#she straight up went to go see him before fading away. she held his little 15 year old hand in the hospital.

[jfkisonthemoon]

han sooyoung did not write both TWSA and ORV in the slim hopes that one of them would save kim dokja's life for y'all to write her off as the "angry lesbian who only cares about getting her gay friends together"

[bluesidez]

GymRat!Miguel Part 9.2 | full chapter without breaks on AO3

content warning: more fluff, more laughs, a little bit of insecurity from Miguel and reader, underage drinking (all of the characters are aged 18-20 so by USA standards, that's underaged. but college kids will be college kids. and so will high school graduates.), a mention of an edible like once, Hobie is here! (fr this time), Pavitr too, even more jealous Miguel, 18+ so MNDI, wet wet relations, fellatio, cunnilingus, Miguel is a munch (his fantasies are unraveling finally), cum play if you squint, partially public indecency???, I think that's it

word count: 9.3k, halfway proofread (I split it really weirdly so I apologize for that lol)

Some of the links used in this part are just to give you an idea of what's going on! Enjoy! 🩵

Prev (Part 9.1) | Next ✩°｡ ⋆⸜ 🎧✮ Masterlist

GymRat!Miguel who texts Tyler while you’re in the shower. 

Dad…Tyler:

“She really loved it. Thank you so much for helping me out with this, Dad.”

“Any time, son! I’m glad everything went well! I can have my people send over the video form of the animation if you would like.”

“Sure, I can have it on hand.”

“And I take it, you like the yacht?”

“It’s extremely nice! Captain Barrett is pretty cool.”

“Don’t tell him you said that or it’ll go to that funny mustache.”

“Ok 😭”

“I did have a question though.”

“Ask away.”

“What did Kron do to his other boat?”

“What didn’t he do to that boat? He had too many friends on that thing all with a mix of substances I could never dream of combining. Their parents had to come drag them out lest the police get involved. I’ve never helped Kron with any event or party since then. He hasn’t earned it and he embarrassed me greatly.”

“Would you be more comfortable if we held off on the drinks?”

“See son, the difference between you and Kron is that you understand the legal ramifications of doing something so idiotic as having illegal items on a property that isn’t yours as a minor. You also have integrity and respect, something that Kron has lost sight of. I trust that neither you nor your friends will do anything too drastic.”

“Yeah, there’s no crazy stuff happening this weekend.”

“I believe it.”

“Get back to your girlfriend now. Thank you for checking up on your old man. Tell her I said hello.”

“For sure. Good night.”

“Good night!”

GymRat!Miguel who opens his arms up to you as you come out of the bathroom. You hurried to lay in his arms, skin warm from your shower. 

You snuggle up under his chin, “Today was really fun.”

“Yeah?” he rubs your head slowly. 

“Mm hm. Now, we should sleep.”

A yawn racks through Miguel’s body, the day of driving settling in his bones. 

You keep your ear on his chest. The steady tempo of his heart and his breaths lulling you to sleep. 

GymRat!Miguel who is still asleep by the time you wake up. You both ended up at opposite ends of the giant bed with just your legs intertwining. 

You look over to Miguel and watch his chest rise and fall, his snores crescendoing at each breath. 

You lay your head back on the pillow, eyes tracing the shape of his face in this morning light. The water was calm, giving the boat a slight rock. Some seagulls flew by, their sounds fading in and out. 

You scoot closer to get a better look, your hand lightly following the line of his face. 

His eyes flutter open at your touch, a brown sea welcoming you. 

“G’morning,” his voice is terribly deep like this. The timbre shoots straight to your core. 

“Morning. I didn’t mean to wake you up,” you whisper. 

Miguel moves to lay his head on your chest, taking a deep breath. “It’s fine. The sight made me feel like I went to heaven.”

He pulled you closer by the waist, “Ten more minutes?”

“Rest up all you need, bear-bear.”

GymRat!Miguel who is just as excited as Gabriel when he gets to the deck that morning. The agenda was swimming with the dolphins before everyone else got here.

Miguel and Gabriel were practically buzzing in their matching wetsuits. Dana snuck in a video laughing at the twin looks on their faces. 

GymRat!Miguel who sneaks glances at your form on the way to the dolphin center. You’re leaning over the edge of the smaller boat, the wind against your face. The wetsuit was doing wonders for the curve of your figure. 

GymRat!Miguel who ends up going into a nerd session about dolphins with Gabriel. Both of them are spitting out dolphin facts at the speed of light. 

 “I just think that if you were to be any dolphin, it’s so obvious that you would be an orca.” 

“But why, though? Because I’m big? That’s a new low, even for you, Gabri.”

“No, it’s because you’re mixed, obviously. Killer whale aka orca aka dolphin. Duh, Miguelito.”

“Don’t ‘duh’ me because that doesn’t even make sense. Orcas are still classified as dolphins even though they look like whales.”

“Just like you-”

“I’m going to smack you off the side of this boat if you finish that sentence.”

“Resulting to violence just like a killer whale, what a shame.”

“You’re so annoying. Orcas are smart, they speak different languages based on their pod, and the name was actually ‘whale killers,’ not ‘killer whales.’ That would make me an orca, but I would not be one because I would never take care of my family but abandon my children.”

“A lot of male dolphins abandon their families. A lot of them hang out with the bros and come back.”

“Female dolphins can do the hard work of carrying babies from ten to eighteen months, so enlighten me, Gabri. What are the male dolphins doing with the bros?”

Gabriel squinted his eyes and put his finger up weakly, “This is a trick question.”

“No it’s not! Don’t you know the answer?” Miguel put his hands out, as if waiting for a physical object to be presented. 

“I do know the answer, which is why I don’t want to give you the satisfaction.”

“Well, now I want to know because you two nerds wouldn’t shut up about bottlenose dolphins just five minutes ago,” Dana scoffs as she takes off her shades, the morning sun too much for her. 

“That’s not the same energy you had last night when I-”

“No one wants to hear that.”

“Shut up, Miguel,” Gabriel snaps back. “They take care of other dolphin babies. And sometimes become friends with benefits with their homies.”

Dana makes a disgusted face, “And you’re defending that? Wow. So when I have your kid you’re going to leave me and go do fuck all with Pavitr?”

“No, Dana, I would never do that! We discussed this! Miguel is going to study seahorses, make me a safe mutation, and I’ll carry them for you!”

“I don’t even study genetics so I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

“So you wouldn’t carry her babies?” Gabriel gestures towards you in a panic. 

Miguel looks towards you at the front of the boat, watching the water go by. 

He thought of you as a mom, carrying his kid, holding their hand in the park, picking decor for the nursery. 

He thought of you under him, taking everything he could give you and more. You screaming his name as the bed creaks loud enough to fill the hallway. 

“I would, but that’s not the question right now.”

“Why did it take you so long to answer that?” Gabriel’s tone was high. 

“Oh my god, he was thinking of getting her pregnant,” Dana says in horror. 

“Oh, so I have to listen to your escapades, but I can’t even daydream in silence?”

GymRat!Miguel who listens intently to the staff. No harm shall come to any dolphin on his behalf.  

GymRat!Miguel who makes friends with one of the cute dolphins. Her name is Dotty because of the few spots she has on her body. 

She immediately gravitates towards Miguel. Her blowhole squeals constantly whenever Miguel talks to her. 

“Well I think Dotty is in love!” the instructor yells from across the enclosed water. 

GymRat!Miguel who laughs at Dana who keeps getting splashed on by the baby dolphins. 

GymRat!Miguel who looks so cute with his nose touching Dotty’s rostrum. They’re spinning in circles with Dotty clicking away like a cat purring. 

GymRat!Miguel who watches you interact with one of the bigger dolphins whose name is Mon. 

“Mon and Dotty are a couple, but he’s a little sad today because Dotty isn't giving him any attention,” the instructor says with a giant pout on her face. 

Even Mon’s clicks sounded sad and Miguel didn’t know how that was possible. 

Mon places his chin on your shoulder and you’re immediately in love, rubbing his body and consoling him and his broken heart. 

“It’s ok, Mon. You can hang out with me,” you say in a sweet voice. Mon’s fins squeezed you even tighter. 

A sweater, some random guys, Dana, Blake, and now a dolphin. Miguel can’t win. 

GymRat!Miguel who watches Mon click and spin happily when you feed him fish for doing a trick. 

“That was so good, Monie!” you pat his head, and he leans into your hands. 

GymRat!Miguel who thinks Dotty and Mon are a bit like you and him. They’re twirling in the water together, rubbing their bodies close. 

GymRat!Miguel who sits with you on the boat ride back, watching the dolphins race with the boat halfway to the yacht.

GymRat!Miguel whose eyebrows raise when he sees one of your friends as you guys step off the boat. 

“Hobie!” you squeal, running to hug the lanky figure. 

“My girl! How have you been, love?” he asks, a deep London accent lining his words. 

Love?

“I’m so happy you made it! How’s the apprenticeship? Any new techniques to share?”

“A lot more than techniques, if you know what I mean?” Hobie leaned on you as he snickered away. 

Miguel might pop a fuse. 

GymRat!Miguel who lingers by as you chat away with Hobie. The two of you are catching up for a while and Miguel wants to walk back to the room with you so you can help him take off this tight wetsuit. 

He’s lightly kicking at a puddle with his arms crossed when you call his name. 

“This is my boyfriend, Miguel,” you say, coming up to him and wrapping an arm around his.

“He’s a big one, innit?” Hobie says, holding his hand out. “Hobie Brown.”

Miguel shook it with a sturdy hand, “Miguel O’Hara. Nice to meet you.”

“How long have you known this firecracker for?” Hobie gestured to you with a smile.

“It’ll be a year once August hits. The best ten months of my life, honestly,” Miguel says, leaning down to kiss your temple. 

“She’s got you wrapped ‘round her finger, yeah?” Hobie smirked at the love drunk look on Miguel’s face. “Yeah, you’re a goner. That’s just how she is. One encounter and it’s hard to let go.”

Hobie went to pick up his one backpack, a master at light travel from how much he’s moving. 

“Don’t let me stop yous two from partying. See ya in an hour, love,” Hobie said walking away. 

You look up at Miguel, “The best ten months?”

“Yep. Love?”

“It’s a British thing. He’s friendly!”

“Hm.”

“And definitely demisexual.”

“Hmph.”

“You’re very territorial.”

“For good reason.”

GymRat!Miguel who makes it to the boardwalk after he’s changed to greet their friends and guide them to the yacht. 

There’s a lot of you, especially from Gabriel and Dana’s graduating class. Miguel greets everyone warmly. 

It feels good to unite his old friends and newer friends together.

GymRat!Miguel who makes a plan to be the best at every activity on the agenda today. Yeah, he wanted to have fun, but for some reason, he felt like he had something to prove.

He walks back out to the top deck to see Hobie laying out on the flat slats under the shade. His arms are crossed and his shades are hiding his full expression. 

From here, Miguel can hear Blake chatting it up with some of the girls that are hanging out near the on-deck pool. He looks over the edge and sees him grinning from ear to ear as the girls giggle. He clicks his teeth at the scene. 

“Big Migs, c’mere for a sec, will ya?” Hobie said.

“He’s a bit chatty, that one. An overachiever if I’ve ever seen it.”

On second thought, Miguel might like Hobie a lot.

“All morning, he’s been spitting nothing but rubbish. Going on and on about the boat and the city and his socials. Nothing of substance, just straight air.”

Miguel snickered, “It feels like that’s all he’s got going for himself. His daddy’s boat, his daddy’s money, and his face.”

Miguel recounts the events from last afternoon. How he lacked respect for not only him but for you and your personal space. 

“Not gonna lie, I’d smash his head in,” Hobie replied calmly.

Miguel let out a hearty laugh, “I wanted to and honestly, I could, but there are several circumstances stopping me. Such as the fact that we’re on his dad’s property.”

“But deep it, when’s the next time you’ll need to be on this thing?”

Miguel is about to respond in agreement when you round the corner from the stairs. 

“There you two are!”

You smile at the two of them, “Are you guys getting along? Has Hobie convinced you to join him on some scheme across the country?”

Miguel took a deep breath before responding. He knew what outfits you brought with you, a lot of them matched his own, but it was still like new whenever you put them on. 

He didn’t have enough time in the world to cherish your beauty. 

“They’re not schemes, baby, they’re elaborate plans,” Miguel responds.

“Man like, Migs!” Hobie hops up and drags his arm around Miguel’s shoulders. 

You shake your head with a warm smile on your face, laughing at Hobie’s antics.

“And you look stunning. Though, I’m not too sure if it’s fit for hoverboarding.”

“That’s because I’m jet skiing and shaking ass, Hobie. You guys can have fun flipping in the air.”

“Right on, then. Migs and I have important business to attend to.”

Miguel nods, “Extremely important.”

You eyed them both, “Uh huh.” They left in a controlled frenzy, Hobie pulling his wicks up with a giant band and Miguel cracking his neck.

You didn’t even want to know. 

GymRat!Miguel who is a bit peeved that Blake has to give the water hoverboard demonstration. He’s staying up there longer than necessary, grabbing girls to balance them in the middle of his board while he flips them around.

You’re standing next to Miguel during it all, waiting for Miguel’s turn so you can get a video.

“Hey!” Blake yells out in your direction. “Wanna take it for a spin?”

You shake your head and yell back, “No, I’m good!”

“Just three minutes! Don’t be scared! I won’t drop you.”

“No thanks,” you bite back, voice irritated. 

Blake smiles with a hand on his hip, ready to convince you, when Hobie pipes up, “The lady said no. Can we move on?”

Blake’s face cracked a bit as he told one of the crew members to kill the power in the waterboard. 

“What is up with him?” you mumble to yourself. 

“I think he likes you,” Pavitr remarked. “He wouldn’t stop asking Gabriel questions about you.”

“He’s really pushing it,” Miguel scoffed. Not only was he being overly flirty to every girl on board, he was adamant about getting your attention. “No wonder he gets along with Kron.”

You sported a twisted lip as you watched him strap up one of Gabriel’s friends. “I don’t know. Even if I was single, he’s a bit too…tiny. Communal.”

The laugh that left Miguel wiped the scowl right off of his face.

GymRat!Miguel who gets the hang of the hoverboard after one try. You’re recording him with a big smile on your face as he tries to spell “love” in the air. 

GymRat!Miguel who dies laughing at Gabriel’s horrible attempts at staying in the air. His body keeps shaking like a baby deer and he’s steady yelling in garbled Spanish. 

By the time his turn is over, Miguel is laid out on the boardwalk with tears down his face.

“This isn’t fucking funny, Miguel,” Gabriel cries out.

Miguel just rolls and laughs some more. 

GymRat!Miguel who watches you expertly drive a jet ski from the edge of the yacht. You’re shouting with one arm in the air as you race Dana and some of her friends. 

Miguel leans his head on his hand as he watches you zoom across the ocean. Your skin is glowing, your smile is sparkling, and your laugh is bright. 

GymRat!Miguel whose bubble of thoughts involving you, him, the water, some fruit, and a floatie is popped when Blake’s voice pierces through. 

“She’s pretty good at that.”

“Yep.” Maybe if Miguel ignored him enough, he’d go away.

“Looks like a dream, too.”

“Are you dumb or something?” Miguel turns his body, gripping the rail to not get in Blake’s face, but extending his height to cower over him.

“Woah,” Blake holds his hands up. “It was a compliment, dude, chill out. You’re not mad at me for finding her beautiful, are you?”

“That’s not what the fuck you’re doing and you know it.”

Blake makes a confused face, laughing off Miguel’s statement, “Kron said you guys were open.”

“Does it look like we’re fucking open?”

“Well, at first-”

“Keep talking and you’ll end up just like him. Knocked out. Do you want that?” Miguel edged closer to him. “Huh?”

Blake bristles, ready to defend himself when his head is knocked to the side. 

He looks next to him to see a gaggle of girls all with waterballoons and nerf guns. They yell at him to come on and pick a side. 

Blake scrambles to join them.

Miguel is about to follow when Hobie sweeps in front of him, “Cool it.”

GymRat!Miguel who almost takes an edible from Hobie but decides against it. 

“The offer is open all weekend.”

“Noted.”

GymRat!Miguel who gets roped into playing some games to start off the night, one of which is Never Have I Ever with shots. 

It started off innocently with things like peeing in a pool and cheating on a test to which everyone looked in shock at Miguel when he put a finger down. 

“I’m smart but if there’s a group effort to get the right answers, I’m not going to say no.”

