than ever! Welcome to the Tech and Hunter chapter! This chapter is probably poorly written (as I may have written this too late at night), but I still hope you enjoy the content! Once again, don't forget to like it and reblog as they help immensely! If I have forgotten any triggers/warnings, please let me know and I will add them. Strikethroughs mean the chapter is still being worked on, so keep in tune for when it is released! Happy reading!

THIS SERIES: << Chapter One: The Incident || Chapter Three: Waiting Patiently >> OTHER: << Masterlist || Wattpad || Tiktok >>

Taglist: @lackofhonor, @spp2011, @cynderquest (fill this form out to be added to taglist! Strikethroughs mean I couldn't tag you for whatever reason).

-.-.-

You woke to a sudden jolt, the ground shaking slightly. That's when you heard the annoyed voice of Crosshair, "Wrecker, will you quit it? Some of us aren't as cheery as you in the mornings." He grumbled and you rolled in your bed, the covers twisting around you as you opened your eyes.

You saw Crosshair sitting at the seats in the middle of the room, eyebrows furrowed together as he sipped the hot coffee in his mug. He was wearing just his blacks, but without a shirt and you bit your lip.

"See something you like, princess?" He asked suddenly and you giggled as you closed your eyes and rolled to your back before throwing the blankets off you and stood up. Tech and Echo were still asleep, snoring lightly beside you, Hunter was probably in the refresher as you saw the door closed and the dull red light showing the words of 'occupied'.

Slowly walking over to Crosshair, you took a seat next to him. He didn't turn to face you, but you saw the subtle hint of a smirk on his face. "Good morning, love." You whispered in his ear and kissed his cheek. He closed his eyes at the contact.

"AW, what about me?!" Wrecker basically yelled, scarring Echo awake and Tech groaned and rolled to face the wall, slamming his pillow over his ears.

"Sh," both you and Crosshair hissed and Wrecker shyly apologised. "Come 'ere, big boy." You opened your arms and Wrecker took to opportunity to pick you up and spin you around playfully.

You kissed his chin as he set you down and felt another pair of hands on your hips then. You turned and gawked at the sight of wet-haired Hunter with no bandana on. "There any hugs left for me?" He asked and you happily leant into his arms and snuggled into him as his arms wrapped around you tightly.

"Good morning, Hunter." You whispered, knowing his was particularly sensitive to sound in the mornings; Wrecker probably not helping with his oversensitivity.

"Morning, cupcake." The nickname made you smile with a curiosity, cupcake... You had never been called that before. You heard Crosshair sniggered before getting up from the seat and making his way to the kitchen.

You pulled away to inspect Crosshair getting another cup of caff, yeah, he was the coffee addict in the Batch. "Never been called that before." You said with a giggle as you looked up at the tattooed man.

"Get used to it." He whispered, he then leant down to your ear, "unless you want to be called something a little more... degrading." You practically moaned at how deep and husky his voice was against your ear.

He leant back up then with a smirk and you squirmed in his arms still wrapped around you. "I wouldn't be opposed to the name, Sarge." His smirk widened, a darkness covering his eyes and you wriggled out of his grasp and walked over to the kitchen with Crosshair.

You placed a hand on his back and hugged him from behind as you saw he was turning on the stove to make eggs. He stiffened under your touch and pulled away quickly. You frowned, watching as he went to get the other ingredients.

"Don't take it too personally, Crosshair isn't much of a cuddlier." Tech then said beside you and you jumped a little, not realising his was there. You calmed down then and leant into his side. "I see your leg looks a little better. Angling your foot definitely had sped up the healing process."

You looked down at your leg as well, "y- yeah, it doesn't hurt too bad today." You said and smiled up at the genius of a man. "What do you have planned for today?" You asked then as he helped you to the chair where you sighed into as Tech turned on the warmer.

"Nothing really, maybe fixing up some of my incomplete projects. Crosshair, Echo and Wrecker were going see some of the markets that the Kaminoans had put together." Tech explained, kneeling down to inspect your swollen ankle and you winced as he unwrapped it.

"That's today?" You asked. "So this would be our first year anniversary of meeting each other?"

Every rotation, the Kaminoans put up some stalls in the cafeteria for the clones. It was basically the clones day off from duties and they could have fun with some of the games that were there. You remembered last rotation you had taken Jesse and Fives there and played 'tag and go'. Let's just say, some of the Kaminoans didn't like you breaking the chairs and tables as you leaped over them and hid. That was the same day you ran into Echo by accident, him splattering apologies left and right as he spilt his red, frozen drink all over you. You had laughed it off and he soon joined in too, and the other Batch members stood by him. It was a good day, and a day you wouldn't forget.

"Technically, yes." He said as he rotated your ankle slowly and softly. "I will give you some time with the compression wrap off to give your foot some air to breath." Tech stood then and went over and grabbed you a large cup of coffee. You felt the chair beside you dip then and turned to the other side to see Echo looking at you with adoration in his beautiful honey eyes.

"Good morning," he greeted and leant in slowly to press a kiss to your temple, hesitant like you were going to push him away. "Are you going to come and join us?" He then looked at your foot, realisation covering his face and he apologised.

"Echo, baby, don't apologise. You apologise too much," You giggled as you placed a hand on his stomach gently and leaned towards him to kiss his lips. He basically whimpered into your mouth and melted against you. "But no, I think I might chill out here today if you don't mind."

"Of course not, ma'am." He said and you giggled at the name. First cupcake, and now ma'am? It warmed your heart.

You leant into his ear then, "you know where you could call me that?" Echo's cheeks heated up drastically and he stuttered as he was about to speak, but Wrecker's hands came down on the back of the chair, almost tipping it with you and Echo seated on it.

"You ready, Echo?" He asked loudly, and Echo cleared his throat before nodding, giving you one glance back at you before getting up.

"The only reason why I'm going is because Kix said there was sniper gear there." Crosshair said, his usual scowl on his face. "Don't you dare bring me into any of your games." He warned Wrecker, pointing an accusing finger at him.

They left then and Tech handed you the caff he made before going over to his bunk and began fiddling with some wires and a piece of metal. "You're not going?" You asked Hunter as he sat beside you.

"No, I don't think I could handle it this rotation. It's too loud there, I barely survived last rotation." He explained and threw an arm over your shoulders and bought you closer to him. There was a silence then, just the quiet hum of Tech's gear as he continued to work on something. "So, we calling you mesh'la now?"

You laughed then, Tech looking over at you with a small smile. "Looks like it." You said and closed your eyes as you sipped the hot coffee, a small moan leaving your lips as the incredible taste. "Plus, I thought you wanted to call me cupcake, now?" You shot back and watched as Hunter's eyes made their way to your lips.

"Depends," he started, "cupcake is for the sweet and innocent you, mesh'la when you're being good, and well... something else if you've been bad."

"What if I'm extra bad?" You whispered then, watching how he licked his lips and his eyes roamed your face. "Would I be your dirty little slut?" You taunted.

You gasped as Hunter suddenly laid you back on the couch and giggled as his eyes dilated. "You better watch your mouth, mesh'la."

"I thought I was being called that when I was good." You commented, wrapping your arms around his neck and bringing him closer to you. "Why not call me your dirty little slut?" You asked huskily as Hunter groaned in your ear and nipped lightly at the sensitive skin under it. You fluttered your ears closed at the sensation.

"What? You wanna be a dirty little slut for us?" You moaned as he spoke against your neck and licked up it, leaving a hot trail in his wake. "Wanna be a good girl for us, or be a dirty little whore?"

You opened your eyes and made eye contact with Tech and smirked. "Depends if Tech will eat me out this time." You felt the wetness pool between your legs, hot and heavy breaths coming from your mouth as Hunter went lower, his damp hair on your skin setting fire in your belly.

He tugged your shirt off then, revealing the smooth skin of your stomach. "Maker," Hunter sighed, hands sprawling out on your stomach. "You're so beautiful." You blushed at his comment and felt Tech lift your head so he could situate himself there, your head in his lap.

Hunter ventured further, hands now kneeding the tops of your thighs and your wriggled impatiently before he took your sleep shorts off, careful of your injured foot. "Hunter," You slurred, you panted as you felt his fingers rub you over your underwear.

"Be patient, mesh'la." Tech mumbled, eyes transfixed on your squirming form beneath him. You tried to stop moving, grabbing onto Tech's pyjama pants as you felt your underwear being slowly pulled down from you.

"Maker," Hunter breathed again at seeing your already soaked core in front of him. "Every part of you is truly gorgeous, cupcake." He practically groaned as he began to kiss your inner thighs.

A shaky breath came from your throat at the contact, "please Hunter, don't tease." You begged, hands moving to cup his cheek. He looked up you with a glint in his eyes before slowly leaning in to lick up your pussy, never breaking eye contact.

The air left your lungs, feeling the sensation of Hunter's tongue on your lower lips and threw your head back against Tech's body. "Fuuuck, that's so good." You moaned as he circled the tip of his tongue around your clit. You whined as Tech's hand came down to kneed the soft plushiness of your breasts.

"Kriff, she's definitely not going to last." Tech pointed out as he noted how your body jolted when Hunter firmly sucked your clit into his mouth.

Hunter pulled back then, "I'd rather her cum on something else." He said darkly and stripped from his clean blacks he put on not long ago. "Is that okay with you, cupcake?" He asked as you saw his semi-hard cock being freed from his pants. You bit your lip and nodded at him, never taking your eyes off as he began to stroke his cock. He gently grabbed your jaw then, lifting your head to peer into his chocolate brown eyes. "I need you to say it, cupcake."

"Yes please, Hunter." You whimpered into his hand, spreading your legs wider for him to rest into.

"That's a good girl, mesh'la." Tech said huskily above you and you saw the dark glint in his eyes as well.

Hunter ran the tip of his cock through your folds and moaned quietly. "Want to let you know," he began, eyes fluttering closed, "that my enhanced abilities may not make me last too long."

You smiled up at him, cupping his face and bringing him down for a sloppy kiss. "That's okay, just do however much you're comfortable with." You said and he smiled back at you before completely sinking into you.

A hoarse moan made it past your lips, echoing in the room. Hunter grunted, resting his head into your neck before he began to move. "Oh, kriff-!" He moaned, feeling how you gripped around his cock snuggly.

Tech groaned as you peered up at him, hand reaching out to move a piece of stray hair from your face. Hunter leant up then so he was on his knees and began to thrust into you faster, causing you to moan louder.

"That's it, moan louder for us." Hunter gasped, face already flushed. His hands gripped the tops of your thighs again and pulled you down further on his cock, reaching deep within you; just as Crosshair had done the day before.

Tech leant over you then, fingers nimbly coming in contact with your clit and rubbed small and firm circles on it, causing a throaty groan to come out both yours and Hunter's mouth.

Hunter's hips snapped harder up into you and you heard the squelching sounds of your wetness coating his cock and whimpered quietly. Hunter began babbling incoherent sentences, thrusts becoming sloppy, "Cyare, not gonna-"

You moaned at the name, it somehow rolling off his tongue beautifully, even if you didn't know what it meant. "Please cum Hunter, cum inside me and fill me up!"

Hunter's hips stuttered then, a particularly loud moan coming from his mouth, deep and rich. "Karking- Y/N!" He spilled inside you, stopping his movements and letting his hot seed coat the inside of your walls. You moaned at the feeling of being used in this way.

Hunter shuddered as he slumped against you, heavy breaths leaving his lips. You stroked his hair, fingers massaging his scalp and he continued shuddering above you. "You okay, Hunter?" You whispered in his ear and he turned his head to the side to see you, an exhausted smile creeping up on his face.

"Y- Yeah, though I can't say the same about Tech." He said with a raspy voice and you almost forget that Tech was here, and looked up at him.

"If you don't mind, I would like my turn now." He said, voice probably just as shaky as Hunter's and you saw him palming himself through his pants, an obvious tent showing. Hunter slowly got off you, softened cock slipping out of you which caused you to whine, you hadn't yet cummed.

You nodded and Hunter moved off towards the bathroom, probably wanting to clean himself off. Tech moved so he was where Hunter was and took his pants off, throwing them absently on the floor.

"Baby," You whined, "get yourself some relief." You said and moaned as he ran his cock up and down your pussy so he was lubricated; not that you needed it. "Fuck..." You moaned as he slipped inside you then, your warmth completely enveloping him and he grunted as he pushed himself further inside you.

He leant down then, his face inches above yours and you resting your forehead against his. ""Can I move?" He asked then and you nodded desperately. He started with a softer pace, moaning as he pushed back inside of you.

You felt a hand on your head then and looked up at Hunter who gave you a warm smile before he disappeared again. Tech hit a soft spot inside you, and it snapped you back to reality and moaned loudly.

To quieten you, Tech kissed you, full of passion and hunger and his hips sped up more. You moaned again, into his mouth, before his tongue slipped past your lips and into your own.

Your hands reached up, wrapping around his neck and tugged at the strands of his hair there, causing an audible gasp to leave your lips. "Tech," You whimpered as he angled his hips higher, hitting an extra soft spot inside of you. You shook, feeling the heat of an orgasm bubbling to the surface, "Tech..." You warned then, nails digging into the back of his neck.

"That's right, mesh'la, I want you to cum around me. I want to feel you gush around my cock as I spill inside you." Tech spoke dirtily, and you gasped as he dived for your neck.

"Fuck, fuck, fuuuck." You chanted, legs tightening around his hips as you almost were tipped over the edge, all you needed was that extra push. "Tech, baby, please..." You were whining for more, anything more.

Tech sat up then, but never faltering his movements. His hand came around your throat then, squeezing it, but not as hard as what Crosshair had done. His other hand came down to rub your clit in furious circles and that's when you came. You shouted his name, the hand only wrapping around you tighter as a response and your whole body shook violently.

You heard Tech groan then, hips stuttering as Hunter's had done as he spilled himself inside of you. He grunted your name, releasing your neck to grab onto the chair to steady himself.

"Well, that was something." You heard the husky voice of Hunter then and finally opened your eyes to meet his chocolate brown ones above you.

"That was good." You huffed, still out of breath and felt Tech pull out. He and Hunter helped you sit up then before Hunter grabbed a cloth and began to wipe you down, eyes lingering on your cum-soaked cunt.

You took a breath, leaning into Hunter's side as you closed your eyes. "You want me to help you with a shower?" Tech asked and you opened your eyes to see the pilot with a warm smile on his face.

You giggled and nodded and he helped you towards the refresher. "I'll let you know if I need help." You told him, leaning up to kiss his cheek and you smiled again. He closed the door behind you and you looked at yourself in the reflection, eyes scanning over the love marks Tech had made there, and you giggled as you turned on the shower.

The hot water cascaded down your back and you moaned, delighted by the hot water relaxing your sore and used muscles. You heard the front door whoosh open then and Wrecker laughed loudly. You shook your head and laughed as you grabbed out your shampoo and began to wash your hair.

"You should have seen the food that was there!" He yelled, probably stuffing his face with whatever was there. "I saved mesh'la some! Where is she?"

"She's in the refresher, now be quiet." Hunter said, as you heard boots walking away from you. "Hey, don't go eating all of it! You said you were leaving some for Y/N."

"Oh, right... I forgot." Wrecker said, and you could already see his face drop.

"There wasn't any rifle gear there," Crosshair sniggered, "and I see you were busy."

"AW, did I miss out on that?" Wrecker asked, sounding upset.

Tech interrupted and cleared his throat. "It was a fair ordeal, we hadn't yet been with Y/N. Wrecker, don't be selfish."

"Real fun, you even spilt the coffee on the chair we just got." Echo noted and you felt a tinge of sadness creep within you and you quickly finished washing your hair and body.

You wrapped a towel around your head and body and stepped out of the refresher, everyone's eyes turning to you. Wrecker gawking at you the most. "I didn't mean to spill the coffee, I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's alright. Nothing Tech or myself can't clean up." Hunter said, stepping towards you and cupping your face between his palms. "Plus, it was our fault that it spilt, not yours." You smiled as he squished your cheeks playfully and leaned in to hug him.

"How touching..." Crosshair muttered, pulling out a new toothpick after throwing the other on the floor. "Well, remind me next rotation to not go to the markets if it means I can fuck Y/N."

"She's not a plaything," Echo said then and Crosshair scoffed.

"Yeah, and that's not what you thought when she willingly opened her legs for us?" He retorted and you shrunk back at what he said, hiding behind Hunter's body.

"Hey, don't say that about Y/N! She's gorgeous and stunning, and you should learn to respect her!" Wrecker shouted, shoving his brother.

Crosshair shoved him back, "Respect a whore that opens her legs for anyone? I think not." You wanted to cry, feeling hot tears make their way to the surface. "Plus, she's not even that good at anything, so why keep her around? Throw her out for the next man to fuck her."

Hunter spun then, punching Crosshair right in the face and making him stumble back at the suddenness of the impact. "Quit talking like that about her!" He shouted, never had you heard him raise his voice this much.

You stepped back, your back coming in contact with the door of the refresher. By now, tears had soaked your cheeks and your whimpered, catching Echo's attention.

"Hey, it's okay. Come here." He said softly and took a step forwards as Crosshair threw Hunter off him. You shook your head and quickly opened the door before slamming it shut behind you and locking it.

A shaky breath caught your lips as you slid down the door and onto the floor. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Hunter asked as more tears slipped from your eyes.

"Y/N?" Tech suddenly asked at the door.

"G- Go away." You whispered, sniffing.

"I have clothes for you." You took the clothes from Tech then, quickly opening the door before slamming it back shut again. You got dressed in the plain white shirt and black leggings he handed you and saw your teary reflection in the mirror.

You took a deep breath then, opening the door and saw Hunter still standing over Crosshair. Their eyes turned on you, and you tried your best not to slam the door again.

You limped your way over to the front door. "Where are you going?" Echo asked and you turned to face him.

"Away." You spat, "Don't follow me. And you," You pointed at Crosshair, "Don't you dare talk to me ever again!" And with that, you slammed the door in front of them all.

[louuieferrignojr]

title: you're spring to me, all things to me (cross-posted on ao3)

summary: the one where malex are roommates and don't realize they're basically dating. alex pov.

notes: this is a remix of @lire-casander's amazing fic, with your kiss my life begins but from alex's pov. i hope i did this justice :)

--

“Alex, you okay?” Alex turned to see Forrest looking at him with what could only be concern in his eyes.

Alex simply nodded, before giving Forrest a strained smile.

“Is this about Michael?” Forrest asked bluntly and Alex winced, knowing Forrest knew his answer.

Alex bit his lip, before nodding slowly. The blue-haired man could only laugh at Alex’s struggle, which earned him a glare. Michael was his best friend and roommate, but hiding his feelings for him was incredibly hard.

“Hey, you’re the one who asked me to pretend this was a date, even though you know I like Kyle and you like Michael. I didn’t say it was going to be easy.” Alex opened his mouth to respond, wanting to let Forrest down easy about Kyle, but closed his mouth thinking better of it.

He could tell him tomorrow.

“Okay, let’s go in. Liz will kill me if we’re late.” Alex grabbed Forrest by the hand and pulled him towards the bar, but stopped short of going inside, a fresh rush of nerves settling over him.

--

When Alex Manes first met Michael Guerin, he took note of the ripped jeans, his curly hair, his smile that he only gave to those he trusted, and his mangled hand and decided they were going to be best friends.

Alex thought nothing of his feelings for Michael. They were best friends and best friends cared about each other, right? His 14 year old mind couldn’t fathom a world without Michael in it, and he never wanted to.

He never noticed when his feelings had changed to more than just friends.

He had Michael over to watch Star Wars one summer night before 10th grade. The two of them were laughing and throwing popcorn at each other, Michael was sitting with his arm around Alex, and Alex laid his head on his shoulder. He did the same with Liz and Maria all the time when they came over, he didn't see the big deal. But he knew something was wrong as soon as Michael left the house after their movie marathon, and his father grabbed him roughly by the arm.

“Dad?” He asked, trying to pull his arm out of his tight grip. “You’re hurting me.”

“You are not to see this Guerin boy again.”

Alex looked at him confused. “We’re just friends.”

“Don’t think I don’t see through your perversions.”

“Dad, I -” The slap caught him off-guard, a stinging blow against his cheek that set his skin ablaze. The sound echoed in the room and his dad yanked him closer, ready to raise his hand again.

“I’m sorry!” Alex yelled out, watching as his father’s hand froze. He could feel his dad shaking with anger, and he kept the tears at bay. He would not cry in front of him.

“What do you have to say for yourself?” Jesse sneered, his grip loosened slightly, and Alex could feel the bruise already forming on his arm. He had no doubt he already had a red mark across his cheek.

“I won’t see Michael Guerin again.” Alex responded, lying through his teeth.

His dad finally let go of his arm, and he ran up the stairs.

He needed to call Michael.

--

Alex was standing outside the bar, holding Forrest’s hand and trying not to break out into a sweat. He was brought out of his thoughts of the past as he felt a pressure on his hand and he looked down to see Forrest squeezing his hand in support.

“Come on,” Forrest all but dragged Alex through the door.

As Alex stepped foot on the wooden floors of the bar, covered in spilled beer and peanut shells, he took a deep breath.

He could do this.

He walked towards his group of friends, noting Michael nearby, and he broke out into a grin.

“Hey guys!” Alex quickly let go of Forrest’s hand, before putting his arm around his shoulders.

“This is Forrest,” Alex might as well get the introduction out of the way, not wanting the night to be awkward. As he watched Forest wave at them all, he spoke up again. “Forrest, this is like, everyone who’s important in my life.”

As everyone greeted Forrest, Alex noticed Michael make a quick exit and frowned.

Maybe bringing Forrest to the party was a bad idea, but he needed someone who was an outsider to all the drama. Meeting Forrest in his Music History class was just good fortune for Alex, who was always struggling to meet friends who were gay like him.

He knew Michael was bisexual, but he was always sleeping with women, and Alex thought he didn’t stand a chance. Alex thought nothing of it when Michael would always come back to their dorm rather than stay the night with the women he was hooking up with. Maybe he should have.

“Hey, Maria, is Michael okay?” Alex looked at his childhood best friend, and she looked at him before sighing, “Yeah, it’s just Guerin being Guerin.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt him by bringing Forrest,” Alex stated apologetically.

“I know sweetie,” she responded. “I’ll go see where Guerin went.” She walked out of the bar and went in search of her friend, and Alex turned back to the group and saw Liz being very drunk and Forrest trying and failing to flirt with Kyle.

Liz looked over at Alex smirking, before raising her arm and putting her uncoordinated limb over his shoulder.

“Alex, why is Mikey sad, and why are you two not making out?”

“Liz, we’re just friends,” Alex said, trying to keep Liz steady as she wobbled on her feet.

“I thought you guys were secretly dating!” She exclaimed, the red solo cup in her hand sloshing beer over the top of her cup, and Alex watched as it hit the floor.

He couldn’t help but laugh, knowing how Liz got when she was drunk, before he helped her over to sit down at a table, asking a passing bartender for a water.

“Why would you think that?”

“Because Mikey looooooves you, and you are both oblivious.” She stated matter of factly for someone who was practically slurring her words.

“Hey, Max. You may want to help sober up the birthday girl. I need to go find Michael!” Alex said, kissing Liz on the forehead and watching as Max came over to help Liz.

Shaking his head and looking away from the couple, he went towards where he saw Maria exit and almost ran into her in his haste to get outside.

He immediately noticed Michael sitting against the building and he looked on in worry. Michael looked so small, and Alex suddenly didn’t know what to do about it.

Michael was the one who was always larger than life. He was always there protecting Alex. After dealing with the abuse of his dad and finally being able to not be under his dad’s clutches after his arrest, Michael was there for him, helping him with his nightmares and his injuries.

After Alex saw what Michael had to deal with before he was able to move into a healthy, loving home with Sanders, Alex didn’t know how Michael could do it. Love him like he did. Alex just shut down after the news of the abuse he endured came out into the public. He hid himself, until Michael brought him out of his shell.

Now, Alex stood frozen outside the main door of the bar watching Michael fold in on himself.

Move Alex.

“Michael?” He asked, pretending he hadn’t been standing there silently for the last thirty seconds.

Michael didn’t seem to hear him or maybe he was ignoring him. Alex deserved that at the very least for bringing Forrest to the bar.

He cleared his throat before speaking out again, “Michael, hey, you’re here.” An unconscious pull made his feet finally start moving as he made his way over to the other man.

The other man didn’t even look up as he spoke. “Go back inside. I’m pretty sure Forrest will be looking for you if you don’t.”

“Well, I know for a fact that he won’t.” Alex let out a breath. He could do this.

“How so?” Michael asked, his tone almost sharp in question. Alex bit his lip. He didn’t want to make Michael anymore upset, so he really needed to just come out with it.

“Well, I guess it has something to do with the fact that we’re just friends, and he’s currently trying to hit it off with Kyle.”

