#of course she's not the only one who had personal ties to the boss but for her it's one of her most important key motivations

[end-orfino]

strangelove and the boss make me fucking SICK honestly. in a good way. they're so fucking great

[hottpinkpenguin]

Hey 😊 if your still taking requests for the peakys. Could I please ask for Alfie Solomons with A "ask me to stay" and D "dark secret" female reader. Thanks 💗💗

A/n: that's a wrap on Peaky Blinders requests from June!!! thx to all the lovelies who participated <3

The Wall Between Them - Alfie Solomons X Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2362 Content warnings: Domestic violence, reader murders the abuser, abuse, violence, blood/gore, protective Alfie, can't-be-vulnerable Alfie, trying-his-best Alfie, hints of soft!Alfie?

Her hands shook so violently it was a wonder she didn’t drop the pistol. If anyone had been watching the scene before them, they would have credited a guardian angel for guiding the bullet straight to his chest despite the treacherous wobble of the gun. Her eyes were closed when she pulled the trigger, tears streaming down her cheeks and mixing with the blood from her mouth. 

He fell like a sack of bricks. One minute he was lunging towards her, eyes trained on the pistol. A cold fear seized his heart as he saw the terror in her gaze melt away to black rage. All those whiskey beatings, harsh words and hateful years had backfired on him. Then, in the next instant, he died to the ear-splitting sound of a gunshot. 

The silence that followed was so loud she swore it would crush her. The walls around her seemed to be holding their breath. Was he really dead? Did she really pull the trigger? 

She didn’t let herself exhale until she saw a pool of blood - darker than she’d imagined it would be - staining the floorboards underneath him. She dropped the pistol; it landed with a heavy thud at her feet moments before her knees folded on themselves as if made of twigs. She pitched sideways, letting the hallway wall brace her fall as she deflated under the weight of realization. She knew in that moment that it didn’t matter how many times he’d hit her. The ghastly bruises and scars he’d left etched in her skin, the nights her mind had divorced itself from her battered body and wandered the halls like a ghost, the mangled monster he’d grown into… none of it mattered. All that others would see was a dead husband and a living wife with motive, means, and a guilty conscience. Even dead, that horrid man was imprisoning her.

She knew there was only one person who could get her out of this. And so, she wiped the blood from her rapidly swelling lip, picked up the pistol and slipped it into the deep pocket of her apron, and tied up the escaped strands of hair. It had been almost seven years since she’d seen Alfie Solomons, but she still knew exactly where to find him.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Boss, there’s a lady here to see you.” 

Alfie barely heard Jack’s murmured comment above the jeer of the crowd. The Irishman was swaying unsteadily on his feet in the pen after taking a nasty round of hits to his right ear. Alfie could see his ear filling with blood. A busted eardrum, likely. Circling opposite him, the burly Hungarian Alfie knew as The Red Devil was snarling proudly as he surveyed his quarry. 

“Fuckin’ finish him!” Alfie called out, lifting a wad of bills in the air like a signal fire. The fight was fixed of course, and Alfie had fixed it. The Red Devil was turning into quite a lucrative investment, but his penchant for theatrics was tiring to Alfie. He preferred a quick win, efficient and clean. 

“Boss?” Jack edged slightly closer, waiting for Alfie’s orders.

“Hm?”

“A lady, boss. There’s a lady here to see you. Asked for you by name.”

“Didn’t book a whore tonight,” Alfie replied simply, waving Jack off as The Red Devil moved in on the Irishman, holding the dazed man’s head as he drove his knee up into the exposed forehead until the bell rang to signal the end of the fight. The crowd erupted into a mix of appreciative cheers, boos, and cries to settle up or place new bets as another pair of fighters moved to the edge of the pen. 

“Don’t think she’s a whore, boss. Looks like a respectable lady. Bit beat up though.” 

Alfie fixed Jack with an incredulous stare. He wasn’t accustomed to his men pressing him on trivial issues like this. Especially not on a fight night. Jack flinched imperceptibly; he was well-acquainted with Alfie’s anger and bore a nasty half-moon scar the framed his left eye from being pistol-whipped after pressing Alfie’s limits. Alfie almost moved to strike him, until something about Jack’s words and the odd look in his eyes plucked at something. 

“She give a name?”

Jack shook his head, eyes glued to the ground. “No. All she said was you were ol’ friends. Childhood friends, I think she said.”

It couldn’t be. Alfie shook his head as if trying to shake out the thought. But, then again, there was only one person he’d ever met who’d claim him as a friend. 

“Beat up, you say?”

Jack nodded. “Lip’s split and she got a shiner.”

A memory flickered across Alfie’s mind. He hadn’t seen her in years, but the last time he had, she’d had a ring of purple and green bruises around her neck. She’d tried to hide it under a high collar dress, but Alfie had her pressed up against the wall of his office, their lips devouring each other, and he hadn’t missed the way she winced when he let his hand slide down the side of her neck on its way to undo the line of buttons at the front of her dress. He knew who’d done it and didn’t need her to say a damn thing. If she hadn’t begged him on her knees - her goddamn knees - to spare that pathetic man’s life, Alfie Solomons would have gutted him nice and slow. 

He hadn’t seen her since. She’d stopped writing, stopped answering her own front door, stopped going to the butcher shop below where Alfie kept a small apartment. He’d had her on every surface of that apartment, rabid with hunger for anything she’d give him. Then she’d just vanished. Told him she was due to be married, couldn’t carry on with him anymore. Alfie knew there’d been a silent request buried in her words. He’d heard her ask it with her eyes. Ask me to marry you, and I’ll leave him. Alfie cursed himself every day for letting that moment slip by like water on rocks. He wasn’t any closer to figuring out how to love someone now then he was back then, but in his quiet moments he wondered if maybe he could have figured it out with her, if only he’d been willing to take that chance.

“Boss? Boss, what do you want me to tell ‘er?” 

The sound of the bell announcing the start of another match jarred Alfie loose from his reminiscences. 

“Nothin’. I’ll talk to ‘er.”

Jack eyed him with surprise, but quickly smoothed the spark of interest out of his features rather than risk another scar from his mercurial boss. He’d never known Alfie Solomons to pause his dealings for a woman. Something about her must have been special. Jack followed his boss out of the smoky, cacophonous warehouse and towards the back of the building where Alfie kept his offices. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Alfie felt his fingers dig into the wood of his desk as she stepped out of the shadowy corner of his office and into the soft halo glow of his desk lamp. Her lip was split, blood dried on her chin, and one of her luminous eyes was swollen shut. Murder ripped through Alfie’s blood at the sight of her. 

“Before you say anything, Alfie, he’s dead.”

Her voice sounded different, thin and strained, like someone had scooped out her soul leaving nothing but an echo behind.

“He sure fuckin’ is.” Alfie was shaking he was so bloodthirsty. He couldn’t look at her and risk losing himself. How could it still be so fresh, he wondered, after seven long years?

“No, that’s not what I meant… Alfie, I-, I killed him. I shot him.”

A different man might have been horrified, or maybe even a little impressed. Alfie was none of that. Instead, he felt himself pitch forward over the lip of a hole of despair. 

His voice cracked when he ordered Jack and the rest of the boys out of the office. Once the door closed behind them, she sank down into one of the leather-backed chairs across the desk from him. Desperate to be close to her lest she splinter to pieces, Alfie rounded the desk to perch against its edge, stretching his long legs away from her in an attempt to give her space. She hardly looked up at him. 

“What did he fuckin’ do to you?” Barely more than a whisper. Alfie was glad the light was too dim for her to see that he was treacherously close to tears.

She looked up at him, shocked. Her one good eye gleamed at him. 

“Alfie, did you hear me? I killed him.”

He nodded, swallowing thickly. Alfie was full of tender urges and gentle feelings, but his mouth couldn’t seem to give them words or noise. All he knew was harshness and violence. It was the same wall that had kept him from reaching out for her hand and telling her all the things he felt the last night he’d seen her. Here he was, so close he could smell her lavender soap but his affection locked away so tightly and deeply that he couldn’t force himself to touch it even if he tried.

“Nothin’ he didn’t deserve,” he grunted brusquely after a few moments. He dropped his gaze, unable to tolerate the sight of her face bruised and misshapen. He noticed her hands were trembling in her lap. “What do you need, darlin’?”

She stifled a small sob at the sound of the pet name he’d reserved for her. 

“He’s still-... the body, I- I don’t know… I guess-”

“It’s done. Write down your address.” Alfie handed her a pen and paper, watched as she struggled to mark the street name and number legibly. Her knuckles were bruised, he noted with a twisted pang of pride and pain. She’d been fighting back, he realized. All alone these last seven years. And he’d let her. He’d stopped fighting to get to her. Let her close herself off to him. Let himself close off to her. And now, it wasn’t until she’d been pushed to the brink - maybe past it - that she’d come to him, and only because she knew that when violence and darkness was needed, Alfie could do it. But he couldn’t do the other things, the harder things. Like love her, protect her, tirelessly fight for her. 

She tore off the page and handed it to Alfie. He took it without looking at the writing, strode over the door and excused himself from the office. He thrust the paper into Jack’s hands. 

“Take care of it, Jackie. No loose ends, you hear me? I’ll fuckin’ rip you limb from limb if it ain’t done right.” 

He didn’t give Jack or the others time to argue or ask questions before he slammed the door as a dismissal and strode back to her. He reached for her, needing to feel her warmth under his fingertips just to prove she was here. She flinched instinctively, sending Alfie deeper into self-loathing.

“Do they know-”

“It’s done, darlin’. It’s taken care of.” 

Alfie poured himself a glass of whiskey, drunk it down in one gulp, and poured another. 

“Alfie…” 

Her voice was so soft and yearning it broke Alfie in two. He turned to face her. Gods she looked perfect. 

“It ain’t fuckin’ happenin’ again.” The most solemn promise he’d ever made. 

She recoiled from him as if slapped. It took him a half moment to process why. 

“I ain’t lettin’ anyone hurt you. Ever again, you hear me? I’ll fuckin’ burn the world and every hateful man with it, it don’t matter.” It was all Alfie could find the words to say. 

Finally understanding his meaning, he watched her relax in the chair. She eyed him without saying a thing, a strange expression on her face. 

“I don’t want that, Alfie,” she replied softly. “I don’t want any more death. I don’t want to see someone hurt ever again. I just… I just want…” 

Her words trailed off into the quiet. Neither of them knew where the end of that sentence would lead. The space between them stretched and morphed until it felt like an ocean separating them. Strange, that two people who both wanted so desperately to be with each other could feel so far away.

“Don’t set any fires on my account, Alfie.” She rose from her chair and walked towards him, taking the glass out of Alfie’s hand and downing the whiskey with a wince. “Just ask me to stay.” 

Alfie felt his heart run headlong into that same old wall that always kept them apart. Here she was, the only woman who’d ever mattered, literally giving him the words she wanted to hear. And all that Alfie’s tongue wanted to say was more promises of vengeance, of violence in her name, of destruction. 

She watched him struggle, her gaze even but tired. 

“Ask me to stay, Alfie. That’s all I need.”

The openness those words threatened to expose in Alfie Solomons felt like a lit bomb nestled in the cage of his ribs. He choked on the air in his lungs. Come on, you fucker, he thought viciously as he struggled to press back on the urge to run. 

She watched and waited. Each moment, her shoulders sagged a bit more.

“Stay.”

It wasn’t exactly what she wanted, and Alfie spat the word out as if it had poison between its letters. But was it close enough? 

Her heart thought so. She felt a softness take root there, a shred of hope. 

Yes, it was enough. 

She gave Alfie Solomons a soft smile. The way he crumbled at the sight told her enough about his feelings for her. Even if he couldn’t put them into words, she could see the love that she was so desperate to excavate from wherever he stored away the fragile parts of himself.

“That’s enough,” she told him sweetly, lifting a hand to cradle the side of his face. For the first time in seven years, she let herself relax into a man’s touch as Alfie’s fingers found hers…

[leonstoenailunderhisbed]

Cupid doesn’t gamble III

Summary: Leon, a mafia boss whose empire dominates all casinos on the west coast, meets a young girl amidst a game of poker. What would happen if he threw all his chips and gambled his love for you?

Warning: Mafia!Boss!Leon x Female!Reader. Eventual smut. SMUT. Praise. Creampie. Slow burn. Romantic. Leon is a gentleman. Characters are 21+ (plot wise). Researched topics. Mentions of violence. Read at your own discretion.

Word Count: 5,167

A/N: someone tried to hack my account😭

[I][II]

“I knew you in another life, you had that same look in your eyes. I love you, don't act so surprised,” - Birds of a feather, Billie Eilish

Days passed and your presence had suddenly quieted down. You wouldn’t return his phone calls and it was as if you had gone MIA. Something wasn’t right.

What Leon didn’t know, it was that you had been kidnapped in your own home one night. A man broke into your house and drugged you until you were unconscious, right before retrieving your body away.

There were no traces left behind but there was only one person that could’ve done this. The Suit.

Leon was in the middle of discussing something with his men when his phone rang.

He took it out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID, expecting to see your name, but instead, he was met with an unknown number. He felt his heart skip a beat, something wasn't right.

He stepped outside, away from his men and answered the call, "Who is this?" He asked, his voice cold and unwavering.

“Leon!” It was your voice on the other line, crying and screaming, “Please! Help me!”

“Ah, Leon Kennedy,” another man chimed in. The Suit. He chuckled darkly, the sound low and sinister, “I hope you don’t mind I took something of yours. She’s really pretty too…”

He laughed again and you kept crying in the background, begging and pleading to be set free, “Silence her, she’s giving me a headache,” The Suit said and some men taped your mouth shut.

Leon’s blood ran cold as he heard your voice on the phone, crying and pleading for him to help. And that chuckle, that distinct low tone of The Suit.

"If you touched her, I swear-" Leon’s voice was low and dangerous, his grip on the phone tightening.

He listened to you struggling, crying, begging, and it took every ounce of his self control not to burst into a million pieces. His knuckles were white from how hard his was gripping the phone.

The Suit laughed again at Leon’s words, “Touch her? You make me sound like a monster, I thought you knew better, hm?” His tone was condescending and mocking.

“This is how it’s going to go if you want your little girlfriend to stay in one piece,” he spoke darkly, “Simply come to the location I’ll send. Alone. If you show up with men, I will not hesitate to shoot her…”

“Not before having my fun with her,” even though Leon couldn’t see, The Suit was smirking. His tone was dangerous and yet amused.

Leon’s heart felt like it was being torn out of his chest. The sound of the bastard's voice mocking him, threatening you, brought a fury in his eyes that even hell would fear.

"You bastard," Leon growled, gripping the phone so tightly, he was surprised it didn’t break, "If you even think you can lay a hand on her-"

He was interrupted by a low chuckle from The Suit on the other side. "You know very well what I’m capable of. If you care for her, you’ll come to the location I tell you to. Alone."

The line disconnected after that. There was no room for arguments, it was either he obeyed or you’d be in danger, more than you already was.

You kept crying and shaking, you were tied to a chair. Your legs were tied to the legs of the chair as your wrists were tied down to the armrests. You couldn’t move and you couldn’t speak.

When Leon had finally arrived at the place The Suit had told him to go, the place was seemingly abandoned and alone. Leon entered the abandoned building, his footsteps echoing through the empty halls.

His heart was pounding, adrenaline coursing through his veins. He knew this was a trap, that The Suit wanted to get to him, but he didn’t care. The only thing on his mind was finding you, making sure you were okay.

The sound of your faint cries sent a pang through his chest. He followed the sound, his heart clenching at the thought of what The Suit could be doing to you.

When you saw Leon, your eyes filled with more tears and you tugged at your confined arms, wanting to desperately try and reach for him.

Leon saw you there, bound to the chair, tears streaming down your face. His heart clenched at the sight of you, so vulnerable, so scared.

He rushed to your side, crouched down in front of you and placed his hands on your shoulders, looking into your eyes. “Hey, hey,” he said, his voice gentle, “It’s going to be okay. I’m here now. You’re safe.”

Leon's heart broke at the sight of you crying, terrified and helpless. He knew he had to get that tape off your mouth, he had to hear your voice.

He gently cupped your face in his hands, his thumbs wiping away your tears, "I'm gonna take this tape off, okay? Just stay still for me," he said, his voice gentle yet firm.

With care, he began to slowly remove the tape from your mouth, trying to make the process as painless as possible. The tape didn’t hurt, it was very wet from your tears. You cried for a long time. When the tape was off, you looked down at him and whispered hoarsely, “I’m so scared.”

“They came one night and broke into my house, a-and then a man came from behind me and I-I don’t remember what happened but I woke up here and—“ you were whispering but your voice would break every now and then.

Leon listened to you, his heart breaking with each shaky word you spoke. The thought of someone breaking into your house, scaring you, hurting you brought a wave of anger through him. He wanted to find The Suit and make him pay.

But he pushed those thoughts aside, for now, you needed him. You needed him to comfort you, to protect you, to be there with you. He gently cupped your face in his hands once again.

"Hey, hey, shhh, it's going to be alright," he whispered, his voice soft and soothing.

You leaned into his hands as he cupped your face, his touch was gentle and for a moment you felt so safe. That was until the sound of a man echoed through the room, The Suit. The Suit was a tall man, more on the lean side compared to Leon. He had short dark hair with an overgrown stubble.

“Well, isn’t this all so romantic?” He said mockingly, “The knight in shining rescuing the damsel in distress. You really have become very unpredictable, Leon.”

Leon's back tensed as The Suit spoke. He had been so focused on you, making sure you were alright, that he had lost focus on his surroundings. He had underestimated The Suit, and it was a mistake.

The Suit stood right behind Leon’s crouching form, staring down at Leon’s back with an amused smirk, “I didn’t know you were even capable of loving. Doesn’t she know that you’re one of the country’s most notorious mafia boss?” You furrowed your brows together and looked down at Leon confused, he was in the mafia?

He felt your gaze on him, your confusion at The Suit's words. Leon clenched his jaw and looked up at The Suit, his expression cold and stoic.

"She doesn't need to know," Leon's voice was low, a hint of warning in his tone.

The Suit simply chuckled and walked over to stand behind you, staring at Leon, “She doesn’t?” He repeated in an amused tone. One of his hands then took a strand of your hair and twirled it around his finger.

“She does now,” he added mischievously with a menacing grin, “You see, little lady, the man in front of you hasn’t been all honest with you.”

He let go of your hair and stood right in front of Leon, “He’s a mafia boss who kills people and commits crimes left and right,” then he turned to look at you, “Don’t tell me you still love him,” he said mockingly.

Leon's gaze darkened. "Don't listen to him," Leon said, his voice low and dangerous. He didn't want you to know about his life, about his secrets. He didn't want you to get involved in his dark world.

The Suit let out a loud laugh, “Ha! You’ve changed Leon,” he commented as he backed away from you and walked to a table.

“Love makes people act like fools,” The Suit said as he began to walk back towards Leon, “Are you a fool Leon?” He asked rhetorically.

Leon's fists clenched as The Suit spoke, his words and laughter like nails on a chalkboard. He hated the way The Suit mocked them, trying to drive a wedge between them.

Leon's gaze darkened as he looked up at the man in front of them, "I'd do anything to protect her," he said, his voice low and defiant.

“You would, wouldn’t you?” The Suit chuckled and shook his head, “And you, woman?” He said as he turned his head to look at him, to which you grew scared.

“You’d let your little boyfriend protect you and rescue you again and again and again?” He whispered, “Do you seriously believe you’ll survive by being in his world? You’re weak.”

Leon's heart ached as The Suit began to speak to you, his words trying to sow seeds of doubt. Leon's hands balled into fists again, his knuckles turning white from how tightly he was clenching them.

"Don't listen to him," Leon repeated, his voice louder and more urgent. "You're not weak, you're strong. I will always protect you."

He turned his gaze to The Suit, his expression cold and determined. "She's not weak, unlike you," he said, his voice a steely growl. You looked at Leon, his words sounded genuine and it seemed to have calmed you down a bit. But The Suit took offense to Leon’s words as his face and demeanor changed—for the worse.

“You dare insinuate that this damned woman is stronger than me? Look at her crying like a pathetic little girl!” He then took a chunk of your hair and held it up, causing you to whimper and cry.

“Yeah,” he taunted you in a whisper, his lips close to your ear that you could feel them graze against the shell, “That’s right. Cry like a little bitch. That’s what all women know what to do, cry all the damn time, huh?”

Leon had enough of this man’s offensive behavior, he swiftly stood up and with speed, his balled fist made contact with The Suit’s cheek. The Suit stumbled backwards, letting go of your hair as he went to cup his stinging cheek before glaring at Leon.

“I won’t forget this, Kennedy,” he said before he walked towards a table, picking up a gun. It was a handgun, he aimed it at Leon and quickly tried to shoot him. Only for Leon to roll away before taking out his own gun.

“You coward!” The Suit yelled in a fit of rage. His ego was being stepped on and he didn’t like it at all. To be played by his long time enemy was like a crush to his pride after all the effort he’s been trying to make himself known.

Leon said nothing and started to shoot back at The Suit, who in a cowardly attempt, called for backup. His bodyguards suddenly entered the space and surrounded the walls, guns at the ready. In any other case, this would’ve been the end to it all. But this was Leon and he doesn’t go down without a fight.

“Cute,” he muttered, “You don’t think I’ve known about your little trap?” He said to The Suit.

“No doubt about it. You seem smart enough to understand that I could ambush you and yet you’re still here,” The Suit replied.

“And you seem smart enough to know that I also don’t listen to rules,” as Leon said this, his own men barged into the room by breaking down the door. He never goes to places alone, this he knew to follow.

The Suit, for the first time, felt a hint of fear. This was something he knew all too well. This was a battle that he couldn't avoid. He’s messed around and he’s about to find out.

It all happened so fast—almost like a James Bond movie in which there is a montage of men fighting and shooting each other with badass music playing in the background. But none of that will be here. There is no System of a Down playing.

At the first sound of a gunshot, a domino effect happened and shots rang all around. Leon, in concern, ran towards you and pulled you down to the floor still on the chair. As his men defended him, he began to cut through the ties that bound you to the chair, “Cover your ears,” he whispered in your ear. Your hands moved to your ears and watched as Leon took defense over you and began to shoot at The Suit’s men.

The Suit made an escape through the back door, thinking no one would follow him as he avoided the fight. Leon, however, wasn’t dumb and he had his eyes on him. He felt a sudden wave of anger and he ran after The Suit.

As The Suit climbed up the stairs of the staircase he had run into, Leon followed closely behind attempting to shoot him with his handgun but The Suit dodged left and right as he ran up the stairs. When he pushed past the exit door, The Suit was met with a gush of wind blowing at him as he had made it to the rooftop. Essentially it was a deadend.

“You’ve been nothing but a thorn,” Leon said as he had made it to the rooftop not long after The Suit, “I’ve had enough of your games. Not only did you kill my associate–I know you have–but you also brought an innocent person into this?!”

The Suit chuckled, “I didn’t. You did. You were the one pining after her and bringing her into your chaos, I only showed her the truth that you were keeping from her.”

“That was something I should do, it wasn’t your business to meddle with!”

“Really?” The Suit smirked, “There is one thing you seemed to have forgotten about the mafia, Leon,” he said as he stepped closer to Leon, “The mafia doesn’t care about privacy. When you decided to join, you gave away your life,” he muttered lowly.

This angered Leon, “You’re right. I did give my life to this. But I’m not the idiot that’s about to give it away permanently.”

Leon brought his handgun to The Suit’s chest and without sparing a second, his finger curled on the trigger and pulled it back. The sound of a gunshot echoing in the night sky as the bullet went through The Suit’s chest. His body froze for a second and his breath hitched, The Suit looked down at his now bleeding chest, realizing what Leon had done.

“You…” The Suit whispered before he stumbled back and slipped off the edge of the rooftop. The building was seven stories tall and with his wounded chest, it was sure that he wouldn’t survive the fall. Leon went ahead to watch as The Suit’s body made contact with the street floor, a crack and a puddle of blood already forming around his body.

“You never insult my girl,” Leon muttered under his breath, not caring about The Suit’s fate.

When Leon went back to check on you and his men, there were bodies and blood everywhere. It looked like a massacre. His eyes hastily searched for you and when he saw you with a blanket around your body as you sat on the floor, he rushed towards him.

His men had won, now cleaning the area to avoid the police. He crouched in front of you, “Are you okay?” he whispered. You nodded your head and looked at him. He knew you were shocked and most likely traumatized but he was willing to help you.

“I’m fine,” you whispered back, he sighed softly, his demeanor changing and his hard expression falling off his face. It was as if you were calming him with just your presence.

“I should’ve told you sooner but I didn’t want to scare you off. It wasn’t the right time and I would’ve liked to take you on more dates and give you everything you wanted and–” his rambling got caught off when you suddenly leaned towards him and kissed him, silencing him. He was shocked and for a moment, he held his breath. When you pulled back, his ears were a deep shade of red and his lips were parted with shock.

“I… know,” you muttered, “I know. I should've been scared and should’ve run off but I just couldn’t when all you’ve done was be so kind to me.”

Leon could only stare at you, his eyes staring deeply into yours, “You know I’d never even think about hurting you, much less have some scumbag touch you. I’ll protect you with my life, I’ll give you my everything. My money, my house, my car–take it all…but don’t leave me,” he whispered. For the first time, he was being vulnerable. His walls crumbled down because of you, you made him feel something he has never felt before, something that he couldn’t put into words.

His hand gently cupped your cheek, his thumb caressing the skin just right under your eye, “Allow me,” he muttered before he leaned in and pressed his lips against yours. Your eyes closed as you felt his lips, melting under his touch and you soon found yourself kissing him back. Pushing your head forward as your hands wrapped around his forearms, wanting to keep him in place right in front of you.

-

The days passed by like a breeze. The Suit’s organization crumbled after his death and Leon fought for his territory, expanding his empire even more. But, amidst these events, he never forgot to take care of you. He wanted you to move into his mansion where you’d be more protected. He took you out on dates, the ones he promised to take you on. His goal was to make you happy, to keep a smile on your face. He’s bought you gifts and his heart swelled every time you flusteredly accepted. That man was head over heels for you, you got him hooked.

“Do you want to go out today?” He asked as he turned to look at you, you who was sitting on the edge of his bed. Although you moved in, you wanted to sleep in your own bed so as to not burden him and keep your privacy. He happily obliged despite wanting to share everything with you.

You shook your head ‘no’ at him, “No,I kind of just want to stay in and have a lazy night.”

He hummed and nodded, loosening his tie before rolling up his sleeves to his elbows, exposing his strong forearms, “We can do that,” he said in a warm voice. You couldn’t help the slight heartbeat that skipped in your chest when you saw him like that. Something about the casually lazy look made him look even more handsome.

He went up to you and pecked your lips in a short but loving kiss, “You’re so cute,” he whispered against your lips. It didn’t take long for you to start kissing him back, your lips demanding longer kisses.

Your hands pulled his tie so he can come closer to you, your back on the bed as he gently climbed on top of you and put his hands on either side of your head to cage you in. His lips continued kissing yours, nipping at your bottom lip before his tongue met the inside of your mouth.

A quiet moan vibrated from you to him, feeling like your heart’s about to burst out of your chest. Your hands softly pressed against his chest as you pushed him back a bit, staring into his eyes. No words needed to be spoken, tonight was the night the two of you would take a step further into the relationship.

“Let me make you feel good,” he whispered, “Let me show you how much you mean to me. Let me be yours.”