Then it went left field and personal with things like threesomes, drunkenly fighting with others, and streaking. 

“Never have I ever…received head from a partner!”

A few of the guys put a finger down, groaning out and snickering as they had to take another shot. 

Miguel was trying not to dwell on how many experiences he lacked compared to the group, a lot of them younger than him. 

He rubbed his tongue across his teeth. He didn’t want to show his irritation on his face. 

Looking across the circle, he could see Gabriel’s eyes get wide, staring off beside you. 

Miguel followed his line of sight landing on you with a finger down and a shot in your hand. 

What the fuck. 

Who the fuck beat him to it? Where the fuck did it happen? When the fuck did it happen? How the fuck did he not know?

He’s ready for the game to be over. 

“Miguel is putting in work!” one guy pushes his elbow against Miguel’s side, laughing and patting his shoulders. 

Well, if people think he did it, it’s not so bad. 

“Oh my god, girl, how was it?” Dana’s friend asked you. 

Miguel tried his best not to scream bloody murder. 

“It was,” you pause, looking up to ponder. “It was something! Not particularly fun or good. My ex wasn’t the best at listening so he just poked at me. I faked everything that night.”

Miguel smirked. There were no big shoes to fill because they were never taken out of the box. Or even out of the store. 

“That sucks. I bet he thought you were in heaven.”

You laugh with the girls, joking in a way similar to the women that flooded Miguel’s for-you page. 

Miguel stepped away to get a breather. If he stayed any longer, he might do something drastic. 

GymRat!Miguel who is leaning on the boat when Gabriel comes to check up on him. 

“You ok, Miguelito?”

“Yeah, I’m alright. A little overwhelmed so I need to reset,” Miguel wrung his wrists while he let the sea breeze cool him down. 

“Is it the game? Don’t feel so bad,” Gabriel leans closer to Miguel and speaks in a stage whisper. “Some of them are a little too fast for their own good.”

Miguel snickered. Gabriel was definitely tipsy. 

“Thanks, Gabri.”

“Anytime. Don’t let them bring you down. You’re my perfect Miguelito. My pure baby!” Gabriel kissed him on the cheek.

“Ugh,” Miguel laughed and wiped at his wet cheek.

“Don’t wipe away at my love, broski.”

GymRat!Miguel who is guided by you in a dance. You’re a little tipsy and giggly, holding onto him as you dance to the music. 

Miguel just holds onto your hips and smiles with you. 

GymRat!Miguel who is locked in on your body as you grind against him. You’re arching your back and looking at him with a sparkle in your eye and Miguel feels like a wild animal.

When you lean back against him, he whispers in your ear about a private party just for the two of you. You bite your lip and turn to look at him. His eyes are tracing your lips and his hands are groping you. 

GymRat!Miguel who laughs at you as you wish everyone a good night quickly.

“I’ll see you guys in the morning!” you shout to your friends as you pull Miguel behind you to the room.

GymRat!Miguel who waits for you on the bed while you use the bathroom. 

He’s excited for an intimate night with just you. Parties were fun but it really couldn’t beat the serenity of smaller groups. It especially couldn’t beat talking all night with you. 

Everyone else was chilling out in other parts of the yacht, back in their hotel rooms, or night paddle boarding. 

You’re in the bathroom staring at the thin fabric in your hand. 

Miguel told you that there was a pool involved. 

You bought a micro bikini during a surge of confidence. It looked so cute on the model and you wanted to feel the same way. 

Now you’re standing in the bathroom freaking out, worried to death over the flimsy material. You were excited about Miguel seeing it, but you couldn’t shake your own nerves about how everything would play out. 

A knock at the door makes you jump.

You crack the door and peer up at Miguel. 

“You ok in there?” he asked, eyebrows pinched. 

“Yeah, I’m ok! I’ll be out in just a sec!”

You bite the bullet and place the bikini on. 

You didn’t account for your areolas to poke out beyond the triangles. You bit your lip as you turned to check out your backside.

At least your ass looked great. 

In a nervous motion, you pull your coverup over you and pull your hair up so that it doesn’t get too ruined by the water. It was now or never. 

GymRat!Miguel who holds your hand as he guides you to the private area. You’re squeezing his hand so tight. 

One of the stewardesses smiles as she sees you two coming. She stands next to a rope cutting off the area. 

“Good evening to you both! I hope you’ve been enjoying your stay so far,” her voice is polite and even. “Tonight, it’ll be just you two enjoying the Galaxy. If you need anything, just press the call button on the wall and I’ll be right down.”

She unlatches the rope and holds her arm out in the direction of the stairs.

You both slowly descend, careful not to slip on the trippy-looking wood. 

Taking a step into the room, Miguel stares in awe at the glowing pool. 

There’s petals fluttering about, small fairy lights surround the corners to add extra light. Looking up, you both can see the night sky with the stars adorning it. 

“This is beautiful,” you say, the lights surrounding you glittering in your eyes. 

You were staring at the stars and the lights but Miguel couldn’t help but to think that you were the most beautiful part of the room. 

He said this much to you, watching as you bent your head down hiding the smile on your face. Miguel lifted it back up and kissed you under the light of the stars. 

“Ready?” 

“Yeah, let me just go take this off.” 

You walk towards a chair with folded towels placed on it. 

“Miguel, these have our names on them!” you say with shock, running your fingers over the embroidered letters. Hearts surrounded the names and you felt fuzzy from the implication of the stewardess preparing this. 

“Yeah, I heard it was a part of the couple’s bundle,” he shouts from the pool. It wasn’t really a part of the bundle, but Miguel suggested it way before the trip. 

His back was turned to you, trying to set up a speaker by the pool. 

The moment was perfect, so you opened a champagne bottle and poured two glasses. You took a huge gulp of one and removed your slip. 

GymRat!Miguel who hears you entering the water, so he hurries to pick out a song. 

The mood needs to be right. 

He turns to you and nearly drowns at the sight. (Art is not affiliated with this fic, but I couldn't find any plus-size women in real life on Pinterest with this type of bikini! Please give this artist some love, I love their art!)

You’re coming down the stairs with two glasses in your hand and your skin on full display. The strings are digging tight into your skin and your breasts are practically spilling out from every side. 

Miguel is stunned.

“Come grab your drink, Miguel,” your voice is like butter in his ears. 

His eyes don’t leave you as he swims across the pool. The only sounds that could be heard are the water moving around him and the music playing. When he gets closer, he stands up, water dripping down his body. He’s breathing hard and is laser-focused on your frame. 

You feel an array of emotions. You feel like running, jumping, maybe hiding. His gaze is too heavy and he hasn’t spoken a word yet. 

You don’t know how long you two stare at each other before Miguel breaks the tension, “You’re going to be the death of me.”

He takes the glasses from your hand with one hand and picks you up in the other. You cling to him as he goes to the edge of the pool, places one glass down and chugs the other. 

In a flash, you’re sitting on the edge and he’s holding his body out of the water in order to kiss you. 

He pushes your mouth open, pulling at your lip with his teeth. He was desperate, wanting more. 

Your hands find your way to his hair, the tips wet from his swim. You card your fingers through his locks, opening your mouth wider as Miguel groans onto your tongue. 

He can’t stop, body moving forward the deeper the kisses get. Your legs open wider and your hands fall down Miguel’s back. You go lower than usual, pushing your hands under his swimsuit, fingertips grazing over the skin of his ass. 

Miguel parts, spit-ridden mouth red and messy. 

“You’re making this so hard for me,” he says against your lips. You’re both panting into each other’s mouths. 

Your body feels like jelly. The way that he’s looking at you fills you with desire, “Making what hard?” You’re quivering and clenching as his eyes seem to get darker. 

“Baby,” Miguel kisses the corner of your lips then your jaw. He moves to where your jaw and neck connect, licking  “Amor. I can’t.”

You move your head, encouraging him to continue, “You can if you want to.”

“No, I’m supposed to take this slow,” his mouth moved to your collarbone, sucking at the skin as you squeezed your thighs around him. “I need to take this slow.”

He gets to your breasts, pressing your nipples through the material and watching as your areolas poked out more. “Mierda.”

You try to talk as Miguel takes one breast into his mouth, “It’s ok to want more. I want, ugh, I want you to take more.” He pulls at your nipple, watching as it rises more through the fabric. His thumb traces it, causing you to twitch in his hold. 

He continues to rub over the fabric as he kisses down your stomach. The string is wrapping around your stomach like a gift just for him. 

“Tomorrow, baby,” he says into your skin. “I’ll take more tomorrow.”

He needed to stop before he broke the promise he made to himself. 

He hears you whine as he gets eerily close to your sex before jerking his body straight. 

“Why?” you sound so needy and broken. 

“Because,” he kisses your pout away. “Tomorrow, I’m going to take all I need. You just need to trust me. Please.”

You nod your head, heart pounding with his words. 

GymRat!Miguel who lets you persuade him into swapping places. All it took was a few blinks of your eyes and Miguel was swooning.

“I saw you walk away during the game today. I wanted to make sure that the next time you play, you’re able to put a finger down.”

That’s what you told him with a sweet smile on your face.

Now you’re rubbing up his thighs and Miguel is about to pass out from the view of you peering up at him. Your eyes were foggy and the slope of your neck to your chest was glistening. From this angle, Miguel could see the curve of your ass with the bikini barely covering it.

You run your hands down his chest, fingers dancing along the slopes and planes, leaving a wet trail in your wake. Miguel’s stomach tightens as you make it below his belly button, the sensation of your fingertips across his happy trail building a fury in his core.

You kiss him through his swimsuit causing him to jump.

You hold his thighs and tilt your head to lean on one, “Are you nervous, Miggy?” Your knuckles rake against his groin, lingering in spots that made his inner thighs clench the most.

“I,” Miguel is trembling like a leaf. He can barely get the words out from how much energy he's using to hold himself up. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” You lift your body from the water a little, pressing your tits closer to his clothed sex. “Baby, I need you to know. I can’t go further without your permission.”

Miguel feels like he could cum right now.

“I’m really nervous, but I want to experience this.”

You hum as you start to pull at his waistband. His eyes scrunch closed as his dick springs up. 

You’re met with a sight you had missed. The size is still as intimidating as the last time. 

You rub his thighs and give yourself a quiet pep talk. You were determined to make your boyfriend feel good. 

Miguel looks back down at you and swallows dryly, anxious at the look in your eyes and your silence, “If it’s too much, w-we can stop here-”

“No.”

The first lick of his tip has Miguel rising off of the pool edge, pre-cum escaping him.

He whines, embarrassed at his lack of control, but his dick is twitching from the sensation.

“Miguel,” your hands are back on his hips at a flimsy attempt to hold him down. “You need to be careful, baby.”

“Don’t call me baby right now.” Miguel’s voice is winded like he’s been running a marathon.

You look up at him. His mouth is twisted up and his eyebrows are furrowed. His stomach keeps shaking and his elbows don’t know if they want to bend or extend. When he looks down at you, he lets out a whimper, dick jerking against his will.

You hold your lips right above the head, the heat of it making you excited, “Baby.”

Miguel jerks again as you take his tip into your mouth, more of his pre-cum slipping out. His body is wound tight and he’s losing sense of it. Your mouth is so warm and he’s crying out from just you suckling along the head. He would be grateful with just this alone.

You push yourself lower, mouth adjusting to the widening girth. You don’t know if it’s the champagne combined with the other drinks you’ve had today, but the taste is making your mind fuzzy. 

You hum as you move your tongue along the underside of his length, his essence melting into your mouth. Miguel continues to twitch against your lips. 

You look up and he just groans when his eyes connect with yours. 

“P-pretty,” he stutters out, brain-to-mouth filter completely disintegrating. One of his arms covers his mouth as he fights to quiet down. There’s no telling what the stewardess could hear from above. 

You decided to go deeper, wanting to hear him some more. You make it halfway down before you grip his shaft and give it a few semi-dry pumps. 

Miguel just about shouts at the sensation, legs jerking enough to splash the water around you. 

Satisfied with the reaction, you release him with a pop and slide your tongue down to the base, trying to get him as wet as possible for what you’re about to attempt to do. You pucker your lips to leave wet kisses all over his shaft, sucking occasionally. 

All Miguel can do is whimper and shake. 

You hold him, sliding your hand up and down, applying pressure whenever you glide over the top, “You can hold on to me.”

Miguel shakes his head and releases his bottom lip from his teeth to speak, but his words are jumbled up in a heated mess. 

“Say it again, Miguel. I don’t understand,” you bring your mouth to the head again, this time, cupping his balls as you slide back down. 

Early spurts of cum land in your mouth as Miguel uselessly grips at the flat ground. He’s moaning out your name and if you weren’t sliding him down your throat, you would think he’s crying for you. 

“I-I don’t wanna hurt you,” Miguel takes heavy breaths in the middle of his sentence. 

Even like this he was oh so sweet. You don’t push it and continue on. 

As you reach the hilt, you force yourself to relax, thumb pressed against your fisted palm. He was heavy on your tongue and you needed to find the right pace. 

You slowly move your head up and down, lips wet with spit and slick. You build a steady tempo that has Miguel involuntarily moving his hips and moaning in a senseless manner. 

He was conflicted, core heated at the sound of your throat barely taking him, but wanting to pull you off so you don’t choke all because of him. Hot tears ran down his face as you didn’t let up. 

He chooses the latter, foggy mind coming to a decision. His shaky hands reach towards your face, your cheeks hallowed and eyes closed. His hands make it to your cheeks when you reach the hilt again and swallow around his head. 

Miguel scares himself with the moan he lets out. 

You panic as you swallow his load, mouth completely full. 

Miguel hurries to pull you off, “Shit! Baby, I’m so sorry!”

“It’s ok,” you cough as you try to catch your breath. Drips of him that you didn’t swallow falling to your chest. “I wish you would have told me you were about cum, though.”

“I didn’t know!” he’s red in the face. “God, I’m so sorry!”

“Was it good, though?” You look up at him with lips and sparkling eyes. You’re holding your tits up so that his cum wouldn’t get in the pool. 

Miguel’s dick twitches like it’s trying to wake back up again. You notice it and a grin plants itself right onto your face. 

“Do you really have to ask me that?”

“Yes, Miggy.”

“I think my embarrassing finish was enough but yes, you made me feel good. It was way more than good. Now come out of the pool before you get any more ideas.”

“It wasn’t embarrassing!” you reply as Miguel picks you up from the water and on his stomach while lays back. “‘Was kinda hot. You felt so good that you couldn’t wait.”

You slide your finger over your cleavage to pick up the leftover essence and plop right in your mouth. 

Miguel grips your thighs as he looks up at you, “No, stop that, you vixen.”

You’re going to be the death of him for sure. 

GymRat!Miguel whose legs are like jelly when you help him up from the ground. His thighs haven’t shaken this much since his first leg day almost five years ago. 

“Do you need to lie down on the beach chair for a minute?” you ask with genuine concern. 

“Yeah, I think I need a second,” Miguel says, trying his best not to put his entire weight onto you. 

GymRat!Miguel who watches you watch him from the pool. You’re at the edge, leaning over and smiling at him while you let your body float. 

“Next time, I want to get, like, really hoarse. We should work on your resistance and my tolerance. Oh! And maybe we can do that thing where I hold your-”

“Amor, please. Let’s talk about this when I’m not halfway dying,” Miguel groans, dick half hard. “How are you so good at this anyway?”

“Practice! With my ex and like one other fling. They weren’t nearly as responsive as you, though.”

Miguel squints at your figure. 

“Or fun. Or satisfying. Or tasty. Or big. Can I do it one more time, Miggy?”

Miguel stares at you for a minute or two then groans, “Come on.”

You leave the water and walk over to him with glee. 

GymRat!Miguel who grabs lightly onto your head this time, fingers twitching occasionally. His legs are parted and you’re laid out on the horizontal part of the beach chair. Miguel is constantly looking from your face to your ass, experiencing a sensation overload. You take it easy on him this time, saving some of your tricks and things you wanted to try for a later date. 

The room is filled once again with Miguel’s grunts and whimpers plus your mouth and throat molding unto him. 

GymRat!Miguel who warns you this time. You let go with a pop and let him paint your open mouth. He shudders as you look at him through it all, pumping him slowly until he can't take anymore. A lonely tear escaped him, eyes heavy and chest heaving. 

GymRat!Miguel who barely makes it back up the stairs. He gives the stewardess a polite smile but you can barely look at her for longer than a second. 