Michael was in the process of getting up as he heard that and almost fell over, grabbing the wall for support.

“Kyle? But didn’t you two go out on a date just tonight?”

Alex sighed, “It wasn’t a date Michael.” He really needed to assure him and he continued speaking. “It was just two friends catching up after a while, and him asking me to set him up with Kyle because he’s been pining over him for the longest time.”

Michael could only groan in response. “But you said it was a date. I thought-”

“I know what you thought,” Alex knew he needed to confess this sooner or later. “I wanted you to think that, to be honest. I wanted you to feel what I felt whenever you went out with one of those girls.”

He watched as Michael looked at him, his curls falling over his eyes, and Alex wished he could take a step forward and brush them out of his eyesight.

“It’s been a while since that,” Michael replied, and Alex had to agree. He realized that Michael had not actually slept with anyone in a while. He never thought anything of it until now.

Michael continued, “Wait, what? You wanted me to be jealous because you were jealous of those girls?”

Alex could only shrug in response. “I wanted you to see me. I’ve been feeling invisible around you for so long, and I just wanted you to-”

“Did you know our friends thought we were dating?” Alex looked at him, ignoring how he was interrupted and watched as Michael spoke again. “Only I thought we weren’t dating. Did you?”

Alex shook his head, letting out a laugh. “I’m sure we would have noticed if we were dating.” He looked away from Michael’s face. “I for sure would have known, with how I feel-”

“I didn’t,” Michael confessed, and Alex raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t want to believe we were dating even if all the signs were there because, Alex, I just didn’t want to lose you.”

Alex eyebrow went even higher at the statement, “Why would you lose me?” He watched as Michael covered his mouth with his hand, making an unintelligible noise.

Michael looked at Alex, “I love you.” The confession came out so quickly that Alex wasn’t even sure if he heard correctly.

“I know, Michael, I love you too. You’re my best friend.”

Michael could only shake his head, “No, no. No, Alex, I am in love with you.” He blew out a shaky breath. “I’m sorry I just figured it out.”

Alex’s eyes widened, “But I thought you’d never-oh my god. I thought you said you’d never date a guy. I didn’t want to keep my hopes up, I just-oh my god.”

MIchael huffed out a laugh, “You’ve already said that.” Alex could only stare at Michael, unable to speak.

“I love you, Alex. I know we wasted so much time, but Maria’s got me thinking and then you’ve come out here and you’ve said that Forrest and you aren’t a thing and I just-a guy can hope, can’t he?”

Alex noticed how nervous Michael seemed and took a step forward and gently put his hands on his face, before he kissed him. Before he could pull back, Michael was kissing him back. Alex’s eyes widened, before he felt the kiss deepen. Alex felt like he was under a wave, not knowing when he was going to come up for breath again.

When they finally separated, Alex was looking at Michael, whose hazel eyes were burning into his face, and he knew what he needed to say.

“I love you,” he kissed Michael on the lips again and came up for a breath of air. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

They would tell their friends tomorrow. All Alex wanted to do right then was feel Michael’s lips on his and let the words wash over him.

“I love you.”

[carnationcreation]

Hi! Can I please get an imagine where the reader is Bombay’s daughter and he’s never been around because of his job and that he left the readers mum years ago. But he comes back to coach her team, not knowing she plays and they argue, he pleads to get to know her etc.☺️😄basically the absentee!father x reader who wishes for a father but doesn’t know how to forgive him

TITLE: Forgiveness [Can you imagine?] (Bombay x daughter!reader)

✌🏻Masterlist Taglist, Requests, and Works in progress!

Prompt/summary:  Bombay tries to reconnect with the daughter he walked out on 8 years ago. 

Word Count: 2,519

Authors note: You said argue? Alright here’s some angst. It feels so good to be writing for The Mighty Ducks again, this is one of my favorite movies so I’m so happy I got a request for it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every summer I used to get the same letter from my dad. It actually wasn’t even a letter. It was child support.

Every fall we used to stop by the diner in town to get milkshakes to celebrate the anniversary of him leaving us. It wasn’t that he was a terrible dad, she just knew she could do better for the both of us if he wasn’t around. After 8 years she still got the same order every time we went to the diner, and every year Mrs. Conway was still there taking our order.

Her son Charlie was always there too. Both of us played on the same hockey team and every winter we would drag our gear down to the pond to practice with our team.

That entire routine changed after one day.

“Goldburg you’re the goalie, the puck is supposed to hit you,” Charlie sighed as he skated towards us.

“Does that sound stupid to anyone else?” the goalie groaned.

I rolled my eyes at him before lining up another shot. 

After a few more shots Charlie tapped my shoulder, he looked in wonder as a car drove out onto the ice. We all wandered over and a man in a finely pressed suit stepped out. 

“Wait, that can’t be him-” I mumbled.

“We ain’t buying nothing man, I’m feeling generous today so I’ll let your sorry vanilla bootie outta here before we use your eyeballs as hockey pucks!” Jesse said.

“Thanks bro,” the man rolled his eyes before going to reach in to his jacket, “but I’m not going home ‘til I take care of business.”

The group slowly backed up. When the man pulled out a piece of paper and not a gun we all sighed in relief.

“District five pee-wee hockey team, I’m Gordon Bombay. Your new coach.”

The team laughed as I locked eyes with Charlie. He saw the absolute panic in my eyes. 

“Got the roster right here. Averman, Dave. Bombay, (Y/n). Conway, Charlie. ”

His face scrunched up as he got to mine. Confusion or being uncomfortable. Either way I couldn’t tell. Luckily no one seemed to notice the fact that I had the same last name as the coach.

“Here’s the long and the short of it. I hate hockey and I don’t like kids. I’m sure this will be a real bonding experience.  Maybe one day, one of you will even write a book about it in jail.”

Charlie nudged my shoulder, looking at me with a questioning look. I sighed, “He used to love hockey, but he really seems to hate kids. My mom said she heard that he got a DWI last week.”

Bombay ordered us to scrimmage. We all dove for the puck. Players tripped and fell over each other as we desperately tried to play. I finally got the puck and started to make a move towards the goal when Jesse (accidentally or not) hooked my ankle with his stick as he fell. Connie skated over quickly to help me up before taking off over to Bombay.

I rubbed my sore elbows as Charlie and I skated back over to the car that was still parked on the ice. Bombay brushed the team off by saying we need to scrimmage more and got back into the car.

“What a jerk,” Peter said. 

Eventually the team came to the amazing conclusion we should hijack the car. On Peters mark, we all jumped on the car, shook it, and climbed inside.

“We want a ride! We want a ride!” Connie began to chant as we all joined in.

“Take em for a spin, anything!” Bombay said, we all cheered as they started driving.

The fun didn’t last for long. Charlie’s mom soon appeared on the ice and made us all get out.

She furiously shouted, “Are you out of your mind? What were you thinking putting that car on the ice? My son was in that car!”

“Lady lady relax,” Bombay said, “The ice is not gonna crack.”

“Who the hell do you think you are?” she said. Charlie and I slowly got out of the car and skated to the side to take off our skates.

Bombay sighed, “Gordon Bombay, the new hockey coach.”

Oh lord he was in for it now.

“Oh you’re the dead beat that married (Y/m/n). They send you down here to coach the team and you endanger their lives. You endangered your daughter's life!”

I hid my face with my hand as Bombay looked back at me. Oh god he knows now. 

Charlie’s mom eventually pulled us away and drove us home. I knew I’d be hearing about this from my mom later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By order of the state of Minnesota Bombay was at the game the next day. I’d made it my mission to avoid my “dad”. Charlie did a good job of keeping him away, asking him questions or distracting him. I knew I’d have to talk to him eventually but until then I was content with pretending I wasn’t his daughter. 

The game was a joke. We didn’t score any goals. Didn’t get a chance to defend ourselves as the Hawks beat us into the ground. 9-0. I left the game with bruises on my face and arms. My helmet was barely covering my face and my hockey pads were my dad’s old ones from the 80’s. One of the few things I stole from his house when we left. Charlie was extremely frustrated at the missed shot he had towards the end of the second period.

As the team sat arguing I was putting my gear up. 

“I thought we came here to play hockey. Do you guys think losing is funny?” Bombay yelled.

“It’s not like you coach us or anything. At least we tried,” Jesse said.

Bombay’s face went red with rage, “That was the sloppiest playing I’ve ever seen. Why the hell won’t you just listen to me?!”

I stood up, shouldering my bag, “Why the hell should we?”

The team followed me out of the box. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next game was a disaster. Bombay encouraged us to lie, cheat, and foul our way through the game. Bombay was furious when Charlie wouldn’t do his little act when he was cornered. The bruises on my face still hadn’t healed properly. 

The locker room was filled with groans as everyone agreed the game was pathetic.

“Charlie! When I tell you to do something, you do it! Got it?”

“You can’t make me cheat,” Charlie said walking out of the locker room.

Jessie and Terry’s dad stormed into the locker room, “LEt’s go boys. This is what I gave up my overtime pay for? To watch my kids take falls? You’re a pathetic excuse for a coach, and an even more pathetic father if you can let your daughter get beaten up like that.”

The team’s heads turned to me as he pointed in my direction. I let my head fall as I stormed out behind Jessie and Terry. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I really thought I could keep avoiding him. I didn’t think he would come and try to find me. 

The next day at practice was a shock for everyone. We all got new uniforms, gear, and sticks. Everyone was pumped up during practice and we even got two new players.

“What changed?” I asked Charlie.

He shrugged, “I don’t know. He came and apologized last night.”

My blood boiled. He can apologize to another kid but not his own daughter who he practically abandoned. I warmed up to him as practice went on but in the back of my mind there was still that thought lingering. 

“(Y/n), you’re riding home with me,” Bombay told me as I packed up my stuff.

I looked at him confused, “But-”

“Your mom said it was okay.”

I silently followed him out to the car, the driver had rolled up the middle window so we could have some privacy.

“So…” he said, I stayed quiet still looking out the window, “Your mom told me you never quit hockey. Even after I…”

“Left?”

He sighed, “Yeah I guess it was like that wasn’t it?”

I rolled my eyes.

“Look (Y/n), if I had known how much it had affected you I never would’ve stepped out that door. Your mom and I… we just weren’t good together.”

I scoffed, “No, your drinking side just didn’t line up with the fact mom wanted a decent husband.”

He went to speak again but quickly closed his mouth.

“I’ll just imagine me forgiving you. Maybe one day I can actually do it with meaning,” I sighed and went to pick my bag up as the driver pulled up to the curb. 

“(Y/n),” he said grabbing my arm, “I already talked to Charlie about this. I’m so sorry for the way I acted. I never should have asked you guys to cheat. And I definitely shouldn’t have taken my anger out on you guys. I’d do anything to try and get you to forgive me.”

“I’m just confused as to why your star player got an apology before your daughter did. I’ve been waiting for that for 8 years. If you truly wanted that from me you should’ve tried a long time ago.”

I slammed the car door as I got out. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next few days I spent at Charlie’s house when my mom wasn’t home, hoping Bombay wouldn’t come track me down again. 

“(Y/n)?” Charlie said, “Someone left a package for you.”

I looked up from the comic books that were sprawled across Charlie’s bed in confusion as he sat the brown paper package down. My name was written across it in black sharpie.

Charlie shook his head, “Well, are you gonna open it?”

“I think I already know who it’s from.”

“(Y/n), he really wants to make it up to you. Just open it.”

I sighed and slowly ripped the paper, inside was a jersey. My favorite hockey team’s jersey.

“Woah,” I said.

Charlie scoffed, “Your dad sent you that? How’d he know your favorite team?”

“Cause it’s his favorite too. Charlie this is his vintage jersey.”

“Well,” he said, “Maybe you can start imagining that forgiveness part.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“The Ducks? We’re the ducks? What brain dead jerk came up with that name,” Peter scoffed. 

“As a matter of fact,” Bombay said pulling a jersey out of the box, “I did. But I didn’t have a choice, we’re being sponsored. You’d rather be district 5? Some stupid number?”

“They don’t even have teeth,” Peter said.

“Neither do hockey players,” he said, we all giggled, “Have you ever seen a flock of ducks flying in perfect formation? It’s beautiful. Pretty awesome how they all stick together. The other animals are afraid, cause they know if they mess with one duck then they’ll get the whole flock.”

Bombay walked around the locker room giving his little speech. He smiled when he got to me, his eyes flicking down to see I was wearing the old jersey he had left for me. 

He whipped off his coat to reveal his Ducks jersey underneath as we all laughed, “I’m proud to be a duck, and I’d be proud to fly with any one of you.”

Charlie and I smiled at each other.

“So how about it? Who’s a duck?”

Silence followed as everyone looked around the room to see who would go first.

“I’ll be a duck,” our new player Fulton Reed said.

I smiled and placed my hockey stick on the bench, “I’ll join the flock.”

“Yeah,” Charlie said following suit, “me too.”

Soon enough the whole team joined in. Grabbing jerseys and cheering.

“We are the ducks!” Bombay shouted, “The Mighty Ducks!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next few games were amazing. Our winning streak started to pick up and soon enough we were getting ready to face off against Cardinals. 

Charlie and I were named the dynamic duo. Our ability to make plays and take shots off of each other improved everyday. But that put a target on our back. 

It was the third quarter, we had to make one shot to pull us out of a tie and win. The crowd was going crazy as Charlie and I sped up the ice. Our team following behind us for backup. 

It was a stupid idea. 

Charlie went to take a shot as I saw a goon defender moving in for the body check. So I threw myself in between Charlie and the goon. My head snapped back against the glass as I heard the buzzer go off signaling a goal.

The team cheered. Charlie frantically raced over to me.

“(Y/n)?”

I could barely hear him, the ringing in my ears was so loud, “Where’s my dad?”

Charlie looked confused before shouting over to Bombay.

“(Y/n)? Can you hear me?” he said.

“Dad?” I started to cry as the pain caught up to me.

“Get her helmet off Charlie,” he said, I felt Charlie gently take it off and the coolness of the ice against the back of my head, “(Y/n) the paramedics are gonna get you off the ice okay?”

I felt myself being picked up off the ice and lifted onto a stretcher, the crowd clapped as I was rolled off the ice.

The ride to the hospital was short, Charlie’s mom called my mom's work to tell her what happened and she rushed over as Casey rode to the hospital with me.

“Where’s my dad?”

“He had to finish up the game, he’s gonna meet us there afterwards.”

Everything happened really fast when we got there, I wasn’t allowed to sleep even though I was super tired. 

“Look who’s here” Casey said. I turned to see Bombay and Charlie walking in.

“Woah,” I yelped as Charlie ran over to give me a hug.

“Are you crazy? You won’t be able to play at the next game!” 

I laughed, “At least we get a next game. It was worth it.”

He rolled his eyes and ruffled my hair. Bombay sat down in the chair beside the hospital bed. Casey and Charlie walked outside.

“Do you remember what happened after you took that hit?”

I paused trying to think back to earlier, “Um… not really.”

“I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it in front of the team. You called me dad.”

I turned my head to look down at the sheets, “Oh…”

“I don’t have a problem with it,” he laughed, “But the team is definitely going to have questions for you tomorrow.”

I smiled. 

“Alright, grab your stuff. The doctor said you can go, you just can’t practice or play in a game for a week.”

My eyes widened, “A week?!”

“Yes,” he said, “And I better not hear any complaints. I’ll make you run extra. Your moms waiting on us.”

“Where?”

“At the diner, she said something about milkshakes.”

I smiled, “We always get milkshakes after games.”

“Well, it’s on me tonight.”

I jumped up and gave him a hug before running out to grab Charlie. I think I can imagine that forgiveness thing now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taglist: @thebookwormlife @talksoprettyjjx  @coolreallyfuzzystudentuniverse  @igotabadfeelingabouteverything @larrystylinson-sus @lovesanimals @aunicornmademedoit @thexhotmess @ssprayberrythings @registerednursejackie @julieandthephantomsblogduh @fangirling-allday @solophantomsmultis @drxgxnslxyer @schnapp-my-neck​

[acraftedmistake]

A Person Who Has Never Played MCSM Writes A Story About MCSM Chp. 15

CHP 15!!!!! Some good times and bad times lie ahead...... 

Enjoy!

“Everything okay?” Jess asked. Aiden was about to leave the house but had stopped halfway out the door, turned back around, and scanned the first floor while Jess and Olivia waited for him.

“Yeah.” Aiden said slowly as he began to close the door, twisting the knob to make sure he wouldn’t accidentally lock the three of them out, “Just thought I heard something.” He walked away from the house and patted his hair down. “You two ready to go?”

“Mhm!” Olivia finished zipping up the olive green jacket Stella had lent her. She was hiding her face with the hood of the gray sweatshirt Cassie gave her the day before as well. She knew there weren’t too many people out at this hour, but better safe than sorry.

Jess was wearing the leather jacket and beanie again, but he wasn’t too concerned about hiding his face this time. Earlier, he made a minor complaint that his clothes felt rather stiff after wearing them for a few days straight, to which Aiden promised that once they got back home he would throw their clothes in the washer.

“Let’s get going!” Jess said, adjusting the beanie on his head. Originally, Jess wasn’t too thrilled at the idea of going out at this hour. Knowing there might be Awakening members roaming around, or his alternate self--who had no problem beating Radar in broad daylight--made Jess uncertain over the safety of Obsidian Town’s streets. Aiden assured him that they’d be alright, it’d be three against one, and--in his words--he ‘Wants to do somethin’ nice for Olivia after last night’.

Jess appreciated the thoughtfulness, and in the end, visiting Olivia’s grave was up to… Well, Olivia, but he’d still be ready in case a creep tried to pull something.  

Jess couldn’t really blame Olivia for wanting to check out her grave. It’s her place of death. When would you ever get an opportunity to visit a place like that again? Not to mention, Jess had been wanting to get a better look at Obsidian Town rather than getting glimpses or constantly staring at the ground.

The three walked to the left and started their journey to the cemetery. Aiden and Olivia were making small talk, so Jess took this time to absorb his surroundings.

Up ahead, he could spot a tall, crooked, ivory colored tower in the distance. That must’ve been the library Olivia mentioned before. Even from all the way over here Jess could see how ruined the place was. Cracks stretched across it, it was riddled with holes, and it looked moments away from collapsing.

Jess scanned the streets. The long, thin black lamp posts on each side had thin string-lights tied to their tops that stretched across the streets in a zig-zag like manner. It’s a shame they weren’t on at the moment, they must’ve been wonderful when lit.

There were empty stalls they’d pass by occasionally. Colorful, patterned tents protected the bare tables, empty boxes, and scraps sitting underneath. Jess noticed each stall had string lights, small lanterns, or candles for light. He’d catch quick glimpses at folded signs tucked away and papers taped onto poles advertising items and prices. Seeing all of this reminded him of the farmer markets Beacon Town. Jess would always act so crabby when he woke up early for them, but it wouldn’t take long for him to get hyped up and dashing around the place until closing time.

The stalls and all were nice, but Jess couldn’t help but find Obsidian Town’s buildings to be… Underwhelming.

Many of the buildings, from what he could see, were constructed with the same materials: stone, wood, bricks, concrete, the occasional polished granite and diorite, and the rare terracotta. There were variations with the colors, but seeing the same materials got real tiring real fast.

And most structures here were just shapes. That’s all that could really be said. Squared, rectangled, plain shapes to fit the equally-plain materials. Even the sizes of the buildings felt plain. Many were one to two stories, a large handful reached three, and hardly any were four.

Jess was so used to Beacon Town’s monstrous structures, giant jungle trees sprouting from windows, walls of colored glass creating magnificent designs, and bridges stretching from roof to roof that connected the town together. The fun types of builds! It might sound chaotic but that’s what made Beacon Town feel like home. Obsidian Town was just that. A town.

‘Don’t think the people here can risk being experimental, to be fair.’ Jess told himself as he remembered how often quakes struck. He thought back to his town again. He thought about how so many homes would quickly collapse the moment a strong-enough quake would hit. Beacon Town was fun, but it wasn’t built with ‘sturdiness’ in mind, unlike Obsidian Town.

While the construction and sizes of these buildings were on the more ‘basic’ side, the way the citizens decorated the exteriors of their homes and stores was magnificent. Oh, how he loved their decorations. From markets using barrels, wagons, and carefully stacked crates to advertise their fresh fruit and flowers, to cafes that’d have their furniture with their own color schemes and accessories to make them stand out from one another. Some places had porches decorated with flowers and swinging benches, while others had balconies with tiny lights.

Jess would get a second to peer into windows they’d pass by, catching glimpses of interiors that’d tempt him to come closer and press his face against the glass to get a better look. Actually, he hadn’t noticed it right away, but so many windows in Obsidian Town were colored. They didn’t have any intricate designs--a majority of them were one solid color--unlike the stained glass back at the Order Hall, but they were still charming. He pictured in his head how vibrant the streets must be when night comes… The lights from the inside mixing with the colors of the glass must be magnificent.

One place that REALLY caught Jess’ attention was a stone gray building tucked between two larger ones. It had a simple square base, but had a noticeable tilt to it. It had a staircase that wrapped around it’s walls and led to the roof, where a smaller room sat atop, equally slanted. A wooden sign hung from above the door and had the words “Glass Art” on it. Purple, pink, and blue glass shards and chimes were held by opaque strings from the overhang; there was a large, round, beautiful stained glass window with the same colors beside the door.  

The glass art reminded Jess of Ivor and his potions. Man… How is Ivor? Is he doing alright? Is he worried? Hopefully he’s not working himself to the bone trying to find a way to save him and Olivia. Jess couldn’t wait to get back home and give that old man a big ol’ hug.

Come to think of it, has anyone mentioned anything about potions while they’ve been here? He doesn’t remember Olivia’s book talking about them, nor any of Aiden’s friends bringing them up… Are there no potions here? Or maybe there’s a lack of materials? They couldn’t go to the Nether or mine without a license--which STILL boggles Jess’ mind--so that probably made gathering resources hard. How would Ivor react to this? He’d probably say: ‘Pah! A universe without potions is a miserable one. Back in my day, we’d travel hundreds of miles to find the finest ingredients for our--’

“Jess!” He heard Olivia call his name. He spun around and saw her and Aiden standing under a stone arch. Olivia had her hands on her hips.

“You done dreamin’?” Aiden asked.

Jess didn’t realize how far he had strayed from the two. He hurried over and joined them at the arch.

“Sorry, sorry, I was busy thinking.” He skidded to a halt and fixed his beanie.

“Just glad nobody saw you.” Aiden said, “I almost stopped her from calling you cause I wanted to see how far you’d walk off.”

“Could you imagine if he got caught like that?” Olivia asked, “One moment he’s strolling through the streets, and the next he’s being pounced on by guards all because he was too busy sightseeing.” Her and Aiden chuckled at the thought.

“Oh, so it’s a crime to appreciate a town now?” Jess dramatically placed his hands on his hips, mimicking Olivia’s posture.

“It's illegal for you.” Aiden said, “Now come on, there’s a shortcut through the park.”

Aiden walked through the moss-covered stone arch. On each side of the arch were thick, green hedges that boxed in the park. Olivia noticed that, unlike the buildings in this town, the hedges didn’t form an actual shape; it would jut in and out at random, creating odd angles and corners. It was strange but charming.

A path that started under the arch and looped around the area, creating a horseshoe-like shape. Aiden ignored the path and continued walking straight through the grass. Olivia saw the usual things most parks had: Benches, lampposts, a sign telling people not to litter. She also noticed leftover chalk on the sidewalk, laying right beside children’s drawings of stick figures and hopscotch.

Obsidian Town’s park was small, nice, simple, and… Honestly a little dark. The thick clouds were already blocking most of the sun’s light, but the few, tall, thick trees had branches that hid nearly every inch of the sky. Despite how dim it was, Olivia could still spot wild flowers sprinkled around the grass, along with the bugs buzzing around them.

Honestly--and Olivia felt bad thinking this--she preferred this sort of park over whatever the heck Beacon Town had going on. Yes, Beacon Town was great in it’s own way. People could build whatever they wanted, and that’s wonderful, but sometimes she’d just like to take a walk without a constant ruckus surrounding her. Sometimes she just wanted peace and quiet--

“That guy’s missing his entire head!” Jess suddenly whisper-shouted as he lightly shook Olivia. Her heart started beating frantically as she hurriedly spun her head around. Her mind was going all over the place. Was it a decapitated corpse? A strange, alternate-universe monster? Or--or--

It was a statue.

“Jess, you nearly gave me a heart attack.” She sighed with relief.

“Sorry,” He took his hands off of her and pointed, “check it out though!”

Both Olivia and Aiden were looking at the statue now. It was a man frozen midrun, an axe held back--stuck in a swinging motion--while the other hand held up his battered shield, which covered his face. If he had a face, that is. It had to be The Impossible Man. Olivia wasn’t sure who else it could’ve been.

