#or dogs when they give a big tired sigh after they lay down | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

hynzsn · 5 months ago

Text

💭 HOW THEY ACT WHEN THEY’RE NEEDY ★

☆ txt x male reader

-> OT5 x boyfriend!reader

꩜ .ᐟ fluff, headcanons

♡︎♡︎♡︎ likes, comments and reblogs are highly appreciated ♡︎♡︎♡︎

₊˚ ꒰ 𖦹﹕CHOI YEONJUN ꒱ ˚₊

— king of playful neediness. he’s not afraid to be direct.

— loves physical touch -> lots of clinging, cuddles, and demands for kisses

— sends you a barrage of pouty seflies when you’re not giving him attention

📱 -> from junnie 🧡: [4 photo attachments] baaabe, i miss you 🥺

— calls you to dramatically sigh into the phone

— shows up at your place unannounced with your favorite takeout

-> “feed me?” he asks with puppy dog eyes.

— can’t be away from you, not even for 5 seconds whenever he’s in your presence

-> you’re engrossed in a game, controller gripped tight, when you feel a shift on the couch. yeonjun drapes himself over your back, arms snaking around your waist. "babeee," he whines, voice muffled by your shirt. "pay attention to me." "jun, i’m in the middle of something," you chuckle, trying to focus on the screen. he nuzzles his face into your neck, placing a trail of kisses along your jaw. "something much more handsome is right here." you can't help but laugh, turning in his arms to meet his gaze. "you’re such a dork," you say, but the fondness in your voice is evident. "your dork," he corrects, pulling you in for a kiss. "now, where were we?"

— steals your hoodies and wears them around the dorm

— he’d call you during his break from practice, voice breathless and full of excitement as he recounts the choreography. but then he'd pause, a softer tone taking over -> "i miss you," he'd admit, a hint of vulnerability in his voice. "wish you were here to see this in person."

— sends you thirst traps at random times in the day

📱 -> from junnie 🧡: [50 photo attachments] oops, my hand slipped and i accidentally took 50 photos of my abs… thoughts?

— gets needier after performances, craving validation. calls you immediately after getting off stage -> “did you see that? was i cool? tell me i was cool."

— becomes surprisingly shy and flustered when overwhelmed with feelings -> mumbles into your shoulder, “you’re just... really fucking important to me, okay?"

— gets needier when he's feeling insecure about his skills. asks for your opinion on every little thing -> “does this hand movement look okay? should i change it?"

— expresses affection through nicknames and pet names. cycles through increasingly ridiculous terms of endearment -> “hey there, my little cutie snuggle muffin~" “what’s my sweet honey bunny doing tonight?” “my little sugary dumpling.”

— gets dramatically pouty when you have to leave. he will cling to your leg like his life depends on it -> “noooo, don't go! i’ll wither away without you!"

₊˚ ꒰ 𖦹﹕CHOI SOOBIN ꒱ ˚₊

— prone to quite neediness -> gives you those big sad eyes and lets his actions do all the talking

— craves your attention but doesn’t actually know how ask for it directly

— expects you to know what he wants by the way he looks at you

— loves quality time -> lots of movie nights, cooking disasters, and quiet evenings spent just enjoying each other’s company

— follows you around like a lost puppy

— bcomes unexpectedly clingy in public. he’ll hold your hand or links arms everywhere, even in crowded places -> “i might get lost without you.”

— sends you cute, slightly awkward texts throughout the day, hinting at his need for your presence.

📱 -> from soobie boobie 🤍: what are you up to? :) just thinking about you and wanted to say hi.

— backhug attacks when you’re doing chores. uses his height to his advantage when seeking attention. rests his chin on your head, back-hugging you -> “this is my new favorite position. don’t move."

— gets extra clingy when he’s stressed or tired

— unbeknownst to him, he pouts adorably whenever you try to get up in the morning -> pulls you back down to lay with him

-> “can’t we just stay in bed all day?” he mumbles into your neck before leaving little kisses. “five more minutes. please?”

— always wants to be the little spoon

— he’d call you late at night, voice low and soothing as he tells you about his day. he wouldn't explicitly ask you to stay on the line, but the way he lingers on your every word, the soft sighs that escape him, speak volumes.

₊˚ ꒰ 𖦹﹕CHOI BEOMGYU ꒱ ˚₊

— chaotic, and needy type -> becomes playful, extra loud and way too hyper

— has absolutely no chill when he wants attention

— spams your phone with increasingly ridiculous selfies until you respond

📱 -> from b-bear 🤎: day 37 of being ignored: i’ve befriended the dust bunnies under my bed. they understand me."

— spam calls you with dumb jokes until you pay attention to him

📱 -> from b-bear 🤎: ya! stop ignoring me and love meee!

📱 -> from b-bear 🤎: babe

📱 -> from b-bear 🤎: hey

📱 -> from b-bear 🤎: hey hey hey

📱 -> from b-bear 🤎: answer meee!! i’m bored :(

📱 -> from b-bear 🤎: wanna hear a joke?

📱 -> from b-bear 🤎: what do you call a fake noodle?

📱 -> from b-bear 🤎: an impasta!!!! hahaha

📱 -> from b-bear 🤎: come on that was funny

📱 -> from b-bear 🤎: fine, be that way.

📱 -> from b-bear 🤎: i miss youuuuu

📱 -> from b-bear 🤎: [photo attachment] dressed up for you today, loveee! bet you wanna come over and smother me in kisses 👀

— starts play fighting with you out of nowhere

— steals your phone to make you chase him

— leaves a trail of clothes leading to the bedroom

— flops dramatically onto the bed or couch, “i’m dying of loneliness!”

— sends you memes at 3am

📱 -> from b-bear 🤎: u up?

📱 -> from b-bear 🤎: [6 photo attachments] found these in my camera roll. guess my fav?

— whines dramatically whenever you have to leave

— surprises you with impromptu dance performances

— becomes a human octopus when he's feeling clingy. wraps himself around you like a koala -> “i’m not letting go until you promise to love me forever!"

— invents elaborate schemes to spend time with you. shows up at your place in a trench coat -> “i’m a secret agent and you're my new partner. our mission? date night."

— gets extra bratty and playful when he's craving affection. will start a pillow fight out of nowhere -> “fight me, coward! the winner gets unlimited kisses!"

— sends you voice messages of him dramatically singing love songs

[03:00 AM] 📱 -> from b-bear 🤎: [audio note] *clicks play* “AND IIIIIIII WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOUUUU”

— becomes ridiculously competitive for your attention. challenges other members -> “bet i can make y/n laugh harder than you can!"

— uses his aegyo powers shamelessly when he's feeling needy -> pouts and bats his eyelashes: "pwease give beomie some wuv? 🥺👉👈"

— resorts to terrible puns and dad jokes to make you smile -> "are you a parking ticket? because you've got FINE written all over you! ...love me please."

— bombards you with random questions when he misses you -> "if you were a potato, what kind would you be? i think you'd be a sweet potato. because you're sweet. and i like you. a lot."

— instigates playful arguments just for the banter -> “fight me on this: cereal is a soup. i will die on this hill... unless you distract me with cuddles."

₊˚ ꒰ 𖦹﹕KANG TAEHYUN ꒱ ˚₊

— the tsundere of neediness… at least in his mind he is

— acts aloof at first but the second you pull away, he’s right back by your side, grumbling about how clingy you are

— loves acts of service -> surprise him with his favorite meal, or a back massage after a long day

📱 -> from taetae 💕: i’m not saying i miss you or anything… but what are you doing right now?

— casually invites himself over to your place

-> you’re sprawled out on the couch, watching a movie. taehyun’s got his arm draped casually over your shoulders, but you can feel the tension in his body. “you good, tae?” you ask, turning to face him. “hm? yeah, why?” he replies, eyes glued to the tv screen. “you seem… tense,” you observe, gently massaging his shoulder. he shrugs off your touch, though you notice the way his gaze flickers to your hand for a fleeting second. “i’m fine. focus on the movie.”

-> five minutes later, he’s the one snuggled into your side, head resting on your chest. “don’t get any ideas,” he mumbles, voice muffled by your shirt. “you’re just comfortable.”

— late at night is when his walls truly crumble. he’ll call you at ungodly hours just to talk, his voice husky with sleep and vulnerability. he might even confess his deepest fears and insecurities, things he'd never admit to in broad daylight.

— gets surprisingly really needy at night, particularly when in bed. he’ll wrap his arms around you tightly and pull you into his chest. “fucking missed you…” he’ll mumble, before pulling you in for a deep and needy kiss out of nowhere.

— he’d call you to complain about something trivial, like the long line at the coffee shop or the annoying song stuck in his head. but you can hear the underlying need in his voice, the way he draws out his words, as if trying to prolong the conversation.

— he’ll never admit it, but he secretly loves cuddling. however, he'll never initiate. instead, he'll strategically position himself closer and closer to you on the couch until you inevitably give in and let him snuggle up against you. then, he'll act like it was your idea all along -> “you looked cold," he'd mumble, burying his face in your neck. "don’t get any ideas."

— he’ll "accidentally" brush his hand against yours while you're walking side-by-side. he might even "trip" and "fall" into your lap, muttering a quick "clumsy me" as if it wasn't a calculated maneuver.

— he subconsciously mirrors your actions when he's feeling particularly needy. you take a sip of your drink? he’s suddenly parched. you lean back on the couch? he’s adjusting his position to be closer to you.

— he’ll tease you mercilessly when he's feeling insecure or needing reassurance -> “you sure you wanna go out looking like that? don’t want to blind anyone with your handsomeness." it’s his way of saying -> “you look amazing, and i’m lucky you're mine."

₊˚ ꒰ 𖦹﹕HUENING KAI ꒱ ˚₊

— adorable, and affectionate -> isn’t afraid to show his neediness. he’s a natural cuddler and loves showering you with love.

— gets extra touchy when he’s feeling needy -> always finding excuses to touch you, brush against you, or like your cheek -> “y/n, your hair looks messy. let me fix it for you~” he then proceeds to play with your hair for 20 minutes

— has a habit of “accidentally” leaving his stuff at your place so he has an excuse to come over -> “oh no, i forgot my favorite hoodie here again. guess i’ll have to stay the night, huh?”

— gets extra giggly and flustered

— loves giving and receiving gifts, so expect small, thoughtful presents that remind him of you.

-> "y/n! y/n! look what i got!" he exclaims, holding up a plushie that looks suspiciously like the one you won for him at a carnival a few weeks ago. "kai, that's adorable," you laugh, pulling him into a hug. "but what's the occasion?" "no occasion," he replies, burying his face in your neck. "just wanted to give you something because i love you." you melt at his words, returning his embrace with equal fervor. "you’re the sweetest," you murmur, pressing a kiss to his hair.

— expresses his neediness through random acts of service. shows up at your workplace with homemade lunch -> “i just happened to make too much food, so..."

— shows up at your workplace with homemade lunch: "I just happened to make too much food, so..."

— sends you the cutest, most random texts throughout the day, just to let you know he’s thinking of you.

— sends you cute animal videos

📱 -> from ningning 🤍: [video attachment] this made me think of you hehe >.<

— always wants to hold your hand or link arms

— gives you random little gifts and trinkets

— writes you silly love songs on his keyboard

— he’d call you during his gaming sessions, his excited shouts and giggles filling your ears. he’d narrate his every move, asking for your advice and celebrating his victories with you. "y/n, you're the best good luck charm!" he'd exclaim, his joy contagious. "i knew i could win with you listening."

— has a tendency to stress-cuddle when he's nervous about performances or big events -> "can we just stay like this for five more minutes? you’re my lucky charm."

— becomes extra needy around holidays or special occasions. starts planning elaborate dates weeks in advance -> "this valentine's day is gonna be epic, just you wait!"

— loves to sing for you when he's feeling especially affectionate. serenades you with cheesy love songs in public, complete with dramatic gestures

— gets flustered easily when caught being needy, often trying to cover it up with jokes -> "what? no, i didn't come all the way here just to see you. i... uh... really needed to borrow a... spoon?"

— has a secret folder of your photos and messages that he looks at when he misses you. accidentally revealed this during a vlive -> “ah, shit- i mean, shoot! you weren't supposed to see that!"

— becomes extra playful and mischievous when craving attention. starts a silly dance battle in the middle of your living room -> “bet you can't beat my aegyo moves!"

— gets a bit jealous when you pay attention to others, but tries to play it cool. usually pouts and mumbles -> “I mean, i guess yeonjun-hyung's jokes are funnier than mine..."

691 notes · View notes

pablitogavii · 7 months ago

Note

Please new story 🙏🏻

Ojos de su papá

For those that loved dad!Gavi <3

You've had one of the most trying days at the clinic where you work as a doctor so you couldn't wait to get home to get some rest.

The moment you entered the house, you heard Matteo's loud cries and your head started pouding immediately. Looking at your watch, you knew it was his bottle time.

Pablo was in the living room with the little boy in his arms trying to pack for his evening training while telling him how "mami will be home soon" which you found so adorable.

"Aii que pasa precioso mio? Papi forgot your bottle?" you say walking to them but Pablo showed you three different bottles on the table that he tried to use to feed the little boy.

"He only let's you do it, amor..he loves you more" Pablo said while pouting and you giggled shaking your head and taking the little boy in your arms as he started to calm down.

"It's normal Pablito..he's used to me breastfeeding him but he loves you just as much. He's a mini version of his papi, right Matteo?" you say and Pablo looks at the little boy in your arms immediately opening his mouth as you brought one of the bottles to his lips.

"Go get ready for training while I feed him cariño" you say but Pablo noticed the way your temples were scrunched and he wanted to know what made you feel bad.

"Amor, if you're tired I can just cancel training and then double up tomorrow..or after the game?" he said touching your hand and you smiled that he was always so careful and gentle with you. always makes you his priority.

"It's okay, mi amor te lo juro. I just had a long day but me and Matteo will eat something and get some sleep, right precioso mio?" you said kissing the little boys forehead while he sucked diligently on the bottle.

"Tan bien. I will be right back, just to grab my shoes" Pablo said leaving to the closet as you sat down letting your muscles relax while looking at the little hungry boy in your arms.

His big brown eyes are looking at you softly while he sucked on the bottle that it made your heart melt. Those same eyes that Pablo had when he looked at you with love for the very first time now has your son..and it was a beautiful feeling.

"Mis ojitos morenos lindos..tienes ojos de su papá mi amor.." you said gently to your son not knowing that Pablo was there listening and blushing profusely.

Ever since you had a baby, everyone said he was a mini version of Pablo and it made your husband both timid and proud. Having a son with a woman he loves so much and hearing her call their shared eyes beautiful made his whole body shiver.

"Bien. Pablo you will be late if you don't leave now!" you finished feeding Matteo and reminded your husband who was lost in thoughts walking towards you on the couch and laying his own head on the free spot on your lap.

"Amor, pero I want to stay with the two of you tonight.." Pablo said giving you his infamous puppy dog eyes that Matteo will surely learn to use later on you as well.

"Stop using your eyes to get everything you want Pablo!' you said softening when his eyes became bigger as the pout found itsway to his face.

"But you let Matteo do it!" Pablo was complains like a baby and you giggled looking at your son which has an identical look on his face. Damn it the two of them and their pretty eyes!

"But he's a baby Pablo" you say and Pablo nuzzled his face into your neck.

"Well, aren't I still your baby amor?" he asked and you sighed knowing where this is going.

"Si, you're both my babies" you answered and he smiled looking up at you again this time pecking your lips gently.

"And you said we have the same eyes, no?" he added making you smiled and nod your head.

"Then we can both use them to make you say si, amor" he giggled leaning in closer to Matteo so both of them could look at you with their same dark brown eyes.

"Bueno..si! But..make sure to tell Xavi you were not feeling well, bueno?" you say and Pablo cheered kissing your lips while Matteo giggled making you both smile. He was happy his papi is staying tonight too.

"Te lo prometo!" he said kissing your lips before sitting up and pulling you in his arms while Matteo started napping in yours.

"He might have mis ojos, amor..but he has your cute little nose" Pablo said making you blush and look at the perfect little boy sleeping in your arms.

#gavigif #gavi #fc barça #fc barca #fc barcelona #pablo gavi x you #pablo gavi x y/n #pablo gavi x reader #pablo gavi icons #pablo gavi #gavi x you #gavi x yn #gavi x reader

421 notes · View notes

kinokkotsu · 1 year ago

Text

Tender — Nanami Kento x Reader

々synopsis: After years of balancing love life and work life, Nanami has finally came up with a day where he asks for your hand in marriage.

Please let — Promise Of The World (from Howl’s Moving Castle) play in the background for better experience xoxo.

A normal life is what Nanami has always desired to have.

He always dreams to become a person who is a provider for his partner and his children— a responsible and respectful one.

Now that he has been in a relationship with you for over three years, he couldn’t bare to wait any longer. He wants to become a member of your family. He has always visualised cooking meals with you in the kitchen, the room filled with nothing but only laughs of joy. He has visualized staying in a foreign country where the peace radiates— somewhere near the countryside maybe, with a cat and a dog, he only needs to see the curve of your lips.

He has been working hard for the past few years in order to provide you financially, so that you must not worry over bills and expenses.

Now that everything has been settled, it is time for the ring.

The sun is setting and the birds chirp while they fly back to their homes. Nanami awaits in the living room, anxious. He has a small box in his hands. You won’t be back from work till 5.30 and it is currently 5.17.

Thoughts run wild in Nanami’s brain while he sits.

Was he being too desperate? Is three years such a short period time to get married? Will you even actually like the idea of getting married to him?

He wonders.

Time passes so fast that the door swings open as you come in swiftly with a tired smile on your face. “Dear..I’m hom- oh my, you almost scared me,” Unexpectedly, you laugh when you see Nanami sitting on the sofa with his face all pale and sweaty.

“welcome home,” he greets as you hum and lock the door securely. “We need to talk,” Nanami utters.

You glance at him with a slight surprise, “talk? about what?”

At this point you are as anxious as he is too. With his face being too serious, the atmosphere somehow makes you uncomfortable. “What is it? Is something wrong?” You ask, putting your hand your on your thighs when you settle down next to him.

Now the sky is getting darker, radiating the area with dark orangey glow. The city lights illuminate the night sky as the sun peaks down from the horizon.

Nanami sighs— a deep one. He gets up as he kneels down in front of you, “kento,” you call him out In surprise.

“It has been three years since we’ve been in a sincere relationship..with our friendship lasting for over a decade I believe it has finally reached the day where I shall ask for your hand in marriage,” he says, using big words which claims a weak grin from you.

Kento looks up at you and gives you a soft smile, “will you marry me?” he asks.

You look away. The tears burn your eyes while you sniff them away. Nodding profusely, you brush the tears away. Your throat is as dry as a sandpaper at the moment, you couldn’t speak.

He smiles, ear to ear.

He gently pulls your hand closer to his body before giving a peck on it, pushing the ring onto your fingers afterwards. The ring size is just perfect. He knows of course. He has every single detail of you memorized, unintentionally.

“I’ll protect, forever..only until death do us apart.” He vows before embracing your whole hand and putting your palm onto his head. Your fingers run through the blonde strands before you give him a tender kiss on the forehead.

You sob, unable to say a word just yet. He looks up at you, smiling as you do. “..My wife— my woman,” he says. Your stomach twists with joy. Never has you ever been loved so conditionally by a man, there is this man from your teenage years, appealing as the future father of your children.