“It was really lovely,” you say leaning into Miguel’s side, voice a little gone. 

“Yeah, amazing,” Miguel snickers. You nudge him at the back of his leg causing him to stagger a bit. 

The stewardess just laughs and wishes you both a good night. 

GymRat!Miguel who sleeps like a log that night. His soul needed to rejuvenate. 

GymRat!Miguel who wakes up a new man. He feels like he can conquer the world. As of now, the world is a new set of water activities with their friends. 

He kisses you on the cheek in your sleeping state makes his way out to the deck, wanting to do some morning stretches and yoga if he could fit it in. 

He walked out to see Dana talking to Blake, an indifferent look on her face.

“I just can’t believe he would lie to me like that, you know? Like that’s fucked up. Here I was, ready to get something and he set me up.” 

“Yeah, no. That really sucks,” Dana replies with a big yawn.

“I mean, I thought we were bros. I thought-”

“Miguel! My knight in shining armor,” Dana practically screams when she spots Miguel.

Blake tenses up so that if he mimics a timid raccoon. 

“Morning,” Miguel walks up to them.

Blake breaks out into a sweat, “Hey man, I’m sorry about last night. I would have never done that stuff if I knew. I don’t know why Kron told me you guys were open.”

“I think you need some new friends and better social cues,” Miguel brushed Blake off and walked with Dana onto the boardwalk. 

“Thank god you got here. That was his fourth iteration of ‘bro code should be respected.’ I was going to start screaming if he kept talking.”

GymRat!Miguel who lets Dana guide him in a mini yoga class on the beach. It’s pretty nice with the waves crashing and the birds squawking occasionally.

GymRat!Miguel whose downward dog pose is almost disrupted by you whistling from a spot in the sand. 

You and Gabriel had snuck up on Miguel and Dana, cackling like hyenas.

“Baby, I think you can go deeper,” you shout over the waves, encouraging Miguel to stretch.

“Gross,” Gabriel shudders. 

GymRat!Miguel who wants to use you for a flying pose but you refuse. 

“I’m not walking back with sand up my back.”

“Can we try it later, though?” Miguel pouted. 

“On safe carpet, yes.”

GymRat!Miguel who settles for a forward fold with you. You stretch your body across his back as he reaches down to touch his toes. 

It’s nice until you both switch positions. 

“I think I’m dying,” you gasp out. You sound like an old man on his last breath. 

“No, you’re not. You just need more practice,” Miguel chides from above. 

“When will I ever need this pose in life?”

“Flexibility is good for you!” Miguel replies after a while. 

“Get your mind out of the gutter.”

“I didn’t do anything!”

GymRat!Miguel who tilts his head at your breakfast plate piled with pineapples. 

“You don’t want an omelet?”

“Maybe later.”

GymRat!Miguel who joined any group activity he could. 

From the inflatable water obstacle course,  

which Gabriel cheated on by the way,

To the boat tour, he got so many pictures for you for his rotating home screen,

To the banana boat rides that he almost lost his life on. It took you, Gabriel, and Dana to hold onto him. 

GymRat!Miguel who surprises you with a “rooftop” dinner on the horizon on the highest part of the yacht. You’re wearing that same green dress that made him go crazy in the dressing room. 

“This is so gorgeous, Miguel,” you sigh as you take in the small scene. 

From up here, you could see the breathtaking view of the ocean and the city. The sun was close to setting, people were out and about, and the group was partaking in last-minute activities like parasailing and water walking with bubble balls but you could only focus on the glow around Miguel. 

“Did you enjoy this weekend?”

You nod your head, shy with attention, “I really did. I had so much fun.”

“Even with boys that don’t understand the word ‘no’?”

“When I have my strong boyfriend there to defend me, what is there to be afraid of?” you smile at him. 

Miguel sits up straighter at that, chest puffing out.

You laugh at his state, “Seriously, though. This was one of the best summers ever. I’m really glad Mr. Stone arranged this and I’m even more glad that you brought me along.”

“Of course I did. You’re my girl. Mi amor, mi luz,” Miguel reached out to run your hand. “I’m not letting you go anytime soon.”

Like a flower unfurled, your heart took in his words. You leaned across the table until you could brush your lips with his, only the sun peeking through the two of you. 

You let go and lean back a little. “I’m not letting go of you either. I want you by my side,” you say, eyes panning back and forth between his.

“And that’s where I’ll stay.”

GymRat!Miguel who covers your eyes on the way back to the room.

You’re whining because you don’t have nearly as much planned for him as he always does for you. 

“Amor, you could just text me an emoji and I would be happy. You deserve good things. Don’t worry about me.”

GymRat!Miguel who wraps his arm around you as you open your eyes to the room. 

It’s lit with soft lights, decorated lightly with rose petals in the shape of a heart on the ground, and a banner full of pictures with the two of you. Pictures from outside of lab, pictures of you with oil paint on your face, pictures of him piled with notes in the study lab. 

Pictures of you both on your early dates, pictures of you looking at him in the car, pictures where he’s kissing your face off. 

You gasp at the scene, feet stuck in the entryway.

“Surprise,” Miguel says into your ear, kissing the top of it.

“I don’t think I have any tears left,” your voice is watery enough to dispute that lie.

GymRat!Miguel who kisses you deeply in the middle of the rose heart. You’re cradling his face with one hand and rubbing your thumb across his sideburn with another.

You’re so wrapped up in his arms and his presence that you miss his question.

“Can you do what?”

Miguel’s hands find their way to your ass, pulling you even closer, “Can I please eat you out?”

When you stare at him with your eyebrows raised, it only pushes him to continue.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a long time. I’ve dreamed about it, researched how to do it, studied it, daydreamed about it. I need to do it before I go crazy.”

He bent down to get on his knees, hands never letting go of your body.

“Please, baby. If you’ll allow me, I really want to make you feel good.”

At first, all you could think was that Dana was right and definitely a girl’s girl. Then, you looked down at Miguel whose head was pressed up against your torso, eyes pleading with you. 

You ran your hand through his hair, “You need to do it?”

“Uh huh,” he nodded, nuzzling into your body through your dress. 

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to fake my reactions for you.” You didn’t have the heart to lie to him like that, especially when he’s looking at you like that. 

“You won’t have to,” Miguel mumbles into your skin. “I’m confident, but if something is weird, stop me immediately.”

GymRat!Miguel who doesn’t give you time to think when you whisper out an “ok.” He’s picking you up by the legs and plopping you on the bed.

Like a switch, he’s kissing down your body, pulling at the stretchy green fabric to expose your skin. He’s crowding your space in the most desired way possible, a fire building within him.

“Miguel, the dress isn’t going to come off like that,” you say, internally laughing at Miguel tugging to no avail. 

He starts to pull so hard that you can hear threads ripping. Before you can stop him, there’s a makeshift slit up your thigh. 

You lean up on your elbows and give Miguel a look. He just stares sheepishly and lets you stand up to pull the dress off. 

“You gotta be more patient baby,” you purred, bending down to kiss his lips. 

When you lean back, you move backwards to sit on the bed. It’s just you, your black panties, and a hungry Miguel at your feet.

The further you inch up the bed, the more Miguel crawls to be closer to you. 

“Can I kiss you?” he breathes into your mouth, eyes never leaving yours.

“Please.”

Miguel melts into your skin, mouth molding to a familiar shape. His breaths are heavy and sporadic, too excited to finally know what you feel like on his tongue.

You reach to pull his shirt off, wanting to feel his chest against yours, wanting to feel the expanse of his back while he pressed up against you. Miguel follows your movements without letting up.

He sighed into your lips with pleasure as he let his hand flow down your body, grabbing a breast to massage. You hummed into his mouth, legs parting to bring him closer. Eager to please, Miguel slipped his shorts below his bulged, grinding against you.

You start to wrap your legs around his waist before Miguel interrupts you with a sturdy hand under your knee, and a promise to devour you to your neck.

GymRat!Miguel who groans when he slides your panties down your legs. The slope of your thick thighs to your ass has Miguel ready to burst. 

He gets on his knees to maneuver your legs up into your arms. You peek up at him over your knees, your wet cunt kissing the air. 

He licks his lips at the sight, taking a tentative touch at your wet lips. 

You jump at the sensation, the feeling of Miguel seeing you this vulnerable new. 

He bends down to kiss them, hands on the back of your thighs for extra support. Your core flutters as he takes a few more kisses to your sex, tongue reaching out to trace from the bottom to the top. At the first taste, Miguel is groaning into you, sending vibrations through your body. 

You sigh out in bliss as your grip loosens on your legs. Miguel flattens his body on the bed and spreads your legs wide, tongue continuing to savor the taste of you. 

At this angle, Miguel pushes his tongue in between your folds, feeling your warmth around him. He laps at your entrance slowly causing you to flutter around him and reach for his hair.

He slurps up the juices that try to escape him causing you to moan out his name. He just hums in response, breaching further inside. The more noises he makes, the wetter you get. The room is full of the sound of him lapping everything he gave you and your quiet moans.

“Miguel,” your breath hitched as he swiped over a particular spot. You look down at Miguel whose eyes are closed and hands are tight on your thighs. You feel a building heat seeing how much of a trance he’s in. 

Just when you feel a bud sprouting within you, he directs his attention towards your clit, searching until he finds it. At the first skim across it, your hips are bucking up off the bed. Miguel is quick to hold you down, placing his weight on your thighs and lapping continuously at the pearl. 

“Fuck!” you shout, hitting the mattress. You’re writhing beneath him, unable to control your body. “Don’t stop, Miguel, please.”

Miguel groans through it all, lapping up every drop. 

“Baby, I’m gonna-” a scream pushes through you as your body shakes with pleasure. Miguel takes it like a champ, slurping like you were his last meal.

As you twitch with aftershocks, Miguel barely gives you time to recover before he’s diving back into your entrance. You let out a sob, still sensitive and quivering as your legs move too close before Miguel growls and wraps his arms around your thighs to keep them open. 

He’s sinking into you, moving his tongue at a steady pace and sucking in between. Your moans were a pool of words from his name to begging to profanities crescendoing across the air.

Miguel would rarely part for air, adamant on bringing you to the hilt again. Your thighs were tensing up as Miguel kept going, fire building as you grabbed his hair and jerked your hips in time with his movements. 

Your climax comes in waves, your hands tighter in his hair and an arch in your back. When you clench over his tongue and your release hits his mouth, Miguel’s eyes start to roll and he’s rubbing his nose against your clit. You yell even louder as Miguel pushes his face incredibly deep into your pussy. He’s rutting into the bed at the sound of your voice, moaning with you. 

─ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──

The captain swore that the VIP suite was soundproof, but your voice was practically carrying across the yacht. 

“She’s getting it good! Just like I promised,” Dana smiles to herself. 

“What did you promise? I was the one that gave Miguel tips.” Gabriel moved his headphones aside. 

“Oh yeah? And what tips did you give him?” She had her eyebrow raised and a silly smirk on her face. 

There was a pause of silence between them, only your voice filling up the space occasionally. Gabriel stared at Dana with a goofy grin.

He reached over and connected his phone to his speaker, putting on his special playlist. “Want to find out?”

─ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──

GymRat!Miguel who has to be pulled off your sex with both of your hands. His eyes are glazed over and his chin is soaked. Every chance you came after the first two times, your body would move up the bed and Miguel was sure to follow. 

“Ok, ok, baby,” you heave. Your legs are spasming, a result of the position and Miguel’s willingness to have you cum over and over again.

You were tapping out, body sore and tired. 

Miguel left a final long kiss to your clit, a trail of essence following his lips. He kissed up one of your thighs with a hungry look still in his eyes.

“¿Lo hice bien, cariño?” (Did I do it well, baby/darling?)

You trembled at his touch, limbs still heavy and mind in the clouds. 

Still, this was the best you’ve felt in a while.

You open your mouth to whisper, “Lo hiciste muy bien.” (You did so good.)

GymRat!Miguel who has to calm down internally at your answer. You don’t talk to him in Spanish often, but when you do, he’s over the moon. 

GymRat!Miguel who carries you to the bathroom to clean you off.

“Baby, I can’t walk. You’ll have to carry me for the rest of your life.”

“I’m totally fine with that.”

GymRat!Miguel who shocks you when he says that you don’t need to worry about bringing him relief. 

“Amor, I came when you came. After that, it was really all about you.”

“Oh!”

GymRat!Miguel who pats his past self on the back for asking the crew for extra sheets. He had no clue how the evening would go, but something in him told him to be overprepared. 

Those old sheets were beyond ruined. 

GymRat!Miguel who rubs your legs and stomach with aloe vera lotion after the shower. Not only did he stretch you a little further than you’re used to, but his bite marks left a big impression. 

GymRat!Miguel who cuddles you to sleep. If you wore him out the other night, he definitely put you through the ringer. You were gone after three rubs to your back. 

GymRat!Miguel who wakes up early with you to send off all of your friends. You’re yawning constantly, tears sticking to the corners of your eyes.

“Someone had a time last night,” Hobie snickers as he walks past with his backpack. 

“Shut up, Hobie,” you say, already flustered. 

“What? It’s true! If I didn’t know Migs' name before, I sure do now.”

“I’m going to backflip off of this boat.”

GymRat!Miguel who grants Captain Barrett a goodbye, thanking him for letting them use his boat.

“It was a pleasure to host you, Miguel. If you and your girlfriend ever need to, my superyacht is available for any future formal events!” he elbows Miguel with a giant grin, curled mustache moving like it was paid to do so. 

“I’ll keep that in mind, Cap.”

For Miguel, the man with the plan, he would grant Mission A: Eat You Out, a huge success and the start of the summer one to remember.

divider by: @iwonbin 🩵

Part 9.1 here!

a/n: And with that, the yacht chapter is finished! I hope you guys enjoyed it and got your life. 🤭 It was both challenging and rewarding to write this GIANT chapter. I hope that you guys have fun with it like I did! I have no idea how the next chapter OR Miguel's Mission B: Virgin No More plan will go, but!!! Hopefully, it will be pleasant regardless! 🤠

ALSO! I have decided to give this drabble that's basically a fic a proper name (mostly for AO3). Do you all have any suggestions?

As always, like, comment, and reblog. Let me know how you feel! 🩵

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[quack-quack-snacks]

Time Will Tell - Chapter 26

My Time Will Tell Masterlist

My Cha Hyun-su Masterlist

My Navigation and Masterlist

The Time Will Tell Glossary

Warnings: N/A really Word Count: 1,318

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onto your clothes and didn’t even need to look down to see it was your two younger siblings. You wrapped your arms around them just as Jin-ok approached you and handed you your axe. “Take them somewhere safe and stay there. Protect them.”

You knew what she wasn’t saying because it’s what you were thinking as well. 

‘At all costs.’

So you grabbed Yeong-su’s hand while he grabbed Su-yeong’s and you tugged them over to the safest place you could think of.

It was only after an hour or so had passed, when the sun was starting to fade over the horizon and all the growls and howls and bangs had stopped, that you were found by Eun-yu when she came looking for you. After that, you immediately went off in search of Hyun-su only to find him sleeping against a filing cabinet in a secluded room. 

You watched as his chest rose and fell a few times just to give yourself some peace of mind before ultimately deciding to leave him alone for the night and get some sleep yourself after a quick shower.

You didn’t sleep for very long when Eun-yu somewhat drunkenly woke you up. 

“It’s story time! Don’t be a bum, come and hang out with us!” She whined and you laughed, reluctantly agreeing and listening to Gil-seop tell his scary story. You didn’t want to be rude to him or Eun-yu, but you were falling asleep more and more with each word. 

BANG!

The door to the daycare slammed open and you jolted awake with a yelp. Everyone had a similar reaction as they saw the unknown new man walk in and dash straight for the drained jar of Korean wine. He greedily ate scoop after scoop of the marinated berries at the bottom. Yi-kyung walked up behind him like a mother following her wandering child and sighed. 

“Who are you?” Mr. An demanded while holding up a metal pipe. 

“I think he’s a runaway soldier,” Yi-kyung explained her theory. 

The soldier pushed the jar away from him when he saw the mess it made on his hands and started mumbling incoherently before falling to his side and passing out. 

Everything seemed to blur as they took him into another room and everyone settled in for bed until you found yourself aimlessly wandering the dimly lit halls with a candle. Your side still hurt so it was more of just stumbling around while using the wall to help you, but you’d be damned if you woke someone up to help you have a midnight stroll. 

