#me @ peyton: LONG SIGHS

[d-targaryenshoe]

Books And Looks - Luke Thompson

Word Count: 1006

Summary: Some say even well-known actors can have a crush on authors, can they not?

The sun dipped below the horizon, casting a warm glow over the city as the cast of Bridgerton wrapped up another long day of filming for season four.

Jonathan, Claudia, and Luke Thompson found themselves at their favorite pub, unwinding with drinks in hand.

“To another successful day!” Jonathan cheered, raising his glass.

“To another successful day!” echoed Claudia and Luke, clinking their glasses together.

They settled into a comfortable silence, the camaraderie of their shared experiences providing a soothing backdrop to the evening.

After a few sips, Jonathan leaned back in his chair and sighed.

“It’s going to be strange going back to normal life after this,” he mused. “I’ve gotten so used to the hustle and bustle of the set.”

Claudia nodded. “I know what you mean. There’s something about the energy here that’s hard to replicate in the real world. But I am looking forward to seeing my sister again.”

“You have a sister?” Luke asked, intrigued.

They’d spent so much time together on set, yet there were still many things they didn’t know about each other’s personal lives.

Claudia smiled warmly. “Yes, she’s a few years older than me. We’re very close, even though she’s quite the introvert.”

Jonathan raised an eyebrow. “An introvert? Doesn’t sound like anyone in your family.”

Claudia laughed. “You’d be surprised. She’s a famous author, but she avoids the spotlight as much as possible. Her books have a huge following.”

Luke’s ears perked up at this revelation. “A famous author? What’s her name?”

Claudia hesitated for a moment, then said, “Y/n Jessie Peyton.”

Luke’s eyes widened, nearly spilling his drink in his excitement. “No. Are you serious? She’s one of my favorite authors in the world! I’ve read all her books at least twice.”

Jonathan chuckled at Luke’s sudden burst of enthusiasm. “Looks like you’ve got a superfan on your hands, Claudia.”

Claudia shook her head, laughing. “Luke, she’s very private. She doesn’t like the spotlight, and she doesn’t do meet-and-greets.”

Luke’s expression turned pleading. “Please, Claudia, you have to introduce me. I promise I won’t make a scene. I just want to tell her how much her work means to me.”

Claudia sighed, seeing the sincerity in Luke’s eyes. “I can’t make any promises, Luke, but I’ll talk to her. We’ll see what happens.”

Over the next few weeks, Luke didn’t let up.

He would bring your name up in conversation whenever he could, his admiration for your work shining through.

Claudia found it endearing but was also protective of your privacy.

One evening, after another long day of filming, Claudia received a call from you.

You chatted about your lives, and inevitably, Luke’s name came up.

“Luke Thompson?” you repeated, surprised. “The actor?”

“Yes, the very same,” Claudia replied. “He’s a huge fan of your work, y/n. He’s been pestering me non-stop to introduce you two.”

You laughed softly. “Well, that’s flattering. I didn’t realize my books had such an impact on people. Maybe… maybe we could arrange something. A small, casual meeting. No big deal.”

Claudia smiled. “I think that would make his year, y/n. Let me know when you’re free, and I’ll set it up.”

A few days later, Claudia walked onto the set in full 'Eloise' with a secretive smile.

She had arranged for you to visit, and she couldn’t wait to see Luke’s reaction.

As they broke for lunch, Claudia spotted Luke and Jonathan chatting by the catering table.

“Hey, guys,” she said, trying to keep her excitement in check. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

Jonathan raised an eyebrow. “A surprise? What kind of surprise?”

Before Claudia could answer, you walked onto the set, looking slightly out of place but wearing a warm smile. Luke’s jaw dropped as he recognized her.

“No way,” he whispered, his eyes wide. “Is that…?”

Claudia grinned. “Luke, Jonathan, this is my sister.”

You stepped forward, extending your hand. “Hi, Luke. Claudia’s told me a lot about you.”

Luke shook your hand, trying to keep his composure. “It’s such an honor to meet you. Your books have had such a profound impact on me. Thank you for your incredible work.”

You blushed slightly, clearly not used to such direct praise. “Thank you. It means a lot to hear that.”

Jonathan, sensing the significance of the moment, clapped Luke on the back. “See, dreams do come true, mate.”

You all laughed, the initial tension easing into a more comfortable atmosphere.

You spent the rest of their lunch break chatting about your books, the writing process, and life on set.

Luke found himself captivated not just by your words but by your presence.

There was a quiet strength to you that drew him in, and he could tell you felt a connection too.

As the days passed, your visits to the set became more frequent. You and Luke would steal moments to talk, sharing stories and laughter.

It was clear to everyone around you that there was something special brewing between you two.

One evening, after a particularly long day of filming, Luke and you found yourselves alone on set.

The sun was setting, casting a golden glow over everything.

You sat on a bench, enjoying the peaceful silence.

“You know,” Luke began, “I never imagined I’d get to meet you, let alone spend so much time with you. It feels like a dream.”

You smiled, your eyes reflecting the fading light. “Life has a funny way of surprising us, doesn’t it? I never thought I’d enjoy being on a set, but here I am.”

Luke took a deep breath, gathering his courage. “Listen, I know we haven’t known each other for very long, but I’d love to get to know you better, outside of all this.”

You looked at him, your expression softening. “I feel the same way. I’d like that very much.”

You shared a smile, the unspoken promise of something more hanging in the air.

As the first stars appeared in the night sky, Luke reached for your hand, and you didn’t pull away.

[sturnsslut]

summer camp - matt sturniolo

a/n: this is for lia and peyton 🎀 but leave requests !! i’ll answer all + lowercase intended & readers name in this story is MELANIE

warnings: switch!matt x switch!reader, smoking , overstimulation, p in v, unprotected sex ( don’t you ever ) pet names, slight choking, begging, oral (m receiving) fingering, praising, etc.

——————————————————————————

‘ all these tattoos on my skin they turn you on ..’

the screaming, the crying, the kids, all of it. i needed a break

why would my mom put me in an all kids camp when i’m 19?

we were playing capture the flag, and i wasn’t doing anything but sitting on my ass so i figured i’d sneak away.

i was walking in the woods when i saw a small light peeking through the branches

i shouldn’t have, but my curiosity got the best of me and i wandered closer to the light, wondering what it was.

that’s when i saw one of the camp counselors, matt i think his name was, sitting on a log smoking a blunt surrounded by lanterns

i stepped closer to see if he would notice me standing there or if he was just obvious

that is until i stepped on a stick. a fucking stick.

matt’s head shot up and he fumbled with the blunt in his hands until the end touched his hand and he burned himself “shit!” he said under his breath

i giggled at his clumsiness until he just left it on the ground and walked up to me

“i- um…how much of that did you see?” he asked pointing with his thumb to the spot he was just previously in

“ i saw enough to know you were smoking “ i said in a playful tone, tilting my head

“fuck.” he muttered out while rubbing his forehead

“please don’t tell anyone i-“ he sighed before speaking again “i know im not allowed, but these kids drive me to get like this sometimes, and i need this job i-“

i cut off his nervous rambling before speaking “im not, chill out.” i giggled

he let out a sigh of relief “thank fuck” he looked much more relived and relaxed knowing his secret was safe.

“how long ago did you roll that?” i asked furrowing my brows

“like …10 minutes ago but all i did was take like 2 hits” i thought for a moment before walking infront of him and sitting down on the log he was sat on just minutes ago

“ come on “ i waved him over before picking the blunt off of the ground

he still looked stunned by my actions, as if i was playing a joke on him or something. “you coming?” i said tilting my head, snapping him out of the trance he was in

“you sure…?” be still seemed hesitant

“im 19. i smoke weed ton, like, all the time.” i said reassuring him

“fuck it” he mumbled and made his way over, sitting next to me handing me a lighter

i sparked up the blunt before taking a hit, closing my eyes as i blew the smoke out

the feeling was amazing, i opened my eyes to find matt looking at me in shock

“what?” i giggled at his surprised expression, passing him the blunt

“uh nothing” he shook his head and took a hit, coughing slightly before passing it back to me

“your a lifesaver. it’s matt right?” i quizzed, gratefully accepting the blunt again

“yeah, and your melanie?”

“mhm”

we sat and talked for 2 hours, we had deep talks, and learned a lot about eachother. i liked matt.

he was so sweet, caring, he was genuine and raw, and he wasn’t afraid to express his feelings. that’s a man.

he laughed, i cried a little, we opened up to eachother, occasionally having to relight the blunt if one of us talked for too long. and we were both over sharers and we both liked to listen, so it worked perfectly fine.

he offered me the last hit of the blunt, which is literally the key to my heart

even afterwards we continued talking, and now we were both laying our heads against the log, laid down on the leaves underneath us, looking up at the twinkling stars that were above us.

i turned to face matt, resting my head on both of my hands

he was telling me a story from high school, and i don’t know if it was because i was high or what, but he looked so good under the dim lantern lights, and the way the moonlight complimented his eyes was turning me on.

“ what?” he looked over at me smiling and giggling

“nothing” i said giggling back at him “ your just pretty”

his cheeks flushed a bright rose red and he cleared his throat before speaking “thank you so um…where was i” he nervously answered and stuttering

“wait” i cut him off

he looked at me eyebrows raised, fidgeting with the rings on his fingers due to his nervousness.

“ why are you nervous “ i asked, my eyes staring deep into his low, slightly pink eyes

“ what do you mean?” he said trying to contain his nerves, his voice shaky

“you got flustered when i called you pretty. why?” i asked furrowing my brows and smirking

“ i don’t know it..it just happened?” he replied, still twisting the metal rings around his long fingers

i looked down and noticed this, so i grabbed his hand and asked if he was okay

he shook his head and we continued our conversation, me not even realizing that our hands were now interlocked and our fingers were intertwined with one another.

i got cold while he was talking so i moved closer to him, laying one of my legs over his and moving in closer to his neck, still holding his hand

he was still telling some story but the sudden movement cause him to go silent, and i heard his breath hitch

“ why’d you stop talking? “ i asked looking up at him

he hesitated before speaking “ no reason ..where’s all this coming from?” he giggled, referring to our newfound position

“ i just felt cold. i wanted to feel you. “ i say in a slightly teasing tone, testing my limits to see what he would do.

he stutters over his words, flustered by my sudden boldness and change of mood

i giggle and bury my nose more into his neck causing him to let out the slightest whine

“ shit melanie …watch ..” he grunts before finishing his sentence “ watch what your doing. “

“ what? you hard or something ?” i ask in a joking way, before i noticed matt went completely silent

“ oh you are..oh you are! holy shit” i giggle and look down at his sweatpants to see his buldge poking through his pants

“ fuck off dude “ he laughs and rolls his eyes and puts his arm around me “ still cold?” he asks trying to switch the topic

“ no..but we’re not moving past this ..” i say sitting up “how?”

“i dont know ..you were really close to me?” he sits up with me shrugging his shoulders

i laugh and there’s a moment of silence before i speak up, “can i help you? y’know with..that.” i ask, cause why not. worth a try.

“ you are full of surprises mel. but i mean..if you want…” he answers as if he was unsure

“ matt i don’t care. i WANNA help you ..but it’s up to you” i reply tilting my head

“ go for it then “ he dryly laughs and shrugs his shoulders, sitting up more

i smile and make my way over to matt, straddling him and crashing my lips into his

his hands immediately meet my waist, holding me down right on top of his boner

i let out a small moan as his kisses get lower and eventually meet my neck, leaving hickeys everywhere

i grab the back of his head and grab some of his hair as he continues to mark me up

“ shit “ i say weakly before connecting our lips again

his hands still on my waist before he starts moving me back and forth on top of him

i grind slowly against his hard cock while still kissing him, earning small whines from him.

his hands move farther from my waist to under my shirt, i jerk at the feeling of his cold rings against my skin

i break the kiss taking off my shirt and tossing it to the side

i look back to matt to see him admiring my body and i giggle at the sight

MATTS POV

god she was so perfect. she was wearing a black bra with lace in the middle

it complimented her tits so well, they say perfectly. i never thought this moment would come, yet here i am

truth is i’ve had a small crush on melanie since she first came to camp. then it developed. but i never thought she’d notice me, let alone hookup with me

“ your so perfect. “ i say in awe, mt eyes scanning every inch of her that is currently revealed right in front of me.

just looking at her like this, i could cum right now. but i need to get a grip and please her

END OF MATTS POV

i laughed at his comment before kissing his again and working my way down

i told him to take off his shirt and he obeyed, tossing the shirt right alongside mine

i placed gentle kisses to his stomach, then down to his happy trail “ take these off. “

he lifted his hips in an upward motion to help me slide them off of him, now he was left in his boxers

“ wait “ i stood up and took off my pants just as he did, now i was left in my pink laced underwear

i straddled him again and we started making out, his hands finding their way to my ass

i grinded on him, feeling his hard dick rub against my aching pussy i let out a small moan

i reached my hand in between us and palmed him, kissing him on his neck

“ shit “ he breathed out in a low tone. that was my signal to stop teasing him

i pulled down his boxers and his dick sprung out, hitting his stomach as my eyes widened in shock, he was huge.

“ what?” he says giggling and panting, trying to catch his breath from the previous make out

“jesus matt your huge! what the fuck” i say looking at him then back at his dick

he laughed and i took a deep breath in trying my best to prepare myself, i still couldn’t get over his size.

i grabbed his dick and i heard his breath shutter from the sudden contact

i lean down and look at his pink tip, dripping with precum and his cock buldging because of how hard he was.

i take in only the tip, swirling my tongue around his slit causing him to buck his hips up, already eager for more

i took his tip out of my mouth and sat up, spitting in my hand and began jerking him off

his body instantly reacted to the contact, matt whining and throwing his head back

i leaned back down and took in as much as i could, jerking off whatever i couldn’t fit in my mouth even though it was only like 2 more inches.

i sat up for a second to catch my breath, and i look up at matt to see him with his head thrown back, his face a light pink color

“ matt? you good?” i giggle asking him

“better than good.” he panted and laughed

i leaned back down and licked all the way up his cock before taking in all i could again

i didn’t expect him to do anything until he grabbed a fistful of my hair , pushing himself further into my throat

i gagged repeatedly as he basically just face fucked me, i looked up at him through my lashes and saw him already looking at me.

tears stained my cheeks from the amount of gagging i was doing. “ what, you like how my cock feels in your pretty little mouth?” he said in a dominant, yet whiny tone.

all i could do was hum in response, the action sending vibrations straight to his dick

“ fuck mel ..i’m so close baby your doing so good”

that’s when i took it into my own hands to help him finish faster

even though he had my hair in his hand, i still bobbed my head up and down as fast as i could, causing him grown

the sounds went straight to my core, as i could feel my underwear getting more and more soaked by the second.

i hollowed my cheeks as i swirled my tongue around his tip which sent him over the edge

“ ohh fuck fuck fuck “ he squeezed his eyes shut and bucked up his hips as i felt his warm cum shoot down my throat

i swallowed all of it of course and stuck out my tongue to show him “ good girl “ he praised as he patted my cheek “are you okay?”

“yeah. but now i’m really horny” i huffed, trying to catch my breath

“ you want me to fuck you?” he asks nonchalantly like he wasn’t just face fucking me a second ago

“ please matt “ i tilted my head looking at him

“ cmere. “ he motioned me over with his hand i laid down infront of him, still in my bra and panties

“ take these off for me hm?” i immediately did as told and threw my things to where everything else was

he was now hovering over me and we were making out once again when i felt matt’s hand find its way to my clit

he moved his thumb slowly , adding pressure every second

i moaned into the kiss and i felt him smirk against my lips, my sounds boosting his ego

he placed his other two fingers in between my flaps, running them up and down until he stuck them fully in.

“ shit! “ i yelled due to the pleasure, but i was quick to cover my mouth, remembering the setting we’re in

i moaned into my hand as his fingers moved in and out of my soaking pussy by the second, his rings adding more to the experience.

i felt myself get close and i started to clench around his fingers, which he knew it meant i was about to cum, he all of a sudden removed his fingers as he sucked on them all while looking me in my eyes

he grabbed his dick which was already fully hard again, sliding the tip in between my folds making me wince

“ please matt ..” i choked out, my mind was so clouded i could barley form a full sentence.

“ you ready?” he asked me before i nodded and he shoved himself inside of me, all of him.

i gasped as my mouth fell agape but no sound came out, he leaned down as he thrusted into me leaving kisses on my neck

i dug my nails into his back as i closed my eyes, clinging onto matt for some sort of support

“ fuck mel “ he grunted “ oh shit you feel so good baby” he whined into the crook of my neck

my back arched as i left marks all down matt’s neck as he left marks all over my neck

i paused for a moment and thought about how matt reacted when i had called him prettier earlier, i wondered if he had a praise kink? fuck it let’s see

i flipped us over and he just went with it, not saying anything about it

“ my turn pretty boy “ i joked around, not expecting to earn a reaction from matt

“ oh fuck mel..can you say that again “ he said with eyes closed, his hands on my waist once more

“ why should i?” i teased him and tilted my head

before he could answer i grabbed his chin and forced him to look at me, “ look at me when i’m talking to you”

“s..sorry” he could barley talk. and i liked it.

MATTS POV

i sat there and watched as she fucked herself on my dick like what she called me just now hadn’t driven me insane

the way her tits bounced everytime she would move was perfect. and her dominance was driving me even more crazy.

i loved being dominant, but something about praise and doing as your told when they’re completely destroying you is a different type of satisfaction.

everytime she kissed me, our bare chests would touch as i felt her soft tits rest against my chest

i’ve never been in this much pleasure ever in my life, i didn’t want it to end

END OF MATTS POV

i looked him dead in the eyes as i bounced up and down on his cock, enjoying the faces he was making to try and contain his noises

watching him squirm under me or jolt his hips up whenever he wanted more and i wasn’t going fast enough was everything

pieces of his hair stuck to his forehead because he was sweating and his body felt warm

his eyes were squeezed shut and his eyebrows were furrowed while his mouth was open, he was a whimpering mess

everytime i would slam myself back down onto his dick, it would hit my g-spot perfectly and he fit so well.

“ your doing so good, fuck your dick is big baby“ i praised as i threw my head back, the sentence earning small moans from him

i felt his cock twitch inside me and that’s when i knew he was close, he muttered out a weak sentence

“ im ..im close” he whined as he looked at me with pleading eyes, waiting for my approval

“ go ahead baby. fill me up” i spoke as i leaned down to kiss him on his neck, while his thrusts grew sloppier by the second

he looked at me before connecting our lips, when i felt his load inside me causing him to moan into the kiss as he jolted his hips forward, now he was in as deep as possible and i loved it

“ you okay?” i asked looking at him, smirking slightly

all he could do was nod his head. slut.

i knew i was close to my release, even though he had just finished and he would be sensitive, he can take it.

i continued my motions, moving up and down along his newly sensitive dick as he whined from the overstimulation

“ fuck melanie i cant..” he looked at me

“ yes you can, and you will.” i looked back at him through the strands of hair that had fallen

he nodded and tried his best to thrust harder but i spoke up, “ no i got it. let me do this for you” i said out of breath

he smiled and relaxed himself as he held my waist

the knot in my stomach was building up and i was about to cum

“ mel “ he spoke in between breaths “ im almost there “ he looked at me with guilt because of how fast he was about to finish

“it’s okay baby im there to, cum with me” i leaned down to kiss him as he came inside me for a second time

the knot in my stomach snapped as i slowed down on his dick, i moaned and had to catch my breath as i checked to see if he was good

i stood up as he pulled out slowly, grabbing his boxers and changing while he admired me as i changed back into my clothes

he sat down as he waited for me to finish changing, resting his head on his hand

“ your fucking beautiful mel “ he said while his eyes scanned my body “and i wanna see you again“ he continued

i giggled and turned around while pulling up my pants, “thanks pretty boy” i sarcastically joked

his face flushed a light pink color making me chuckle before i finished my sentence

“ on a serious note though, i wanna see you again to. i like you” i said while making my way over to matt

“ i like you to” he smiled and wrapped his arm around me as i sat down next to him, leaning my head on his shoulder

summer camp isn’t total shit i guess .

a/n - i lowkey got lazy w this at the end but wtv 🌚. leave suggestions and lmk what yall wanna see next

@liatronn

[ellethespaceunicorn]

The Howling in Claw Creek Forest, Chapter Three

Chapter Three: The Wolf In My Living Room

Rating: Mature, 18+, Minors - DNI

Pairing: Werewolf!Walter Marshall x Reader

Word Count: 2.7K

Series Summary: You live in a small town called Claw Creek, surrounded by a deep, dark forest. Since you were a kid, an urban legend of the creature in the woods has been told. If the distant howls at night and mutilated livestock are anything to go by, you fear the stories to be true.

Chapter Summary: Your eventful day starts…RIGHT NOW! *draws mouse ears on the fourth wall* 

Warnings: slight dry humping, slight choking, making out, love bites (hickeys)

A/N: A special thank you to @peyton-warren for being my lovely beta and soundboard for this. 

Dividers by me

Support/Reblog banner by me

Cover Art by me

Series Masterlist

My Masterlist

You wake to the sounds of the forest coming to life. The leaves in the trees rustling in the morning wind, birdsong as they wake and communicate to each other, and the soft rumbling of snores over your shoulder. 

Puffs of air tickle your neck, and the firmness of the mattress under you seems misplaced. The heavy weight around your middle and the press of the warm body behind you is enough to have you remember where you slept last night.

If any of those things weren’t enough to wake you up, surely the unmistakable bulge of something poking at your backside would do it. You are quite flattered because it has been a long time since you’ve had a man in your bed. You also know that men get boners when the damn wind blows, so it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s there because of you.

Until the surrounding arms tighten and his hips push into yours just slightly. His nose sneaks into the space between your neck and shoulder, inhaling deeply.

You can’t help the desperate sigh that escapes you, and the answering groan from the man behind you only inspires you to push your hips back into him. Your name is a whisper on his lips as one of his hands moves to the front of your neck. His thumb on your pulsepoint has you keening, while his other hand slowly glides down your stomach toward where you want him most. But once his massive paw cups you...

“Wait!” The yelp left your throat before you permitted it to do so. Waiting was not at all what you wanted to do, but your brain had other plans. Fight or flight response on high alert.

Walter freezes with one hand on your neck and one hand over your clothed sex. His chest heaving as he seems to try and calm himself down. 

“I’m sorry, I just, it’s been a long time,” you blurt, surprised to be able to put forth words that actually make sense, “Feeling a little overwhelmed, is all.”

“I’m so sor–”

“Don’t be sorry, Walter. I want this. I just, I’m not ready.” Mentally, you are kicking yourself for not letting this man take you to Pound Town.

Walter removes his hands from your groin and your neck, the warmth leaving with them. “Just, please tell me I didn’t force myself on you. I couldn’t live with myself if I pushed you in any way.”

You turn to face him, one hand going to cup his jaw. “You didn’t push me, I promise. I...I want you. My body wants you, too. But, I know I’m not ready. For more. Yet.” The thought of your ex is heavy in your mind, the relationship you thought would last forever.

Walter nods, his eyes on you as he turns his head to kiss your palm. “What do you say we get some coffee?”

You nod, afraid to speak more and possibly ruin the moment. Your thumb ghosts over his bottom lip, your eyes still locked on each other as you both lean in. Once your lips meet, it’s as though nothing else matters. His top lip is between your lips, as your bottom lip is between his. Your hand roams from his jawline to tangle in his curls.

Before you know it, Walter is pulling you closer to deepen the kiss. His intensity only drives you to want him more. The taste of his tongue as it massages yours is almost enough to have you take back your words. You could keep kissing him for hours, days, weeks if he let you. But, then again, you always were a sucker for a good kisser. And Walter? He was something to write home about.

He slows down the kiss to let you breathe, and you pull back to get a firm grip on yourself and on reality. As much as you want this man to rearrange your guts, you would like to continue things on a slower progression. Thanks in part to your ex, who did everything with the speed of a cheetah.

“I don’t wanna keep you in the dark about something, so I’m just gonna say it. My ex is a huge reason why I wanna take things slow, Walter. He and I were briefly engaged and it didn’t end well when I broke it off. He’s not like, dangerous or anything. Just a bit of a dick sometimes is all.” You let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding and look up at Walter who is just smiling at you as if you didn’t just ruin his boner.

“Thank you for telling me. I hope you know that makes me want to be even more protective over you.” He pokes at your chin and you duck your head.

“I mean, I guess I should expect that from a wolf, huh?” You slide your hand from his curls, down his neck, and around to his chest. 

“Yeah, you really should,” he says, turning to stretch, and no doubt adjust himself, “Let’s get that coffee, and I’ll take you back to the park to pick up your car.”

The coffee maker bubbles and brews. You sit on the kitchen counter while Walter stands between your legs. His hands stroke your thighs as he kisses and nips at your neck. You did try to keep a bit of distance between you, but the moment he stepped into your personal space, it was all over.

