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satrs · 22 days

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Fever.

✎ A/N; BACK FROM DA DEAD!!! (I'm sorry y'all, was busy afff these past months have been toughhhh ;( Happy to be back tho!! <3)

☓ SYNOPSIS; You're camping deep out in the woods with a group of friends? Didn't you hear the news about the madman running around town?

☓ TAGS; ADULT CONTENT (18+). MDNI. NSFW CONTENT. implied Noncon(?). unprotected intercourse(sorry). threats. petnames (doll, pretty). gunplay. slighttt yandere toji. breeding kink(?). dirtytalk. just, crazy stuff, ya.

☓ FEATURING; Toji Fushiguro x fem!reader

☓ WK; 4.1k

Shit!

No literally. You stepped on it again. Shit. God, these annoying branches are all up in your face and oh my God, was that a bug on your shoulder just now?

Shit. Shitshitshit.

That's how the whole day will presumably work out.

Why did you agree on this again?

Maybe, the peer pressure was just too much and honestly, at first, the trip sounded fun. Until you woke up to the new talk around town - some psycho was out on the loose, roaming around town. What did he do? A Bank robery maybe? Or Murder?

Regardless on what crimes he carried on his back, the chilling headlines on the news kept you up at night, debating on wheter you should go on this trip or not. In the end, you felt bad to cancel at short notice. So, you pulled yourself together and, despite everything, went.

"What kind of shitty shortcut is this? We've been walking here for ages and there is no camp in sight," You snap, hands braced infront of your face to protect it from any obstacles on your way, while carefully stepping around any alarming hindrence on the sully ground, "just shit."

You sigh at the returned silence, boots stomping into the oozy mud as you stare daggers into their backs.

"C'mon, we're almost there. Don't be such a crybaby."

You scoff, offended, stopping in your tracks, earning the attention from the three figures infront of you. "What does this shitshow got to do with me being a crybaby?" Your hands wirl around the darkening area, highlighting your surroundings. "We're in the middle of a damn forest, the sun is setting and we didn't even reach the camp yet." You let out a breath the the three pairs of eyes on you, wiping the dirt of your face before you continue. "Plus, You know we're three girls and one goose, alone in the forest, with some sick fuck around here somewhere, right?"

"That goose you're talking about is your friends boyfriend. Also, that psycho can have nothing on you all when I'm here." You cringe at his remark, setting rythm into your steps to move forward, rushing past the group to reach the campsite swiftly.

Paying the calls from your aquaitances no mind, you move on forward, stumbling over some outgrown tree roots, cursing under your breath. "For fuck's sake", you curse, hands gripping the backpack hung over your shoulder to hunch your back over and pull it up to ease your hike.

The path got rockier and steeper and with each step you took, you wished you just stayed at home. Your head is hung low, heavy breaths escaping your mouth.

You soon lift your head at the shadow forming infront of you, eyes scrunching to deciver the words written on the broad wooden sign mere meters away from you-

'Sunshine campsite'

Finally, salvation. Sighing in relief you gather your last strength to step into the area, quick to seat yourself on an empty wooden bank next to some tents. Your friends hot behind your trail, following suit.

"See? Wasn't that bad now was it?" one of your friends comment, earning a sharp glare to the side, causing the group to laugh in union.

It didn't take long for you to settle in, making aquaintances with the few other campers around and even managing to set up your tents before the sun finally sets.

You come back to the gathered group after a quick shower in the communal bathrooms near the receiptional office, streching while scanning the area for your friends, one of them steps into view, and their pleading look does not go unnoticed by you.

"Alright! tents are up and ready! Who's gonna get the wood for the campfire?" You could already feel all eyes on you, groaning in annoyance as you stomp off into the darkness, careful to still be in sight of your friends.

"Bullshit", you mumble, bending over to grasp some suitable branches in your arms. "We could just get in our tents and get a fucking rest, but no, we gotta have a campfire."

Despite your warnings that the fire could get out of control or worse, catch the attention of unwanted guest, your friends still insisted on having a cozy chit-chat by the campfire.

Lost in your thoughts you unconciously trail off the path from the campsite, finding yourself in a darker part of the woods, infact, darker than you anticipated.

At a sudden breeze of air your instincts kick in, body stiff as you examine the area for any danger, beathing quickening as you imagine every possible outcome of the situation.

This could be the perpetrator from the news, probably a killer, targeting you as his new victim. Or it's just a sudden hit of fresh air, happening to brush past you in a whiff, the most plausible explanaiton.

"Need a hand?"

Your eyes widden at the man infront of you, sharp eyes inspecting your form. He was tall, almost hunching over you, his broad shoulders nearly blocking your view completely.

"G-god, fuck" Perplexed, you jump back in terror, heart racing in your chest as all the materials you gathered fall from your hold, right before the feet of the intimidating man.

"Relax, doll. M' new 'round here too. Preparing to roast some marshmellows, huh?" he says in a low tone and you could've sworn you saw him somewhere before.

Not letting your guard down you fixate your eyes on his every move. You notice his face as he steps into the moonlight, a clear scar accomodating his grin, adding to his terrifiying nature. His hair black as the night, rich emerald hues sharply slit in concentration, with his muscular build and aura screaming danger.

Even though he seems nice, bending down to reach for your fallen branches, even offering to carry it to the campsite for you, everything inside of you screams for you to just run.

Even though chilling, he's handsome in his own way. If you met under different circumstances, you for sure would concider him an eyecandy.

"Still iffy bout me aren't ya?" his snicker is oddly soft, almost comforting of some sorts, causing you to slightly let your guard down.

"Can't blame ya with that killer 'round these parts." Your hesistant, reaching for some smaller branches on the ground, eyes still focused on the raven haired. "Killer?", you question, fear spreading throughout your body. So your suspicions were right. He's a murderer.

The stranger clicks his tongue, nodding as he proceeds to head back to the campsite. "Yeah." He breathes out. You follow behind him, intruigued as you await for him to continue. "Heard he killed a bunch of people."

"Like, an assasin?" you question, failing to notice the sly smirk on his face, showcasting his sharp canines. "I guess."

It didn't take long for you to reach the fireplace surrounded by your friends. They notice the stranger right away, throwing any suspicious thought away once they see the both of you interacting in a casual manner.

"Is that her boyfriend?" she cuts her lovers thought off, scoffing, "No way, she's been single. He's probably got a tent here somewhere. Think I saw him earlier." They nod in agreement, quick to greet the both of you as you explain how you met the man you didn't even know the name of.

"M' Toji." He introduces himself, "Saw the pretty one all by herself picking up wood. Thought I'd lend her a hand." Flustered by his compliment you lightly cage your lower lip between your teeth.

"Nice to meet you, Toji." A light giggle escapes you at his infatuated look, "I'm Y/N."

Lip wiping over his lips, he nods, grin still prominent on his lips. "My pleasure, Y/N."

Maybe this whole trip wasn't such a bad idea at all.

"Wanna stay with us?", one of them suggested, causing you to scold them in embarassment. He hums in thought, placing the wood into the pit. "Ya got any beer?"

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

"Damn, didn't have one of these in a while." He gulps down the last bit of liquid in the bottle, finishing his second bottle.

You chuckle, a small blanket spread over the both of you. The others already bid you both goodnight, exhaustion of the day having a toll on them, the fire lowly dying down, offering a comforting feeling.

You find yourself in a nice conversation with the raven-haired male, growing more attracted to him by each minute passing. Your thighs touch each other, and he pauses, seductive eyes scanning your body for further action.

And you do just that, earning a whistle as you swing on his lap, shutting him up with your lips against his. His hands find comfort on your hips as you grind them down his growing bulge, earning an amused hum from the stranger.

Even though this is unlike you, so what? Why not just make the best out of this shitty day and might as well end it with a bang? There is not much that could go wrong, except for a killer turning up, that is.

In a bold action, your hands began to roam down his defined chest before his hand firmly gripped yours as you reached the waistband of his trousers, catching you off guard.

"What if I'm the killer?"

You pause, confused by his question. Eyes crinkling as you let off a nervous laugh, playing into his 'joke'.

"Well, would you kill me?", you tease, his apparent grin turning your stomach in unease. Great, you found yourself a jokster.

His hand caresses your hip in thought. "Dunno," he answers, both hands back on your hips as he presses you further down on his bulge. "Depends."

You chuckle, your hand sneaking past the waistband as you grip onto what seemed to be the raging hard on, your puzzled expression causing him to let out a snicker. "And? Cupped a feel?"

You freeze as your fingertips reach the barrel of what seemed like a gun, heart racing. Your brain reacts faster than your body, urging you to break free of his hold and run to the emergency hut as fast as you can, but he beats you to it.

In a blink of an eye, you wince as your back comes into contact with the harsh ground.

Scream. Scream! Do something!

"Shhh, shhhh", something cold is pressed up against your temple, a tear threatening to fall from your eye as you realize the gun to your head, "Don't wanna wake ya friends, do we?"

You panic, his crazed grin pushing you further down the hole of despair, until he pushes the barrel against your head in a warning. "Do we?"

You nod hesitantly and slap yourself mentally. You should've known it from the start. Toji. Toji Fushiguro, infamous assassin. The crazed man on the run from police wanted. The man who's all over the news is now in front of you- or, rather, on top of you.

"Should'a kept ya hands ta yer self, pretty." he snickers, urging you to get up while his hand firmly holds your hip, leading you away from the tents, right into the small wooden hut.

"Please", you try to reason, your breath turning irregular as you press yourself into a corner, eyeing the threatening device in the assassin's hand. "I- I won't rat you out or anything, just," he watches in amusement as you try to talk yourself out of the situation. "Please. Don't kill me." You whisper with your eyes screwed shut, almost wincing at the sound of him approaching you further.

He's dead silent, empty hand reaching up to caress your collarbone, dark emerald orbs soaking in your form. "Kill? You?"

You flinch at his chuckle. "Ya think I did all this shit just ta kill you?" His deep voice lets your hair stand up straight.

You gulp, eyes wavering between him and the gun handing low in his hand. "I want the same thing you do. Ya jus' happened to stumble upon this good ol' thing here." He waves the gun up in front of your face as you stare at him, speechless.

"Oh? Did I ruin the mood?", he humored, biting back his laugh once your eyes snap at the gun heavy in his hand.

You muster up the courage to look up at him, only for his shark eyes to stare directly back down at you, trapping you in his hold, one leg finding its way between your legs.

"What'cha want, woman?" His voice is low. Dangerously so, even, hungry eyes preying on you. "Piss the fuck off", he spits, head poking in the direction of the door. "Orrr", voice inked in amusement, "see what ya would miss out on."

A ton of emotions wander through your body at the moment - fight or flight? Submit? What to do?

His leg inches up further, adding slight pressure to your clit as you contain a moan between bitten lips. Fuck it.

Was there really anything but your life to lose? And if you were going to end up dead, you might as well make the most out of it.

Doe-like eyes staring up at the criminally handsome man, catching his gaze as you search for something—anything in those dark, mysterious hues, intrigued by his offer.

"Aaatta girl", he grins once you ease your composure, bulky arms quick to lift you up, causing you to instinctively wrap your legs around his waist, hands dapped around his neck as you gaze at him in a daze, admiring his handsome features up close. Could a man this handsome really be a killer?

He looks around, eyes squinted, to scan around the dark sector until he spots the table in the middle of the small space, pushing off the phone in a hurry to make room before carefully placing you on your back.

"Beautiful", he breathes out, admiring your figure through the rays of moonlight that shine through the window, emerald orbs lusting over your exposed skin, shirt slightly rode up and shorts exposing your plush thighs.

He quickly positions himself between them, mouth attacking your neck with love bites as his hips roll into your heat impatiently, earning a whine from you.

You let out a cry once his hands roughly fondled your tits, action showing clear desperation. And by his almost animalistic growl against your neck once you free his hard dick from his trousers, you can tell that he indeed didn't feel the touch of a woman in a long time.

Suddenly your mind clouds with lust, eager to show this man—this - this criminal who's above you, rutting his hips into your clothed heat, what he missed out on during his incarceration.

"Fuck, doll", he hisses, cock head caught against your clothed pussy. Slim hands find their way around his neck while your legs firmly lock him in between your legs.

More, more, more. You have to feel him right now, or you might faint from the lustful smoke clouding your mind.

Desperate movements of your hips erect a low growl from the man, his green orbs snapping down to the moist stain on your shorts, eyes slitting as a fat grin spreads across his face.

"Sweet little cunny of yours needs some tough love, huh?" Quick hands find their way to his pants, swiftly pulling out his painfully hard cock, small huffs eliciting from his lips as he gives his length a few pumps, before snap!

His rough hand tear your shorts alongside your panties to the side, impatient to get a good look at your drenched pussy. And he sure does, catching your glistering heat all ready for him, clenching around nothing as if begging him to fill you up with his ridiculously fat cock.

You nod, an embarrassing whine escaping from your lips. All hot and bothered, you wiggle in his hold in an attempt to at least feel his raw length against your exposed folds. He caught onto your antics, pushing his fat tip through your puffy folds, causing your breathing to pick up. "Yeahhh? Want me to fill your lonely cunt up, hm?"

Head turning to the side in embarrassment, you mumble out a weak 'yes' as you buck your hips up, longing for his touch. He only barks out a laugh, slapping his head against your pussy before smearing his pre-cum all over your wet pussy in a mocking manner, grin never wavering as his sharp eyes lock with yours. "What's the magic word?"

You whine once his thick mushroom head nudges at the hood of your clit, shaking your head from side to side and puffing quick breaths as your hands dig into his shoulders.

It's been a while since you had some fun, sex at that. All the guys just seemed so dull and full of empty promises. But then why do you seem to put your trust in this stranger?

Toji, a man who you shouldn't even think of associating yourself with, now a small inch away from burying himself into you, literally.

"P-please, Toji. Wan' you to f-fuck me," you state, shame and guilt consuming you because, why the hell are you doing something so iniquitous with a convicted criminal?

But all doubt disappears from your mind once his cock teases your entrance, pushing past your damp folds painfully slow. The air trapped in your lungs with your stomach sucked in, you squeeze your eyes together, trying to accommodate the almost uncomfortable but nostalgic stretch.

"Thaaaat's it", he breathes out, thumb flicking your clit to ease your pain, hushing your worries away, "taking me so well, doll. Almost there."

His head falls in the crock of your neck as he bottoms out, rough fingers gripping the fat of your hips, his sounds muffled by your soft skin.

He pushes his hips back before picking up a steady pace, pushing the air out of your lungs with each snap of his hips, bulling his cock deeper and deeper into you.

This is so damn wrong, but he also felt so damn good inside of you. Reaching your sweet spot by simply bottoming out must be the crime for which he'd be found guilty tonight.

With your legs sprawled out for him, he increases the rhythm of his hips, grin growing broader with each whine he robs from your lips.

Not trying to displease him, you try your utmost best to keep your sounds in, but it was hard to do so with your hands pinned over your head and his prominent veins grazing your walls, leaving you breathless.

"Never told ya to shut up, doll", he teased, one hand pinching your clit, earning a yelp from you. "jus' need to keep it down, yeah? Or I'll have ta stop." The man only snickers at your pleading whimper, hips bucking up into his at his slowing pace, begging him to keep going.

Amused, his grin widens threateningly, bulky hands hushing their way to the soft flesh of your tits, twisting your nipple between his digits. "That's more like it."

Longing desire washing over him, he can't help but hunch over to cage your swollen bud between his lips, eyes sensually rolling to the back of his head. Fuck, he can't even remember when he last had such mind-numbing pussy like yours, sucking him in such a greedy manner, making the sole movement of his hips a challenge to overcome.

Groaning at the mean chokehold you have him in, his movement stutters as he curses under his breath. "C'mon, don't give up on me now, pretty." Trying to mask his crumbling facade, so close to succumbing to his ecstatic end himself by smacking his palm against your poor abused clit.

There's no way he could just let you go after this, not because you recognized him as a wanted assassin, no, it's because of that dangerous, dangerous pussy of yours, that could have anyone whipped in an instant, just like it did to him.

You'll need a big, strong man like him to protect you from this evil and corrupt world, right?

"Toj- nghhh, Tojiiii-!", you hiccup in between his harsh, almost punishing thrusts, his tip prodding at your womb, causing you to feel lightheaded.

"Yeahhh? Fellin' good?" You nod eagerly, locking your legs around his muscular waist with hard, tension arising in your lower tummy.

Amused by your contorted faces, his predator-like eyes never leave your form, making sure to inspect your reaction with each push of his hip and each tasing touch of his hands to get out of you.

"M-mhmmm, fuck!", you mumble under your breath, eyes squeezed shut as you focus on the intense feeling of his veins grazing against your walls and the harsh jolts of your body against the dark wooden table, creating a faint creaking noise.

"So pretty, such a pretty lil' pussy ya have on ya-fuck!", He's rambling at this point, eager to see you coming undone beneath him, see your face twist into the cutest expressions he's ever seen, and swallowing your precious whines and wails about how it just felt, "Good, s-so good!"

And he gets to witness just that, once your pussy clamps down on him with one last thrust of his, back arching off the wood as you sob and weep from the intense wave hitting you in an instant.

He may or may not have lost his sanity at this point or somewhere before, but he couldn't care less as his lips attacked yours like a hungry animal, a deep growl escaping him as he felt his balls tightening, shooting out his thick, white juices deep inside your cunt.

He braces himself as his orgasm hit him harder that expected, years of pent up frustration being washed away by your comforting snug tunnel. "Take it, doll, fuckkk! Greedy pussy of yours gonna be the death of me."

You shriek, feeling thick spurts of his white fluid mixing with your juices, even leaking from your aching hole once his thick shaft abandons your weak hole, glistering mix of your juices dripping on the dark wood.

"Chop chop, time for our second date, doncha think, pretty?", he muses, a low, dark chuckle following suit. Before you can even react or calm down from the blissful orgasm, he covers up the mess between your legs, adding a playful smack to your clothed heat for good messure and lifts you up into his arms like a groom would his bride, swiftly stepping out into the cold wild.

Terrified but also fascinated, you gaze up at him, inspecting the heavy scar adoring the side of his lip, trying your hardest not to lift your fingers to trace along it.

You're quick to snap out of it once you hear what seems to be a car door swing open before you find yourself on the man's lap in the driver's seat.

Perplexed and confused, everything around you seems to be completely still once you find his eyes back on yours, the cold barrel of his gun visible in your peripheral.

"If ya keep up the good girl act, I'll eat ya pussy up, how does that sound?" Your eyes widen at his blunt statement, embarrassment washing over your body because, if you were being honest, the idea doesn't sound that bad at all.

"Aight", with one quick tap to your behind with the barrel of his gun, he urges you to hurry into the passenger's seat, "let's get movin', doll."

He closes the door behind him, starting the engine with one hand while the other taps the gun on the rear.

You gulp at the sick feeling inside your tummy, but you don't know if it was his cum seeping out of your hole, or if realization finally hit you.

You're in a vehicle, stolen by an assassin who just so happens to have a soft spot for you. But who knows how long that infatuation of his will hold on?

Heart beating rapidly in your chest, you feel a shudder crawling down your spine once the car sets in motion, clueless to where you two were headed.

As the possibilities rush through your mind, your gaze flickers between the road and Toji, and you don't know if you're more scared of his intentions or his reckless driving.

Will he kill you? No, of course not. The fun has just started. He himself is curious about what you might do. A smirk creeps up his lips at the mere thought of spending more time with such a pretty thing as yourself. How amusing.

"Awww, baby. Don't sulk like that", he reaches his gun over to brush a strand behind your ear, clearly in a mocking manner, startling you from your racing train of thought,

"We're goin ta have a whole lotta fun together."

©︎𝙎𝘼𝙏𝙍𝙎 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝.

Do NOT plagiarize, copy, modify, republish, or translate my work in any way!

#◛⑅·˚ ᵂᴼᴿᴷ #♡˳ᴶᴶᴷ #toji smut #jjk smut #jujutsu kaisen smut #im so sorry for this #fushiguro toji #toji fushiguro #toji x reader #jjk toji #fushiguro #toji x you #jjk fanfic #jjk x reader #jjk #jujutsu kaisen

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bi-writes · 6 months

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they want the best. and they need to eliminate the recruits that can't stomach reality. (18+, sniper!fem!reader x ghost)

you have met them all save for one. pretty boy gaz, with a nice smile, and you wonder momentarily how many barracks bunnies make bets on how they'll get him in their bed.

he's too pretty not to be a slut.

and then there's johnny. big, snarky, with a potty mouth, and he always sounds right stupid when he talks, but when you see him in the field, you are in awe. he has nimble fingers, and it scares you how well he can use them.

their captain is kind. he exudes something fatherly, a keen sense of responsibility. it is obvious that chaos rolls off his back--he is calm, collected, easy to think and fast to act.

but the last one, the lieutenant--he has never been seen. he's a ghost, in name and in physicality. he was there, once, when it was the first day of your arrival. you stepped out of a car with five others, and when you stood in formation, he was standing by the door, arms crossed over his big chest as he surveyed the room.

he hasn't reappeared for six weeks.

six, grueling, terrible weeks. crawling through mud, through snow, in rain. breaking your nails as you climb walls of brick or wood, throw yourself over obstacles lined with barbwire, scrape your knees on hard sand as you hit your targets from a distance. you wake up before the sun is out, and you sleep once its long gone, and by the time the six weeks have passed, there are only three of you left.

you want this. you want it so bad, you feel it in your bones. you were bred for this, born for this, and you have everything to lose if you do not succeed. the girl beside you? she has a college degree. the cocky frat boy in the next tent? he's white, blond, and well-spoken--he will have it easy.

but you are you, and nothing is that simple, and you will not fail.

you cannot fail.

you stand shoulder to shoulder, your eyes trained on the wall as they size you up. you see a shadow at the door; you recognize it. you're asked to pick an opponent, and since you finished first during drills this morning, you are allowed to pick.

your head turns, and you eye the skull mask that glares a few yards away. you don't say anything, just meet his eyes, and the captain follows your line of sight before hooking his fingers into the straps of his vest and chuckling low.

"ye sure about that, sweetheart?" johnny asks, and you only blink.

"that one," you say softly. "that's the one."

that's the one.

it rings in his ears. the one. he's the one. you've chosen him. he hides, and yet you have seen him, and you choose him, and he is the one.

he stalks into the room, and his steps are heavy. his boots can crush skulls, and yet he walks easy, fluid as he makes his way over to you and looks down at you.

you have not seen him so close. he is huge. a bear of a man, wide and tall and hulking, and you have to crane your neck to meet his eyes.

your lips part, and his gaze lowers as he watches your tongue slide over your teeth just that much, a telltale sign that you are not afraid.

ghost straightens, turns, and he gives the captain an unreadable, parting look before he leaves. you stare after him, and then back, and you swallow, wondering if you had done something wrong.

but johnny grins. and gaz raises a brow. and your captain sniffs, masking a chuckle, and you watch the three of them settle in front of you.

you realize later, when ghost has you bent over, knees spread so he can put his face between your thighs, that their reaction was simply acceptance.

you choose him. and he chooses you.

#simon ghost riley #simon riley x reader #simon riley x you #simon ghost x reader #simon ghost riley x reader #simon ghost riley x you #ghost x reader #ghost x you #simon ghost x you #simon thoughts #ghost mwii #ghost call of duty #simon ghost smut #simon ghost riley smut #ghost smut

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dreamwritersworld · 9 months

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His daughter (sully family x reader) part 2

Y/n’s anxiety was the worse growing up, if she hadn’t done it right or if her father didn’t approve she’d panic. Anything she did was effortless and beautiful but neither of them saw that. If you challenged Y/n, she’d prove you wrong immediately.

For as long as Y/n could remember everybody loved her. She never knew exactly what it was. She just knew that she had something special, something intangible, something immeasurable, and it gave her “confidence”.

However no one knew much she put into getting all her skills in check. There was so much stress in such a young girl to please the people. She saw her father as gold at the top of the mountain and her mother’s proud smile as the sweetest item amongst Eywa creations. She wanted their approval so badly..