You’d be damned if the perfect person you could ask wasn’t sitting on the staircase you were walking straight towards. 

Hyun-su looked to be lost in his thoughts while staring at his wrist before you announced your presence with a small, “Hey.”

He looked up and his eyes widened at the sight of you. You stumbled over, using the rail of the stairs to help you as you ascended and sat a level above him, placing the candle you held between the two of you. “Hey,” he replied, a little too late for the conversation but you decided to ignore it in hopes of not embarrassing him. 

“You shouldn’t be alone without a buddy, you know,” you teased. “I’m walking around without a buddy because both my official and unofficial buddies are passed out, drunk, in the daycare.”

“Are you scared?” He asked you after a beat. 

You sighed, thinking about your answer before saying it. “I don’t think so. Not for myself, anyway. I’m more scared about what will happen to Yeong-su and Su-yeong, to be honest,” you shot him a non-committal smile. “Hopefully, when this is all over, they can go back to living a semi-normal life.”

“Do you… think there will be a time after this?” He questioned rather pessimistically with his head down. 

The silence went on for a while until you decided to break it with an attempt to lighten the mood. 

“Hey, give me your phone.”

“Huh? What? Why?” He asked in return and you flashed him a cheeky smile. 

“Just do it. Just for a minute,” you insisted. He reached into his pocket and placed the unlocked phone in your extended hand. “Thank you,” you expressed as you searched around before settling on the Contacts app. “How about after all this…” You spoke as you typed, sounding a little distracted before finishing. “You give me a call and we can meet up, yeah?” You handed the phone back to him with a shy grin. 

He took it back, staring at you for a moment before he glanced down at the cracked screen. There, he saw your name with a heart emoji written into his contacts. He was stunned, just staring at the phone until you gasped, remembering something and snatching the phone back out of his hands. 

“Oh! I forgot to put a picture in! Hold on,” you insisted as you opened up the camera and held it up, fixing your hair and wiping a stray drop of blood from your cheek. Then, you scooted closer to Hyun-su, who had been stating his thoughts at you in bewilderment and awe and held the phone up to take a picture. “Say cheeseeee!” You took the photo, smiling brightly at the phone, but when you looked at it your smile turned into a frown. “Hyun-su! You weren’t even looking at the camera!” You complained, turning to look at him and finding him already looking at you. 

He sneaked a glance at the photo and couldn’t help the stuttering of his heart when he saw it. You looked just absolutely gorgeous with your smile. Sure, he wasn’t looking at the camera - instead looking at you with the smallest hint of a smile on his lips - but it was 100% worth it for that joyful look on your face in the photo and the adorable pout you sported as you looked at him in real life. “It’s perfect.”

You felt your cheeks heat up at his soft tone and tried to huff it away as you started making it your contact photo. “I wish you would’ve looked at the camera though.”

He couldn’t help the warm feeling that grew in his chest, and he honestly didn’t really want to. When you handed the phone back to him, he spent a long moment just staring at the screen, admiring the way your smile was brighter than the phone itself. 

He only broke out of his trance when your pinkie suddenly interlocked with his. “What are you doing?”

Your lips shaped a shy smile and the sight tugged at his heartstrings. “You’re making a promise to me. Promise me you’ll call me when this has all cleared. Please.”

He couldn’t deny you when you sounded like that, so he minisculely tightened his grip around your pinkie. “I promise.”

He said it so softly you thought you would have fainted on the spot if his touch wasn’t grounding you. With your shy smile growing even shier, you pressed your thumbs together with a soft giggle and a whisper, “Promise.”

Neither of you truly knew what the feelings growing inside you between each other were, but neither of you wanted it to go away anytime soon.

[ghostssweetgirl]

Cowboy Ghost x Fem Reader

Everyone thank @ghostslillady, she might not know it (yet) but one of her posts inspired this 😈🥴 and please tell me y'all know the cowboy hat rule (if u take it off u have to RIDE the COWBOY yeehawwww 🤠) this is so silly but it's gonna be so GOOD (i hope hehe) i waited for someone to do this but i was just like 😏i'll write it myself

WC: 2.3k~

It was a late night at the bar, you and your friend rewarded yourselves with some cold drinks after a day's worth of work. You dressed up a bit for your outing, happy with yourself. A few drinks in and you two were tipsy, dancing and singing along to the country songs playing.

Time was going by fast, your cheeks starting to cramp from how much you had laughed and smiled. Your smile faded though when the crowd went silent, a masked man wearing a dark cowboy outfit walked in through the double swinging doors straight to the bar. He didn't pay attention to all of the eyes on him, though he met yours in a split second before he ordered his drink.

The crowd calmed down and went back to their party, so you and your friend continued on as well, slinging back your drinks finishing them off. You slam your cup down and close your eyes as you reach that euphoric, drunken haze you missed. Your friend then dragged you to the karaoke stage, inviting you to sing but you were hesitant to do it in front of everyone.

"Come on!" she pushed with a playful grin on her face.

You shook your head, trying to get out of her grip and you finally slipped out of it before you bumped into... him.

"Oh, uh, sorry," you muttered, looking him in the eye while you stammered with your words.

"Quite a'right," he nodded, fixing his cowboy hat. "Y'come here often?"

You shook your head 'no', feeling slightly awkward. You didn't take him for much of the talking type, him striking up a conversation was a surprise. "Only on weekends!" you laughed.

"I see," he responded, lifting his mask for a moment while he drank the rest of his bottle of whiskey. You politely looked away, not daring to do anything to piss him off. He cleared his throat before he held his hand out to you. "Name's Ghost."

"Y/N," your small hand grabs his, and he shakes it softly before letting it go, letting your hand slowly fall out of his, cherishing the way your hand barely took up any room compared to his large one.

"Pretty name for a pretty lady," you saw his eyes crinkle, knowing he was smiling behind that mask. You blush and cover your face shyly. "Oh, don't do that now, little lady. Let me see that pretty face."

Once again, your cheeks cramp up. He's got you smiling ear to ear, your eyes shine brightly under the low party lights.

"Wanna go somewhere a little more private, darlin'?" he asked, tilting his head as he stood straight up, towering over you.

A smirk crawls up your lips as you look at your distracted friend, knocking down a few more shots before you took his arm and walked with him towards the outside of the bar.

He leans against the wall and lights up a cigarette, leaving his pack open as he offers one. You oblige, placing the cigarette between your lips. You keep eye contact as he lights it for you, your cheeks still flush red even though it was dark outside.

He sighed a few times, before you guys came up with a playful conversation. Somewhere in the middle of it, you took off his cowboy hat and put in on, proudly smiling as you wore it. His body rumbled as he chuckled lowly, crossing his arms against his chest.

You took the last few puffs off your smoke, before putting it out, playfully blowing the smoke in his face. He leaned closer to you and whispered, "You know what you just did, yeah?"

Your eyes widen, thinking you had pissed him off. Your lips stammer as you gulped. "N-no... I'm sorry..."

He flicked the hat that was still on your head as his head tilted, his voice become lower. "You take it off... you ride the cowboy. That's the rule. Your place or mine, doll?"

Oh. Oh.

A smirk was on your lips again, you blushed once more while you thought about it, biting your lip teasingly. "Mine."

You gave him your address as he led you to his motorcycle. He fixed his sunglasses on top of his mask, taking his hat back before putting your helmet on for you. The engine roared as he started it and sat down, patting the back seat as you hopped on, wrapping your arms around his toned torso.

As you finally arrive in your driveway, you hop off, removing the helmet, handing it to him as he placed it on the handlebar of his bike, gesturing for you to lead the way. You can't believe this was happening. You meet some random cowboy and here you were leading him to your bed, leaving your friend behind.

You open the door, letting him enter first as you close and lock the door behind you. You smile up at him, barely entering your house before he removed the hard plastic part of his mask, tossing it on the ground as he lifted up the fabric just above his nose. He grabbed your waist and kissed you, nipping at your bottom lip before his tongue begged for entrance. You allowed him in and your tongues swirled together as his grunts vibrated against your mouth, his hands wandering, becoming needier as they grabbed at every part of your body.

Your hands wrapped around the back of his neck for leverage before he cupped under your ass, lifting you up against the wall. The kiss only broke when he asked where your room was.

"Left. Second door," you panted, your lids now heavy with desire. You leaned down, kissing and sucking on the exposed skin of his neck earning a deep groan from him. His Adam apple bobbed as you bit the skin gently before soothing it with a cool kiss. He laid you on your back at the edge of the bed, he grabbed both sides of your face as he kissed you roughly. He pushed himself between your legs that wrapped around his waist.

"Fuckin' hell, so pretty," he muttered as he kissed and sucked down your neck to your collarbone. He didn't give a shit about your shirt, quickly bringing out a knife and slicing it clean off in the middle as he pushed it off of you. Clearly in the heat of the moment you didn't care either as you helped him remove it, reaching behind you as you unclip your bra, letting your tits bounce free. "Oh, fuck."

He growled as one hand grabbed a fistful of your breast, his mouth sucking harshly on your other. He wrapped his lips around your nipple and rolled it in between his teeth, earning a sweet little yelp from you as your back arched. His free hand caressed your curves, rubbing over the small of your back as it bowed up.

"Fuck, Ghost," you panted, tilting your head forward, meeting his dark eyes as he kissed down your naval, unbuttoning your pants impatiently. He bit at your hipbone as it was exposed while you were now pants-free.

"Perfect fuckin' figure," he praised, his eyes taking in the sight before him as he kissed and nipped at your inner thighs, making quick work of removing your panties. Your hands grasped at anything possible, soon finding his hands that held yours tightly, his veins popping as he held you still. His kisses trail lower, and lower. You gasp out, watching his every move with intense eye contact. He chuckled as he licked a circle around your puffy lips, testing you. You moaned out as he teased you again, licking your clit one time, testing your reaction. He hummed in pleasure before licking a fat stripe up your hole to your clit, flattening his tongue as he pushed his head into you as deep as he could.

"Oh my god, yes," you mewled for him, your grip on his hands tightening.

He cherished your scent, your taste, your reactions as his tongue worked magic into your cunt. He wagged his head like a dog, causing your legs to shake at the feeling, feeling that knot tighten in your stomach as you couldn't help leaning up, almost trying to run away, but he reenforced his grip, unrelenting as he moaned into your pussy.

The knot snapped, your eyes snap shut as your body convulses in pleasure, your spend leaking and shining the sides of his face. He didn't waste a drop as he lapped it all up eagerly before sitting up, a proud smile across his face as you caught your breath.

"Good girl."

Your hands reached out to him, and he helped sit you up. He tapped his belt, and you quickly got to work undoing it, pulling his pants down his thick thighs. You bite your lip as you see his hardened cock strained by his boxers. His pants fall with a thump to the floor as he then sits down on the bed, letting his legs sprawl out, which you crawl in between on your knees.

He folded his arms behind his head, letting you do your thing. You run your palm across his length, looking up at him with a sultry look on your face as you grab the hem of his boxers, freeing his cock of the restraint. It bounces up and hits his abdomen with a sharp slap, before your hand wraps around it and you hold your tongue out. Bringing the tip up to your tongue, you swirl slowly around it, testing the sweet saltiness and letting spit drool down along his length.

"Fuck," he moaned, bucking his hips into your face. You laugh lowly before you take it into your mouth, slowly bobbing down as you hollow your cheeks. The wet warmth of your mouth wrapping tightly around his cock caused his fists to clench, one coming down to hold a makeshift pony of your hair.

You looked up at him through your teary eyes as you took as much as you can. His hand grabbed your jaw and held it there. "Fuckin' hell, luv, right fuckin' there."

You moaned against his cock, his cock bucking up further caused you to gag, the tear finally falling out of your eye. He pulled you off of his dick as he sighed out in pleasure, watching the drool spill out of your lips before you grinned. "Good fuckin' slut."

You crawled up his body, settling your legs on either side before you grabbed his cock, letting the tip meet your entrance, gathering slick. He held onto your waist as you adjusted yourself, ready to sink all the way down. You gasped as you sank down slowly, not used to his girth or size.

"Shit, such a big fucking cock," you moan out. He replies with a deep chuckle, looking up at you with desire, watching your naked body shine under the moonlight creeping through the slit of the curtains.

He helps you with a quick thrust, now all the way inside of you. Your hands gripped his chest as you hissed. "Ah, shit...." you giggled, finally somewhat adjusting as you started bouncing up and down at a steady pace. Holy fucking shit, it was bulging out of your abdomen.

"Atta girl..." he purred, his grip on your hip tightening. The other hand rested behind his head once more, enjoying the show. "Feels good, huh?"

You nod as you bounced faster, leaning back with your hands on his thighs. The sounds of your ass slapping on his skin along with your moans echoed off the walls. Your tits bounced in rhythm to your pace as his hand trailed up, cupping them softly as he soothed up and down your body before settling between your thighs, his thumb rubbing tight, firm circles on your clit that made your legs threaten to close right then and there.

"Like ridin' my cock, doll?" he chuckled.

"Fuck, yes!"

He met your hips with small thrusts, furthering your pleasure as you were about to come undone once more. Your cunt clenched impossibly tighter on his cock as your orgasm was about to wash over you. Your vision was hazy, all you saw behind your closed eyes was colorful stars as he coaxed that orgasm out of you, breathy pants and grunts as he held himself back from erupting at your pleasure.

"Cum for me, that's it," he gritted through his teeth, thrusting harder up into you as you screamed out, nails scratching down his chest, both of your bodies tensed up.

"I'm cumming! I'm cumming, fuck, fuck, fuck!" you chanted in your ecstasy.

"Shit, I can't... Fuck..." he groaned out, emptying his spend inside of you as his cock twitched inside of you. "Fuck, couldn't hold back."

You gasped in all the air you could, meeting his still lust-filled gaze looking up at you. "It's okay... I'm on the pill," you laugh.

He chuckled, rubbing softly up your back as he pulled you down into a gentle hug. "Wanna do that more often, little lady?"

That was definitely the best lay of your life. No way you're letting him go.

You laugh into his neck as you shake your head. "Yeah... definitely."

Your phone vibrates on the floor and you lazily get up, his soft cock falling out of you, mixtures of both your arousal seeping out of you.

Your friend: Hey

Your friend: Are you okay?!

Your friend: Y/N! Answer me!

You: I'm fine, sorry. I got a ride home. Did you make it home safe?

Your friend: Yes! I was worried sick about you! 10 more minutes and I would have called the cops! What happened?

You: I'll tell you later, okay? Glad you're okay <3

"Everythin' a'right, doll?" Ghost asked.

"Yeah, friend I went with was worried about me. Told her I'm okay," you smiled, heat rising over your cheeks again as you thought about how all of this happened. "Care for a shower, cowboy?"

"Sure thing, sweetheart," he chuckled.

--

Hehehe cowboy Ghost 🥰😍

[pinkydevil16]

Dark! Xavier Thorpe x reader: part 4

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10

Wednesday sat in the therapists office trying to think of how she could leave as Dr Kinbott tried to get her to open up, excusing herself to the bathroom as she looked around finding a window which she quickly climbed out of sliding down the pipe sneaking past the Principle's car and slipping into the coffee shop. Tyler jumping as she appeared behind the steam, the two conversing for a moment before she went to fix the machine. Y/n walked through town, dressed in her casual wear as she stuffed her hands in her coat pockets, she wanted to get a present for Enid since she was feeling down about her roommate so she'd brought her a pink sequinned skirt which sat in her bag as she typed away on her phone. Xavier asking if she still wanted to come to the nightshade meeting but Y/n refused to participate unless Enid was invited. She didn't know who else was in it but apparently they didn't think Enid was cut out for the group when Xavier asked so Y/n has firmly rejected his offer over and over since he wanted to bring her to the rooftop parties, skinny dipping, cocktails parties, mostly the skinny dipping. Y/n rolled her eyes as Xavier called her, her nails clicking against the phone as she answered looking across the road seeing Wednesday as the Weathervane.

"Yes?" Y/n said as she looked at her nails leaning against the wall as she looked at Wednesday talking to a boy as Xavier laughed down the phone.

"Come on, come to the meeting and see everyone, you know you want to." Y/n sighed pinching the bridge of her nose as she looked at the sky seeing the clouds cover the sun slightly.

"You're never going to stop are you? Get Enid in and then i will come to all your little parties and whatever else you weirdos do." Y/n said as she looked back towards Wednesday seeing three boys stood around her, her voice fading as she began walking over cutting Xavier off.