All you could do was nod, his words and his behavior all led to one thing; he felt the same about you. His lips began to attack your neck, sucking and nipping the skin at the crook of your neck as his hands lowered down to your chest. He slid his hands under your shirt, fingers itching to touch your breasts. His big hands gently and tenderly squeezed your breasts, letting a quiet growl against your neck as he relished in the feeling of your skin on his hands.

It didn’t matter if you wore a bra or not, he still loved them.

His hands then slipped lower your abdomen and into the waistband of your pants before he put one hand right between your legs. The palm of his hand pressed against your crotch area while his fingers pressed against your clothed needy cunt, earning a soft gasp from you. This brought a small smirk to his face, watching the way your eyes closed tightly and you subconsciously bit your lower lip. He loved it all.

He slid his hand under your pants and under your panties, hand itching to touch you. Upon reaching your folds, he nearly moaned when he felt how wet they were already. He brought his hand out for just a second as he sniffed his fingers and then licked them, tasting your glistening folds and his eyes rolled back.

And then he brought his hand under your panties again. His eyes remained fixed on your face as he slowly rubbed your clit with his thumb as his index finger tested the waters of gently pressing the pad of his fingertip between your lips.

When he saw how needy you were and how you bucked your hips into his hand, he inserted the index finger slowly into your cunt. As you moaned breathlessly and he groaned quietly, he felt your walls be so tight against his finger and his thoughts ran wild with the need to put his cock inside you.

“Let me warm you up, pretty girl,” he whispered as he then inserted his middle finger. Now fingering with two fingers, he knew you could take it, he’s being so slow and gentle.

“Yeah, that’s right,” he murmured against your ear as his fingers curled inside you, “Doing so good for me. My pretty girl. You look so beautiful like this.”

His other hand gently took your shirt off, wanting to see your chest once again. He dipped his head down and wrapped one breast with his mouth, his tongue swirling around your hardened nipple. Your back arched, his fingers and his mouth setting your body ablaze with ecstasy.

“More,” you muttered. You felt him smirk against the other breast since he believed in treating both equally as something delicious.

“Very well, princess,” he hums quietly before he pulled his fingers out of you and sat on his knees. He slowly took his tie off and unbuttoned hit shirt, revealing the sculpted chest he had. Stretch marks adorned his pecs from gaining and losing weight, his highs and lows being portrayed in his body. A trail of hair leading down his V-line, scars added to his allure. It was as he was personally made from heaven.

He wasn’t an insecure man, he knew he was good looking but it still seemed to shock him the effect he had on you. The ends of his lips curled up ever so slightly as he watched you practically drool for him. His hands, after taking off his shirt, went to unbuckle his belt and unzip his pants before throwing them somewhere.

You didn’t hesitate either, your clothes were off save for your panties and he appreciated the fact you wanted him to take off your underwear and open you like a gift. Except that you weren’t a gift, you were a blessing in his eyes.

“May I?” He asked quietly as his finger curled against the waistband of your panties. You nodded and he slowly took the last article of clothing off you.

He didn’t say anything and just remained there staring deeply down at you. His eyes roamed over every detail about your body, wanting to keep this memory of your first night together forever.

The words died in his throat but the look he had said more than the dictionary could.

He began to pull his boxers down to reveal his aching and hard cock, pink at the tip with precum. His eyes never left yours as he wrapped his hand around his cock and rubbed the precum down his length to lubricate it. It wasn’t that you weren’t wet enough, he just didn’t want to hurt you.

“Ready?” He whispered and looked at you as he settled between your legs. The back of your thighs pressed against his thighs as his tip grazed against your wet pussy. His hands ran down your thighs to soothe you as you nodded, “Yes. I’m ready.”

He didn’t need to be told twice as he took hold of his cock and slowly pressed himself inside you, moving deeper and deeper until his pelvic area made contact with your body.

A whimper escaped your lips and he groaned at the feeling of being inside you. It wasn’t like anything he’d ever imagined, it was better.

“You feel so good, baby,” he murmured as he leaned down next to your ear, his hands searching for yours as he pressed you deeper against the bed. His fingers intertwined with yours as he slowly moved his hips back before pushing back in, causing you to moan once again.

For him, this was good. The way your eyes closed, the way you nibbled on your bottom lip, and the way you gripped his hands—he’s making you feel good and that’s all he’s ever wanted to do.

His pace was slow at first, wanting you to get used to his size before he could speed up. As he did so, he whispered sweet things into your ear.

“You’re so pretty.”

“Look at you, taking me in so well.”

“I am so lucky to have you.”

As he praised you, he slowly began to increase the speed of his thrusts. Each other becoming slightly harder and deeper than the last. Then, he let go of your hands and brought them under your knees as he lifted your legs up to rest them on his shoulders—bringing you closer to him as possible.

He grunted and groaned at the new angle he had you in, he wrapped his arms around your body, bringing you against his chest as he essentially got you in this weird position with your legs over his shoulders. Who knew you were that flexible.

“Leon,” you moaned against his shoulder, gently biting his skin. He knew you were close and he wanted to bring you closer, si he unwrapped one arm and brought his hand back down and began to circle your clit with this thumb.

He marveled as he watched your back arch again, moans spilling out from you, he’d almost forgot how good he felt too until he felt you start clenching around him. His eyes rolled back but he didn’t stop. He continued rubbing your clit at the same pace but his hips began to move faster as he started to get lost in the sensation of your body.

“Cum for me,” he muttered, “Please, I need to see how pretty you are when you cum.”

It was a psychological thing, you swore. His words probably did more than his actions and when you suddenly hugged him tightly—your moans coming out muffled—he felt you tighten around him and cum on his cock. He nearly came right then and there.

“That’s it, good job, baby,” he praised in a quiet tone, “You did so well for me.”

He gently stopped rubbing your clit and caressed your head as he kept you against his chest while he thrusted in you. Not soon after, he came inside you. His hot load of cum shooting ropes of white inside you, claiming you in the most intimate way.

His breath was labored and he slowly loosened his embrace and let you lay back against the bed with ease. He carefully put your legs down, no longer on his shoulders. A quiet sigh escaped your lips as you closed your eyes and tried to catch your breath.

He liked this look on you, a look that only he can give you at the moment. It made his heart swell. He gently pulled out of you, watching as his cum started to leak out of you but he didn’t let it fall on the bed as he curled his finger and collected the drop of semen.

“I’ll go clean you up, don’t move,” he said in a firm but gentle voice as he stood up and got off the bed before making his way to the bathroom where he got a warm towel. He gently pressed it between your legs and wiped as carefully as possible to avoid making you uncomfortable.

Once he was done, he picked up your clothes from the floor and helped you get dressed into a new set of pajamas. Ones that knew would feel so comfortable after everything that’s happened. He leaned down and pressed a kiss on your forehead, “You did so well, now rest, dear,” he whispered before he began to get dressed himself.

You could only nod, feeling a bit bad that he’s taking care of you and not the other way around. But knowing him, he’ll probably reprimand you for working too hard. He really cares about you.

Minutes later he joined you in his bed, wrapped his arms around you and bringing closer to his chest to cuddle. Your arms wrapped around his chest as both your legs tangled under the covers. It was comforting and he was warm. Warm enough that you almost fell asleep.

“I love you,” you muttered. That was the first time he’s ever heard you say those words. It made his heart skip a beat and a smile reached his lips.

“I love you just as much more as I possibly could,” he muttered back before kissing the crown of your head and hugged you tighter.

He closed his eyes around the same time you did, and you both fell asleep in each others arms.

The two of you now bound by love and promises, he swore he’d never let anyone else lay a finger on you and he’ll let the world burn for you.

[rekino2114]

Messing with the chainsaw man girls hair

This was requested by @shikitohnoskk

The request:Hey, is it okay for me to request it again? I've noticed that most of the Chainsaw Man girls (Makima, Asa, Kobeni, and Quanxi) wear a ponytail.

Headcanon: Have S/O see their hair down and compliment it, and perhaps personally tie their hair into a ponytail.

Note: for the other girls who haven't ponytailed or short hair like Power, Himeno, and Fami (does Yoru count since she is in Asa's body)?. What are your ideas on them?

A/n:I couldn't come up with a good title that fit all the girls' scenarios, so you get that. Also, sorry if I posted this later than usual again. School sucks

Makima

Living with makima, you've gotten used to the morning routine you have. She always wakes up before you and prepares everything you need. She wakes you up with a kiss, and you do your morning routines together, helping each other get dressed, washing your faces, and putting each other's ties on. It's a really sweet and domestic moment that you love.

Doing this so many times, you started to notice something, whenever you woke up makima already had her hair done, even if she was still in the lingerie she wore to bed.

You weren't surprised. Her ponytail looked like it took a lot of time to get done, and she probably didn't want to "bother" you, but you still wanted to see her with her hair down, so one day you woke up by yourself, without needing her to kiss you.

You yawned and stretched, then made your way to the bathroom where you saw just what you wanted to see, your girlfriend in front of the mirror messing with her hair.

She noticed you behind her in the mirror but did nothing and waited for you to come near her, you did and hugged her tightly, still a bit groggy

"Good morning darling, why did you wake up early today?"

"Wanted to see you"

Makima giggled at your sleepy tone but turned around and hugged you back kissing you in the process

"Your hair looks beautiful like this"

"Does it? I think it looks unkempt"

"It's still beautiful"

"Thank you love"

She kissed you once more and pulled away from the hug, turned around again towards the mirror, and grabbed her hair tie

"Do you want me to help you?"

"Hm?"

"I can help you tie your hair if you want"

"That would be wonderful, my love, are you sure?"

"Of course, I'd love that"

Makima smiled brightly at you and handed you the hair tie. You took it and gently grabbed her hair and started to tie it up, trying to imitate the form you always saw it in.

"You're amazing, my darling, i don't know what I'd do without you"

"What do you mean? You do this alone every morning"

"No, I meant in general. You give me a reason to wake up and get ready every day"

"That's so sweet to hear, but you know you'll always look beautiful to me, no matter what"

"Thank you sweetie, but I still want to do this, you really didn't have to"

"But I wanted to"

"And that's what makes you so wonderful"

You finished tying her hair, and she looked at it. She thought it was even more beautiful than when she made it

"It looks amazing thank you so much"

"Don't worry about it, it's the least I could do"

She turned around one last time to kiss you, even more passionately this time. When she pulled back, her beautiful golden eyes looked back at you with so much love

"I don't think words can describe how much I love you"

"The same goes for me makima"

Power

"Get your hands off of me, filthy human"

"......power please calm down"

You and the rest of division 4 were supposed to attend a meeting with makima and some important members of the government, so your boss advised you to dress nicely, this was no problem for you and your other friends, but it kinda was for your girlfriend power.

She only accepted to take a bath when you joined her and even then didn't wash very well and she struggled a lot while you were helping her put her suit on.

"Ugh! This is so uncomfortable"

"I know, but you have to wear it"

"Said who?"

"Makima"

"...........ok"

She sat in front of you again as you put her tie on

"OK I'm done"

"Finally!"

She started to get up but you stopped her

"Wait, we're not finished, you have to tie your hair"

"What? Why?"

"I dunno, I guess it makes you look more....... civilzed"

"Are you saying I'm not civilized normally?"

"Listen, we need to make a good impression, or makima is gonna dock our pay. Just put this on, please,"

The blood fiend pouted and turned around dramatically

"Never! I refuse!"

"I'll give you cuddles when we get back"

"..........."

"With meowy"

Power turned towards you again, still pouting but with a blush on her face"

"Fine, you win"

"Thanks"

She grabbed the hair tie you were holding in your hands and looked at it for a while before trying to tie her hair.....unsuccessfully

"Do you.....need help?"

"O-of course not! How dare you say that!"

She proceeded to continue failing to tie her hair

".........can you help me?"

You giggled but quickly got up and went behind her, taking the hair tie and starting to tie her hair

"Have you ever tied your hair before?"

"Y-yeah but it's really hard doing it alone"

"Don't worry, I get it. You can ask me for help when you're struggling"

"R-really?"

"Of course, I'd love to"

"......thanks"

"It's no problem"

As you finished tying her hair you looked at it and smiled

"You look beautiful like this"

Hearing this power smugly grinned and turned around to look at you

"Of course, did you have any doubts the great power would look beautiful in any hair style?"

You laughed again and kissed her cheek, causing it to glow red

"No, I definitely didn't, now let's go, denji and aki are waiting for us"

Himeno

After waking up and doing everything you needed to, you were waiting for himeno to wake up as she usually slept late. You heard a big yawn coming from your bedroom and knew that she woke up so you waited patiently for her to come out of the bathr-

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"

You immediately sprinted towards the bathroom

"Himeno, what's wrong?"

"O-oh hiiiii y/n, n-nothings's wrong I just-"

"Why are you covering the left side of your head?"

"......whaaaaaat? No I'm not"

"Seriously hime, what's wrong you know you can tell me"

Himeno sighed and took her hand off of her hair

"OK, just don't laugh"

She turned around and you started staring at her hair, at first you saw nothing wrong but then

"Wait, is the left side of your hair completely cut off?"

"Yeah"

"How did that even happen?"

"I-i dunno I was drunk last night and-"

"You had scissors while you were drunk? You could have hurt yourself"

"I know.....sorry"

"It's fine, at least you're ok"

"Yeah, my hair isn't though, you think I'd look good with a hat?"

You both laughed softly at that, you put a hand on her head and started stroking her hair

"While I think you'd look good with anything, I don't think you need to put one on"

"Hm? Why? You got a solution?"

"Maybe, what if you cut the other side too so it's even, you have shot hair anyway so it'll grow back fast"

"I guess that could work, but to be honest, I don't really trust myself with scissors anymore, even sober me"

"I can help you"

"Really?"

"Yeah of course"

"Awww, thanks so much baby, you're the best"

"It's nothing just go sit somewhere, I'll grab the scissors"

Your girlfriend gave you a thumbs up and grabbed a chair to sit in while you took the scissors. You then stood behind her and started cutting her hair carefully

"This is just like being at an hairdresser"

"Don't exaggerate, I'm not a professional so it may come out ugly"

"Please, if you do it, then it possibly can't be ugly"

"You're giving me too much credit"

"Nah, it's you who's giving yourself too little credit"

"Well thanks"

"No problem"

After you finished cutting her hair, you told her so, and she went to the mirror to see how it looked. After she stared at herself for a few seconds, she smiled widely and went to hug and kiss you

"You're amazing y/n, this looks great"

"Oh please it's not-"

"Hey! Stop that. You're amazing, ok? That wasn't a question it was a statement, so don't try to argue with it"

"Hehe, alright thanks, I'll accept it"

Himeno smiled again and kissed you passionately

"Great, because I'll say it as many times as I need to"

Kobeni higashiyama

(The person who requested this actually sent me this picture saying it inspired them to request, I really appreciate that so thanks)

You put the keys in the door of your shared apartment and turned them, as soon as you opened it, kobeni weakly walked through the living room and let herself fall on the sofa heavily sighing in the pillow

"The mission was hard wasn't it?"

She got up and turned towards you, her expression softening a bit but still clearly irritated

"Yes, well, the mission itself was supposed to be easy, but power was insufferable. She kept being so loud and annoying and reckless-"

You quickly pulled her into a hug, which caused her to relax and nuzzle in your chest

"I know I know, don't worry I'll ask makima to pair us up together next time ok?"

"T-thanks"

"How about we just relax now, let's cuddle and watch a movie"

"Yes please, I'd like that"

You two smiled at each other, and you went to the kitchen to get the snacks ready while kobeni changed into something more comfortable. You came back after a while and brought the blankets with you, you saw kobeni with her pjs on

"You look good"

"E-Eh?"

"I'm just saying, you look cute when you're comfy, I like seeing you relaxed"

She blushed and looked away for a moment before smiling again at you again

"Thank you"

You smiled even brighter as you sat near her and you started watching the movie

"Why do you still have your hair tied?"

"Hm?"

"I thought you'd let your hair down, to help you get more comfy"

"I-i guess"

She raised her hands to her hair, but you grabbed them and held them in yours, kobeni started blushing but looked at you with confusion

"No, let me do it, I want to"

"W-what?"

Before she could protest, you started untying her hair and grabbed her hairpins, putting them on the table along with the hair tie

"There you go beni"

"O-oh thanks"

"It's nothing, I just want nothing more than to help you relax in any way possible"

"You're really the best I love you"

Your girlfriend started to relax more and laid her head on your shoulder. You smiled at this and started playing with her now free hair

"Your hair looks beautiful"

"U-uh? Oh, thanks, really"

"Every part of you is beautiful to me, especially right now. You're always so stressed and tired, I love seeing you like this"

Kobeni turned to look at you a bit surprised but quickly smiled as she felt her cheeks getting even hotter

"Thank you really, thank you so much, I cannot describe how much I love you"

"Me too beni"

Quanxi

"I'm taking a shower. Do you wanna join me?"

You looked up from your phone to see quanxi starting to take her blood-soaked suit off

"Oh no, thanks, I'm not really in the mood right now"

Quanxi nodded silently and continued to take her clothes off in front of you, something you had gotten used to as she had little to no trouble walking around the house in very little clothes

"Then can you wash the suit? The blood got in pretty deep"

"Yeah sure"

You got up and grabbed the clothes she threw on the ground, you started walking but were stopped by quanxi, putting a hand on your shoulder

"Wait"

She untied her hair and shook her head, making her white hair flow and fall behind her head, despite her being in nothing but her eyepatch, her hair was still the thing that caught your attention the most.

"You don't need to wash this, just give it to me when I'm done"

"OK"

She smiled at you and gave you a kiss on the forehead

"Thank you, sweetheart"

After you put her suit in the washing machine, you resumed doing what you were doing before while you listened to the water fall in the bathroom until the sound stopped, and you heard the door open.

"Love, can you give me the hair tie back?"

You looked up again and saw your beautiful girlfriend in a tank top and shorts and still with her hair down

"Oh yeah, here you go"

You got up again and handed her the hair. she rewarded you with another forehead kiss

"You look beautiful"

"Uhm?"

"Your hair, it genuinely looks beautiful like this"

"Oh, thanks, I guess I don't let them down often, so I'm glad you like it"

"Do you mind if I tie your hair?"

"Sure"

Her answering with such little hesitation confused you a bit, as did her handing you the hair tie and turning around as well as bending over a bit.

But you quickly did what you wanted to and tied her snow like hair, admiring how genuinely beautiful it looked

"You really like my hair, don't you?"

"Yeah, I love it, like every part of your body"

"I'm glad"

When you finished your job, quanxi turned around and suddenly kissed you passionately and wrapped one of her arms around you, sliding the other one under your shirt, feeling your stomach

"I love you so much, my sweet"

"I love you too"

Asa mitaka/yoru

Having two girlfriends in one body sometimes made it difficult to distinguish who was in control of the body in one specific moment, but you found a method to do it. If you can't see the face directly, because the scars and eyes would give it away pretty fast, you look at the hair, if it's a ponytail then it's probably asa and if they're down then it's probably yoru.

For some reason, one of the first things yoru does when she takes over is untying her hair and throwing the hair tie somewhere in the room making it hard for asa to find it later, one of this occasions resulted in you currently tying asa's hair

"Thanks for helping me"

"It's nothing, don't worry, you should probably get more hair ties though, how did this one end under your bed anyway?"

"I don't know ask yoru"

The girl said in a passive-aggressive tone, hoping to get the attention of the devil in her head who just ignored her

"I guess I could try to ask her to be more careful about it"

"Please do"

"Hehe, ok, I'm finished by the way"

"Thanks"

"You're welcome"

Asa stood up and turned towards you but was surprised to see your lips approaching hers, and before she could react, you kissed her. After a bit of confusion, she reciprocated your kiss that lasted for a bit before you pulled back

"So do you wanna eat something? I have some chips if you want"

"Yeah thanks"

You gave her a thumbs up and went to the cabinet, grabbed the bag of chips and two bowls and put it on the table, you looked back at asa only to see her......with her hair tied down

"......yoru? What are you doing here?"

"I took over"

"Yeah why?"

"I wanted to see you"

"*sighs* OK....but take the hair tie back"

"Eh? Why?"

"Cause then asa will have to spend hours searching for it"

"Fine, here"

She handed you the hair tie she surprisingly still had

"You didn't throw it away?"

"No....I heard what you said"

"Oh thanks"

Surprised by her thoughtfulness, you kissed her like you did with asa, which caused her to blush slightly but kiss back quickly, more aggressively than her host. She let the kiss go on for a few more seconds before she pulled back

"I'm gonna tie your hair now"

"Why? I like them better like this"

"Cause asa just tied them, I don't want her to have to do it again"

"It's always asa this and asa that, what about me? I like my hair like this"

"It's not your hair in the first place"

"..........ok that's fair"

"I'm glad you understand"

The war devil reluctantly turned around and let you tie her (asa's) hair again. After you finished, she turned back only to not have the scars and ringed eyes anymore

"Oh hey, welcome back asa"

"Thanks"

"I'm surprised yoru let you take over"

"She didn't, I think she's still yelling at me in my head"

"Oh, you're fighting over me?"

"We kinda have to when we share a body"

"Well, I'm flattered"

"Thanks for tying my hair again by the way, I know it can be annoying"

"Oh no not at all, I love it"

"I'm glad, I really love everything you do for me well for us"

Fami

A/n:So, since we're talking about hair and fami, I wanted to bring up something I've been thinking about for a while. What color is fami's hair actually? I always thought it was pink (maybe because i associate her with kirby) but in the volume cover she's in, you can't really see the color because the lighting is weird (or they're more purply) and in the fanart I've seen she's with either pink, purple or white/cream colored hair similar to quanxi. I guess we won't know for a while, but I'll still keep writing her as if she has pink hair. Also, sorry if this is shorter than the other ones, I didn't have that many ideas

"Fami can you......take off your hat for a while?"

You had been staring at the famine's devil hair for a while, something that she noticed but didn't seem to mind. You were confused by it and wanted to confirm something, which prompted you to ask the question

"Why?"

"I just wanna see your hair"

Fami shrugged and did as you told her, revealing her pink hair full of crumbs and stains

"What........happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"Your hair is dirty, like really dirty"

"Oh yeah, some food fell on me"

".......how?"

"I was trying to get it in the cabinet and it fell on me"

"......*sighs* I'll go get a hairbrush"

You went to the bathroom and took a hairbrush out of a cabinet, going back to the living room and standing behind fami while she was still eating, starting to brush her hair carefully

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to clean your hair"

"Oh........thanks"

"No problem, just tell me earlier next time"

"Ok, I just didn't want to bother you"

"You could never bother me. In fact, I love your hair, and I love brushing them"

"......thanks again"

"It's really nothing but geez, a lot fell on you, I think we'll have to wash it"

"I guess I don't mind if you join me"

"*sighs* sure if you want

[buckyalpine]

Catch Me If You Can 3/3

Mob!Bucky x Single mom Police officer reader

Warnings: 

I really like this AU so while this is the final part, BUT I will write stuff for these two here and there (like the proposal and so much more I have in my head for them) 

Part 1

Part 2

- 

Your heart stopped as you stood near the door, hearing the conversation between your son and Bucky. The rest of what they were saying was drowned out with a dull buzz filling your ears, all your emotions coursing through your body all at once. 

Dad.

A word Jordan had resented all is life, only associating the term with a man who wanted nothing to do with him. Dad meant loneliness, fear, abandonment, abuse. 

Dad was something he never had an interest in. 

No one you had ever dated in the past was worthy of being in Jordan’s life, something you put first whenever you went out. Not one person had made it even close to meeting him let alone standing in as a father figure to him. You soon accepted that your life would be just you and him until he grew up and had his own family as well.

But now?

Dad.

And Bucky, of all people. 

You didn’t even realize tears were streaming down your face until you felt a drop slip onto your collarbone, quickly slapping your hand over your mouth and rushing to your bedroom, shutting the door. You buried your face in your hands, your heart twisting at the thought of how safe your son must have felt around Bucky. How he loved spending time with the mob boss, never wanting to leave, feeling like he was at home more and more each day. 

He wasn’t the only one. 

-

It wasn’t shock that Bucky felt. 

It was pain.

Pain that he saw Jordan as his own but couldn’t take on that role. 

Pain where whenever he spent time with either of you, he’d never want it to end, finding any excuse under the sun to get you to stay. 

But how could he feel all that when you were both from two different worlds, one where the two couldn’t mix. 

If only. 

“I think you should ask mama bear how she’d feel about that” Bucky softly ruffled his hair while Jordan made a thinking face before nodding to himself. He was well aware that uncle Bucky wasn’t exactly in the all clear but he wasn’t blind either. You definitely used less no-no words when talking about Bucky. You’d mumble something occasionally, but he caught the little smile that graced your lips, often rolling his eyes when you’d try to wipe it off immediately after. 

“I don’t think she wants to arrest you anymore but I can’t make any promises. Mommy takes her job very seriously” Jordan downed the rest of his juice while Bucky chuckled, nodding his head. 

“Mama is very good at her job, she puts away the bad guys”

“But you’re a good guy” Jordan shrugged, continuing to work on his homework, hoping to revisit the topic later. 

As soon as Jordan was ready for bed and tucked in, you went down to the kitchen for a late night snack, book in hand with your silk robe tied around your body. You figured everyone had gone to sleep, allowing yourself to lounge in something that made you feel good, the outfit on the racier side. You set your mug down on the marble counter top, popping a strawberry into your mouth and opening your book, too engrossed in the story to hear the footsteps that padded down the hall. 

Bucky blinked as soon as he walked in the kitchen, stopping dead in his tracks when his eyes fell on you. Wrapped in silk. Your lips stained with sweet berry juice. Your plush thighs on full display. In his kitchen. Where he could bend you over the counter-

He mentally flicked himself in the ear, letting out a cough to announce his presence, hoping some blood would flowback to his brain before you shot his dick off. Your eyes flicked up, your heart jolting at the sight of a very shirtless Bucky, his t-shirt slung over his shoulder, joggers riding low on his hips. Sweat glistened off his tan skin, the veins on his forearms prominent from the workout he just had. 

“Thought everyone was asleep” You wrapped your roble a little tighter around yourself, ignoring the butterflies that rabidly bounced around your stomach, willing your eyes to look away from the dark trail of hair on his stomach that lead right down to his-

“Couldn’t sleep” Bucky broke you out of your filthy train of thoughts as he walked to the fridge, grabbing a water bottle and debating on dumping it on his head to calm himself down. “I had an interesting conversation with the little one” He murmured, taking a swing from the water bottle, struggling to take his eyes off the way you fit so perfectly in his home, so pretty in silk, the type of thing he’d want to come home to everyday-

“I heard” You nodded, taking a long sip of tea, trying to calm your racing heart.  Everything about him was perfect, except for the fact that his entire being was dedicated to a life of crime. While Jordan didn’t tell you about his request to call Bucky something different, he did talk your ear off about uncle Steve and Bucky’s motor bike collection. “Didn’t realize you’d all be so good with kids”

Bucky chuckled, equally surprised with himself over how easy it was for him to move with Jordan. It came naturally. He’d thought about having a family before but this was the first time he saw himself as a father-

Stop.

You’re not his dad. 

“Again, I’m part of the mob sweets, not a monster. Family comes first” 

You hummed, before continuing, “So how did that conversation go?” 

“Asked him what his pretty mama would think” Bucky tossed you a charming smirk which you rolled your eyes to, biting down hard on your lip to keep from smiling. 