You hug his head while he lays on your stomach, “..love you so much, Kento.”

“I love you too,” he matters before he returns the hug as he wraps his arms around your waist.

You can tell I have been watching ghibli movies so look forward to seeing more cheesy stuff like this too. Reblogs, likes and follows are highly appreciated.

382 notes · View notes

kiskisur · 1 year ago

Note

So umm, actual request. Gorou, ayato and Childe cuddling headcanons, comfort after a long day at work.. if possible.

And thanks for dealing with my shenanigans

warnings: nothing but fluff, gorou, ayato and childe x m!reader (seperate) stressed out reader, childe still can't believe you're his boyfriend ehe

note: FINALLY SOMETHING NORMAL 😭😭😭😭‼️‼️‼️

edited note: It's 12 am I wanted to finish this ikr very cute 💯💯💯 (I tend to write when I'm sleepy it makes me sound professional and makes it obvious I'm desperate for sleep)

another note: I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO HESDCANONS (I don't know how 5o do anything)

AYATO

he looked at the overwhelmed guy, sighing as he shook his head and approached, tapping their shoulder.

feel like he's the type to protest and act stubborn whenever you don't listen-

like, he does not care what the excuse is if he says rest, rest.

he's the type to inhale your scent when cuddling with you.

when you listen to him you receive a big smile (rare ‼️‼️)

"dearest, come rest up. you look exhausted from work." his voice dripped with affection and love as he frowned at your protests.

"I need to finish this before-"

"rest."

"but-"

"r.e.s.t."

you sigh in defeat, knowing he wanted everything to go his way before nodding and got up from your desk.

his piercing eyes disappeared, being replaced with a large smile as he guided you towards the bed and lied you down.

he sat on the edge of the bed, glancing back at you as he removed his gloves and placed it next to the small desk next to the bed, laying next to you.

he wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you extremely closer before hiding his face on the crook of your neck, inhaling your scent.

"I love you.." he muffled, still refusing to let you go as you both drifted off to sleep.

GOROU

his ear twitched, sensing your presence as he immediately turned around to face your exhausted figure.

MY CUTIE PATOOTIE

I feel like he's a househusband idc so cutie

hug = expect a tighter hug

feel like he'd SOMETIMES wrap his tail around your leg, IDK he just feels like it 🤷‍♂️

he'd shower your face with kisses if you're stressed, give you the love you deserve ‼️

"(name)!!" the dog- I mean guy exclaimed, his tail swaying left to right as he spread his arms to hug you.

"I'm home, darlingg." you spoke tirelessly, approaching him and hugged him tightly, refusing to let go.

he blinkes a couple of times, surprised at your sudden clinging as he let out a soft laugh and gave back the hug, tightening it.

"come on, let's get you rested up okay? you're exhausted." you try to shrug it off only to be denied and carried up to your bedroom, picking out some clothes for you.

"here!" gorou smiled, cupping your cheeks and kissed your forehead with his tail wagging uncontrollably.

CHILDE

you wake up to the feeling of being straddled somewhere, blinking a couple of times and looked at the first thing in front of you.

if you fall asleep while working he'd totally lift you up and straddle you in his lap.

the type to shush you if you try to protest too. 🤭

I feel like he'd still be in denial he even became your boyfriend

I mean, a harbinger? with this cutie patootie guy? Impossible for celestia's sake-

he's the playful one, would definitely annoy you more than once despite you being stressed ‼️

"rest up, you've been working 24/7 and I want attention.." childe spoke, wrapping your arms around his neck as he pulled you closer and hugged you by the waist.

he nuzzled your head, humming as he continued to cuddle you, ignoring your protests.

"no, rest." that's the only thing he said, whining like a kid everytime you try to move, his hug tightening around you.

"noo! come on, you already stressed yourself enough!" he glared up at you, pouting as he refused to let you go, laying you down as he tackled you.

you let out a laugh as he continued to tickle you, hovering you as he looked down with loving in his eyes.

you were gorgeous, he could stare all day without getting tired before snapping out of his thoughts when you lightly tapped his cheek to bring him back to reality.

"I can't believe you're my boyfriend.." the ginger mumbled, sighing happily before hugging you from behind and buried his face on your back, still refusing to believe you were his lover.

#♡ ;; kiskisur !#x male reader #male reader #genshin impact x male reader #x bottom male reader #x ftm reader #𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒ works ~#genshin ayato x male reader #genshin gorou x male reader #genshin childe x male reader #genshin x male reader #genshin ayato x reader #genshin gorou x reader #genshin childe x reader #genshin x reader fluff #can you tell I am desperate for sleep

173 notes · View notes

potol0ver · 1 year ago

Note

Can you write an Erik x GN reader fic where the reader has frequent nightmares, and Erik comforts them?

Omg yes- fluff time ✨

Am I writing for this ask months after it was submitted- yes, yes I am- sue me

But seriously sorry for the wait a lot of irl stuff was happening.

Tags; just soft sweet heart Erik and mentions of nightmares.

It was the dead of night and you should be sleeping, but all you could do is lay there staring at whatever is in front of you. It was another night that a nightmare caused you to wake up prematurely from sleep. What was it now? Fifth, sixth, time this week?

You didn’t remember and didn’t care to. You just want a good night sleep, and apparently that’s to much to ask for. Sitting up and tossing your legs over the side of your bed you rub your eyes. Stretching a little you prepare to descend to your lover, if you’re going to be awake at this ungodly hour you might at well spend it with him.

Grabbing a small candle and putting on a pair of slippers you find the nearest catacombs entrance and walk down into the labyrinth. Some may say it’s foolish to walk in the catacombs without a map, but you have visited Erik enough times to memorize the pathway to his home. It was truly second nature.

As you got closer to him, you could hear music echoing on the walls. You chuckle to yourself, “of course he’s composing.” You say to yourself teasing him lovingly. He truly adored his music, but he adored you more. So when Erik realized you we’re walking to him, a smile graced his features.

“Mon amour!” Erik said sighing happily and walked up to you from his place at his organ. It was obvious when he was love stricken, he had a big smile and eyes that went half lidded yet still had a slight shine in them. You swear if he had a tail like a dog it’d be wagging uncontrollably at this moment.

“Hi my love,” your voice drenched in fatigue, “how are you tonight?” You say smiling up at him.

He takes the candle out of your hand and takes in his, kissing the back of it softly. “Perfect now that’s you’re by my side, but I have to ask, why are you done here at this hour? Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

His worry and sweet words make you swoon for him, remembering how in the first place you came to love this brilliant mind. “I had another nightmare.”

“Another?” The smile he had got replaced by a frown. “That’s the fifth night this week.” Erik’s voice filled with worry as he pulls you closer to him, he holds your waist gently and kisses the top of your head. “What can I do mon amor? Do you want to talk about them? I promise nothing shall harm you while I’m here.”

“Im afraid I’m to tired to speak about my nightmares, but trust me my love I know I’m safe with you.” Happy he brought you so close to him, you lay your head against his chest, arms wrapping around his torso. “Please for a moment just hold me.”

More than happy to do as you said, he gently brought you over to his bed and held you. Arms wrapped around each other, soothing one another with your presence, it felt heavenly. After a while of comfortable silence Erik speaks, “If there is anything else I can do for you mon ange, tell me, I won’t hesitate to do it.” His hand gently petting the back of your head makes you melt into him more.

A grin tugs at your lips “I’m not sure, I love your touch, but your music also comforts me.” You could hear Erik’s heartbeat go faster, you didn’t need to see his face to know he’s flustered by your words and actions.

“Well…” he pauses thinking for a moment, eyes looking around trying to figure something out. “How about I play some music for you, you can sleep here in my bed- if you wish of course.” He became shy at the thought of you sleeping in his bed like it’s the first time you’ve done it. In reality you have slept in his bed as much as you’ve slept in your own.

You smile up at him and nod, “that sounds perfect, thank you my love.” You say relieved you’ll finally sleep soundly, giving Erik a peck on the cheek. His face immediately grew warm as a small grin showed. He might be the ‘scary’ and infamous Opera Ghost, but he truly was so smitten with you he acts like a love sick school girl.

Giggling quietly with a grin, you raise up from him so he could get up. Sad you had to let him go you plopped down on his bed, making yourself comfortable. Unlike your own bed his seems to feel like sleep itself is cradling you, if his bed was actually this good is debatable. It could just feel that way to you because it was his and had his scent.

Once you hear him playing his music, you couldn’t possibly stay awake now. You could feel your body relax against the bed, warm from the cool air around you. Letting his music lull you to sleep, you slept soundly with happy dreams that’s night.

#phantom of the opera x reader #erik poto #erik destler #erik destler x reader #erik x reader #phantom of the opera #phantom of the opera fluff

263 notes · View notes

thewitcheswitch89 · 28 days ago

Text

Ghostober 2024

by @kroas-adtam

Read on AO3 or Wattpad

Intimately connected

Cockwarming

Copia x reader

Fluff /soft Smut

You were lying on the bed, absorbed in a book, when Copia entered the room, dressed only in boxer shorts. His exhaustion was obvious as he crawled into bed with you and lay down. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"You work too much, darling," you sighed, stroking his head as he sighed and looked up at you.

"There's so much to plan, the new album, the new tour...!" he said, rubbing his eyes. "I can't work any less right now...!"

He ran a hand through his hair. Copia sighed and closed her eyes. Enjoy the tenderness you're showing him. He really had a lot of work to do and you would have liked to take some of it away from him. You hated the way he had to work every day. And at the end of the day, all he could do was go to bed and fall asleep.

"You need a break," you sigh. To which Copia just grumbled.

"When the album is finished, cara!" he murmured and closed his eyes. Your fingers stroked his forehead and you felt him relax under your touch. His body sank deeper into the mattress, his breathing becoming shallower and more even. You stroked him and continued reading your book. With Copia beside you, you thought he was long gone to the land of dreams.

But he wasn't. When you stroked his neck, he couldn't fall asleep. Even though he was dog-tired, he couldn't sleep with you touching him like that. He would lie still and enjoy your caresses. But eventually it wasn't enough. His eyes fluttered open and he looked at you. He watched you for a moment as you read your book. He was too tired for sex. But there was nothing he could do about the fact that his member was now half stiff.

"Amore?" he said after a while and you barely flinched.

"You're awake?" you replied, looking down at him with a furrowed brow.

He took your hand and kissed it. "Put down the book and let's cuddle!"

Without hesitation, you did as he asked. You couldn't resist when he looked so cute and tired. You crawled under his blanket and wanted to snuggle up to him.

"No Amore... I want to be the big spoon!" he whispered. And you had to laugh.

"You're always the big spoon!" you said and turned over so he could be the big spoon. He pressed himself against you and kissed your neck.

"That's better...!" he murmured, burying his face in your hair. His arms wrapped around you. Pressing you against him. When you felt him reach between you with one hand.

"What are you doing?" you asked, a little confused.

"Let me try something, amore!" he whispered and you felt him pull your panties down your legs.

"I've seen that before," you grinned. Which made him laugh.

"No, no... wait a minute, amore!" he said. You lay in his arms, curious to see what would happen next. When you felt his hand pull you closer to him. A moment later you felt his aroused member between your labia and at your entrance. Eliciting a soft moan from you.

"Can I be inside you when I sleep, Amore?" Copia asked softly. And you had to digest her words for a moment. "Please... I just want to be as close as possible ... please."

He pulled you closer and kissed the bowl of your ear. After a moment of hesitation, you nodded.

"Yes!" And slowly he entered you. A soft hiss escaped him. "Don't move amore ... please!". For a moment you lay very still. You tried to move as little as possible. You could feel him inside you. Warm and slightly throbbing. It fit you so perfectly that it was hard not to give in to the usual urge to move immediately.

Copia buried her tongue in your hair again and sighed. This was a new kind of intimacy. Even though you'd made love countless times before, this was something new. A different kind of closeness, feeling the warmth of his body. It was a silent act that relaxed and calmed you in a strange way.

Copia seemed to enjoy it as much as you did. His breathing came calmly and evenly. A contented growl left his throat as he gently pulled you closer.

" Goodnight amore," he murmured.

After a while, you felt your eyelids grow heavier. Copia's grip on you loosened a little, and he drifted into a deep, restful sleep, as did you. While the two of you were intimately connected.

#ghost band #the band ghost #ghostbandfanfic #papa emeritus iv #cardinal copia #papa emeritus iv x female reader #ghostober 2024 #28.10.2024 #copia smut #cardinal copia smut #smut #soft smut #warm #sweet #ghost fandom #ghost band fanfic

17 notes · View notes

lexa-griffins · 11 months ago

Note

Im imagining Lexa traveling through the woods with her small toddling child. She is vaguely aware of something large moving in the distance. The longer they walk, the closer it gets… Eventually the large blond wolf reveals itself. Stalking towards them, snarling… Lexa stops, scared. But this tiny adorable child runs straight for werewolf Clarke. Hugging her giant face. Werewolf Clarke lays down and just immediately starts licking little bbs face. Lexa just standing there in awe.

Anywho’s. Thats my cuteness thought of the day😂

🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹 I am going to SCREAM, oh my fucking god this is so cute!!!!!!!!

Accused of being a witch in her hometown Lexa is forced to flee with her small baby in her arms. She barely had anything in her bag other than few food and a blanket and a bow and arrow, having been taught how to hunt as a child.

She's looking for something, a cave, a small house in the woods, a tent, somewhere she can rest and allow her babu to sleep comfortably in.

Lexa feels it before she sees it. She feels watched; stalked. She's on high alert, bow in hand, ready to defend her baby with her life. There are rumors that Lexa is aware of, legend of the creatures this forest serves a home to but Lexa would slay a whole demon if it meant keeping her kid safe, urging the toddler to stay close to her and quickly small arms wrap around her leg, afraid of the darken woods.

The monster surges forward from the tree line with a loud snarl and Lexa immediately points the arrow at its head, terrifying teeth on display, dangerous eyes focused on Lexa's weapon.

Lexa registers two late that the warmth of her baby around her leg is gone and her heart drops when she looks to the side to watch them toddling towards the werewolf with a joyful smile and a "doggy!" cheer to their voice. She hears her heart beating in her ears, terror sweeping over her.

But as soon as the beast sees her small bundle, it stops. Teeth put away, the massive wolf suddenly looks confused as the baby approaches it, hands stretched on front of them to pet the big dog. A sniff to air and the wolf's tail waggles with excitment at the small child, dropping to the floor in a rather playful, calm manner.

The baby jumps to petting the wolf who allows her to without discussion, licking the baby's face as a thank you and making the small toddler giggle.

Lexa finally regains her nerve after staring on awe at the scene, approaching child and wolf with careful steps and with a gentle pet to the wolf's head she sweeps her child into her arms, telling them it is time to go and thanking the gentle giant "for not eating us". It stays down as they walk away and Lexa takes a deep breath once it's out of few, gently reprimanding her child for doing such a dangerous thing.

It is about 10 minutes later when Lexa feels herself being watched once again. This time the wolf quickens its pace to catch up with them before slowing down and accompanying them. The toddler begs to be put down and after staring at the wolf as if asking for confirmation it wont eat her baby she lets them down. With a smile she watches as her baby pets the wolf and the wolf licks their chubby face in return before allowing the toddler to hold its fur along side Lexa's hand as they walk.

An hour more into the trip, Lexa finds herself tired and cold, snow having started to makes it's way down. The baby has fallen asleep, holding on to the wolf's fur as they sleep on its back. Lexa looks around, hoping to see smoke from a camp fire or chimney with no luck. Watching her attentively the wilf bites on the fabric of her lose shirt, pulling her along. Lexa asks what it wants, as if the wolf was to answer but after a few tigs to her shirt Lexa decides to follow it. It seems to have a fondness for her baby so at the very least Lexa knows it wont hurt them.

Lexa follows it through the woods, questioning out loud where it's taking them before a clearing up ahead gives way from a small wodden cabin, seemingly inhabited. Lexa sighs of reloef as they approach it, opening the front dore carefully, bow pointed at the darkness before she deems to empty. It has a single bedroom with bed, and Lexa urges the wolf with her baby on its back insidr as she tries to star a fire, looking around for a few candles.

She catches a rabbit and cooks it over the fire, feeding the wolf what she knows she will not be able to eat. It is already past midnight when Lexa takes her baby from the wolf's grasp, until now both happily cuddling by the fire. The wolf whines but does not lift its head from its place by the fire as it looks at Lexa holding her small child and wishing her a goodnight and thanking her for bringing them here.

The next morning Lexa wakes up underneath the blankets she brought, alone in the bed, the su light shinning through the small window of the bedroom. It was not a dream it seems. As Lexa opens the door she sees the fire still going but unlike she thought she would, she sees neither the wolf nor her baby and panic sets in.

Right on cue tho, the front door opens and in walks her child, cheeks red from the cold outside. Lexa walks towards them, to hug them or lecture them, she had yet to make up her mind when after her child enters a woman, the golden of her hair the exact same color of the massive wolf's fur.

The woman looks st her with a smile, arms filled branches and Lexa stares at her in disbelief, clearly connecting the dots.

"You're the-"

"Wolf? I am. Good morning."

"How? And who-?"

"Klork mommy!"

Her child says, staring at her with a smile. It is obvious Klork as already introduced herself.

"Klork?"

"Yeah, I'm Clarke. And your name is...?"

"I'm... Lexa." Lexa states, bewildered.

They stare at each other for a while, Lexa's kid seemingly getting bored of their silence and sitting by the fire to play with the two rocks they brought in from outside.

Lexa's stomach grumbling is the one that kills the silence. The wolf-woman smiles big then, perfect teeth a heavy contrast with the sharp ones Lexa saw last night.

"Right, so, breakfast?" She asks, moving to the small kitchen area the cabin offers, Lexa's toddler following after her, both chanting about wanting food.

Lexa looks at them, and then around the cabin before wondering what else did she expect after following a damn wolf through the woods.

#letter opened #lg-wifey4lifey #🥰🥰🥰 i love this idea wifey!!!!!!!#lexa would definitely not trust Clarke fully at first #and Clarke is wondering how are mother and child so completely different #clarke isnt head over heels for Lexa either but she just cant stand to let this baby wander around with their mom #so they make it work for the kid.... its very domestic even if Lexa and Clarke are both very suspicious of each other 😂

56 notes · View notes

brakke-dino · 1 year ago

Text

Go away

Spider was tired, he had spent the last 7 hours throwing stuff and trying to break free. He was being starved on top of that, he was really fucking hungry. Spider sat underneath the table, with his knees to his chest. He had had enough, and wanted to go home now. “I want to go home now!” Spider shouted. hoping someone will let him go out of sympathy or kindness. he was told humans where evil but hoped now that they were wrong and that someone will help him.

“Hey check this new kid they caught!” A soldier laughed walking up to the door of Spiders cell. The other soldier gave to door a kick, Spider jumped at the unexpected bang. Spiders reaction was what the soldiers wanted so they continued, kicking and slapping the door like kids trying to get an animal to move at a zoo.

After awhile the sudden bangs no longer scared Spider, so they tried something different “Freak, Feral dog, fucking rat, traitor, gross, unwanted, parasite and unloved” the two soldiers took turns spitting out insults at spider. The last one hurt, as a reaction Spider got up picked up the chair and threw at the door. The soldiers laughed at his pathetic effort to break the door.