"I gotta go some normies are a bit too close to Wednesday." Y/n hung up as Xavier went to say something, hurrying across the street pushing the door to the coffee shop open as she interrupted Wednesday standing after one of the boys pushed the barista.

"Do you boys need something?" Y/n said scowling as her eyes turned purple the boy moving away from Wednesday as she stood next to the shorter girl placing a hand on her shoulder that glowed purple.

"Another freak, get the hell out of our town." Y/n snapped her head to the boy who spoke, a sick grin on her face as she flicked her finger making him fly upwards and dangle upside down, Wednesday glaring at the boy who pushed Tyler as Y/n sauntered forward pouting at the upside down boy. The other one going to punch her as she held her hand up his body freezing as purple mist surrounded him.

"Apologise." Y/n said with a wide grin her voice dropping into an almost sultry tone as she put her hands on her knees, Tyler's face turning bright red until he heard the sound of Wednesday beating up the mayor's son, his attention back on her as she defended him. The boys glared at Y/n as she fake pouted tilting her head in a mocking way before standing straight crossing her arms and cocking her hip.

"I don't like bullies, apologise now." Y/n's eyes flashed vivid purple as she spoke her voice no longer sweet instead she gritted it out as the floor opened, her eyes not leaving the two boys as the Sheriff panicked. 

"Let them go." He said looking towards Tyler as he tried to explain, Y/n looking at him with a smile but keeping them stuck as she raised her hand in mock surrender. Shrugging her shoulders as the boys stayed frozen with purple mist around them her eyes returning to normal.

"I don't know what you're on about officer." Y/n smiled politely as Principle Weems ran in seeing the two boys stuck and one on the ground a smile on her face as she apologised

"I apologise Sheriff these two escaped me, Y/n let them go." Principle's Weems voice came out stern as Y/n rolled her eyes looking at the boys with an eyebrow raised.

"They need to apologise first." Principle's Weems tried not to panic as she walked over to Y/n, looming over her as Y/n's eyes flashed purple in warning at the older woman, she didn't appreciate being intimidated. Y/n didn't drop them moving her hand as she waved her powers about enjoying aggravating the Principle and the sheriff. The sheriff nodding at the boys as they quickly apologised Y/n grinning widely and letting them go, the boy being placed gently on the ground as the other one moved further away his eyes darting to his friends as Y/n let the Principle pull her out. Tyler wanting to thank her and Wednesday but they both got escorted out with his dad accusing Wednesday's dad of murder 30 years ago, Y/n using her powers to open and close the car door as she relaxed Wednesday climbing in next to her as Principle Weems began lecturing them.

"That was unacceptable behaviour from both of you, Y/n you are not helping yourself i thought we had an understanding that you would be behaved, and Wednesday running out of your therapy session. I am so embarrassed." Principle Weems kept talking as Y/n looked out the window before turning towards the front seat leaning forward as she opened her palm a small bundle of mist in her palm.

"Principle Weems." Y/n said making the blonde haired woman turn as Y/n blew her smoke towards her, the mist covering her face before Y/n leaned back watching a smile come over Principle Weems face as she turned back to the road driving calmly.

"How was your session Wednesday?" Said girl looked at Y/n oddly before responding a single word Y/n now twirling her magic around her finger as she smiled at herself turning towards Wednesday putting her finger to her lips and grinning at the confused girl who only nodded.   

Y/n walked away from Wednesday as she texted Xavier saying she was back since he'd been flooding her with messages worried about what had happened, turning a corner as Xavier swung his arm over her shoulder Y/n looking at him with a smile.

"Want to explain what happened then?" Xavier said with a soft smile as Y/n placed her phone in her pocket passing him the bag as he took it walking with her towards the Quad.

"Some guys thought they could pick on Wednesday, i may have intervened but before you even think about telling me off i used my little trick to remove the memory from Principle Weems." Xavier smiled as she knew he was going to tell her off in fear of her getting expelled, she was always getting into small incidents mostly because she was getting into fun bets with her friends. 

"So rebellious, be careful you might make enemies with the normies." Y/n chuckled as they arrived at the table, Y/n taking the bag off Xavier as she leaned over placing it infront of Enid as she played with her nails, her eyes lighting up as she looked at Y/n.

"If this doesn't make you smile i don't know what will." Enid squealed standing up as she pulled the skirt out, holding it against her body as she ran over hugging Y/n as she stroked her hair rolling her eyes at how easily she changed to happy. Enid rushed over to Ajax sitting next to him as she showed him the skirt, his face going lightly pink as his snake hissed coming out his beanie showing his affection for her, Y/n sitting next to where Xavier had dropped down his legs straddling the bench as Y/n sat between his legs facing forward. Xavier dropped his head to her shoulder blowing air out onto her hair as she started chatting to Enid until a shadow stood over them, Y/n looking over to see Wednesday staring at her.

"What was that?" Wednesday said making Y/n quirk an eyebrow as she shuffled to straddle the bench her back against Xavier's chest as his arms wrapped around her waist his eyes closed and head leaning on her shoulder not paying attention. Y/n was used to him being draped over her, he always used the excuse of being tired and she didn't pry further not caring that he wanted to be so close enjoying the contact herself. 

"Wednesday, can't you just say thank you and be happy you're not in trouble?" Y/n smiled at her as Wednesday kept the same face before nodding and leaving, Enid rushing after her wanting to talk about their room. Xavier opened his eyes leaning back bringing Y/n with him as she let him do whatever he wanted, he'd slowly been adding more contact over the months he'd known her and she had never said or shown any dislike towards him doing it. 

"Why am i nice to people?" Y/n said looking towards Ajax as he stared at Enid with a small smile turning to Y/n as he stood up shrugging.

"Atleast you got a nod, she terrified me the first time i met her." Ajax left picking up his bag as Y/n moved out Xavier's hold turning to face him as he smiled at her, returning the smile she used her powers to push back his hair. Her knee raising do she could lean her head on it tilting her head as Xavier copied her.

"Only a few weeks until the poe cup, i hope you're not drawing anything dirty in your little porn shed." Y/n said with a cheeky grin as Xavier rolled his eyes, Y/n liked to tease that he had a secret stash of porn magazines as if he was a 90's horny teen, she wasn't fully wrong but Xavier didn't want her to know they were just ones of her. 

"It's so cute you think you'll win, i can't wait to make you do my homework for a week after you go for a swim in the lake. I'll have you hand cleaning all my clothes aswell." Xavier gave her a cheeky grin enjoying how Y/n huffed her lips pouting slightly.

"You'd like that wouldn't you, maybe i'll wear a little maid outfit for you perv." Xavier leaned back groaning as he looked at the sky, looking back at Y/n as she laughed.

"I didn't mean to walk in on you changing! In my defence you left the door open, if anyone's the perv it's you for wanting me to walk in. Just admit it Y/n you want me." Y/n rolled her eyes as Xavier moved his foot to poke her as he teased her, he enjoyed moments like this, she'd teased him for weeks after he'd walked in. He would never tell her but he had done it on purpose, he'd poked his head around seeing her change and walked in pretending to panic and cover his eyes as Y/n used her magic to push the door closed. She'd called him a perv and teased him enjoying how he blushed, he'd quickly started teasing her back and the argument was brought up often. Y/n hummed moving forward to flick his forehead laughing when he grunted pushing her hand away.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night perv." Y/n and Xavier grinned at each other before Y/n checked the time humming as she tapped on her phone.

"Want to hangout at the festival tomorrow? You can win me a panda to say sorry for being a perv." Xavier grinned nodding at Y/n as she got up ruffling his hair as she walked past him waving bye enjoying how Xavier got so flustered, her hands typing away at her phone as she went to Enid's room to collect her for another sleepover hoping to invite Wednesday. 

Wednesday explained her plan to run away, Y/n not paying attention as she flipped through the pages of one of Enid's magazine's, Thing, who Y/n had just met painting her other hand as Enid sat next to them painting her toe nails whilst Wednesday typed away. 

"Whose going to get you there?" Y/n said smiling at Thing as he showed her her new nails, moving to her other hand as she switched them to flip the page, his paint work immaculate as Y/n nodded impressed with his skill. Wednesday thought for a moment before turning around and walking towards them looking at Enid's computer.

"Let me use your computer, Thing i have a mission for you." Enid nodding enjoying being apart of Wednesday's plan although she didn't want her to succeed, Y/n moving as she watched Wednesday write on Thing's palm the hand scurrying off to give the message to Tyler. It took an hour before he called, Wednesday taking the laptop as Y/n braided Enid's hair listening to Wednesday's plan surprised Tyler agreed to help so quickly but assuming he was just a nice guy who probably had a crush on her. Y/n looking at Enid as Wednesday hung up on Tyler, moving over to her bed leaving the laptop on the bed as she changed into her pjs and laid down like a corpse.

"Be quiet, you don't want to wake the dead." Wednesday said as she closed her eyes, Y/n using her powers to turn off the lights her and Enid climbing into the bed and closing their eyes ready to sleep aswell. 

Wednesday Taglist:

@celibacy-or-death @sarcastic-sourwolf @snips-501 @lilithskywalker @parkersmyth @hey-im-bored504 @1horrormoviewhore1 @peachycupotea @moonmaiden1996 @bebopsworld @betray-jaes@o-the-o-grim-o-reaper-o @ilovedeadguys @kaz-2y567 @darling-twh @90sgothik@thematicallythalia @cheezybread @arivh @kaz-2y567 @akinatrix @just-sana @manuosorioh@alohastitch0626 @snips-501 @lovesanimals0000 @trashmouthsahra @whatinthefreshhellisthis@elle4404 @pasta88love @sourbiscuit @sl-t4ym1r @whatinthefreshhellisthis @it-was-never-meant-to-be-boys @bringontheweirdworld @laneyspaulding19 @torirosalie @nushy @sophiexoxsblog@here4thefanfic @clevercreatornight @@here4thefanfic @runrabbitrun3 @bi-narystars@doingurmom69 @hanmashujisfuturewife @maystecc @hannaeditzs @yeehawbitchs @living-breathing-bibliophile @kissmebakugou @yunoguns @iovaki @paulina15 @hotgirlsshareaccounts@wonderlandco 

[thebibutterflyao3]

Day 17 - Prompt: Nice @wolfstarmicrofic

January Daily Series - 712 words

<<<Previous Part OR Start Here

Remus chewed the inside of his cheek while he stared at his mobile screen. Lily said Sirius was going to text him for directions when he’d picked up the take-away order. He was trying not to panic about the idea of Sirius in his flat, but it was useless.

The longer he waited, the more he regretted his procrastination in washing the dishes yesterday. His gaze drifted to the kitchen door that hid the stack of rinsed-but-not-scrubbed plates and mugs that were neatly stacked beside the sink. Living alone meant that he didn’t create many dishes, but it also meant that he alone was responsible for washing up.

Generally speaking, he kept the flat nice and tidy. Mostly so that Lily wouldn’t scrunch her nose when she walked inside. It was never as immaculate as hers because Remus wasn’t that motivated.

His phone vibrated in his hand and all he could do was stare at it. “Unknown number” had to be Sirius. After three deep breaths, he swiped past the lock screen.

Unknown Number: Remus?

Remus: Yes, is this Sirius?

Unknown Number: Yep. Lily gave me your number. Where am I bringing your lunch?

Remus quickly typed in his address, then saved Sirius’s number in his phone. He contemplated adding emojis or a nickname like he had for Lily and his parents. The best he could come up with was “Padfoot’s Dad” with a black dog emoji.

Padfoot’s Dad: Oh good, you’re close. See you in ten.

Remus: Alright.

He set the mobile on the side table and grinned to himself, unable to fully believe that he’d managed to get Sirius’s phone number. At least when Sirius went home at the end of the week, Remus could still text him. Maybe he wouldn’t fade into oblivion the moment Sirius left town.

Ten minutes later, a knock echoed through the room. Remus winced as he pushed himself to his feet and padded across the flat. As he opened the door, he smiled at the sight of Sirius in a black leather jacket with two take-away bags in his hand.

“Hey,” he said, matching Remus’s grin.

“Hey.”

Sirius peered over his shoulder curiously. “Mind if I come in?”

“Oh! Yes, come in. Right. Yes,” he spluttered, moving out of the way. “Kitchen is just there.”

“I’m on it! You just get comfortable again and I’ll bring it to you.” Sirius breezed past him and headed straight for the kitchen door.

“Oh no, I can-”

Sirius spun around on his heel and pointed at him. “Remus, sit. I said I’d bring you lunch, I meant it.”

He disappeared into the kitchen before Remus could respond. It felt rather foolish to argue the point with him when he was still in pain. The pain med he’d taken dulled it to a tolerable level, but he couldn’t push himself much or he’d feel even worse tomorrow. That was one lesson he’d learned the hard way.

When Sirius reappeared, he held two plates in one hand and two mugs of tea in the other. “For fuck’s sake, sit!”

Remus rolled his eyes as he shuffled back to his recliner and settled in. The heating pad felt stupidly good on his back now that he’d iced it thoroughly. He arched his back and groaned under his breath as the welcoming warmth seeped into his skin.

Sirius went still in front of him. Remus glanced up, then blinked violently. The man stared in shock with wide blue eyes and his pouty lips parted. His tongue darted out to wet his bottom lip and Remus bit his own hard. Neither moved, nor spoke, and a tense silence rushed to fill the space between them.

A tension that snapped sharply when Sirius finally shook himself clear and handed Remus the tea. “Here you are. Do you mind if I eat in here with you?”

“No, that’s fine.”

Remus quickly refocused his attention on the plate headed toward his lap rather than the mouth that he desperately wanted to feel on his own. He wasn’t sure what set off that little moment, but he wouldn’t be opposed to it happening again. It almost looked like Sirius wanted to kiss him. Again…actually, but for real this time.

Wishful thinking.

Next Part>>>

[dont-blame-it-on-the-kids]

A Little Less of a Family Reunion

(Rohan is about 7 and meets Jinora in his dreams)

Kidnapped au

“Whoah! Why do you have tattoos like that?” Rohan asked the older girl unsure why she would host the tattooed aunt Lin said that his father and grandfather had for being good airbenders.

“My arrows? I got them when I became a master airbender.” She answered kindly.

“Woah! How long ago did you get them?” He asked excitedly. He’s seen this spirit before in his dreams. He imagined she was a wise old airbender from when his grandfather was younger, someone sent to help him and Lin when they needed her.

“About six years ago now.” She mused, thinking it over. “I was eleven when I achieved mastery of the element air. These are an old air nation tradition.” She started to go into a deeper explanation and Rohan sat in the grass and smiled as he listened to her. Ever since he was little he would have these vivid dreams in this strange place. Creatures he’s never heard of scuttled by and he hoped to see the funny old man again, but this girl was so smart and kind.

“But that's enough about ancient times, how did you get into the spirit realm?”

“Spirit realm? I’m asleepin’ this is my dream.” He shook his head.

“No, this is the spirit realm, you must be meditating.” The older girl frowned.

“I do that sometimes! But I sleepin now.” He assured her.

The older girl looked at him for a moment and he could see she was deep in thought.

“What’s your name?” She asked after a silent few seconds.

“I’m usually called Yuka but Auntie Lin calls me Rohan.” He smiled and held out his hand to her. “What’s your name?”

“I-I’m Jinora.” She looked at him shocked and stood frozen for a moment as he saw tears fill her eyes.

“Oh! I’m sorry!” Rohan said quickly, retracting his hand as he thought he did something wrong. Jinora fell to her knees and pulled him into a tight hug.

“No, no, don't be sorry. Please- take my hand and let me see where you are.” She said holding onto him like he would fade away any moment.

Rohan nodded. “I can show you my room!” He said excitedly and held Jinora’s hand as he headed back to the spot he knew he could come and go through.

Rohan woke with a yawn and was excited to see a blue and green glowing figure of the girl next to him in the dark room.

“I’ll show you my art! Aunt Lin taught me to color.” He said excitedly and held her hand as he turned the light on and showed her around the room.

“That’s very nice Rohan, can you show me outside?”

The boy tensed.

“No, we’re not allowed outside without Mr. Amon.” He said quietly now. Jinora's heart sank. Amon was alive and had been holding onto Rohan all this time.

A commotion of something hitting the floor, a door opened and closed down the hall.

“You have to go!” Rohan said quickly. Trying to push Jinora into a hiding spot. He quickly turned the light out and hid under his covers.