Once the coffee is done, Walter pours you both a cup. While you sip your coffee, you sit in companionable silence. You get the feeling that he doesn’t mind the quiet, he might even relish it. Even though you still have some questions, you decide to wait to ask them, choosing instead to enjoy the non-verbal flirting between you two.

You gather your things and Walter drives you to the park just outside the forest to pick up your car. Your phone is still dead in your coat pocket, but you have an idea. You get into your car and grab an old receipt from the console. Scribbling your phone number on the back of it, you hand it to him and tell him to call you later. 

He pockets the paper and promises to call that evening. With a kiss on the cheek, he tells you to get a move on getting home. You put the key into the ignition and turn it, the car springing to life. Waving to him one last time, you drive out of the parking lot and start to make your way home.

If you are honest with yourself, you miss him already.

Pulling up to your house, you’re not surprised to see a distraught Olivia pacing on your lawn. Her car is in your driveway along with a truck that seems familiar. Once you park a bit behind Liv’s car, she throws her hands up and comes to greet you as you exit your vehicle.

“Oh, my God. Your phone has been going straight to voicemail since yesterday!!” she shouts, seconds before she wraps you up in a bear hug, “Look, I’m sorry, but I called him since he’s a fucking bloodhound. Don’t be mad at me, I was worried.”

“What? Who are you talk–” 

Just then, you see shoulders turn around and those eyes meet yours. Eyes that still held that fire for you, even after everything.

“Hey, Bug,” he mumbles, walking over to where you and Liv are still holding onto each other, “Olivia, here, called me when she couldn’t get a hold of ya.”

Bug. The name he used to call you when you were dating. You close your eyes and steady yourself before detaching yourself from Liv and stuffing your hands in your pockets. You weren’t really in the mood to deal with this right now, but you understand why she called...him.

“Well, here I am. I made it home safe and sound. So, thank you but I think I got it from here, James.” you advised, trying to be calm in the face of your ex-fiance.

“Ya know, you can still call me Sy just like everyone else, Bug.” he offers, smiling down at you while you chew on your cheek.

“Yeah, I know. I guess I’m not everyone else, James. I feel like I’ve made that clear more than enough times.” you seethed, if only your eyes could shoot lasers.

“Got it. You’re still pissed. Well, do me a favor, Bug. Keep yourself safe. Check in with your friend when you’re, uh,” he pokes at a bruise forming on your neck, “Going out to meet somebody.” He snorts, walking back to his truck.

Liv turns to you and smacks you on the arm, whispering harshly as she does, “All this was for some dick? Like, kudos! But damn, you coulda told me!!”

As he backs out of the driveway, he stops just short. “Maybe stay in tonight. Me and a buncha boys from town are gonna be heading out looking for this menace been taking down livestock and all. Probably just a wolf or something. But whatever it is, it ain’t safe out here.”

You hated that he still cared for your well-being and honestly, you didn’t need his judgment either. But you used to love this man. Shit, you were planning on marrying him and raising however many kids he wanted. A little piece of you feels shitty for wanting to bite his head off. You can tell he still cares at least. It’s just hard to skip over the bad times when you think about your ex.

“Look, thank you, James. I’ll worry about keeping myself safe. You do the same?” you reply, pushing away Liv’s hands from your neck.

“Will do, Bug. Alright now. See ya ‘round.” He backs out of the driveway fully, throws a hand up in a wave, and drives off.

You turn to Liv as she puts a hand on your shoulder. “You know you owe me the deets, right? Like, everything?”

“Yeah, I know. But, truth be told, it is barely anything yet. Can it wait until it’s something more substantial, at least?” you implore, knowing damn well you like Walter more than you’d be honest about at this moment.

“Okay, so you didn’t fuck him yet. Did you least taste it?” This woman has no chill.

“Liv! Oh, my God.” you blurt, hand going to your face.

“Alright, so you didn’t taste it. Must have been an intense makeout session though, huh? That’s why you look so tired, hun?” she rambles on as you start to walk past her to your front door.

“Bye, Liv! Good luck getting your car out.” you shout back, the key already unlocking the door.

You watch from the living room window as she makes various turns to get her car out from in front of yours. You love the girl, but she deserves that after the third degree. And after calling your ex-fiance when she couldn’t reach you. Like, what was she thinking? Probably thinking the worst, you’re sure. 

But, really? She called...Sy? If that didn’t open a can of worms later on, you will be surprised. 

But for now, you’ll just put it behind you in favor of a cup of cocoa and possibly a very long shower. That would be enough after your very eventful night in the woods. And you were looking forward to finally plugging your phone in and getting a call from a certain bearded wolf.

Many hours later, you were doing some cleaning around the house, which consisted of walking around with a glass of wine in one hand and a duster in the other. Sure, you tidied up the living area, but you half-assed the rest of the first floor and you didn’t care. You were putting off taking a shower because you could still smell Walter on you.

Not like you were swooning over his smell or anything. Okay, maybe you liked the way his pheromones seem to act differently. It wasn’t just a woodsy, man smell. It was musky, strong, like fresh sweat all the time.

After three-quarters of the bottle is gone, you cork the wine and put it into the fridge to save for later. Turning off the lights and speaker system, you resigned yourself to finally scrubbing this day away.

To keep yourself sane, you plugged in your phone on the bedroom charger before going to the bathroom for that long shower you wanted. Settling in bed afterward, you moisturize your skin and dress in a comfy nightgown. You unhook your phone from the charger and scroll through the notifications. 

A couple of texts from Olivia, checking in on you. A few junk emails that you delete. One missed call from Sy, with a voicemail.

Well, fuck.

You didn’t want to open that voicemail just yet, not that you get the chance to. You hear a crashing coming from downstairs. Not today, bitches. I’ve had enough surprises. You move to your closet to grab your bat. Five seasons of company softball have led you to this point. Kicking a home intruder’s ass. Sliding your phone screen open, you quickly turn on the smart lights for the living room. As you come down the stairs, holding the bat aloft, you hear a groaning noise.

Turning to the sound, you find Walter clutching his abdomen and standing against the entryway to the kitchen. He’s still in the clothing from last night, his gray henley soaking through with blood. You drop the bat to look at the wound but there is no hole in the shirt. You direct him to lie across the dining room table after taking his shirt off while you go find your first aid kit.

Coming back from the kitchen, you get out a pair of gloves and start to clean what looks like a bullet wound. 

“So, obviously I have questions. Like, a ton. But we’ll start with ‘How did you know this was my house?’.” you ask, stitching up the wound.

“I just followed your scent,” he admits, hissing as you tightened a stitch, “And the car in the driveway kinda helped too.”

“Of course. Next question. What the fuck happened?” you press, finishing up the last stitch before cleaning it off and applying gauze.

“I was out in wolf form and a few hunters were out, too. I managed to draw them away from the cabin. I tried to make it back but one of ’em got me. Figured if I shift back to human form, I could drive out here to you. And, I probably shouldn’t have driven with a gaping wound like that, but I wasn’t able to think that clearly. I also might have parked on your lawn and I apologize for that. May I pass out on your couch?” he chatters, already rising from the table and narrowly missing the light hanging over it.

“Whoa there, Wolfie. Let me help you to the couch, at least,” you insist, letting him hang an arm over your shoulder.

Having him against your body again was a welcome consolation, if only for a moment. You deposit him on the sectional and he grips onto a throw pillow as soon as he lays down on his stomach. You pull a blanket off the back of the couch and cover him with it. His hand touches yours as you pull away.

“Just need a little rest, Pup. Be good as new.” he trails off, your hand slipping out of his.

Watching his sleeping face, he looks so peaceful. A curl is over one eye and you reach out to tame it, but it springs back right into place. You laugh to yourself as you walk to the dining table to clean away the trash. 

Once done, you look back over to where Walter is snoring softly. Turning out the lights, one by one, you leave on the light above the sectional. You walk upstairs to your bedroom. Climbing into bed, you think this is the perfect night to go to bed early for once.

But your brain goes back to this morning. Walter’s arms around you. His scent is fresh on you. If you could keep extra quiet, you’re sure you can crank one out without waking the beast downstairs.

Right?

To be continued...

A/N: So, the chapter summary was a nod to Disney Channel. I am not a Disney Adult, I just love nostalgia.

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[sunlightmurdock]

The Parent Trap | Prologue | Bradley Bradshaw x Ex-Wife!Reader

♡ Next Chapter | Masterlist

♡ In which, after a couple of years of listening to Peyton and Parker Bradshaw complain about their parents’ custody agreement, Grandpa Mav’s meddling goes a little bit too far.

♡ warnings: mentions of divorce throughout the fic, flashbacks to arguments and unhappily married people. Idiots who still love each other and don’t know it. (warnings will be added as story progresses).

…

“God dammit.” You sigh, leaning down into the passenger side footwell to grab your phone. After your hasty parking job, it’s wedged pretty securely under the metal bottom of the seat, impossible to reach from the angle you’re sitting in. You move up onto your knees and lean over, rummaging around for the lost device. This is the last thing you need.

It’s the third week of the semester and the second time so far that you’ve been called into the principal’s office.

The faint sound of seventies music coming from somewhere behind your shoulder alerts you to your ex-husband’s presence before you can see him. Shit, it must be bad if Rooster left work for it.

He turns his engine off and glances to his left. His lips quirk softly at the sight before him. You, in a pair of tight denim shorts, bent over the centre console and leaning down into the passenger side, searching for something. His smirk only grows as he steps down from his truck and swings the door shut behind him, tapping on the window of your 2018 Toyota corolla.

You flinch at the sound and turn your head to look back at him over your shoulder. He smiles, lifting his hand and waving his fingers at you. No matter how long passes between you seeing him, he always looks the same — and he’s usually got that smug look on his face. You roll your eyes and turn back towards your mission.

It’s been two years since the divorce became official. Still, Bradley glances down at those form fitting shorts and reminisces. It’s an outfit like that that got you into this mess in the first place. Fingers curling around your phone, you huff and catch ahold of your bag, then sit upright again. Rooster grabs the door and pulls it open, stepping out of your way.

“How’s it going, Mama?”

You scoff, shaking your head as you drape the tote over your shoulder and slip your phone into your back pocket. “I’d be better if your kids stopped being such miscreants.”

He chuckles, flightsuit tied around his waist and gold rimmed sunglasses covering his eyes. The teachers around here always go wild when he shows up like this. “My kids, huh?”

You step around him and nod your head, wishing that you were less familiar with the path to the principal’s office than you currently are. Rooster trails behind you, taking another quick glance down at those shorts he’s so fond of, “Did they tell you what we’re here for?”

“No, the lady on the phone just said that Principal James needed to speak to the both of us.” Rooster confirms your suspicions. This must be pretty bad. You groan in frustration, pushing through the front door.

“That’s what they told me too — I wonder what they did now.” You can only shake your head at the thought as the two of you sign in and are led to the principal’s office. Rooster takes his time, looking around at the colourful artwork on the walls, seemingly unfazed by whatever havoc your children have caused this time. He’s always so calm when it comes to them. He had been so different in the beginning. Terrified when those two blue lines showed up. Nauseous when the doctor confirmed that there were two heartbeats. He had almost blacked out during your labour. You can still remember the way he had periodically baby proofed not only the place that you shared, but also his Uncle Maverick’s house and your parents’ place. Anywhere his kids were going needed to be up to his standard.

Somewhere after the year mark, they had become significantly less fragile in his eyes. When they’re jumping off of high surfaces or climbing trees, dangling off of the slide at the park, he’s usually nearby with a smile on his face. He likes seeing his kids be more carefree than he ever was in childhood.

Rounding the corner, the girls’ reactions to the two of you are exceptionally polarized. When you had been told that you were expecting identical twin girls, you had expected the polar opposite trope — a mischievous daredevil tomboy and a goodie-two shoes who loved to dress up. Instead, you had received two partners in crime who were somehow all of those things at once. Freckled skin, rounded, rosy cheeks and long curls, it’s hard to tell them apart sometimes, but they still have their differences.

Peyton, Twin A — as determined by your first ultrasound, your firstborn, sits upright and beams at the two of you. It’s a rare occasion that she sees both of her parents in the same place these days. “Daddy!”

At her side, Parker, Twin B, your youngest, shrinks down in her chair in immediate realization. If you’re both here, then they’re in big trouble. For a seven year old, she’s getting good at reading the room. She turns those big brown eyes towards the ground and purses her lips.

Peyton leaps up and rushes forwards, wrapping her arms around Rooster’s waist, pressing her freckled cheek into her stomach. He grunts softly as she hits into him, then breaks out grinning as he hugs her against his middle, “Hey, Honeybee.”

He looks towards his remaining daughter. Parker glances up sheepishly, hands folded into her lap. Bradley smiles softly, “How about you, Peanut? — You got a hug for Daddy?”

You fold your arms over your chest as he pushes herself up from the chair. Bradley settles down onto his knees, opening up his arms and taking one of them in each. He hums as he hugs them tightly against him, then pulls back and scrunches his nose just slightly. “So, what’d you guys do?”

The twins stop and then share and equally worrisome glance. You squint at the two of them. “Girls.” You prompt.

“It was an accident!”

“Yeah, we didn’t mean to!”

Rooster lifts his head and this time it’s your turn to share equally worried looks. The door clicks open ahead of you.

Principal James steps out and rests her wrinkled hands on her hips. Rooster stands upright at your side. Under that cold, weathered gaze, it suddenly feels like the two of you are the ones in trouble. You swallow softly as she lifts a hand and beckons you into her office without a word.

“Sit down, girls, we’ll be right back.” You say softly, tapping their shoulders and nudging them back towards their seats. Rooster tucks his sunglasses into the collar of his black t-shirt and closes the oak office door behind him. You sit down in one of the chairs opposite her impressive, heavy mahogany desk.

She has been teaching for twenty years, and your twins have still managed to surprise her on this occasion.

“Mr. and Mrs. Bradshaw, I wish I could say that it’s a pleasure to be speaking with you today,” Her tone is sharp. Rooster presses his tongue to the inside of his cheek, whilst you count the tiles on the ceiling. “Unfortunately, today’s meeting has a rather unpleasant subject matter. Are you at all aware of the twins’ mission to… impersonate each other?”

Rooster’s lips quirk. They’ve been trying to swap places since they were two. They usually get caught pretty quickly. They’ve done it at school before, but they always mess up quickly. Their longest record for being undetected was three days at your parents’ house. “Yeah, they do that as a joke sometimes.”

“Well, today they switched outfits in the bathroom and went into each other’s classes.”

Your brows scrunch slightly. Sure, it’s a dumb thing to do, but it can’t be a punishable offense to swap outfits with your sister. Principal James looks between the two of you and finds no remorse on either of your faces so far. Clearly you aren’t following.

“Has Parker ever mentioned a boy named William Prescott?”

“Oh my god.” You sigh, pinching the bridge of your nose. Bradley frowns at your side, looking between you and the principal, lost. You turn your head. “He’s been picking on her. He pushed her down in the playground last week.”

“That’s what that cut on her knee was? — She said she tripped.” Bradley frowns, immediately engaging in that protective parent mode that’s neither helpful or impressive.

“She didn’t want to tell you because she knew you’d freak out.” You explain sitting back in the chair and rubbing at your temples. Her judgemental stare is just about enough to bring you out in a stress rash.

“So, why didn’t you tell me?” Bradley’s tone is accusatory, his expression even more so. He’s always been protective when it comes to his girls, including you not too long ago. It’s a sweet sentiment, but sometimes it’s too much and the girls are quickly picking up on that.

“Because I knew you’d freak out, and I already spoke to Billy’s mom about it.” You speak gently, acutely aware of the way that the principal’s crows feet deepen when she squints dubiously at you like she’s doing now. Rooster remains completely unaware of her judging your parenting at your side.

“Clearly that worked because —“

“The twins switched classrooms so that Peyton could, in their words, ‘take care of’ the issue.” Principal James interrupts. Both you and your ex-husband are silenced as you stare ahead at her. “Peyton proceeded to walk over to William’s desk and hit him in the face.”

You press a hand over your mouth and close your eyes, exhaling softly. Bradley sits back in the chair, leaning his head back and groaning quietly.

“At this moment in time, we have no choice but to place the twins on a short suspension.”

You purse your lips and wince. Seven years old and suspended for plotting out, and executing assault. This isn’t your proudest parenting moment.

“Suspension? — They’re in the second grade, it was just—“

“We won’t be reconsidering our decision, Mr. Bradshaw,” The principal interrupts, holding out a hand to silence him. He glances across at you. “There is some paperwork for you at the front desk, we look forward to having the girls back in a week’s time. Maybe the two of you could have a word with them about their behavior during their time off.”

Scolded, the two of you step out into the hallway, each of you silently blaming the other. The twins look at the two of you expectantly.

“Give us a second to talk, okay? — Don’t move, you’re both in big trouble.” Rooster warns them, his face stern. They frown at him in unison, then look towards each other. He reaches out, tapping his fingers against your forearm to nudge you away from the two of them. Once you’re out of earshot, he folds his arms over his chest.

“Alright, we should probably talk to them about this together, so I can swing by your place tonight after work. Like six?” He checks his watch and looks back up at you.

“Wait, wait — I can’t take them right now, I have meetings with clients all afternoon. Today’s your day to pick them up.” You frown at him. The custody agreement was fifty-fifty, two days with you, two days with him. It’s inconvenient for both of your schedules and the twins hate moving around as much as they do, but neither one of you has had the time recently to call up the lawyers and fix a new schedule.

“No, I have a debrief today that I’m already going to be late for. It’s your day.” Bradley shakes his head quickly and crosses his arms over his chest. Sometimes you think that he just does that to show off his arms. His biceps strain against the fabric of that fitted black shirt.

He’s bigger now than when you met him, filled out more into his adulthood. Years of lifting two growing girls up whenever they ask him to. Heading to the gym often so that they won’t outgrow being held by him.

Still, there’s a reason that it’s over and tanned skin and arm veins won’t change that.

“No, it’s Tuesday. The seventh.” You argue.

“Actually, it’s Wednesday. The seventh.” He mocks you back. Real mature. But, unfortunately— your phone confirms that he’s correct. You sigh and throw your head back. You’ve been so out of sorts all week, turned around with work and the kids.

Two kids running wild around a boutique that’s smaller than some of your clients’ closets. You can just see it now, them breaking into the expensive fabric whilst you’re distracted with clients. You shake your head quickly. “Shit. I can’t take them to work with me.”

Bradley purses his lips. Two kids on a naval base while he’s in a confidential meeting that they can’t sit in on sounds like an even worse idea.

When you found out you were expecting, the two of you had made an agreement that your career wouldn’t suffer as a result of parenthood. Given that Rooster is practically government owned, it’s hard for him to be as flexible as he would like. But, he has always made sure you had the support you needed. “Hold on, I’ll call Mav.”

It seems like a bad idea to send the twins to practically their favourite place on earth when they’re supposed to be being punished, but you’re out of other options.

“Idiot, I told you to wait until recess to—“ Parker’s voice trails as she spots her parents headed back in her direction. Peyton squints at the frown on her father’s face. The two of them learned early on that their Dad was wrapped around their fingers, he could barely stand to punish them and so he let them get away with more. The look on his face now tells them that he’s serious.

“I was doing you a favour.” Peyton whispers back angrily.

One look at their guilty little faces and they’re already tugging at your heartstrings. Still, you need to be strong.

“Your father and I have to get back to work, but we want you to know that we are taking this very seriously — we’re going to have a long talk about this later tonight, okay? — What you did was so wrong!”

Rooster glances across at you. Watching the same girl that he was doing body shots off of ten years ago turn out to be such a good mother is an interesting turn of events. He bites his cheek to contain his smile. If you told him back then that things would have turned out like this, with two incredible children, he wouldn’t have believed a word of it.

“We’re sorry.” They say at the same time, looking up at the two of you with those brown doe-eyes. It’s the winning combo, they inherited that puppy-dog look from their dad and mastered it years ago, and they are expressly aware of how funny Rooster finds it when they say the same thing at the same time.

As Rooster stands firm, both of you unwavering before them, your twins give in to their fate and sit back, groaning in complaint.

After his retirement last year, which he was practically forced into, kicking and screaming, Maverick was practically itching to babysit the girls every chance he gets. With Amelia off at college now, and Penny banning him from around the house DIY, he likes the chaos that they bring. For similar reasons, they adore Maverick.

“I’m serious, Mav,” Rooster frowns, his face stern as he holds the twins still. They’re practically buzzing with excitement at his sides as they wait to be allowed inside. “They’re in big trouble. No TV, no games. Have them sit there and finish the worksheets their teacher gave them, or have them clean the floors or something, I don’t care. No fun.”

Maverick takes a quick glance downwards at his freckle-faced granddaughters, both of them staring up at him in worry, hoping that he’ll disagree with their dad.

“Sure thing. I’ll keep ‘em busy.” Maverick agrees seriously, giving a quick, orderly nod of his head. The girls both frown, dejected as they pout at the wooden slats of the porch.

“Alright. If their Mom gets here before I do,” Bradley lowers his voice and squints at his uncle. “Do me a favour and please don’t be weird.”

“Weird? — I’m never weird.” Maverick answers defensively. Bradley squints at him. That’s far from true and they both know it. Maverick was always a big fan of you — you remind him of himself in some ways, and he’s always thought you were good for Bradley. Rooster still jokes that Maverick was more upset about the divorce than anyone else.

“Uh… alright. Be good for Mav, I’ll see you guys later. I love you.”

Maverick ushers the girls inside at once and waits until Bradley’s truck disappears down the road before he turns to address them. With it pouring rain outside, and the trouble they’re in, there’s limited fun that they can have. Something with no evidence. Before that, he needs a chore that they can complete that will satisfy Rooster but not take all afternoon and kill Mav’s fun.

“Alright, we’re clearing out the hallway closet, kids. Move it.”

An hour later, Maverick’s brows are furrowed as he’s thirty pieces into a two hundred piece puddle, sitting in the middle of the hallway floor. His navy expertise means that the twins have a good system, Peyton pulling down items, Parker sorting them into keep or toss.

Only, given the difficulty of piecing together the dozen shades of blue that make up the sailboat puzzle, Maverick hasn’t noticed that they stopped sorting through items five minutes ago. Now, they’re both leaning over a photo album, flicking through pictures.

“Is this Mommy?”

Maverick looks up, brows furrowed. He spins the album towards him without question and smiles at the picture. This was when he was teaching Top Gun that one time, it’s a picture of you at the beach, holding a football and posing with your arm flexed into a muscle.

“Yeah, look at this one.” Maverick flicks to the next page and spins it back towards the two of them. Their faces twist up in a mixture of excitement and amusement. It’s a picture of Rooster draped around you, squeezing you in his arms, his head resting against yours, the two of you beaming. Behind the two of you, the twins’ Uncle Jake is flexing both of his biceps, sticking his tongue out to bomb the picture.

“Daddy’s tummy doesn’t look like that anymore.” Parker snorts, shaking her head, cheeks dimpling as she looks up with a grin on her face. Maverick smiles. He sees so much of the both of you in the both of them.

“They look really really happy.” Peyton adds on.

Maverick nods. “They were. Here, you want to see some more?”

Chores quickly abandoned, daytime movie channel playing on the TV, cutting out every now and again as the weather screws with the signal, the living room floor is littered with old albums.

“Mommy’s wedding dress was so pretty.” Peyton traces her fingertips over the picture, examining the intricacies of the dress. Maverick smooth his hands over her curls and nods his head.

“That day was so special. Your Daddy was so nervous all day.” He chuckles fondly at the memory. Standing at the end of the aisle with Rooster and periodically reminding him to breathe. After so much missed time with Bradley, all of those years of not speaking, sitting here and listening to these delighted little giggles makes his heart warm.

He hadn’t ever been ready for children, but it turns out that being a grandfather was his calling. Passing on his stories, explaining funny faces and little anecdotes about each picture that they come across, seeing their little faces just light up.

They work through the wedding pictures, the work events, the beach days. The pregnancy, the birth, the newborn pictures.

“Is that me or her?” Parker asks as she squints at a picture of you holding a chubby-cheeked newborn on Mav’s porch, smiling tiredly. Maverick remembers that first year of parenthood, you and Bradley stumbling around half-awake that entire time.

“Honey, I’m not even sure who’s who right now.” Maverick admits with a smile. They roll their eyes fondly and continue to flip through memories they’re too small to remember.

They move onto pictures of their toddler years. Lots of pigtails and matching dresses back then, muddy knees and toothy grins. Peyton lingers on one page, lips falling down into a soft frown as she slips the picture from its place on the page.

It’s a picture of them in the backyard at their house, sitting in the sandpit that Rooster had built one summer after reading that it’s good for safety and motor skills all at once. Him, sitting in a pair of shorts and those gold rimmed sunglasses, shoulder reddened under the sun, dog tags hanging around his neck, grinning. Peyton, on his lap, eyes squeezed shut as she squeals excitedly, sand balled in her chubby fists. You, at his side, wearing a pretty sundress and grinning against his cheek, right about to kiss him once you can stop laughing. Parker standing between your legs, lips parted, staring towards the camera like she just heard something shocking.