“In those exact words Barnes?” 

“It’s definitely what I was thinking” Bucky shrugged while you took another swing of tea to stifle a giggle. Neither of you said anything else, quietly continuing what you were doing unable to look each other in the eye. Jordan sat at the top of the stairs, smacking his forehead before trudging back to bed. Clearly he wasn’t the only one who adored his mommy. 

Something about that night had changed things. You still maintained that the nature of your relationship was strictly because of Jordan's safety and nothing else. You’d even once jokingly cuffed Bucky, much to his surprise, his eyes growing wide when he found himself pinned against the wall, caught off guard with how swiftly you were able to hold him down. 

He felt goosebumps erupt over his skin when you teasingly whispered his rights before uncuffing him and twirling the metal in your hands. Jordan found it hilarious, while Bucky was left a babbling mess, insisting he let you arrest him and that you’d never actually be able to disarm him so easily if he fought back. 

In fact, he even insisted you try again.

And again.

And again.

Steve once had to slowly pull Jordan away, distracting him with another kinder egg, worrying your latest arrest would turn into something else, watching Bucky’s pupils dilate with the clink of the cuffs wrapping around his wrist. He also noticed the way you smirked, your hands lingering on him for longer than necessary for a lawful arrest. 

- 

“You like my mom” 

Bucky’s eyes shot up, staring at the little thing that was sprawled out on the office floor, putting together Lego’s, the mop of dark hair popping up and staring directly at him. 

“What?”

“You like mommy, your face does that pink thing whenever your near her, even when she tries to put you in jail. Have you no shame” 

Steve cackled from the corner, while Bucky stood like a fish gaping out of water, his cheeks blushing heavily again. 

“You’re doing it right now” Jordan narrowed his eyes while Bucky helplessly tried to make his face less pink, the color only getting worse. “You like her” 

Well, the little devil spawn wasn’t wrong, there was no doubt Bucky was harboring a school boy crush on you, growing worse each day.

“And she likes you” Jordan stated, “so what are you going to do about it” He set down the Lego pieces and crossed his arms over his chest, making it clear he wasn’t going to let Bucky weasel his way out of this. Bucky rubbed the back of his neck, realizing he hadn’t been as subtle as he thought while your son continued to stare at him. 

“J, it’s complicated, it’s hard for your to understand- your mom- and me- she-”

“I’m sure it takes a real Sherlock to understand why mommy doesn’t want to date her sworn enemy” Jordan dead panned, giving Bucky another pointed look, not needing anyone to break down for him why there was so much unspoken tension between you two. 

His mom was a police officer.

She followed the rules.

She respected the law.

Bucky didn’t follow the rules. 

The law meant nothing to him. 

You weren’t exactly a match made in heaven.

But Jordan wasn’t blind to the way you also got giggly around Bucky no matter how hard you tried not to. It wasn’t often he saw his mama looked so happy and relaxed. If his favorite new uncle made you swoon, who was he to stand in the way of true love and getting a new daddy. 

“You like her. She likes you. Right?” 

“Okay so it’s not complicated” Bucky huffed while Jordan nodded, expecting uncle Bucky to walk over to you right that instant and profess his feelings out in the open. “But I don’t think I fit into her life like that though kid” He tried but Jordan wasn’t having any of it. 

“Ugh, but she has no life!" Jordan rolled his eyes while Steve wheezed, watching Bucky single handedly get taken down by someone that was a quarter of his size. “All she used to do is work and help me with homework and complain about you” He got up from his place on the floor and sat in the office chair opposite to Bucky. “And she still complains about you but now she giggles in between and she doesn’t call you that word that rhymes with mother tucker”  

“What does she call me now” Bucky’s curiosity piqued while Jordan scrunched his nose. 

“Welllll, why don’t’cha get yourself arrested again and see what she says” He kicked his feet innocently, looking at the mob boss in the eye, “Uncle Steve, he’s blushing again” Jordan shot out an accusatory finger while Steve howled, giving your son a high five. 

“That’s my little man, you tell him” 

“I’m trying to but he’s still sitting here drinking expensive spicy apple juice” 

“You know too much for your age” Bucky rubbed his temples, torn between what his next steps would be and actually considering Jordan’s advice to have you cuff him. 

What he wouldn’t do to have your hands on-

“You don’t know enough” Jordan countered, plucking the juice box he left on the table, taking a long sip, happy to have his uncle Steve as an ally. 

All it took was a threatening phone call from your ex’s sister for Bucky to get you to stay even longer on his insistence. He didn’t care that she lived in an entirely different continent or that she was a delusional loon; he’d use any excuse possible to keep you near by. 

“James, she lives in another country-

“Doesn’t matter”

“I’ve already stayed a month!”

“Stay another”

“But-

“No” 

You didn’t like that your feelings were getting harder and harder to contain, your moral compass going haywire, trying to figure out what to do. Seeing Bucky with Jordan pained you the most. Your baby boys eyes would light up as soon as he’d hear the mob boss walk through the door, your heart swelling each time you saw Bucky parading around the house, carrying him on his shoulders. Steve, Sam and Peter didn’t help either, the three of them taking care of Jordan just as much as you did when they weren’t off on illegal shady antics, their line of work as wholesome and innocent as your son when he claimed he only had one kinder egg.

Bald faced liars, all of them. 

You felt loved, safe and alone at the same time, conflicted over which direction to follow, your heart screaming to just look the other way at the wrong things he did. But that wasn’t the job. That wasn’t what you stood for. You took an oath to protect innocent lives and accepting full on gang activity didn’t align with that. 

Did it? 

Though Jordan wasn’t having any of it either, noticing more and more tension building between the both of you, more longing glances and lingering touches each time you were near one another. 

If neither of you were going to do anything about it, he’d have to take matters into his own little hands. 

Like tonight. 

You found it strange that Jordan had insisted on only going out with Steve, Sam and Peter, your little one usually following Bucky around the most. He insisted he was perfectly fine with only going with these three, also throwing in that uncle Bucky was very very busy with lots of meetings, therefore couldn't join them for the movie they were going to see. You were hesitant at first but he gave you little room for argument. 

“Jordan, the screen here is literally bigger than the movie theater anyway-

“But moooommy, pleeaaseeee?” He gave you his best puppy eyes and pout, something he seemed to perfect from his latest idol, jumping on you when you finally agreed, though not trusting why Sam, Steve and Peter looked equally giggly and guilty. They left for the day, giving you a night to relax in the quiet mansion. 

You decided to pamper yourself, taking advantage of the large tub in the guest bathroom, filling it up with essential oils and bath salts, letting out a content sigh feeling the hot water ease your muscles. You stayed there till the water felt cold, rinsing off and toweling off. You moisturized and slipped on one of your nicer silk robes, figuring you could wear your pj’s later when you actually went to bed.

Not like anyone was home now anyway. 

You went down to the kitchen to grab some tea before heading back to your room, curious to find the office door cracked open; typically closed when Bucky was working. 

Was he working? 

“I see you’re busy” You poked your head into Bucky’s dimly lit office to find him lounging with a book, sipping on dark amber liquid, wearing a soft tshirt and joggers, clearly the opposite of busy with lots and lots of meetings. 

You’d have a word with your little one later. 

“Where did everyone go” Bucky cocked an eyebrow at the surprisingly silent house, mentally holding himself back as you stepped into his office in your robe again, desperately wanting to pounce on you. his eyes lingered on you, swallowing thickly noting he couldn’t see your sleep shorts from under the robe, were you wearing nothing underneath- 

“My baby was an angel before he met you” You shook your head at your sons sneaky work of finding a way to get you and Bucky together alone. “He said you were busy today and then took off with your henchmen, they’ve been out for hours” 

“Smart kid” Bucky snorted, secretly proud of the little mob boss in the making, though you’d probably serve his head on a platter if you heard his thoughts. “Want a drink?” He held up his glass, getting up to grab you one as well, dropping a few ice cubes in the crystal. 

You bit your lip as you approached him, hoping he wouldn’t be able to tell you felt like you had been doused in lava, your heart beating a mile a minute with the thick tension that hung in the air. A drink meant nothing; he offered it to you because he was polite. You’d have your drink and then your ass right back to your room because if you waited there a second longer, with him in those fitting sweats- 

“You look very busy yourself, officer” Bucky cocked an eyebrow, nodding at your clothing, or lack thereof, shamelessly letting his eyes wander up and down your body while he handed you the glass, clinking it with yours before taking a long drag. 

“Hmm, took advantage of the peace and quiet and clawfoot tub” You licked the drop of whiskey that clung to your lips, letting the burn distract your brain yelling at you to run while your heart wrapped bricks around your ankles, keeping you in place. “It was nice. I’ll miss it when we go back home” 

You threw the last bit out there as a reminder for yourself; none of this was forever. All good things would have to come to and end at some point. Bucky felt his stomach drop at the thought; each day he’d find any excuse he could to have you stay just one extra day.

Just one extra day to bicker with you.

One extra day to spend with the little one.

One extra day to get on your nerves.

One extra day to spend with the family he’d always thought he’d have one day. 

“You don’t have to go any time soon” Bucky whispered, unsure if he wanted you to hear those words, taking a step closer to you, “Stay...a little longer?” 

“You say that a lot, I might just end up staying forever” You let out a breathless laugh, feeling the warmth of the alcohol relax your muscles, giving into the pull you felt towards him. 

“Would that be so bad?” He smirked but the inside of him was on his knees, begging for a chance, just one. 

“It-it would-” you couldn’t find the words, stumbling over them, getting lost in the baby blues gazing down at you, his eyes darting between yours and your lips. You didn’t realize you were leaning in, your body following what it needed, morals and ethics be damned. 

“I know its not just me” Bucky whispered, hesitantly putting his hand on your waist to pull you closer, wanting to feel your soft lips on his, hug you and cuddle you, make you his. He didn’t want just one night, he wanted this for life. “Tell me you feel the same way” 

You felt your throat tighten, your body tensing in his hold as he rested his forehead against yours, your nose bumping against his. He held you even closer to him, your hands gripping onto his shirt feeling his warm breath gently fan onto your face, his lips just brushing against yours, just as soft as you’d imagined they’d be. You nearly gave into him, pulling away at the last second, tears rolling down your cheeks.  

“What’s wrong, doll”

“We can’t-” You shook, hanging your head, overwhelmed over what all of this entailed, what this would mean to you, what you would do if this didn’t work, your baby boy came first- 

“We can” Bucky cupped your cheeks, breaking you away from your spiral, swiping away the tears that fell, “We can baby, I promise we can” 

“How- how do we make this work James, we come from two different worlds” You tried to reason with him but again this was more to yourself; how could you drop your entire life for this, risk everything for something so uncertain even though your heart yearned for it. 

“Princess, I will show you everything, every damn thing under my name, I know it’s not perfect, but just let me show you. All of it. No secrets from you, not one. I promise, I won’t hurt you, not your baby, I care about you. I care about you both” 

“James-”

“Just give me a chance”  His grip around your waist tightened, wrapping his arms around you to hold you close, bringing one hand to cradle your face, tilting it to look up at him. “C’mon sweets, you’ve been chasing after me for ages” He smirked against your lips, kissing them softly. “Now you got me” 

“Then we take things slow” You stated firmly, pressing your finger into his chest, “and no funny business Barnes” You swatted his hand away when he trailed them to the hem of your robe, brushing your bare thigh making goosebumps erupt all over your skin. He chuckled at the pointed look you gave him, trying and failing at hiding how turned on you were. “And Jordan can’t know yet” His face softened, nodding in agreement, understanding where you were coming from.  

“Just me and you” He kissed you again, gentle and sweet, a promise of taking things your way, baring his heart and soul to you in any way you asked. It didn’t matter how badly he wanted to claim you in every way, make you his at the alter if you let him, be a daddy to your baby boy. He’d wait as long as you needed. 

“Just me and you”  

-

Steve and Sam had easily put two and two together as soon as they got back home, noting their boss was smiling like an idiot to himself most of the time, a stark contrast from his signature grumpy scowl. They never said anything, but they did pride themselves as being part o the reason this happened; after all they were the ones who conspired with your little one to get you two alone. 

If Bucky was sweet before, he was tooth rottingly adorable now but only when it was just the two of you. You didn’t dare breathe a word to Jordan, not wanting to give him false hope if things didn’t work out. Truthful to his word, he came clean about everything. With each of his confessions, the world turned into different shades of grey instead of black and white. 

Nothing he did was legal. 

Nor was it hurting those who were innocent.

Your dead beat of an ex had a clean criminal record and was a standup citizen until it came to being a father and decent human being. Your son hardly thought twice about him. Bucky had killed more people than fingers on your hands but Jordan adored him. 

When it was just the two of you, Bucky turned into a teddy bear, constantly kissing and hugging you, romantic as ever when he got the chance. He’d send the cooks away so he could make dinner, run you a bath when you had a long day, massage your feet while you sat on his desk in his office. He’d be on calls, the phone resting between his shoulder and ear while his calloused fingers would work at your toes, gently rubbing and pressing the aches out, before massaging up your calves. As soon as you heard the patter of little feet down the hall, you’d hop off and slink away, hiding the smile on your face when your son would take your place instead, plopping himself in Bucky’s office noting he was blushing again for some reason. 

You still hadn’t been intimate with him yet. As much as he wanted you, Bucky didn’t let you feel an ounce of pressure, no matter how badly he wanted to love on you completely and show you exactly how much he adored you in the closest way possible. He relished in every second he got to spend with you, especially the select nights he got alone with you. 

Like tonight. 

“Promise you’ll try and be nice to Uncle Bucky?” Jordan cocked his head with hopeful eyes, still hoping his ship would sail of getting you both together. Thus far, nothing seemed to have changed and his hopes were starting to drop. “Please?”

“I’ll try” you giggled, pressing a kiss to the top of his head before he slipped into the dark SUV with Bucky’s side pieces in tow, Sam, Steve and Peter all grinning widely for a boys trip over the weekend. “No promises though baby” 

“Yeah officer, play nice with our boss” Steve winked while Sam cackled, closing the door and revving off, leaving the large mansion absolutely empty. The cleaning staff, gardeners s and cooks had been given the weekend off along with a generous bonus to keep them away for a few days. You slipped into one of Bucky’s t-shirts which hung loosely on you, not bothering to wear anything else underneath. You inhaled the soft scent of the fabric, his cologne and something distinctly him lingering on the fabric making you feel warm and fuzzy. The sound of keys hitting the keyboard carried through the hall; Bucky typing away at his computer but you couldn’t help wanting to be wrapped up in his arms, quietly peeking into his office and padding over to him. 

“My pretty girl” He cooed, scooping you in his arms while you curled up on his lap, playing with his chains as he continued to work. “You miss me, baby?” 

“You wish” You bit your lip, playfully rolling your eyes, knowing damn well you had missed him like crazy after he holed himself up with work business. “Don’t flatter yourself” 

“You’re the one slinking around me, kitten” Bucky tilted your chin up pecking a tiny kiss on your nose, making you giggle. “C’mon, I wanna cuddle with my girl” He murmured in your ear making you shiver. He held you to his chest as he picked you up and carried you over to his room, setting you down on his bed before walking over to the closet and slipping on some sweats. He didn’t bother with a shirt, striding with his grey joggers riding low around his waist, giving you a pretty view of his Adonis belt, pointing straight to his-

“Angel” He crawled on top of you, humming at the feeling of your soft body under his, peppering kisses from your neck to your jaw, eventually pressing them against your lips. The kiss started soft and slowly, gradually getting more heated when you grazed his scalp with your nails, gasping at the feeling of his erection pressing against your clothed core. You instinctively moved your thighs further apart, granting him more access to rut against you, panting each time he groaned, his tongue slipping into your mouth. 

He didn’t pull away until he needed air, his warm breath fanning against your face, hearts beating erratically. This had been the closest you’d ever been with each other, your thighs gently squeezing around his waist, making him thrust against you, drawing a out a moan. Bucky lost himself for a moment, gently caressing his thumb on your cheek, the other hand cradling your head, his large frame keeping you safely tucked underneath him, hidden from the rest of the world.

Exactly what he wanted.

Safe in his arms. 

“Do you want this?” Bucky stopped what he was doing to check on you, his hand still softly stroking your skin. “We can stop, we don’t have to do this tonight-

“Don’t stop” you whispered, pulling him back, your arms clinging around his shoulders, eyes pleading for him to do something.

“I’ve wanted this for so long baby” He sat back on his heels, toying with the hem of your tshirt, his thick cock straining against painfully against his sweats. “Can I?” He waited for your permission before carefully removing your top off and ridding himself of his sweats and boxers, desperately just wanting to feel your bare skin against his. You felt too needy, too desperate for him, whining when he pulled away to settled between your legs, pressing a delicate kiss to your inner thigh. 

“Just want you James, please?” You pouted, feeling empty when his leaky cock was right there, though his sinful mouth was tempting. 

“Just one taste, angel?” He begged, inching down to your soaked pussy, spreading your folds apart before sealing his lips around your swollen clit, his eyes rolling back at the way your legs suffocated him. 

“J-James” You moaned out, your hand going down to tug at his roots, grinding your pussy on his face, his groans adding vibrations to your sensitive nub. He felt greedy, burying his tongue deep in your cunt, lapping and drinking every drop your body was willing to give, his arms coming up to hold your legs apart, his head shaking side to side. He sucked and licked until you were a babbling mess, clawing at his shoulders to pull him back on top of you, bucking your hips up against his thick hard length. 

“What do you need, pretty baby” Bucky cooed, soothing your whimpers with his cock rubbing through your folds, hushing you gently. 

“Want you James, please?” 

“I got you sweets, don’t worry, you ready?” He kept his eyes locked with yours, holding still until you nodded, the blunt tip of his cock pushing into your pulsating entrance. 

“Oh fuck-” You cried at the way his girth started to fill you, your pussy tightly hugging his cock, a gentle delicious burn radiating through your lower half, stretching open for him. “Baby-”

“Shhhh” Bucky continued to slowly inch inside you, pressing soft kisses along your neck, his body weight resting on top of you, “It’s just me sweets, just your Bucky” 

“Fuck, Bucky” Your nails dug into his shoulders, nearly breaking the skin, hissing at the way you could almost feel him in your belly.  

“Breathe, Its just you and me baby, just you and me, yeah?” He kissed your temple, feeling just as desperate and needy as you, his cock throbbing at the way it felt to hold you, kiss you, feel all of you, be inside you. 

“Just-just you and me” You whispered, clinging onto his body as he continued to press into you, groaning at the way your pussy fluttered around him, pulling him deeper. 

“Thats my good girl” His large hand held your thigh up higher on his waist, fully sheathing himself inside you. Bucky panted against your neck in an attempt to calm himself down, feeing his balls already pulling towards his body, his cock thumping, ready to blow. He started with slow languid thrusts, savoring the pretty moans you made for him, your softness connected to him. 

“Such a pretty mama” His lips brushed against yours, loving the soft touch of your skin, his hands feeling every inch of your body. He sat back on his heels, keeping his cock deep inside you, groaning at the sight of your body on full display just for him, your lip caught between your teeth, feeling hot under his intense gaze. 

“Fuck- Fuck right there baby, please, right there!” You sobbed in pleasure as Bucky moved your thighs up, practically folding you in half, hitting an even deeper angle, rubbing perfectly at your gspopt. “Don’t-don’t stop-” 

“I won’t stop, mama” He traced the delicate lines of stretch marks that were scattered across your lower belly and thighs, evidence of the sweet baby boy your body had given you, the boy he also now grew to love. “Wanted to make love to you for so long baby. wanted you to feel how much I care about you, make you feel so good” Bucky’s emotions were all over the place, feeling pleasure and love for you at an all time high. 

His eyes were locked at there the two of you connected, snapping his hips forward, watching your tummy bulge with each thrust, cream covering the trimmed curls at his base. Your broken moans spurred him off, collapsing on top of you with your legs slung over his shoulders, his cock impossibly deep. His hands snaked up to pin your arms above your head, your fingers intertwined with his, keeping you completely surrendered to him. 

“I love you” He whispered, voice thick with emotion, foreheads pressed together, not a single part of your body not touching his. “and everything you brought into this world” 

“I-I love you” You half sobbed and stuttered out, eyes rolling back feeling him work his hips faster, pushing you against the pillows and pounding you into the mattress. “FUCK-JAMIE-THERE-R-RIGHT-TH-THERE”

“S’that your spot babygirl? Right there, huh angel, god you make me wanna blow, you sound so pretty with my cock in you” Bucky groaned, no longer able to hold back, moaning along with you, the sound of skin slapping on skin growing faster and louder. “Fuck-cum baby, cum on this dick, cum on my dick, s’all yours angel, give me that cream” 

“YES-YES-OH-Jamiee!” Your back bowed, legs shaking and trembling as your orgasm started to pulse, waves of please growing more and more intense as he fucked you through your high. Your greedy pussy sucked him in deeper, pulling him closer and closer. 

“Yeah, m’your Jamie baby” Bucky let out a soft chuckle at the new name you’d given him, one only you’d ever be able to use. It got him off more, his pace losing rhythm, his own climax just at the edge. “Just your Jamie angel, only for you, fuck baby, m’gonna cum for you, all this is for you” He tucked his face into the crook of your neck, moaning loudly and nipping against your skin as he started to pump you full of his cum, giving you sloppy thrusts, making sure you were filled with every drop. 

You cooed and rubbed his body while he panted, his cock slowly beginning to soften, tucking himself further into your hold. You smiled at how soft and loving he was in that moment, pressing a delicate kiss to his forehead, his blue eyes peering up at you at the feeling of your lips. 

“Look at my pretty girl being all sweet on me” He grinned, yelping at the pinch you gave to his side. 

“Don’t make me cuff you, Barnes” You huffed while pink dusted his cheeks at the thought, his mind now going other places. 

“Threatening me with a good time, sweetheart?” He smirked, wrapping his arms around you and rolling over, pinning you back against the mattress again, this time his hands locking around your wrists. “S’that what you want pretty girl? To have my in cuffs? Do everything you ask? Be a good girl for me and I’ll let you have your way with me one day officer” 

“Be a good girl for you?” You smirked, wrapping your legs around his waist, bucking your hips up against his sensitive cock, making him hiss, nipping your bottom lip between his teeth, making you whimper. 

“Careful babygirl, don’t forget who you’re in bed with” His lips continued to brush against you, grazing your skin down to your collar bone. “Let me remind you, sweets” 

-

As soon as the boys were back, Jordan ran full speed to you, jumping in your arms first, talking your ear off about all the ridiculous antics he had done with Steve, Sam and Peter. You huffed, playfully rolling your eyes while keeping him on your hip, before setting him down on his feet and instructing him to wash up so he could tell you everything properly over dinner. Jordan clung onto you for just a second longer, he could’ve sworn there was a faint scent of cologne that clung onto you, one just like- 

While you were entranced with your little one, Bucky was entranced with you. Effortlessly swaying with your baby who was clearly not exactly a tiny baby anymore, the scrunch on of your nose when you smiled around him, the way your eyes sparkled. Jordan ran up two steps at a time to shower as fast as humanly possible while Bucky snuck up behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist. He pulled you to his chest, his sneaky hands pawing at your hips, slipping up your shirt. 

“You’re such a milf” Bucky smirked while you gasped, smacking his chest, eyes darting around the room to see if anyone heard. 

“Bucky” You hissed, squeaking, your face growing hot when he hugged you tighter, burying his face into your hair. 

“It’s true though princess, God damn” He kissed up the side of your neck, “Such a pretty mama, can’t help it” 

“Yeah, well your little side kick is going to want to tell you all about the weekend” You giggled, wiggling out of his hold and walking off to the kitchen to get dinner started while Bucky hummed, making his way to the office. Jordan scrubbed himself down within seconds before rushing back down to tell you everything, eyeing you curiously while you set his plate in front of him. 

“Isn’t that Uncle Bucky’s shirt?” He pipped up, with owlish eyes, waiting for your asnwer.

“Oh-so it is” You looked down at the black tshirt you were wearing, one that went to the middle of your thighs. “Uh-Must’ve gotten mixed up in the laundry” You shrugged, hoping he wouldn’t ask anything else.

As if you’d ever get so lucky. 

“But it’s so big on you-”

“Tell me about your weekend baby” You cut him off while Jordan narrowed his eyes at you accusingly, deciding he’d have better luck elsewhere instead of prying with you. He gave you his best summarized version before running back upstairs and taking his designated spot beside Bucky (going to the fridge first to grab himself some juice). 

“Mommy was wearing your shirt” He stated, inching closer to Bucky, noting the way the Mob bosses’ eyes grew wide, his cheeks blushing deeply, crawling down his neck and up to his ears. 

“I-Uh-Oh-” 

Not once had Jordan ever see Bucky get flustered except when it involved you, his hopes growing high again, also why did Bucky smell like your shampoo-

“Maybe-maybe it got switched in the laundry?” 

“You never do laundry, the cleaners do”

“They were away this weekend, J”

“So it was just you and mommy” 

“Yup” 

“Whatcha do”

“......work”

“What did mommy do”

“....laundry?” 

“The whole weekend?”

“Yup”

“You smell like her”

*silence*

*Blushing intensifies* 

*Little shy smile creeps on Bucky’s face* 

“Did you finally tell mommy you like her?  Oh God, you’re pink again” Jordan sat right up, eyes wide with anticipation while Bucky bit his lip before answering. 

“I did”

“So...”

“So?”

“Can I call you dad, now?” Jordan’s voice was a whisper again, the confidence he had all this time turning into nervousness, playing with his fingers, avoiding Bucky’s eyes. Bucky felt his heart melt, pulling him onto his lap, pressing a gentle kiss to his head, the little one curling himself up slightly, still looking at his hands. Bucky felt warmth all over, thinking back to a conversation he had with you a little while ago, just before Jordan had came home, one that would stick with him for the rest of his life. 

“Are you sure this is what you want” You asked hesitantly, toying with the hem of your pj’s while Bucky tilted your face up to look at him, hearing the anxiety in your voice.

“What do you mean?”  “It’s not just me Bucky, it’s both of us” You whispered, wondering if Bucky fully understood what he was signing up for. “I-I don’t want you to ever feel like-like he isn’t yours. I know he’s not and I know you care about him but I’m scared you’ll want us now and then later you won’t-” Bucky softly pressed his finger to your lips, silencing you, not willing to hear another word. 

“Where is this coming from” He held you closer while you nervously chewed your lip. 

“I’m a single mom. My job isn’t the most attractive. I’m not the first person people line up to date. I didn’t do any of this for so long because I’m terrified anyone that comes into my life will leave and I can’t do that to Jordan-”

“That’s my baby now too” His hands held your cheeks firmly, each of his words coming straight from his soul. “I want to be there for him sweetheart, if you’d let me. If you ever want me out, I won’t .Just say the word, I’m here”

“It’ll be a lot Bucky”

“What haven’t I seen yet, baby” Bucky shrugged while you began to list reasons.  “Sometimes he’s moody”

“So is his mommy-OW”

“Sometimes he can have a temper-Don’t you dare say it”

“Occasional picky eater”

“He’s still learning how to multiply” 

“He’ll be a teenager in a few years”

“He’ll want to drive the SUV”

“He’ll want to try the spicy apply juice” 

“He thinks your a hero” 

“You’ll be there?”

“I’ll be there” 

“S’that what you want?” Bucky decided to ask Jordan one more time, giving your baby the choice to take it back if it wasn’t something he was sure about but your son eagerly nodded, his face splitting into a grin. He leapt off the sofa sprinting off down the hall, his voice echoing through the mansion. 

