#obey me nig

[three-realms-archive]

Ante Up

Content Warnings: A little suggestive towards the end, mostly flirtatious.

The casino lights shine as bright as the newly-acquired gold rings on Mammon’s fingers: won in his latest game of poker. The losing ghost, instead of feeling down, snorts out a hearty chuckle when he drags himself out of the room. After all…

“… You’re playing a game with the Avatar of Greed.” You say smoothly, your lips curling into a venomous smile fitting of your bright-red lipstick. A warning of the taste of poison to come, as the next challenger sits across from the two of you, averting their eyes from yours in respect. “I’d advise against betting anything you aren’t prepared to lose.”

“They know, they know, ” Mammon grins. He uses one hand to give his remaining cards from last game to the dealer; his eyes never leaving yours as he runs the other up and down your side. You giggle, shifting in the seat your shared with him. He savours the feel of the golden sequins adorning your golden outfit as you press against him and reach up to run your fingers adoringly along his jawline. When he chuckles, you feel the rumble of his voice against your fingertips and it sends excitingly-dangerous shivers down your spine. “Everyone here knows me, treasure.” Mammon boasts, with an assured smirk.

His smirk widens when you pout.

“Mmm... ‘everyone'?”

You lean up, until your lips hover just above the corner of his mouth. You feel his breath ghost over your lips; goosebumps etch into your skin where his fingers fidget to hold you closer. And yet - despite the thick, honey-sweet tension - you can’t help tease when you hear Mammon’s breath hitch. “But I want you all to myself, babe. You… and me. "

The tip of your noses brush against each other.

"Alone.”

… His lips move. Just a bit.

You pull back with a devilish smile, purring as you look at him through fluttering eyelashes. Your nails lightly drag down from his jaw to his neck, tracing along his collarbone as your voice lowers to a whisper.

“You know how… greedy I can be.”

Mammon struggles to hide a small whine in his throat, his grip on your waist now vice-like. Needy, wanting, and greedy. Somewhere in his haze of thoughts, is a cloud of brilliant, shining love when he hears you wear the greed others hate with pride. His greed.

“Oi, you. Ante the hell up.” He whips his head back to his opponent. You see his golden pact mark shimmering in his eyes, dangerous. “I’ll be winning this one quick. I’ve got somewhere to be with my treasure.”

(let me know how this attempt at romantic tension was, i'm always looking to improve! tho, i always love writing anything where mc takes control. i also like writing cool mammon.)

[betterfettered]

Do you think the Yandere obey me cast, specifically Leviathan, would take away your glasses you needed to see with just so you'd rely on him more/not look at anyone else?

At first I was just having a laugh but now I'm wondering how that would go.

This isn't a request I just thought it was funny and wanted to share

HAHAHAHAHA omg this is so funny T T thank you for sending this I'm dying

"This isn't a request I thought it was funny"

(AMAB!Yandere x GN!reader)(This one is fluffy teehee)

As a little treat to himself, Yandere!Lucifer might do this to tease you a little, and make you beg or ask nicely for them. He'd really like the feeling of you being reliant on him, and he does enjoy a bit of light hearted teasing so it would be a warm fuzzy moment for him. Following that though he would test your eyesight and punish you if you weren't wearing the right prescription.

Yandere!Mammon will steal your glasses and then insist on helping you with everything, even things that aren't related to your sight, such as showering. He'll stand close enough to you that you can count his eyelashes when you are talking and turn your face towards him by the chin when he notices you squinting at things. Sooner or later you will find your glasses in his stuff, and he'll say he doesn't know how they got there.

Yandere!Leviathan would snatch your glasses off of your face in a fit of jealousy and stomp on them, asking furiously why you always want to look at everyone but him. Fine - better if he doesn't leave you the option at all. He'll trap you in another video game with him, where everything is unfamiliar and you can barely make out your surroundings so you have to cling to him to survive. Of course he's going to be very into roleplaying the character, so you'll have to call him whatever he says and convince him with affection to stop being salty enough to help you.

A lover of a good prank, Yandere!Satan would take your glasses while you're sleeping and replace your things with similar looking things or just rig them, then watch you through the many, many cameras he's got all over. It's like one of his cat videos! He put slimy bugs in your house slippers, unscrewed your door from the hinges so when you try to leave your room it falls over onto you, replaced your toothpaste with a tube of frosting, set up your shower to hit you with a mildly corrosive acid that painfully burns your skin. Haha! What good fun! When you finally call out to him and ask him for help he'll return your glasses and help take care of any of the pain he caused you.

Yandere!Asmo seems like one of those people who would take your glasses and put them on and then be like "WOW YOU REALLY CAN'T SEE!" He'll probably wave them above his head and tell you to come and get them from him so that you have to willingly get close to him, at which point he'll probably toss your glasses to the side because his attention is on you instead.

Yandere!Beelzebub definitely sat on your glasses by accident and broke them, and he feels really bad about it, but every time he lets you go outside you try to run away so how is he supposed to get you new ones? :( He'll help you out as much as possible with trying to see things, and you'll have many moments with him where you say "what does that say" "prime tapur special" "no that" "new charred poison belly newt spicy flavor" "no, that!" ".....2 for 1 blood strawberry tart" "never mind...". Eventually if you promise to behave and have earned his trust enough, he'll take you to replace them.

Yandere!Belphegor will take your glasses and leave little clues for you to follow to get to them. Seeing you walk around and around though, at least one of the brothers is going to offer to help you find them, and when Belphegor finds out he's gonna be hella annoyed about it. He'll probably go into your room at night, lock the door, and lie on top of you, refusing to get up. When you finally do manage to escape so you can go to school, he'll knock your glasses off your nightstand so they fall behind your bed, and then tell you to go ask the brother who helped you what happened to them, hmPH!

Thank you homie for sending this goofy ask what a nice change of pace <3

[honeypiehotchner]

Devil's Backbone (Unsub!Hotch x Fem!Reader) -- part thirteen

I guess now is as good a time as any to tell y'all to prepare for the ending of this fic because uhm...yeah 🫣

Warnings: just him being a dick, manipulation, the usual

Follow @honeypiehotchnerlibrary and turn on post notifications to be "tagged" when a new part is uploaded!

Thirteen: I should've known, I'd leave alone -- "No Time To Die" by Billie Eilish

You drove Aaron back to his motel, not that you had any choice in the matter when he held your gun and pointed it right at you.

“Strauss gave you this assignment?” he asked, staring at you even though you had to keep your eyes on the road. “What about Dave?”

You couldn’t bring yourself to lie. “Rossi was there with her when she gave me the task.”

“Shit,” Aaron muttered, looking out the window before looking back at you. “What does he think?”

“That you’re grieving,” you clenched your jaw, remembering how badly you wanted to believe him. How badly you wanted Rossi’s optimism to be right. “That these deaths are coincidences.”

“Good,” Aaron nodded. “Anyone else?”

You bit back a scream. “JJ is confused. No one else knows anything.”

“No one?” he pressed, sounding suspicious.

“No one,” you repeated. “Just me, Rossi, and Strauss. JJ just thinks she misplaced some files, nothing more. But you know the moment--”

“Yes, I know the second you’re back, they’ll begin a search for me,” he said. “Lucky for me, I have a head start.”

You pulled into the motel parking lot without saying anything. Maybe he doesn’t know about the tracker, you thought. Maybe.

“Get out,” he ordered, unlocking the doors. He got out as well and waited for you to obey him.

You shut the car off and stepped out, rounding the hood of the car to face him on the passenger side. 

You crossed your arms over your chest. “Give me my gun back.”

“Ah, ah, ah,” he shook his head. “We’re not done talking.”

You rolled your eyes. And that was a big mistake.

In one second, your back is against the passenger door, and he’s gripping your chin, forcing you to look at him. Your eyes went wide, staring into his. They were not the normal, soft brown eyes you knew. These belonged to someone else.

“Are you done?” he asked, leaving zero room for an answer. You barely had time to nod. “You are going to leave me alone. You are going to get the team to leave me alone. Do you understand?”

You nodded.

“Say it,” he hissed, fingers gripping your chin tighter. “What are you going to do?”

“Leave you alone,” you said. “And make the team think it’s someone else.”

“Smart girl,” he smirked. “If I see you again, I might kill you. Do you understand?”

You believed him. You nodded.

“Don’t make me hurt you,” he whispered, and only then did you see his resolve cracking. “I don’t want to hurt you.” He sounded so sincere.

You nodded slowly, tears gathering in your eyes that you blinked away. You refused to let him see you cry. That was your line.

“Good,” he said. “Now, I’m going to give you your gun back. If you try to shoot me, I’ll have no choice.”

But to kill you, you finished for him. You nodded. “Understood.”

He let go of you abruptly, stepping back from you. The action happened so fast that you nearly fell over.

“Here,” he said, holding your gun out by the barrel. He really trusted you to hand it to you the correct way, because that meant you had the perfect opportunity to shoot him. But you didn’t. He knew you wouldn’t.

You took your gun and put it in your holster immediately. No games. 

“Go,” he nodded to the car. “I have somewhere to be. Don’t follow me.”

“Not planning on it,” you quipped. You knew better now. You needed back up. The team needed to know. Aaron was no longer the Agent Hotchner, Unit Chief they knew. He was their next unsub.

Aaron ignored your obvious attitude and turned to head to his room. Halfway there, he stopped and turned around.

“What?” you asked.

“You forgot something,” he said, pulling the small tracker out of his pocket. The exact one you placed underneath his car last night.

You watched as he dropped it to the ground, and crushed it with his heel. Fuck.

“Don’t do that again,” he warned. “Orders or not. Leave me alone, Y/N. I mean it.”

“Understood,” you nodded. “Goodbye.”

He stared at you for a moment, then went into his room without another word.

You exhaled, backing up while still looking at his door. You refused to turn your back on him until you were in the car, just in case he changed his mind about shooting you.

The mere thought was enough to give you whiplash.

You didn’t bother buckling yourself in before peeling out of the parking lot, waiting barely half a mile before dialing Rossi. It rang only once.

“What happened?” Rossi asked frantically. “We lost signal on the tracker. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” you bit out, pressing on the gas. “I’m headed back to Quantico.”

“Did you speak to Hotch?”

“I did.”

“How is he?” Rossi asked, exasperated. “You’re being too quiet, Y/N, is he there with--”

“He’s not with me, he’s gone,” you snapped. “He’s at the motel where you last had a signal. Get that location to Garcia. Hotch won’t be there for long. He’s probably already left, but I’m not sure.” You paused. “It’s time to bring the team in on this, Dave.”

Rossi was silent. You knew he didn’t want to believe it. You didn’t either, but you had no choice. It was the truth. 

“I’ll call Garcia myself if I have to,” you continued. If Dave was in denial, you knew you would have to handle it on your own. And you would. “He’s gone, Rossi. I spoke to him, but it wasn’t him. He’s gone. He’s murdering old unsubs. He all but admitted to Holman and Edwards, and told me there are more. We need to--”

“Alright,” Rossi finally spoke. “Get back here as soon as you can.”

“Yep,” you replied, ending the call. And you screamed. Loud, guttural. 

The Aaron you knew was gone forever. He had been for a long time. It was time you accepted that fully. It was time you did your job.

+++

Aaron waited by the window of his motel room for ten minutes. Fifteen. Twenty. He thought for sure you’d call the cops on him, or that you had backup somewhere down the street. He couldn’t imagine Strauss sending you after him without backup, but she did. Foolish.

After deciding he was clear, Aaron grabbed his bag and left. He didn’t bother getting his cash back for the room.

He checked his car once more for any devices, finding none. But he knew what he had to do. 

With the parking lot already a barren wasteland, it was easy to swap license plates with a car on the far end. It was the same color, nowhere near the same make or model. But it would work just fine.

He sped away, in the opposite direction from you.

[melverie]

⸺ LESSON 12 ⸺

Nightbringer

Lucifer

demons & angels (& humans)

strange feelings & soup

records of a banshee

misc

- lesson 11 || lesson 13 || all posts so far -

the way I wrote exactly nine pages worth of notes for this lesson in a notebook because I spent all of yesterday traveling half the country for the election & didn't bring my tablet with me. My wrist may hurt but we have a recap to get into, so let's get to it! General spoiler warning for all of Obey Me Nightbringer, as well as for the original Obey Me taglist: @lonely-north-star

⸺ NIGHTBRINGER ⸺

Nightbringer talks to MC in...the shadow realm...?? [12-2] -> he talks to them right after MC got hit with the curse of the Fountain of Knowledge -> this is the first conversation we had with him ever since the text messages at the beginning of the game

this line from Nightbringer once again implies that MC should know who he is [12-2; pic below] -> same thing with Nightbringer a little later saying that that's just the type of answer he expected from them after MC says they want to choose their own path -> Nightbringer later says that MC must have trouble trusting him since he is a demon. However, MC has never had any problem with trusting demons. So while they know each other, they seemingly don't know each other well

'Nightbringer' is only one of the many names Nightbringer is known by, though he hasn't been called that in a long time [12-2]

he keeps saying 'this world' instead of 'the past' [12-2; all three pics below] -> also there's a double empty space between 'of' and 'this' in the second screenshot

Nightbringer laugh is 'heheh' [12-2] -> Belphegor laughs the exact same way [12-A], meaning Belphie is Nig---?! *gets shot*

the opening of this conversation plays out exactly like MC's conversation with Michael did back in OG season 2 [12-2] -> comparison

Nightbringer claims he brought us here because this is the path that leads to happiness, and says that if MC ends up happy, he will end up happy as well [12-2] -> why does he want to put MC on this path though? Like, why is he so deadset on making MC happy?

he wants MC to reforge the pacts with the brothers [12-2]. He doesn't tell us why he wants MC to do so, but it's implied that doing so is what will lead MC to happiness

Nightbringer mentions that MC has managed to become an important part of the brothers' lives, and highlights Lucifer here [12-2]

Nightbringer's slogan or whatever [12-2; pic below]

paired with the point above, Asmodeus talks about it always being daytime in the Celestial Realm [12-13]. Seems like the ideal place to bring night to, doesn't it :] [discord server; both pics below]

⸺ LUCIFER ⸺

Lucifer refers to MC as 'attendant' [12-18]. We won! XD

the Avatar of Pride says love is something beautiful ❤️ [12-18]

the Ring of Light starts to react once Lucifer kisses comatoes MC [12-18] -> this partially seems to be what wakes MC up from their coma

Lucifer tells MC that in return for Lilith being reborn as a human, he swore eternal loyalty to Diavolo [12-18] -> he refuses to tell the rest of the brothers and fears that, were Michael and Father to catch wind of the entire situation, it could result in a war between the Devildom and the Celestial Realm -> also I just realized Solomon probably taunted Lucifer with the entire 'oohhh you swore eternal loyalty to Diavolo!' thing last lesson to indirectly tell Lucifer that he knows about the Lilith situation and could easily tell the rest of the brothers right then and there...

