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hopelikethemoon · 4 years ago

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Stressful Times (Javier x Reader) {MTMF}

Title: Stressful imes Rating: PG Length: 1300 Warnings: Angst Notes: You can find everything about Maybe Today, Maybe Forever here. Set in May 1997. Short cause #selfcare. Summary: Reader voices her frustrations.

@grapemama@seawhisperer@huliabitch@beccaplaying@rogrsnbarnes@thewallpapergoesorido @twomoonstwosuns@gooddaykate@livasaurasrex@ham4arrow@plexflexico @readsalot73 @hdlynn@lokiaddicted @randomness501 @fioccodineveautunnale @roxypeanut@snivellusim@lukesrighthand @historynerd04 @mrsparknuts@synystersilenceinblacknwhite @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead @exrebelshocktrooper@awesomefandomsunited @ah-callie@swhiskeys@lady-tano @u-wakatoshii @space-floozy@cable-kenobi @cool-ultra-nerd @himbopoes@findhimfives@pedrosdoll@frietiemeloen@arrowswithwifi @random066 @uncomicalhumour@heather-lynn@domino-oh-damn@cyarikaaa@ahopelessromanticwritersworld @im-still-a-pieceofgarbage @ksgeekgirl@yabby-girl@xqueenofthecraziesx@punkass-potato@coredrive@pascalesque@theduchessofkirkcaldy @queenquazar@sabinemorans@buckstaposition@holkaskrosnou@yespolkadotkitty@seeking-a-great–perhaps @kochamcie@jaime1110@katlikeme

You peered over the top of the refrigerator door, spotting Javier looming in the threshold of the kitchen. “What are you doing up?” He questioned, one brow arching upwards as he glared at you.

“What are you doing home early?” You countered, tucking the jar of pickles under your arm as you grabbed the mayonnaise as nudged the door shut with your hip, before sitting both jars down on the counter.

“You’re supposed to be laying down.” He insisted, though he hadn’t brushed from his spot as he watched you prepping the hard boiled eggs you had made for egg salad.

“And you,” You started, glancing at the time on the microwave. “Usually have office hours right now.” You opened the bag of white bread, throwing two slices down on a plate.

“Why don’t you go lay down and I’ll make your sandwich?”

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes, “Why don’t you just stand there and look pretty and I’ll continue making my own sandwich?”

Javier had been driving you crazy with how concerned he was. It felt like you couldn’t do anything without him deciding it was too strenuous. And it was driving you crazy.

As much as you loved the man, you actually looked forward to him being gone at work so you could sit outside and read a book or recline on the sofa and watch soaps.

Laying in bed was the last thing you wanted to do.

“You know, one of the books I read suggested that eggs could be dangerous.” Javier offered, folding his arms across his chest.

“The doctor told me to focus on eating protein, Javi.” You gestured to the half-made bowl of eggs, mayo, and pickles. “This is protein.”

“Baby, I’m just looking out for both of you.” Javier held his hands up in mock-defense and you couldn’t help the sharp laugh that escaped you. “What?”

“I have another month of this and I’ll be damned if you keep me confined to that fucking bedroom.” You warned him, pointing at him with the knife you’d used to cut the eggs. “Knock it off.”

Javier frowned, but he nodded his head understandingly. “I’m just trying to take care of you.”

“I know you are.” You sighed, tossing the knife in the sink. “But you’re driving me crazy. I’m miserable enough without feeling like I’m trapped in this house, alright?”

And he was still being so cautious with you. That was getting under your skin too. Javier was treating your like a porcelain doll and you fucking hated it.

At least you had managed to get him to finally touch you the other morning. That had taken the edge off the unruly hormones that cropped up, but Javier had gone straight back to barely touching you.

It was so different from when you were pregnant with Josie. It had come with its own difficulties, sure, but Javier hadn’t been this distant with you — he didn’t treat you like a patient.

“I’m just following the doctor’s orders.” Javier reminded you, clicking his tongue against his teeth. “I don’t want to see you in the hospital like that again, baby.”

You sighed heavily, turning around to face him as you stirred your bowl of egg salad, folding the ingredients in. “Trust me, Javier — ending up in the hospital is the last thing I want. But these past few months… I don’t know. Blame it pregnancy hormones or whatever, but I feel more like a baby incubator and less like your pregnant partner.” You sat the bowl aside, turning your focus on him.

“I’m—“

“If that’s an apology, I really don’t want it, Javi. I get why you’re reacting this way, but it’s driving me insane.” You gestured between the two of you. “I miss this. I feel like every conversation we have is about how I feel, or if I’ve been too active, or what’s happening inside of me.”

You hated to say that it felt like some of the spark was gone, but it definitely felt lackluster lately. Everything was centered around the baby, leaving everything else to get lost in the background.

“What do you want to talk about?”

“I’m not going to force a conversation.” You shot back, turning back to spread the egg salad onto the bread and finish with your sandwich. “Can you clean up for me? I’d hate to do anything too strenuous.”

“Baby—“

“Would you like to feed me too?” You questioned as you breezed past him.

“I realize I’ve been overbearing.” He snapped and you were almost thrilled to get some reaction out of him. “But do you have any idea how fucking traumatizing it was to show up at the hospital? To not know if I was going to lose you? To lose all of this?” He set his jaw hard and shook his head. “I saw you bleeding out in Colombia again, but this time I didn’t have a belt to stop the bleeding.”

You hesitated, turning to look back at him. “I know it was hard on you, Javier… but I’m still me. I’m not some fragile egg you have to protect like a penguin—“

Javier’s brows drew together, “What?”

“Bad analogy.” You shrugged. “What I’m saying is… I have high blood pressure, but that’s not who I am. I don’t know… I just had very different expectations for this pregnancy.”

He didn’t say anything else to that. He just stared at you, long and hard before he busied himself with cleaning up the mess you had made.

You headed for the sofa with your sandwich, wondering if he would even join you or if he’d sulk in the kitchen until you inevitably retreated back to the bedroom.

Stevie barked quietly, jumping up onto the sofa beside you and sitting as close to you as possible without being on you. “That’s my good girl.” You cooed, scratching at her ears. “You like ear scratchies?”

“I could do with some good ear scratchies.” Javier remarked as you loosened his tie and strolled into the family room.

“Ear scratchies are for good boys.” You told him, taking a bite of your sandwich as you gave him a skeptical look. “Not sure that applies.”

Javier rubbed at the back of his neck as he moved to sit down on the arm of the sofa, sighing heavily. “Baby, I don’t wanna fight.”

“We’re not fighting.” You told him, shrugging your shoulders. “I’m just really not in the mood for being treated like I can’t do anything.”

“I know.” Javier slid off the arm of the sofa and onto the cushion beside Stevie. “I’m sorry, baby.”

You pursed your lips as you turned to look at him, brows drawn together. “Apology accepted.” You smiled a little, leaning forward to sit the plate down on the coffee table. “Stevie, down.” You told the dog, waiting for her to jump off the sofa and lay down at your feet before you patted your leg.

Javier chuckled softly before he scooted down onto the sofa and rested his head on your lap. “Thank you.”

You brushed your fingers over his forehead, “You’re welcome, babe.” You told him softly, winding your fingers through his hair. “How was class today?”

“I was lecturing on the constitution.” He dragged his hand over his face and sighed heavily. “So you know how it went.”

“No wonder why you’re being such a dick.” You retorted, tracing your finger down his nose.

Javier huffed softly, turning his head to press a kiss to your stomach. “I’m sorry, baby.”

“I know.”

“I just don’t want anything to go wrong.” He told you honestly and you knew he meant well.

“Neither do I.” You tugged gently at his hair. “But please let me do what I feel is right, okay? I know my body and my mind — I know what I need.”

Javier nodded his head slowly, reaching up to catch your hand, bringing it down to press a kiss to your palm. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” You promised him. “Even when you make me want to kill you.”

He snorted, “And that’s how I know you love me.”

The last thing you needed was the added stress of being at odds with the one person who made everything in the world feel right.

#javier pena #javier pena x reader #pedro pascal x reader

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hansoulo · 4 years ago

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courtroom drama

part 8 of ain’t it a gentle sound (the rolling in the graves)

Pairing: Horacio Carrillo/f!Reader

Word Count: 1k bc my brain doesn’t like words :(

Gif Credit: @pascalplease who is my angel baby

A/N: you’re not hallucinating numbers part 7 was just giving me grief but whatever i can post things out of order it’s fine 🤡

masterlist carrd

Horacio mumbled something under his breath, low and unintelligible over the sounds of labored breathing and the shuffle of his boots against delicate bathroom tile. You quieted him with a hand pressed to his sternum, guiding the air out from underneath his ribs until it fanned over your arms. Your fingertips came away crimson, a patchwork watercolor of old wounds he never let heal and new ones that wet the heavy fabric of his shirt.

It was like a dance, almost, rehearsed and blocked half to death (although maybe you shouldn’t phrase it that way) until you knew each step. It’d been a year, after all. Didn’t really faze you much. You still had to catch the trembling of your hands, though - tiny and imperceptible to anyone else except maybe him.

“Hey, you’re okay, see?” you said as Horacio moved to sit on the edge of the tub, his forehead pressed to the cold porcelain of the wall. “You’re fine, you’re okay,” you said, repeating it more to yourself than to him. He nodded as you leaned down to unbutton his shirt, your knees knocking against his.

“I know,” he replied. “I’m with you.”

“Cheesy,” you teased as you blushed, scrunching your face. Horacio let out a quiet laugh, lifting his head to meet yours.

“True,” Horacio countered softly. You only hummed in response, lifting away his shirt. You could hear the sound of a Fisher-Price toy, some beeping, brightly-colored contraption that Isabella adored (and you couldn’t stand) in the living room, the toddler content for the moment being as you made quick work of her father’s scarlet stainings.

“You alright?” you asked when he didn’t say anything after a few minutes, running your hands underneath the cold tap water of the sink. Rivulets come off swirling like pink-lemonade, cruel intentions of loss taking on the appearance of something cloying. They stuck against the bowl before they were washed down and away, carrying all the things he’d seen with them.

You turned and crouched in front of him, a hand on his knee as you called out his name. He lifted your (left) hand as if studying it, eyes tracing every ridge of your knuckles and the tapering of your fingertips until you’re sure he had every one of your veins memorized, inundated and imprinted until they wove around his own, blue twine and red strings of fate physical then metaphorical and physical again.

“I’m fine,” he assured you, his thumb rubbing light sandpaper over the skin of your wrist. “Just… wondering.”

“What about?” you said, beginning to stand up. Horacio didn’t let go of your hand and you raised an eyebrow, expectant.

He rasped it, offhand as if it was obvious. Maybe it was. “Why I haven’t married you yet.”

You laughed quietly before you really processed what he said, your eyes widening for a moment before the words made any sort of sense in your jumbled synapses. Oh.

“Is this your way of proposing?” you asked with a smile. His lips quirked up before he brought your hand up to his face, pressing a coppery kiss to your knuckles.

“Depends,” he mumbled against your skin. “Would you say yes?”

Would you? Say yes? To him. To someone like him, again. To everything that came along with that, again. To a life like that, again.

“Yeah,” you answered after a few seconds, your free palm smoothing back the hair from his forehead. “Yeah, I would.”

⫸ ——– ⫷

“Do you want a wedding?” Horacio said the next day as you sat on his living room floor, rolling a ball back across the carpet towards Isabella. You met her gummy, two-year-old smile with a grin before considering.

You imagined you’d both already had your fill of weddings. The tulle and the place settings and the planning. There was a picture you’d found once, of him and Juliana at his reception. You laughed at his haircut and he’d only smiled, a soft poke in your ribs reminding you of your own photo album. It was a gilded, velvet thing your mother had insisted on buying, filling it with hazy flash-bulb shots of everything from your half-eaten cake to your unfortunate hair. Yes, you both had your fill of weddings.

“Do you?” you responded.

He sighed, sitting down next to you. It was almost comical - this large, broad man clad in tactical green, cross-legged on the floor and dwarfing the plastic toy in his hand. He turned it around a few times, his thumbs smoothing over the grainy, canary-yellow casing.

You turned to take it from him, setting it down beside your legs. “I just want to be married to you, Horacio,” you assured him. “Everything else is just… details.”

“Details,” he repeated, following the curve of your arm as you bent to take his (your) daughter in your arms.

“Details,” you finished resolutely.

⫸ ——– ⫷

Maybe it was cliche, but it really did feel like fireworks went off when you kissed. Like fizzy rock candy, orange electric and sparking carbonated soda bubbles in your mouth when you met his touch and didn’t have to let go.

Your parents couldn’t come but it was okay. They’d make the trip soon. His mother had been there, though, bouncing Isabella on her lap and sitting on the wooden bench of the courthouse, smiling enough to make your cheeks hurt just looking at her. His mother and his men, stoic in their seats with pistols in their pockets. You could’ve sworn you saw a tissue, though. Trujillo wasn’t that tough.

He walked you up the tiny aisle and you held three dandelions, gifted from Isabella and picked from the tiny flower box outside your window. It was early summer a year after you’d met, sweat gathering on your temples and on the backs of your knees, but you didn’t mind.

“I now pronounce you husband and-” the officiant began, not being able to finish before you leaned forward with a hand on the collar of Horacio’s shirt, gripping loose but bringing him close.

Fireworks.

Yeah, fireworks.

You pulled away to the sound of laughter, yours and his.

“Hi,” you breathed out, your eyes shining. You could make out your reflection in his irises, bouncing back curved like a parallax and slightly glassy.

Horacio kissed you again. “Hello.”

permanent: @ah-callie @itzagoodthing @spookypym @opheliaelysia @watsonwise @damndamer0n @amarvelousmandalorian @bunnyart-blog @agirllovespasta @pascalispedro @pascalplease @coffeencontemplation @chelsfic @lesqui @javierpenaspinkshirt @symbiont13 @glowingpena @squidlywiddly87 @1zashreena1 @hiscyarika @lostingoogletranslate @keeper0fthestars @bobafvtt @halfwaythereroyal @starwarsiscooliguess @huliabitch @frietiemeloen

ain’t it a gentle sound: @paniclana @huliabitch @jayoknrjk28 @raabiac @sparrows-books @popculturepriestess @pascalplease @ididntmeantobutiaccidentally @lockedoutofmyotherblog @multifandom-fiasco @wherethefuckiskathmandu @mandoplease @nicke0115 @ionlyjoinedforboydholbrook @the-cry-of-youth

#im not even gonna believe the tags are working honestly why get my hopes up lmao #that gif is making me go insane #horacio carrillo #horacio carrillo x reader #horacio carrillo fanfiction #maurice compte fanfiction #narcos fanfiction

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debbiechanclub · 4 years ago

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Best Two Out of Three, Part 16

Well, it’s late AF but I SAID I’d get it posted! And it’s a monster. And, pardon my French, but I’m damn fucking proud of it. (And thank you SO MUCH to @what-does-mine-say for her help!!!)

I just hope you all don’t hate me (or Alex for that matter) after reading it *nervous laughter*

Best Two Out of Three

Part: 16/26

Pairing: Kenny Omega x OFC x Cash Wheeler and Adam Page x OFC

Warnings: Language because it’s me; tremendous amounts of angst; anxiety; drinking and allusions to alcoholism; … and cheating *cries*

Word count: 7.7k

Catch up on previous parts here.

When Callie arrived back at the house from her run, she’d expected to hear the lawnmower. The grass was getting bad, and she’d asked Adam last night to please cut it that morning before it got too hot. But as she walked up the front porch and back into the house, it was silent. Too silent.

She pulled out her ear buds and set them with her phone on the kitchen island before marching upstairs to their bedroom. It was nearly 11, and if he was still asleep—

But when she burst into their bedroom, she found their king-sized bed empty and unmade. Her brow furrowed. She glanced toward the master bath; that was dark and empty, too. She turned and went back downstairs, searching through the house. He wasn’t in the den or the garage, or anywhere else that she could see. Finally, she peered through the sliding glass door into the backyard. Anger bubbled up inside her. Adam sat at the patio table, an open beer can in his hand.

The glass door gave an angry whir as Callie slid it open. Adam didn’t even so much as glance in her direction, too occupied with his phone. “Are you seriously drinking? It’s not even eleven, Adam.”

“It’s Miller Lite,” he dismissed with a roll of his eyes. “It’s practically water.”

Callie’s eyebrows arched. The question flew out of her mouth before she could stop it. “But is it your first?”

Adam’s gaze flicked up to meet hers. “Are you serious?”

For a moment, Callie was struck dumb by the darkness in his eyes. They held a storm of emotion—anger, hurt, betrayal. He’d never looked at her like that, and a wave of regret surged up through her. But she steeled herself against it. As much as it hurt her to see him in such a state, she knew it would only get worse if she didn’t say something.

“Yes, I’m serious,” she returned. “I know you’re upset about all the shit with Kenny and Alex, but it’s getting out of hand, Adam. You’ve been drinking more and more the last few weeks. I don’t think I’ve seen you without a drink in your hand since we got back from Jacksonville. Do you know how many empty beer cans and whiskey glasses I’ve cleaned up the last few days?”

He looked back down at his phone. “Well, no one asked you to clean them up,” he bluntly returned with a sip of his beer. It stunned her again. And then, it angered her.

“No, they didn’t,” she shot. “But I guess I’m the only one around here who cares. Do I need to mow the lawn, too?”

Adam abruptly slammed the beer can down onto the table, making Callie flinch. When he spoke, his voice came out eerily calm. “I’m a grown-ass man, Callie. Don’t talk to me like I’m a child in my own damn house.”

He stood up and stalked toward the patio door, not looking at her as he passed. She followed after him as he went inside. “Babe, please just talk to me.”

“I really don’t want to,” he said, moving toward the garage.

“Why not?”

He whirled around to face her. “Because I just don’t! Okay? Just let me deal with my shit how I want to deal with it!”

He glared down at her, and the look on his face sent Callie’s heart into her throat. If his eyes had been dark before, they were downright unrecognizable now. This wasn’t the man she’d fallen in love with. She didn’t know who this person was.

“Well if this is how you want to deal with it, then I don’t want to be around it.”

She pushed past him and grabbed her phone off the kitchen island and her keys off the hook on the wall next to the garage door. Tears filled her eyes as she left and climbed into her car. She wasn’t sure what hurt worse: knowing that Adam was hurting, or knowing that he didn’t want her help to take away the pain.

* * * * * * * * * *

Alex was trying every trick in the book to clear her head. She’d gotten up with the sun and gone for a run despite absolutely hating it. She’d cleaned her kitchen and bathroom and vacuumed the entire house. She’d taken a long, hot shower. Now, she was going through her entire wardrobe, getting rid of the things she didn’t wear and reorganizing the rest. But no matter what she tried she couldn’t distract herself from what she’d done.

She’d kissed Kenny, not the other way around. She’d grabbed him and kissed him, aching to feel him in that moment, and she’d only broken away at the prospect of getting caught. How much further would she have gone if she hadn’t heard those voices in the hall? Would she have kept kissing him? Would she have straddled his lap, let him carry her into the bathroom and fuck her on the sink? She liked to believe she wouldn’t, but she wasn’t sure. And she hated herself for that.

And Cash. She’d hidden it from him—all too easily. After his match she’d kissed him like her life depended on it, and he’d changed without even taking a shower so they could get back to the hotel as quickly as possible. She’d had bruises on her thighs from how hard he’d gripped her, her back pressed flat against the shower wall, teeth biting into his shoulder and her legs wrapped tight around him as he’d thrust deep into her. It had been the best sex they’d had yet; and she’d thought of Kenny as soon as it was over. She hated herself for that even more.

She grabbed a dress she hadn’t worn in over a year from off its hanger and walked out of her closet to toss it onto the quickly growing donate pile on her bed. It was probably a side effect of her guilty conscience, but she felt like purging everything and buying a whole new wardrobe. She walked over to her dresser and jerked open the bottom drawer where she kept all the t-shirts she never wore and started pulling them out onto the floor. But she suddenly stopped when she grabbed a pink and orange tie-dyed shirt that had been shoved into the back.

She sat back on her heels and smoothed out the fabric across her lap. The words “Daytona Beach” were printed in arched white lettering across the front. She’d completely forgotten she had that shirt; Kenny had bought it for her that day at the boardwalk. And now that she saw it, all the memories tied to it came flooding back in a rush.

She pushed herself to her feet and walked over to her nightstand and pulled open the drawer. She’d dropped Kenny’s locket in there as soon as she’d gotten home two days ago, and she’d managed to leave it there, out of sight and out of mind. But now she pulled it out and opened it.

Her stomach fluttered as she looked at the picture. She remembered that moment like it was yesterday. Kenny had put his arm around her waist and hugged her close on the photobooth bench. He’d smirked down at her and asked, “Are you really mad at me?” She’d pouted and turned to tell him, “Yes,” but he’d kissed her before she could. And she’d forgotten all about him wiping the floor with her on every game in that arcade.

She closed the locket and slipped the chain over her neck as she moved to her full-length mirror. The chain was long, and the locket hung below her chest, halfway to her belly button. She was impressed with how well Kenny had done; it was exactly her style. And as she looked at herself in the mirror, she had a thought.