“He’s definitely seen better days.” She said under her breath. Besides his entire head missing, a majority of his body was covered in dirt, children’s chalk, and other strange stains. Cracks started from his broken neck and traveled to his chest, his armor was chipped and scratched, and a good portion of his axe had broken off as well.

“Yeah, I think there’s a couple more statues around here?” Aiden mentioned as they continued walking, “They’re all in pretty bad shape. The kids like to mess with them.”

Aiden scanned the park. “There’s one,” He pointed to the upper corner on the left side of the park. A statue was placed on a podium right in front of a tree. Despite the fact one of his legs was missing, he appeared to be sitting comfortably, gazing at the tree tops peacefully.

“Annnndddd…” Aiden kept turning his head in different directions, “I’m pretty sure there was a head somewhere… Oh!” He spun around, walking backwards now as he pointed to the direction of the entrance. Jess and Olivia followed his finger, their eyes landed on a wooden bench--and right beside it was a small column with a broken bust of the man on top. Olivia couldn’t make out much of the man’s face from here, but she kept getting the eerie feeling that his fractured eyes were somehow watching her. Constantly. Unblinking. She shuddered.

“You think the quakes are the reason they’re missing some parts?” She heard Jess ask aloud.

“I find it really hard to believe they somehow stood through all of those quakes and just lost a head or a leg. They might've been stolen.” Olivia theorized.

Jess put his hand on his chin, stroking an imaginary beard, “I think I remember seeing Hadrian have a couple of statue parts at his place…”

“What? You think old people just like to steal random body parts during their free time?” She grinned.

“That’s what I’d like to do when I retire!” He chuckled. Olivia rolled her eyes playfully.

The three came to a stop in front of a wall of hedge that stood a couple inches taller than Aiden. Unlike the rest of the hedges, this one probably hasn’t been trimmed in months. The surface was extremely uneven; hundreds of tiny branches and leaves stuck out and got tangled with one another. This hedge was also covered in flowers. Tons of them. Clusters of fluffy-looking, light pink flowers were scattered throughout, and were nearly as big as Olivia’s face. The ground was covered in old petals.

Olivia made sure that every strand of hair was tucked inside her hood. There was no way she wanted to spend the rest of the day picking out the twigs, leaves, and petals that’d get stuck in there.

Aiden walked to the right, staring into the bush and running his hand over it as he mumbled to himself, trying to remember where the shortcut was. Olivia and Jess awkwardly shuffled along. Aiden soon stopped, crouched down, then put his hand into the bush. He then took it out, huffed, scooched over a couple more inches, and repeated the process.

After a minute of searching, Aiden started talking to himself. “Maybe it’s on the left side? I could’ve sworn we--!” Aiden suddenly fell forward and into a large hole in the hedge.

Man, if Aiden hadn’t fell through, Olivia would’ve also thought he’d forgotten where the entrance was. The branches hid the hole well.

Jess helped Aiden to his feet. Aiden thanked him as he moved aside, motioning towards the hole.

“You guys go ahead.” Aiden said, “I’ll wait for you to go through.”

Jess and Olivia glanced at each other before Jess gave her a little bow, “After you.”

“How kind.” Olivia curtsied. She crouched and crawled through. The dirt was already making her pants a little damp.

Luckily, despite a few scratches, the crawl only lasted a few seconds.

She got up, cleaned herself off, and waited for the boys.

Jess’ head soon popped out from the hole. Leaves and tiny branches were caught in his hair. He wriggled himself out and brushed off his clothes.

“Here, let me help with your hair.” Olivia started plucking the sticks out.

“Thanks!” Jess said happily as he took off and shook the leaves off his beanie.

It was quiet for a couple of moments as they cleaned themselves up. Olivia felt her smile twitch.

“Hey, Jess,” She started slowly, “I’m… I’m sorry.”

Jess put his hat back on, “What for?”

“I know you don’t have the best feelings towards Aiden right now,” She stared at her feet, “I hope it doesn’t feel like I’m dragging you along.”

“What? No, no, no!” Jess exclaimed, “Look, I was real mad last night, but I wanted to go with you!”

Olivia brought her head back up to Jess, a tiny smile of relief on her face.

“And I’m sticking to my word. We’ll stick together no matter what.” Jess shoved his hands into his pockets. “And uh… We don’t really have a choice when it comes to trusting Aiden and his friends, but things aren’t gonna get better if I keep blowing up like I did yesterday--” A sudden grunt interrupted Jess and caused both of them to jump.

They turned to see Aiden struggling to get out of the bush. How much did he hear? Hopefully not too much. Hopefully.

Aiden tries to use his free arm to pull the rest of his body out, but after a few more seconds he stopped fighting and let his face fall to the ground.

“... I’m stuck again.” He could hear Olivia and Jess snicker as they grabbed his hand and began to pull. They were able to pull him out in no time.

“Thanks.” Aiden said as he shook off the dirt--and the embarrassment. “The memorials are on the other side of the cemetery. Should only take a minute to get there.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When they entered the cemetery, Jess kept his eyes peeled for any familiar names on the gravestones. A few graves had rather unusual colors to them. There was a dusty red one, an uncommon shade, but not odd. Then he’d walk by a blue one; he’s never seen a grave that color before--well, Reuben’s memorial had bits of blue in it, does that count?--Then he walked by a purple grave, a green one, an orange one?

“This is… The happiest looking cemetery I’ve ever seen.” Olivia said as she beheld the rest of the graveyard.

“Is that a compliment?” Aiden asked.

Olivia kept staring at tombstones until she finally said “I don’t know, I’ve just never seen a place for the dead look so… Lively.”

Taking in the rest of the graveyard, Jess had to agree . What was usually a dark, gloomy, dreary place was so, so vibrant. Even under this cloudy, dull weather, the many colors still popped. This was more like a miniature festival than a cemetery! Many tombstone tops looked like roofs with their pointed tops and little overhangs. Their heights and widths would range from short and broad to tall and scrawny. Heck, Jess could spot a couple of graves as tall as him.

“What the heck are your cemeteries like?” Aiden glanced back at them.

“Plainer colors, I guess?” Jess shrugged, “You know, blacks, grays, browns, nothing too flashy.” The only exception Jess could think of was, once again, Reuben's memorial.

“Really?” Aiden sounded genuinely baffled by this. “We hardly got any of those. What do they mean?”

Olivia and Jess exchanged confused expressions with each other before Jess faced Aiden again, “Sadness? Loss? I don’t think there’s any real meaning behind those colors, honestly.”

“Right, we don’t typically associate bright colors with the dead.” Olivia added in, viewing the cemetery again. Scrawny trees and tiny flowers with stems that reached her knees that were peppered around the area; most were in between the graves. She thought about Aiden’s question, “I’m assuming the colors here represent something specific?”

“Yeah, buncha things. Too many for me to keep track of, but I remember the important ones.” Aiden started as they continued walking down the damp dirt path. “When a person dies, their friends and family can choose the color of their grave. It’s usually… Like… Hm. It’s supposed to show what the person was like when they were alive, ya know? Yellow for the happy people,” He explained while pointing to a shorter grave of said-color, “orange for determination, that sorta stuff. Stella’s memorized ‘em all. If you ever wanna know more, she’s the person to ask.”

As Aiden kept talking, Olivia and Jess kept taking in their surroundings. Jess had noticed something. Every single grave they passed was decorated with gems. The gems were placed close by the names and dates of those who passed, and seeing so many of them in various shapes, colors, and sizes made him curious…

“Hey, uh, what’s with the gems?” Jess spoke up, “Are they real?” He was wondering if maybe they were regular stones that were carved and painted. There was no way Obsidian Town could have an overabundance of minerals, especially since the citizens needed a mining license.

“Nah, they’re glass.” Aiden replied, “I thought they were real myself until we had to choose some gems for Lukas--” He suddenly stopped in his tracks. Jess and Olivia peered over and saw a lit redstone torch placed in front of a grave. Aiden plucked the torch from its place, a scowl on his face as he blew out the flame then chucked the burnt wood across the cemetery.

“Anyways, what was I sayin’?” He began walking again, as if nothing out of the ordinary happened.

‘What was that about?’ Jess thought to himself. It must’ve been linked to the cult, right? Why else would Aiden have done that?

“Right!” He snapped his fingers,” So the gems are basically like the colors of the graves. We had to go to this special place where the people there pulled out huge chests filled with those things. Took us forever to pick ‘em out.”

“Each color chosen means something for the person that passed…” Jess whispered to himself as Aiden’s words from earlier echoed through his mind. He was rather fond of how Obsidian Town remembered their dead. It was more uplifting than what he was used to. Maybe he could make some changes to the graveyards once they get back to Beacon Town.

Aiden was quiet for a minute before he added, “Gill took the longest. He was real worried his gem wouldn’t be good enough.” He paused. “He… he ended up crying.”

His voice got quieter, “I hated seeing him like that.”

Jess and Olivia both tried to think of what to say, what ‘s the next best thing to do, but Aiden immediately changed the subject.

“What do you guys put on your graves?” Aiden asked, he sounded ‘normal’ again, but kept facing away from the two.

Jess hesitated, “Names. Dates.”

“A description of the person who passed.” Olivia added.

“Just words? Doesn’t that get a little… Depressing?” Aiden narrowed his eyes.

“Oh, you think that’s sad? We once wrote out an entire dictionary on a guy’s grave back in our universe.” Jess answered jokingly. Olivia let out a little giggle, and they even heard a chuckle out of Aiden.

That small chuckle was all Jess needed to hear to continue telling quips and share short, funny stories at Aiden’s way to try and lighten the mood. Aiden was soon sharing his own experiences mixed in with his own humor. Aiden and Jess were bouncing off of each other, making fun of their own universes while Olivia would throw in her commentary every now and then.

‘This is so weird…’ Olivia thought to herself. The three of them laughing while walking through a cemetery… it’s something that’d usually feel inappropriate to do, but here she wasn’t all that bothered.

This whole experience has been surreal. Entering a rainbow of a cemetery through a bush felt like something that’d only happen in her dreams, yet here she was. Honestly, it was a nice change of pace to not feel worried for her and her friend’s life for a moment.

She had nearly forgotten the dread she felt when she originally suggested coming here.

And then Aiden spoke up.

“Okay, okay, we’re finally--” Aiden stopped. “Here.” All happiness in his tone had left.

That didn’t sound good. That didn’t sound good at all. Olivia grabbed onto the string of her hoodie and began to pull on it as she slowly peered over Aiden. Standing before him were two graves. Olivia’s eyes were drawn to the shorter one. She trailed down the grave, the coral color fading into a deep shade of red until she stopped at the flowers laying beside a lit, redstone torch.

Olivia held her breath. Jess got close to her as Aiden approached the torch. He grabbed it by it’s barely-scorched base and brought it to his face to blow out the flame. Instead of throwing it away like the last one, he just placed it to the side, only a few feet away from the grave. He wore an expression neither of them have ever seen on him before. Fear? Heartache? Pain.

“We’re here.” He said again. His voice completely devoid of energy. His body was stiff as he walked to the side of the grave, with his hands curled into tight fists and placed at his sides. There was another redstone torch placed in front of the grave to the right, but Aiden didn’t say anything. Olivia took a few small steps forward and gave him a small nod.

As she knelt down in front of the grave--in front of her grave--she heard Aiden tell Jess ‘Come on’, followed by the sound of footsteps growing distant.

She sat alone at her grave.

She didn’t want to read the text. She really didn’t. Isn’t that funny? That was one of the main reasons she wanted to come here. To see if there was a chance she could read about her death, what happened to her, but now that she was here, she was terrified. She looked everywhere else but the epitaph before her. She stared at the small bouquet of flowers on the dirt--the dirt… She noticed it seemed… Messier compared to the other graves. Like someone tried digging through it. The bouquet, though! There was a mix of flowers held together by a red ribbon. Clusters of tiny, magenta flowers, a few pointed, white flowers with many petals, and a type of flower she actually knew the name of: Lilys.

She then brought her gaze up, catching a quick glimpse of her name written in gold, to observe the gems placed into the tombstone. Two orange gems, one yellow, one gold, another maroon, and the gem in the center was amber. They formed an arch around the words in the center.

‘Stop avoiding it.’ She told herself, but she didn’t listen. She turned to Lukas’ grave. She had to see his. She had to. It was right here and--and he’s her friend.

His grave was turquoise and had thin, white stripes that stretched across the top, and seven gems instead of six. Three on each side, and the last gem placed above his epitaph. He was given flowers as well.

The words engraved in the stone read: “LUKAS: Courageous and loyal. An inspiring leader and a brilliant friend.”

Short but wonderful. It was perfect. Reading it over and over again, she thought about just how lucky she and Jess were with having their friend still around. He’s done so much for them. Constantly helping Jess run Beacon Town, aiding the citizens, always visiting her and Axel whenever he got the chance… He could’ve left them during that Witherstorm. He could’ve ditched them at any moment when things got too rough, but he never did.

‘I need to give Lukas a hug when I get back.’ Olivia thought to herself. Lukas could still leave them one day without warning. He could finally get sick of them, die in a brutal fight, or--or end up being kidnapped like this Lukas--Olivia squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, trying to get those awful thoughts out. Don’t think about that. He’s still alive. He still cares about them. He loves them.

Olivia kept her eyes closed for a moment longer before finally bringing her attention back to her own grave. She forced herself to read the words written for her; “OLIVIA: An intelligent, creative, and hardworking engineer. A bright spark of joy even during the darkest of days.”

Olivia stared at her words. A weird sense of reassurance was arising. She’s never thought highly of herself. She’d sometimes convince herself that others couldn’t tolerate her, and that she was one mistake away from ruining everything. She wondered if this Olivia ever felt a similar way. Was she constantly trying to make sure she said and did the right things? Try to fix any issue immediately so her friends didn’t think she was useless? Always second guessing her own thoughts?

Did this Olivia know her friends always loved her? Or was she riddled with fears and doubts until her sudden end?

‘She died a couple of years ago, didn’t she?’ Olivia tried to recall any mention of her death from Aiden. She wasn’t certain, but whether it was a few years ago, or a few months ago, didn’t change the fact that she died so soon.

She was young.

Younger than her.

To have her life end on an abrupt note… It scared her. It scared her so much. Everything could be taken away one day.

As she sat over her body, she felt her fingers begin to dig into the dirt, like they were trying to reach in and find the other Olivia’s hand. A sick form of curiosity made her want to know more. More about this Olivia. Her life. Her mind. To have a connection with her. It was her body she was sitting over, afterall. Her corpse. Her--

“Olivia?” Jess placed his hand on her shoulder. “Are you doing okay?”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Come on.” Aiden gave Jess a light tap with his hand. He started walking away from Olivia. Jess hesitated. He looked at his friend for a second more before leaving with Aiden.

“We just needa give her some space.” Aiden said.

“Right, totally understand.” Jess wanted to stick around for a few minutes longer to study his friends’ graves, but that could wait. He didn’t want to make Olivia feel like he was breathing down her neck.

Jess thought back to the many instances where his friends’ lives were in danger, when they were so close to being taken away from him. He hated seeing his friends’ lives at stake more than anything; he’d go through Hell and back to protect them, and to be in a place where their deaths became a reality was so hard to wrap his head around.

Lukas left without a trace. No familiar faces to comfort him during his last moments, only enemies looming over him while he was in an unknown place. Just thinking about his fate made Jess worry sick about his Lukas back at home.

It was silent for a few minutes. Only their footsteps filled the void.

“So…” Jess started, wanting to make small talk, “What do the colors for Olivia and Lukas’ graves mean?”

“Olivia’s creativity.” Aiden replied, sounding short. “And Lukas’--” He paused and scanned the cemetery. He took a left turn and continued walking between the graves. “He’s…Don’t make fun of us, but his color stands for friendship.”

“Friendship?” Jess perked up at the word.

“I know, it’s probably super cheesy or whatever, but it fits him. It really does.” Aiden said.

“No, no, I completely agree! He’s a great friend--one of the best! If I had to recount all the times he’s been there for me, we’d be here all day.”

“Right. Same here.” They stopped at another grave with another redstone torch in front of it. This grave was short and purple, with many cool-colored gems placed in it. Jess didn’t recognize the name.

Aiden grabbed the torch and blew out the flame. Jess decided to ask another question.

“Any idea why The Awakening puts those torches there?”

“Probably for no good reason.” Aiden answered through gritted teeth as he chucked the wood as hard as he could across the cemetery.

There was something unnerving about the torches left at the grave. Their red glow would take over the colors of the graves, and their light under a thick, cloudy sky would claim your attention and make it hard to pull away. Their soft crackling would fill in the silence whenever he and Aiden didn’t talk; the occasional loud snaps from the flames would make Jess believe there was a threat following them.

Jess stopped at a tombstone and picked up a vase of flowers that had fallen aside. “The gems on their graves, what do they mean? Do you remember ‘em?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’d remember what the gems on my own friends’ graves would mean!” Aiden snapped.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that!” Jess held the vase tighter. “I was just--I wanted to know more about them.” Great. Now they’re both feeling terrible.

Aiden’s demeanor softened when he saw Jess’ reaction. “No, it’s okay. I’m sorry. I’ve been--” He hesitated, “I’ve just been thinking about someone is all.”

“No, it’s no problem.” Jess carefully placed the small vase back upright. He folded his arms and joined Aiden’s side.

“I’m uh, still interested to hear bout those gems if you’re wanting to share.” He said.

“Yeah. I can do that for ya.” Aiden answered.

“For Lukas,” Aiden began, walking through the grass. “Gill chose blue. I remember that one’s loyalty. Gold for compassion. White for safety--he’d always double check our belongings every time to make sure we were prepared.”

Aiden stopped and grabbed a torch, “It was kinda annoying, but I miss it now.” He blew it out and threw the wood.

They kept moving.

“Rose picked pink.” Aiden started running his fingers over the grave tops, “She was real embarrassed when she chose it. Kept refusing to show us cause she thought we’d laugh at her.”

“I’m guessing pink’s for love?” Jess said, trying to make sure he wouldn’t trample any flowers.

“Yeah, and--” Aiden chuckled, “Rose wanted his description to be: Pretty blond dork with a decent sense of style. All of us were actually on board with it.”

“Did you end up pulling through with it?” Jess asked.

“Nah, the guys making the grave wouldn’t allow it.” Aiden spotted a couple of gravestones with torches by them. They were already burnt out. He grabbed two of the torches while Jess grabbed the last.

“What a bunch of killjoys.” Jess joked. Aiden laughed as he prepared to throw the burnt wood. Jess mimicked each step of Aiden’s. Hold, aim, then throw. Once they lost sight of the rubbish, they followed the dirt path to the entrance of the cemetery.

The cemetery wasn’t boxed in by hedges like the park, instead, it had a stone wall.

Aiden leaned against the wall. It didn’t look like the most comfortable surface--the rocks were jagged and would probably fall apart in moments--but he seemed unaffected by it. Jess stood nearby and took a peek through the gate beside them. Unlike the rough, uneven walls, the black fence was tall, sturdy, and had a huge, elegantly curved arch.

“Olivia’s got a few similar gems,” Aiden started, putting his hands in his pocket, “Two golds, yellow… She’s got amber--Man, I always mix those three up. They sound different enough but when they’re placed by each other, they all look the same. Amber’s slightly darker than yellow, but not as dark as gold. Amber’s positivity.”

“Lotta happy ones for her.” Jess commented. He’d been staring at the decorated buildings through the gate’s bars as he listened. He could spot bits of pots filled with flowers on the other side of the wall, their colors as eye-catching as the cemetery.

“Always made us happy.” Aiden said with a shrug. “She also had… Ah…” He pressed his lips together, “Orange! She had that one too. And then there’s…” He had to stop to think again.

“It’s not… Well, it looks like red, but it’s darker… Ah, shoot.” Aiden cursed to himself.

“Carmine? Maroon?” Jess tilted his head.

Aiden snapped his fingers, “Maroon! Right! Creativity; same thing as her grave. Picked it myself.” He said rather proudly.

“You guys really cared about her.” Jess mumbled. He tilted his head towards Aiden, “And I’m sure Olivia loved you guys all the same.”

Aiden stared back at him.

A small smile spread across his face, “Thanks.”

The two became quiet and looked over the array of colorful graves before them. The clouds slowly began to part; gems glistened as the rays of sun shone down on them.

“Should we check on Olivia now?” Jess asked after a few minutes of silence.

Aiden got off the stone wall and stretched his back, “Yeah, let’s go.”

~ ~ ~ ~

When the two returned to Olivia, the last thing they wanted to see was to see her in distress. The tips of her fingers were shoved into the dirt below, her eyes were stuck on the golden words in front of her, her mouth was parted--barely moving--with no voice to match. Jess couldn’t tell if she was trembling or not, but she was scared. Very scared.

Jess bit his lip and approached his friend. Aiden was right behind.

“Olivia?” Jess placed his hand on her shoulder, “Are you doing okay?”

Olivia jumped and jerked her hands out of the dirt.

“Yes--! Yeah, no, no don’t worry, I’m fine. Thanks--thank you for checking on me.” She replied frantically. She took deep breaths.

Before Jess could question anything, Olivia spoke up.

“Aiden, this uh--the substance mixed into the stone,” Her fingers trailed down the tombstone, “is it redstone dust?”

Her voice was shaky.

Aiden glanced at Jess, who was equally nervous as him, then said, “Actually, it is.”

He took a step closer to Olivia, “They don’t usually allow people to mix stuff like redstone or glowstone dust with the colors--especially cause they’re hard to find--but they made an exception for us.”

Olivia nodded along, blinking back tears.

Jess read her epitaph, “Guess all Olivia’s are just the greatest engineers out there, huh?”

“Damn right. She didn’t have a bunch of dust to work with, but she’d still crank out machine after machine like no tomorrow.” Aiden said, “Man, I remember every year for her birthday that’d be all she’d ever ask for. Not weapons, not new journals, not even a dang cake, just redstone dust. Course, the only places you could find ‘em were in caves or old shrines, right?” He asked while facing Lukas’ grave and grabbing the lit redstone torch below.

“Yup, we found a bunch of it yesterday.” Jess said, sitting besides Olivia.

“Right, and since it was so dangerous, she told us to not worry bout gettin’ it because ‘It’d be stupid to risk your life for some red powder’.” Aiden gestured with the torch, the flame getting frighteningly close to his hair.

“Well, I’d always lose track of dates and forget to get her a gift, so one of the other guys would back me up and tell Olivia we bought a gift ‘together’, and I felt so bad.” He thankfully blew out the fire after saying that.

“So then guess what I did one day?” Aiden said.

“Walked out and found a bag of redstone on the ground?” Jess asked sarcastically.

Aiden laughed, “I wish.”  

Aiden began pacing, the trail of smoke whirling around him, “But I decided I’d bust into one of those dumb shrine and find some dust for her, and I didn’t tell anyone bout it besides Jesse. He was on board with the plan, he was great at findin’ stuff, plus two people finding dust was much easier than one.” Aiden fiddled with the burnt wood, “We headed off to the nearest shrine and actually found enough dust to fill up a bag and a half, but cause of the state of that dump, some rooms would collapse after you opened the door!”

“You two ended up getting hurt, didn’t you?” Olivia had her hand on her head, already concerned over the direction of this story.

“Course we did!” Aiden threw his arms up. “I swear anytime the two of us were together, things would fall apart or we’d break a bone--” Aiden stopped his talking to quickly chuck the wood away. “Anyways, anyways, we got back home right on time for Olivia’s birthday and man did we look awful. Clothes were all dirty, got some real bad scrapes on my knees, Jesse grabbed so much dust it looked like his fingers were covered in blood, and I somehow got a black eye? I think the top of a chest smacked me...”

Olivia rubbed her temples, “You two really shouldn’t have risked your lives over a birthday present--”

“That’s exactly what she said!” Aiden exclaimed, “Went through all that trouble, and you know how she reacted?”

“Panicked?” Olivia asked.

“Bet she loved it.” Jess said, giving Olivia a nudge.

“She did--but Hero did she freak out! Dropped her cake and rushed over to get us cleaned up. Olivia was wrapping up one of Jesse’s arms--” Aiden thought to himself for a second, “--I think a big rock landed on it? But she was going off on us. Raising her voice and lecturing us like she was our mom, telling us it’s a miracle we were still in one piece, and why in Hero’s name we did something so stupid.”

“I mean, it wasn’t stupid if things worked out for you.” Jess pointed out.

“Yeah, but still.” Aiden chuckled, “It was stupid. It was so, so stupid. But after that, she loved our present. I’d never seen her smile so much. She was working on her machinery, telling me and Jesse how everything worked while we pretended to understand.”

Aiden carefully leaned on Olivia’s grave, “Hero knows I didn’t understand a single thing she was sayin’, but seeing her so happy…” His smile grew as his voice softened, “It was great.”

“That’s all so sweet…” Olivia spoke softly. “I love it.”

She was shaking again.