⸺ DEMONS & ANGELS (& HUMANS) ⸺

LILITH WITH THE BRAINCELL ❤️ ahem, Lilith being the only one that has never underestimated humans and kept trying to tell the others that were insulting humans by underestimating them [12-16]

⸺ STRANGE FEELINGS & SOUP ⸺

Satan already admits to loving MC [12-6]

Belphegor still claims that he distrust MC, but Beelzebub can tell that he is worried about them [12-9] -> Belphegor later apologizes to MC for how he acted [12-16] -> he also seems to have gotten over his hatred for humans already.......

Belphegor also admits that he loves MC [12-16]

Lucifer is confiding in MC and is obviously still emotionally distressed about everything that has happened in the Great Celestial War [12-18] -> also MY FAVE LUCIFER GENRE Y'ALL (sad, suffering & vulnerable) [12-18; all four pics below. Four pics for this moment because I said so ❤️]

⸺ RECORDS OF A BANSHEE ⸺

Beelzebub has calmed down again and has returned to the House of Lamentation [12-4] -> Leviathan tells MC that Diavolo seems to have forgiven Beelzebub. He isn't actually sure if that's what happened though, and adds that that's what Lucifer told them [12-4; pic below]

⸺ MISC ⸺

the 'no promises' rule at the Fountain of Knowledge actually stems from a curse that was put on the fountain before Thirteen even inhabited the cave [12-2] -> Thirteen mentions that this is also why she can't help if someone breaks this particular rule -> Satan has extensively tried to find a way to break the curse, yet still ended up empty-handed [12-6]. Solomon also promises to find a way to break the curse [lesson 12 hard mode] -> violating the rules has put MC in a coma-like state [12-2]

Satan reads MC the tale of Princess Kaguya. However, the ending of the book ended up getting burned so the story cuts off after a certain point [12-6; pic below] -> interesting point for the story to cut off from, and iirc that's a motive that will also be brought up again a few times throught the two seasons

Beelzebub's quote from the website [12-9; pic below]

we learn the story behind Asmodeus doing everyone's nails, and it's a wholesome one ❤️ [12-13]

we learn what Lilith was to have her wings cut off and wander in eternal darkness for the rest of eternity [12-18] -> .........eternal darkness, you say? (Nightbringer wants to know your location 👀)

unrelated to the bigger picture, but the way we don't get a dialogue choice in 12-18. Giving Lucifer the SILENT silent treatment lmao

Simeon blesses MC, which puts them in a sleep-like state. He also mentions that an angel's blessing can't dispel curses [lesson 12 hard mode] -> when Lucifer asks Simeon if that means that MC's life is no longer in danger, he hesitates slightly...?

[voiceoffenrisulfr]

Multifandom Flash Bingo Masterlist (Beehive)

'Ax-Crazy' Silver & Gold - Chapter Nine. Natasha Romanoff (ish) x Original Male Character. Lia gets frustrated while waiting to recover from her injury, so her Soldier tries to take her mind off it. CW: Pure Smut :) 'Schrodinger's Butterfly' Silver & Gold - Chapter Seven. Natasha Romanoff (ish) x Original Male Character. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between reality and darkness. CW: Sudden personality changes, verbal abuse, distress, subconscious self-harm (mild), references to past self-harm and abuse, unrealism, fat shaming.

'And Now You Must Marry Me' With Eyes to See and Ears to Hear - Chapter 24. Clint Barton x Matt Murdock. It's the finale!

'Deja Vu' On The Tide - Chapter Six. Bucky Barnes x Original Male Character. Things are tense after the accidental kiss, and Lieutenant Tyne learns more about his newest recruit. CW: Mentions of homophobia and criminalisation of homosexuality, vague references to theoretical SA. 'Cheshire Cat Grin' With Eyes to See and Ears to Hear - Chapter 23. Clint Barton x Matt Murdock. Matt is caught in the shower, and Clint decides to punish him. CW: Kinky sex, sexual ‘punishment’.

'The End... Or is it?' Hail Hydra - Chapter Twelve. Bucky settles into his prolonged captivity until his creator is ready to return to him, and finds out exactly what it means to obey without question. CW: Restraint, forced obedience, physical punishment, sexual slavery/non-con, self-induced vomiting, disassociation following trauma. 'Wipe That Smile Off Your Face' With Eyes to See and Ears to Hear - Chapter 23. Clint Barton x Matt Murdock. Matt is caught in the shower, and Clint decides to punish him. CW: Kinky sex, sexual ‘punishment’. 'Blood from the Mouth' Hail Hydra - Chapter Two. Bucky’s captors leave their prisoner to fight through his illness. CW: sickness, overeating, paranoia, imprisonment, poor treatment of POWs, infection.

'Accidental Pornomancer' The Real Winter Soldier, Part Two. Bucky Barnes x Original Male Character. Winter is restless and needy, and takes advantage of having the Lieutenant's private number. CW: Smut, Breeding kink, Dom/Sub dynamic 'Dream Tells You to Wake Up' Silver & Gold - Chapter Seven. Natasha Romanoff (ish) x Original Male Character. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between reality and darkness. CW: Sudden personality changes, verbal abuse, distress, subconscious self-harm (mild), references to past self-harm and abuse, unrealism, fat shaming. 'I'm Cold... So Cold...' Hail Hydra - Chapter Three. When Sergeant Barnes starts to recover from his illness, he’s given other things to worry about. CW: illness recovery, temperature torture, hypothermia, loss of consciousness.

'Idiotic Partner Confession' Silver & Gold - Chapter Eight. Natasha Romanoff (ish) x Original Male Character. Everyone's favourite couple go exploring - but not everything goes as smoothly as they'd like. CW: Exposure, hypothermia, accidental injury. 'Man Bites Man' Hail Hydra - Chapter Six. Bucky seeks comfort. CW: Flashbacks (including forced amputation and brief body gore), Nightmares, T-rated smuttiness.

'Amnesiac Liar' Say You're Sorry. Bucky Barnes x Tony Stark. After months of apologetic pleading with no end in sight, Tony concocts a way for Bucky to earn his forgiveness - but it won't be easy. CW: Smut, punishment, mentions of murder and brainwashing, bad bdsm etiquette, punishment turns into sex. Loss of virginity. Kind of dub-con vibes? But not? The consent is very enthusiastic.

'Made a Slave' Hail Hydra - Chapter Eleven. Bucky gets to his new home, and is treated with surprising tenderness- until he isn't. CW: Violence, slavery, implied risk to life. 'Apocalypse Cult' Hail Hydra - Chapter Fourteen. Bucky finds out what it is to be a part of Zola’s experiment, and is marked as Hydra’s property. CW: Death of an unknown character, corpses, non-con body modification, sexual assault.

'Bigger is Better in Bed' In the Dark of the Night. James Buchannan 'Bucky' Barnes x Clint Barton. From the world of Multitudes (can mostly be read as a standalone smutfest though). Clint and Buck can’t remember the last time they had some time alone, so decide to go camping for a night and get away from the pressures of parenthood. The usual sexytimes ensue. CW: Basically PWP.

'Crying After Sex' Gold & Silver - Chapter Two. Natasha Romanoff (ish?) x Original Male Character. Our Aurelia finally gets what she wants, and the first date ends with a bang. CW: Smut.

@multifandom-flash

[miajolensdevotion]

August 21, 2021

Verse: Psalm 119:1-112

Copy God’s word:

Delight in God’s Word ‎א Alef 1 How[a] happy are those whose way is blameless, who live according to the Lord’s instruction! 2 Happy are those who keep His decrees and seek Him with all their heart. 3 They do nothing wrong; they follow His ways. 4 You have commanded that Your precepts be diligently kept. 5 If only my ways were committed to keeping Your statutes! 6 Then I would not be ashamed when I think about all Your commands. 7 I will praise You with a sincere heart when I learn Your righteous judgments. 8 I will keep Your statutes; never abandon me. ‎ב Bet 9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping Your[b] word. 10 I have sought You with all my heart; don’t let me wander from Your commands. 11 I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You. 12 Lord, may You be praised; teach me Your statutes. 13 With my lips I proclaim all the judgments from Your mouth. 14 I rejoice in the way revealed by Your decrees as much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on Your precepts and think about Your ways. 16 I will delight in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word. ‎ג Gimel 17 Deal generously with Your servant so that I might live; then I will keep Your word. 18 Open my eyes so that I may contemplate wonderful things from Your instruction. 19 I am a stranger on earth; do not hide Your commands from me. 20 I am continually overcome with longing for Your judgments. 21 You rebuke the proud, the ones under a curse, who wander from Your commands. 22 Take insult and contempt away from me, for I have kept Your decrees. 23 Though princes sit together speaking against me, Your servant will think about Your statutes; 24 Your decrees are my delight and my counselors. ‎ד Dalet 25 My life is down in the dust; give me life through Your word. 26 I told You about my life, and You listened to me; teach me Your statutes. 27 Help me understand the meaning of Your precepts so that I can meditate on Your wonders. 28 I am weary[c] from grief; strengthen me through Your word. 29 Keep me from the way of deceit and graciously give me Your instruction. 30 I have chosen the way of truth; I have set Your ordinances before me. 31 I cling to Your decrees; Lord, do not put me to shame. 32 I pursue the way of Your commands, for You broaden my understanding.[d] ‎ה He 33 Teach me, Lord, the meaning[e] of Your statutes, and I will always keep them.[f] 34 Help me understand Your instruction, and I will obey it and follow it with all my heart. 35 Help me stay on the path of Your commands, for I take pleasure in it. 36 Turn my heart to Your decrees and not to material gain. 37 Turn my eyes from looking at what is worthless; give me life in Your ways.[g] 38 Confirm what You said to Your servant, for it produces reverence for You. 39 Turn away the disgrace I dread; indeed, Your judgments are good. 40 How I long for Your precepts! Give me life through Your righteousness. ‎ו Vav 41 Let Your faithful love come to me, Lord, Your salvation, as You promised. 42 Then I can answer the one who taunts me, for I trust in Your word. 43 Never take the word of truth from my mouth, for I hope in Your judgments. 44 I will always obey Your instruction, forever and ever. 45 I will walk freely in an open place because I seek Your precepts. 46 I will speak of Your decrees before kings and not be ashamed. 47 I delight in Your commands, which I love. 48 I will lift up my hands to Your commands, which I love, and will meditate on Your statutes. ‎ז Zayin 49 Remember Your word to Your servant; You have given me hope through it. 50 This is my comfort in my affliction: Your promise has given me life. 51 The arrogant constantly ridicule me, but I do not turn away from Your instruction. 52 Lord, I remember Your judgments from long ago and find comfort. 53 Rage seizes me because of the wicked who reject Your instruction. 54 Your statutes are the theme of my song during my earthly life.[h] 55 Yahweh, I remember Your name in the night, and I obey Your instruction. 56 This is my practice: I obey Your precepts. ‎ח Khet 57 The Lord is my portion;[i] I have promised to keep Your words. 58 I have sought Your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to Your promise. 59 I thought about my ways and turned my steps back to Your decrees. 60 I hurried, not hesitating to keep Your commands. 61 Though the ropes of the wicked were wrapped around me, I did not forget Your instruction. 62 I rise at midnight to thank You for Your righteous judgments. 63 I am a friend to all who fear You, to those who keep Your precepts. 64 Lord, the earth is filled with Your faithful love; teach me Your statutes. ‎ט Tet 65 Lord, You have treated Your servant well, just as You promised. 66 Teach me good judgment and discernment, for I rely on Your commands. 67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word. 68 You are good, and You do what is good; teach me Your statutes. 69 The arrogant have smeared me with lies, but I obey Your precepts with all my heart. 70 Their hearts are hard and insensitive, but I delight in Your instruction. 71 It was good for me to be afflicted so that I could learn Your statutes. 72 Instruction from Your lips is better for me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. ‎י Yod 73 Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding so that I can learn Your commands. 74 Those who fear You will see me and rejoice, for I put my hope in Your word. 75 I know, Lord, that Your judgments are just and that You have afflicted me fairly. 76 May Your faithful love comfort me as You promised Your servant. 77 May Your compassion come to me so that I may live, for Your instruction is my delight. 78 Let the arrogant be put to shame for slandering me with lies; I will meditate on Your precepts. 79 Let those who fear You, those who know Your decrees, turn to me. 80 May my heart be blameless regarding Your statutes so that I will not be put to shame. ‎כ Kaf 81 I long for Your salvation; I put my hope in Your word. 82 My eyes grow weary looking for what You have promised; I ask, “When will You comfort me?” 83 Though I have become like a wineskin dried by smoke, I do not forget Your statutes. 84 How many days must Your servant wait? When will You execute judgment on my persecutors? 85 The arrogant have dug pits for me; they violate Your instruction. 86 All Your commands are true; people persecute me with lies—help me! 87 They almost ended my life on earth, but I did not abandon Your precepts. 88 Give me life in accordance with Your faithful love, and I will obey the decree You have spoken. ‎ל Lamed 89 Lord, Your word is forever; it is firmly fixed in heaven. 90 Your faithfulness is for all generations; You established the earth, and it stands firm. 91 They stand today in accordance with Your judgments, for all things are Your servants. 92 If Your instruction had not been my delight, I would have died in my affliction. 93 I will never forget Your precepts, for You have given me life through them. 94 I am Yours; save me, for I have sought Your precepts. 95 The wicked hope to destroy me, but I contemplate Your decrees. 96 I have seen a limit to all perfection, but Your command is without limit. ‎מ Mem 97 How I love Your instruction! It is my meditation all day long. 98 Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are always with me. 99 I have more insight than all my teachers because Your decrees are my meditation. 100 I understand more than the elders because I obey Your precepts. 101 I have kept my feet from every evil path to follow Your word. 102 I have not turned from Your judgments, for You Yourself have instructed me. 103 How sweet Your word is to my taste— sweeter than honey in my mouth. 104 I gain understanding from Your precepts; therefore I hate every false way. ‎נ Nun 105 Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path. 106 I have solemnly sworn to keep Your righteous judgments. 107 I am severely afflicted; Lord, give me life through Your word. 108 Lord, please accept my willing offerings of praise, and teach me Your judgments. 109 My life is constantly in danger,[j] yet I do not forget Your instruction. 110 The wicked have set a trap for me, but I have not wandered from Your precepts. 111 I have Your decrees as a heritage forever; indeed, they are the joy of my heart. 112 I am resolved to obey Your statutes to the very end.[k]

Write your favorite verse:

57 The Lord is my portion;[i] I have promised to keep Your words. 58 I have sought Your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to Your promise. 59 I thought about my ways and turned my steps back to Your decrees. 60 I hurried, not hesitating to keep Your commands.

Explain verse by verse:

In beginning to describe man’s blessedness, the psalmist starts with the idea that being undefiled in the way is a blessing.

Lesson that you learned from these passages: (summary)

Many people – ancient and modern – think the life lived undefiled in the way is boring at best. The idea is that if there isn’t any defilement in it, then it can’t be any fun. Yet the one who walks in God’s word knows the true blessedness of living and enjoying an undefiled life.

What will you do? I will simply say that God is blessed; He wants us to share His blessedness

[sashi-ya]

Hey!!! I love your writings!!!! Can you do Rape play + rough sex with Ace and a fem s/o?