She grabbed her phone off her bed and walked back to the mirror. She mussed her long brown hair just so and half-tucked her oversized tank top into her cutoff shorts, adjusting it so that her lacy bralette peeked out of the low-cut neck, and struck a flattering pose. She must have taken twenty photos before she finally got one she liked. It was definitely a little bit sexy; but honestly, that was what she wanted. She opened up Instagram, chose the photo from her gallery, and typed up a caption. Feeling cute, might delete later #ootd. And then she hit “post.” To everyone else, it would just look like a typical girly Instagram post. But when Kenny saw the locket around her neck, he would know.

She tossed her phone back onto the bed and went back to cleaning out her dresser. She got through the rest of the t-shirts and most of the next drawer before she couldn’t stop herself from looking anymore.

She picked up her phone and opened Instagram. The picture already had a few dozen likes, mostly from fans but a few from friends. Trent had already commented. Your pockets are longer than your shorts. She rolled her eyes.

A new notification popped up and she immediately opened it. Cash had liked the photo and commented with a heart eyes emoji. Alex’s heart sank, suddenly feeling guilty for even getting the idea to post the picture. But, suddenly, another notification came in: kennyomegamanx liked your photo.

Her heart sped up. A few seconds later, her phone chirped with a text—from Kenny.

Fuck, Alex. I wasn’t expecting that. Do you know what you’re doing to me right now?

Alex bit her lip as she read the message, over and over again. It was bold, and she had enabled it. But before she could decide what the hell she should do, if anything at all, another text came in—from Cash.

Good lord, sweetheart. I’m about to get in my car and not stop until I’m at your house and in those cutoffs.

Alex threw her phone to the bed like it was on fire. She ran her hands through her hair. “What the fuck are you doing?” she breathed. But, suddenly, her phone rang. She stole a glance at the screen, terrified it was Kenny or Cash—but it was Callie.

She picked it up and answered it, welcoming the unexpected interruption. “Hello?”

“Hey. Are you busy?”

Her voice was thick; she sounded upset. Alex’s brow furrowed. “No. I’m actually trying to make myself busy,” she admitted with a wry laugh. “Why? What’s going on?”

Callie drew in a shaky breath. Was she crying? “I know this is last minute and you don’t exactly live right down the road… but I’d really appreciate it if you came over.”

“Yeah,” Alex immediately said. “Of course. Should I pack a bag or anything?”

She didn’t answer right away. “If you want,” she eventually said.

Alex chewed her lip. “Okay. Is everything alright?”

It seemed like a stupid question; it certainly didn’t sound like everything was alright. But, whatever it was, Callie didn’t want to discuss it over the phone. “We’ll talk about it when you get here,” she said.

“Okay,” Alex said again. “See you in a couple hours.”

They said goodbye and hung up. Alex navigated back to Cash’s text and typed up a quick reply. Hold that thought. Callie just called and asked me to come over. She sounded upset.

She hit send—and then she pulled up Kenny’s text again. She opened the emoji keyboard and looked at the frequently used tab. The very first one was the kissing face emoji. She’d recently sent it—to Cash. Her thumb hovered over it, tempted to send it to Kenny. But she thought better of it and closed out of her messages and locked her phone, hurrying to pack a bag and get out the door.

* * * * * * * * * *

Callie had texted Alex to meet her at a grocery store parking lot about twenty minutes from the house. If there was one complaint she had about living out in Middle-of-Nowhere, Virginia, it was that it took at least twenty minutes to get to anything; it certainly wasn’t like that where she was from in California, and she still hadn’t gotten used to it. But she’d trade every convenience in the world for Adam. He was her world. But, right now, she didn’t feel like she was his.

She sat in her car staring at her phone, hoping he would call or text, getting angrier by the second. Didn’t he care where she was? She’d been gone for hours. She opened up Instagram and started scrolling, hoping to distract herself, and when she got bored with that she turned to Twitter. She was typing a snarky reply to something Britt had tweeted when someone knocked on her window, making her jump. She looked up. It was Alex.

She jumped out of the car, nearly hitting Alex with the door as she opened it, and threw her arms around her neck.

“Okay, you’re kinda scaring me now,” Alex awkwardly returned; she clearly hadn’t expected to be ambushed with a hug. “What’s going on?”

Callie could feel the tears rising from her stomach to her throat, threatening to spill. “Adam and I got into it this morning. I walked out right before I called you. I’ve been gone for hours and he doesn’t even seem to care.”

Alex relaxed and returned the embrace. “Why’d you get into it?”

“His drinking.” Callie sniffled as she pulled away. Her eyes shone with unshed tears. “It’s gotten completely out of hand. It’s all he ever seems to do anymore, and he won’t talk to me or let me help him…”

Her voice broke, and Alex immediately pulled her into another hug as the tears finally broke forth. “Why is he drinking?” she asked.

Callie pulled away again, wiping her cheeks dry. “Kenny,” she said. “He feels guilty about setting you up with Cash now that he knows how Kenny feels. And Kenny’s behavior isn’t helping.”

Alex seemed to freeze when she said that, her eyes wide and her jaw tight. But before Callie could ask, she said, “Come on. I’ll take care of it.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Twenty minutes later, Alex didn’t wait for Callie before she climbed out of her Jeep and moved toward the front door of Callie and Adam’s house. Callie hurried to catch up with her as she let herself in.

“Where is he?” Alex asked.

“I’m not sure,” Callie said. “Probably in the backyard.”

Alex walked into the kitchen and got a glass out of one of the cabinets. She turned on the sink and filled it to the top with water.

“What’re you doing?” Callie asked.

She gave her a look. “Sobering him up.”

She walked purposefully toward the back of the house and out the sliding glass door. Adam sat with his eyes closed on one of the patio couches in front of the fire pit, his boots propped up on the ottoman, a beer can clutched in his hand. He didn’t even stir as Alex marched right up to him and threw the entire glass of water in his face.

“What the fuck?!” He sat up, sputtering. He blinked his eyes open against the light and water. “Alex?” he asked in confusion and anger. “What the fuck was that for?”

“For being a fucking jerk,” she returned. “For being passed out drunk in your backyard.”

“I’m not—” he cut himself off with a groan as he wiped the water from his face. “What the fuck are you even doing here?”

“Callie called me crying and asked me to come over,” she said with a motion toward Callie. “Did you even realize she was gone for more than two fucking hours?”

Adam cast his gaze regretfully at Callie. But he had nothing to say for himself. Alex let out a breath. She walked over to Callie and squeezed her shoulder. “Give us a minute, alright?”

She nodded. Her eyes were full of hurt as she looked briefly at Adam before turning and going back into the house. Alex made sure she’d closed the door behind her before she walked back over and sat down next to Adam on the couch, setting the empty glass on the ottoman. Adam spoke first.

“Did she really call you crying?”

Alex nodded. “Yeah.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “Fuck,” he breathed. “What did she say?”

“That your drinking’s gotten out of hand. That you’re self-medicating because you feel guilty about me and Kenny and won’t talk to her about it.”

For a long time, Adam didn’t say anything. When he finally did speak, he couldn’t look at her. “He blames me, Alex. He thinks I’m the reason that you two aren’t together anymore. And he’s not wrong.”

Alex’s face fell, suddenly becoming conscious of the weight of Kenny’s locket around her neck. She hadn’t bothered to take it off before running out of her house to meet Callie. She gripped the locket in her hand, worried that somehow Adam would know what it was. Know what she’d done after Dynamite that week. “Why do you think he blames you?”

“Because he fucking told me he does,” he returned with a look at her. His eyes were glassy. “He called me a guilty drunk.”

Her brow furrowed. “When?”

“After the fight at the hotel. I went to his room to talk to him. He thought I’d called him over to rub you and Cash in his face.”

Alex’s heart sank when she saw the look on Adam’s face. He was lost, broken, hurt. And then she realized: this wasn’t really about her and Kenny. It was about him and Kenny.

She scooted closer and pulled him into a hug. “You’re not a guilty drunk,” she assured. “You’re a good friend. Everything you did was done with good intentions. I know Kenny can’t see that now… but he will.”

Adam didn’t say anything in return. He just gripped her tight, clinging to her like a lifeline. It worried Alex. She’d never seen him like this. She’d witnessed his anxiety countless times before, the way he tended overthink and constantly doubt himself, but this was deeper. She wished she could take some of it on herself, help unburden him, if only for a moment.

Eventually, he let her go. He looked so tired. So defeated. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s better this way.”

She cocked her head at him. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I’ve felt like a black sheep for six months now,” he said. “Maybe longer. I don’t fit in with Kenny and Matt and Nick. That’s why I’ve been hanging out with Dax and Cash; I fit in with them. I know them, they accept me for who I am. And I feel like Kenny and the Bucks don’t. So I don’t know. Maybe I should just cut my losses.”

Alex frowned. “Trust me, I know how you feel.”

“What?” He gave her a confused look. “You and Best Friends are four peas in a fucking pod.”

A corner of her mouth quirked up. “No, I don’t mean them,” she clarified. “When I was… involved with Kenny last year, the entire time I felt like Matt and Nick hated me; especially Matt. It just seemed like they didn’t think I was good enough for Kenny. Honestly, sometimes I wonder if they influenced him against me.”

“Like I did with you against Kenny,” Adam muttered.

She pursed her lips. “The point I’m trying to make is that I know exactly how exclusive Kenny and the Bucks can act. But they let you into their circle for a reason. Yeah, you’re different from them in a lot of ways. But that doesn’t mean you don’t fit in. It just means you bring something unique to the table that none of them do. And if they don’t appreciate that… then that’s on them.”

Adam looked down at the ground. Alex wasn’t sure if he believed what she was telling him, but when he looked back at her his eyes seemed a little brighter. “Remember how we always used to talk about being a tag team? Maybe it’s time we finally did it.”

Alex gave a sarcastic laugh. “I’m sure Kenny would love that.”

He returned her grin, but it faded fast. “Thank you for being there for Callie,” he said. “I know I’m in the fucking doghouse now.”

She shook her head. “Just talk to her. That’s all she wants.”

He reached out and grabbed her hand. “Thank you, Alex,” he said again. “You’re my best friend, you know that?”

She squeezed his hand back. “I know. Don’t let Chuck hear you say that, though.”

“I don’t care, I’ll fight him.”

She smiled and pulled him into another hug. “No more drinks the rest of the day, alright?”

“Deal,” he agreed. They unwrapped their arms from around each other. “Do you want to stay for dinner, or something? You came all the way out here.”

Alex shook her head as she pushed her hair behind her ear. “No; I’ll give you two your privacy. Besides, I think the drive back will help clear my head.”

His brows knitted together when she said that. “Is everything alright?”

She pressed her mouth into a thin line. No, everything was not alright. But there was no way she could tell Adam what had happened with Kenny, not after what he’d just told her about all he was going through with The Elite. So she just said, “It’s just stuff. I’m an anxious millennial, too.”

Adam looked like he didn’t quite believe her; but, thankfully, he let it go. “Alright. Well text me when you get home.”

“I will.”

They exchanged goodbyes, and Alex went back into the house and exchanged a few reassuring words with Callie before going out the door and climbing back into her Jeep. And as she got on the road and started the two-hour drive back home, she rolled down the windows and cranked up the music, hoping it would take her away to another place.

* * * * * * * * * *

Alex closed her eyes and pulled her legs into her chest as she sunk back into her cubby hole in the locker room, making herself small. She breathed in through her nose and exhaled through her mouth, trying desperately to just focus on the moment in front of her. She’d been ruminating all day—all week—teetering on the edge of an anxiety attack ever since she’d set foot into Daily’s Place. And she had no one to blame but herself.

Cash knew something was wrong. She’d told him she was nervous about his match that night, which wasn’t entirely untrue—FTR was teaming with The Elite against Dark Order in a 12-man tag match. He’d assured her that it would be alright; he was more than capable of putting his issues with Kenny aside for the sake of the match. But his assurance had only made her feel worse. The issues he knew were just the tip of the iceberg.

Alex had tried not to text Kenny back after he’d responded to her Instagram post. She’d tried to put it out of her mind, and she’d damn near succeeded. But, later that night, long after she’d returned home from Callie and Adam’s, Kenny had sent another message: Why’d you post that picture? And she hadn’t been able to stop herself from answering: Because I was thinking of you.

It had been a slippery slope from there.

I can’t ever stop thinking of you.

We shouldn’t do this.

You’re the one who posted that picture. You wanted me to see it.

I’m going to sleep.

Goodnight, baby.

I dreamed about you last night.

A good dream or a bad dream?

A good one. A not PG one.

And what did you do when you woke up?

Do you have to ask?

Did you think of me?

Yes.

Do you think of me when you’re with him?

Kenny, stop. This isn’t right.

That’s not a no.

She’d deleted the texts before going to Cash’s place the next day; and, somehow, that made her feel even guiltier than sending them. It meant she had something to hide. It proved that Kenny still held a part of her heart even while she was falling in love with Cash. And she knew that if she didn’t figure out who she wanted to give her heart to completely, she’d be left with nothing but a gaping hole in her chest.

Someone nudged her knee. She opened her eyes. Chuck stood in front of her. “Hey. Are you coming out with us for our match against Santana and Ortiz?”

Alex chewed nervously on her lip. But she nodded. “Yeah, of course.”

He smiled. “Cool. We’re on second in case you haven’t seen the card.”

Alex just nodded. She knew they were on second—right after FTR and The Elite’s match against Dark Order. The thought of that alone made her anxious.

Her phone vibrated in her hand. She looked down at the screen and felt herself stumble closer to the edge. It was a text from Kenny.

Meet me in the EVP room. Please.

Her mouth went dry. She knew she shouldn’t go even as she stood and told Chuck she’d be right back. She knew she should turn around with every step she took closer and closer to the EVP room. She knew she shouldn’t raise her fist and knock even as she did, and she definitely knew she shouldn’t have gone in and closed the door as soon as she saw Kenny sitting on the couch, alone.

“Hey.” He stood and met her halfway, and the next thing Alex knew his hands were on her face and his lips on hers. It was a different kiss entirely from the one they’d shared last week, tender and slow instead of desperate and hungry, and, for a few seconds, she returned it. But then she thought of Cash and pushed him away.

“No; we can’t do this, Kenny.”

She took a step back, afraid that if she didn’t he’d pull her right back into his orbit. Even now she could feel it tugging at her heart.

He breathed a laugh. “Yeah, you keep saying that. Yet here you are.”

Her shoulders slumped. She had no good answer for that. He was right.

He took a step closer. She didn’t move. “Why post that picture?” He gripped her hips, drawing her into him. “Why tell me that you got yourself off thinking about me if you don’t want this?”

“I’m not cheating on Cash.”

“So break up with him.”

Her breath hitched in her throat. “It’s not that simple.”

He looked to the ceiling, let her go and took a step back. “Right. Of course it’s not,” he breathed. “But it was simple when you ended things with me to start seeing him.”

Alex’s eyebrow arched. Hurt. “No, it wasn’t.”

“Wasn’t it?”

“No,” she repeated. “That was the hardest fucking conversation I’ve ever had. And it’s not fair of you to compare that to this. That was different.”

“How? How was it different?”

“Because we weren’t together. I didn’t cheat on you with Cash.”

“Oh bullshit, Alex,” he shot. “We were together.”

“For a week. I’ve been with Cash for over a month now.”

“And yet, here you are.”

Again, she was at a loss. She was here with him because a part of her wanted to be. But another part of her knew it was wrong.

He stepped forward again, cupped her face in his hands. He looked into her eyes, and Alex felt it all the way into her soul. “What do you want, Alex?”

Her answer came out barely above a whisper. “I don’t know.”

The door handle suddenly turned. Alex and Kenny jumped apart from each other just as Matt and Nick walked into the room. They both came to a halt just inside the door, staring back and forth between them. Alex flushed and looked away. If the conspicuous distance between her and Kenny wasn’t a dead giveaway that they’d interrupted something, the awkward silence certainly was.

“Uh, hey guys…” Nick said just to say something. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” Alex quickly returned. Too quickly. She glanced at Kenny, “I just had a question… about the women’s tag team tournament. So, I came and asked it.”

Matt and Nick stared blankly back at her. That was a blatant lie; she wasn’t even in the women’s tag team tournament. Her heart pounded in her ears. She needed to leave.

“Well, I’m gonna go,” she said. “Gotta get ready for Chuck and Trent’s match against Santana and Ortiz.”

She didn’t look back at Kenny as she moved toward the door. Matt and Nick stepped aside so she could exit, and she hurried out the door and into the hall, stumbling on the edge, using what little strength she had left to at least make it somewhere private before she broke down.

* * * * * * * * * *

Alex stood next to Callie at Gorilla, her eyes trained on the monitor in front of them, chewing her lip so hard that it started to hurt. Neither of them had said so much as a word to each other since the 12-man tag match had started. They were both far too wrapped up in their own thoughts and concerns about the men in the ring.

She held her breath as Stu Grayson and Nine set up Adam for a double vertical suplex; but Dax and Cash came in for the save, catching Adam before he could hit the mat. Kenny joined them, and they all lined up and hit a four-on-three triple vertical suplex against Grayson, Nine, and Evil Uno. Adam went for the pin—but Colt Cabana flew in and broke it up.

Callie let out a breath. “Well, they’ve actually been working pretty well together so far,” she remarked.

Alex didn’t say anything in response. Much to her surprise, they had been working well together so far, and Dark Order hadn’t been able to get in much offense at all. But Kenny and Cash had also largely avoided each other. It was an easy thing to do in a match with so many people.

Smack!

Shit.” Alex’s hand flew to her mouth. After Colt had broken up the pin attempt, Kenny had given chase to him around the ring—and he’d run straight into a massive superkick from Brodie Lee.

The domination by The Elite and FTR ended at that point. Grayson and Uno isolated Kenny in the ring, taking turns beating him down. Alex almost didn’t want to watch. But then Five tagged in, and Kenny managed to dive for a tag to Dax.

Kenny rolled to the floor outside the ring while FTR went to work on Five. He charged Cash in the corner, but Cash floated over him, rebounded off the ropes, and caught him in a resounding powerslam. Then Grayson ran in, but Cash hit him with a back suplex, followed by a powerful clothesline to take out Evil Uno right after.

“Damn,” Callie smirked at her. “That’s your man.”

Alex’s stomach churned. That was her man. And he had no idea he was sharing her heart with someone else.

They turned their attention back to the match. FTR and Adam were all in the ring. They looked like they were attempting to put simultaneous figure four leg locks on Five, Grayson, and Uno; but before they could, the three members of the Dark Order all kicked them away at once, sending them crashing into each other.

After that, The Elite took over. Kenny returned to the match and worked impeccably with Adam against Five and Grayson, and Nick showed off why he was the best high-flier in the company. But Alex’s eyes were on Cash, watching him as he stood on the ring apron with Dax. It was subtle, but she could tell that he didn’t like standing by while Kenny and the rest of The Elite took all the glory. She was certain it didn’t help when Kenny and Nick started pandering to the camera, chanting, “The Elite! The-the Elite!”

Eventually, Dax tagged in. He grabbed Five and held him across his knee, setting up for Demolition Decapitation. But when Cash delivered the tandem move from the middle rope, Dax fell to the mat, clutching his right knee.

“Oh no,” Callie gasped.

Alex watched in concerned silence as Cash went to check on his partner. Meanwhile, Kenny tagged in and hit a Dr. Wiley Bomb on Five; but other members of Dark Order broke up the pin attempt.

After that, Kenny was left to fend for himself. Cash and the ringside trainer helped Dax to the back—as did Adam. Nick and Matt watched after him as he went, completely confused as to why he was going with them.

So was Callie. “What is he doing?”

Alex didn’t know what to say. She thought back to what Adam had told her that weekend, how he felt more comfortable with FTR than he did The Elite. She wondered if he’d said as much to Callie after she’d left. But then Adam appeared, passing through the Gorilla curtain after FTR and the trainer. Callie sent him a perplexed look.

“Adam, what are you doing?”

He didn’t break his stride as he looked at her over his shoulder. “What?” he returned, as if he didn’t understand why she was asking such a thing. “He’s hurt, Callie.”

Callie gaped back at him. “But your tag team partner is still out there…” she said, more to herself than him. He was already gone.

They both turned back to the monitor. It was a six-on-three match now, and Dark Order was taking turns beating down Matt. Colt nearly scored the victory for his team after hitting a big splash off the top rope, but Matt kicked out. He got a last burst of energy and did his best to fend them off; Callie cheered when he hit Five with a springboard stunner. Seeing an opening, he tried to tag in Nick—but Evil Uno pulled him to the floor and delivered a brutal belly-to-belly suplex that flattened him.

Once again, Matt was left to keep his team alive. But then a blur ran past Callie and Alex. Adam. He hurried to the ring apron, extending his arm out to Matt. He tagged him in—and Adam went ballistic. He delivered lariats to Grayson and Five before launching himself over the ropes and taking out Colt with a crossbody. Then he jumped back in the ring and delivered another lariat that sent Five over the ropes before running and diving through the ropes in a suicide dive to take out Nine.

Alex stole a glance at Callie. She expected her to be wildly cheering Adam on with the crowd—but she looked confused still. “Where the hell is Kenny?” she suddenly asked.

“There,” Alex said with a nod as he appeared on the other side of the ring apron from where Adam stood. But then Adam climbed atop the turnbuckle and did a moonsault onto all of Dark Order except Brodie—and Mr. Lee was not happy.