Jess turned to his friend to mention something, but stopped when he saw Olivia staring at the ground, fingers picking at the dirt just like she was when they came back. That same, terrified expression on her face.

“Liv--?” Jess mumbled, but Olivia started rambling nonsense.

“I don’t know if my words mean much to you--I know I’m not her--but you’re a good friend, Aiden.” Her nails started to dig into the ground, “All of this, all that you’ve done for Olivia--you--you--Even when I just--” She kept stumbling over her words, “Even when she died one day you kept being so kind to me--”

The more she kept talking, the more concerned--the more scared--Aiden and Jess became.

“Hey, hey are you alright?” Jess reached out to hold her, but Olivia shot her head back up.

“I’m under here.” She whispered. Her voice was so unsteady.

Jess was taken aback, “What?”

“I’m under here.” She said again. “I’m so close.”

Her hand began to claw at the dirt, “I’m so close. My body’s all mangled up in that box below, and--and my hair’s so long now.” She felt sick talking about this, she felt sick thinking about it. “It’d be so easy to just dig myself up. For Aiden to see her again. Jesse--Jess, we’re so close. I could look at myself. Look at my body. I’m--”

“Olivia!” Jess shook her, “Do you want to get out of here?”

Aiden wanted to offer his support, but Olivia instantly got on her feet.

“Yes. Yes I want to leave. I want to go home.” She kept repeating that last sentence while she hugged herself, breathing heavily. She was freezing.

“Right, we need to head back anyways.” Aiden’s stomach was in knots seeing Olivia like this. His hands turned to fists, “I should’ve known better. I shouldn’t have taken you here. I’m sorry--”

“Don’t.” Olivia cut in. “I wanted to go. You took me. I saw--I saw what I needed to. I appreciate it. Thank you.” She was stiff as a board.

Olivia took one last deep breath, “Let’s go home.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Damn them.

Damn them all.

Locked every damn door and window in this house. They’re hiding her, he knows they’re hiding her.

Did they really think locking themselves in would stop him? He used to live in this Hero forsaken house; he knows every nail, screw, and plank that makes up this despicable place.

He still remembers that trapdoor on the roof. He knows how to claw his way up there. He’ll pry it open with his own bare hands.

He’ll find her.

He will.

[peeterparkr]

limits of desire⤳t.h.||19

chapter 19: the bridesmaid

story summary: you met Tom a night he was trying to sleep with you, it didn’t work and you became best of friends. Wedding bells might be ringing for when you both realize what you really feel.

summary: the one with the conversations

pairing: fuckboy!tom holland x best friend!reader

warnings: swearing, angsty, SMUT (skip the ¨** if you don’t want to read it), flashbacks in italics

word count: 6.5K

song I recommend to listen while reading:

angel eyes-abba

as long as you’re mine-Wicked

New Years Day-Taylor Swift

Falling-Harry Styles

previous chapter next chapter series masterlist wanna be tagged?

Desire is defined as a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen. However, in a friendship, that feeling should never go beyond a certain established point because it will all collapse. 

It’s hidden between smiles, dirty secrets and willing eyes. Keep it quiet, or it’ll go all to hell. It’s better, sometimes, to keep it hidden. No one gets hurt. Even if people pointed it out. 

Maybe they were oblivious, it probably was that. But when y/n and Tom looked back now it seemed to be more than obvious that there was something more than a clear friendship. But maybe, it should’ve stayed as one. Clearly, their friends thought the same. Or at least, they wanted to change a few things because they truly didn’t want to follow up their mess. Because those friends had been there every time they had fucked up. And this mess, they didn’t know how to control it. 

Even if neither Tom nor Y/N had ever admitted it, Haz and Liz had always been there right beside them whenever they needed them. 

“I mean she is getting too close to him, isn’t she?” Tom asked Harrison as they both stared at Y/N, they were at a party. “I mean—out of everyone why is she hanging out with Andrew Jacobs?” 

Harrison shrugged. “I—well, Andrew was kind of the one who was getting close.” 

“Yeah, but—“Tom cleared his throat as he took a sip ofthe beer in . “But, uh… it’s Andrew and she seems…” 

Harrison raised his brows. “Are you jealous, mate?”

Tom laughed, rolling his eyes. “No, I’m not, I’m just concerned about my best friend-“

“Ouch,” Haz input. 

“Girl best friend,” Tom cleared out. “I mean Andrew is not good enough for her.” 

Harrison stared at his best friend. “They’re only talking, man, don’t worry about it.” 

“Right,” Tom gulped. “Still, I’m going to save her from him.” 

“Tom,” Haz stopped him. “Why are you doing this? She’s having fun.” 

“Is she?” Tom frowned. “I mean… I know her, I wouldn’t say she’s having fun.” 

“Relax, she’s probably just listening to his jokes, he’s funny,” Haz said, “not her type, mate.” 

“And what is her type?” Tom frowned. “So far she’s only dated jerks, so—Andrew is kind of her type then.” 

“So you perfectly fit into her type too then, no need to act up,” Haz pushed. “Don’t worry, lover boy, she loves you just fine.”

“Harrison, stop.“

“I’m just messing with you,” Haz sassed, but truly he wasn’t really joking, he knew Tom was burning with jealousy even if he didn’t want to admit it. “No need to act up, Tom, you guys are meant to be.” 

“Can you stop that? We are friends, that’s it.” 

“Then why are you so jealous?” 

“Am not.” 

Harrison laughed. “Well, even if you aren’t, I’m still convinced you have nothing to worry about, y/n will probably blow him off in a bit.” 

But Harrison had been wrong, and Y/N had accepted a date with Andrew Jacobs. That day, Tom lost it. Harrison remembered how flustered Tom had been, even if he didn’t want to admit that his attitude was derived specifically from y/n’s date. 

Tom had woken up in a bad mood and had avoided talking to anyone. 

“What was that name of that girl?” Tom had finally spoken to Haz. 

“What girl?” 

“Y/N’s friend, she was hot.” 

Haz raised his brow. “I dunno who you’re talking about.” 

“Elizabeth… Lizzie,” Tom said, “I’m gonna call her, see if she wants to hang out.” 

Harrison frowned. “Lizzie?” 

“Yeah.” 

“I thought y/n had asked you not to hit on her friends,” Haz reminded him. 

Tom shrugged. “If she’s out with Andrew Jacobs then I can call up one of her friends.” 

“Oh, so…” Haz rolled his eyes. “That’s why you want to call her.” 

Tom shrugged. “No, it’s fair play, if she’s out there dating my friends then it’s only fair if I date one of her friends, too.” 

Harrison frowned. “That’s not really how it works.” 

“I’m just angry, alright?” Tom sighed. “I… She didn’t speak to me at all that night, and when she did she only made fun of me, and she ignored me all night long, and then just,” Tom scoffed. 

“She was slightly drunk.” 

“I mean, I mean… She only just broke up with that other guy, Tony, gosh, and she’s already dating someone else? And I mean, I am her best friend, why does she keep ignoring me?” 

“I mean, you were kind of the reason they broke up,” Haz explained. 

“I’m not.” 

Harrison shrugged. “Why do you care that much? You do that all the time.” 

Tom clenched his jaw. “This isn’t about me.” 

“This is about y/n giving her attention to anyone else but you,” Haz pointed out. 

“That’s not true.” 

“That’s your biggest fear Tom, losing her without you ever admitting what you really feel for her,” Haz snapped. 

Tom rolled his eyes as he stormed off the room. “I don’t have feelings for her.” 

Harrison, to this day, thought that Tom had taken too much time to admit it and he wondered if things could’ve been any different had they said it earlier, or had they not said it at all. Tom always avoided anything that involved his feelings and excused himself on practicalities.

Funnily enough, Lizzie had the same feeling. Because Lizzie remembered how y/n would silently cry and ignore it, and how Lizzie knew y/n. But Lizzie never pointed it out because she knew y/n liked to remain hidden. But she knew her best friend, and she remembered how she had acted this way since they were kids. Like that time when y/n had a crush on their friend Luke, and y/n, upon her realization had told Luke that his eyes were so blue she could drown in them, but then asked her mother to change school, and when she couldn’t, she had avoided talking to Luke Miller even if he liked her back. Or how y/n, after giving her first kiss with one of her brother’s friends, ran away to Lizzie’s house and hid under Lizzie’s bed. 

Y/N ran away. That’s who she was. She never stood up for her feelings, and she never spoke them up. But y/n, y/n wrote her feelings. And she stood behind the crowd and never liked to be seen, and never wanted anyone to speak it up. She was private, she never showed off. She never liked chick flicks because y/n never liked any type of PDA, and y/n never liked the whole idea of someone yelling to the world that they loved someone. 

For y/n, it was always in the details. Y/N was someone who loved to chase, y/n liked challenges, and proving the world that they were wrong. 

That’s why when Tom had come up in her life,and it seemed that he loved to do the exact same thing she did, y/n hit the jackpot. She crushed on the guy who relied on the details but who avoided talking about his feelings, the guy who had her wrapped around his finger like a ring but didn’t care at all. Someone whom y/n should and could o run away from, but someone whom she didn’t have to, because he pushed her away when she was about to run away. It was perfect. 

But then, she fell. How could she not? Lizzie didn’t blame her. Even if at first she didn’t quite understand it, and even if Lizzie hadn’t initially noticed. But then, Lizzie heard her. 

“Y/N, oh my god, Tom texted me,” Lizzie said. They were at her place, girls night in, they were having a grown up slumber party where they could basically talk about y/n’s date. They were currently preparing margaritas as Y/N was taking a slice of pizza.  “Oh my god, oh my god.” 

“He… what?” Y/N looked up, leaving her slice on the plate. 

“Of course he did,” Hannah laughed. “The look he was giving you all night long.” 

“The… what?” Y/N pushed.

“Should I text him back?” Asked Lizzie. 

“Uh… What? What did I miss?” Y/N asked. “Is…” 

“You didn’t notice because you were up all night talking with Andrew but Tom was looking at Lizzie!” Jess explained. 

“Did he, now?” Y/N cleared her throat. “And what look did he give you?” y/n asked. 

“The kind of eyes he used to give you,” Hannah said. 

Y/N laughed. “He’s never given me any eyes.” 

“Please!” Jess yelled. “You both basically undress each other every time.” 

“We do not,” Y/N laughed. “We are friends,” she bit her lip. “But what… did you guys talk?” 

“Just a little,” Lizzie giggled. 

“Look, I… I know Tom,” Y/N sighed. “It’s a game he likes to play.” 

“Does he, now?” 

Y/N laughed as she ran to the couch and stood up there. “Please, don’t fall under the lies that are his eyes.” 

“Oh we’re getting poetic y/n, cool,” Hannah grinned as she handed y/n her glass. “Fine then, explain.” 

“Tom Holland,” y/n smirked. “One look, and you’ll be doomed. One smile and he’ll have you wrapped around his fingers, he’ll make you feel like you’re the only woman in the world, didn’t he?” 

Lizzie rolled her eyes. “Maybe.” 

“Angel eyes,” y/n mocked. “Please, he’s done that with thousands of them, but good thing you’re my friends because I can warn you about his poison eyes,” y/n giggled. “He’ll blink once and you’ll be tangled up in his sheets, you’ll fall for him,” y/n brought her hand to her face dramatically. “Because who wouldn’t fall with him?” She sighed. “But!” She raised her voice. “He’ll be clear, he doesn’t want anything more than a one night stand, but oh, every girl falls for it because he’s being…” 

“Honest?” Jess asked. 

“Ding ding ding! He’s honest,” Y/N laughed. “But then he’ll have your heart and break it and you’ll be alone, wondering what you did wrong, but you know it deep inside he was always honest, even if he revolved with hope, even if for a slight moment he made you believe… He was clear, he never wanted a relationship.” 

“Oh come on, y/n,” Hannah laughed as she threw a pillow at y/n. “He’s not like that, he’s nice with you.” 

“Have you ever thought about him wanting more than a friendship?” Jess wondered as y/n sat back down on the couch.

“Huh,” y/n blushed. “No, I could never like someone like him. Please, he’s a lie… And even if… I do admit I am crazy about his eyes,” she coughed. “Woah, what did you put in this?” She sighed staring at the glass, making her friends laugh. “No, no, he wears a disguise, and besides you know what I want, I…want someone to lean on, but you know, someone who lets me be free? Whom I can trust, and…” 

“Someone to hold,” Lizzie laughed. 

“And I mean, I’m not gonna lie, maybe the thought roamed around my head, but then I realized… I could never like someone that would make me feel so lonesome, you know?” Y/N explained. “I want someone whom I can settle down with.” 

“Andrew Jacobs?” 

“No, no, not him, gosh it was...awful,” Y/N laughed. “But we…I mean,” y/n sighed. “I want someone who loves me for who I am and whom I know will be there in the morning, someone who gets the details.” 

“The details?” Hannah asked.

“Yes, and…” 

“But please, we’re not telling you to date Tom, how about a friendship with benefits?” 

“y/n would fall for him,” Lizzie nodded. 

“Okay, Lizzie, and this isn’t to discourage you, but I think Tom… “ Hannah bit her lip. 

“Tom what?” 

“Please, don’t you see it? Tom is clearly attracted to you,” Jess laughed. 

“No, no, that’s in his nature, he flirts, but he won’t do anything because our friendship is more important,” y/n said as her friends gave her some looks.  “And because I don’t like him and he doens’t like me. He just likes to have toys and then throws them away when he’s bored, and I don’t wanna be a toy.” 

“But please, he seems so easy to fall in love with,” Jess grinned. 

“That’s what makes a good playboy, you never feel like you’re being played,” warned Y/N. 

Lizzie chuckled. “Maybe I can change him.” 

“Please,” y/n rolled her eyes. “You can have an affair but that’s it, and I know you Lizzie, it’s better to forget him. Otherwise there’s no getting over him.” 

“Please, y/n, maybe you won’t like him but that doesn’t mean I don’t want a taste,” Lizzie said. 

“You should listen to y/n,” Hannah warned.

But Lizzie didn’t. And she texted Tom, because she didnt. And in the next party, there she was, with Tom’s hands around her waist, and with y/n walking away. And she realized it, y/n’s eyes told her. Everything. 

And Lizzie never told y/n, but Lizzie had been the one to cut off things with Tom, he had played his part, but Lizzie had been the one to end it all.  Because she saw y/n, and she saw her best friend was foolishly in love with him. Because y/n had cried that night, and she had blamed it on school, or on her hormones but y/n was compeltely broken. 

She feared her best friend had done the one thing she said she’d never do. Lose herself completely. Falling in love with the guy who could never love her, with the guy whom she could chase. The unreachable. 

But Y/N hadn’t realized she might end up more hurt than intended. Because little by little, Tom would show even more that he loved her back, but Tom showed he was an idiot. 

And Lizzie remembered seeing y/n cry when Tom would flirt with y/n and then end up with any girl in the room, y/n was out of her head in the last months before she left to Mexico. She was completely devoted to Tom, and Lizzie had read some of y/n’s writing. 

And she had received a crying y/n that didn’t want to explain anything, just that she had opened up about her feelings and that Tom had pushed her away. And Lizzie remembered listening to y/n: 

“I wanted to wait, but… There’s nothing else I can do, I… I’m such a fool,” y/n sighed. “And now what? I’m a fucking idiot, I opened up and he pushed me aside, and I…” y/n had sighed. “And now what? I lost him, but maybe it’s the best cleanse myself, and forget him, but… There’s a part of me that thinks he wants me to, and tells me to hold on to him, but… Right now, I need to leave.” 

“y/n, he’s an asshole, he’s not able to love,” Lizzie said. “You’ve said it yourself.” 

But Lizzie had seen something on y/n that she’d never seen before, she didn’t want to be quiet. She didn’t want to run away. It was when y/n received the call to represent the BBC as a reporter in the press conference Tom would be holding. 

“You don’t have to do it,” Lizzie said. “Just tell them that you’re y/n, the one who’s involved with all of this, and you shouldn’t be there, I’m sure they have more reporters.”  

“I want to be there.” 

Lizzie sighed. “You’ll only get hurt.” 

“I know, but I just can’t believe myself,” Y/N sighed as she stood up. “I don’t know how to do this,” y/n rubbed her face.  “I love him, and I don’t know how, I don’t know what else to do. He changed my life alright, and in these past few days… It’s a completely different life, I need to change and I don’t know how to… Make him love me again,” Y/N sighed. 

“He loves you.” 

“But… I hurt him and I know, but I… Look! I had the perfect man, I truly.. Miguel was incredible alright? He was everything I asked for in a man, everything, if you picked my diary from my childhood.” 

“I know, he’d be the description,” Lizzie nodded. “I know, y/n.” 

“And I let him go because of Tom, who’s.. Definitely not the type of guy I planned on falling in love with.” 

“You can’t plan everything, y/n, especially you can’t plan whom you fall in love with,” Lizzie said. 

“And right now, I don’t know what to do, I only want to scream…. And I want to shout it to the world, hey I fucked up!” She opened up her arms and yelled. “I love him! I love you, Tom! But what the hell, right?” Y/N pinched the bridge of her nose. “It’s funny… isn’t it? I shouldn’t be here, this isn’t me. I’m always calm, I’m...private but right now I think I should just… do it for him? Finally speak up, maybe….”Y/N licked her lips as she walked around the room. “I love him, I love him,” she whispered to herself. “But we’ll only end up hurting each other, right? Gosh, I never thought I’d be making a fool…”Y/N plopped herself beside Lizzie and then screamed into the pillow. “But, the scariest part is… He loves me back, I… “ She sat up. “I don’t know what to do, I want to turn around and back away, because that’s my nature, I’m scared of him, but I want him, and I love him. And… gosh, I fucked it up, I… But I was scared because I’m scared he’ll wake up one day and look at someone the way he looks at me, and they’ll fall, because he’s so easy to love, you know? And I don’t want him to play with me, and I don’t want to fall for those angel eyes but… Gosh, I just need to look at them, and I need to see his smile, once more.” 

Lizzie smiled just slightly listening to her. 

“Is it weird? Is it weird I wanna risk it all even if it’s all a lie?” Y/N bit her lip. “Because I look back and think of all the good times, and I see it, we can build up to something nice from it… “y/n smiled, and Lizzie hadn’t And I know I can’t live without him. But I also remember all the bad times, and I wonder, does it have to be the same? With all the pain? But…. Gosh, I just need to see him one more time. One look, just one look and I’ll be down at his feet again.” 

“Then why don’t you see him one more time?” Lizzie asked. 

“Because then I’ll want to stay forever.” 

“And don’t you want that?” Lizzie inquired. 

“But what if he doesn’t?

There were Lizzie and Harrison, the friends tangled up in the mess. Harrison had met up with Lizzie moments after Tom had conveniently disappeared. They, along with the security, stopped the press that was clearly going after Tom and y/n. Neither of them knew what the hell they were going through. 

“Can I… May I know what the hell was that?” 

“She still works for the BBC, remember?” Lizzie said. “I—didn’t know she’d be doing that!” 

Haz sighed. “I—I just never expected y/n to do something like that.” 

“You think I did? I thought she was going to look up for him after this,  not blurt it all out, “ Lizzie sighed, “where did they go?” 

Harrison shook his head. “I don’t know, I just need them for god's sake to talk this shit out.” 

“They better,” Lizzie agreed. “I don’t want to… I mean I’m here to support her but I can’t keep up tangled in this drama, not if they don’t talk it out, I mean it’s been 5 years now? And they keep on pushing away their feelings and avoiding it.” 

“Yeah, right, they’re probably going to… talk it out.” 

But they weren’t. Tom and y/n were excellent at avoiding their feelings and they were even better at avoiding to speak. 

Just after blurting all that out, y/n had rushed out of the Lancaster room and into the Lobby, she was nervous and she, of course, did what she did best, she ran away, but to her luck, Tom had rushed after her. And to their luck, yes Haz and Liz had been again saving their asses. 

“Y/N,” Tom yelled. “Y/N.” 

Y/N stopped mid alley and turned to him. “Hi.” 

“Hi.” Tom ran out of breath just as he stared at her. 

“Hi.” 

“Hi,” Tom smiled. “Uh… that was…” 

“Stupid, yes I know, I probably ruined your career, and I know… I’m sorry I’ll just-” 

But she couldn’t finish her sentence, because Tom had cupped her face and kissed her, with his other hand pulling her close to him. She melted into his touch, their sweet kiss was nothing but a way of telling each other that they could work this out. She closed her eyes and kissed him back but then quickly pulled away. 

“Tom, Tom, we should…. Talk,” Y/N said but Tom had kept kissing her cheek. “Or we can... “ He looked into her eyes. “We can… do that later.” 

Tom rushed to the lobby Tom had rushed to book a room. Tom was sweating. 

“What are you doing?” Y/N asked. 

“We...we need some privacy and we certainly won’t get it elsewhere,” Tom explained. His hand was on her waist. And y/n feared. Y/N was shaking, too as she looked into the hotel, as she expected a tumult running for them, they were the prey, and they were hunting for them. Tom was solving it, but y/n felt naked, as if the hunters would come for her. The wolves were waiting for her, to eat her. 

And y/n wanted to do what she did best, disappear, but Tom was willing to disappear with her. Maybe he’d felt it, too. Maybe he feared it, too. He took her hand in his. 

He licked his lips nervously. 

“And please, if anyone asks, I took a cab,” Tom begged the receptionist as he then rushed into the elevator, pulling y/n with him. 

He was sweating. 

“How did you—“

“They called me,” she showed him her credentials. 

“Right… you’re a reporter,” Tom licked his lips, and then realized he was still holding her hand. He let her go. 

Y/N looked down at their hands and nervously stared at the elevator, “you didn’t press—“

“Ah right, right,” Tom gulped as he pressed the button for their floor. Maybe this was stupid. 

“I meant everything I said,” y/n whispered. 

Tom glanced ar her and took a deep breath. “So did I.” 

Y/N bit her lips. 

“Were you going to—?” Tom frowned. “Run away?” 

“From them,” y/n admitted. “Not from you, never from you.” 

Tom finally turned to her. “For a moment I—“

“I did think about it,” y/n said. “I mean…if I’m honest I felt sick for a moment, I… spoke up in front of a bunch of people and admitted you—well, uh, I kind of admitted you’re the love of my life in front of them,” y/n admitted embarrassed. “I finally had to stop blending in with a crowd and I—“

Tom smiled cupping her cheek again. “Yeah, you did.” 

“But then I realized it, I don’t ever want to run away from you,” she whispered. “Not if you don’t want me to.” 

Tom took a deep breath, and instead of answering her question as they should, he kissed her again. Because it felt like the right thing to do. His hands went straight to her waist. ‘His fingers are pressing against her back, their bodies merging into one. But the elevator stopped, they quickly let go off each other and stepped back. 

A man walked in staring at his phone. Tom cleared his throat as he glanced away from her. There was a tension, there was such an awkward situation going on. Both of them were angry, but alas, both of them didn’t want to waste any time. They had been in love with each other for 5 years now and only now they were both sure it was reciprocated. Of course they had to talk it out, they were both hurt but if they were honest, they didn’t want to keep their hands off each other. 

But finally, the elevator opened again and they were on their floor. They awkwardly walked their way out, and started l

Tom looked at her. “Eh…” he gulped. “I’m sorry for...kissing you back there.” 

Y/N blushed. “I didn’t mind.” 

Tom smiled, just slightly. 

“But uh, yeah, we… We need to talk, right?” Tom said. 

“Yeah, there’s… there’s a lot to talk about,” Y/N agreed. 

Tom walked to the room. “Yeah, we…” He looked her in the eyes, and he then stared at her lips. 

“Yeah, we need to talk,” Y/N whispered, but they were both significantly getting closer. 

In her heart, she knew this was absolutely the last thing she should be doing, but she leaned in anyway, closing the gap between their lips, scared he wouldn’t kiss her back, but he did and he pulled her closer, slotting his lips against hers, his fingers tracing down her back. 

He pushed her against the door, as her hands explored his hair. His mouth moved beyond her jaw, and his hands were walking down her body, holding her thighs. Sloppily, his wet lips traveled down her neck. She closed her eyes and her own hands were trailing down his back. 

He looked up at her, catching his breath. 

“Or we can leave the talking for later,” she said. 

He nodded quickly and clumsily opened the door, and as soon as he opened the door, y/n threw herself back to his arms. The kissing intensified, as his hands were now holding her whole body, he pressed her against the wall and she wrapped her legs around him. His hands held her legs. As he would try mounding their lips, she couldn’t help but smile and giggle. 

Tom had to pull away to look at her. “What?” 

 “I don’t know,” she giggled. “This is—different.”

“It’s not like it’s the first time,” Tom reminded her.

Y/N blushed. “I know but…” she grinned as he kissed her again. 

“No, I—I get it,” he chuckled against the kiss. He picked her up and carried her to the bed. 

She laughed as he pushed her into the bed, Tom laughed too. 

“What now?” Tom giggled. 