Spider was getting upset, the soldiers wouldn’t stop kicking the door and insulting him. Spider hid from them on the wall of the door so they couldn’t see him, but this did not stop the insults that they screamed at him. Spider felt like an animal, was this what he was used for now a stress reliever for angry soldiers.

Spider curled up in the corner just wanted them to leave him alone. “GO AWAY ASSHOLES!!” Spider screamed at them. He heard them laughing at him then continued. Eywa when would they get bored and leave him alone, Spider sat there curled up for to him felt like hours.

Boots stomped there the outside corridors, probably another soldier that would join the other two. “Knock it off and piss off I know you have something better to do and if you don’t I’ll give you something to do!” The voice was commanding, if Spider was getting yelled at by him he would be shitting himself. Spider heard two sets of foot steps run off, finally they left although Spider had a feeling this is going to happen again.

The door hissed open and a big blue figure walked in, to spider’s disappointment it was Quaritch but he was happy he made the other soldiers go. Quaritch came over and put a silver tray on the floor infront of spider. “What is that!?” Spider asked concerned as the suppose to be food.

“It’s good, now eat it while I talk to you” Quaritch huffed sitting in-front Spider. Spider had lost his appetite, so he slowly picked at the awful food ignoring the things Quaritch was asking. He was to busy focusing on not throwing up.

Spider was brought back from zoning out by Quaritch who was clicking his fingers right in spiders face. Spider pushed his big fingers out of his face, with a big sigh. “Have you been listening too a thing I said” Quaritch sighed.

Spider nodded, even tho he wasn’t listening at all. “Okay sure, repeat back to me what I said” Quaritch chuckled, spider was stumped, he avoided eye contact.

Quaritch began clicking his fingers again. “Will you cut that out, or at least not in my face dude!” Spider growled glaring at him.

“I wouldn’t have to if you focused on what I was saying? What if I was talking about going back to the forest…” Quaritch caught spiders attention and he noticed. “But if your so tired and out of it I’ll tell you tomorrow” Quaritch smirked. Spider began arguing saying that he would listen and focus, but Quaritch continued walking.

Quaritch stopped at the door and threw in a pillow. “I’ll talk to you on the morning” Quaritch said smirking knowing how annoyed he was that he didn’t know. Spider paced through the cell thinking about what Quaritch was talking about. “FUCK!” Spider yelled.

The lights in the cell dimmed down, Spider layed down and blamed himself for not focusing, then he began blaming the two soldiers. He then began thinking about all the mean things they said drifting into an uncomfortable stressful sleep.

@addictiontowardstheinternet iv been here with no motivation to write. Missing @today-or-tumble ;(. And being very busy

@naavispider @nashichiyo @anxiousdreamcore @hyperfixatedfandomer @lost-girl-2021 @questforpandora @sirspideer @dirtytransmasc

#avatar the way of water #spider miles socorro #spider socorro #miles quaritch #recom quaritch #spider needs a hug #colonel quaritch

96 notes · View notes

naughtyneganjdm · 1 year ago

Text

A Compromise - Chapter 19

Summary: After their fight the night before, Y/N wakes up feeling incredibly negative about the whole situation toward both her family and Negan which leads to harsh decisions.

Characters: Negan, the reader (OC), etc.

Warnings: Swearing, massive angst, touching, etc.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27834154/chapters/120322117

Notes: There are three or four chapters left of this story. I do apologize, this is an incredibly angsty chapter with someone who is going through somewhat of a mid-life crisis. I also know nothing about being a lawyer so I apologize for that. This is very different for me, but I wanted to be different.

Like clockwork, there was that bounce on the bed that woke her up every…single…morning. It alerted her that one of the dogs jumped up on the bed with her. Groaning out, she rolled onto her back and caressed her hands over her tired eyes. Last night after she finished her work, she just laid down and went to sleep. Since Negan took off to lay on the couch downstairs, she let him do his own thing. She figured whenever Negan was done being upset, he would make his way back up to bed and get over whatever it was he was going through.

Drowsily her eyes partially opened and she felt Oliver laying in beside her on the bed. When her eyes adjusted to the light, she noticed that Negan was at the dresser pulling out some sweatpants to hold at his side. While Negan dug through the drawers, she realized that he must have only just made it back upstairs. Which meant he slept on the couch downstairs all night instead of just coming back up to bed. Once he pulled a white tank top out, she sighed and closed her eyes tightly. When they were younger, Negan dressed a little nicer than he did now. Soccer dad probably defined the way he dressed when he was home. Comfort meant more to Negan than looking good.

Adjusting in the bed made Negan look back over his shoulder at her with his big hazel eyes and he nodded toward the bathroom, “I’m going to get a quick shower in before the kids wake up. I just let out the dogs so they should be good.”

“Is this the first time you came back upstairs?” she questioned when Negan turned to gaze her over holding the sweatpants and the tank top at his side. By the way he was looking at her she knew that it was most certainly the first time he returned to the bedroom after their disagreement. Considering what he just said to her, she lifted her head to see that he was still only in his gray boxer briefs that left little to imagination when it came to his body. “Did you go outside in your boxer briefs to let the dogs out?”

“I stood at the back door,” Negan conceded to what she noticed, throwing his arms up when she seemed to be upset with him for that. “We have a privacy fence Y/N. Although I think seeing me like this would make certain people’s day, no one saw me outside in my boxer briefs. I promise you that and yes, this is the first time I’ve been back up here since last night.”

“Jesus,” Y/N turned onto her side noticing that on Negan’s pillow again was a flower and note just like all the mornings before. Rolling her eyes, she pulled herself up into a seated position and dragged herself back to brace her back against the headboard. “I see you didn’t forget about your morning ritual.”

“I never have,” Negan stated standing at the bottom of the bed. His abdomen sank in with his heavy breathing, his Adam’s apple bouncing in his throat when he saw her reaching for the flower. With a shake of her head she snatched the note from the pillow and stood from the bed letting out a pained sound. “Aren’t you going to read the letter?”

“Do I really have to?” she snarked back turning on her heel to give him a glare and a shrug of her shoulders. Looking to the note in her hand, she knew that after twelve years it started getting repetitive. It was always said in a different way but had the same meaning. “It’s the same thing every single day. Maybe worded different, but you always say the same thing. Every fucking day for the last twelve years. It’s a red rose and a letter telling me how much you love me. Packed with a punch of Negan positivity to make me feel loved.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” Negan whispered, his jaw clenching tightly while he tried to read her expression when she gave him a smirk.

A long exhale fell from Negan’s throat as she headed over toward the vase that was in their bedroom to drop the rose down in it. Oliver was sitting at the bottom of the bed looking between the two of them when Negan’s fingers curled tightly around the clothes that he was holding onto.

“I think you’ll like the letter,” Negan suggested lifting his hand up to use one of his fingers to point at it in her hand. “This one is longer. It’s more personal. I took some time to think this one out.”

“I don’t want to read it,” she revealed making Negan let out a sharp exhale, his chest rising and falling repeatedly showing that she was upsetting him. “You’re standing in front of me Negan. Anything you want to say to me you can say to me. I shouldn’t have to read it in a fucking letter every single morning.”

“I’m confused,” Negan breathed out while standing at the center of their room seeing her pull open the top drawer of her dresser to point to all of the notes that he had written her recently. After all of their years together, she would eventually put them into scrap books and she kept all of them so he thought they made her happy. Now so many of them were collecting in her top drawer instead of her putting them away into more scrapbooks. There were so many things that Negan wanted to say, but he frowned and shrugged his shoulders. “I thought you like what I did every morning.”

“It was exceedingly fucking charming the first few years of being married to you Negan,” she looked to the roses that were in the vase across the room before drawing her attention back to Negan. Dropping this on him had upset him and she knew that, but she just didn’t seem to care this morning after everything. “My husband is writing me a letter and leaving me a flower every morning. It’s super cute, but after twelve years of being married to you…is there nothing else you can think of? Do you know how many roses and letters I’ve received from you Negan since being married to you?”

“I just…” Negan’s face flushed over and he looked down toward the floor, his jaw flexing while she stared out at him waiting for him to answer.

“You’re a teacher Negan, can you do the math of how many it is? Twelve years…” she repeated clearly embarrassing Negan and upsetting him when she continued to dig it in further. His face was twisting with sadness while her heart hammered inside of her chest knowing that she was getting so worked up from the stress and the annoyances that had been bothering her over the last few months. “Sorry, I forgot you’re just a gym teacher. You don’t have to use your brain for that…”

“Did I do something wrong?” Negan lifted his head, his big eyes sad and his thick expressive eyebrows were furrowed. “Did I say something over the last few days that upset you?”

“It’s over four thousand letters and flowers Negan,” she ignored the question pointing between the vase and the top drawer where she placed the letters every morning. “At this point in our marriage it’s almost four and a half thousand Negan.”

“I thought it was romantic and showed you every day that I loved you,” Negan searched for the right words to say, doing his best not to get emotional over the whole thing since this was the second morning in a row where she really laid into him. “I can get you a different flower if you want…I just thought the red roses were romantic. I thought they were your favorite.”

“Our kids might like getting a letter from you every day in their lunches, but it would be nice if you used a little creativity sometimes when it comes to me Negan. Your daily gifts have gotten so fucking repetitive and boring,” she snapped at him hearing him swallow down hard. Tossing his newest note into her drawer, she knew that maybe now wasn’t the time, but there were things that Negan had been doing to irritate her lately and it was just exploding. “I want to know what happened to the adventurous, wild, fun, wickedly charming man that I married. The one that kept me on my toes wondering what he was going to do next.”

“I thought I was still him,” Negan reasoned with her hearing her chuckle before lowering her head down to pinch at the bridge of her nose in frustration. A lump was developing in his throat that he couldn’t quite swallow down when he felt goosebumps developing over his arms. “I’m a full-time dad Y/N. I can’t be as wild and spontaneous with four young kids, but I’m still me.”

“Maybe if we wouldn’t have had so many fucking kids, you’d still be you,” she blurt out making Negan’s lips part and it looked like he was about to say something with his face reddening over. “If you would have told me in my early twenties that I would be married to a man with five children, I would have laughed in your face. Yet here I am. Married with three children of my own and two stepchildren. This was my fucking nightmare when I was a kid.”

“I don’t…” Negan stammered, his head shaking when he tried to come up with a response. “I don’t know what to say.”

“That’s a surprise because you always have something to say,” she opened up another drawer to pull out a pack of pills to wave it about. “Speaking of kids, it’s a good thing we brought them up so I can take one of these. The last thing we need right now is another Avery moment happening. A sixth fucking child in the Smith family is not needed.”

“Please don’t talk like that,” Negan begged of her, his head tipping to the side after she swallowed down one of the pills she popped out, stealing a look back at him. “I understand that you are going through some things Y/N right now and maybe I don’t understand it, but talking about your children like that…”

“Not all of them are my children,” she countered Negan making his jaw flex upon her reminder, his breathing growing louder. “And with Avery, you know that she came at a horrible time because the last thing I needed was another child.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say,” Negan explained, lifting his hand up to grab at the necklace that was around his neck. To this day he still kept his original wedding rings from his first marriage to Lucille there and he would grab onto them in moments of tension to find some kind of strength from them. God, the fact he still wore those infuriated her too. “You’re the one that doesn’t want to use condoms. You’ve stressed that since the two of us first got together. You were on birth control and you still got pregnant. Avery was meant to be here. And if you weren’t so troubled, I think you would be upset with yourself for saying these things because you love Avery.”

Standing before Negan, she stayed silent. Sure, she loved her children. They were hers after all, but as she stood before Negan just seeing his body reminded her all over again how Negan was the parent that they all loved the most. In typical Negan fashion, he had all of his children’s names tattooed on his body along with stuff dedicated to her. Even though she loved her children, right now she didn’t feel connected to any of them. Reaching her hand out, she brushed her fingers over the top of Oliver’s head knowing that their dog was the one thing she felt the closest too.

“Y/N?” Negan muttered her name as if he was expecting her to say something, but she didn’t. “Listen, I don’t know what’s going on and I’m sorry. If there is something I can do to make you feel better or help take the stress of things off of you, I will…”

“I don’t know where to start with you Negan,” she threw her hands up in the air feeling like she was on fire and there was an undeniable rage flooding her veins. “How many times do I have to tell you that you’re boring and repetitive? I miss the excitement I felt when I was first with you. I miss when you would dress like a bad ass and not a fucking soccer dad. You used to be charismatic, charming, dark, broody, sexy, a leather wearing bad boy. It’s funny because all the women at work and at the schools tell me how fucking lucky I am to be married to you. Yeah, you’re hot and you’re a good dad, but you’re not what I pictured you would be when I married you.”

“I’ll work on it,” Negan spoke up, his voice raspier than usual. Looking up at him, she felt her heart skip a beat seeing that his bottom lip was trembling involuntarily with his eyes tearing over. “I’m sorry.”

“Are you getting emotional over this whole thing?” she slammed the drawer shut making Negan’s lips part while staring out at her. A shuddering breath fell from his lungs when she folded her arms out in front of her chest. “This is ridiculous Negan.”

“You complained about the idea of me making love to you last night. Then you used my body like I was some kind of fucking dildo instead of being your husband. You mock me for my job. You attack me for trying to do something romantic for you every morning. I’m not what you pictured me to be, but I’m exactly everything that I promised I would be. I promised to take care of you, make your dreams come true and support you along with our family. While you’re busy and away doing your job that you wanted so bad, I’m the one that is taking care of our children. I’m the one that does everything to let them know that their mama loves them and how amazing she is. I’ve always been here lifting you up, I’m everything I promised I would be when you married me,” Negan cleared his throat, his emotions getting the best of him when he felt the warmth of a stray tear sliding down his face and he felt pathetic for getting upset. “I’m just starting to think that you don’t like me anymore. Your problem is me. You’re just acting out because you hate me.”

“Here we go,” she rolled her eyes turning around to go looking for her clothes for the day while Negan stood there. “I’m sorry I didn’t want to waste my time having you do your version of making love to me last night because I wanted to finish my work. I just didn’t feel like having endless amounts of sex. I think you should be grown up enough to understand that.”

After she brought up last night, she heard Negan walking swiftly into the bathroom. Heading in that area, she saw Negan scrambling through the drawer pulling out the box of nicotine patches that he had. Negan pulled it open and she stood at the door of the bathroom knowing that once they had Avery Negan decided to stop smoking because of a bad dream he had and he wanted to be around for the children growing up, “Jesus Negan, just fucking smoke at this point. This is getting really ridiculous with you always running to get a nicotine patch any time you have the smallest amount of stress in your life.”

“Is there anything else you want to fucking attack me for this morning?” Negan dropped the box, his voice tremoring when he looked back at her with an upset expression. “Am I no longer appealing to you? Is my body too old? Is my hair too gray? Am I too fucking skinny for you?”

“You’re being dramatic,” she pointed out watching him turn to face her while his fingers wrapped tightly around the counter. “You know, you would genuinely think you were the woman in this relationship Negan with the way you’re acting.”

“Right because being a man with emotions is a bad thing,” Negan scoffed when she stepped forward further into the bathroom with him. “I don’t even know who you are anymore. Yesterday you are telling Isabella and NJ that the only reason I can make it to their events is because I have a shitty job that I could just quit since I don’t have to work for money. Newsflash sweetheart, neither one of us would have to work if it came to things. I would have been able to take care of you until the end of time if that was what you wanted.”

“Oh yeah, to be completely controlled by you…I can’t think of a better way to spend my life,” she rolled her eyes hearing Negan huff when she threw that out there. Stepping forward, she could hear that his breathing was loud. His angry hazel eyes were locked on hers and they were still damp from her giving him a hard time. “You know that the people in your life already thought I was a gold digger.”

“I don’t give a shit what other people thought,” Negan rumbled, the tension in his body making him uncomfortable. It was like his body didn’t know whether it wanted to be angry or upset with the things that were being said. “All I cared about was you…loving you. I wanted to be with you and I didn’t care what people thought. You were it for me. You are it for me.”

Silence surrounded them when Negan sounded broken with the last thing that he said to her. Reaching out, she grabbed a hold of the waistband of his boxer briefs pulling on it a bit making him frown. “What’s it going to take for you to calm down and just relax?”

“Excuse me?” Negan inquired, tipping his head to the side when she moved forward to close the distance between the two of them. Pushing her fingers underneath the material of his boxer briefs, she swiped her fingers across the flesh there making him uncomfortably shift before her. “Stop…”

“Shhh…” she hushed him, getting the material down so they pooled at his ankles and he was standing before her naked. Glancing down, Negan went to bend down to grab them to pull them back on, but she pressed into the center of his chest backing him into a corner with his back hitting the wall. Curling her fingers around the root to his masculinity had Negan taking in a sharp breath. Palming him in her hand over and over again, she felt him trying to brace his hands over her shoulders to put a distance between them. “Do you need me to give you a blowjob to fix the things that you are feeling?”

“A blowjob doesn’t erase the things you’ve said,” Negan scowled while trying to carefully reach for her hand to get her to release him. “I have to get ready so I can get the kids off to school and get to work. Unlike someone who is a partner at the company, I just can’t make my hours.”

“Calm down,” she shoved into the center of his chest making him grunt when his back hit the counter again. Lowering down, she started depositing kisses over his body. “I know you Negan…your body loves the attention that I give it.”

“That’s because I love you,” Negan reached out to cup her face in his hands trying to draw her to look up at him instead of heading in a sexual route again. “I am head over heels in love with you Y/N. There is no one else for me, but you. I don’t know what has been happening between us, but…I’d like to fix whatever it is.”

Staring out at Negan, she didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t something that she felt like he could fix and having him being sweet to her even after she was being a bitch to him didn’t exactly sit well with her. Pulling her face away from him, she heard Negan sigh and he dropped his head back.

“I’m going to take a shower so I can start the day,” Negan announced, moving around her to get to the shower.

Once the water was on and Negan was inside, she leaned back against the counter trying to calm herself down. Hearing a huff, she looked back toward the room to see that Oliver was staring out at her. With the look he was giving her, it made her feel like the dog was disappointed in her for her response to things making this all the weirder.

“Don’t judge me,” she whispered, pushing the door partially closed before getting out of her clothes. Pulling open the shower door, she gazed over the length of Negan’s naked body while he finished rinsing the shampoo out of his hair. Moving in behind him, she closed the door to the shower and hooked her arms loosely around him. It made Negan tense up beneath her touch when she started caressing over his wet torso before delicately kissing over the center of his back. “I’m sorry. I’m so stressed lately and I was taking it out on you.”

Negan didn’t say anything, he just lowered his head and hooked his fingers with hers. Pressing her forehead up against the center of his back, she knew that she still felt the things that she said to him, but it was best to apologize to him if she wanted life to remain comfortable for them.

“I was wrong,” she said what she thought he would want to hear working to get him to face her beneath the spray of the water. Palming her hands up over his damp body, she stepped forward and tipped up on her toes to kiss him making him melt against her. One thing she never doubted was that Negan loved her. With how easily he crumbled in her hands, she knew that he couldn’t stay mad at her. “You know that I love you.”

“And I love you,” Negan responded, his hands reaching up to cup her face in his large hands so he could stroke over the sides of her face with his thumbs. “If I’m doing something wrong, I just wish you would tell me what I can do to make things better.”