Jinora heard footsteps coming up to the room and quickly went straight up to see where she was exactly.

The door opened quietly to Rohan's room and Lin came in.

“Little man? Did I hear you talking in here?” She asked gently.

Rohan sat up and nodded. “I was showing the girl from the dreams the colors I did.” He explained.

Lin nodded. “Okay, let’s get back to bed now.” She said, keeping her voice quiet. She had just been shoved from the bed and told to shut him up. Lin moved to tuck Rohan into bed when he reached up to hug her again.

“She’s really nice.” He yawned wide and closed his eyes. “And she had tattoos like you said daddy and grampy Aang had.”

Tears filled Lin’s eyes as he fell asleep. Could he have been seeing past avatars in his sleep? Were they visiting him to help guide him without any masters to teach him? She smiled sadly at the thought and gently kissed his forehead. “You get some sleep. I’ll hear all about her in the morning.” She assured him.

Rohan nodded and was quickly back to sleep.

[redux-iterum]

Charred Legacy: Chapter Eleven

(AO3 counterpart here.)

The hunting and walk home lacked any conversation; only their pawsteps and a faint breeze here and there provided noise, but they might as well have not been there at all. Even the thickening clouds overhead seemed to muffle the world around them. Bubbly Brackenpaw walked with his head lowered and eyes turned up anxiously to Swiftpaw, who had his jaw set tightly around his pigeon and his tail stiffly held close to the ground. Lizardtail and Willowpelt seemed calmer, carrying a dove each, but their faces were still tense and troubled. Fireheart didn’t know how he looked, having been equally unsuccessful as Brackenpaw, and he was grateful for being in the front of the patrol so he didn’t have to guess by his Clanmates’ expressions.

When they finally closed in on camp, Fireheart turned back to the rest of his patrol. “Go ahead into camp. I need to talk to Bluestar.”

To his relief, no one questioned him. The warriors simply nodded. Around his dove, Lizardtail said, “Hope she’s awake,” and followed Willowpelt through the bramble tunnel, the apprentices scooting along behind them.

Fireheart took in a deep breath, turned and made his way over to Bluestar’s den. His steps each took a month to complete and yet brought him to her door instantly, far before he was ready. Bracing himself, he poked his head in through the lichen and said, “Bluestar? Are you awake?”

What a curse and a blessing it was to hear her voice immediately. “Is that you, Fireheart?”

“Yeah.” He entered, fur prickling a little on his neck. “Sorry to disturb you, but, um, I have news about Sunningrocks.”

Bluestar sat up in her nest, which looked freshly remade with greener moss and bracken. Her eyes were clear again as they narrowed, examining her apprentice’s nervous fidgeting. “What’s happened?”

“Well…” Fireheart cleared his throat, for once having trouble looking her in the eye. “We got to the border, and there was a big group of RiverClan cats there. They, um, they were gathered around the bodies of their Clanmates. I guess the dogs got to them.”

He looked up in time to see her blink in confusion, expression turning concerned. “Where are the dogs now?”

“They don’t know for sure, but they caught the scent on the other side of the river, so they’re in RiverClan territory somewhere.” Fireheart’s chest tightened. “But, um, that’s not the main thing. What I need to tell you is who they found specifically.”

Bluestar stiffened, even if her voice stayed steady. “Who, then?”

Fireheart silently fought with a lump in his throat.

“Fireheart,” Bluestar said, leaning into her words, “who?”

Swallowing hard, he met her eyes. “Oakclaw and his apprentice.”

At once, every hair on Bluestar’s body lifted away and stuck straight out. Her mouth opened wordlessly, her pale yellow eyes stretching wide enough to see a ring of white around them. Her throat flexed, like she was trying to speak and her words died before they reached her tongue.

“I wanted to tell you before you found out another way,” Fireheart explained, his heart breaking at the look on his mentor’s face. “Since… since he was your mate, and everything. I thought you should know as soon as possible.”

A tremor crept up Bluestar’s body from her tail and toes, until she was shaking all over.

Fireheart softened his voice. “I’m sorry.”

Bluestar didn’t respond for a long time. Her eyes slowly drifted from focusing on Fireheart to staring at something far away he couldn’t see, and they went wet. Her trembling faded just a bit, coming to rest with the venom in her voice when she finally spoke.

“How could StarClan allow this?” she said, low but viciously intense.

Fireheart gazed at her sadly. “I don’t think they have any control over it.”

“They do,” she near-snarled, startling him. “They take kits away all the time. Apprentices. Queens. Now they don’t even warn us about where these rotted dogs are going, and innocent cats die.” Her nose pointed to the ground, and she growled, seemingly to herself, “First his children, and then his parents, and then his niece, and now him. How dare they. How dare they.”

Fireheart had the brief thought to respond in defense of StarClan, but the next thought was the knowledge that now wasn’t the time. He instead stood quietly, gradually taking a few steps forward and reaching out with a paw, very gently touching Bluestar’s leg with it.

For a moment, Bluestar leaned forward, seemingly into the contact, before her head shot up. She ripped herself away and jerked around, collapsing into her nest and curling up tight enough to almost shrink herself to Fireheart’s size. Her fur still bristled, and her body still shook.

“I’m sorry,” Fireheart said again, not sure what else to do. “I’ll leave you alone.”

Bluestar didn’t respond. He waited a moment, just in case, then turned and walked out with a final glance at his leader. He couldn’t see her head; her paws and legs were wrapped around it, like she was trying to shut out all noise and light.

Fireheart’s subconscious considered berating him for destroying his leader’s day, and it certainly was a tempting way to respond to that conversation…but what else could he do, really? She was going to find out one way or another. Shouldn’t it be from someone who could break the news delicately? Someone who was close to her?

Then again, he mused as he walked, she’s been so distant lately, maybe I’m not all that close anymore.

Caught up in his thoughts, he failed to notice an exposed tree-root in his path, and he tripped. He barely managed to stop himself from falling flat on his face, bracing with his front paws. When he straightened up and looked around, he couldn’t even see camp.

Strange. Where had he walked to?

It took him a few embarrassingly long moments to recognize the area (everything looked different when the plants were dead, sue him). If he were to walk north a little longer, he’d end up at the road and its gravelly slopes. Camp wasn’t too far away—he could turn around and be back without anyone questioning him on where he’d gone.

He should go home. The dogs were still out there, even if they were last scented near the water. Maybe they were still moving around and had reached the forest after crossing that bridge that arched over the river. He wasn’t supposed to be wandering around alone, anyway. He needed to have a patrol with him.

But something was tugging at his paws to keep moving. He couldn’t name it—it just felt like even his toe-fur was pointing north, his claws being gently pried out to sink into the earth and keep him from turning around.

He was supposed to go to the road. Something important was there.

Obeying the invisible pull, he continued walking north. His instincts kept him sniffing the air and looking around, ears swiveling and steps careful and as quiet as could be. The bushes were almost all leafless, but their many branches and what shrubs didn’t die in the cold blocked his view of the rest of the forest in this area. He sent a small thank-you to StarClan that he didn’t have to worry about snakes sneaking up on him.

Maybe it’s a fox, he thought as he walked. Or a stray badger—I haven’t gotten to see one up close yet, this would be a good time to do that. It’s probably the dogs, though. I’m not walking to my death, am I?

That last question sank its claws into his mind and gleefully refused to let go, even as he tried to think more positively, until all he could see were long sets of white, crushing teeth and all he could hear were barks and shrieks of dying cats. His steps jittered and slowed. He tiptoed as the smell of the road closed in on him.

But something else nabbed his nose. Something familiar.

A couple memories trotted by his eyes: flat surfaces and rough carpet, long, naked paws scratching behind his ears and high croons coming from a figure much taller than him, their silhouette blocking the light hanging on the ceiling.

And before him, in the distance, a cluster of small bright lights, dancing back and forth.

A weird sense of relief hit him, and he resumed walking normally, heading in the direction of the lights and scents. More with slight variations clogged the air quickly, and soon enough he could hear indistinct chatter. Dropping into a crouch, he crawled forward, quick and silent, until he was positioned behind a naked bush and could get a good view without being seen.

It was a little group of humans on the edge of the woods, spread out enough for Fireheart to have to turn his head both ways to see all of them. They were all bundled in bright, heavy pelts, their heads covered and mist coming out of their mouths as they talked to each other. One of them had a long, completely straight, dark grey branch in their hands, pointed down at the ground. The others all had those lights in their paws, aiming the beams in random directions—sometimes over the road into ShadowClan territory, sometimes up or down the road’s straight path, mostly into the forest, shining on trees and creating stretched, ghoulish shadows.

Fireheart watched in fasciation. It had been so long since he’d been this close to a human, or even really seen one, especially this late at night. He remembered that humans moved around during the day. What were these ones doing out here in the dark?

A particularly tall one turned around and grunted something to a shorter, rounder human. Fireheart squinted in confusion at the tiny, bright red light on their face. They turned to look at something over the road and cleared up the mystery; they had a very, very small twig gripped in their mouth. At the end of it was the red light, and contrasting the shadow of the human with the distant lights of the Aulmir, Fireheart thought he could see a waft of fog drifting up into the sky— no, it stank even from here. He wracked his brain, trying to think of where he recognized that appearance of such dark fog…

Smoke. Smoke, right. His human had kept fires in their house all the time, in that little hollow space in the wall, and smoke occasionally drifted away from it into the biggest room. Strange to smell it coming from a stick that tiny, and to have it smell considerably worse. How were the humans tolerating it?

The round human hissed something, bringing Fireheart’s attention back to them. They rubbed a paw on the top of their burry head, and if Fireheart wasn’t mistaken due to the shadows hiding most of their face, they had a contorted, agitated expression. Another human, closer to the cat, turned and soothed their patrol partner with a soft voice. The round human huffed a sigh and shook their head.

Fireheart marveled to himself that even with the noise, he wasn’t disturbed. In fact, he would rather see these humans than any wild animal. He held in a snort, imagining Sandstorm bristling and hissing, or Teaselfoot fleeing the scene when one stepped too close to him. Maybe it was just his kittypet origins, but he didn’t see anything to be frightened about.

A thought struck him, as a couple of them called out in a loud voice into the woods. Were these humans looking for the dogs? They had to be, right? Why else would they be here, when they’d never come to the forest before?

That guess excited him. If they were on the job, then the Clans wouldn’t have to suffer the dogs for much longer. They had hope! All it’d take was a few human patrols wandering around, and then the dogs would be gone.

Fireheart’s fur fluffed out, expelling his excitement. He studied the humans again, but much more appreciatively. And not a moment too soon; the round human said something with a grumble, turned and started walking towards the road, in the direction of the Aulmir. The other humans gave scattered responses before following them. The tall one with the smoking stick turned their head one last time towards the deeper end of the forest, a bit of the red falling off the end of the twig, and then turned back and hurried after the others.

Fireheart watched them until the edge of the forest’s trees hid them from view, and their hard and heavy steps fell out of his hearing range. Once the coast was clear, he stood up, turned, and sprinted for camp, his tail dancing wildly behind him. He felt the wind catching up to him, almost pushing him from behind so he could reach home faster.

The run wasn’t far, and he soon slowed down and caught his breath at the outside of camp. He started to go for Bluestar’s den in his excitement, but…

Right. Tonight.

He looked away and trotted through the camp entrance.

The clearing was full; by the time Fireheart was home, the faintest stars were fading out of the sky. Several cats looked up at him and blinked in surprise.

“There you are!” Greystripe hurried up to greet his friend with a headbump, finally gentler from practice. “Willowpelt said you were talking to Bluestar, but I didn’t see you around at all.”

“I took a walk,” Fireheart said. “Listen, where’s Speckletail? Or Whitecloud?”

“Right here.” Speckletail emerged from a small group by the prey-pile and approached Fireheart. She tilted her head in an inviting question.

Fireheart did his best not to sound too happy about it as he gave the news. “I saw a patrol of humans on the border by the road.” He didn’t let the immediate reaction of curses and shock speak over him. “They had lights and were calling for something. I think they were looking for the dogs.”

Ravenwing, meeting up with Greystripe, gawked at Fireheart. “You think so? How could you tell?”

“I mean, why else would they be there?”

“Why do humans do anything, boy?” Yellowfang croaked, standing up in her place below the meeting stump. “Never can we say with certainty.”

Fireheart gave her a teasing squint. “Well, with my experience, I think I can make a guess.” He added to a disturbed-looking Ravenwing, “I don’t know why you all are so scared of them. They never noticed I was there, and they didn’t even break a twig while I watched them.”

“Are they gone?” Patchpelt asked, close by and anxiously wide-eyed. “They didn’t follow you?”

“We’re fine,” Fireheart assured him. “I made sure to watch them until they went away.”

Relief settled over camp, cats turning to talk to each other again, Speckletail returning to her conversation. Fireheart held back a purr of satisfaction as Yellowfang limped up to him with her jaw stuck out to the side, looking him up and down.

“Something wrong?” he asked when her buggy eyes went into slits.

Yellowfang didn’t answer him at first, eyeing his front paws. When she looked up at his face, she rasped, “You steam energy. Why were you so close to the road?”

“Oh...” He tilted his head back and forth, thinking. “I guess I just had a feeling I should go there, and I kinda knew to follow it.”

Yellowfang’s eyes widened a bit, then she nodded in satisfaction. “Good, boy, good. Always follow that feeling.” She gave him a froggy smirk. “But don’t follow it so far that you chase the humans.”

“They’re really not that bad, Yellowfang,” he said patiently. “We can afford to trust them once in a while.”

“I trust nothing that came not from the Mother herself,” she said sharply. “Especially color-changers.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

Ravenwing piped up. “All life came from the Mother after she created the Three and destroyed the Titans, except for humans. Because we all came from the same place, we know what every beast wants: food, shelter, rest. But even you don’t really know what a human wants.”

Fireheart looked at him now. “Where did humans come from, then?”

“Who knows?” Yellowfang grumbled. “They arrived long ago from nowhere, and they’ve been a problem ever since. Can’t trust them, boy, when we know not what creature came up with them.”

Fireheart couldn’t resist a mimicry of her smirk. “I thought ShadowClan ate food from humans all the time.”

This got him a cuff on the ear, though it hardly hurt. “Necessity! Necessity, boy, not preference.”

Fireheart chuffed and rubbed his ear. “Right, sorry, pardon me.”

“Sounds like you’ve had an adventure tonight,” Patchpelt said, and coughed. “I hope you’re right about them looking for the dogs.”

Fireheart nodded respectfully to him. “Well, even if they aren’t, I think we’ll be okay.”

Patchpelt’s sigh turned into another cough. Ravenwing murmured something to him that sounded like, “Get some rest,” before leading him back to the elders’ den. Greystripe nodded to Fireheart and Yellowfang and went back to where he had been, where a half-eaten bird laid waiting.

Fireheart himself was about to go for the prey-pile when a quiet voice cleared their throat. He looked to his left to see Whitecloud standing close to him, his yellow eyes doing a poor job of hiding his worry.

“Bluestar has been silent all night,” he murmured to Fireheart. “I heard RiverClan lost two of their own. Was it…?”

Fireheart nodded sadly. “Oakclaw, and his apprentice.”

Whitecloud let out a “hough” and lowered his head.

“I had to tell her,” Fireheart whispered. “She ought to know.”

“I know. I know.” Whitecloud looked up again and sighed. “I’ll keep an eye on her tonight. Get some prey, and thank you for the news.”

He turned and walked away before Fireheart could respond. Fireheart, deflated, made his way over to the prey-pile.

Maybe he should’ve hunted something for Bluestar.

[topguncortez]

The Professor | Chapter 12

previous part | masterlist | next part

synopsis: The time has come for you to graduate and say goodbye to the last four years of your life. Jake finally comes to his senses.

word count: 4.2k

warnings: age gap, power imbalance, mentions of parental death, mentions of blackmail, physical fighting, blood, tears, mentions of smut.

The lights of the tree were beautiful, Lucy really did a good job with decorating the tree while you were gone. When you came home after the disaster that was Thanksgiving, the house was decorated brightly with Christmas cheer. Lucy was still away with Zeke’s family, so it gave you time to wallow in silence. The first thing you did was open a bottle of wine and lay underneath the colorful lights of the christmas tree. It brought you some comfort, but you still ended up crying yourself to sleep that night. 