“I don’t know,” she grinned staring at him. “I’m sorry—I’m” 

*

Tom laid down beside her. They both started laughing. 

She turned to see him. “I’m sorry, I’m nervous.” 

He smiled at her as he took her hands in his, kissing her hand. And her lips went back to him. He grinned, and turned her around to place himself on top of her, she smiled against his lips as his hand traveled back down to her thighs, it felt cold against her, making her squirm. 

Y/N started to unbutton his shirt, making Tom grin, his own hands went up her shirt and cupped her breasts. He pulled his mouth back, tugging on her bottom lip, and he then pulled up her shirt slightly, his lips trailed down and landed on her collarbones as he sucked lightly, but his fingers traced down her stomach feather light causing her to shiver. 

She grinned and pushed back his shirt, leaving him bare chest. It was her turn to push him around, rolling on top of him. Tom’s eyes widened as her hands caressed down his chest and abs, her lips back on him, now her wet kisses melting Tom, making him moan against the kiss, as she felt a growing bulge underneath her. 

She ran her hands through his chest, slowly, staring at his body. 

She sat up as she took off her shirt, and Tom quickly snapped off her bra, without any hesitation. 

“How did you—“y/n chuckled. “Ah, I forgot you were experienced with—“

But he didn’t let her finish, as he pulled her back down and rolled on top of him. It seemed to be a game they were both trying to play, as if they were just trying to prove a point to each other. He started pushing down her pants and grinded against her, her own hands travelling back down to his pants as she unbuckled his belt and unzipped him. He helped her pushing down his pants and her own as she palmed down his boxers. He moaned as she sloppily kissed and nibbled on his earlobe. 

He then pulled back from her, to look into her eyes, he smiled. 

She grinned. “What?” 

“I’m just making sure you’re the right one,” he whispered as he walked his fingers from her thighs to her neck, brushing slightly, so lightly. 

She blushed, feeling her whole body warming up. “I love you.” And she meant it. 

“I love you, too,” and he kissed her, with her hands on his back and his slightly teasing her thighs, as they brushed against her panties, but they landed back on her waist as if he was trying to merge their bodies each time he kissed her. A hand finds its way back to knead her breasts and her own hands travel down to his back, pressing it lightly. 

He grinned as he trailed wet kisses down to her chest. “Fuckin’ ‘ell, y/n, you’re so beautiful,” he whsipered, as she giggled. 

His fingers ran over to her heat, where she squirmed, only teasing as they danced on top of the fabric. 

“Tommy,” the nickname slipped and she felt his smirk against her chest. 

“Tommy?” He looked up. “I’m sure I’ve never…” He chuckled. And y/n saw a part he’d never seen of Tom, he was shy. But he peppered with kisses all over the way to her mouth. 

And he kissed her again, as if couldn’t get enough of it, but it came to a point where they were only smiling. 

“Are you blushing?” Y/N asked him, 

He chuckled nervously, “maybe.” 

“I never imagined you would get shy,” she admitted as she caressed his face. He kissed her cheek.

“I—I am not…” 

“Even last time,” She grinned as she pushed his hair back from his face. 

“I—“He chuckled. “I don’t know, I—you bring in the softness in me and I’m not—“

She took a deep breath and pecked him, wrapping her legs around him. He grinned and continued to walk his fingers through her body, And he helped her pull down her underwear and she pulled down his boxers.

Tom reached over for his wallet and took out a condom. Y/N was about to ask about it. 

And it was different than the first time this had happened, it felt more intimate as he took her hands, and intertwined their fingers. He grinned as he was aligning with her, she wrapped her legs around him and squeezed his hand. He filled her up and she moaned but he slowly found a rhythm, it was sensual and they were connected. And it was completely satisfying. 

And different from what Tom had ever had before, it was slow, at times but y/n turned him around and quickened it up, and her movements, Tom swore were out of this world. And her hands traveled down his chest and her lips wouldn’t leave his neck. His hands would struggle to find its pace, touching her ass, rubbing her heat and kneading her breasts but his lips would try to find hers, and eventually they were holding hands again. 

And they were barely kissing, between moans and I love yous, and between giggles and smiles. And before they knew it they’d both reached their highs, and both their backs had arched and they had kissed. 

*

Tom laid down beside her, catching her breath, but he pulled her back to him, as sweat was streaming down their bodies, and she laid down on his chest, kissing it. 

He ran his hands through her hair and just watched her. 

“So, that’s one way of talking,” y/n whispered. 

Tom laughed, rubbing his face. “It’s way more fun than talking.” 

Y/n walked her fingers on his chest and then pecked his lips again. He smiled. 

“But we really need to talk,” Y/N said. 

“Hm, wouldn’t you rather do that again?” Tom suggested. 

Y/N rolled her eyes. “Tom.” 

“Well, what’s really to talk about?” He sighed. “Really? 

Y/N sighed, as she looked up at the ceiling. “I—well.” 

“Well?” Tom rested his head on his hand as he turned to face y/n who was currently hiding under the sheets.

“I was really hurt, Tom,” she admitted. “When you left, I mean.”

“I know, I was an idiot.” 

“Why did you leave, Tom? I spent all night telling you I loved you, and… Asking you to run away with me.” 

“That’s the thing, y/n, I didn’t want to run away,” he sighed. “I guessed I was scared, I thought I wouldn’t make you feel as happy because I looked back at all the pain we’ve gone through, all the tears, all the times I was not man enough to admit I loved you and every time I pushed you away if you showed any type of feelings.,”

“You knew then?” 

“I’m not sure, I guess I thought I was going crazy,” he continued. “I thought I was exaggerating or giving myself false hope, because everyone kept saying it, you know?” 

“What did they say?” 

“That I couldn’t love, that I… was only a playboy, and, most of the time, they were right,” he sighed. “I knew deep down that’s why you ran away to another country, because that’s who I grew out to be, you know?” 

“I don’t know.” 

“Maybe I did it for the same reason you didn’t run away with me when I crashed the wedding,” he said. 

“Maybe.” 

“Why were you going to marry him?” 

Y/N shrugged. “I guess I got trapped in all the fantasy, and I knew I’d end up a sad wife, but I knew that I’d rather learn to love someone than admit that I had lost you forever, I really did think you had left for good.” 

“I think we both know why we ran away.” 

“Because we know each other,” y/n said. “It’s our biggest strength and our biggest weakness.” 

Tom nodded. “I can’t live without you, y/n.” 

“That’s scary, isn’t it? I guess that’s the reason as to why I put on the white dress.” 

“Why?” 

“I thought I’d be lonely without you, and I guess I thought that marrying Miguel would take away that loneliness.” 

Tom nodded. 

“And these days, everything went to hell,” y/n continued. “And even if right now we seem to be calm, I can’t help but think of all the tears I shed for you this week only, and how I had run out of reasons to stay.” 

“Do you have them, now?” 

“I do,” y/n looked into his eyes. “But I’m scared.” 

“I am, too,” Tom agreed. “And I feel like this is just another fantasy.” 

“Yeah,” she sighed as she cupped his face. “You fear it, don’t you?” 

He sighed. 

“I know what you’re scared of,” y/n whispered. “You’re scared I’ll run away.” 

Tom bit his lip. “And you’re scared I’ll find someone else.” 

Y/N licked her lips. “We’re scarred.” 

Tom caressed her hair. “I didn’t mean it when I said I didn’t want to see you again.” 

“No, I know you did,” y/n said. “I meant it, too.” 

Tom’s eyes widened as he watched her. 

“We need some time away from each other,” y/n sighed. “I… I’ve got to admit, I wasn’t planning on seeing you again. I wanted to become strangers, but then I thought about it and I just don’t want to be someone you used to have a laugh with, you know? I don’t want to become a stranger whose laugh you could recognize anywhere.” 

“But maybe it’s for the best, isn’t it?” 

y/n’s eyes glazed. “I was hoping you’d say we didn’t have to.” 

“But we have to, don’t we?” Tom gulped. “And maybe we’ll find each other again, have a fresh start, fill in the blanks.” 

Y/N watched him. “It’s going to be hell.” 

“But maybe it’s for the best, Y/n, even before all of this, I feared you had run away from the hotel, and just minutes ago you were going to ask about the condom, because we fear who we are,” Tom said. 

“But we’ve proved each other wrong.” 

“Yeah.” 

“It seems stupid, isn’t it? After all this time and now that we both know about it we try to stop it,” y/n brushed his lips. “But we need to heal.” 

“And I know you didn’t get married to Miguel because you need to find yourself, and I need to find myself too, we need to heal our broken parts.” 

“Otherwise we’ll end up hurting each other more,” y/n stared at the ceiling. “And I know that asking you to love me right now would put us in big problems, both our reputations are...delicate.” 

Tom bit his lip. “We could keep it a secret.” 

“That wouldn’t stop us from hurting.” 

Tom took a deep breath. “We will find each other again, right?” 

“Yes, but until then, I’m going to miss you,” y/n kissed his cheek.

“I know,” Tom sighed. “I won’t be able to walk down the bakery again.” 

Y/n intertwined her legs with his. “I liked the past conversation better.” 

Tom laughed. “It was way more fun.” 

“But we knew this conversation was coming.” 

“I guess that’s why we both tried to avoid it,” Tom pointed out. 

Y/N snuggled close to him. “I hope I never lose you.” 

“You won’t.” 

“I’m just scared we won’t need each other anymore,” Y/N sighed. “But I know I’ll find my way back to you.” 

“This isn’t the end, y/n.” 

“But it does feel like it,” y/n sighed. “At least we can make this moment last as long as we desire.” 

Tom kissed her again. “Tonight, there are no limits.” 

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[kaz11283]

You 21, Sam 22, Dean 24

 

“Dean, I don’t think this is a good idea.” You voiced from the passenger seat.  “He got out.”

“Yeah and now we need him to help find dad.  Besides we go get him, he helps find dad, he’s back by Monday.  No harm no foul.”  Dean said turning the radio down a little.