Mav, behind the camera, his heart so full.

“I wish they were still together.” Peyton mumbles dejectedly. Her sister looks over and examines the picture, then gives a small nod. They hate being without one of you all of the time.

Maverick looks up and looks between the two of them. Those pouted lips, that sad look in those eyes. He looks back down at the happy couple in that picture. The two of you were so in love back then.

It should take him longer to think about than it does. He probably shouldn’t include them in the decision making, but it’s not the worst idea he has had in the past couple of years.

“Have you guys ever seen the Parent Trap?”

…

@thedroneranger @xoxabs88xox @khaylin27 @unordinare @shanimallina87 @sufferingophelia

[atlabeth]

enigma - tyler galpin

summary: you're the new girl at weathervane with a penchant for staying silent. tyler is the guy who's going to get to know you or die trying.

a/n: watched wednesday, thought tyler was hot, and now we're here. wrote this instead of my final paper due on sunday. help

wc: 3.6k

warning(s): short mention of death, some emotional damage but basically all fluff. no canon stuff just coffee shop, forced proximity hijinks

Tyler rubbed his eyes with one hand as he walked across the street, raising the other to thank the oncoming driver for letting him cross. It was still dark outside, so early that the sun hadn’t yet risen, and it was moments like these that he questioned why he decided to work at a coffee shop. 

His paychecks said part-time employee, but the hours he worked suggested full-time. He closed last night, and yet here he was at the ass-crack of dawn opening. 

Maybe it was time to start searching again, he thought absentmindedly, because this was beginning to wear on him. 

But when he got to the door, there was a girl standing there, leaning against the wall with arms crossed and a distant gaze. Jeans and a rainbow striped tee, battered Converse—devastatingly attractive. 

Tyler blinked. Cleared his throat, cleared his mind. 

“Uh, we’re not open yet.” Your attention snapped to him and he jerked his thumb at the sign hanging behind the glass doors. “But we open in thirty minutes—you can hang out here until then if you want?” 

“I’m not a customer,” you said, and you pulled something out of your pocket. A nametag, one that matched his own. Oh. “Today’s my first day. Thought I would get an early start.” 

Tyler frowned. “Peyton didn’t say anything about new employees.” 

You shrugged as you tucked it back into your pocket. “Guess she forgot. I signed my contract last week, so I work here.”  

“...Okay,” he said slowly. It wasn’t worth fighting over, and there were most definitely worse things than pulling the opening shift with a girl that looked like you. “Welcome to the Weathervane crew, I guess.” 

He unlocked the door and held it open for you, then walked in after you. “Are you new to Jericho? I don’t think I’ve seen you around here.” 

“You could say that.” You walked together into the backroom where you set your bag down, grabbing an apron from one of the hooks as you tied it around your waist. Tyler expected you to elaborate, but instead you just walked back into the cafe. 

“Not much for conversation, are you?” he asked dryly as he followed you, and he tied his own apron on before adjusting his nametag. 

“I’m here to get a paycheck,” you said, “not get to know you.” You looked at him. “Tell me what to do so we can get this place opened.”

He paused. “Are you a Nevermore kid?” 

You frowned. “The hell is Nevermore?” 

“You really are new here,” he marveled. 

“What, did you not believe me?” One side of your mouth quirked up in a little half-smile, and he found himself unable to look away for the short moment it lasted. “Seems like a weird thing to lie about.” 

Tyler shrugged. “Jericho can be a weird place.”

“Yeah,” you said, “really weird. I heard that the baristas take really long to open in the morning.” 

Tyler just shook his head with a small chuckle. “Fine. You start cleaning the front, I’ll get the machines ready. Then we’ll get everything ready together.” 

You nodded, grabbed a broom from the back, and got to work.

Well, he thought wryly, at least they would be productive today. 

-

You were there the next morning as he walked over, in the same spot leaning against the wall. This time, though, you sported leggings, a black tee, and a letterman. The same beat-up Converse, he noticed. 

Tyler raised his eyebrows as he gestured at your jacket. “You play anything?” 

“No,” you said. Once again, you didn’t elaborate. 

He sighed. He could deal with it a little better this time—a wonder what adequate sleep could do for him. 

“Y’know, you don’t have to wait for me to get here every time you open,” he said, and once again he held the door open for you after he’d unlocked it. You filed inside, and he followed. “I’m not always this punctual.” 

“I don’t have a key,” you said. 

“Oh.” He frowned. “Uh, I can get you a spare. We keep them in the backroom—Peyton’ll be fine with it. She probably just forgot to give you one.” 

You nodded, and that was that. 

- 

Tyler didn’t see you for two weeks after that, all your shifts scheduled at different times or on each other’s off days. He didn’t make a habit of going into the Weathervane on his days off, not wanting to get more tired than he already was of the place that gave him half his livelihood. 

The next time he did, actually, was at the end of his morning shift. He raised his eyebrows as he saw you come in—cardigan, jeans, Converse—and couldn’t help the small smile. 

“Business or pleasure?” he asked as you walked in. 

“Business,” you said. “I’m the one filling your shift.” 

“Ah.” Tyler tapped his fingers against the counter and started undoing his apron, his eyes following you as you walked around and into the backroom. “Y’know, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you. Are you avoiding me?” 

You frowned. “I barely know you.” 

“It was—” he chuckled awkwardly— “it was a joke. I know you’re not avoiding me.” 

And once again, you let him flounder in the silence. 

“But, uh,” he tried again, “the reason you barely know me is because you don’t talk at all. I know you can make coffee and you like Converse, but that’s all.” 

You glanced down at your shoes for a moment, as if surprised he even noticed, then your brow furrowed. “I told you, Tyler, this is a job. I’m here for a paycheck. We don’t need to be friends.” 

“Yeah, but I always try to make friends with my coworkers.” He offered a slight smile and shrugged. “It makes it a lot nicer.”

You looked at him for a good, long moment before you turned around and went back into the cafe.

Tyler blew out a loose sigh. Strike two, he thought dryly. 

But you said his name. And right now, that was as close to a win as he was going to get. 

-

The next time you ended up taking over his shift, you just walked in, put on your apron, clocked in, and got to work. Zero acknowledgement, zero conversation. 

Tyler sighed. He needed to start a count of how many times he did it while he worked with you. 

-

And that was how your shifts together went for a month. 

A month. A whole thirty days of barely any talking to his coworker during half of his shifts. 

You— you weren’t mean. You did your job well, you were pretty damn good at making coffee, and you were pleasant enough to all the customers. Your silence didn’t hinder his work either—you communicated when you had to, just nothing above work conversation. 

Tyler knew that because he had tried to start a normal conversation up more times than he could count. Each and every time you either shut it down or just left him to flounder in silence.

Silent or not, though, you were a good worker, and that put you above most of the baristas he’d worked with in the past. He didn’t have any rational right to complain. 

So Tyler didn’t know why he had a growing urge to talk to you, to get to know you. There was just something about you he couldn’t shake, something about you that demanded his attention. Maybe it was just the mystery of it all—he had always liked the chase. 

You were an enigma. And it was driving him crazy. 

“Tyler!” 

Your voice calling his name snapped him out of his haze, and he blinked a few times before he turned around. You were closing together tonight, meaning he had another one of your signature silent nights to look forward to. He was cleaning up the front and you were organizing a bunch of equipment in one of the closets. But you’d only actually said his name twice before, so this meant something. 

“Yeah?” he responded, glancing away from the table he was cleaning. 

“Where’s the stepladder? I need to put something on the top shelf.” 

“I’ll get it,” he said, and he set the towel on the table before he went over to their utility closet. 

“Thanks,” you said as he placed it down, and you climbed up to the top with one hand around a coffee maker.  

“Wow,” Tyler said as he watched, “you actually thanked me for something. That’s a first.” 

Instead of a snarky response, or sarcasm, or literally anything that anyone else would give, you just said nothing. And he sighed, as he usually did in your presence. 

“What are you putting that away for?” 

“It broke,” you said. “You can talk to Peyton about getting a new one.” 

“Why me?” he frowned. 

“She knows you more,” you said, “and she likes you more.” 

“If you actually talked to people, they would get the chance to like you more.” 

You rolled your eyes as you climbed down the ladder, but as you reached the bottom the door slammed shut. You scoffed, but Tyler had a different reaction. His eyes widened, and he immediately started patting down his pockets. 

“There’s gotta be a draft in this cafe or something,” you muttered as you walked over to the door and twisted the doorknob. Nothing happened. 

“It won’t open,” Tyler said, a bit of panic rising in his voice as he shoved his hands in his pockets. Front and back, but still nothing. “That— that door locks automatically when it closes.” 

You whirled around, your eyes wide as his. “What?” 

“It locks on its own,” he said, his voice strained, “and the key’s in the breakroom.” 

You shook your head and moved away from the door. “Do you have your phone? You can call someone to get us out of here.” 

“My phone’s in my jacket,” he mumbled. “I’m guessing that means you don’t have yours?” 

Your hands clenched into fists for a moment before you shook your head. “I just had to wear pants without pockets today.” 

You moved back over to the door and tried the handle again, but still, nothing happened. And again, and again, and—

“It’s not going to open on the tenth time you try,” Tyler interrupted.  

“If it doesn’t open,” you said, annoyed, “then that means we’re stuck in here. And I am not going to be stuck in here.” 

Tyler tossed up his hands as he leaned against the wall. “Well, it looks like we are. Perfect way to end the night.” 

You tried the door one more time, for good measure, he guessed, and then hit your fist against it hard when it didn’t work. “Who designs a door like this?” you exclaimed in frustration. 

“Whoever built this place,” he said. 

Then, maybe just for emphasis, you rammed your foot against the door. 

“And still, nothing happened,” Tyler said. 

“I don’t need your sarcasm right now,” you snapped. 

“At least I’m giving something!” he exclaimed. “If my coworker was a piece of cardboard instead of you, I literally wouldn’t notice a difference. You’re wooden.” 

“I’m sorry that I don’t have riveting conversation for you at my second job,” you grumbled. 

“You have two jobs?” 

“This place doesn’t have the greatest pay,” you said dryly. 

“And in two minutes locked in a closet, I’ve learned more about you than I have in a whole month of working with you.” Tyler shook his head. “I just don’t get it.” 

“There’s nothing to get,” you said. “I don’t care about small talk.” 

“It’s not just small talk,” he said. “You don’t do any kind of talk.” 

“And why does that bother you so much?” 

“Because I want to get to know you!” Tyler exclaimed, throwing his hands up. “Is that so hard to believe that someone wants to be your friend?” 

You stared at him with your brows knit. “Why do you want to be my friend?” 

“Because you’re my coworker?” he said, and he counted it off on his fingers. “Because you’re someone I see a lot, because I want to get to know you, because there’s something about you that I want to figure out. Is that enough reasons for you?” 

You scoffed. “You’re ridiculous.” 

Tyler just shook his head and huffed an incredulous laugh. “Oh my god. This is going to be the longest night of my life.” 

- 

It had been an hour since your little tiff. 

You were sat on the floor, your knees pulled up to your chest and your arms crossed as usual, staring at nothing as usual. 

Tyler was leaning against one of the shelves, a bag of flour in his hands as he read the back of it. He’d already been through a bag of cocoa powder, baking soda, and powdered sugar. 

He didn’t know how he was going to make it through to the morning shift’s rescue. 

“I live on Beechwood Lane,” you said suddenly. 

Tyler blinked, wondering if he heard correctly. Were you actually the one to break the silence? 

“What?” 

“You said you wanted to get to know me,” you said, flourishing with one of your hands. “There you go.” 

“That’s not getting to know you,” Tyler said. “That’s— that’s the most basic thing you could’ve told me. Tons of people live on Beechwood.” 

“What do you want then?” you said, obviously frustrated. 

“Anything,” he said. “Anything about you, that’s actually about you. Why are you in Jericho, for starters?” 

Your lips twisted into a slight frown. “Family reasons.” 

“That’s it?” 

Your frown deepened as you looked up at him. “My grandmother lives here, and her health took a turn for the worse. I’m here to take care of her.” 

“...Oh.” Tyler suddenly felt ashamed, pushing for an answer for something as personal as that. “I— I’m sorry.” 

You shrugged. “It is what it is. I’m here so I don’t have to deal with any more sorrys in the future.” 

“Is that why you have two jobs?” he asked. 

“Part of the reason,” you said. “Medical bills are expensive. So is college.” 

He raised his eyebrows. “College?” 

“Gap year,” you said. “...My parents couldn’t afford to pay for it, so I’ve been saving up since my first job freshman year. And now that some of it’s going to my grandmother…” 

“You have to make up the difference on your own,” Tyler said. 

You nodded. “Might have to pick up a third if I’m lucky.” 

“Geez,” he muttered. “I only have this job for some extra cash and to get away from my dad.” 

You raised your eyebrows. “Your dad?” 

“He’s the sheriff.” Tyler sighed. “He has all the time in the world for his job, but none for me. I figured I might as well make some money if I’m gonna be on my own all the time.” 

“Smart.” 

Tyler chucked. “I like to think so.” 

“You asked about my letterman,” you said. 

“You remember that?” 

You shrugged. “It’s my dad’s. He played football in high school, and he gave it to me when I graduated. A way to remember him whenever he was deployed.” 

“That’s sweet,” he said. “That’s… yeah. That’s nice.” 

Tyler hesitated for a moment, then pushed himself up from the wall. He walked over and sat down next to you, and he took it as a win when you didn’t bristle or flinch or move away. He also took the breath exhaled through your nose as a laugh, and therefore as another win. 

“What about the reason you don’t like talking to anyone?” Tyler asked. “Are we at that base yet?” 

“I’m new here,” you said. “Been here for a few months, getting a lay of the land while I take care of my grandmother. But I’m either going to leave to go to college, when she gets better, or…” You shook your head. “It doesn’t matter. I’m going to be gone soon enough, therefore there’s no point in making friends. Especially with co-workers.” 

He frowned as he looked at you. “That’s a sad way to look at things.” 

“Why? I’m going to leave eventually, and if I make friends, I have to leave them too. It’s a clean break.” 

“Yeah, but…” Tyler chuckled mirthlessly. “You don’t know how long you’re going to be here—that could mean months of just keeping to yourself, working every single day at your jobs and then working even more when you get home, and you don’t even have anyone else to talk to at the end of the day. That can’t be any easier.” 

“I’ve been moving around all my life,” you said. “Military brat. I know that a clean break is always easier.” 

Tyler was silent for a moment. He felt bad for you, that you had these self-imposed walls around you, so high that you wouldn’t let anyone through. But he knew you probably didn’t want his sympathy. 

“How about one person?” he asked. 

You glanced at him. “I’m assuming you want that role.” 

Tyler shrugged. “Why not?” 

“Because you’re a person in this town that I’ll eventually leave behind,” you said. “You’re nothing special.” 

“Ouch,” he said with mock hurt. “Nothing special?” 

You rolled your eyes, but he noticed the smallest smile on your lips. “Why are you so insistent on getting to know me?” 

“Because I know what it’s like to not have anyone,” he said. “My mom died a while ago, and my dad hasn’t been the same since. He throws himself into his work, and that doesn’t leave him much time for father-son bonding.”

Your brows knit together. “I’m sorry.” 

“It is what it is, right?” he said dryly. “I wasn’t in the greatest place for a while. All the friends I made were jerks, so I was a jerk. By the time I finally dropped them, I was basically alone. And that’s where I’ve been for the past year. Part-time barista, full time loner.” 

Tyler looked at you again. “So that’s why I’m not just gonna let you go on with your clean break. No matter how infallible you act, I know that it hurts. Because it hurt me too.” 

You looked at him for a good, long moment, your eyes unusually soft, before you held out your hand and said your full name. 

“Tyler Galpin,” he said as he shook it, and he couldn’t help his smile. “Does this mean we’re friends now?” 

“It means we’re still locked in a closet together for the night and I don’t feel like being on your bad side,” you said. Tyler just laughed. 

“You’re something else.” 

-

The rest of the night was… interesting. 

The two of you talked more than you had during any of your shifts. 

You told him about all the traveling you did as a kid, from California to Texas to Germany and a bundle of other states and countries. You told him about your aspirations to become a child psychologist so you could help kids in a way that you never got. You told him about your grandmother, how you tried to stay strong for her and your parents but it was terrifying being the only one there for her apart from some call-in nurses. You told him more than you ever anticipated, but… it felt good. 

Tyler told you about the months after his mother’s death, the toll it took on him and his father. He told you what it was like to grow up as the sheriff’s son, how sometimes he felt more like a shiny symbol of his father’s success than his son. He told you about his old asshole friends, how he used to be just like them. He told you more than he ever anticipated, but… it felt good. 

Somewhere in the middle, the two of you fell asleep. 

And when Tyler woke a few hours later and saw your head against his shoulder, the slight rise and fall of your chest, your arms crossed around your midsection, he couldn’t help but smile. 

-

“What the hell are you two doing in here?” 

Tyler jolted as his eyes flew open, meeting the confused expression of one of his co-workers. Jackson, if he remembered correctly. Opening shift was finally here. 

“We got locked in last night,” Tyler said, and he elbowed you to get you to wake up as well. “Door closed on us, and we didn’t have the key or our phones.” 

Jackson rolled his eyes. “Good goin’, Galpin. You didn’t close last night, so you’re helping me open.” 

“That’s fine,” Tyler said, and he walked away. He looked back down at you and said your name. “Hey. Morning shift freed us.” 

Your eyes cracked open, and you grimaced a bit. “Finally,” you mumbled. 

He smiled a bit. “You gonna get up?” 

It took you a moment, but when you noticed that you were laying against him, you immediately jumped up and put distance between the two of you. You cleared your throat as you smoothed out the wrinkles in your clothes. “I’m not responsible for what I do when I’m asleep.” 

Tyler laughed a bit. “I know.” 

He got up after you, and the two of you walked out of the closet together. He was surprised that his first thought wasn’t how thankful he was to be out—rather, he was thankful that it had happened. Maybe all it took to get to know people was to get stuck in a tiny place together overnight.

“We’re helping Jackson open, by the way,” he said. “As payment for, uh— not closing last night.” 

“Fine,” you said. 

“...So,” Tyler said, glancing over at you. “Now that we’re no longer locked in a closet together, are we still friends?” 

You rolled your eyes, but that small smile tugged at your lips once again. “Sure. As long as you don’t let it go to your head.” 

A smile of his own formed and Tyler nodded. “I would never.” 

Enigma no more.

-

perm tags: @dv0412 @siriuslyslyslytherin @maruchan77 @simonsbluee @kwyloz @masteroperator @louderfortheback 

[luhvrwrites]

୨⎯ "𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓"

(Im new on here and I hope you guys enjoy this!! It's actually the first chapter of my new wp fanfic)

Tw: abusive relationship, toxic relationship, strangling, dark rafe, jealousy.

Rafe wasn't the sweetest guy, not even close. He loved thea a lot but he would never show it, he was too 'cool for that lovey-dovey shit' in his words.

So when he called her up and told the girl to be ready in 10, she was completely confused. Still, thea made sure her pretty long locks fell perfectly and she wore a pair of jeans that hugged all the right places and a tight brown top.

"Baby, what's this? I'm taking you out. Somewhere nice so put one of the pretty dresses I've brought you, k?" Rafe doesnt ask, he tells.

"but I like this" whines the blonde as she stands in front of the mirror looking at him behind her slim frame in the reflection, she was 5'9 so he didn't tower over her as much as he did his ex.

Rafe sighs loudly and stares at there reflection. He shakes his head and grabs the girls wrist, turning towards him.

"I like this outfit too babe, but this time, I want my girlfriend to look extra good. So either put on the pink dress or the black one I got you." rafe said as he stared at her pretty face. Thea Peyton was lucky she was blessed with her mother's nose and her father's golden strands, making her the most beautiful chick in the Obx.

"fine" she huffs, strutting upstairs to change and feeling Rafes eyes dig daggers into her as her heals land on the wood.

Rafe watchs as Thea made her way upstairs. He watchs the way her hips sway as she walks, how everything he got the girl hugged her body and he couldn't help but smile to himself.

This was the first relationship where he was genuinely attracted to the girl he was dating, instead of faking it, maybe this one would actually be good.

She comes back down after 10 minutes. Now in a tight pink dress, searching rafes face for any indication he doesnt like it.

"You look amazing in that babe, really shows off your curves." Rafe cant help but stare at her. The dress was tight in all the right places and Rafe couldn't take his eyes off of thea. Hes mesmerized by how gorgeous she looks. He glances back down, not wanting her to notice how much he was staring.

"so where you taking me Rafey?" Thea asks him softly, letting her hand sway with his as he leads them both to his black truck which is where lots of there most unspeakable acts were performed.

"It's a surprise babe." Rafe beams as he opens the truck door for her. He climbs in after and shuts it. He starts the car, the engine purring. The truck starts to slowly drive out, and as he drives his eyes go over to her and he immediately grins.

"why are you being so nice?" she questions as the girl trys to rack her brain to remember if maybe it was one of there anniversarys? nope, or was it a holiday? wrong again.

Rafe laughs a little bit as her brain went into overdrive. "Babe, don't overthink it. I'm just being a good boyfriend. I thought that maybe we could go to a nice restaurant tonight and just chill." Rafe shrugged and smiles again.

Both ride in silence as they drive out of the city into the country passing all the big white houses that fill the streets of the outer banks. When she sees a sign for a nearby restaurant, Thea can't help but notice it's very nice and fancy. He pulls up and gets out, opening the door again.

"wow, how kind of you" she thanks in a posh british accent, her heels slightly twisted on the gravel of the parking lot.

Rafe chuckles at the way she thanked him making a mental note to tease the blonde later.

"Just following etiquette." He holds her hand and leads Thea to the restaurant, pushing the glass and greeting the waiter before they are sat at a nice table for two. It was empty besides the pair.

The waiter brought out menus and after a bit, Rafe ordered for her and himself. The waiters left to give the two time to talk. Rafe takes this opportunity to stare lovingly at her from across the table "am i dying or something?" Thea giggles as his icy blues don't leave her tanned skin.

"No, just a simple date babe." Rafe rolls his eyes mockingly but he keeps that grin plastered on his face. He leans forward a little and places his forearm on the table and his other hand goes to brush her light hair back, caressing theas cheek with his thumb.

A tingle runs down her spine and she couldn't help but notice rafe was acting different. Almost a bit too sweet, but he's probably just feeling a little romantic, right?

Then it clicks that rafe was only trying to make his girlfriend forget about what he had done to her last week.

Last weekꜜ

It was a Wednesday, and thea and her boyfriend sat in her room arguing again. She had put a love heart on her friend's photo on instagram and he wasn't taking it so well.

The argument was the same thing as always—you're too social, you have too many male friends, there's always drama etc. It was getting old and she were so sick of it. He was leaning his whole body over her lean frame now, looming over Thea and he grabbed her by the neck, shaking her a little bit.

"rafe please you're hurting me" She winced as his cold gold rings and to the pain of the pressure.

"Oh am I hurting you babe?" Rafe looks down with his blue eyes, filled with anger. "You hurt me every time you look at other men, every time you text them back, every time you're nice to them. You don't understand the pain you cause me." He grits his teeth and shakes a little bit harder.

Thea claws at his skin, trying to get free and to finally catch a breath, her nails dig into his skin and leave little marks which he will feel later. He lets out a little grunt of pain, but his grip on her tightens, making it hard to breathe.

He leans closer and screams into the girl's scared face, the veins on his neck and forehead are bulging "What is so hard to understand about that? You are mine and mine alone! If you can't handle that then maybe you should just leave then, right!" He leans even closer to her, his nose pressing against theas at this point.

Thea started to cry and she can't help but feel a wave of fear as Rafe pushes his weight down on her. His hand tightens around your throat, the lack of air making her breath shallow and frantic.

He takes his large hand away from her, chuckling gently at her as she falls to the floor. Her breath heavy as she gets access to the air again, clutching her neck to try soothe the pain.

Rafe just laughs and stands over Thea, not helping her up. He shakes his head thinking he's done nothing wrong and laughs again.

"See this is why you need to stop being so social and nice to people. If you just did what you were supposed to, none of this would happen." Rafe shrugged and sat down on the bed, leaning back on her pillows.

Of course, it was her fault.

Present dayꜜ

Rafe kept caressing her cheek. His grin never faded as his eyes looked deep into theas. There was an edge to the sweetness that she didn't like. He seemed a little too happy given how aggressive and mean he could get in just seconds. There was a certain anger behind those icy blues now that she noticed.

Rafe pulled her blonde hair a little too hard when he brushed it back over her shoulder, and that same tingle she felt a few minutes ago now felt like a pinprick in her stomach. He noticed this small change in the girl and his eyes narrowed, but he kept that nice guy persona.

The real question is how long can he last before lashing out again? He would never really change and both knew that.