Please, if you don't feel like it is fine. But... if you finally do it, I know for sure it would be glorious.

Hi!!! I hope you like this one! I really enjoyed writing it, to be honest with you, my cheeks got red while doing so! 🙈 Anyway, I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for your request darling! 💖

NSFW 🚫 ~ Portgas D. Ace x F! Reader ~ Rape PLAY.

Kinks:

🌶 #11: Rape play 🌶 #17: Rough sex

TW: NSFW. Rape play. Forced sex. Violent actions. Implied impregnation. It is a PLAY, both characters have given their consent previously. Yet, 🚫If you are not comfortable with this type of kinks and situations please DNI. Thanks ♥ 🚫

AU: Fem! Reader works night shifts at a convenience store.

WC: 1.3K

I know it is a sensitive topic, so, If you feel bad or so reading it, please contact me, I'm not a professional in mental health but if you need to talk I'm here for you! ♥ ~

The hours seem to pass slower than ever. The night shift at the convenience store is killing you with boredom. Not a single customer has come inside in a few hours, and even if you have to study the book over the counter, it hasn’t been touched.

Staring at the potato chips aisle, the little chime of the door’s bell announces someone finally entered. “Good nig….”, you stop yourself. A tall, muscular, freckled boy in front of you flashes a smile warm like fire is in front of you. His wavy black hair falls over his cheeks, a yellow shirt unbuttoned, black shorts, and nothing more.

“Good night”, he waves at you and walks to the energy drinks aisle. You watch him examine the fridges, but not picking anything. His back looks wide, and somehow you imagine yourself burying your nails on his flesh.

The young man turns around and asks you, “Excuse me miss, do you happen to have the red Monster? you know, the one with a flame”. “Oh, uhm, let me see if I have some in the deposit. I’ll be right back”, you tell him, and run towards the back of the store. Scrutinizing around several boxes, you finally found the wanted beverage and headed to the counter.

“Oi! I found it!” you say, but you don’t see the man around anymore. “Well, he must have been in a hurry…”, you think, a little disappointed because the hot man has left.

Suddenly a hand covers your mouth from behind, and an arm snakes around your waist pulling you against a warm body. “You are going to be quiet and obey me” a man whispers in your ear, and then licks the shell of your ear.

Kicking desperately, trying to free yourself from his claws, you try to reach for the phone over the counter, but you just can’t. You are being dragged by his strong body to the back of the store.

He pushes you against a few boxes over the floor in the deposit and closes the door. The freckled boy towers you, with his hands over his hip with a lascivious smile. You, on the other side, trying to recover from hitting the ground, crawl backwards asking him to stop. “You… you are scaring me. Please, don’t do anything to me”, you beg.

“I saw how you were looking at me, little bitch. Don’t act as if you don’t want this”, he says, smirking sexily. “What… uhm, no I don’t please let me go…”, you tell with teary eyes.

He comes closer and closer as you don’t have any more place to run, your back pressed against the boxes, you are still on the ground. He crunches to be at your height and pulls your chin up so you can see him in the eyes. “Don’t be scared, as long as you do everything I want, I won’t hurt you”.

You shut your eyes and move your head to make him stop touching your chin, and that makes him mad. His hand reaches for the back of your neck and pulls you closer to his face, violently. “What did I tell you? huh?”. “I’m… sorry. Please, don’t do anything to me… I…”, you say crying.

“Nah babe, you are gonna be mine, no matter what”, he says and quickly your shirt gets torn. “Oh look at you, little slut, not wearing any bra… perfect, this is just perfect”, he says and pounces over your chest. His mouth quickly attacks your nipples, and even if you fight against his face to stop, he won’t.

“Stop, no. NO”, you scream hitting him on the head. “Stay still, bitch” he says and snatches your wrist with just one hand, lifting them up over your head.  His knees over your thighs, got them immobilized. He is way stronger than you, you can’t run away.

He uses his free hand to unbutton your jeans, and then reaches your sex. “Are you sure you don’t want this? you are so wet, you little bitch”, he mumbles with his mouth over your hard nipples. And he is right, you are wet, you are aroused, but he is forcing you isn’t it supposed to be something wrong? something you don’t really want?

“No, I don’t want it. Let me go!!!”, you shout acting tough. “Did I tell you to be quiet, or not?”, he says, shutting your mouth with his lips. His tongue forces your mouth to open, he invades the cavity. You try to move your head to the side, resulting in him licking the sides of your mouth. Your cheeks wet from his saliva, his kisses that lower until your neck. Flesh that he bites, and leaves marked with his sharp teeth, while his fingers penetrate your sex violently. The motion hits constantly your walls, exactly where your most sensitive point is. You don’t want this, but a moan escapes your mouth. “You see, you enjoy this”, your abuser says laughing. “No…”, you say, this time it sounded less convincing than before.

You can’t help but squirm, closing your eyes, your hips unwillingly move towards his hand. The stimulation is leaving you on the verge of an orgasm. And you feel guilty, “how am I enjoying this?” ...

Your jeans get damped when he keeps fingering you and you inevitably cum. Whining, trying to repress moans, failing miserably.  “Aw, you came on my hand, dirty slut” the freckled boy laughs at you while he is already pulling your jeans out.

“No, what are you… stop!”, you shout, trying to kick him up, exhausted from your climax when he lowers the zipper of his black shorts. “Did you really think I was over?” he says and sheds his shirt.

You notice a big tattoo on his left arm, “ASCE”. “Is… Is that your name?”, you ask, trying to distract him while you slowly try to stand up. “Yeah, it is”, and when he says that, you stand up and run towards the door.

“Where the fuck do you think you are going?”. The stranger, named Ace gets you pinned against the door. “Oh no darling, you are not out from here until I’m done with you” he says and grabbing you by your hair, he hits your face against the wooden door. His knee spreads your legs, and his hard member brushes your entrance.

“I’m gonna fuck you as much as I want, until you can’t stand in two legs anymore”, and next you know is a hard, swollen member stretching your walls, in and out in violent thrusts. Your body hits the door repeatedly, as he fucks you mercilessly. Ace bites your shoulders, while a hand squeezes and pulls from your nipples. The divine torture, he is using you, he is abusing you, he is taking your body as a toy to nut in… and you just can’t deny it anymore, you want him to keep doing it, over and over.

Your legs tremble, they are becoming weaker and weaker. The fire inside you rises, and the tingling sensation over your clit grows stronger when he keeps fucking you while tracing circles over it. His moans, his accelerated breathing in your ear that mixes with yours, and his warm skin against your sensitive flesh is sending you to heaven.

A few moments later, you scream in pleasure. The knot inside your lower stomach finally snaps, and as you come, he does too. He releases inside you without a simple worry, placing his forehead over your shoulder, the warm fulfilling sensation inside you feels glorious. Until...

“Babe, I’m not on birth control”, you tell him, this time scared, for real. “Ops, sorry. I got too carried away with the play babe... but I wouldn’t mind having a Little Ace running around”, he says. “Well, maybe that’s not a bad idea after all” you turn around and place a sweet kiss over his cute, freckled cheeks. “By the way, this time was amazing. You are just too good pretending to be an abuser, babe. It’s scary sometimes” you tell him.

“Am I? Is this a critique? don’t you like it?” Ace says half worried, half turned on once again. “I do, baka… I love you”. “I love you too” ♥ ~

[dev7905]

Dark humour

Why are John Grisham's novels celebrated so much?

Because they often are courtroom mysteries about mysterious courteousness.

Three witnesses walk into a court;

The first neighbour says,

"I've seen this man lure Innocence into the dark.

Push her down, by saints

and pull down his pants.

Punish this monster with all your might.

Destroyer of the hands holding orange delight."

The second godfather says,

" Exactly what do we know about the beast?

Looks like a human, and smells like yeast.

Why does he roam around the school?

The pied piper drowned my little rat in the dark pool."

The third father said…

But lions don't speak, do they? They bite.

They're honourable to a fault.

They aren't afraid of spite.

They are living embodiment of assault.

Imagine a lifetime supply of the terror

that comes after crackling a dwarf joke.

Now make it slightly bigger.

That's my nig… uh.

Custom sole? They would've needed a custom soul from the divine.

Dressed in the largest prison whites and the smallest smirk,

It's like he knew the biggest punchline.

" My lord, we might not know why the chicken crossed the road but

we do know where this person should be towed."

Few questions on the dignity of the justice system,

A thousand crocs crying to the Lady justice and the tome,

Get it ready, the sacrificial dome.

The end of the world's oldest sitcom.

Conspiracy theory: The final words phenomenon

is a shenanigan

of the literature of sensation.

" You know what scatological humour is?

Well, it is the shit.

Shit isn't being a war deserter.

Shit isn't being the sample size of battle scars.

Shit isn't being the universal absorber of the aforementioned dark.

Shit is being a traumatized, acclimatized and profitably dramatized 5 year old." vomited the volcano.

"Well, I have a story for you -

What did the ant say to the elephant?

The ant calls me the sleeping elephant and hid under my nose.

The elephant looked everywhere but it blows.

The elephant was a loner with an aversion to humanity.

Adults are a menace, kids were a bigger calamity. Calamities are unwelcome in this house.

The elephant bolted the door.

Sleep no more.

Out came the ant hiding behind the cupboard.

Scared to death, mucked with mud.

The elephant blew the trumpet

'Close the door.'

her tears wet the carpet.

Here we again to the land of nightmares.

She grabbed my trousers and pulled them down

all unawares.

Then came the father running inside the house.

Looking at me like it's me he's gonna douse."

How many people does it take to light a light?

None.

But just a screen and a domestic surveilling oversight.

There it was the proof of his Innocence.

Missing was the temporal dissonance.

Why did the loner wait for a spectacle?

Why wasn't evidence produced on the first tackle?

"I see the puzzled eyes and the irritated sighs.

Why was a child's prank stretched till nighs?", roared the judge from the fridge.

"You accuse me of murder or Innocence.

What you saw was a mischievous child.

What I saw was a soldier.

Alert in his sleep.

Never disobey the order.

Command: jump into the well.

Soldier: Oh Swell.

Command: Dismantle that gun.

Soldier: Thrice was it done.

Command: Close the door.

Soldier: Please no more.

The little soul was consumed, with forks and knives.

An impractical joke in the middle of the time of our lives.

(pause)

You say you don't who I am.

You say that I'm the pied piper but

Mind you soldiers aren't grown.

Soldiers aren't cultivated.

Soldiers are turncoats

to their true nature.

And a perfect soldier is a result

of not days,

months

but years.

Such discipline isn't cultivated through force alone.

It requires respect.

Constant influence and

the pseudo-dynamic of affection."

You call him the lion.

The metaphor of might.

The protector of everything in the line of sight.

The devourer of children.

The demonstration of rage was real.

As real as jealousy.

His soldier finally obeyed the order,

not given by him."

(silence)

"Now you ask me why wait till now

to put Descartes in front of the horses?

I wanted to let him know

and any other sons of hoses.

This is the end for you.

This isn't a formality.

The world is going to fall over you

This is a goddamn slapstick comedy."

[thiddlestoffiction]

Ghost | Part 1

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Genre: angst; smut  |  Word Count: 2,661

Summary: When Reader finds out Bucky has left, she starts filling the void he left behind in other men’s beds.

Warnings: make-up sex, unprotected sex, some feels, swearing, possessive!Bucky.

Chapter Warnings: swearing, implied smut, nudity, a lot of alcohol intake, depression.

Author’s Note: I have been inspired by songs to write fanfictions lately. And this one came when I was listening to Ghost by Halsey. I think the song has a different meaning than the one I thought it had, but oh well.  The smut comes in the second part.

Part 1 | Part 2

[ Masterlist ]

[ Bucky Barnes Masterlist ]

You knew he wasn’t in bed with you before you even turned on your side to check up on him. The lack of his warmth made the coldness of the morning seep through your bedsheets and break goose bumps on your skin. You didn’t dare look over your shoulder. You wouldn’t have been able to see the empty spot where his body was supposed to be. You knew it’d hurt you deep within your soul, no matter how many times you had both stated there was nothing more to it than just sex. And you didn’t want to cry. Not for him. So instead, you just stared out the full-length window, watching how the sun came up from behind the horizon way too quickly, streaking the dull grey sky with a mixture of soft oranges and pinks.

When the sky was clear and the sunbeams hit you in the face, you put the covers aside and stood up, all the while trying not to look in the direction of the empty spot on the bed.

You put on your silky white robe and fastened the belt around your waist. You had to turn around inevitably, since the bathroom was just across from his side of the bed. So when you headed towards the bathroom, you saw a piece of paper on the tangle of sheets. You picked it up and on it was a simple word scribbled down in haste.

           Sorry

You felt anger bubbling beneath your skin at the only word. Your jaw tightened, making the bones of it jut out. You felt tears–hot and stinging–prickling at the back of your eyes.

Sorry? That’s all he had to say before he stormed off? Fucking sorry? Yes, you two weren’t an official thing, but the way he used to act with you when you were not in the bedroom made you think there was a deeper bond between you both. How wrong you were. How fool you had been for winding ideas in your head for so long.

You balled up the small scrap of paper in your hand and wiped roughly at the tears that had found their way out of your eyes. He wasn’t worth it. He wasn’t worth any tears from you, any thought. And he certainly hadn’t been worth saving from all those times he had been captured. He could go fuck himself for all you cared.

~

“Where’d Barnes go?” Natasha asked as soon as you stepped into the kitchen, where she was having breakfast with Steve and Sam.

“We saw him leave the compound with his workout bag, but he didn’t say a word to us.” Steve pointed out as he munched on a stripe of fried bacon.

“I don’t know. He can get lost. I don’t care.” You didn’t look at them as you spoke the words. If you did, they would’ve known your nonchalant tone didn’t match the sadness in your eyes. Instead, you just grabbed a bowl from the cabinet and sat next to Natasha, concealing you from the two men’s view. You poured cereal and milk into it.

“What happened last night? Didn’t he satisfy your bedroom needs?” Sam joked, elbowing Steve softly in the arm. The blond-haired man smiled softly.

“Oh, I don’t think so. They had a pretty good time last night, if the way they were both screaming is anything to go by.” Natasha smirked and looked at you, but she knew something was wrong when you didn’t blush or smirk back at her, like you always did. “Hey, what’s going on?” She turned her body in your direction completely, leaving her breakfast unattended.

“What? Nothing,” you said nonchalantly, shrugging your shoulders, but not once looking up at her. She had the ability to wrench the truth from anyone just with her stare, and you didn’t want to fall apart in front of her, or anyone for that matter.

“Y/N.” She warned, but for the first time, you didn’t budge. If you did, then it would all become real. His leaving, your feelings, the pain. Just how much it actually fucking hurt deep within your chest. If you fell apart right then, you doubted you’d be able to recover from it. And goddammit, he didn’t deserve it. He didn’t deserve to occupy your thoughts. He didn’t deserve your falling. He had left. And he had given up that right the second he walked out the door without so much as a fucking goodbye.