“Dean, it never happens like that.”  You rolled your eyes and pulled the blanket back up around your neck.

~~~

“Dean, of all the things you had planned to come get him you didn’t call him.” You rubbed the bridge of your nose with your thumb and fore finger.  “Now this THIS is not a good idea.  He may have been out of the game of a few years but this isn’t going to end well.  Just like when you broke into MY apartment.”  You watched as Dean slid the window up so that the both of you could climb through it.

“Relax y/n he’s gonna be so surprised.” He grinned back at you.

After Sam had gotten the best of Dean while you stood in the kitchen of the small apartment Dean turned to look at you.  “I’m not the only surprise.”

“Y/n?  Oh my lord.  It feels like it’s been forever.”  Sam engulfed you in a bear hug picking you up off your feet.  “Still small I see.”  He teased ruffling your hair.

“She’s our little fun size soon to be doctor.”  Dean laughed.  Jessica stared at you during the whole exchange

“Oh Jess, this is y/n, she’s been my best friend since forever.” He laughed swinging his arm around you.  “That’s my brother Dean.”

“Funny, Sam never mentioned you.”  Her smile tight as she stretched out a hand.

“Ouch, that would have hurt if I had a care.”  You glared dropping you hand instantly before you had taken hers.  “Boys, I’ll be outside waiting.  Sammy, I call shot gun.”  You walked out of the room back to the car.

Who did she think she was?  Some annoying, probably dumb, blonde that thought she had everything over you?  Was she really jealous? Of you?  You and Sam?  You shuddered at the thought of you and him together. “Gross.”  You mumbled to yourself.

“What’s gross?”  You instinctively punched the intruder that so happened to be Dean. “Dammit y/n stop hitting me!  You’re not exactly weak in the punching department.”  He said grabbing onto his arm.  You smirked hoping that there would be a bruise on there by tomorrow.

“It’s gross that Sam’s little blonde housewife is jealous of mine and his relationship.  I would never.”  You made a gagging noise while Dean laughed.  Sam gave you both a bitch face.

“She’s not jealous, she’s just comes off wrong at first.”  Sam rubbed the back of his neck.

“She can get over it.  Next time she comes at me like that I’m gonna punch her.”  You rolled your eyes facing the front of the car.

“You hitting her would be like her getting hit by a truck.  ‘Though she be tiny she is mighty’.” Dean laughed as you rolled your eyes again.

“Dean you’re the one that taught me self-defense before I left for collage because-”

“Because guys at collage are douche bags that sometimes can’t take no for an answer, besides you cant tell me that it didn’t come in handy.”

“Your right, I had this one guy try to break into my apartment about three days ago.  I’m pretty sure he learned his lesson though.  Instead of breaking in he knows to call now a head of time.”  You laughed.

“Y/n, all I’m saying in just give her time to adjust.  She woke up in the middle of the night with two people she had never met-”

“Or heard of.”

“Y/n,” Sam huffed leaning forward, “How many people did you tell about us?”

“Sam, all of my friends know about you and Dean.  They know that yall are basically like my older brothers.  I didn’t hid much of anything from them.  The only thing that they don’t know about is the life.  They know about Uncle Bobby, they know about Dean and about you.”  You turned to look at him now he could see in your eyes that your feelings were hurt.  “They know that I keep in touch with you and Dean.  They know that you’re always to busy to make it to the holidays.  My friends know just about every aspect in my life.  It hurts to know that you didn’t even care to mention you “best friend” to your girlfriend.”  You turned around and put your headphones in your ear ending the conversation.

When you got to the motel you got a separate room from the boys telling them that it had been a long trip and you just wanted them and you to be comfortable.  Walking in you threw your overnight bag on the floor by the bed and flopped down.  You would never get use to ridding in the car for long periods of time.  You hated it, it always made you feel gross.  Grabbing a long shirt from your bag you decided to just take a shower and wash the day’s journey off of you before flopping down on the bed and flipping through the channels coming on a Dr. Sexy marathon.

“Hey pip squeak, we ordered pizza if you want some.” Dean called on the other side of the door.  You got up an opened it for him.  “Is that my shirt?”

“Probably.”  You shrugged going back to your bag and grabbing a pair of shorts to pull on under the shirt.  “Does it bother you as bad as it does me that he didn’t talk about you much?”

“Yeah, a little bit.  But that’s Sammy’s way of escaping the life.  He just ignores stuff pretending like it doesn’t exist.  He thinks that by ignoring it it’ll just disappear.  He didn’t mean to hurt your feeling or mine.”

“Wow I don’t know what hurts most the fact that he didn’t say anything about me or pretended like I didn’t exist." You said picking at one of the strings on the old faded comforter.

"Y/n if it hurts your feelings so much that you dont wanna be around him I will completely understand if you wanna go back to school. No hard feelings, no poor pitiful me bullshit. Screw Sam, but I want you to know that I'm always and will always be here." He said reaching out and placing a hand on your knee.

"Dean I really appreciate it but you came all the way to KCU to get me. Your not getting rid of me that easily, besides if it means helping your dad I can over look your jackass of a brother for a weekend." You played his hand before standing up. "Let's go scarf down since grub and make your brothers life hell by making him watch Dr. Sexy MD with us." You laughed walking out of the room.

@samsgirl93

@spn-obession

[youralternantpersonality]

Except For You

Embry x reader: Except for You

Warning: Death, Emotional support and control, CPS/fostering/adoption/homes.

***

Y/n was an easy-going kid growing up, full of life, happiness, and all things of that. It wasn’t until the tragic accident happened that landed you in foster care. CPS searched high and low for a family member to take you in. But to no avail, you were still in the system from the soft ages of five to 15.5 years (to be exact). It wasn’t the easiest, nicest, and not the most pleasant, but you survived and that’s all that mattered. At least, that’s what you kept telling yourself.

You were taken in by your great aunt when you were eight, but by then, the damages had been done. You were distant, hesitant, and deemed as an “aggressive” child. The only life form you ever let get close to you was the dog of the house, Manny. As soon as you entered the household, Manny was your comforter, protector, and your emotional and mental support. Your great aunt and uncle realized this and let it be. It wasn’t until another accident occurred that resulted in Manny’s death did you end up in a group home. The pain was too much, and because you weren’t properly taught how to express your emotions healthily, it resulted in a few tossed dishes, runaways, holes in the wall, and nights of screams and cries that could be heard for miles. Ever since, at the tender age of nine (at this point), you wouldn’t allow any form of being near you. The thought of going through that pain again only would hurt 20x more than the time you lost your family and Manny. And that wasn’t worth it.

That is until you were fostered by a couple who wanted to adopt you in the small town of La Push. You had met your foster mom, Emily, at the group home she volunteered at and for once grew attached to someone. It took a while, but something about Emily gave you a sense of home. She reminded you of your mother. Or what little you had of her. All you had of your family was pictures and trinkets you hid from the other kids, so they don’t mess with it.

You and Emily grew close. So close that Emily had to stop volunteering at the group home. Regret consumed you until you had a potential parental meeting to be adopted. When you walked into the room, the first person you saw was your caseworker, Lilly (the bitch), and then you saw her…Emily. You ran to her as fast as you could, hugged her with all your strength, and cried.

“What are you doing here?” You cried into her shoulder.

“I’m here to take you home Y/n/n.” you looked at her confused. She smiled and continued,

“That’s why I stopped volunteering. It would have been a conflict of interest and unethical to continue to work here and then adopt you, sweetie. So, I talked to Jessica and Leo,” the group homeowners, “and they said I would have to stop for a given month, place in an application, allow CPS to check if we’re acceptable to be able to be a contender. But Jess and Leo somehow convinced them to speed up the year process to five months. I’m so sorry Hun, I didn’t mean to be away for this long.” She said with tears forming in her eyes.

“You want me?” I said in disbelief. She smiled and looked up at a man I didn’t realize who was there. Big ass dude who looked to be “6’4”, broad shoulders, buff, and looks like he could intimidate and scare off anyone in his path. He grinned down at Emily and looked towards me. He held out his hand and introduced himself.

“I’m Sam, Emily’s husband. She has told me nothing but great things about you Y/n.” I hesitantly but confidently shook his hand and from then forward, I was accepted into their close little family. And to be honest, I wasn’t that was surprised at how easily I had grown attached to the two.

Six months later

I was in the garden with Emily fixing the flower beds when I heard the guys come from the forest. Emily and I looked at each other and went inside to clean up real fast and prepare for their ultimate feast. The guys had been training for some vampiric war due to this incompetent girl who can’t get herself out of trouble.

It was on accident really, how I found out what Sam and the guys are. Two things happened, one, Embry imprinted on me, and two, I was there that uneventful day, the first day I met Bella, where her dumbass punched Paul. Not only did I see Paul, but I also saw Jake transform.

Living with Sam and Emily for a month and a half

“WHAT THE FUCK!?” I yell at a distance, Embry, my imprint before I knew what it was, Quil, and Jered all turned to look at me.

“Fuck.” Sam said, he turned to look at me, but I took off. I didn’t know where I was running, but I ran. I wanted to go home, but I couldn’t. I didn’t know if Emily or Leah did the same thing. So, I just ran, ran until I got to First beach. I fell to the sand to catch my breath and just looked out into the ocean. I felt someone sit next to me, without even looking, I knew who it was. The second and last person I’ll let come as close as they were to me; the only other male to be within proximity of me. Enough to where our shoulders touched.

Embry. The cute and idiotic boy I took to instantly the second we met. I never understood or knew what it was about him, but whatever it was, I tried to fight it at first, but it hurt more than I thought it would. Emily said to just let it happen, let yourself feel, and not resist. It was hard, but after some time, he somehow looked like it affected him more than me, which worried and hurt me. Without a second thought, I accepted and allow myself to the possibility of gaining a closer friend. And since, he has been one of the closest people I have ever taken to. More so than Emily, and that says a lot. I broke the silence.

“Why didn’t you tell me,” I said without looking at him.

“I figured you’d want to get adapted to living here before you found out that our legends are true Olives.” I roll my eyes at the nickname he gave me as soon as he found out that I despise Olives. I looked at him and looked down as our knees were leaning on one another.

“You still could have said something…I don’t know. Anything. You know I hate secrets, especially coming from you Cilantro.” He wrapped his arm around me, and I easily gave into him. It used to bother me how easily I took to him being close to me, but now, I don’t fight it.

“I know, and I’m sorry. No more secrets, I promise. Unless I have to protect you, but I promise, I will try to keep you out of that situation Olives.” I looked up at him, I couldn’t look away even if I tried. His big soft brown eyes carried the light from the sun as if it was a sea with quiet waves. A whirlpool of honey mixed with chocolate. The boy had a grasp on me, but I wouldn’t break what we have for some weird crush. But apparently, he would because without a second thought, he leaned in and I felt two warm lips against mine. I did nothing at first, but when he pulled away, I leaned in and caught his lips to mine again to show him how I felt back. After that, we leaned our foreheads against each other and smiled. Thus, resulting in him to tell me about imprinting. Now, that, I understood why he held back from telling me. Thinking back on it, the ways the pack responded to us, it made sense.

“Awe, look at the married couple.” -Jared, when we were eating.

“You guys want us to leave while you have your privacy, or are we welcomed into the conversation?” -Brady, when we were hanging out at the beach.

“Get a room!”- Paul, when we were doing nothing but making stupid faces at each other.

Everyone knew I hated being touched or having someone too close to me, except for Emily. So, when I allowed Embry to do so, that brought on more teasing. And it wasn’t big stuff like wrapping an arm around me. It was small things.

When he’d sit next to me at the table, he would be close enough for me to cross my legs and rest my foot behind his calf, yet far enough so no one would be able to notice.

Sometimes Emily and I would be sitting at the table when the guys come in. He would purposefully be last so that when he came behind me, he would glide his finger softly at my exposed skin. At one point, he didn’t care, and Emily saw him do it then saw my reaction. She was happy to see my reaction but said nothing to me.

When Emily and I are cleaning the kitchen from cooking and the guys come in to eat, he’d get the silverware and slightly brush his shoulder to mine. Then bump me with it and head back to the table. I would do nothing but smile, which caught Paul’s attention, who then pointed it out. Asshole.

After that, Embry said, “fuck it!” and just found a way to get close to me. I didn’t mind. But it was moments like these, on the sand, with his arm wrapped around me that no one saw. It was something that wasn’t worth showing. Something that I was not comfortable showing. The slight touches, I’m ok. But PDA, I can’t do. Thankfully he understands this.

Present Day

Just as the boys were entering, Emily and I just took the food out. Like normal, the boys set the table and for some reason, Embry came up to me first, kissed my cheek, grabbed the plates, and went to the table. I was shocked, but I wasn’t mad. No one saw it, so that put me at ease.

After eating and relaxing, Embry and I went to his place to just watch a movie. It was times like these did he love the most. Why? Because I was always attached to him. With Embry, I can get lost in time and can easily feel physically deprived from. So, when we are behind closed doors, I basically turn into a big baby. Another thing that has scared me. But I am learning.

With Embry, I am learning a lot about myself. My boundaries, comfort zones, and what I want. With Emily and Sam alone, I learned what I want, Manny proved that to me too. With my great aunt and uncle, I learned what I didn’t want. At the group home, I was taught how to survive. With all these lessons, I learned a great deal about myself. And all of it came into play meeting up to the love of my life. And every day, I am grateful.

Masterlist

[jul-bilant]

Prince!Seungcheol

prince seungcheol

he was always the buzz around the whole kingdom *i mean y wouldnt he?? have you sEEN the guy????*

he’s always going around town, supervising incase any dumbass decided to sell drugs around the block or smth

(he once caught one and he didnt kno seungcheol was the prince and offered him marijuana and got arrested bc of tht and bc seungcheol got offended lmao)

and whenever he passes by, theres always gonna be some thirstyass girls staring at him like

“oMF SAMANTHA ITS PRINCE SEUNGCHEOL”

“SHUT UP JESS HE’S GONNA HEAR YOU DIMWIT”

or like

*runs up to him* “cAN I BE YOUR GIRLFRIEND??”

and tbh seungcheol just deadass rejects her but like,,, politely bc pRINCE MANNERS

and thats why he has two bodyguards with him at all times outside the palace now

anyways;;; prince seungcheol’s rlly rlly rLLY polite and well-mannered

he’s also a smart boi like

8 yr old seungcheol can solve 10th grade algebra, write a whole 10+ paged essay abt cytology and find the cure for cancer

kidding lol *nOT*

but srsly, this boi is smarter than yo algebra teachers like bi h

and he’s also sort of leader-like, so people already know he’ll be a great king one day

but he also has a kind heart and cares for everyone he loves and the whole kingdom

a 5 yr old girl once tripped over a rock infront of him and he took her to a bench, bought a bandage and aided her scraped knee ;-;

you can tell im soft for seungcheol hhhh

anyways, he’s been stressing out for a while because his coronation as king is nearing and it’s in a few months since his father died a year ago

and he needs to find a suitable partner

thats where you come in

you’re a maid in the palace

the maids have a thing where they check on seungcheol every two or three hours to see if he’s hungry, needs smth, or anything like tht

and this time, you were assigned to check on him

tbh you’ve never been assigned because it’s always the head maid that checks on him or that one maid thats always been the head maid’s fave

but not today

it was 10 pm and you went to see if seungcheol needed anything so you go to his study room

but before you knock, you hear something from inside his study room

it sounds like crying

and you know for a fact that thats seungcheol’s voice thats crying

you were at a loss of what to do, so it took you a while to do anything, but you decided to go down and tell the chefs that he was hungry just so you could bring him his favourite food to cheer him up

when you went back to the study room, you knocked

but he didn’t answer

it was quiet now, no more sobbing

so you opened the door

and saw seungcheol with his head down on the desk

you quietly wheeled the food towards his study table and put the tray on the other desk near the couch

you carefully approached seungcheol out of curiosity

his cheeks were stained with dried tears, but other than that, he still looked as handsome as ever

you grew concerned and took of the blankets from the bigass closet near the prince’s room and draped it over him

i mean, you were already there so why not lol

the next morning, seungcheol awoke to the smell food and a blanket around him

he grew confused but shrugged it off, he expected one of the maids to do these things

but he smiled knowing someone cares

meanwhile, the head maid came up to you and told you that you’ll be the maid who’ll regularly check up on seungcheol from now on since she was, quote-on-quote, “busy”, and her favourite maid had to retire for god knows what

you didn’t know why but you felt a sense of happiness and anxiety at the same time

so in the afternoon, you go to check on seungcheol as he’s in the study room, sorting out papers

when you enter the room after knocking, seungcheol kinda stares at you

not in the bad, offending way, nah m8

but like

‘holy shit this woman looks better than a grilled cheese sandwich’

which roughly translates to “prince seungcheol is making googly-eyes at maid y/n” ty v much

and he blushed a bit but hid it well when you approached him

“good afternoon, prince seungcheol.. i am maid y/n, i’ll be the new maid who’ll check on you from time to time from now on..” you inform him

he smiles

s m i l  e s

“thank you for informing me, miss y/n,” he replied

“may i ask you a small favor?”

you were like

‘w8 boi whut-’

but you just replied with an “ok”

“please tell the maid who draped a blanket over me and brought me food last night 'thank you’, and tell her it’s from me.” he smiled

you contemplated on telling him whether or not it was you,

which would be odd for other people, since they would of cOURSE take the chance and say that they did

but you had a sense of not taking credibility in most cases bc you like being humble and shiet so you nod and telling him you’ll inform her

“thank you, it means a lot to me..” seungcheol smiles

a few months after, you hear his royal adviser, which no one rlly likes tbh (tht includes seungcheol), scolding him because he has yet to find a partner

so you go check on him in his bedroom after knocking, and he let you in

you two had, undoubtedly, grown close

which is weird bc he doesnt really make friends w/ workers in the palace, much less be best friends with them

but thats what happened

he basically tells you everything from his dreams, to when his father passed, to how his cat scratched the curtain of the theatre room and etc.

so naturally, you started liking him

but of course, why’d the prince like a maid like you????

yall were just best friends

(like any other ff pfft)

you sat down on his bed, a concerned look on your face as he was on the verge of tears

“whats wrong?” you asked, even if you already knew what dampened his mood

“Mr. Song is pressuring me into getting married again, but this time he told me other things..”

you watch as a tear or two falls from his eyes

its really painful to watch him cry

“its okay… you dont have to tell me if you dont want to..” you reassured seungcheol but he just shakes his head

“no.. i think you deserve to know”

and he told you about how his adviser called him a worthless prince for not being able to even court a girl, telling him that if he was this indecisive, the kingdom would fall, and other hurtful things like that

at this point, he was crying the whole waterfall somewhere in the deep woods near the kingdom

“cheol.. i’m sorry you had to endure that…”

without thinking, you gently pulled him into your arms, pulling him into a warm hug

both of you were surprised, but didn’t waver away from the hug

for a second you thought 'omf why the fu c  k did i do that’

but you just shook the thought away, telling yourself that your best friend is in emotional pain and you did that for moral support

(which wasnt the only reason but you wanted to deny the others hhh)

but seungcheol on the other hand was lo si  n g his shit

on the inside, of course

he’s like 'omg omg omg she’s hugging me mOM-’

but thats where it dawned on him

he likes you

the next day, you knocked on the door of his study room

but it was silent, just like that one night when he cried himself to sleep

so you opened the door,

but he wasnt there

you panicked a little, thinking about where on palace grounds he couldve gone to

so you checked his bedroom, the kitchen, the theatre room, the throne room, the royal gardens, everywhere

but aside from finding his cat scratching the theatre room curtains, they were all empty

you asked the head maid where he was and she answered you with a shocked expression before replying

“you mean to tell me you didn’t know he was in the neighboring kingdom, meeting up with his arranged fiancee?”

fiancee

arranged or not, it still hurt to know that he was with the woman who he was going to marry

and that was not you

the head maid gave you the day off, since seungcheol wasnt here for the day

you dressed casually, a white, plain, sleeveless dress that goes to your knees, instead of the regular, convervative, longsleeved maid uniform you were obliged to wear when you had work

you took a walk around the palace grounds, eventaully stopping when you reach the rooftop balcony

the moon was already making an appearance, the night ready to take over the sky

you stay there for the time being, finding the night sky, stars and a few blobs of clouds enticing to the human eye

moments later, you find yourself holding back tears

you let out a few stray tears drip down your cheeks as you sniff, not bothering to wipe them away

you were surprised when a blanket was wrapped around you, and a familiar pair of arms pulling into a hug

“its cold, you shouldn’t be out here at this ti- ….why are you crying?” you heard him voice out the last part in a soft whisper, contrasting his normal tone of speech like how he talked a few moments ago

“n-nothing… its dumb..” you tell him, dismissively

but he wasnt having it

“come on, i’ll listen to you.. tell me whats bothering you to the point where you’re crying..” seungcheol wiped a few of your tears away

“i’ll be fine, cheol.. and.. aren’t you supposed to be in the neighboring kingdom until tomorrow?..” you asked

“yes.. but there was no reason to stay if i rejected the marriage.”

what

w h a  t

“you- what?!” you turned to him, dumbfounded

he chuckled

“yeah, i rejected the marriage. i have my eyes on another girl..” he confessed, not breaking the eye contact you both shared

“…quite literally..” he grinned

“she was there for me through everything, comforted me at the toughest of times, and brought me food and a blanket when i fell asleep at my study room..”

so he knew

you blushed, knowing exactly what he meant

he approached you slowly, and once he had you in his field of reach, he cupped your face and pulled you closer to him

“would you…” he paused

“…marry me?”

you smiled a gentle, assuring smile

“..of course.”

and in a fit of smiles and small laughs, seungcheol kissed you

[imagines-from-inside-my-head]

What Happened in the Past and What the Future Holds

Fandom: Star Wars

Pairing: Poe x reader

Characters: you, Poe, Genereal Organa, couple of Poe´s friends

Summary: (y/n) is rather new at the base, but Poe quickly notices her. There is something about the girl that Poe cannot put his finger on until he asks the general. Eventually, (y/n)´s traumatic past comes to surface. What will happen next?

AN: be kind, it´s 1 am here

“Uhm.. General, I think I decoded the cipher from last week.” Poe heard a woman´s voice behind him. Usually, he wouldn´t pay any attention to it, but even from the one sentence he heard how insecure and nervous she sounded. He turned his head around to find the person. He was right, it was a young woman. She was blushing very slightly while general Organa took a look at the deciphered text she handed her. “Great work, lieutenant.” The general said and smiled at her and she smiled back, the nervousness still very visible in her face. Poe decided he liked the smile and examined her more closely. She was quite tall, had straight dark brown hair cut just slightly above her shoulders. But what really caught his attention were her large blue eyes. It wasn´t how beautiful those eyes were, but how sad they looked. Even though she looked down at the floor quite frequently, he noticed them.  He also noticed how strangely familiar the young woman seemed to him.

“Thank you, ma´am.” She smiled sheepishly and went off to work on something else, probably. “Hey, Poe! You still with us?” One of the other pilots sitting next to him asked, punching him slightly on his arm. “Yeah, sorry.” Poe said looking around him at his friends. “Saw you eyein´ the girl from communication.” The pilot continued. “Shut up Al. You know her?” Poe asked simply, not at all embarrassed from being caught staring. Al just laughed slightly, seeing that his friend is probably interested in the girl. “Not really. Calls herself (y/n). She joined the base a few months ago. Not very talkative if you ask me.” The pilot explained simply. “That´s ´cause nobody enjoys talking to you, Al.” Poe said to his friend. “Oh shut it Dameron.” The meeting was about to start and all of them went from joyous and loud to serious and invested in the cause.

(y/n) noticed the man looking at her. He basically pierced her with his dark eyes. She looked at him as she was returning to her post but he already turned back to talk to his friends. She knew who he was. Damn, everybody knew who he was. Commander pilot Poe Dameron, the best pilot in the Resistance nowadays. He was somewhat of a celebrity among the base, but people who knew him always said he´s just an easygoing and casual guy. But she saw the temperament in those eyes and she definitely wasn´t the only one. People respected him and he had no trouble to change from the friendliest guy you´ve ever met to the commander he was in a matter of a second. She didn´t think much of his gaze, because she knew the pilots´ reputation. They knew the dangers they were going into all the time and so some of them had the tendency to look for one night stands. (y/n) didn´t know which pilots, but it was better to generalize this idea. They were in a war after all. A cruel and unforgiving war.

General Organa was going to use the deciphered message at the meeting. It was a secret imperial code that many before (y/n) were trying to put their finger on. She felt like she just got lucky, because she had many notes from other people working on it. But she had to admit that she was the one who put the pieces together. And the fact that the general was going to use the message made her unbelievably nervous. What if there was a mistake? It could put other people´s lives in danger! She sat quietly at her desk full of notes and stared into the distance thinking about everything she could have done wrong. Thankfully she couldn´t think of anything. The sound of her name pronounced by the General from where the meeting took place made her wake up from her thoughts. The General merely mentioned that she was the one to finish the cipher, but a few glances turned her way. She blushed and hid behind her monitor and papers. After a minute (y/n) finally started working on other things she had to finish and stopped worrying about the code and the meeting happening not far from her.

It was nearly midnight when she finished all the reports from the previous off-world mission. Six of their people had died when the First Order´s soldiers attacked the team unexpectedly. She was only glad that she didn´t have to be the one to tell their loved ones, if they had any. (y/n) put the files into a pile, stood up and stretched her back. There was no one else in the room and it was quite dark, only some of the monitors lighting the space. She looked around, realizing how calm everything seemed. She sighed, suddenly feeling trapped and suffocating, the memories of her own team surfacing once again. She grabbed her data-pad and went quickly outside, wanting to feel the open space and cool night air around her. She took a deep breath once she was outside the base and sat down on the cold ground near where the tree-line started.  The memories were trying to get her down once again, she could almost hear the scream of her best friend before she disappeared forever. (y/n) suddenly felt stray tears escaping her eyes and she quickly wiped them, getting up again. The moment she stood up, she notice two figures walking around the X-Wings, not very far from where she was. She wiped her eyes again and quickly marched to the back door, keeping her head down, so she could get back inside, not paying attention to the two figures, who watched her as she moved in the shadows. A single strip of light has revealed her to the two observers.

“Isn´t that (y/n)?” Jessica asked her companion, when she noticed the person walking inside. “Looks like it.” Poe commented. “You know her?” He asked. “Not really. I mean, we´ve talked. But she seems to keep to herself.” Jess said looking at Poe. “I heard something similar earlier today. Do you think she´s just shy or something happened?” Poe said, rather thinking out loud than actually talking to Jess. “I´m not sure...” Jess trailed off. “Why, you interested Poe?” She asked in a much more cheerful tone. Poe looked at her and raised his eyebrows in confusion. “What? No.” He said looking at the door in which (y/n) disappeared a few moments ago. “She just seems sad.”

Something triggered the bad memories inside (y/n)´s head that night, and she barely slept. The dark circles under her eyes that appeared there in the morning would easily give away her bad night. (y/n) sighed when she saw herself in the mirror. There was nothing to do about it, so she put on her uniform and went to work. She hoped there would be some challenging tasks today – translating or decoding would keep her mind occupied.

Poe also didn´t sleep very well, those big sad eyes he noticed on the girl seemed to keep him thinking. There was also the feeling that he had seen her somewhere before. When he got up the next morning, he decided he would find general Organa and ask her about the young woman. The debriefing that day was over quickly and Poe ran to the general straight after. “General. Sorry to bother you, may I ask you something?” He asked, not really sure of what he wanted to know. “Of course, is there something unclear for your next mission?” The general asked. “No, that´s not it.” Poe said thinking for a second. “I wanted to know – the girl from communication, (y/n), right?” Poe started and Leia nodded, knowing who he was talking about. “Who is she? I mean, she seems somehow really familiar and I noticed...” Poe said quickly and stopped himself before he might have sounded too foolish. “What did you notice, commander?” Leia tried to get him finish his sentence. Poe sighed and looked away for a fraction of a second. “I noticed how sad she looks.” He finished his thought as the general smiled weakly and nodded. “Come with me, Poe.” She gestured to him to follow her somewhere with less people. “You might remember that we had one small base on Af´El. There weren´t many people out there, but when the First Order decided to attack the natives because of the base, there was only one squadron left to stand up to them. And they did, they fought. But... only one member of the Azure Squadron survived.” Leia told Poe as he watched her with more disbelief after each word. “Are you telling me that this (y/n) is - is that (y/n)? But everyone thinks she´s also dead. Or MIA at least, right?” Poe asked bewildered. “Yes. There was nothing to go back to and after a couple of months looking for her, we did find her and she eventually joined our main base here. Her only wish was for no one to know about her and for her past to stay dead. Fresh start.” She said. Before Poe could say anything she stopped him with a finger in the air. “The only reason I´m telling you is that I trust you enough with this sensible information and because you yourself seemed to have noticed her. So, it´s better you know it from me than figuring it out yourself and doing anything reckless with the information.” Leia explained. “But that means she´s a pilot. And a damn good one.” Poe said as if excited. “Not anymore Poe. After what happened, she hasn´t even looked in the direction of an X-Wing.” Leia sighed and looked at him. “What do you need from me?” Poe asked, serious all of sudden as he realized what was coming. “I hate to do this. There aren´t enough pilots. Every one of them counts. We need her in the cockpit again.” She said simply. “You want me to persuade her to fly again?” He asked. “I want you to try. Unless her trauma is too big. Try to help her get her head out of it.” Leia said looking him in the eye. “Yes ma´am. I´ll do what I can.” Poe nodded.