Y/n had scrapes and mud along side her knees and body, it only got worse as she crawled further up the small trunk of a tree. Here she was moving her fastest as she goes against Neteyam who had been given a simpler task of obstacles. She struggled to breathe through the tight space…panicking at the realization that she wouldn’t succeed

I want it, I wanted it bad

The bloodshed and exhaustion was getting to her

but there were so many red flags

When she crawled right through, Neteyam had already been rewarded, the dirtest part of him being sweat and very little mud. Y/n’s sorrow was written all over her face, that afternoon she walked home covered in mud, drops of blood and sweat..she weeped to the empty forest that night begging Eywa to give her the sweetest reward on her…to save her and have her succeed further than she could imagine..

She loved her father and his approval, she wanted it more than anyone else. He knew this, he made her dependent and knew she’d crave it. If Y/n couldn’t stay with him forever, he’d find a way so that she would. Sure, Tuk was younger but Y/n was his real baby, she had almost died on him and he wasn’t going to let her go after that.

When Y/n wasn’t with Jake, she was with Neytiri. She wasn’t only her mother but Y/n’s best friend. Their relationship was so strong. On the days Y/n was exhausted she rested her head right on Neytiri’s lap as she played with her hair, she looked like a cat, calmly sleeping in her mother’s lap. It’d be hard to decide weather she was a daddy’s girl or mamas girl…but you’d have to take into consideration that when she was with Neytiri she at least provided a sense of that peace..mamas girl. It was true, Y/n spoke very highly of her mother constantly even if she had betrayed her…

Y/n had been speaking to one of the little girls who was asking to learn about human culture that Jake had taught her growing up..

“…mmh and Mother’s Day is the day people celebrate mommies?..”

“yes sweetheart!”

“What do you think about your mother?”

“My mom is a very important person in my life. And I think she taught me a lot of lessons in life, how to respect the public and the rest of my family. And I think it’s very important to have a mother and I want to be like her.”

Y/n’s voice was clear and you can tell she meant every word. The moment was cut short when an adult asked Y/n to aid them in healing..so she left the child alone with her mother. Neytiri’s eyes watered to her daughter’s sweet answer..

“And you? What about you?”

The young child looked dearly and innocently at Neytiri, filled with excitement to get a deeper connection between the two.

“Growing up I always told y/n to not change her way of being. You know, to all the time be humble and caring how she is with everyone..She’s a very special girl. Same as my other kids, all kids are special of course but..without her, I can’t imagine a life without her…she’s very important, she keeps my family together..”

Everything Neytiri had stated was true, Y/n made sure to develop a close relationship with her siblings. Her parents had been so connected to her and all was well with their family, as long as Y/n was there. As soon as Jake was gone she’d comfort her siblings and give them all her love. That was just the type of person she was.

Jake and Neytiri ripped Y/n apart. Their love was toxic to the child..

Jake would practically tell Y/n not to listen to her mother when she instructed her to stay behind during training and Neytiri would have Y/n sit on her lap while she cried, it may have seemed sweet until you realized that she was crying from the stress of canceling on her father and him yelling at her while her mother sat and watched..there’s no denying that she’d loved them until her final breathe.

They isolated her..

“Y/n! Y/n! Y/n! What you waiting for?”

“Please come out and play with us!”

“Y/n likes to stay in the house children..she can’t play right now.” (Neytiri)

“Oh..please let her come out and play with us now..”

“She can’t, she has important Navi’s to meet today..” (Jake)

Jake passed a smile at the young children, he heard himself say pure bliss. Y/n was being set up to meet perfect leaders that will help guide her and Neteyam as clan leaders. The child sat in silence with a saddened face, making eye contact with the children right before her father closed the curtain..

M-A-M-A-G-I-R-L

mama’s girl

D-A-D-D-Y-G-I-R-L

daddy’s girl

When it was time for dinner in the morning, Y/n ate in silence. Her eyes were red from the crying. Jake didn’t even dare to stare longer, knowing that he too was upset..

Tsireya and Ao’nung had interrupted their breakfast to let them know that they’d be ready to teach as soon as they’re ready and to meet them at their Maui. The entire family walked in silence ready to greet the Tonowari, Ronal and their kids.

Ronal was instructing Tsireya on what’d it be best to start with today..however a certain someone in the small crowd of demon bloods caught her attention. All teens were quietly discussing amongst themselves except Y/n…she was dazed and looking right past Ronal, sheeply smiling at the home.

“Y/n!..are you tired today?”

The exhaustion was practically noticeable to the healer who can feel it. Y/n immediately glanced at her father, seeing his smile had dropped and she was now frightened that he’d be upset and start an argument right then and there.

“..no.”

She passed a gentle smile, attempting for it to wash over.

“No..okay you look a little tired.”

“Perhaps, it’s all the traveling..im sorry. I can assure you , your home and island has done me good the last couple of hours..sorry.”

Ronal was satisfied in Y/n’s answer. Soon it was time to begin training and the adults and children went their separate ways.

Ao’nung didn’t know where he’d even begin to start a conversation with her…but he found a way.

“..so not tired?”

Y/n turned and laughed at his awkward attempt, smiling at his efforts, being silently grateful.

“I am, but that’s between us! Your island is very beautiful..”

“Once you get used to it, it’ll be ordinary..normal!”

“Yea..when it’s not an everyday thing, you’ll learn to appreciate it I guess. Sorry, what’s your name? Just asking so I get it right!”

“Ao’nung, and your Y/n correct?”

“Yes Ao’nung. How about we run in the water together!”

The young boy liked the way his name rolled off her tongue, she said it as though she knew him forever. Y/n made their conversation comfortable, and she even offered a good race. The rest of the practice went well and the group got awfully comfortable. Ao’nung and Y/n connected immediately. When Y/n got home that bond seemed to be the hottest topic at the table..

“How was practice today? Everyone did good?”

“Yes sir! Everyone did great, their ways are different but good to learn.”

Neteyam spoke proudly, despite his sadness about leaving his position back at home he felt good to learn new ways of life.

“..mmh im sure of that. Anything else?”

Everyone knew Jake was trying to get Y/n to talk, but her stubbornness wouldn’t allow it. She was furious with him, he had yet to feel bad about anything he said. Lo’ak however thought it’d be best to make his twin sister smile; he just didn’t realize what he was about to say would be the wrong place to bring it up.

“Ao’nung is crushing on Y/n!”

All four siblings turned to the brother, shocked that he’d bring up the topic they thought they had silently agreed not to.

“Hehe..no he’s not.”

Y/n replied with an awkward frustrated laugh and stern voice, telling her brother to be quiet.

“…Ao’nung mmh…you know you can’t y/n-“

“I never said I would.”

Jake’s face was surprised at how quick she was to talk back and he immediately got defensive.

“Well I’m ordering you not to.”

“Im not a soldier, Ao’nung and I are just friends.”

Y/n had left a distaste in Jake’s mouth that made him no longer want to speak. The family tried moving past it while Y/n stayed silent. In the back of Jake’s mind he was panicking, afraid Y/n wouldn’t focus on training and that she’d fall behind and never learn their way. All the issues would fall like dominos…if she fell behind, she wouldn’t learn, if she didn’t learn she would become dependent on Ao’nung, if he wasn’t there she wouldn’t know what to do, if she didn’t know what to do…she wouldn’t survive at all. He didn’t even take into consideration that Ao’nung was the one teaching her the way of water, he just thought of him as some boy..oh how was he so wrong..

!🎀!

REMEMBER MY INBOX IS OPEN!!!! 💕

@ruyaas-world @neteyamyanw3 @elegantkidfansoul @adaydreamaway08 @luxiniary @venomsvl

#angst #jake sully x reader #neteyam x reader #neteyam sully #avatar loak #avatar the way of water #sully family x daughter reader #spotify #soundcloud #aonung x reader

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deeznutzzzz24 · 1 year

Text

Little Red Riding Hood

Chapter One - Kill Or Be Killed

Summary: Living a life of caution for as long as she can remember, Y/N has never stayed too long in one place, always moving from town to town in hopes to hide her identity. With the Hunters Moon coming, she knows she must be extra careful, as the local culture resides heavily in the hunting of her kind. One night, when a cloaked figure unveils her secret and narrowly escapes, Y/N finds herself in a desperate situation: kill or be killed. With no face to go by, she must now search through the townsfolk before the stranger can spread the truth about her. But the task proves more than difficult when she realises her only lead is a long, crimson cloak.

Genre: horror, fantasy, little red riding hood retelling

Warnings: cursing, stalking, death, heavy smut (later included)

Pairing: redridinghood!Jungwon x femwolf! reader

next chapter

A branch snaps. Something is wrong.

I whirl around, casting quick glances to every corner of the forest. A rehearsal, like I’d done every Hunters Moon as a girl.

A confirmation.

A silence.

A knowing.

Someone is watching.

My eyes scan the turret of green abyss before me, checking every leaf, every branch with eager uniformity.

I scrutinise each passing spec, scanning the forest for something out of place, something that doesn’t belong. But even in the dead of night the forest remains regal with grace, beckoning me to try and find its flaw.

When I finally conclude that my hiding acquaintance must be some stumbling stag, I go to turn back to the river and notice a flicker of motion to my left.

I stop dead in my tracks.

Something that doesn’t belong.

Got you.

I race across the clearing, diving head first into the forest without hesitation, but this stranger is smart, and from what I can gather, eager to hide his identity as I watch his red cloak shift fervently through the trees, concealing any hint of skin as he swiftly dodges all obstacles in his path. Suddenly, he trips over a fallen branch and lands face first on the ground. He groans in pain and I slow in my pace, preparing to make haste of my short advantage.

But before I can do anything of the sort, he’s hoisting himself up, grabbing at his foot that’s stuck firm in the mud.

Thank the heavens for yesterdays rain.

I go to resume in my advances, but he’s gone before I can pounce, yanking his foot from the ground and making another run for it.

No.

The voice in my head rings clear, precise with its set instruction.

He mustn’t get away.

In one last eager attempt to catch him, I grab a rock nearby and aim it towards his leg, praying that the gods will spare me this one small decency, at least for today.

The figure doesn’t bother brushing the filth off his cloak, making a priority of his escape as he runs off. A smart one. I find myself admiring his resolve to live, and almost feel bad as I watch the heavy stone smash into his left leg, causing him to stumble down the hill at an awkward position. I follow, but at a slower pace this time.

He could be armed.

And yes, just as I had hoped, the stranger awaits at the bottom of the hill, rocking side to side as he groans in agony and clutches at his knee. He makes no attempt to get up, although as I inch closer, I realise my throw was so strong he mightn’t be able to. He stops groaning as I approach. He’s getting ready.

My hand slowly grabs at the small dagger tucked into my side, drawing it out in one sly motion. I feel him stiffen as I straddle his lap, much too clouded in pain to react as I grab his hands and prepare to tie them above his head. “Sneaky thing, aren’t you?” I remark, breathing hard between laughs as I lower my dagger just above his adams apple. “Maybe next time you’ll think twice before following me into the woods, boy.” His face remains covered by his crimson cloak, but I feel him breathing hard beneath it. I go to push it aside, but he abruptly pushes forward, banging his head against mine with fever.

I stumble backwards, moaning in pain. “You insolent little-” But it’s too late, the figure is already sprinting away into the dark forest. My hands find their way to my forehead, cradling what I know will be bruised tomorrow. Scrambling to my feet, I watch from afar as he pushes on, occasionally stopping to quickly relieve some pressure off his leg. I curse, kicking a nearby clump of dirt and sending it soaring through the trees. Brushing the dirt off my hair, I feel a surge of rage boil beneath my skin as I watch him cautiously cast quick glances behind him. The darkness makes it impossible for me to see his features clearly from this distance.

Dammit, I’m screwed.

I pace back and forth, considering running after him, but it’s too late, he’s too far gone now. He’s morphed into a small crimson spec now, limping as he makes a b-line for town.

Dammit.

Helena is going to be livid. But it doesn’t matter, because deep down I know she’s not the one I’m worried about.

The townspeople are.

Not to mention Mary, Jiwon and.…Heeseung. They’ll never speak to me again.

No, worse. They’ll push for my execution.

Wait. A tinge of cold air licks at my arm as I stop dead in my tracks. Red drops paint the dirt beneath me. My gaze follows the winding trail down the path.

Blood.

The fool has left me a trail.

I kneel to the ground, coating a finger in the red liquid and bringing it to my nose. His scent fills my senses, and I feel myself letting go. The blood smells sweet, like warm sugar and cinnamon. I bet it would it taste even better. My breath catches in my throat as I struggle to repress the small voice gnawing at my sanity. Go on. With shaky hands, I bring the blood to my lips, letting my mouth stop just short of contact. Let go. A howl echoes from across the forest. I snap out of my trance and shake my head, regaining my thoughts. I don’t have time for this. Deep breaths, in and out.

I am in control.

I turn back to the small village in the distance, the same town I have called home for the last 8 months. Avion. A quaint little village hustled in the centre of a frozen paradise, home to over 200 people…

and tonight, one of them is going to die.

_____________________________________________

Authors Note:

lmao can I just say thank you to all of yous that picked Jungwon in my previous poll cause gawd dayum I couldn’t stop picturing him as red riding hood and i suddenly regretted putting up a poll for ppl to choose LMAO 🤣

anyway ik this chapter was short but dw it was only short cause it was more like a prologue than an actual chapter lol

anyway peace out, me has got 2 go and start working on chapter two💀 bye bye

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littlest-w01f · 3 months

Text

Chapter Two

Series Masterlist

Cw: None

He knew it was a dream. He had dreamt of the same dream over and over again. Every night for the past year. He knew this dream by heart but there was no way he could change what he saw.

There was a girl, no older than twelve, running in the dark alley, she could feel the fear radiating off of her.

He always found himself in the same spot in the dream, watching as she ran through the narrow, cobblestoned alleyway. The rain had just stopped, leaving puddles of water that reflected the flickering street lamps and casting long shadows across the grimy walls.

Her small, bare feet splashed in the mud, making her progress slow and awkward. She wore only a thin cotton dress, torn at the hem, which clung to her skinny body, unhealthily bony body. Her long dark hair was plastered against her face, obscuring her vision, and every so often she would stop to catch her breath or wipe away the strands sticking to her tear-streaked cheeks.

He wanted to ask her what was wrong, to help her, but it was as if he didn't exist, he was just someone watching from outside but despite his desire to reach out, to comfort her, he couldn't move. His limbs felt heavy, weighed down by invisible chains. He was merely an observer, trapped within the confines of his own mind. The female continued her frantic escape, glancing back occasionally, her wide, frightened eyes reflecting the terror that gripped her.

The sound of footsteps echoed in the distance, growing louder with each passing second. The pursuers were closing in. She turned a corner, darting into another alleyway, praying that they wouldn't follow her there. But even as she disappeared from view, the echo of her sobs still lingered in the air.

"Sweetheart run!" Nyx whispered, his voice not sounding his own, wanting the young female to escape her pursuers.

His words hung in the damp, cold air, echoing faintly around the desolate alleyways. The little female flinched at the sound of his voice, as if she'd heard him, her wide eyes blinking in surprise before she shook her head and kept running. It was clear she didn't trust anyone enough to stop.

Nyx was surprised she heard him, she had never before, he hadn't existed to her at all, but this time, his words were acknowledged, it gave him hope that perhaps he could save her.

But then, a new sound reached them, the pounding footsteps of men getting closer. They were hot on her trail, their voices raised in anger and desperation. They weren't about to let her slip away.

In the dim light cast by a nearby lamp post, Nyx could see the fear etched onto the faeling’s face. He hated seeing her like this, vulnerable and alone. He wished he could do more, help her.

Nyx watched in awe as the girl briefly halted her flight, turning to regard him with big, wide eyes. It was as if a veil had been lifted, now she could see him, or at least sense someone.

But that short moment of recognition soon passed. She didn't have time to waste. With one last terrified glance at the rapidly approaching footsteps, she took off again, disappearing into the shadows.

It was now or never. Pushing aside his dread, Nyx sprinted after her, adrenaline fueling his movements. He dashed around corners and leapt over obstacles without hesitation. Determination welled up inside him like a fierce flame, burning away any fear.

Finally, catching sight of the girl ahead, Nyx called out again, "Hope you don't get scared." He said as his large wings grew from his back, nearly covering both of them as they curled, he gripped her by her waist and she let out a gasp, she clearly didn't see him but felt him, as he flew her away, away from the people coming after her.

He flew her, away from her pursuers, above in the sky, then the miracle ran out, and she slipped from his grasp, Nyx's eyes went wide as he tried to reach for her, but his hand passed through hers like he didn't exist.

He was bound to never save her.

The female screamed as she fell, and Nyx tried to dive after her but everything was dark. Then he woke up covered in sweat, screaming as he did, glad for the spelt room that made it so his voice didn't go out. "NO!!"

The Night was beautiful, the sun had set over Velaris and the stars shone brightly, the night air was filled with the sweet scent of blooming jasmine, A gentle hum of magic filled the air as Nyx Archeron walked through the spiral stairs of the House of Winds, his hand lightly tracing along the old stone walls that lined the narrow lanes. The city was bathed in a warm glow from the myriad lanterns hanging from balconies and doorways, casting long shadows that danced with every gust of wind.

He wore his velvet night tunic, paired with the same comfortable pants, their colour such a deep purple it almost looked black

Gently leaning over the small window he came across, Nyx takes a moment to gaze upon the vast expanse of Velaris beneath him. The city of Starlight twinkled like a constellation beneath his feet. It was magnificent, something in the century he had lived, still fascinated him.

Nyx couldn't sleep that night, choosing to tire himself by going up and down the stairs, hoping the House hadn't alerted his Aunt Nesta and Uncle Cassian to his presence, he sighed, tracing the stone walls,

Observing the intricate carvings on the ancient stones, Nyx's fingers traced the familiar patterns etched into the weathered surface. He knew each curve, each line, each hidden symbol as well as he knew his own name.

His thoughts drifted back to his childhood, these very halls were his playground, his sanctuary. He used to run up and down the endless staircases, laughing with his mama and papa, how they both caught him by winnowing and he would whine about them cheating.

He had grown up loved as much as a babe could be, never neglected, never abandoned or forgotten, never used, he didn't mind the shelter he had been put under, not when he was free to do whatever he wanted.

Nyx's lips curled into a wistful smile at the memories. Those days seemed so far away now, yet they felt like yesterday. His attentive parents, his kind-hearted mother and loving father. They'd done their best to shield him from the cruel world outside, giving him a childhood full of joy and laughter.

Nyx's heart pounded in his chest as he took a leap through the window column, his body sailing through the air. He let out a whoop of exhilaration as the cool night breeze rushed past him, ruffling his hair. This was freedom, this was life as he swept down and pulled himself up gracefully, he flexed his wings briefly before folding them neatly against his back.

Years of rigorous training had made him strong and agile, able to perform feats that most faeries could only dream of. His mother's magic coursed through his veins. He could call the darkness to himself, have everyone's mind screaming at him, make fire dance between his fingertips, summon a hurricane with nothing more than a thought, shift into whatever and whoever he wanted, cool any place with a single breath, light up the room the same.

Nyx soared high above the city, his wings beating rhythmically against the night sky. The rush of wind against his face was exhilarating, filling him with a sense of freedom and power. Below him, Velaris shimmered like a celestial map, its streets lit up by thousands of twinkling lights.

As he looped around in the sky, he could see the entire city spread out beneath him - the domes and spires of the Houses, the winding alleys and squares filled with shops and cafes, the bridges arching over the rivers. It was breathtakingly beautiful, like a work of art carved from starlight.

The sun rose over Velaris, and Nyx was up training early in the morning, he had been unable to sleep last night, only getting an hour of it, instead spending time flying in Velaris, playing over the Sidra,

He swung Erecura in formations his dad and Uncles had taught him, the sword of Nightmares, a sword Nesta had made on accident, called the weapon of Nightmares by Amren. The sword that had chosen him.

Nyx stood atop the rooftops of House of Winds, his black wings spread wide as they caught the warm rays of the rising sun. His golden eyes scanned the city below, taking in its beauty as it slowly came alive for another day.

The wind blew gently through his dark hair, pushing back the strands that fell across his forehead. He held Erecura tightly in his right hand, her long blade reflecting the sunlight like a beacon. Her cold touch seeped into his skin, a chilling reminder of the darkness she embodied.

His muscles tensed and relaxed rhythmically under his tight-fitting black shirt, each movement echoing the fluid grace of a warrior honing their craft. The sight was breathtaking, the embodiment of raw power, yet also of serene elegance.

Below him, the streets began to fill with life.

He still stood in the trail rink of the House of Winds, raising his hand to a sword set to the side of the bench and Gwydion flew to his hand. He held Erecura in a rear stance and Gwydion in a side stance.

Nyx held Erecura in a rear stance, the blade gleaming dangerously in the first light of dawn. The weapon of nightmares seemed alive in his hands, pulsating with an eerie energy. In his other hand, Gwydion shimmered into existence, ready to slice through the air with deadly precision. It was as if both the swords were living beings in his grip

His eyes were fixed on the training dummy before him, his face a mask of determination. Every muscle in his body was taut, poised for action. Each breath he took echoed through his chest like a drum, signalling his readiness for battle.

Suddenly, Nyx lunged forward, spinning around in mid-air as he twirled Erecura overhead.

Nyx's movements were fluid, like a dancer weaving through intricate steps. With every turn, every twist, Erecura glided effortlessly through the air, cutting through the thin veil of morning mist that clung to the ground.

His left foot slid forward, his body pivoting gracefully at the waist. Erecura sliced downwards in a powerful arc, her sharp edge carving a path through the cool morning air. As he spun around, Gwydion joined in the dance, slicing upwards with precise timing.

The sound of metal meeting metal reverberated through the quiet streets, echoing off the nearby buildings. A low growl rumbled from Nyx's throat, his golden eyes blazing with fierce intensity.

His right leg shot out, kicking off from the ground with a burst of speed. Erecura followed suit, slicing down towards the training dummy with blinding speed.

Nyx's arms extended, sending Erecura and Gwydion hurtling towards their targets with unerring accuracy. The weapons sailed through the air, their blades glinting ominously in the early morning light. Erecura pierced the first dummy with ease, splitting it down the middle while Gwydion did the same to the second.

As soon as the deed was done, Nyx snapped his fingers, summoning his weapons back to his hands. They appeared instantly, Erecura returning to his right hand while Gwydion settled comfortably in his left.

He took a moment to catch his breath, his chest heaving slightly as he pulled in the air. Sweat trickled down his forehead, mixing with the beads of dew that clung to his skin. Yet despite the exertions of his workout, there was no trace of fatigue in his gaze or posture.

He heard clapping behind him, "Wonderful, Nyx." He heard his father.

Rhysand watched his son, and could feel him smiling at his praise, "I see you are preparing for our visit to Hewn City..."

"Da, I'm just training," Nyx smiled, turning around, sheathing his swords, "I know I won't be killing anyone in the Court of Nightmares."

Because he had never killed, apart from when he was thrown in the Blood Rite, where he had killed more people than he cared to remember, most of them just seemed to want him dead. And he did never have friends, some people were scared of his family, others hated them, while the worst of all, some wanted to be close to them, using him.

His father rolled his eyes, stepping into the rink, "Enough about that godawful place." He worked his tunic off, "Come at me, I too should work some steam off before we head there."

Nyx curled his hands into fists, not using weapons on an unarmed opponent, "I could probably kick you ass."

"Nothing would make me prouder." Rhysand lunged for his son, hand raised high.

{General - @nox-ceur @lilah-asteria @paleidiot}

{Meeting in Grey - @sleepylunarwolf @achaotichuman @sarawritestories @bakananya @sheblogs @anuttellaa}

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urcursebreaker · 10 months

Text

burning body waiting. (ellie williams x fem!reader)

read chapter 1 here | wattpad

warnings for this chapter— graphic gore/mentioned death, trauma, sexual content, thigh riding, oral (f!reader receiving), fingering (f!reader receiving), a bit of angst. | word count: 10.4k

chapter 2: a lesson in grief

Ellie

Two fucking days.

It's been two fucking days, and you're still here, an incessant thorn lodged in her fucking side.

She intended to lead you to your belongings and part ways without as much as a departing word; which was a display of kindness she didn't feel internally in itself. She could've just left you in that deteriorating garage with nothing but the gaping wound in your thigh and the mud-stained shirt on your back and let you crawl your way back to your gun.

Could've just left you in the forest to rot away in a puddle of your own blood.

But she fucking didn't. And she's really fucking pissed off about it.