There was a war going on inside of her. It was the half that honestly hated her life as much as she didn’t want to admit it and the half that loved Negan. Ultimately, she kept her mouth shut and hooked her left arm around the back of his neck to pull him down so she could kiss him again. Reaching for the body wash, she worked to soap up Negan’s body and when her fingers curled around his length again she heard him let out a shuddering breath.

“Let’s sneak in a quickie in the shower before the kids wake up,” she suggested making Negan frown while she sheathed his flesh in her caress. Grabbing a hold of her wrist, Negan shook his head and it made her sigh. “Negan?”

“You don’t want to have sex with me, you’re just trying to make me feel better and I appreciate it, but sex isn’t the answer to things. You know that,” Negan declared with a shake of his head, stroking his thumb over her pulse point and making her sigh. “I tell you what? How about tonight we go out to a nice place for dinner? Talk things out. Work on us. It’s been so long since we’ve gone out and had a date night between the two of us. We can talk, have a nice meal, do something romantic and see where that leads us? I can just call Sam and I’m sure she would be happy to watch the kids for us.”

“Negan,” she frowned knowing that he seemed set on the suggestion he gave the two of them. “I can’t tonight. I’m working with that police officer on this case.”

“What about tomorrow?” Negan offered up another day making her frown and step back away from him. “Y/N, you’ve been working on this case non-stop. I know you’ve got this whole thing handled. Just take one night off for your husband. Please. I promise you it’s just the one night and you will have a good night.”

“Between you and NJ, I fucking swear,” she reached around Negan to grab the shampoo feeling her tension returning. “The both of you just think I can take off whenever I want. If I take off to go on some date with you, NJ is going to expect me to go to his final game with baseball. That will be two days that I have to take off.”

“I know your job is important to you Y/N, but you need to make time for your family too,” Negan reasoned with her, his hazel eyes upset with her response to the suggestion. “NJ is almost twelve. Those six years are going to pass quickly and before you know it, you’re going to miss his whole childhood. I know you love your job, but your family is here too. If you don’t take a night off for me, just please try to take the evening off for NJ.”

“I can’t,” she scoffed making a disappointed expression flood Negan’s features. “There is a reason that I was able to make partner so fast Negan and it wasn’t because I was fucking off with my family. Between my job and NJ’s baseball, my job is more important.”

“It’s not,” Negan shook his head making the rage inside of her grow. “Negan Junior is your son. He doesn’t think you love him Y/N. I think your other partners at the company would understand you taking one day off in order to see your son in the finals.”

“It must be easy for someone who had money their whole life to say shit like you do,” she started to lather up her hair after pouring some shampoo into the palm of her hand. “The only way NJ would think I didn’t love him is if you were putting that shit in his head.”

“The only reason he still thinks you love him is because I put that shit in his head,” Negan said back in a rebuttal making her let out an annoyed breath. “Your son feels abandoned by you Y/N. I’m telling you, if you don’t make it to his final game you are going to break him. I can only do so much, but it is you that he wants the attention of. Not me.”

“You’re their favorite,” she disputed with a shake of her head, pushing around Negan to step under the stream of water. “I’m sorry Negan, but your idea just isn’t going to work when I have such an important case. Both you and NJ will live.”

“I don’t think you understand Y/N. NJ will live, but he’ll learn to live without you,” Negan sighed loudly from behind her and threw his hands up when she looked back at him in the shower. “And that’s the last thing you want from your child.”

Giving her a once over, Negan shook his head and got out of the shower leaving her alone to finish up. It made her angry that once again someone was asking her to put her job in jeopardy in the name of her family which was something Negan stressed he would never make her do. Yet she was made to feel guilty once more about everything. Taking more time in the shower than she should have, she allowed herself that space before finally getting ready for the day.

Once she got to the stairs, she stopped when she saw Negan at the center of the living room with all three children. Staying still for a moment, she watched Isabella reaching her arms up for Negan to pick her up. With a growl, Negan grabbed her and tossed her up in the air making her giggle out loud. Once Negan caught her, he spun her around before peppering her with kisses. Setting her on the ground, Negan squeezed Isabella close to him so that he could hug her firmly.

“My turn,” NJ spoke up making Negan snicker as he reached for their son. Doing the same thing had NJ bursting out in laughter. Burying his head against the center of Negan’s chest, NJ’s laugh made Negan smile brightly.

“Me,” Avery’s tiny voice echoed when she reached up to tug at Negan’s tank top. With a laugh, Negan carefully set NJ down before tossing their youngest up in the air hearing her giggles fill the air. Peppering Avery with kisses, Negan nuzzled his nose in against hers making her grasp onto the sides of Negan’s face. “Again!”

“Again? Daddy is lucky that his back still works for the first part of the morning,” Negan tossed Avery up in the air, but swung her down and then spun in a circle, keeping her firmly in his arms making her howl out with laughter. “My kids are little adrenaline junkies.”

With a big jump, NJ managed to hop up onto Negan’s back wrapping his arms around Negan’s shoulders so that Negan was giving him a piggyback ride. Reaching with his free arm, Negan grabbed a hold of Isabella playfully roaring out as he spun the three of them around.

Moving down the steps, Y/N finally drew the attention of the four of them seeing Negan’s dimples prominent with the amusement and happiness he gained from being with their children. Stopping at the stairs, she saw that she gained all of their attention.

“Mom, come get dad too!” NJ called out making her smirk and shake her head. Spinning them around one more time, Negan was careful to put Isabella and Avery down on the couch. Hopping down himself, NJ ran over to Y/N and reached for her hands. “Mom! Did you hear what happened yesterday? What I did?”

“Yeah, your dad showed me,” she knew that her son was referencing how he helped his team win the game. “Good job kiddo. I had no doubts that you would do an amazing job with how hard you practice.”

“Maybe you can see me at the final game! I can dedicate my time up at bat to you. Maybe I can do it again for you if you’re there,” NJ smiled brightly, his dimples drawing attention to his young features while he smiled. With a sigh, she lifted her stare to see that Negan sat on the couch between the girls. Avery crawled into his lap and Isabella reached for his arm to wrap his arm around her so she could cuddle in closer to him. “Mom?”

“NJ, I told you that it was very unlikely that I would be able to make it to your final game,” she reminded her son making the happiness slip from his features. Hearing her say that made NJ step back, his head drop forward and his arms slumped at his sides. “Your dad will get everything for me on his phone like he does every other game.”

“Right,” NJ huffed out moving away from his mom to head over toward the couch to sit down. Crossing his arms, Y/N could see that NJ’s demeanor changed completely after she let him down.

“I’ve got to go to work,” Y/N informed them with a sigh looking to the time making Negan sit forward bringing their two girls with him when he stood up from the couch. “Come give mommy a hug goodbye.”

“You want me to grab you a bagel or something?” Negan went to kiss her only for her to turn her head away from him so he kissed her cheek. With a shake of his head, Negan stepped back and set their daughters down so they could both give her a hug goodbye. “You don’t want to wait for me to finish breakfast?”

“No, I’m fine,” she answered looking over at NJ who had his legs pulled up to his chest while he sat on their couch. NJ was staring out blankly at something avoiding looking at his family after she turned down the idea of her getting to be there for his game. “Are you going to come say goodbye?”

“Goodbye,” NJ waved from where he was seated making Negan let out a loud exhale.

“Come hug your mother goodbye NJ,” Negan called out making NJ’s face scrunch up when he stared out at Negan. “Before someone leaves, we should always tell them that we love them.”

“No,” Y/N held her hand up after hearing NJ groan out when he went to get up to come over to do what Negan told him to. “Stay there. You don’t want to hug me, that’s your choice. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“Y/N,” Negan muttered making her shake her head and hold her finger up to silence Negan.

“If you don’t like me, don’t pretend to like me Negan Junior,” she kept her eyes connected with their son noticing the way his jaw locked up and he lowered back down to the edge of the couch. “I’m only your mother.”

“I was getting up to hug you,” NJ noted shaking his head. His young features twisted and his lips parted. “I don’t dislike you. I love you.”

“Your actions lately say otherwise,” she informed her son feeling Negan reaching out to grab a hold of her shoulder knowing that she was angry with their oldest for having hurt feelings about things. “You make it clear that you think I’m a bad mother and that you don’t like me. So if you don’t want to be nice to me, don’t be. I don’t want my child to be fake with me.”

“Mommy, I don’t think he dislikes you. I think you just hurt his feelings about the baseball game,” Isabella tried to reason with her mother, reaching up to curl her fingers around Y/N’s. “He just really wants you to be there for his games.”

“I just don’t get why it’s so hard. You miss our birthdays, you miss our school events, why can’t you just make it to one game?” NJ’s voice was broken making Y/N’s body tense up again that he continued to bring this whole thing up even after she had explained it to him multiple times. “I don’t get why it has to be like this.”

“Do you want me to lose my job?” she inquired making NJ exhale loudly and look down toward the ground.

“Yes,” NJ whispered, his expressive eyebrows lifting after he considered his answer. “Yes, I want you to lose your job. I hate your job. I never see you. We never do things together as a family. So yes, I want you to lose your job.”

“Yet it’s okay if your dad continues to do what your dad does?” Y/N pointed in the direction of Negan seeing the way that Negan’s Adam’s apple bounced in his throat.

“Dad doesn’t miss anything. Dad makes sure to know that we feel loved,” NJ reasoned with his mother placing his hand in over the center of his chest. “I’m sorry mom, but Elaina is a doctor. And she makes it to some of Noah’s games. A doctor is much busier than a lawyer from what I’ve learned at school. I don’t understand how she can make his games, but you can’t.”

“Right, I forgot. I’m constantly being compared to Elaina and Jane because their jobs are way more important than mine,” she bickered back with her son seeing the anger growing in his features. The expression that he was giving her was one that she had seen frequently on Negan. “So you want me to lose my job?”

“I want you to be a mom,” NJ responded, his voice rasp as he stared up at her with his expressive hazel eyes. “I just want to spend time with you. I want you to be around. I want you to be here for something special sometimes.”

“So you want me to give up my job when it makes me happy?” she repeated making NJ’s lips part and he thought about what she asked of him before tipping his head from side to side.

“I thought we made you happy,” NJ commented on her response to him standing up from the couch to move before her. “I want you happy mom, but I just want us to be a family. When you get home from work, you aren’t always the nicest.”

“If you want to go there,” she stammered with an agitated breath staring her son down. “I don’t like your attitude very much lately and I’m not really liking you either.”

“Enough,” Negan snapped watching the color drain completely from their son’s features. “What is wrong with you?”

“He’s allowed to give it, but I’m the bad one when I tell him I don’t like who he has become with the attitude?” she turned to face Negan making his jaw tense showing that he was upset with her talking to their son like that. “I don’t know who he is learning to be disrespectful from, but it’s not becoming of him.”

“Disrespectful? I’m a good kid,” NJ defended himself, his eyes tearing over when he stepped in closer to her. Moving between the two of them, Negan wrapped his arms around NJ in a supportive grasp. Attempting to move his father aside, NJ was obviously getting upset and he couldn’t help it. Hell, Negan got it. He really did. “I don’t do anything bad. I’m good in school. I’m a good big brother. I don’t swear…often. I don’t do bad things. I just want you in my life and you don’t like me?”

“Isabella, go take your brother to your room,” Negan begged of his oldest daughter knowing that NJ was going to get even more hurt if he didn’t get out with the mood that Y/N was in lately. Isabella reached for her older brother’s hand when Negan stood before their children. Reaching down, Negan picked up Avery and pulled her in closer to his chest. Once Negan saw that the oldest two were gone, Negan stared out at Y/N with a shake of his head. “I don’t know what’s going on with things lately, but I think we need to have a family meeting and talk this shit out. He’s just eleven Y/N.”

“And he’s giving me a shit load of attitude,” Y/N responded seeing Avery having big eyes while she looked back and forth between them. With her being only two years old it was easier for them to freely talk back and forth between one another, but it was clear that Avery noticed the tension between the two of them. “Not wanting to hug me.”

“He’s a kid, he’s going to have hurt feelings Y/N,” Negan pointed out with a frown, adjusting Avery in his arms as she cuddled her head in against the center of his chest. Even with Avery, Y/N knew that their youngest daughter was much closer to Negan, but it was because her career really took off once Avery was born. So that meant their youngest didn’t have a lot of time to spend with her. Negan did his best to keep her part of their lives, but work was busy. “Whatever is going on, we’re going to have to fix it because we’re family. You two love each other. He’s your first and you’re his mom.”

“Yeah,” she didn’t say anything else because she didn’t know what to say. Looking to her watch again, she sighed and nodded toward the door. “I have to go. Tell them I love them and that I hope they have a good day at school.”

“Of course I will,” Negan assured her, his eyebrows furrowing when he stepped in closer to her. Knowing that she avoided a kiss previously, he pressed a kiss over her cheek and let it linger. “I love you Y/N. We all love you.”

With a weak smile and a nod, she gave Avery a quick kiss on the cheek and then stepped back. Exhaling loudly, she stopped at the door after she went to leave thinking about NJ. Part of her knew that she should have gone to talk to him, but at the same time he had to get ready for school and she had to get to work. It would just have to be a conversation for later.

Once she was at work, she was able to shut all of those emotions and feelings down. Working on her case helped her get through the day without feeling overwhelmed or upset. Since this was such a big case, she had been working with an officer that had been part of the case making sure to get all the details correct. His name was Shane Walsh and he was going to be one of her witnesses and she just wanted to make sure that she had this case under control. Over the last few hours they had been stuck in her office long after many people went home talking about things.

“Have you eaten dinner?” Shane spoke up making her lift her head from where she was sitting in the chair across from him. She had been writing down something in her notes while he sat before her in silence. “We’ve been here for hours and I haven’t seen you eat a thing.”

“I’ll pick up something on the way home,” she waved her hand dismissively looking back to what she was writing hearing Shane snicker and shift in his seat before her. “I’m used to it.”

“Someone as beautiful as you should really be taken to a nice place where you get a nice dinner,” Shane replied back making her smirk and shake her head, but it didn’t draw her to lift her head up. “You laugh, but I mean it. I think I’ve spent more hours with you lately than I have my own family. You should let me take you out for dinner. We can continue to talk about things there.”

“Are you flirting with me?” she inquired, dropping the pen that she was using into her lap while she held onto her files. An arrogant expression flooded in over Shane’s features when he leaned back in the chair and his legs spread open. “We’re supposed to have a work relationship here Officer Walsh.”

“I’ve never spent this much time with someone while I was working on a case,” Shane declared with a snicker, reaching up to brush his fingers through his dark hair and he shrugged. “I figure you must like being around me because we’ve done this a lot. And I reckon it’s because you like me.”

“Smooth,” she muttered finding herself charmed with the man before her. Sure, Shane was a good-looking guy, but this really was all about work for her. “You know this is a big case and not just something small. If it was small, you would be with a court appointed lawyer. Not me. I like to win.”

“I couldn’t tell,” Shane lifted his finger to spin it around referring to the awards and newspaper clippings that were framed on the wall. “You have a huge office in the tallest building in the city. I figured you were kind of big shit. I like when a woman takes things seriously.”

“A woman takes things seriously?” she repeated his words making her eyebrow arch in curiosity. Shane bobbed his head about before tossing his hands up making her smile. “That sounds a little sexist Shane.”

“I’m just saying that I like to see a woman take charge,” Shane corrected his previous statement making her chuckle under her breath. Shaking her head, she looked back to her files only to hear Shane sliding to the edge of the seat so that he was close to her. “So how about that dinner?”

“I can’t,” she denied his suggestion grabbing the pen that she placed down and put it back on her desk. “I have a lot of work I have to finish up here. Then I’m just going to pick something up on the way home. If you want to head out, you can though. I understand if you are hungry and you put in a few good hours with me. I think we’ve gone over everything extensively.”

“Are you not interested in me?” Shane was blunt with the way that he asked her making her eyebrows bounce up in surprise. “I feel like I’ve made it clear that I’m very interested in you. I keep flirting and I feel like you keep shutting me down.”

“I just thought you were a flirty person in general Shane,” she answered with a simple shrug, sucking at her bottom lip finding more so amusement in the fact that Shane was laying it on so thick. “You’re good looking, but I’m not interested in a relationship with you other than a work relationship.”

“Well why not? I’m hot. I’m strong. I’m a police officer, so I have a bit of power,” Shane rambled off, flexing his arm in a not-so-subtle attempt to get her to notice his bulging bicep. “Some people have a fantasy of having sex with a police officer you know. Something to do with the handcuffs maybe.”

“For the most part I can’t stand the police,” she was honest, folding her arms in front of her chest making Shane scoff. “I find them to be arrogant assholes that have a power trip because of their job.”

“Well, I am that, but I’m a good time too,” Shane winked making her roll her eyes and shake her head finding amusement in the discussion. “Come on, you work so hard. Let me take you out to dinner and see where things go.”

“Shane, I’m married,” she lifted her left hand to see the way that Shane didn’t seem to care when he saw the rings on her finger. “I’ve been married for twelve years. I’m not on the market for dating. Hell, I have three kids and two stepchildren. So trust me, this is not a territory that you want to step into. I promise you that.”

“I don’t care that you’re married, nice ring though. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Shane commented on the ring knowing that it was quite extensive which made him assume that her husband was rich based off the ring alone.

“My husband designed it himself with my step-daughter,” she remembered looking down at the ring that Negan had given her when they were younger. Stroking her thumb over the top of it, she remembered what it was like that day. It made her smirk when she thought back on it. “He made a big ordeal of the whole thing. He had a puppy that day that we still have. Decorated the whole backyard with extensive lights. It was really sweet.”

“Who are you trying to convince right now? Me or you?” Shane wondered making her face scrunch up in confusion and he spun his finger out to point at her. “This is the first time you’ve ever mentioned your husband and your children. You’re here all the time and working so hard. I can’t tell if you are trying to convince me that you have the perfect happy family or yourself.”

“I don’t get what you mean by that,” she began, reaching for the photo that she kept on the corner of her desk from when Avery was first born. Turning the picture, she showed Shane the photo that she kept of her family there making Shane smirk. Leaning forward, Shane took the frame and pulled it in closer to him to observe the photo. “The boy is Negan Junior, but he likes to be called NJ. The middle one is Isabella and the baby is Avery.”

“Which makes daddy here Negan?” Shane lifted his gaze from the photo for a moment to see her nod her head in response. With a shake of his head, Shane snickered and set the photo back down on the desk for her. “I’m still not buying it.”

“Buying what?” she didn’t know how to respond as Shane sat before her with a smug expression.

“You have this big office. Look at all the frames you have on the walls. All of them are dedicated to you and your job. All you have of your family is what? A five by seven photo on the corner of your desk?” Shane pushed further, his eyebrows bouncing up before biting at his bottom lip. “If you were this proud mama that I think you’re trying to sell that you are you would have photos all over of your children and husband. But you don’t.”

“Okay, enough,” she requested making Shane lean in closer to her again, his brown eyes gazing her over intensely. “I think we should end our night together.”

“Something tells me you are just dying to break the whole happily married mother routine and just be wild…” Shane rumbled, his dark eyes narrowing while he stared out at her with an amused expression. “And I’m the perfect guy to do it with. I’m hot. I like kids. I don’t care that you’re married. I’m a great fuck and an incredible kisser.”