“I’m not hungry anymore.” You stood up and left the room without even excusing yourself.

~

The dizziness in your head was a warning for you to stop drinking. And you would have to if you really wanted to. But all you wanted was to forget about everything that involved him. You wanted to forget his voice and his eyes and his hair and his smile. You wanted to forget the way he wrapped his arms around your middle and brought you closer to him whenever you both hung out to let everybody know you were taken, even though you weren’t. You wanted to forget his kisses; the way his soft lips felt pressed against your skin; the way his breath fanned over the back of your neck, slow and steady, when he fell asleep behind you with his metal arm draped protectively over your waist.

You wanted–needed–to forget the pain he had caused when he left. You needed his ghost to disappear from your thoughts and dreams. And so far, alcohol was being really helpful.

“Stop right there, Y/N. I think you’ve had enough,” Natasha said, removing the glass of green liquid from your hands carefully.

“Give it back, Natasha,” you said in a high-pitched tone and pouted. Nat frowned at your tone. You’d never been one for acting like a spoiled child, and she certainly had never heard you talk like that before.

“No, Y/N. You’re already intoxicated enough. You can’t even stand up without falling face-first to the floor. We should go.”

“But we just got here!” You whined, acting more and more like a bratty girl. Natasha cringed at your annoying voice.

“Exactly. We just got here and you’re already drowning in alcohol.” You grinned at her, and she rolled her eyes. “Let’s get you home.” She grabbed you by the wrist, but you yanked your hand away.

“No.”

“Y/N.” She warned. And you knew you had to obey what she said. You knew she was right and she was doing it for your own good, but you didn’t care.

You were feeling so good for the first time in weeks. And hadn’t she been the one who said you should get out more, get some fresh air, meet new people? And weren’t you doing the exact same thing she had told you to do? What was she complaining about then?

“I want to stay here. You can go if you want to, but I’m staying here.”

“I’m not leaving you alone here.”

“I won’t be alone.” You darted your gaze to the bar, where a man stood with his friends, laughing and drinking. He was tall. His long, brown hair reached his broad shoulders. He was wearing tight black jeans, matching sneakers and a grey t-shirt that hugged his toned torso nicely.

Nat followed your line of vision and her lips parted slightly in awe.

“You’re going after him?”

“I am.”

“You do realize he looks exactly like Bucky, right?”

You turned your head in her direction and scoffed. “Of course not.” You lied.

You were very aware of how much he looked like Bucky. That was why you were after him. But she didn’t need to know that.

“You’re drunk. You’re gonna regret this if you do it. Please, let’s just go home.”

“You go.” And with that you walked towards the guy at the bar, leaving Natasha alone and with the words hanging from her tongue.

~

You felt a strong arm wrap around your body, pressing you flush back against his chest. You smiled in your daze, your eyes still closed. A delighted hum left your lips as a pair of plump lips peppered your skin with soft kisses. You wiggled your hips up against his morning wood and he growled deep in his chest.

His mouth reached your ear and he caught the earlobe between his teeth as his hand traveled down to your hip, grinding it harder against his cock.

“Aren’t you tired from all the fucking we did last night?”

Your eyes snapped open and you pulled yourself away from him. That voice wasn’t known to you. It wasn’t the voice you were expecting to hear.

And as if to confirm your suspicions, you looked over your shoulder. The man behind you was tall and broad. His long chestnut hair framed his face. His blue eyes stared at you in confusion. He was naked underneath your bedsheets. He looked so much like Bucky, but he wasn’t Bucky. You could count so many things that were different between the two of them in 5 seconds, and that was just about their faces.

This was the fifth time you had woken up next to a Bucky doppelganger since that night out with Natasha–the night when it all started–naked and hungover. And you felt guilt and disgust with yourself again. For the fifth time in less than a month.

“What is it, baby?” He reached a hand out, and you stood up immediately, cringing at the pet name.

The speed at which you stood up shot a sharp pain through your skull, making you momentarily dizzy. You screwed your eyes shut and grimaced in pain. Your hand reached for the headboard in an attempt to keep your balance.

“Woah, easy there. You had a lot of alcohol last night.” He sat up on his left elbow and looked at you. But he didn’t even attempt to stand up from the mattress to really check up on you. “Come back to bed. I’ll make you feel better… doll.”

Your eyes shot open at the name and you looked at him, ignoring the growing pain in your head.

“What did you just call me?” You must’ve sounded more aggressive than you’d intended because you saw him flinch back and his smile disappear.

“Doll…?” He hesitated.

“Where’d you get that from?” you demanded.

“Relax, woman.” He had stood up from the bed, the bedsheet wrapped around his hips. “You asked me to call you that last night when we met at the bar.” He explained, clearly upset, as he rummaged through the clothes on the floor trying to find his own. “You said that was the only rule to sleeping with you. And I remember that clearly because I thought I had never met someone with such an easy rule. So I agreed.” He stood upright and shrugged his shoulder, a cocky grin made its way upon his lips.

“Fuck,” you muttered as you pinched the bridge of your nose between your thumb and forefinger. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

“If you insist.” He made to walk in your direction, but you stopped him short on his tracks.

“I want you out. Now.”

He stayed paralyzed, staring at you with one hand bunching up the sheet around his hips and the other carrying his discarded clothes.

“As you wish.” He shrugged his shoulders, trying to act nonchalantly, but you could see just how upset he was.

He put on his jeans without bothering with the underwear first and tossed the bedsheet to your bed.

“You were a nice fuck, doll.” The word–which normally would have made your stomach burst into a riot of butterflies–made you cringe in disgust. It just didn’t sound right coming from other man’s lips.

“Fuck you.” You gave him the finger, and he cackled, tossing his head backwards before he walked out the bedroom door.

You waited until you heard the apartment door being slammed shut to come out of the bedroom.

Tony was going to kill you. He had stated clearly that you could sleep with anyone you wanted as long as you didn’t bring them to the compound. It was dangerous to bring civilians to the tower for a number of different reasons you didn’t quite remember. And you had agreed with him because you knew he was right. It was dangerous for civilians to know where The Avengers hung out, but that was something you didn’t always remember when you were neck-deep in alcohol.

So you swore you’d never bring another man to the compound again.

~

As soon as the man rolled off of you onto the mattress next to you with a grunt, you sat up and dangled your feet off the bed to place them on the cold tiled floor. You didn’t bother to hide your naked figure from him with the bedsheet as you bent down to pick up your panties and bra off the floor.

“It’s pretty dark outside,” he said behind you. You didn’t even bother to look back at him. “You don’t have to go home tonight, doll.” His voice sounded sweet, and you really wanted to like him for more than just a lay every once in a while. But you couldn’t. And you loathed yourself for that.

You hated that after almost four months since Bucky left, his ghost still haunted your mind, your soul and your body. You still belonged to him, and you hated him for that.

“Please, don’t call me that,” you demanded as you clasped your bra behind your back.

“But you always want me to call you that during sex.”

“We’re not fucking right now, so don’t call me that.” Your tone was cold and harsh, and you knew he didn’t deserve it. He had been nothing but sweet and kind to you ever since you both started screwing around, but you didn’t care. You didn’t care at all.

You stood up and slipped into your panties and jeans. You padded through the room, looking for your t-shirt. You found it on the floor next to his side of the bed. You bent over and picked it up, but when you were to walk away, he grabbed you by the arm and pulled you gently towards him, making you fall on top of him with your chest against his. His arms wound around your frame, immobilizing you.

“Stay.” He placed a kiss on your right shoulder. “Please.”

And though you fought against it, though you tried so fucking hard to push it away from your mind, the thought of Bucky appeared in your head. And you couldn’t accept the man’s proposal. You just couldn’t when Bucky was all that occupied your mind.

“I can’t. I’m sorry.”

And this time you meant it.

You were sorry that you couldn’t move on with your life because of Bucky. You were sorry that you couldn’t bring yourself to feel something for the man holding you in his arms, because he genuinely seemed to care for you. You were fucking sorry that Bucky had fucked you up so bad that you couldn’t bring yourself to love any other man that wasn’t him.

You detached yourself from his arms, and he didn’t put any kind of resistance to your actions. His features had saddened though, and the glow of his post-orgasmic bliss had faded away too quickly.

You slipped into your shoes and t-shirt and grabbed your stuff. You headed for the bedroom door before his voice halted you.

“When will I see you again?” he asked, a tinge of hopefulness showing in his husky voice.

God, you had a knack for them. Even his voice sounded so much like Bucky’s.

“I’ll call you.” You lied. But it was a lie he wanted to hear, so for the time being, he believed it.

But you didn’t call, and you never saw that man ever again in your life.

Part 2

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[crowleyaj]

To Death

For @fandomwritingchallenge.

Fandom: James Bond Pairing: James Bond/Q Rating: PG Word count: 4,781 Prompt: carnival Warnings: swearing, non-graphic violence, very light sexual content (nothing really happens though)

Q returned home from a very exhausting, tedious day at work, bearing the image of a steaming hot cup of tea in his mind. He has been looking forward to one since the moment he left his lab, and now he could enjoy it at last.

Only—he found his flat’s door open by a cranny as he approached it with a key in his hand. He panicked. His other hand automatically reached for a pen with a mechanism that could shoot poisonous darts if the right button is pressed. He always kept it in the front pocket of his bag.

He narrowed his eyes and proceeded with utmost caution. There had been an intruder in his flat, and maybe still was. He had to be ready. One slow step at a time, he approached the door and opened it; it emitted a creaky sound. Whoever was inside must have heard it.

Pointing the dangerous pen in front of him, he entered the foyer. No visible damage had occurred in there, but there was no sign of his furry friends, either. When he listened carefully, he could hear a female voice coming from the living room.

Though, he had a glimpse he had heard that voice before. But that was impossible, because that woman was—

Q neglected all of the previous cautiousness and rushed to the source of the noise. He nearly forgot to breathe.

The door between the living room and the kitchen was open ajar. He burst through it, and came to an immediate halt when he sighted the figure standing in front of the telly.

Why wasn’t he surprised to see 007 in there?

However, he was surprised by one different thing: the reason why it was so, that is to say. Well, it was two things, in fact—that, and whom he could see on a video tape.

M. His M. The silver-haired iron lady just as he remembered her and very much alive. It was merely a tape, but his brain was suddenly flooded with memories. She was telling Bond about an unfinished business; giving him instructions.

Bond acknowledged Q’s presence without moving by a bit. “M’s given me work. I’m going to Mexico,” he said matter-of-factly, without a twitch of his face. He did not add any explanation so as to why he had gone to his flat and not his fucking own. “And I need your help, Q.”

Bond needed his help. His. He trusted him enough to show him a secret recording M had bequeathed to him and him only; he trusted him enough to ask for his help with an unauthorised, off-record mission in bloody Mexico. Q figured he should feel honoured—but in reality, he had mixed feelings about it, because doing what Bond had asked him to would require going against the new M’s orders, and his own protocols. And it would require flying to boot.

Was he truly going to do this? Q asked himself before he knocked on the door and entered M’s office. Was he truly going to lie to M, to everyone, for the sake of a stupid, impossible crush?

He took a deep breath. Yes was the answer to that, apparently.

M was sitting at his desk, dealing with some paperwork. Having heard the door click as it closed, he looked up. The bags under his eyes gave away the sleepless hours he had tortured himself with whilst ordering the opposite to his employees.

“Yes, Quartermaster?”

“Good day, sir,” began Q. He cleared his throat before he continued. “I have a request to ask.”

He got this. He had prepared the speech and the impossible yet plausible stories that came with it. He had nothing to fear. Right?

M nodded, propping him to continue. “Sir, it’s my brother, Daniel. He’s been injured, and he’s got no one to take care of him, which is why I’d like to ask you for a week off.”

M raised an eyebrow. He closed the file he has been reading. “Is that it? Well, in that case, consider yourself dismissed, Quartermaster. I thought you were asking for a budget rise or something.”

Well, that went easier than he’d thought. Although it was true that he’d saved for about six months of leave he hadn’t used, and however he couldn’t see inside Mallory’s head, Q was certain he was happy to release his overworking Quartermaster without persuasion for once.

And speaking of money: “Since you’re mentioning it… Q-Branch could really use a budget rise too, after the recent development of events…”

“Dismissed, Q!” M raised his voice.

“Yes, sir. And thank you.”

Q backed out of the office. He stepped towards an unexpected and most likely unpleasant adventure he might really regret later. If there even is a later.

  Why was he doing this, again? It certainly wasn���t for the sake of sanity and self-preservation; those factors were forgotten in the presence of Double-Ohs.

Speaking of which, there was one currently lounging on his sofa with a cat on his stomach. The smug bastard must have thought he owned the place, by the looks of it. The overly casual behaviour made Q nervous and slightly irritated.

“007,” said Q. He came to the sofa, holding a rifle in one hand. The other one was on his hip. “I hope you do realise I had to sneak into my own lab and get past a certain nosy brunette, in and out, in order to take this unauthorised firearm for the purpose of your little secret operation.” Bond did not seem to register any of those words. Q frowned. “It’s the only thing you’ve got. Don’t destroy it.”

“Wrong, Q,” Bond said, quiet. “I’ve got you, do I not?” He smirked, and turned his head to him.

“Alas,” he said, “but I outrank you, 007, and therefore you must obey my orders. And I am certainly not a piece of equipment.” He laid the rifle on the coffee table behind him and put both his arms akimbo.

The smirk on Bond’s face widened. Q had to look away, because he liked the way he looked more than what would be appropriate. “You work with one.”

“But you need me,” Q delivered a quick reply. He went to take his medical kit from the kitchen.

Bond cocked his head. He had to raise his voice if he wanted for Q to hear him. “And you need someone to pull the trigger for you.”

“In theory, I do not, 007,” Q shouted back. “Remember I could do as much damage as you, and far beyond. I could ruin their bank accounts and data files with one finger.”

“I could do that better.”

Q came back. “Don’t push your luck, 007. And get up from my sofa.”

  His messenger bag hung over his shoulder. He carried no other luggage than that, unlike Bond, who had a trolley suitcase that let everybody in a 500 metres radius know they were coming.

He did not need more than that: more than his laptop, his mobile, passport, wallet, some spare clothes, some gear in case something went wrong, and a toothbrush. It was that simple. It was supposed to be that quick. He hoped it would be. Perhaps he shouldn’t, because he knew the history of 007’s operations all too well, but he didn’t have much of a choice than to swallow a sickness pill, and his fear with it.

And move forward in the passport control queue by two spots. It was nearly their turn.

Butterflies flew around in his stomach. He did not know if it was because of the upcoming flight or Bond’s presence. He did not desire to know. He just moved, clutching the passport of a British citizen in his hand.

  “Can I get you something to drink or eat, gentlemen?” the nice, dark-skinned stewardess asked them with an accustomed broad smile.

Q was too dizzy to think about his stomach, or even register the question properly. They were merely two hours into the journey, but he had calculated every possible danger or breakdown that might possibly occur along the way three times.

Bond, however, “A bottle of champagne, please. Two glasses.”

That man will be the death of him one day. With this wild approach, it might come sooner than anyone would like.