Adam picked Five up and tossed him back into the ring, climbing in after him. He threw him face-first into the turnbuckle, goading Brodie to tag in. It worked. He stepped through the ropes and the two men sized each other up. Adam started talking shit, and Alex smirked; that was the Hangman she knew. But then Brodie struck. They started trading big blows in the middle of the ring, but Dark Order gained the upper hand by opening the ropes just as Adam tried to rebound off them, sending him falling to the floor below. Brodie dove through the ropes and hit him like a battering ram, and Adam slammed into the guardrail. But Brodie didn’t waste a second; he immediately threw him back into the ring. The next thing they knew, Adam was draped across Colt’s shoulders as he stood atop the middle rope, a soon-to-be victim of the Chicago Skyline.

He hit the move. Callie and Alex both winced as Adam ricocheted off the turnbuckle and rolled lifelessly to the center of the mat. “Okay seriously, where the fuck is Kenny?” Callie asked again as Colt went for the pin. Her question was answered went Kenny suddenly dove into the ring, breaking up the pin attempt at two.

“Finally!” Callie breathed. She was obviously frustrated. Maybe Adam had told her how he’d been feeling about The Elite, Alex thought.

Kenny and Adam did their best to regain control, but Grayson and Evil Uno hit them with a combination 450 splash and corner cannonball. Kenny rolled out of the ring while Grayson covered Adam—but he kicked out a two.

“Yes!” Callie and Alex both proclaimed. They exchanged a grin.

Grayson tagged in Brodie. But before he could hit Adam with a discus lariat, Matt and Nick jumped into the ring and delivered a Superkick Party just as Adam ducked out of the way. They did the same to Uno and Grayson, clearing the ring of everyone but Brodie.

Kenny slid back into the ring while Adam rolled out of it onto the ramp. Kenny charged and locked his arms behind Brodie’s head, and he and the Bucks hit a combination Superkick Party and snapdragon suplex to the leader of Dark Order.

Kenny pulled Brodie to his knees in the center of the ring and pointed at Adam as he climbed to his feet. Adam ran toward the ropes and flipped into the ring, going for the Buckshot Lariat; but Brodie ducked out of the way, causing him to nearly hit Kenny instead. Alex’s heart dropped into her stomach as Adam turned around. Brodie hit him with a massive lariat that sent him flipping head over heels onto the mat. He covered him, and the ref counted one-two-three.

“Fuck,” Alex breathed. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all.

“Oh my God.” Callie ran her hands through her hair, gripping at the ends. “This is the last thing he needs right now,” she said, just above her breath.

Kenny and the Bucks moved to check on Adam as Dark Order assembled victorious on the entrance ramp. Alex couldn’t watch anymore. “I’m gonna go find Cash,” she said to Callie.

She nodded. “Yeah, go. I’ll deal with this.”

Alex gave her a tight smile as she turned and hurried out of Gorilla. She really did want to go find Cash and see if Dax was alright. But she also just didn’t want to be there when Kenny came back through the curtain.

* * * * * * * * * *

Later that night, Alex laid in bed with Cash in their hotel room, scrolling through her Twitter timeline on her phone. The room was quiet—almost awkwardly so. But there was far too much weighing on her right now. Keeping her mouth shut seemed like the safest option, no matter how much it pained her.

Her timeline was inundated with tweets about the 12-man tag match, hours after it had happened. She came across one speculating about Dax’s injury; thankfully, he’d just tweaked his knee. But it was bad enough that the trainer had told him he needed to rest it for the next few days.

She abruptly stopped scrolling when she came across a video of Adam nearly nailing Kenny with the Buckshot Lariat. She watched it a few times over with the sound off, trying to gauge Kenny’s reaction; but it was too hard to tell. She hoped Kenny knew it was a complete accident. She hoped Adam didn’t blame himself for the loss.

Suddenly, Cash took her phone and gently pulled it out of her hands. She gave him a confused look as he set it on the nightstand with his. “What’re you doing?”

He didn’t say anything; he just pulled her closer and kissed her. His tongue parted her lips, tasting her, and Alex welcomed his touch. She ran her hand up the back of his neck and threaded her fingers through his hair, relishing the feel of him. He moved his mouth to her neck. “Tell me what’s wrong,” he murmured against her skin.

She went rigid and then instantly tried to relax again, hoping he hadn’t noticed. “Nothing’s wrong,” she lied.

“Yes there is.” He pulled back and looked down at her. “Talk to me, sweetheart.”

Alex’s heart dropped into her stomach. There was more than just concern in Cash’s eyes as he stared into hers. There was love. And suddenly, she knew she couldn’t hide it from him anymore.

“I kissed Kenny.”

She almost couldn’t hear herself say it, her heart was pounding so loudly in her ears. But she didn’t miss the way Cash’s expression changed. Confusion. Disbelief. “What?”

Tears sprung into Alex’s eyes, burning her sinuses. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

He sat up, pulling away from her. His sudden distance made the air feel cold. “When?”

“Last week,” she said. The rest of it came tumbling out in a rush. “I went to talk to him during your match about something Matt Jackson had said to me earlier in the day. But when I got there he gave me a locket he’d had made for me. He told me he’s in love with me.”

Cash sat up further. “What?”

Tears fell from her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she repeated. “I was overwhelmed and I wasn’t thinking—”

She abruptly stopped when Cash flung back the covers and sprung out of bed. Alex watched as he haphazardly pulled on a pair of sweats. She felt herself start to panic. “What’re you doing?”

He didn’t justify her with a response. Instead, he charged out the door and slammed it shut behind him.

Alex sat there for a second, stunned in the deafening silence. And then she realized exactly what he was doing.

She scrambled out from under the covers and ran out the door after him. He was already halfway down the hall. Headed straight for Kenny’s room.

“Cash, wait!” she begged, shouting after him. But he didn’t stop—not until he was in front of Kenny’s door. Alex moved her legs faster.

He balled up a fist and banged so hard on the door that it reverberated down the hall. “Open up, Kenny!” he yelled, deep and angry in his chest.

“Please don’t do this,” Alex pleaded. Kenny opened the door just as she reached him.

“What the f—”

He didn’t get to finish before Cash punched him hard in the mouth.

Kenny stumbled back into the room and fell to the floor. Cash was on him in an instant. He grabbed him by the hair and hit him again.

“STOP!” Alex bellowed. Suddenly, Matt and Nick came flying from next door. They charged into the room and forcefully pried Cash off of Kenny.

“Get the fuck off me!” Cash shouted as they struggled to hold him back. He was enraged. “Who the fuck do you think you are, Kenny? Huh? Telling another man’s girlfriend you’re in love with her?”

Kenny smirked up at him. His mouth was red with blood. “What?” he taunted. “Are you worried about it?”

Cash tried to lunge at him again, but Matt managed to force him out the door and into the hall, nearly bowling over Alex in the process. Nick slammed the door closed, staying in the room with Ken. Matt gave Cash a final hard shove before pointing a stern finger in his face.

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll get the fuck outta here.”

But Cash wasn’t intimidated. “Oh yeah? What’re you gonna do, Matt? Suspend me?”

Matt took a threatening step forward. “I’ll fucking fire you.”

Alex stood rooted to her spot, petrified, afraid to even breathe as the two men stared each other down. She’d never seen Matt so angry, and she didn’t doubt for a second that he would fire Cash. But, thankfully, Cash swallowed his pride and turned and stalked back off down the hall without another word.

It took a second for Alex to get her legs to work so she could follow after him. “Cash, wait,” she said again—and again, he didn’t stop or look back. She hurried to keep up with him. As soon as they were back inside their room, he whirled around to face her, stopping her dead. His eyes were hard.

“You kissed him?”

She had to swallow a lump in her throat before she could answer. “Yes.”

He let out a breath, ran a hand through his hair. He turned and walked further into the room. “Did anything else—” but he cut himself off, shaking his head. “Actually, no. I don’t even want to know. Because I knew—I knew you weren’t over him.”

The accusation knocked the air from Alex’s lungs. She felt hollow. She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t breathe.

He looked back at her. And as they stared at each other from across the room, Alex realized that the hardness in his eyes wasn’t out of anger. It was out of hurt. “Alex… you need to figure out who you want: me or him.”

She took a step forward. “I want—”

“No,” he shook his head, cutting her off. “Don’t say you want me because it’s the right thing to say right now. You need to think about it. And so do I.”

He turned away from her again. “Cash…”

“You should probably sleep somewhere else tonight.”

That was the final blow. It cut her legs out from underneath her, gutted her from pelvis to sternum. And it felt like she’d done it to herself.

She walked over to the nightstand and grabbed her phone. Their gaze met as he sat down on the bed. His eyes were glassy.

“I’m sorry,” she breathed, and she turned and went out the door with a gaping hole in her chest where her heart should have been.

63 notes · View notes

artoverchaos · 3 years ago

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Kindle Vella Blog Hop!

Hello peeps! Can’t believe how much of 2021 is over, and how many new things there are in this strange world.

Speaking of new, I joined in with some great Kindle Vella authors for you all to check out and enjoy. Hope you’re having a wonderful day and find a new fav!

Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast by Kelsey Josephson Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy

A bookish strongwoman longs for freedom. A beast searches for a cure. Together, they’ll break man-made curses.

From The Author I have a deep love for Universal Monster movies, all things related to Nikola Tesla, and iced coffee. The first two things fuel my creativity and the latter keeps me motivated! You can check my other works on my website: simplykelseyjo.com/

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Beneath Gehenna by Benjamin X. Wretlind Genre: Dystopian Steampunk SciFi

After an alert goes out to the paying members of the disaster bunker known as New Eden, residents find themselves trapped between two vastly different worlds: one that preys on trauma and one that creates it. Now, a newly wealthy yet troubled man and his new friends must find a way to live with the Hell they bought or return to the Hell which remains.

About The Author Benjamin ran with scissors when he was five. He now writes, paints, uses sharp woodworking tools and plays with glue. Sometimes he does these things at the same time. You can read more at https://www.bxwretlind.com/ where, in addition to books and art, he writes blog articles focused (mostly) on writing.

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Death Date by B.Y. Simpson Genre: YA Dystopian

People tell you to live life to the fullest. Take your time. Don’t make rash decisions. I should have listened. Maybe it would have made a difference. Tomorrow is my eighteenth birthday. A day that’s supposed to be special. Eighteen years old means adulthood. Life is just starting. That’s how it used to be, years ago. Before our new society formed. Instead, I face uncertainty. My past sways the outcome. On this birthday, I will receive the most important gift. The gift of the date I will die.

From The Author: In addition to writing YA Dystopian, I also write YA Fantasy. You can check out more about my projects on Facebook.

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A Forest of Stolen Memories by Callie Thomas Genre: YA Fantasy

Celebration turns to disaster when a mysterious curse goes awry. A reminder that the Sorcerer’s prophecy still plagued the royal family. Roselyn’s memory is suddenly erased, leaving her panicked at the altar. Confused, she flees to the place the prince fears most–the enchanted Mistbrooke Forest. Danger lingers closer than she can imagine, forcing her to seek help from a dark stranger who may be the key to recovering her lost memories. Can she break the curse without breaking her heart?

From The Author:

A lot of inspiration for the forest descriptions in my story comes from the tropical island where I’m stationed: Okinawa, Japan. You can catch up with me on Facebook and Instagram.

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We Own These Streets by Rose Sinclair Genre: Science Fiction

Victor and Iris aim to change a dangerous race to first place, that’s if they can survive the literal fast-paced profit motive.

The race is on… but can they ever stop?

From The Author: Thought this could be the fun little star on a map that says “You Are Here!” I’m no stranger to this genre, since this makes my third. But We Own These Streets tackles capitalism far more head on than the others, in a way that isn’t so depressing. _______________________________

Fight or Flight: A Cinderella Tale of Court Intrigue by Katie Holmburg Genre: Fantasy

The stories never tell of what happens after the Prince finds his Bride and Cinderella finds her ‘Happily Ever After’. What should be a happily ever after for Alyssa quickly becomes a game of survival as she tries to navigate a hostile court and those who are eyeing her position next to the prince.

Will she manage to win the game or will the strike of midnight only declare the beginning of her doom?

From The Author:

In addition to writing Urban Fantasy, one of the things I love to do is write fanfiction. You can check it all out here on my blog in addition to my original works.

_______________________________

15 Saddles Genre: Thriller/Romance

Tate and Claire are leaving Las Vegas. He wants to escape a crippled MC after their beloved leader is murdered. She wants to flee a dead-end job and “Mommy Dearest” mother–who suspiciously took her father’s place as the club’s new president. When she hastily agrees to a meeting with a man her mother hates, Claire’s thrown into a night of terror that derails Tate’s plans. Lies unravel…and sins are revealed. But will those secrets be bigger than the one they buried in the desert years ago?

From The Author:

I live in Cincinnati and write the Darcy Walker mysteries and the Rivera and Gutierrez Novellas. www.instagram.com/ajlapebooks

_______________________________ An Operator’s Daughter

Genre: Coming of Age Romance, Family/High School Drama

Severe anxiety and sexual harassment, 17-year-old Ashton has to deal with both when jettisoned into a dysfunctional family and chaotic high school. Her father, a retired SEAL, is struggling with the death of his soulmate and loss of self-purpose, and refuses to provide a home for the two of them to share.

About The Author:

Laurie Anne Brandon writes fiction based on her experiences living in suburban Western Washington state and careers in sports television production, alpine ski instruction, secondary education, and military educational counseling. An Operator’s Daughter is her first work of serial fiction. Catch up on facebook! _______________________________

The 7th Whistleblower Genre: Mystery/Suspense/YA

Claire, a journalism student at Brunston University has stumbled onto quite a few secrets about B.U.s alumnae. Outing the culprits might not only destroy the guilty, but take down the innocent as well. Travel with Claire Richardson as she navigates a sticky trail of clues that will ultimately force her to choose between what is good and what is evil.

From The Author:

Every since I was a young girl I absolutely loved watching Mystery and Suspense movies with my mother. The art of a story unfolding to reveal the larger picture inspires me to create characters whose curiosity pushes them to find the truth. Visit my Link Tree for more info!

#authors #vella #kindle vella #serial fiction #free reads

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aerynwrites · 5 years ago

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Reputation

Javier Peña x Reader

Author’s Note: I didn’t intend this to be almost 2k but...here we are. Hope y’all enjoy lol. This is different than any Javi fic I’ve done and i actually kind of enjoyed it!

Request: Maybe for a request what about one with Javier where the reader is Steve's sister. She comes to Columbia to visit and Steve tries to keep Javi away from her. Then while Javi and Steve are out one night at a bar Steve's sister walks in not knowing there and Javi sees her and doesn't know she's Steve's sister. Sorry for long explanation. (Requested by @dizzydazed)

Word Count: 1.6k

Warnings: hints of future sexual encounters? Cursing, fluff?

////

You were beyond excited when the apartment door opened to reveal Steve’s face. You called out his name and launched yourself into his arms as he engulfed you in an equally fierce embrace.

“Oh man!” he said holding you at arm’s length and looking you over, “I haven’t seen you in ages! How have you been?” he asks genuinely, pulling you into another, gentler, hug.

You laughed, “I’ve been good Steve, but I’m just finally happy to be visiting! Mom was practically begging me to come down here and make sure you were still alive,” you tease your brother.

Yes, you were Steve Murphy’s younger sister, only by a few years, but he still took on the protective big brother role. You and Steve continue to catch up well into the afternoon, and until Connie came home from work. Steve had taken the day off, wanting to spend as much time with you as he could while you were visiting. Just as you, Connie and Steve had sat down at the table to eat dinner, there a knock at the door. You looked questioningly to Steve, who just rolled his eyes and held up his finger, telling you to give him a minute as he went to answer the door. You and Connie waited patiently for Steve to return, and in the silence, you couldn’t help but overhear the conversation Steve was having with whoever was at the door.

“Why weren’t you at work today?” an unfamiliar voice asked.

Steve sighed, “I told you a few days ago Javier, my sister is visiting from the states, I’m taking a few days off.”

“Your sister?” the man you now knew as Javier spoke, “you never told me you had a sister,” he observed.

“It wasn’t really important, now if you don’t mind, we area out to have dinner, can we talk later?” Steve basically pleaded.

Connie chose this moment to speak up, “We have an extra plate!” she called, talking to Steve, “He can have dinner with us honey.”

You couldn’t see them, but they must have been exchanging looks or doing something nonverbal because after a long and awkward silence, Javier finally spoke up, “No, no it’s fine. I just wanted to check in, have a nice night,” Javier said, before you heard the door click shut and Steve walked back into the room taking his seat at the table.

You looked at him questioningly, “Why didn’t invite him in Steve? You always mention him on out phones calls…I thought you guys were friends?”

He sighs before picking up his fork and digging into his food, “I just-“ he pauses, glancing over to Connie, “Javier has a bit of a reputation…and I’d rather him not be around you is all,” he says cautiously.

You felt irritation build up inside you as you too began eating, “So you didn’t let your partner, who has, from what you told me, risked his life for you – have dinner with us because you’re worried he would try to get into my pants?” you ask, bewildered.

Steve choked slightly as the words left your mouth, and Connie tried to stifle a laugh as she rubbed his back. Steve took a large gulp of water before he spoke again, “well when you put it like that-“

You shake your head, “How else would you put it?” you ask, “I’m not a little girl Steve, I can take care of myself. You don’t have to protect me.”

Steve sighed, “I know that (y/n), I just…I’m sorry,” he apologizes, what seems like true regret evident in his voice.

You give him a small nod seemingly satisfied, “it’s fine Steve, I get that you’re just trying to look out for me. But before I leave, you’re inviting him over for dinner, I need to meet the guy who saved my brother’s ass,” you smirk.

Steve spluttered, “Hey-“ he jabs his fork in your direction, “I saved him too you know!”

----

The next few days were mostly uneventful, Connie and Steve had taken you around to see what they could of Colombia, but most of your visit was just catching up with Steve. You had pretty much been attached at the hip since you arrived, so you didn’t question it when Steve had told you he was going to hang out with Javier for a few hours one evening. You simply waved him goodbye and continued reading a book you had been working on since Connie would be working late.

Eventually, however, you got bored of your book and decided you wanted a drink. You remembered a bar you say down the street and decided to go there, grabbing your jacket and the spare key to the apartment Steve had given you. When you make it to the small building, you head immediately to the bar and flag the bartender down to order a drink, giving him a small smile as he finally brings you your drink. you sit, sipping your drink slowly for a few moments, before you feel a new presence take a seat at the bar next to you.

“What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?” an oddly familiar voice meets your ears.

You turn to face the man who has occupied the neighboring seat and are pleasantly surprised to find a dashingly handsome man. Dark hair, dark eyes, and a leather jacket to match. Just your type.

You give him a coy smile, “You say that to all the girls you meet in a bar?”

The man lets out a rich laugh, one that sends butterflies straight to your tummy, and then he gives you a smile, “only the pretty ones,” he begins, “plus, you’re not from around here so I figured you might be lonely,” he says simply, his eyes leaving you and hand raising as he flags down the barkeep.

You raise your brows slightly, “And how do you know I’m not from around here?” you question teasingly.

Javier settles in his seat once more, “Well without hearing you talk, you just look like an American,” he says simply.

You scoff, “Well you’re not from around here either, you have just as much of an accent as I do,” you point out defensively.

The man holds his hands up in mock surrender, “You’re got me,” he holds out one hand, “Names Javier. I’m just down here for work.”

The minute the words leave his mouth your eyes widen in surprise as your brain finally places where you know his voice from, “You’re Steve’s partner!”

Now it’s Javier’s turn to look surprised, “How did you-“

You chuckle, “I heard you and Steve talking the other day when you came over,” you begin, “I knew you sounded familiar just now but it didn’t click until you said your name,” you finally take his hand in yours, “My name’s (y/n) Murphy, Steve’s sister.”

Javier’s eyes flood with recognition, and he hums, “I knew you looked familiar. A little older than the picture I’ve seen, but Steve had a picture of you, him and Connie on his desk.”

You smile at the information, “Sounds like something he’d do –“

“Hey Javi!” an all too familiar voice cuts you off, “What the hell is taking so long-“

Steve stops short when he sees you and Javier sitting a little to close for comfort. His jaw sets and he looks from Javier to you, and you just hold up your hands in defense.

“Hey, I did not know this is where you were going when you said you were going out,” you defend, “I just wanted a drink.”

Javier looks confusedly between you and Steve, “Is there a problem?”

Steve opens his mouth to speak but you cut him off, “Stevie here” you pat his back, “didn’t want me around you because you have,” you cover your mouth in a mock attempt to be secretive and whisper yell, “a reputation,” a smirk settling on your face.

Javier scoffs and downs his drink the bartender had set down moments earlier before setting the glass down again, “Really man? You wouldn’t let me have dinner with you guys because you were worried I’d fuck your sister?” disbelief, and what sounded like hurt, filled his voice.

Steve just sighs and shakes his head, “I don’t – I don’t want to deal with this right now. Javi – “ he puts his hands on his shoulder, “you’re welcome to dinner tomorrow night, but can we please go back to what we were talking about before?” he asks jutting his thumb back towards the table they were occupying before you and shown up, and starts to walk that way.

Javier rolls his eyes and stands up, not taking his eyes of you as he does, “It was nice meeting you (y/n),” he says kindly.

You nod, “Likewise Javi.”