“So is my husband,” she alerted Shane making Shane roll his eyes and drop back into his seat again. “You’re good-looking Shane, I give you that. And you’re charming in a gruff and tough kind of way. But I’m married to a man that is great at kissing and really good at sex. And he’s got a big dick.”

“And yet you’re here instead of being with him,” Shane reminded her once more, a long-extended sigh falling from his lips. “If things were as good as you are making them out to be, things would be a whole lot different. Maybe your husband is Mr. Perfect, but something is still missing in your life. Maybe you don’t want perfect. And that’s okay. Not everyone wants that perfect Brady Bunch family life. Nothing wrong with that.”

Hearing Shane say that actually made a whole lot of sense even though she hated to admit it. Negan was perfect. Her family was perfect. Yet it drove her crazy lately. Why did it take Shane saying something for her to actually realize that he was right? She hated it.

“I think you should leave,” she suggested with a swallow setting her things on her desk knowing that she was starting to get uncomfortable with things. “We’re done here for tonight.”

Before she could get up, she felt Shane swiftly moving forward to cup her face in his hands firmly pulling her forward to bring her to him so he could demand her lips in a kiss that shocked her. It was rough with him trying to make a point as his lips caressed over hers. Closing her eyes, she didn’t push Shane away at first, but once she started thinking about things, she reached up to place her hand in over the center of his chest.

“This feels wrong,” she confessed feeling his forehead pressing up against hers. The warmth of his breath was felt over her lips and she swallowed down hard. It made her feel guilty knowing that she had a family back at home. “I’m sorry.”

“Well, let’s just give it another shot and see how it feels,” Shane offered stroking his fingers over the side of her face. It made her let out a shuddering breath when he brought their lips together again. This time he kissed less aggressively. The tip of his tongue grazed over her bottom lip before he dragged it across her top lip. Claiming her mouth with his, he deepened the kiss until the sound of something knocking was heard making the two of them separate.

“Negan,” Y/N breathed out seeing him standing at the door to her office holding a bag in his hands. Pulling back and away from Shane, she stood up to see that Negan’s face was pale. He looked crushed, his eyes lowering down toward the ground after he had visibly just caught the two of them kissing. “I can explain.”

“I uh…I was just bringing you some of the dinner that I cooked since I hadn’t heard from you and thought you might be hungry. You missed breakfast,” Negan muttered, lifting his free hand to caress over the back of his neck. Shrugging his shoulders, he pointed toward the bag and cleared his throat. “It’s chicken parmesan with some of the spaghetti that I make.”

“Negan,” she called out to him seeing him set the bag down on the floor beside the door. He stopped at the door as if he wanted to say something but instead just walked away making her heart skip a beat inside of her chest. Going to walk away, she felt Shane grabbing a hold of her hand to stop her from running away. “Let go.”

“Listen, I can tell that you aren’t happy,” Shane reasoned with her trying to get her to look at him as he palmed in over the side of her face. “You know you’re not happy. Maybe him seeing that was a sign that it’s okay for the two of us to try something here. Maybe after twelve years you’re ready to take a shot at something different.”

“I’m sorry, I just…” she pulled from Shane’s grasps and ran off after Negan. By the time she got to the elevators they were already closing. Hitting the elevator doors, she cussed out and hit the button repeatedly to wait for the other one. By the time the elevator came up she hoped that she could catch Negan before he left since she left everything in her office with Shane. Once she got to the bottom floor, she ran outside feeling the rain pouring down in over her. Almost immediately a crack of lightening followed making her groan out since she knew she was going to get soaked. Looking to her side she saw Negan heading for his truck and ran out after him. “Negan!”

As Negan went to open the door, she reached for his hand and pulled him back to stop him from leaving. There was something dead in his eyes and he refused to look at her after what he saw, “You’re just going to leave?”

“Sam is watching the kids and I don’t want to bother you,” Negan whispered, his jaw twitching and she knew that he was getting emotional. After twelve years she knew what that face looked like. There was a silence between the two of them as Negan shook his head. “So is that why you stay at work late nights? Because of him?”

“No, he just kissed me for the first time, I swear,” she asserted seeing Negan’s hurt hazel eyes finally meeting hers. Releasing his wrist, she reached up to brush her hand over her forehead and felt her whole-body tense. “Every time I’ve been here, it’s been because of work. Not because of Shane. I swear.”

“Okay,” was all that left Negan’s lips and she felt offended. With the rain pouring down over them and everything that happened between them, she couldn’t believe that was it.

“Why are you not furious?” Y/N wondered making Negan’s eyes finally raise to meet her stare. “The Negan I knew would have beat the shit out of that guy for even putting his hands on me. The Negan I knew was so passionate that he would be in a fit of rage right now because of what he saw.”

“What do you want me to do Y/N? You want me to go back up there and beat the hell out of a cop because my heart is broken?” Negan threw his hands up in the air, his lips parting. There was so much he wanted to say, but he was all caught up inside of himself. “The woman I married told me I was the only man for her. Yet, I come here and see you kissing another man, a cop nonetheless and how am I supposed to react?”

“Be mad Negan. Just do something. Don’t walk away with your head down and your tail between your legs,” she yelled at him watching Negan’s jaw clenching while he stood idle before her waiting for her to say whatever she wanted to next. “You running away is not the way to handle things.”

“I don’t know what you want me to do. I’m being the best possible husband I can be to you. I’m a good father to our children. I show up for them every day. I work to keep a relationship with you and them. I do everything in my power to keep you happy and you aren’t happy,” Negan reminded her of all the things that had been happening between them for quite some time. “I’m everything I promised I would be for you, but you aren’t happy. So when I come here to give you some dinner and I see you with another man, it all makes sense.”

“No, it doesn’t because I’m not sleeping with Shane. I was working,” she maintained, her heart hammering in her chest and her body shaking. Obviously, Negan didn’t believe her and that made her mad because it was always one hundred percent her job that was keeping her. “I’m not fucking around Negan. I never was. I was working and Shane made a move on me just now. That’s all it was.”

“And you looked like you were so eager to push him away,” Negan pointed out with tension in his voice, the vein at the side of his neck bulging slightly as he shook his head. “I knew that something was wrong, but I never thought it was this.”

“This…what you saw with Shane? That wasn’t what the problem is,” she scoffed, turning away from Negan and placing her hand over her forehead trying to gather herself, but she wasn’t calming down. “See, even someone I work with can see that I’m not happy and that’s why he made a move on things. Shane wasn’t the problem because I’ve never cheated on you with Shane. I’m unhappy because you…the kids…everything is driving me crazy.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Negan muttered behind her making her turn on her heel to stare out at him with an upset expression.

“It means that I’m miserable when I’m at home Negan. I’m here at work because I would rather be here at work,” she explained to him, her voice breaking when she finally erupted with all the thoughts she had been having for a while now. “When I get home, I have to sit in the car so I can mentally prepare myself to go into the house. Work is the one thing that makes me happy. It’s why I put my everything into my job. And as much as I hate to admit it, it’s more important to me than you and the kids are.”

“Wow,” Negan choked, his hazel eyes getting big when she dropped that on him. “I don’t, I don’t fucking know what to say about that.”

“There is nothing that you can say about it Negan. It’s just how I feel. So when I have you and NJ lecturing me about how I need to make time for my family when the time I already make for my family is overwhelming me upsets me so fucking much. My job is always going to take precedence over everyone because it’s the thing I care the most about,” she stressed making Negan’s bottom lip tremble, his head slowly nodding while he stood before her motionless. “I should have listened to my father all those years ago. I was so charmed by you that I wanted to believe that a family is what I wanted, but it wasn’t. I didn’t want five children. I never even wanted children. When he told me that I was making a mistake, I didn’t want to believe him because I was so fucking in love with you that I was blind to the truth.”

“Was?” Negan repeated that word, his breathing broken when he gazed her over. “You don’t love me anymore?”

“I don’t know,” she was honest, her eyes gazing him over when she rest against the truck. Shrugging, she didn’t know what to say at this point. So many thoughts were swirling around in her mind and it was hard keeping her mouth closed on how she was feeling. “I don’t know Negan. Between you and the kids, I’m miserable.”

“I think you just got hit with a bad case of postpartum depression after Avery was born,” Negan insisted with a tremoring breath moving forward to try to cup her face in his large hands when she pulled away from him. “Baby, I just think we can get professional help. We can go and talk to someone. Make things right.”

“It will never be right Negan,” she maintained with a whimper hearing his breathing broken. There were tears in Negan’s eyes when the sound of thunder surrounded them. “I know how I feel when I come home. No therapist is going to change that for me.”

“So what are you saying?” Negan’s hands were shaking and he forced them into his pockets. “Are you saying you want to get a divorce?”

“Is that what you want?” she wondered making Negan immediately shake his head.

“No, of course not. I love you. I love you more than anything,” Negan stated with a frown attempting to stroke over the side of her face after pulling one of his hands from his pocket. Sweeping his thumb in over her jawline, she felt tension flood her body. Maybe her mind was twisting things for her, but with how she felt right now she realized that Shane was somewhat right. She was incredibly unhappy with her life right now and she was wrong for hiding it this whole time. Pretending that everything was okay when it wasn’t. “You and the children mean everything to me. When I told you that I would love you for the rest of my life, I meant it. My heart belongs to you and only you. So I would rather us work on us. For our family. For us.”

A silence surrounded them while Negan closed the distance between them. When he went to bend down to kiss her, she pulled away and reached for his wrist. Lowering it down, she felt a pain in her chest when a lump grew in her throat. Shaking her head, she remembered how she had felt for the last few weeks alone and she knew that it wasn’t healthy for her to feel the way that she did.

“I can’t do this anymore,” she pulled herself away from Negan hearing his hurt breath fill the air. Stepping back toward the building, she was at a loss of words. “I shouldn’t feel like this Negan. I think you’re right. A divorce is exactly what I want. It’s what I need.”

Once she said it, misery filled Negan’s features and it was obvious that he was crying, but right now she was so upset herself that she didn’t care, “I’ll get someone to write the papers up for us. Don’t worry about me coming home tonight. I’ll stay at the office on the couch. There is an apartment building down the street that my co-worker lives in. Tomorrow I’ll speak to a realtor and I’ll just get an apartment there.”

“Y/N, please…” Negan begged when she started heading back for the doors of her office. Grabbing a hold of her wrist, he got her to turn back toward him. “Things are emotional right now and I understand that. Just please, don’t think erratically like this. Whatever is bothering you, whatever I’m doing wrong, I will work on it. Give me a chance to make things right, please.”

“That’s the problem Negan, you’re perfect,” she swallowed down, pulling herself from his grasp seeing the broken expression that flooded his features. “I always told you that you were too good for me. And I was right. Asking you to change would be wrong because according to everyone else, you’re perfect. I’m just not happy. And I can’t feel this way every day of my life Negan. So no. My decision isn’t going to change.”

Letting out a defeated breath, Negan stood there in the rain when she headed for the door. Stopping at the door, she could see that Negan was just standing there. Right now, she thought this was the best decision. It shouldn’t have to be like this. Feeling guilty and miserable doing something that made her happy. Lately NJ and Negan were making her feel horrible about the thing that made her the happiest. If she kept up at it, it would lead to more fights and more days of her having to coach herself to even walk into the house at night.

Once she got to the elevator, she stole one final look back to see that Negan was sitting on the ground with his back pressed against the wall of the building. His head was buried between his knees in the rain and she cleared her throat. After everything, this just seemed like the right decision no matter how much it hurt Negan.

----

#Negan #Jeffrey Dean Morgan #negan x reader #negan fanfiction #The Walking Dead

78 notes · View notes

lelitachay · 8 months ago

Text

Frozen fanfiction: Søsken

Summary: An accident in the North Mountain forces Elsa to spend several weeks in her brother’s apartment under Anna’s care. During that time, Anna realises there is more to Elsa than meets the eye. The truth about Elsa’s past comes to light after an unexpected family reunion, and both girls’ lives begin to fall apart when they realise Elsa wasn’t the only one with a big secret and a turbulent past.

Anna/Kristoff - Elsa - Family - Family drama - hurt/comfort - Modern AU - Elsa & Kristoff are adoptive brother and sister - Ice bros - Found family - Serious injuries - Mental health issues - Health issues - Frohana

Links:

Fanfiction.net - HERE AO3 - HERE

Tumblr -

Chapters 1 to 10 - Here Chapters 11 to 20 - Here Chapters 21 to 30 - Here Chapters 31 to 40 - Here Chapter 41 to 50 - Here

Silver lining

The slam of the front door caught Anna by surprise. Placing the knife on the cutting board, she dried her hands with the dishcloth and turned around to see Kristoff go about his evening routine. He had already taken off his muddy boots, leaving them forgotten by the door. He then took his jacket off and left it on the hanger before he squatted on the ground to greet Sven.

Her lips turned upwards as she watched her boyfriend scratch the dog’s ears and mumble to him. Anna stayed quiet, allowing him a moment with his dog. No matter how much time Anna spent with Sven, she knew she was no replacement for Kristoff or Elsa. And even if she had no way to prove it, Anna was certain Sven was suffering alongside the family. Perhaps it was the long hours he spent alone in the apartment, or Kristoff’s sombre mood; but whatever it was, it had been enough for Sven to notice something wasn't right. And ever since Elsa had fallen ill, the dog spent his days laying on the sofa, waiting impatiently for either Kristoff or Elsa to show up.

Keeping one hand on Sven’s head, Kristoff stood up and finally locked eyes with Anna. A small, tired smile drew on his face and Anna felt her chest constricting. She was tired of seeing him hide his sadness behind forced smiles. Smiles Anna knew were solely for her and his family’s sake. The bags under his eyes and the wrinkles between his eyebrows were a telltale of his sleepless nights and the concern he couldn't mask.

Shaking off the awful feeling, Anna smiled back, her grin a clear contrast to Kristoff’s forced smile. There was so much she wanted to tell him, but she thought it was best to give him a minute. Allow him to talk about his day and then give him the news. “Hey,” she said.

“Hi,” he said without enthusiasm. He walked towards the closest chair and sat down with a tired sigh.

“How was your day?” The question was stupid, Anna knew. It was late in the evening, meaning Kristoff had worked overtime and missed his chance to visit his sister yet again.

“Absolute rubbish.”

“I’m sorry,” she said as she turned around and picked up the knife to continue cooking while he vented. “Is your boss giving you a hard time?”

The owner of the ice factory had always been a reasonable man; but even if he had the best intentions, Kristoff was still one of the few people who could be in charge of the plant whenever he was not around.

“No. Not really.” He walked to the fridge and grabbed a drink. He closed the door and leaned against it to watch Anna cook. “He’s been more than understanding given the situation. When Elsa got sick, Jorgen and I agreed I would work with the guys during the morning and early afternoon. On his part, he would work the afternoon and evening shift on his own, allowing me to get off from work earlier. The boss didn't mind, as long as there was someone at the plant at all times…”

“Okay… That sounds reasonable.”

“Guess who broke a foot yesterday?”

Anna stopped chopping and turned to him. “Is Jorgen okay?”

He nodded as he took a long sip from the bottle. “The idiot broke his foot skateboarding.”

Anna stopped what she was doing once again, her brows knitting together as she tried to put a face to the name. “I thought Jorgen was the man I met at the company’s party last year.”

“He is.”

Anna looked at Kristoff. The man she was thinking about was at least fifteen years older than Kristoff. She even remembered meeting his wife and daughters. “Oh, I wouldn’t have thought he knew how to skateboard.”

“He doesn't,” Kristoff said, breathing out tiredly.

“What do you mean he doesn’t?”

“He bought his first skateboard three weeks ago.”

“What was he thinking?

“How could I know? Something tells me his midlife crisis had a lot to do with that stupid idea.” Kristoff exclaimed and Anna couldn't help but laugh. She could understand her boyfriend’s frustration perfectly well, but his exasperated tone of voice made her crack nonetheless. At least her laugh made him smile. “Boss said he'll try to find someone to cover his shifts, until then I've got to stay over time. Stupid idiot.”

Anna chuckled and returned her attention to her task at hand. “He didn't do it on purpose, honey.”

“Of course not,” Kristoff agreed. “But I hope he learns a lesson.”

The way he kept scraping the label off his bottle told Anna he was feeling uneasy. Knowing exactly the reason why, Anna thought it was best to finally share the news with him.

“Kristoff, there’s—”

“Did you get to see Elsa today?” he interrupted, not realising Anna was trying to say something.

“I did,” she said. Once again, she stopped cooking and turned to him. “I got home an hour or so ago. I've got some news…”

“No,” he was quick to say, walking away from Anna. “No, no.”

Anna turned around, her eyes narrowing. “What?”

“I don’t think I can take any more bad news, Anna.” He slouched on the chair and tipped his head back, staring at the ceiling. “I just can’t.

Sitting next to him, Anna leaned forward. He was avoiding her eyes but Anna didn’t mind, all he needed to do was listen. “The antibiotics are winning. Blood pressure is going up. Oxygen levels are higher than Nielsen expected…”

She trailed off, allowing Kristoff a moment to process the information. It took a couple of seconds, but finally he sat up. “What?”

A smile plastered on Anna’s face. “They've decided to wean her off sedation.”

Anna wasn’t entirely sure what reaction to expect out of Kristoff, but not once did she expect him to stare unfocused at the floor, unresponsive.

“Honey, did you hear what I just said?” Placing a hand on his knee, she explained herself better. “She’s going to be fine.”

Kristoff barely glanced at her before he focused on her hand. He stared at it, until he finally held it tight.

Anna stared at their intertwined hands as well, unsure of what to say. After a moment, a slight tremor caught her attention and she looked up to see Kristoff crying.

“Kristoff?” she asked, unsure if he had heard her correctly.

“I fucking needed this,” he choked out. “I don't know how much longer I could've put up with this shit. I—” Unable to continue, he wrapped Anna in a tight hug and hid his face in the crook of her neck.

Anna froze in place, surprised to see his hard shell cracking. For days she had been expecting him to reach a breaking point, knowing the worry was steadily dragging him down. Though, she was surprised to see it happen at that moment. Unsure of what else to do, Anna hugged him tight, glad he was finally letting it all out.

I took Kristoff a couple of minutes to regain some composure and calm down enough to be able to speak again. He let go of Anna and scrubbed his face with both hands, trying in vain to erase any vestige of his emotional breakdown. When he finally looked at her, Anna was glad to see an honest smile drawing on his face, despite his watery eyes.

“I should probably call dad,” Kristoff said when the implications of the news finally hit him. “See if mum needs anything.”

“She's not staying at the hospital tonight,” Anna called after him when stood up to look for the phone.

He picked the phone and turned around to look at her. “I thought you said they'd begun weaning her off the drug.”

“Nielsen said it'll take several hours for her to start responding,” she said. “He insisted Gerda went home tonight.”

“Is Marshall staying, then?”

With a nod of her head, Anna explained what Nielsen had told them earlier that day. “Marshall needs to keep an eye on Elsa’s powers. Nielsen is convinced they’ll react before Elsa’s fully conscious.”

Kristoff pursed his lips. “They don't really work that way. But I think it's safe to be prepared.” He then dialled his parents’ number. “I'm glad Elsa had the chance to talk to the big guy before all this,” he told Anna while he waited. “At least he knows what to expect. You were right about him.”