(y/n) was tired all day. She hadn´t had nightmares and panic attacks for over two months now and she couldn´t really understand what had happened last night. She figured it had probably been the death reports. Her day was fortunately full of translating. When her shift was over, she picked up all her materials and notes and headed back to her quarters.  She made about five steps when a man stepped in front of her with a smile on his handsome face. It was no one else than the famous Poe Dameron. “Can I help you with that?” He asked pointing at the rather large pile of books and papers in her hands. “Thanks, but I think I´m...” Before she could finish the sentence two books from the top of the pile collapsed, but Poe was quick enough to catch them. “... okay?” He asked with a smirk. (y/n) returned the smile but Poe saw her tired expression. “Let me help you, alright?” He said, already taking more than half of the stuff. “Thank you. I´m a little drained today.” (y/n) said as she led the way to her room. “Didn´t sleep well?” He asked. “Something like that, yeah.” She smiled weakly again. He didn´t say anything to that as they continued down the corridor. “What even are all of these things?” Poe asked suddenly, reading something off of the top paper on the pile he carried. “Oh, it´s mostly just notes, dictionaries, grammar and such. Who would have guessed that you can get abs from translating, right?” She said still smiling. Poe chuckled at that. “I don´t understand a word of what is written in here.” Poe said looking at the paper. (y/n) leaned closer to look at what was written there. “That´s in Mando´a. The First Order uses some of it in their codes, just like the Empire did.” She explained looking at the floor rather than at him. “You´re a bit of a genius, aren´t you?” Poe asked in a reaction. “I never thought how difficult it is to decode anything.” He said. “I wouldn´t call myself a genius. I just had a lot of time to practice languages and learned lots of types of codes when I... Before I got here.” She said flashing him a smile again, but he noticed the difference in her expression. “Thank you for your help, commander.” She said as she stopped in front of her room´s door. “Oh, it´s nothing. And call me Poe. No need to be professional all the time.” He said as he extended his hand to her. “I´m (y/n). Pleasure to meet you Poe.”  She said and shook his hand. “The pleasure´s all mine.” He said and flashed her one of his famous grins. (y/n) felt the blush creeping to her cheeks. She turned around and opened the door, taking her stuff from Poe. “Thanks again.” She smiled, looking him in the eye for a second. “See you around.” She said and stepped inside her quarters. “Yeah, see ya, (y/n).” He said and turned around to leave.

Poe couldn´t stop thinking about how well she hid her pain. Her smiles seemed so sincere. He had lost people before, he knew how it hurt and that it left scars. But he couldn´t imagine what must have happened to her, so that she had given up flying. He knew he could never do that. With these thoughts on his mind he fell asleep that night, dreaming of a sad smile and strange words on paper.

The next few days went in a calmer matter. Poe was thinking about his plan, how he should approach (y/n) and try to get her to flying. He had this pleasant feeling when he thought about her, but he felt strange getting to know her only because of the general´s wishes. He decided he would see how far he would get without admitting the original purpose. There was nothing else to do with this matter anyway.

(y/n), on the other hand, couldn´t deny how drawn she felt to the commander. It wasn´t wise, she knew, but maybe she needed this simple distraction. She stole glances at him for the next two days every time he was near her working place or in the briefing room. They passed each other in the corridors of the base on several occasions and greeted each other every time. But that was about it.

Once they met outside the base. It was a late morning and (y/n) just needed to find one of the mechanics to give him some reports and on her way back she stumbled into the pilot. Neither of them had much to do that day and they spent about an hour just talking. (y/n) learned that he was from Yavin 4, that his favourite colour was dark blue and that the smell of him was even more intoxicating than she had previously thought. On the other hand Poe learned that she loved Fathiers but hated how people used them and that his favourite shade of blue probably shifted into the light one of her eyes. Especially, when a smile reached them. After that Poe found himself thinking about her more often. And not in terms of his assignment. This kind of conversation between them happened two more times. It was during the second one Poe realized he might be falling for the young woman before him. (y/n) wasn´t any better, blushing madly at every one of his compliments, regarding her looks, her work or even her taste in books.

One evening roughly around dinner time, (y/n) went to the cantina to grab some food. She looked around trying to find a free spot to sit but couldn´t find any. Suddenly she saw someone waving at her from one of the tables further back. It was Poe and a part of his squadron – about seven people in total. He gestured for her to sit with them. She felt uneasy and slightly nervous, the place a little too crowded for her. But she started walking in their direction anyway. Jessica was the only other person at the table (y/n) knew. “Hi (y/n). Come join us.” Poe said with a smile making a bit of space for her. “Hi everyone. Thanks. The place´s crowded tonight.” (y/n) said sitting on Poe´s left hand side. Poe saw she was a bit nervous as he introduced his friends to her. But she smiled and greeted everyone before giving Poe a warmer smile than she gave anyone else. “Good work with the message before. I heard it was a tough one and it sure saved a couple of lives during the mission.” One of the pilots said to her after a while. “Thank you. But it wasn´t just me, I had a lot of help from the others in communication.” She smiled unable to keep eye-contact for very long. “She´s just being modest. I saw her translations a couple of days before – this girl is a genius.” Poe smiled at her and the others laughed when they saw her blush. She didn´t say anything but tried to smile again. “How did the mission go anyway? I haven´t seen the reports yet so I don´t know much.” (y/n) asked trying to change the subject. “Thanks to you, we knew what we were going into.” Jessica said. “Yeah, we flew there, destroyed the outpost and got back safely. Only Al got a little burned, but that´s nothing special.” Poe said teasing his friend. “Shut up Dameron.” Al said, punching Poe in the shoulder as everyone laughed. (y/n) also laughed as Poe pretended having his feelings hurt by such a display of violence. The sound of her laughter made him feel proud inside. He looked at her and their gazes locked for a second before one of the other pilots spoke up again. “What about you (y/n)? Have you ever sat in an X-Wing before?” He asked looking at her curious. (y/n)´s smile faded more than quickly and so did Poe´s when he realized what damage this topic might cause right now.  “I... well... I have. But it´s a long time ago.” She said simply not looking at anyone. “Really? That´s great! How did you get to it?” He asked clearly interested. She was silent for a few seconds before she felt the familiar strangling feeling inside her chest once again. She quickly stood up. “I´m sorry. I just remembered I have to do something. Have a nice rest of the evening.” (y/n) said and hurried away, throwing away the remains from her dinner. The room seemed even more crowded suddenly and (y/n)´s head was beginning to spin. Every flash of light remained her of an explosion, every little noise became much louder than before. Tears of panic spilled from her eyes as she tried to get away from the mess hall as quickly as possible. She was almost out when a strong hand caught her by her upper arm and dragged her further away from the crowd.

Poe needed to do something. The others only shrugged when (y/n) left in such a hurry, but since Poe knew her story he ran after her. He realized she might actually need some help. He found her near the exit, shaking violently, keeping her head down as she was trying to make her way out. He approached her and swiftly dragged her out into the empty corridor. “(y/n), hey.” He said still holding her arm. She looked as if she couldn´t hear him, looking across the floor. “Can you hear me? Hey, (y/n)?” He asked gently, stroking her hair away from her face. Her breathing calmed down a little. She looked up at him slowly, a little confused. “Poe?” She just asked. “Yeah, it´s me. Are you feeling okay?” He asked holding her by her shoulders. (y/n) suddenly realized what had happened and she looked at him for a second horrified. “I´m f-fine. I just need to do something.” She said faking a smile and looking down the corridor. “The only thing you need is to get into bed and rest. I know a panic attack when I see one.” Poe said quietly. She looked away, her tears threatening to spill once again. “It´s alright. I´ll get you there.” Poe put his arm around her shoulders and led her to her room. She was silent the whole time and she kept looking at the floor embarrassed. He let her go by her room and as she entered the code, Poe came closer to her. “I could stay with you if you want. I just feel I shouldn´t leave you alone right now.” He said as she stepped inside avoiding his gaze. “Thank you. But that – that´s not necessary.” She said quietly. “Are you sure?” He asked, but it seemed she wasn´t going to answer. He was about to wish her good night when she took a step closer. “No.” She said still looking away.  “I´m not sure.” She sighed. “Then I´ll stay the night. If that´s okay with you?” She nodded.  “But promise, you´ll talk to me.” Poe said suddenly when he stepped inside her room. She took a deep breath. “I don´t know if I can.” (y/n) admitted. “But I guess I have to try.” Poe smiled at her, closing the door behind him. “I- um... Can I get you something?” (y/n) asked, suddenly trying to seem calm and cheerful. Poe realized she was used to this act. “How about you get into something more comfortable and I find us something warm to drink.” He suggested. “Poe...” She wanted to protest. “I signed up to help, didn´t I?” Poe said with a soft smile. She returned the smile and walked away to change her clothes.

She was sitting beside him on the small couch in her room. (y/n) looked much calmer now than a few minutes ago. She also looked terribly tired. “You don´t have to do this Poe. I don´t want to keep you away from your friends.” (y/n) said looking into her mug. “For the last time – I´m here voluntarily. And since you actually let me in, you won´t get rid of me that easily.” He joked and she smiled. “So, do you think you can tell me what happened in the mess hall?” Poe asked sounding more serious. “You said it. A panic attack. It´s been a couple of months since I had one. I guess I´m just a little on edge lately.” She answered turning to him slightly. “Do you know what caused it?” He tried to ask questions without revealing what he knew. “Yes.” She said. Poe was silent and kept looking at her. “You want to know, right?” She chuckled sadly and put her cup down. “If you think you can do it.” He said. “I was a pilot before.” She blurted out. “My squadron got into a battle and -” Her voice trembled and she sighed. Poe´s first instinct was to put his hand over hers in support. “They all died.” She wiped away her tears with her free hand. “I saw my best friend die... And a few seconds after that I crashed... And I didn´t know if anyone else was gone.” She sobbed and Poe´s grip on her hand tightened. “I lived in the dark for two months before the Alliance found me again on that stranded planet. After they´d told me, everything crumbled... All hope I had, had been crushed. I didn´t want to come back. But General Organa persuaded me. So here I am.” She said as she smiled sadly at the end, looking at Poe. “(y/n), I´m so sorry.” Poe breathed out. There was a moment of silence. Poe felt bad that he already knew some of the things that had happened to her. He felt as if he should really apologize and actually tell her about it. He didn´t want to make her fly anymore, he just wanted her no to feel so... broken. “(y/n)...” He said still holding her hand lightly. “I think I should...” He wasn´t sure how to say it, so he decided to go for it. “You were part of the Azure Squadron, weren´t you?” She suddenly drew her hand away from his, her eyes widening. “What?” She asked shocked. “I´m sorry, (y/n) - ” Poe started but she jumped to her feet covering her face for a second. “How? No one knows. How do you know?” She said her voice trembling on the verge of tears. “I... I thought I recognized you from somewhere. And when I asked the general, she told me...” He explained. “She just told you?” She asked, the hurt in her voice stinging Poe straight in the chest. He screwed up, he could see that now, he should´ve waited. But since he´s already started, he also needed to finish. “She told me, because she believes you should fly again.” Poe explained, immediately realizing the bad timing of such a request. She nodded with a heartbreaking smile on her face. The tears found her way out of her eyes. “I think you should go, Poe.” She said, looking down, her expression emotionless. “(y/n)...” Poe wanted to say something more, to justify himself, but he knew that it was too late. “No! You used me! I poured my heart out in here, even though you already knew all of it! I feel like a complete fool. Tell the General, I´m never touching an X-Wing or any other ship again.” She said her voice breaking. Poe wanted to say something, but she didn´t let him. “Please. Go.”It hurt her saying this, but she felt so miserable at the moment that she just didn´t want to see him. Poe turned to leave as he didn´t want to upset her anymore. Before he entered the hallway he turned to her for the last time. “I didn´t mean to hurt you. I´m sorry.” He said and left feeling absolutely stupid. The door slid closed behind him and (y/n) felt a wrenching sob escaping from her lips. That accident seemed to just keep on destroying her life.

“General. May I talk to you?” (y/n) marched to her superior, her eyes still a bit puffy from the heartbroken crying. “Of course, lieutenant. What´s wrong?” She asked immediately when she saw her expression. “Why did you do it, ma´am? Why did you send commander Dameron to do that?” (y/n) asked, feeling her nerves more and more on edge. “One thing I´ve sworn to never do again was to fly...” She couldn´t continue. Leia came closer to her, leading her to a chair as they both sat down. “(y/n), I am sorry. I had no idea how bad it is. I hoped if you had enough time, you´d come back to being a resistance pilot. There are only so few of them.” Leia looked at her and clasped her shoulder tightly. “I cannot do it ma´am. I failed too hard. I could never...” She sighed and looked down again. “What happened wasn´t your fault.  You need to realize that.” There was a moment of silence. (y/n) shook her head. “It was because of me Nooa died.” (y/n) sobbed again. In that moment Poe almost stepped into the room where the two women talked. He stopped himself and was about to leave, but his curiosity stopped him from walking away and he listened. “No. It was because of your X-Wing´s malfunction. You know that.” Leia calmed her. “But it´s my fault I didn´t see the error in the system. Those people were my family for almost two years and they all died because of one stupid system-error!” She cried and sobbed again. “You´ve spent so much time alone after the accident. I understand how crushed you were after you were told. How your hope disappeared in a blink of an eye. Anyone would be destroyed by that. I´ve been there too. But trust me, there´s always a way out of this darkness.” Leia smiled gently at her. “You don´t understand, general. I don´t deny that I´m broken, but being a pilot means working in a team. And I cannot be the part of the team that fails again – because of a system error or my own. No more people can die because of my mistakes.” She said sighing and looking at the floor. “If there is any way I can help you, (y/n), please tell me.” Leia touched her hand again. “Thank you, general, but I think I´m just going to get some rest. Thank you for talking to me.” (y/n) got up before Leia could answer, tears in her eyes again. Her eyes found Poe´s when she left the room, but before he could say anything she looked down again and stormed off.

Poe didn´t know what to do. He was sure (y/n) was still angry at him, even more now, when she saw him eavesdropping on her and Leia. He started to think of another plan.

(y/n)´s whole heart hurt. Just saying her friend´s name aloud was painful, but truly admitting her reasons for not flying hurt her even more. (y/n) herself properly realized them in the moment she said them out loud. She has always thought the main reason she gave up flying was the  trauma from the death of her friends in the explosions of their X-Wings, her almost fatal crash – all being her fault. But she started realizing it was also the fear of the future – what if it happened again? All these thoughts swam around her head as she tried to fall asleep.

The next morning felt strange. (y/n) realized it was because everything that had happened last night seemed as more of a dream. It was the first time since the accident she spoke so openly about it. Something has been lifted off of her chest – not completely, but definitely partially. After she got out of the shower she noticed a note has been slipped under her door.

“(y/n), I´m terribly sorry for everything that happened last night. I never meant to hurt you in any way and neither did the general. I think that neither of us realized in how much pain you are. I want you to know that even if you decide to keep your past a secret, and avoid all ships for the rest of your life, there are dozens of people who know about the Azure Squadron and who hold Commander Nooa and Captain (y/n) as their heroes. There was not a single person who thought that the Squadron´s death was Captain (y/n)´s fault. Not a single person. I would like to start over if you´d want that – as friends. From the moment I saw you handing General the decoded message. I would have approached you even without the orders to do so. You´re a capable and brave person. You´re not broken.

PS: You know what they say when you fall of a Fathier?

Poe.”

... “You should get straight back into the saddle...” (y/n) whispered. She needed to find him. He was a good person and he tried to help her. She didn´t want to lose his friendship because of what had happened. Maybe she should also start over. Not only with Poe but in general. Facing her past properly. She ran out to find the famous black X-Wing. (y/n) knew he was supposed to go away on a mission for a couple of days. She didn´t want him to leave feeling miserable because of her. When she finally found the ship, she also noticed a mop of black curls in front of it. “Poe!” She shouted and ran towards him with the note still in her hand. He turned around terrified for a moment that his note had made it even worse. But the small smile on her lips made him relax. “Morning, (y/n).” He greeted her grinning, but she saw there was a tiny bit of nervousness hidden behind it. “I´m so sorry, Poe. I was mean to you and you didn´t deserve it.” She said and started looking down again. He put his finger under her chin and made her look him in the eye. “You were reasonably angry. But I want you to know that I´m here for you, okay? We can talk about everything when I get back, how about that?” He smiled at her. She nodded. “Hey Dameron, you leaving or what?” Someone shouted at Poe. He turned around and shouted back. “Gimme a minute!” When he turned back around (y/n) mustered all her courage and stepping on her tip toes, she quickly kissed him into the corner of his mouth. “Promise you´ll return.” She whispered and stepped away as quickly as she leaned in. Poe´s jaw slacked a little. He didn´t expect this from her at all. When he realized what had happened he quickly grabbed her, pulling her close, one hand on her waist, the other sneaking its way behind her neck. He inspected her eyes for any sign of unease. When he could see nothing but adoration and hope in those eyes, Poe kissed (y/n) fully on her lips and she more than quickly melted into his touch. The kiss was over before either of them wanted, but everyone could see them and Poe still had a mission to go on. He leaned his forehead on hers. “I promise.” He said, and she smiled blushing. “You better. Because you´re right. I want to get back into the saddle. But I might need some help.”

[motorghost]

Prompt: An unexpected hug, McHanzo.

This was fun! Trying something with more conventional OW tropes, turned into something I really did not predict. Unexpected hugs and more! Tried not to spend too much time on it cuz you KNOW I’ll turn it into a monster if I don’t. :] thank you mataglap for my first prompt!!! 

People more or less take one look at Hanzo and assume he doesn’t want to be touched. Everyone in Gibraltar is worldly enough to know that, culturally, it just isn’t a big thing, and Hanzo is nothing if not a traditionalist. That and the forty foot wall of spikes that is his general personality make it an unspoken assumption that anyone who might think of patting him on the shoulder, or rubbing his back, or playfully touching him in any way should expect to leave the encounter without a hand. Even Reinhardt, who treats everyone from small musicians to floating robots like members of the same bizarrely-close football team, followed suit from their very first encounter. Everyone gives Hanzo a wide berth and he does nothing to contradict them – if anything, he seems proud to be singular, to be afforded the kind of wordless barrier often associated with passing royalty. He wears his physical isolation with a raised chin and guards his alone time like a precious commodity. Exposed tattoo like a warning: beware of dragons.

Which is why Jesse, despite fucking Hanzo every night for going on two months now, doesn’t so much as stand within five feet of the man in public. It’s definitely not for lack of wanting – even looking at Hanzo puts all kind of romantic impulse in the gunslinger’s fingers. But Jesse’s been through too many haphazard ‘relationships’ to screw this one up now – not when their connection seems so tenuous already, not when his heart is so far out on a limb. His rapid-fire approach to everything cannot be allowed to burn through this tender gift he’s been lucky enough to receive in this, a relatively late part of his probably-short life, when so much else has already been turned to ash.

That, and he’s not even sure Hanzo wants people to know they’re together. Everything the archer does is well-thought-out, purposeful. Even when he walks, he never wavers or stumbles. It’s one of the things Jesse loves most about him, but it also means that if he’s not making eyes or asking outright, then he probably wants Jesse to follow suit. He’s amorous enough when they’re alone – if a little rough and to-the-point. Jesse can deal with the lack of touch the rest of the time.

Except that he really, really can’t. He’s been a hugger since he was little and physical affection was a missed commodity during his bounty hunting days. In Overwatch, everyone’s a soldier, and that implies a certain closeness inimitable in the outside world. Jesse could easily be labeled as ‘handsy’ when it comes to his fellow teammates (especially the old guard) and no one seems to mind. Far from it – they practically encourage him. Lena is always throwing her arm around his waist, Angela is always giggling under his bear hugs, Genji actually holds his hand now and again, Lucio gets a big kick out of linking their arms like a gentleman, and he’s smacked Reinhardt’s ass so many times, he hardly realizes he’s doing it anymore (though he can barely withstand the reciprocation). His magnanimous lack of personal boundaries is so famous that every time he falls asleep on the rec room couch, he usually winds up waking to someone else resting on his shoulder, or in his lap, or, like Hana did that one time, snoring atop his chest, using his pecs as pillows.

The burning fact that Hanzo is the only one willfully left out of this touch-circle is how Jesse winds up burning his and everyone else’s breakfasts one steel-gray morning. Earlier, the archer heard someone knocking at Jesse’s door and basically hid in the bathroom while Angela poked her head in to remind Jesse that it was his turn to cook. He was out of there as soon as she left, not a touch nor word exchanged. Not even a look. Since leaving his dorm, it’s all Jesse’s been able to think about, and now he’s snarling down at a cast iron pan full of burnt bacon.

He scoops it up, dumps its contents into the trash and then lets it slam back down on the burner.

Lena, used to the gunslinger’s short-lived bursts of temper, sidles up to his side and rubs his arm. “Oy, it’s alright. There’s more bacon in the fridge.”

“You mind taking over? Sorry, I just,” he sighs, rubs his barrel-chest through his white tee, “Not feeling myself this morning.”

“Sure. Go and sit, lad. Let Auntie Lena handle this. You like beans, right?”

“Love ‘em,” Jesse sighs, seating himself beside Genji. More people trickle in, but Jesse keeps his head in his hands.

“You look like you had another late night,” Genji remarks, that usual coy, leading tone. “Thought Angela said to ‘take it easy’ with the hard stuff.”

Jesse glares, rubbing his trapezius. “What’re you, her enforcer?”

“Yes,” trills Angela, ruffling Genji’s hair as she passes him on the way to the coffee maker. “Genji is my enforcer.”

Genji, with his visor lowered, is even more insufferable with the doctor around. But he gestures kindly at Jesse, wordlessly asking him to turn around and face the ovens. “Let me show you something Zenyatta showed me.”

Too tired not to trust him, Jesse straddles the table bench and lets Genji sink his hands into his shoulders. The relief is instantaneous – nothing like a dexterous pair of metal hands to ease out the tension – but, if he’s being honest, it’s not very deep. Jesse’s back has got more knots than a bondage party.

“Ah, you should try it like this!” Jesse hears Reinhardt behind him, then a larger hand is clasped at the back of his neck, working its side muscles. “This is what they do in the spas in Berlin!”

“Ow,” says Jesse, though he’s leaning into Reinhardt’s hand.

“If you want a really good massage, you should let Lucio try,” says Lena, half-turning as she cracks fresh eggs. “He’s got a healing touch!”

“Why, thank you, Lena,” says Lucio, also from behind Jesse. “Scoot over, Genji. See, man, it’s the lower back you gotta focus on, that’s where it allllllll happens…”

Jesse laughs low in his throat as now three men all address his mess of muscles. He lowers his head, obviously in ecstasy. Glowing at the attention. A neat little buzz leaks into his bloodstream, renders him light-headed. “Y’all're gonna kill me.”

“Such great teamwork,” laughs Mei from somewhere to his right.

“Hey, I better be next,” says Hana from somewhere to his left, cracking open one of her carbonated tea drinks. “You know how sore I get playing games?”

“Perhaps we should look into a full-time masseuse,” drawls Angela, drinking her coffee near Lena. “Or maybe Winston could design one.”

“Robotics are not my forte,” says Winston, somewhere near the pantry – Jesse assumes he’s building his own breakfast, “And it seems like… you’ve… got it all figured out…”

His drifting off doesn’t register until Jesse glances up at Angela and Lena’s semi-stunned faces, both focused somewhere over his head. Already in a daze from the endorphins, he raises a brow, but doesn’t truly notice something’s off until all three pairs of hands leave his body at once. He doesn’t even get the chance to open his mouth – two hands, feels like Genji, return to knead hard into his neck, making him issue an involuntary groan and tip his head forward again. Typical Shimada – incapable of sharing.

Angela continues, totally unperturbed. “Anyway, it would probably be an unwise allocation of resources. We still have to repair the security drones, don’t we?”

“Actually, those are all done,” Winston says, cheerful. “Torbjorn finished them last night.”

“Where is that man? Sleeping in?” Reinhardt joins Angela in Jesse’s line of sight, also getting more coffee. His gigantic mug is shaped like a very cute lion. “Another one staying up all night?”

Genji’s hands on Jesse’s back lower from his neck to his shoulder blades, working in seamless, soothing patterns. Lingering on the toughest spots. Jesse will owe him big after this, and he says so – or, he thinks he does. It’s getting hard to focus.

“You are one to talk,” Angela hums, holding her mug like it doesn’t have a handle, pinky out. “I heard you hammering away with Brigitte into the wee hours of the morning.”

“And how would you know,” laughs Reinhardt, “If you were not also awake to hear us?”

Genji’s hands work down to Jesse’s sides, folding and squeezing over his love handles. Okay, getting a little handsy there, Genj…

Lena, stuck in the middle, looks back and forth between them, pretends to move the pans like they’re about to fight. Angela smirks: “I’ve been caught.”

“I think we’ve all got a few more late nights ahead of us,” says Winston, who seats himself on a stool fit with wheels – the bench tables don’t quite agree with his physique. “But it shouldn’t be for much longer. Now that Athena’s running at full capacity, we don’t even…”

Jesse kind of blurs out after that. Genji is digging his thumbs into Jesse’s lower back in a way that’s making him have to hold in the groans. He actually lifts up his right hand to bite the knuckles as the ninja shoves his own knuckles against the bunched muscle just above Jesse’s glutes. God, he’ll get Genji whatever he wants after this. He hasn’t been touched like that in ages.

Except that his groin is starting to pay attention, and that just ain’t right. Genji’s hands are smoothing up and down his back now, slow and absorbing, with considerable affection. It’s enough to pump something warm and syrupy throughout the gunslinger’s muscles, down to the tips of his toes and back up again.But it does seem like he’s finally finishing up. Good, that was getting a little –

Then his hands circle around to the front and he hugs Jesse, head on his shoulder, warm and secure – possessive, even. Rubbing his jaw into his neck.

“Alright, now,” Jesse grunts, “That’s a bridge too far, there, Gen–”

Then he turns his head and stops just centimeters short of Hanzo’s lips. Hanzo, head over Jesse’s shoulder, smiles and pushes his forehead into his neck. Now that the stupor is passing, Jesse can smell his fresh shower, feel the warmth of his firm arms, sense the embarrassment that urges the archer to give Jesse one final squeeze before standing up and sitting proper at the table.

Everyone eats, everyone talks, but Jesse spends the entire time hyper-focusing on the touch of his thigh against Hanzo’s beneath the table and avoiding Genji’s annoyingly smug glances.

- - -

“Hey, c’mere, you.”

Hanzo turns with a raised brow as his wrist is seized and pulled. Jesse tugs, and he allows himself to be tugged, until their chests are pressed together just outside the mess hall.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning, yourself,” Jesse hums, his eyes dancing with energy. “Feel like I just had one-too-many shots of espresso. Baby – where’d you get hands like that? You got dragons in your fingers, too?”

Hanzo chuckles, strokes Jesse’s beard. “Maybe.”

“I mean it, Hanzo, that was something else. Is that…” He suddenly looks down at his arms around him, “Is this okay?” He glances to the side, where the others are filing out of the mess hall at their leisure.

“Of course,” Hanzo mutters, assessing Jesse’s shoulders with more rubbing hands.

“It’s just you – I know you don’t – wait, why you been so stand-offish then?”

“I had thought… you did not initiate anything in front of the others. I assumed you wished to be discrete.”

“Well, shit, I thought you wanted that! You didn’t initiate anything, either. And you ran outta here this morning like you got caught with your hand in the cookie jar.”

“You are the one who is always…” Hanzo sets his jaw, raises a brow. “You always have your hands on everyone else.”

“Again – I thought you wanted me to keep my hands to myself.”

“I thought you would…”

“What? Just do whatever the hell I want?” Jesse chuckles, looks at Hanzo like he’s ludicrous. “I wanna give you what you need, Han. I ain’t gonna start pawing at you if you don’t say so. Y’seem to like your space.”

“I do,” Hanzo strokes up from his shoulders to his jaw, “I also like when you invade my space.”

“Lord have mercy,” Jesse groans, halfway to scooping Hanzo up entirely, “You’re a goddamn heart-breaker. Always surprising me.”

Hanzo only chuckles, not quite knowing what to say to that. There are many things he doesn’t understand about Jesse, apparently – he’d assumed, all this time, that the gunslinger did not want his open affections, and that he preferred his status as a flirtatious yet independent loner. That they were better off keeping to their own respective status quo. He’d never been one for public displays of physical affection (or even private ones, for that matter), but something about Jesse makes him want to try new things. To take a few steps beyond the boundaries he’s known for so long.

“So, what? You saw me getting a back rub and got too jealous to resist?”

Hanzo scoffs, thumbs Jesse’s nose. “Am I to stand by and watch you be manhandled by my brother and two others?”

Now it’s Jesse’s turn to chuckle, pulling Hanzo fully into his chest for a proper embrace. Gliding his natural right hand across the shaved hair at the back of Hanzo’s head, holding tight around his waist with his metal arm. Breathing him in.

Hanzo splays his hands across Jesse’s back, breathes back. “Thank you.”

“For what? Being wrong all this time?”

Hanzo reaches up, re-adjusts with both arms around Jesse’s neck. “For trying.”

Jesse holds Hanzo around his middle, smiling against his head. Finally feeling him in his entirety; meeting him where he’s at.

[lucisfavoritedemon]

Maybe Dreams Do Come True

Pairing: Dean x reader (sort of).

Summary: What if you had gone after the Djinn instead of Dean? Will feelings for the oldest Winchester come to light for when you least expect? How do you deal with the aftermath when you know how you truly feel?

Square Filled: Dream Sequence

Word Count: 2679

Warnings: Fluffy, angsty, lots of dialogue, suicide to escape(it’ll make sense), horrible relationship to sibling

A/N: Written for @spnfluffbingo.

“I’m at the warehouse now. I’ll wait as long as I can, but I feel I should head in and locate it, and let you know when I find it.”

“Y/N, no. Wait for me to get there I’m five minutes away. Don’t go in alone,” Dean cautioned.

“Okay fine,” I lied. I was gonna go in there and at least scope out the place. I wasn’t gonna engage the Djinn until Dean got here, but it couldn’t hurt to find exactly where the thing was hiding out.