Javier shivers as his nickname leaves your lips, and all he can manage to do is nod curtly before turning to walk away. However, a small hand on his wrist stops him in his tracks and he turns slightly before he jolts when your breath fans over his ear, “If you want to make good on Steve’s assumption…Him and Connie have plans tomorrow evening,” you say softly, hand squeezing his wrist slightly, before turning and placing some money on the bar before brushing past him and towards the door, “You know where to find me,” you say finally, sending him a wink as you exit the bar.

Javier could do nothing but started after you, shocked to his core for the first time in years.

“Javier!”

Javi jolted and turned to walk back to your brother, “Coming!”

As Javier slid into the booth and tried to listen to Steve, all that he could manage to think of was you. And he wondered what the hell he had gotten himself into.

////

Permanent Taglist: @lord-wolfgen @petalduck @sebastianstanslefteyebrow @stillreadingfantasy @pedrosdoll @simonsbluee @justlovetoreadfics@discogrrl @maryan028 @asaucecoveredsomething @hiscyarika @theforceofdisney @hail-doodles

Pedro Tag: @fleurdemiel145 @lustriix @yeah-boiiiiiiiiiii @longitud-de-onda @jellyfishpoptart @ah-callie @mutantsandproud @pascalisthepunkest @24kgolden @kaelyn-lobrutto24

#Javier pena x reader #pedro pascal x reader #Steve murphy x reader #steve murphy #narcos x reader #narcos

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daisyxbuckley · 4 years ago

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O’Death//Calliope Kane Book 2

Holy fucking shit guys. Like I don’t even have an excuse. Here is the next chapter for book two. This chapter is SUPER long but oh well. I ended up getting carried away with it. Tell me what you think! Enjoy! Description: The Grounders have been defeated. The people on the Ark have landed safely….so where is the rest of The 100? Calliope and her friends must work in a race against time to save everyone..no matter the cost.

Masterlist

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Bellamy slunk through the woods with Lincoln, trying to keep up. The entire time though his mind was still back at the camp with Callie. He knew that it was the best choice leaving her behind. But that still didn’t mean that he wasn’t worried about her. Lincoln must've noticed because when they stopped for water, he kept looking at the other man. “If you keep your mind back at camp, then you won't be able to focus on what’s going on here.” Bellamy looked at him and shook his head with a small smile on his face.

“I didn’t realize it was that obvious.”

“Octavia told me about you guys when you were up on the Ark. About how you became friends and what happened after.” Lincoln said quietly. “Why did you leave her?” The question honestly wasn’t a surprise to Bellamy. It was just something that most people never asked him, and it was a question that he never really liked the answer to.

“I guess I was blaming her for something that was out of her control. It was easier to blame her for something that was my fault.” And that was the truth. Bellamy knew that he was careless that day, he knew that he shouldn’t have risked letting Octavia go out with everyone else...but he just wanted to make his sister happy. “Her dad was the one who pushed the button to float my mom, so it made it easier.”

“It seems like you had suffered enough and didn’t want to lose her too, so you pushed her away.” Lincoln said as he looked around, making sure the coast was still clear. “But Callie seems to understand why you did what you did.”

Bellamy nodded, knowing that he really didn’t have to say much to try and justify his actions with the other man. “Hopefully i'll be able to spend a long time making it up to her.” He said before he wiped his hands and stood up. “Okay, I need to know, we make it to the intake door without any of the real reapers seeing us. What happens next?”

Lincoln got up and walked over to where a dead deer carcass was. He started slowly cutting it open and started putting the blood on his face. “I kill everyone and you slip in.” He said as he started to put the blood on Bellamy’s face. “This needs to be quick though, we don’t want to give off any indication that we were there.” Bellamy nodded as he watched Lincoln pack up and head towards where they needed to go. As they started into the woods, Bellamy gently grabbed Lincoln’s arm.

“Thank you for saving my sister. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t found her.” He said quietly. “I’m sorry for not trusting you before.”

“We have all made mistakes since meeting, the difference between us and the enemy is that we learn from them and we work together.” Lincoln said before heading off with Bellamy following.

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

The tension inside the building was palpable. Callie honestly didn’t know what would happen next, but she wouldn’t be surprised if someone lunged at someone soon. Lexa’s warriors had been less than thrilled that Lexa had wanted to work with them, but at the same time the girl didn’t care. Their friends were in there as well as a lot of Lexa’s men and if working together meant they all were able to get them all out then so be it. Callie watched Lexa and Clarke go back and forth as they argued over a plan. Though she tried to pay attention the girl’s mind kept wandering back to where Bellamy was. She knew that it would be a minute before she actually heard from him, but that didn't help the pit in the bottom of her stomach. They shouldn’t have to fight for survival anymore, yet here they were. Callie zoned out so much that she didn’t realize Clarke was raising her voice in frustration till she looked up and saw the blonde storm out of the tent. Catching Major Bryne’s eye, Callie nodded as she motioned for the woman to follow Clarke. She waited till they were both out of sight when she finally walked over to Lexa.

“What’s going on?” Callie asked as people started filing out of the room.

“Clarke is putting too much faith in your friend. She refuses to have a plan that doesn’t end up saving everyone in the end.” Lexa said looking at Callie as the redhead’s eyes were trained on the door. “She could be a great leader...but she needs to learn to make the hard sacrifices.”

Callie knew what Lexa was talking about. From the moment they all landed, Clarke wanted to make sure that EVERYONE was safe. Even if it wasn’t the best for the whole group. “Yeah, I know. But is that such a bad thing in this world?”

“It is when you want to stay alive. Calliope, you all lived in space in a place that wasn’t in danger of being taken over, where you didn’t have to make sure that you were the strongest person. You were all just a danger to yourselves.” Lexa said as Callie finally looked at her. “But down here..it’s different. We have been fighting this enemy for as long as I can remember and in this world showing weakness will get you killed.”

Callie knew that Lexa was right. She knew it because she already saw what happened when you were weak down here. When you tried to play devil's advocate, but she hated the fact that it had to be that way.

“Bellamy wont let us down...he will get inside the mountain.” Callie said quietly. She felt a hand on her shoulder as she looked at Lexa’s face. It wasn’t malicious or cold, but sad.

“Callie..you and Clarke could both be great leaders. But you need to realize that you can’t always win a war without sacrifice. You need to be able to make the tough choices. If we don’t hear from Bellamy soon then we are going to go with my plan.” She said as she squeezed the other girl's shoulder and walked out. Callie stayed in the room for a little longer before she headed back out into the night. Heading back to the small fire, Callie leaned against the tree and closed her eyes trying to think. All she wanted was to be back at base, chilling out with her friends and not worrying anymore. And now she had to figure out if they were all going to survive into the morning.

Feeling a figure sit down next to her, Callie didn’t even have to look before she knew who it was. James didn’t say anything, knowing Callie would talk when she was ready. He watched her a bit in silence as she kept her eyes closed. Her breathing had slowed and for a second, James thought she had fallen asleep till she spoke.

“You’re staring at me again.” She said as her eyes stayed closed.

“I’m not staring...I was merely glancing.” James said as he tried to look away. “Besides you look like you’re about to drop dead on your feet so I’m worried about you.”

Callie sighed as she finally opened her eyes and looked at him. “James, I'm fine, I just need to get some sleep. You should too.” She said standing up. “We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.” She didn’t want to stay and diagnose her mental health. All she wanted was to sleep and hopefully wake up in the morning and know that Bellamy was still alive. Heading to the hut that Lexa had given the group, Callie slipped inside hoping that sleep came quickly.

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

It felt like they had been walking for hours when Lincoln finally stopped. Bellamy looked around in the dark and noticed the man in front of him go rigid. “What’s wrong, do you see anything?” He asked as Lincoln reached down and grabbed a vial of red liquid. Without thinking he crushed it and watched the drug seep out.

“You okay?” Bellamy asked as he moved closer.

Lincoln didn’t look at Bellamy as he looked at the entryway in front of him. “As soon as they open the intake doors, we attack. Once they close I'll make it look like you escaped.”

“Then what?”

“Then the raiding party.” Lincoln turned around and started heading in another direction. “We need to get out of here. It’s too dangerous.”

“What, wait no. Lincoln we are so close.” Bellamy said with urgency in his voice. “Please.”

“I thought I could do this, but I can't. We need to go before we have to fight our way out.” Lincoln looked at Bellamy with sadness. ‘It’s over.”

“No it's not!” Bellamy yelled “You can join them. Listen to me when they bring out the red you grab it and you run like hell. The reapers will go nuts, the grounders will run and the Mountain Men will have to deal with it. No one is looking for a grounder running into the mountain.” He thought that maybe he had Lincoln back, that maybe the plan might still work. At least until he saw Lincoln coming closer and put a bag over his head. Feeling his hands be tied behind his back, Bellamy knew that struggling against the other man when he already had the drug in his system was pointless, but he was still trying to form a plan. People were counting on him...Clarke and Octavia...Callie. Bellamy felt Lincoln push him forward so he started walking. It wasn’t until he heard the voice saying to harvest them that he really felt a sense of fear.

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

It was that next morning that they all had decided to move out. The plan was to head back to Camp and wait and see if Bellamy had contacted them yet. Callie tried to ignore the bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, she knew that she needed to have faith in him but she was also worried that the last time she saw him was the last time. Clarke had shown up that morning with Lexa, both looking worse for wear, but at least they were back. It was then that Lexa felt that they would be safer with their own people. Everyone agreed once they found out what had transpired the night before. Major Bryne was dead, and Clarke had yet another attempt on her life. Though the two girls were still not talking, Callie and Clarke had sat down together with Lexa to try and get a plan on how to get them home. Eventually they decided that Lexa would send some riders with Clarke, James and Callie to get them all back to the camp safe. From there they would figure out if Bellamy was able to get inside and if not then they were going to go with Lexa’s plan.

Then ended up heading out shortly after Clarke and Lexa had gotten back to camp. Callie rode on one side of Clarke with Abby on the other side. James was positioned slightly behind Callie keeping a look out with some of the other riders. They had been going most of the day, Callie knowing the blonde wanted to reach the camp as fast as she could, when Abby finally stopped her horse. Callie stopped as well but noticed the irritated look on Clarke’s face before looking over at James.

“Mom, why are we stopping?”

“Clarke, you’re not invincible. You need to rest as well.” Abby said with a tired tone. She was tired of fighting with her daughter but she knew that tensions were high. The woman looked around at the other riders who were looking at Clarke for what to do next.

“I’m fine, we are almost home anyways.” The blonde said curtly. Looking at her mom's face she sighed and looked at the riders. “Our scouts patrol these woods. Be careful who you shoot.”

The riders nodded as they went off to patrol while they rested. Clarke got down from her horse as Callie followed and walked over. She took the bag from Clarke and took a long drink from it, not realizing how thirsty she was.

“When was the last time you ate?” Clarke asked. Her voice shocked Callie a bit as they hadn’t really spoken since everything happened.

“Probably the last time you did.” The redhead said with a shrug. James had been trying to get her to eat but all she could think about was if Bellamy was okay or not, if their friends were still alive...all the shit that had happened in the past few months. “It’s fine. I’ll eat when we get back to camp.”

“You better.” Was all Clarke said before she turned around. “Mount up!”

Everyone started moving as Abby came back. “Girls you both need to rest. You haven’t actually stopped moving since we got to Tondoc.” She looked over at James with a pleading face, but he just shrugged knowing that once both girls were determined there was no stopping them.

“Mom, we need to get back to make sure Bellamy was able to get inside. We need to go now.” Clarke said as she got back up on her horse.

"Listen to me. I know you don't think you need my protection anymore, but you do. You have to trust that I know what's right for us." Abby said, pleading with her daughter. Callie stayed silent beside Clarke. She knew that Abby was right in a way, but her overwhelming need to hear Bellamy’s voice again was pushing her the last part of the way back to camp. She would rest when he was back safe. Clarke looked like she was about to respond again when chaos erupted. A shot rang out and Callie felt herself fall to the ground, James on top of her as Octavia and Clarke headed off in the direction where the bullet came from. Callie lifted her head and noticed that one of the riders was bleeding on the ground. James was still holding his weight on Callie till she started moving around.

“James, James get off me now.” Callie yelled. She felt his body lift up as she scrambled over to the rider. The wound in his chest was glaring and there was so much blood. Last time she saw it this bad was when they found Jasper. Taking her t-shirt off, Callie bunched it up and put pressure on the wound. “Hey, focus on me.” She said as she tried to stop the bleeding. “What's your name? Tell me your name okay.” The man looked at her with a sad look on his face, almost as if he knew what was coming. Callie watched as the light left his eyes and his body went limp, but she still didn’t move her hands. Too much death, so much death. Callie looked up as she noticed the way that Octavia and Clarke went. Taking off running, she followed the screams as she came across the group. Indra looked up and noticed the blood on Callie as the girl shook her head as she got closer.

“What’s going on?” She asked as she watched Abby patch up the suit of the man screaming on the ground.

“This is the man who shot at you. The mountain man who killed yet another one of my people.” Indra sneered. “And your doctor wants to save him after he should die.”

“No, I see why.” Callie said leaning down. She grabbed the suit that the man was wearing and forced him to look at her. “I just watched someone who never deserved to die, bleed out because of you. So you’re going to tell us everything you know or i’m going to cut your suit open and make you suffer as you die.” Standing back up she nodded at the riders to take him away as she finally faced back towards Indra. “When we get the information we need out of him, he’s all yours.”

“Callie..sweetie you can’t just make that choice.” Abby said quietly as she moved forward. “The council needs to decide.”

“You know what, I am SO SICK of the council. Ever since you guys got down here, everything has been so fucked up it’s not even funny. You don’t listen to us when we tell you how things are run, you don’t listen to us when we tell you there is a real threat. You sit there and treat us like children when we have been through so much more the last few months than you EVER will.” Callie yelled. No one dared to say anything against it because they knew she was right. “He will give us information on how the mountain works, and when he’s outlived his usefulness then Indra will decide his fate for killing another person.” She said as she looked at Indra. “And if anyone has an issue with that, send them to me.”

The group stared at the redhead for a second trying to figure out what to say as the man was still whimpering on the ground. “Abby, get him back to base now.” Callie said as the woman just nodded and motioned for the other riders to help her. “James, go with her.” He opened his mouth as if to argue but changed his mind once he saw her face.

“Mom, he HAS to have a transfusion of our blood.” Clarke yelled as she turned back to the group. “Okay, so what the hell was that?”

“Clarke...you and Lexa were the targets.” Octavia said slowly. “They were trying to get rid of you guys.”

“Indra, we need to warn Lexa.” Callie said quickly. The other woman nodded as she spoke to some of the riders and they took off. “Clarke, we need to get you back to camp, now.” The last thing they needed was for Clarke to get hurt. Thankfully the blonde nodded and didn’t put up a fight as they headed back to the others and continued their journey. Callie just hoped that they weren’t too late.

***********

The drilling woke Bellamy out of a restless sleep. The pain in his leg is what woke him up further. Opening his eyes, he looked around and noticed that not only was he in a cage, but so were so many other people. Looking to his left, he noticed that someone was staring at him, speaking Trig. “I-I can’t understand what you’re saying.” He said weakly. She glared at him and it seemed as if a sigh of annoyance left her mouth.

“Sky person.”

“Ah, I see no one told you that we are on the same side now.” Bellamy said as he chuckled a bit. He knew that he was losing time, he should have contacted the others by now. “I need to figure out a way out of here.”

“And what happens when you do?” The girl asked carefully.

“I’m going to kill everyone in this mountain.:

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

Everything was insane the second they came back. Callie went with the man they took as Abby directed Jackson to prep the stuff for the transfusion that they needed. To keep Emerson alive he needed some of their blood to heal. “I’m going to need a lot of blood. Callie can we use yours? I know you’re a universal donor so I need you to do a transfusion for Emerson to stay alive.” Abby said looking at the redhead as she nodded and headed back over to Jackson and got set up. As he was sticking her in the arm with the needle, Raven came in through the doors and looked around shocked.

“What the hell happened?” She asked as she walked over to Emerson who was withering on the table.

“He got a tear in his suit. Right now that's the only thing keeping him alive.” Clarke said. “Anything from Bellamy?”

“No, I came to see what was going on.”

“Well then why are you here?” Clarke snapped as Raven glared at her.

“Octavia took over for me. Why don’t you just chill.” She said back as she came over to where Callie was sitting. “What are you doing?”

“Our blood heals them.” Callie said as she watched it drip into the container. “We need enough to keep him alive to figure out what he knows.”

“How the hell are we gonna treat the guy if we can’t touch him?” Jackson asked as he stood next to Callie with his arms crossed. “We gotta figure out a way to give him the transfusion.”

“I can rig up some scrubbers in the airlock. Give me 20 minutes.” Raven said as she took one last look at Emerson and walked out of the med bay. Callie watched her go as she caught Clarke’s eye. The blonde walked over and looked at her friend with worry.

“You look paler than usual.” She said as she checked Callie over.

“Well, that’s what happens when you decide to be a blood bag.” Callie said laughing. Looking over, she noticed Indra whispering by her fallen friend. “Indra, come here please.” The woman looked up and came over, though she didn’t look happy about it.

“I’m sorry about your friend...I wish I could have done something.” Callie said quietly. “And I understand that you want to see Emerson suffer, and I promise that once this is done you are able to do what you want. But we need him alive and cooperative so we can figure out how to save BOTH our people.”

For a second, Callie wondered if Indra was going to brush her off as usual. Instead the woman surprised her. “I understand. I don’t like it, but I understand. Just promise me that he will not leave here alive when you are done.”

“I promise.” She said as she leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Realizing how tired she was, Callie knew she needed to stop. “Jackson...i think you guys have enough to start for right now.” He nodded quickly as he came over to her and bandaged her up after removing the needle.

“Cal, you need to eat something now.” He said as he wrapped the puncture wound. “Otherwise you’re going to pass out from the blood loss.” Callie nodded as she stood up and wobbled a little.

“Abby, you’re good right?” She asked as she headed towards the door. She knew that she could grab some food and be back in a bit. When Abby excused her, Callie took off towards the radio room. If anything she could take over for Octavia and the other girl could grab the food. Entering the radio room, Callie found the younger girl hunched over the radio like she was afraid to miss something. Sliding a chair over, she smiled at the girl as she leaned back.

“Anything?”

“Nope..and the deadline that Lexa gave is running out.” Octavia said, finally looking at Callie fully. “You look like death.”

“Yeah, I was kinda hoping you would go grab some food for me if I took over here.” The redhead said with a slight smile.

Nodding Octavia stood up and patted Callie’s shoulder before walking towards the door. “Anything specific?” When Callie shook her head, the girl shrugged and left. Callie scooted closer to the radio, assuming the same position that Octavia had just been in.

“Come on Bell, where are you?”

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

Bellamy gasped in pain as the guard tased his side. He wanted nothing more than to lash out at him, but whatever they had put in his system was making the world move slower and Bellamy knew that his reflexes were off. Trying to fight through the fog, he was relieved when he heard a voice and the guard turned his attention away from him. Once he heard footsteps walking away, he was a bit shocked when someone spoke to him.

“Who are you, you’re from the ark aren’t you?” The girl asked. Bellamy nodded trying to sit up and look at her. “Do you know Jasper?”

“Yeah, he's a friend of mine. I’m Bellamy.” He said looking around. “You have a name?”

“Maya.”

“Mind getting me down Maya?” Bellamy asked as she nodded and started to unlock the cage he was in. Bellamy groaned as he hopped down and stretched as he looked around. “We need to go. I need to get to the control room.”

Maya nodded as they tried to head towards the exit. Hearing the door open, Bellamy quickly got back into his cage and pretended to lay down.

“Lovejoy, hey.” Maya said casually.

“What are you doing in here? You don’t have clearance for this area.” The guard asked as he walked over and stood in front of Bellamy's cage.

“I wanted to get a good look at him, but it seems like he’s dead.” She said with fake sadness.

“It would seem he is.” Lovejoy said as he opened the kennel door and went to reach for Bellamy. The second he grabbed him, Bellamy sprang up and knocked the man back, jumping forward. Bellamy wrapped his arm around the guy's neck and slowly brought him to the ground, refusing to let go until he stopped moving. Getting up, he looked around and made sure no one was coming before he looked at Maya again.

“Help me move him. We need to strip his clothes so I can use them.” Bellamy said as he started to get the clothes off. “We need to hide his body.” Maya nodded as she rushed over. Within minutes they had the body stripped within minutes. After they moved the body, Bellamy quickly changed and the two headed for the exit again.

“Okay, you’ve done enough.” Bellamy said looking at Maya. “You need to go before you get into any more trouble.” Maya shook her head.

“Not a chance, you don’t even know where you’re going anyways.” She said crossing her arms.

“So draw me a map.”

“Nope, i’m in this with you.” Maya was defiant, and it honestly reminded Bellamy of Callie. She wasn’t one that could be told what to do either. The stare down lasted a full minute before Bellamy groaned and rubbed his face with his hands.

“Fine. I need to get to a radio to contact Callie and Clarke. I have to tell them I made it inside.” He said looking around. “We heard Jasper’s SOS.”

"I helped them set that up. I know where it is. Bellamy... your people are disappearing, two so far-- Monty and Harper. I thought they'd be in here, but--" Maya trailed off. “I haven't been able to find them anywhere.”

Bellamy chewed on his lip before deciding what to do. “Take me to the others, now. I need to make sure they are okay before I contact camp.”