When she killed those Seraphites it was purely for her own twisted gain; cleansing the already corrupted earth of those vile, cultish fucks was her honor. They were simply obstacles between her and the few sparing miles stretching to Lakehill. She never meant to be your Knight in shining fucking armor.

You would've been a perfect distraction for her to slip away unnoticed. While the Seraphites were preoccupied with tearing the trailer park to pieces to locate you, she could've saved her ammo, preserved her strength, darted right on by without them having even known she was invading their territory.

But then she heard your scream of pure, undiluted terror ricochet through the woods.

Admittedly, and only a little regretfully, she was going to disregard it. It wasn't her fight. She wasn't the dumbass who had walked directly into an open field of untouched goods.

But then she fucking saw you.

Running clumsily but lightening-quick down the hill, arms waving wildly, raw panic contorting your face, tears streaming down your mud-slicked cheeks.

Her heart had twinged at the sight. At the thought of your naïveté; how you likely celebrated the discovery of unopened canned foods and partially stabilized lodging and dusty comics and working tools. How you likely let yourself feel a flicker of hope, happiness, at the vast supplies.

She didn't feel sorry for the random woman who'd fallen victim to her hope; she resonated with the scared little girl that glinted in said woman's eyes.

You were lucky that little girl within you was still alive at all.

Maybe it's fucking weird or whatever, but there was a part of her that felt obligated to protect that tiny shred of innocence she saw. Like it was something she owed to her younger self.

Now, she assesses you thoughtfully from over her shoulder, her grip loose but present on her switchblade.

You wrestle the weight of your shotgun and overflowing backpack, face sweat-slicken and scrunched in extortion, eyes trained hazardously on the rocky hill, concentrated on not toppling over. Your hair is unbound and tousled, coiling from the humidity, damp from earlier's rain.

She thinks of you the other morning, in the pond. Water beading down your soft face, darkening your murky hair. Your tanktop transparent and clinging to every crevice and curve of your body. Your nipples puckering against the thin, sheer fabric. Spurting breaths unconsciously fleeing your wet, slightly agape mouth, lips shining with spit and oily water, eyes fluttering.

Something in her tightens and coils at the thought, before methodically unraveling and spreading through her limbs. She shivers, discreetly flexing her fingers, redirecting her attention forward and picking up her pace.

"How much further?" You groan breathlessly, shrugging up the strap of your gun. "My calves burn."

And just like that, the carnal fucking thoughts dissipate. She screws her eyes tightly shut, expelling a deep breath. "Not too much longer. Gonna make it?" She shoots in bland amusement over her shoulder.

You groan again, tipping your head back, letting the guttural sound echo through the swaying trees. "Where are we even going again?"

"There's a hospital up here." She responds vaguely, gesturing idly ahead with her inked-up hand.

"The hospitals were the first places to be raided, you know that, right?" You breathe conspiratorially, tucking a strand of hair out of your face.

"Obviously I fucking know that," she grits out defensively, and you chuckle at the spearing look she stabs at you. "But it's been rehabilitated like six fucking times, so, who really fucking knows what's there."

The truth is, she couldn't give less of a single shit about medicine or injections or the sealed away cure to fucking cancer. Lakehill Seattle Hospital is one of the Washington Liberation Front's many bases. Even if Abby isn't there, one of her fucking cronies might be; and if it's empty, there will be plenty of signs carelessly thrown around that will lead her straight to where they've scurried off to.

She's killed one of them; and there were however many left standing between her and Abby left to go.

She wants her blood. She wants it to stain her hands, wants to taste it in the crevices of her teeth. She wants to take it slow; disable her with a shot to the leg. Pin her to the wall as she writhes and gripes in pain, pleading for mercy, spewing meaningless apologies. Take a club to her head over, and over, and over again, until her face is an unidentifiable, sinking pile of mush.

Just like she did to Joel.

There's only one thing she wants more than to beat her to a pulp, watch the light vanish from her eyes.

She wants to teach her a lesson. A lesson in grief. Let her feel how it feels to lose someone. Many, many someones.

To lose everything.

She wouldn't stop until the Liberation was up in flames at the match she struck. Until every member that weaved the group together was untethered from its seams. Until every mark they made on this stupid fucking earth was erased, deconstructed.

She was going to find, and she was going to kill, every last one of them.

But she had to get you out of the way first. She couldn't get you involved, couldn't drag you down her relentless warpath. She wasn't totally uncivilized; it was just a matter of deviating from you.

Your lingering presence went unspoken; she didn't comment on your overstay, and you didn't elaborate on why you're still here, a persistent jab in her fucking back. Even so, she couldn't bring herself to discard you, to tell you to fuck off.

It's not that she had any doubt you could hold your own; if you were trekking Seattle alone save for the company of your blind brother, you must possess an air of endurance, have a useful arsenal of skills. Surviving alone is one thing. Protecting yourself and someone else is another.

Joel did it. And the both of them narrowly evaded death with every day they confronted the outside world.

You must be pretty fucking awesome to have made it this far— that is if you were telling the truth.

"You said you were from Ohio, right?" Ellie questioned bleakly, modestly. She wanted to inquire without blatantly prying. You'd kept your personal information under lock and key, clearly only divulging what you'd thought was necessary to appease her. She could respect that.

"Uhuh," you hum absently, licking the sweat off your upper lip, patting your forehead dry with your blemished sleeve. "Like a year ago."

The rest of her interrogation falls short when they crest the hill they'd been ascending, the expired cities lamented, desolate barrenness greeting them unbiddenly. Dark clouds loom in a dreary overcast, shadowing the crumbling, half-toppled buildings. The sparse buildings that do stand are garnished in overgrowth, shriveled vines and coils of cordyceps spattering up their walls. Runners grunt down below, aimlessly roaming the clearing. Ellie soaks it in critically, already internally noting points to avoid, the best trails to take.

"Wow, cool view, huh?" You blurt boisterously, a bright grin plastered to your lips. You dangle your forearm over Ellie's shoulder, leaning your full weight into her, your panting fettering her ear. She tenses, slicing you a glare, before averting her gaze back to the unlively city.

The sun peaks shyly through the clouds, illuminating your beaming expression. You take it all in with plain interest, eyes devouring the sight before you. "I've never seen Seattle from up here," you muse in amazement, marveling at what Ellie deemed unflattering scenery.

Lakehill gleams like a beacon under the sunlight, the mirror panels radiating a sharp glare. "There," Ellie points to it obscurely, taking a couple calculated steps down the hill. Toward the growling, twitching infected. "We should make it by nightfall."

Your eyes flicker from hers, and the steep, impending hill. Your lip curls idly in disgust. Ellie shifts her weight, sinking into the soil, eyeing you closely. She unwaveringly extends her hand, not removing her gaze from yours, hoping she's translating reassurance through her eyes and not the impatience she feels churning inside.

You eye her hand uncertainly, the hesitation ripe and blooming on your face. After a moment of consideration you take it, reluctantly eloping your hand with hers, your eyes still cautiously trained on her.

You're extremely expressive; every emotion paints your face when you feel it. Ellie didn't need to know you long to know this about you. She liked it. Liked being able to tell if you're lying. Liked knowing something she said made you fight your amusement...

Ellie realizes she'd been staring at you, immobile, unblinking, and rapidly shakes her head. She gives your hand a reflexive squeeze before clearing her throat and swiveling away. She says nothing as she attentively maneuvers you behind her, steering you around upended rocks, guiding you over dry-rotting logs.

Your pant leg catches on a suspended branch and you squeak, stumbling forward, your grip tightening on Ellie's hand. She skitters forward, instinctively throwing her arm out in front of you, barring you from tumbling down the hill.

"Careful." She drawls quietly, studying you as you breathe alertedly, your hand imprisoning hers in a vice grip. Her eyes loiter on you for only a second before she's resuming her strides down the winding hill, proceeding carefully, overly conscious of the crevices of your palm, fused with hers.

She tries not to focus on the tangible thrumming of your pulse against her wrist, or the sweat lapping between your conjoined hands. She tries to focus on not tripping, and hurling you both into the midst of wandering, fiending infected.

But the way you keep crushing her hand with each unbalanced stride is slightly distracting. She swears there was a time where your thumb brushed over her knuckles, and whether intentionally or not, she found her heart rate skyrocketing at the delicate caress.

What a fucking loser.

One girl touches her for a split second and she nearly explodes. Doesn't help that the girl is pretty.

Like really fucking stupidly pretty.

Acting right is hard enough when all she has the energy to entertain is the hatred festering in her heart. Acting right when a pretty girl is holding her hand and trailing her like a lost, grateful puppy is another kind of self-control entirely.

You release her suddenly, snapping her out of her stupor. She watches as you twist away with a grunt; drilling a blade through the gnarly, decomposing eye socket of a runner. "He snuck up on us," you breathe harshly, eyebrows furrowed with disdain, as you gyrate the knife slowly, penetrating the writhing cluster of cordyceps sprouting from its gaping hole for an eye.

Ellie watched blankly as it crumpled to the ground with a series of disgruntled chokes. Inwardly, she's horrified that she'd allowed her thoughts to drift so far she'd missed an attack.

"Motherfucker," she snarls furiously, the anger more at herself and less at the mindless infected, shredding your knife out of its deformed head and shoving it back into your hand.

She storms down the remainder of the hill, not even glancing back to confirm you're following, her face scathing with humility, her bones tingling with irritation.

She could hear Joel now; don't ever let your guard down. Luck is what's kept you alive all this time, and it's gonna run out.

If he were here she'd tell him luck wasn't the reason she was still standing.

It was him.

ᖭི༏ᖫྀ ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

You

You examine the tray of untouched medical tools in fascination, picking up a scalpel and turning it over, admiring its polished shine. "Looks like there is some stuff here," you admit half-heartedly, glancing at Ellie.

She hovers in the corner of the vacated operation room, her shotgun loaded and braced by both of her hands. She nods curtly, noncommittally, her eyes darting over the expansive wall of glass.

She'd been adjacent to silent your entire downtown journey. After the incident on the hill, she acknowledged you a total of three times; each time being a swift, cursory sweep of her gaze after an encounter with infected, just to ensure you weren't bitten or injured, before whipping back around and continuing her dedicated avoidance of you.

Her shoulders are high-strung, a crisp clarity steadfast in her eyes. You're halfway through your clearance of the first floor, and this is what she's done; loomed in the corner and observed. She looked like she was waiting for something to leap unexpectedly from the shadows and rip the gun out of her grasp.

Though it was blatant she was uneasy, you didn't dare question her apprehension. You had a feeling that if you called attention to her current state, she'd snap.

She seems fragile; not like a piece of pristine, hand-painted porcelain, but like a bomb without its pin, waiting to erupt.

"Ellie?" You drawl tentatively, and she jolts, flicking her anxious gaze to you. "Do you wanna split up to cover more ground? Come together with what we find?" You offer meekly, teetering a line of safety and coaxing her out of her mood-spell.

She blinks. "You look around. I'm gonna clear the rest of the building. I saw some spores outside, so there's probably some fucking infected in here somewhere."

Out of fear of how she'll react if you insinuate that she requires your aid, you don't offer to accompany her, even though you should. Especially if the enormous, pulsating spores you saw winding up the exterior of the building were any indication of what lurked within. "Sure," you chirp with forced invigoration, flashing her a tight, agreeing smile. "Be careful!"

She files out of the rusted double-doors without another word, as if she were a Venus fly trap, waiting for its prey before snapping open its haunches.

You frown warily as you watch her go, one foot ready to stride after her, the other rooted in place.

Of course you choose to stay. You've already taken many risks just by following her all the way out here. You won't risk making her regret letting you.

For the past long, laborious hours of enduring Ellie's quiet, simmering rage, regret for staying has muddled your thoughts.

It's just that after the ambush at the trailer park, you felt strangely wronged. Like it was staged, put on just to test you. Seraphite's do not stray far from their bases; meaning you'd directly trespassed on one. You find it difficult to believe that Abby was sending you into enemy territory unknowingly, and the thought of her blindsiding you makes the already minimal contents in your stomach churn.

The trust you harbored for the WLF was already precarious; though they were hospitable enough to give you a place to stay and a sliver of their rations, it wasn't without forfeit. You'd confiscated your dignity to comply to their orders, to slave away at their command. They tripled your watch shifts and withdrew your bathing privileges if you failed to report something you saw. You'd jeopardized your safety, obliging when they sent you out on detrimental, useless expeditions to check an already cleared garage on the outskirts of camp. Just to cement your place in their uncompromising group.

Zander, your brother, seems to have immersed himself into the group seamlessly. He besotted Owen and Abby within two days of your arrival; by the end of week one he was already cozying up with them in their tent, indulging in their classified stash of whiskey, their rowdy, boisterous laughter blaring throughout the late hours of the night.

At 3a.m. he'd routinely fumble into the tent and plummet to the rumpled sleeping bag next to you, his breath reeking of alcohol, his slurring words too loud as he bid them goodnight. Every time, you let him believe you miraculously slept through the noise, before swiveling over and shooting him a slicing glare he couldn't see.

"Could you be any louder?" You'd say, overselling the mild irritation you felt at his intrusion to compensate for the fact he couldn't see the disapproving frown blossoming on your lips.

"Could you be any boring-er?" He'd singsong back, fidgeting with his socks, peeling them off and tossing them to the corner. "You could join us, you know. Get to know them a bit. They're pretty cool."

And every time you'd decline. Not because you're a tedious prude who loathes social interaction.

Because the one time you did intend to join them, you were clearly not welcome.

When you benignly chipped into the conversation, or forcefully chuckled at their admittedly unfunny jokes, they would exchange covert looks. Sometimes, you'd catch Abby's eyes analyzing your face, her expression hard, her mouth twisted as she watched you throw back the whiskey that she offered you, unprompted.

You were thankful for the shelter, the semblance of protection, but you were not going to feign companionship with people who were consistently questioning your usefulness, contemplating your personality, debating if you were someone they wanted to accept into their inner circle. Which seemed to be made up of every single one of them except for you.

By facing their challenge and putting yourself through their warped initiation process, you stupidly hoped you'd return, that they would gain a newfound respect for you, shower you in approval, and finally perceive you as the soldier you have the full capacity to be.

Yet, you narrowly made it out alive. If it weren't for Ellie, the cruel but kind stranger, you would be dead. Do you even have the right to wish for their respect? Their acceptance? Did you even have the right to grapple for belonging in the conditions of this world?

For now, it's comforting enough to know that at least your brother has found his place among them; to know he's cared for beyond just existing as an open mouth to feed, beyond being a liability that drains their resources and has yet to prove serviceable.

He's their friend. You're his desperate, too-eager-to-be-liked little sister, laughing at all the wrong times and budding in when you aren't addressed.

So here you are, all these conflicting thoughts warring for dominance in your mind: you want to go back to where you know it's moderately safe, by your brothers side, where there's food and an assured place to rest your head.

But you also want to plunge further down this uncharted path. Want to follow the freckled stranger through the thick of the dejecting forest, see where her blinding determination will take you. Let her lead you through the sad, true state of the world.

It was time to sate your unquenchable curiosity; time to find the belonging you'd been seeking. Time to find a place like home.

Though you doubt you'll find it with the hellbent girl, she'd already taught you things you'd never known, shown you places you'd never seen: she may not be the most reliable companion, but you discovered something new with each hour you trudged by her side.

And that was better than repeating the cycle of unspoken scorn back at camp. At least for now.

A deafening gunshot ricochets through the sky; reverberating through the building, rumbling the floor, disrupting the stillness of the vacant hospital. You pause where you were rummaging through a squeaky laboratory cabinet, fear seizing your heart. You stagger clumsily up to your feet and rush to the closed door, peaking out through the sliver of zagged glass.

Ellie had been gone for over an hour. Time had slipped like refined silk through your fingers; she should've been back by now, and you should've noticed earlier. What if the Seraphites had sniffed out your trail and followed you here?

Anxiety creeps in, lodging icily in your chest, fizzing like half-melted frost. You should be there, fending them off alongside her. What if she dies, or gets bit, and you have no way of getting back to your brother?

Flashes of her, doused in crimson and death glinting iniquitously in her wan eyes, easily, remorselessly moving through the motions of murder after murder, filter through your mind. Quickly dissolving any apprehension and concern you had for her.

You had an eery suspicion she wasn't on the receiving end of that gunshot.

A slight smile subconsciously tugs at your lips as you pocket the vial of mystery liquid you found and withdraw your blade, hazardously peeling the door open, the hinges screeching even at your deliberate slowness. You wince at the splitting noise, glancing down both ends of the long, empty hallway.

Another gunshot rents the muggy afternoon air, followed shortly by another. You can't precisely pinpoint the distance of the sound, but it must not be far, for a bird perched on the glass-littered windowsill flocks away with a loud, disgruntled chirp.

You sheathe your knife and instead scoop up your shotgun from where you'd leaned it on the wall, doing another cautionary sweep of the floor you were on. As expected, it was free of any infected or Seraphites.

You're about to do a second clearing of the abandoned surgery room when the main double doors to the floor boom open thunderously, sending you reeling back, fumbling to aim your gun at the intrusion.

Ellie hovers there, chest heaving with her strained breaths, her eyebrows furrowed as she surveys you with faint recognition in her eyes.

"Jesus, Ellie!" You curse through barred teeth, glowering, dropping your aim to the tarnished concrete floor. "You scared the shit out of me!"

She sniffles, blinking lethargically, smearing the faint spatter of blood off her gleaming forehead. "Sorry," she mumbles noncommittally, smoothly sliding her blood-tainted crowbar into her backpack from over her shoulder.

"You okay? Was that gunshots I heard?" You press unapologetically, taking a couple hesitant half-steps toward her, your eyebrows crinkled in concern as you analyze her from head to toe. She's unharmed, save for a variety of new bruises budding on her face.

"Yeah. A couple infected," she states vaguely, sniffling sharply, hurriedly rushing by. The gust of her forceful strides feathers the hair out of your face, and you stumble over your feet as you march after her.

"Only a few? That's good." You pry bleakly, airily, her impressive muscles straining against her shirt. Her dusty, dark-washed jeans accentuate her legs and ass as she strides with purpose toward the rows of deteriorating rooms.

You swallow harshly and avert your straying attention upward, her loosening half-bun bouncing with her movements. "Yeah," she replies absently.

Silence.

After a moment she clears her throat, coming to an abrupt stop; you nearly collide into her back, gripping her waist to stabilize yourself.

"Sorry!" You squeak, nervously snapping your hand away, the pads of your fingers tingling from where they'd touched her. Your cheeks heat coyly as she flashes you a haughty, knowing smirk.

"The rooms upstairs are in decent condition. There's beds and stuff. We should settle there for the night." She says, her head canted to examine the view from one of the expansive, glassless windows, the dewy sun gradually dipping below the horizon.

"Sounds good to me," you chime, offering a meek smile, watching the sunlight enhance the streams of deep, pacific-blue splitting through her crystalline irises.

Her eyes steadily settle back on you. You have to physically resist the urge to bawk at her acute, engrossing stare, your smile strengthening sheepishly.

She visibly suppresses the careful smile blooming on her own lips, her mouth twitching, before she gulps and swivels back around, declaring a simple, "Get all your shit and meet me upstairs."

You stick your tongue out at her back and oblige.

ᖭི༏ᖫྀ ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

The twinkling stars glisten beyond the grimy window emphatically, brightly. The moon's a beaming cuticle crescent, hanging low, the caverns and craters glaringly illuminated by its intense glow. The hollow, desolate buildings sit eerily across the idle city, creaking stridently with the breeze.

Back at the farmhouse in Ohio— the one with the peeling, floral, yellow-wallpapered walls and splintered mahogany stairs; your childhood home— your mother used to creep into you and your brothers shared room, sandwich herself between your already cloistered bodies on the dingy mattress, and envelop each of you with a tattooed arm.

In which both of you would groggily nestle in close, already hanging onto every word about to flea from her lips.

Every night, she'd tell you about the world before it was upturned; before the pandemic swept in.

But specifically, she'd always veer back to the sky. How much it changed since death waged a war over the earth and ultimately claimed a brutal victory.

Her voice direct and soft, she always pointed lazily out the window and lulled wistfully, "See the stars? How close they feel? How bright they are?" and when you'd both nod wearily against the gentle thrumming of her heart, she'd say, "That's the one thing I like better than I did before. Before, the city lights were so bright, you could barely make out the stars through the pollution. Now, they look like they're in reach."

She'd ruefully, dreamily extend her fingers, urging you to mime her, and trace the shapes of the stars, you and Zander following suit, chuckling.

"And having you guys," she'd add swiftly, rubbing maternal, alleviating circles into your arms, glancing at each of you with a doting smile. "If the world hadn't ended, I wouldn't have met your daddy, Zan. Then I wouldn't have you or your sister." She'd smile solemnly at the thought and peck each of you on the cheek before squirming out from under you and sneaking off the bed, where you were already dozing off.

There was always a bright, gentle smile plastered to her lips as she reminisced on the luxuries and simple complexities of life back then. You and Zander couldn't help but smile, too, at the thought of what life could've been like.

After, she'd study your sleeping faces before inching out of the room and down the boisterous, exposing stairs and outside. To where your dad was keeping watch. Your dad was always outside, stationed on the porch, shotgun propped against his leg, whiskey in his bandaged hand. She'd curl up on his lap and kiss his face numb, fall asleep there as he scanned for any wandering infected or worse; heartless scavengers.

His hand was always bandaged. Always.

Zander told you once that before you were ever born, and shortly after his mothers death, him and your dad were trekking through an overgrown ice rank when a clicker sprung on him unexpectedly— and shredded a thick, gnarly chunk out of his hand, tendons and all.

He said he'd seen it all happen with his very eyes; saw the venom of the bite fissure and bubble against his blood, saw it solidify into the scars on his skin.

But he never got sick.

Ever.

You assume it was just another drunken lie, a story he'd fabricated, a creativity he'd inherited from your mom.

Especially after he got infected on a raid; went rabid and frothing at the mouth, growling pleadingly for your mother just to shoot him.

But she'd been bitten too.

And instead of pulling the trigger, they'd ripped each others throats out, ate down to the bone, clawed one another into unsalvageable, gory pieces. They'd devoured each other. So violently and grotesquely that neither of them even fully turned; the cordyceps withered and died before they could even officially transition, because there was scarcely a scrap left for them to feed on.

A small part of you found solace in the notion that they were dead, as opposed to walking deadly among the living. You felt at peace knowing that if there's an afterlife, they were there together.

Zander didn't share that sentiment.

He was the one who found them. Jumbled, tethered shreds of chewed flesh, heaps of bones, two rotting, skinless heads. He'd only been able to identify the remains because of the torn layer of your mothers tattooed skin and the detached, scarred hand of your father.

He returned to the camp you had set up, where you were perched impatiently by the dimming fire, encompassed by two young men and a little boy your parents fostered on the expedition through Illinois. The men laughed raucously, stirring their canned beans. The little boy repeatedly kicked up a half-deflated soccer ball; the constant thud of his knee against the ball grating your nerves.

The look of pure devastation and horror in Zander's eyes will eternally be seared into your brain; will forever brand your thoughts, claim your nightmares. He didn't have to say anything; couldn't say anything, his jaw clenched so tight, he fractured a tooth and his gums started bleeding.

You were only fifteen at the time. He'd strolled right past your heaving, seizing frame, where you'd fell onto the ground and unleashed blood-curdling screams, until you vomited all over the frost-tipped grass. The men rushed over to you, hollering, shaking you fervently, the little boy hovering a safe distance back in tactile fear, ball weakly tucked under his arm.

None of them checked on Zander, who'd sealed himself off in your shared tent. To this day you curse them for that; even though rationally, they were clearly terrified, bewildered by your outburst, having not witnessed what passed between you and your brother.

It wasn't until a deep, petrifying scream of fatal agony split through the smoke-hazed sky, that the men released you and dashed for his tent.

You were lucky enough not to see the outcome of your parents brutal death.

But the luck must've ran out. It must've thought it let you off too easy.

For when they hurriedly unzipped the tent, you had an unobstructed view of what knelt inside; Zander, two blades protruding from the holes where his eyes used to be, gallons of blood pouring down his cheeks, drenching his shirt a red so deep it was nearly black.

The world went silent, a high-pitched ringing cleaving your skull. No noise escaped his open, blubbering mouth, where he projected chunky bits of blood and flim. The little boy rightfully scampered off, and you never did end up finding him.