I headed inside and checked every possible room and couldn’t find anything. I found a staircase that led down to a lower level. As I was turning around the corner from the stairs, the Djinn came out of nowhere and attacked me. His hand looked like it had blue flames coming out of it. I tried to hold his hand back but he touched my forehead, and everything went black.

~*~

I woke up in a strange place. I felt like I knew it, but at the same time it was completely foreign to me. I was in bed, and the last thing I remembered was the Djinn had spotted me. Now, here I am in bed in a strange place.

I heard rustling of the sheets. I turned over and saw a man laying next to me. I didn’t recognize the man just looking at him, but then the stranger spoke.

“Morning babe, you’re up early?” It was Dean.

“Yeah, I guess. What time is it?”

“8:00, you usually don’t get up until a little after nine. Did you sleep okay?”

“Yeah, I think I just had a horrible nightmare. And did you call me babe?”

“Yeah, why do not like me calling you ‘babe’?”

“No, I do it’s just that, I didn’t think you felt that way about me. I guess that also explains why you always want to protect me, and don’t want me to go on hunts.”

“What are talking about? You hate hunting. The fact that you have to kill an innocent animal. You were mad at me for three days after you found out I went deer hunting.”

“No, I’m not talking about animal hunting, I’m talking about werewolves, vampires, shapeshifters, and everything in between.” I got up from my spot in bed to emphasize that I was serious.

“Okay you have been watching too many horror movies again. You know those aren’t real right?” He got up and walked towards me.

“Dean this isn’t funny, I’m serious. We hunt monsters, have pretty much all our lives. Your dad went absolutely crazy after your mom died. Raised you and Sam practically like soldiers. I lost my dad when I was 12. Your dad took me in and I have been with you and Sam ever since.”

“What are you talking about? My mom is alive you’ve met her. You know dad past away last year, and Sam is up at Stanford. Come on I think that nightmare might have gotten to your brain, why don’t I make us breakfast?” He said grabbing my face and kissing my forehead, before he grabbed my hand and walked downstairs.

“There you two are I was starting to wonder.” Do my eyes deceive me or could it really be…

“Dad?”

“Oh yeah and he’s alive too. Thought you’d wanna see it for yourself though.” Dean whispered in my ear before kissing my temple.

“Come on dig in there’s plenty to go around.”

“Is this the ‘Build Your Own Breakfast Sandwich’?” I asked looking at the plates of nestalgia.

“Yep with eggs sunny side up.”

“I used to love this when I was a kid. I would refuse to go to school some days until you made me this for breakfast.”

“Yep those were the good ol’ days. Now look at you, you’ve got a long term boyfriend, you live in your old childhood home, and you have a successful job.”

“Yeah, I guess I sometimes miss those days too. They were simple yet grand,” I trailed off needing a reminder that I was somehow still holding on to the good times me and my dad shared. “Hey dad I have a question?”

“Yes sweetheart?”

“Have you ever heard of a Djinn?”

“Oh no please don’t start this again.” Dean butted in.

“I have. Why bring this up now? You know not to ask those sorts of things to me.”

“I know it’s just I’m curious as to what they can do. I know they’re not real, but you know it doesn’t hurt to check the lore. See what the mythology is.” I saved myself from a total yelling fit. I wanted these moments with my dad to be special.

“Well, Djinn are basically genies, but minus the ‘grant you three wishes’ part. They mostly put people into deep sleep feeding off of them, as most lore goes.”

“Do they have to touch you to put you in this deep sleep state?” I needed to find out as much as I could without drawing any more attention to the subject.

“No, from what I’ve heard they poison you when you least expect it.”

I let the subject go, but when I went to look out the window, I saw a girl in a white dress just staring in the window from the sidewalk across the street. A car drove by, and she was gone. I had to be seeing things. She couldn’t be real.

“Hey Y/N, babe are you okay?”

“Huh...yeah I’m fine. It’s just I’m really tired.” I lied I couldn’t tell him I was seeing things after what I told him this morning. He probably would think I was crazy.

“Hey after breakfast why don’t you go lay down for a little bit then we can get ready for tonight, okay?”

“Yeah that sounds good.”

~*~

After breakfast I went upstairs to act like I was going to lay down, but I was actually going to do some research of my own. Just before I was about go search something I heard the roaring of a lawn mower right outside my window. I looked out and saw that Dean was mowing the lawn. It was amazing and weird watching him have a normal life. Just watching him doing a normal chore was eye opening.

Dean stopped for a second and looked up toward my window. He waved with a huge smile on his face. I waved and went back to what I was doing before.

~*~

After a couple hours of research and rest, Dean came in to check on me.

“How was your nap?”

“It was good I guess. I do need a shower though before we do anything else this afternoon.”

“Well, I just got done doing yard work and stuff so why don’t you go shower while I call Sam and see where he’s at okay?” He said kissing me, and I swear I could fly at that moment.

“Yeah, I need to see Sam. I miss him.”

“Wow, are you sure you’re not in a secret relationship with him Jessica and I don’t know about?”

“Wait Jess is alive too?” This was shocking maybe Sam could finally have the happy ending he deserved.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t she be? Oh no this doesn’t have to do with that dream you had last night does it?”

“Well, in my dream Jess died in a fire, where she was pinned to the ceiling and her blood dripped on Sam’s face after he got back from helping you with a hunt.” I hid in a pile of lies for the third time today.

“You’re kidding right? Y/N/N, that’s ridiculous. Sure people die in house fires all the time, but never when they are pinned to the ceiling. That’s crazy.”

“I’m telling you it happened, in my dream of course.” I tried to cover up the fact that this was both a dream and a nightmare all in one.

“Well, go take a shower so we can go meet your dad for his birthday dinner.”

“It’s my dad’s birthday?”

“Yeah? Don’t tell me you forgot.”

“Okay then I won’t say a word.”

“Your brother’s gonna be there too you know?”

“Darryl’s alive too?”

“Wow, that nightmare really did mess with your head. Honey, everyone is alive. You know that, I don’t know why things are hard for you to understand. No one you care about is dead, I promise.” Dean sat me down, grabbed one of my hands and soothed me. All of this was overwhelming to me. How could everyone that I believed to be dead somehow be alive again.

“I’m gonna go shower and get ready for dinner.” I simply stated before grabbing something nice from my closet and heading to the bathroom.

~*~

“Well thank you everyone for coming I had a wonderful birthday. I’m even glad that both of my kids are reunited again.” Dad said smiling at both Darryl and I.

“To dad,” Darryl said raising his glass.

“To dad,” I chimed in raising my glass as everyone joined me.

Dinner was wonderful and I enjoyed seeing everyone so happy, but part of me felt wrong. I felt like this wasn’t my life and I knew that. I just couldn’t bring myself to admit it. I didn’t belong here. Halfway through our meal I started to get this feeling of being watched. I turned around and there was that girl again standing in the corner near the restrooms. I got up to go after her but with all the hustle and bustle of waiters and everything, when I got close enough she was gone.

“Y/N are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

“I think I have.”

~*~

“Y/N, so you’re saying you might have seen a ghost back at the restaurant?”

“Yes Dean, that’s exactly what I’m saying. Look I have to do a bit of digging, but if I’m right about this everything I look up will end in a tragic incident.”

“Okay and if not, I’ll say you’ve lost it.”

“That’s fair.”

We spent over an hour on the computer looking up different freak accidents and every single person the boys and I saved are dead. Every last one.

“And just two weeks ago you and Sam stopped a ghost from killing prisoners in Arkansa at a county jail. It was easy for them to get in and out, but since you and Sam don’t hunt monsters this spirit has killed over seven people now with no end in sight.”

~*~

I took off I needed to find a silver knife and lambs blood before it was too late. When I got the silver I headed towards the warehouse.

“So you’re really doing this?” Dean popped up from the backseat.

“How long have you been back there?”

“A while. Look I know that all the stuff you read to me was a bit freaky but this is too far. Look something has me thinking that maybe you’re doing this so Darryl will look at you different.” “Do Darryl and I not have a good relationship?”

“Not really, he thinks you’re an annoying little brat who got everything she always wanted and he had to work hard for what little he has.”

I pulled up to the warehouse entrance needing answers now and not wanting to waste any time. I ran down the stairs to the basement where I remembered the Djinn first attacked me. There on the opposite side of the room was the girl I had been seeing tied up and strung from the ceiling. I looked over across from her and realized that I was just like her.

Before I could think fast I heard heavy footsteps coming down the stairs. It was the Djinn. “We need to hide. Now!” I whisper yelled to Dean as we ran and ducked for cover behind a fence and shelving. We both watched as the creature touched the girl, who was slowly waking up, lulling her back into a deep sleep, then feeding on her blood.

Just when I thought we were in the clear, Dean accidently knocked something over off of a shelf. This attracted the Djinn’s attention to our spot. I had to think fast and booked it to the other side of the room under the stairs.

“That was close now let’s get out of here before that thing comes back.” Dean suggested grabbing my hand and trying to pull me along.

“No, what if this is a dream, and I’m like that girl stuck here while that thing feeds off of me?”

“That’s nonsense.”

“You hear of stories of when you die in your dreams you wake up I bet it’s the same thing in this case too.”

“You want to kill yourself no. I went along with you this far, but no I’m not gonna lose you to suicide.”

“He’s right, no matter what I say you’ll always be my sister. This isn’t the answer.” Darryl said coming out of the shadows along with dad.

“I have to it’s the only way those people get saved.”

“Y/N/N no, I won’t let you do this please let’s just go home and we can forget that this ever happened.” Dean said grabbing my hands and kissing them before pulling me into a hug.

“No, I can’t. This isn’t my life no matter how bad I want it to be. I love you Dean I really do. Maybe someday we could be together in the real world.” I put the knife to my stomach and jabbed it in. All I could hear was Dean screaming before everything went blank.

~*~

I had woken up in the back of the impala, Dean watching me from the rearview mirror. It has been a long road to recovery. Not physically but mentally. I can’t shake the feeling of how it felt when Dean kissed me. I wanted that for real and not just in a dream.

“Hey Y/N, how you doing this morning?” Dean asked as I sat up and stretched from my spot on the couch in our motel room.

“I’m good.” I looked around to see if Sam was around, but he wasn’t. “Hey where’s Sam?”

“If I didn’t know any better I’d say you had a little crush on my brother?” Dean teased.

“I do not have a crush on Sam okay so stop saying that,” I said more harshly than I meant to.

“Hey I was joking. I’m sorry I shouldn’t have said it like that.”

“No it’s my fault. I like someone else, but everytime I think things could work out, something goes wrong.”

“Well, if this guy doesn’t see how amazing you are that’s his loss.”

“You really believe that?” I asked not really believing it myself.

“Hell yeah. Any guy would be lucky to be with a girl like you.”

“Please tell me you’re serious and that YOU truly believe that.”

“Hell yeah.”

“Well, this guy he is so stubborn sometimes. He thinks he’s all tough, but I can see right through him. He doesn’t even have to tell me somethings wrong for me to know. I honestly didn’t even think I had feelings for him until that Djinn got me. In a way I have it to thank for showing me my deepest desire.”

“Okay I didn’t need to hear that. Look just tell this guy how you feel, and if he rejects you his loss not yours.”

“Okay well, what if that guy was you?”

“I would be happy.”

“But…”

“But it’s not me, it could never be. A guy like me doesn’t deserve a girl like you.”

“Well, this girl thought it the other way around that someone like me didn’t deserve someone like you. Maybe that’s why we deserve each other.”

“Because we don’t deserve each other?”

“To prove to the world that we do deserve each other.” I said and I leaned in our lips connecting. This honestly was even better than my wildest dreams.

Tags:

@katymacsupernatural @our-jensen-ackles-love @ericaprice2008 @canadianspnhunter @mamaredd123 @sea040561 @anotherwaywardsister @impala-dreamer @impalaimagining @winchesterprincessbride @muchamusedaboutnothing @msimpala67 @atc74 @snffbeebee @torn-and-frayed

[sending-the-message]

The Painted Rock Game by TheRe_Writes

It was July 2011 when the Polk County Rocks game spread to my area. People were painting up rocks, hiding them around and posting photos to the Facebook group set up for it. Essentially this was a big Easter egg hunt that was reaching everywhere from Lakeland to Arbuckle, with some people even finding these rocks all the way in Tampa and Apopka. I was 15 at the time and staying with my mom and her then-new husband Joe for the summer. Usually I liked this because it meant I got to be in Florida, but it also meant that I had to spend time with my younger step-siblings. So when they became obsessed with these painted rocks, I was the one who had to go along with them. Back then I was still in my edgy, Hot Topic mall-rat phase so being out in the sunshine really wasn’t my idea of fun. Neither was babysitting. I couldn’t drive and everywhere was connected by long stretches of highway meaning I couldn’t just go out on my own whenever I wanted, so I got stuck babysitting a lot more than I liked.

I was taking Sarah (aged nine) and Tod (who had just turned seven) to the community swimming pool when they found the first one. A small pebble decorated to look like a bumblebee in the corner of the tennis court. Once they picked it up and read the rules scrawled on the bottom they immediately wanted to find more. I ended up spending the rest of that afternoon being dragged around by two excited kids and taking photos of whatever they pointed at or held up to my face. A ladybug one on a wall, a happy frog by the lake, there was even a Pikachu one in a hole on the golf course. We picked them up and carried them with us until we found places to hide them again, as were the instructions given. By the time we had to go home my legs were hurting from all the rocks stuck in my pockets. At that point I was already sick of walking around, looking along hedgerows and picking up stones but they still weren’t done with the game.

The next day I was woken up by Sarah and Tod tugging my sheets and chanting “Jess! Jess! We want to play the rock game!” I tried putting my head under my pillow and ignoring them until they went away, but my mom came in and told me that “They can’t go around the estate on their own,” and how apparently I needed the exercise and sunlight. Before I could argue back she went ahead and bribed me with “If you do this for them today I’ll drive you to see your friends in Orlando tomorrow.” At that I forced myself awake and grabbed around my closet for a matching set of black shorts and tank top. (I know it’s not the best color for the heat, but my wardrobe was very limited at the time.)

We set out with two grocery bags for the rocks we would keep and the ones we would re-hide, starting on our estate and leading up to the ones neighboring it. The colorful rocks were hidden amongst people’s front lawn ornaments, on top of mail boxes and some were just sitting on the grass. A lot of them had big pictures, mostly in a sloppy kids-art-project style but some were very well done. There was another ladybug, a clown face, and a nicely detailed squid among the rocks we ended up carrying. Tod found a US flag one under a bench and Sarah found one that was just painted green on the pier. Being the “adult” I had to carefully get the ones hidden near bushes or the edges of the woods, because apparently I “liked snakes” and somehow that would prevent them biting me. By about midday we stopped to get sandwiches from the gas station and Tod was all tuckered out. I suggested that we stop and go to the pool or go back home to play Wii games to get out of the heat, but Sarah was determined to stay out.

Tod protested by covering his ears and shaking his head. He was red faced and clearly tired, so I couldn’t drag him around anymore. I tried telling Sarah that “We have to go back for Tod, he can’t play anymore” but she was having none of it. She made an exaggerated pouty face at me and kept insisting that “We don’t have a full bag yet!” meaning “We have to go get more!” It was like a tug-of-war, trying to balance the interests of these two grumpy kids without making one have a tantrum at me. The best compromise I could think of was “Why don’t we go home and count all the rocks we have? Maybe then we can go find some more.”

Tod perked up at the thought of going back home and Sarah finally came around to the idea too, so we finished our lunch and I trudged them both back to mom’s house. As soon as we got in the door Tod waddled to his bedroom, and Sarah was pouring out the bags onto the kitchen table.

Together Sarah and I went through our hoard, separating out what we’d keep and what we wouldn’t while I photographed them all. Eventually we boiled the “Keep” pile down to a small few: a pretty cat, Tod’s flag and a yellow M&M amongst about three others. I considered keeping the squid but knew I’d probably lose it in a drawer anyway. The rest were an odd mix of basic smiley faces, bright patterns, local sports and brand logos along with some that were just scribbles and glitter. One was a crude line drawing of what looked like a spiky-leaf which I’d had to drag out of the reeds with my foot. There were a couple of basic Sharpie-drawn Pentagrams and Super-S doodles (probably done by bored teens) which I ended up skipping on the lake. By the time we had our “Re-Hide” bag full again it was close to 3pm. Joe’s usual curfew for the kids was 5pm so Sarah and I decided we’d just go and hide these ones rather than go properly hunting again.

We promised that we wouldn’t go too far, so we only went around our estate this time. I hid some smaller stones on a hanging bird house and Sarah put a few along the estate fence. Before long we were hiding the last one, a neatly-done Gators logo, on the wall of the community pool area. It was very close to her curfew and Sarah was still reluctant to stop. “Jess, can we find more? Just one more!” she begged, but I had to tell her no. I was too worn out, and mom would be so mad if she wasn’t back. Sweaty and groggy we marched home in time for dinner before both collapsing back into bed, fully drained from walking all day in the heat.

That night I was woken up by a whispering voice saying “Jess, can we find more?” I almost had a heart-attack before jolting awake to see Sarah standing there, fully dressed and waving a Disneyland tote bag at me. “Go to bed!” I groaned. “No more rocks now.” She stamped her foot and pouted at me before shuffling back out of my room. I got back to sleep pretty quickly and hoped the kids would forget about painted rocks game in the morning.

When I woke up at 11am after a good long sleep I thought I’d actually gotten lucky. Tod was watching Nick Jr when I went to make coffee and bacon, and he didn’t seem even remotely interested in doing anything else that day. I sat down on the couch next to Joe to eat my late-breakfast while he played on his tablet and joked about how “You make coffee in this house you make it for everyone.” After yesterday I was thankful for the quiet morning and cared about nothing other than mom’s promise to take me to town. I only got to see Becky and David in summer and I’d been missing them all year. By 12 I was dressed and ready (after putting on a whole rack’s worth of bracelets too) and waiting for mom to get back from Publix to pick me up. It wasn’t until then when I realised I’d not seen or heard anything from Sarah yet. At first I’d just assumed she was with mom, but Joe said she’d just gone on her own that morning. I didn’t want to leave and not know if the kid was okay, so I took a quick look around.

After checking the bathroom and the pool-deck I finally found her in her room. She was still asleep in bed. Her pyjamas were dropped on the floor, and knowing how much mom insisted on a tidy house I picked them up and put them on top of her laundry basket. As I bent down to gather up the strewn clothing my hand closed around something hard in the pocket of her pink stripy sleep shirt. Taking it out, I found another decorated rock.

It was a crappy looking one, and I felt bummed out just looking at the thing. The stone was mostly just scribbled black with some squiggle in the middle filled in yellow. It could’ve been a logo for something, but to me it just looked like a question-mark with a long swirly line drawn through the bottom dot. I didn’t remember seeing this when we were sorting out the rocks we kept. Maybe she’d pocketed it without me noticing. I put it on her desk with the rest of the “Keep” pile before rushing to get my shoes and bag in time for mom getting back. I forgot about Sarah and her silly obsession for the rest of that day, I had friends to hang out with and we didn’t care for kiddie rock-hunts.

Becky’s dad drove me home that evening and I got back in at 5pm again. I thanked him for the ride before stepping in the door and going straight to crash out in front of my laptop. As I got to my room I was met by Sarah, sitting on my bed with her Disneyland bag and playing with those damn rocks. “Can’t you do that in your own room?” I sighed, tossing my own bag onto the desk.

She bit her lip at me and went back to arranging her collection. I stormed over to the bed and began picking up the stones, putting them back into the tote “Go play rocks with Tod or something! Let me have my room.” I thrust her bag back to her and she ran out, looking as if she was trying not to cry. For a few seconds I felt relieved, but then the guilt dawned on me. I really didn’t want her to be upset, and Joe would be so mad at me if he found out! After taking a moment to calm down I crossed over to Sarah’s room and lightly knocked on the door. “Hey Sarah, I’m sorry I yelled at you” I murmured. “Can I look at your cool rocks again?” There was silence for a few seconds before she actually opened the door. The bag had been tipped out on to the rug and a few light-colored smooth stones were clustered up next to her bed.

Originally I hadn’t noticed, but these rocks were new. Mom or Joe must have taken her out for an hour or so to find them. There weren’t as many as we’d found yesterday, and most of them didn’t look that nice either. One was a splodgy potato-face and there was one painted to look like a football, but most of them just had simple marks on them. There was a basic love heart and a waving stick figure, she’d found another spiky-leaf one drawn in red this time. But most were little more than initials and letters done in a straight-lines font on white pebbles. Whoever made these probably didn’t care much. Despite their blandness, Sarah still seemed proud of today’s spoils. “They’re interesting” I humored her, “Would you like me to photograph these too?” She nodded and I went along with her request, uploading the photo to the page afterwards too. I didn’t think it was really worth sharing them but that’s how the game went.

I was able to sleep all night without any over-eager kids waking me up, and the morning was pretty dull. Both Joe and mom were at work so I had another babysitting day. I got myself dressed and ready in time for Tod waking up and asking for cereal. Luckily for me he was usually easily entertained so I could just give him a bowl of bran flakes, some juice and a Spongebob DVD to watch all day. Sarah however was still not up yet and it was my responsibility to make sure she did. Joe was very adamant that his kids kept up a good daily routine even during the times they weren’t at school. I made another tray of juice and cereal which I planned to let Sarah eat in her room, and carried it in for her. I pushed the door open, but she wasn’t there. Leaving the tray on the desk I frantically ripped off the bed covers to find nothing. I tried calling for her and dashing around the house again, but there was still no sign of her. Slipping on some flip-flops I went outside and to my relief, found Sarah sitting on the front drive in her pyjamas, humming to herself. I didn’t need to ask where she’d been as she was playing with more coloured pebbles.

I took a sigh of relief before reprimanding her, “What did Dad tell you about going off on your own?” I scolded. Usually she’d get to angry or sad, instead she merely stared up at me and said “But I want another Yellow Sign.” Not caring for her excuses I firmly reminded her “Your dad said you can’t go out without a grown up! Now get inside and eat your cereal.” Taking hold of her arm I forcefully lead her back into the house. She struggled and tried to run off but I was having none of it. Her bare feet were dirty and the bottoms of her pyjama pants were tatty too. I made her take them off and have a bath after her breakfast which she ate without complaining.

Luckily I managed to get her to sit down and watch TV with her brother, just anything to distract her from this current obsession with rock hunting. The rest of that day went by pretty uneventfully, I just pissed around online and played Sims (or whatever I did back then) in peace for a few hours while the kids entertained themselves. By then I’d gotten a lot of replies from the Facebook group, people liking our photos and saying how glad they were that we’d found their rocks. Very few people were still posting though, so I hoped that meant the game was dying out and Sarah would stop caring soon. Nobody was really responding to any of the plain rocks with the black marks, but I wasn’t surprised.

I made sure to keep checking up on the kids every hour or so to be safe in case Sarah tried to go out again. Much to my relief Sarah didn’t bug me to go back out again, she seemed content to stay in and play with Tod. At one point I caught her showing him her rock collection, getting each one out on the coffee table and giving him a lecture about them (much to his disinterest.) She had the bee and the cat face out when I walked in, but it was when she took out the weird yellow one that Tod decided he’d had enough. He shook his head side to side as his face went red and scrunched up. I had to act fast or else he’d start crying. Desperately looking for a distraction I grabbed the crayon tub and paper pad from the kitchen side saying “Hey, why don’t we sit outside and do some drawing?”

Sarah was reluctant at first, but when I sat Tod down at the table on the pool deck and put down the big crayon tub she came out and joined in. He was happily rushing random colors all over and I really wasn’t surprised that Sarah just drew her rocks. I lazily sketched out some band logos for a little bit too. They weren’t bored, so as far as I cared my job was done. When Joe came home with donuts and chips they both dropped their crayons and ran to the kitchen. Glad to be free, I packed up the art supplies, gathered up the drawings and put them in the kids' rooms. Tod had tried to draw blue-sky green-grass landscapes and I think one was supposed to be the lake with an alligator in it, and Sarah’s were mostly different interpretations of the patterns on her rocks. One page was her whole collection together but the rest were mostly rough recreations of the weird symbols from the boring ones, especially the spiky-leaf and the yellow question-mark. It seemed to be her favourite, but I didn’t understand why. The bee was a lot prettier in my opinion.

With my babysitting officially done for the day I retired to my room like an average bored teen. I stuck my headphones in and made a point of trying to avoid my step-siblings for the rest of the day. My peace was broken at about 4pm when Sarah came stamping into my room demanding that I go outside with her, insisting that “Daddy is too busy and says you’ll take me” Huffily I told her “Oh yeah? Well I’m busy too.” “No you’re not!” she insisted, but I wouldn’t let her have her way. She stormed back out again threatening to “tell her dad” amongst some other mumbling, but she didn’t come back at me again. I could hear her shrieking and arguing at Joe, but he must have taken my side and made her drop the issue because that was the last I heard from either of them until dinner. That night it was heated-up pizza and some salad, which is pretty bland but filling enough. When I got to the table Tod was sat there being served a slice by Joe, and Sarah looked considerably mopey as she stamped her feet all the way to the kitchen followed by mom. She aggressively folded her arms and stuck her bottom lip out as her dad put a big helping of salad and a slice of Classic Margarita on her plate.

“What’s wrong honey-bee?” He asked, “Don’t want pizza?” She shook her head, smushed her face with her hands and only just audibly grumbled “She said I couldn’t bring my special rock.” Joe sighed and said “It’s only while you have dinner, tables are clean and not for dirty rocks.” Sarah opened her mouth to talk back, but mom sat down at the table just in time to interject, “That thing is not coming to the table Sarah. Now eat dinner!” I finished my meal as quickly as possible while Sarah took small, forced bites until she’d eaten enough before dashing back to her room. After one and a half slices of pizza and a small handful of salad (as forced by Joe) she was shuffling away as fast as her little feet could go.

After dinner that evening I settled down into bed and flicked through whatever late-night channels I could get on my bedroom TV. There was rarely anything of interest but sitcom reruns were pretty nice to fall asleep to. I’d just started to properly drift off when Sarah came shuffling in holding a purple purse-bag. “Jess…” she started, sounding as if she was hesitant to talk to me, “can we go looking for rocks again?” I thought she’d forgotten about that dumb game by now. “Are you kidding?” I snapped at her, “It’s nine o clock, get to bed.” She gave me a faux-sad look with her teeth over her bottom lip and wide eyes. “But Jess” she tried again in her wavering tone, “I want another Yellow Sign.” Raising her hands up I saw that, of course, she had a rock in her bag. I didn’t give it a proper look but that black-out scribble made me think it was the one from her desk. She fumbled to get it out but I cut her off, “No more rocks Sarah! Go to bed!” Before she could bother me again I switched off my desk light and threw the duvet over my head. I could make out her muffled complaints of “I gotta go get another one” until mom came in and made her go to bed. There was foot stamping and shouting, a door slammed and I could hear Joe pleading for her to “calm down and go sleep.” The arguing must have gone on for at least half an hour, and it took me a while to settle down and get comfy again.

I switched back through talk shows and teleshopping before finally dozing off. I wasn’t asleep for long though before I was woken up by Mom shaking me and screaming, “We can’t find Sarah! She’s not in the house!” Her face was a mess of tears and bed-hair. Tod was crying and hugging her leg like a leech.At first I thought I was dreaming, but seeing the panic in mom’s eyes let me know this was really happening. Suddenly I was fully awake, in my nightgown and running out into the dry night air. Joe was outside with a flashlight looking for her already. We kept calling out “Sarah!!” but got no answer. Our shouting only managed to wake up the neighbors, and before long they were joining in our frantic search too. I remember the police showing up, two officers got out on the driveway and tried to ask mom and Joe about what had happened. Joe tried to keep calm, but mom was a wreck and unable to speak. I told them about the Polk County Rocks game, and where we might be able to find her. Joe and the neighbors looked all over the golf course, the community pool and the gas station while the police scanned the area around the lake.

She wasn’t found on any of the piers or boat docks, or along the water’s edge. She wasn’t at the tennis courts, or the picnic benches. Our make-shift search party checked all over the three estates to no avail. The regular ambience of cicadas and the rush of cars from the highway was drowned out by sirens and the echoes of people shouting her name. My bare feet were cold on the asphalt and my throat was sore from yelling, but it wasn’t my physical wellbeing that I cared about. I didn’t stop running across the roads and lawns until I was physically collapsing with exhaustion. The sun was coming up by the time Joe had to drag me back inside. She might have fallen in the lake, or wandered into the woods, but we didn’t find Sarah that night.

We posted her photo to all the local Missing Children’s pages, we even made Lost Child flyers which we spent the next few weeks posting in as many store windows as we could. I asked the Polk County Rocks group to look out for her too. There was a wide scale search carried out over the following weeks and she was in all the local papers. Her real mom was even investigated but they still didn’t find her. I can’t stop blaming myself for what happened. Had we gone to the pool that day like we’d set out to she’d not have become obsessed with that silly game. Living at the house in Florida eventually became too much for Joe and mom. About four months later they made plans for divorce meaning that she had to move back in with her sister, and I was stuck with dad in Washington all year from then on. The case for Sarah is still open, but I doubt they’ll find her after all this time. For a good long while I held onto her pretty rock collection, but I think they’re still in a box back at dad’s place now. I made sure to keep all the pretty ones, and the lazy ones too (all except for Tod’s, I let him keep that one.)

Even though I tried to make sure I took them all with me, there was one that I couldn’t find when I was bundling them all together. Her favourite, the one with the yellow-symbol. Sadly the Facebook group closed not long after Sarah went missing so I couldn’t ask who made that rock. I still haven’t found out if that symbol was from anything either. For some reason I feel that it might hold some sort of an answer, but I’m yet to find another one. I was wondering if there’s someone out there who could help me on this. Have you seen the Yellow Sign?