“Their dorm is on the way to the radio. I'm sure we can sneak in.” Maya said as they both started off down the hall. Before they got any further, Maya stopped him. “Wait, roll your sleeve up.” She said as she pulled a knife out. “This is going to hurt.” Bellamy barely had any time to register the pain before Maya had the tracking chip out of his forearm. He quickly wrapped some ripped fabric from his shirt around it before looking at Maya.

“Tracking device?” He asked skeptically as she smashed the chip.

“It will trip alarms once we start moving.” She said carefully. They started walking again before she spoke again. “How did you know who I was?”

“Clarke. She said Jasper couldn’t stop talking about this girl named Maya.” Bellamy said. He looked over and noticed the grin that was on the girls face. He knew that grin, he got it every time he and Callie spoke.

"There are three hundred and eighty-two people inside this mountain. If any of them realize you're not one of us, you're dead.” Maya said as they walked quickly. “We're on level two. The dorm is at five. There's a camera in the upper right-hand corner. Keep your head down." Bellamy nodded as they hurried towards the dorms

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

Callie had eaten the sandwich that Octavia had brought her and ended up camping out in the chair next to the radio. It had been almost 3 hours since they were back at camp on top of the whole day that he had been gone prior. She was trying not to show how worried she was, but it was hard. Getting into the mountain was dangerous in itself and if it was anything like Clarke said, it was going to be harder to stay alive. Hearing the door open, Callie turned when she heard Raven and Clarke’s voice.

“Right, I can totally replicate this frequency.” She said as they both looked at the radio in front of them.

“Good, cuz if we can use that to incapacitate the reapers then the tunnels will be open for us to take.” Clarke said quickly. “That could help us in the end.” Raven nodded as she took off towards a different part of the shop when Octavia came back into the room.

“Callie...any word from Bell?”

“Nope.” Callie got up and stretched as she tried to wake her body up. “It’s been basically radio silence.”

“Lincoln is still missing too. He should have been back by now.” Octavia said as she sat down in Callie’s chair. “I really hope they are okay.”

“They are gonna be okay.” Clarke said quietly.

“They better be.” Raven quipped. “Our whole plan rides on Bellamy getting into that mountain.” The two girls glared at each other before Callie got in the middle and distracted them.

“Guys, now is not the time. I understand that we are all stressed but we need to work together.” She said as the girls stances relaxed. Before she could say anything else, a voice came over the loudspeakers.

“Chancellor Kane, Calliope Kane and Clarke Griffin to the med bay.”

Callie and Clarke looked at each other as they both headed out towards medical. Getting there, they noticed Emmerson smiling in his chamber as Abby stood at the table. Kane stood next to her, looking at something when the girls walked in. Callie looked at Emerson as they walked over to where their parents were.

“Did he say something?” Callie asked as her dad looked her over. She knew that she probably still looked bad, but she honestly looked worse than she felt.

“No..but his blood did.” Abby said sliding the sample over so the girls could look at it. “Jackson found genetic markers that only come from someone who was born on the Ark.”

“It started.” Clarke looked at Callie with fear in her eyes as Kane reached back over to look.

“Are you sure it didn’t come from the transfusion that Callie gave him?”

“No, this was taken before the transfusion. We had to test him to make sure that Callie could donate her blood.”

“They are bleeding our friends.” Clarke yelled. Abby walked over and put her hands on her daughter's shoulders with a careful look.

“Sweetie, we don’t know that.”

“Yes we do. We are genetically engineered due to how we grew up. They weren’t” Callie said carefully. The look on Emersons face was pure smugness, and it lit a fire of hate inside of the girl. Grabbing a pair of scissors off the table, the redhead started over to where the man was.

“Callie! What the hell are you doing?!” Kane yelled as he rushed over to his daughter. Callie glared up at her dad as she tried to move away from him.

“I’m killing him. If he's not going to be useful, there is no reason to keep him alive.”

“Callie, you need to calm down. You aren’t in charge here.” Her father said sternly. “We have to do things our way.”

“Your way can go fuck itself. How about that.” Callie spat out as she slammed the scissors back down on the table and walked out of the room. She entered the radio room to Octavia and Raven’s shocked look and about a minute later Clarke followed.

“It’s over. They already started bleeding them.” Callie said quietly. “There's nothing else we can do.” The words were barely out of her mouth when Raven was in front of her with a look of rage.

"No! You don't get to give up. You killed Finn, and I didn't give up. I'm building a damn tone generator. You do your job!"

Clarke went and stood next to the two trying to defuse the situation. “Raven, she's trying. So am I...but we are out of options.” Before any of them could respond, Callie’s heart dropped as she heard a voice on the radio.

“Camp Jaha, this is Mount Weather. Can anyone hear me?” The three girls looked at each other for a split second before running over.

“Holy shit.” Raven said as Clarke grabbed the mic.

“Bellamy?”

********

“Clarke, is that you?” Bellamy breathed a sigh of relief as he realized he finally got a hold of them. Clarke’s voice was staticy as she responded but it was her. Maya was smiling next to him as she kept an eye out for anyone coming.

“It is, are you alright?”

"I'm fine. That's it for the good news.” Bellamy said quickly. “We have to talk fast. Something has changed. Jasper, Monty, everyone, they just locked them in the dorm."

“But they are alive?”

“"I think so, for now. Maya says that they're already using their blood, and things are gonna get ugly in here real fast." Clarke was quiet for a second and Bellamy thought that maybe he lost her. “Clarke, are you there?”

“Yeah, Maya is with you?”

"She helped me escape. If not for her, I'd be dead. And, Clarke, there are kids in here. We need a plan that doesn't kill everyone. Please tell me we have one." Bellamy was desperate at this point to get everyone out.

“We got you Bell, but we can’t do anything to you to disable the acid fog.” Clarke said as Bellamy and Maya looked at each other. “Raven is going to help you with that.”

“Got it, what else are we doing?”

"You have to figure out a way to free the Grounder prisoners. There is a whole army inside that mountain and they don't even realize it." Clarke said. The line was staticy but Bellamy still knew what she meant.

“Clarke...where’s Callie?” The question hung in the air as Maya looked at the worried face on the man. Bellamy ignored her hoping that Callie was at least at camp.

“Bell?” The voice on the other end knocked the wind out of him. She was okay.

“Hey Red. Long time no talk.” He said laughing. Hearing her laugh on the other end helped relax him. “I don’t have a lot of time, but I want you to know that I'm okay and I'll be back with you soon.”

“Please don’t do anything stupid.” Callie said quickly. She knew that her time was short and she needed to make it quick. “Clarke and I have a plan, we have one of the mountain men here...we are coming for you guys Bell.”

Bellamy smiled at her voice. He knew that she was trying to keep it together, but that's how she was. “I know. I gotta go love.”

***********

“I know. Here’s Raven...I’ll see you when you’re home.” Callie said as she handed the mic to Raven. “Clarke..let's do this.”

“Wait, where are you guys going?” Raven asked as the two girls left the room.

“We are going to make them focus on the outside instead of inside.” Callie said as she stalked off to Med bay. The girls entered the med bay to the shocked faces of their parents. Callie ignored her dad as she walked over to the sealed chamber. Motioning to the suit that was in there with him, Callie spoke.

“Put it on.” She yelled as Emerson looked at her with confusion.

“Callie, what are you doing?” Kane asked as Emerson shook his head no at her request. Ignoring her father, Callie shrugged.

“Fine, then I’ll put it on you.” She said as she pressed the button to open the chamber. Kane and Abby both lunged forward to stop her but it was too late. She was already inside and had the man almost all the way in the suit. Her father was yelling at her to stop but Callie ignored him. Ignoring Emerson’s screams as she sealed him up in the suit, Callie stepped back and glared at him. “You’re coming with me.” She said as she grabbed his arm. Exiting the chamber, Kane and Abby were trying to stop Callie as Clarke stared in awe.

“Get out of my way dad. Now.” Callie growled. She kept a strong grip on the other man’s arm as she stared her father down.

“Callie, I don’t know what you’re doing, but you can't take him anywhere. He hasn’t told us anything.” Kane said, he honestly didn’t recognize the girl that was in front of him right now. Clarke finally snapped out of whatever trance she was in and walked over to Callie.

“He doesn't need to. He just needs to deliver a message to them.” She said sternly. The blonde walked over and stood in between Callie and her father. Callie ignored them as she focused on Emerson. She made sure everything was air locked as she ignored him asking for help with the radiation burns that he suffered when she got him into the suit.

“Can you hear me alright? Because I wanna make sure you get this.” She said quietly. Emerson nodded as Callie’s face hardened more. “Good. "I have a message for your leader. We're coming for him. You're watching us, but you haven't seen a thing. The Grounder army is bigger than you think, and even if you could find it, your acid fog can't hurt them, and now, thanks to you... neither can the Reapers. So you have one last chance. Let our people go, and we'll let you live. It's just that simple."

“I got it.” He said quickly

“It’s an eight hour walk back to Mt Weather. You’re gonna do it in six.” Callie said, stepping back. “That’s as much air that you have in your container.”

“Six..how am I going to deliver your message? That's not enough time.” The man looked panicked now as he looked around.

“That’s not my problem. Now go!” She said as she watched him run away. Octavia walked up to Callie without taking her eyes off the man's retreating form.

“How is this going to help my brother?” She asked as she finally looked at the other girl.

"I just told him we have a secret army to worry about. The more they're looking at us, the less they're looking at him. Bellamy is the key to everything, Octavia. If he dies, we die."

#bellamy blake #bellamy x reader #bellamy blake x reader #bellamy blake fanfiction #bellamy blake imagines #the 100 imagines #the 100 x reader

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fanfics4all · 4 years ago

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All Of My Life

Request: Yes / No Callie Adams foster x male!reader where R and callie used to date but they broke up after they went to college and he knows the fosters. He is also part of team flash and a speedster and has hellfire magic that are not based on the meta human gene. Takes place after season 2 of good trouble and callie got a job at central city and she move to R's apartment. Callie found out and tells her to not tell anyone. Even Mariana becuase she can't keep a secret. They also have a friends with benefits with a happy ending @furiousbouquetdonutsstuff

Please only send Harry Potter requests at the moment! <3 Have a nice day/night

Callie Adams-Foster x Male!Reader

Word count: 917

Warnings: Nothing I think

Y/N: Your Name

Y/N/N: Your NickName

PLEASE DO NOT STEAL MY WORK, I WORK HARD ON MY FICS AND IT’S NOT COOL TO STEAL SOMEONE ELSE’S WORK!

If you want to be on the tag list for anything (My series fics, specific character fics, or just all of them) All you have to do is send me an ask and I will add you!

Masterlist

(Not my photo, credit to whoever made it!)

I was working with my team to try and catch the latest Meta-human villain. Flash was out scouting while we were all in S.T.A.R. Labs working on a weapon and a way to trap this guy. I was working with Iris when my phone rang. I looked at it and saw it was my ex girlfriend. I looked at it confused, but excused myself to answer it.

“Callie? What’s up?” I asked confused.

“Y/N! Hey, I was wondering if I could maybe move in with you?” She asked.

“Getting right to the point, huh? No how have you been?” I asked with a laugh.

“Sorry, but I got a new job in Central City and I don’t have a place to live…” She said with a sigh.

“Wait really? Congratulations!” I said with a smile.

“Thanks, but can I stay with you?” She asked again.

“Um, yeah sure. When are you coming?” I asked.

“In a week, I’m sorry it’s so last minute, but I just found out I got the job and I can’t afford a place on my own right now.” She said.

“It’s not a problem Cal. I’ll send you my address.” I said.

“You’re a lifesaver Y/N/N, thank you so much!” She said and hung up. I quickly sent her my address and then went back to the team.

“What was that about?” Iris asked.

“Nothing, my ex called me.” I said and they all looked at me.

“What?” Caitlin asked.

“What for?” Cisco asked.

“She just got a job in town and needs a place to live.” I shrugged.

“So you’re going to live together?” Iris asked shocked.

“Yeah, what’s the big deal?” I asked confused.

“Well, didn’t you guys break up for a reason?” Caitlin asked.

“We broke up because we went to different colleges, but we’ve stayed friends.” I answered and they all smirked at me.

“So do you still have feelings towards her?” Cisco asked.

“I mean of course she’s amazing.” I answered and they smiled.

“Do we get to meet her?” Iris asked.

“Well, she doesn’t really know about my powers so maybe not right away.” I said.

“You never told her?” Caitlin asked.

“No, I hid it all my life, until I met you guys.” I answered.

“If she’s gonna live with you then you should tell her.” Iris said and I shrugged.

“Probably.” I said and we went back to work.

A week later Callie was moving into my place, thank God I had an extra bedroom. I helped Calie move her stuff in and then we relaxed in the living room, catching up. The night ended with us in bed, like we were back in high school. That was the start of our friends with benefits.

It’s been a month now and I still haven’t told Callie about my powers. She didn’t know the full story of my job. She hadn’t met my team yet and they were getting really annoying about wanting to meet her. So I decided to tell her tonight before we meet the team for drinks.

“Hey, I’m home. Just let me freshen up and then we can go.” She said with a smile.

“Actually, there’s something I need to tell you first.” I said and she sat next to me.

“What’s up?” She asked, confused.

“I’ve kept a secret from you for the longest time…” I started and she looked even more confused. I took a deep breath and looked down at my hands.

“I was born with the power to control fire.” I admitted.

“What? Is this some kind of joke?” She asked with a laugh.

“Want me to prove it?” I asked and she nodded with her arms crossed. I opened the palm of my hand and let a small flame come out. Her eyes widened and I let the flame disappear.

“So you have magic?” She asked and I nodded.

“Yeah, it was just something I was born with.” I answered.

“Also the people we’re meeting are who I work with. Some are Meta-humans and some are just smart.” I said with a laugh.

“They’re not… evil, are they?” She asked and I smiled.

“No Cal, I work with The Flash.” I said and her eyes widened.

“Wait, really?” She asked.

“Yep, I’m the Man of Fire.” I said and she nodded.

“Right, am I all caught up now?” She asked and I nodded.

“Great, then I’ll go get ready.” She said

“Wait, you can’t tell anybody, especially Mariana.” I said and she nodded.

“I promise.” She said and walked off to her room. When she was finished we went to the bar. Everyone was already there when we arrived.

“Y/N! Over here!” Barry called and I smiled. We walked over to the table and sat down.

“Guys, this is Callie. Callie, this is Barry, Iris, Caitlin, Cisco, and Dr. Wells.” I said introducing everyone.

“Finally we get to meet you, Y/N has told us so much about you.” Cisco said.

“Oh really?” Callie smirked at me.

“How much did you tell them?” She asked.

“Well they know you’re my ex if that’s what you’re asking.” I laughed.

“So they know a lot.” She laughed and I nodded.

“Pretty much.” I answered.

“Well, tell me about you guys, it’s only fair.” She smiled. The night went really well. Everyone was getting along and I was really happy that I could finally share this part of my life with her.

Tag list: @les-bio-lie @tashy-bear @ashwarren32 @hollie-blogs @schisbro87 @lover-of-books-and-teas @nerdygaloresposts @teenwolfbitches2 @genius2050 @drw0301bieber @softgamerking @lady-of-lies @ravenmoore14 @ravenempress101 @cillianchamp @rowanthomasknapp @therealchoni

#good trouble #good trouble imagine #The Flash #the flash imagine #callie adams foster #callie x reader #callie adams foster x reader #callie x male!reader #callie adams foster x male!reader #fanfic #request

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wetalkinboutbooks · 5 years ago

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Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland

Summary: The sequel to Dread Nation is a journey of revenge and salvation across a divided America.

After the fall of Summerland, Jane McKeene hoped her life would get simpler: Get out of town, stay alive, and head west to California to find her mother.

But nothing is easy when you're a girl trained in putting down the restless dead, and a devastating loss on the road to a protected village called Nicodemus has Jane questioning everything she thought she knew about surviving in 1880's America.

What's more, this safe haven is not what it appears - as Jane discovers when she sees familiar faces from Summerland amid this new society. Caught between mysteries and lies, the undead, and her own inner demons, Jane soon finds herself on a dark path of blood and violence that threatens to consume her.

But she won't be in it alone.

Katherine Deveraux never expected to be allied with Jane McKeene. But after the hell she has endured, she knows friends are hard to come by - and that Jane needs her, too, whether Jane wants to admit it or not.

Watching Jane's back, however, is more than she bargained for, and when they both reach a breaking point, it's up to Katherine to keep hope alive - even as she begins to fear that there is no happily-ever-after for girls like her (Taken from Goodreads)

Our Ratings:

→ Geena: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

→ Kae: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ x1000

Overall: A killer sequel to Dread Nation, you’re constantly on the edge of your seat and each chapter is a new layer of stress. There’s never a moment of rest and repose because Justina Ireland hooks you with the first chapter and doesn’t let go until you’ve turned the last page.

~ Check out the spoiler-full review/plot discussion below!

The Bad:

→ Redjack and Redfern

Geena: We’re starting with the bad because as Kae said ‘So much bad happens before the good’ and that’s the best way to describe this book. Let’s start off with our fave rogue from Dread Nation who turns out to be a WHOLE BITCH!!! Once Jane and Katherine and Co. get out of Summerland and meet up with him to plan their next move, Jane and them want to go to Nicodemus (a safe town run by a black man and a council of freed slaves and indigenous ppl). Redjack is like ‘it’s an overpopulated place let’s not’ but Jane isn’t dumb and sniffs out that there’s something else, and after Katherine and Jane both needle him we find out that… THIS BITCH IS MARRIED… AND HAS BEEN FOR A WHILE?????? ALL THE WHILE HE WAS FLIRTING AND MACKING ON JANE HE WAS MARRIED????????????? This is the start of the downfall of men in this book, it only gets worse from here… Jane confronts him about being played and he’s basically like ‘Jane you’re fun and all but like you’d never settle down, I seen you fighting and stuff just because you want to… I need a home for Lily’... and like… ok.... Jane is immediately like ‘He wanted a doormat’ and I DIED… but karma works fast and he gets bit by a shambler literally the same night lmao… and guess who kills him? JANE.. though it’s quite emotional because she had feelings for him.

Jane also steals one of his letters when she kills him and kjnsfdskj we find out his wife is preggers but who’s gonna tell her that Redjack is capital d DEAD...

Kae: Alright. MF’n REDJACK. This man… With his cute ass… He was just TRASH. A real fuckboy and Geena summed him up perfectly. I was like, a lil sad to see him go? But good riddance to him for playing my Janey Jane. She may be a tough-ass, but she absolutely has feelings (THAT SHE DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO COPE WITH) but still. She has feelings.

So now, let’s talk about Redfern’s shady ass. I’ve always side-eyed Redfern. I didn’t trust him. I had a very hard time trusting him because how you gone help The White Man ™ help enslave black and other indigenous peoples for your own gain? Like, boy fuck you. Shady ass. He’s the one that transported Jane, Katherine, and Red Jack to Summerland in the first place. So it was definitely a shock to see his fool ass in Nicodemus as the damn SHERIFF. LIKE WHO TF?

Geena: RIGHT I WAS LIKE WHY IS HE EVERYWHERE? IS HE CLONING HIMSELF??

Kae: And like, he jails Jane because when her and the gang arrive, the surviving folks of Summerland blame her for the small settlement falling to the dead. Redfern is like “Look, Jane. I know you ain’t do that shit. But I gotta jail you so they can stfu. You’ll get a fair trial.” And Jane doesn’t trust this and neither do I. Because black people didn’t get a fair ANYTHING back then. (We still don't) BUT THAT’S ANOTHER STORY. ANYWAAAAAAAY. Jane catches Redfern shooting the breeze with Miss Duncan and they eventually set her free. All the while, Katherine, a few homies they met in Summerland, and a few homies from Miss Prestons, are planning to break Jane out and BOUNCE. When Jane and Katherine finally reunite, Katherine is like “JANE. MY BESTIE. I WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU!” And Jane is like “Lol, yikes. We’re not even friends wtf?” Because again, Jane can’t handle feelings or people genuinely caring about her. That has a bit to do with mommy issues. NOW. Jane has been trying to tell the council of Nicodemus that the horde of zombies will break down the wall that protects the city. But they’re like “HURR DURR SHUT UUUUP. We have machine guns. And that Gideon scientist boy has been keeping up gucci.” And Jane knows walls don’t hold forever. So she’s like we need to get TF up out of here. So she starts making a plan… And that’s when shit starts going south.

Geena: Like Kae said, Redfern is a traitor in all sense of the word… The only time he seems normal is when he’s hardcore crushing on Miss Duncan, but even then… He ends up telling Jane that he only cares about self-preservation and that’s why he’ll stab even his own mother in the back if it means he’ll be safe… OKAY HE DOESN’T SAY THAT BUT REDFERN 100% WOULD… Well kARMA GOT IT’S KISS FOR REDFERN TOO bc when Nicodemus falls, Miss Duncan also turns shambler so kjndsfkjsdfnsd

He ends up being a double agent near the end of the book, pretending to be Jane and Katherine’s ally, only to turn them over to the VILLAIN.. But then also helps them escape? A very morally questionable character and also another example of Deathless Divide saying ‘men aint shit’.