“MOMMY, DADDY SAID I COULD CALL HIM DAD. UNCLE STEVE, OUR PLAN WORKED” 

-

“You went from trying to stick him in prison to life to being stuck with him for life, how the turn tables” 

You groaned, doing a terrible job and hiding the smile that crept on your face, your partner waving to the black SUV that was parked outside, waiting for you while you packed your things for the end of the day. 

“Just to be clear, we’re no longer trying to arrest him right? You looooove him” You threw a pad of sticky notes at your partners head while she cackled, green eyes twinkling. 

“Shut up, Romanoff” 

“Set me up with his cute best friend, that blonde cutie sitting in the front seat” She cocked an eyebrow while you snorted, nodding to your boss as he walked by your desk. 

“Took you long enough” Your boss playfully rolled his eyes, sending you a wink before making his way to his office.  You smiled at the pretty blue eyes that watched you as you walked over, holding the door open and closing it for you, lips all over your face as soon as the locks clicked shut. 

“Have a good day at work, officer?” He chuckled, pulling you to his lap, nuzzling into you while you sighed contently, tossing your gun and badge aside, melting into Bucky’s arms. You giggled at the glitter that was dusted into his hair after he spent the previous night helping Jordan with a school project, ruffling your hands through his soft locks, pulling him down for a long kiss. “Let’s go home”  

Tags: @glxwingrxse @hungryyeyess @sebsgirl71479 @beabutterfly987 @teambarnes72 @witchywhore @jamesbuckybarneswify @slutforsexyseabass @chrisdrysdale @littlemarvelmenfan @buggy14 @whimsyplaty92 @sergntbarnes @inkedaztec @pono-pura-vida @moonlightreader649 @brooklynscherry-z @elle14-blog1 @justsebstan @littlelightnings @happyt0exist @emmabarnes @bethyruth @matchat3a @cjand10 @getwellsoontana @cherryschaos @lokisasgardianvampirequeen @ashenc-blog @buckybarnessimpp @potatothots @goldylions @high-functioning-lokipath @morganemorganite-blog @kingfleury @peaches1958 @spiderman-stilinski @peaceinourtime82 @gublur @wintersmelodie @geeky-politics-46 @lolawassad @almosttoopizza @a-poor-gryffindork @alternativeprincess @buckycallsmeaslut @kamaria-sweet-writes @charmedbysarge @xnorthstar3x @kryoee7 @alina02 @gh0stgurl @polishprincess999 @jessybarnes @alltheficsiwant @chemtrails-club @eralen @perdidosbucky-yyo @clqrosmgc   @buckybarnessweetheart   @pandaxnienke   @manyfandomsfanvergent  

[hyperfixatedoncrimminalminds]

Hi! Hope your doing well!

I wanted to know if I could do a request with David Rossi? He has a daughter who has a higher IQ than Reid (it’s like 190 or 200?) has following in her father‘s footsteps and is high up in the FBI like higher than Strauss and he calls her down for a favor because Strauss is bothering Aaron and the team so she’s cracks down on Strauss and stuff?

David Rossi X Daughter Reader

Request: I wanted to know if I could do a request with David Rossi? He has a daughter who has a higher IQ than Reid (it’s like 190 or 200?) has following in her father‘s footsteps and is high up in the FBI like higher than Strauss and he calls her down for a favor because Strauss is bothering Aaron and the team so she’s cracks down on Strauss and stuff?

Third person pov...

Y/N Rossi was in her office in Quantico, she was in thr FBI, she had worked hard and was in a high position within it, Only being 18 she was making a good life of herself with an IQ of 200, it was a normal day she was in her office going over some files when she gets a call.

Wondering who was calling her she picks up. "Agent Rossi speaking" she answers, for work she uses 'Agent' as its easier. "Well hello Agent, this is your padre talking" come her Dad voice, this makes the adult laugh.

"papà non si era accorto che eri tu (1) "she laughs, the man chuckles lightly, she puts down her pen and spins around in her chair.

She looks out the window, her office being on one of the highest floors, a couple below the leader of the FBI. "allora perché chiami, c'è qualcosa che non va? (2) " she asks getting straight into business.

The man sighs wearly before answering

"It's Erin figlia (3) she going after Aaron and the tea. Again, can you do anything?" He askes, the man has just lost his wife a couple months ago.

Struass is pushing the man to leave the BAU, Y/N sighs once again Struass, the woman never knows when to shut up. "I'll see what I can do Papà (4) see you soom" she says, Rossi sighs he sounds less stressed out.

"Thank you piccolo" he says, Y/N sighs ans rubs her forehead looks like she's going to take a trip down to the BAUs floor tomorrow.

The next morning...

Strauss was taking over the case once again, the team gathered around the table, all with sullen looks as Struass looked around.

They were missing one person. "Has Agent Rossi not arrive yet?" She asks the silent room, even the evert rambling Spencer Reid didn't feel like talking to her.

Growing annoyed she goes to talk when a commotion starts in the bullpen, hearing it the team and Strauss stand up and walk out of the room, they are shocked to see Rossi standing with Agent Y/N F/N, one of the only Agents with ties to the chief of the Bureau.

"What is the meaning of this!" Exclaims Strauss, this made Y/N look at the woman, a glare on her young face. He the  looks at her Dad. "I guess that's Struass" he says, the man nods his head.

Y/N cracks her knuckles. "You know Struass if you paid more attention to ypur family than this family then maybe you wouldn't be hated as much" she says, this earns her gasps of shock from around the bullpen.

Struass opens her mouth to retort but the H/C girl is quick with more. "You better leave this team alone unless you want a certain fact of yours to come into conversation" Y/Ns ruthless.

Eventually Struass has enough andeaves the bullpen fuming with anger, Y/N smirks at the woman, She gets a smile of thanks from her Dad.

After everyone calms down Y/N gets to meet her Dad team. She looks at Hotch and waves. "Hello Uncle Aaron" she smiles.

The others stare at their boss in shock. "You know her!" Exclaims Derek and Emily, Hotch just gives them a look. "Of course he knows me !" Smiles Y/N.

Rossi soon saves the team from confusion, as he wraps an arm around his daughter pulling her in for a hug and kisses her forehead. "lavoro assolutamente meraviglioso, piccola, hai bruciato quella strega (5) "He says in Italian.

"What how do you know her!" Yells Penelope, the team stare at the two, wondering how close they were, looking at her Dad Y/N laughs.

"You haven't told them about me" she accuses making the old man blushes embarrassed.

Pulling away her him  Y/N straightens her suit of before talking, she looks around at the team smiling. "Nice to meet you all I'm Y/N Rossi, F/N is my Mothers last name, I use it so Papà and I are safe from people who wish to kill me or hurt him to get to me." She explains.

Everyone takes the nes well and welcomes Y/N into the family, they all thank her for what she did, Derek and Emily loving how she black mailed Struass into finally leaving them alone.

"It was no problem, Papà called about the old witch, of course I had to help him out"she says, Reid was surprised to meet someone who had a higher IQ than him but was happy when she actually listened to his ramblings about anything and could actually keep up with him.

As the day was coming to an end the team had gone home, apart from two,

Y/N and her Dad, the woman was waiting for him to finish up, once he was done the two walk to bus car.

"Thank you again piccolo, we couldn't of done it without you" he confessed. Y/n hugged the man, "it was nothing Papà, you can pay me back by cooking your famous pasta for dinner" she bargained.

This man the man laugh, of course as always she speaks with her stomache. "Pasta it is piccolo!" He announces making the girl laugh.

The end!

Italian translation

(1)

papà non si era accorto che eri tu - Dad didn't realize it was you

(2)

allora perché chiami, c'è qualcosa che non va? - so why are you calling, is there something wrong?

(3)

figlia - Daughter

(4)

Papà -Dad

(5)

lavoro assolutamente meraviglioso, piccola, hai bruciato quella strega -

Absolutely wonderful job, baby, you burned that witch

Hope you liked this oneshot! Sorry for the spelling and grammar mistakes.

Request are open!

Word count : 1040

[earthphoenixstories]

White tears, brown scars and the internet jumping on a black trans person hate campaign.

I realise that a lot of the OL fandom are under 25 and are still at an age where y’all are learning and maturing and that’s great. However as someone who is close to being 40 I need y’all to do some reading for me.

White Tears, Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hand.

The black person at the centre of all this is a trans person that doesn’t identify as a woman. Yet all I see is blatant misgendering. This black person upset you, therefore their gender identity becomes meaningless.

Sadly, this behaviour isn’t new to me. I’ve watched it happen for too long many times over the years.

So of course what is the next step when white people get in their feelings? They hit the pockets of creators. Demanding refunds, getting them demonetised, trying to silence them by any means necessary.

The most recent example of this that I can think off is White Woman Whisper on TikTok. During the man vs bear debate, she pointed out that black women generally, would feel safer in a board room setting with a white man than a white woman. Oh boy did the white women get all up in their feelings about that. Within hours, White Woman Whisper had been removed from the TikTok creators program and hate white women making endless think pieces about how upset they were.

Y’know what? Tough. Sometimes y’all need to ti be told the truth even if it upsets you. I don’t trust white people, and I’m half white myself.

When a white person makes a mistake it’s “they’re young, they’ll learn. Everyone needs grace to grow and become better.”

When a black person makes a mistake it’s, “wow, that’s so disrespectful how can you think that? I hope you get fired. I’m reporting your comments to your boss, your school, I’m going to blast you on the internet.”

We don’t get “grace”, we aren’t allowed to learn and grow. There’s immediately “discourse” and the need to hold that black person “accountable.”

Where is this smoke for 99% of white folks who use their privilege as a shield.

It’s not until a whole person does something that crosses a line and stars upsetting white women that they start to get called out.

See JK Rowling and Elon Musk as examples. Queen Terfette literally named the only black adult in the series “Shacklebolt” and no one batted an eye. Her name choices were praised for being “clever” and “imaginative.”

She even did an interview where she called her fans “delusional” and no one spoke up against her. Even when she started saying openly transphobic things, she was protected. Until the dam burst and the tables turned.

And yet all that time black folks and other people of colour were calling her out and pointing out the lazy and offensive ways she talks and writes about non white people.

Which brings me to this morning, and I wake up to y’all dog piling on a black trans person for … saying that the way black trans men are portrayed made them uncomfortable.

Y’all are exhausting.

No, we don’t have to sugar coat our feelings to protect yours. No, we aren’t responsible for your actions and reactions to us. No, we aren’t being “aggressive” or “mean” or “confrontational” when we speak up for ourselves.

I’ve read some comments about disliking the discord profile pic. Okay. I mean, I personally snorted at it when I saw it. But y’know what? Y’all need to ask yourselves why you don’t like it. Is it because a black person is holding a whip? Is it because some white dudes are working the fields?

Here’s a story from the book Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the origins of American Gynaecology by Deirdre Cooper Owens.

When white slave owners wanted to punish pregnant black slaves (who were forced to work even when they were heavily pregnant), they would get a slave to dig a hole large enough for the woman’s pregnant stomach, then have the woman lie face down - her stomach in the newly dug hole.

The slave master would then proceed to whip the pregnant woman with the hopes that the unborn baby would feel the mother’s pain and behave better when they born.

Did that upset you? Did it make you disgusted and angry? I felt that way. I was so horrified I had to walk away from the book and calm down.

Black people still feel that generational trauma. We still have to live with the knowledge that is it what was recorded. Who knows what else happened to our enslaved ancestors that never got recorded? We’ll never know. That will always haunt us.

And y’all are upset over a picture that never actually happened.

Stop.

When Kendrick said “they not like us” he was talking about y’all.

[julieverne]

When Maura wakes from surgery, Jane is usually there. Holding her hand or offering her water. Sleeping, sometimes, then waking and giving Maura a gentle smile.

But sometimes she's down the hall. A familiar laugh. Cailin. Jane keeping Cailin company while Maura suffers alone.

Maura tries not to let herself seep in bitterness; it doesn't look good on any of the three Martin women. Cailin, distraught in Maura's home. Hope, telling Maura, who is the most honest person who's ever lived, that she's a liar. Maura, hearing Jane make Cailin laugh.

Jane picks up on it somehow anyway. She's learned to read Maura's moods. She's gentle with Maura in a way she probably isn't with Cailin. Maura knows part of it was Maura's willingness to enter a collapsing building to save Jane's brother, nephew and partner. Maura knows part of it is because Jane is like an unsocialised puppy, always looking for approval, slinking around with her tail down after jumping up and licking Maura's face.

Metaphorically, of course. Jane would never lick Maura's face.

Jane helps Maura up in the bed and arranges her pillows, then looks towards the door.

"You can go," Maura says, her voice ice-cold. Jane looks hurt and confused, and Maura feels a flash of pleasure from sharing her own hurt around. "If you like her so much, why don't you marry her?"

Jane shrugs and leaves Maura to her mood. Hearing Jane's laughter coupled with Cailin's cuts like a knife.

+++

Months later, Maura's wounds have healed and she's back to normal. Jane isn't. She's distant. She spends nights somewhere else - neither Maura's home nor her own. She sleeps somewhere else, with someone else and Maura has a sneaking suspicion she knows who Jane spends her time with.

It makes Maura burn. Why wasn't she good enough? Why wasn't she enough for Jane? Why did Jane go hunt down the younger model? She's cold when Jane deigns to speak to her. Their lives, once entwined, have segregated and Maura is more alone than before because for the first time in her life she knew what it was like to not be alone.

She dates Tommy. He's... He's not Jane. He's not even that interesting. Maura had thought she was drawn to the dark side but Tommy isn't dark; he's barely beige. Maura breaks up with him, then considers the rest of the Rizzolis. Frankie is even blander than Tommy. Frank is just mean without any of Jane's charm. And Angela is attractive, but Angela has been mothering her long enough that it feels wrong to think about dating her.

And then there's Jane. Jane's, who's never dull. Jane, who abandoned her in a hospital bed for her sister. Jane, who is dating her sister.

Maura knows as surely as she knows that Paddy is the only parent that's ever cared about her.

Jane would never have come out for Maura. Jane didn't even want anyone to think there was anything between them. Jane was always so bristly when it came to even the idea of them dating each other. But Cailin is good enough. Cailin is young enough, hot enough, undamaged enough. Her father is just a deadbeat, not a mob boss, and she grew up with biological parents. Cailin is secure in affection and Maura is so needy.

There's a knock at the door. It's Jane, her hands stuffed in her pockets and her hair tied up like she's serious.

"I love Cailin," Jane says, and Maura's heart descends beyond the centre of the earth. Maura's breath catches and she starts to cry. "Because she reminds me of you, and you're the one person I love more than anyone. She's been so alone, so lonely. Like you were when I met you."

"So the wedding?" Maura says bitterly, not able to listen past Jane's initial confession. She's been dreading this moment.

"I haven't asked you to marry me yet," Jane says so seriously that Maura has to believe her. She sighs. "I'm sorry. I had to weigh up how hard it would be to be gay. Cailin's been taking me to the pride events. It turns out it won't be that hard. I've done harder things, all the harder because they weren't things I was doing with you."

"My sister turned you gay?"

Jane chuckles. She's still on the threshold but Maura isn't sure she wants Jane inside. She still feels lost and betrayed and alone.

"She's not judgemental," Jane says. "She called it from the start, actually. Said the way I look at you was smouldering. Like from a romance novel."

It doesn't make sense. Jane's saying all these things, all the things Maura's longed to hear, but it's tangled up with Cailin and kidneys.

"I like you so much, I might as well marry you," Jane says. She pulls her hand from her pocket; it's a jewelry box. It's an antique ring. "Hope said this was yours, really, and that I should give it to you."

Jane's eyes are so hopeful, her expression so soft and pleading that Maura takes the ring and tries it on.

Jane crosses the threshold and closes the door behind her. She looks at the ring on Maura's finger and her lips curl up into a smile.

"Mine," she says possessively, and Maura supposes she is.

[skybluewritings]

Tell me when did your winning smile become a smirk? Steve Harrington x fem!reader Part 2/2

Warning: Mentions of alcoholism, Sexist language, references to sex

Note: This is part 2! Thank you so much to everyone who read this!

Six years later…

New York, Early June, 1990

She stared at the notepad in her lap, multiple sentences were angrily scrawled out in lines of thick biro. It was a Sunday and she’d purposefully made no plans so she could for once write but several hours later nothing was happening. Pages and pages of paper lay scrunched up around her living room floor. She’d been trying to plan out the same article for the past six months, it turned out being the personal assistant to the editor of a magazine left very little time in the day. And whilst she was of course grateful for work, any work, she had hoped in her spare time she could put to use all of her experience from the job into actually writing something good. Instead, she was left with a sore wrist and a strong case of imposter syndrome.

In her final year of school, she’d decided to apply to NYU to study Journalism. Although they went practically every summer to the east coast her parents were initially unsure about her studying in another country. However, after a trip to New York and visiting NYU they were all for it. Vivienne had called delighted at the news and had suggested she call Steve to give him a nudge in the direction of applying for college. She knew he’d always struggled in school but found it odd he wasn’t even applying? He’d seemed excited growing up at the prospect of college. She never called him but figured by the time she saw him that summer he would’ve gotten in somewhere. The summer came, except Steve wasn’t there, Clyde would barely even mention him, except for the occasional shake of the head and “that son of mine.” She quickly found out he hadn’t applied to any colleges at all and had been deliberately cut from the trip as punishment. Steve didn’t come the following year or the one after that, whilst her feelings towards him were complicated it wasn’t the same without him. The next few summers were less eventful: she’d get through her college summer reading, hang out with Margo and her friends and even finally learn how to surf.

However, this year due to how consuming her job was she doubted she’d even manage any break. She wearily rubbed at her eyes, wishing the words would come to her. Her phone thankfully began to ring and she picked it up to take the call. “Hello?”

“Hi hunny.”

“Hi Vivienne.” She said pleasantly surprised.

“I wanted to know if you’re coming up to the Vineyard for my 50th birthday? It’s on Saturday July 15th,  Your mom and dad and everyone’s gonna be there.”

She wondered who everyone was.

“I’m sorry I really wish I could but I’m so tied up at work right now.” She sighed.

 “You’re going to work yourself to the bone. Do you not have any time off you can take.”

“I have some…I just don’t know how my boss would feel.”

“Just find out and let me know.” Vivienne told her kindly. “And remember to have fun, you’re only 23 once!”

 “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind!”

“It’s late I’ll let you get to bed star journalist.”

She let out a tired laugh. “Not quite yet.”

“Keep trying sweetie and it’ll pay off, goodnight.”

She really hoped it would too.

“Night.” She replied putting down the phone.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

She spun her conversation with Vivienne over in her head for the next couple weeks. Vivienne had been like a second mother to her growing up and although she’d never admit it, it’d devastate her if (Name) didn’t come. She explained the situation to her boss who admittedly had more empathy than she’d given him credit for, he gave her a week off, going as far to comment that she was a hard worker and everyone needed a vacation. She supposed her hard work had paid off, well sort of.

There she was on Sunday July 9th climbing out of a taxi suitcase in hand. Knowing who was also possibly staying in the house made her slow the walk down the drive way to the front door. She rung the doorbell and thankfully it was Vivienne that answered. In a state of excitement Vivienne made her abandon the suitcase in the hallway and come straight out to the patio where dinner had just been served.

“Look who’s finally here!” Vivienne exclaimed.

Clyde gave her a polite smile and her parents delighted embraced her. Her stomach dropped when the person she’d dreaded seeing appeared.

Steve stood blinking at her for a few seconds. “Hey.”

“Hey.” She said back stiffly.

He looked a little older and if he had been cute before he was now infuriatingly handsome.

They took their seats and didn’t interact for the rest of the meal.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

Monday July 10th

Early the next morning she woke up early to go surfing. After dinner Steve had disappeared leaving her to be fussed over by everyone else. When she’d gone to bed she’d heard his bedroom click shut, then that was it. He didn’t even bother playing any music to wind her up.

She surfed a few good waves before deciding to take a break, as she came out of the water wet suit half off, she noticed another person further out. She cupped her palm over her eyes to watch them in the morning light. The person caught an impressive wave and she had to give it to them that they were pretty good. They submerged from the water and swam back to shore. She stopped watching them and instead looked out to sea, the water lapping around her ankles. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that the person was walking towards her. And on closer inspection that the person was Steve. The universe she decided was just plain mean.

 “Morning.” She faltered.

 “I didn’t realise you surfed.”

“I learnt a while back.” She explained showing him the board.

 “That’s cool.”

It felt like they were acting out a script written by aliens. She’d always known all the things she wanted to say to him if she ever saw him again, but now her mind had gone blank.

He push his wet hair away from his face, like her his suit was also around his waist giving her view of his lean muscular torso. She caught him very briefly glance at her chest, his face flushed. Her heart sped up, it was seriously unfair how much he clearly still affected her.

“I feel I should be upfront with you. I know that a lot has happened between us but I think for the sake of your mum, for the next week I’m here we should try be civil.” She suggested.

“Yeah, I can do that.” He agreed and paused. “I just wanted to say that despite everything, it’s really good to see you, seriously.”

She didn’t quite know how to respond, but she knew in that moment she felt the same.

He cleared his throat. “I’m gonna go shower but I’ll see you there.”

Her throat constricted. “Excuse me?”

 “I-I meant I’m gonna shower and then I’ll see you back at the house separately to being in the shower. You won’t obviously be in the shower with me..”

As soon as he said this her mind went to exactly that, she closed her eyes for a moment to block out the indecent image.

“Have a good shower...”

“Yep will do.” He said quickly brushing straight past her.

She wished she’d had at least a few hours away from him to shake off the embarrassment of the morning, but that afternoon she found herself on a hike, the parents at the front and her and Steve stuck at the back. She’d kept as much as distance as possible without drawing attention.

“I don’t have the plague y’know.” Steve joked.

She slowed down a little so she ended up walking next to him. “That’s what someone with the plague would say.”

“Would you rather possibly catch a deadly disease or go up there and be asked what your doing with your life?” Steve asked gesturing to where their parents were walking.

The way he was cracking jokes with her was starting to ware down her defences.

“Please don’t.” She sighed. “I’ve already been questioned several times, on when I’m ‘going to get serious’. As if being the assistant to the editor of a prominent magazine isn’t a real job.”

“I’ll do you one better, my dad still hasn’t processed that I’m majoring in graphic design.” Steve dryly told her. “I think he had hopes I would get some kind of business degree and valiantly take over his company.”

 “I know it’s long overdue but congratulations on getting into college.”

 He smiled a little at her. “Thanks.”

On the horizon was Edgartown, the largest town on Martha’s Vineyard.

“Wanna ditch them?” Steve asked her.

She wasn’t sure being alone with him was the best idea but then again she wasn’t sure how much more she could take of endlessly hiking.

“Sure.” She gingerly replied.

“We’re gonna go hang out in town, we’ll meet you guys back at the house later.” Steve called out to their parents.

They all stopped and looked at both and her Steve in surprise.

“You’re going to spend time together?” Her mum said gesturing to them.

“Yes.” She said.

“You’ll be alone, just the two of you hanging out.”

She stood up straighter. “Yes, yes we are.”

Her mum and dad exchanged a look of confusion. Clyde stared at them blankly.

Vivienne on the other hand was delighted. “Have a lovely time kids! Call the house later if you’re not gonna be back for dinner.”

“Of course they’ll be back for dinner.” Clyde interjected.

 “We might not be.” Steve said.

Clyde frowned. “We have a reservations with the Smiths at the country club, their boy Daniel will be there, he’s just graduated from Princeton.”

“And the relevance of that is?” Steve asked flatly.

“I shouldn’t have to explain it to you Steven.”

“Clyde, I think he can miss one dinner.” Vivienne calmly told her husband.

Clyde threw up his hands before walking on ahead. Vivienne didn’t bother to follow and instead walked with (Name’s) parents.

Steve glared at his dad. “Come on let’s go.” He told her.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

There was a market open when they arrived in Edgartown, their hands accidentally brushed sending a sparking sensation across her skin. He glanced at her, she looked away.

“Anywhere you like the look of?” He asked.

“How about over there.” She replied pointing to a cute jewellery stall.

She poured over the selection, the vendor was busy having a conversation with another customer.

She nudged Steve. “I bet that’d look great on me.” She said lowering her voice.

Steve held a chunky skull rung. “You mean this?”

“Obviously.”

He passed it to her and she tried it on, they both tilted their heads inspecting it.

Steve smirked. “It kind of looks like my dad.”

The tension from earlier was eased.

She laughed lightly.  “Should we get it for him?”

“That depends,” Steve pretended to think, “on how deeply you value your life.”

She nodded. “Quite a bit actually, I’d rather not end up like this ring.”

She took off the ring and placed back on the table. She then noticed a necklace with a gold chain and blue pendant. She delicately lifted it, the gem twinkling in the light.

“This reminds me of those bracelets we used to have as kids.” She said transfixed by the necklace.

Steve came closer to her and picked up the pendant in admiration. “Unlike those bracelets this probably has more value than some plastic.”

“I liked those bracelets.” She said defensively.

He smiled and shook his head. “I wasn’t trying to say I didn’t like them. Considering they cost a dollar each they were pretty cool.”

She wondered if he’d actually kept his bracelet, hers was in her bedside draw back at the house. She’d taken it off after he’d stopped wearing his and it’d been wedged into a dark corner ever since. They were so close she could make out the flecks of gold in his brown eyes. Growing flustered she moved back from him adjusting the bag on her shoulder.

The vendor a woman of about their age, gazed adoringly at them. “I’m sorry but I just have to say what a cute couple you guys make.” She gushed.

Both her and Steve glanced each other a little alarmed.

 “No no, we’re not a couple, he’s a uh” She searched for a word. “Friend? Yeah, a friend.”

“My bad.” Said the vendor apologetically, she then gave Steve a coy look. “In that case-“

“He’s not interested.” She blurted out, the Vendor looked disappointed.

 (Name) put the necklace back, Steve raised his brows at her as they both walked away. “How do you know I wasn’t interested?”

“Well, were you?” She asked point blank.

“No, but I might’ve been.”

 “Trust me I saved you back there! Do you really want to go out with someone that flirts so brazenly with customers?”

He grinned at her. “What’s wrong with flirting?”

“There’s nothing wrong with flirting, I’m the last person to judge, but just don’t put customers in a position like that.”

He didn’t look convinced. “Right.”

Before she could navigate the rest of the conversation, a saviour came in the form of Margo. Her friend spotted them and excitedly weaved through the crowds.

(Name) gave her a hug. “I thought it wasn’t meant to be seeing you until tomorrow?”

“I felt like getting out the house.” Margo explained, she then noticed Steve. “It’s been a hot second Harrington, how are you? Still using that Farrah Fawcett hair spray.”

Steve looked to (Name) in silent outrage, Margo laughed quietly into the back of her hand.

“You swore you wouldn’t tell anyone.” He fumed.

“In all fairness to me, I didn’t think she’d tell you to your face.” She sheepishly said.

“Margo do not tell anyone.” Steve said firmly.

Margo threw an arm around (Name’s) shoulder. “If you buy us iced coffee right now, I won’t. Deal?”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Deal, but if you break it, I’ll literally kill you both.”

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

When Steve was in the line buying their coffee Margo pulled her aside.

“What on earth is happening?! The last time you were both here one moment you were fighting then the next nearly kissing then not talking, I’m just in shock how you can be so normal around him?” Margo said.