[catierambles]

Feral Instincts Ch.11

The last chapter came out a month ago. Get caught up

Pairing: The Rogue’s Gallery (Geralt, Syverson, Mike, August Walker, Walter Marshall) x Stephanie Daniels (OFC)

WC 2118

Warnings: Mentions of injury

@mclsquared , @brattymum96 , @ouroboros113 , @peaches1958 , @summersong69 , @eldarwen333 , @omgkatinka , @identity2212 , @lucypaulette , @teamfan7asy , @ms-betsy-fangirl ,@pagina16ps , @enchantedbytomandhenry , @foxyjwls007 , @nofoolywang , @margauxmargaux07 , @mrsevans90 , @ilikemilkchocolateh @peyton-warren , @lizzystuffsthings , @raccoon-eyed-rebel , @km-ffluv , @cavilllover , @deandoesthingstome , @write-r-die , @livisss , @miss-rebel-without-applause , @kebabgirl67 , @squeezyvalkyrie , @luminescentlily , @ellethespaceunicorn

They were arguing. Stephanie and August seemed to argue a lot. They always made up, but August had an annoying habit of thinking he could tell her what to do and expecting her to do it.

"Walker!" She snapped, "I have a life of my own that I need to get back to! I've been away from work for too long as it is and I have my own apartment that needs to be taken care of!"

"You're not leaving, Stephanie! Not while that feral is still out there! You're staying here!" August yelled back.

"I'm not leaving, I'm just not going to be here!" She said, "I'm not cutting you guys out of my life, you can stay with me as much or as little as you want, but I'm not living here!"

"Please don't leave, sweetcheeks." Mike said and she looked at him, giving a sigh before opening her arms for him. He gratefully accepted the embrace and she held him, her fingers running through his hair.

"Mike, how about…how about you stay with me? You seem to be more…attached to me than you are to the others." She suggested.

"You're my Alpha." He said, pulling away to look at her, "You want me to move in with you, babe?"

"Only if you want to." She said and a wide smile pulled across his face.

"I do." He said and she gave him a gentle smile of her own.

"You should have another Alpha with you." August said, crossing his arms over his chest. "In case Lewis tries anything. Mike isn't going to be able to protect you."

"I have a one-bedroom apartment and a queen bed. It's going to be cramped with Mike there, it'll be downright claustrophobic with a third." Stephanie said, "We'll be fine. Won't we?" She looked at Mike and he nodded. "Go on, go pack some of your things. Essentials for right now, we'll get the rest later."

"Wait," Walter said as Mike bounded away up the stairs, "You're leaving now? We don't get another night with you?"

"I have to get back to work tomorrow, Walter." Stephanie said, "HR only gave me so much time and it's up."

"Gonna miss you, doll." Sy said and she rolled her eyes, but the gesture lacked any real weight.

"It's not like you guys are never going to see me again. You can visit as much as you want, I'll get spare keys made for you so you can come and go as you please." She said and he nodded. Geralt had been very quiet the entire time and she went to him, laying her hands on his arms folded over his chest. "Hey, broody. Don't be a stranger?" He nodded and she went up on her toes, pressing her lips to his. His arms uncrossed and he wrapped his hands around her waist, his eyes closing as he fell into her kiss.

With her giving him directions, Sy drove her and Mike to her apartment in the town over, a duffle bag full of some of Mike's things along with what Stephanie had brought camping in the bed of his truck. Sy was quiet during the drive, his brows knitted together, but Stephanie wrapped her hand around his knee as he drove, her thumb moving over the fabric of his jeans. Pulling up outside, he and Mike helped her get her things inside the apartment and Sy pulled her into his arms once he made the decision to leave, to not prolong things further.

"You'll see me again." She said, looking up at him. "You know where I live now, and like I said, I'll get spare keys made for you and the others so you can come and go as you please."

"Still not gonna feel right without you there." Sy said, rubbing her back gently and she went up on her toes, giving him a kiss.

"That just means you guys need to visit often." She said and he nodded. Stephanie was quiet after he left, watching his truck pull away from the curb from the window and Mike went up behind her, lacing his arms around her waist.

"Got you all to myself now, babe." He said and she snorted, running her hands over his arms. "I-I know that I won't be alone in your heart, that I'll have to share you with the others, but it being just the two of us will be nice."

"It will be." Stephanie agreed, turning in his arms to look up at him. "You're my Beta, Mike. You're my Beta, and I'm your Alpha. We have a teeny tiny pack of our own alongside the others. A microcosm." He dropped his forehead to hers, giving her a small smile. Crossing the distance between them, she kissed him and he closed his eyes, one of his hands coming up to hold the side of her face as he leaned into her. "My Beta." She whispered, running her fingers through his hair.

"My Alpha." He whispered back, and kissed her, pulling her against him.

A couple of weeks passed with frequent calls between her and the rest of the guys, her and Mike settling into a pattern. There had been some speed bumps in the beginning as he was used to living with a bunch of other men, but all it took was him folding like a lawn chair while half asleep to get him to remember to put the toilet seat down. Mike quickly learned that she wasn't just going to let him laze about all day while she did all the work; she wasn't his mother or his keeper. Stephanie didn't keep him to a time table, as long as he finished what she asked him to do in a timely fashion, she was fine with it. It even got to the point where she didn't need to ask him anymore, he just started doing chores on his own, eager to please her and make her happy.

They were laying on the couch, spread out with Mike laying with his head on her chest and her fingers moving idly through his hair when her phone rang. Reaching for it on the floor, she answered it, putting it on speaker.

"Hey, Sy."

"Hey, doll. I disturbin' ya?" He asked.

"Nope, we just got off work about a half an hour ago."

"We?" He asked.

"She got me a job." Mike said, not opening his eyes. "With benefits and everything."

"You got him a job?"

"I got him a job." Stephanie said, "It's with the company I work for. The team I'm on had an opening and I put in a good word. He's still in training, but yeah, I got him gainful employment."

"Well, shit, babe. You managed to do something I couldn't." Sy said and she snorted. "Everything else goin' okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine." She said, "And before you ask, no, I haven't seen Jordan, or gotten any bad vibes. The howling hasn't made a comeback, either."

"Huh." Sy huffed.

"Maybe he figured out I'm an Alpha and beat feet, rather than risk getting skinned."

"Possible. Ferals may not fall in the pack hierarchy, but they still feel what we put off." Sy said, "Whatever the reason, I'm glad he ain't givin' you problems. August was a nervous wreck after you left, and this will calm his tits."

"Yeah?" She asked.

"To be fair, we all were. Didn't like that you left, didn't like that you were far enough away where if anything happened, we wouldn't be able to get to you to do fuck all about it." Sy said and she hummed.

"I do miss you guys." She admitted and Mike nuzzled until her chest, making her massage her fingers through his hair in comfort. "How about we visit this weekend? I still need to give you guys copies of my key."

"It's just me and Walt right now. Geralt and Walker are away on jobs of their own." Sy explained.

"Yeah? What do they do? I never thought to ask."

"Geralt works as a tracker for the Pack Council, coordinates with local law enforcement huntin' down ferals that've made themselves a nuisance." Sy said, "And we don't ask what Walker does. Shady shit."

"Could be porn, for all you know." She said and he barked a laugh.

"He's got the 'stache for it."

"1970s pornos maybe." Stephanie said, "Then again, some people are into big, muscular dudes with facial hair."

"I got a feelin' it's more along the lines of what he did for the CIA." Sy said, "And no, I can't tell you, government gag orders and all that. I do miss you, doll, but I know Geralt and August will pitch hissy fits if they knew you visited while they were away."

"Let me know when they get back and we'll make a weekend of it." She said.

"Will do." Sy said and he gave a heavy sigh. "So what're you wearin'?"

"Your brother, currently." She said and felt Mike snort against her. "He's like a baby koala. Stage Five Clinger." He just nuzzled between her breasts again, his hands tightening around her ribs.

It was late, very late, Mike was still asleep when something woke her up, a crawling over her mind that drove her out of bed. She walked through the apartment, checking windows, but all the locks were secure. She was about to check the front door when there was a heavy knock, making her jump. Going to it, she looked through the peephole, seeing white hair and she flipped back the dead bolts, opening the door. She had to move quickly, catching Geralt as he nearly collapsed onto the floor.

"Mike!" She yelled out, helping Geralt into the apartment and kicking the door closed.

"Sweetcheeks?" Mike asked, running into the living room and coming to a halt when he saw what was going on.

"Hey, broody, what happened?" She asked gently, pushing his hair out of his face. His skin was pale, sweat beading on his brow.

"Hunt went wrong." He said simply.

"I can see that." She said, "Why aren't you at the hospital?"

"This was closest." He said, "Needed you."

"Let's get you laying down and I’ll take a look at the damage." She said and helped him into the bedroom, Mike going to get the first aid kit from the bathroom. He gave a rough sound of pain as he laid down and she helped him get his shirt off, seeing the deep jagged claw marks on his ribs. They weren't bleeding anymore, but it worried her how red they were around the edges. "I need to clean them and it'll hurt."

"Do it." Geralt said, his eyes closed as he relaxed against the pillows. His entire body tensed, a growl leaking through his clenched jaw as she cleaned the wounds with alcohol wipes. Smearing a thin layer of antibiotic ointment on them, she pressed on gauze pads and secured them with surgical tape.

"You need to rest." She said, getting up from her seat on the bed, "I'll call Sy, let him know what happened."

"Don't leave." He said, "Stay."

"Mike." She said after a pause and he nodded.

"I'll call Sy and crash on the couch." He said and she went to him, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. "Take good care of him."

"Thank you." She said and he hummed at her with a small smile before leaving and she closed the door, heading back over to the bed. After removing his boots, she laid down next to him against his uninjured side, curling against him with her hand on his chest. Closing her eyes, she searched, expanding outwards and finding his wolf with her own. She's never done it on purpose before, every time prior had been almost subconsciously. His breathing hitched as he felt her and he gave a shuddering sigh as her wolf slid along his. It would help him heal faster, take care of any burgeoning infection.

"Steph." He whispered, and she flattened her hand against his chest, "Fuck." His heart beat a rhythm under her palm and she kept pulling, but not enough to where she pulled it to the surface and forced a shift. Their wolves stayed just below, moving against each other, and she could smell forest and damp earth, the musky smell of fur. Moving up slightly, she pressed her lips to the corner of his mouth and he swallowed heavily.

"Rest." She whispered gently.

"Yes, my Alpha." He whispered back and she settled again, staying awake until he drifted off before allowing herself to go back to sleep. 

[dirtywrestling]

The Vampire at the Masquerade Ball - Drew McIntyre (18+)

Commission: @thepalaceofmelanie

Pairing: Vampire!Drew Mcintyre x  Melanie

Summary: Going to a masquerade ball with your friend and running into a handsome man named Drew Mcintyre who has a secret.

Warnings: 18+, Smut, Talking about ex boyfriends, Past relationships, Vampire x Female!Reader, Vampire!Drew Mcintyre, Foul Language, masquerade ball, Minors DNI

Word Count: 3,818

Follow My Backup Blog!: @dirtywresling102

I looked at myself in the mirror, my black dress was a bit snug on me, but not in an uncomfortable way. My curled hair rested over my shoulders, my make up was freshly put on not long after doing my hair. Grabbing the silver glittery mask I placed it on my face, tying it behind my head. 

“Damn dude, you look good.” Peyton giggled, fiddling with her ear rings. “I’m sure you’ll forget about-”

“Please.” I interrupted her. “Please, don’t bring him up.” I begged. Truth be told, I didn’t even want to go to this masquerade ball, but Peyton’s father was throwing it for his business and she insisted that I attend it with her. I’ve been cooped up in my apartment ever since my ex dumped me for another girl. I found out that I was basically his side woman. He’s been talking to this other female half of our relationship over snapchat, they met on instagram I found out later on. We got this apartment to take our relationship to the next step but he left me with all of the bills. 

“Anyways, you look hot as hell. I’m sure you’ll meet someone at the ball.” Peyton smiled, handing me my black high heels.

“Or let’s hope that there’s an open bar so I can drink.” I murmured under my breath as I slipped into my heels. 

“Oh Melanie, of course there will be an open bar.” She teased. “But I don’t want to see you drinking your sorrows away, I want you to find a nice guy to dance with, exchange numbers and who knows, start a new life with?” Peyton thought out loudly.

“Thanks, but no thanks.” I looked at myself in the mirror one last time.

Peyton sighed, “If you insist, then fine.” She handed me my purse. “Let’s go, the limo is outside.” 

Locking up my apartment, Peyton and I took the elevator down to the lobby and headed towards the limo.

Sitting in the backseat of the limo, Peyton grabbed two crystal glasses and a bottle of champagne. “Something for us to get started on.” She wiggled her eyebrows. I couldn’t help but to give her a little smile. “There’s that smile, now,” She popped open the bottle, champagne quickly bubbled from the top and poured into the glasses. “Let’s party!” She handed me my glass and I took a sip of the rich alcohol. Finishing the drink in one gulp, I swayed the glass in front of her, wanting more.

“Okay, okay. I got the hint.” She rolled her eyes, pouring more of the creamy liquid. “Easy on this stuff, I don’t want you drunk before we get there.” Peyton put the bottle back in a bucket full of ice, letting it chill. 

Arriving at the building, the chofer parked the limo, climbed out and opened the door closest to the entrance. “You ladies have a wonderful night, Peyton just text me and I’ll come and get you two when you’re ready to be taken home.” 

“Thank’s Al, you’re the best.” She giggled, kissing the older gentleman’s cheek. A bright blush appeared on Al’s cheeks, clearing his throat he closed the door and got back into the driver’s seat. “Let’s party!” She squealed, rushing up towards the doors. 

“Let’s just get this over with.” I signed myself, following Peyton to the door security was there blocking it. 

“Name?” The tall security guard asked, his voice deep.

“Fuck you, that’s who.” Peyton spat, sticking out her tongue she walked past the two. 

My face heated up from Peyton’s behavior. “My apologies, she gets like this when alcohol is in her system.” 

“It’s okay ma’am, you and Peyton can go right in.” A smaller male opened the door for us. Walking through the doors, I looked over my shoulders, seeing the smaller security guard talking to the larger one, probably explaining who Peyton was and who her father is. 

Catching up to Peyton I panted softly, I forgot how hard it was to walk in heels. “Peyton, you can’t treat people like that.” I told her, but she of course wasn’t listening. She was lost, looking at the sea of people in front of us. “What? What is it?” I asked, adjusting the mask on my face. 

“Do you see all of this fresh meat here?” She was basically licking her lips.

“Don’t address them like that.” I said a bit weirdly at how her eyes dilated and how her mouth was basically watering over how many men were in one room. “Come on! Let’s go have some fun!” She giggled, wrapping my hand and rushed me towards the crowd. 

It felt like hours went by, Peyton introduced me to so many men in the building. Some weren’t interested, some were too interested and others were interested in Peyton. Now sitting on a bar stool sipping some fruity cocktail, I lost Peyton awhile ago, some guy she was trying to introduce to me got her attention and they ran off together in the crowded dance floor. 

Music played throughout the speakers, people came and others left with someone they met from here. “Hey Melanie!” Turning my head slightly I saw Peyton swaying, leaning up against a tall handsome male with a cute smile. “This is Jordan.” 

“It’s Jake.” The man named Jake arched his eyebrow, looking down at her. 

“Whatever, anyways, Jacky and I are leaving, you can get a ride home right?” She slurred her words, her breath smelt of alcohol. 

“Well, uh actually-”

“Great! Text me tomorrow, I want to know all the details from tonight when you hook up with that lucky man.” She giggled, leaning against the male named Jake. “Let’s go Jack.”

“It’s Jake.” He reminded her once again.

“I said let’s go!” She barked. 

With that, Jake basically carried her out of the building. Facing the bar again someone caught my eye, looking to my left I saw a male in a tight white button up shirt and a black mask that looked like it didn’t need any strings to be on his face, it fitted him perfectly, he had long dark hair that passed his shoulders. “To a night of partying.” I raised my glass to him and downed it. 

The handsome stranger gave me a sly smile, raising his glass of liquor and downed it in one gulp as well. Tearing my eyes away from him, I slid off of the stool and started to walk around, trying to find a bathroom. Finally spotting the bathroom signs, I started to make my way through the crowd, squeezing past people and apologizing. People kept dancing around, someone accidently pushed me into another person. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” I apologized quickly to the gentleman with the silver mask tied around his face. 

“Melaine? Is that you?” 

Turning to the stranger again my heart sank, I recognized those eyes anywhere. “Dean?” I wheezed, feeling very uncomfortable being around him. “What uh, what are you doing here?” I asked, looking around to see if he was with the girl he cheated on me with.

“I’m here with a few friends.” He shrugged. “Look, I just wanted to say… I’m sorry.” He swallowed, looking down and looking back up at me.

“What?” I blinked at him, I wasn’t expecting to run into him tonight, especially wasn’t expecting an apology. 

“She was uh… Catfish.” He murmured shamefully. “It was actually a fifty-four year old male who was using his friend’s nieces’ pictures.” 

There was an awkward pause, people around us kept dancing and drinking, music played through the big speakers. “Well, uh I’m sorry to hear that.” I fidgeted with my fingers, not sure if it was due to anxiety by him or if it was because I had to use the restroom.

“Take me back.” Dean grabbed my hand, holding it tightly. 

“What?” I couldn’t help but to laugh, he had the nerves to say that after what he did to me and not to mention I’m stuck in a lease for a whole year. “No.” I tried to pull my hand back, away from him.

“I know what I did was terrible but you need to understand-” His grip on my wrist became tighter as I winced from the strength. 

“I understand that you’re a pig, a man whore.” I spat, my blood pumping, it felt like fire was flowing through my veins. “Now let go!” I snapped, trying to push him away.

“Okay, I deserve that but please just listen to me.” He begged, trying to get me to calm down and talk to him.

“No Dean, you’re hurting me and you cheated even if you were getting catfished you still left me.” I clenched my fist, his nails digging into my flesh.

Dean stepped closer to me, now letting go of my wrist he wrapped his arm around my waist, trying to pull me closer to him. I placed my hands on his chest, trying to push him away and get out of his grip. “Stop fighting it, Melanie.” Dean hissed, “Dance with me, you’ll soon realize how much you’ve missed me.” His breath smelt of heavy liquor, he’s probably been drinking all night.

“Dean, you’re drunk. Let me go!” I demanded, using all of my strength to get my drunk ex off of me.

“I think she said she’s not interested anymore, mate.” A thick voice spoke. Dean and I both looked at the stranger. I smiled weakly seeing it was the male from the bar, I was surprised he had an accent so thick.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think this is any of your business.” Dean snarled towards my savior. 

“Listen, pal.” The mystery man straightened his back and squared up his shoulder, obviously appearing a lot taller than Dean. “You best bet, leave her alone or else.” His accent was a bit heavier in a much more serious tone. 

Dean looked back at me, his eyes a bit darker, his face red with anger that some guy interrupted his work on winning me back. “This isn’t over.” Dean huffed, turning his heel. Dean walked past the tall hero, making sure to roughly collide his shoulder into the stranger. The stranger didn’t budge from the rude force. 

Watching Dean walk away, I looked up at the tall stranger. “Thank you.” I sighed, running my hand through my hair.

“Drunk guy trying to hit on ya?” The male from the bar teased me.

A smile tugged at my lips, I looked down and shook my head. “Try ex-boyfriend wanting to get back together.” I rubbed my achy wrists where Dean grabbed me.

“Oh that’s even worse.” We both laughed. “But, you’re welcome. If I was your boyfriend I wouldn’t have let you get away.” His eyes landed on my wrist. “Is your wrist okay?”

My cheeks became hot, biting my lip and clearing my throat a bit. “Melanie.” I stuck out my hand for him to shake. “My wrist will be alright, thank you.”

“Drew.” He introduced himself, taking my hand in his. He placed a kiss on the top of my knuckles. His hand cool to the touch making me break out in goosebumps, but I paid no mind to it. “Melaine, would you care to dance?” 

I didn’t even realize it was a slow song until he said something, people around us were up against each other, swaying to the soft beat that was pouring out from the speakers. The bathroom wasn’t my priority anymore and plus I forgot. “I- I’d love to.” I smiled up at him.

Drew stepped closer to me, grabbing my hand and placing his free hand on my waist while my hand was on his shoulder. We swayed and spun around to the beat of the song that was playing. “So what was that at the bar?” He raised his eyebrow out of curiosity. 

A blush appeared on my cheeks. “I guess I was just feeling loose, I was a bit upset that my friend ditched me but I don’t really know. That was the alcohol talking, I’m sorry.”  

Drew let out a hearty laugh. “Don’t worry about it, I thought it was cute.”

Looking up at the Scottish man I thought about Peyton’s comment about finding a new man and settling down with, Drew could possibly be the man I was looking for. “You remind me of someone I lost a long time ago.” I watched his eyes trace my appearance. 

“Oh I’m sorry, did you lose a sister?” I asked, tilting my head to the side. It felt as if it was only him and I in the room. 

“My wife actually.” He frowned. “She was stabbed.” His hazel eyes traced over my face.

“I’m so sorry.” I looked up at him, his eyes becoming a bit glossy. 

“Don’t worry about it, it happened years ago.” He swallowed, pulling me closer to his toned body and twirled us around, passing other couples. 

“You’re a really great dancer.” I decided to change the subject so he wouldn’t be sad anymore.

“Years of practice.” He flashed a smile. Gasping I swore I saw his top two canine teeth sharper than before. 

“Your- Your teeth.” I blurted out, blinking. My heart hammered in my chest, I knew I wasn’t that drunk to be seeing things. 

Drew swallowed thickly, his body stiffer than before. “My teeth, what about them?” He laughed, my eyes darted back to his sharp pointers and they were back to normal. His eyes roamed my neck, licking his lips to see my vein throbbing in my neck. “Scared I’m going to bite, Melanie?” He chuckled, leaning down and placing a soft kiss on my neck. 

“N- No.” I choked out, it must have been the alcohol I consumed earlier, making me see things. My eyes flutter shut as I tilted my head to the side, allowing him to nuzzle into my neck.

“Good girl.” He growled, his fangs growing, grazing against my skin. My eyes widened, I quickly placed my hands on his shoulders and pushed him away, seeing his long canines attract back to their normal size.

“What- What the hell are you?” I quickly took a step back, nearly stepping into the couple dancing by us.

“Melanie, wait. Please let me explain.” He begged, reaching out for me.

“Don’t touch me, you monster.” I hissed, taking another step away. Drew frowned at that word. Everyone around us stopped dancing, staring in our direction.

Turning on the balls of my feet I quickly started to walk towards the exit, pushing past people the best I could. Stopping in my tracks to see Drew right next to the exit door, grabbing me and holding me tight.

“Get off! Let me go!” I cried out, about to scream but he covered my mouth with his hand and pulled me into the nearest closet. It seemed like nobody noticed as everyone went on with the dance.

“Would you listen to me!” He snapped, his eyes darker than usual. “I’m not a monster, well, in other people’s eyes I am but I swear I’m not.” 

“Then what are you?” Silents broke out in the small room filled with extra items that they might need and cleaning supplies. “What are you-”

“A vampire, okay?” Drew finally spoke.

“A vampire?” I reassured. 

“Yes, a vampire.” He confirmed, letting go of me. 

“Like… Can’t go out in the sun, garlic kills you and wooden stakes-” I stopped talking. “Your wife?” I frowned. 

“Well, the whole garlic thing is a myth but wooden stakes, yes. That’s what killed my wife.” His hazel eyes now staring at the floor. 

“What are you doing here then?” Fixing my mask upon my face as it was slightly slipping.

“Honestly, trying to find a date.” He confessed, his fingers now fiddling with each other as if he was now shy or at least not comfortable about confronting why he was here tonight. “A buddy of mine told me to get out there again.” He scoffed. “And then I saw you at the bar.” He looked up at me, his eyes not as dark anymore, pushing a strand of my hair out of my eyes. He smiled softly. “You were so beautiful sitting there.” He breathed out, stepping closer.

“What’s going on with your fangs?” I asked, arching my eyebrow.

He sighed. “I can hear your heart pounding. It was pounding so fast when you were arguing with your ex I thought it was going to explode.” He chuckled. “I can smell your blood pumping in your veins, too.” Drew swallowed thickly, looking away. “Sorry, I shouldn’t talk about this.”

“If it makes you feel any better my friend dragged me here to look for someone too. Maybe… It’s meant to be?” My eyes looked over at him, hoping he felt the same.

He scoffed at my words, which made me feel so little all of a sudden. “You want to be with a vampire?” 

“What’s wrong with that?” I asked, offended that he didn’t like the idea I suggested.

“You really want to just sleep all day, only go out on dates during nights and never have garlic on pizza?” He teased the myth of what people think vampires were al about.

“I already sleep all day, I work nights and I’m allergic to garlic.” I scrunched up my nose remembering the time I was rushed to the hospital after eating a food with garlic cooked inside.

“You really wouldn’t mind?” Drew asked, his face becoming softer yet confusion still written on it. “You do realize I feed on blood, right?” 