            You kept asking yourself where everything went wrong. The beginning of the week had been perfect. You felt like you had finally cracked Jake’s cold outer shell. He had told you about his childhood, about the things that kept him up at night. He told you about what he saw for his future and the mistakes that he had learned from his past. He held you tightly at night as you slept next to him, and every kiss that was shared was as if it was the last one. You touched your lips lightly at the memories of the night in the cabin. You hadn’t brought it up, but you had heard the soft confession of “I love you” that fell from Jake’s pink lips. Now you were starting to think that it was a confused omittance. That he mistook lust for love. 

            The rest of the break was spent looking at apartments in LA. The price tag on most of them made your heart ache, but you knew that it wasn’t going to be easy to live in Los Angeles. You had money in a college fund that you hadn’t touched yet that would help cover rent for at least a year. After signing a lease, you began the dreaded clean out of your closet. You had acquired a lot of clothes over the past four years, and it was time to get rid of some. Part of you was waiting for a text or a call from Jake, but it never came. As the days faded into one another and the weekend was slowly coming to an end, you were dreading going back to his class. 

            Jake had to explain the next morning to his parents that you had gone home early. He was hoping to come up with some quick lie that your roommate had fallen ill or something, but Amelia had spilled the tea on the argument that he had with you. Jake wanted to tackle his little sister, as it was none of her business what went down between the two of you, but he was thankful that she had reached out and made sure you were home safe. Olivia had given her son an earful on his behavior, and how disappointed she was. But it went in one ear and out the other. He had heard this speech before. But what he hadn’t expected was his dad to chime in. 

            “She’s a special girl, Jacob.” 

            That was all George Seresin had said, but it meant a lot to Jake to hear that. Like you, Jake had found an early flight back home to Boston. He had stopped by a bookstore which he had called in a favor with. His plan was to surprise you, to apologize and set the record straight. He loved you. He loved you with every fiber in his being that waking up without you was something he never wanted to go through again. He promised himself after walking away that night, that he never wanted to see you cry again. 

            Jake had arrived at your house, Orange Roses and a gift in his passenger seat. He had worked on his speech the whole drive from the airport to your house, but every single thought went out his head as he saw Derek McAndrew walk out your front door. His blood ran red hot as he watched you, in nothing but an oversize t-shirt kiss Derek on the lips and pull him back into the house. Jake wanted to walk up there and punch him, but instead, he put his car in drive and drove home in silence. 

            “So, am I going to get to see you before you leave?” Derek asked, for what was probably the hundredth time since you told him that you had gotten a place in LA. 

            “Yes, I am not leaving until after the first of the year,” You rolled your eyes as you sat down in your spot next to Lucy. 

            Lucy shuffled her stuff away from you. The two of you weren’t currently talking. Lucy had yelled at you when she came home after catching Derek between your thighs in the living room. You didn’t tell her about the fight between you and Jake, just saying that you could sleep with who you want, that you and Jake weren’t exclusive. Lucy had reminded you, very loudly, that Derek had invaded your privacy and taken videos of you and Jake. You just shrugged and Lucy stormed away from you. Things had been awkward for the past couple days. 

            “Well, I just wanna make sure I get every second with my girl,” Derek said. 

            “She’s not your fucking girl,” Lucy spoke up. You looked at her for a brief second before she looked away. 

            “You don’t have to talk to her like that,” Derek said. 

            “It’s fine,” You answered as the door to the lecture hall opened. You looked down at your notebook as the sound of his footsteps grew closer. The room was even more tense than normal as Jake set up his laptop for the lecture. You could feel his eyes on you as he stood in front of the class. He waited just a moment, hoping that you’d look up at him. But you were stubborn and he knew it. Jake sighed and clicked on the slide. 

            “I hope you all had a good break,” Jake said to the class, “We are still talking about R & J, but today specifically, we are talking about why love is stupid and can lead fools to their death.” 

            You looked up at him, and could see the hurt in his eyes. You clenched your jaw and looked at his lecture slides. Derek could see the shift in your mood as you listened to Jake’s lecture.  He moved closer to you and put his arm around the back of your chair. Jake clenched his jaw as he watched Derek whisper things in your ear. He tried to keep it together, but when he saw Derek place a kiss on your neck and you giggle, he almost lost his cool. 

            “Miss L/N,” Jake called out. You looked at him, “What’s your opinion of Romeo? Do you think he made the right choice to come back?” 

            “My opinion.” 

            “That’s what I asked,” Jake crossed his arms over his chest. You narrowed your eyes at him and sat up a bit in your seat. 

            “Well I think Romeo is a bad person because he’s a spoiled, selfish dickwad who can’t express his feelings for the life of him,” You said, and watched as Jake’s jaw ticked, “He got pissed that the first girl wouldn’t give it up for him and went to find a naive girl who didn’t know better. Treated her nicely, and then killed her cousin and lied about it. And then when he was confronted confesses his so-called love.” 

            Jake scoffed, “Well I think Juliet is a spoiled whiny brat who can’t take no for a god damn answer.” 

            “Atleast Romeo wasn’t afraid to confess his love for her!” 

            You both knew the conversation had shifted off the book and about yourselves. Lucy’s eyes shifted between the two of you. Derek’s fists were clenched in rage. 

            “Yeah, and look where that got him. . . in the grave,” Jake snapped. 

            “At least he wasn’t scared to admit his feelings!” You yelled back.

            “And it got him fucking killed. So if you think that’s love. . .you’re a bigger idiot than I thought.” Jake chuckled and shook his head. 

You backed down, sitting back in your seat. Lucy looked at you with a sympathetic look in your eye as Jake went back to teaching. You could feel all eyes on you, as you tried to fight back tears. You couldn’t stand to be there any longer, as you grabbed your backpack and headed for the door. Jake stopped teaching, as you walked out the door. Every fiber in his body was screaming at him to go after you, but he fought against it. 

Jake cleared his throat as he clicked the next slide, “Let’s discuss the reasoning behind Tybalt’s last speech. . .” 

The parking lot was dark as Jake walked out towards his range rover. It was starting to snow, a light sheet of white covered the ground. Jake knew that you were probably watching out the window at the snow. You had told him that the first snow was your favorite “holiday”. That your mother used to treat it like an actual holiday, celebrating with sparkling apple juice in fancy champagne glasses. Jake smiled at the thought of you sipping sparkling apple juice and dancing around to Christmas music. 

“Nice car,” A voice said, startling Jake. He rolled his eyes as Derek leaned against his black range rover, “Kind of expected it from you. Daddy’s money, right?” 

“My own money. Not that you would know what it’s like to work for something of your own,” Jake sneered, “Now, can you tell me why the hell you are waiting by my car.” 

“I want to tell you to stop fucking with Y/N,” Derek said, standing up and walking up to Jake, “You’ve done enough.” 

Jake clenched his jaw as he looked at the boy in front of him. Jake looked around the parking lot, making sure it was empty, before grabbing the collar of Derek’s shirt and shoving him up against the car. Derek grunted and tried to push Jake away, but he only tightened his hold. 

“You listen to me, and you listen well,” Jake said, “You stay the fuck away from her. I know what you did. I know that you took pictures and videos of her, you sick fuck. She’s too scared to go and turn you in, but I’m not. I dont’t give a fuck if I lose my job, at least your fucking ass will be expelled and black listed from every reedembale institution from here to the fucking pacific ocean.” 

“You’d risk your career for her? Fucking pathetic.” 

Jake shook his head, “I’d lose every last penny if it meant that I could call her mine.” Jake let Derek go, “Now, get the fuck out of my face. And if you were smart, which. . .  buddy, I grade your papers so I know you aren’t, you’d fucking leave her, Lucy, Zeke and myself alone.” 

Derek nodded and walked off but not before turning back around and trying to swing on Jake. Jake saw his movement and reacted, dropping him to the ground with one right hook. Derek grounded as he felt blinding pain from his nose and liquid gushing down his hands. 

“You broke my nose!” Derek yelled from the ground. 

“I told you to leave,” Jake shrugged and walked to the driver’s side of his car. He started it up without looking twice at Derek, bleeding on the ground. 

Lucy sat on your bed as you looked yourself over in the mirror. You had told her what went down between you and Jake after you left class in tears. She wanted to punch Jake in the dick, but refrained from it. Instead, she helped you drown your sorrows in wine and a dance marathon in the living room. The two of you were like sisters, and couldn’t spend more than a couple days mad at each other. 

Now, Lucy was helping you get ready to go walk the stage for your graduation. Her and Zeke had bought you a new dress to wear, a baby pink dress that made your eyes pop. She helped you curl your hair and let you borrow a pair of her shoes. Lucy was now biting back tears as you zipped up your robe and fixed your graduation cap. 

“I know you aren’t crying,” You said, looking at her in the mirror. 

“I can’t help it,” Lucy said and got off your bed, “You’re graduating and leaving me here. What am I supposed to do for another semester?” 

“Try not to burn the house down,” You smiled and Lucy shook her head, “I can’t thank you enough for-” 

“Do not even start with this,” Lucy held her hand up, “We aren’t starting on the “thank yous” and the “goodbyes”.” 

“Girls! We gotta go!” Zeke yelled from downstairs. 

“My two babies, graduating,” Lucy shook her head, “Come on, before he gets his panties in a bunch.” 

You weren’t all too crazy about going to commencement. You didn’t actually even get your real diploma when you walked across the stage. They send it to you later when they can actually verify final grades. You knew that you were going to graduate, even though the last two weeks of the semester had been painfully awkward trying to avoid Jake. The two of you hadn’t texted each other since the night you left Texas. All communication had been strictly emails, and it was only on the grounds of making sure all first year assignments were graded. 

You and Zeke found your seats, which thankfully weren’t too far from one another. The school’s basketball arena had been transformed into the  graduation venue with chairs, a stage and balloons to congratulate the graduates. It was supposed to be a joyous occasion, but you couldn’t feel any less joyous. 

Jake couldn’t remember the last time he had gone to a graduation. Probably when Amelia got her bachelors. The gym was packed as his green eyes searched for a place to sit. He knew where you would be sitting. Towards the middle, on the left side of the gym. Jake opted to stand off to the side of the entrance with the overflow crowd, but could still see when you got called up on stage. You looked gorgeous and had a bright smile plastered on your face as you walked across the stage. He was sure that he could hear Lucy’s loud cheers as you shook the president of the college’s hand and smiled for a picture with the dean of students. Jake couldn’t help but smile himself as you clearly posed for a picture for Lucy, tilting your grad cap down for her to read. 

Commencement was about two hours too long for you. You thought you were going to fall asleep during the president’s speech, but the girl next to you nudged you to keep you awake, which you were thankful for. Zeke found you right away in the mess of silly string and confetti poppers, his smile bright as he threw his arm around you. 

“Your parents would be so fucking proud,” He said and kissed your temple. You fought back tears as you walked out of the gym. You tried hard to not think of your parents, but it was useless. You wanted nothing more for them to be here, smiling and waiting for you with outstretched arms. 

“Ezekiel!” You heard a woman yell, and knew that voice could only belong to one Mrs. Heather Arthur, Zeke’s mom. 

“Ezekiel,” You teased and Zeke pushed you away, going to hug his mom. You smiled at the interaction between mother and son. Mrs. Arthur pinched her son’s cheek and made a comment on how tired he looked. She then looked at you and waved you over. 

“Don’t you hide from me, Y/N!” Mrs. Arthur smiled. You walked over to her and she hugged you tightly. She had been friends with your parents before their deaths, “Your parents would be so proud of you,” Mrs. Arthur pulled away and put a hand on your cheek, “You grew up to be so beautiful and so smart. You are going to change lives one day, you know that.” 

“That’s what my mom used to tell me,” You nodded sadly. 

“Well, she was a smart woman too,” Mrs. Arthur sighed, “Now, who is the young man staring at you over there.” You looked over your shoulder to where she was pointing and saw Jake not so subtly look away from you and sip his water.

“No one,” You said looking back at her. 

“Doesn’t look like-” 

“Ma, drop it,” Zeke said. Lucy was on his arm and gave you a sad look. Mrs. Arthur was a smart lady, and could tell if there was something wrong with her kids. She reminded you a lot of your mother and Mrs. Seresin. Mrs. Arthur looked between you, Zeke and Jake before shaking her head. 

“He broke your heart?” 

“Ma!” 

You chuckled and shook your head, “I love him. . .a lot. And I’m not sure he feels the same.” 

“Well sweetheart, lemme tell you one thing. . . boys don’t look at girls like that unless they love you,” Mrs. Arthur said. You looked over your shoulder at Jake, who was looking at his glass while listening to a colleague talk to him. 

“Ma. . .” Zeke said again in a warning tone. 

“Okay! Okay!” She held her hands up in defense, “Who’s hungry?!” 

“Oh me!” Lucy raised her hand earning a chuckle from the group. 

Mrs. Arthur spent probably a good two hours making dinner for Zeke, Lucy and yourself. The house had never smelled better as she cooked away, shooing you guys away when you’d try and help her. Laughs and conversation flowed over dinner, so did the drinks. If there was one thing you loved about Mrs. Arthur, it was how animated she got after a gin and tonic. When you turned twenty-one, you begged Zeke to let her come out with you. 

“Alright, alright enough making fun of men and my frat boy ways,” Zeke said. 

“Oh Ezekiel,” You said, “I know Lucy is going to want to hit me, but, I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done for me.” 

“Y/N-” 

“No, don’t,” You said knowing he was going to interject, “I’m serious. You didn’t have to take me under your wing like you did. And I know Ethan said something to you about ‘watching after his baby sister’ but a text every two weeks would have sufficed.” 

You knew that when you headed to Boston College that your brother Ethan had asked Zeke to look after you. Zeke and Ethan were a year older than you, but you all grew up thick as thieves. You expected to see Zeke at frat parties here and there, but he sought you out to make sure you were okay. Zeke was your comfort, he had been there to dry the tears, to pick up the pieces and celebrate the good things. You weren’t sure you could’ve gotten through college without him. 

“You’re more than just my friend from high school’s little sister,” Zeke smiled, “You’re one of my best friends and you introduced me to my other best friend. Which is why. . . I gotta ask you something. I’m gonna need a best man. . .” 

“Wait- you proposed!?” 

“You proposed?” Lucy looked at her boyfriend like he had grown three heads. 

“I am now,” Zeke said, and grabbed a ring box from his suit pocket. You gasped and covered your mouth with your hand. Lucy already had tears running down her face as Zeke pushed himself out of his chair, “I know I did this a bit backwards, so please forgive me, but Lucy, you make me the happiest man alive. I can’t live a life without you, so please, Lucielle Donoughue, make me the happiest man ever.” 

“Yes. Yes! Yes!” Lucy screamed and Zeke hugged her. 

You and Mrs. Arthur stood up from your side of the table and ran over to Zeke and Lucy. You hugged Lucy tightly while Mrs. Arthur hugged her son. Lucy started talking a mile a minute about wedding plans and how she had a feeling that Zeke was going to propose soon. Mrs. Arthur gushed over how beautiful the ring was that Zeke got her. Your cheeks were hurting from smiling, but you were so full of love that you couldn’t even care. You too had been waiting for the day that Zeke popped the question. 

“Am I interrupting?” You turned your head to see Derek standing in the doorway of the house. 

“Yeah, private party,” Lucy quipped and Derek rolled his eyes. 

“You don’t own the house,” Derek said, “I need to talk to Y/N.” 

“About what?” Zeke questioned. 

“It’s okay,” You said, “There’s a bottle of bubbles in the cabinet above the fridge. It was supposed to be saved for when we paid the house off but this is more celebratory.” You smiled and squeezed Zeke’s arm before going out to the porch with Derek. 

“What do you want?”  You demanded as soon as the door was shut. 

“I come in peace,” Derek said, “I need to apologize to you. I was horrible to you and-” 

“Wait. . . What happened to your face?” You gently held his face in your hands. 

“Oh, your boyfriend attacked me.” 

“WHAT!?” You yelled and Derek winced, “I’m sorry. What happened?” 

“I told him that he needed to apologize to you for embarrassing you in class and he grew angry with rage and attacked me. It wasn’t even fair, he blindsided me.” 

Your jaw clenched as you saw the familiar sight of Jake’s headlights pull into your driveway, “Wait here.” You told Derek and walked down the steps as Jake stepped out over his car. He was still wearing the all denim looking suit and bolo tie as earlier. 

“Hey-” You cut him off by slapping him, “What the fuck?!” 

“You attacked a student? Seriously?” You asked him, putting your hands on your hips. Jake looked at you with wide eyes and then over towards the porch at Derek, who had a smirk on his face. 