“Of course,” the woman said. She moved on to take orders from a couple sitting behind them. There were only nine people with a first-class ticket.

Q cast an incredulous glance at Bond. “If you are attempting to get me drunk so you could hit on the stewardess, good luck with it.”

“I am doing no such thing, Q. I wouldn’t dream,” the Double-Oh said innocently.

“Ha.” As if he was supposed to believe that.

Q turned away from Bond and faced the window instead. The sky was beautifully clear, and clouds stretched out beneath the plane like fluffy, white blanket of mountains. It provided at least some comfort for his eyes and mind.

Since he already happened to be in such height, he took his mobile and took a few hazy pictures. The view was breathtaking, both figuratively and literally.

Later on, when the stewardess returned with the champagne, and Q took one or two gulps out of politeness, the perpetual hum of the engines managed to lull him to sleep.

When his head fell onto Bond’s shoulders during a turn, he did nothing to move him back into the original position. He sat in absolute peace, reading a detective novel. When another two hours passed, the words in his book began to blur. He was tired, so he rested his head against Q’s and breathed in the lemony scent of his shampoo.

  It was easy to blend in the crowd at that particular time of year: it was the Day of the Dead tomorrow, and thousands of tourists travelled to Mexico to join the celebrations. Not one man was too outstanding. They passed through the airport smoothly.

It was dark when Q and Bond arrived at the four-star hotel. It was in the centre of Mexico City, a little too posh to Q’s liking. This was Bond’s world, not his. But he could adapt.

  According to what Q had dug out of the dark depths of the internet, Sciarra will be arranging a ‘business deal’ tomorrow, in a flat a block away from the hotel. The parade will provide a great cover and alibi: to both him and 007.

For now, the two of them could just wait.

Each of them had a separate suite, thank God. Q did not know how he could possibly deal with sleeping with the abomination in one room. Having him sitting next to him for the short amount of time they had before heading to their rightful quarters and calling it a night was fairly enough.

Q unzipped his bag and fished out a small piece of tech. An earpiece.

“I’m giving you this so we could stay connected. Do not—I repeat, do not—crush it, throw it away, or drown it in an alcoholic drink of any kind, please. We don’t have an endless supply.”

Bond accepted it. Their fingers touched briefly. “Yes, sir,” he said and added a half-smile.

Q, nonetheless, uttered a micro sigh. Knowing Bond, the odds of never seeing the earpiece again were too high at all times.

“That’s all. Now, I would kindly ask you to retire to your suite and not stain my sight with your presence for the next few peaceful hours.”

  It was a rough wake up. Q’s mobile wouldn’t stop yelling at him, heat licked at his feet, and when he finally brought himself to unlock his eyes to shut the alarm up, he saw 007 sitting in an armchair in front of him. Q flinched. For how long was he watching him sleep?

“Good morning, Q,” he said. “I’ve brought you breakfast in bed.”

Q sat up with a grunt. He rubbed sleep and rheum out of his eyes and reached for his glasses.

“What have you done this time, hmm?” he replied. He gazed at the other half of the queen-sized bed. A tray with a fresh glass of orange juice, two warm croissants, and some pineapple lay on top of the sheets indeed.

“Why immediately assume I’ve done something bad, Q,” Bond said. His tone bore a tinge of reproachfulness. “Perhaps I wanted to do something for you. Or perhaps I’ve poisoned your juice so I could chase after my personal vendetta without your responsible arse in the way.”

“So help you God if you dare to be foolish enough to try that, 007,” Q retorted, last traces of sleep worn off. His senses have fully woken up.

He reached for the tray, despite the disapproval of the ‘nice gesture’ from the agent. He was famished—all he had eaten yesterday was a sandwich at the airport and later an apple. Just to be certain, he smelled the juice. It looked and smelled alright, deliciously fresh, even. He took a sip and ate his breakfast in silence.

He merely asked Bond whether he had eaten and if he had checked the environs.

To his surprise, Bond lifted a plastic bag from the ground and emptied it on a coffee table. There were two skull-shaped masks, two black top hats, and two black, matching suits with white imprints of bones.

“First rule of undercover: blend in.”

  “To have the perfect aim on Sciarra, you must get on the roof of the opposite building, Bond. I think you should access it from the top floor…” Q said. The last words faded into pondering silence.

“Can you hack into one of the rooms?” Bond was buttoning his shirt. Q’s suit was already on; he tried hard not to stare at 007’s bare chest, and the bastard noticed.

“I am the Quartermaster of MI6 for a reason, am I not?” Q smirked. He opened another window and started typing quickly. “Done. You need to leave in twenty minutes.”

Bond put on the jacket. “Excellent.”

“Now, there is a CCTV camera in the flat. I’ve counted four armed men standing guard, and the heat scan showed me an unpleasant surprise in the form of an explosive ready to go off the moment you fire the first round. Someone needs to be on the inside, Bond, and that someone has to be me. You can’t go in.”

Bond’s face stiffened. He blinked.

“Please, don’t tell me you are worried, 007. I know how to fire a gun if need be,” Q responded. Though, deep down in his stomach, something twisted with an impossible hope he perhaps might truly be worried for him. Him.

“I know you do. But that is dangerous, Q.”

He knew. It had come to the point he started to regret his life choices. One of them was the decision to be insanely brave and do something he’d never thought of even considering.

“You’d asked for my help. I am helping you. I don’t need a failed mission or an agent down,” Q argued. “There is no valid argument that could convince me otherwise, which you are, of course, aware of. Besides, I happen to have invented a device that will disarm the bomb remotely; they won’t even see me coming.”

Bond stepped closer to Q. He contemplated putting his arm on his shoulders; in the end, he did not do it. “Be safe, Q.”

“Always,” Q said. “Unlike a certain somebody.”

  Bond jumped over the rails on the balcony and quickly strode along the ledges. He put the radio in his ear; the connection between him and Q was restored after a few minutes of silence.

“Q?”

“I hear you loud and clear, 007,” the man said, quiet. “I am in position. The bomb is deactivated. Sciarra and his business partner have arrived.”

Bond readied his rifle. He put the silencer on, stepping over a gap between two buildings. He was nearly in position, too. Sun shone on his face, and he had to narrow his eyes.

He was worried about Q. He wasn’t a field operative, and missions like these easily go tits up. He has had the experience. If something happens to him in there, if they discover him—

“I’ve eliminated two guards. There are only two now, but I can’t get to them unseen. I’d have to shoot,” he reported.

What secret has Q been hiding from the world? Bond thought he should never dare underestimate the Quartermaster again. That did not lessen on the worry, though.

“Wait, Q.” Bond came to the edge and hunkered down. He could see Sciarra and the other man standing in front of the window as though they were waiting for him to fire; as though they knew.

Sciarra showed the other man a shining ring on his finger, and Bond could swear he had seen one of those before.

  Q was inside, so he could hear every word of their conversation clearly. They both spoke Spanish, but he had no problem understanding.

‘Welcome, Signor Sciarra. I trust you had a pleasant journey.’

‘Do you have it?’

‘Yes. It’s over there.’

‘When do we blow the stadium?’

That kind of business deal, then. He pricked up his ears instead of shooting: one of the mission’s purposes were discovering their plans. Q was recording it, he knew, but either way, killing the men at the moment wasn’t an option.

‘This evening at six.’

‘And the flight out of here?’

‘All arranged.’

‘And then what?’

‘Then I visit The Pale King.’

The Pale King? Bond hesitated. He has never heard that name before, but he sensed it was crucial for the operation. Someone no lesser than the head of whatever convoluted organisation that connected all the criminal minds MI6 have been after for the past years.

‘A toast, my friend.’

  ‘To Death!’

“Bottoms up,” Bond said. He targeted the man. Two bullets escaped the gun barrel and crossed the distance between him and Sciarra in high speed. They broke the glass and embedded in the men’s heads. The shots were clear.

And so were the rounds Q fired to dispose of the guards who were ready to eliminate Bond the second they’ve registered the assault. He had wasted three bullets.

He was a killer now. Bond had brought him to his world, the world of manipulation, pretence, surveillance, and murder without really thinking of what consequences might his ill-considered, often premature actions have.

But it was his choice; he couldn’t have stopped him. Q can well damn obstinate when it came to fulfilling duties. He was entitled to such decisions. Bond could do nothing but go along with it.

  They walked through the carnival parade, unrecognisable in their masks. They strode fast enough to get to the hotel in time but slow enough to remain inconspicuous. They sought refuge in the shadows at the walls, where weren’t many people and no one looked. The weapons were safely tucked in the bag Q was carrying.

“Have you recorded everything?” Bond asked, voice stone cold, emotion hidden behind a shell of sobriety—and the mask. He wanted to be certain, although Q was far from an amateur.

Q did not avert his gaze from the crowd encircling them. “Yes, and I’ve extracted all data from Sciarra’s laptop while you were busy on the roof.”

Bond made a brief pause. “Can I ask you a question, Q?”

“I suspect you will anyway, so I as well might say you can, 007,” Q replied.

“Why haven’t you complete the training and become a spy? You’re as good as a Double-Oh, Q.” This question had occurred to Bond before, on multiple occasions, but had never gathered enough interest to ask. Having seen him in action just confirmed him in his professional surmise.

“Perhaps,” said Q, “but I think you’d find out I prove to be more seminal on the position of the Quartermaster. Where would your arse be without me in the lab, hmm?”

“Fair enough.” Q stopped at the crossroads to let some people pass, so Bond had to do so as well. “But that changes nothing about the fact you could be the same genius in the field.”

Q moved on. “Have you just publicly admitted I am a genius, 007?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea of what you’re talking about, mister.”

  As Q’s hotel room’s door clicked closed, he promptly ran to take his laptop. After he took off his mask, he pulled a flash drive out of his trouser pocket and plugged it in. Bond, however, had a different idea about how to spend the rest of their time in Mexico. Decoding and analysing information, and subsequent dispatch to MI6 could wait for an hour or two. Especially after what they both has just done.

“Q?” he asked.

“Mm-hmm?” Q was absent-minded. His eyes flitted across the screen.

“We are in Mexico during Día de los Muertos, Q, and if someone should celebrate the festival, it’s you and me. Get up and go have some fun.”

Bond’s suit-clad form blocked Q’s field of vision. Q frowned. “I take the liberty of assuming my and your idea of fun slightly differs, Bond,” Q replied. His eyes were focused on the files on his computer. “I have work to do, in case you’d failed to notice.”

“Mallory has no idea we are here, therefore he doesn’t need the files,” argued Bond. He leant over the laptop and put his hands on the top of the screen. His tie swung before it and prevented clear sight of the contents.

Q looked up, this time. He shot an annoyed glance at Bond. “But I need the files,” he insisted. “There is something bigger than Sciarra going on, bigger than any of us. This—all that’s in here—contains more data than we thought we could ever own, Bond. I cannot even begin to imagine what we could do with the half of it.”

“Then don’t.”

Bond gave the laptop a push and closed it swiftly; Q so-so moved his fingers out of the way on time. He took it and threw it on the bed, behind Q. He held out his hands, expecting Q to take them. He did not.

His heart was close to racing at the moment. He swallowed dry. This was too much to bear. He was trying to order him around, and wanted him to just take him by his tanned, calloused, beautiful hands and go do… whatever he was intending to do?

Apparently, he did, since when Q did not respond, he grabbed him and pulled him up, already heading for the door. He somehow got his hands on the mask Q had taken off, and his own dangled on his elbow. “Since I can’t seem to convince you nicely, Q, we have to do this the hard way.”

He backed out of the room, letting go of Q only to pull the door handle. With a foxy smirk decorating his face, he led them both to the morbidly vibrant carnival parade outside. His moves told Q he knew exactly where he was going.

  Bond offered Q his arm. Q looked him in the face and back, hesitating. The little voice lurking in the subconscious whispered that allowing Bond to play his games wouldn’t be a wise idea and that he might end up in some serious trouble.

But when it came to Bond, he was never particularly good at listening to that voice, was he? So he linked his arm with his, possible consequences be damned.

“Where are we going?” he asked. They weren’t hiding anymore but walking amidst the bustling crowd, on everyone’s sight yet comfortingly anonymous in their costumes.

“I know a place,” Bond answered, tight-lipped. “They make the best carnitas in town.”

Q was slightly confused by the statement. “Are you… asking me for a lunch?”

“And a tequila,” he said, still as casual. Q knew what that meant coming from Bond’s mouth.

“Is this a date, Bond?”

Do you honestly think you can just say the two of us are going to share some tortilla or whatever that meal is supposed to be and ask me for a drink with that charming smile of yours, if hidden under a skull mask, while we’re on an off-record mission in bloody Mexico and have just murdered six assassins? Oh, of course you do.

  “If you want it to be.” Bond even began to swing in the cheery rhythm of the music around them.

“I…” Yes, his mind offered immediately. “don’t know.”

“Then it is a date, Quartermaster. Will you eat carnitas with me?”

So help me Force. “Yes.”

Bond was actually dancing now, dragging Q along with him due to their linked arms. But Q let himself be carried away, this once. There were things to celebrate, after all. Six things lying on the building’s floor amidst pools of their own blood.

  The bartender placed two snifters of neat tequila in front of them. Q and Bond lifted them simultaneously.

“To Death,” said Q, repeating Sciarra’s toast. It was to his death.

Bond added, “To us.”

They drank the strong drink off. Bond ordered another round.

Like Q had said, this man will be the death of him one day—so he might enjoy this day while he still can. He emptied the other glass as well, and did not stop Bond from ordering a third.

  He found the carnival an acceptable form of entertainment in the inebriated state. More than before, anyway, with all worries and embarrassment long thrown away and the threat of a bomb attack having been warded off, he was more apt to dance and move along with the parade through the entire city.

The hat on the top of his head had somehow been replaced by a flower crown James had bought for him. They were holding hands now, open and joyous.

If this was a date, it was probably one of the best dates he has been on. It was with James Bond—he really wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the fact. James Bond.

  James hadn’t even slammed the door to Q’s room, and his shirt was already unbuttoned. Q’s fingers weren’t only skilful with a keyboard; they could make short work of a jacket and a shirt, too, and with ardour that James wouldn’t seek inside the slender body of the boffin.

Q’s mouth was firmly attached to his. The kisses were devouring and hot, and tasting like tequila, but neither of them had that in mind; they were finally each other’s.

They separated for a moment, and James took off the shirt. He threw it on the floor carelessly. Q’s hands were on his chest now, searching, owning, tracing every scar carved into his skin. His lips were pressing a myriad of kisses along his exposed neck.

James slowly navigated them towards the bedroom. Q knocked his shoes off on the way, abandoning them at a chest of drawers. James’ ended up nearby. With his hands in Q’s gorgeous hair, he stepped forward and pushed them on the bed. Q lay on his back, and James was on top of him.

They paused for an instant, looking each other in the eye. There was a spark of longing in James’. Q loved that it belonged to him of all people he could have taken to bed that night. Only to him.

James’ lips parted, and Q met him in another eager kiss before he could say whatever he had desired to say. James found his hands. Lacing his fingers with Q’s, he pinned them to the sheets.