“So you kill people? That’s hot.” I wiggled my eyebrows of course in a teasing manner.

He blushed, scratching the back of his head. “Well, not really. Animal blood.” 

“That’s what I thought.” I giggled, patting his scruffy cheek. “You aren’t a big bad vampire like you say you are.” 

Drew smirked slightly, stalking towards me. “Oh honey, you don’t know what you’re in for.” Drew grabbed at my wrists and pinned them against the wall. A small whimper left my lips as my back collided with the wall, if I could truly focus I slightly heard the music playing on the other side. 

“Then why don’t you show me?” My voice slightly lower and sultry, pushing my hips up against his growing loin, a low groan escaped his lips. 

Drew growled lowly at my actions, planting his lips against mine. Clenching my fists, I tried to get out of his strong grip. Moaning against his lips, I parted my mouth slightly letting his tongue explore my mouth. “Hmm fuck, Drew.” 

“Fuck, my cock is so hard for you alrready, baby.” He groaned. Drew unbuckled his pants, pulling the black leather from the loop holes he wrapped the leather strap around my wrists. “You’re going to behave for me, aren’t you?” He tightened the belt around my hands. Drew ripped his white shirt open, tossing it somewhere in the small room.

“Yes.” I panted, licking my lips. Drew pushed his black slacks down his muscular legs along with his tight boxers. His cock sprung up, hitting his toned lower stomach. Drew picked me up with ease, my back still pinned against the wall. He pulled my dress upwards. Wrapping my legs around his waist I felt his bare cock head rubbing against my clothed pussy, my panties becoming more damp from the friction.

“You ready baby?” He smirked, peppering kisses all over my neck.

“Yes.” I spoke breathlessly. Drew reached in between us, pushing my panties to the side while guiding his cock against my entrance and slowly pushed the tip of his cock in between my folds. “H- Holy fuck.” I squealed, his length stretched me out in the process. My hands gripping onto his shoulders, nails digging into his flesh.

“Fuck baby you’re so tight.” Drew grunted, kissing my jaw line, trying to get me to relax against him. “Are you alright?” His words were in a low murmur.

“Please, just fuck me.” I begged, arching my back off of the wall, trying to push myself against his toned body and pushing my hips against him to get his cock further.

A sly smirk appeared on Drew’s lips as he shoved the rest of his cock into my pussy with one swift thrust. A scream escaped my throat as he started to thrust into me at a fast pace. Drew dug his nails into my waist as he slammed his cock faster into me. Loud thumps echoed throughout the small room as my hips hit up against the wall. 

“Oh my god, Drew.” I moaned out, my welldone hair for the evening now becoming a mess and out of place.

“Fuck, Melanie.” A low moan came out of Drew’s mouth, looking at my facial expression. His jaw dropped slightly, gritting his teeth. “You want to be mine?” He grunted, skin slapping against skin rang through my ears with each pumping thrust.

“Yes!” I blurted out, my eyes rolling in the back of my head before fluttering shut.

“Say it.” Drew’s voice became more gravellier, it wasn’t until this moment I realized he had a Scottish accent. 

“I want to be yours!” I screamed, trying to break free from the restraints around my wrist. “Please, Drew, I want to be yours!” 

Drew leaned forward, his teeth grazing against my neck, his teeth sinking into my flesh. A cry left from my throat as he marked me. “I’m going to come!” I warned him, my walls fluttered tightly around his cock. 

“Come on my cock baby, let me feel your juices.” Drew slammed his cock harder into my pussy, rubbing against my g-spot. 

“Gah! Fuck!” My body shook and stomach tightened as I reached my climax, gushing on Drew’s cock. Drew panted heavily, shooting his come inside my creamy pussy. 

“Oh fuck, Melanie.” Drew slowly pulled out, his cock covered in the clear coating. “Fuck.” He chuckled at how much of a mess we made. 

“Sorry, it’s uh, it’s been awhile.” I smiled weakly. “Uh, did you bite me?” I swallowed. Drew helped take the belt off around my wrists.

“Yeah, but I didn’t change you.” He chuckled. “I don’t think you’re ready for that.” He started to get dressed, tucking his white button up shirt into his black pants. Drew picked up my phone, unlocking it and typed away. Handing me back my device he smirked. “Text me some time, yeah?” 

With that Drew walked out of the small sex smelled closet we fucked in. My heart was pounding, fixing my hair and my mask I put my shoes back on and wobbled out of the closet, leaning against the closed door I looked down the hallway, trying to find Drew. 

If he fucks like that, I don’t think I’ll ever leave.

Drew McIntyre's Masterlist

[glittter-vamp]

Ohio Is For Lovers | J.B

CHAPTER 2

Joe Burrow x Reader Series.

Warnings: 18+ only. MDNI. Angst. Explicit Language, Alcohol.

Word Count: 2,219

Read Chapter One Here

A few weeks later:

"Please please pleeaase Y/N! It'll be fun. We'll have unlimited food and drinks!" Mariana begs you for the 50th time. "Mariana, you know how I feel about this after what happened. Some fans will probably get stupid and I don't feel like listening to people call me names, look at me weird or throw some shit at me. I see how football fans can get and I'm good on that." You shake your head as you wash the dirty dish and lay it on the rack to dry. "No! You can't think like that! Don't let these assholes get to you! Ja'Marr is expecting both of us to be there and support the team. C'mon Y/N! Please...we'll have fun!" Mariana pleads again in front of you giving you puppy dog eyes.

Mariana came over before a game today to ask again about going to a Bengals game tonight. You had already told her no multiple times but she kept on insisting because Peyton was out of town for work and Sasha was with her family celebrating her moms birthday, so that left you. So she says, as if she hasn't gone to games with other people or even alone.

"Fine, but this is the only game I'm attending, you can tell Ja'Marr that too." You sigh going to your room to change. "Yes!! Thank you! Thank you!" She squeals as she follows you to your closet. You pick out an oversized black hoodie and black leggings. "You don't have anything with the Bengals on it?" Mariana. "Why would I? I don't even like football." You say starting to change clothes not caring that she was there, this wouldn't be the first time you'd change in front of your friends. "We'll get you something at the game." She nods. "I'll be fine in this." You shake your head knowing you're not going to buy merch of a team a person you really dislike plays on. You put on your white and black Nikes after putting on some socks and throw on an orange beanie. "This good enough?" You ask. "Better than nothing!" Mariana nods. You already had make up on from earlier today so you just retouched it a bit. You grabbed your phone, wallet and keys and made your way out of the apartment with Mariana. "I'm assuming I'm driving?" She asks as you two head down in the elevator. "Duh..." You chuckle. After getting into her car you two drive to the stadium. It was already a mess going into the parking lot with all these screaming drunk fans that tailgated. You were completely dreading being here for who knows how fucking long, you'd pray that crazy mid-west weather would kick in and they cancelled the stupid game but it was a perfectly sunny evening with no clouds in sight. Just you're fucking luck, you thought to yourself.

You two park in valet and security notices Mariana and they kindly lead you two to your seats. People of course were starting to recognize you two more, you would hear whispers from people who looked at you two. "Already hating this." You mutter to Mariana. "It'll be fine! Just keep your head up and keep walking" She reassures you. You two get escorted to your seats after stopping to get some beer and snacks. "See, not so bad." Mariana says. "Mhm." You hum. This was only the start of the night, you can't even imagine what could go wrong. The game finally begins and you smile watching your best friend cheer her boyfriend on. She seemed really happy and you really loved that for her since her last relationship wasn't all that great. She deserved to be happy with her partner.

During the game you got a couple looks and glares from people, mostly young teen girls who were all wearing Joe's stupid jersey. You didn't expect any less but as the game was nearing the end, your phone gets bombarded with notifications from your other friends and siblings. You open the stuff they sent you and they were all links about how you were spotted at the game with Mariana and a spreading rumor around that you were actually here to see and support Joe play, which could only mean to these delusional lying people that you and Joe were most likely an item. You roll your eyes at your phone and let out a big sigh of frustration.

You show Mariana and her Jaw drops. "And you thought I was being dramatic with coming here." You shake your head. "I didn't think that would happen! I'm so sorry Y/N...I'm sure we can clear this up somehow! I'll post that picture of us we took earlier on instagram and caption it in a way that will let everyone know we're both here for Ja'Marr!" She says and you just sit there upset at what was happening all over again. You knew you shouldn't have risked coming here.

When the game finally ends security comes to you and Mariana again. "Which one of you is Y/N Y/L/N?" One of them asks. "Me? What's going on?" You ask confused. People around you were looking at what was happening but thankfully the other security guards told them to keep it moving since they were holding up the line to get out of the section we were in. "Can you follow us?" The man asks. "Not until you tell me what's going on." You shake your head. "Joe Burrow wants a word with you him and Ja'Marr Chase, asked me to escort you two back to them." The large man says lowly near your ear. "Absolutely not." You shake your head. "Y/N...Maybe he can help with all these rumors and speculation. Finally put an end to all this..." Mariana says looking at you with pleading eyes, you knew she felt like crap for begging you come here. You look back at the security guard taking a deep breath and nod. They escort you to these golf carts and you and Mariana hop on. People looked at you both and took more pictures and video's which you despised. They take you where the locker rooms were and lead you to this lounge/ recreational type of area.

"The guys will be out any moment, feel free to help yourself to any drinks or snacks." One of them say. You and Mariana thank them and they leave you two alone. "Have you been here before?" You ask Mariana. "Twice, usually there's more girlfriends and wives in here though, kind of weird it's empty." Mariana says looking around, we were the only two in the room. You sit down and lean back in the seat just thinking about how this was happening. "You okay?" Mariana asks. "Nope." You shake your head. "What's running through your head?" She asks sitting on the arm of the chair next to you. "How I'm probably going to have to move out of Ohio and how I'm probably going to lose my job." You sigh. "Why would any of those happen?" She asks. "Mariana, I love you but you really don't get it do you?" You ask and she shakes her head no. You take a deep breath and let her in the situation.

"My job already threatened termination due to the whole cheating scandal video and I told them that it was just a big misunderstanding which it was but now that I'm here and new rumors are starting...it's going to look like confirmation that I actually did home-wreck and how I am now dating Joe." You sigh. "That's dumb! This is your personal life, even if any of this was true they have no right!" She scoffs. "Yeah but I represent the company and they don't want to be affiliated with someone like that, I'm so done there, I knew I should of stayed home." You rub your temples trying to think about how one stupid drunken night lead to all this. "I can talk to Ja'Marr maybe he can help with finding some good lawyers for you if that happens." Mariana says. "Lawyers for what? What did you two do?" You hear a voice say and you two turn your head to see Ja'Marr.

Mariana explains the situation to him and he shakes his head. "This is fucked up, I love Joe...he's my brother and all but he really threw you under the bus here." Ja'Marr says. "Yeah, well he doesn't think so." You shake your head. Speaking of the fucking devil, Joe walks into the room in some weird colorful sweats that made him look like rejected skittle. "Hey guys." He says mostly to Ja'Marr and Mariana. "Um...we'll leave you two alone. Here are my keys, Ja'Marr can take me home. Take my car, I'll pick it up tomorrow morning" Mariana says handing you the car keys. You say goodbye to Mariana and Ja'Marr and they walk out of the room. Mariana giving you one last supportive look before leaving.

"What is it that you want?" You ask Joe once they leave the room. "Why did you come here?" He asks right off the bat. "What?" You ask confused at that weird question. "Why did you come here? Was it to get back at me or something?" He asks. "What the hell are you talking about? I came here because Mariana begged me for days to attend this stupid game." You roll your eyes. "You just caused a whole lot of shit right now Y/N." Joe says shaking his head visibly upset. "ME!? Oh I'm sorry... was I the one that used you to get back at some girlfriend like we're 17 years old? Was I the one that let this whole shit fall on you and made you look like the bad guy when in reality it you had no idea what the hell was going on and that you even had a girlfriend let alone a girlfriend that was at the same fucking party as us!? How is this MY wrong doing. Tell me...Quickly." You cross your arms.

"You knew this was still blowing over, why the hell would you come to one of my games? It's to coincidental, I know you did this to rile shit back up! Stop acting so innocent." He spat back. "Your game? Since when were you the only player on the field. Your ego is out of this fucking world, especially since you think I'd be here to sabotage you in some way like you'd matter that much to me to do so. Get a fucking grip." You scoff.

"You can't come back here, I mean it. My publicist is on my ass right now about this and I have enough shit to worry about than worrying about you and your bullshit that you're causing me." Joe says angrily and you laugh. "What was it that you said to me last time when I told you my issue with this? Oh! that's right...I can't control what others say and it's not that serious. Stop being ridiculous, Joe." You smirk at him before you walk out of the room leaving Joe fuming just like you were at that party. Pay back is a fucking bitch.

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

Later that night as you were getting out of the shower, Mariana calls you up. "Hey!" You answer after putting her on speaker. "Girl... what the hell happened?" Mariana asks. "About what?" You ask drying your body with the towel. "Joe just called Ja'Marr fuming about you, that he needed to stop giving you tickets to the games or whatever the hell it was that he was saying." Mariana said which made you laugh. "What a fucking idiot, as if anyone could control me going to one of their games, even if I got tickets through you guys or not, I can still buy my own." You shake your head as you put on your Pajamas.

"I just don't get how he doesn't see that he's the one in the wrong? Even Ja'Marr told him that he was being immature & out of pocket. And let me say he didn't like that one bit! Joe expects him to be on his side." Mariana sighs. "Of course he didn't like it, the guy is a narcissistic asshole." You scoff. "Well, anyway...I'll let you get to bed and stop bothering you with this. I just wanted to see if you were alright. I'll be over early tomorrow to get my car, hope that's okay?" She asks. "Yeah, I'll be up, just text me when you're on your way. See you then." You tell her grabbing your toothbrush. "See you." She says before hanging up. You couldn't help but to laugh to yourself about how much of an immature asshole Joe was. He could of cleared things up and controlled the dumpster fire he created but instead he wanted to play victim, which resulted in it now biting his ass. It was about time he got some of his own medicine.

After you brushed your teeth and moisturized, you plugged your phone up to the charger on your nightstand and got into bed. "What a fucking day." You say to yourself as you turn off your bedside light and got into bed, letting today's drama fade away from your dreams.

[thinkingaboutbetterdays]

the long game. ( mac taylor x reader )

gif belongs to me

The name left his lips as if he had said it a million times. He had, but not with the sentiment preceding it. The first time it happened, Peyton had brushed it off, joking that she was not his 'work wife'. Mac had spent the rest of the night and several days thereafter restless, mulling over the meaning behind his slip-up.

The second time it happened, Peyton was walking away after Mac let go of her hand when you and Stella were entering the morgue, and he could see the hurt in her eyes as she revealed her findings. The worst part? You were unaware of the turmoil within the couple and flashed Peyton a smile as you praised her for her work.

Stella, however, wasn't so oblivious and glanced at Mac over her shoulder as she left with you.

"Peyton..."

"I have a lot of work to do here." She said in dismissal.

"I'm sorry." Mac walked out of the morgue and saw you walking with Stella, typing on your cell phone. Seeing how preoccupied you were, Stella moved you out of the way before you could walk into a door that was opening.

"You really need to take a technical class or something." Stella shook her head with a smile.

"Why would you put someone through such horrendous torture?"

"It won't be that bad."

"Not me. The teacher." You nudged her gently, both laughing as you stepped into the elevator.

The third and last time it happened, the case was over, and he went down to the morgue to speak to Peyton. When she explained how hurt she felt, he reached for her and closed his eyes when your name left his lips.

"I'm sorry." Mac walked out of the morgue and headed back to the lab. Stella was leaving her office for the night when they crossed paths.

"Hey, any plans for tonight? That new diner opened a few blocks from here. You could take Peyton for dinner. Or breakfast." She corrected after checking her watch.

"Actually...we broke up."

Her eyes widened, "What? When? Why?"

Mac kept his voice low as he explained the multiple slip-ups where he called her by your name, and Stella listened, nodding with a frown.

"How long have you felt this way about her?"

Mac lightly shrugged his shoulders, a sigh leaving his lips.

"You should tell her."

"What if she doesn't feel the same way? I am the boss. And I don't want to make it awkward and disrupt the team." Mac replied.

"You'll never know if you don't ask." She reasoned, placing a hand on his arm before heading to the elevator.

Mac sighed as she left, walking away to his office. He packed his briefcase, and twenty minutes later, he was leaving the lab when he saw you looking around your office, tidying up your desk in the hopes of finding something.

Mac observed for a moment before deciding he had nothing to lose. He knocked on your door, lingering in the doorway as you met his gaze. A smile formed on your lips that almost made him forget why he was here.

"Hey, Mac! Heading out?"

He cleared his throat, nodding. "Uh, yeah. Did you lose something?"

"My glasses." You paused when his lips twitched in amusement. "What?"

Mac pointed to his head, and you reached up, finding your glasses on top of your head. You closed your eyes, blushing in embarrassment as you placed your glasses in your handbag.

"Do you want to grab breakfast?" He asked. "There's a new diner open on fifth."

You nodded, "I'd love to." A smile formed on your lips as you picked up your briefcase and placed your handbag over your shoulder, following him to the elevator.

In the early hours of the morning, you went to the diner on fifth, and Mac brought up the case over breakfast in an attempt to return to common ground, both relieved it was over. He didn't want to ask too many questions about your personal life. But you broke down the wall between boss and subordinate with ease, flashing him a smile and asking, "So what does the great Mac Taylor do when he isn't solving cases?"

Mac quickly grew comfortable, relaxing so much he even undid the buttons of his blazer - as most relaxed you'd ever seen him. A sight you decided you would like to see more often as he held the door open for you on the way home, a smile on his lips.

It became a regular occurrence after cases. You and Mac would celebrate with breakfast or dinner depending on when you left the lab after finishing paperwork, sometimes ordering takeout while working side by side as you worked to complete the reports. You always respected his rank out in the field, but in the lab when you were alone, you both let down your guard.

Weeks had gone by but Mac was still uncertain about entering a relationship with you, his only concern being the team if things didn't work out. Yet he couldn't imagine why, because you were a brilliantly beautiful CSI and he had fallen in love with you without even realizing it. So he decided to play the long game, taking the time to let the lines blur on their own, learning more about you, and spending more time with you outside of working hours in the hopes that it would lead to a long successful relationship.

After a shootout downtown, you took three shots to the vest and Mac forgot all of his hesitations as he walked by where you were being checked over by a paramedic, checking you over for injuries as he headed towards a detective.

"What in God's name were you thinking?"

You looked at him in surprise, as did many others who turned towards the scene as Mac confronted the detective for putting two of his CSIs in harm's way.

You knew Mac was protective of his team, but the look in his eyes told you it was more than that. After sending you and Danny to the lab, he stayed with the others to sweep the scene for evidence.

Mac didn't return until several hours later and you looked at the door when he knocked. "Are you okay?"

You nodded, "The vest took all of it. Some bruising, but hey, I did get shot." You shrugged off, attempting to lighten the mood with a smile.

Mac sighed as he entered your office, closing the door, and you saw how weary he looked.

"Are you okay?"

"You got shot, and you're worried about me?"

"I always worry about you." You placed your pen down and took off your glasses as you turned your chair to give him your full attention.

His gaze fell to the floor as he swallowed his nerves and met your gaze when he summoned the strength to admit, "I always worry about you."

You walked towards him and placed your hands on his biceps, "I'm fine. I can't deny I'm a little more motivated than usual." You squeezed his arms gently, "But I'm fine. Promise."

Mac nodded slowly, covering your left hand with his right hand. "When I got the call, all I could think was - I don't think I could survive it. Losing you."

Your eyes became teary from his confession and you kissed his cheek, wrapping your arms around him.

"I'm not going anywhere." You whispered.

Mac held you closer as you rested your head on his shoulder. When you pulled away moments later he noticed your gaze flicker to his lips briefly before quickly meeting his gaze. It was all Mac needed as he placed a hand on your cheek and kissed you tenderly.

Your eyelashes fluttered as you closed your eyes, leaning into him as you cupped his neck. You pulled away and his hands held your waist as you both took a moment to catch your breath.

"I have a confession to make." You whispered.

Mac held his breath until you continued.

"I've wanted to do that for a while."

He exhaled, a smile forming on his lips as he said, "Yeah? Me too."

You left the lab earlier that night, deciding to take the paperwork to Mac's apartment, picking up takeout on the way. And as he looked at your head resting on his shoulder as you both read the files on your laps, your suit pants and blouse were forgotten on the bedroom floor, wearing one of his shirts while he wore striped pajama pants and plain white t-shirt, Mac did not know how he survived playing the long game, but being here, living this moment with you, it was all worth it.

[novastories]

Flashlight

Title and chapter loosely inspired the song “Flashlight” by Hailee Steinfield.

Summary: Sometimes, family and friends are the people you look for even in the darkest times.

Warnings: Mentions of previous incident

Word Count: 3.3k

A/N: I'M BACK FOR A CHAPTER UPDATE!

I'm so sorry it took so long, I wasn't planning on a break, but because of my new job I've been busy. And I've been going through some things.

This story is almost finished, but I do plan on continuing Bradley and Aurora's story after this! Thank you so much for your support, for sticking by this story, and loving it as much as I do. 💜

Shoutout to @reginleight for editing this chapter, espeically now that she is also a working gal now. 😘

As always, likes are great and all, but comments, reblogs, and feedback are highly appreciated and loved! 🤭

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Aurora still hadn’t woken up. It had been three days since the bombing and she still was deep in her coma. The doctors said that her wounds had healed properly and that she should be waking up soon, but nothing had happened since.

She was transferred to a room out of the ICU since she wasn’t in critical condition anymore. All they were waiting for was for her to wake up.

The training for the mission had been postponed, especially since Maverick wasn’t in the right state of mind to train them as well as giving Coyote, Bob, and Phoenix a few days to rest.

Speaking of the rest of the squadron, they all had dropped by at least once a day to check in on Aurora, as well as Bradley and Peyton who spent most of their days at the hospital never wanting to leave her side.

Aurora’s NCIS team unfortunately had left to go back to DC, but not before exchanging numbers with the family so they would still receive updates on her condition. Ziva left the charm bracelet with Bradley, just as Aurora wanted.

He shed a few tears when receiving it because that had meant Aurora still thought of him even in her probably final moments. It broke his heart.

Today was the first day Maverick would be going back to base to talk to the Admirals, and training would be starting back up the next day.

At least, that’s what they had thought.

“What do you mean they took you off the mission?” Penny nearly shrieked at hearing the news. 

Penny and Maverick were in Aurora’s hospital room. Peyton, Amelia, and Bradley had left to go home for a bit while Carole and Goose left to bring dinner to Penny and Maverick.

“It means I’m done, Penny. Officially. There’s nothing I can do!” Maverick sighs as he sits in his chair.

“But, what about Ice-”

“There’s nothing Ice can do.”

“So, what? You’re just going to give up?”

“What else can I do, Pen?”

“You fight! If you had lost your wingman, you’d keep fighting. Just like when Goose left.”

“Pen-”

“If anything happens to them, you’d never forgive yourself. You know that.”

Maverick exhales. “I don’t know how to fight anymore Pen. They told me that I should take this time to be with Aurora. Maybe the admirals are right.”

“You and I both know that they’re not. Aurora would hate that you just gave up!”

“She’s right.”

Penny and Maverick quickly turn to the bed that Aurora laid in, which was a sight they were used to.

Except this time, her eyes were open.

“Oh, Rory!” Penny exclaims, rushing to hug her daughter. Aurora grunts from the hug, as Maverick rushes to press the call button for a nurse.

Aurora coughs a bit before Penny hands her a cup of water that was on the table next to her. After taking a chug of her water, Penny gave her another big hug.

Soon, all the emotions hit Aurora and she began to cry.

“I’m so sorry mom, I’m sorry I-”

“Shhh, sweetie, it’s okay, you’re safe now. It’s okay,” Penny assures her. Maverick stood on the other side of Aurora so he could hold her hand.

“We were so worried, Rory, but when we heard what you did, we couldn’t be more proud of what you had done,” Maverick tearfully told her as he brushed her hair out of her face. “It was stupid, but we’re just glad you’re okay.”

Aurora’s eyes bore into her dad’s as it filled with tears. “I fought, dad, just like you wanted me to.”

“I know, princess, I know.”

Aurora took a few seconds before asking him the question that hit him hard. “So why aren’t you fighting to go back?”

Maverick breath hitches. “B–Because maybe it’s time to turn in the wings, Ro. I’m getting old, and I should be spending more time with you.”

“Screw what the admirals say!”

“Rory, language,” Penny warns her daughter.

“You have to keep fighting, because if you give up, you won’t forgive yourself for what happens on that mission. We’re Mitchell’s, it’s in our blood. We keep fighting, no matter what,” Aurora affirms. 

Penny chuckles before kissing her daughter’s forehead. Maverick smiles, softly.

“I don’t even know what to do.”

“You’ll find a way, you always do,” Aurora smiles before she squeezes her dad’s hand. “Most likely, something illegal, but you’ll find a way.”