“He apologised to me and we both on moved, there’s nothing more to it.”

“You’re obviously still angry though?”

“Yeah of course I am!”

“Then talk to him.”

She shook her head. “It would just complicate things, that’s way too messy of a thing to do when I’m only here until the end of the week. Me and him aren’t friends we’re being civil, this trip is about giving his mum a really great birthday, not making it all about old teenage drama.”

“And you’re fine with that?”

“Yes.”

Margo narrowed her eyes. “Mhm.”

Steve returned with the ice coffees. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, all good.” She said voice a little too high pitched to be convincing. “Come on let’s go check out the rest of the stalls.”

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

Tuesday July 11th

“I can’t see anything.” Vivienne tutted, adjusting her binoculars and leaning further over the rail of the boat.

 “Mom be careful, or you’ll fall off the boat and be swallowed by a whale.” He joked.

Vivienne leant away from the edge. “If they make appearance.”

Today’s activity was whale watching, Martha’s Vineyard only offered private whale watching tours meaning it didn’t come cheap. There had been a polite argument between both her father and Clyde over who should pay, Clyde of course won, it was less about generosity and more about yet another display of wealth.

(Name) was sat at the small table and chair set, a bottle of prosecco in the centre, everyone but Vivienne had helped themselves. No one had mentioned it but so far on the trip she hadn’t seen the woman touch a single drop of alcohol.

“Darling when are we going to talk about it?” Her mum suddenly asked.

She took a sip of prosecco. “About what?”

“About what on earth you’re doing with your life!”

She groaned. “Do we have to do this now?”

“When else are we going to talk about it? Every time I bring it up you won’t talk about it.”

She set her glass down. “What is so bad about my life that you can’t leave alone?”

Her mother frowned. “The fact that after a year you’re still an assistant. An assistant! You were meant for such better things than this. You should’ve gone into law like me and dad, you’ve always had the knack for it, it’s not too late.”

She wished a whale would swallow her.

“I don’t want to do law, as I’ve told you so many times. And I’m an assistant to the editor of a respected publication, I could get promoted any day now.”

“I can’t wait to have this same conversation in another year.” Her mum sniffed.

She got up from the table. “You know what mum be disappointed in me see if I care.”

She went to the other end of the boat, her arms resting on the railing as she watched the propellors twirl through the water.

“You okay?” Steve asked coming to join her.

“I just wish my parents could be proud of me.” She admitted, lowering her eyes.

Steve exhaled heavily “Join the club.”

 “Vivienne’s proud of you, there’s no doubt about that.” She looked at him. “Did she send you?”

He shook his head. “No, no one overheard the conversation. I saw you leave looking upset, figured something was up.”

This made her chest tighten. “Oh, well that’s nice of you, thanks.”

 “I actually think your job sounds pretty great by the way, I always knew you’d end up doing something with your writing.”

He leant against the railing their arms brushing, but this time she didn’t move away.

 “My job is great-amazing even, but I haven’t written anything in a year.”

“A year?” He said in surprise.

 “Yeah, not good right? When I’m at work I’m always busy and when I’m not I’m too exhausted to even think about writing.” She sighed. “Enough about me, let’s hear about college.”

 “After I got rejected from basically every school I applied to-“

 “I thought you didn’t apply to any schools?!”

“I lied to my parents, because I was embarrassed that I was too stupid to get in anywhere.”

She placed a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t say that, you’re not stupid you never were.”

He smiled at her. “Thanks.”

She smiled back at him. “Anytime.”

He glanced down to her hand that was still on his shoulder.

“Sorry.” She said her hand falling away.

His lips parted as he looked at her for a moment.

“You can carry on with your story.” She said shyly.

“Yeah, right.” He laughed nervously, springing back to life. “So, I went to a local community college to get some extra credits, 2 years later I applied to Purdue-the top college in Indianna and I’ve been there ever since.”

Her heart swelled with how proud she was of him.

“And why graphic design as your major and mathematics as a minor?”

 “I really want to get into designing video games, the mathematics part is so I can learn coding.”

She dramatically lowered her sunglasses. “Steven are you a-nerd?”

“You’re one to talk.” He scoffed.

“I’m going to spread salacious gossip about you now.” She teased.

He snorted. “Then maybe I’ll have to tell people that you were so scared of the exorcist you slept with a night light until you were 13. I think we’re at a stalemate.”

 “You’ve got me there!” She agreed. “But seriously I’m glad you’ve found something you’re passionate about.”

“I used to love going to the arcade growing up, especially when the games had those like animated segments. I like the idea that you can take someone on a journey, where they have control over whether they win or not. If you’d seen the things I have, you’d want a few more wins in life.” Steve explained, his smile fading she wondered what he was talking about but didn’t press him.

She bumped his shoulder with hers. “Well, I think your future job sounds pretty great.” She said repeating his own words.

He bumped her shoulder back. “I promise to remember you when I’m rich and famous.”

She tutted. “And there’s that infamous ego, just when we were having a nice moment.”

“Careful I might feed you to the whales.”

“If we ever see any.”

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

 ��Wednesday July 12th

After the boat trip she’d gone to hang out at Margo’s, in typical fashion her friend pried her for information about Steve. (Name) had relayed their conversation on the boat.

“I think he’s still got feelings for you.” Margo said.

She shook her head. “There’s no way.”

Margo raised a brow. “I don’t know he was ready to threw away his entire relationship for you.”

“That was a long time ago, he was 17 in his first real relationship, he was probably just confused.”

“Then why is he acting so friendly with you now? In fact why are you acting so friendly with him? You like him don’t you! And don’t give me the it’s because we’re being civil crap.”

“I think he’s just missed me and is just happy to see me, despite what we’ve gone through. I feel the same, even if it’s still complicated with him.” (Name) confessed.

“I’m going out with some friends Friday night you guys should both come and I can assess the vibe.” Margo said.

“Assess away, but you’re going to come up empty handed.” She warned.

Following the whale watching, Vivienne had taken her, Steve and her mum to a painting class.

She leant over to Steve and whispered. “Do you think we’re going to have to paint a naked person?”

“If we do, I’m leaving.” He whispered back.

Thankfully there was no nudity and it was instead a bowl of fruit. After half an hour of painting her canvas resembled blobs of colour rather than any object.

“There’s a reason I’m a writer and not an artist.” She joked, then peered at Steve’s canvas. “Wow.”

He smirked. “There’s a reason I’m an artist and not a writer.”

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

They all arrived back at the house in high spirits and at dinner talked animatedly about the painting class.

“Your son’s a natural Clyde, that graphic design major is paying off.” Her mum said.

“Could you draw me?” Her dad asked Steve.

Steve smiled and nodded. “Yeah probably.”

 “I’ve always wanted a hand drawn picture of myself.” Her dad said.

Her mum scoffed. “We can hang it up on the wall like Henry the 8th.”

 “I’ll add a crown in too free of charge.” Steve said cheekily, this made her dad chuckle.

He was the exact kind of guy her parents would love for her to bring home. She stopped eating when she realised what she’d thought.

“Don’t encourage him.” Clyde said.

“What’s that supposed to mean dad?” Steve immediately asked.

“That this whole art obsession, is just a phase. I wouldn’t mind if you switched mathematics to your major.”

Steve carried on eating. “No, I like what I’m doing.”

“I was able to accept that you let basketball and football go by the way side and I made peace with the fact that for two years you didn’t bother to apply for college. Then you did go to college and it wasn’t even an ivy league. But if you’re as good at maths as you claim then get a real qualification in it and come work for me after graduation next year.” Clyde implored.

Steve finally looked at his dad. “Did you ever think that maybe I don’t want to live my life exactly like you, that I’m my own person? Business doesn’t interest me, but graphic design does.”

“I’m done trying to guide you, be a disappointment for all I care.” Clyde said bitterly.

“Clyde, I think that’s enough.” Vivienne snapped, everyone went still usually she wasn’t so assertive with him.

“Look at you putting me in my place.” Clyde mocked taking a swig of his wine.

Vivienne glowered at him, she briefly glanced at the bottle of wine but instead drunk her water.

As if by instinct (Name) gently took Steve’s hand under the table. He didn’t look at her but he squeezed her hand back in thanks.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

Later that evening she knocked on his bedroom door.

“Come to tell me to turn my music down?” He joked, but the sadness in his eyes gave him away.

“No, I just wanted to see if you were okay?” She asked.

He waved a hand. “That was a regular Wednesday for my dad.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to-“

“I’m fine, I promise.” He told her softly, she nodded knowing when to pick her battles.

“Did you want to go out Friday night with me and Margo?” She asked.

He nodded and managed a smile. “Yeah actually, I’d love to.”

The way he was casually leaning against the door frame and smiling so easily at her, made her head swim. This was the exact moment she realised.

 “Nice.” She smiled bashfully. “I’ll let you get back to whatever guy thing you were doing.”

She paused aware of how it sounded, he stifled a laugh.

“Not like that obviously! Not that it’s anything to be ashamed of if you do or don’t-“ She stopped and clapped her hands together. “I’m just going to go to bed, goodnight.”

Once she was safely in her bedroom she buried her burning face in her hands. It was possible that Margo was nearly right, at least about her.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

Thursday July 13th

When she woke up the next morning the house was eerily quiet. She went to check the patio that was next to the pool and found it to be devoid of life.

“They’ve gone to some wine tasting festival.”

She jumped out of her skin, Steve sat at the outside table eating cereal.

She put a hand to her chest. “You nearly sent me into cardiac fucking arrest.”

He smirked at her. “Need me to grab my defibrillator?”

She playfully rolled her eyes, then remembered their conversation and her own realisation from the night before. She sat in the furthest chair away from him, he looked a little confused but moved past it.

“What should we do?” Steve asked her.

“We?” She asked intrigued.

“If you feel that way, then never mind.” He said pretending to take offense.

She grinned. “What did you have in mind?”

That was how she found herself surfing competitively against Steve, when he got knocked off by a particularly large wave she laughed so hard her stomach hurt. After a while they sat by the shore to rest.

“I’ve missed being here.” He told her.

“This view never gets old.” She agreed.

He pointed to himself. “You mean this view?”

“Don’t flatter yourself.” She chuckled splashing some water at him, he grinned at her.

“I’m glad we get to hangout like this again, I’ve really missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too.” She found herself saying.

His face became more serious. “I’m really sorry about what happened 6 years ago, about everything. I’m sorry for ditching you when we were kids and then ignoring you. I was just young and immature, I wanted as dumb as it sounds for other people to see me as one of the guys.”

Her eyes widened hardly believing this conversation was finally happening.

“And having a female friend got in the way of that?”

He shook his head. “No, it was that with you I could share things I couldn’t with anyone else. You made me vulnerable in a way that my dad taught me to be ashamed of, that it was bad if some sort of weakness could be sensed in me. I already struggled in school I didn’t want another reason to not fit in.”

“And unfortunately, our friendship was at the cost of that.” She said quietly.

 “I was the literal worst.” He laughed sadly. “I hope you can forgive me, I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t.”

She exhaled heavily. “I won’t deny that I’ve spent the past few years so fucking angry with you, but equally and I guess being older gives you more perspective, we were just kids. You made mistakes, I did too. No one is perfect and I think it’s unfair to go your whole life tying yourself in knots because of some shit you did as a teenager.” She smiled at him. “I’ll say it right now, I forgive you.”

He took her hand in his and threaded his fingers through hers. “You’re too good for me, you always were.”

Her heart sped up as he rubbed his thumb across her knuckles.

 What she was starting to feel for him was so enormous it frightened her, she suspected it was possible he may feel the same. Even though he’d changed and she cared about him so much, she didn’t fully trust that he wouldn’t hurt her again. It was safer to keep her feelings to herself and hope they would return to their platonic nature.

The wind had picked up and the waves were getting bigger some people were starting to swim in. She pulled her hand out of his and reached for her surf board.

“I’m going to try my luck.”

“They’re pretty high are you sure it’s safe?”

 “I’ll be careful, I promise.” She said warmly.

He let her go, clearly knowing it was pointless to try stop her.

The first wave wasn’t too bad and the second was a little tricky, but then came the third. The water was growing choppier by the second, she heard the life guard blow their whistle. She’d ride this one then go back to shore she thought. The wave crashed over her, sucking her into its’ depths, she fought to swim to the surface as she was thrown about underwater.

She came to the surface gasping for air and barely made it to the sand before she was lying on her back exhausted. A small crowd of people gathered around her.

“Miss, are you alright?” The life guard who was barely 16 asked her.

“Sorry excuse me.” A voice said coming through the crowd, Steve appeared at her side. “Hey it’s me.”

He helped her stand, as she tried to walk a stinging pain went through her leg. The crowd cleared for them as they started to walk away.

“Ow.” She hissed.

“What is it?” He fretted.

She panted. “I think I did something to my leg.”

“Are you able to take your wet suit off?”

The idea of having to bend to peel off the clinging material seemed impossible in that moment.

She shook her head.

“Want me to?” He suggested.

She hesitated, this was the last thing she should let him do as it would infiltrate her every waking thought. But she had no other choice.

“Go for it.” She said hoarsely.

He knelt down and start to pull down the wet suit to reveal her bikini, although he’d seen her in one before she’d never felt so exposed in front of him. He helped her step out of the wet suit.

 She peered down, there was a cut just above her knee.

Steve delicately touched the skin just above the cut. “It doesn’t look deep enough to need stiches but it’s gonna need to be cleaned.” He looked up at her.

There was something about seeing him knelt down gazing up at her that made her shiver.

He passed her the wet suit she held it to her chest a little flustered.

“Ready?” Steve said putting his arm around her shoulder.

 She nodded. “Yeah.”

She barely even made it one step. “No this isn’t happening. You’re just going to have to leave me, save yourself.” She gasped out.

“I’ve got an idea, put your arms around my neck.”

She did as he asked. “I’m not sure how this is help-woah.” With total ease he lifted her up into arms and carried her down the beach.

“You really know how to sweep a girl off her feet.” She joked.

He let out a tired laugh. “Only you.”

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

Steve set her down on the kitchen counter and searched in the cupboard for the first aid kit.

He bought it over to where she was sat. “You’re lucky my mom’s got like five of these lying around.”

“You know I can do it myself, you’ve done more than enough for one day!”

He left the first aid kit next to her, the cut was at an awkward angle. She tried to lean forward to inspect her leg and nearly went toppling off the counter.  “Ok maybe you can do a little more.” 

He let out a soft huff of amusement.

He poured some disinfectant onto some cotton wood and stood between her legs as he dabbed at the cut, she winced.

“Sorry.” He muttered, then placed a large plaster over the cut. “Done.”

His hands came to rest on the counter either side of her. “How are you feeling?”

He smelt like aftershave and saltwater, it was overwhelming. “Better.” She murmured.

His vision flickered to her lips, if she tilted her head just a little more she’d be kissing him. She leant forward and instead placed a hand on his check quickly kissed it. When she pulled back she noticed a faint blush on his face.

“Thank you for taking care of me I really do appreciate but I think I need to go have a lie down.” She told him, he moved back so she could slide down off the counter top.

He touched where her lips had been. “Yeah see you later.” He said, staring after her.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

Friday July 14th

“Mum have you seen my blue dress anywhere?”

“Did you not put it in your laundry basket?” Her mum asked.

“I could’ve sworn I did, maybe I left it in the dryer.” She deduced. “Do you know who dried their clothes after me?”

“I think it was Steve.”

She went to knock on his door but there no answer, she tried again, nothing. She called his name but there was only silence. He was probably somewhere else in the house. She carefully pushed his door and to her delight saw the laundry basket on his bed. That was when she heard the sound of running water being turned off, he was in the god damn bathroom.

“Shit.” She whispered rummaging through his laundry, she had to get out fast.

The bathroom door opened, time almost slow down as she looked over to see him stood there with only a towel hanging dangerously low around his waist.

“Oh my god I’m so sorry.” She screeched looking away.

“Why are you in my room?!” He asked the pitch rising.

She found the blue dress and grabbed it.

She shielded her eyes as she held up the dress. “I came for this but I’ll uh leave you now, sorry again.” She hurried out the room.

Once in the safety of her room she begun to pace the floor as her mind replayed the events of the past week. When they’d met that first morning on the beach, the necklace at the market, the way he’d look at her on the boat, their conversation by the shore when he’d held her hand, how he’d carried in his arms, how he’d glanced to her lips after dressing her injury and now when she’d seen him in a complete near state of undress.

She was nervous of going out that evening, she was afraid to do something she might regret. She’d always considered herself to have a good handle on most situations, but in the face of the inevitable did she have any control?

A couple hours later she’d managed to compose herself and was sat in a taxi on the way to meet Margo at the bar. She’d been unable to look Steve in the eye.

She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry about earlier, I didn’t think anyone was in your bedroom.”

 “It’s okay, it wasn’t a big deal.” He told her kindly.

She pat his arm. “Don’t be so hard on yourself I didn’t see much but it certainly was a big-“

She saw the mild shock on his face. “Oh you meant the situation.” She let her hands fall into her lap.

Tonight was going to be a challenge.

He rubbed at the back of his neck. “Anyway, what are Margo’s friends like.” He said changing the subject.

“They’re nice, I think you met them that time at the beach bonfire back when we were 17.”

“I remember that.” He wrinkled his nose. “That’s when Tommy went streaking.”

“If it helps he didn’t have a big deal.” She nervously joked and to her relief after a few seconds he actually laughed.

“So you and Steve? I think I was right.” Margo slyly said whilst they were waiting for their drinks at the bar.

She nodded. “Yeah you were spot on, I like him.”

Margo slapped (Name’s) shoulder. “I fucking knew you liked him!”

“Keep your voice!” She pleaded. “He doesn’t know I have feelings for him and I’d like to keep it that way.”

“Why though? He obviously likes you.”

 “I’m going back to New York in two days and he’ll be back in Indiana soon.”

“It doesn’t need to be anything serious. You work your ass off all the time why not have some fun for once?” Margo cackled.

 “It would be a very very bad idea, because I’d want it to be more than just some fling. If we hook up, I’m not getting over that, it’ll really hurt me.”

 “Maybe he doesn’t want to just hook up?”

“He’s a 23 year old guy Margo that’s all they want to do. He’s different now sure, I just don’t think he’s so different that he’d do long distance.”

Margo frowned. “All I’m saying is you’re never going to know what he wants if you’re over here speculating with me, talk to him and go from there.”

She tugged at her hair. “I just don’t know.”

“Talk to him tomorrow but enjoy tonight.” Margo warmly said. “Come on let’s take the shots back to the table.”

When they were back at the table, Steve was immersed in conversation with one of Margo’s friends.

“We come back baring shots!” Margo exclaimed, as they both set the small glasses out on the table.

“Cheers.” She said clinking her glass to Steve’s.

“Cheers.” He replied knocking back the shot.

The shot burnt her throat and warmed her body, she’d already been buzzed before but she knew it’d hit her in a few minutes.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

An hour and 2 more shots later she was past tipsy, so was everyone else.

She stared up at him, swaying slightly.

“What?” He asked amused.

“You’re just so cute.” She admitted, booping his nose.

“Thank you?” He laughed, he was clearly little more sober than her.

She fisted the material of his shirt. “You just don’t get it.”

“Get what?”

“How stuck in my head I get about you, it drives me crazy. I wish you knew how much I-“ She stopped talking.

“How much you what?” He asked.

New music started.

“Oh my god I love this song!” She cried grabbing his wrist. “Let’s go dance.”

She started to lead him away. “Did you not wanna finish your sentence?”

She couldn’t recall what she’d said.

“We’ll dance first then you can tell me what it is I have to tell you.” She slurred.

Margo gave her a thumbs up, she gave a thumbs up back not really understanding why.

“Spin me around!” She told him, he chuckled twirling her.

“Now it’s your turn.”

He raised a brow. “What?”

“Less talking more spinning.” She scolded and twirled her 6 foot friend around. “Wasn’t that fun!”

 “Suprisingly, yeah.” He grinned at her. “I’ve really liked hanging out with you this week.”

She beamed. “Me too.”

“I like a lot about you.” He confessed. “I like you in a way that’s different than I feel with other people.”

She didn’t say anything her head was getting dizzy from all the dancing and drink.

“Do you understand what I’m telling you?” He asked.

Before she could have a chance to respond she could feel herself stumbling over, Steve caught her and she started giggling.

“I’m so sorry I am so drunk right now!” She snorted

He looked at her disappointed. “Let’s get you home.”

He guided her through the dance floor and to where their table was.

“Margo I’m gonna take her home.” Steve said, one arm around her.

“Good plan.” She smiled.

She hugged Margo. “Margo you’re the best, you’re such a good friend.”

Margo patted her on the back. “You’re a great friend too!” She passed her back to Steve. “Safe journey back guys.”

As they left the bar, they ran into a familiar face. It was Tyler.

“Look who it is.” (Name) cheered holding her hand up for him to high five.

Tyler gave her a weak high five and looked to Steve. “Is she-“

“A bit drunk, yes.” Steve replied curtly, the bromance between them was obviously gone.

“Oh wait I just remembered that I don’t like you.” She lightly slapped Tyler’s arm.

As they walked away she called over her shoulder. “Don’t go tricking anyone into truth or dare or I’ll find you!” She sung.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

When they returned home everyone was asleep, he took her up to her bedroom. She sat on her bed swaying her legs, he came back in with a glass water. “Drink all of this okay?”

“Yes mum.” She slurred gulping down the water.

When she was done she gave the glass to Steve, she pat the space on the bed next to her. “Come sit here.”

“Maybe you should get some sleep?” He suggested.

She shook her head. “Later, first sit.”

He took a seat next to her, even in her uninhibited state she could acknowledge how good he looked, his hair was dishevelled and shirt a little open.

She turned to face him. “What made you change so much?” She bluntly asked.

“I finally got a skin care routine-“

“No not that, why are you not in some college fraternity called delta zeta gamma ray.”

 “Sadly Purdue doesn’t have a fraternity with that name.”

She poked him in the chest. “Answer the question!”

He chuckled. “I just like teasing you.” He looked at her thoughtfully. “The reason I changed was because of the friends I made, real friends. Once I graduated high school all of the stuff that was important, just stopped. And I realised that there were people who liked me as I was, not just because I had great hair or was on the basketball team. For the first time since being friends with you I had people on my side.”

“I’m so happy for you. You seriously deserve to have people like that in your life.” Her mouth curved up. “Are you still with that girl?”

“You mean Nancy? God no, we broke up ages ago, we’re good friends now. She actually just got engaged.”

 “Good for her, that’s nice.”

“Engaged to the guy she left me for.”

She grit her teeth. “Less nice.”

He shrugged. “He’s a decent guy and I have to say they make way more sense than me and her ever did.”

 “Wow marriage, I haven’t even had a boyfriend yet.” She huffed.

“Never?”

“No sir.”

He moved a little closer. “Is there anyone at the moment?”

“Sort of, but can you keep a secret?” She hiccupped.

“Yes, yeah I can.”

She beckoned him forward. “Come closer so I can tell you.”

When he was close enough she placed both hands in his face and went to lean in to kiss him, her lips barely grazed his before he was pulling back from her.

The rejection stung her, she got off the bed. “Oh god why did I do that?” She groaned.

He stood up too. “It’s fine really!”

She shut her eyes. “It’s not, that was so incredibly dumb, I shouldn’t have tried to kiss someone who doesn’t want to kiss me.”

“I-I do.” He confessed.

She opened her eyes. “You do?”

His hand came to cup the side of her face.  “It’s not a no, it’s a no right now. I don’t wanna kiss you when you’re drunk.”

There were butterflies in her stomach. “Oh okay.”

His thumb traced her cheek bone. “Tomorrow I’ve gotta help my mum set up for the party but later on why don’t we finally talk, how does that sound?”

She smiled shyly. “Sounds good.”

He pressed a kissed to her forehead. “Get some sleep.”

As soon as he left her bedroom she was fast asleep.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

Saturday July 15th

She spent the entire morning with a throbbing head ache curled up in bed. When she’d made herself semi-presentable she left her room to get some lunch. Her memory was blurry and everything after leaving the bar was totally blank.

“Hey.” Steve said coming into the kitchen holding a box of wine glasses.

“Hi.” She replied.

He put down the box and came over to her pressing a kiss to her cheek, she stepped back and touched where he’d been.

“Why did you do that?” She asked perplexed.

 “Do you not remember last night?..”

 “I don’t remember much at all, I can’t remember even getting home.”

His shoulders dropped. “So you don’t know what happened.”

“Wait what happened?!”

Last night began to return to her.

She put a hand over her mouth as it hit her. “I tried to kiss you!”

He swallowed hard. “Yeah you did.”

Then she recalled what he’d said after.

Her eyes widened. “And you wanted to kiss me, but didn’t want to do when I was drunk..”

“And if I did that what do you think that means?” He carefully asked, waiting for her to put the pieces together.

“That you like me.” She breathed.

 “I really like you. And I think that maybe- there’s part of you that feels the same?”

She couldn’t hide from it anymore.

“Steve, I won’t deny that there’s things I’ve felt for you this week that go beyond just friendship but,” She sighed, “I’m going back to New York tomorrow and you’ll be back at college in a few weeks. There’s no point starting anything now.”

He shook his head. “I don’t care about the distance, I want to try.”

“You might not care about the distance at first but eventually it���ll become a problem.”

“No it won’t.”

“But it will!” She insisted. “You’re a young good-looking guy still at college, you don’t want to long distance, you should be hooking up with the cute girl in that one lecture who keeps smiling at you. Trust me I’m saving you the pain.”

His expression hardened. “Don’t tell me what I want. I don’t want some meaningless fling with someone I barely know, I want you.”

“Until the better option comes around.” She blurted out.

 “There is no better option there’s only you!”

 “It’s a bad idea, I’m sorry but-no.”

He looked away from her his jaw clenched.

She put a hand on his arm to try to turn him towards her. “Hey, hey Steve, come on this doesn’t need to be a sad thing, I’m just trying to be practical.” She said gently.

He moved away from her, too angry to even look in her direction.

“Why do you keep doing that?” He snapped. “Why do you keep pulling away from me every time we get the slightest bit close to something happening. You aren’t trying to protect me, you’re trying to protect yourself.”

“That’s not what I’m doing!” She exclaimed.

“I know I did bad things but I’m getting really tired of having to prove to you and to everyone just how much I’ve changed.” He finally looked at her, eyes glossy with unshed tears, her chest ached. “What is so fucking wrong with me that people can’t love me?! I’m not a monster, I’m a person.” He said voice cracking.

She felt like someone had sawed through her heart. “I didn’t know you felt that way.” She said trembling.

Tears slipped down his face, he wiped at his eyes. “Well, you wouldn’t would you, no one would.” He inhaled shakily.

He reached into his pocket. “Here.” He said throwing her something.

When she opened her hands, it was none other than the necklace from the market.

She gawped at him “When did you..”

“I was going to give it you tonight, but you may as well have it now.”  He grabbed the box from the counter top and left before she could stop him.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

She sat at her vanity ready for the party. She’d had a lot of time to think about her conversation with Steve and how he had been right about how she felt, she was scared of just how much he could hurt her. But in turn not being together was hurting them both so much more. She delicately touched the pendant of the necklace, her old matching bracelet sat on her wrist. She wanted to sob when she looked at the little golden S.

There was a knock at the door, she hurried to the door in hopes that it was-

“Vivienne hi.” She said.