There's a featherlight knock on the door to your chosen room and you're thrown from the trenches of your harrowing memories. You blink harshly, hot tears slithering down your cheeks, as you tighten your grasp on Baby the blue bear.

It was Zander's old baby bear; a faded, graying blue bear, missing a beaded eye, the ears crinkled and sullied from drool. The droopy stomach stitched and partially hollow from all the stuffing it's lost over the past twenty years.

He'd passed it down to you for your sixth birthday, claiming that he, twelve years old, was a man, and it was time for who was once named 'Barney' the blue bear to belong to someone who could love him. He'd seen how you'd enviously pined after Barney, the way you'd watched curiously as he tucked Barney into bed next to him at night. Most mornings, Zander would wake to you snuggling the blue bear. You never had a childhood object of your own to latch onto as you slept.

You always only had your brother.

He let you rename him to make him your own, and you chose Baby. That was always how your mom and dad addressed you; never by your name, and it filled you with immense joy. You thought it would make him happy, too.

For Zander's birthday a few years ago, you tried to gift Baby the blue bear back to him as a playful joke, as he was turning twenty-one and you thought he would find humor in marking adulthood with his old childhood friend.

Instead, he'd ran his fingers over the fraying bear, felt the groove of its missing eye, and slammed him to the ground, storming away without another word.

You're embarrassed to admit you waste substantial bag space to store the blue bear. But it's times like these, where you're separated from Zander and far from safety as you know it, that you're glad you kept him around.

Ellie says your name. Cautiously, like you'd call a stray cat, unsure if it will lunge an attack or roll over and bear you its belly.

You jolt, whipping around, finding her lingering a few feet away, her hand extended as if she were reaching to touch you. Her eyes dart to the bear clutched frightfully to your chest and back to your tear-slicked face.

"Is that a teddy bear?" She cocks a brow, her tone jesting and nonjudgemental despite the disbelieving look on her face.

You sniffle and aggressively swivel away, scowling at her in the reflection of the window. "It's my brothers," you say defensively, embracing him in your lap, resting him on your crossed legs.

"How old is your brother again?" She muses, the mild humor growing in her tone as you glare daggers at her. "Right. Anyways," she expels a huffy laugh, tossing her hands up in surrender as your glower sharpens.

She continues, unaffected by your irritated stare. "I found a heater in my room. There was a generator downstairs, I'm gonna try to kick that shit on. I was gonna ask you if you could stand by the heater and tell me if it works while I pump it."

You wipe the snot off the tip of your nose, humming and nodding softly in agreement, hopping off the disjointed hospital bed, your socks thumping into the concrete. You lay Baby down on top of the debris-flaked sheet and trail after Ellie, as she'd already whisked out of the room before you'd even responded.

"I'll run down there real quick, just yell if anything happens, okay?" She instructs swiftly, and you nod, slipping into the room next to yours, where she was staying.

The room was impressively put together compared to the others; a pair of white sheers dangled from the crooked overhead railing. There was no mobile hospital bed, just a full-sized mattress strewn across the middle of the floor. A rusted, transportable heater resting on the rubble of a broken nightstand.

You waltz over and plug the knotted cord into the collapsing outlet, bouncing on your heels as you watch it sit there, unmoving. You decide to move it off the debris, tugging it off the splintered wood, grunting at the unexpected heaviness.

A few minutes pass before a frail fluorescent light flickers on from the hallway; followed by the sputtering of the heater, before an orange light flashes on and a wave of dusty heat gutters out, blasting you in the face.

"Oh! Oh, Ellie, it's working!" You shriek in surprise and triumph, jumping up and down giddily, clapping your cold hands in delight. You scamper to the door and scream out, "It's working!"

You cough and bat the swirling plumes of dust out of the air, squinting and smiling to yourself. Ellie rushes in, a hint of relief blooming on her face. "I saw the lights come on," she informs breathily, saddling up beside you, warming her chapped hands in front of the musty heater.

You mimic her, reaching out your hands, turning them over, making sure the heat reaches every crevice. "This room is in pretty good shape," you tell her, examining the dull, cracked painting of a golden pathos mounted to the wall, the old box television face down on a pallet of wood. It looks like it was likely rehabilitated but shortly abandoned.

"Yeah," she huffs, a weak display of laughter, wriggling her tense fingers. "I'll take the other room, so you can have the heat."

"How chivalrous," you giggle, rolling your eyes humorously. She flushes at the joke, her cheeks rosy beneath the smattering of freckles. "You aren't trading me, dummy. We'll share the room."

"Are you sure?" She blurts quickly, her eyebrows elevated in befuddlement.

You provide her a warm smile. "Of course. If that's okay with you...?"

"Yes!" she exclaims brazenly, clearing her throat in mortification at the volume and urgency in which she agreed. "I meant, yeah. Cool."

You chuckle openly at her humiliation. "I've always wanted to have a sleepover!" You babble in exhilaration, hoping to quell her discomfort.

"Yay," she deadpans, monotone, though there's still that particle of a smile as she watches you skip out of the room, heading back to collect your belongings.

ᖭི༏ᖫྀ ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

It takes an hour of cleaning up before the two of you are ready to settle for the night. She swept shards of glass off the floor, depositing them out the window, letting them rain down in a series of echoing shatters. You wandered the dimly-illuminated hall and collected the cleanest blanket you could find, beating the sheet against the air, dust and drywall flaking off.

You and Ellie worked together to drape it over the mattress, deigning to lay atop of it as not to touch the drying blood blemishing it. She wordlessly claims the right side, the side nearest the window, as she stands by it and begins to undress.

She shucks off her collared, unbuttoned shirt, unveiling her filthy, once white tanktop. You catch yourself staring intently as she releases her hair of the bun, short, choppy brown waves of hair flowing down the length of her neck. She kicks off her grubby, tearing Converse' and turns to face you.

Her eyes flit over yours for only a millisecond before you're dropping your gaze, clumsily peeling off your jacket and heedlessly tossing it to the floor by your boots.

Ellie reclines on the mattress, crossing her ankles, resting her head on one arm, closing her eyes briefly. You leave her to rest as you crouch down and pillage through your backpack, extracting Baby from where you'd shamefully shoved him back inside after getting caught cradling him.

You twist back around, jolting when you catch Ellie staring down at you from the length of her nose. You languidly, hesitantly, crawl across the mattress, training your eyes on hers as you plop down on the empty spot next to her.

You immediately realize how small the bed is.

Your sides are essentially conjoined; forearms brushing with each breath, legs resting up against one another, as both of you lay there in silence. Neither of you try to sleep. You analyze the ceiling, the pipes and wires suspended from the exposed plywood. Holding your breath each time she incidentally grazes you, warmth flaring in your belly at the whisper of a caress.

You feel a puddle of sweat accumulate against your back, grease your forehead, dampen your skin. You're not sure if it's from the heater or the awareness of her body flush with yours that's making you hot.

You squirm in discomfort, stretching a leg off the mattress, unbuttoning your jeans. Ellie's head snaps over at the movement skittishly, as if jarred by you moving as opposed to only bristling.

You angle your head to face her, smiling sleepily as you leisurely undo each button. "S'it okay if I take these off?"

She swallows. Watches your hand undo the final button, before dipping into the waistband, lifting your ass off the mattress and slowly wriggling them down. Her fingers twitch at her side, tickling your thigh— you shudder, nibbling your bottom lip in concentration at the ghost of her touch, staring into her eyes, the intimacy of your nearness emboldening you.

"Go ahead," she blurts suddenly, chagrinly, fully flipping over onto her side and away from you.

You kick your wrinkled jeans onto the floor, rolling over to face her back, your breaths fanning the nape of her neck. Her shoulders and back heave with each forced, deliberate breath. You count the tiny moles pocking her neck and revealed shoulder, fearing that you had misread the unspoken.

You'd seen how she's been looking at you.

Every time you demanded yourself to extract your attention off of her, you could feel her penetrative eyes in your periphery, could feel them roving you over in a thorough, self-serving inspection. Meticulously eyeing you up and down, as if committing your image to memory, retaining the curves of your body and the makings of your features.

Like the other morning in the pond, when she took you in with torturous precision, the sensation of her carving eyes branding you in phantom proprietary marks. You could still feel the heat of her stare in all the places she'd touched you with her eyes.

She devoured the sight of you like a predator observes it's prey; ravenous but patient. Thirsting for blood, but fiending for the hunt.

There was definitely attraction on your end. She's the scariest but most beautiful thing you've ever seen; a treasure trove beaming with riches and thrumming with traps. She's like an avalanche, the snow is iridescent and glittering under the sun but it's also hurtling at you at a deadly pace.

You thought the attraction was reciprocated from the impact you had on her just by teasingly flirting; she'd flush and awkwardly spin away to shield the embarrassment creeping onto her face. Maybe it was just making her uncomfortable, not flustered.

Your eyes begin burning with exhaustion, the fatigue causing your eyes to droop, your galloping heart rate steadying— when Ellie's voice cuts raggedly through the silence.

"What about your brother?"

"Hm?" You question drearily, shifting, your lips nearly pressed to her shoulder. "What about him?"

"Isn't he expecting you?"

"Huh?" You bleat, flinching when she whips back around, tucking her arms beneath her head as she studies your face. There's only a few, precarious inches separating you.

"You said you were traveling with your brother," she utters, glancing down at Baby, compressed between your sweat-sleeked bodies, your only true barrier.

At that, she lifts him off the mattress, admiring him plainly, before setting him down above your heads and imperceptibly inching her hips closer.

"Yeah," you reply, fumbling for the lie you'd construed, taking it by the ends and tying it into an intricate bow. It's difficult to focus when you're only inches apart, her even breaths tickling your lips, her eyes attentive and abutting. "We have a camp. Not too far from that old house. He's not expecting me to come back for another few days. I told him I'd be gone awhile."

"Mm. He must still be worried about you, hm?" Her voice is husky and low as she drawls the words tiredly, blinking at you slowly, your lashes nearly chafing.

"Maybe. Or he can sense that I'm in good hands," you mutter teasingly, flashing her a coy smile when she seems to liven up at the insinuation.

"Yeah?" She murmurs, eyes flickering over your face, evaluating for any sincerity.

Your heart threatens to burst out of your chest at her nearness, her raspy voice. You nod timidly and hum a simpering, "mhm."

She pensively wets her lips and your eyes absently trail the movement of her tongue. You feel yourself gravitating closer to her, your bare thigh hiked up against the rough surface of her jeans, your pelvis aligned with her thigh, your lips a breathscape apart.

"Ellie?" You whisper gently.

She smiles grimly. Your name drawls from her lips in a deep, devastatingly soft rumble, the pads of her cold, calloused fingers dubiously coming up to brush your cheek. "You're so pretty."

A light, delicate gasp bursts unexpectedly out of you at her cool touch, your eyes fluttering shut. The praise sends a shiver up your spine. Her thumb unfurls to trace the shape of your lip.

"Look at me," she mumbles, and you obey, the unannounced authority in her gentle command sending your eyes snapping back open.

Her pupils are dilated, darkness infiltrating her tantalizing eyes. She runs her rough fingers contemplatively down the curve of your bottom lip, dragging it out in fascination.

You blindly part your lips for her access, humming in delight when she takes the right of passage, easing her thumb past your welcoming lips.

She inhales sharply as you draw your tongue across the crease of her thumb, sealing your lips around her knuckle.

"Jesus fucking christ," she breathes in awe, her fingers firmly clasping your chin as she indulgently thrusts her thumb in and out, watching it disappear into your plush mouth.

Her free hand slithers up the hem of your cami. Following the dip of your waist. Diligently gliding down and spanning over the curve of your hip, roaming to your backside. She cups your ass, suddenly steering you closer, the force behind her claiming touch igniting a deep-rooted flame of desire within you.

Your responding whimper is muffled against her thumb, and she chuckles darkly, slipping it out. A lecherous string of saliva bridges from your lips to her thumb. She considers it for a moment before taking it into her mouth, sucking it clean of your spit, her cheeks hollowed and eyes lust-filled as she gazed back at you.

"Ellie," you repeat gutturally, her name departing from your lips in a desperate whimper as she torments you with her slothful, patient movements.

She removes her thumb from her mouth with a potent pop. "Come here," she directs, greedily snatching your face into her hands, hungrily slamming her lips into yours.

The kiss was addictively electrifying. Lightening seared through your body in lascivious bolts, kindling warmly in your belly, as you feathered your fingers through her auburn hair in a fruitless attempt of fusing her into you. You match the dire intensity of her lips, duplicate it, eagerly inviting her tongue into your wanting mouth.

You carefully ascend off the mattress, sitting up, your lips never detaching, hands never abandoning one another; roving each other fervently, as if the other will evaporate if not constantly palpable in each others hands.

You lift a leg and straddle one of her thighs, cautiously hovering over her, not wanting to bombard her; though your pussy was pulsating, reflexively bucking in the air, craving pressure. Ellie must sense this, for she viciously seizes your hips and forces you to fully bear your weight down, a groan of pleasure rumbling from her lips, vibrating against yours.

You mewl, gently sinking your teeth into her bottom lip, nibbling sensually, before drawing it out. She huffs in surprise, arching off the bed to follow your lips, one arm propping her up, the other gleaning up your waist, holding you in place, her tattoo stark against your pliant skin.

She begins grinding her knee up and you squeak out a stunned moan, your lips unlocking from hers in a carnally sticky pop as you throw your head back at the delicious sensation of her jeans against your wet pussy. "Fuck," you pant out, giggling, planting your trembling hands on her flexing shoulders. "That feels so good."

She grips your hips assertively, guiding you into a grinding rhythm against her thigh, another whimper fleeing you from the friction.

"Yeah?" she mutters, and you nod robustly, crashing your slick forehead into hers, breathing into her open mouth.

"Yeah," you reply airily, shortening your jumbled response with another kiss to her lips.

The sensation was blissful and new; you were inexperienced save for the few times you'd played with yourself when you got a rare spout of privacy, and the time you jerked off a man you were traveling with when you were sixteen.

You'd never felt anything like this before; the way your skin erupts with goosebumps in the wake of her touch, the way your lips tingle with desire, the puddle pooling in your panties at the unfamiliar, pleasurable pressure building in your clit.

You instinctively increase your pace at the mounting pleasure, bucking your hips wildly, sloppily, threading your fingers through her hair and deepening the kiss. She delicately pulls away, sweeping her veiny hands up the length of your bare back, hiking your shirt up.

You pause and wordlessly lift your arms. She smiles roguishly, masterfully peeling it over your head, the static tousling your hair. She tosses it to the side without regard, her mouth agape as she admired your puckered nipples.

"Fuck," she seethes in disbelief, grounding the curse through gritted teeth, winding her hands up your stomach to ardently palm them in her hands. You moan as her thumbs tweak your hardened nipples, massaging expertly, another labored "fuck" exiting her watering mouth as she stares intently at your exposed breasts.

"You like that?" You taunt with a dreary, blissful smile, resuming your thrusts against her thigh as she nods, quickly engulfing an arm around your waist and pulling herself up to level her mouth with one of your breasts.

She peers up at you questioningly from beneath stern eyebrows, her eyes captivating and tainted with need. You nod feverishly, the exhilaration and desperation for her holding you hostage, held at gunpoint by your ripened desire.

She wastes no time latching her lips around your aching nipple, the feeling of her hot tongue sending you arching back, a raw, animalistic sound shredding from you. "Ellie, please," you breathe, unsure of precisely what you're begging for. More? More of her. More of her tongue. More of her hands?

Yes. All of the above.

"What do you want?" Ellie demands, one of your tits in her hand, the other slick with her saliva as she vigorously kisses up your sternum, nipping at your collarbone, dragging her tongue up your throat, your sweat relinquishing bitterly on her tongue.

You cradle her head, stroking her hair, angling your neck to allow her better access as she plants ticklish kisses along your pulse. "You. I want you," you plead gratingly.

You can't believe this is happening. That the girl who'd killed dozens without remorse or pause was the same girl touching you now, with bloodstained hands.

And you can't believe that you loved it.

She must share your disbelief, for she pulls away soberly, her eyes glowing with lucidity, clearer than before, when lust-muddled. They flicker between yours searchingly. "Are you sure?"

You graze your knuckles down her face in a smooth caress, looking down at her. "Yes," you assure with a loose smile, basking in the way she closes her eyes in comfort at your gentle touch.

She lingers like this, eyes shut, cheek resting in your hand, her breaths labored. Long enough for you to start worrying that she regrets what the two of you had started to do.

Those creeping fears slither back to their enclosures when she grips your thighs, suavely flipping you over and onto your back, your legs spreading around her waist, your thighs in her arms.

You hiccup on your breath at the swift, abrasive motion. Her hands clasped around your thighs; your legs bared for her, revealing to her the damp spot blossoming on your panties.

"Is this for me?" She teases, running a finger over the top of your panties, the featherlight touch making you squirm. "That's a good girl."

You nod sheepishly, your cheeks heating in humiliation as she snickers and slowly, promisingly, tugs them down, heedlessly shucking them over her shoulder.

"You're so fucking wet for me," she states quietly, prying your legs apart further, examining your pussy, soaked and constricting at the wicked gleam of satisfaction on her face. "I need to taste you."

Holy fuck.

All you can do is nod passionately in agreement, your heart drumming so thunderously, it's nearly twinging in agony, your pussy screaming to be appeased.

She inches back, hoisting your legs over her shoulders in the process, lowering herself down to meet your cunt. She's kneeling on the ground now, at the foot of the mattress, her breaths fanning detrimentally over your slick cunt, the faint contact making your legs snap shut— or try to.

Ellie grunts in disapproval, wedging your thighs back apart, eyeing her feast, hunger dwindling in her eyes, as if she didn't know she was starving before she had the meal laid out before her.

She uses her fingers to part your wet lips before diving in, licking a thick stripe along your entrance, gathering your juices and dragging her tongue to your pulsating clit. You unleash a heinous, strangled moan at the sensation, as she prods and suckles your bundle of nerves.

You uncontrollably writhe into the strokes of her tongue, chasing the escalating pleasure, the tension in your body coiling as she sucks and slurps with exuberance, devouring you.

She hums richly, smoothing her hand over your stomach, forcing your hips onto the bed. She thrusts her tongue into your entrance, maneuvering around your clit, swirling it along your folds, not leaving an inch of you untouched. You shakily rake your fingers through her hair, your breaths coming out in disjointed bursts, face twisting in pure pleasure.

You didn't know how it could get any better than this.

Until her finger prods your slick entrance, massaging it gently, her lips unabashedly sucking your clit as she delicately eases her finger into you, your tight walls stretching and expanding to welcome her.

"Oh my god!" You yelp at the invasion, pain and pleasure coinciding, as she leisurely inched her full index finger into you, curling it inside. You moan wantonly as it plucks a sensitive spot within you, your hips bucking up primally on command.

"Just like that," she declares, her words muffled by your pussy, nearly incoherent beneath the sound of her tongue lapping up your juices, her finger disappearing into your cunt. "Just like that, baby. Fuck my fingers."

At that, she slowly slips in a second one, the pleasure overshadowing the pain, now, as you squint down at the sight of her, burrowed between your thighs, ravenously licking and sucking, her tattooed arm dripping in your juices as she curls her digits in and out of you skillfully.

Her method of hunting seems to bleed into other aspects of her life; she's relentless with her prey, doing what needs to be done, whether it be to kill them or to make them come undone.

You can feel yourself begin to unravel at the seams; your body convulsing with your impending orgasm, teetering so close to the edge you're already halfway dangling off. "I- I think I'm—" you cry out, straining off the bed, clamping your thighs around her head. "I'm gonna—"

She removes her lips and fingers from you altogether. You whimper in protest, desperately shifting your hips into the air, begging for contact, your now fading high lost.

Ellie's lips gleam with your juices as she grins depravedly. "Not yet."

You frown somberly, even as she ascends to her knees between your legs, hovering over you, her mussed brown hair draping across her cruelly amused face. She plants a hand on the side of your head, fiddling with the button of her jeans, leaning in to press another kiss to your pouting lips— when a high-pitched scream shreds through the otherwise quiet air.

Ellie efficiently clasps her slippery hand over your mouth before you can bleat out the noise of befuddlement at the tip of your tongue. Her head is snapped toward the barricaded door, body eerily still, even her previously labored breathing completely silent.

She meets your wide, apprehensive eyes with a steady stare. "Shh," she says softly, as she hesitantly peels her hand off of your mouth.

She creeps off of the mattress stealthily, crouching, as she half-hazardously drapes the sheet over your bare figure. She shrugs on her stained collared shirt over her damp tanktop, tugging on one of her converse. You scramble to assist her, rapidly tying her shoe as she slipped on the other one.

Once you were finished, you fumbled for your top and panties, hugging the sheet to your chest, that paralyzing scream an ice bucket dousing the fire of your arousel. Now all you felt was dread, and faintly foolish, like you were senseless for actually believing for one second that you could just... let go. Forget about the horrors.

You're gracelessly yanking on your top when Ellie halts you with a hand, giving your shoulder a brisk squeeze. "You stay here. I'll go check it out." She's donning her baggy, brown leather coat, backpack already slung over her shoulder, loaded shotgun in hand.

"No. I'm coming with you." You scoff in objection, tugging on your underwear, crawling toward your backpack.

She strokes her palm across the bend of your protruding ass. "Come on. Please just stay here, alright?" She announces exasperatedly, defeatedly, shrugging a lame shoulder when you toss her an agitated look.

"Why? Why can't I come with you?" You demand, brows furrowed, as you stumble to your feet weakly— your thighs wet and quavering— and shove your feet inelegantly through your jeans.

"Stop— stop." She grips your wrist belligerently, growling the order, her earnest face looming close to yours.

"I don't want you to go alone!" you plead skittishly, anxiously chewing your lip, gesturing animatedly with your hands.

Ellie straightens at your admission, clearing her throat, pink blooming on her cheeks. As if her lips weren't still shimmering vulgarly with your juices; as if she hadn't just nearly eaten your pussy to climax. Her hair disheveled from where your fingers had clawed through it.

"You should keep watch from the window. That scream likely just drew all sorts of shit from the dark. Make sure nothing gets in this building, okay?" She instructs calmly, her scarred lip twitching as she glances toward the door, which you'd blockaded with a dresser. "I'll go check out the noise and come right back."

You consider intensively before grudgingly agreeing with a nod. "Fine," you remark sharply, strutting over to the dresser, where she stumbles after you in surprise of your compliance. You know she just wants to get away from you. Again.

This time, there's more substance to it, more of a sting. The last time she'd rushed away from you you'd taken it less personally; it was alcohol on a paper-cut, as opposed to alcohol on a gaping wound.

You avoid her gaze as you take the left side of the dresser, her taking the right, shoving it away from the door with a loud shrill against the scuffed floor.

You walk away mutely once it's done, wriggling your jeans back up as you pursue your own gun, buttoning them hastily and scooping it up, striding over the mattress and toward the window. You unlatch the expansive glass and aggressively slide it open, requiring more strength due to the rust.

The frigid breeze cascades through the window, your tousled hair billowing with the wind, cheeks instantly tingling at the chill. You prop your forearms on the mucky windowsill, gun in hand, the stars glimmering vibrantly. The air cooling your sweaty skin.

You can sense Ellie's lingering presence in the room, her shifts from side to side creaking the floorboards. You disregard her, closing your eyes, embracing the fresh air, the rustle of the vines coursing up the outer brick of the building.

She eventually clears her throat. "I'll be right back," she announces, reaching for the doorknob, her gaze still burning through your back.

"Okay."

She falters. In the reflection of the glass, her mouth flounders open and closed, something akin to guilt contorting her face. "Be careful," she chooses to say, the door screeching as she shoves it open, glancing at you conclusively from over her shoulder.

"Bye." You respond blandly, not breaking your concentration from the sky.

"Seal the door back up behind me." She demands while departing, not sparing a glance.

Once the door hisses and seals shut, you allow yourself to sink to the ground, your stomach churning with unease. Both because you feared the source of that scream, and because Ellie had just made you feel things you never could've imagined. And now that you've been shown a glimpse of your primal side, you don't know if you'll ever be able to revert back.

You only hover at the window for a few minutes before sealing it back up, retiring your gun back to its original position. You muster all your might to push the dresser back in front of the door.