  James lay in the middle of the bed. Q rested his head on his chest and listened to his steady heartbeat. The room was dark but a streak of yellow light on the ceiling. It was well past midnight, but the music and cheers of people outside did not seem to cease anytime soon. They would celebrate till the morning and on.

James played with Q’s hair gently with one hand; he couldn’t resist. Every stroke made Q shiver with pleasure. James’ other hand held Q’s. His entire body radiated warmth and warmed Q’s skin and heart.

Q closed his eyes. After a long time, he allowed himself to fully relax, and not just because he was exhausted in entirety.

“What do we do now, James?” he whispered. That question had many meanings. To be completely honest, he was not sure which he’d like to be answered.

“Now we go to Rome.”

[twdgfanfiction]

Chapter 28 - All Shall Come To Light

Lee stood there, staring at Sarah in shock as she kept the gun up, aiming it at Luke with a saddened look on her face. Slowly, she lowered it, her hands shaking so badly that she dropped the weapon, her face showing the shock of what she just did. Walking over to him, she didn't reply as Lee muttered. "Sarah? Is...Is that really you?"

She didn't react to his voice, instead staring down at Luke as he bled out onto the floor, her weapon long discarded by the stairs. Picking it up, Lee looked behind him, deciding to walk closer as he held his hand out, his voice gentle as he called out. "Sarah, it's alright now."

"I-I couldn't let him kill you!" She snapped, kneeling down beside Luke as she turned to face Lee, staring down at the bleeding body with horror, her breath hitching in the panic. "Why did he do this?!"

Tossing him a set of keys, she placed her hands on the wound, trying to keep the pressure as she instructed. "He's bleeding a lot! Lee, I need you to grab my backpack in that room."

Catching the keys, he nodded as he ran for the door, fiddling with the keys to find the one that opened the locked door. Slotting it into the lock, he turned and shoved the door open, grabbing the backpack and turning back around, tossing it to Sarah as he paused, watching her begin work on Luke's leg. It was strange, seeing her after being separated for a month, and despite her shaking hands as she applied pressure to the bullet wound, she was more confident in dealing with it than she was when Sofia was shot.

Her hands became sticky with Luke's blood, her face twisted in a saddened expression as she muttered to him. "Why, Luke? I thought you were our friend."

Luke couldn't even look at Sarah, his face showing a mix of disbelief and agony as he screamed in pain, the feeling of Sarah's hands on the bullet wound sending waves of unbelieveable pain up his nerves, almost like electricity. Lee stared, seeing sweat rolling down the younger man's face as he fought against the urge to move away, wanting to get away from the pain and the looks of betrayal directed at him. "Ah, f-fuck!"

"Sarah, I'm sorry." Lee tried to apologize whilst she worked, staring at Luke's pained face as he continued. "I should have told you about your dad, but I didn't know how you would have handled it. It was wrong of me."

Sarah didn't respond to that, but the saddened look on her face told Lee everything, and his mind scolded him for causing this entire mess. Carley told him once about the dangers of keeping secrets, he should have listened. He had to say something, anything to fix this, and so he continued talking to her. "Sarah, I-"

"Now is not the time for that." She cut him off, looking up at Lee whilst Luke squirmed in agony.

"Sarah, I promised Carlos that I'd look after you. Everyone back at Howe's is worried for you. Nick, Christa, Lilly, all of them. We just wanted to know that you were safe." Lee insisted, moving closer to her and Luke when she gestured him to do so.

Shifting over, she explained to him, her eyes shifting over to her backpack. "Inside, there's some bandages and rope, I need them to stop the bleeding."

Lee obeyed, not saying any other word, zipping the backpack open and shifting through the contents inside. He pushed aside a book to spot the things needed sitting at the bottom, pulling them out as Luke yelled out in pain, he was struggling against Sarah's hands as she tried to keep the pressure. Surprised, Lee quickly rushed to hold the young man down, making sure he could do no more damage to his leg or lose anymore blood as Sarah tried to calm him down.

"Luke, but I need you to stay still! Please, just listen to me!"

"You have to be faster, Sarah." Lee explained, glancing around for any signs of walkers, most likely being attracted by Luke's screams. "There's a herd coming this way, we gotta be out of here by then."

"I just need to keep the pressure!" she explained, unwilling to entertain the idea of abandoning Luke. Lee didn't understand. He was about to be killed by this guy, but Sarah is adamant that she can save him, trying her best to keep the pressure as she ordered. "Wrap the rope around his leg, it'll lessen the blood flow until we can treat the wound."

Grabbing the rope, he wrapped it around the upper part of Luke's thigh, above the bullet wound, tying it tight as she showed. Luke was fading away, his screams dying down to painful whimpers, and Sarah started to lose her cool as she begged him. "Don't close your eyes! You have to stay away, please, stay awake!"

Passing her the bandages, he listened as she explained to him. "I'm going to remove my hands from the wound, hopefully the bleeding slowed down-!"

"Sarah!" a voice called out, Sarah and Lee looking up to see a woman running towards them, raising her gun at Lee as he raised his hands, her voice a sharp order. "Don't move!"

"Woah there, I'm not a threat!" he yelled, standing up as he tried to explain. The woman paused by his yelling, glancing at Sarah before looking back at Lee, moving closer to him with her gun still raised in case. Standing there, he noticed her tall stature, her long face twisted in a distrusting look, her ears covered by her ear muffs. Moving a stray of brown hair from in front of her face, she finally asked him calmly.

"Who are you?" she questioned, lowering her gun slightly as she added. "I ain't seen you before."

"I'm Lee," he introduced himself, lowering his hands as his head gestured to the young girl beside him. "I'm Sarah's friend."

"Sarah, is this true?" the woman asked, shifting her gaze from Lee to the busy teen who gave a nod for answer, noticing Luke lying there in a puddle of blood. "Jesus, what's happened here?!"

"I had to shoot him. He was going to kill Lee!" Sarah explained, wrapping the wound in the bandage as she added. "He's lost a lot of blood, w-we need to get him back to Huan!"

"You did good, Sarah. We'll bring them back to our holdup, but we have to get moving." Edith praised, moving to Luke's side as Sarah backed off, staring down at her hands dyed red with blood, before she watched the older woman begin to pick Luke up. "Lee, you wanna give us a hand?"

"Yeah, sorry." He apologized, moving to help her when the radio started crackling to life.

Freezing up, he listened as Al's voice spoke through the damaged object. "Shit, Luke? Luke, are you there?! The herd is nearly on top of you guys, where are you?!"

Turning to Edith, he watched as she gestured for him to answer it, picking it up and bringing it close to his face. "It's Lee here."

"Thank god." Al gasped, her voice distorting badly from the damaged radio as she explained. "Where's Luke?"

Looking up at Edith, he noticed she was aiming her gun at Luke, in case he tried to ask for help. He frowned as she waved her hand over her neck, signalling for him to lie. Pushing the button, he sighed and started explaining. "We're out of the museum, but we got cut off from the meet-up point. We'll try to get back to Howe's but you guys gotta go before the herd gets there."

"Fuck! Okay, okay, we'll warn the community when we get back, and tell them that you guys should be back soon. Just be safe out there, and please, for your own good, don't do anything stupid." she ordered, before the radio fell silent. Looking down, his attention was drawn when Luke yelped in pain, Edith readjusting his arm as she looked up at Lee.

"We're leaving now. My group is in the trailer park not far from here. Hopefully, your...friend here will make it." She explained, appearing uncomfortable with Luke practically dying next to her, adding whilst Lee grabbed the younger man's other arm and put it over his shoulders, baring most of his weight. "Sarah, you have your weapon?"

"Yeah." She nodded, taking the pistol from Lee as he offered it, picking up her backpack and slinging it over her shoulder as she followed after the three adults, glancing back at the blood for a moment until she finally left. Lee snuck a peak at Luke as they exited the abandoned building, entering the cold snow once more as they all walked slowly. His face was turning pale, his eyes glancing around groggily whilst his leg that was shot began to drag, leaving a small trail behind them with a few drops of blood coming from the wound, dripping down and staining the pure white snow red. His hair was sticky to his forehead from the sweat, and his breathing turned heavy as the hot air formed mist in front of his face.

He wouldn't even look at Lee, instead staring down at the ground whilst they worked hard to get him to the medic in Edith's group, and honestly, Lee didn't know why he was even saving him. If Sarah wasn't there, he would have been dead, and Luke would have gone back with tales about how the walkers got him. No one would know, and no one would be there to take care of his friends. His eyebrows knitted together, his frown deepening as he quietly asked Edith, not eager for Sarah to hear. "Tell me why we're saving this asshole?"

"We don't leave people to die." She simply retorted, her face saddening as she continued. "No one gets left behind."

"He would have left me behind for the walkers if Sarah didn't show up." He pointed out, noticing that Luke had finally closed his eyes, losing consciousness as his breathing slowed. "Shit, he's gonna die on us before we can even get him to the hideout."

"We better hurry then. You have any transport to get here? Howe's is a good few miles away from this place." She asked, pulling Luke further up as his body began to slump. "Man, he's really heavy."

"We used horses, but the group we were with most likely took them by now." Lee sighed, listening as Edith swore quietly under her breath. Quickly, they fell into silence, only the sounds of their feet crunching the snow underneath them and Sarah's quiet groaning at the cold. The wind had died down, but snow continued to fall lightly, the skies a dull grey as he glanced upwards. The light was fading fast, it would be night time soon, and he would rather be somewhere safe than dragging a body through the snow in the dark, especially with the herd out there. He hoped that Al and the scouts got out safe, and when they reached the part of the civil war memorial they arrived to beforehand, no one was there to greet them.

Glancing around, he noticed that the horses were gone as well, no doubt taken back to Howe's to bunker down for the storm coming. That was when weak groans came from Luke, Lee's blood running cold as he thought he reanimated, quick to throw him away as Edith yelled in surprise, almost dragged down with Luke as the young man connected with the snow-covered ground. He grunted on impact, his eyes opening to reveal the tired brown rather than the milky white that the undead corpses had.

Turning around, he stood there as Edith snapped. "What is wrong with you?!"

"I thought he was coming back as a walker!" Lee defended himself, moving to help Luke off the ground with Edith. The injured party didn't say anything, most likely from the blood loss and lethargy wracking at his being, and Lee was grateful he didn't have to deal with any harsh words whilst he was helping the traitorous bastard.

"We shouldn't be too far from the trailer park, right?" Sarah suddenly asked, moving to the front of the group as she glanced off down a path leading away from Howe's. "Luke can make it until then."

"Sarah, why are you adamant on saving him?" Lee suddenly asked, ignoring Edith's surprised expression that he would ask such a thing. Sarah meanwhile, frowned at that, slowly moving her gaze from Lee to Luke before she took in a deep breath, her stare unmoving as she finally replied.

"Because I have to know something from him." With that, she turned around and continued to walk, small footprints left that Lee and Edith followed, the woman staring at the younger teen's back with a knowing look. With the memorial behind them, they continued down the path with the trees moving closer to the path line, looming over them as snow gathered on their branches, some weighing too much and plummeting to the ground. A few cars were scattered on the road, long abandoned by their previous owners and stripped of anything useful, Lee glancing in one as he passed it, frowning as he spotted a baby car seat with blood splattered on the fabric.

Sarah glanced inside them as well, her hands gripped tightly on her pistol as she quickly backed away, glancing up at Lee with a saddened, almost panicked look. Confused, he and Edith dragged Luke to the car that she was just looking in, peering in and gasping quietly. Sitting in the chair, still strapped in, was a walker. His short legs didn't even reach the car floor, his greyed shirt stained in blood and his hand reached out weakly, small groans coming from the young walker as it tried to get out of its restraints, eager to feed on the survivors standing outside the car.

He heard Edith sigh deeply, listening as she muttered. "Poor kid. He didn't even stand a chance."

"L-lets just keep moving, Luke's injuries are only gonna get worse." Sarah pointed out, staring down at the injury to the younger man's leg as it was dragged behind him uselessly, his eyes half-closed as he fought to remain conscious.

Lee nodded at that, continuing to walk with Edith as they dragged the injured survivor with them, staring off ahead as a sign came into view in the distance, followed by a large chain-link fence with trailers behind them, the fence covered in nailed down pieces of wood boards, haphazardly put together to keep the walkers out. Looking up at it, he could barely make out the letters. Sunshine Village Mobile Home Park. As they neared it, he heard a radio crackling on Sarah's person, watching as she pulled it out and clicked the button, listening as a male voice came through. "Sarah, you there? You and Edith have been gone a while, is something wrong?"

"I'm here, Sam." She replied, glancing over at the others as she added. "We've ran into some problems getting my stuff, and a herd is nearby, so we gotta bunk down for the night before it hits. Get Huan to ready the room we set up for injuries, we got wounded."

Sam quickly responded, his voice wracked with worry. "Shit, Edith-"

"She's okay! it's just...an old friend I ran into. Can you open the gate, please?." With that, Sarah released the button and put the radio back in her ski jacket, noticing that it was stained in dark blood.

Seeing him staring at the girl's jacket, Edith explained to him. "It's from the walkers. You cover up in their blood and they can't tell you from one of them

"Yeah, It's pretty gross, but that's how I survived this long."

"Yeah, it's how I got out of a bad situation once too." Lee replied, following after them as they continued walking for the last part of the journey. Reaching the gate, he searched the area for any danger, shivering violently as the cold started to get to him. Beside him, Edith let out a shaky breath, trying to control her shaking as a blast of icy wind hit them, her hair flowing in the air whilst she tried to guide Lee and Luke to the gate into the fenced off home.

Sarah took the front again, pistol tight in her hands and ready to be fired, as she scanned the area, her body stiff and shivering as she fought down the cold and the fear. Luke made no noise, instead breathing heavily as Lee felt him shivering against his shoulders, most likely the hypothermia was setting in. Remembering what happened to Pete, and how quickly he deteriorated, he pushed forward, and made it the rest of the way as they paused in front of a metal gate, the bars in between allowing them to see through.

Knocking on the gate, Sarah's voice called out. "Sam! Sam, open up!"

Quickly, they spotted a man run out of one of the nearby homes, jumping over the playground fence as he reached the gate, unlocking it and pulling it open with some considerable effort. Rushing in, he slammed the gate once more, locking it to prevent anyone else getting in, before he turned to Sarah. "You had us worried for awhile, kid."

"I'm sorry. We didn't know we were gonna run into trouble," she started, turning to Luke as she continued. "He needs to see Huan. He got shot in the leg."

"Jesus, this your friend?" he asked, shocked as he saw the bullet wound in Luke's leg. Lee stood there, unsure whether to trust these new people or not, staring at Sam with a frown pulling at his face. Much to his surprise, Sam looked a lot like Edith, sharing those same dark eyes and brown hair, though only strands of it could be seen underneath his russian fur hat, his hands rubbing together as he tried to fight the cold.