Kae: He triple crossed their asses. Triple agent mf

→ The Fall of Nicodemus

Kae: WHEWWWW. The fall of Nicodemus was something else. I knew it was going to happen, but damn, it was bad. So, we have bitchboy Gideon, who Jane has taken a bit of a liking to. And he wants her to convince the rest of the town to get a ‘Shambler Vaccine’ to protect them. She refuses because she has no idea if the vaccine really works. At least, not yet she does. So at some point, Gideon convinces all the people of Nicodemus to get vaccinated. But he vaccinates all of the original inhabitants of Nicodemus first, then the assholes from Summerland. But the thing is, he runs out of vaccines by the time he has to vaccinate the Summerland folk, and they’re being PISSY about it like “waaaaa, you vaccinated all the black folks before us, WAAA IM A FUCKIN BABY” so he hurries and makes a quick vaccine. Well, THIS QUICK BATCH TURNS THE FOLKS OF SUMMERLAND INTO ZOMBIES. THIS DUMBASS BITCHASS GIDEON TURNS THE DAMN PEOPLE. So he and Miss Duncan stuff them all in a barn or whatever, then DESTROYYYYYY the fence/wall in the back of the town to try to lead them out. Redfern helps too, I think. And then shit. Gets. Real. The machine gun they had isn’t holding them off and some damn zombies done came around the back entrance they created by destroying the fence, and they start CHOMPIN.

Geena: AS KAE SAID… GIDEON AND DUMBITCH CO. MADE A WHOLE BACKDOOR FOR THE ZOMBIES IN AN ATTEMPT TO COVER UP HIS OWN MISTAKE… Reading about the fall was really sad, because this group of well meaning people WHO BTW AREN’T WHITE, that established a community where black and indigenous folk can find SOME SEMBLANCE of justice is overrun by zombies bc of a bitchass white boy’s hubris. So, the zombies get through the backdoor and as Jane and Katherine are slicing and dicing they stumble onto the group they traveled with.. Who also turned.. And Jane has to kill that little baby boy because he too, got turned into a zombie… Also, during the fall of Nicodemus Jane gets bit :( and separates from Katherine and Co. to die alone at the sheriff’s office… But then she doesn't… because back in book 1 when Gideon gave her a vaccine… it worked. So, Jane wakes up to Gideon… the last person she wants to see… who is basically gloating about his vaccine working and he’s making excuses for himself? Callie (a new friend) tries to kill Gideon, but he escapes and she ends up helping Jane instead… where Jane loses her arm :(

Literally, a White Man’s ego can destroy a whole town built on the blood and sweat of freed slaves and indigenous people, JUST BECAUSE he thinks he knows better…

Kae: So like, when Jane wakes up, she threatens to kill Gideon, even though she’s sick and basically puking the zombie virus out of her. While Gideon is gloating, Callie (Jane’s friend and future girlfriend) shoots towards Gideon, but misses. She then cuts off Jane’s bitten arm. The two of them spend a bit of time in the fallen Nicodemus, looking at all of the zombiefied townspeople and healing so they can leave. They both want to track down Gideon and KILL HIS ASS. Which I support. And now we venture into PART 2 OF THE BOOK BAYBEEEEE.

The Ugly

→ Gideon

Kae: WE’RE GOING TO OFFICIALLY TALK ABOUT BITCHASS, SKANK-ASS GIDEON. Dawg, when I tell you I HAAATED this man, I mean it. I have never wanted a character to die more than I wanted Gideon to parish. This man caused the fall of not one, but MULTIPLE TOWNS AND THE WHOLE DAMN CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO.

After the fall of Nicodemus, Jane and Callie set out to track down Gideon. On their tracking adventures, Jane becomes a bounty hunter in order to make money so she can continue on her search for Gideon. Jane is like, a hundred times more badass now. She’s a one armed, zombie slaying, bounty hunter that kills people who have done immense wrong to others. She and Callie learn through their travels that Gideon escaped safely and went on to get funded by some rich folk. In Gideon’s own escapades, he has caused the fall of another small town. And guess how he did that? This IDIOT vaccinated another town and they all turned ‘Shambler’ (zombie). Then he fucks off and escapes so he can’t get in trouble. Jane and Callie make it to California, where Jane hopes to reunite with her mother. There, she kills a man, which pisses Callie off. So while they’re shacked up in a hotel, Callie leaves while Jane is sleeping. And Callie’s punk ass takes all of Jane’s money with her, leaving Jane without anything but the clothes on her back.

Geena: We don’t stan Callie in this house. If she loved Jane that much she would’ve left her SOME money wtf

Kae: TRUE. SO FUCK, CALLIE. LIL BIIIEEETCH. But yeah, Callie dips tf out and leaves Jane with nothing. Callie DID give Jane the option to come with her and start a new life, but Jane is kind of being fueled by her revenge and it’s blinded her. I feel bad too because Jane is also being haunted by Redjack’s ghost. So there’s that.

Geena: Gideon the perfect example why ~intellectual~ men don’t deserve ANY rights. He’s so obsessed with his own research and bullshit, he thinks that no one knows what’s best for humanity other than him, that he brings about death and destruction wherever he goes. He’s the reason Nicodemus falls, he’s also the reason that the West Coast (which is seen as shambler free because it’s protected by mountains) also falls… BECAUSE THIS BITCH CAUSES ANOTHER SHAMBLER OUTBREAK with a faulty vaccine. When Jane and Callie decided to hunt him down I was like LIVING!!! LIKE KILL THAT WHITE BOY!! Who cares for nothing other than being successful… Also, the fact that every boy Jane has thought to be cute was trash is killing me… Girl… needs better taste HONESTLY…

Also, while trying to make himself look like a Sad Boy he forcefully injects his vaccine into Katherine… WHICH ALMOST KILLS HER, but SIIIKKEE because Katherine ends up killing him instead 😎 I personally wanted his death to be WORSE and more PAINFUL for all the shit he’s done but Justina Ireland kept it SHORT and Sweet.

The Good

→ Jane and Katherine

Geena: THE ONE… THE ONE GOOD THING THAT CAME OUT OF THIS DUOLOGY… JANE AND KATHERIN’S FRIENDSHIP… LITERAL RIDE OR DIES... BC JANE TECHNICALLY DIES AT ONE POINT LMAO

Like Kae mentioned earlier, Katherine has fully accepted Jane as a friend by the time they get to Nicodemus, but Jane is still unsure (kinda thinks she isn’t a friend type of person). Katherin reaffirms that she will be there for Jane, but Jane is like Sideyes… But, as the story progresses, after Jane “dies” Katherine spends the rest of the novel constantly thinking of Jane and wishing she had said more. ALL THE WHILE JANE is killing her way to the West Coast.

When they do meet though it kinda hurt because Jane is essentially like ‘Sorry, the old Jane can’t come to the phone right now... because she’s dead’ and Katherine is like ?????????. Jane believes herself to be a monster, because um… she’s just been bounty hunting bad people and because she’s driven by her rage against Gideon - IMO I don’t think that would’ve made her heartless or a monster, but Callie reiterates that she doesn’t like Jane like that (as a killer)… obviously, her resolve was weaker than Jane’s but n e ways. Katherine is also like ‘omg Jane killed that dude without remorse’ (Jane kills a r*pist in front of her, but Katherine doesn’t know what he did). REGARDLESS, uNLIKE SOMEONE (Callie) Katherine doesn’t give up on Jane and accompanies her wherever Jane goes because she knows she can bring back the old Jane and… when I tell you a bitch was emotional :’) AND ALSO THE ENDING WAS BEAUTIFUL though bittersweet

Kae: Okay, let me just say, from the bottom of my heart, that I absolutely adore Jane and Katherine’s friendship. Jane thinks it was built on their shared experience of being kidnapped, but in reality, it was built on their respect for each other. When Kate first saw Jane, she was SHOOK. And Jane was like ‘oh fuck, be cool. Act like you don’t care.’ and so that happened, as Geena explained above. But Katherine stuck around because that’s her best friend and you never give up on your best friend when they’re going through something.

Jane continues to be a meanass to Kate, but Katherine ignores it to the best of her ability and pulls her knickers up and keeps by Jane’s side. In this, Katherine notices that Jane calls her by her full name instead of just “Kate”, which was something Jane always did because she knew it annoyed Katherine. So when Jane starts to let down her guard, she slips up and calls her “Kate” and this takes Katherine to the moon! She’s so excited to see her Jane coming back! But Jane is like “whoops, I'm showing feelings. Can’t let that shit happen” and she hunkers back down.

While Jane was off being dead and bounty hunting, Katherine was on a boat (but I don’t remember doing what) with Lily and Sue (Sue is from Miss Prestons and Nicodemus) and her new friend, a man named Carolina. When they get to California, they realize that it’s not as black friendly as they’d hoped, but it’s presumably safe so that’s what matters. Katherine here’s that San Francisco might offer them a better life, so she and her gang make the trip to get there. That’s when they run into Jane and all the above happens.

One of my favourite parts is Carolina not liking Jane because his first introduction is killing a man without hesitation. But Katherine is like “Pfffft, oh that’s just Jane! It’s FINE!” all the while internally she’s like ‘omgomgomg wtf’. And that’s when Katherine agrees to help Jane kill Gidon and also find her mother.

In the end, they kill Gideon’s horrible ass and end up finding Jane’s mother safe and sound in a small settlement in the mountains called New Haven. Jane’s mother is happy to see Jane, but is totally dismissive of Jane's experience and all she had to do to get to her mother again. I felt really bad for Jane because she did EVERYTHING to get back to her mother and her mom was a DICK. Anyway, Jane leaves with Redfern so they can find a new place (as reluctant homies, not as a couple) and Katherine is like “AYO, YOU JUST GONE LEAVE ME WITHOUT SAYING GOODBYE, BITCH? I SAID I’M YOUR BEST FRIEND SO WHERE WE GOIN!?” And then all three of them prance off into the sunset with a new goal of finding a better life and man, a bitch (aka me and Geena) were CRYIIIIING because it was so sweet and we just love two best friends who are down for one another.

Geena: YEEEEEEESSSSSSS, the ending was bittersweet because like Kae mentioned, Jane had been searching for her mother and her Aunt Aggie hoping to find comfort in their arms. But.. when she got to New Haven, the old life she had been desperately longing for was no longer there. Aunt Aggie was dead and her mother had remarried, and like Kae said, she ignored everything Jane had been through- not wanting to share in her daughter’s sorrows. Jane quickly realized that this wasn’t the place for her, and up and leaves, and this is where the sweetness comes in because the whole scene of Katherine running after Jane 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 Like I had been so scared Justina Ireland wouldn’t give them a happy ending, because how can a zombie story end happily, but this was A LOT better than what I had expected… a bitch (Kae and I SDJKFNSD) teared up.. Just wanna thank Kae for hyping up this sequel before I read it because wow… IT REALLY LIVED UP TO THE HYPE

Conclusion

Geena: Like I said before, this is one of the best sequels I’ve read. Usually, books end up falling flat when you get to the second but Justina Ireland didn’t fall into the same trap. We finally get Katherine’s POV and get to learn why she insists on wearing a corset, and that she’s not as perfect as Jane believed. There’s heart-stopping action and Jane kicking major ass and truly being The Devil’s Bride. Overall, once I finished this I was like Head Empty because I couldn’t read anything afterwards because I had to take time to digest the wild ride the book had been. Also, one of the biggest takeaways (other than ‘white ppl ain’t shit’) was ‘Men don’t deserve rights’ and honestly? Same.

Kae: So there we have it! The story ended beautifully and I really, really enjoyed it. I still haven’t been able to read anything after finishing it because it was just THAT GOOD. It’s been about a month since I finished it and I’m still reeling from how beautifully written it was. It was really refreshing to read about two black women who had FEELINGS and were able to express them to the reader (because they had a hard time expressing them to each other lmao) and it was just really nice. Katherine’s backstory was great about how she was born in a brothel house and her mother tried to teach her that if she found the right man, she’d be fine. But Katherine didn’t want that. She wanted a life where she could provide for herself and be independent. What she brought with her from her old life was her corset and she wore because she basically felt it would hold her together and suppress her anxiety.

Geena: Also, reading about the corset again can I say one of my fave details was Sue helping Katherine loosen it whenever they were in a fight… like the moment Jane disappeared Sue was there to help Katherine and support her …. Sue… the most underrated character AND THE FACT SHE GOT HER HAPPY ENDING MARRIED TO A MANS!!!!

Kae: Jane learned, unfortunately, that not all things are golden. Her old life that she so desperately wanted a taste of, had gone sour. Her mother was no help to Jane and couldn’t even give her the smallest of sympathies. Those two things were initially what kept Jane going (along with her Aunt Aggie), until Gideon showed up and started doing dumb shit. What Jane also learned though, was that people do care about her and even though Katherine wasn’t blood, she was her family and truly loved Jane for who she was, flaws and all.

It’s a beautiful story about two black women finding themselves and forming an unbreakable friendship. It’s more than fighting zombies and more than surviving. It’s about LIVING and finding a way to deal with all of the problems and anxieties they face along the way. It's a great story and I urge everyone to read it. Yes, it’s fictional history about zombies. BUT, it is very telling of the time period it takes place in and Justina didn’t sugar coat any of the prejudices Black people and Indigenous peoples went through back then and I appreciated that. Deathless Divide is beautiful and poetic and heartwarming in the best of way. <3

#deathless divide #justina ireland #book review #bookreviews #blookblr #book blogging #book blogger #our reviews #bookish #bibliophile

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tefanfics · 5 years ago

Photo

Changes

Chapter 40

“What time are they supposed to be here again?”

I was curled up in the arm chair in the corner of the bedroom, a book in my hands. I looked up as I saw Taron come out of the bathroom, his shirt in his hands. I smirked a little as I put my book down. “Still a couple of hours left before their plane lands I think,” I answered as I stood up. He accepted me into his arms with a little kiss.

“Good, good,” he answered. “Still a couple of hours where I get you all to myself.”

I let out a little laugh and nodded. “Yup. You know Mom and Callie are going to hog me all week.”

“It doesn’t seem fair,” Taron retorted.

“You’ve had me since I moved here,” I laughed. “I haven’t seen Callie since before the move and I’ve only see Mom once. Besides, I need them so I can find a wedding dress.”

Taron nodded as he kissed me again. “That’s certainly important.” He let got of me before sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling me to him. “Since we have time…”

I got dressed again and left the bedroom, heading for my office. As I walked through our new house, I couldn’t help but to smile. Photos were hung up and decorations where we wanted them. It was still surreal that we had our own home now but here we were.

I opened the doors to my office and walked in. I was getting the room studio-ready so it was still a little hectic. I sat down at my desk and opened my computer, going through the photos I had taken of Taron in our backyard the other day. I sorted through them, editing what I felt was necessary and admiring the subject of the photos.

Before I knew it, the doorbell went off.

“I got it, babe!” Taron called. I could hear him shuffling down the hallway and then just outside my office doors. I closed my laptop and stood up as the front door opened. I watched as Taron greeted my mom and best friend. He hugged my mom and shook Callie’s hand.

I had FaceTimed with her so many times that it seemed almost strange that this was the first time her and Taron were meeting face to face.

“Hi you two,” I spoke up from the doorway of my office. Everyone turned to look at me but my mom was the first to close the gap and give me a much needed hug. “Hi, Mama,” I said with a smile. When she released me, Callie gave up her patience as she carefully pushed past Mom and Taron to tackle me in a hug.

“I have missed the absolute hell out of you!” She almost yelled in my ear. She hugged me tight but my grip was just as tight. Callie had been my best friend since kindergarten and this was the longest we had ever been separated.

“I’m so glad both of you are here,” I stepped back, my arm around Callie as we stood there. “We’re going to have another addition to the dress shopping troop.”

“Who’s that?” My mom asked.

“Taron’s mom is coming with us,” I answered.

“She’s really excited by the way,” Taron commented. “Here. I’ll take your things to your rooms, alright?” He grabbed bags from my mom and Callie and started up the stairs with them, depositing them into each of the guest rooms before coming back downstairs. “Anyone hungry? Thirsty?”

My mom declined but Callie followed Taron through the hallway to the kitchen. “I’m parched,” she said as her eyes darted around the house. “Water would be great.”

Mom and I followed the two of them. I pulled out a kitchen stool for my mom. She sat down and I walked around the island to stand by Taron as handed a glass to Callie. She took no time drinking it before sitting the empty glass down on the island.

“The house is beautiful,” Mom spoke up. She was looking around the kitchen and soon the living room before back to the two of us. “I’m so proud of you, Rose-bud.”

“Rose-bud?” Taron repeated, looking at my mom. He grinned as he glanced at me. “That’s adorable.”

“Oh no,” I muttered. “That’s never going away.”

Callie and Taron laughed as I shook my head. “Still better than Rosie,” Callie said with a smirk. I shot her a glare and she grinned. “She hates that one.”

“Yeah I learned that one the hard way,” Taron answered.

“So do we get a tour of the house or what?” Callie asked, standing up from the stool. Taron nodded and led the way as my mom and Callie followed him. I stayed in the kitchen and took a moment to catch my breath. I was overwhelmed in the best way possible. I was beyond excited to have everyone here for such a big moment in my life.

A few minutes later, Taron returned without the other two.

“They’re unpacking,” he said as he approached me. “They’re tired from the flight and wanted a few minutes to cool off.”

I nodded as I looked at him. “Understandable. It’s a long flight.” I leaned against the island, my forearms on top of the counter. Taron stood beside me with his hand on my lower back, rubbing small circles.

“You alright?” He asked.

I nodded. “Yeah. Just excited and nervous,” I answered with a little shrug. “I haven’t seen either of them in so long and this is such a big thing that they’re here for…”

Taron pulled me and embraced me, kissing the top of my head. “You’re going to enjoy every second of it,” he said with ease. “The four of you are going to have fun and I have no doubt that somebody will cry whenever you find the dress you want.”

“You mean me,” I retorted. “I’ll be the one who cries.”

Taron laughed. “I know. You cry at everything,” he teased. I rolled my eyes at him before he kissed me again.

“Get a room.”

I looked at the hallway, seeing Callie leaning in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest. I laughed as I left Taron’s embrace and waved her over. The two of us went out to the backyard and took a seat on the patio chairs.

“You’re happy,” Callie noted. “Happier than I’ve ever seen.”

“You have no idea, Cal,” I answered, looking at her.

“He treats you right. He spoils the shit out of you,” she said, gesturing to the house. “I mean this is insane. You have so many rooms in this house.”

“More room for babies.” I grinned to myself, remembering Taron’s comment from when we had looked at the house.

“Gross,” Callie laughed. “Seriously though, Rose. I’m happy for you. I’m glad someone sees how amazing you are and treats you the way you should be treated.”

I nodded, looking at my best friend. “Me too,” I agreed. “Me too.”

“So tomorrow. Wedding dresses.” Callie flashed a quick grin. “Am I allowed to take photos of when you start crying or is that forbidden?”

“You’re lucky I don’t have anything to throw at you.”

Callie laughed harder this time. “Fine, fine,” she said. “But I’m going to make damn sure that whatever dress we pick is going to ensue a mass amount of tears from that man in there.”

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stillebesat · 5 years ago

Text

The Interview (2/5)

Sanders Sides: Logan, Patton, Virgil, Roman Blurb: A normal day at StoryTime! Inc. takes an unexpected turn when Logan goes to investigate why his coworkers have made a bet using Crofters as the prize. Fic Type: General, Human!AU Warnings: None

To Catch Up: Chapter 1

“He’s standing again!” Patton’s voice echoed down the hallway as Logan approached.

He? Who was ‘he’? And why did they care if this ‘he’ was standing or not?

“Come on! Come on!” Callie encouraged as she stared out the window to the courtyard below. “You can--aww.” Logan paused in the doorway as Callie slumped, twisting her headband in her hands.

“He left. HUZZAH!” Reese declared triumphantly from where she sat across the room, her feet propped up on her desk.

Callie shook her head as she took her seat, turning to Reese. “No, no. He’s back to circling the bench again.” She said, slipping her headband back on. “Poor thing is going to create his own moat around it at this point.”

Patton exhaled, resting a hand on the window he was seated near, the sketchpad on his lap teetering on the brink of falling to the ground as he pressed his head against the glass. “You were so close, kiddo.”

“I told you.” Reese lazily tossed a stress ball up in the air, catching it with ease. “He’s not going to come in, you might as well pay up now, Pattey-cake.”

Patton shook his head, most of his attention still on the scene below. “Nu-uh, Reese, be Reeseonable. He hasn’t left yet. He could still come in.”

“Oh, please.” She scoffed, tossing her curly hair over her shoulder. “It’s been, what? Two hours now. If he had an appointment here, he’s waaaaaaayyy overdue. Pay up.”

“You said when he left. He hasn’t left.” Patton pointed out, tapping his fingers against the glass.

“You said when he came in. He hasn’t come in!” Reese retorted, raising her arm to throw the stress ball at him.

Logan cleared his throat.

Callie jumped at his voice, letting out a sound that could only be described as a squeak. She blushed, one hand rising to cover her mouth as she looked away.

“Dare I ask what’s going on?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. Usually Callie was a bit more aware of his comings and goings being closest to the doorway. What had her so distracted to not notice him?

Reese froze, slowly rolling her head back to look at Logan upside-down before she shifted her eyes to Patton and straightened, tossing the ball at him. “You gotta be kidding me.” She muttered, dropping her feet from off the desk. “Do you really have a sense about when we talk about jelly, Specs, or is Pat somehow cluing you into it?”