“Were you expecting someone else?” Vivienne chuckled. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah of course.”

She moved out of the way, then shut her bedroom door. Vivienne perched on the end of her bed and smooth the skirts of her green dress.

“You look gorgeous dear.” Vivienne complimented.

 “Thanks so do you.”

Vivienne crossed her arms and looked at her softly with concern. “We need to talk.”

She sat down next to her apprehensively. “About what?”

“About how insane both you and my son are driving one another, it’s like wuthering heights in here.” Vivienne tutted.

 “How did you figure it out?”

“Mother’s intuition.” She shook her head. “I overheard you both in the kitchen.”

“Oh god you heard all of that?” She groaned.

“You did have quite a heated conversation in the middle of a public space so yes I heard.”

 “Well then I’m sure you know that it’s over before it began.”

“Only if you don’t try sweetie.”

“But that’s what I’m afraid of, what if it doesn’t work out?”

 “When you get to my sage age of 50-48 if anyone asks!” She chuckled. “You learn what love is and what it isn’t, sometimes it’s worth the risk. And this is coming from someone who’s only found it for the first time in her adult life.”

She raised her brows. “But you and Mr Harrington..”

“Are getting a divorce. I split up with him sometime ago.”

“Why doesn’t anyone know?”

“Steve does, I told him as soon as it happened. Both Clyde and I wanted to take our time with publicly announcing it. My party will be the last time we’re ‘together’.” She did air quote marks with her fingers.

“Wow.” She said. “Good for you.”

Vivienne put an arm around her.  “It’s wonderful but I can’t be happy until I know that you kids are. What you both have is real and maybe it isn’t going to be easy or it might not last but you both deserve the chance to experience it.”

“I’ve probably ruined any chance of ever having it.” She admitted sadly.

Vivienne gave her a sly grin. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, talk to him I think you’ll be surprised.”

She smiled back weakly. “I’ll try.”

“No more moping.” Vivienne sprung up. “We’ve got a party to enjoy!” She held out her hand pulling (Name) to her feet.

“Who’s this person you’re in love with then?” She asked.

“His name’s Pierre, he’s a French photographer, incredibly cliché I know but he’s a good man, he makes me the happiest I’ve ever been.” Vivienne told her.

She linked her arm through hers. “You deserve to be happy.”

Vivienne squeezed her arm. “So do you sweetie.”

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

The party was in full swing and she still hadn’t seen Steve, she however had run into Margo and Tyler who had come with their parents.

“Hey guys.” She said approaching them.

“Hey.” Margo replied hugging her whilst Tyler politely smiled.

“Tyler sorry about last night.” She apologised.

Margo snorted. “He told me.”

Tyler huffed. “I probably deserved it, I should be the one apologising to you.”

Tyler paused Margo elbowed him. “You actually have to say it.”

Tyler rolled her eyes and sighed. “(Name) I’m very sorry for being-“ He looked to his sister. “An annoying dick head with shitty hair.”

Margo burst out laughing.

“Did you tell him to say that?” She asked amused.

Tyler nodded grimly. “Yes she did.”

“Apology accepted.” She told Tyler, who finally deflated with relief.

“You guys haven’t seen Steve anywhere have you?” She asked.

“Why do you wanna know? Gonna pick up where you left off at the bar last night.” Margo suggestively said.

“It’s actually about what happened after the bar I need to talk to him, we got in a fight this morning.”

“I think I saw him go the beach.” Tyler said.

She frowned. “The beach?”

Tyler shrugged. “No idea why.”

“I’m going to go speak to him.” She said going to leave.

“Goodluck!” Margo called.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

When she was at the beach she saw Steve in the distance smoking alone by the shore, she could just about make him out.

“Steve!” She shouted from down the beach, he immediately looked in her direction.

She started walking but found the gorgeous heels she had chosen kept sinking into the sand.

“Jesus christ.” She hissed and quickly removed the heels letting them dangle from her wrist.

She picked up the skirt of her dress and ran to where he was.

He stubbed out his cigarette when he saw her. “(Name)?”

She stopped running and smiled at him. “Hi.”

He opened his mouth to talk but she stopped him. “Before you say anything I just need to get a few things straightened out.”

He nodded. “Yeah, go for it.”

“It’s my turn to apologise to you. I don’t know where you’re getting this notion from that you’re some unlovable monster because I know for a fact there are people in this life who like you exactly as you are, I should know since I’m one of them. You’re kind and funny and literally one of the smartest people I’ve ever met.” His face softened as she spoke. “And I’m so god damn sorry that it’s taking until,” She locked down at her watch and laughed, “14 hours before my flight to tell you that I’m so unbelievably, stupidly, in love with you.” Her chest heaved up and down, a little breathless from the amount she’d just said.

He just blinked at her, dazed.

“This is usually when the other person says something.” She nervously said.

He walked towards her, and was so close that the shoes on her wrist tapped against him. He took them off her wrist and they fell to the floor. He cupped her face and softly pressed his lips to hers. She sighed as his lips moved deliciously against hers. After a few seconds he stopped kissing her.

Her lips tingled from where he’d kissed her. “Yeah, that’s a good answer.” She stammered.

He smiled down at her softly. “I love you too, so much.”

“You were right by the way I was afraid-still am afraid of letting myself get swept up in this.” She gestured between both of them. “It's worth all of the risk.”

“I have a feeling that this might last.” He said warmly.

“I do too.” She smiled at him. “I’m sorry about your parents getting a divorce, by the way. Your mum told me.”

“Don’t be, I’ve never seen her this alive, she doesn’t drink anymore and she’s with someone that actually respects her.”

She shook her head fondly. “Only your mother would end up with a French photographer. Do you like him?”

He nodded. “Yeah I do." He nodded. "As much as I like talking Pierre I’d rather go back to talking about us!”

She raised a brow. “So we’re an us now are we?”

“You’re the one who ran down the beach to confess your love to me.” He scoffed.

“And you’re the one who got my favourite heels sandy.” She jokingly scolded. “Why did you just throw them on the ground.”

He sighed. “Yeah, it felt like sexy at the time, sorry.”

She grinned. “I’m just teasing it was sexy, although you will be buying me a new pair.”

He chuckled. “Shut up.” His eyes dipped down to her neck and he picked up the necklace.

“It’s lovely thank you.” She told him then held up her wrist with the bracelet. “And thank you for this as well.”

He began to laugh she furrowed her brow. “You don’t have to laugh.” She huffed.

“No I’m not I’m not, it’s just funny cause-” He rolled back his sleeve to show his own bracelet.

Her mouth fell open. “I thought you got rid of it.”

He touched it tenderly. “I’d never throw this away.”

She leant up and gave him a chaste kiss.

“Do you wanna go back to the party?” She asked.

“Sure.” He agreed, she held out her hand and he smiled taking it.

“My mouth kind of tastes like smoke now.” She said as they walked down the beach.

“So does mine.”

“You were the one smoking.”

“I could stop but I think you find it too hot.”

She rolled her eyes playfully. “I also find you quitting even hotter.”

He kissed the top of her head. “Anything for you.”

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

Sunday July 16th

2 am

 “There’s something I wanted to ask you.” She said, they were in his bed she was nestled against him, head resting on his bare chest.

He stroked her hair. “Ask away.”

She shifted so her chin was resting on her arm. “When we went back to school that summer after we were 14, I called your house and your dad picked up, I told him to get you to call me. He never passed that message onto you did he?”

 “I didn’t even know you called, so yeah no he didn’t.” He gently caressed her face with his hand. “I would’ve if he’d told me.”

 “I knew you would’ve.”

“I wish I’d made things right with you sooner.” His chest rose and fell in a deep breath, as if letting go of something heavy.

She kissed his jaw. “Let’s just focus on now.”

They looked at each other softly and he smiled at her. “Do you find it crazy that we literally just slept together.”

 “Yeah but in a good way, like this is so amazing there’s no way it can be actually happening.” She laughed.

He laughed too. “Oh it’s happening.”

She gave him a saucy look. “If you come visit me in New York it’ll be happening all the time.”

“You’re such a flirt, I’d almost think you have a crush on me.” He wryly said.

"You know what." She pretended to gasp. “I think I do have a crush on you.”

“No I think you love me.” He teased.

“You’re done.” She sung and put a hand over his mouth.

He said it again but this time it was muffled, she took away her hand.

“I really do love you.” She said genuinely.

“I love you too.” He said softly.

 2 years later: July 16th 1992

“Is this everything?” She asked, as they stood in their new apartment, boxes taking up every inch of space.

“Why, do you have another 10 boxes of clothing?” He teased.

 “I’m sorry that I like to look cute.” She nudged him. “When did you say your friends are coming to stay by the way?”

“The 30th.”

“You excited?”

“Yeah I can’t wait!”

“It’s going to be a lot of fun, I really liked them the first time we met.”

“They loved you, maybe even more than me.” He grinned.

“The only person that loves you more than me are my parents.” She laughed.

Her parents had been over the moon when she’d told them about her and Steve, immediately asking when the wedding would be. Vivienne was delighted but she’d known from the start they’d end up together. As for Clyde, whilst things were still rocky he had actually started to call Steve more and try fix what was broken between them. At Steve’s college graduation she’d thought she’d even nearly seen him cry with pride, when his son has walked across the stage to get his diploma.

He walked towards the window she joined him, the view of New York staring back at them.

“I’m thinking that this would be a great spot for you to do your writing.” He suggested.

 “Oo so true, although I worry the view might distract me, I only just got my own column at work I don’t want to screw it up just yet.”

 “You could never.”

“How’re you feeling about your first day tomorrow?”

“Like I’m going to screw it up.” He huffed.

 “You’ll be fine!”

“God I’m lucky I have you.” He said resting his head on top of hers.

She put her head on his shoulder. “I’ll never stop thinking how lucky we both are to finally have each other.”

PART 2

[a-oct0]

I was thinking about this while trying to sleep last night and figured I could share my thoughts on this topic- but I should preface this by saying while I love Callie a lot I am in no way a Callie expert and that this is just my personal understanding of the whole hypndoshades ordeal. (And also I just wanted to write/ramble about something honestly lol)

So to begin- Callie 100% went to the Octarians by her own choice, she went to them willingly sometime just before Splat2. After the Squid Sister splatfest she and Marie went on to expand their solo careers and such as said in game, but the pressure of constantly being in the spotlight started to get to Callie, especially after she was publicly declared as being lesser than her cousin. She needed some sense of escape and she went to the only ones who she felt could understand that feeling... The Octarians. It does seem like Callie at least enjoyed her time there, she decorated the canyon, redesigned the soldiers outfits and probably uplifted the overall mood of the Octarians. Be that before or after the shades I don't know- But I think at some point Octavio realised that Callie would leave and go home, leaving them. I think that's what spawned the hypnoshades- he used them not to kidnap her out right but as a way to convince her to stay, not wanting to lose what had basically become a light in the dark for his people. The shades do seem to make Callie act a bit different but I don't think they're programmed to make her personality different, I've always viewed it as if the shades gave her this- sense of freedom, that she can say and act how she wishes just maybe slightly exaggerated by the shades. Now of course Marie was able to hit the shades off Callie's face which "returned her to normal" and tbf by Splat3 it seems like Callie has worked through her issues, slowly making her way back into the public eye solo.

Now this part- is all just complete headcanon and tied to my own Agents/NSS lore but I wanted to share some of it as well lol- While I get the game making Callie put the shades back on because "they look cool" as a way to add her back to the boss fight was well that- literally just a way to add her back to the fight- I personally think she did in fact put those shades back on. She put them back on again and again as an unhealthy coping mechanism, to return to that sense of escape from her very public life. Marie "snapping her out of it" did not fix the issues she had and so Marie (And Agent 4) fought Callie and Octavio again and again- each time Marie hitting Callie in the face with low tide ink. Low tide ink is probably a very dense and generally harmless type of ink but even with that constant exposure would have to leave a mark right? (This is the reason I tend to draw Callie with the green eye scar.) I think gaining this scar over time would snap some sense into Callie- finally realising just how- dangerous and mentally unhealthy her constant use of the shades are, it would be difficult but she realises that she needs to seek proper help or the cycle won't end no matter how hard Marie and Four try.

[itsuki-minamy]

"K – LETTER STORY"

BLUE: "FUSHIMI AND THE REPORT"

Translation: Naru-kun Raws: Ridia

Saruhiko Fushimi sometimes referred to himself, somewhat self-deprecatingly, as a middle manager.

He regards Reisi Munakata and Seri Awashima as his superiors, coordinates the special forces members on the scene, and sometimes acts as a supporter of both parties.

Both Munakata and Awashima had some quirks, but they were basically competent and understanding superiors, and the members of "Scepter 4" diligently and faithfully followed young Fushimi's orders.

It is inevitable that he will work in that position.

Fushimi knew each member of "Scepter 4" well, including their characteristics, temperament, and current health status, to the point of being able to laugh bitterly.

During the "Homura" era and before, he did not like to be in groups, but now, although he still clicks his tongue and has an apathetic demeanor, he has become an excellent facilitator.

From Fushimi's perspective, human resource management was similar to a card game. Choosing which people to assign which jobs is very similar to choosing which cards to play in a card game.

Fushimi was able to keep track of each employee's employment status using a highly confidential application that he had developed independently and which was now officially adopted throughout "Scepter 4" with Munakata's approval.

Of course, the application can be opened on PDA, etc., but Fushimi, who wanted to check multiple windows, often checked various documents on his PC when he returned to his base.

He also today ably read the reports presented by each member of the special working group.

A certain person has posted information about Strain sightings during the search, along with an accompanying photo. The person who came to court to obtain an order had submitted a report on the current situation.

Although they all differ in degree, their points are clear and their sentences easy to read.

Basically, although he rarely said it, Fushimi highly valued each member of "Scepter 4". He did not mention Akiyama, Benzai and Kamo, but Enomoto, Fuse, Goto and Hidaka were considered to have enough strength as they had unique skills and perspectives, and were patient and dedicated to their work.

In the game, there is only one person, Andy Domyoji, besides Joker or Wild Card. That day he also received a call from Domyoji.

[There's a weird guy, so I'm going to chase him.]

Fushimi let out a groan.

When he looked at the time, it was midnight. That was about half a day ago. For some reason, the message had been uploaded to the expense request folder, so it took Fushimi a while to review it.

Since then, a series of short messages have continued.

[It's really dangerous, so I'm going on a business trip to the north.]

He had no idea what he was talking about.

Fushimi made a tsukkomi that is uncharacteristic of him.

"Public servants should not act on his intuition!"

He slammed his fist on the desk.

"At least write down where you're going! No, first of all, don't go on a business trip without asking your boss for permission! That's too free! Also, don't use emojis in report emails!"

Domyoji always put a bright spot at the end of his sentences. He tried to contact him, but was dissuaded by the following text message:

[Oh, no. If I ever meet the culprit, I'm afraid I'll break my tongue. I will send you a separate report.]

At that moment, Awashima appeared, patted Fushimi on the shoulder as if to show her respect, and placed a postcard on the table in front of him.

"It just arrived via express delivery."

After saying that, she left.

It shows a man tied with a rope in the snow and Andy Domyoji next to him with a dazzling smile on his face and making a peace sign.

On the back of the postcard, the details of what happened are spelled out in small print.

Fushimi couldn't contain himself and screamed.

"Don't send me a postcard with the report about the arrest of the criminal!"

By the way, the captured man was Strain, who had committed a serious crime that "Scepter 4" had been chasing for the past six months. That's why Andy Domyoji is a wild card.

[whereianonymouslypostfics]

Growing Pains Part 1

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x reader

Word count: ~9.9k

Summary: Little Nat is almost 13 and school’s a bitch. Retired mob boss turned stay-at-home mom Wanda has to figure out how to deal with bullies at her daughter’s school. 

A/N: Credit to @rianncreates for this fic idea. Enjoy 😘

Warnings: Fluff, teen angst, injury, reference to previous injury/trauma, bullies, and mentions medicinal drug use

"Mama, I’m going to be late!” 

Natalya is running out of her room with only one shoe on as she hurries to finish getting ready for school. She has to stop for a second to pull on her other shoe, and she nearly gets pushed down the stairs by one of her dogs. Rogue is 14 years old and moving slowly these days, but he still tries to follow her everywhere she goes. This leads to her almost flying down the stairs as he bumps into her when she stops suddenly. She bites her lip to stop herself from cursing in surprise. 

The last time she’d done it in front of her parents, they’d been horrified and she’d been forced to rat out her uncle for saying that particular curse word in front of her. She’d had to text her Uncle Pietro and apologize for the rant she knew he was about to face from her redheaded mom. 

“I’m ready, milaya. I’m waiting for you.” 

Nat sighs in defeat because of course her mom is ready on time. She is only ever late if she has to drive with her brother. She jumps down the last few stairs and lands with a loud thud that surprises Fletcher who’d been sleeping in the living room. She doesn’t have to turn to her mom to see the disapproving look, but it’s unfortunately still there after she’s tied her shoes and heads over toward the older Maximoff. 

“You know I don’t like it when you do that, Natalya. Your mom’s a bad influence on you. “

Wanda watches as her daughter just smiles widely before seeing that she’s holding her lunch and her face lights up. She realizes what Nat’s forgotten only a second before she spins around and runs back upstairs. 

“My backpack! I’ll be back!” 

Wanda rolls her eyes as she watches her daughter run back upstairs to retrieve her bag. Rogue thinks about following her back up, but he decides against it and comes to stand next to her. She smiles down at him and scratches him behind the ears as she waits for her daughter to return. 

Natalya is almost 13 and although she looks more like her, it’s obvious to anyone who meets her that her personality is far closer to yours than hers. It’s funny and a little confusing at times but Wanda wouldn’t want it any other way. Her daughter is always full of energy and she worked hard in school despite not liking it very much. Not that Wanda expected her to at this age. Middle school was rough and before she became involved with the mob, this was where most of her traumatic memories came from. 

Like you when you were younger, Natalya could go a mile a minute and had a seemingly endless amount of energy to burn at the end of each day. She was an odd combination of overly focused when it came to school work, but a little spacy about everything else. She could study quickly and efficiently, but she sometimes struggled with everyday tasks like making sure everything she needed was in her bag for school. As well as remembering to grab her bag for school. 

Given her daughter’s high energy and desire to always be moving, you had suggested that she try out for sports. Wanda had needed to be persuaded to agree because she was worried about Nat getting hurt. She wasn’t the most graceful kid, and you definitely weren’t taking responsibility for that. Sure, she tripped weekly on the dogs and sometimes missed a step on the stairs, but it wasn’t anything serious. Also, you were convinced that getting her into sports would improve her coordination. 

So far, you’d been proven wrong. 

“Do you have everything you need for practice?” 

Wanda realizes she should have asked this earlier, but luckily Nat just nods as she returns with her backpack and reaches out to pet her dog before taking her lunch box. She leaves most of her things at the dug out because she forgets to bring them home, and that’s worked out so far. She smiles and grabs her mom’s arm to lead them to the car with a sigh. 

Another thing that both you and Wanda love about your daughter is the fact that she’s not a typical almost-teenager. While Natalya’s friends and classmates are beginning to develop a begrudging tolerance toward their parents, she just seems to continue to treat them nicely. She always has been very affectionate and open with them, and you both sincerely hope that continues into her later teen years. 

Wanda turns down the road toward her daughter’s school and she holds back her sigh at the sight of the long line of cars waiting to drop their kids off. It’s an everyday occurrence and if she weren’t so paranoid about a bunch of kids near her house, or Natalya walking down the mountain a bit to another neighborhood she’d let her daughter ride the bus. You’d told her it would be good for her. You joked that it helped build character when you had to sit with a bunch of people you may or may not like. The bus was where you’d had your first fight, but you’d only told Wanda that, not Natalya. 

“Can I ask you something?”

Wanda’s brought back to the present by Natalya’s voice, and she turns to see her daughter glancing out the window with a frown. She briefly wonders if she missed something, but she doesn’t waste too much time thinking about it before she smiles. 

“Of course.” 

Natalya hesitates as she tries to talk herself into the question she’d originally wanted to ask her mom. She loved both of her moms a lot, and equally, but sometimes it was easier to talk to one over the other. Depending on the circumstance, would go to one parent or the other, and although she knew they both would find out eventually, she just felt more comfortable that way. She felt less pressure than she would if she tried to talk to both parents. 

Natalya went to Wanda for potentially embarrassing questions like when girls in her grade started to talk about periods, or boys. Wanda found having these conversations with her daughter bittersweet yet rewarding in a way that she hadn’t expected. You were certainly willing to talk to Nat about these things too, but Wanda did a better job of it. 

Nat usually went to you for animal-related questions or when she had difficulty getting something done. You both shared a painfully short attention span at times, and you’ve taught Nat plenty of ways to combat this over the years. 

She honestly would have asked either of you this question, but you were out of town until tomorrow for a work thing and this had been weighing on Nat for a while. 

“Were you or mom popular in school?” 

This isn’t exactly what she’d wanted to ask, but she chickened out last minute. She knew that between her two moms, Wanda was the one who tended to cross the line into being overprotective. She never said anything outright, but Nat would see her get a look in her eye that scared her a little, and made you intervene, if you noticed it. 

Wanda’s trying to figure out why her daughter would ask her this as she finally pulls into the school’s parking lot. She still has a ways until she’s close enough to drop Natalya off, but she decides that this might be a good thing for once. She senses that this conversation might be going somewhere important, so she answers truthfully with a shrug. 

“Not really, no. We liked to keep to ourselves or our small group of friends.” 

People were exhausting. Wanda didn’t say this part but both you and Wanda believed this at times. She’s sure Natalya does as well because she’s definitely an introvert like her mothers. She might actually enjoy getting out more than them, but she was just as tired when it was all over and she’d crash sometimes before she even made it to her bed. 

Natalya thinks about this with a pout that she doesn’t realize is on her lips. She has a few good friends that she hangs out with sometimes, but she likes her alone time outside of school. She uses it to recharge with drawing or spending time with her parents or dogs. Fletcher doesn’t really like anyone but her redheaded mom. 

“And that worked for you two? You never got…lonely?” 

Bullied is what Nat was going to say, but just watching how her mom shot her a curious look made her panic. She didn’t want to tell her mom for the first time that she was being picked on at school while she was driving a car. She didn’t want to tell her at all, but things weren’t getting better, and she didn’t know what to do. You both had told her the importance of standing up for herself, but never resorting to violence. You’d stressed this part for some reason, but Natalya got the idea. She only defended herself when girls in her class threw insults at her, and she let them shove her into lockers as they walked by her without retaliation. She was getting sick of it though and she needed someone’s help to figure out what to do to make them go away. 

Wanda pulls up to the drop off lane and frowns at the idea of this conversation ending. She feels like Natalya’s not saying everything on her mind, but unfortunately, she’s running out of time to figure it out. She slows the car before reaching out for her daughter. Natalya turns when she feels a hand on her shoulder, and she sees her mom smiling kindly at her. 

“Not really no. Sometimes I wondered what it would be like to be popular, but it honestly seemed exhausting. I was happy just being a bit of a loner. Your mom too.” 

Natalya smiles at the fact that she knows this is true. Sometimes when they all spend time together in the living room, they watch tv or a movie together. Other times they’ll all be doing different things, and are just content to have someone nearby. 

She smiles as her mom pulls up to the school, and she knows she has to get out now. She feels a little better knowing that her parents coped well in school despite being a loner like her. She can do that too. She just needs to figure out how to get her bullies off of her back. 

“Thanks for the ride. I’ll see you after practice!” 

Wanda smiles as the brunette leans over to hug her just long enough for her to kiss her hair. She nearly flies out the door and only a couple of steps away from the car Wanda’s lowering her window to call after her. 

“Natalya, you forgot your bag!” 

You sigh heavily as you lay sprawled out on the bed in your hotel room with your dog curled into your side. You’re exhausted from all of the networking and chit-chat that this CE trip involved. You had met more people in the last two days than you have in maybe 5 years, and it’s making you want to curl up and sleep for the next 24 hours. You’re just grateful that you have Boone with you because otherwise you’d be tired, lonely and overwhelmed by the number of extroverts you’ve met. 

You run your fingers through your dog’s fluffy coat, and you smile widely when he turns around to lick you. You look at his cute face that’s turned whiter in the past couple of years. He’s nearly 16 now and despite slowing down he’s still your trustworthy companion. He still follows you wherever you go, or at least he tries to, and you’d considered leaving him because he was mostly just going to sit around the hotel, but the day after you’d decided you found that he’d ripped up one of your shirts. You took that as a sign that he didn’t want to be left behind and you rebooked a room at a dog-friendly hotel that day. 

“Are you having fun bud? Are you excited to go home tomorrow?” 

Boone’s tail starts to thump against the bed and you laugh before sliding down toward him so you can kiss his furry head. You sigh as you lean against him gently before closing your eyes and trying to relax. You’ve had a good time, and you’ve learned a lot here, but you are very eager to go home. You miss your wife, daughter, and other fur children, and you’re excited that you’ll be coming home the night of a family dinner. You’ll get to see everyone and catch up on how they’re all doing. 

You’re thinking of what food you’re going to be eating tomorrow when your phone rings from where you left it on your pillow. You spin around careful not to hit Boone as you grab it before turning back so you’re on your stomach again. You smile widely when you see who’s calling you. 

“Hey, Wands, one second. I’m just walking my mistress out.” 

Wanda rolls her eyes with a dramatic sigh as she grabs a basket at the front of the grocery store. She’d needed to pick up a couple more things for dinner tomorrow, and after dropping off Natalya she’d wanted to talk to you. She hears shuffling on the other end of the line and despite calling bullshit on her wife’s statement she decides to check in on her. 

“Don’t even, Y/n, but turn on your camera so I can see your ridiculous face.” 

You laugh at this before turning on the camera and tilting your phone so you can fit both you and Boone into the shot. Wanda smiles at the sight of you and your dog, and she brushes her hair out of the way as she fixes her earpiece. You realize immediately that your wife is at the store and you have to hold back the urge to ask her to get you some chocolate. 

“Hi there, beautiful. How are you?” 

Wanda smiles at your cheesy greeting that despite knowing it’s sincere makes her cringe a little. The two of you have been married for almost 18 years, and there have been many ups and downs that led you to this point. When she was 18, she never would have thought that this would be her life. She would have assumed she’d be stuck with the mob until she died, but instead she’s married with a beautiful daughter and a big family that was finally on the right side of the law. 

When she’d left her job almost 14 years ago, she’d wondered if she would ever be free from the stress and danger associated with it. She’d gambled a lot and quite literally made a deal with the devil to get not just her, but all of her friends out. She didn’t want them stuck there because not only would they still be in danger, but having any association with them would put her at risk and make her exit just a formality. She never would have guessed that Strucker would hold up his end of the deal, but she was grateful. He should be too honestly, he had gotten her entire criminal empire, and all it cost him was ensuring their protection. 

Wanda’s eternally grateful for how things have turned out, and she’s looking forward to having everyone over tomorrow. Even her brother. 

“I just need to pick up a few things for dinner tomorrow and thought I’d check in with you. How are things there?” 

You sit up so you’re more comfortable before you look around the room with a shrug. You’re glad that tomorrow is just a brief closing event so you can make your flight mid-day and be home in time for dinner. Despite still being filthy rich, Wanda had given up some of the perks that came with her job. Such as the private jet she’d once flown you to Miami with. As far as you were concerned this was okay because you were still able to fly with Boone sitting at your feet on his own bed in first class for this trip. You would have never let him fly in cargo because not only is it too hot or cold down there, but the noise and the separation anxiety would have been too much for both of you. 