"We need to take him to the doctor, Sam, come on." Edith ordered, watching as Sam nodded and took Luke's arm off Lee, helping her move him further in the trailer park as he suggested to Lee. "Why don't you look around with Sarah? You guys are gonna be stuck here for the night."

"Alright." He replied, watching as Sam and Edith disappeared out of sight with Luke in tow, standing next to Sarah in silence for a while before he tried to speak to her. "This is a good place to hide in. How did you come across it?"

"I didn't. Edith and her group broke down here around a week ago, and they've been looking for supplies to fix their car." Sarah explained, walking over to the playground and sitting down on one of the swings, not even attempting to push herself on it as she continued her story. "They found me in the museum and took care of me. I didn't have any food or water when I ran away, luckily, I found bottles of water and some canned food that were stashed in the security room I was sleeping in."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, it must have been tough." He apologized again, sitting down on a swing next to Sarah, staring down at her as she just stared at the snow on the floor, her foot nudging some of it away to reveal the gravel underneath.

Hands gripping the ice-cold metal chains, she didn't say anything whilst the both of them sat in silence. Glancing at the snow falling down, he listened as Sarah sadly whisper. "When the car is fixed, I'm going to Wellington with Edith and her group."

"You're leaving?" he asked, feeling the sudden hit of shock and sorrow hitting him at the thought of losing her again.

"I know you're gonna try to talk me out of it, but I decided a few days ago. I… I didn't know I'd see you again. It's safe up there, safer than at Howe's or here, and I have to do what my dad would want me to do." She confessed, not meeting Lee's gaze when her foot paused in scooping the snow. "I can't go back there. Not with everything that's happened, but I'm sad that Nick and the others are trapped there."

"Are you sure this is what you want to do?" Lee asked, trying his best not to pressure the young girl into anything.

It took a few seconds for Sarah to reply, and she did so with a quiet voice. "I'm sure. I care about my friends, they've looked after me, and I'm grateful for what you've done for me but… I can't trust you anymore. I want to, but all I can think of is my dad not coming back."

"...Can I tell you something, Sarah?" he responded, looking far ahead when Sarah looked up at him, surprised with his calm voice. "When this whole thing started, I met this little girl hiding in her tree house. She wanted her parents, but they took a trip to Savannah before the plague and her babysitter didn't make it. I pretty much knew that they didn't make it."

"How could you have been so sure?" she questioned him.

"It was a gut feeling. A voice message was left on the phone, and it didn't sound too promising, but I kept her hopes up. I didn't want to be the one who told her that her parents were gone, just like I did with you." Lee explained, not looking at Sarah as he continued. "We went to Savannah to find a boat. She wanted her parents, and I knew that I wasn't them. This man contacted her on her walkie talkie, told her lies about how he was with her parents, and convinced her to leave the group we were in to find him."

"...What happened?" she asked, her hands releasing the chains and resting on her lap.

"She got bit. He didn't do anything about it, and I had to put her down before she could turn. Sometimes, I look back and I wonder if there was anything I could have done to change it, but it never helped, and that's what you gotta do Sarah." Finally, he glanced down at her, and finished his story. "Don't look back. All you'll do is hurt yourself, and if you need to do this… then I stand by your decision."

Sarah didn't respond, glancing away as Lee reached into his pocket, pulling out her keychain and glasses as he offered them to her. "You'll need these. I can't make you stay, but all I ask is that you don't forget about us."

"I won't. Despite what you done, you still cared for me when my dad wasn't there, and I'm grateful for that." When she looked up at him, Lee saw that tears were falling down her face, her voice cracking as she begged. "Please, will you tell the others I said goodbye?"

"Sure thing, Sarah." He agreed.

Placing the glasses on her face, she stood up, waiting for Lee to stand up as well before she pointed out. "Huan should have treated Luke by now. I want to go and see him but… I'm terrified."

"You want me there with you?" he asked, hoping that he could calm the teen's nerves.

"No," she rejected, crossing her arms. "This is something I have to do myself. Edith will be around, you should go and talk to her."

After saying that, she turned and walked off, following the footsteps made by Edith and Sam when they took Luke away. Lee didn't move. Instead, he just stood there as his coold resolve failed, and he quietly muttered to himself. "What am I going to tell the others?"

It felt like he finally found her, only for Sarah to slip out of his reach once more, and he only blamed himself. Hopefully, she would find friends in Wellington, and others would look after her as he tried to. Finally, he started to walk along, looking at the different trailers as he walked by. Some had their windows boarded up, others with windows that were smashed in, the glass long hidden under the thick blanket of snow. Cars littered the pathways, a barricade erected that looked like it was half-destroyed long ago, a car slammed into the side with its passenger lying face first on the wheel, staring off through the open door with dead eyes.

Passing by it, he gave it a brief glance before he looked at the barricade, spotting random things such as televisions and a couch being shoved in there in a desperate attempt to ward off danger. It obviously hadn't worked. With a raised eyebrow, he just peeked over the barricade at the trailers behind it, noticing Sam standing by the door, talking to someone inside the trailer. He laughed loudly, before he turned to keep watch, noticing Lee standing there and, with a wide grin, waved at him.

"Hey, come over here! Go through that trailer there, unless you wanna practice your gymnastics and vault over that barricade?" he joked, standing there as Lee smirked, turning to see a door leading into another trailer. Opening it, he slipped inside, freezing when he noticed the half-frozen bodies laying there on the floor.

Staring at them, he noticed one of them clutching a bundle, the blanket stained in blood as he kneeled down beside them, his hand stretched out to check what it was, staring at it as he realised what he was looking at. Moving his hand away, he mumbled under his breath. "Jesus…"

Standing back up, he backed away from the corpses, and instead turned around as he reached another door, opening it to see him on the other side of the barricade, Sam waiting for him by the door with that same smile on his face. Closing the door behind him, Lee walked down the steps and over to him, a neutral look on his face as Sam started to speak. "Your friend is in there. Huan managed to stop the bleeding, disinfected it and changed the bandages. With luck, he'll pull through to morning."

"I'd try to care, but after what he's done I don't know." Lee revealed, watching as Sam's smile fell and he appeared surprised by the bitter tone in the elder's voice.

"Jesus," he started, glancing inside the room as he continued. "What did he do?"

"He tried to kill me. The man in charge of our community down south is his dad. Right now, everything there is going to shit because my group tried to escape. Now, he ordered Luke to kill me, disguise it as the herd getting me." Lee explained, crossing his arms whilst he thought about the incident. "I wouldn't be here, if it weren't for Sarah."

"Poor kid. She was really shaken over having to do that." He sighed, leaning against the doorframe. "You know, when we first met her, she was like a shell. For the first few days, she wouldn't speak to us, she wouldn't move, she just… sat there mumbling to herself. After that, she finally pulled through, started giving us bits about her past. Mentioned you a few times."

"What happened is complicated. I did some things that I'm not proud of, and I've paid for it." Lee confessed, saddened by the news of Sarah leaving. Before Sam could reply, Edith appeared from behind the door, a hand holding onto the door as she stared at the two.

Glancing behind him, Sam just stood there as she ordered him. "Sam, take Sarah to our trailer. Lee and I have to talk."

Obeying, he watched as the young teen appeared from behind Edith, glancing up at Lee for a moment before being taken away by the other male survivor, leaving her old friend and Edith alone for a conversation. Dreading it, he turned back around whilst the woman sighed, her face expressing the sympathy she felt for the young child. Shifting her eyes over to Lee, she gestured for him to come inside, closing the door after him when he did so. It wasn't much better in the trailer than outside, but at least he wasn't standing in the snow whilst talking with her.

Looking around, he noticed that they were standing in what must have been the living room, the kitchen off in the corner in full view, the small box tv in front of the couch smashed and practically useless, the glass cleaned up. The silence was awkward, especially since Edith looked like she was trying to think of what to say. Finally, he listened as she whispered. "Sarah told you… about Wellington."

"She did, and I respect her decision." He replied, his voice low as he heard Luke yell in pain in the room down the hall. "How is he?"

"She missed his femoral artery. Huan did his best to stop the bleeding, but if we arrived five minutes later…" she trailed off, sure that Lee got the picture, and could only mutter. "He's conscious now, anyway, you wanna go and talk to him?"

"Was Sarah alright with him?" he suddenly asked, not moving as Edith just frowned. "Was it that bad?"

"Some of the shit I heard… it's hard, you know? Trying to protect someone so young from this world. All the things she's seen and done." She explained, anger flashing in her eyes as she finally snapped. "That man in there. The things he did, the people he betrayed. I'm not going to lie, Lee. It knocks me sick."

"Yeah, I know how you feel." He agreed.

"Don't think that because you're talking with me that I'm happy about it. I know you lied to Sarah about her father, and that doesn't sit right with me." She pointed out, keeping a calm head whilst Lee appeared guilty about his actions. "I'm not in any place to judge. I don't know you, but I hope that you've learned from this."

Although he blamed himself, listening to Edith chastise him didn't sit right, and he couldn't help but feel defensive about it. "That's right, you don't know me or my reasons for doing what I did."

"Lee, I'm not trying to fight." She sighed, rubbing her upper arm as she continued. "So, what's the plan for tomorrow? You going back to Howe's?"

"I have to. My friends are still trapped there, and I won't last long on my own out here." He responded, feeling helpless. Being out of the Pen, out of that community, it felt like a nice change of scenery, but he knew it wouldn't last long. What he was going to do tomorrow, returning with an injured Luke, it was anyone's guess what would happen.

"You know, we were down here to try and reach out to Howe's, form an alliance between them and Wellington, trade things your people need, but Carver wouldn't have anything. He would rather drag his people down with him than ask for help." Edith revealed, her voice quiet as she continued. "It's not only his people at risk. My community, people I care about, we're running out of food because of the winter. Howe's is the closest community to us, and a lot of the other communities are too small for us to trade with."

"I don't know how to help. Carver's in charge, and I don't see how we can change his mind." He noted.

Standing there in silence, Edith appeared in thought before she stared at him, keeping her gaze as she pointed out. "That's why he has to go."

"Wow, why didn't I think of that?" Lee replied sarcastically. "Do you even know how many people stand behind him?"

"Yeah, but that's out of fear, not loyalty. Think about it. You go back with Luke, tell everyone the truth, people are gonna see what their leader truly is." She explained, leaning against the back of the couch.

Unconvinced, Lee continued to argue against the idea. "These people have already seen their leader do some pretty messed up shit. I don't put a lot of faith in them now. Besides, they'll most likely drag me to Carver's office and then that's that. Gone."

Edith was put off by that, and wasn't able to say anything else when the radio in Lee's pocket came alive, shocking both of them. Pulling it out, he looked down at it as he pressed the button, listening carefully as a female voice whispered through it. "Lee? Are you alright?"

"Alicia?" he muttered, bringing the radio closer to his mouth as he responded. "I'm here."

"Oh, thank god." She sighed in relief, a small pause coming afterwards as she explained. "I had to wait for Carver to leave his office, but he left his radio on the desk. I just wanted to make sure you were alive. Everyone is really worried about you and Luke."

"Don't worry, we've dodged the herd and are camping in a trailer park for the night. We'll be back by morning, but…" he trailed off, glancing up at Edith as she just watched, wondering if he should tell her.

The silence seemed to have worried her, and she quickly begged him. "What? Lee, what's wrong?"

"Luke turned on me." He confessed, glancing out of the window, watching the snow continue to fall as he carried on explaining. "Carver gave him the order to kill me, and pin it on the herd coming in. I would be dead if it weren't for Sarah."

"You found her? Is she alright? I've been worried about her." Alicia asked, relief evident in her voice as she quietened down, her voice soft as she asked. "Is Luke… is he dead?"

"No, just injured. Sarah shot him, but she missed anything important. He'll live." He sighed, unable to stop the anger coming up in his voice at that.

Picking up on it, she softly consoled him. "I know this is difficult right now but we have to do something. Our community is dying. Kate's sick, we have no medicine to save her, or for Christa when she gives birth. Things have to change, and I don't think it'll happen with Carver in charge."

"A woman who found us told me that. She's from Wellington, and the whole reason Howe's is going through a medicine crisis is because Carver refuses to trade with them." He snapped, angered learning how bad things were going for the community. Alicia could only utter a small gasp, and fell silent, causing Lee to panic slightly as he called down the radio. "Alicia? You alright?"

"I thought we were safe here, but this is just another nightmare." She replied, grief laced in her words as she took in a shaky bread. "I don't know what to do. My daughter… I can't lose her. Not her."

"It'll be alright. Does anyone else feel like this about him?" he asked, noticing Edith raise an eyebrow at his question. The plan before seemed far-fetched to actually achieved, but if anyone would know what people thought about their leader, it was Alicia.

"Yeah, a lot of people. No one really stands with him, we just fear him. That's no life." She explained.

"Alright," he started, glancing down the hallway when he heard a soft whimper of pain from it, a short pause before he carried on explaining. "I need you to tell my group that I'm alright, and to gather people. I'm coming back tomorrow and confronting Carver on what he's done. Hopefully, people will be on our side."

"Alright, I can do that." She agreed, before her voice dropped in volume. "He's coming back. I have to go, but please I need to ask you a favour."

"What is it?" he asked, feeling somewhat unnerved by the request.

"It's Riley. She escaped after Bill called all scouts back to Howe's in time with the herd, and now she's out there on her own." She explained, quickly turning to begging Lee. "Please, if you find her, bring her home. Let her know Sarah is safe, that'll calm her down."

"Will do. See ya, Alicia." With that, he let go of the button and pocketed the radio once more, worry gnawing at him with the thought of that young teen running around out there, on her own and with a herd on the way. There was no way he could go out and find her, otherwise he'd run into the herd himself, and that was a risk he wasn't willing to take.

Slowly, he moved away from the window, turning to Edith as he asked. "When are you planning on leaving?"

"The car is nearly fixed, so hopefully in a day or two. We just gotta find some fuel. All the ones here have been scavenged already by Howe's." She explained, an idea clicking when she paused, glancing away as she asked. "You wanna make a deal?"

"What sort of deal?" he asked, wary of it.

"We'll come back with you and Luke to Howe's, tell everyone that the medicine crisis they're going through is because of their leader. When the mess is sorted, you give us some of your fuel so we can get home." She offered, uncrossing her arms as she added. "I need to help my people. This alliance could be the thing we both need."

"I see what you're saying." He confessed, liking the thought of joining forces with Wellington to help his friends. Nodding, he accepted. "Alright then. You help me with Carver, and I'll make sure your group has enough fuel to make it back to Wellington. Maybe even start trading when we get everything sorted."

He fell silent suddenly, his face grim as he thought deeply, ignoring Edith's sympathetic looks as he asked her. "Will you take care of Sarah? She's still only a kid, I want her to have the best in this world. I promised her dad that."

"I promise. Sarah'll be safe with us." She agreed, glancing down the hallway as she changed the subject. "You wanna talk to Luke? Make sure he understands how it's going down?"

"Yeah, I'll do that now." Lee nodded, walking down the hallway with the female survivor in tow, the both of them in silence as they neared the door, everything quiet from behind it. Slowly, he opened it and peered inside, seeing some bedrolls laid on the floor, a wardrobe standing in the corner by the unboarded window, showing the forest in the distance.