Patton turned in time to avoid the ball, giving Reese a wide-eyed innocent stare as he picked it up and lobbed it back to her. “Me?”

She narrowed her eyes, catching the ball and placing it on her desk as she leaned forward. “You. You are doing something.”

“Or I happened to be stretching my legs.” Logan remarked, adjusting his glasses. It wasn’t their fault Reese remained unaware of connection between their two watches. It had been Patton’s idea in the first place to tinker with the devices until they could send small soundbites to each other through them. A secret communication system as it were. “What’s this about jelly? Who’s outside?”

“We have a bet going on whether or not the kiddo outside will come into the building.” Patton replied, picking up his sketch pad, twisting it to show a roughed out drawing of a young man in an ill fitting suit, with dyed hair, his bangs covering his eyes. “He’s…”

“A basket case?”

Patton frowned to Reese. “A little anxious.”

Reese snorted, idly tapping a couple keys on her keyboard. “A little? If we had been filming, we could have had a full two hour storyboard on him by now.”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “Storyboard?” What could the kid have been up to to warrant that?

Patton shrugged, adjusting his own glasses. “Well, he’s quite expressive.”

“Good movement. Great for figure sketching.” Callie softly added with a shrug. “I noticed him first.” She gestured to the window when Logan looked at her. “He keeps attempting to come inside, but then doesn’t. I think nerves are getting to him.”

“Told you.” Reese said, spinning in her chair. “Basket case. He’ll fail the first deadline.”

“Give him a chance.” Patton murmured scooting to the side as Logan came up next to him to see for himself. Sure enough, the young man was there, pacing around one of the benches in the plaza, a large folder gripped tightly against his chest.

Large enough to be a portfolio. Thick enough that it would hopefully show a variety of artistic styles and not just the one or two other potential hires thought they could get away with.

Maybe if they’d been applying to some of the other animation studios that would have been enough, but not StoryTime!. They were always looking to tell their stories in new, unique ways and using a variety of art styles was often key to that.

“He’s certainly not the most anxious one we’ve seen.” Logan said in an undertone.

Pat chuckled. “For sure. Remember the incident with the palm tree?”

Logan winced, automatically rubbing his wrist. “How could I forget?”

“Maybe he’s a vampire and needs to be invited inside.” Reese threw out, her cheek resting against her hand, curly hair covering half her face as she fiddled around with the computer mouse, staring at the computer screen in front of her. “Two handfuls of my Halloween candy says he is.”

“Two handfuls of my Christmas candy that he’s just shy.” Callie countered.

Reese grimaced. “You can’t offer Christmas candy before Thanksgiving, Cal!”

She raised an eyebrow. “I just did?”

“Is it last year’s Christmas candy?”

Callie made a face. “No, and Ew! Who keeps Christmas candy uneaten for a year?”

“That would be a tragedy.” Patton agreed.

“As will be your loss when I get your six jars of Crofters and your Triple Death by Chocolate Brownies, Pattey-cake” Reese shot back, pointing a finger at him.

Logan’s eyebrows shot up. Six? He mouthed in surprise. This was serious. Patton never involved more than four jars unless he felt strongly he’d win. What was it about the kid that had him so confident?

Patton nodded. “He’s going to come in. I know he will.” He said, a determined glint in his eyes as he stared down at the young man.

Reese scoffed again. “No. He won’t.”

“And you guys think he’s here for an interview?” Logan asked as the kid below collapsed onto the bench, head in his hands.

“Have you seen anyone else carry a portfolio that large?” Patton asked, giving him a soft smile.

“It’s large enough to paper the entire office.” Reese remarked.

Callie nodded, fidgeting with her headband. “Which means it has to be for Roman.” She said, barely loud enough for Logan to hear.

They had lost a couple of people in his department recently due to Roman being his usual extravagant self with his high expectations. It would definitely explain the nervousness to come inside too. His brother had quite the reputation for being difficult to work with on good days. Bad days...well a Dragonwitch was a more favorable being to face than Roman when he was in one of his perfectionistic moods.

Reese shook her head, tapping her foot against her desk. “If he is here for him, the poor guy’s a goner already.”

“Reese.” Patton again chided, intent on the boy below. “He hasn’t left yet.”

Logan pursed his lips. That was true. The fact that the young man hadn’t yet come in pointed to him already knowing this wasn’t going to be an easy interview. However. Patton was right. He hadn’t yet left.

He nodded to himself. Perhaps all he needed was an encouraging push in the right direction.

“What?” Reese asked, sitting back in her chair. “It’s true. Roman expects perfection. This guy can’t even come inside a building on his first try. He’s going to bolt faster than that last dude did after Roman was done with him.”

Callie winced. “The poor thing.” She mumbled. “Broke a glass door and dropped his portfolio down the stairs fleeing from ‘The Prince.��”

“Exactly. Two minutes tops. Another jar of Crofters that I’m right.”

Patton shook his head. “What do you think, Lo?” He asked quietly, glancing to him, tilting his head to the window. “You think he has a chance?”

Logan sighed, taking off his glasses, cleaning them with his shirt as he stared down at the young man, watching as he took four steps towards StoryTime!’s entrance before turning right back to the bench to circle it.

He had never had liked judging a book by its cover. You never knew the true contents until you looked inside and he wasn’t going to learn anything about the kid while he was up here.

“I think.” Logan slipped his glasses back on as he turned away from the window, rolling up his sleeves. “That I better get a couple jars of that jelly from one of you when I get back.”

To Be Continued Chapter 3

Taglist in Reblog

#The Interview #stillebesat #Sanders Sides #Logan #Patton #Logic #Morality #StoryTime!#Original Characters

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narcis-the-monk · 4 years ago

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FC5 GFH Tag

tagged by @chyrstis thank you soooooooo much!!!!!!!! This was a hell of a lot of fun, and I’m going to eventually do my other deputy as well. I went with Val the first time because I’ve been writing her for a minute now. ^^;; But this honestly helped me figure her out a little more, so thank you again <3

Deputy Valya Vitale

With Fangs for Hire:

• Boomer: “Hey boy, you’re being a real good dog. I’m sure your folks know that.” / *patting her legs* “Who’s the best boy? Who’s the best dog that rips out peggie throats? That’s right!” *sound of laughter* “It’s you!” / “I fuckin’ love this dog.” • Peaches: “Never been a cat person, but I’ll make an exception for you.” / “You think catnip works on cougars? I’m looking for some every place we check now.” / “Yes ma’am. You will absolutely get that treat I have for you when we stop next. I know you smell it.” • Cheeseburger: “This is the best fuckin’ day of my life. I’m fighting with a bear. I think we’ll win.” / “I never knew what I needed in life was to pet a big ol’ grizzly bear. I mean, I’ve been hugged by bears before. Just not this kind. And I love it just as much, if not more.” / “Next time we stop to fish, I’m catching you so much food. Just for being you.”

With other Guns for Hire: Sharky • “Hey Shark, remember when we got trashed down by the river? Pretty sure this is the spot. Cause I remember you puking there. And there. And me over there. And that’s where I lost my shoe. Hey! There’s my shoe! Small mysteries are solved each day.” • “Hey buddy, how about if the enemy is say…whatever you’d rank a 3 out of 5 or higher…we don’t set it on fire?” • “You won’t hear me say this one a lot, so appreciate it. But you were right. Fire was the answer.” • “You are an absolute mad man and I love the shit out of you, but I need to fight upwind of you from now on. Smoke in my eyes and throat when I’m trying to scream in the face of some asshole that punched me in the tit isn’t what I’d call fantastic. Your aim is so much better now though.”

Grace • “I’ll give you 20 bucks and my last good beer if you can shoot three peggies in the dick at the next outpost.” *when she’s met with silence* “Guessin’ that’s a no, then.” • “You have the patience of a saint. I can’t wait even 30 seconds to let my food cool, let alone wait for some asshole to walk out from behind a pole. Fuckin’ amazin’.”

Hurk • “Watch where you point that thing! And stop laughing, you know I’m not talking about your dick. That’s not an actual threat and we both know it.” *eventually starts laughing with him* • “I ever tell you how much I love your stories? I never know how they’ll end. I love a good plot twist.” • “Remember when you, me, and Shark got that moose drunk and we all spent the night in a tree? I’m pretty sure that moose remembers us. He is not a fan.”

Adelaide • “You keep wonderin’ how they fuck—and that is a point of interest we can revisit later—but I’m wonderin’ how they do every day shit. Like, Jacob’s—does he hunt or does he fish? If he prefers hunting, that tells me big facts about him. They’re both about sittin’ and waiting, right? Schemin’ the right moment to move. One just makes you feel like a big boy, cause you get to hold a gun. Hey, look at that. This time I left you speechless.” • “Been considerin’ this for a minute, and if anyone ever asks I’ll deny it up and down and throw you under the bus all in one but…fuck Faith, marry Jacob, and kill Joseph. Last one was hard as fuck.” • “I need you to just…stop talking for a while. Let’s say 30 minutes. 30 minutes of silence so my brain can finish bleaching itself. Thanks.”

Nick • “You’re lucky you’ve got guns on that thing, or I’d be giving you a lot more shit about never putting your feet on the ground. I got literally nothin’ else to pick on you with that’s fair.” • “So how different are planes from cars on a scale of one to ten? I’m just figurin’ out if some shit went wrong and you aren’t near…how fucked are we? Things to think about.” • “You know, never really liked flyin’. My head’s in the clouds too much for my feet to be too. But I gotta say…you are damn good at it. Almost makes me wanna try. Almost.”

Jess • “I mean, sure, its satisfying to line up the perfect shot from a mile away and nail it. I’ve been hunting, Jess. I’m just saying, for me personally, I’m a bigger fan of an oar or a baseball bat to the face when I can get it. Makes it personal, and all of this is very fuckin’ personal now.” • “Look, I don’t like talkin’ about my feelings either, so I’m just gonna hug you.” *stalls after getting the evil eye but hugs quickly* “You are two feet tall and maybe ninety pounds. Like I’m scared of you this close up.” • “If you were a part of breakfast, you’d be the coffee Jess. Dark and harsh, but great for a wakeup call.”

In Combat • Seeing an enemy: “I’m on ‘em like flies on shit.” / “You got that one?” • Sneaking: *mumbled string of ‘fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck’ whenever she moves a long distance* / “Man, fuck this sneaking shit right in the skull.” • Killing an enemy: “Boo-fuckin-YAH bitch!” / *if you make your shot* “Hellyeah! That’s what I’m talkin’ about!” • Reviving: “Nope. Not today. Gotta keep you on your feet.” / “Get the fuck up, it’s not the time for a lie down!” • Hurt: “Well fuck me sideways. I’m alright, keep moving.” / “That’s definitely leavin’ a mark!” / “Oh go fuck yourself!” • Downed: “Just need a minute here.” / “I think I need a hand up here!” / “Keep goin’, don’t waste time if you don’t got it.” Driving • If asked to drive: “This may be the best decision you’ve made all day. Buckle up tight.” / “Alright, but seatbelts on or we don’t go anywhere at all.” • Driving recklessly: “See, this is why I insist on seatbelts!” / “Slow the fuck down or you’ll fuck this car up! I ain’t seen another available ride in a minute!” • Changing radio stations: “Will you settle on something? Oh, sorry, forgot where I was. Thought everything was normal and Shark was fiddlin’ with the radio again.” / “Cult’s fucked…but I’m okay with their music for the most part.”

Idle • “Used to have a snake. He was a huge boa constrictor. He liked to kinda just wrap around me like I was a tree. It felt like the best hug there ever was.” • “Did you know I grew up in Vegas? That place really is a constant party, even away from the strip if you know where to look. It’s not a great thing when you’ve got an addictive personality and prone to efforts of escapism. That’s why I moved out here. It’s pretty, its quiet, and the cost of gas to get anywhere is enough to deter the acquisition of drugs. So did working with Whitehorse. Man’s a saint. Reminds me of my Grandpa Conner—don’t tell him I said that. He’ll think I mean old.” • “I taught myself how to be a mechanic. Books and experience, and it all started when my old truck broke down when I was 16. Couldn’t afford a mechanic, so I got my grandpa and some tools and learned a lesson that day. Then I had to learn the rest. I still have that old truck. Musta rebuilt that motherfucker from the ground up three times. Only a few things left of the original. But I’m a sentimental fool, and it was a gift.” • “Callie says an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Well, she didn’t say it but she quotes it a lot. But I’m thinking…maybe this time, we all just need to be blind. We need a reason to step back and reassess and neither side is gonna be the first to do it. So I’m skeptically hopeful of our win, but still down with the blind thing.”

Location Specific • In the Henbane region: “Hey, if we could avoid bliss as often as possible…that would be great. Shit makes me feel like I dropped acid non-consensually.” / “Hmmm…there’s the tinglies in my spine again. Where is that little bitch of a plant? I’m gonna rip it apart.” • In the Whitetails: “If we get a chance, I'd like to swing by my place. Make sure things are fine. Grab some tools. Get Reggie's ashes, since these fucks don't have respect for dead people, they definitely won’t have respect for dead pets.” / “Man, I miss hiking. Well I mean, technically we’re hiking right now. I mean I miss hiking without the sounds of an actual war. Birds and wind and shit. I miss that. But this is good exercise too.” • Near any body of water: “Please say maybe this time we’re just out to fish. No? Worth a shot. One of these days.” / “This county has the best fishin’ spots in the world, but the best one’s require a hike and some camping gear to really enjoy.” / “If they hadn’t started dumping bliss in everything, I’d say let’s go for a quick swim. The water here is never as cold as you think it is.” • Fall’s End: “Mary May runs a tight ship, but she can throw a hell of a party.” / “Pastor Jerome set me up with AA when I first moved to the county. He’s a damn good man, and a great listener.” / “As stupid as it is, I look forward to the Testy Festy every year. Love a good tradition. Sometimes you just need something to look forward to, you know?”

I’m going to tag @deathvalleyqueen because I’d like to learn more about your characters, but you may have been tagged before. ^^;;;

Thank you so so much! I don’t think I have many people I can tag that haven’t already been, but consider it an open tag if you see it on your dash. <3

#the monk memes #deputy valya vitale #valya vitale #GFH meme #this one was fun and super helpful for me #i'm doing this for callie at some point too #it is soooooooo long

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ahtohallan-calling · 5 years ago

Text

chapter 4 of promises to keep is here!

[kristanna / 18th c scotland au / love and angst and kiltstoff in equal measure / rated t / 2.5k words this chapter / cw for death and a brief reference to suicide]

masterpost

What would Kristoff think of me now? she thought, the corner of her mouth curling up in amusement. All covered in dirt and with mortar spilled on my dress.

She knew exactly what he’d say: he’d tease her at first, pretend not to recognize her, and then he’d catch her up in his arms and kiss her so soundly the past months would fall away, and once more they would only be Anna and Kristoff, on the hill together worried about nothing but who would lead the next embrace.

chapter 4: the call of the sea

“Miss Anna! Someone’s coming!” the carpenter’s son shouted from the branches of the oak tree where he perched every afternoon waiting for his father to come home.

“How many, Ross?” she called back, her heart already pounding, half afraid and half wondrous. It was mid-May, and there’d been no news since the start of April. She and the rest of the townsfolk were all at their wits’ end; only two more months and a bit, and it would be a full year since the men had ridden off to a war that was supposed to have finished before Christmas.

She wiped her hands on her bodice in an attempt to clean them of the dust they had collected as she had worked to repair a crack in the side of the well in the center of town. What would Kristoff think of me now? she thought, the corner of her mouth curling up in amusement. All covered in dirt and with mortar spilled on my dress.

The men who rode up to her, Ross still trailing them, were gray-faced and solemn. “Welcome,” Anna said, curtsying deeply as if she were in a silk gown and not dingy muslin that she wore on the days she worked outside like this. “What news have you?”

“We’re looking for Eleanor MacLeod, the wife of your chief.”

She stood as tall as she could. “My aunt went to the Lord’s side three months past.”

The men exchanged an uneasy look. “Are you the chief’s next of kin, then?”

“Aye, suppose I am. What news have you that’s so important it needs this pageantry?” she asked, doing her utmost to keep her tone light.

They dismounted and, to her surprise, bowed their heads. “We were sent by our own chief, John MacLeod of Dundee, to bring you news of our kinsmen.”

“Well, spit it out, then,” Anna said impatiently.

How long the silence lasted, she didn’t know; it could have been a second, a minute, an hour, but later, when she stood alone on the hill after sharing the news with the rest of the villagers. she wished desperately that it had dragged on forever, or that she had never been born to hear, “I’m sorry, miss, but they’re gone.”

—

Nearly half the village, gone just like that. A few they had already had news of, the ones who were on the front lines and paved the way for early victories, but the rest had been cut down just south of Culloden. An hour, that’s what the two messengers had told her; that was all it took, and just like that the war was ended, for the soldiers, at least.

It would never be over for her, nor for the rest of the women and fathers and sons who’d been too old or young to go; the rest of their lives would be spent trying to climb back from the abyss of despair they’d been unceremoniously thrown into.

Anna did her best to keep a brave face on. Elsa defaulted to her, and the rest of the townsfolk, even the men who had bounced her on their knees when she’d been a babe, followed suit, and so she was the one who had broken the news to each household, held each widow while she wailed, brought food around from the castle’s larders to anyone who couldn’t bring themselves to move, let alone keep hungry mouths fed.

And she was the one who, tormented by sleepless nights of wondering where Kristoff rested now and whether she might ever be able to grieve him there, brought them together on the first of June, a stone held tightly in each of her hands, and led them to the crest of the hill where she had wasted their last night waiting for a man who hadn’t come to her and now never would again.

She set down the larger of the two first. “For my uncle Lachlan,” she said, proud and fierce as she could manage despite the tears already threatening, “one of the greatest men I ever knew.”

She placed the other next to it. “And for my…for Kristoff,” she said, digging her nails into her palm to keep her voice steady, and though she couldn’t bring herself to say more she knew they all understood.

Bridget and her son were next; she knelt down and laid the stone as carefully as she could while the little boy clung to her collar, wide-eyed. “For our Callum,” she said, her voice barely audible but steady all the same. “The finest husband and father we could have asked for.”

On and on it went, until the cairn rose to her waist and the others had dispersed to her homes and she was left standing alone next to it in darkness. She reached out with a trembling hand to rest her fingertips on top of the final stone, the one a little girl had stood on her tiptoes to place as she whispered, “For my grandpapa.”

“Rest well,” she said, dry-eyed and hollowed as an ancient bone. “And know we’ll not forget you.”

—

On the eve of the three hundred and sixty-fifth day without him, she mounted the hill just after twilight and looked down at all the houses and their shuttered windows and let herself be swallowed up by silence.

She sat, pulling her knees to her chest and tucking her chin against them, and closed her eyes, for once not looking for a person who needed comforting or a job that needed doing, and instead allowing it all to wash over her.

It didn’t hurt at first, the thought of Callum and her uncle and Kristoff lying in unmarked graves, of the tears in the tapestry of her life that they had left behind. She felt detached from it somehow, like it was a simple fact she had read once in a book, they are dead and gone and your heart is buried with them. She wished it did hurt. Then she could cry, could scream, could wail until her voice broke against her grief like a wave slamming to shore– could do anything besides sit here feeling this unending emptiness.

She hated herself for it, for not being able to mourn them properly, the way they deserved. All she could do was stand back and organize the rest of the ones left behind and help them make sense of it all as best they could, distant and unfeeling as if she had never loved them at all.

I did, she thought, wishing she could pray it somehow and be assured that they would hear. More than my own life.

What a cruel twist of fate, then, to be left with the lesser of the two.

—

It was her sister at last who pulled her aside.

“Your dress keeps falling off your shoulders.”

“Because it’s worn out and I’ve not had the time to make a new one.”

“Because you’re running yourself ragged,” Elsa said softly, “and not eating enough, and come winter the winds will be strong enough to blow you away.”

Anna averted her eyes. “The people need me. And it’s not much, really, not compared to all the correspondence and– and money things you do here, and so it’s the least I can–”

“You need to take better care of yourself, Annie,” she said softly, and the nickname sent a jolt through her, reminded her of Callum and how he’d laughed and called her that since they were children, how they’d been Annie and Ellie to him, and they’d tease back and call him Callie and he’d scowl and fling bits of mud at them in revenge and–

“Stay with me,” her sister said again, louder this time, as she pressed cool hands to Anna’s cheeks.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she mumbles.

“You look like you’re about to faint.”

Anna sighed. “I’m fine.”

“You need to go and…and do whatever it is you need today. We all know what day it is. We knew the two of you long enough, we knew–”

“Stop,” Anna said, her voice sounding foreign to her own ears. “I don’t want to talk about it. It was just– just a silly, childish thing, since we didn’t really know his birthday– it doesn’t matter–”

“It mattered to you, didn’t it?”

Anna went silent, casting her eyes downward. “I thought it did.”

Elsa sighed and dropped her hands. “Tell me, Anna. Tell me why you won’t even take the time to mourn him.”

“I tried. I– I just can’t, Elsa, I– and I know it’s wrong and horrid of me, and what you must think of me–”

“What I think of you?”

“You– you still wear your mourning clothes, and it’s been three years now, and here I am unable to even cry–”

“It’s different for everyone,” Elsa said softly, “and– and I think in this case especially. I didn’t feel about Julien the way you felt– feel– about Kristoff.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend, I– I know you must have loved him ten times as much–”

“Not…like that.”