Anna nodded but stayed quiet, unsure of what to say. She was glad Kristoff and his family were on better terms with Marshall now that he was giving them a hand. After all, Marshall was indeed doing everything in his power to help like she had originally imagined. Sadly, Anna wasn’t entirely sure she had done the right thing. Ever since her conversation with Lena, Anna didn’t know what to expect anymore. She had been reading, trying to find information about his disorder; and so far, everything she’d been able to find on the matter did nothing but increase Anna’s ever present worry.

Promising his father to be at their place before sunrise, Kristoff hung up the phone and walked back to the kitchen. The conversation with Kai had helped him remain calm and control his need to go to the hospital as soon as possible. Even when he knew it was useless to go outside the scheduled visiting hours, he couldn’t help but feel anxious about seeing Elsa. He had only seen her twice in the last five days, and now that he knew she’d be waking up soon, he had to control himself not to go sit in the waiting room until she did. At least, he had found a good excuse to stop by the hospital the following morning. He could drop his mother off before work, stay a few minutes and wait for Marhall or Nielsen to give him a report on Elsa’s health. It wasn’t the same as seeing Elsa, but at least he would go to work knowing more about his sister’s condition.

He entered the kitchen and smiled when he saw Anna. She was too focused on the plating of their dinner to notice him, and he was glad that was the case. He knew exactly why she had chosen to cook an elaborate dish for them that night. Early on in their relationship, Kristoff discovered Anna enjoyed reading cooking books and trying new exotic dishes. She didn’t care too much about cooking on a daily basis, but she was fond of the challenge of trying to cook a new dish from time to time. Following the intrinsicate steps, controlling the time and ingredients, making sure the dish looked just like in the pictures… Those were the things that fascinated her, and whenever she had the time or needed a distraction —like she desperately needed lately—, she’d get to work on a new, extravagant dish. Her hobby was something Kristoff enjoyed as well, and there were times he made sure to find strange dishes for her to try. Given the stress of the last few weeks, Kristoff thought it was more than obvious for Anna to try and find a distraction. Especially now that they both were impatient to see Elsa and all they could do was wait.

Thinking it was best to give her a hand with the table, he began moving the books and things that were scattered over the table.

“How’s your dad?” Anna asked when she finally heard him moving around the kitchen.

“Optimistic,” Kristoff answered with a small smile. It was a nice change to hear his father being confident things would turn out for the best for once. “Mum was already asleep. Dad says she plans to show up at the hospital around six instead of eight like she usually does. I offered to pick her up.”

“They won’t let you see Elsa, honey.”

Kristoff knew she was only trying to save him the disappointment, but still he wished she’d be a bit more positive about it. “I can be charming when I want, a nurse might take pity on me.”

Anna chuckled and looked at him over her shoulder. “As long as they don’t confuse being charming with flirting…”

“You know better than anyone I have no game,” laughed Kristoff.

“I know,” Anna said with a smirk. “But some of those nurses are sleep deprived and haven’t seen the outside world in over twelve hours.”

“Ouch.”

“I love you.” Her merry voice said before Kristoff had the chance to complain.

“See, you say those words,” Kristoff said, standing behind her. “Though I don’t think you really know what they mean.”

“Shut up. You know I’m crazy about you.”

Kristoff grinned, knowing it was true. To his good luck, she was very much in love with him. He kissed her cheek and went back to his task at hand. He picked Anna’s bag and put some of her school supplies inside. He placed a couple of books in there as well and left it on the closest armchair. Being careful not to mix up the papers and documents scattered on the table, he placed one on top of the other, and moved them to the small coffee table in the living room. As he was placing them down in the right order, a small leaflet called his attention. He left it on the side and finished what he was doing before he picked it up again. He skimmed the content quickly. The different pictures printed on it piqued his curiosity even further.

“What’s this?” he asked, unsure why the whole leaflet was filled with images of people displaying violent acts.

Anna turned around, glancing quickly at him to see what he was talking about. As soon as she saw the red and blue pamphlet, Anna’s face paled. “Oh, umm… Nothing. You can put that away. Food will be ready soon.”

“IED?” Kristoff read out loud. “What's ‘IED’?”

“It’s nothing,” Anna insisted. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Dyscontrol syndrome.” Kristoff continued reading in silence for a while until a list of the common signs of the mental disorder were listed and he began reading them aloud: “Uncontrollable rage, shouting, threatening people… The list goes on and on. Whatever it is, it doesn't sound like nothing. Can you imagine dealing with a person like this? I’d be on edge at all times.”

When Anna didn’t answer, Kristoff looked up. She was still looking in his direction, the plating of their food forgotten, but her eyes were fixed on the floor instead of him.

“Are you okay?”

“Oh?” Anna said, meeting his eyes for a brief moment before she turned around and picked up the plates in a hurry. “Yes. Of course. Just thinking.”

“About?” Kristoff wondered. He knew perfectly well there was something she wasn’t telling him.

“It doesn't matter.” Anna placed the food on the table and looked up with a nervous smile.

Kristoff skimmed the rest of the information written and noticed there was a phone number circled at the very end. This was all the confirmation he needed to know there was something troubling Anna. “What’s this about, Anna?”

“Okay…”

She hesitated and he felt sick at the pit of his stomach.

“First of all, don't get mad. Just listen.”

He glanced at the pictures on the leaflet once again and then tried to meet Anna’s eyes, afraid he’d see fear written in them. “Anna… I’ve been irritable these past few weeks. More distant. But it hasn’t been that bad, has it? I mean, the lack of sleep and constantly worrying about Elsa has taken a toll on me, I know, but I would never— I don’t recall doing any of these—”

Anna gasped and, without hesitation, she crossed the room to stand in front of him. “Honey, no.” She said with a sad smile. She placed her hands on top of his, crumpling the piece of paper and throwing it to the floor. “You’ve never done anything that can be considered even remotely violent.”

He looked at her hands, still holding his before he dared meet her eyes. “If I ever raised my voice at you, I swear I—”

“This has nothing to do with you. I’d say I’m way more violent than you could ever be,” Anna chuckled.

Her small smile and the tender love in her eyes helped Kristoff understand she was being honest and he breathed out in relief. He wouldn’t forgive himself if he ever behaved in such a deplorable way.

Bending down, he picked the crumpled pamphlet and showed it to Anna once again. “Then what’s this?”

Anna glanced at the paper once more, finally noticing the red circle. She sighed nervously and guided Kristoff back to the closest chair. “The other day I ran into Marshall's mother,” she began to explain. “Well, I didn't run into her. We were at her house after all. You can't run into someone in their own home, can you?”

“Anna,” Kristoff warned, knowing she was sidetracking.

“Right, right.” She patted the air between them. “I was waiting for Marshall to get ready before we went back to the hospital and she—”

“When was this?”

“The day I asked Marshall to look after Elsa. Anyway, she began talking to me. She mentioned how being allowed to see Elsa would help Marshall with…” With a nod of her head, Anna pointed to the pamphlet he was still holding. “I haven't been able to stop thinking about it ever since. I asked the campus librarian if there were any books about this disorder. He suggested I’d better talk to the university counsellor.”

“And I guess you did.” It was clear that’s where Anna had gotten the pamphlet in the first place.

“I think she was concerned about my well-being and ended up circling the emergency number for me.”

Breathing in deeply, Kristoff pinched the brink of his nose and breathed out slowly. He was doing his best to remain calm, but life kept insisting things had to be hard. Permanently hard. And difficult. And unbearably complicated. “What exactly did the counsellor say about this?” he asked, smacking the folded paper on the table.

“Umm… It’s a mental disorder. The person suffering from it has no control over their violent outbursts.”

Biting his lower lip, Kristoff took a moment to understand what it all meant. “You're telling me Marshall could impulsively attack someone with no control whatsoever?”

“His mother said it's in remission,” Anna offered, hoping that would help him stay calm.

Her worried smile did nothing to help, however. “Anna, you’ve seen the way he acts. It doesn't sound like remission to me.”

“I know. I know.” Anna repeated, as she rubbed her face. She was finally letting the overly optimistic mask slip. And once it did, Kristoff was surprised to see how truly concerned she was. “That’s why I can’t stop thinking about it. What if I made a mistake? Do you think I made a mistake? What if Kai was right? I mean, look at this.” She grabbed the crumpled paper once again and began reading out loud. “Outbursts are, more often than not, too extreme for the situation. They occur on and off unannounced, causing major distress for everyone involved.

“When she said he had an ‘explosive disorder’, I thought she meant he got mad from time to time. Madder than the average person, sure. But I never thought…” She trailed off, stopping to think before her eyes met his filled with trepidation. “What about the night he tried to beat the crap out of Hans? Do you think he was being serious?”

“Anna…”

“What about him getting fired? Kai and Nielsen said he got into a fight. Didn’t they mention him beating someone up to a pulp?” Kristoff had no chance to answer before she continued, “I’m so sorry, Kristoff. I shouldn't have told Nielsen about him. I should've kept my mouth shut for once.”

“Wait no,” Kristoff said, holding Anna’s hand and stopping her tirade before her anxiety blew things out of proportion. “I won’t let you do this.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, too tense to even try to understand what he was trying to say.

Only then Kristoff noticed her eyes welling up with tears and he tried to remain calm and offer Anna some comfort. “I'm not letting you take the blame. We all agreed he was a good choice. Even Nielsen said he was our best option… Perhaps, you did the right thing, Anna. We both know Marshall wouldn’t have taken no for an answer.” He waited for her to nod before he continued. “Elsa’s been friends with him for over three years now. She seems to know he’s got a temper, she’s used to it.”

“It’s not just a temper, Kristoff.”

He grabbed the leaflet once more and read the most important details once again. “Not once has Elsa mentioned anything like this. Perhaps it's not this bad.” He looked up and noticed Anna staring at him with an incredulous expression. “What?”

Anna put her hand on top of Kristoff’s, caressing his knuckles. “I’d like to stay positive, and I’m glad you’re trying as well… It’s just— I was certain you would freak out when you found out about this.”

“I am freaking out.” Kristoff laughed humorlessly. “I guess I’m trying not to let this change things. Marshall is helping, isn't he? He’s been doing exactly what he was told. Nielsen trusts him and mum is finally allowing herself to sleep.”

“Maybe you’re right. He seems calmer now,” agreed Anna. “It has helped him, just like Lena said.”

“Who’s Lena?”

“Marshall’s mother.” Anna chuckled.

Kristoff nodded and they both stayed silent, wondering if continuing to trust Marshall was in fact a good idea. Anna was the first to interrupt their pensive mood.

“What about later on? When this is all over…”

“There isn’t much we can do,” admitted Kristoff. “I don't think this will change the way Elsa feels about the guy. I'll try to keep an eye open. Talk to him if I ever get the chance.”

“But what if—”

“I’m no better than my aunt and uncles if I say Elsa is better off without him in her life.”

From the very first night, Marshall realised there was a change in the atmosphere in the early morning hours. Even in the remote room he could hear the sound of silence at the break of dawn. It was a strange feeling, if he thought about it. Under any other circumstances, he would have loved the peace and quiet. With Elsa unconscious by his side, he couldn't say he enjoyed it anymore. It reminded him of the deafening silence of the witching hour when he was a kid. Dreadfully quiet.

For this reason, he was very much surprised when a voice interrupted the silence for a second time that night.

“Any changes?” Nielsen’s voice echoed in the small room and Marshall had to blink a few times to make sure the man was actually standing by the door.

He had lowered his guard, it seemed. He hadn’t heard him getting closer, even when he had spent most part of the night alert of any undesirable visitors lurking in the hall. Had he fallen asleep, perhaps? It didn't seem likely.

Knowing the old doctor was a man who didn't like wasting time, he glanced at Elsa quickly, trying to find anything worth mentioning. She was still resting peacefully. The machines kept the air flowing and her heart rate in check, like they had done all night.

Nielsen watched him expectantly, while Gerda waited just outside the door for the man to move and let her into the room.

“Nothing. I know it takes time for a person to start responding,” he said, feeling chattier than usual. Tiredness did that to him at times. “But I’ll be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping she’d start regaining consciousness during the night.”

Nielsen nodded and walked into the room. Gerda followed suit and greeted him with a gentle smile.

“Here, allow me.” Marshall stood up, ignoring the stiffness in his legs, and offered Gerda the only chair in the room. He knew she was there to stay, even when there was still two hours left before her shift. He couldn’t blame the woman, though. As soon as Nielsen had informed them Elsa would eventually come out of the coma, he noticed the spark in her eyes, silently begging for the doctor to let her stay during the night.

Gerda thanked him and sat down, wasting no time to hold the hand he had previously been holding. He didn’t mind swapping places. There was no-one who’d offer Elsa more comfort than the old woman if she were to wake up.

A nurse walked into the room and requested him to move, drawing his attention back to the doctor. Nielsen was already checking Elsa’s vital signs and giving orders to the young girl who had just entered. The room felt even smaller than a moment before and he knew it was a matter of time until he was requested to leave.

“Do you need help?” he offered before he could think of anything better to say. “I could stay.”

“Go home and rest.” Nielsen dismissed him with a shake of his head.

There was no need for him to stay. No task to be fulfilled. Yet his feet felt glued to the ground; a knot tightening in his stomach at the idea of walking out of the room.

“Hålkesen,” Nielsen called his name, his voice a clear warning. “I said, go home.”

He looked at Elsa once again. Her breathing was still matching the ventilator rate and there were no signs of her responding. She was still completely vulnerable and Marshall didn’t feel comfortable leaving her that day. At least until he was certain someone would stay by Elsa's side at all times.

“Could I talk to you, then? In private.”

This piqued not only Nielsen’s but Gerda’s curiosity. The nurse looked at him as well and he wondered what was so difficult to understand about the idea of privacy.

“Is it truly important?”

Marshall's silence and seriousness seemed to be enough for Nielsen to trust his word. And so, with a sigh he handed his pen to the nurse and motioned for him to step out of the room. “Update her chart, please.”

Before the doctor walked out, Marshall noticed the subtle gesture he made, intended for only Gerda to see.

After closing the door behind him, Nielsen crossed his arms and waited impatiently for Marshall to speak. “This better be important.”

What had happened in the middle of the night wasn’t serious. Perhaps Marshall was needlessly mistrusting people, but he wasn’t going to leave anything to chance when Elsa was involved. Thinking how best to explain his uneasiness, he took a moment before he spoke.

“A doctor came to see Elsa late at night. A nurse I’ve never seen before was accompanying him,” Marshall said, his voice barely over a whisper. “I know it may sound ridiculous, but I haven't seen them in the unit before.”

He expected Nielsen to tell him he was wasting his time or simply being foolish, yet the surprise in the man's eyes was tinted with concern.

“Who?”

“He introduced himself as Landvik. He asked questions about Elsa.” The crease between Nielsen’s eyebrows told Marshal he had done the right thing sharing his concerns. Massaging his neck to relieve some tension, he explained, “He asked about her recovery process and any perceptible changes I’ve seen in the last few days.”

“What did you say?”

“I told him all the necessary information was in the bed chart. The rest was between you and Elsa’s family.”

“Good,” Nielsen murmured. He stayed quiet for a while, his eyes fixed on the floor, thinking deeply. “Make sure that’s all he gets. All the information he needs is either in the chart or in my reports, as you said, clear?”

Marshall nodded, thinking what it all meant. Before he could ask, Nielsen turned around and headed to the room. So he stopped the doctor, once again. “Why would he come see Elsa personally? Why ask me these questions and not the team working in this unit? It makes no sense.”

Nielsen stopped, his hand on the door knob. He pondered for a while before he met Marshall’s eyes and said, “Use your head, kid. From a professional point of view, what’s the first thing that came to your mind when you found out about Elsa?”

“About her powers, you mean?” he asked in a low voice. “It’s impossible for her to do what she does. It makes no sense.”

“Exactly.”

“So, what?” He was trying to remain calm, but he didn’t like what Nielsen was implying. “You’re telling me he—”

A high-pitched scream coming from inside the room stopped Marshall before he could get any more information. Concern washed over both men and they ran into the room — their conversation forgotten.

“What’s going on?” Nielsen demanded to know.

The young nurse was pressed against the wall, pointing at Elsa’s bed. A shocked, frightened expression on her face.

“It’s okay. It’s okay.” Gerda repeated over and over as she got closer to the nurse. “Please calm down. This is what we talked about.”

As soon as Gerda saw the girl nod her head, she turned to Elsa and leaned closer, speaking softly. “Dear? Can you hear me?”

When Nielsen moved closer to Elsa’s bed, Marshall finally got the chance to see what had been causing all the chaos: Snowflake-patterned frost covered a quarter of the bed and it was slowly spreading to one of the legs of the bed.

The young girl seemed disturbed by the display of Elsa’s powers, and Marshall couldn’t really blame her. He had seen Elsa use her powers more than once already and he still had a hard time understanding them. It was a miracle the nurse had calmed down enough not to panic nor scream anymore.

“Step aside, please,” Nielsen told Gerda and reluctantly she obeyed.

“Elsa.” Nielsen called her name once, twice, before he asked, “can you hear me?”

There was no response so he moved closer, to try and check her pupil reflexes. As soon as he touched her face, her eyes opened wide. The icy blue of her eyes drawing everyone's attention.

“Elsa, over here.” Her eyes didn’t track Nielsen’s hand movement.

“Come closer,” he asked Gerda, and as soon as she walked in Elsa’s field of vision, her eyes fell on her.

A smile drew on Gerda’s face as her eyes brimmed with tears. Marshall breathed out in relief and felt positive things would turn out okay when the ice stopped spreading.

“I need you to blink twice if you can hear me clearly,” Nielsen instructed. Once again, however, Elsa didn’t respond, her eyes still fixed on Gerda. “Elsa?”

“Move to the side,” Nielsen requested Gerda. “Slowly. Away from her line of vision.”

“Nielsen, I—”

“Do as I say, please.”

When Elsa could no longer see Gerda, her eyes moved around the room, desperately trying to find her. Her eyes found Marshall’s then and hoping she'd recognise him, he smiled at her. This seemed to help her calm down until Nielsen stepped in between.

“Can you blink for me, Elsa?”

Losing sight of familiar faces seemed to set Elsa off and her breathing pattern increased rapidly. Steadily becoming laboured, above the ventilator’s rate.

“Don't be afraid. I need you to keep your eyes on me. Gerda is right beside you.”

“Doctor Nielsen, the ice.” The nurse pointed to the frost spreading fastly down the leg of the bed and onto the floor. She took a few steps back and Marshall thought it was best to help her before she panicked. Grabbing the nurse by the shoulders, he forced her out of the ice’s way and closer to the door, in case she wanted to leave.

Gerda moved Nielsen out of the way and held Elsa’s good hand, making sure she looked at her. “I'm here, sweetheart. I know it’s scary, but you’re fine. Trust me.”

“The ice keeps spreading,” Marshall said calmly. Stating a fact with no intention of alarming anyone.

“Move.” Forcing Gerda to the side, Nielsen grabbed a syringe from the tray he had brought with him earlier and injected a small dose in Elsa’s IV.

Gerda’s face turned red and she did nothing to hide her disapproval. “Jonnas, what are you doing?”

“I wasn’t expecting her to be this responsive so soon.” He informed her. He seemed unfazed by his choice and Marshall had to count to ten not to snap at the man.

“We’ll run some tests. I’m positive we might be able to extubate her before she becomes fully conscious again.”