Light poured into the room through the window as well as the skylight above, snowflakes dotting across the glass. Glancing around, he saw Luke lying on one of the bedrolls, another man kneeling beside him as he observed the injured party. Staring at his face, he could clearly see the pain over his pale features, his eyes shut tight whilst his leg laid there, fresh bandages replacing the blood-soaked ones that Sarah administered back in the museum. The doctor beside him, Huan, glanced up when he heard the door opening, his eyes narrowing until he spotted Edith, adopting a more softer tone as he greeted. "Péngyǒu xiàwǔ hǎo."

"Hāi." Edith replied, giving the man a soft smile before she turned back to Lee. "Huan doesn't speak very good English. He came from Beijing for his daughter's wedding just before this all started..." She explained, moving closer to the doctor. "Tā hái hǎo ma?"

Whilst Huan explained in his native language, Lee stood there dumbfounded, surprised that Edith could talk in another language that fluently. When he finished his explanation, he glanced up at Lee as she did, and she smiled at his look. "I was a translator before all this. I learned spanish, french and mandarin for my work, but I guess this is the best I can do with it."

"I just never thought you were a translator. It must have been difficult learning all those languages." He simply replied, glancing down at Luke as he adopted a more serious look. "So what did he say?"

"He couldn't do anything about the pain, Luke's gonna have to deal with it, but it's better than being dead." She sighed, standing up as she talked to Huan again, Lee watching as he nodded and stood up as well. Walking past Lee, Edith paused, the doctor leaving the room, and muttered. "He's all yours."

"Thanks." With her gone, he moved towards Luke in complete silence, kneeling down by his side whilst staring down at his face. Seemingly sensing he's there, Luke's eyes slowly open, squinting when the light from the outdoor world poured in. Closing them temporarily, he listened as Lee finally spoke. "You know what's happened?"

"Shit… I remember me and you standing there, then this pain through my leg. It was almost like it was burning." Luke replied, trying to sit up as he glanced around. "Where are we?"

"At a trailer park, Sarah and her friends brought us here for the night. The herd's gonna be moving through soon." Lee explained, his glare cold as ice as he added. "And when we get back to Howe's, you are going to tell everyone what your dad ordered you to do."

"Lee, please, don't do this." The injured survivor begged, wincing as his leg moved when he made himself comfortable. "You start a war in Howe's, people are gonna die on both sides."

"Look around you, man. People have been dying already! Alex, Dwight, Pete, they all died because of you! How could you?!" Betrayal was evident in his words, his face twisting in disgust as he spat venomously. "You ain't even a man about it. Try to kill people who thought you was their friend! No matter what happens now, things have to change, and they are going to."

"You think I'm happy that all those people died? Pete, he was a shit uncle for Nick, never there for him even before all this. Dwight was the reason you, Nick and Walter were brought here in the first place, and fucking Alex was going to die!" He finally broke, meeting Lee's fierce glare as his voice dropped menacingly. "The medicine that was gonna be used on him? That could have saved another person's life, someone who might have had a chance, so dad made the call to cut him loose. But no… you and his fucking sister decided that you were gonna leave, and steal from us."

"You never even gave Alex a chance." Lee rejected, shaking his head as he paused for a moment, looking back up when he asked. "What did Sarah want to talk to you about?"

Luke was stunned by the question, his face losing all of the anger and pain from just then and instead fear, his eyes dropped when he confessed. "Carlos. It was my fault that he got killed."

"...What?" he gasped.

"I was the man on the inside for dad, ever since the beginning. No one else knew, Carlos, Pete, even Nick, they thought that I finally saw him for what he was. I relayed what they said back to him, and when the plan for our first escape came up, he told me to along with the plan until he could catch them in the act." Luke paused, anger flashing over his dull eyes as he recounted bitterly. "But it was a shitshow. George caught us trying to leave and Carlos… just shot him dead."

"How can I trust you?" Lee asked, eyeing the injured party up suspiciously. "All you've told me since I met you was lies. Why should I buy this pity act?"

"Because Nick saw it too. Sarah, she was already outside with Pete when it happened. Her dad was a killer, and she didn't know a damn thing about it. When I told her just before, she wouldn't believe me, but you could see it. See the doubt, the realisation that her father was a fucking murderer just like the rest of us." A dropping sensation could be felt in Lee's gut, unnerved by how cold and ruthless Luke sounded. It didn't match up to the Luke he knew before, the one who fucked up but had his heart in the right place. That wasn't right.

"Did you have anything to do with Carlos' death?" he asked, keeping a hard stare on him. "Luke, do you?"

"Yeah. She told you, about the bandits that attacked her dad and were fought off by us? Well, they fucked him up real good, and their friends followed after him when he and Sarah ran." Luke paused, watching as Lee appeared more unnerved by the second. "I saw the whole thing. How they beat him to death, and yet the stubborn fucker didn't die. Lying on the floor, in his own blood, they thought he was dead and went to find his daughter. No… He got up, stumbling and barely able to walk. So I came out, and I stuck a round in that bastard's chest."

"Jesus Christ… you're no better than Carver." Lee insulted, feeling nothing but disgust for him.

"Don't tell me you never killed someone for revenge." The image of him choking the Stranger to death appeared in his mind, the way the light fled from his eyes, and he felt distraught at how good it felt to kill the bastard for taking Clementine from him.

"What I did is different." He replied, trying to convince himself as well as Luke, frowning when it seemed that had no effect on him. "I didn't betray my friends to get it. The man I killed destroyed everyone I cared about, until it was just me left."

"That's what I told myself. You know, sometimes it scares me how I can do fucked up shit and still sleep at night. That's when you know that nothing will ever make this world better, not anymore, so why keep trying?" Luke asked, leaning against the wall as he carried on. "People you love die. At the beginning, I thought I could do some good, and it turns out that's not possible anymore. There's just… no point anymore."

"I don't care about your feelings, Luke. Not anymore. So, when we go and face Carver tomorrow, the community can decide what to do with you." With that, Lee stood up, not wanting to be in the same room as the lowlife anymore. Swinging the door open, they spared no more words as he slammed it shut, feeling wood vibrate with the force he put in.

Standing there, he just stared at the floor, feeling the anger from the conversation boiling his blood. Carlos' corpse jumped into his mind, and knowing how it happened, he felt sick to his stomach, glancing back up whilst mumbling to himself. "Sarah..."

"What'd he say?" Edith asked, appearing from behind the corner when Lee walked down the hallway, staring at the door as she added. "Did he tell you something?"

"Only what he told Sarah. All this time, and it was someone I thought she could trust." Lee sighed, pausing in his steps.

Placing a hand on his shoulder, she could only offer a small smile as she consoled him. "You're not to blame for that, Lee. Some people just change in stressful times. You can't save everyone."

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean I couldn't try…" he pointed out, before changing the subject. "It's starting to get dark now. Where'd you guys sleep?"

"Here, I'll show you." Edith offered, walking over and opening the door leading outside, exiting the trailer with Lee close by. The skies were turning dark grey, the light quickly disappearing with the sun dipping behind the line of trees, the sounds of distant growling causing his hairs to stick up on the back of his neck. The herd was coming.

Walking down the steps, he took a right with Edith as she explained. "With the gates locked, the walkers should just pass by without trying to get in. We just buckle down for the night, and hope they're gone by morning."

"Hopefully…" they fell into silence once more, Lee spotting Sam sitting on some steps leading up to another trailer, a light shining inside that could be spotted through one of the windows, likely a candle or torch. With his hand in his pocket, he sat there shivering whilst a cigarette was held in his other one, puffing out a plume of smoke when he spotted the duo walking towards him.

Taking another drag, he let the smoke sit in his lungs before coughing, covering his mouth with the back of his hand as he tried to speak. "You heading off to bed?"

"Yeah. Got a long day tomorrow." Lee nodded, watching as Sam continued to smoke below him. "How's Sarah?"

"...I don't know." He confessed, smoke rolling out of his nostrils as he shook his head. "After that talk with your friend, she just laid down on the bedroll and… wouldn't say anything. I don't think it's a good idea to disturb her.

"I want an eye kept on Luke, Sam." Edith ordered, taking his cigarette and throwing it in the snow. "And you know how I feel about you smoking."

"Damn, that was my last one!" he whined, watching the embers quickly die. With a heavy breath, he stood up, wiping the snow from his pants as he walked past them. "Alright, alright. I'll be on guard duty. Just make sure you actually swap with me tonight, I don't want what happened back home to happen here."

"Alright." She agreed, turning back to Lee as she explained. "There's a couch in there that you can sleep on. I don't know what you're used to in Howe's but, considering Carver, this might be an improvement."

"You don't know the half of it." Lee agreed, feeling fatigue hit him full force as Edith chuckled softly.

"Yeah. Well, get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow." She then turned around and walked back to the other trailer, being watched by Lee as he stood there, shivering slightly before he turned around. Climbing up the stairs, he opened the door, glancing behind him at the trees in the background, frowning deeply as he entered the trailer, shutting the door behind him as he got ready to lay down for the night.

[southeastblog]

Nigerian Youths and Business Gurus unite at Forever Youth Summit

Everyone has a talent – Dr. Cosmas Maduka, Coscharis President …Make your life count – Tony Attah, MD/CEO NLNG …Take charge and transform your future – Daniel Ikechukwu, FLPN Boss The atmosphere inside the Eagle Hall, Forever Living Products, Aromire Avenue, Ikeja, Tuesday, December 12, 2017, was electric.

The company had summoned Nigerian youths from all walks of life, particularly those who wished to improve their living standard based on the theme: Forever Youth Summit: Building for the future. The Country Sales Manager Forever Living Products Nigeria, Mr. Daniel Ikechukwu who declared the 4-days summit open said 47.4% of Nigerian youths were either unemployed or underemployed (NBS Report, 2017).

“The objective of our summit”, he said. “is to create healthier and higher quality of life for Nigerian youths. They must take charge of their lives and be involved in actions that will  transform their beliefs, values, attitude and finances. He urged them to imbibe the spirit of Forever which is the spirit of love, and learn skills from some of the best business managers in Nigeria to  build a bigger and better future for themselves

Three eminent personalities were on stage – Dr. Cosmas Maduka, businessman, founder, President/CEO of Coscharis Group; Mr. Tony Attah, MD/CEO Nigeria Liquefied Gas and Pharm. Victor Erukunuakpor, MD/CEO Gratunity Nig Ltd. Maduka is an epitome of the saying: from grass to grace. He, it was, who superintended a one-man business and transformed it into an indigenous conglomerate with diverse interests in manufacturing, ICT, petro-chemicals and auto sales.

And at the event, he opened himself up to an appreciative audience who cheered his every word, his every gesture. “I love to go where people add value to my life”, he started, accusing Forever Country Sales Manager, Mr. Daniel Ikechukwu, of putting him behind such accomplished man, like Tony Attah, as the two dazzled at the event. “I got value today”, he confessed. While Maduka placed his own personal life on a scale for all to tantalize and savour, Attah placed value of people worldwide for them to choose.

At the end, another standing ovation was to FLP Nigeria boss, Daniel Ikechukwu, who put together an amalgam of genuine enterprise and friendship for Forever Business Owners. Generally, the two gentlemen agreed on basic principles of creating wealth and having a successful entrepreneurship. “Mine was a humble beginning”, Maduka said.

Lost his father at age 4, he had to withdraw from school at Primary III at age 7. “I hawked akara to contribute to the up keep of my family”, he revealed. He later came to Lagos, and became apprentice in an auto shop to a senior uncle. However, Attah revealed how an aptitude test in Yamoussoukro, changed the way he viewed life. “I was part of a 900-youth group who were drilled on how they viewed life and wealth.

We were asked to privately indicate what each could do with a free hundred million dollars. While some Africans desired a bigger house, cars, youths from advanced societies had different perspectives”. According to Attah, a 19-year-old from Europe, said with the money, he could eradicate malaria in Sudan and Ethiopia and hope that one day he could be opportune to visit the place. Another said he would use his imaginary millions to eradicate poverty in Africa and hope to visit there one day. Attah said the responses changed the way he viewed life.

“It is important that you live for something bigger than yourself. Who will miss you when you are no longer here?” he asked a now subdued audience. Meanwhile, Maduka explained how with dedication, honesty and hard work, the N200 his uncle provided as settlement for years of his apprenticeship, eventually turned into fortune.

“If anybody had reason not to succeed, the person is me. If anybody had reason to blame God for failing, it should be me”, adding that life was about mind-set. “Belief, is one of the most important things in my life. As a child, my mother told me to believe in myself.

She didn’t tell me about God, before, but she did later. Believe in yourself and believe in God. Believe truly that hard work opens the good life”, he advised. He derided young people who condemn the country for not providing enough for them.

“A lot of young people say this country is useless, nothing will work for you if you say and think so. In your subconscious, you said it. Remember the Bible says: `Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks’”, urging them to leave the hall with a different mind-set. “Say to yourself, `I will change my future, my life will not remain the same’, and wake up early in your race for prosperity.

If you want to somersault, you must do so before age 20. If you don’t, after 25, you will have spinal injury. But if you are somersaulting at 19, you can still somersault at 40, because at age 28-30, you are at the borderline”, he told a subsumed audience, adding that statistics showed successful people were usually within age 15-25. “Only in exceptional cases, people start being successful after age 40.

Also speaking, Attah said young people coming to Forever were being presented with a vision ordained by God, who had literally given a canvass, paint and a brush to paint their desired vision that will be approved, adding that in all cases, they would require determination and team work. “In life journey, everyone needs help and that is the meaning of team work, afterall, two good heads are better than one.

You can have everything you want in life, if you just help other people get what they want, operating individually, you can achieve nothing. Without other people you will not happen”, Attah stressed, condemning those who believe the grass is always greener on the other side. “No”, he said, “the grass is always greener where you water it”, he observed.

He urged youths to be focused and courageous, as nothing could be achieved without focus. “When you work hard, luck shows up. Know your company; Know and use the products; Focus on your customers and build a team of champions. You must have the burning desire to win, and ensure you go into ventures that could change your names for the better”.

Concluding Attah, described Forever Combo Pack as a Pack of Fortune, saying FBOs must stay focused so they can recognise their opportunity when it shows up. However, in his closing remarks, Maduka, explained that if he, with his humble beginning, could sit in the board of two Nigerian banks for 12 years, serve as Chairman, Credit Committee of Access Bank, stand on a podium at the United Nations, comprising 170 countries to speak on Youth Entrepreneurship, there was no one who could not make it.

He said, however, that like any worthwhile endeavour, there were rules that must be obeyed, even in Forever business. Maduka said selling remained the most difficult thing to do in life. “You will be challenged by anything you do”, adding that the Igbo had enterprising spirit that distinguished them from other people.

“To the Igbo, shop is part of our religion”, adding that with vision, courage, and hard work, anyone could succeed. He urged young people to look out for gaps that exist in the service sector. “When you fill the gaps that exist in service, you will not be running after money, money will be running after you”, he said.