A faint blush was coloring her cheeks now, and Anna frowned. “What do you mean?”

“He was a dear friend, to be sure, and I miss him terribly even now, but…it wasn’t like that between us. He had, ah…someone else. Guillaume, to be precise.”

Anna’s eyebrows flew upward. “But you spoke of him so often afterwards, and– and you still–”

“I was a stranger in a strange land, and he was my only friend for a long time. But now, I confess, I still wear my widow’s garb so I’m not pressed into another marriage. I know I won’t be as lucky a second time.”

Anna mulled over this for a long moment. It was the sort of thing she had suspected more than once, but never dared to question aloud. “But you grieved him. You…you wept over him, still. And I…I cannot even feel anything. I just feel…empty. Numb.”

“For everyone it’s different. Julien’s mother was the same until the day I boarded the ship home, and then it all came over her at once. But you want to mourn, don’t you?”

“Yes. I…it’s what he deserves. What all of them do.”

“Then give yourself the time for it. Go to the sea today like you used to. The village can live a day without you.”

And so she did, sitting on the edge of the cliffs that overlooked the water and swinging her legs. She had never dared to do this– or rather, she had wondered how it would feel and crept ever closer to the edge, but whenever she turned back Kristoff would be pale, never out of arm’s reach, and so she would never go too far before turning to him and suggesting they go down to the shore instead. And the last time they had been here together, she had gone further than ever, overtaken by a sudden wild impulse, and had asked him, “Doesn’t it make you want to jump? Just to see how it feels?”, not looking at him as she peered down.

He had wrapped a thick arm around her waist, pulling her back against his chest hard enough that she had opened her mouth to protest before realizing she could feel his heart hammering against her spine. “No,” he had murmured, barely audible over the crash of the surf below, and she had leaned her head back against his shoulder and closed her eyes and known then that the love she felt for him that she had put off for years as a childish fancy was in fact the most solid and wonderful and real thing in the world.

People jumped from places like this. It was the sort of thing she thought she ought to consider; that was what you did, didn’t you, when you lost your true love?

She didn’t want to do that. She wanted to turn back and look over her shoulder and see him standing there, white-faced and reaching for her, and to run to him and hold on and promise never to give him such a fright again. She wanted to feel the press of his palm against her back, the rise and fall of his chest and the brush of his breath over her hair, wanted to hear the rumble of his laugh and see the twinkle in his eyes and taste on his lips the sweetness of all his promises and know he meant to keep every one of them.

She lifted her eyes from her lap towards the sea that had brought him to her and wondered what had taken him away; if it had been a musket or a noose or a fever, if he had lingered or been gone in a flash, if he had known that given the chance she would have stayed by his side and held his hand and made sure that the last thing he knew was how greatly he was loved.

And then, at last, she did weep for fear that perhaps he had been entirely alone, that perhaps his last thought hadn’t been that she loved him but that she might not forgive him for not coming home.

“I do,” she choked out, her voice whipped away by the wind, “I do, Kristoff, I do.”

—

There had been a time in his life when he had been able to come and go as he pleased, when his work had made him proud, when he had been able to stand without pain and breathe in the fresh highland air and look up to see the stars, a time when he had been content and hopeful and so very naive.

And he had been loved so much it took his breath away, even now when he leaned against the damp corner of a dank cell listening to the rattle of a key as it locked him back in once more after a job sufficiently done. His leg ached and his hands were blistered and he was so tired he didn’t know if he’d wake up in the morning, but he closed his eyes and saw a girl with a smile that shamed the stars and a heart so full of love it had always frightened him, how easily she gave it, for fear that she might run out and not have enough left over for him anymore.

He hoped that wasn’t the case, that she remembered him still, because he had a promise to keep.

#hope u enjoyed the peek into elsa's backstory #and that u like the ending better this time #kristanna #ptk #my fics #old scotland au

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hansoulo · 5 years ago

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ain’t it a gentle sound (the rolling in the graves) - pt. 4

Pairing: Horacio Carrillo/f!Reader

Warnings: cursing, canon-typical violence and blood, grief, angst, death, y’all know the drill (there’s some descriptions of gore this time! if you watch narcos i don’t think you’ll be fazed by it but just a heads up. also talks about kidnapping and implied trauma. take care babes)

Word Count: 1.2k bc i needed the suspense soz

A/N: *throws this at you and runs away*

masterlist playlist

You were cold. That was all you could remember. Things returned slowly, falling in and out of your memory like specters. A hand over your mouth. Concrete. A flickering light bulb and a sicario - who couldn’t have been very smart because if he was he’d have realized that you didn’t know anything. Okay, maybe that was a stretch. You knew a little, courtesy of Horacio. Too much, probably. Enough to make yourself a target, anyways. Damn this. Damn you.

The sound of gunshots was enough to wake you from your daze and you vaguely register the taste of blood in your mouth. You force your eyes open, tensing your hands that lay tied behind you to get the feeling to return. The room was bare, faintly lit by the weak light of the early morning, and you felt your shoulders pressed up against plaster. Oh. You were on the floor.

This was much less professional than the last time you were kidnapped. Of course, then you were only bait. A pretty face with a ring on your left hand and the last name of a man they knew they wanted dead. Well, they got that soon enough.

You could be bait this time, too, for a different man. Apparently, you had a type.

---------

Shouting. Running. Slamming doors. Horacio’s yelling something in Spanish. Something about sicarios and traps and hostages and- You. His…. friend? Neighbor? Unpaid babysitter, who also knew how he took his coffee? (Scalding hot with tons of sugar, in the white mug with the chipped lip that was always in the top left cabinet.)

They used zip-ties on your wrists. You kinda want to laugh. Shoulders tight from being pulled behind you for so long, you shift your weight until pinpricks erupt across your numb legs. You should probably call out to him or something, to speed the process along, but your throat is burning something awful so you just let your head fall back and listen to the sound of tactical boots.

Three.

A round of gunfire, shot quick from the hip of a stranger you can’t imagine makes for very good company. You can hear bodies fall, but you know it’s not him. He wouldn’t go down that easy.

Two.

“Dónde está ella?”

“Mi coronel, aquí.” A muffled curse. The cock of a gun. Then, the door is pushed open with a loud creak of its rusted hinges.

One.

He’s on you like a man starved, all dark green fabric and hulking shoulders as he seems to just… appear, crouching down with a hand brushing your cheek. You don’t actually remember seeing him walk over, so maybe you really did hit your head on something. That would explain the ringing in your ears. And your busted lip. And the way that every time Horacio moved, there seemed to be two of him dragging out a few seconds behind.

Hands, strong and callused and more familiar than they should be, grip at your shoulders to coax your head up. The world comes into focus then- less blurry but way more frightening. The walls are streaked with red and your eyes catch a crimson path on the floor, snaking around to the doorway. All you see is a man’s shoe.

“Hey, hey look at me.”

You feel yourself- as though disembodied- shaking your head frantically as you duck your face to the floor. He reaches to cut away the ties around your hands, one knee braced against the floor and his mouth pursed in a line. The scent of gunpowder chokes you, presses down on your lungs like the deadweight of a corpse. Your face feels hot, burning like you’re running a high fever and you can’t string two words together without thinking about blood and bodies you can’t fix and how you can’t remember anything - which means you can’t remember what they’ve done to you. It’s too much. It’s all too much. It's too much. It’s too-

“Look at me.”

Fuck.

Horacio’s hand moves to cup your chin, the pad of his thumb tracing over the split skin of your bottom lip. His eyes seem to hold everything inside them, the embers of a flame you’re used to seeing sedated now flickering something dark. Something you should want to run from.

What’s another arrow in the quiver of your self-loathing? Not much, you suppose. Not much at all.

You look.

--------

He walks you back to the complex with his fingers still curled around your arm.

“Are you alright?”

Horacio’s voice is quiet, softer than you’ve ever heard it but god, what you would give to hear it again.

“Yeah, yeah I’m- I’m fine. Just… tired.”

He nods - unconvinced but letting you lie anyway - and steps back to open the door for you. Right. He has your spare key.

“I’m sorry,” you whisper, and at that Horacio shakes his head. He’s good at hiding things, at hiding how he feels, but you know he’s holding his breath- trying to keep from frowning. For your sake. “I- I don’t know if I can do this, Horacio,” and you try to focus on the way his chest rises and falls to steady yourself but it’s not a good idea because it just makes you want to collapse, dead on your feet, into him. “Whatever this is.”

“Chiquita-”

“No- no. Don’t. You-,” you choke out the words, fighting tears as the exhaustion of the day finally seems to make itself known. “You can’t call me that. I- I'm not your chiquita,” and the last word comes out a bit sharper than you wanted it to, a bit too biting towards the man standing outside your apartment door with your keys still in his hands. Your eyes soften when you see the jagged metal gripped in his palm, hands tensing with scarred, white-stretched knuckles. Horacio’s jaw is tight again and you're reminded of how you teased him once. You’ll grind your teeth down clenching your face like that. Loosen up a bit.

The words leave your mouth, breathy and slightly shaking, before you realize what you say. “I’m not your anything.”

You want to slam the door in his face. You want him to slam the door in your face. You want so bad to be angry, to have someone to blame besides yourself and your own fucked up head, but you can’t. So you don’t. You just walk into your apartment and let the lock click quietly behind you, listening to footsteps as they retreat across the hall.

The rational part of your brain tells you to go to bed, to fall asleep after a good cry in the comfort of your bedroom surrounded by soft things and another wall separating you from him, but you hadn’t really made a habit of listening to reason lately. Why start now? The floor was as good a place as any.

Your back slid down against the door as you sat, drawing your knees to your chest with a shallow breath. There was a quote from somewhere. Shakespeare, maybe. Oh brawling love, oh loving hate, oh anything of nothing first created. This love feel I, that feel no love in this.

This love feel I, that feel no love in this. This love… this…

Romeo and Juliet. That’s what it was. The irony of it makes you laugh, the sound lacking humor as you shake your head.

They were doomed from the start, really. Still, there was something beautiful about it. Dying for someone else. Knowing they’d do the same.

You would die for him. That wasn’t what scared you.

What scared you… what scared you was knowing he would die for you, too. Just like before.

The thought makes your chest seize up, the lump in your throat growing heavier with every passing second. You couldn’t do that to him. You couldn’t live with yourself if you did. You barely lived with it now.

You fall asleep to the sound of crying. It wasn't yours.

Taglist: @chelsfic @itzagoodthing @lesqui @glowingpena @agirllovespasta @squidlywiddly87 @1zashreena1 @amarvelousmandalorian @paniclana @huliabitch @symbiont13 @jayoknrjk28 @ah-callie @watsonwise @raabiac @angelicpascal @sparrows-books @popculturepriestess @spookypym

lmk if you wanna be added/taken off. eventually i’ll get around to organizing like separate permanent/series/character ones but i’m lazy so. later.

#horacio carrillo #horacio carrillo x reader #horacio carrillo fanfiction #horacio carrillo x you #narcos #narcos tv show #narcos fanfiction #maurice compte #maurice compte fanfiction #aint it a gentle sound

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itsanerdlife · 5 years ago

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Everything You Want 14/18

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Warning: Lies. Fuck ton of lies. So many lies. Lots of secrets. So many fucking secrets. Language. Violence. Slow Burn. Lots of fighting. Heartbreak. Death threats. Kidnapping. Murder.

Someone is coming for you and your son, Anthony. Too many secrets and too many enemies for you to count. You got out, for reasons. Secret reasons, only Clint Barton knows. Or so you think? Clint takes you back to the safest place there is, Avengers Tower. But how are you supposed to face Peter? Keep your secrets in check? Keep your feelings under wraps? It’s been almost two years, can you really keep it together? You just need to put an end to whoever wants you. Than walk away, like everything is the same, right? Or will you be the one surprised? Everything blows up, leaving you holding the shreds of your secrets and fear.

Tag List Is Open!!

You were shoving things into bags, zipping them closed and tossing them to the floor. You cringe when your bedroom door bangs open with force.

“Deja fucking vu.” He growls. You turn looking guilty holding clothes in one hand, you’d been shoving into another bag. “You’re not leaving.” He folds his arms over his chest.

“Don’t tell me what to do.” You scuff, turning to shove the clothes into the bag.

“No, I let you leave once and I’m not doing it again.” You could feel his eyes boring holes into your back.

“You don’t get a say in anything!” You whirl around throw the stuffed animal at him. He catches it, only pisses you off more. “You ended things two years ago! You don’t get to say shit to me! You pushed me away, guess what Parker!? You got your way, I’m not yours anymore.” You shake your head.

“Why did you run?” He steps closer, demand in his voice.

“I told you!” You snap. “I didn’t want to watch you be with Mindy. It was torture.” You turn looking at him again.

“Bullshit. That’s not why. Tell me really why you left? Why did you leave, Y/N. For once since you’ve come back, tell me something!” His jaw clenches.

“Because I was so fucking hopelessly in love with your stupid ass, watching you be with her was like having my lungs ripped out every time I saw you together!” You yell at him, fed up. It was coming down to the blow out argument.

“You left because you were in love with me? Doesn’t sound like you, the girl I know. She never runs for such a thin reason.” He shakes his head, calling your bluff.

“Well clearly you didn’t know me that well.” You shrug, looking away.

“Bullshit, you have some deep, dark secret, Y/N. It makes you all squirrely and panicky. So why don’t you tell me this big bad secret you don’t want anyone to know.” He steps closer. You try to swallow the word vomit you could feel building in your throat.

“Don’t Peter.” You warn him, unable to meet his eye.

“Tell me. Explain it to me. Maybe then some of this would make some fucking sense.” His voice cold, a shiver ran through you. “Maybe it’ll explain why you bailed. Why you never stayed in contact, with any of us, but Clint. Why Harry wants you, wants Anthony. So why don’t you tell me your big fucking secret, then maybe we can talk about you running away.” He nods once.

“I didn’t keep in contact because I knew it wouldn’t stay a secret. I knew being around this team, that it was going to come to light. And what do you know, only here a short while and people were already putting it together!” You throw your hand up.

“Who, who knows?” Peter’s jaw ticks.

“I don’t know. Nat, Steve, Wanda. Clint’s known from the beginning.” You shrug.

“What is it they know, that I don’t?” He stares at you, everything about him was angry. His voice, his words, the way his jaw clenched, his arms folded over his chest. He was mad at you. You knew he would hate you when you finally gave in and told him the truth, you had to face this at some point.

“Does it really matter?” You scuff.

“Tell me Y/N! What does everyone else in my family know but me?!” He snaps, anger pumped through your veins.

“You have no right to be mad at me!” You snap back at him, the two of you at a standoff. “You ended things with me, you lost all rights to know my damn secrets!” You shove him slightly. It honestly does nothing, he barely even sways.

“What could it be? What could be so fucking bad you think I wouldn’t fucking do anything and everything to protect you?!” He yells back at you, hurt flashed in his brown eyes.

“You won’t protect me. You’ll hate me! Anthony is yours! He’s your son! I left because I didn’t want to ruin your happiness, I didn’t want to have to share him with you and whoever you were in love with!” You yell, throwing your hands up, you shake your head.

“He’s mine?” His voice was a lot softer suddenly, surprise on his face.

“Yes. Down to the weird things he can do.” You swallow.

“Weird things?” He blinks.

“He sticks to things, or people, or himself.” You nod.

“How long?” He asks.

“Around the time he turned eight months. It wasn’t a strong stick, more like sticky hands after ice cream. Now it’s like an adhesive hold on you.” You explain, avoiding looking at him.

“Clint knew?” He wonders.

“He was the only one who knew from the go. He helped me get out. That’s why he’s Anthony’s God Father. Nat and Steve found out shortly after we got her. Anthony was stuck to the coffee table.” You explain. “Apparently Wanda knew the second she laid eyes on him. Said he looks just like you. Which I can’t really deny.” You shrug.

“I’ve been waiting this whole time for you to come clean. I had my thoughts, my guesses.” Peter nods.

“You knew?” Your eyes snap up, locking on pretty brown eyes, the same ones your son got.

“I guessed. But I wasn’t going to throw accusations out.” He shrugs.

“This whole time I’ve been dreading telling you! You knew the whole fucking time!” You swat at him, he chuckles, catching your hand.

“Yeah, I’m real dedicated to other people’s kids, Y/N.” He snorts.

Your mouth opens, you’re speechless, as you stare at him. He was, he was unbelievably dedicated to Anthony. Little things even, tips from Aunt May, Wanda teaching him to change a diaper, feeding Anthony, the shoes, the books, carrying him everywhere, helping him walk, watching him.

“You’re putting it together now, huh?” He nods.

“You’re always doting on him.” Your voice a whisper, in shock still.

“Sort of put it together, at the store the first night you were here. We were talking, but I couldn’t stop staring at him. It was like look at a smaller chubbier version of myself, with lighter colored hair.” He shrugs.

“You’ve known for what two months!” You rip your hand away from him, swatting at him. You punch him in the arm.

“You’ve known he was mine his whole life!” Peter leans back, rubbing his arm. “You couldn’t have sent a fucking card? A letter? Had Clint drop by my room? ‘Hey, you got a kid, but Y/N needs her space, it’s too hard for her to be around you’. Would it have been so hard?” He retorts.

“I thought you would want him. You’d want to co-parent and I couldn’t watch you be in love with someone else! I didn’t want him to have another mom! I’m fucking selfish!” You yell.

“God you’re so fucking dense Y/N. I’m in love with you! You think I want him to have another dad? To see you play family with another man?” He scuffs, his brow crinkles.

“There hasn’t been anyone else! Because I never got over your stupid, ass!” You huff loudly.

The two of you staring at each other. Anger fizzled out, and left tension, but you couldn’t put your finger on the kind. Not till Peter closed the distance between the two of you, his hand on the back of your neck, the other around your waist, his lips crashing into your own. You melt into him, it wasn’t like after two years, you had built up some resistance to Peter. No you were just as weak for him as you were from the very beginning.

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Everything Peaches 2/6/19: @xmtd5 @mo320 @all1e23 @courtmr @avxgers @eliza-kat @izzy--lee @irepeldirt @dumblani @crist1216 @a--1--1--3 @alyssaj23 @allyp1023 @joannie95 @nishanki1 @bugalouie @kolakube9 @rileyloves5 @sarahp879 @sea040561 @sexyvixen7 @pcterpvrker @pigwidgexn @doctoranon @tomhardy41 @abschaffer2 @justrae9903 @tony-stank3 @bookluver01 @teller258316 @callie-bear15 @nickimarie94 @wandressfox @amandab-ftw @carostar2020 @henrietteoaks @nea90sweetie @amberkay284 @circusofchaos @itsagalaxystar @bettercallsabs @miraclesoflove @lucifersnipnips @queenkrissy11 @elite4cekalyma @this-is-mycrisis @sadyoungadult @destiel-artemis @xrosegoldwolfx @paintballkid711 @isabelcrichards @iwillbeinmynest @sweet-honey15 @chanelmadrid13 @mellxander1993 @killerbumblebee @spookygrantaire @geeksareunique @supernatural508 @sammysgirl1997 @itzmegaaaaaaan @booksbeforebois @optimistic-babes @childishhoebinoo @elizabethaellison @aspiringtranslator @mariekoukie6661 @pure-princess-97 @capsheadquaters @samanthasmileys @nerdypinupcrystal @atlas-of-the-world @youclickedthislink @futuremrsb-r-main @lovemarvelousfics @notyourtypicalrose @petersunderoos96 @loving-life-my-way @buckystolemyheart @booktvmoviefangirl @supernatural-girl97 @thefridgeismybestie @dumbbitchenergytm @abbypalmer14-blog @fanfictionjunkie1112 @meganlikesfandoms @awkwardfangirl2014 @supernaturaldean67 @xqueenofthecraziesx @queenoftheunderdark @writingaworldofmyown @supernaturallover2002 @daughterofthenight117 @mustbeaweasleyginger @mcuwillbethedeathofme @sprinklesandsugarcubes @whothehellisbucky-1930 @verymuchclosetedfangirl @for-the-love-of-the-fandom @ocaptain-mycaptainmorgan @wonderlandfandomkingdom @crazy-little-thing-called-buck @letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked @stupendoussciencenaturepanda @jamesbarnesappreciationsociety @supernatural-strangerthings-1980

Marvel Tag List 2/6/19: @lumelgy @dottirose @jcc04220 @rockagurl @mizzzpink @jade-taillia @coley0823 @widowsfics @bookluver01 @thelostallycat @shield-agent78 @dtftheavengers @ilovetvshowsblog @capsheadquaters @iamwarrenspeace @thefridgeismybestie @whenallsaidanddone @deanwinchestersrifle @fandomsstolemylife00 @daughterofthenight117 @lilmissperfectlyimperfect

Peter ‘Fuck Me I’m Weak’ Parker: @ml7010 @ariminiria @dkpink123 @boltsgirl919 @quokkatrash @everthenerd @ms-rogers06 @crayonwriting @baebeepeach @bellamouse16 @honey-bee-holly @messofamasterpiece @britkane-shsl-librarian @kiss-the-stars-goodbye

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#Marvel #Peter Parker x Reader #Avengers #Peter x Reader #Everything You Want #Marvel Fanfiction #Peter Parker Series #Avengers Fanfiction #Spider-Man Series

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