Once done, you slink back into bed, the room chilled enough now that even with the heater you can comfortably slip underneath the sheet without overheating. You brace your sleep-heavy head on your arms and face the door, waiting for Ellie to return.

Or at least that was the original plan. You don't know how it happened; the exhaustion must've outweighed your concern, for you passed out shortly after laying down, the abyss of sleep consuming you.

You startle awake the next morning, lurching up with a jolt. The sun streams gently through the sheer, white drapes, particles of dust glistening in the dense air.

The first thing you notice is the lack of Ellie.

Her backpack is gone. The heater is off. The dresser is pressed up against the wall; the door ajar. A morning bird chirps from the receptionist desk outside the room.

You swivel to face her side of the bed in alarm, as if you'd magically just missed her laying there, only for it to be empty.

Except it's not totally empty.

The blue bear lays in her stead, carefully splayed across her spot, his fading blue skin clear-cut against the patch of dried blood soiling the mattress.

133 notes · View notes

burrowbaddie · 2 years

Text

Selfish

Joe Burrow x Female Reader

Series Summary: Childhood friends to lovers to nothing. You and Joe had history, you were each others first and then you were nothing. Years later, you guys rekindle the flame but with more obstacles in the way this time.

Chapter 2 Summary: You and Joe decide it’s time to be selfish.

Word Count: 7.2k

Warnings: Afab!reader, smut, swearing. Oral (female & male receiving), vaginal fingering, penetrative sex, vaginal sex, unprotected sex, cheating! (You are the side girl, sorry.), mild violence (small fight scene).

Series Masterlist

Joe flips through the photos while you pace your kitchen. He places the pictures down with a long sigh.

"Maybe someone is just being funny."

"Joseph, nothing about this is funny. They know where I live. They personally dropped this off."

"What do you want me to do? I hire a bodyguard and-"

"No. That will draw more attention. I don't know. If this gets out-"

"Cheeks, look at me. I won't let anything happen to you. I will find out who did this. They have nothing here."

"They have a photo of us kissing. You're publicly dating everyone's favorite news anchor. If this gets out, I will be the one whose name gets dragged through the mud. Not yours and not Nicole's. You said you would break up with her."

"And I am. Her mother is really sick. I don't want to be an asshole." Joe takes a deep breath realizing how that sounds right now. He pulls you in a hug and kisses your forehead.

"We should stop. This isn't good."

Joe doesn't let you go. He knows it's wrong, and he knows he should end the affair, but Joe doesn't want to lose you again. He won't.

"We will figure it out."

"You should go. I'll call you later. I have to do this thing with my mom and about Thanksgiving. Just forget I asked. My dad will understand."

"Stop. I'll come. Remember how we used to spend Thanksgiving: my family and your family? Game boards and watching our dads argue over a simple game." Joe kisses your lips and grabs his keys, leaving you to your thoughts. Mya comes over a few hours later to cheer you up. You have no one to confide in right now, and you're close to spilling everything to her. She hands you a glass of wine.

"Talk to me. I can see the wheels turning in that big head of yours."

"I'm in love with some I cannot have." You confess.

"Why not? You're a gorgeous independent woman; what idiot wouldn't want you?" Mya laughs, throwing her head back. You stare into the glass of red wine.

"He has a girlfriend."

"Oh. OH!" Mya puts her glass down and turns her complete attention to you. You're about to gush on everything when her phone rings. Mya groans and grabs it, answering a call from her mother. You down your glass and pour another glass while waiting. Mya returns, jumping down on the couch and smiling.

"He's not married, so I don't see the harm. He's the one in the wrong, not you. It's not your relationship, so who cares." She encourages you to make yourself happy and keep seeing the guy. You met Mya during your first year in residency. She was a couple of years older than you, but she reminded you of Quinn. After a few more glasses and a pep talk, you are feeling yourself. Mya heads to the guest room to sleep, and you take the time to send Joe risky photos. In recond time, Joe is facetiming you. You fix your robe and sit on your bed.

"Hello, Joey," You grin, holding the phone up, only showing your face.

"Stop playing with me. Put the phone down."

"What?" You can't hold your laughter when you place the phone on the bed. You hear Joe groan, complaining about you. Standing up, you drop your robe to the ground and pick up the phone. This time letting Joe get the full view.

"Fucking hell, Cheeks. I'm not even home right now." Joe groans, rolling his eyes.

"Where are you?"

"Reviewing plays and watching old footage at Tee's place. Half of me is ready to leave so I can fuck-"

"Yo J, we're going to order late-night take out you in?" Ja'Marr calls. Joe mutes his phone and puts it down. You pout and put your robe back on. Joe returns to the phone, frowning.

"I gotta go. This game Sunday is-"

"I get it. Go ahead." You nod your head and end the call without a goodbye. You decide to drink some water, take some pills, and let sleep do the rest. In the morning, you spend a good chunk of the day in bed trying to catch up on the Netflix show "You." Your phone starts ringing, and you see it's a facetime from Quinn.

"Quinn, what's up."

"I can't get married! Like, think of how hot I am. To be tied down but one extremely hot and wealthy man? He is so lucky!" She shouts. You laugh at your friend and sit up in bed.

"He is fortunate to have you."

"Fran told me you and Joe are on speaking terms. I'm glad to hear that. Have you been okay? Sorry, I'm such a shit friend."

"No. Stop. You're busy, and I understand. I am also busy. I'm doing okay. With everything."

Quinn gives you that look, the look of "I know you are lying." look. You take a deep breath.

"I will uninvite him to my wedding," Quinn states, making you laugh again. She always knows how to cheer you up.

"It's fine. Joe is your friend just as much as he is mine. We're okay. I promise."

"I worry about you. I don't want you to spiral down because of that prick."

"You and I both know Joe isn't a prick."

"Hurting my best friend makes anyone a prick. I could use a more vulgar word if you want."

"I'm fine. I swear. And we don't see each other often, so it's okay."

You stay on the phone with Quinn for another hour before hanging up and deciding to visit your parents. Your mom immediately starts nagging you about settling down and giving her grandkids. You have no plans to have children anytime soon. Leaving your mother, you decide to go downstairs and spend time with your dad before dinner.

"Is Joey boy coming to Thanksgiving dinner?"

"He has a girlfriend. I'm sure he will spend it at her house with her family."

"How did you mess that up? You guys were attached at the hip before."

"Dad. We mutually ended things. I wanted my career, and he wanted his."

"I know. But you were sad for a long time. I was really worried about you. I am proud of you—my beautiful little doctor." He kisses your head just as your mother calls for dinnertime. You stay at your parent's house pretty late. When you get home, Joe is sitting on your steps. You unlock the door, and he follows you in. Your mind tells you to kick him out, but when he touches you, your sense dulls, and you become putty in his hands. Joe places you down on the bed and kisses you softly. He whispers how much he loves you with each kiss, starting from your lips and working his way down your body. You pull Joe back up to kiss him—just a simple kiss. Joe starts down at you with some much love in his eyes. You look away and push him off.

"I'm tired." You whisper, wiping your tears. Joe pulls you close to him, and you both drift to sleep. In the morning, while getting ready for work, Joe sits on the bed, watching you with a grin.

"You look so hot in your doctor uniform."

"Joey, it's 4 am. Cool yourself down, boy."

"I can't!" He pouts, turning on the tv. You sit on his lap and kiss his soft lips. Joe sneaks his hand into your pants, slowly rubbing you through your panties. You look down at him, and he is wearing a big smile. Joe uses his index finger to slip past your panties into your drenched folds. You arch your back and moan as he rubs your clit in circles. Your body damn near shuts down when you hear Nicole's voice coming from the tv. All at once, you pull his hand out and stand up, fixing yourself. You can see the large strain on Joe's sweatpants. Joe stands up, adjusts himself in his pants, and turns off the TV, not before sucking on the finger that was just in your cunt. You shudder and walk away. You go your separate ways, and it's hard making it through a long shift when your mind is stuck on this morning. All you can think about is getting off and going home, calling him over to fuck you into oblivion. But that doesn't happen; in fact you and Joe don't see each other until Thanksgiving, when he shows up with his family and his girlfriend.

"It is so nice to meet you. I feel like I'm meeting a celebrity." Your mother gushes over Nicole as you push food around your plate. Joe won't even look your way. He knows how fucked up this is, but Nicole asked to come with the family at the last min. He couldn't say no.

"Pass the mashed potatoes, sweetie." Your dad shouts down to you. You pick it up and pass it to Joe's mom. Joe kicks you gently under the table. You don't look up. You refuse to look up at Joe.

"Omg, Joey babe! Is that a photo of you? Look how little you were, omg!" She points at the photo of you and Joe during your 8th-grade dance.

"Yeah, it was our dance for 8th grade," Joe confirms.

"You guys went together?"

You don't speak, and neither does Joe. Nicole's smile slowly turns into a straight line as she puts things together.

"Did you guys date?" She finally asks. You don't speak. Joe doesn't talk. Your parents look at Joe's parents.

"Freshmen year of college. But they broke up when he went to LSU." Your mother breaks the awkward silence. Joe coughs as Nicole stares at you.

"The best friend that broke your heart. I thought you meant that in a funny way. But I get it now. Bathroom?" Nicole gets up, and your mother takes her to the bathroom. Joe's mother looks at you and then at Joe.

"You didn't tell her you used to date? Joe, that was a bomb. She looked totally caught off guard."

"I'll go talk to her. I didn't think it was important." Joe says, standing up to chase after his girl. You start biting on your lip, trying not to let his words get to you. You're not important; those were his words.

"I have to take this call." You say barely above a whisper. You go to your bedroom and answer the call. Thank the heavens you are on an on-call shift because you are needed at the hospital right now. You say goodbye to everyone except Joe and Nicole. Joe excuses himself from the family game to follow you to your car.

"Hey-"

"Not important." You swing your door open, waiting to hear what he has to say.

"Cheeks, you and I both know I didn't mean it like that."

"Right. Not telling your current girlfriend anything about your ex makes perfect sense. Especially since you're still fucking that said ex." You get in the car, ready to slam the door, but Joe grabs it.

"Stop."

"Everything okay?" Nicole asks, standing on the steps of your parent's house. You look up at Joe, asking him to let go of the door. Joe nods his head and closes your door. You pull out of the driveway, leaving them behind. Nicole crosses her arms, waiting for Joe to speak.

"Let's get home. I'm tired and want to look over some footage." He takes her hand, leading her back inside.

You and Joe avoid each other for the next few weeks, but that stops when you both attend Quinn's New Year's Eve wedding. You smooth out your emerald green satin bridesmaid dress and take a deep breath. The long slit going down the left leg gives little to imagine. Quinn is insane for designing this dress for a wedding. You take a look at the cleavage and shake your head. Insane.

"Quinn, this dress is way too revealing for a wedding. Like my tits are almost popping out."

"That is why it is an adult-only wedding. I wanted my bridesmaids to show some leg show some tits! Be free! Look at my wedding dress! The girls are popping out as well."

You just shake your head and laugh. The door opens to Francis, Quinn's twin brother, and two other bridesmaids.

"Don't you look absolutely stunning?" He pulls you into a hug.

"I told you, you looked amazing. Ladies! The countdown begins." Quinn claps, getting everyone's attention. Your nerves are running a bit crazy because you know Joe will also be here, even though Quinn said she would uninvite him because of you.

"Alright, we have to get going. See you down the aisle." Francis pulls you and the others out of the room. You stand lined up, ready to start the ceremony. The doors open, and it begins. The ceremony is 30 mins long, followed by the reception. You did your best not to make eye contact with Joe during the ceremony, but he now sits directly across from your table during the reception. The best man stands up and makes his speech, and you know you are up next as the maid of honor. You down your drink to give yourself some liquid courage and stand up. Everyone's eyes are now on you, but the only pair that matter are the baby blue eyes piercing your heart.

"I have had the pleasure of knowing Francheska, aka Quinn, for 14 years. We have been through Hell and back. Quinn is the sister I have always wanted. She is always in my corner just as much as I am in hers. Watching her grow into this amazing woman has been my pleasure. Thank you for allowing me to be on this journey with you. Nico, thank you for loving her unconditionally. When you asked me to help you find a ring, I could barely contain my excitement. But I knew she deserved you just like you deserved her. I want to wish both of you happiness and love always. To Quinn and Nico." You raise another glass and toast. Quinn wipes her tears and stands up to hug you.

"That's my best friend. It's so funny because me and Francis always thought it would be her and Joe getting married first. I beat you guys!" Quinn shouts. Joe claps and laughs, and you shy away from the attention. Throughout the night, you are happy people keep Joe busy with conversations. That is until Fran pulls you, Joe, and Quinn, into a private room.

"Sorry, Nicki girl, this is a friend zone. Just the four of us." Quinn says, closing the door on Nicole. You sit on the couch away from Joe, who is leaning against the door. Fran starts pouring shots.

"To us! 14 years later and still hanging strong! One down, three to go! Fran hands out the shots. You clink glasses and throw them back.

"I know Joey can not get plastered, but let's take a few and enjoy this night for me!" Quinn shouts. After three more shots, the guys leave. Quinn grabs your hand as the door closes.

"What's wrong? Are you going to be sick? Last night at the bachelorette party, you seemed spaced out talking to me."

"I've been sleeping with Joe for the last few months. Last month we had a small fight and haven't done anything since. We haven't even talked, but seeing him here again. I feel dizzy."

"I knew it! Fran owes me $20. You know Joe was acting super weird too, but Fran didn't know what was up. This is too good!"

"Quinn, what do I do? He has a girlfriend. He's moved on. It's not fair for me to keep seeing him." You pour another shot, trying to drink yourself into a reason. Quinn hugs you again.

"Talk to him. I'll be back." She leaves, and you sit on the couch; as time passes, you start pacing. When the anxiety is no longer bearable, you grab the bottle and return to the party. Nicole is pinned to Joe's side. There is no way you can grab him to talk, so you force yourself to have fun and forget him. This is your best friend's big day, after all. After many rounds of dancing and drinking, you take a break to use the bathroom. As you're about to close the door, a hand stops it. You stumble back and look up at the man you've been avoiding all night. Joe closes the door locking it behind him. He looks at you up and down, biting his lip. Without another word or second, Joe is scooping you up and kissing you heavily. He sets you on the vanity. Your hands are fumbling with his belt as he kisses on your neck.

"You look so fucking amazing tonight. Do you know how hard it was for me to hold myself back all night?" He whispers against your neck. You successfully get his belt loosened and pants down. Joe easily rips your underwear off and stuffs it into his pocket. You spread your legs allowing Joe to finger fuck you on the sink. Your head hits the mirror as you throw it back, moaning in his ear.

"Please." You beg. You knew both of you didn't have any time to waste. Joe pulls down his briefs, and your mouth practically waters, watching his cock spring out, hitting his stomach. Joe gives your pussy a few taps with the tip, running it up and down your slits to get natural lubricant. When he slides in you, try everything to suppress your moans.

"Don't do that. It's fine. No one can hear us. I want to hear those pretty noises you make for me, Cheeks." He groans in your ear. Your walls break, and you're giving Joe exactly want he wants. You a complete mess, moaning and crying out his name. His thrusts speed up as he battles his wall. You're cumming, unable to hold back anymore.

"Don't stop," You cry out, holding on to Joe for dear life. Joe had no plans to stop. His head was buried in your neck as he continued to give you deep and long strokes fucking you through your orgasm. And when it's Joe's turn to cum, he doesn't bother pulling out, emptying every last drop into you. Sweaty, breathing, heavy, and in pure bliss, you start a clumsy messy make-out session.

"I missed you so much." Joe pulls away and cups your face. You look up at him softly, nodding your head. Joe kisses you again on the lips, then your forehead.

"Hey! I need to pee!" A guest bangs on the door. Joe helps you down and regain your balance. Both of you quickly freshen up and leave the bathroom. Joe follows you into the room from earlier. He sits you on his lap and begins rubbing your leg.

"I'm going to break things off with Nicole. I know I keep saying it, but I am this time. I just want to know where that will leave us." Joe looks up at you with puppy eyes. You kiss his lips.

"Joey, I've never stopped loving you. I want to be with you again."

"I'll work things out. Can I see you when we get back home?"

"Of course." You smile into the kiss. Joe lays you down on the couch and begins feeling your body up and down. He's holding back this time because if he doesn't, Joe will take you again right here on the couch, not caring that he left his girlfriend alone. It's you that breaks away from temptation first. You return to Quinn's side, who gives you a sly smile. You made it just in time for the NYE countdown. As the clock ticks down to one, you turn to see Joe and Nicole share a kiss. Your heart sinks a bit, but you know what Joe said. After tonight he would end things. But, of course, fate has other plans.

When you arrive back home, you're tossed into a hectic work schedule. You hear from Fran that Nicole's mother passed away. Joe doesn't leave his fragile girlfriend; he continues to have both of you. You should know better. You should stop this relationship. But you can't. You can't help but fall into his arms. Joe can't help but to call and look for you whenever he needs you. You two become comfortable again.

Joe kisses your back and rolls over. He's going to the Superbowl, and as soon as he arrives home, he drives straight to your place to celebrate. Last night, Joe practically fucked you everywhere in the house. You run over, smiling at him, and kiss his lips.

"How are you feeling, champ?" You ask, playing in his hair. Joe pulls you on top of him, and you feel his erection.

"I am on top of the world right now. I'm going to the Superbowl. I got to wake up to this beautiful woman. I'm about to fuck her again and-"

You place a pillow over his face giggling. Joe is insane if he thinks your body is ready for another session. He tosses the pillow and flips you over. Joe pushes your legs against your chest, putting you in a mating press. Before he can begin his morning routine, his phone rings. Your mood falters because of the ringtone. Joe lets you go and reaches over to the nightstand for his phone.

"Where are you? The guys are already home."

"I had to stay at my parents' place. My dad wanted to celebrate. I didn't want to bother you because I know you had an early shoot." Joe sits on the bed, watching you limp to the bathroom. Joe relentlessly fucked you all night, and your legs still felt like jello. Your body is covered in his kisses, and his covered in scratches and your kisses. He follows you into the bathroom, putting the phone on speaker as you brush your teeth. Joe starts playing with your pussy making you squirm at the sink. He smiles and winks at you through the mirror.

"Really? I'm at your parent's house now." Nicole crosses her arms staring at Joe's mother. Joe takes it off speaker and leaves the bathroom. You turn the shower on and climb in, letting Joe deal with his problem. A few mins later, he joins you after brushing his teeth.

"Who did you lie about being with this time?" You ask, grabbing your blue loofah.

"I told her I was with Marr, which isn't a complete lie. I'm going there after this." Joe turns you around and lifts you.

"All night into the morning and again? I don't think I can handle you," You whisper against his lips. Joe was ready to slide in again, but this time interrupted by your phone. It was the hospital. He put you down and quickly let you finish your shower. You rush to your phone and return the call. After getting dressed, you kiss him goodbye and tell him to lock up. Joe follows your instructions, and after feeding Peaches, he leaves your house, going straight to Ja'Marr's house.

"Really? You were at my house? My girl called me bitching me out about covering for you." Ja'Marr rolls his eyes and follows Joe to the game room, where other teammates lounge around.

"Messy, man. You know our girlfriends are in a group chat together, right?" Von says, shaking his head.

"So, who is she? I've heard of having mistresses in other states, hell, even other cities, but having your side right here in the same city as your wifey. It's insane, my man," DJ Reader laughs, sitting on a recliner. Joe picks up a pool stick, ignoring them.

"She is his childhood friend slash ex-girlfriend. She's fine as fuck. Look at her Instragram." Ja'Marr passes his phone around, letting the guys check you out. Joe snatches it away.

"How do you have her Instagram? It's private."

"I followed her on my backup account. Relax. Me and Cheeks are kinda best friends right now." Ja'Marr takes his phone and sits down with a wide grin.

"So, are you going to end things with Nicole? I need to know the game plan since she's best friends with my girlfriend." Sam speaks up, this time earning a nod from the other guys. Joe scratches his head.

"I plan to break up with her."

"But?" Sam sits up, waiting for the next part.

"Every time I'm ready to end things with Nicole, something comes up. Her mother dying. Right now, she is still on bereavement from work, so I haven't found the right time to end it. But I will, and it won't blow back on you, Sam." Joe takes a seat looking at a text from Nicole.

"Listen, we all need to get our heads in the game. Stop thinking about women and side dishes-"

"Stop calling her my side dish or mistress."

"I mean, that's what she is—realistically speaking," DJ speaks again, earning some head nods.

"We're going to the Superbowl! Fuck everything else!" Ja'marr claps, bringing the group back to the main focus. Joe doesn't say anything else for the rest of the gathering. He is pissed off and doesn't want to cause friction, but at the same time, having anyone disrespect you doesn't sit right with him. So, Joe lets it stew all week, and it's not his fault, either. DJ keeps taking shots at him as well. Joe left his phone at your house and called you from Ja'Marr's phone. You arrive at the facility and sit on the sidelines, waiting for training to be over. During a break, Joe leads you to the locker room.

"Joey, not here. And you're all sweaty and gross." You yelp as he wipes his sweaty head on you.

"You can be sweaty and gross too." Joe kisses on your neck. You give him a shove.

"Behave. Here's your phone. Call me later?"

"Of course." Joe smiles and slaps you on the ass as you walk away. After practice, he is eager to visit you.

"Off to see that side piece of yours?" DJ laughs, throwing a towel at Joe. Joe takes a deep breath.

"Watch your mouth." Joe tosses the towel back. DJ stands up and gets in his face.

"Or what, pretty boy."

"Uh, Oh!" A teammate shouts, egging the situation on.

"Why don't we focus on the game? Why I do off the field doesn't have shit to do with you." Joe doesn't back down. His jaw clenches as he stares DJ down with the same firey expression.

"Cool." DJ turns around mid-way and stops.

"But once you're done with your side bitch, why don't you send her my way for a few rounds." DJ laughs. Joe snaps and throws the first punch. DJ quickly recovers and tackles Joe to the ground delivering a few punches. Ja'Marr and Sam jump in, separating the fight before it gets out of hand.

"What the fuck is going on? Get up now!" The coach yells while Ja'Marr holds Joe back and Sam holds DJ.

"I don't know what the fuck has gotten into the two of you, but it's showing on my fucking field! I don't care what goes on in your personal lives, but when you're here in my uniform, you act accordingly. Knock it off."

You swing your door open, surprised to see Joe standing there with a black eye and busted lip.

"Jesus! Are you okay? Is this from practice?" You ask, pulling him inside. You take him to the kitchen and give him an ice pack.

"Yeah. It's from practice. Dinner?"

"I ordered out. I didn't know you would be coming over, so-"

"It's fine. I won't stay long. I just needed to see you." Joe wraps his arms around you, surprising you. You hug him back, unsure of what to say.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. You know I love you, right? No matter what anyone says. I love you with my entire being."

"Yes. Where is this coming from? What's going on?"

"Nothing. I just needed to know that you knew that. Will you be at the Superbowl?"

"I couldn't get off. I'm sorry. But I promise to watch it."

Joe kisses your forehead and says his goodbyes. Nicole is waiting for Joe in the bedroom when he arrives home. She immediately touches his face. Joe explains practice got a little rough. After eating dinner, they sit on the couch watching tv. Joe's mind slips back to you. He wonders how different life would be if he had stayed in Ohio.

"I'm so proud of you. I know how stressed you've been about the Superbowl. No matter what happens, you will still be you, Joe." Nicole kisses his lips and climbs onto his lap.

A few days later, they attended the Superbowl luncheon. Joe and Ja'Marr take some photos and greet others. Nicole sits with the other girlfriends, gossiping.

"No, because if you think about it, he doesn't call you at all when he's in Buffalo. Girl, he's cheating." Amber, Sam's girlfriend, says, shaking her head. Nicole continues to scroll through texts, not really listening to the conversation.

"Look at the wives. Sitting separately from us like they're so high and mighty. They can get cheated on just as easily as us. They probably get cheated on more." Jessica, Tee's girlfriend, speaks up this time. Nicole puts her phone down with a chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Jess asks.

"I don't have to worry about any of that nonsense."

"Oh, right, because not all guys can be like your sweet Joe." Jess rolls her eyes. Eliza, Ja'Marr's girlfriend, downs her drink and giggles. Ja'Marr has told her on multiple occasions how Joe is fucking someone else. In fact, She has covered for Joe a few times, including last week.