“She was responding accordingly, there was no need to—”

“I’m not going to take any risks.”

As soon as the ice began to melt, Nielsen called the nurse’s name and listed the steps he wanted her to follow. He explained the dose given to Elsa was small —just enough to keep her calm for no more than an hour or two— and he needed to make sure everything was in order before she woke up again.

When the nurse was about to leave the room, he called her back. “I’ll need you to restrain her, just to be safe.”

“Jonnas…” Gerda warned, displeased with the idea.

“It’s not up for debate.”

Marshall tightened his fists. But he managed to remain calm. If he were to lose control of his emotions, he’d risk losing his right to see Elsa. But that didn't mean he'd silently agree with Nielsen's idea.

“Stay with her at all times.” With that last order, Nielsen walked out of the room and Marshall followed. Perhaps he could speak with the man, change his last choice without a quarrel taking place

“Nielsen, I—”

“You go home.”

Marshal was about to yell at the man to listen to them, but Gerda placed a hand on his arm stopping him on time. Nielsen continued walking down the hall unaware of Marshall’s rage.

“It's best if you go,” Gerda said in a low voice. “I'll make sure she’s safe.”

Tightening his fists once again, Marshall took a few deep breaths and counted to ten, in English, Norwegian and French. When the lump in his throat disappeared, he looked at the old woman, who was looking back at him with concern. She understood his indignation. He could see it in her eyes. But unlike him, she knew better than to start a fight. Knowing it was best for everyone if he left, he apologised to Gerda and disappeared down the hall, ashamed of his behaviour.

Marshall walked out of the wards at a slow pace, trying hard to focus on anything but Nielsen's choices.

Once in the main reception, he informed Andrea, who had just started her shift, he was leaving. While he waited for her to check something he didn’t care about, he felt a hand tapping his shoulder. He cursed under his breath and turned around, hoping it wasn’t one of his ex-colleagues.

“Marshall,” Kristoff greeted him. “Have you seen my mother? She said she'd come back and— Is everything okay?” He asked as soon as they locked eyes. “Please, tell me she’s okay.”

Taking another deep breath, he nodded. Kristoff had nothing to do with him being annoyed and so he tried to put on a good face. Elsa was okay, after all. He needed to focus on that. And he needed Kristoff to know that was the case. “She's responding,” he said with a small smile.

“Thank goodness,” Kristoff breathed out in relief. “Do you think I could—”

“I doubt Nielsen will let you see her. I was just kicked out of the room.”

“Are you sure everything’s okay?”

It was meant to be a joke, though Marshall should have known Kristoff would get suspicious. Playing dumb, he smiled again and nodded. “Yes. I'm just tired. I guess I don't know what I'm saying. Elsa's fine. Your mother's with her.”

He looked at the receptionist to make sure everything was in order, and once she told him he could leave, he began walking towards the main door.

“See you in a couple of hours,” he said, hoping not to drag the conversation any longer.

“Wait, Marshall,” Kristoff called after him, catching up with him by the door. “I want– Umm… Do you want to have breakfast?”

“What?”

“You’ve been looking after my sister for over four days now and we haven’t really spoken to one another. I haven’t even said thank you.”

“I haven’t got any money on me.”

“It’s on me,” Kristoff said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I’ve got an hour to kill before work and I could use the company.”

Marshall wanted to decline. Go home, take a shower and sleep. But deep down he knew it was best to accept the invitation.

I’m not even sure if this is what was supposed to happen in this chapter anymore. On Monday morning I sat down to write and edit a few scenes and dialogues I had, and somewhere along the way the characters began to make their own choices and here we are.

I’m glad they did, though. I really like the final result. It was time Anna and Kristoff could enjoy an evening on their own, even if they spent more time worrying than anything else.

Thank you all for your kind reviews. I love you all and I promise I’ll respond to all of them soon.

Take care and don’t forget to leave a little something in the box below. It always makes my day, week and month.

Read you soon!

- Tag time:

@swimmingnewsie @melody-fox @kristoffxannafanatic @kristannafictionals @neptrabbit @skneez @ellacarter13 @wondering-in-life @who-i-am-8 @fanfictionrecommendations-com @815-allisnotlost @khartxo @joannevixxon @betweenthedreams @burbobah @rileysfs @earlvessalius @blood-jewel @snowycrocus @the-sky-is-awake @disneyfan103 @anamaria8garcia @welovefrozenfanfiction @bigfrozenfan @bigfrozenfan-archive @frozenartscapes @deisymendoza @zackhaikal123 @cornstarch @roostercrowedatmidnight @showurselfelsa @when-dawn-arrives @tare-disney @wabitham @just-your-local-history-nerd @dontrunintofirexoxo @daphmckinnon @poketin @luna-and-mars @shimmeringsunsets @aries1708 @wabitham @agentphilindaisy @spkfrozenkindikids123 @jimmi-arts @snowmanmelting @loonysama @hiptoff @loonysama @tare-disney @frozenwolftemplar @true–north @holycolordreamertree @bigfrozensix

#søsken #sosken #elsa #anna #kristoff #kristanna #frozen fanfiction #frozen fanfic #chapter 51 #modern AU

10 notes · View notes

dccomicsimagines · 2 years ago

Text

Loving Night - Tim Drake x Reader

Requested by Anon - I am an ER nurse and I work a lot of twelve hour shifts. Sometimes I take on double shifts too due to short staffing. Can I have a nice Valentine’s Day story with Tim? Maybe both of us come home from long shifts and have a quiet Valentine’s Day together? I just need some comfort right now. Thanks a bunch!

***

You pushed open the door of your apartment and sighed. It was blissfully quiet and dark. After spending all day in the chaos and fluorescent lights of the ER, you wanted to bathe in the peace.

Hanging your keys on the hook along with your jacket, you locked the door before kicking off your shoes. You groaned, your feet aching. Your socked feet slid on the polished floor. You frowned. Alfred must have stopped in to clean the apartment again. You appreciated it, but you hoped he didn’t feel like he had too.

Slowly, you went into the kitchen and unpacked your lunchbox. Tim’s lunchbox was on the counter. He must already be out on patrol for the night. Your heart sank. You missed him. Your schedules had been running opposite recently. Two ships passing in the night.

You shuffled your way to the bedroom, turning on the light. A bright red package laid on the bed. You blinked before carefully approaching it.

The first thing you saw was bright red Happy Valentine’s Day written on the card. “Is it today?” You quickly checked your phone. The days had been a blur. You wanted to surprise Tim, but you lost track of time. Clearly, Tim hadn’t forgotten as you opened the card to find Tim’s messy handwriting.

(Y/N), I love you. Happy Valentine’s Day. I’m sorry we haven’t seen much of each other. Tonight is a big night for the case, but I’ll be home earlier, I swear. Open your present before you change. You’ll like what’s inside. Love, Tim.

“Oh, Timmy.” You ripped open the present, grinning at the sight of cozy warm pajamas and a fuzzy blanket. “I knew I loved you.”

You took the box with you into the bathroom, planning on changing into them once you showered.

***

“You got the rest of this? I need to head home.” Tim nodded down from the rooftop to the cops arriving at the scene of Clock King’s master plan. It took Tim days to track him down and lay out a plan with Jason’s help. Now Clock King was tied up below, waiting for the police.

“Yeah, I’ll make sure Clock King gets into custody.” Jason huffed, taking off his helmet and shaking his hair out like a dog. “Let me guess, you want to get back to (Y/N) because it’s Valentine’s Day.”

Tim shrugged. “Yeah, plus I haven’t seen them for more than ten minutes in the last few weeks.” He took the grapple gun from his belt. “Besides, you don’t have plans. Roy’s in Star City last I heard.”

“Shut up,” Jason hissed, glancing over his shoulder. “I don’t need that getting out.”

Tim hummed, unable to stop the smirk growing on his lips. “Thanks Hood.”

“Use protection, nerd,” Jason said. Tim just waved, firing off his grapple gun toward home. His heart sang, thinking of spending an evening with you. You were probably still in the shower. He glanced at his wrist. His computer alerted him when you arrived home.

“Probably have enough time to pick up dinner too,” Tim said to himself. He knew your showers tended to be long. Maybe he could even join you if he was fast enough? He landed on a rooftop and ran to jump off, firing his grapple gun to soar even faster toward your favorite food place.

***

You leaned against the shower wall, letting the hot water soak into your tired body. It felt good. Like a warm hug.

The bathroom door opened. You froze in horror. “(Y/N), can I join you?” Tim asked. You peeked out of the curtain, smiling when you saw Tim stripping out of his suit before you could even give permission.

“I know you said you’d be home early, but this is very early for you,” you laughed as Tim jumped out of his boxers. You held the curtain open and he slipped inside.

“I promised.” He wrapped his arms around your waist and kissed you sweetly. Your heart skipped a beat. A new warmth filled your insides, leaving you buzzing. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

You hummed, pulling him into the spray. Tim chuckled, sputtering. “I like my pajamas. Thank you,” you said. You ran your fingers through his now wet hair. “Did you catch King Clock or whatever his name is?”

Tim grinned. He shook his head. You laughed, covering your face as he splashed you. “Yeah, the city is safe from his time-freezing machine. Honestly, it’s the dumbest thing, but it could have worked...if he built it right.”

“And you figured out how to build it so it works?” You touched your nose to his. The smirk on his face told you everything. “Hopefully, you locked away the plans...I’d hate to be in the ER if that gets out.” You shivered. A few of the bad moments from the day crept up to the front of your mind. You shook your head, pushing them away and locking them up. It took you a while, but eventually you learned how to not bring the ER home with you.

“I didn’t write anything down. It’s all up here.” Tim tapped his temple, rubbing your back. “Your day okay?”

You bit your lip. “It was...harder than normal, but I’m okay.” You kissed him again, melting into his arms. “Just hold me for a while.”

Tim tucked your head under his chin. “I love you.” He rocked you back and forth. “You’re braver than me, saving lives in a way I can’t. I’m so proud.”

“I’m proud of you too. You with your brilliant mind.” You kissed his jaw. He had a little bit of stubble, but you didn’t mind. The two of you stayed in the shower until the water turned cold.

***

An hour later, you and Tim cuddled on the couch, stomach full of good food and a bit of wine. The tv played softly in the background. Your new blanket was wrapped around the two of you.

You rested your head on Tim’s chest and closed your eyes. “This was nice.”

Tim played with your hair. His arm warm around you. “It is. I missed this.”

“Me too.” You sighed, looking up at Tim. He looked back at you, love sparkling in his eyes. “I’m sorry I forgot about Valentine’s Day.”

Tim blinked, eyes widening. “You forgot? I thought you were giving me cuddles, which honestly is good enough. Shower cuddles and couch cuddles...we haven’t had both in a long time,” he chuckled, a wide grin pulling at his lips.

“I don’t know if you’re being sarcastic or not.” You laughed, leaning up to kiss his lips gently.

“I’m not, but it’s okay. You’ve been busy, besides I’ve forgotten enough things at this point of our relationship.” Tim winked at you. “And we always make up for it.”

“We do.” You sat up and ran your fingers down his jawline. “I have tomorrow off.”

Tim leaned into your touch. “Really? I’ll have to take tomorrow off too then. Bruce can survive the stockholders meeting alone.”

“Goodbye Wayne Enterprises.” You kissed the corner of his mouth. “Hello Unemployment.”

He snorted, rolling his eyes. “Bruce did run the company before I came along. He’s not that bad.”

You smirked, narrowing your eyes. “Right. You forget I was at the Wayne Enterprises Medical Fundraiser last year.”

“How could I forget? You looked like an angel that fell from heaven.” Tim glanced toward the picture from that night hanging on the wall. It was the two of you, dancing in the middle of the ballroom floor. Neither one of you looked at the camera. Dick had taken the picture without you knowing.

“You were pretty handsome yourself.” You kissed him. He returned it sleepy. “We should go to bed.”

“We should.” Tim pulled away as a yawn escaped him. “Or we’ll end up on the couch again.” Tim tightened his arms around you.

“I don’t think I can move.” You closed your eyes and rested your head on his chest again. Tim shifted, laying down on the couch. You laid half on him. Contentment filled you.

“I love you.” Tim kissed the top of your head with his eyes closed.

“I love you too, Timmy.” You turned to press your lips against his chest as you felt yourself drift off. Tim’s warmth soaked into you as you let yourself visit dreamland.

***

Tim woke up alone with the sun shining through the windows. He rubbed his eyes, sitting up on the couch. The tv was off. The apartment strangely silent.

“(Y/N)?” Tim stood up, groaning when his bones cracked at the movement. He frowned when he was met with silence. Tim walked through the apartment, checking every room for you. It was only when he got to the kitchen that he saw the note on the coffee machine.

Be back in a few. Don’t start the coffee. ;)

Tim scratched his head. “At least they didn’t get called into work,” he mumbled, sitting down at the kitchen table. He shook his head, trying to shake off the slight panic from finding you gone.

The sound of the key turning in the lock had Tim on his feet. He turned the corner to find you opening the front door, dressed in sweats with bedhair. He grinned as his eyes dropped to the McLeary’s Coffee and Bake shop bag and drink holder in your hands.

“You didn’t,” Tim said, stepping forward to take the bag and drink holder from you. McLeary’s was across the town, hidden in a little back alleyway in one of the seedier areas. It was a local secret. “You went there alone?”

“Happy Belated Valentine’s Day.” You kissed his cheek, kicking off your shoes and walking into the kitchen. Tim followed, taking a deep breath of McLeary’s special caramel cream coffee.

Tim shook himself out of the caramel cream daze. “You shouldn’t have went alone. It’s dangerous,” he said, setting everything on the table. You took out a plate, giving him smile.

“I wanted to surprise you, plus there was like twenty cops in the shop doing their morning coffee run.” You set the plate down and started to pull pastries out of the bag. Tim almost drooled at the sight. “I was fine.” You nodded to his coffee. “Drink it before it gets too cold.”

Tim took a sip. He moaned at the sugary perfection. “I love you.” He wrapped his arm around your waist and pulled you into his chest. “Thank you.” You kissed his lips, laughing slightly. The two of you knew today was going to be a good day.

#tim drake #tim drake x reader #tim drake imagine #dc comics imagines #dc reader insert #red robin #red robin x reader #red robin imagine #robin #robin imagine #robin x reader #batman #batman imagines #batfamily #batfamily imagine #valentine's day

143 notes · View notes

voidsdamned · 3 months ago

Text

Wicked Natures - The Ghoul/OC (Female Character) Chapter Thirteen

Summary: Bounty hunters are frequent customers at Mulholland's Saloon, and Rue's taken quite a shine to one gunslinger in particular: a cantankerous, old Ghoul in a tattered duster. Witness her unabashedly lust after him in all his irradiated glory (as we are all currently doing), as well as navigate the precarious relationship she unfortunately has with local law enforcement.

Minors, do not interact.

Content Warnings: the usual swearing, use of alcohol, mentions of prostitution, murder.

Enjoy <3

Chapter Thirteen: Wrong Decision

The spot on the floor sort of looks like a dog: a big, fluffy one with a dopey, squishable face Rue would very much like to season with kisses. She’d like to give it a hug around the neck, bury her face in its fur, and take a nap. She’d like it if the dog was big enough for her to take a nap on –so big she could lie on its side and sink down into it like a mattress.

Hell, she’d just like a nap after days and days of Deck’s ridiculous, early-morning nit-picking and the long, tiresome nights that follow. Nights where she gets two or so hours of sleep at most because she works so damn late and Deck’s developed this irksome habit of popping in at the ass-crack of dawn for a breakfast Rue doesn’t want –doesn’t have the energy– to make.

The sheriff’s gone now. He left around noon for out-of-town business that’s supposed to keep him tied up for a week or two, and such news nearly brought Rue to tears of relief and joy. She’s still tired, though, and the only thing keeping her going is the promise of a late-morning sleep. But the prospect of lying down and petting the floor-spot dog is sorely tempting.

“Rue, honey, you there?”

Her fuzzy, heavy, half-not-in-her-head brain perks at her name. At the slow, concerned tone of Bo Fortenberry. She glances to him, not fond of the furrow-browed look on his face, and then her eyes go right back to the floor. She points at the spot.

“That look like a dog to you?”

“Huh.” Bo makes a teeth-kissing, curious sound. “Kinda?”

“More like a chicken to me,” Len Thomas comments, peering over the edge of the table. “That dirt or just the way the wood warps?”

“Better not be dirt,” Rue grumbles, scrubbing at the dog spot with the toe of her boot. It doesn’t move. Doesn’t have any sort of texture to it other than wood grain. “Tired of scrubbin’ the damn floors….” She decides it’s just the wood grain and sighs before shooting a grin at her table. “I completely forgot if I was comin’ or goin’. You boys need anything?”

Three out of four boys shake their heads in the negative, but Gen Guthrie bobs his as he takes a big gulp of beer.

“Just to know how long the waitin’ list is on… Ana? Anis?” Gen sets his beer down, head cocking and brows scrunching. “Annie?”

“Second one was closest,” Rue tells him, fingergunning. “Anais. And buddy, ya might not get a spot for months. She really knows how to –and I’m quotin’ Brent Mahonne directly here, ‘Lay it on a guy.’ So, I’m guessin’ she’s pretty good.”

“Brent Mahonne’s a dog,” Fat Patrick tosses in around a laugh. “Long as it’s got a hole, he’d fuck it.”

Rue believes it. She heard him proposition Adel once, and well… Rue doesn’t like that she’s imagined it, but she thinks cigarette smoke probably billows out of Adel’s cooze the same way it does from her mouth. She wouldn’t go near it. But Brent Mahonne sounded earnest and wanting when he suggested they pop out back.

She decides to not share that with the boys, though. Adel’s been shrieking at her enough as is, and Rue’s sick of it. Instead, she smiles devious and says, “Bet him and gulper fucker are best pals.”

Bo gives a short laugh but corrects her, “Naw, they can’t stand one another –both think the other’s nasty as hell and oughta be shot.” He takes a quick sip of beer. “Personally, I think the gulper fucker’s the worse of the two. Takes a depraved fucker to put their dick in somethin’ dead.”

“So, you’re sayin’ it wouldn’t be as bad if it were live when he did it?” Gen poses.

Bo’s nose scrunches, but he dips his head. “Kinda?”

“Stop talkin’ ‘bout the gulper fucker and dead things,” Len groans, green as a supermutant around the gills. “I just wanna drink my beer without hearin’ ‘bout it.”

“Awe, we’ll leave it alone, Len,” Roo coos, smile soft and teasing. She spares a swink for the rest of the boys. “I’ll come back ‘round in a bit.”

Varied appreciation comes from the table as Rue turns to leave, eyes catching on the dog spot a final time before she drags her gaze away. She has to focus and stop thinking about fluffy things to nap on. There’s a shift to get through, and then her lumpy couch can swallow her up.

Her mind spins back around to her couch often, though. When her arms wobble under the weight of a too-full tray. When Yumi keeps stealing her goddamn drinks. When Rina tells Rue she’s, “Just not feelin’ it,” when a neglected table has Rue go hunting for her. When Adel bids Rue to guess at how many caps Harvey James just offered to get Rue in the broom closet with him. When Hal asks her for the dozenth time tonight to run up the stairs to take drinks to one of the girls’ rooms.

Rue slogs herself up the staircase, a bottle of red wine in the hand that doesn’t pull her heavy body upwards with tugs at the stair rail. On the landing, she hesitates but for a moment before heading towards the room that used to be Lara’s.