“Aurora Benjamin-Mitchell, don’t encourage your father!” Penny exclaims.

“Oh, please! I bet you he’s already thinking about it! It’s not like I told him to bomb the base or steal a plane!”

“Bomb jokes, really? This soon?” Penny gives her a worried look.

“Then you don’t want to hear any of the jokes Tony and I make when we’re on the field. We got head slaps from Gibbs so many times. I can feel one right now, it’s like Gibbs can tell I made a stupid joke,” Aurora winces, putting her hand on the back of her head as if Gibbs had just head slapped her. Penny rolls her eyes, as Maverick chuckles.

Soon a nurse comes by to take Aurora’s vitals, while Penny and Maverick leave so Aurora can have a bit of space. Penny rushes out to give Sarah a phone call, as Maverick calls Gibbs and the team about her being awake.

A few seconds after the call ended, Peyton, Amelia, and Bradley burst through the double swing doors that were used to enter the wing Aurora was staying at. Bradley was clutching a bouquet of flowers Maverick knew was meant for Aurora, as he liked to replace the flowers every day so Aurora would “wake up with a fresh bouquet” according to him.

Today, the flowers he had in his hand were pink carnations and white roses, symbolizing love and appreciation.

“S-she’s awake? The receptionist, they s-said, h-hold on, give me a second to breathe, I haven’t ran in s-so long,” Peyton bends over panting from running.

“Dude, we just ran from the front desk, which was not even that far,” Amelia gave him a deadpan look. Peyton ignores her and just keeps puffing out air.

“She’s awake?” Bradley looked hopeful at Maverick. Maverick smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, but right now she’s getting checked up on by the nurse, so we’ll wait until she’s done with the assessment. Wait, where’s Goose and Carole?”

“Here!” Goose bursts in dramatically through the double swing doors, holding a bag of takeout in his hands and almost hitting a nurse from the force of it, with Carole shaking her head behind him.

“Goose, careful!” Carole scolds him.

“It’s fine honey, if someone gets hurt, it’s all good because we’re already at a hospital!”

Carole sighs before turning to Maverick.

“We heard what happened. They pulled you out of the mission?”

“Wait, what?!” The trio of children exclaim at the news.

“Don’t worry, I’m going to figure it out,” Maverick reassures them.

The nurse soon walks out of Aurora’s room, saying that they were able to all visit her now. Everyone piled in, with Amelia and Peyton leading the group in, and were the first to hug Aurora.

Amelia and Peyton start tearing up, while Aurora holds them tightly.

To occupy himself, Bradley put the flowers he had in his hand in an empty vase that sat next to Aurora’s hospital bed side, as he already took the older flowers and left them at their house.

The dining table was filled with an older bouquet of flowers that Bradley had gotten for Aurora every day. Peyton complained when he started doing it because he kept sneezing from the amount of flowers, but he stopped complaining after day two. 

Carole and Goose were the next ones to hug Aurora next, Carole telling her how worried she was, while Goose kept trying to get Carole to stop nagging her. Aurora soon laid eyes on Bradley, and she started tearing up.

Bradley took that as a sign to rush to his best friend’s side and hug her tightly.

“I’m sorry, B. I’m so sorry,” Aurora whispered.

“Shh, it’s okay. You’re safe now,” he shushes her, as he combs his hands through her hair. She sniffles and they separate from the hug.

“You gave us quite a big scare there little star,” Goose sniffles as he and Carole come to Aurora’s side.

“Sorry, Uncle Goose,” Aurora cringes, knowing she had worried her family and friends.

“We’re just glad you’re alright,” Carole assures her, brushing some of Aurora’s hair back in a motherly gesture.

“Your team had to leave, but I gave them a call and they’re all happy that you’re doing okay and awake,” Maverick told her.

“And,” Amelia spoke up. “They told us about the case.”

Aurora looks at her confused. “What case?”

“You know…the case about…your scars,” Peyton hesitantly tells her. Aurora pales at that and almost starts going into a panic attack if Bradley didn’t rush to hold her hand.

“Hey, hey, you’re alright. No one’s going to hurt you now,” he assures her. Aurora hesitantly looks up into Bradley’s eyes, her eyes filled with tears.

“You all know?”

“We all know now.”

Aurora’s lips quiver thinking back to that case, where she barely had escaped with her life if it wasn’t for her team finding her and saving her.

Amelia and Peyton rushed to Aurora’s side, not only to comfort their sister, but to let her know that they were always by her side. Aurora cries and keeps whispering ‘I’m sorry’ to them, to which they kept telling her it wasn’t her fault.

Aurora was awake, and physically okay. The demons of her past haunt her on her darkest days, but with her family by her side, she was going to be okay. Because they were her light in the dark of everything, her flashlight when she’s lost.

—

It was about two days since Aurora woke up and right now, she was sitting alone in her hospital room. She was to be discharged soon, and she was grateful for it.

The doctor told her that she just needed a few days of bed rest, and that she should be okay, after they took a few vitals and scans of her. She had a few visitors after she woke up, one of them being Lucille.

“I can’t believe you almost got blown to pieces!” Lucille first said when she stepped into Aurora’s room before launching into a hug.

“Luci, I can’t breathe. Too tight,” was all Aurora could breath out when Lucille latched onto her.

“Oh gosh, I’m sorry,” Lucille lets her go before sitting next to her.

“Besides, it’s not like I could have stood there and done nothing. I had to save the hostages,” Aurora adds.

“And yet, you almost got blown up in the process. I know your job is dangerous, and you probably had gone through worse, but I really thought I lost you RoRo,” Lucille leans on Aurora’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry I scared you, Luci. I promise, you’re not losing me anytime soon.”

“Good, because you owe me donuts for what you put me through.”

Aurora chuckles, before also leaning on Lucille. “Deal.”

And when she didn’t have any visitors, she was able to video call Gibbs and the team.

“We’re so glad you’re doing alright!” Abby exclaims as she smiles at Aurora. 

The team had video called her from the NCIS HQ bullpen, and Aurora stares wistfully at the background, missing her old office space.

“Did you hear about the award ceremony that’s going to be happening in a few months?” McGee asks Aurora. Aurora looks at him confused.

“Award ceremony?”

“Director Vance is awarding you the Navy Distinguished Civilian Service Award for your service at NCIS as well as the actions during the bombing case.”

Aurora stares at them. “What?”

“You saved a lot of Navy dependents, plus your work at NCIS. Director wanted to-”

“But I couldn’t save Adam Lewis,” Aurora interrupts. She couldn’t save him, she didn’t believe she should earn an award.

“Artemis, there’s nothing you could have done. He entered that coffee shop knowing his end game was to kill himself,” Ziva assures her. 

“I still could have done something.” Aurora whispers, as a tear falls down her cheek.

“Rule #11.” Gibbs reminds her.

“Gibbs,” Aurora pleads.

“Artemis.”

Aurora bites the inside of her cheek before answering him, “‘When the job is done, walk away.’”

“We’re all glad you’re doing alright kiddo, but you need to walk away from the case. It’s done, it’s closed. You need to focus on yourself now.”

Aurora sighs, before nodding about what he said. Abby and Ziva soon start gossiping about what she had missed, with McGee and Tony joining in as Gibbs leaves them to chat.

She had another visitor that she was expecting, which was Jake Seresin.

“I was so worried. You scared us all half to death,” Jake ruffled her hair, and sat down next to her. Aurora had full mobility of everything, so she sat upright in her hospital bed.

“It wasn’t like that was my intention. I had to do my job.”

“Well, your job sucks.”

“My job also happened to save your life, remember?”

“Like you’ll ever let me forget.”

A lull hits in their conversation before Aurora speaks up.

“Have you talked to Peyton?”

Jake shakes his head. “Not really. I think he’s a bit mad at me for knowing about what happened to you and your PTSD before even he did.”

“He’ll get over it. I’m talking about you and him.

“There is no us, Rory. he’s made that very clear.”

“No, what he’s made clear is that he doesn’t want to go through heartbreak again if you’re just going to leave him how you always leave your wingman, hanging,” Aurora insists.

“Ro-”

“Jake, I nearly died. Life is too precious to waste, if you love him, what’s holding you back?”

“I-I don’t want to hurt him.”

“You’re hurting him now by not saying anything. What happens when you both go on the mission? What happens if you don't come back? You really want the last words you ever said to him to be something in passing?”

Jake looked at Aurora. This mission was already something he was nervous for, and now that Maverick was taken off as instructor, the parameters of the mission, although possible, probably would not work if they didn’t stick to the ones Maverick had set for them. They needed Maverick, whether the Admirals liked it or not.

“Just tell him, Jake. It would do you both a lot of good. And maybe he’d stop complaining so much about you,” Aurora snickers.

“We’ll see Ro,” was all Jake could promise her. “Maybe I’ll talk to him after the mission, or maybe even when they tell us who’s flying the mission. I guess we’ll just have to see.”

“When do they decide who’s flying the mission?” 

“In 2 days, the day before we leave.”

It was already the next day, which means they will be deciding who flies the mission tomorrow, making Aurora feel even antsier.

From what Maverick had told her, he was going to try and win back his place at Top Gun today, but what was the plan? She had no idea. 

Soon she heard running in the hallway and they stopped at her doorway, it was Peyton and Amelia.

“Dad stole an F-18!” Peyton exclaims as he catches his breath.

“HE DID WHAT?!”

“You should have seen him, Ro! He flew through the course like it was a breeze! It was so awesome!”

“Wait, can you go back to the part where he stole an F-18?!”

“Well, not stole, per-se. More like borrowed to prove to the admirals that they couldn’t just kick him off the mission.”

“And?”

“And now he's the team leader!” Amelia exclaims as she sat next to Aurora in the hospital bed.

Aurora’s jaw dropped.”What?!”

Peyton smirks. “My reaction too.”

“I was joking about him stealing an aircraft, but I didn’t know he’d actually do it,” Aurora shook her head, chuckling. Then she realizes her parents were nowhere to be seen.

“So wait, where’s dad now?”

“With mom. They wanted some ‘alone’ time together, as if we don’t know what that means,” Amelia tells her, making air quotes on the words alone.

Peyton and Aurora grimace at the thought of what Amelia was insinuating. But soon Aurora smiles.

“Mom and dad are together…again.”

“We all knew it was going to happen eventually,” Amelia smirks.

“Yeah, but now, it’s real. Like something about right now feels like it’s going to be “it” this time, you know?”

Peyton nods. “Yeah, I’m glad they finally came to their senses.”

“Which means, since dad or mom isn’t here, we are in charge of getting you home.”

Aurora pales. “Uh, I don’t know if I like that.”

“Oh c’mon, we’ll get some tacos on the way home and Amelia can sleepover!” Peyton assures her.

“Okay, that does sound good.”

“And, we can even let Amelia drive!”

“Yeah!” “No!”

Amelia looked sad as her sister shot down the idea.

“But, I need practice,” Amelia whines.

“Ami, when you get your permit, and when I’m not coming from the hospital, you can drive. But for now, we’re going to have to suffer through Pey’s driving.”

“What’s wrong with my driving?!”

“Let’s just say, I’m so glad you didn’t become a pilot with your driving skills, you would be a danger in the skies.”

Peyton scoffs before looking to Amelia for support, but she nods along at Aurora’s statement.

He rolls his eyes before he goes to sign the papers releasing Aurora while Amelia helped her sister get her things together as there were quite a few things people had sent and brought Aurora while she was in the hospital.

Aurora pauses packing staring at today’s bouquet of flowers, provided by Bradley of course. Today they were pink and red roses. She smiled as she touched the delicate petals.

Pink and red, colors that symbolized both Aurora and Bradley, Aurora being pink, and Bradley being red, which also suited him since they were also his helmet colors. She also knew it symbolized love and affection.

“Bradley got so many bouquets of flowers, they’re all waiting for you at home. He didn’t throw any out and he would bring a fresh one every day he came to visit. All meticulously picked out by him,” Amelia interrupts her thoughts as Aurora looks over to her sister who was smiling at her.

“He was really worried about you, Rory.” Amelia continues. “I mean, we all were, but Bradley was distraught. Your boss had to give him a talking to. I don’t think I ever saw Bradley that terrified and scared, even when Auntie Carole got cancer. He truly loves you.”

“I know,” Aurora gives her a small smile before turning back to the bouquet of flowers.

“So, what’s holding you back now? I mean, you should tell him. I overheard what you and Jake were talking about. It seems like it’s time for you to take your own advice. Before it’s too late.”

Aurora stares out the window. “You’re right, Ames.”

Her being in a coma definitely changed everything for her. It made her think about what she could have lost if something did happen to her. She didn’t want to live her life full of regrets anymore. She was ready to leave her past behind.

She was ready to move on and tell Bradley everything.

- - -

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Disclaimer: This story is fictitious. All works are written by me and only posted here. Please do not copy, repost, or plagiarize on any other platform without my permission!

[raccoon-eyed-rebel]

Part 11

Masterlist

Series Masterlist

Part 10 🟣 Part 12

A reverse harem vampire AU ft. Mikey, Marshall, August and Sherlock

Series summary: Somehow, you've managed to live with your boyfriend and his roommates for months before finding out they're vampires, but the real shock first comes when they find out you have a special quality. A quality the guys would love to make use of...

Warnings: Ongoing vampire shenanigans, mentions of blood, biting, throwing up. SMUT, NSFW, 18+, MINORS DNI, fingering, light Dom!Mikey but the right way this time, vague mention of p-in-v sex.

Word count: 5.2k

A/N: Alright! There you have it! We're finally getting somewhere... It's a surprisingly long chapter. Took a little turn I wasn't initially planning on XD

@geralts-yenn @deandoesthingstome @summersong69 @teamfan7asy @mis-lil-red @ellethespaceunicorn @sillyrabbit81 @peyton-warren @livisss

Now you had to break the news to Mike. This was going to be fun. He was still in the bathroom, dry heaving so violently you immediately realized there was no way he could get up right now, much less keep anything new down. August was next to him, now slumped against the wall, looking paler and more exhausted than you had ever seen him before, but at least he didn’t look and/or sound like he was actively dying, so that was great.

“There’s nothing I can do for him right now,” he said when you leaned against the doorframe – it was finally your turn to lean against the doorframe! You doubted you looked as hot doing it as they all did. August’s voice was hoarse and he yawned as soon as the sentence was out.

“You’re coming with me, August.” Not a question. You weren’t going to give Mike any room for protest here. Luckily, August didn’t ask any questions – and Mike was too busy, still.

“I’m cooking dinner again, right?” August said when you stormed to the couch, pulling him along behind you.

“Depends,” you replied. “If you feed now, can you settle Mike’s stomach enough so that he can feed?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem. You’ve made up your mind, then?” He seemed awfully pleased with the news – then again, so did you, probably.

“What about Marshall?” you asked, ignoring his question. You had different priorities right now. August and Sherlock exchanged looks while August practically shoved you onto the couch, squeezing your shoulder with way too much force.

“Sorry,” he sighed, “I usually go off what I feel that you’re feeling whenever I touch you. I’m running on empty here. Did I hurt you?”

“Not irreparably, can we get on with it? I can’t listen to another minute of Mike being this miserable, to be honest.” Both Sherlock and August seemed to find that a reasonable excuse to skip the pleasantries.

“I probably won’t be able to bite you as gently as last time, I’m sorry.” You assured August it was fine, and prepared yourself for a little more pain than the amount you were slowly beginning to get used to from the guys.

“Christ on a fucking bike, August, you… Fuck.” He wasn’t exaggerrating when he said he wouldn’t be as careful as before, but damn, you had underestimated what that meant. Nearly four hundred years of reading feelings had really hurt his ability to act normal without it... Luckily, the pain subsided quickly, and was replaced by the lovely feeling of warmth and comfort that was slowly becoming very familiar to you.

As soon as you relaxed, Sherlock asked you about the plan.

“I was hoping you could help me with that,” you said. “What’s the smart thing to do here?”

“Mike feeds first, after August gets him back on his feet – or at least on his bed. He’ll probably be about as hungry as Marshall was a few weeks ago.” That wasn’t reassuring; you still remembered the terrible shape Marshall had been in.

“And Marshall?”

“If August agrees, he can try to keep Marshall from going in Mike’s direction,” Sherlock said hesitantly, signaling you that there was a preferable option. “Or he feeds, too.”

You felt August’s teeth come out of your arm, and the nice feeling slowly disappeared. It was almost addictive how good it felt to feed the guys.

“Let him feed, please,” August said, “now that I can feel how miserable he is… I’d spend all night making him comfortable, and I’d need to feed again by morning.”

“Sounds like a plan.” You tried to get up from the couch by yourself, but August insisted you take his arm. “Thanks, August.”

“We notice, and we appreciate it,” Sherlock said next to you, his voice suspiciously close to your ear. “The thank yous. Please keep doing that, even if you get used to our antics over time.”

“I will,” you replied. It struck you as strange for a minute that he’d bring something like that up so relatively out of the blue, but then the implication hit you. Don’t take them for granted, even if they’re compelled to do things for you. It shouldn’t be difficult, but it was a good thing that Sherlock had pointed out that it was something to look out for.

“Hey baby.” Mike didn’t respond – not really. You got a soft grunt, but that was it. He was curled up in bed, facing away from you, clearly still miserable. “Want some breakfast in bed?”

“’S evening,” he murmured, his words slurred and his voice hoarse.

“Dinner in bed, then.” You sat next to him and stroked his back.

“Don’t wanna go back,” Mike groaned as he carefully looked over his shoulder.

“Come here, handsome,” you said as you slid under the covers and wrapped an arm around him. He was shivering and ice cold to the touch.

“Lea’me’lone,” he hummed into his pillow when you pulled on him to get him to turn around. “I’jus’need… nap.” His eyes threatened to fall shut. Even though he did manage to roll back onto his side, it was clear to you that he was in really rough shape…

“You need food, baby,” you tried. “Come here. I thought you loved to eat me?” That did get him to turn around, with a hint of his normal grin on his face. He was pale as a sheet, his lips a sickly bluish gray.

“We don’t eat people, babe,” Mike said softly. “Are you sure?”

“You look like you’re an inch away from death,” you muttered as you gently stroked the side of his ice cold face. “Please feed on me.” You turned your head demonstratively, exposing your neck to Mike.

“Your neck? You sure?” Apparently, there was more to it than Sherlock had led on when he had so casually mentioned it…

“Sherlock said you have a preference.” You shrugged – as well as you could while lying in bed and on your side.

“I do, but… Ba-,” he didn’t manage to finish his sentence. His reaching for your arm surprised you, though. It didn’t work, the angle was horrible, and you could tell Mike grew more restless with every passing second, making the most adorable frustrated noises you’d ever heard. Eventually, he turned around again and let you put an arm around him. He settled for your wrist, seeming happy to just be in your arms. After about a minute, when you were on the verge of falling asleep from the soothing feeling, he let go.

“Huh?” That wasn’t feeding. That was barely a snack… What was he up to?

“Sorry, needed a snack to finish that conversation.” There was definitely more color in his face now, although his lips were still pale. “Sherlock gave you that tip, huh? Guess we found his little vampire kink…” You thought about it for a second. The only thing you could say was that maybe Sherlock had hinted that he, too, preferred to feed from someones neck, but other than that…

“What do you mean?” Maybe Mike had more insight than you did. Scratch the ‘maybe’: Mike was one hundred percent bound to have more insight in the matter than you did…

“It’s the similar to mine,” he said. So something along the lines of erotic feeding… Either Mike read the confusion off your face, or he sensed your need for more information. Either way, he continued: “Babe, I can’t even get to your neck without manoevring us into some pretty intimate position. It’s not the fact that it’s someones neck that makes it preferable, it’s… everything surrounding that. Intimacy, proximity… At least that’s what I’ve been told. God, I’ve never even really experienced the real thing. Always just… little bites.”

“You got a pretty decent snack the other night,” you laughed as you remembered the boob-incident.

“That was fucking amazing, though,” Mike said, joining your laughter. “Seriously. Can I try that out for real sometime?” Would you effectively be breastfeeding your grown-ass boyfriend? Yeah. But he hit you with the grin, and the puppy eyes, and that was the end of your already non-intimidating resolve to tell him ‘no’. Besides, did it really matter wherehe bit you?

“Today? Or?” You might as well give him what he wanted straight away, right? As soon as the words were out of your mouth, you noticed that some of the old spark was back in his eyes. Briefly, but definitely present. You had to fight the urge to shake your head. He was such a goof…

“I can live off my snack from just now until tonight,” he said innocently. “You feed Marshall in a bit, then dinner, movies and cuddling – Marshall will want some attention – and then when we get to bed it’s my turn?” His attitude surprised you. Weeks ago – and days ago, probably – he’d still been opposed to all of this.

“Why the change of heart?”

“I told you I needed time to get used to the idea. Well… I’m used to it. As long as I get to play with my favorite titties…” Of course he groped them for good measure, as if he wanted to dispel any confusion as to whose boobs he meant, exactly. “I think I’m good with it now.” He got up without saying another word, and returned with a glass of water.

“I should have asked, sorry. The whole ‘ask for confirmation’ thing isn’t exactly second nature yet.” Now, the water was something you didn’t complain about. You were notoriously bad at keeping yourself hydrated, and Mike just handing you cups of tea and glasses of water throughout the day really helped to solve that little problem for you.

“I’m starting dinner, if you don’t mind. Can you get to Marshall? He’s in better shape than this one was.” August suddenly poked his head around the corner and looked at you, taking in Mike as he sat back on the bed. “Why is he still hungry?”

“Agreement,” Mike said before you could open your mouth.

“Alright, let me not get involved in whatever kinky shit you have planned! Me, dinner. You, Marshall. Goodbye.” August’s voice remained surprisingly neutral, even though his eyes clearly gave away that he found it at least somewhat funny.

“Hey, girl, hey!” Marshall snorted when you barged into his room with those words. “Dinner is served. Not the one August is making, the one I’m making.” Without thinking, you flopped onto his bed beside him. August was right; Marshall was in better shape than he had been a few weeks ago, but he was still not doing very well. He was well enough to pull your arm over his body with a little too much force, though

“Oof! Careful,” you said as you slammed tit-first into his solid back. It didn’t take much to curl up comfortably behind him, and you barely noticed his teeth sinking into you.

“We’re negotiating tomorrow, aren’t we?” Marshall’s voice echoed in your head after only a couple of seconds – way sooner than the last time you’d spent with him like this. It was a good thing he’d grabbed your arm firmly before ‘talking’, otherwise you might have found yourself in need of a few more stitches…

“We are. When you’re all out of the chemical compulsion phase of the program.”

“Thank you. So incredibly much.” He squeezed your arm a little tighter when he said it, as a sign of his gratitude. You could tell how happy he was that you were – finally – ready to fulfill their request.

“Hey, how does this projection thing work, when you’re this weak?” You knew the guys got stronger real fast after they started feeding, but using their gifts beyond their passive abilities was supposed to be really heavy-duty stuff on their energy levels, right?

“It gets easier as we get closer. There’s a chance it might persist beyond feeding sessions after some time.” So, not as intense and tiring as you thought it would. You considered the things Marshall had just said for a moment, and what that actually meant.

“So I’d get to snoop around in your brain full time?” You found that way more exciting than you probably should, especially considering how much you hated it when they did it to you.

“Yes. Unfortunately for me.” There was something of a chuckle in his voice, although you were still getting used to reading his intonation properly through the echoing and distance and generally strange situation.

“You admit it’s annoying?”

“I never said it wasn’t,” Marshall said before lifting his mouth off your arm. This time, you made sure to take note of how he gently and briefly licked the wounds before letting go of your arm.

“I still have to ask Sherlock about that,” you reminded yourself out loud as you looked at the tiny holes in your arm. There were six of them now, all on the same wrist. As you looked at them, the thought occurred to you that these six lovely puncture marks really should hurt, but they didn’t bother you at all.

“They normally do hurt,” Marshall said softly. “Even people who do this for money, the ones who aren’t naturals, are constantly in at least some pain, especially after the drugs they get wear off. It’s because of what you are that you barely feel them. August got you good today though, didn’t he?”

“How do you know that?” It surprised you that he’d heard anything over his music while feeling the way he had been feeling.

“Without his ability, the man is a brute. He always was.” Why did that sound so… good?

“You've known him for a long time, then?”

“Yes, but I won’t discuss his past. That’s up to him.” That seemed fair. You wouldn’t take kindly to one of your childhood friends spilling the beans on everything you had done when you were younger.

“Hey! August just told me to tell you that dinner is almost ready!” Mike didn’t knock, or anything, he just stormed into the room and jumped on Marshall’s bed behind you, snuggling up to you in the process.

“Mike, mate. I love you, but get the fuck out of my bed.”

“Bro, you’re literally cuddled up to my girl right now. If I get out of your bed, I’m taking her with me!” It was probably a good thing that he announced that, because judging from the look you caught briefly in Marshall’s eyes as he turned around, he would have ripped Mike to shreds if he hadn’t said anything. A low growl rumbled in his throat and there was a strange twitch in his upper lip.