"Do you think Joe is going to pop the big question soon? I mean, imagine he wins his ring and then asks you!" Sam squeals, thinking about the idea. Nicole blushes and fixes her hair.

"I don't know. We'll see what happens tomorrow."

Joe makes his way through the crowd greeting people. At one point, he sees DJ pull Nicole from the group to talk. A reporter is asking him questions, so he cannot leave immediately.

"Excuse me for a second," Joe finally gets a chance to catch up to them. Nicole turns, smiling at him.

"Everything okay?" She asks, fixing his shirt.

"Yeah. What are you guys talking about?"

"Just about the excitement for the game. DJ was also asking me to hook him up with a friend. All my friends are taken but your friend from college. She is single, right? A doctor too. I've only met her twice, but I think maybe you two could hit it off."

Joe stares at DJ, clenching his jaw.

"She is single. But I don't think she's into footballers," Joe laughs it off.

"Well, we won't know that until you give me a chance," DJ says, patting Joe's back extra hard.

"How about we set up a double date? Joe will let you know the details." Nicole walks off to find Amber. Joe smiles until she is out of earshot. He shoves DJ in his chest hard.

"What the fuck is your problem?"

"Hey, I asked for her to hook me up with a friend. Not my fault she brought up Cheeks." DJ winks and walks off. Joe runs his hand through his hair and looks for Ja'Marr.

"You look like you're about to kill someone," Ja'Marr jokingly says, handing him a drink. Joe declines the drink and runs his hands over his face.

"Fucking DJ talked to Nicole. Now they want to do a double date with Cheeks."

"He's such an ass. Don't let him get to you, though. Right now, he is our teammate. We need to focus on tomorrow and get this win."

Joe knows he's right. So, as much as it kills him, he sucks it up. The next day his head is on straight, and his mind only thinks about one thing. Winning. But right before taking the field, you facetime him.

"I just wanted to say good luck. And show you that I'm watching! See!" You point to the TV showing highlights of the conference game. Joe smiles, wishing you were here with him.

"I love you. Thank you, baby." Joe blows you a kiss. You hang up after saying I love you back. Leaning in your chair, your turn to your computer to enter some reports. Unfortunately, the Bengals lose to the Rams. You don't hear much from Joe for the next few days. You knew he must be taking the loss really hard, so you gave him space. Your parents invite you for dinner at the Burrow's place, and you accept, hoping to see Joe. Joe is there with his girlfriend. Of course, he is; what did you think would happen?

"Cheeks, Am I allowed to call you cheeks, or is that a Joe and you thing?" Nicole asks. You shake your head, allowing her to continue.

"You're single, right?" She asks, causing your mother and Robin to peek over at the two of you at the counter.

"I, umm, am."

"Great! How about a double date? Me and Joe and our good friend. He's a great guy and asked me to hook him up with a friend. Since you and Joe are so close, I figured it would be okay."

"Sure. That's okay. Who is it?"

"DJ from the team."

"Oh wow. I guess that would be fine. Excuse me; I have to take this call." You pull your phone out, walking away—a double date. There is no way you can handle that. Joe spots you in the hallway. He rubs your arm.

"You look like you've seen a ghost. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm more worried about you." You reach up to rub his face, and Joe leans into your touch. You start to play with his ears.

"I feel like a failure."

"Joey, it's one game."

"The most important game."

"You're not a failure. Nothing close to that. You lost. It happens. yOu have to pick yourself up and go harder next season. I know you can do it."

Joe tries to kiss you, but you block it with your hand.

"Our parents are here, and so is your girlfriend, who asked me to join on a double date."

"What? She what? With fucking DJ. This fucking guy. I swear I'm going to beat the shit out of him."

"Why? What's going on?"

Joe shakes his head and walks away. Dinner was less awkward than Thanksgiving but still uncomfortable. You thank them for dinner and head home. When you arrive home, your door is cracked open. Your place is completely trashed. You call out for Peaches, who comes running towards you. You find photos of you and Joe scattered all over your kitchen. Your face is scratched out with the word "Whore" written on it. You put the cat down and try to calm your nerves. With shaking hands, you dial Joe but quickly hang up when Nicole answers. You're scared to call the police but too scared to stay there. You pack Peaches up and go to a hotel for the night.

"Hey?" Mya touches your shoulder, scaring you.

"Sorry, I didn't hear you come up. I will be in the Emergency Department all day if anyone needs me." You grab a clipboard and start working.

"You're jumpy today. Didn't get enough sleep?"

"I've been staying at a hotel for the last few days, so no."

"What? Why?"

"Someone broke into my house."

"Omg! Are you okay? Did they take anything?" Mya asks, following you. You pull her into a storage room.

"I've been sleeping with Joe. They have photos of us together. Intimately. It was all over my apartment floor when I came home."

"Joe?"

"Burrow." You whisper. Her eyes widen.

"I knew it! I knew you were seeing someone from the Bengals! Fuck he's so hot. But omg Nicole. Nooooo, not my Nicole!" she pouts.

"Someone has been following us, and I need to tell Joe, but-"

"Listen, if you need to stay with me, my home is open to you. Fuck I can't believe you're sleeping with Joe fucking Burrow!"

"Shh!"

"Sorry. It's going to be okay. Don't let it get to you. Whoever this person is obviously has no plans; otherwise, you would be on TMZ right now." Mya reassures you. But as days go by, you become more paranoid. It doesn't help that you receive a letter from this secret person telling you to keep everything to yourself. So, you do for Joe's sake. No one likes a cheater. He could lose a lot more than you. So, when the night of the double date comes up, you do your best not to look at him.

"You're gorgeous. I can't believe someone hasn't wifed you up." DJ smiles, making you giggle.

"Work keeps me too busy to date." You reply.

Joe sits back in his chair, staring at the both of you. It feels like he is burning holes in your faces. Nicole leans her head on his shoulder, returning him to the conversation.

"I'll get the check." Joe stands up, leaving the three of you to talk. You exchange numbers with DJ and end the night on a good note. He offers to take you out again. Joe is once again burning holes in the side of your face. DJ walks you to your car as Nicole pulls Joe towards his car. Dj kisses your hand and bids you goodnight. You drive to Mya's place and park in the driveway, reading Joe's text. Before you can respond, he calls you.

"Joe-"

"Did he go home with you?"

"What?"

"I'm on my way over now. So, if he's there, he needs to get the fuck out. Right now. I'm not even joking."

"Joe. I'm not home."

"Did you go to his place?"

"I have the right to see who I want to see, Joe. You're not my father, and I'm a grown adult."

The line is silent, but you know he's still there because he's breathing hard.

"I need to see you, so just tell me where you are." Joe pleads. He sounds broken and hurt. You give him Mya's address. She's working a double, so you should be safe right now. And when Joe arrives, he quietly follows you into the guest room, scooping you up and kissing you softly.

"Go away with me for a few weeks."

"Joe-"

He pulls you out of your dress quickly. Joe's eyes scan over your body. You become shy under his gaze.

"I need you. I only need you. Let's getaway. How much vacation time do you have saved up?"

"A lot. But I need a more extended notice." You sit up on the bed, unbuckling his pants. Joe comes out of his pants and boxers. You take him into your hand and slowly stroke his dick. Joe watches you intensely as you kiss the tip swirling your tongue around.

"Fuck." Joe groans once you start deep-throating him. He throws his head back and bucks his hips. You pull his cock out with a pop and lick from the base to the tip again. Joe shakes his head.

"I want to cum inside of you." He pushes you back and tosses your underwear. Joe is quick and is between your legs, devouring your cunt. You wiggle and squirm as he holds your hips down. Joe sits up, pushing your legs to your chest, putting you in a mating press as he slides in easily. Both of you moan at the new sensation.

"I love you. I swear you're the only thing that matters to me in this world. You're mine." Joe whispers against your lips. You're so fucked out of your mind that you can't respond. Your mouth hangs open.

"Too deep." You cry out. Joe was hitting your spot, sending your mind into a dizzy spell. Joe releases your legs and holds them up in the air by your ankles. He watches his cock slide in and out of you while you cum. Your body jerks up when he starts snapping his hips faster, overstimulating your sensitive body. Joe lets go of your legs and spreads them wide to get a better view of everything. He reaches down to rub your clit, and you moan incoherently.

"Wait! Joey! Wait! I can't!" You cry out as he pulls out, and you squirt on his abdomen. Your body shakes, and Joe leans down, coaxing you through your high. He whispers how pretty you look right now.

"I don't want you to be with anyone else—only me. I want to be selfish with you. I want to be the only one making you cry like this. I want this pussy to be filled with only me. Can you let me be selfish just this once?" He begs. You nod your head, feeling him rub your thighs. Joe turns you over and enters you again. You find the strength to get on your hands and knees. Joe digs his fingers into your hips, watching your ass collide with his pelvis. Skin slapping skin, moans, and grunts fill the room with every thrust. Joe presses you down on your back, causing you to give him a more profound arch.

"Such a good girl." Joe bends down to kiss your spine. You start whimpering as he returns to his position and continues pounding away. Your knees and arms give out, and you collapse onto the bed, letting Joe have his way until he came. Joe pulls out and flips you over, spreading your legs to get a look at his cum leaking out of you. You shiver and whine when he pushes it back in.

"I want to get you pregnant. I'm not even joking. Can you imagine how beautiful you will look carrying my baby?"

You cover your smile at his words. Joe leans over to kiss you.

"I love you so much, Joe. If you give me a few weeks, I will take that vacation with you, but there's something I need to tell you."

"Is everything okay?"

"Someone broke into my place. They had photos of us again and-"

"Are you okay? Why didn't you call me?"

"The person threatened me, which is why I don't want you to take any actions. I can handle it myself."

"They've been in your house. You're not safe there. You have to move. I'll find you a place close to my house for now and stay with your parents. I'll hire security and-"

"Joseph, I said I can handle things. If you get involved, it will only make things worse. Until you end things with her, we can't. No one can find out about us." You cup his face forcing him to look directly into your eyes. Joe mumbles a yes and buries his face in your neck. And three weeks later, you find yourself in the Maldives with Joe.

A/N: Omg, I can't believe so many people like this fic! The title is called Second Strings, and it is a series. I linked the master list up top. If you want to join the taglist I have linked it here as well! But there is a limited amount of people I can tag. Thank you for all the love messages comments and reblogs! It motivates me so much. I know this was such a long chapter, but I had some time! Things will get more interesting as we continue!

Tags: @joselyn001@savii999@lostaurorax@simpgirl-lat@edenhess@blinkloverx3 @dboanalooaa

#joe burrow #joe burrow x reader #joe burrow fan fic #joe burrow smut #joe burrow x you #joe burrow x y/n #joe burrow fic #joe burrow fluff #joe burrow imagine #joe burrow x oc #joe burrow x u #second string #second string updates #Joe burrow hot

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karatekels · 10 months

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TIGmas Day #3 – Clear As Mud

Hello and happy third day of TIGmas, everyone – and sorry I’m late! Today’s story is dedicated to @senka-mesecine (aka @terrence-silver), whose stories are always among my favourites! This is actually an idea that I initially wanted to explore during Dark Desires October that I couldn’t get to in time. I’ll admit that the idea was heavily inspired by senka’s deliciously dark writing, so when she asked for this to be her TIGmas story I was over the moon! I hope you this story was worth the wait!

All that being said, this story is very dark and in no way full of Christmas cheer.

Summary: You’ve tried to get Terry to open up about his time in Vietnam on more than one occasion, and while he’s been doing his best to help you understand, he ultimately decides that the best way to help you is to put you through something similar, hunting you in the middle of a forest at sunset.

TW: Discussions of PTSD, stalking (more like hunting), horror, rough sex, graphic sex, outdoor sex, dubcon/(consensual) non-consent (it’s really hard to tell how much say anyone has when it comes to being involved with Terry Silver, after all – regardless, it’s not something I condone irl)

Note: Sections in italics are flashbacks to previous conversations about the war.

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Clear as Mud

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This was hell.

“War is hell,” he had told you countless times before – he’d made use of the cliched saying on numerous occasions, but it had always rung hollow, an expression rendered meaningless from general overuse.

But now, trudging through the thick, muddy woods surrounding Terry’s chateau in the mountains in the hot, humid night, you think you’re beginning to understand that the saying was in no way hyperbole.

“How many times do we have to have this discussion, Y/N!? I told you, I don’t want to have this conversation,” Terry had growled, his body visibly thrumming with tension as he tried to keep himself under control. You give him a pitying expression, your heart going out to him, but you’re resolute in your pursuit to get him to talk about his trauma.

“Vietnam was such a significant time in your life, Terry. I know you’ve got a lot of repressed to protect yourself, but if you’re not willing to see a therapist about it, you have to at least try to let me in,” you beg, trying to deescalate and keep him calm, reaching for his hand. He moves out of your reach in a quick, jarring movement, his eyes wild and angry, and you try not to let it upset you too much.

“It’s okay, Terry. I’m not upset, and I’m not scared of you. I know that you’ve killed people, a–”

Terry interrupts you with a guttural noise, pushing you against the wall roughly. You stay perfectly still.

“See, that’s where you’re wrong, baby girl. You don’t know,” he murmurs quietly, pressing his body tightly against yours, overwhelming your senses. “We didn’t ‘kill people’; we eliminated obstacles,” he says flatly, stroking your hair absent-mindedly while he glares at something off in some imagined distance.

“Some with weapons pointed at you, many without. Men, women, children, we tried not to pay that much attention. It’s when you see them as people that you start to think, so we were trained to use our trigger fingers, not our brains.”

Despite being sandwiched between the wall and Terry’s chest, your body still finds a way to tremble with fear, though you try to suppress it.

“War is hell, Y/N,” he says, smiling sardonically at the cliché, his grip on your hip and your throat tightening; you don’t even remember him starting to choke you, but you find the edges of your vision getting blurry. “Not because you’re being shot at constantly, watching your brothers die, losing your will to live, but because you find yourself doing the same thing right back to somebody else.”

Terry reaches between your bodies to his belt, and you feel yourself tense minutely, knowing he would notice. He always needed to fuck you after talking about the War; he said that you helped him forget, even though what you desperately wanted was for him to remember, to work through it, to ease his conscience.

Sure enough, he’s got you slid up the wall, your legs around him as he fucks you deep and rough like he’s trying to crawl into your body. You do your best to hold on, every noise that passes your lips indistinguishable as either a moan or a whimper, Terry whispering nonsense into your hair as he chases after his orgasm like a man possessed.

“Makes you wonder if you’re the damned or the Devil,” he pants in your ear, licking up the single tear that trails down your cheek.

A branch snaps somewhere close by and you attempt to stifle the cry of pure, primal fear that bursts forth from your lips. Your body aches from the tension of holding still, freezing as every part of you strains to hear him, to see any hint of movement through the thick foliage.

He had proposed to you three nights ago, the heavy ring now safely on your bedside table – he’d suggestedthat you remove it during tonight’s… activities. Terry has always been mercurial, but this sudden turn from lavishing you with extravagant gifts and his love as you celebrated your engagement to outright hunting you through the forest for sport is demented, not to mention terrifying.

You aren’t sure what his goal is, what the end point will be, how you’ll know that it’s finally over. Does he mean to hunt you forever?

Can you even be considered ‘prey’ if you’ve willingly walked into the trap he set for you, and continue to stay in with full awareness and knowledge?

The sun continues to set, bathing the woods in bloodred light.

“You could be hiding in the muck, in a hole in the ground blown open by landmines for hours, days even,” Terry had told you, his gaze hardening as he looked off into nothing. “You’re scared to breathe, scared to feel sunlight on your skin – it leaves you exposed. Then you watch your friends get picked off like flies, bullets in their brains or landmines turning them into mulch.”

You try to force yourself to breathe slowly, deeply, regularly, but quietly; Terry would pick up on the slightest hint of noise on the wind. The small part of you that wants to just stand out in the open and let him find you – to end this – is drowned out by the thudding of your own heartbeat in your ears. You know there’s no reasoning with him; you can’t even reason with yourself.

You hear a piercing whistle from Terry’s lips, a chilling tune that echoes through the mountains that make your hair stands on end; at least, the hair not plastered to your skin by the thick mud smattered across your body. Unable to help yourself, you flee from your hiding spot, aimlessly sprinting, your sense of direction narrowing to just away.

“Fear keeps you alert, keeps you sharp. Keeps you alive.”

You hear his pounding footsteps coming after you, crunching leaves and twigs underfoot. You know how silently he can move; he’s stomping around just to scare you.

It’s working.

Your shirt snags, caught on another branch, and this time you just tear it off, leaving the tattered scrap of fabric behind you, dangling like a flag at half-mast. Your torso now bare, the cuts from your previous run-ins with the foliage are exposed to the air, stinging faintly. You wonder if he can taste your blood in the air, like a shark; it wouldn’t surprise you at this point. Nothing could.

“They were chameleons, blending into the jungle to lie in wait. We couldn’t see ‘em even five feet in front of us, sometimes. I learned to be a ghost, but in the end it still wasn’t enough – none of it mattered. Except I had John.”

You wonder if John had ever stalked his significant other – or anyone, for that matter – through the forest for his own amusement. Somehow, you doubted it. And while you’d always had a healthy dose of fear for the only man who could keep Terry Silver in line, at this moment you wish more than anything that it was Kreese hunting you instead. At least he could be reasoned with.

As if to prove your point, Terry lets out a maniacal cackle that scares off the remaining birds, and you dive behind a fallen log, pressing yourself against it in the hopes of avoiding detection. The thick mud is chilly on your bare skin yet you find you want to burrow deeper into the puddle to conceal yourself, and would if the noise wouldn’t attract his attention.

Terry enters your line of sight, so silently you wouldn’t have known he was there unless you were looking right at him, and you narrow your eyes into slits, not wanting so much as a glimmer of light reflecting off of them to give you away. Watching the fluid, controlled way that his massive body moves through the trees as he hunts you, you’re reminded of the xenomorph; something so big shouldn’t be able to move so smoothly, so silently.

He finally moves out of your field of view, but you wait a good minute or two before daring to breathe normally. You shakily get to your feet, looking around you for Terry and for any indication of which way the house is; you’re completely disoriented on the side of this godforsaken mountain. You have to squint due to the fading sunlight, and that’s when you see him, calmly surveying you from the distance while leaned up against a tree, his mouth twisted into a smile. Despite the low light, his eyes seem to glint at you from across the clearing.

“T-Terry!” you exclaim, your voice an octave higher than normal. He makes no move towards you or to answer your question, his head still cocked to the side as he observes you with interest.

“Terry, please stop this!” you beg, your arms wrapped around yourself. He chuckles quietly in response, the low sound creeping across the space between you and sending shivers down your spine.

“Oh, doll, that’s not how this works!” he tells you with a cold laugh. “There is no surrender.”

“What do you want from me, Terry?!” you exclaim, your voice hoarse with fear. “I just want this to be over!”

“It’ll be over when there’s only one man left standing,” he explains patiently, as though it was obvious. “When there’s a winner and a loser and the spoils of war are taken.”

You have no idea what that means, but you’re certain it’s nothing good.

“You either hunt or you are the hunted, Y/N,” he leers at you, finally moving to crouch into a runner’s stance that has you immediately stumbling back and away from him. “Get back to the house and I may show you some mercy.”

You cling to the likely empty promise like a lifeline, turning away and sprinting as fast as you can. You’re not even sure if you’re running in the right direction; he could be herding you somewhere else. Still, you have no choice but to keep moving forward, sensing him rapidly closing the distance between you.

But in the end, it doesn’t matter. You step down and feel something tighten around your ankle, the snare trap set off and lifting you into the air with a sickening crack of your ankle that has you screaming out in pain. Terry stops running, leisurely walking up to your dangling form and howling in victory; the hunt is over.

“I was so hoping you would run into one of these,” he confesses breathlessly, eyes bright as he takes you in, crouching down to be closer to your eye level. “You know what it does to me to see you helpless, Y/N,” he adds with a feral expression, his tone suggesting that you were intentionally tempting him.

“Terry, please!” you whimper up at him, tears blurring your vision as they slide around your eyes to drip off of your forehead and onto the forest floor. “I think my ankle is broken!”

“I’ll take care of it,” he says dismissively, but you do believe him. “For now, let me take you in.”

You do your best to ignore the pain and keep quiet as you hang by one leg, your body rotating slowly like it knew that Terry wanted to stare at you. As you slowly swing back around to face him again, you see he has pulled out his cock, pumping his shaft with a gloved hand. Seeing you watching, he closes the distance between you, reaching up above your ankle to steady the rope and keep you from spinning.

“Open,” he demands with a firm tap to your cheek, his hips level with your face. You suspect he had measured it out in advance for the express purpose of having you blow him while caught in a boobytrap.

“Terry, it hurts!” you manage to get out before he’s thrust himself inside your mouth. You reflexively stop trying to speak and relax your throat; he has trained you well.

“Spoils of war, doll. Gonna need you to earn your freedom,” he jokes, thrusting himself fully into you until you’re choking around his cock before releasing you, allowing you to catch your breath for a brief moment. “Now suck.”

You obey, just trying to focus on getting free before all the blood rushes to your head, the forest silent save for the lewd, wet noises coming from your mouth around his dick and Terry’s occasional grunt of pleasure.

“It’s not the same, you know,” he murmurs quietly after a prolonged silence. “You’ll never understand what it was like being there, no matter how many times I try to tell you, try to show you.”

So that’s what this was all about, you realize with equal parts pity and dread. He had grown weary of trying to explain his time during the War to you, and was trying to show you instead.

Christ, he was fucked up.

Somehow, in spite of everything, it only strengthens your resolve to help him.

“You’ll never know what it’s like, to be faced with someone and not know if they’re with you or against you, and only having a fucking second to decide!” he snarls while fucking your face, his large hands holding your body steady, fingernails digging in past the mud and into your flesh.

Next thing you know, he’s lifting your body up, cradling you against his chest, one hand reaching up and yanking the trap free from the branch in one sharp pull, lowering you both to the ground and crawling on top of you.

“But you don’t need to know it, baby,” he continues, though you’re unsure how much he’s really talking to you at this point. His hands tear at your pants, pushing them and your underwear down to your knees, pointedly not exacerbating your ankle. He wasn’t completely out of his mind, then. Why couldn’t he just talk about his issues? This perverse simulation is just creating issues of your own.

“You don’t need to know it,” he repeats, looking down at you, muddy and scratched and hurting, like you were his salvation. He pushes your knees to either side, working his length inside of you and pushing you further into the ground. You feel tree roots press into your back, bound to give you bruises.

“I’m gonna keep you from all of that shit; gonna keep you safe, babygirl,” he pants, breath hot against your neck as he ruts into you. You find yourself clinging to him desperately, nails digging into his broad shoulders as you cry out into the night – for yourself, for him, for your pleasure.

“You’re my saving grace, baby, my own little Lady Liberty,” he coos, baring his teeth all the while. “Flip over for me.”

You roll onto your belly, gritting your teeth against the pain radiating from your ankle as you do so, and push your ass up towards him. Terry is immediately on you again, his arms bracing himself on either side of you as he presses against you, fucking you into the mud with an animalistic growl.

“You save me just how you are, just like this,” he hisses, punctuating each word with a brutal thrust that has you groaning into the soft earth against your lips. “And you’re gonna stay just like this, sweet and warm and mine, my little haven, my little sweet spot, isn’t that right baby?”

“YES!” you howl, throwing your head back as you dig your nails into the dirt, bracing yourself as he pounds into you. “Let it out, let me take it for you!”

Your words seem to make Terry snap; he pushes your face down into the mud, hips hammering against yours hard and fast and deep until he’s coming hard inside you with a guttural snarl.

Fisting your hair, he pulls your head up and turns it to the side to let you breathe, even as he collapses on top of you. You gasp for breath, trying to wipe the mud off of your face, but it’s hopeless and you give up after a moment, stroking Terry’s arm where it’s wrapped around you.

Eventually Terry sits up, tucking himself back into his pants, somehow still barely muddy, and looks around the forest floor. He finds a thick branch, snapping it into pieces, and sets about making a splint for your ankle, not saying a word. You observe him quietly, the odd wince escaping you as he secures the splint to your foot. Satisfied with his work for the time being, he shrugs off his jacket, wrapping your naked body with it to get you warm before lifting you into his arms, mindful of your injured leg.