Rue couldn’t actually say how long it’s been since Lara left –time runs together for her worse than it ever has– but her absence still feels very new and strange. And she frankly doesn’t like it even though she is glad Lara got to leave. Rue’s glad she’s far away and hopefully enjoying the hell of that tall, muscley boy she landed, but Rue misses Lara as fiercely as she misses hot water (if not more). She misses her honey eyes. Her quick smile. Her secret devilishness. She misses the way Lara would humour her silliness and let her try just about anything with her hair and makeup. She misses talking about nothing. She misses talking about everything. She misses the simple pleasure of sharing the same space.

And then there’s the fact that Anais isn’t very nice or likeable. She’s another Molly. Another Rina and Yumi. She’s rude, demanding, refuses to learn how to work the floor in the server kind of way, mistakenly jealous of how much attention Deck unfortunately gives Rue, and doesn’t know how to do her makeup. But she thinks she does. She gets the spitting, throwing shit kind of mad when Adel sends Rue to her room to fix whatever travesty the courtesan has thrown together.

Rue’s quick about the drink drop. She knocks loud and clear, sets the bottle down, and turns to book it back downstairs.

But then she hears her name come from further down the hall, around the corner one would take to get to Adel’s room.

People talk about Rue all the time, and she used to ignore it. She’d space out or leave it, but ever since Artie, Rue hones in when she hears her name. Something in her pricks and demands to know what is said. It could be important. Something she can use. A warning.

She takes a step down the hall, pausing for just a moment when the door to Lara’s old room parts just a fraction and a freckled hand slithers out to snatch up the wine bottle. The door shuts; Rue moves more steps, careful and slow until she comes to the corner where she takes the quickest of peaks.

Lucky and a man she doesn’t know the name of (but she knows she’s seen hanging around Deck for a little while now) lean into a wide, open window. Cigarettes smoke idly between lips or fingers, curls of grey filtering into the midnight air.

Lucky’s taking a particularly long drag, expelling it with a great sigh. “Well, they think Lara probably begged her for it, and Rue… she’s not altogether there, but she’s sweet. Sweet and simple. She’d give anyone the shirt off her back, and Deck’s pissed Lara took advantage of that.”

Rue pulls back, spine pressing into the wall and heart doing all manners of flip-flops in her chest. That’s bad. She hasn’t heard much, but that’s really, really bad.

“That… that still don’t sound like a good enough reason to send someone after her.”

Rue’s flip-flopping heart splats to the floor. She…. Maybe she’s just misunderstanding the situation? Surely, they’re not talking about Lara having a bounty her. Not Lara. Not Lara who’s never done anything but love someone –who didn’t even ask Rue for help.

“It’s enough for him.”

“…He’s weird ‘bout that one.”

A grumbled, heavily sighed. “Buddy, ya don’t know the half of it. He don’t like it when anyone gets too close to her or when she does anything for anyone other than him. And it’s just been gettin’ worse and worse here lately with everything goin’ on. Her interactin’ with folks here is gettin’ to be too much for him. Can’t tell ya how many times he’s complained ‘bout Bo Fortenberry and his boys or that Ghoul takin’ up too much of her time. He’s even startin’ to get weird ‘bout Hal and… and that Ghoul rancher –shit, what’s her name….” A snap of the fingers. “Ira Jean. Just everyone now. And he’s stuck her in the absolute worse place for him to be this way. But that’s the other half of it! He likes to show her off. He likes hearin’ how bad some people want her. It’s askin’ for fuckin’ disaster.”

Rue’s stomach has joined her heart on the ground, and both sort of just writhe down there. Twisting. Thundering. Her head spins hard. Horribly.

“Makes me think of that off-his-rocker fella he was spinnin’ like a twister ‘bout when I first joined up. Think I ‘member someone sayin’ she patched him up on her porch and that’s what set him off?”

A tired, “Yup. …That was one job I really didn’t wanna do. I was relieved whoever hurt him came back and got him so quick.” Another sigh. “But that’s back in my lap now.”

“Why’s that?”

“Ya see that redhead that stopped in earlier?”

“Uh… blue hat and a .357?”

“Mhm” A quick pause. A vocal exhale. “That’s Geraldine. She brought me a head, claimin’ it was Artie’s. Said she found him down in Two-Sun just wanderin’ ‘round.”

Everything goes out of Rue, goes brittle and cold, and she goes to shaking so violently her vision vibrates. She bites down so hard on her lip she tastes copper, but there’s no pain to it. There’s only rage and a scream she can’t let leave her throat. She has to keep it together. She has to hear the rest.

Rue stares up at the ceiling, blood dribbling down her chin and eyes burning.

“He escaped?”

“Must’ve. Maybe? I dunno that it’s really his head. It’s busted to hell and back, decayed bad, and Geraldine’s got a reputation for fakin’ bounties. …She brought us a head off a raider boss, Macho, a few years back. It was in rough shape –we couldn’t confirm or deny the identity– but we took her at her word. ‘Bout two weeks later, another hunter comes in with Macho’s head in pristine condition. No doubt it was his. So, we had Geraldine brought in, and the only reason she ain’t dead –still doin’ business with us– is ‘cause she coughed the caps up, and… well… she soothed Deck’s ego. If ya catch my drift.”

“Think she’d be dumb enough to try it again?”

“Some people don’t learn. …I decided to not to give her the full bounty. Told her she could wait ‘round for Deck to come back to town and take it up with him. Guess it’s sort of a good sign she’s still here, but I don’t trust her.”

“Don’t reckon I would either….” There comes a lecherous chuckle that firmly boots Rue out of her focus. “But I’d let her soothe my ego.”

Rue barely hears Lucky’s response of, “Fuckin’ dog,” as she pushes away from the wall, as she tries to hold her head and heart and her entire self together. She’s moved into a different frequency. Spiraling away. And all she can think about is getting away. Running and running. She’ll explode if she doesn’t.

She almost falls down the stairs, fumbling the last few steps, and she’s not nearly as dexterous as she usually is as she winds through the main floor of Mulholland’s. She’s not right enough in her own mind to avoid folks, and their voices sound like big-band trumpets. Every accidental brush of another against her burns. Pricks like cactus needles. They… they all kind of look like cacti to her. Just these faceless shapes, all lumpy, spiney, and too close.

A figure is suddenly in her path, and Rue doesn’t even think about stopping. She can’t. She collides, teeth and left shoulder ringing. Everything’s ringing. Vibrating. It’s gone from trumpets to a church bell tolling in her head. It’s loud and terrible, and Rue’s hands clamp over her ears to stop the noise, to keep her skull from rattling apart.

She’s hit again, knocked to the floor. Her ass strikes, rough, splintering wood, sending shocks up her spine. Rue’s spinning eyes stare up, fixing on a red-haired woman in a blue hat that is absolutely ranting and raving. Spitting as she glares down, as she pulls out a shining, .357 magnum and levels it on Rue.

Rue goes very still inside, her scattered world coming into intense focus around the redhead. She speaks a name aloud in question, a breath of confusion, “Geraldine?”

“Who’s fuckin’ askin’?” The redhead’s voice is a temperamental, not-quite shout full of growl and venom. “You need to watch where the fuck you’re goin’.”

Rue tries to stand. The redhead plants a boot in her chest. It hits so hollowly –Rue barely feels it– but it puts her right back on her ass.

“I didn’t say ya could get up, cunt,” probably-Geraldine barks. “Ya owe me a proper apology and some goddamn respect.”

The gun glints in the low light of the saloon. There’s a click of the safety being disengaged.

A complete disconnect occurs in Rue’s mind. She doesn’t realize that she lunges forward or that the .357 fires. She doesn’t realize she’s wrapped herself around the redhead’s legs like a rabid radcoon, bringing her down to harsh floors. And she doesn’t realize she’s screaming. That she’s scrambling or straddling the woman, bringing her netted hands down into a combined fist upon Geraldine’s face over and over again. She doesn’t feel the hot wetness of blood. She doesn’t feel flesh connect with flesh, breaking and splitting.

She doesn’t feel the arms around her, lifting and hauling her back. She can only see herself being pulled away from the redhead, who really is just a red head now. A spreading pool of crimson fluid and fiery strand of slicked hair.

Rue shakes again, whole body pulsating. Her vision blurry and uncertain. Worsening. Wet. The world spins, and she looks up at a ceiling. A terrified face she suddenly recognizes as Hal’s. He looks like he might be shouting. Maybe at her?

The world dims. Air rushes. She can barely see him anymore. Will she see him again? Will Deck kill him for touching her? Will he kill Mrs. Ira Jean for her kindness towards Rue? Murder Bo, Len, Gen, and Fat Patrick for being one of her favourites? The Ghoul for being her favourite.

It’s like trying to move the earth, but Rue manages to reach up. To find Hal’s face. Her slick fingers drag across his stubbly cheek, and she presses them to his lips, tracing a red smile.

“I… c-can’t keep ya s…safe,” she tells him, not hearing the heartbreak to her own voice. The way it wavers. There’s just the way it vibrates up her throat and slips through her lips. “I-I could…could…n’t keep… n-no one sss-safe.”

Her heavy, unseeing eyes slip closed, and Rue feels everything go out of her. Every ounce of anything until she’s just a hollowed-out outline of herself that’s slurped up by warmth and nothing. And that nothing, that darkness that eats her up… it’s really, very nice.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Being spat up is miserable. A brief glimpse at something bright, and then having to claw her way towards it. Again and again until Rue snags a sensation, and it’s wretched. A headache which pounds like a drum in her skull. A throat that feels sharply raw. Her limbs are lead and far away, but not as far away as her body. It’s not real at all. Not yet. But then the nausea hits, and Rue is aware of every inch of herself and the intense possibility that she is going to vomit.

She takes slow, deep breaths. She doesn’t want to vomit. She hates to vomit. She’d rather a knife go through her hand. …Shit, she feels like knives have already gone through her everywhere.

“No, her still being unconscious is very normal. Stimpaks can only do so much, especially with multiple injuries involved. And they’re a strain on the human body. A period of deep rest often follows their use, and compounded with the exhaustion physical trauma can cause… she could sleep for another day.”

Rue’s eyes part a fraction at the sound of Doc Nguyen’s voice, that precise and careful cadence. So clear and no-nonsense. So… educational.

There’s a sharp, puffing exhale. “Right, right. If you’re sure she’s fine. Or going to be…. She’s going to be?”

That sounds like Lucky, and Rue can’t figure out why the sound of his voice puts her so on edge. Makes her want to hold her breath.

“Yes, she will, and you can thank Hal for that. If not for him getting her here as quickly as he did, blood loss likely would have taken her.”

“I’ll… uh….” Lucky sounds so winded, so tired. “I’ll most definitely do that. And thank ya, too, Doc. …Will ya send word once she’s up and ready for visitors?”

“I will.”

“Thank ya –again.”

“You’re welcome. Have a good day, Lucky.”

“You too, Doc.”

Footsteps sound against wood flooring. A door opens and closes. Silence follows in its wake, soon broken by a sigh.

The doorknob to the room Rue guesses she was dying in at some point rattles and turns. The door creaks open, allowing the tall, elegant figure of Doc Nguyen to breeze in. She pulls her salt-and-pepper hair out of her face, into a tight bun at the base of her neck, but stops halfway through the motions of it to cut Rue a mild glare.

“How long have you been awake?”

“Long enough to know I almost kicked the bucket.” Rue’s voice is hoarse and broken, but it works well enough. “And hell, I fuckin’ feel it.”

Doc Nguyen fights off a grin, finishes tying her hair off, adjusts the glasses perched on the tip of her nose, and grabs a chair from close by, rolling it to Rue’s bedside. “You’re lucid enough, so let’s talk. I know you don’t feel well but describe exactly how you’re feeling to me.”

“Mmm. Not all the way here –like half of me’s still down for the count. But what I do feel aches…. Vomity. Headachy. My throat’s raw.”

The doctor spins away. Rue doesn’t turn her head to watch where she goes because it makes the world go into cartwheels. So, she listens as something slides open and gets rattled around. Doc Nguyen comes back and presses something chalky to Rue’s lips.

“Chew.”

Rue does.

Several more somethings with waxier coatings are held to her mouth. “Hold.”

Rue holds the pills in her mouth. The rim of a bottle is held steady to her lips. She is bid to, “Swallow,” and does so, washing the weird flavours out of her mouth.

“Give it ten minutes.”

“I got all the minutes.”

The good doctor clicks her tongue. “You almost didn’t have any….” Rue snorts; Nguyen goes on. “Why don’t you use a few of them to tell me what you’ve been doing to get a mild case of radiation sickness.”

Riding a necrotic cowboy into the sunset, but I swear I did a RadAway drip each time after….

But Rue’s obviously not going to say that. She likes Doc Nguyen –she’s been caring for Rue since she came to Dust– and she wants to trust her; but Rue’s secrets don’t feel safe with anyone but herself.

“Indulgin’ in Cram despite knowin’ better.” It’s an easy fib. Believable if she’s been eating the canned meat a little bit too regularly. “It’s so good fried, Nguyen. Ya can’t even taste the decades and decades it’s been marinatin’ in a tin can when ya fry it.”

“I’m going to recommend you quit. If not for keeping your rads down, then for keeping your intestines in working order.”

“I’ll take it into consideration.”

Nguyen sighs. “If I weren’t a doctor, I’d hurt you. Just a little bit.”

Rue grins drowsily. “Only a lil’?”

Doc Nguyen’s lips quirk ever so slightly, but she’s good at squashing her amusement down. She’s straight-faced and not-quite-frowning in an eyeblink. “Moving on. If it’s too foggy or hurts your head, don’t press, but I’d like to know what the last thing you remember is before waking up here.”

“I had a fit?” That’s the only thing Rue can currently guess at. She always ends up in Doc Nguyen’s office in a sorry state when she’s had a fit, and it’s a bit up in the air if she’ll remember the why behind it. Sometimes she does; sometimes she doesn’t. She definitely doesn’t at the moment.

“Yes, but let’s not call it a fit. We’re going to say a mental health crisis.”

“That sounds worse.”

Impatience leaks into an otherwise even, professional tone. “Rue.”

Rue sighs. She knows that voice and that she should probably stop dicking around. “Sorry, Nguyen. Lemme think….”

“Take your time.”

The last thing Rue remembers with any kind of clarity is being at Mulholland’s, running drinks and chatting with tables. How tired and ready for bed she was. At one point, she was thinking about Lara. Missing Lara. It twists at her even now, but there’s something deeper there. A worry she doesn’t understand.

Rue starts over, retracing all her steps. Her morning was average. She was able to do all her normal chores and feed Eggshells before Deck and the three or four boys he’s taken to keeping on him at all times swung by to walk her to work. He bid her goodbye on the saloon’s front porch, pulling her in for a hug that lasted for far too long and ended with a kiss against her hair.

Rue mentally pushes that away, wishing she could erase it completely, but she’s never so lucky as to forget that kind of shit. But she was a little lucky when she went inside the saloon and popped behind the bar to tuck Baby Destiny in her safe place. Hal had saved her a muffin, and Rue scarfed it down in three bites before helping him with stocking glasses. Then she headed upstairs to help the girls get ready, and that was as thrilling and enjoyable as it usually is.

Now that she’s thinking about it, she spent an awful lot of time going up and down the stairs last night because Anais likes to share drinks with her clients. In fact, Rue has a very vivid memory of watching Anais’ arm slip out her cracked bedroom door and snatch up a wine bottle before she… she followed the sound of her name and her heart went to hurricane-ing.

Because Lucky. Because Deck. Because Lara. Because Bo. Because the Ghoul. Because Hal. Because Ira Jean. Because Geraldine. Because… because Artie.

Rue’s sore fingers spastically clench. Her whole body recoils, and she wants to claw out the heart in her chest that goes so tight. That aches and rages and breaks apart bit by bit.

“Rue? Rue, what’s wrong?” A hand comes down gentle on Rue’s bandaged right hand.

Rue stares at it hard, seeing it red stained. Seeing red on floors. Red hair.

“Did I kill that lady?” Rue asks, quietly.

Doc Nguyen is silent for a long moment, and when she speaks, she does so plainly, “You did. One of your blows struck her nose in a very particular way. It shoved the bone into her brain.”

Rue keeps staring at her bandaged hand, through it. Through the thin bedsheets and mattress and all the way down to the hell she never thought existed. But she thinks it might now. She thinks it might be all around her. Demons and figments and bright spots only used to hurt her even worse later.

“You aren’t in trouble for it, Rue,” Doc Nguyen goes on. “Everyone agrees what happened, happened because the other party escalated the situation when she pushed you down and drew her firearm.”

“Nguyen,” Rue says carefully, as calmly as she can muster with her heart and eyes burning like wildfire and her throat so tight on account of tears. “I don’t wanna talk no more.”

“That’s… that’s alright. We don’t have to.” Doc Nguyen’s hand on hers pets so gently. “Is it alright for me to run through my check-up?”

Rue simply nods, not moving another muscle as the doctor does whatever she needs to do.

And Rue’s brain spins through what she needs to do. Or not do. She can’t do anything. She couldn’t save Artie. Lara might have a goddamn, fucking bounty out on her. Everyone who comes into contact with her is in danger because Deck Craven loves her in the most twisted, fucked-up, obsessive way someone could love another. But it’s not love. It’s not right. He’s ruining her life. He’s ending lives. And the universe doesn’t want her to end his –or that’s how it’s really starting to feel. Every attempt she made was foiled, and he’s gone the night she snapped and killed someone.

It shoulda been him. It shoulda been him. It shoulda been him.

She… she doesn’t know what to do anymore. Did she ever? It feels as if she’s made every wrong decision, but they always felt like the only ones she had. She couldn’t run. Bounty hunters would have gotten her. She never wanted to tell a soul what he did, never wanted to drag them into her shit. It was her and Deck’s business. It was never supposed to be anyone else’s. No one else was supposed to die because of her.

Rue’s eyes slip shut, the keen, horrible realization that everything she’s ever done and endured was pointless burrowing deep. Breaking her down so low, making her feel so weak and helpless and small. So, so stupid –as stupid as everyone says she is.

Rue suddenly, desperately, wants her Pa. No, she needs him. She needs him to scoop her up and hold her tight. Needs him to pat her hair and tell her everything is alright, and goddammit, he always made it so. He always knew what to do, and she really fucking doesn’t. She’s just some burnt-brained kid fumbling around, making bigger and bigger messes that get the people she loves killed.

“N-Nguyen,” Rue’s voice is watery, wavering, “do ya still-.” She sniffs, breathing uneven. “Do ya still have my holotape? I-I wanna hear Smile.”

Nguyen looks up from the small, scabbing over cuts on Rue’s knuckles. Her hazel eyes pick over Rue’s face, and for a moment, Rue sees sadness and worry. More kindness she doesn’t deserve. More love she can’t have. But she wants so desperately, that she greedily clings to despite knowing better.

“Of course I do.” Doc Nguyen rises, patting the back of Rue’s hand very carefully before stepping away. “I promised I would keep it safe. I even have a pair of headphones for you this time around if you want to try them.”

Rue can only bob her head, no longer trusting her voice to speak.

#the ghoul #cooper howard #fallout #fallout the series #fallout 2024 #fallout tv series

3 notes · View notes