“Like I said. Territorial issues,” Sherlock mused from the doorway, where there was – yet again – too much leaning going on for your tastes. “Can we try to get along, gentlemen?” Both Mike and Marshall grumbled a barely audible – to you, Sherlock probably heard them perfectly – ‘fine’ as they got up.

“Mike suggested movie night,” you said sternly, staring both guys down when they fought over who got to drag you to the kitchen for dinner. You could tell Mike wasn’t as on board with his idea right now as he had been when he had first suggested it.

“Get moving, before we have August to deal with as well,” Sherlock sighed as he walked away. You followed him, and Mike and Marshall followed you. Very closely.

Sherlock gave stern instructions on the seating arrangements at the table, which you were grateful for, but it didn’t stop the guys from bickering over who got to take care of you the most.

“Little boys!” you shouted after the so-manieth spat before dinner was even served. “Your behavior right now is: a) exactly what I would expect from a bunch of five year olds and b) upsetting me.” That last part got them to settle down really quickly: the last thing they wanted to be doing right now was upset you. In fact, they were more or less chemically compelled to do the exact opposite. All three of them mumbled apologies while still glaring at each other. On the plus side; you took Sherlock’s warning about spacing those feeding sessions out a lot more seriously now that you’d seen with your own eyes what ignoring his suggestion would result in.

“Thanks for cooking, August, it’s really good,” you said before even swallowing the last of your bite. August nodded gratefully in reply to your compliment, but Marshall and Mike just glared at you, causing Sherlock to sigh deeply before burying his head in his hands. The rest of dinner followed a similar pattern: you said something – anything, really – to one of the guys, and the other two were frowning and pouting like a couple of little children. Sherlock reassured you several times that things would settle down with time, especially if you kept an eye on the timing. You had to admit to yourself that if it hadn’t been for Sherlock keeping your head level, you probably would have changed your mind about negotiating an arrangement by now.

After dinner, the guys cleared the table. It was nice to not have to help, so you quietly enjoyed that while keeping Sherlock company in the living room. When everything was done in the kitchen, Mike and Marshall got snacks and drinks ready to watch a movie. August sat next to you on the couch for a moment, and for a split second, you wondered if he was sitting maybe a little bit too close.

“I’m off to bed,” he said softly. The words seemed to hurt him – maybe they did, considering the fact that the guys still had their little caregiver-competition running. On top of that, August sounded pretty much exhausted. “Seeing those two like that, dealing with all of it, while being so… depleted, really took a toll. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Of course not! Thanks again for dinner, go get some rest!” Some of the tension in his shoulders seemed to disappear when he heard you give him ‘permission’ to go to bed. Was it permission? Did he actually need you to tell him it was okay? “You never have to feel uncomfortable about taking care of yourself, August.”

When he got up to leave, he briefly stroked your cheekbone as you told each other good night. His touch left a strangely hot trace on your face – a feeling you decided not to linger on for too long. What on earth was wrong with you?

“Dinner?” Mike snuggled up to you, his eyes hopeful. You sighed, not because of what he was asking – you made him a promise, after all, even though you were certain it wouldn’t be a problem if you changed your mind – but because it was so typical.

“Yeah, go ahead,” you said casually. Something about it seemed to rub Mike the wrong way, because he pulled back.

“Hey, I need you to really be okay with this,” he said softly, “there’s no fun in this if you’re not totally on board.” You laughed without thinking, not because what he said was funny or anything, but because you didn’t know what else to do.

“You know what I want, Mikey,” you whispered, a smile spreading slowly across your face when he pushed his face into the crook of your neck and chuckled. A gasp escaped you when you felt Mike’s tongue against your skin, and you shivered. Yes. That was exactly what you needed after today. He kissed your neck, the touch of his lips so soft you suspected the only reason you felt it at all was because he was still hungry – thus: freezing.

“Hm, a little cold for you?” he teased. You couldn’t help but laugh again – a sound that turned into a sharp hiss when Mike’s fingers snuck into your t-shirt unexpectedly.

Strong hands pinned you in place when you wriggled to get away from the cold – something you did instinctively even though you were well aware of the fact that there was only one way to get it to disappear.

“Shh, baby. Let me take care of you,” Mike whispered softly in your ear, “I know exactly what you want.” Oh. That voice. The confidence. It was the polar fucking opposite of his – failed – experiment from a few weeks prior, and the best part was that you knew he wasn’t bluffing this time.

“Please, Mikey, you have to eat something.” Alright, ‘something’ was ‘you’, but still. It felt weird to just openly beg him to feed on you like this. Then again, it wasn’t the first thing you’d ever begged him for. The strangest, maybe, but definitely not the first.

“I will,” he said, his voice soft in your ear as his teeth gently grazed your earlobe, “but I’m going to enjoy this.” His voice was an intense mix between hunger and lust, so dark you almost didn’t recognize it, but damn… It turned you on to no end.

“I have no idea what you taste like when you’re not minutes away from cumming all over my cock,” he growled, “and I’m sure as fuck not going to find out today.”

Oh. It was like that, then? You weren’t complaining, just… making some – very minor – adjustments to your expectations. What surprised you most was the fact that you wanted him to bite you as much as you wanted him to fuck you. And he knew that. ‘I know what I’m doing’-Mikey was hot. This time, he wasn’t trying to do some bit, pretending to be someone he clearly wasn’t. It was just your Mike, acting on one of his silly whims, and this time, that meant he was going to lean into his gift all the way, not even leaving any room for protest – not that you wanted to. He knew you didn’t, and he’d know it if he was about to go too far, and that simple fact made you trust him more than you’d ever trusted anyone before.

It was precisely that trust that made you so desperate for him. Well, maybe it did help that he’d managed to take most of his clothes off in a moment when you weren’t paying attention. Now that you were paying attention… You were also suddenly mostly undressed.

“You’re impatient today,” you teased, thinking you saw an opportunity to get the upper hand in this situation. Big mistake.

“Oh, it would have been so mean of me to leave you hanging when you’re this fucking needy, baby.” Damn him. One of his hands wandered, making its way down your body until it slipped into your panties, while he teased your neck by kissing, licking and gently grazing his teeth over your skin. Every time his mouth touched you, you found yourself squirming and whimpering, your body begging him to bite you. At some point, you realized you wanted him to feed on you more than you wanted anything else from him right now. The problem was… He knew that.

“You’re gonna cum for me first, Sweetcheeks,” he said. Under normal circumstances, that wouldn’t have been a problem, but now, you were so consumed by the thought of him biting you that you seriously wondered how you were ever going to focus on anything else. You’d even missed how Mike had pushed two fingers into your pussy. How did you miss something like that? “Come on, focus.”

Had he always been this good with his hands? You didn’t exactly remember… And now was really not the time to think about it, anyway, because Mike was doing his absolute worst (read: best) trying to drive you wild – and it was working. Oh, Jesus fucking Christ, it was working. His touch had you writhing and moaning, swearing so loud he used his free hand to cover your mouth. You knew for sure it wasn’t the other guys he was worried about, so it had to be the neighbors. His fingers never stopped moving inside you, he steadily wound you up until he had you right at the edge… and then he kept you there. For what felt like a really long time, when in reality it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes.

“Please,” you begged, “Mikey – f-fuck – please.” It didn’t help one bit. He just chuckled, with that stupid grin on his face, and watched you as you wondered why – in the name of everything that was good and holy, goddammit – what he was doing wasn’t enough. It should have been enough, it always was. And you were trying so hard.

“Come on, baby,” Mike said softly, “I know you can do it.” His voice was what finally broke you – that and the fact that Mike suddenly rolled his thumb over your clit in exactly the right way, giving you that tiny little bit of stimulation you’d been missing. You were glad he put his hand over your mouth again as you came, because they would have heard you scream three doors down if he hadn’t.

“Good girl.” That gravelly voice, and that chuckle… Absolutely divine – but somehow nowhere near as good as the feeling you got when Mike’s teeth finally sank into your neck. He hadn’t been kidding when he said he was going to enjoy this: he sure as hell was taking his sweet time now. That’s why it was all the more surprising when he let go again, leaving you to stare up at him with a look of utter bewilderment. There was something strange in his eyes. Not just the caring, worried look that you were used to, but something feral and dangerous that probably should have scared you, but didn’t.

When he smiled, you noticed that his teeth didn’t retract the way they normally did. It made the devilish, posessive smile all the more intimidating. Then how was it still so sweet? You laughed when Mike made a beeline for your chest. Idiot. Your idiot. At first, you just felt his tongue and lips as he inspected every inch of skin very closely, as if he hadn’t done it a hundred times before, but soon you felt his teeth grazing your chest, sharp fangs threatening to puncture your skin, leaving red scratches now and again, in particularly careless moments. When he looked up at you, his eyes held a question, though it was unnecessary, since he already knew the answer to it: yes.

“Mine,” he said before biting down on your boob the same way he had last time. Now that you saw it coming, and weren’t overthinking the sensation, you were able to enjoy it much sooner than before. The view was fun, too: Mike had the most content look on his face – especially when you ran your fingers through his hair – and he let out a happy little hum. It wasn’t until he opened his eyes and looked at you, however, that you felt it. An overwhelming desire for… you. The feeling disappeared when you closed your eyes and groaned as Mike bit down on your boob harder than he had been – and definitely harder than he had to.

“Mikey!” you hissed at him angrily when he let go of you again. He still wasn’t fully fed. He’d be going in for at least one more bite.

“What?” he asked innocently as he crawled back up and snuggled up to you. “What’s the point of having a girlfriend if you can’t mark her up a little?”

“You’re having a little too much fun with this,” you said. Mike just laughed. When he looked at you, the feeling from before returned. It was such a strange thing to feel about yourself, that it took you a while to realize you weren’t feeling it about yourself. They weren’t your desires at all: they were his.

“So that’s what it feels like,” you muttered under your breath. It had the same kind of ‘echo’ to it as Marshall’s thoughts when he had been feeding this afternoon. Before you could analyze the feeling any further, however, it disappeared.

“Oh? My gift? What did I want?” Mike asked eagerly. Of course he’d heard you perfectly! When were you going to get used to the fact that no matter how softly you spoke, they were always going to hear you?

“Me,” you said. There was something in your voice that resembled teasing. You couldn’t help it, even though it really wasn’t your intention.

“Correct,” Mike said as he kissed your neck, making you giggle. “And I’m not done with you yet.” His playful tone was a far cry from the – for lack of a better word – Daddy-vibes from before, and you laughed at the immense contrast. It was in his eyes, too: They were hopeful instead of fierce and demanding.

“What happened, tough guy?” you teased. Mike frowned at you.

“Didn’t think this all the way through,” he answered. It was typical, to say the least. “The compulsion to take care of you is kinda weighing me down here. Can’t bring myself to growl at you, even though I know you loved it.” Instead of growling, he tickled you lightly, and you squirmed in his arms.

You didn’t realize he had moved until he was at the foot of the bed, holding a box of condoms you knew for a fact came out of your bedside table.

“I know you want to cuddle,” he said as he let himself fall on top of you again, immediately pressing his lips to your neck. “It’s really hard to ignore that right now, and I really want to, too, but I also really want to have sex with you.” The way he said it made you laugh. As if this was some life-or-death dilemma where it was impossible to pick the right thing, when the solution was absolutely dead simple.

“I’m sure we can compromise,” you said as you gently stroked his hair out of his face and looked at him.

“Cuddlefuck?” he suggested while biting his lip in that way you found completely irresistible. Before you could even answer – not that you had to, you knew that by now – he was already behind you. Naked.

“Human. Speed. Michael.” You were really starting to lose your patience with this nonsense.

“Well, excuse me, I have urgent matters to attend to,” Mike replied, acting as if your words were the gravest offense. “Making you feel good, for instance.”

He made good on that promise like you wouldn’t believe. For the better part of an hour, too, until you had to beg him to stop for fear you weren’t going to be able to walk straight in the morning. And he was being gentle – as gentle as his immense enthusiasm allowed, anyway. He only really slowed down when he bit your neck again – on the other side, thank god, because the first site was suspiciously sore.

“Are you finally done?” you laughed when he nuzzled your neck afterwards.

“Yeah,” he sighed contently, making you laugh even louder. “Thanks for the… special treatment.”

“I would have liked to tell you about that,” you said while stroking his hair.

“You can, tomorrow,” he replied – much to your surprise. You’d never even considered the fact that those ‘boyfriend privileges’, as you’d called them before, would have to be part of the negotiations you were about to go into with the others. “I drank enough to get me through at least two or three weeks, just in case.”

[thoughtsandbones]

Uncertainty comes between us

WARNINGS: Mention of profanity, self harm scars, scars, fluff, anxiety, medical inaccuracies and just getting the POV of our friendly neighbourhood masked menace.

Plot: Doctor Ruhari Hari Kaur (OC is South Asian ☺️) joins the 141 again, but this time as their doctor. After the betrayal of Shepherd and Graves, Task Force 141 begins their hunt on his whereabouts and locating Makarov.

PLEASE reblog and like! Hope folks are enjoying the series, I am building up characters and plots, cos I have a lot ideas and just been enjoying writing :D

Song inspo: Hurt - Nine Inch Nails, No Blame - Christina Chong, Sinner - The Last Dinner Party

I grew up with the OG MW2 game, so there are some references to the old one, so kind of a mix of both the OG and the new timeline... (Also I'm ignoring the OG Shepherd betrayal and keeping in line the one with the new timeline..)

All rights reserved to the rightful owners of Call of Duty Modern Warfare.

spelling and some grammar mistakes as I am bad at times... :/

(FYI: bold sentences... that are like this... are supposed to describe redacted data/info to the plot... ;] .. )

Please do let me know how you all are finding this fanfic! :D

PART 1, PART 2, PART 3, PART 4, PART 5, PART 6, PART 7, PART 8, PART 9, PART 10, PART 11, PART 12 and PART 13

Part 14

Peyton barged into the infirmary, her grin greeting you when you look up from your laptop.

"Oh piss off!" You moan aloud and you watch her shake her head, her short blonde hair shimmering in the sunlight.

She walks over to your desk, her white coat swinging as she walks.

"What are you doing here?" You bite at her not getting up from your chair and crossing your arms.

"You are being so rude!" Peyton shrieks back "I'm trying to be nice here" she said in a lower tone, laughing a little bit shoving her hands in the pockets of her white coat.

Leaning back and spinning slightly in your chair you roll your eyes.

"How long you been here?" You ask

"6 months" Peyton replies giving you a smile

"How did you know I was back?" You ask, you felt like you were doing an interrogation.

"Heard about a little scuffle you had with Dr Jones" Peyton chuckles, sitting down on the chair opposite you.

You lightly laugh back, still not giving in to the conversation

"How.. you been?" You slowly ask

Peyton gives you a wide smile, and twiddles her fingers against you side of the chair

"I've been good" She says "Heard you had a breakdown at Foxham?" She bluntly said.

Wow, straight to the jugular you think and you scoff at her rolling your eyes and turning the chair with your feet.

"Yep" You say sharply.

"Was it like-" She starts

"I'm not talking about it with you" You snap, circling back facing Peyton. She sighs and leans back in her chair, eyes still stuck to you.

"So you're back with your old crew?" She asks, changing the subject.

"Not my old crew" You say "Just not directly with the RAMC" You add leaning forward, arms sliding along the edge of the desk.

"Going on missions?" She asks, it was now her turn to ask the questions

"No.." You say, not indulging in the fact that you were beginning to train to go on missions.

Peyton looks at you curiously, even though it had been a year or so since you last met, the three years together meant she knew when you were hiding something. You were being blunt and avoiding eye contact.. but there were other reasons as to why you would be still angry with her.

"Yeah.." She mumbles, suddenly her pager goes off, that is attached to the waistband of her scrubs. She looks down and saw that she was needed back in one of the wards.

"We should catch up properly" She suggests at you, you were looking down in your black journal.

Some things do not change she thinks

You look up and nod, smiling weakly at her. "Hmm, yeah we should" You say slyly, staring back at her as she checks her pager.

"Nice seeing you again Ru" She says

"See you around Peyton" You say, smiling and then looking down at your journal, staring down at the blank pages.

Just my luck you wonder. Running into your ex at work. You plant your head on top of the pages of the journal, letting out a small groan.

Price's office

It was 5:36 pm when Ghost knocked on Price's office door, with a deck of cards in his hands, tapping the deck against his thigh as he waited for Price to answer. When the door opened Price was on the other side, Ghost peaked in, no one else was there.

Price had said 5pm for this little pre mission gathering. Of course he had tricked him.

"You said 5pm" Ghost gruffed as he walked in to the office. Price knew Ghost didn't like these 'relaxing' gatherings that he started having after they got back from their last mission from Chicago.

"Team bonding exercise Simon" Price huffs patting his on the shoulder. "I knew you come late if I said it actually started at 6" Price added

Ghost grumbled as he sat down on his usual spot on the sofa, drumming his fingers against the deck of cards resting on his thigh.

"You brought cards Simon!" Price bursted out, smiling at him. Ghost looks away and then looks down at the glasses Price placed down on the coffee table. Ghost counted five glasses.

"Who else is coming?" He asks Price

"Gaz, Soap and Hari" He says turning back to his desk where he brought out a carrier bag, bringing to the side of the coffee table.

"Alrigh'" Ghost said

"How was training with her?" Price asks sitting down on his armchair.

"She's lacking crucial core strength, but will improve" He said

"Hmm" Price mumbles "You haven't told-" Price starts

"Not now" Ghost interrupted him, knowing full well where the conversation was going. "Need to focus on this next mission" he adds looking over to Price who nods

There was a rhythmic knock on the door, Price got up and opened it, Soap and Gaz came in.

"Alrigh' Cap?" Gaz says holding a board game, scrabble, in his hand.

"Got Monopoly" Soap says tapping this box

"Looks like it's turning into a games night" Price said closing the door behind him, checking his watch, it was 5:55pm

"Actually sir, this is yours" Gaz says handling the scrabble box to him and taking a seat on the other armchair whilst Soap sat on the sofa and the both laughed.

"Was wondering where this went" Price said setting the game on the coffee table, he was about to sit down, until there was another knock on the door.

Ghost looked up at the door, his heartbear quickened.

"Hari! You made it" Price said patting you on the shoulder, he noticed you holding a mug, Price let out a small chuckle as he let you walk in.

Walking into the office with your mug, and you notice the rest of the team were already there, Gaz, Soap and of course Ghost. You scan round looking for a place to sit, but the only viable option was the small space between Ghost and Soap on the sofa. You notice both men ogle at your bare legs briefly before shifting to the sides as you make your way to the empty spot.

Price orders Gaz to get some ice from the his break room next door, Gaz gets up and leaves.

Ghost switched his gaze from your long brown legs to your pale green shorts and back down at the deck of cards still in its box, he shifts slightly as he sees you in the corner of his eye move to the small space between. Ghost shifts himself further into the arm of the sofa as you sit down.

Bad idea wearing shorts you think as you sit down between Ghost and Soap.

"How you doin' lassie?" Soap asks grinning at you

You turn to look at him, looking blankly at his grin spreading across his face.

"Not bad, yourself?" You say, squeezing your legs together, both Ghost and Soap had their legs spread.

Gaz returns with a bowl full of ice and sets it down on the table and returns to the small armchair.

"Better now" He says winking at you, you smile flatly at him, looking down at empty mug still in your hand.

Ghost overhears what Soap said and turns to him and looks at you, you turn to him.

"How are you lieutenant?" You ask.

He looks down at you, blue eyes baring into your glassy brown eyes, this was the first time he was in close proximity with her.

"Good" he says, trilling his fingers against the desk of cards still in his hand.

"Captain, you're allowing us to drink this evening?" Gaz says perking up at the sight of Price holding a bottle of dark amber liquid in his hand as he heads back to his chair.

"Just one lads" He says "And lass" Price adds looking up at you, now remembering you were here too.

"Nice" Gaz says who quickly grabs a glass from the centre and places a few cubes of ice in it.

"Aye, what is it sir?" Soap says reaching for a glass.

"Scotch" Price says pouring in Gaz's glass that he held.

"So no tea?" You say gesturing to your mug that was in your hand, moving slightly forward.

Ghost looks down at the empty mug that you held within your hands, his eyes linger on your skin, looking at the mole on your right knee.

"Yer can have tea if you'd like, kettle is next door" Price says sitting down on his chair

"Try a bit o' scotch Doc" Soap says nudging you as he grabs a glass from Price and hands it over to you. You take the hand off him and stare at the ice surrounded by the amber liquid.

"Guessin' you never had scotch" Gaz says

"Oh I've had whiskey before" you say "Just don't like the burning sensation"

Ghost can't help but roll his eyes at your comment.

"You've not had good whiskey" He said looking at you as he grabs his glass from Price.

"Ghost loves his whiskey" Gaz laughs and Ghost grunts in response, you smile at Gaz and then turn to Ghost who was focused on the contents of his glass.

"Alright lads and lass" Price begins, bringing his glass up in the air "To a safe mission, cheers" He brings is glass in the middle and the glasses clinks with the others.

You take a sip of the scotch, and couldn't help but wince as the liquid scorched your throat and left a bitter taste on your tongue. You meet Soap's eyes and he laughs at your disgusted face.

"You're supposed to savour it" Soap says, swirling his glass in his hand.

"Savour what? The burning?" You retort, rolling your eyes and placing the glass on the coffee table.

Ghost pulled down his mask once he took a sip. He let the whiskey slide over his tongue before swallowing it. He couldn't detect any other flavours apart from burnt oak. Price got the shit whiskey.

"Shit whiskey that's why" Ghost said looking at Price who tutted and sat back in chair.

"Well I couldn't your fancy whiskey from Tesco's Si-Ghost" Price said, slipping up on Ghost's name. He cleared his throat and took another sip of the whiskey to avoid the glare coming from Ghost.

"Does this fancy whiskey actually have flavour?" You ask, turning to Ghost. Ghost meets your gaze, your brown eyes luring him in.

"Yes" He says, turning away from you so he could take another sip when he lifted his mask up.

"Noah's Mill cost a bloody fortune" Gaz says "£80 for some american whiskey"

"Tastes good though" Soap chimes in

"Prefer a good pint of Budweiser" Gaz replies

"You ain't got fine taste" Ghost says turning to Gaz

"Ghost you drink like an old man" Gaz adds and takes another sip of the scotch.

Ghost shakes his head and drums his fingers against the glass.

"Yer like to drink doc?" Soap says clearing his throat and turns to you, his knees touching yours.

"Not much, can't deal with the hangovers" You say, and take another small sip of the whiskey, this time letting the liquid settle over your tastebuds, trying to see if there was any flavour to this drink. None. You swallow and wince again at the burning.

"Canny imagine you being this wild party lass" Soap says smiling

"No, I wasn't, would have a few drinks after work at the hospital" You say, not giving into the bad benders you'd go on...

You swirl the glass in your hands, feeling squashed slightly between Soap and Ghost.

"Alright, let's play a game" Gaz says, sensing your discomfort. "Cards Ghost?" He said looking at the deck of cards placed on the edge of the coffee table near Ghost. Ghost picked the deck up and handed it to Gaz.

"Rummy?" You suggest

"Good idea" Price says nodding towards you.

Gaz shuffles and deals out the cards. Ghost picks up his stack and partakes in the game, silently observing you and everyone. Nights before a mission were always uneasy for him. The dread of not coming back lingered in the back of his head. And now, with you here. What if he couldn't come back for you?

Soap played his run and picked up a card from the stockpile, Price and Gaz exchanges looks of curiosity, it was Price's turn and he picked a card from the discarded pile and huffed. Gaz, threw down three kings and then it was Ghost's turn. He picked up a card, five of clubs, and then looked over to you. You held your cards close to your chest and picked up a card, queen of hearts, and then threw down three queens with your left hand. The one he nearly crushed.

The game ran for a few rounds, Gaz making a quip at Soap, saying that he was cheating somehow, Soap getting defensive and muttering to himself in his Scottish slang. Price, who's pile of cards in his hands seem to grow as he didn't play his run. You laughed as Gaz threw down his last run, and yelled

"WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!" Pointing at Soap, who threw his cards down on the coffee table and scoffed. Gaz collected the cards and placed them on the box and handed them back to Ghost.

Price looked at his watch, it was nearly 9:15 and the crew had to be up in a few hours.

"It's time for some sleep" Price said, slapping his thighs with his hands. "We need to be fresh for 4am" He adds

The others nod and mumble in agreement and slowly get up. Ghost was the first to get up and head to the door, he turned back towards Price

"Cheers Price, G'night all" He said nodding at everyone in the room. He was met with a chorus of good nights, Soap yawned and waved at him. He saw you smile at him before he left.

"Be safe, and I'll be here when you all get back" You say, picking up the mug and moving towards the door.

"Thanks Doc" Soap says

"Good night Doc, we'll see you when we get back" Gaz said, he puts his fist out and you bump it with yours and smile at him.