“Thank you,” you offer quietly, looking down at your foot instead of up at him as he carries you back home. You’re nearly embarrassed at how close you were this whole time. Terry adjusts you, his gaze never faltering as he moves you to look him in the eye.

“Thank you, my love,” he returns with a sly grin. “For helping me talk things out,” he clarifies, letting out a laugh at his twisted euphemism.

You don’t see the humour in the situation, but won’t be pushing him to open up about the War again for the foreseeable future.

---

This is far and away the darkest thing you can expect from me this month, I promise! That said, I can’t say I’d mind something in this vein as a Christmas present… 🥵

#Thomas Ian Griffith #Terry Silver #Terry Silver x Reader #KarateKid3 #Karate Kid Part 3 #tkk3 #Dark Desires October #TIGmas #12 Days of TIGmas #Smut #karate kid #kk3 #the karate kid 3

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sonekwi · 5 months

Text

☆ ⸻ hate you, bakugo x oc

chapter one: battle trial!

content warning: swearing, minor violence/fighting

characters/pairings: katsuki bakugo, rona hayashi (oc)

genre: fanfiction

summary: it's the second day of school and class 1-a is pitched against each other in a battle trial. rona hayashi is paired with katsuki bakugo and tenya iida, and isn't very excited.

word count: 3486

links: wattpad, masterlist, next

a/n: all characters are aged 18+ unless specified otherwise for the story. ua is a university instead of a high school.

Rona Hayashi stared at All Might as he stood before her and her classmates. In the warm April sun, he was the embodiment of glory and heroism with the light gilding his golden hair and vibrant hero costume. Even the wind seemed to understand as much, gently swishing through his cape and keeping it off the ground. His bellowing voice echoed off the urban buildings of the training grounds as he provided instruction on the task at hand, but a few of the girl's peers were simply too enthralled with the hero's presence to listen to a single word he said.

"You'll be split into groups, heroes and villains, and fight two-on-two!" All Might explained before he stepped aside to reveal a yellow box. "Time is limited, so we'll choose teams by drawing lots!"

The students blindly reached their hands into the box one by one, pulling out a small folded piece of paper. When Hayashi opened hers up to reveal her team, she grimaced. Team D. Her teammates had already drawn before her and loudly announced their assignment to find each other, but the pairing was far from ideal. As she looked at the two boys on her team, dread began to twist in her stomach.

Tenya Iida wasn't exactly the worst person to be paired with; Hayashi would admit as much. He was intelligent, observant, and serious, but sometimes too serious. If he wasn't lecturing some poor soul on something he disapproved of, he was silently judging them. But even though he was a stick in the mud and a pain in the ass to be around, he understood the importance of cooperation.

It was Katsuki Bakugo, however, who would be the most problematic. In the short time she'd known him, Hayashi quickly realized Bakugo was too rash and emotional to ever think logically. His desire to win no matter the cost had overinflated his fragile ego and clouded his judgment, and any kind of inconvenience or unexpected obstacle would make him explode. Literally.

He proved as much on the first day of school.

"Oh, I see we have the advantage in numbers," Iida commented as Hayashi reluctantly strode over to him and Bakugo. With 21 students in Class 1-A, there had to be a team of three.

Hayashi stopped a comfortable distance from them and crossed her arms over her chest as she eyed the two. In her mind, she sorted through her existing knowledge of either of them and their quirks, figuring out who would be better for defense or offense. However, Bakugo practically snarled as her gaze flicked from his head to his feet, taking it as a silent challenge.

"You got a problem?"

"No," Hayashi said flatly, her green eyes narrowing on the blonde.

He scoffed, "Seems like you do." Smoke had begun to seep through his thick gloves as his palms heated; a warning that had Hayashi's hair prickling along her arms and nape.

However, Iida promptly stepped between the two and warned the blonde, "I would strongly advise against starting any fights with your peers, Bakugo. It's not very heroic."

"Oh, buzz off–"

Nearby, All Might shouted over the clamoring class, "Alright! I declare that the first teams to fight will be..." he loudly drawled out, each of his hands digging through two more drawing boxes that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. He then dramatically pulled out two objects, holding them up for the students to see. "Team D and Team A!"

He quickly continued, "Team A will be the heroes and Team D will be the villains. The bad guys get a five-minute head start to get set up, then the battle will begin! Everyone else can head to the monitoring room to watch!"

As the rest of the students left the area, All Might stayed behind to speak with the two teams separately. He stood at the entrance of the building serving as their battleground and beckoned the heroes-in-training over to him. Hayashi risked taking her eyes off Bakugo as she walked over, blindly trusting he wouldn't lunge for her when she let her guard down. Even with Iida standing between them, the chances weren't zero.

"Young Iida. Young Bakugo. Young Hayashi," the hero said as they approached him. "The key to being successful in this challenge is to embody villainy. Think from the perspective of an evildoer!"

Iida gave All Might a firm got it, and Hayashi bit her lip to keep herself from scoffing. She knew the boy was too self-righteous to stoop to the level of a villain, even if it was for a simple class activity. All Might seemed aware of such, as his words seemed more directed at Iida than her or Bakugo.

"If things go too far, I'll step in. Understood?" All Might asked and slipped Iida a piece of paper with further instructions. He had explained earlier that there was a faux bomb the villains had to guard inside the building, but didn't specify where so the heroes would be at a disadvantage. Whatever was written on the paper, that was where they needed to go.

Hayashi nodded and headed into the building. The stale and stuffy air hit her like a brick wall and her lungs felt heavier with every breath. There clearly hadn't been any airflow for a long while, and as she ventured further in, the environment became uncomfortably warm. Her skin quickly became sticky with sweat, and the thick fabric of her hero suit clung to her. Hayashi silently cursed herself for not considering such a scenario when submitting her design requests to the school.

Thankfully though, she would at least be able to remove the cargo jacket she sported.

The girl's eyes slid over to Iida. "How are you not sweating your balls off right now?" she asked. He was plastered in shining metal armor that no doubt kept any body heat from escaping, but from where Hayashi walked beside him, she couldn't see a single drop of perspiration on his forehead.

"D- Don't use such vulgar language!" Iida sputtered, then sighed. "My suit has a built-in mechanism to help regulate my body temperature."

"Fancy," Hayashi commented. Her hero costume was nothing like Iida's, both in technology and style. Fashioned with dystopian cyber-punk themes in mind, she wore an unbearably flattering muscle tank top underneath her heavy jacket (a trend she noticed among her female classmates), durable yet flexible cargo pants, and steel-toed boots. Her hands were hidden inside a pair of tactical gloves that ended with sharp metal claws at the tips of the fingers, which had a range of uses.

She also had a mask designed after a canine skull, but since it's purely for aesthetics, she didn't wear it for today's activity.

Most of the girl's pockets were filled with first-aid items, such as antibiotic creams and bandages. Considering she wanted to be a search-and-rescue hero, she needed something of the like on her and readily available. The gloves specifically allowed her to easily grip onto debris and rubble should a person ever be buried beneath, and having her costume made from dense and enduring material saved her the worry of tears and scrapes.

The team's footsteps echoed along the empty hallways and stairwells, eventually coming to a large and open-planned room. The faux bomb was positioned in the center with an array of boxes and building materials scattered about. Numerous concrete pillars were spaced in a gridded pattern to help uphold the building's structure, and on the wall across the room, there was a square floor-to-ceiling window. The daylight flowed in, illuminating the countless dust particles floating through the air.

"Even though this is training, it pains me to be aligned with criminal behavior," Iida admitted as he stepped further into the room. He approached the faux bomb, knocking his knuckles against it. The clang of metal sounded throughout the room.

"So this is what we have to protect?" Hayashi asked and placed her hands on her hips. "I was expecting it to be paper maché."

Iida once again sputtered in shock, "This is the most prestigious hero school in Japan! They would never use such cheap–"

"Hey."

Iida's words fell short as he and Hayashi turned to Bakugo. The blonde was staring out the empty doorway, almost as if in contemplation, and barely inclined his head in their direction as he spoke.

"Do you really think Deku has a quirk?" he asked, his tone low and dangerous.

The two tried not to balk at the ridiculous question, and Hayashi could practically smell the anger boiling his blood. Her eyes wandered over the tensed muscles of his shoulders and arms, and she silently wondered what underserving wall or face would receive a punch.

"You saw how he threw that ball," Iida said, mentioning the quirk apprehension test on the first day of school. Izuku Midoriya (or Deku, as Bakugo liked to call him) had exploded the ball across the throwing field with a blast of air, getting 0.1 meters further than the blonde. Unfortunately, the display of strength had shattered every bone in Midoriya's finger, almost as if his body could barely contain the sheer power of his quirk.

Hayashi briefly closed her eyes, replaying that day in mind. Bakugo had wanted to kill Midoriya at that moment, and their teacher had to resort to restraints to keep him from doing so. It was then that she realized just how unstable his ego was.

"He obviously has a quirk. Why does it matter so much?" Hayashi blatantly asked.

But Bakugo left her answered as he stood there seething. His fists clenched at his sides, smoke once again seeping from his palms and slipping through his knuckles. His thoughts raced and raced, each one making him more enraged. Any more and he might very well combust.

Hayashi shared a wary glance with Iida, just as All Might's voice bellowed over the P.A. system placed throughout the building, "All right! Let's get this indoor combat training started! Team A and Team D, your time starts now!"

Iida huffed and placed the helmet he was holding under his arm onto his head. "We should have been coming up with a plan, not talking– Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

Bakugo had started for the doorway and was moving like a man on a mission. He didn't bother with Iida and ignored him as he rounded the corner and disappeared from his teammates' sight.

"What is he doing?" Iida questioned, turning to the only other reasonable person.

"You got your earpiece?" Hayashi said and dug hers out of one of the many pockets of her pants. Iida nodded and watched her fumble with the small buttons before popping it in her ear. "Good, I'll go after him, and you can stay here."

"That's not a good idea," Iida protested.

"We're up against Midoriya, and he clearly wants to settle whatever score there is between them," Hayashi stated as she shrugged off her heavy jacket, tossing it to the base of one of the pillars. Her sweat-slicked arms cooled with the exposure and she stretched them out in front of her. "I'm just going to make sure he doesn't get his ass kicked."

"That doesn't–"

"Iida, relax," Hayashi said firmly, "You'll be okay up here by yourself. You're fast enough to make sure no one gets past you."

Surprisingly, the dark-haired boy didn't argue any further, even when she left the room and ran after Bakugo. Hayashi knew Iida would succeed in keeping the weapon out of the heroes' hands, especially if she and Bakugo could keep them busy. And as she stalked through the dark hallways, she activated a small portion of her quirk to help her track down the blonde.

It took everything in her power not to sneeze, feeling the very nerve endings and olfactory senses of her nose changing. Her eyes tingled and twitched as her surroundings became brighter, and the bones and hair follicles within her ears flexed and transformed to expand her hearing range. If she wanted more than heightened senses and to fully use her quirk, she would need to self-inflict a wound deep enough to bleed, something she would prefer to wait until the very last moment to do.

Bakugo's strangely sweet scent drifted up into Hayashi's nose. It reminded her of burnt sugar, and a hundred questions as to why and how flooded her mind while she followed it through the building. In the distance, she could hear his heavy footsteps, his angry grunts and huffs. He was anything but quiet and she doubted he would be able to sneak up on their opponents.

Oh, how wrong she was.

Just as she rounded a corner and found her teammate, he lunged forward into the bisecting hallway before him. Bakugo's quirk activated with a bright, fiery flash, the boom of the explosion making Hayashi's now sensitive ears ring. She clasped her hands over them, wincing in pain, and peered through the cloud of smoke resulting from Bakugo's attack. Did he already find the heroes?

When the smoke cleared as quickly as it appeared, Hayashi rushed to her teammate's side.

"What's the matter, Deku? Afraid to stand up and fight me?" Bakugo asked, stalking toward the green-haired boy lying on the ground. He had barely managed to dodge the attack, the missing half of his mask proved it. The edges of the fabric still singed and glowed against his pale, freckled skin.

Hayashi looked to the girl beside Midoriya, Ochaco Uraraka, and watched as she dragged herself back a bit. Bakugo's explosion didn't directly hit her, but Hayashi could smell the fear coursing through her veins and hear her frantically beating heart.

Midoriya pulled himself to his feet. "I knew you'd come at me first," he said, his face scrunched with determination. He brought his clenched fists up in front of him and stared Bakugo down. "And figured you'd try to catch me by surprise."

Bakugo lunged for Midoriya again, but the latter grabbed his arm and expertly threw him over his head, the blonde's back smacking onto the hard concrete floor. It happened unnervingly fast, as if Midoriya had predicted the attack, and Uraraka's commentary conveyed enough surprise for both herself and Hayashi.

As Bakugo choked, struggling to get the air back into his lungs, Midoriya straightened and readied himself again.

"Kacchan," he panted, using the nickname he had given his childhood frenemy, "I'm not the same helpless, defenseless little kid anymore. I've changed."

Hesitantly, Hayashi stalked closer to Midoriya. His back was turned to her as he monologued, his focus solely on Bakugo. She could attack while she had the opening and restrain him, but she had to be careful. Uraraka's eyes were glued to her, watching her every move. The brown-eyed girl would most likely warn her teammate if Hayashi tried anything.

But that didn't deter her from baring the claws of her gloves, or from lowering her body closer to the ground to pounce.

Bakugo climbed back onto his feet and flared his hands out to his side. His palms produced smaller explosions than the one he initially used, and they cracked and popped like fireworks.

He growled, "You're shaking in your boots you're so scared, but you wanna fight me anyway." His red eyes flared with rage and he took a step closer to Midoriya.

Iida's frantic voice crackled through Hayashi's earpiece, "Bakugo, Hayashi! Come in! Give me a status report! Where are you?"

Hayashi pressed a finger against the small button and spoke, "We crossed paths with the heroes and we're keeping them busy. Keep defending the–"

A loud explosion cut her words short and her eyes locked onto Bakugo. He rushed at Midoriya again, using his quirk to launch himself into the air. As he twisted his body for a roundhouse kick, the freckled boy crossed his arms in front of his face just in time. His bones barked in pain at the impact.

"Uraraka! Go!" he strained out.

Immediately, Hayashi sprang up and sprinted after the hero.

Her eyes did not leave Uraraka once as the pursuit led them throughout the building, twisting around corners and pushing off the adjacent walls to maintain their momentum. But with Uraraka's heeled boots causing her to stumble a few too many times, it was an easy chase. Hayashi slowly closed the distance and grinned. She would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy the thrill of it.

But then the brown-haired girl suddenly ducked into a dark room, and for the few short seconds that Hayashi lost sight of her, she managed to hide.

Hayashi stopped in the doorway, panting. The room was dark enough that she could barely see even with her transformed eyes. However, she could make out the blobs and shapes of clutter: plastic crates, rusty oil barrels, heavy metal beams, and rickety shelves scattered about. It was some sort of storage room.

She took a step forward, and Uraraka's scent was quickly overpowered by the reek of harsh chemicals and cleaning supplies. Without a trail to follow, the brown-haired girl might as well have vanished into thin air.

"Where did you go?" Hayashi muttered. As she stalked further into the room, she listened for any signs of life that might give away the girl's hiding spot. Shaky breathing, thundering heartbeat, trembling movement, anything. But there was nothing. It was as if all her senses were unbearably human again.

Confusion washed over Hayashi and she debated digging one of her metal claws into the flesh of her arm to fully use her quirk. The chemicals and hormones released by her brain in reaction to the wound would trigger the full transformation, but with her being able to feel every minute change, she hated it. It was agonizing, feeling her bones stretch and shift, her muscles tear and reform. Even if it only took her body a couple of seconds to take on a new form, it still felt like she was in pain for hours.

But she couldn't let Uraraka get away.

"Shit–"

A large boom rumbled and echoed, violently shaking the building. Hayashi quickly grabbed onto a nearby shelf to maintain her balance, raising an arm over her head as a makeshift helmet. Large pieces of drywall started falling from the ceiling, and objects tumbled down, crashing onto the floor. A heavy cloud of dust kicked up, further obscuring Hayashi's already limited vision.

Uraraka screamed.

Hayashi's body sprung forward, rushing toward the sound. She stumbled through the room as her heart raged within her chest, her feet and legs tripping on the mess of clutter, the quaking building impairing her balance. But she took advantage of the surge of stress hormones in her blood to push her quirk further, quickly picking up Uraraka's scent and heartbeat.

She found the girl huddled behind a teetering metal shelf, her arms shielding her head and neck from any falling objects. Hayashi didn't waste any time in grabbing her arm. They needed to get out before they were trapped.

"Come on!" she urged, yanking Uraraka to her feet. Just as the two of them moved, the shelf tipped and crashed to the floor. The near miss hurtled them into a frantic sprint for the door, their adrenaline fueling their newfound speed.

They were too fast, however, as they burst through the doorway and collided with the wall on the other side. The impact spiraled Hayashi into a coughing fit, and Uraraka fell to her knees and trembled as the adrenaline crashed.

"Are you okay?" Hayashi sputtered out between coughs, struggling to get the air back into her lungs. Uraraka only nodded with a thick swallow, trying to steady her shaking hands.

Iida shouted through Hayashi's earpiece, making her wince. "Guys! What's going on? Was that blast from you, Bakugo?"

Hayashi didn't doubt her teammate's accusation. If anything could have caused the shaking, it would have been Bakugo's quirk. She knew he would be a problem.

Whatever reckless action he took, it could have killed Hayashi and Uraraka, or at the very least trapped them. The former voiced as much, growling out the vile curse on Bakugo's name and promising to make him pay when the battle was over. Perhaps a punch square in the face would do him good.

Hayashi almost grinned at the image that flashed in her mind: Bakugo hunched over holding his nose, blood dripping into the ground. She could break the fragile bone if she really wanted to.

"This is no time for radio silence!" Iida's voice whined through the earpiece, and Hayashi quickly remembered what she was doing. They were still battling.

She snapped her head to Uraraka–

The girl was gone.

#katsuki bakugo #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #oc #oc x canon #original character #bakugo x oc #katsuki bakugo x oc #fanfiction #fanfic #mha #bnha #mha fanfiction #bnha fanfiction

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tttewolves · 4 months

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Wild Chase

This is a short fanfiction for my ‘The Girl and The Wolves’ AU, and this takes place before Faylen joins the pack and Nia just adapted her life in the forest and becoming a true wolf.

There’s a hint of James x Nia, although in my AU, they are like siblings, but you can interpret it as a shipping or just friends, lol.🤣❤️🧡

Here it goes…

Wild Chase

Silence reigned in the peaceful forest. A mouse climbed out of the rock and rubbed its face. The mouse was trying to clean itself. However, it was unaware of its surroundings.

“Gotcha!”, growled Nia as she pounced to the mouse and caught it.

Distressed, the mouse squeaked and cried, begging for mercy. Nia opened her paws while shielding the mouse with her front legs as she giggled, “Lucky for you, I’m not hungry, and even then, I wouldn’t a little creature like you.”

There, she set the mouse free as the mouse sprinted. Nia smiled gently before she heard some rustling in the bush. Her ears perked as she turned her head, “I may not be hungry, but I could hunt a boar for dinner later for the pack.”

With that, she crouched down and slowly stalked to her potential prey. After a couple of seconds…

“Gotcha!”, screamed Nia.

However, she realised it wasn’t a wild boar. It was James. Nia gasped in horror as she landed on top of James. Nia groaned as she slowly got up, “Oops, sorry, James.”, she chuckled.

James frowned, “You could have got me covered in mud!”

With that, James shook all the dust off like he had water on him. Nia giggled, “You always do that.”

“Do what?”, James raised one of his eyebrow.

“Get rid of dust and dirt. It can’t kill us.”, Nia teased as she joked, “Oh, and you missed the spot.”

There, her tail whipped around James’ muzzle and nose in a sassy and playful manner. James blushed as he huffed, “Now don’t you get sassy, Nia.”

However, James slowly grinned then laughed as Nia joined in. The two friends started to get very close ever since James was the one to teach Nia on how to hunt and survive in the wild. At first, it was a big rival, but slowly, they began to bond and now they are quite close.

There, James and Nia’s ears perked as they heard a snorting noise. James and Nia looked at each other with the ‘bring it on’ face as they knew it was time to hunt.

With that, the two crouched and stalked silently to their potential dinner. Their eyes glowed behind the bushes as the boar was grazing on the grass. James licked his lips in anticipation as Nia smirked.

“Now!”, James hollered as the two pounced out of the bushes and lunged towards the boar.

The boar squealed in fear as it darted passed many obstacles like rocks and small rivers. The boar was fast but James and Nia were faster. As they chased the boar, James and Nia began to race against each other and nearly forgetting to hunt the boar.

While running, the boar spotted a herd of cattle and hid behind them. James and Nia were unaware of the danger before they screamed in horror as they tried to stopped their track.

“Oh crud.”, Nia gulped.

James chuckled weakly, “Hello.”

The boar behind poke his tongue out as the cattle snorted in anger. James and Nia screamed in horror as they turned around and ran away from the herd as fast as possible. At first, they were running for their lives until Nia spotted a crack between two rocks, “James! Over here!”

There, Nia jumped into the crack as James joined in just in time. Not long after, the cattle ran past the two wolves. Once they were long gone, the two wheezed, “That was a blast!”, James exclaimed.

“If it wasn’t for me, we would be dead meat.”, Nia smiled proudly.

“What a lie.”, James faked frowned as he then grinned.

The two laughed harder and harder before they try to get out of the small gap. While trying to squeeze out, their nose met. Nia gasped in realisation and apologise, “Sorry.”

James chuckled, “Nah, you’re fine.”

Not long after that, they both managed to get out of the tiny gap as they chuckled. Just then, they heard a familiar hound, “There’s the signal. Dinner should be here shortly.”, James grinned.

Nia booped James’ nose to tease him with her front paw as she dashed, “Last one to get there is a rotten skunk!”

“You’re on, Nia!”, James grinned as they raced against each other and laughed.

#ttte james #ttte nia #ttte au #ttte fanfiction #ttte wolves #hint of shipping for some people #They are more like siblings but feel free to ship them lol #I’ll admit that I do ship and support james x nia but james x thomas is still forever my OTP!