“It’s been fun, but I’m sick of people, Wands. I want to come home and see you and Little Nat.” 

You sigh dramatically as you flop back onto the pillow and look up at your wife who’s glancing between you and the items she’s looking for. You wonder what she’s grabbing, but as if she can read your thoughts, she flips the camera so you can see where she’s walking in the busy grocery store. 

“We miss you too, detka, but tomorrow’s not too far away.” 

You smile in agreement as you stand up and stretch while holding your phone above your head. You cringe slightly at the uncomfortable pull on your tense stomach, but you take a deep breath and shake your head to focus back on your wife. 

“I’ll be back in time to help cook, and I’ll make my famous cheesecake.” 

Wanda smiles at the idea of this and she reroutes toward the dairy aisle at your subtle reminder about your plans. She’d forgotten to get the ingredients for that and she knows that both you and Natalya would be upset if she forgot. It was your daughter’s favorite dessert and you tried to make it every so often and, on her birthday, so you both could eat too much of it and suffer from a sugar high. 

“That sounds great. Steve and Bucky will bring the booze and Kit with them.” 

Kit is the 7-year-old rescue dog that the duo had living at their house. You’d met him as soon as Bucky had brought him home and you fell in love. He was adorable albeit very nervous, but you were used to anxious dogs given your experience at work and he’d warmed up to you, Steve and Bucky quickly. He hadn’t been as quick to warm up to your dogs, and the trio had actually just growled at each other for several minutes before you called it and decided to try the meet-and-greet later. Your dogs were older, but they were still very protective of their family and their territory. They hadn’t liked a new dog coming onto their turf even if he was with a familiar face. 

Over the past couple of years, Kit had warmed up to the idea of having older brothers, and your dogs had deemed the younger dog an acceptable addition to the family. He often came to visit during biweekly dinners with Yelena’s younger Akita, Fanny II. 

“As long as they all get along and your brother knows he’s being locked in the basement if he gets too drunk.” 

Pietro’s certainly calmed down in the past decade, but he still sometimes over indulged when the family was all together. You used to tolerate it better, but now that Natalya was old enough to pick up on certain habits and be influenced by her family’s behaviors, you and Wanda had warned him off from getting drunk in front of your daughter. They believed their daughter was smart enough to not follow in Pietro’s footsteps, but the second he suggested sharing alcohol or anything else with her, you were allowed to toss him in the basement. 

Wanda’s finishing up grabbing the last ingredient you’ll need for cheesecake when someone accidentally bumps into her. The store is crowded and she’d been a little preoccupied so she doesn’t think much of it. She hears someone mutter an apology before she heads to the produce section. 

“Believe it or not, I think he learned from his last trip down there. He’s getting too old for that behavior anyway. I doubt he can bounce back like he used to.” 

You sit back down with a quiet groan before you think about the truth in Wanda’s statement. Once the group passed their mid-30s, their ability to drink like they did in their twenties quickly dissipated, even for Yelena and Nat who had been able to drink any of them under the table on any occasion. Pietro was the one who suffered from it the worst because he didn’t catch on very quickly, or rather he tried to resist by over indulging more regularly which ended in many nights of blacking out. Wanda had actually sat him down and talked to him about his behavior on their 40th birthday. She didn’t want him to get stuck in this bad habit when he was really just drinking for fun and something to do. He wasn’t an addict and she didn’t want him acting like one. Especially around Natalya. She wanted her brother to be a role model for her daughter, and she swore that if he got her into drinking before she was 25, she’d make him regret it. 

Now that they were both in their mid-40s, they rarely drank more than a glass of wine, beer or half of a cocktail at night. Wanda drank even less because she only really drank socially or if she was stressed, but those days were mostly behind her. She was more of a stress eater or tv-show binger these days, and you still couldn’t hold your liquor. She’s also made you stop smoking for fun except on very rare occasions like your birthday or vacation. Now, you only did it for your chronic pain if your medication wasn’t enough to control a flare up. 

“Whatever I say to that can be taken the wrong way, so I’m going to just say that Pietro better behave.” 

Wanda laughs at your response before she turns the camera back around so you can see her for what she says next. She’d put more thought into it, and she is a little worried about how Natalya is doing at school. She has near perfect grades and all of her teachers love her, but her questions this morning concerned her a bit. She’d always wanted her daughter to be happy and do well in school. She didn’t need straight A’s, she just wanted her to try her hardest, and she saw everyday how much time she spent working. Even if she didn’t do well on something, Wanda wouldn’t get mad. 

She wonders if maybe she should have pushed for Natalya to hang out with her friends more when she was younger. She was always worried about kids coming over to the house because with kids came their parents, and when they saw how large and isolated their house was it usually led to questions she didn’t want to answer. It was difficult to believe that a veterinarian’s salary alone could pay for the house and the large property that it sat on. 

For this reason, most play dates happened at other friends’ houses, and those were pretty few and far between. She’s asked Natalya about it sometimes and she’d given her an answer that she struggled to come to terms with. 

“So Natalya asked me something on the way to school today that I wanted to run by you."

Immediately, you catch onto the change in your wife’s tone, and you’re sitting up straighter as you give her your full attention. 

“What did she ask?” 

Wanda summarizes the conversation she had not too long ago with Natalya as she finishes shopping. She makes it to the check-out counter before she finishes, and she greets the cashier while waiting for your response. She knows that you are a little worried about how self-isolating Natalya is, but given that your daughter doesn’t seem to mind and is still able to get along well with the friends she does have, you hadn’t been overly concerned. Hearing that she might be hinting at being lonely makes you frown and consider your options. 

You know Wanda doesn’t like people over at the house, and you’re honestly a little anxious about it as well. You just can’t help but think about the many, many guns that are still locked up in the basement and have been for over a decade. You and Wanda had talked about moving them at some point, but you always got side-tracked or never really came to a decision about it. You knew that the rest of your family still had guns in their houses, and you wouldn’t be surprised to know that they had them stashed around the house like you did before Natalya came along. Maybe you could give them all to your brother-in-law. 

Other than the many weapons that were safely locked away, the house was huge and very secure. In the past, you’d used the two guard dogs you have at home as excuses to not have kids over, but really you just feared that someone would be too curious and look into the house and as a result find out about Wanda’s past. 

She’s been a law-abiding citizen for nearly 15 years, and she’d cut ties with the mob completely. You’d only learned about what really happened when Natalya was 3, and the fact that Wanda had just handed it over to someone else was baffling to you. Her life’s work and she traded it all away for a comparatively boring domestic life. At the time you’d wondered if your wife ever regretted it, but so far she hadn’t given you any indication that she did. She loved being there for Natalya, and she loved not having to stress about her house getting shot up. No one had approached her or even mentioned her previous life for years, and Wanda liked it that way. She liked to focus on the present and appreciate the life she had always dreamt of having. 

Wanda’s back at the car and you still haven’t responded. She looks at her phone to make sure she’s still on with you before she frowns slightly at the sight of the ceiling. You’d disappeared and Wanda doesn’t hear anything other than Boone licking his paws as she starts her car. 

“Y/n, you still there?” 

You take a deep breath before you’re nodding despite the fact that your wife can’t see you. Sitting up carefully you cringe before you grab the phone again to see that Wanda’s in her car. You open your mouth to apologize, but your wife knows all too well what’s going on. 

“Yeah, sorry. I think maybe we start simple. Ask if she wants to have some friends over or to go out next weekend. Go from there.”

Wanda nods in agreement but her attention’s shifted to you and she frowns as she shoots you a questioning look. 

“Is it bothering you again?” 

You sigh in defeat, but you can’t help but smile at the fact that you still seem to think that you can hide something from your wife after all of these years. You’d think that your many failed attempts would be enough to get you to stop trying. You nod before claiming that it’s fine and it’s no worse than usual which luckily is true. 

“Just the usual amount. I’m about due for my meds again is all.” 

Just shy of 16 years ago, you’d been injured in a man’s poorly executed scheme to steal your wife. Despite healing and being able to take comfort in the fact that those involved were dead, you still weren’t free from the consequences of that day. A couple of years after healing completely, you’d started to experience a tingling sensation around the scar and throughout your abdomen where you’d been shot. It was only every month or so that it would almost tickle oddly for a few minutes before ceasing. Eventually it became more of a pins and needles type feeling that came more frequently and persisted for longer periods of time. It didn’t become debilitating until a few years ago. One day you’d been playing with Natalya and the dogs in the backyard, and an electric shock-like sensation shot through your side and sent you to your knees. 

Nat had been so worried she’d started crying, and that alerted your wife and her brother who had been visiting at the time that something was off. Wanda had taken you to the hospital immediately where you’d just been told that this is something that can happen down the road. It had been news to you because dogs and cats couldn’t complain about previous trauma affecting them years down the line. You’d been put on a pain medication and an antidepressant. You hadn’t liked the idea of being on drugs like this, but you also didn’t want to experience this type of pain again, or scare your family. 

Now that you’re on your medications regularly, you only had a few episodes of pain that made you reach for medical marijuana. You did your best to stay healthy and exercise regularly so you can improve your chances of decreasing these episodes. They mostly happened at night, right after you go to sleep or right before waking up, and you’ve learned that you just have to get up and smoke. You won’t be able to go back to sleep without it, and you hate to wake up your wife with your tossing and turning. 

“Take your meds, detka, and then have fun at the rest of this conference because I’m not letting you go to another any time soon.” 

You’re grateful for the distraction from your tingly skin at Wanda’s joke. At least you think it’s a joke. Since you’d become the managing vet at your practice you’ve been working longer hours. You split your time so you’re no longer working just with clients and seeing appointments. About 25% of your time is working on management stuff, and as much as you don’t like it, you’re making a lot more money. Not that you need any. 

Wanda may have left her old job behind, but most of the money she’d made, she’d kept and moved it around enough so it wouldn’t raise suspicions at any bank. You didn’t understand it, but since the rest of your friends had done the same, you’d just let them handle it. You know you have more money than you’ll need, and Natalya should be able to have everything she needs and then some. You don’t want her to grow up spoiled, but you also don’t want her to feel like she can’t ask for something. 

“Will do, Wands. I promise to spend all weekend with you and Nat. I’ve missed you both.” 

Wanda is driving home when you say this, but she steals a glance at you as she comes to a stop at a light. She’s missed you too and as much as she hopes you had fun and learned a lot on your trip, she hates it when you leave. She’s spent every night with you for years, and having to go to an empty bed at the end of the day was no fun. Sometimes she lets Rogue sleep on your side on a large blanket just so she doesn’t feel so alone. She’ll be glad to have you back.

“We’ve missed you too. I’m going to let you go rest before lunch is over, and I’ll let you know what Nat says tonight, okay?” 

It’s 12:40 here and you realize you only have half an hour before you have to go back downstairs. For now, you stand up so you can find your meds before you try to sleep for the rest of lunch. Boone will have to go out before you leave, but you’ll worry about that later. You smile at your wife before offering her a little wave. 

“Sounds good. I’ll talk to you later. Love you.” 

“Love you too. And you Boone!” 

When Wanda arrives home a little later, she puts her purse and the groceries down on the counter with a sigh before she wanders up to the bedroom. She greets Rogue and her old, lazy cat along the way before she heads into the bathroom with a sigh. She walks over to the small safe that was hidden in the vanity and opens it quickly. Both you and Wanda agreed that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep a gun nearby just in case. You hadn’t experienced any issues and hadn’t needed it at all, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Since the safe was already nearby, you decided to put your marijuana from the medical dispensary in here. You didn’t want it just sitting out for anyone to find, and you kept it in the safe for whenever you needed it. 

Wanda frowns slightly when she picks up the jar and sees that it’s not as full as when she last checked. She makes a note to call in a refill soon as she puts the jar back and shuts the safe. She has a few things she needs to get done today, including cleaning all of the dog hair that’s managed to evade the Roomba. She stops short of leaving the bedroom when she sees one of the pictures that sits on the dresser. 

It's one she hides behind the other two because she was embarrassed by it when her brother had first taken it. They had all been at the beach when Natalya was 5-years-old, and you and Wanda had spent the day chasing after your overenthusiastic and hyperactive daughter. She’d wanted to do everything at once and she was not willing to slow down at all. You’d joked about putting her on a leash, but after Little Nat had tuckered out mid-swim you and Wanda had collapsed too. You’d fallen asleep under the tent with your daughter between you and Wanda and you woke up an hour later to the sound of someone calling your name. You’d seen Pietro with his phone and after stealing it and finding the cute pictures, you’d sent one of them to yourself so you could frame it. You had given it to Wanda for Mother’s Day and despite hating how she looked in it, she loved seeing how peacefully you and Natalya slept. 

Wanda frowns as she leaves the room and thinks back to Natalya’s questions this morning. She wasn’t sure if she was just reading too deeply into things because she’s been guilty of that before, but she hopes that her daughter knows she can come to her if she needs help.

Natalya was leaving her least favorite class when her phone vibrated from her jacket pocket. She figures she knows who it is, and she decides to wait until she washes her hands and heats up her lunch to text back. 

She only has a single class with her friends, but most days she has lunch with them in their science class, the library or outside if it wasn’t too hot. Natalya leans against the counter as her food spins in the microwave and reads the text from her friend Taylor. Usually she hates group texts, but her friends know this and don’t expect her to text back unless it’s an emergency. She has her read setting on and she puts her phone back in her pocket without responding. 

We’re outside on the hill. Blame Luke.

Luke was the only guy in her friend group, and she’d actually met him first a couple of years ago in science class. They’d been paired for a project and despite hating the assignment, they’d gotten along well and Luke had introduced her to his other friends, Taylor and Alyssa. Nat had been and still was pretty sure that he liked them both, but she never felt comfortable asking, and it didn’t really matter in the end. She didn’t feel like a third or fourth wheel with them, and they always made her feel included when they sensed her spacing out. She hadn’t hung out with them outside of school for a while and she was considering asking them to do something soon as she walks through the cafeteria toward the doors that lead to the hill. 

“Whoops.” 

Nat hears the sarcastic voice before someone bumps into her and makes her food splash out of the Tupperware and onto her hand. She hisses in pain and nearly drops it as she tries to set it down quickly and wipe off her hand. She turns to look over her shoulder at the group of girls laughing at her as they continue on as if nothing happened. Nat scowls at them before she covers her food ad runs to the bathroom to wash off her spilled lunch. 

She’s not sure how she’d managed to catch the attention of this particular group of mean girls, but it had started a few months ago. Stacy was the ringleader and honestly the dumbest person Natalya had ever met. She attempted to overcompensate for her stupidity by wearing too much makeup and putting other girls down whenever possible. Her two closest friends Jocelyn and Lisa had jumped on the bandwagon with her, but they luckily didn’t harass her if they were alone. They mostly just kept up appearances around Stacy, and Nat almost felt bad for them. 

Natalya had thought about complaining to someone, but the blonde’s mother was the president of the PTA and her dad was probably one of the richest people in town. He was the CEO of some hot shot company that Stacy knew nothing about, but she didn’t care. Having rich parents and being as dense as a brick didn’t give her permission to be a jerk. 

“Hey! There you are.” 

“You know, I wonder why your moms got you a phone just to have you neglect it.” 

Natalya rolls her eyes as she drops her bag onto the grass next to her friends. She sighs as she carefully sits down and crosses her legs with a small smile. She looks to the trio that are already laid out comfortably and eating and she decides to address Luke’s comment first. 

“I don’t neglect it. I read Taylor’s text, didn’t I?” 

In all honesty, Natalya was surprised that her parents had gotten her a phone. She was notorious for losing things and after leaving her first one outside and not finding it again until it had rained two days later, her parents had bought her a waterproof case for it. She mostly texted her family, like her aunts or uncles, and these three, but her parents insisted she keep it on her at all times when she wasn’t home. They wanted to be able to reach her wherever she was, and there may or may not be a tracker in it because old habits die hard. 

Taylor’s the first one to sit up as the smell of Natalya’s lunch reaches her. She recognizes it immediately and she’s once again jealous of how the brunette gets a home-cooked meal more often than not. The one time she’d stayed at Nat’s house for a sleepover, her redheaded mom had cooked for them, and it was honestly the best meal she’d ever had. 

“Why do you always have such good lunches! You’re so lucky.” 

The other brunette creeps toward Nat to potentially get a bite when she notices something that steals her attention. 

“Wait, what happened? Did you burn your hand?” 

The back of Natalya’s right hand is red and looks painful. Nat shrugs her off but lets her grab it to inspect it more closely. Alyssa slides away from where she’d been sitting next to Luke to get a look and she cringes at the sight. The blonde wants to follow in her mom’s footsteps and become a doctor, so Natalya indulges her and lets her friend fuss over her for a minute. 

“Ow, did you trip or something?” 

It’s a fair question because they are well aware that she’s a klutz, but this time she just shakes her head before muttering something under her breath. She looks around to make sure the trio aren’t nearby before she explains what happened. Luke and Alyssa frown while Taylor looks like she wants to fight someone. Between the four of them, Taylor is the least afraid of confrontation, and she’d definitely been to detention more times than anyone else in their group. She would go find the trio and shove all of their heads in a toilet, but Nat didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. 

“My fan club accidentally spilled it on me as they fought over my autograph.” 

Taylor looks around next and she scowls as she shakes her head in annoyance. Her friend was a little too passive aggressive for her own good, and things were only getting worse with the trio. She shouldn’t have to deal with this every day. 

“They’re jerks, Nat, you should tell them off.”

Nat had tried to once, but it just ended up in her getting shoved to the ground by all three of them. She’d just watched them laugh as she brushed the dirt off of her clothes and tried to convince herself that they’d get bored. She didn’t want to get in trouble by resorting to violence, but sometimes she daydreamed about punching their sneers right off their faces. 

“I don’t want to get in trouble. Also, my mom will probably lose her shit if she finds out.” 

None of them needed clarification because despite having only met Nat’s parents a few times, it was obvious to them which mom was more of a worrywart. While you were silently concerned and seemed more chill on the surface, Wanda wasn’t as good at hiding her anxieties and often verbalized her concerns. It was a no brainer that she’d be furious if she found out that her daughter was getting bullied. 

“She would, but this can’t keep going on.” 

“Maybe we should beat them up after practice today.” 

Nat shakes her head quickly before she decides to change the subject because she’s getting a little self-conscious. She’ll deal with Stacy and her minions at some point, but for now she’s going to keep ignoring them. 

“No, no. Let’s not. I was going to ask if you wanted to come over soon though? We could have another sleepover?”

Natalya realized that her distraction had worked as soon as her friends start to plan what they’ll do when they come over. They loved walking around the woods with the dogs and hanging out in the den eating too much junk food. The last time she’d had them over, they’d had a movie marathon of kind of scary movies that her parents had approved. They had still freaked her out a little bit, but she hadn’t told them that. She wanted her mom to let her watch her favorite horror movie when she turned 13, but her redheaded mom still wasn’t on board. 

“We can have another mac and cheese fest. Your aunt seemed to like that.” 

The last time that they’d come over, you and Wanda had been busy so Yelena had come over to supervise. Despite their daughter being mature for her age, they knew she needed to be watched closely. Teens could too easily get in trouble if not held accountable, and they wouldn’t be good parents if no one was around to supervise them. When you two had come home to find the kitchen was a mess with 10 empty boxes of mac and cheese on the counters, you realized that maybe Yelena needed supervision as well. 

“Or we could cook with your mom again.” 

Nat can’t help but laugh at this as she rolls her eyes at the fact that she’s fairly certain her friend has a crush on her mom. It’s only a little horrifying, but she tries not to dwell on it most times. This is not one of those times though and she can’t help but find her friend’s blush amusing. 

“I think you like more than just my mom’s cooking, Taylor.” 

The brunette in question just coughs awkwardly before she just wordlessly grabs her fork so she can take a bite of Nat’s lunch. She decides that she’ll ask her moms about spending the night at Nat’s. They would probably say yes because it would give them a night with one less kid at home. Her brother was usually at a friend’s house and her sister liked to stay holed up in her room on the weekends. 

“No comment.” 

Wanda sighs heavily as she gets off the exercise bike that she’s been spacing out on for the past 40 minutes. She steps over Rogue carefully before she checks the time to make sure she’s still on schedule. She doesn’t have to pick up Natalya until 6:30 and dinner is ready to be put in the oven as soon as they get home. She decides to spend the next couple of hours finishing up her workout before relaxing outside for a while. She had a book she wanted to finish reading, but when she hears her phone beep nearby her this thought leaves her mind. 

Practice cancelled. Coach is sick. Gonna study with w/ T &A

Wanda frowns before she starts to type out a response. She wouldn’t mind getting to skip the rest of her workout, but if Nat wants to spend time with her friends, she’s not going to protest. 

Are you sure you don’t want me to pick you up?

Natalya and her friends are already settled in the library when her mom texts her back. They had been on their way to practice when they’d gotten a text from their coach to cancel practice for the day. Apparently, she’d had to go home for the day because she’d gotten food poisoning from whatever takeout she ate for lunch. Natalya is a little bummed because she’d been hoping to run around and burn some of the extra energy she had. Instead she’s going to work on her math homework so she doesn’t have to do it later tonight. She loved having nothing to do but relax when she went home. Relax and eat. 

Taylor and Alyssa were also on the softball team and didn’t have a ride until 6:30 either, so they’d all decided to hang out and study. The library was open for the kids who stayed after school until at least 6, and then afterwards people typically went to the hill to wait for their parents to pick them up. 

“I don’t get the second question. Do you?” 

Nat hears her phone vibrate when Alyssa asks this and she takes a few seconds to tell her mom that she’s fine waiting here before answering. They get most of their homework done because Luke’s not with them to be a distraction. He barely did his homework on time, and he was the type who could only focus on work if he was alone in his room with music blaring. He got too tempted to talk or people watch if he was anywhere else. 

“The library’s about to close. Do you want to keep studying outside?” 

Instead of studying, they end up chatting until their parents arrive to pick them up. They’d walked to the softball field where they were usually picked up and Nat stretched out of the sidewalk as she sighed heavily. She turns to look at her friends that just smile before Taylor reaches out to grab the phone that’s fallen from Nat’s pocket. 

“Let us know what your moms say about next weekend, okay?”

Natalya nods as she sits up at the sound of a car pulling up. It’s Taylor’s dentist mom and she and Alyssa both stand up to head out. As always though, Alyssa turns and speaks up for the trio as the passenger side window rolls down. 

“Do you want us to wait with you until your mom gets here?” 

Nat shakes her head but she stands up to hug her friends before going to greet Taylor’s mom. She smiles at the blonde before opening the back door so her friends can get in. 

“Hi Doc, how are you?” 

She’s always liked the blonde despite not enjoying her visits to the dentist. She was funny in a dry sort of way that reminded her of her moms, and she was laid back like her aunts. Nat always felt like she was someone she could go to if she had a problem but couldn’t tell any of her family. 

“Hi Nat, good to see you! Are you sure you don’t want us to wait with you?” 

Wanda’s pulling into the parking lot where she sees Natalya standing next to an unfamiliar car. She’s smiling as she chats with them and Wanda has to stop herself from freaking out. She knows her daughter’s smart and that she knows better than to talk to strangers, so she assumes this is one of her friend’s parents. This is confirmed when she drives by them and sees three familiar faces inside. 

“Hi Mama! See I said she would be here any minute.” 

Wanda gets out of her car and smiles as her daughter runs up to her and wraps her arms around her waist in a hug. She moves a little so she can wave at the woman she recognizes as one of Taylor’s moms. She shoots her a polite smile before they’re on their way home for the weekend. 

“Hi Kayley, thanks for watching this one for me.” 

After bidding them goodbye, Wanda can hear Kayley asking her daughter something that makes her laugh. She leads Natalya to her car, making sure that there’s nothing left on the sidewalk as she opens the door for her. 

“Why don’t you hug me like that, Taylor?” 

“Mom!” 

Natalya’s stomach growls as she gets into the car, and it’s so loud that her mom can hear it as she’s opening her door again. Wanda’s amazed by how much her daughter can put away and still be so small. She’s a lot like you, and you joke about her inheriting your hollow leg now that you’re older and can’t eat nearly as much without it showing. Natalya is young and energetic, and she’d eat 5 meals a day if she had the time. Instead, she eats breakfast and lunch and then comes home so hungry she eats two or three helping at dinner. Wanda’s already getting buckled and starting the car again to get them home when she hears confirmation that her daughter’s hungry. 

“Let’s get home so we can start dinner, shall we?” 

Natalya smiles before practically bouncing in her seat at the idea of getting to eat. She’d had most of her lunch, but some had spilled and she hadn’t gotten her usual snacks at practice, so she was famished. She’s already brainstorming possible dishes her mom’s made when the older Maximoff speaks up with a curious look. 

“Did you finish your lunch?” 

Wanda asks this because 99% of the time the answer is yes. Very occasionally Natalya will be busy during lunch and be too distracted to eat. She’d come home once or twice with most of her lunch still packed away and Wanda would have to remind her about the importance of eating throughout the day. You’d always add to this by telling her that food was really the only way you ever got through a school day. 

Natalya tells her about how she’d eaten all of her food as well as some of her friends’. She owed them some on Monday, but for now she was more concerned about dinner. She was about to ask what her mom had made when she hears a gasp that makes her frown in confusion. 

“What happened to your hand??” 

Natalya curses herself for not covering up her burn or even bothering to go to the nurse for that matter. She realizes her mom will be upset with her, and that she won’t get any dinner until she’s treated and wrapped her hand. It stung a little and hurt to touch, but she’d forgotten about it during her afternoon classes and then the nurse had already gone home. She decides to tell the truth because she’d learned very early on that she took after you when it came to her ability to lie. 

She wrings her hands nervously before she covers up her burn with a frown. 

“I spilled my lunch on it and forgot to go to the nurse.” 

Wanda frowns in response because damnit sometimes her daughter is too much like her. She never used to take care of herself and her friends or brother had to convince her to go to medical to get checked out after any sort of injury. It wasn’t until you came along that she started to do a little better because well you’d threatened her with a bad time, or took care of her yourself which was both unpleasant and slightly humiliating. 

When Wanda sighs Nat has to hold back her urge to shrink down in her seat in shame. She hates to upset her parents, and she knows that that they don’t like it when she doesn’t take care of herself. Like that one time she sprained her ankle during a game, but didn’t tell anyone until she was having difficulty running. She’d been lucky enough to have both parents present for the game, and they’d both chastised her before having Alyssa’s mom take a look at her. 

“You need to take better care of yourself, milaya. I’ll look at it when we get home, okay?” 

Nat just nods before she stares out the window for the next few minutes. She feels chastised and that familiar pressure in her chest makes her want to fix it immediately. Nat looks back to her mom when she speaks up a few minutes away from home. 

“How was the rest of your day?” 

Natalya’s first thought goes to Stacy at lunch and she frowns before shrugging as she starts to play with the hem of her shirt. She rambles nervously about the rest of her day and how it was fairly uneventful. She finished all of her homework and hopefully her coach’s food poisoning would be over by Monday. 

Wanda smiles as they arrive home to see that Rogue is sitting in the driveway waiting for them. She’d been nervous about letting the dogs outside while they weren’t home, but you’d set up an invisible barrier and Rogue was the only one who really left the decks upstairs. He mostly just lingered around the house or very occasionally walked to Nat and Yelena’s down the road. He was only let out during the day and you’d put tracking collars on them so they wouldn’t get lost.  