"Good night everyone" You say again, leaving Price's office and heading back to your quarters. When will they return you did not know, but you wished they'd come back safely.

...

You laid in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. Placing the covers over your head you shut your eyes and trying to drift off. The little cover you made became too hot , tossing the covers off and laying on your back you stare at the ceiling. There was a knock at your door. Throwing the covers off, you look at the alarm clock on the side table, the red numbers that read 10:15 pm flared in the dark.

Who would be needing me at this time? You wondered, getting up from the bed, turning the lamp on, putting on a pair of shorts that lay on your chair, not wanting to great who was on the other side in your bright pink lacy underwear. Opening the door you were greeted by the masked man, Ghost, wearing a think black t-shirt, his muscular veiny arms on show.

Ghost himself was unable to sleep, guilt riddled him as he lay in his own bed. The worry lingered in him before the mission as always, but there was something else, he had to make sure your arm was okay.

"Lieutenant, are you alright?" You ask, rubbing your eyes before looking up at him.

"Yeah, I just..." He trailed off, looking at you and then behind into your room, your bed covers a mess. Clearly he had just woken you up and the guilt increased within him.

"Your arm okay?" Ghost asks, clearing his throat, looking down at your left arm.

Looking down at your forearm, you remember the grip he had. The dull pain came and went, but it wasn't agonising. There was a little bruise from where he grabbed you, lifting your arm up to show him.

"It's all good" You say, smiling slightly.

Why are you so concerned? You thought

Ghost notices the dark red bruise on the forearm you held up in his eyeline. He looked back into your doe eyes and gently took ahold of your wrist, turning your arm over so he could see the other side. Three long red marks, remnants of his fingers that gripped the flesh, trying to crumble the bones had painted your brown skin.

"It's nothing Lieutenant" You say watching him analyse the marks he left. He brought his left hand up, tracing the bruise he made with his fingers, his rough skin going against your soft skin.

"Ghost?" You say, bewildered at how gentle he was being

"Hmm"

"Are you okay?"

"Hmm" He mumbled gently, his steely blue eyes fixed on your arm.

Ghost continued to trace the bruise with his fingers, the warmth coming off your skin was strangely comforting him. He looked up and saw the white scars scattered across your arm. Without thinking, he began to move his fingers, tracing the bumps of the horizontal scars that were near your inner elbow.

You looked at his scars that were on his arms, bigger and judging by the pink and white tissue, these were deeper. Your eyes meets the tattoos on his left forearm, skulls, bullets and bombs.

"These happened a long time ago" Ghost concluded, breaking the silence.

"Yes" You whisper, trying to pry your hand back from Ghost's hands, he let go.

"You don't do that anymore?" He said folding his arms across his chest looking down at you, still in the doorway of your room.

"No sir" You say looking back at him, moving back into your room. "Would you like to come in?" You ask

Ghost takes a deep breathe in. He knew he was in dangerous territory, his eyes flickered to your bed and then around your room. Stepping in to your room, he closed the door behind him slightly, folding his arms again.

"Can't sleep sir?" You say looking at Ghost, now in the middle of your room.

"Just needed to make sure your arm is okay" Ghost said "That was irresponsible of me" He added

"You had a panic attack sir, it's understandable. Plus, I am okay, otherwise I would've said" You reply smiling at him

The upfront honesty was a breath of fresh air for Ghost. He moved closer to you.

"I owe you a cuppa Doc" He said

You look at his blue eyes glazed and became slightly crinkled, a sign you took for him smiling underneath his mask.

"Yorkshire chai when you come back then" You say looking up him smirking.

Ghost gave out stifled huff, turning away from you to the little lamp on your bedside table and then back to you. The yellow hue had bathed your skin, your eyes turning a shade honey brown, drawing him in.

Just like that he stepped closer to you, reaching his arms out, pulling you into him. He wrapped his left arm over your back and his right he held your head in his chest. Ghost closed his eyes, hoping you wouldn't pull away.

You were shocked at first, but you wrapped your arms around his waist, squeezing tight. Taking his scent, a mix of cigarettes and musk, eiter from his aftershave or antiperspirant.

Ghost slowly let you go, his hands bracing your shoulders, he cleared his throat and looked at you as your held onto his elbows.

"Sorr-" He began

"Did you know there was study that showed hugs reduce blood pressure and stress" You blurt

Ghost was taken aback, and smirked under his mask and let go of you, folding his arms across his chest again.

"Yes, levels of oxytocin increase in the brain" You add "Just some things I know" You say smiling brightly at Ghost

"Hmm" He mumbled "Do feel a bit better" He added

"Good" You reply. "As your doctor, I am happy to help" You add looking at Ghost, whose eyes began to wonder around your room where they finally rested on the alarm clock on your table that read 10:40 pm

"Need to actually sleep" He said, gazing back at you, you nod and smile at him

"Big day tomorrow" You whisper "Good luck with the mission, I'll see you when you're back for that tea"

"'Course doc" Ghost said, he moved to the door and walked out, stopping momentarily to look back at you "Thank you... for the hug.." He mumbled, avoiding your eyes.

You laugh slightly, and walk towards the doorway and look at his steely blue eyes. "Anytime Ghost, I'll always be here" You beam at him and he nods at you

"Good night Doc" He said

"Good night lieutenant" You reply and wave at him as he walked off down the corridor to his room. Closing the door you let out of a sigh and a smile had taken a hold of your face.

There was something there between the two of you, you were not sure what, but there was some weird kind of pull that made you curious about the masked man, Ghost.

[ellethespaceunicorn]

Don’t Take My Sunshine Away, Part I

Title: Don’t Take My Sunshine Away, Part I

Rating: Explicit, 18+, Minors - DNI

Pairing: Lloyd Hansen x Reader (Sunshine)

Fandom: The Gray Man

Word Count: 2.5K

Series Summary: You lived your life on a schedule. Everything is planned out from sunrise to sunset. But what happens when you go out on a limb and out of your comfort zone? Will it have dire consequences?

Chapter Summary: You’d agreed to meet someone from the internet and you find yourself tied up in a basement. 

Warnings: dark fic!, attempted mugging, drugging, abduction, suspension bondage, Murder Daddy™️, oral sex (m receiving), dub-con, non-con, unprotected p-in-v sex, knife play, biting, blood play

A/N: I had an idea about Lloyd Hansen. Here is that idea. I haven’t written for Chris Evans’ character since Steve Rogers pre-Infinity War so this was an exercise and a half! Also, many many many thanks to @peyton-warren and @raccoon-eyed-rebel for helping me entertain Lloyd and for helping me to not lose my mind whilst writing this. Unbeta’d, we die like people who tried their best. 

Dividers by: @firefly-graphics 

Support/Reblog banner by me

Cover Art: by me

Spotify Playlist is here. 

Series Masterlist

My Masterlist

It’s just your luck, honestly.

You were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The place was a dark street. The time was 9:03 pm.

Well, technically you could blame your Tinder date for this. He didn’t fucking show up and he didn’t respond to your texts or calls. Like he just disappeared off the face of the Earth. You ended up waiting for an hour and decided to just pay for your third cup of coffee and leave.

Luckily for you, the buses were still running and there was a stop just across the street from the diner. You climb off your stool at the counter and exit through a particularly noisy door. It alerts some guys down the street and they turn to look at you before turning back to each other. Your sigh of relief is reversed when you get across the street and hear one of them shouting at you before moving closer.

You check the bus schedule that hangs in the bus shelter. You only have to wait for five minutes for safety. 

What could go wrong?

“Hey baby, can I have your number?” The overwhelmingly strong skunky smell of bad weed hits your nasal passage and you gag. “Oh, what? I’m disgusting to you? Stuck up, bitch!”

“Look, I’m just trying to get home. I don’t want any trouble.” Your hand went to your pocket where you had your safety keychain on your keyring.

“Too fucking bad because you just landed yourself in trouble, cunt,” Three long strides and he has you in his grip, pulling you behind the bus shelter into the empty alleyway. He pushes you onto the wet pavement and is on top of you in seconds. He watches as you open your mouth to scream and he clamps a hand around your throat, cutting you off. “Who do you think is coming for you, unlucky bi–”

“What the fuck…hey!” A voice is coming from the street and getting closer.

Your attacker is being pulled off of you and it’s so dark in the alley that you can’t fully see who grabbed him. You see a dark blur and you hear sounds of a struggle before a strong pair of hands is helping you up. 

“Are you ok, Miss?” You’re being ushered down the alley to the only lit streetlight. The more you walk under its glow, you notice the man who saved you. Your eyes are drawn to the push broom on his lip first, then to his slicked-back hair, and finally to his dramatically-patterned polo and pastel chino pants.

“Yeah, I’m fine…I think. Thanks.” You reach out your hand to touch his where it lingers on your arm. He doesn’t attempt to remove his hand, even after you squeeze it with yours quickly.

“No problem, why don’t I take you home? My car’s just around the corner here.” He does attempt to pull you towards the street. You know better than to let anyone take you to a second location, so you put your hand up with a smile.

“That’s quite alright. I’ll just wait for the bus if you don’t mind.” You try and remove your arm from his hand but his grip on you gets tighter.

“Let me at least walk you back to the bus stop?”

“I’ll be fine, I promise.” You try to turn away and he pulls you closer to him.

“Why did you have to make this difficult, Sunshine?” His angry growl is quiet but no less intimidating.

“I’m sorry, wha–” You don’t get to finish as you feel a sharp prick in your bicep. Looking down, you see a syringe sticking out of your skin. You go to pull out the needle but darkness fades into your eyesight and you slip off into the void.

You awake to a pounding in your head. Your arms are sore. Your legs are numb. And you can feel the stiff presence of duct tape over your mouth. Opening your eyes, you try to raise your hand to shield your eyes from the sudden brightness but you realize your arms and legs have been immobilized.

Looking around, you see that you’re suspended about three feet above the ground in some pretty elaborate rope bindings. Your wrists are crossed against your bare chest. Your left leg is being held up straight, while your right leg is only supported by two lengths of rope on your thigh, leaving your foot to dangle which means your pussy is on full display. 

You hear a door open and two sets of footsteps walk down the stairs. As the steps get closer, you hear two voices as well. 

“...didn’t have to punch me so fucking hard!”

“Yeah? Well maybe if you didn’t have your slimy hands all over my things, I wouldn’t have had to bruise your fucking spleen. Don’t be such a pussy, Dougherty!”

 “Fuck you, Hansen.”

“Don’t be sad I have a new plaything and you don’t.”

“Yeah. Just don’t wreck this one like that last girl.”

You struggle in the ropes and try and grunt loudly through the duct tape and the metal anchor that holds the rope loudly jostles. You pick your head up and look to your right as the men come into view.

As you recognize the man who had you on the ground, you couldn’t believe your eyes when you saw the geometric-patterned polo-wearing man who tried to “save” you. 

“I’m so glad you’re awake. I know you must have a lot of questions. But, you’re gonna listen first,” He walks until he can grab onto the ropes that hold you up. Looking down at you, he smiles sweetly. He begins to swing you toward him, letting go and watching as you swing back and forth, “Now, my name is Lloyd Hansen, but you are to call me Sir. You now belong to me. From every thought you have to every step you take. I own all of it. You may be wondering why I chose you of all people. Well, it had to be you, Sunshine. You’re the one.”

You are at his mercy as his hands grope at your tits and he pinches your nipples. You turn your head to look away but he just grabs you by the chin and makes you look at him.

“Now, Sunshine, you take what Sir gives you and you are appreciative. Trust me, this will all make sense later. But for now, I think it’s time I claim what’s mine.” He stalks over to your legs, standing between them. He places a kiss on your left ankle as he grabs at your right thigh. Pulling your core flush with his clothed hardness, you can feel exactly how excited he is to own you.

“I’d hate to interrupt, but–”

“But yet, you are interrupting. What?” Lloyd says as he trails kisses down your calf, his mustache tickling you as he moves.

“Well, I just…you said you would pay me. And I don’t really wanna stay around for whatever this is, honestly.” 

Lloyd finally turns his head to the other man in the room before patting your leg, “I’ll be right back, Sunshine. Don’t you go anywhere, ok?”

Fucking asshole.

Pulling out a wad of cash from his pocket, Lloyd starts counting bills, “So what do you say to…a hundred bucks?”

“I say fuck you if you think I’m taking less than half a yard. Shit, I didn’t even get to fu–”

The pop of a gunshot cuts through not only his sentence but also his left eye. You watch as Lloyd pockets the money and turns back to you with a smile.

“Fuck, ok. I didn’t plan on shooting him in front of you. But…well, I did,” He caresses your cheek before ripping off the tape from your mouth. He tilts his head and raises his eyebrows, expectantly waiting for you to speak.

“What do you want from me?” Your wrists hurt from struggling against the ropes.

“Oh, Sunshine. I want everything from you…eventually. But for now, I want to use your mouth.” He unbuttons and unzips his pants, “Those fucking lips of yours look so delectable.” He traces your bottom lip with his thumb and you debate biting it. Then, you remember the dead guy in the room.

Just comply. He won’t have to hurt you if you comply.

You clear your throat to get Lloyd to look at you. “Um…S-Sir?”

“Look at you calling me Sir already like a good girl,” He beams, looking down at you and holding your face in his murderous hand, “What do you want to ask me?”

“Are you going to kill me, Sir?” You couldn’t stop the fat tears from falling as you blink up at his face. You watched as his smile fell and he crouches to bring his face to your eye level.

“I would love to tell you that I won’t kill you, Sunshine. But it really all depends on you. If you don’t give me a reason to kill you, I won’t kill you. It’s as simple as that, Sunshine.”

You feel your eyes glaze over as you thought about what Lloyd had said. You didn’t want to give him a reason to kill you. You also know that there was no one coming to save you. You had no family, no friends, no roommates. You had lived a solitary life. 

The sound of Lloyd clearing his throat brought you back to reality.

“Use my mouth, Sir.” 

No sooner does the half-sultry half-terrified sentence leave your mouth, than Lloyd is reaching into his chinos to pull out his fat dick as he walks around you. You tilt your head back and are met with his impressive package. Eight inches of veiny length in your face suddenly is a lot to handle. As he strokes himself, he makes sure to keep it just out of reach. You hate yourself for licking your lips and following his hand with your eyes.

He positions his dick slightly over your mouth and squeezes his length from base to tip so that a dribble of pre-cum hits your lips. You snake your tongue out to taste him, the salty bitter taste you expect turns out to be almost sweet. Why couldn’t he just taste terrible?

“Open up, Sunshine.” He steps closer to you as you part your lips. He doesn’t stop pushing in until you feel his balls touch your nose. You close your lips around him and breathe through your nostrils. 

Inhaling deeply, you’re hit with the familiar scent of sweetness mixed with musk—sort of Earthy. If you didn’t know any better, you’d say it was African black soap. You knew the smell very well, you used the body wash every day.

“Fuuuuck, baby. Gonna fuck this throat.” He wraps his large hands around your throat as he pulls out slowly, leaving just the tip before he slams back in making you gag. 

He starts a steady rhythm and soon his balls are slapping you in the face. You can deny it all you want, but the way he fits perfectly in your mouth is obvious. The way your hands clench into fists and unclench denotes the urge to grab him and pull him deeper. 

One of his hands moves from your throat to your tits. Pinching your nipples and groping the soft flesh must not be enough because soon he is slapping at your breasts, getting you to grunt around his dick. The groan that leaves him is so sinful, you wish you could squeeze your thighs together.

But you don’t have time to worry about that because Lloyd is pulling out of your mouth. A string of saliva connects you until he steps back. You try to follow him with your mouth but he’s out of reach too soon.

“Sir?” You don’t like the air of desperation in your voice when you speak. You watch as he moves to the other end of your body and you soon feel his hand roam from your thigh to your pussy.

In one swift motion, Lloyd is inside your cunt. With the grip his hands have on your hips, you know it’s going to hurt tomorrow. But, that’s a later problem because Sir is fucking you like he hates you. You should hate this, but you don’t. At least not yet.

“Fuck, Sunshine…knew your pussy was gonna feel good but DAMN!” 

You can’t help the slew of sounds that escapes your mouth as he fucks you. The last of which sort of sounded like “Hnnnngg”. You feel as if you are going to explode at any minute but a spike of fear hits you as you think about where Lloyd is going to finish. You’re not on birth control. The speed of his thrusts picks up and you can feel him swell inside you. Fuck it.

“Sir, cum with me!”

“Fuck fuck fuck fuuuuuuuuuuck…” Lloyd latches onto your stretched left leg with his teeth, leaving behind deep and angry bite marks as he empties inside you. Pulling out, he watches his spend leak from you, righting his pants.

You are in a state of bliss so deep that you barely register as Lloyd bites into your right thigh enough to break the skin in a few places. But you can feel the sting of his butterfly knife as it moves over your skin.  The letters “LH” well with blood on your leg as silent fat tears roll down your face.  

“Now you can wear my bite mark like the badge of honor that it is. And when that fades, you’ll still have my initials so you can be returned to me if you are ever lost. I don’t plan on losing you, so you better not plan on getting lost, Sunshine.”

“I don’t want to get lost, Sir. I like it here with you.” The tremble in your voice doesn’t hide your fear, and part of you doesn’t want it to. You want him to know he doesn’t have to worry about losing you somehow.

“Think you can behave for a bath and a meal? I’ll have to supervise the bath, of course. And we’d be eating together. Unless you like being hungry, in your own filth with my cum dripping out of you all night. What do you say?” Lloyd offers, the fingers of one hand ghosting over his initials on your thigh.

“Would I still have to be tied up, Sir?” So many questions you could have asked, but you picked this one. 

Maybe if your hands were free, you could…do what? Fight him? Pick a lock? 

No, just comply. You can do this. 

“You won’t be tied up, but I do have a gift for you upstairs. But you can only have it if you’re a good girl. Are you gonna be a good girl, Sunshine?” While he spoke, he dragged a fingernail from your thigh to your upper torso as he walked around your body to your head.

“I’ll be a good girl for you, Sir. I promise.” The words on your tongue felt both foreign and familiar. Almost like you weren’t afraid for him to hurt you. 

You were afraid that he wouldn’t. And that scared you more than anything. 

Part II

A/N: There will be more of this. I’ve never written for Lloyd before but I enjoyed him as the little devil on my shoulder.

@raccoon-eyed-rebel @peyton-warren

If you would like to be tagged in the next installment, lemme know 🫣

[howlingday]

Jaune plan to propose to his girlfriend Ruby so he took her to one of her favorite places and he surprises her with music thanks to their friends and Jaune shows up a guitar. The song is Fall Into Me- Peyton Parrish.

"It's just through here."

"I know, Jaune." Ruby giggled. "We've already been to this spot a hundred times."

"Oh, uh, sorry, Ruby." Jaune awkwardly chuckled. "I was kind of talking to myself."

"Why?" Ruby asked rushing ahead of Jaune. She pushed a branch out of her way, which swung back into Jaune's chest. It almost knocked the wind out of him, and he ducked down once he recovered. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Jaune waved off." I know you wouldn't hurt me on purpose."

"After all the years we've known each other?" Ruby raised her brow as she walked backwards. "Maybe. But maybe I've changed."

"Maybe." Jaune sighed. "But only that you've gotten more beautiful with age." Ruby flushed at the comment and covered her face with her hood. Before she could trip, Jaune caught her and held her close to his chest. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, Jaune." Ruby giggled. "I wasn't going to fall."

"Right." Jaune smiled, pulling away. He passed by her and pushed through more foliage to reveal the final stretch to their secret spot in the Emerald Forest.

It was a secluded spot not far from their initiation destination, where they retrieved their pieces and battled against both a Nevermore and a Deathstalker. Just a ways across the field was a cluster of trees with a stump in the center. The sun was nearing it's end as the greens shined closer to yellow as the sky became more and more orange.

"For the lady who saved all of Remnant." Jaune pulled away a thicket hiding their secluded love nest. Sitting on the stump was a guitar case.

"Why thank you, Mr. Headmaster." Ruby said with a bow before passing through the trees. Jaune rolled his eyes at the title as he followed her.

Emergency lights hung from the branches with flowers spread around the stump, all of which Ruby marveled at. As she spun to mouth her amazement, she tripped and fell, only to be caught by Jaune again. He smiled.

"This proves nothing." She pouted.

"I know." He said. "You're always landing on your feet, and you don't need me to catch you." His eyelids fell down as she felt his heart pound into her hand through his armored chest. "But that doesn't mean I won't be there to catch you anyways. You know you can fall into me, right?"

"Jaune..." As Jaune brought her to her feet, he took her hands and kissed them. He let go, something she didn't want him to do, and strode to the case. He opened it, pulling out the same guitar he bought so long ago to serenade her partner. And now he would play it for her.

"I love you, Ruby." He said without looking at her. He turned to her, and sat down on the stump, strumming a few chords before playing.

The music was magical. It was tinged with love and romance. It was a song full of promises and desires. As she listened, memories of their times of rising from the point of hopelessness and falling together with every failure that tried to break them. Tried and failed.

As he strode towards her, he slipped slowly to his knees as his gaze smouldered into her silver eyes. She became lost in the vast ocean of his blue eyes, and found herself longing to stare into them forever. Soon, the song ended, and she realized the guitar fell from his hands softly to the grassy floor. She looked down at the beautiful diamond ring in a red velvet box.

"Ruby Rose," he asked, "will you marry me?"

[catt-nuevenor]

Story Setting - Peyton and Peidyn

"Best behaviour, alright?"

"Yes, Peyton/Peidyn," Lars and Louis/Leila drone.

"I mean it, no shenanigans, no fights. The pair of you should be setting a good example, not a cautionary tale."

My little one giggles from their spot on my lap as we watch on.

"I don't want to hear from Eylmer and Joyce that you've been less than perfect guests."

"Yes, Fæder/Módor."

Peyton/Peidyn sighs, a wry smile hidden behind their palm. "Off with the lot of you, before I change my mind."

My little one gives me a parting hug before accepting a piggyback from Louis/Leila.

"Be good!" I call after the three of them.

"We will!"

As the front door closes, and the yipping giggles and laughter filters in from outside, Peyton/Peidyn takes the seat beside mine, propping their chin up on the heel of their hand.

"Remind me, when was it that I adopted those two?"

I rest my hand on their shoulder, my fingers immediately finding stiffening muscle and tension. "About a week after they first walked through your door. They'll be fine."

Peyton/Peidyn huffs, then they smile. "Kicking the children out of the house for the night? For all the stress, it's worth it." They gather up the hand that rests on my shoulder, and brush their lips over my knuckles. "Shall we get started?"

Our meal is simple; vegetable stew with barley, freshly baked bread, and a quart of cider to share. Simple, and yet it is so much more than it has rights to be. We work together in a constant flow, our currents entwining then parting as we tease and encourage one another with small touches and glances. When Peyton/Peidyn asks me to taste the stew, they find an excuse to brush their thumb over my hip bone, their warm arm across my lower back, barely touching but still a pressure against my skin.

We eat at the table by candlelight, our faces smudged in shadow, our eyes aglow. Peyton/Peidyn sits beside me, as always, their arm skimming mine as they lift the spoon to their lips.

---

Extrovert

We leave the chores for the morning, stacking our things in the sink and brushing away any flour that clings to our clothes or hair.

"Should we change?" I ask.

"No, we'll pass Myrna's scrutiny." Peyton/Peidyn cups my jaw and kisses my cheek to prove it. "You could draped in a whole sack of flour and still be stunning."

I bat them playfully away. "Flatterer."

We leave the lodging house, hiding the key behind a loose brick in the wall for the others. The night is cool, but pleasant, the stars above twinkling down as we make our way across the Ash bridge and towards the thrum of music.

The dance has already spilled out into the market square, the musicians arranged upon the back of a hay-cart, the folk of the town a twirl below.

Peyton/Peidyn waves and nods to their cousins, and we both send our greetings to Ana/Abe and Erda when we spy them stood outside the shop.

"There's always a greater chance for injury when you mix drink with dancing," the old cunning woman had pronounced a few days ago. From first glance, it seems injury and accident have been avoided thus far. Long may that continue.

Peyton/Peidyn and I step up to the edge of the fray.

Panic flares within me when I feel their hand leave mine, but it is banished when I catch the gleam of their smile. Their locks of red and rust sweep low as they bow to me, their grey eyes gold in lantern light when they look up, and when they speak it is with the purr of storm and promise that makes my Feorh sore.

"Dance with me?"

And truly, what can I do, but let their tide carry me on?

---

Introvert

The night is ours, so we bask in it, in each other. Chores are sweetened by kisses, the washing by their arms around my waist, their breath upon my neck. When all is tidy, we sit before the fire, wrapped around one another, and share the warmth.

"This is enough," Peyton/Peidyn whispers.

"Hmm?"

"This. You, me, this." They tighten their embrace for a moment and kiss my neck. "It's enough, isn't it?"

"It is," I reply, pressing my lips to the hollow of their throat, their pulse rising to greet me as I linger. "It is."

---

Image courtesy of Annie Spratt on Unsplash