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yumeyumeappleo · 6 months

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girls when they relate to gehenna

girls when they relate to nomad

girls when they relate to jackpot sad girl

girls when they relate to kanadetomosusora

girls when they relate to hated by life itself

girls when they relate to wet by dazey and the scouts

girls when they relate to maggot by dazey and the scouts

girls when they relate to sad boys by dazey and the scouts

girls when they relate to watashi wa ame

girls when they relate to internet overdose

girls when they relate to internet yamero

girls when they relate to im your man

girls when they relate to last words of a shooting star

girls when they relate to thats why i gave up on music

girls when they relate to brand new city

girls when they relate to rakuraku annrakushi

girls when they relate to francis forever

girls when they relate to twilight by bôa

girls when they relate to obstacles

girls when they relate to spanish sahara

girls when they relate to in the darkness by mxmtoon

girls when they relate to prom dress by mxmtoon

girls when they relate to the third heart

girls when they relate to fireflies never came

girls when they relate to I was human

girls when they relate to cyberpunk dead boy

girls when they relate to amanojaku

girls when they relate to Dou Kangaetemo Watashiha Warukunai

girls when they relate to If i could ride a bike

girls when they relate to nobody by mitski

<3 girls when they relate to nanairo symphony

<3 girls when they relate to kirameki

girls when they relate to I dont smoke

girls when they relate to washing machine heart

girls when they relate to shouldve been me

<3 girls when they relate to im glad youre evil too

<3 girls when they relate to the perfect pair

<3 girls when they relate to step on me

girls when they relate to why didnt you stop me? (they did. they tried. im the one whos the problem)

girls when they relate to shinitai-chan

girls when they relate to red like roses part ||

girls when they relate to goodbye, ms flower theif

girls when they relate to Town of jade

girls when they relate to metronome

girls when they relate to Your reality

girls when they relate to Feel Better

girls when they relate to At gods mercy

girls when they relate to last cup of coffee

girls when they relate to Blooming in the mud

girls when they relate to KOMM, SUSSER TOD

girls when they relate to one last kiss

girls when they relate to hated by life itself.

girls when they relate to mesh

girls when they relate to DAI DAI DAI KIRAI

girls when they relate to abnormality dancing girl

girls when they relate to lost ones weeping

girls when they relate to Nee Nee Nee

girls when they relate to hello / how are you

girls when they relate to non-breath oblige

girls when they relate to because youre here

girls when they relate to i am addicted

girls when they relate to Falling out of love

girls when they relate to first love / late spring

girls when they relate to from the start

girls when they relate to Glue song

girls when they relate to the way things go

girls when they relate to AaAaAaAAaAaAAa

girls when they relate to spring theif - yorushika

girls when they relate to hitchcock

girls when they relate to “say it” - yorushika

girls when they relate to thought crime - yorushika

girls when they relate to daybreak and butterflies

girls when they relate to training wheels

girls when they relate to jobless monday

girls when theyre the reason their ex-best friend probably relates to i dont smoke

girls when they relate to rollin girl

girls when they relate to stella

girls when they relate to failure girl

girls when they relate to love for love by love of love

girls when they relate to disappearance addiction

girls when they relate to mkdr

girls when they relate to irony

girls when they relate to compared child

girls when they relate to im getting on the bus to the other world, see ya!

girls when they relate to goodbye to rock you

girls when they relate to trapped in the past

girls when they relate to what sort of ending are you wishing for?

girls when they relate to i hope you can be an adult some day

girls when they relate to composing the future

girls when they relate to the world hasnt even started yet

girls when they relate to villain

girls when they relate to it might be painful, but i still love it

girls when they relate to heartbeat #0822

girls when they relate to because youre here

girls when they relate to thanks for being lifeless

girls when they relate to cutlery

girls when they relate to whats inside

girls when they relate to motivation is dead

girls when they relate to 1year

girls when they relate to kokoronashi

girls when they relate to infinitely gray

girls when they relate to last night, goodnight

girls when they relate to the day you and the stars disappeared

girls when they relate to regression

girls when they relate to echo

girls when they relate to people allergy

girls when they relate to patchwork staccato

girls when they relate to self inflicted achromatic

girls when they relate to lemon/ kenshi yonezu

girls when they relate to haiiro to ao

girls when they relate to astronauts

girls when they relate to sayoko

girls when they relate to my r

girls when they relate to secret base

girls when they relate to i nandesu

girls when they relate to two birds

girls when they relate to common world domination

girls when they relate to passion at 25:00

girls when theyre diseases masquerading as human beings

#girls when they cant type out every song they relate to because that’s be impossoble and my ohone is about to die #anyways #leo talks shit #free playlist i guess you can name it kou is over sharing again

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razorblade180 · 8 months

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Ignited Chapter 4: Hurdles

Ch3 <-

Expect the unexpected is a common phrase Yujin was taught countless times over the years thanks to her grandmother’s training. When it comes to being a huntsman, the least expected is the most common occurrence. Even so…

“This is wild.” Yujin said in utter disbelief as she looked out at a massive section of Forever Fall that had turned into a massive muddy lake she couldn’t see the end of. Tree stumps, boulders, and even people were still actively falling or sinking into this insane obstacle. “I can see why Lilith was a little late.”

“No kidding…” Tenzen muttered, his own mind processing this rather interesting challenge. The sight of his fellow participants crashing into each other and drudging through the thick slop made him wish there was another way, but that unfortunately wasn’t the case. Tenzen took the leap to clearly placed slabs of rocks very carefully. “Woah!”

“Be careful!” The blonde huffed. It was clear to see going around was not an option. Getting dirty was no problem from a country raised gal like herself, but the issue stemmed from not only knowing nothing about what was in the mud, but the many people currently struggling to find their footing. “It’s like a natural oil slick.”

“Need me to carry you?”

“No. I’m just thinking.” Her metal bands straightened out and connected side by side before the actual segmented blade extended from the hilt with scorching heat that she used to harden spots of mud quickly in order to make wider gaps easier to jump as she jumped onto debris and better footing. “Tenzen, don’t feel as if you have to wait for me. We’re timed after all.”

“What happened to helping each other out?”

“As long as you’re within ear shot we’ll be fine. I know you wanna show off a little anyway.” She gave the masked boy a smirk.

“Haha, I can work with that.”

He didn’t spare a second thought in channeling his aura under his feet before leaping forward with a burst of speed towards a rock. The boy effortlessly landed upside down on his hands then pushed off into a front flip to land on a stump. The contestants could only watch the modern day ninja in awe as he made this course look like a trip down the sidewalk. Even Marcus found himself captivated, until he quickly remembered he was struggling waist deep. He grunted and groaned like many others as he grabbed a root and pulled himself one inch at a time. “Ugh! Agh! I get we won’t actually sink but this is ridiculous.” He lodged his spear in wood to hoist himself up and sit on it. If his shoes weren’t so slippery he might consider jumping. But…he’d also lose the spear. Marcus could only sigh. “I’m definitely losing points.”

Catching your breath is one thing, but he needed a plan of attack. He did his best to gather his thoughts when something unexpected happened. Suddenly, Marcus was greeted by a sheathed blade that levitated right in front of him.

“Ummm hi?” He was convinced it would speak. It was very disappointing when it didn’t. “So is this a curse or…” The blade wiggled furiously as if it was actually upset. “Sorry!” He grabbed it. “Huh, I’m surprised you actually let me grab y- woah!”

It forcefully pulled him up. He barely had any time to grab his spear before he was flying high in the sky over the mud before descending halfway onto a massive root next to a familiar stranger. “Ah, Jael. I guess the levitation makes sense now. Telekinesis?”

“Nope?”

“Are…you going to tell me?”

“It’ll come to you.”

“Truly a girl of mystery. Guess I shouldn’t complain but why exactly are you helping me?”

“To be honest, it’s kinda on a whim. You seem nice and have effort going for you.”

He raised a brow. “Implying I have no skill? Not everyone can soar over their hurdles. Literally.”

Jael looked across the course at Tenzen, who took time to pull others up to platforms before flipping away. “He’s not making excuses. Barely using his aura; let alone his semblance. I don’t know you, but I have a feeling you aren’t actually the kind of person to make excuses.”

This strange redhead gave a subdued smile that kinda threw him off. “And what kind of person do you think I am exactly?”

“The type that knows his shortcomings but at least puts in an honest effort.”

“…Thanks.” He cracked his knuckles.

Jael found it funny, the way the boy got fired up. “So do you have a plan?”

“More of an idea. “ Marcus looked Jael in the eyes and gave a big grin. “Can I hitch another ride? I’d appreciate it.”

Clever enough to think, upfront, and no stupid ego that prevents him from acknowledging others abilities. “Well… since you asked nicely…”

xxxxx

“Oooo. Very interesting.” Lilith giggles with enjoyment. “With mastery like that, Jael could probably avoid most of my traps.”

“Why not fly to the end?” Canary crossed her arms in speculation. “A bit odd of her to stop in the mud.”

“I like it.” Jacquelyn said. She smiled watching her daughter make it to the other side and walking with her new acquaintance. “I could boast about how clever my daughter is to choose conservative ways of completing the course…”

“Which you’re doing now.” Winter said bluntly.

“However!” Jacquelyn emphasized greatly, “I’d wager she’s simply curious. This is the first time being in a forest or seeing a pit of mud. Things we would take for granted. I’m glad she’s not gunning it.”

“Ha! So the test is a field trip is it?” Canary laughed. That perspective was rather charming. “I can respect that.”

“She needs to take this seriously.” Glynda said sternly. “I don’t doubt the daughter of a fully realized maiden is capable of defending herself, but Grimm are dangerous nevertheless.”

Ruby and the others reeled back from the response. “Ms.G!” Ruby gestured to Lilith. The girl was clearly in earshot but Glynda just stared at Ruby.

“What? Ms. Aspen knows everything.”

She nodded. “Yep! Salem and all. It’s probably the only real reason why I get to be here.”

“So what makes the runt so special? Aside from being a talented regional winner. That’s starting to paint a picture y’know?” Raven’s eyes narrowed.

“That’s a story I don’t really feel like getting into while I’m working. Let’s leave it at that.”

“Looks like sketchy behavior comes with being a headmaster.”

“Oh it’s nothing like that.” Lilith reassured. “If Ms. Goodwitch had her way, I’d never see combat. My stubbornness brought me to the school and nothing more. That I can promise you. Now then, shouldn’t you all be cheering for your family? Looks like they are really putting their best foot forward.”

xxxxxx

Freedom from the jaws of a glorified dirt trap felt wonderful to Marcus! He was very happy to touch solid ground again and so was Jael from the looks of it. The girl let out a deep exhale the same time the sword left his body and back to her left hip.

“You alright?”

“Yeah. I’m just not used to carrying people far. Glad I didn’t drop you.”

“Ah… didn’t realize that was a possibility.” Suddenly he was extra happy to be on solid ground. “In that case, I’ll take point while you catch your breath.”

Marcus ran ahead to scope the area, but that moment was fleeting as Jael caught up to me easily.

“Appreciate the offer, but this is sorta a race. Besides, I’m not really winded.”

“I can see that.” Marcus was aware Jael was taller than him, but he was also pretty quick. The fact that she was keeping pace with his stride so effortlessly was impressive indeed. “That’s some crazy stamina ya got.”

“Grew up walking through the desert dunes. Cardio comes naturally.”

“Eugh, sounds rough. I’m a mountain kid myself. Although this scenery has its merits.”

Jael couldn’t agree more. The entire sky was blotted out by vivid scarlet swaying amongst the branches and dancing on the wind. “Yeah. It really is something.”

Her growing fondness of the area didn’t prevent her keen gaze from noticing how the scarlet leaves had the unfortunate consequence of hiding the faint glow of malice filled eyes, their intensity burning red. It wasn’t even a second later that a man sized Nevermore swooped down, maneuvering through the trees.

“Marcus.”

“I see it.” The trees rumbled before a flock of them descended in fury. “Them! I see them!” Marcus twirled his spear before swinging it like a bat that launched a massive gust that delayed the grimms’ advance.

Their wings spread wide to brace the blast, but left no defense for the man to rush in and stab several of them in their putrid flesh. He pivoted to the right to stab another then severed a wing. As he prepared to defend from bone white talons. Jael blitzed by him and bashed the outer skull with a single blow of her sheath, killing the bird instantly. Several extra Nevermore came to the aid of the flock and began circling the two of them.

“Quite the performance they have going on.” Jael said, watching the formation.

“I could live without it. Should we run?”

“I don’t even think that boy back at the mud pit could outrun this. Not like we need to.” Jael stood back to back with Marcus. “Stay close.”

Suddenly all the grimm hovered again, and rained down their armor piercing feathers. Marcus was ready to make another gust but his spear was immediately grabbed by Jael. “Hey! What are you-”

“Relax.”

The salvo of feathers drifted slightly to the right before curving left and then back around in a circle around them, eventually slowing down while remaining to float in this new orbit.

The boy's eyes widened as he watched the attack become completely harmless. He could also feel his own body feel a little…lighter. “Oooooh” he said, figuring it out. “Gravity control. That’s a cool semblance.”

Her eyes scanned the circling flock. “Thanks. Hey? Do you see that slightly bigger one with the extra armor? I’m betting that’s the leader.” She pointed.

He followed her arm and sure enough, there was definitely a Nevermore with bone white armor on its beak, wing outline, and sides. Its actual face had the red markings of a mature grimm and its speed was unrivaled by its kin.

“I see it. If we kill it then the others have no orders to follow.”

“That’s definitely a solution, but I don’t want to fight an entire flock of this size. Do you think you can wedge your spear in it without killing?”

“I mean I doubt it would die in a hit.”

“Good.” Jael finally lets go of his spear. “Your earlier attacks were precise. I’m confident you can hit a moving target like this? Aim for center mass.”

Marcus barely knew Jael, but he had a feeling that asking her to elaborate wouldn’t yield anything. Oh well. Listening has done him well so far. Not to mention her faith in his ability wasn’t misguided. “Consider it done!”

He didn’t even have to think twice about the flight pattern before he held his spear like a javelin and chucked it full force. Sharpened metal found its mark right below the leader’s chest. All Jael did was reach her hand out and the beast was forcefully yanked from the sky along with the spear; then along the ground before her feet. As the Nevermore tried springing up for a vicious bite, Jael finally used both her hands to slam the beak shut.

“That’s enough.” She said coldly, her eyes staring down at it.

The air itself became heavy. Marcus watched the beast’s body fall to the floor, struggling to fight against immense gravity. It’s kin stopped circling and landed around them, as if to watch properly. Marcus retrieved his spear and readied for an attack but also found himself…trembling as he witnessed the apex continue to struggle in vain against the girl who made no movements. She didn’t even blink. Several long seconds passed before finally, it gave up. The Nevermore stopped fighting. Jael slowly let its beak free, and returned gravity to normal around it.

With a calm and pleased look she said, “bye” prompting the Grimm to let out a loud call that sent all of its kin flying away with it. Jael looked at Marcus. The boy was rightfully on edge. “See? Way faster than killing them all. Let’s walk and talk.”

She said that, but quickly took off running like before. Despite his reservations, Marcus ran after her. Even when he caught up to her, he found himself stammering. “H-How did you…that was…Are you real?”

“Huh, that’s a funny question. I feel real.”

“The last couple minutes don’t! The heck was that!?”

“I’ve had my fair share of territorial and mature grimm. If they’re smart enough to lead a pack then they’re intelligent enough to understand when they’re faced with certain demise. I just gave it the opportunity to reach that conclusion.”

“You intimidated a Grimm into running away? You have experience in that!?”

“Like I said, it’s only possible because it lived long enough to learn. That was my first time trying that tactic on a Nevermore though. It actually went smoother than most. Canine variants of grimm are a bit more…strong willed.”

This girl got weirder by the second. “I feel bad if others run across them. Maybe we should’ve killed them?”

“I highly doubt that thing is any condition to fight. It’s not like we’re not being monitored either. The others will be fine.”

“Sounds like you’re certain about it. Do you have classmates here?”

“….In a sense.”

xxxxxx

“Taaaaake This!” Yujin roared, her blazing sword cleaving a ursa’s torso in two like a hot knife through butter. She turned her sword towards a charging beowulf and sent a wave of searing fire that quickly reduced the beast to ash. A quick flick of the blade extinguished itself and Yujin continued her journey through the forest.

She had spent a little more time in the mud than she would’ve liked but it couldn’t be helped. Thankfully she had the stamina but now she was regretting not designing a weapon that was part gun. Tempered Steel was lovely, even she could admit her attempt to make a sword that doubled as metal knuckles had many things left to be desired. Yujin split her blade apart vertically. The cross guard on each half laid flat right above her knuckles, similar to the placement of brakes on a bike. Meanwhile the actual metal collapsed perfectly to cover it on each hand.

“Tsk, definitely needs work.” It’s not that it didn’t feel natural, however, it was still a tad clunky. Still, easily her best attempt and capable of getting the job done. She put her engineering mind at rest as she noticed Tenzen and some others standing up ahead in front of a huge wall. “The heck is that!?”

“Concrete from the looks of it!” He yelled back. “Wanna take a look up top?” He squatted and locked his fingers, causing Yujin to run faster and leap. Her right foot landed perfectly in his hands for him to launch her sky high.

Yujin effortlessly grabbed the ledge and sat on the wall. “It’s pretty thick! Maybe a solid foot of rock!” She looked on the other side to see…nothing. It was more forest but in the distance was another wall that was twice as long and potentially thicker. It also was by the end of the forest. Perhaps the entire point was that some people may have to loop around while others could easily scale up?

“What a strange obstacle.” Yujin muttered. She looked back over the edge where Tenzen was to see people climbing while others were actually planning to go around. Admittedly they were pretty quick. It was an option for Tenzen too now that she thought about it. “Did you wait for me for my sake?!” She yelled?

“No! I just wanted to see what you might do. There’s subtle groves in the walls so obviously they were giving us options.”

“Hmmm.” Well she did say she wanted to stick relatively close and help others. Yujin cuffed her hands and yelled, “Everyone! Get off of the wall! I’m gonna break it!”

The many constants looked at one another. None of them were ever a quarter of the way up so might as well listen to the strangely enthusiastic girl.

Tenzen couldn’t help but chuckle. “That’s definitely a choice.” He muttered to himself.

Yujin closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Focus…” blue eyes turned lilac and her body became dense. Yujin leapt backwards off the edge into a spin. As she fell, her body curled up into a ball to gain more speed before she kicked her legs out! Both feet slammed into the wall near the base, blasting out a section and sending her into a controlled roll along the ground and back onto her feet.

“Damn…” multiple people said, both impressed and a little scared as they started making their way through while Tenzen waited for the girl to pat herself down.

“Y’know I’m a little surprised you didn’t do that from the other side of the wall.”

“The debris could’ve hit somebody. Can’t have that.”

“Yeah, but if you weren’t strong enough to break it then you would have at least been on the other side.”

“And what? Tell everyone I’m sorry and run ahead by myself? Not my style.”

“I didn’t say all that!” What Tenzen had in mind was the two of them breaking it from both sides. Apparently that didn’t register for her. A testament to Yujin’s confidence in herself but also her need for flair. Not that he was one to talk. “Hehe, never mind. Let’s outrun everyone we just helped.” He took off and she followed suit.

“Honestly they’ll probably like that. There’s another wall near the finish. A much bigger wall that extends farther than this one.”

“Was it taller?”

“Can’t tell from this distance. Wouldn’t surprise me. Probably not bashing that one. There’s also no telling what’s between us and the wall.”

“Sooo we loop around?” He suggests. “It’s been a little over half an hour and I’m sure no one is expecting record breaking speed from us. This isn’t even the final test.”

“Isn’t that all the more reason to finish quickly? That’s more rest time as my cousin, Goodwitch, and Lilith wait for the others. You’re basically a ninja anyways. I’m sure you can run up the wall.”

“Oh most definitely, but how exactly do you plan on getting over a wall you can’t go through? No offense but I wouldn’t say you’re a particularly skilled climber.”

“You make it sound like I suck!!!” Yujin huffed. “I’ll find my way past. You can count on that. From here on out we probably shouldn’t rely too much on each other. Last thing I need is them docking my points because of you.” Yujin playfully shooed him away. “Go on. I know you’re not actually running. I will see you on the other side.”

“You sure? I don’t mind carrying you over or giving a boost.”

“Nah it’s cool.” Yujin smiled. “Besides, my mom is watching. Gotta look awesome for her.”

“Ha! I’m sure she would tell you that you’re plenty awesome already, but I get ya. Don’t make me wait too long.”

And just like that, Tenzen left her in the dust, propelling himself forward with his aura again like he did over the mud pit. Admittedly, Yujin was wishing to have inherited her grandma’s semblance or any of her acrobatic skills. “Too bad I can’t be a bird.”

xxxxxx

“Huh…this is a weird obstacle.”

“Yep….” Jael nodded, both of them staring at a massive wall.

Marcus wiped the grimm blood off of his spear and put his weapon on his back. His head craned up to find the edge. “Hmm, it’s not the worst thing I’ve climbed.”

“You’re really going to climb this after wiping out a herd of boarbatusk?” She sighed, stretching her wrists and examining her sheath. “They weren’t exactly easy to deal with; all that rolling around got old quickly.”

“It may have helped if you unsheathed your sword.” He pointed. “Yeah, I noticed.”

“The blade stays at rest.” Her voice was stern, adamant towards this particular subject. “Besides, those grimm were armored. Bashing made more sense.”

“Didn’t Lilith say she cleared out tons of grimm beforehand? Doesn’t feel like it.”

Jael looked around as they rested for a moment. “Hmm, maybe she did? Look.” She pointed to their left.

Marcus turned to see the walls end in the distance. Wasn’t too far. Certainly closer than the right, which seemed endless.

“This could be inaccurate, but it stands to reason this test can’t be built evenly l throughout the forest. Aside from the mud pit and the beginning, we haven’t come across too many elaborate traps. Mainly beasts and tripwire. Quick things. It’s probably because we’ve been going up and to the left.”

“Ah, so that was intentional by you. I partly suspected you just weren’t used to navigation.”

“I mean…I’m not.” She said frankly. “I went this way because bunching up made no sense. It’s a giant forest and even though there’s merit in letting people spring the traps ahead, you can easily be set up by others or dragged into their problems.”

A rather pessimistic outlook if Marcus had to say anything about that, but he understood the logic and what she could be implying. “So you think if we stayed towards the center that we probably would’ve found more obstacles and less grimm?”

“I have no evidence but it makes sense. We dealt with combat and risks for the benefit of less obstacles made to slow us down. And our final potential reward is…” she gestured to the left again.

“The knowledge and ability to go around. Still, it’s a little ways off. Maybe a mile? I wouldn’t be surprised if we found more grimm. I for one am done taking my chances.”

Jael watched Marcus walk up to the wall and begin to climb up it; rather quickly she might add. He did say he lived around mountains. Dude wasn’t even breaking a sweat.

“You’re seriously going to climb this?”

“Of course! I’m surprised you aren’t if I’m honest. I can’t say I’m well versed in all things Faunus but I’m pretty sure those are goat horns on your head.”

“Not all goats are exceptional climbers.”

“I know that.” He said, casually scaling the side. Marcus took a moment to find his footing. In doing so, he looked down to see Jael floating up and ahead of him. “That works too.”

“Want a lift?”

“I appreciate the offer but this is a breeze for me. I also remember what you said earlier about carrying people. I’d be in real trouble if you dropped me.”

“You…have a point.” Killing a participant by accident wouldn’t look good for her. “See you on the other side then I guess?”

“Right on. It’s been nice to meet you.”

Now that was something she definitely wasn’t expecting. Most of what she’s done was on a whim, but that wasn’t to say this hadn’t been enjoyable. “Likewise.” Jael said calmly, waving goodbye as she ascended.

As she floated, Jael wondered if Marcus counted as a friend. Probably not. They had just happened to be standing by each other in the lineup and of course he’d take help from someone who trivializes this test. She wasn’t mad at that however. She did help him out purely for the experience of it all and scope him out a little. It didn’t bother her if this was a fleeting moment. The only problem was she noticed the slight gaze of fear he held after she put the Nevermore in its place.

“Maybe I should’ve just killed them all normally?” Jael thought aloud, getting over the wall and falling straight down on the other side. She caught herself a couple feet from the ground with her semblance before walking regularly again. Immediately she noticed an archway similar to the entrance of the test. This was near the very edge of Forever Fall, so she guessed it made sense. Jael walked through and was immediately greeted with a yellow portal like the one she flew in to get here in the first place. She didn’t think twice about stepping in and came out back at the entrance where the grown ups were.

Jael blinked twice as they all looked at her. “I gotta be honest, having this test loop back to the beginning feels cruel.”

Lilith laughed and gave a shrug. “Saves on building an exit as well as a long trip for us. Anyway, congratulations. First one back. Thirty seven minutes is something to be proud of.”

“Wait, I’m really the first?” She looked around and sure enough, there was no other teen here! Jael stood up a little straighter realizing that fact. She also felt a little guilty yet relieved for Marcus. He’s close to the end.

Jacquelyn walked over and gave her daughter a hug. “You were awesome.”

Her cheeks turned red, but since no other participant was around…Jael let the embrace sink in lovingly. “So I definitely passed, right?”

“If you didn’t, then everyone else would be in deep trouble.” Canary emphasized. “Yes, you passed phase two. Although given your semblance, I’d hardly call this a good aptitude test. At least in the traditional sense.” Canary couldn’t ignore the girl’s control over her powers. If she hadn’t learned about Jael’s condition then Canary would never guess why someone her age was so proficient. Life and determination really does find a way.

“It’s not my fault this test was so open ended. I don’t think I could have asked for a better set up. What’s phase three?”

“That will be shared all at once.”

There was no way it wasn’t a standard combat test. They literally asked everyone to bring their weapons. Sure this test had grimm but no way everyone encountered some. At least not enough for a proper evaluation. “Suit yourself. I’m in no rush.”

Jael walked over and watched the monitors, choosing to ignore Yang and the others on the way. Being first was wonderful and all, but it would only be made sweeter by watching Yujin.

“Okay, show me what you’re made of.”

#rwby #rwby au #jacquelyn frost #jael frost #yang xiao long #ruby rose #glynda goodwitch #lilith aspen #yujin xiao long #lie tenzen #rwbabies #rwby ignited #canary branwen #rwby dragonslayer

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