Seeing him stand up and wag his tail excitedly as she opened the garage made her feel even more love for her precious dog. Natalya waited impatiently for her to pull into the garage and park before she jumped out of the car and greeted her dog.

“Hi Rogue. How was your day bud?” 

The shepherd pants happily as his ears and neck are scratched. He shakes himself out sending hair flying and Nat cringes slightly at how it’s now covering her hand, specifically her burn. She tries to shake out her hand but she’s unsuccessful and unfortunately her mom doesn’t miss it. She grabs her daughter’s backpack before calling her to come inside. 

“Natalya, I’ll get dinner started then we’ll look at your hand.”

About 10 minutes later, Natalya’s sitting at the dining room table with her mom and an assortment of first aid supplies. Wanda had given the brunette a Tylenol before setting up everything she needed to clean and dress her wound. Wanda’s frowning as she takes her daughter’s hand and tilts it slightly to get a better look of the burn. 

“This looks like it hurts. Hopefully covering it will help it heal faster.” 

Wanda works in silence and Nat tries to distract herself from the stinging as her hand is cleaned meticulously before it’s slathered in ointment. Eventually Nat starts to get bothered by it so she speaks up to keep her mind off of it. 

“I know, Mom will be back tomorrow, so it doesn’t have to be this weekend, but would it be okay to have my friends over soon for a sleepover?” 

Wanda smiles immediately at the idea of this and she secretly wonders how Natalya just happened to ask this today after the conversation she’d had with you earlier. Either way, she’d be glad to host Natalya’s friends, they were both very polite and treated her daughter well. She couldn’t really ask for more than that. 

“Of course. We’d be happy to have Taylor and Alyssa over.” 

This makes Nat frown slightly as she realizes she needed to be more specific. The last time she’d had a sleepover they’d invited Luke as well. Her parents hadn’t known about it until he arrived and Yelena had called to tell them. Wanda had been freaked out and you’d wondered if Nat had been intentionally vague when mentioning her friends. This had led to a slightly uncomfortable conversation about the nature of Natalya’s relationships with all of her friends, and she’d certainly learned something new. When asked if Nat liked Luke, she’d simply shaken her head and told her that she was the only one without feelings. 

“I think he likes Taylor or Alyssa. Or both. I think they like him too. It’s kind of confusing” 

Wanda certainly was a little confused by this and she’d paid extra close attention to how they all acted together when they were at her house. She couldn’t tell from watching them because they all got along so well and no one really was extra clingy in a way that would suggest deeper feelings. 

Still, Wanda doesn’t mind having Luke over, but until she’s told otherwise, she’s going to still insist that he sleeps in a different room. 

“Luke too?” 

Wanda nods as she starts to wrap Natalya’s hand first with gauze and then with the compressive wrap. 

“Yes, but the same rules apply.” 

Natalya just nods at this because last time Luke had slept in one of the guest rooms with Boone sitting at the door. The dogs didn’t mind visitors and since meeting the trio they even come up to greet them like they would for anyone else they knew. Luke liked the dogs the best, but Wanda remembers seeing both girls cuddling with a shepherd on the couch during one of their movie marathons. 

“Okay, Mama. Thank you.”

Masterlist

[peddlestox-shinyrocks]

A Promising Start

(i'm not sorry about title i'm tired of seeing this in my wips dt spoilers, enjoy)

She was no stranger to the dangers on the road.

She was a traveling merchant and a lalafell besides. If it wasn't bandits and mercenaries or tempered men to take her to a primal, then it was the fauna and flora seeing something small and easy to eat.

While she was more than aware of the dangers, there wasn't anything she took with her for defense. True, if possible she never traveled alone, always with a caravan headed her way, and she did make it a point that someone would know where she was going and how long she would be gone roughly, but she had no knife on her, no gun. Nothing more than tools, which did include hammers and mallets, but not a weapon proper.

And for the most part, that was fine. She had her trusty 'bo Lapis, a rather fiery pink bird who did not tolerate anyone threatening her. She could run (let her small stature and legs not belie how fast). And now she had a magic brush she could fling paint in the face with.

She doesn't think it assuaged anyone's fears, but it was enough for her.

Until... it wasn't.

She's not quite sure how it happened. One moment she was on her way home and the next, she hears a wark and before she knows it she's up in the air - being carried - and Stix and Lapis were left behind.

Its not until she's thrown unceremoniously to the ground that she gets a good look past the colorful blur of Kozama'uka. Because the colors are all blot out and gone, replaced with browns and grey.

Several things come to Kwas:

First, she's alive. A horrible thought to have, but it means they want her alive.

Second, she's in a cave. Some sort of hideout.

Three, her chocobo wasn't with her, and neither were the parcels and valuables on the chocobo.

Which reinforces point one with four, they wanted her specifically and she needs to be alive to accomplish... whatevers.

She huffs, not happy to be gobnapped.

"Are y'sure this is wise boss?"

She looks up and sees... oh... him. She remembers when she saw him... moons ago? When the trials were still going. She was afraid then, though not as much as she could have been. After all she wasn't alone. She was being watched. And they put a stop to everything before anything could have been done. Now though...

Now Kwas looks at Wawkesa a mixture of fear and anger going through her. "O' course," the pink haired man answered. "They're just a person from across the salt with a moblin mask. Nothin' to be scared o'."

"I am curious though... what lies beyond the mask..." With no finesse he ripped it off of her. "Kind of'a cute thing if you're into Pelu Pelu. If no one comes for her... there are... other ways to make her useful."

Oh how she wants her paint brush... She must've dropped it in the struggle.

"What do you say, sweet thing?" Well since she doesn't have the filter in the way... she spits in his face, not unlike the alpacas here. He wipes the spit away. She's not sure where she got the bravery from... except maybe her anger at having lost her mask. "Don' test me, sweet thing." But he backs away and he takes the gobbie mask with him.

For the most part she's left alone after that, with the only other time she was approached was to be tied up. She didn't bother to struggle. One threat of a dagger to her neck was enough for compliance.

From the light coming through the cave she knows its now night. Too soon she believes for someone to have notice her missing. The moblins would not worry until after the next day, and what friends she has would not be visiting Tural any time soon. Worse, the ones that know she is missing would be her wind-up gobbie Stix and Lapis... who for all she knows...

It's enough to make her cry and curl in on herself. She hears laughter from the other side of the cave, perhaps at her, perhaps not, but it makes her cry a bit more. She's reminded of the time her parents did this - holed her up awaiting the next step. She feels as useless and hopeless now as she was then. Perhaps more so as she can't think of a way to escape.

It's with those thoughts churning in her head she falls asleep.

She's not sure how long she was asleep, but the horrid dreams wake her to a quiet cave. It's dark, no fire light or moonlight, but to her knowledge no one else is awake. True she's tied up to where she couldn't walk off, but it seems odd to her that no one is on watch.

Kwas frowns and wonders if she could use this to her advantage. She tests the ropes on her wrists first. Very tight and behind her. Then the ones on her ankles. Not as tight, but she can't wiggle out and she doesn't think she can bend enough... no she can't. Too difficult to raise her legs or lower her head.

...But she could inches. She looks around the room. No one is awake. A few are asleep in bed rolls or against the cave wall...

Kwawasei shifts so she's on her knees to.. not quite crawl. She has to hold her upper half awkwardly but she can sort of shuffle her knees and move.

It's slow going. Not just because of how little she's able to move but also because she's trying to be quiet. It feels like bells, and she's tired and scared and looking over her shoulder, but she makes it outside to fresh air.

Now what?

She could keep going, needs to, does. But it's not safe. Predators, animal ones, are still awake, and she's vulnerable. She doesn't have her bearings, but even so she knows the nearest camp or settlement or smallstop is very far when she can't walk.

She feels the hopelessness come back but shuffles onward, wishing all the while she wasn't wearing bright pink. She still tries to hide behind bushes, just incase someone or something is hunting her. Maybe it will help? It makes so much noise though...

She isn't sure how long and far she's been going. As ilm-y as she has been going it couldn't have been too long. Her heart still sinks when she hears the pounding of footsteps. And she's not all surprised when she's plucked up off the ground.

But there's no taunting. No horrible nickname she never wants to hear again. And when she looks, even in the dead of night, there is pink. A familiar fuzzy pink.

"Did you find her?" And a muffled wark answers above her. Lapis! And he got help! And then she recognizes the voice as Koana comes from around a corner. She doesn't have time to think much else as her bo practically shoves her into the hhetsarro's, mystel's, miqo’te's - whatever's! - arms. The Vow of Reason only takes a moment to catch his breath before untying her, and she takes her time rubbing feeling into her once bound limbs.

The silence between them was awkward. At least on her end, it was. This was the first time he'd seen her without the mask. She knows she's strange, even without it. She couldn't bring herself to look at him and attempt to read his thoughts. There's not even a moment to themselves before:

"Spread out, an' find 'er!"

Kwawasei cringes, panicking. She can't go back there. She doesn't even know, doesn't even want to know, what they will do to her, with her. She is smart enough to know it would not be kind, isn't naive enough to think she'd be a mere captive and nothing else.

Kwas comes out of her spiraling thoughts with this:

A low wark from Lapis that sounds akin to a growl, her chocobo fluffed up and posturing as if he will kick and claw with his talons, the metalic click of a gun that leaves her cold and breathless, even with an arm gently pulling her close to a warm body and -

"I dare you to come any closer."

Oh, she thinks. They found them. Oh, she remembers. Koana has a gun, not them. Oh, she breathes, as despite the shock and fear she's warm... and ultimately safe.

"Y'can't take on all o' us."

"I faced down Valigarmanda and the previous Dawnservant as apart of the trial. You will be nothing by comparison." He sounds less like the Vow of Reason and more the one of Resolve. Not unlike how he sounded when they went to rescue his sister...

She doesn't look up from his shoulder. Too afraid at what she'd see. The quiet seriousness of it all was telling though, she thinks. She never met the man's father and she knows nothing of this Valigarmanda but it has to be impressive that they haven't said a word and done as he says.

Either way, he picks her up as he stands, slowly, and practically stalks towards her vibrant bird. He sets her down on the saddle and out of the corner of her eye she sees them staring, dumbfounded. The man in front of her keeps his gun pointed in their direction all the while, finger on the trigger as he grabs the bird's reigns and leads them away.

He does not put his gun down nor keep his eye off of them until they are well out of sight.

Its only when she sees the small village of Many Fires does she break the tense silence with "...Not Earthenshire?"

He falters slightly, ears flattening she notes, before looking at her. "Forgive me but I... would feel better with having you in Tuliyolal for now. If... you do not mind." She thinks about it for not even a breath. She'd feel better in the LongStop herself...

The rest of the way was made in silence and Kwas was thankful when they made it to the city there were few people to see them due to the bell. What few there were she kept her face down and prayed her hair would hide her as they stabled Lapis (who seemed to not mind nor bother the alpacas) and walked towards For'ard Cabins.

Stix greeted her with happy flops as he runs over. And she can't help but hug him in relief, mindful she doesn't crush him and the parts that allow him to move.

"Will you be alright here until I have prepared a room for you?"

Kwawasei looks up at him, eyes wide. "Peddlestox no need!" she says on instinct. "ShortStay fine!"

"If you are sure..." She nods. "Then I will leave you to your rest," he says softly.

As he turns to leave she grabs the end of his coat, causing him to turn. She hopes her hair is hiding how thick her blush is (she's doubtful of that) without the mask. "Manythanks for quicksave..." she says softly before letting go.

"I was glad to help," he says just as soft before he bows and goes on his way.

i am so mad at this thing sat in drafts for forever finally got to a breakthrough wrote it down and then it had the AUDACITY to delete itself this should be on AO3 but screw it #done

[thoughtfullyrainynightmare]

Halloo! ive been reading ur blog and i love it sooo mucch 💌💌💌

can i request for angsty nozel with his wife? so she was a noble and had been busy dealing w her family bussiness. one day she came home late and finding nozel waiting for her. he thinks that shes neglecting her own family and there the argument began. and she accidentally said something sooo hurtful to him due her exhaustion. the ending is up to uuu!

thank you laaura, i hope u live a great life and good luck on your exams! 💟💟💟

Hiyaaa~! ^^

Thank youuu!! ^^ I'm glad to hear that you like my content T^T <3 Oh I love me some hurt-comfort from time to time, so most certainly ^^ You're very welcome, and thank you, I hope the very best for you too!

Pairing: Nozel x f!reader Genre: Hurt-comfort Fanfic type: Oneshot Length: ~1.2k Content/warnings: Wife/reader implies that Nozel would have done better marrying a "numbskull to boss around", reader is a bussiness woman right down to the bone, reader ends up apologizing and comforting Nozel, Nozel is maybe a teeny tiny bit ooc? maybe, hurt-comfort

You were a business woman. Or you considered yourself as one even if the self-given title was a bit misleading considering that you were of noble birth. But you didn’t want to be the kind of a typical noble woman. The text book Noble Lady who didn’t do as much as sit around and order servants around. And gossip.

Hated the gossiping types. Though of course some rumours could be useful in the business world, but that was another thing than maliciously speaking out rumours in order to just make another person’s life difficult. There was discussing events, perhaps even people, and then there was ‘discussing people’.

The latter you hated.

But you, you were someone who was determined to make it in the working world, and had earned the position you held in your family business. You had earned it. Worked for it. And you were going to succeed in it. For your family, your husband, but first and foremost, for yourself.

Actually, you had been a bit surprised to learn that Nozel had harboured feelings for you back in the day, because you had thought that he would have wanted a ‘typical noble wife’ for himself. But instead, he had fallen for you.

He had called you capable, strong, kind and caring; he had called you as someone he would be proud to call a wife and carry the Silva name. These were separated instances of course, but nowadays those discussions linked together in your mind. They made you smile, on most days, because you felt like he understood you.

He was a working man, after all. He was a busy person, too. And so he should understand you, if you were late, and caught up in endless meeting and paperwork. Because he was caught in it too. Which sometimes made married life difficult, but you made it work. You made it work because you loved each other, and cherished the moments you had together even more.

That… was what you expected to come to when you came come that evening.

Not him, standing there with crossed arms in his silk pyjamas and a robe.

“You’re late,” he only said.

“I know, I know, I had a meeting and it went on and on, you know how it’s like. When people can’t get things done and you’re stuck in a circle,” you told him while taking off your outer clothes.

“You’re working even longer than I am these days,” he continued, going somewhere, but not saying it straight.

“I’ll make time for us when I can, I promise.”

He sighed with a frown, which told you about his growing irritation, which in turn made your brows furrow.

“Honey… I’ll try to-“

“You’re not trying enough,” he spoke on top of you making your eyes shoot wide open.

“Ex..cuse me?” You asked, wanting to think that you had heard wrong.

“You’re not making us, our family, the Silvas, into a priority. Instead you value your previous life higher and spend more time with them than here.”

“Of course I spend time with them!” You argued. “Because it’s a part of the business! It’s like telling you that you can’t spend so much time with the knights!”

“I am spending less time with the knights! Because I am here waiting for you!”

“I didn’t ask for it!”

“That’s what married couples are supposed to do! Want to be with each other.”

“Be stuck at home you mean?!”

“I want to see you when I get out of work!”

“Well maybe you should have married a good-for-nothing numbskull that you can boss and show around then.” And that… that was when you heard what you had just said.

You heard it, and… worst of all, you saw it. You saw it in his eyes, the way his eyes widened this time, and how he was biting his molars together to keep himself from saying anything else. To hold his tongue.

His eyes turned to the side, which his posture followed as he turned away to make his way to the window.

It had been a topic of a conversation back, way back, when you had started dating. That he didn’t want someone who’d idly follow his wishes, but would instead be someone who had a mind of her own, who could stand by him. It had been important to him. Because he knew that he could be quite adamant, stern, cold even, and he wanted his wife to be someone who could be there to support him as he tried to unlearn the traits he had picked up while growing up.

And now you were telling him that he didn’t deserve such support. That only someone who would mindlessly follow anyone for the sake of a title would be the only kind of a person, who’d want to be with him. That anyone strong, would look at him and conclude that he was too much work, a rotten piece of work. Damaged goods.

You, essentially, told him that he was unlovable. 

“Nozel I…” you started, taking a few steps closer to him.

“Don’t…” he said but didn’t turn around to look at you. Instead he just looked out of the window into the night.

“I didn’t mean that…”

“It’s fine.”

He wasn’t fine, you knew as much.

“Look I…” you made your way to him and wrapped your arms around his middle, placing your head onto his shoulder. “It’s amazing that you want to see me at the end of the day. I want to see you too, but it’s… I wouldn’t ask you to quit being a knight.”

“I’m not asking you to quit,” he replied with something that was almost a huff. “Just cut back on the hours. Be more present here. Be a family.”

He had a point. Because you were building a new family with him. But it wasn’t as simple as just being an entirely separate family from what you had. You didn’t want that, to just cut out everything from your past. You wanted to have bits from both families.

“I want to have a family with you too, to be a family, but my family is also a part of it. I can devote more or my time to us, but you need to devote more of your time too then.” It sounded like a business deal, but you thought it to be a fair one. Because the common wish for you both was to spend more time together. This would be the way to do it.

There was a pause lingering in the air, for a few seconds, until he finally spoke up.

“Alright. Deal,” there was a hint of a smile in his tone, just a hint. But you’d take it. You’d take that sense of consolation, of acceptance and forgiveness; the tone of moving forward.

But the real consolation came from how he placed his hand on top of yours, and how he sank into the embrace.

You’d make it. Together. In this life.

[dipplinduo]

How would you rank the gens?

Ope I feel like I'm gonna upset some people LOL so disclaimer remember these are just my takes.

But this is how I personally see them (counting remakes as being part of the gen they remaking):

Gen 9 - Paldea Region

I've been thinking about this since the games came out, so I'd like to say recency bias isn't as much of a factor here. Bugs aside, I genuinely, genuinely love the storytelling, characterizations, and open world approach. FRIENDS THAT FEEL LIKE ACTUAL FRIENDS?? HAVING THE LEGENDARY WITH YOU THE WHOLE TIME, AND IT TOO HAS A PERSONALITY & BACKSTORY??? THREE SEPERATE STORYLINES THAT CONNECT TO A CANONICALLY DEAD PROFESSOR AND AN "EVIL AI" FINAL BOSS??? Like omg. I was amazed. I honestly usually dislike the "gimmicks" each generation brings, but terastilization caught my interest and I have a strong feeling nothing will personally top it as a gimmick for me. The DLCs really sent it all home for me for the #1 spot, like oh my god LOL. Past DLCs always just felt like something extra, but I literally cannot see this game as being complete without Kieran, Carmine & the rest of Kitakami/Blueberry peeps & their storylines. My interest in the games only grew because of all of it - and that's a massive compliment given the fact of how hard it is to accomplish such a level of monumental significance with only a few hours of gameplay. I've yet to replay the game with earlier access to The Teal Mask, but I feel like this would make it even more immersive. Just pure chef kisses here.

Gen 2 - Johto Region

A very close second. Heartgold/Soulsilver is the most elite remake in existence and idc if it's old school, I'll die on this hill. Johto is just so full of life - the continuation story is amazing, the immersion into culture and legendary stuff??? Mwah. Silver is an excellent rival, RED being a thing (the ultimate level of iconicism), and the double region will always hit. The soundtracks HIT and my god hearing them remastered iS INCREDIBLE. I even get obsessed with the pokeathlon dome and I'm usually not someone who gets into that kind of stuff. But THEY MADE IT FUN. And I love all the cute activities you can do with your team that can follow you around. So glad they brought this feature back. :')

Gen 5 - Unova Region

Oooooh I loved the reset of Gen 5. It's based on where I'm from and there were so many refreshing aspects of Black & White. From the new pokemon, to the NYC culture, to N & the whole beautiful storytelling there, and a sequel that somehow made everything even MORE polished. I literally remember referring to this region as the "Isshu Region" before the English names dropped becuase of the hype LOL. 10/10, cannot wait for these remakes. Gamefreak don't mess this up.

Gen 4 - Sinnoh Region

Oh, Gen 4. You hit good. The lowkey dreary vibes of Sinnoh is very nostalgic to me, and Piplup is one of my best buddies. Cynthia being the very first female Champion, and being as fearsome as she is, was such a big deal to me. Definetely Barbie'd her a bit in my mind because I look a like her and loved how much of an academic she was (but I def do not have her length in hair, lmao). Soundtracks are fire, of course. The way legendaries were integrated in the story without going too Dragonball Z was IMMACULATE, and the lake trio will always be my fave lil buddies. The only con I'd give this gen is that I disliked the HM reliance & D/P are practically unplayable to me since Platinum exists. I had low bars for the remake once I heard it wasn't Platinum, and ugh, they really dropped the ball. HOWEVER: while it isn't main line, I fucking love Legends: Arceus and would rather have that over an excellent remake, tbh.

Gen 1 - Kanto Region

This is another nostalgia one for me because of the fact that I quite literally was introduced to pokemon since before I can recall most memories (this is what happens when you have an older sibling with a gameboy, lol). It's probably tied with Gen 4, tbh. Firered wasn't my first game, but it hit really good because I "played" so much of R/B/Y. I know Gen 1 has its faults, and it's often seen as being pretty bare bones in comparison to other generations. And while I completely agree, god damn, what a good foundation for a franchise. Every town had a personality to it and is very memorable to me. The soundtracks are FIRE. Smaller pokedex, but damn does team building hit (and the starters are elite). Blue was also consistently my favorite rival until Kieran, lol. #oldrivalshipping/conflictingshipping was the original OTP xD

Gen 7 - Alola Region

So there's a lot of things I liked about Gen 7. It took a really big risk by breaking the formula, and it really immersed me into the Hawaiian culture & seeing your pokemon more as friends. I loved looking at pokemon in a different way and some of the pokemon introduced in this region are among my favorites (e.g. Ribombee, Bewear, Shiinotic, Mimikyu, Rockaruff, to name a few; starters also HIT). NEBBY AND LILLIE ARE ELITE. The professor is so lit, and Team Skull is the funniest team organization alive. AND YES, GET RID OF THE HMS. I honestly think a remake would make this gen jump up a bit more for me - the 3DS could barely handle this game, and it was showing. The facial expressions also need some work LOL, and I honestly dread the tutorial of the game. I like the ultrabeasts conceptually, but the execution of their involvement in the game is very DragonBall Z-ified. Ultra Necrozma lowkey would've been an amazing time for a "light" type even if it didn't make much sense, but hey, it was an awesome nuzlocke-killing moment anyway. xD

Gen 8 - Galar Region

I actually have a lot of play time for this gen. I was very obsessed with it when it came out, and could probably get glued to it all the same nowadays. But in hindsight, I realize a lot of my attachment to it was because of the semi-open worldness & ability to create a lot of different kinds of teams with a lot of new and old pokemon I like (I also liked having access to things earlier, like Ice Types before the end of the game lmfao). I still have a few things I really enjoy outside of it, though, like Hop's storyline & the setup of the gyms being in this stadium, sports-esque setting. But the plot? Eh. I have a lot of constructive criticism on how some shortcuts were made, and especially with the whole darkest day stuff lol. The only thing I liked about that fight was the dogs coming in and being cool; I wasn't impressed by or interest in Eternatus at all. The Leon fight afterward was fun, though! But oof, those weird men with the sword and shield hair afterwards were also just...no. :D DLCs also didn't quite hit that hard - it was more about having more pokemon than anything for me. So overall, it's fun to play, but I'd definitely change up the plot to make it better.

Gen 3 - Hoenn Region

This is where I think some people might wanna fight me, and to that I say you're probably valid. I don't know what it is with the Hoenn region because I actually don't have too many critiques about it (e.g., let's have less water routes); I just have never been able to get into it quite the same as I can others. I should honestly give it another shot, but I think I'd wanna do Emerald over Omega Ruby/Sapphire given the route they took everything with the remake lol. That's about all I have to say on this one since I never really connected with it as much!

Gen 6 - Kalos Region

This one feels like an especially hot take to have atm given where the pokemon community is in general LOL. Critical opinions ahead......Listen...no offense, but Gen 6 just ain't it for me at all. xD It's probably the one gen I actively dislike. The games felt way too easy with too much hand-holding/handouts, Team Flare & Diantha were a joke (and I'm not even a competitive player), and the whole group of friends felt more like an annoyance to me more than anything. They just weren't flushed out right. Neither was the plot. Like what was that plot. Outside of that, a lot of things just felt like "Look! Pokemon is in 3D now!!" over and over again because of how rushed the game was. So other than introducing fairy types & having pretty protagonists with some new clothing options, this gen is pretty forgettable to me. And that's a shame, because I like pokemon! I was one of those people who were curious on if we were gonna connect to Kalos for Gen 9, but I'd geniunely pick the DLCs we got any day of the week. I don't think Legends ZA will change much of my opinion on the mainline game, but given how much I loved Legends Arceus, I'm hoping it can be used to retcon & generate more interest/connection to the Kalos region in general.

Again, these are all just my personal opinions. I hope you all can enjoy pokemon in any way that feels good for you :) <3

[fetishfairytales2]

Ask Princess (Heather)

Ask Princess Heather: Cuckolding

Hey there, you perverted ladies and losers. It's time for one of my favorite types of posts; Ask Princess Heather. All you boss babes out there can send me your burning questions about how to properly emasculate and degrade the worthless man in your life and I’ll answer them! Today's question comes from a fellow queen who wants to introduce cuckolding into her relationship - probably because her loser boyfriend has a worthless little clitty. 

“Princess Heather, I’m not thrilled with my man in bed anymore. How do I ask him to agree to be a cuckold? How did you ask Sissy Brandi?”

Oh girl, I don’t ask Sissy Brandi anything, ever! I AM the one in charge here. My sissy, on the other hand, is nothing more than a pathetic, diaper-wearing excuse for a man. I don't need his permission for ANYTHING. In fact, I don't even care about his opinions unless they involve telling me how hot I look in my date night outfits - which, let's be honest, I already know I look hot. Telling Sissy Brandi that I was going to cuckold him just destroyed his sissy heart. God girl, it was so fun! 

Now this is just me, but when I did it, I was absolutely ruthless. I had him all tied up and helpless, and I teased and teased until those sissy marbles were bursting. The poor thing was begging for release, but I wasn't done with him yet. Right before I finally let him release his pathetic load, I dropped the bomb on him - he was about to be my little sissy cuckold. And just to really drive the humiliation home, I even made a list of all the alpha men in our lives that I would be sleeping with. And of course, I made him beg and plead for me to go through with it if he wanted any chance of shooting his loser load!

There was “Daddy Connor” of course, but you all know that story. And then there was Brandi's supposed "best friend" who was more than happy to trade their friendship for a night with me. And let's not forget my personal trainer, god he’s such a stud! Even when Brandi was still pretending to be a man, she was always jealous of Jerome's muscles and how much time he got to spend with me. Needless to say, I got in some extra "workouts” with him that week and Brandi got lots of extra protein. 

There you have it babes! Don't even bother trying to get a sissy’s opinion. They're clueless and too busy being pathetic to have a real one anyways. And as for their feelings? Who cares? They should only be focused on your pleasure and making sure you're taken care of. After all, they're nothing without you, am I right ladies? And if they dare to whine or cry, don't even waste your breath on explaining yourself. Just get them a fresh diaper, put on a sexy outfit, and find yourself a real man who knows how to please you. It’s not like they could ever compare to a real man anyway.