“Didn’t I tell you to stay the fuck away from her!” Jake yelled, charging towards him. Derek scrambled backwards as you put yourself in between the two of them. 

“You are fucking with her head!” Derek yelled. 

“I’m not the sick fuck who took videos of her without her consent!” 

“Nope, you’re just the sick fuck who used his power to get her to sleep with-” Jake shoved past you, grabbing Derek’s collar. You grunted as you fell into the brick wall of the house, you could feel the skin from your hands scrapped up. 

“Hey! Enough!” Zeke yelled, running out of the house and pushing the two men back, “You,” Zeke looked at Derek, “Need to fucking leave.” 

“You’re going to side with that sicko!” Derek yelled. 

“The only sick one here is you,” Lucy spoke up from the doorway. 

“Shut your bitch-” Derek’s speech was cut off as Zeke tackled him to the snow covered ground. He grabbed Derek’s collar and punched him repeatedly. 

“Stop them!” You said, grabbing Jake’s arm. Jake nodded and moved quickly, grabbing Zeke’s body off of Derek. 

“You show up here again, and I’ll fucking kill you!” Zeke seethed and Lucy took him inside, shutting the door. 

You groaned and ran your hands through your hair as Jake helped Derek off the ground. The younger boy pushed Jake’s hand off of him, and spat the blood from his mouth. 

“I’m done with you crazy fuckers,” Derek said throwing his hands up in defeat and walking towards his car. You were pacing the ground, your body shaking not only from the cold but also from anger. Jake watched as Derek got in his car and drove away, scoffing as the boy flipped him off. 

“What a-” 

“I can’t do this,” You shook your head, stopping your pacing. 

“Y/N, please, let me-” 

“No, Jake,” You cried, “I can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep letting you come back in my life and tear down all the walls that I have built,” You let out a shaky breath, “I love you, Jake. I love you so much that it fucking hurts. A-and don’t you say something like ‘you’re too stupid to know what love is’ because I am not. I am smart. I have seen true love, I have felt it, I have lived it. I know what it feels like, what it looks like. And god dammit! I love you.” 

Jake watched as your chest heaved as you cried. Against his better judgment, he strided forward and pulled you into his arms. You fought against his chest, your fists hitting him, but he held you in his strong arms. He felt you take in a breath and relax against him. The two of you stood in silence for a couple moments until you heard him say, barely above a whisper. Almost as if he was afraid. 

“I love you.” 

You pulled back and looked up at him, eyes full of hope but also waiting for the other shoe to drop. But it never came as he looked at you, his green eyes full of warmth and love. He gently caressed your face, wiping away tears and placing a soft kiss on your lips. 

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[sqarletsworldlesswandering]

New Management: Chapter 1

Edda sobbed. For the first time since… since waking up, she let herself break down sobbing, arms wrapped around Summum’s neck in a tight hug. The dragon lay on the ground, head bowed in a sorrowful, somber arch to rest his head gently on her shoulder. Aven too held tightly to him, with his arms, head, and scarf tangled in one large claw. Aven did not cry, but they both knew he wanted to. Instead he shook silently, chest heaving in the effort to contain his grief. 

Summum knew they would respond this way. That didn’t make it easier. Just this once, he allowed himself to weep, encompassing the two stars in his wings and tail. A parting embrace. One last chance for warmth and comfort before, inevitably, they must acquiesce to fate’s harsh demands. 

The ground shook. Not just the ground, the ceiling, the air, everything. What in the constellations was going on now? Could they not have a single moment of respite? Edda’s sobs faded as she listened, all three waiting for the tremor again. There it was…. And they thought they made a ruckus. 

“What is that monster doing now?” Summum growled, and Edda choked back another sob. 

“Can they just leave us alone?!” Aven’s voice broke, and Summum nosed gently at him. 

“I-it sounds like it’s coming from out there. Has to be. If it’s something to d-do with Worldless, it’ll be behind the Old One.”

“Should… should we check on it? Before we do anything… else?”

Aven was stalling. That would be dangerous for them if it went wrong. …Summum couldn’t bring himself to say so, though. “...Go. Find the source, but only a glance. Come back as quickly as possible.”

Edda and Aven nodded, and Edda hugged him one more time before the two left. As they disappeared, a third tremor rocked the Emerald Requiem, and a horrifying shriek of uncomprehending, unbridled rage ripped through the air. Summum fell to the ground, shielding his ears from the ghastly sound, curling as tightly as he could around himself. 

Then the noise finally ceased; Summum sagged silently to the floor and wept.

_____________________________________________________________

Edda peeled herself from the floor, lifting her head away from Aven’s stomach, where she’d practically attempted to bury herself. Aven himself slowly sat up and unwound his scarf from his hastily enturbaned head. Her ears continued to ring as she steadied herself, still shaking and even less enthused about seeking out the source. Still, she tentatively approached the Old One’s stiff, alive but not alive frame that thrummed with its ominous pulse.

“...Nothing looks different,” she murmured. 

Wordlessly, Aven walked forward and pulsed, sending them both to the other side of Worldless’ improvised doorway. 

They’d expected the Eye they’d seen in the heavens. They’d even expected something worse. They’d expected spears. They’d seen one before, and anticipated more. And to their credit, there was a spear. And there was the Eye. 

Emphasis on was. 

The Eye lay on the ground, shattered, contorting, bleeding, dying, its screaming fading away into fragmented suffocation. Fading slowly into the grey, lifeless pieces of a fallen god. A slain god - slain with their own magnificent, world-ending spear rammed straight through their all-seeing Eye. And there, just behind the disintegrating corpse, stood someone entirely new. 

They noticed the eyes first. Six of them - three small and three large, fanning out from a glowing triangle, and all focused intensely on them. Edda wanted to shrink. She wanted to hide. One eye was bad enough, six felt like she was being burned alive under a microscope. Aven appeared to share the sentiment, hiking his scarf farther up to cover his face, and fidgeting nervously with the tail. 

Unlike Worldless, this new… being had a body of sorts. It reminded them a little of starfolk, comprised of a few shapes assembled into a form. This wasn’t quite so minimal, though. They had a lot of triangles, their body comprised of two pyramids, stacked point to point, and split into layers revolving in opposite directions. The space between glowed with cold colors, leaking essence into the air. The essence curled and twisted, forming droplets and trails of colored liquid light before dissipating into nothing or seeping back into the body. From their middle sprang three wispy arms, a three-taloned claw at each end, and from the lower pyramid stemmed a tripod of legs. At least, they looked like legs. That assumed this creature even walked. 

Edda wanted to run. She never wanted to run. But just this once, she wanted to sprint away and run back to Summum. Back to safety and familiarity.

She couldn’t move. 

But this creature could, and it moved towards them in an unnaturally fast floating walk, almost jauntily, as far as such a word could apply to such a gait. It towered over them, and all they could do was stare and begin to tremble. Where was their courage? Their reflexes? Why was fear the only thing in the air right now?

The being halted momentarily, gaze still drilling into them, before concealing itself in a glow of white light. The glow faded to reveal the same form, but smaller. Still bigger than them, but not by nearly so much. Why would it bother with that? And it moved slower now, approaching at a more leisurely pace, and lower to the ground, stopping a few paces away. Then, abruptly, it leaned down and extended the frontmost of its hands, uttering a wave of unintelligible language-sound. Some sort of god-speak, Edda thought. 

Aven balked, leaning away and freezing. Edda stared at the hand. Was… was this thing offering a handshake? Was that noise meant to be a greeting? She could only stare, her dumbfounded brain churning through the information at a glacial pace. Aven seemed to have entirely shut down, his gaze blank and unfocused, swaying slightly where he stood. Edda thought, distantly, that she should be ready to catch him, but couldn’t get the thought far enough forward to even dream of acting on it. 

How long had they been staring? The god-killer hadn’t gotten angry yet. In fact, they hadn’t moved a mite. She should shake their hand, probably. Just to be polite. 

She should shake their hand. She should… shake their hand….

She couldn’t really move yet. Her mind and her body weren’t communicating, and she couldn’t even muster the energy to be frustrated or scared. 

After what was undoubtedly an awkward and horrendously impolite period of silent, frozen staring, she lifted her lead weight of a hand and shook the entity’s. Very awkwardly. They shook hers, really, but they did so carefully, and made sure not to topple her over. How considerate. Aven appeared to have stabilized, his gaze flicking between her and the being. 

With a stutter and a voice crack, Aven finally found his voice again. “H-hello? W-who are y-y-you?”

The being stared at him silently. Oh no. It had already said its name and now it was going to be mad–

All six eyes blinked once, then widened. 

“Oh dear, pardon me. I introduced myself in the wrong language. I am Delta; it is a pleasure to meet you both.” Delta bowed slightly. “Might I ask your names?” They had a strange glint to their eye, like they knew a secret. Aven mustered enough emotive energy to look vaguely skeptical. 

“...Aven. And this is Edda.”

Two eyes blinked in a strange simulacrum of a smile. “The Aven and Edda. It is wonderful to finally meet you both.”

“...Finally?” Edda’s voice warbled, barely audible.

“Oh, yes, I have been observing this world for quite some time.” Delta paused, considering. “Perhaps I should save the full story until we join your friend, hmm?”

The two froze yet again - or perhaps just more. “Y-you already… know….” Aven breathed. 

Delta nodded sagely, moving towards the exit and pulling the three of them out to the other side. They paused to regard the Old One for a moment. “Hm… I’ll have to see what I can do about that. But for now- Ah, he’s here already!”

Sure enough, there was Summum, eyes wide and posture more taught than a bow string, with his hand half extended towards the Old One. 

“Oh, hey Summum….” Aven’s voice trailed off into a small crack, and he collapsed forward, flopping against Summum’s neck. The dragon caught him before he hit the floor, cradling him gently in one arm while staring down Delta with intrepid intensity. Edda glanced between the two, then noticed the weakness in her own knees. Wobbling forward a few steps, she joined Aven tucked in the crook of Summum’s arm and guarded by a wing. 

Delta’s voice, at once too loud yet not loud at all, faded in and out, with Summum’s, until both quieted and sleep tackled Edda and Aven down into darkness. 

Incipit | ->

[leggerefiore]

cw: ingo and Emmet being dads, their kids getting jealous about them paying attention to other kids, fluffy

Children eagerly gathered around the Subway Bosses in the Gear Station. Their eyes were bright as they stood close to the kneeling twins. Ingo and Emmet were more than used to this at this point. Elementary schools loved doing tours of the station, and they enjoyed seeing the kids learning about proper station behaviours and trains. Their status as local celebrities also made them quite popular among the kids, too.

This normally brought no issues. The kids got to gather around them. They would sign a few things, and Ingo would give a speech to round off their field trip. It was always an exciting thing, but something they had become accustomed to. They did not, however, expect the class to be that of Emmet's daughters. The younger twin felt perked up when he saw the two identical girls standing apart from the crowd of kids. He smiled brightly at them and waved before another kid called out his name and held out a Joltik bookmark for him to sign.

There was also another guest in the station. One who had not started school yet, of course, but was excited to be shadowing his dad as he worked. Erin somehow had wandered over to his cousins' sides, watching as his dad was swarmed by kids. All three stood in a sort of silence.

Inka had bragged about being related to the Subway Bosses, but none of her classmates really believed her. Emma had not really bothered to say anything. Both of them felt weirdly hurt as their classmates entirely claimed their father's attention. The older of the twin girls took a step away towards the offices to cool down. Fully aware that their papa planned to just have them stay in the station after the field trip instead of going back to school. Inka did not follow her.

Instead, she felt more and more hurt that her classmates so obviously adored her father without even paying her any mind. Did her papa like them more than her? She felt suddenly insecure. His grin was brighter. He spokes so softly to them. A compliment to one girl she disliked's Joltik was enough to make her snap. Tears started pouring down her cheeks as a loud sob erupted from her.

Instantly, Emmet's head whipped to her direction. Seeing one of his darling girls in such a condition made him quickly rush through the small crowd to her. “Papa! Papa!” she kept babbling out over and over again as her hand grabbed his coat's end. His heart ached. Picking her up, he let her rest her head upon his shoulder. He rubbed her back as he shushed her quietly. Behind them, her classmates were stunned that she was actually the Subway Boss's daughter. He politely excused himself from the activity while carrying Inka away.

“Shh, shh,” he hushed the girl, “Papa has you! It is okay!” Emmet felt her sobs shake her entire body. His mind almost went back to when she was verrrry little. Her hands grabbed a death grip on his coat as she stared up at him with puffy eyes. “Papa loves his girl verrrry much! Smile, Inka!” He grinned brightly at the girl. Her distress faded a bit as she imitated his smile weakly. He hugged her close again.

His poor girl, he could only think. Did she get jealous? Emmet would be certain to remind both of them just how much he adored them. A bakery was already in his mind as he headed off towards his office.

Erin, meanwhile, started crying softly as his dad's attention was claimed by all the older kids. He felt hurt. They were probably better than him… Being Inka and Emma's age, they were more capable. His feet suddenly started moving as he somehow convinced himself that the reason there were so many kids was to find a replacement for him. The little boy headed straight to a certain train platform, while his father was none the wiser.

A few Depot Agents were a bit concerned by the little boy riding all by himself to Anville, especially those who were aware this was Ingo's son. He curled into himself and cried silently that his father had found some better child, and now he was alone in the world. Too scared to face this isolation alone, he had decided to take a trip somewhere where people may still love him.

He got off in Anville and made a run for a certain house. An older man and woman answered his loud crying and banging on the door with distress. The silver hair on the older man featured a certain familial trait as he picked up the crying boy. The woman ran off to make a phone call.

Ingo was frantically looking all over the station after the children had left. His boy was nowhere to be found. Emmet had found his two in their office, but Erin seemingly vanished into thin air. Had he got on a train? He desperately hoped it was not any to Castelia or Black City. He was much too fragile for the environments there alone.

Suddenly, his phone started ringing. Whipping it out, he hoped it was his partner, telling him that Erin had just somehow run home. Instead, however, it was his mom. He stared at the phone in confusion for a moment before answering.

“Did you tell Erin that you were replacing him? He's shown up at our house crying his eyes out,” her voice sounded a bit tired over the line. Relief crashed into Ingo's body. He was safe. Then, another thought hit him. Did he seriously take a few hours' ride to Anville?

“I did not,” Ingo assured her, unsure where Erin pulled that from, “Please keep watching him, I'll be on my way as soon as I clock out.”

His mom's laughter, just like Emmet's own, made him tense up as they both said bye.

Erin was found safe and sound and playing with one of his childhood train sets with his grandfather. Ingo scooped the boy up and started crying after seeing him. Both of his parents could only sigh. Their son's emotional personality seemed to be passed onto his son, too.

[elfboyeros]

Overcast Coastline

Read about the nerds and other nerds

“Klaus went missing on the 15th of March, Cobalt is murdered on the 23rd, 9 days later. Klaus was married to Greyson, Cobalt was a close friend, right? What if -just hear me out," Loki babbled on, as she and Amora sat on their bed talking about possible theories on Cobalt’s death, “Cobalt loved Greyson and wanted to be with him, but Klaus killed and went into hiding because he murdered someone?!”

“Cobalt?”  Amora asked the ghostly man sitting in her desk chair.

“Couldn’t have happened, I’m straight,” He replied, “I was also happily married to my lovely Primrose before death.”

Amora shook her head before looking back at Loki, “Straight, and happily married.”

“So, no love affair and no girlbossing wife,” Loki sighed, crossing off the theories of a list in a little notebook, “The last thing I got on my list is Ms. Thornton, could she have done it?”

“No!” Cobalt exclaimed, “Just as I loved Primrose, I loved Lilybeth just as much if not more! She would not have killed me; I refuse that notion!”

Amora shook her once more, “He wouldn’t believe it if it were true,” she replied, “Besides he’s seen Lilybeth, and he doesn’t have a bad vibe… he just gets sad.”

“I’ve died and my daughter has become a beautiful young lady, I’m sorry my depression is an inconvenience,” Cobalt sassed.

“I think we should stop for right now,” Amora sighed, “This is just getting us nowhere.”

Loki huffed, “Maybe we are looking in the wrong place?” she questioned, getting a confused look from Amora and even Cobalt, “We are trying to link Klaus with Cobalt, yet we know nothing about Klaus, maybe if we start looking into Klaus when can find out why he is missing which could lead to us finding out why Cobalt died.”

“So, we have to find Klaus,” Amora asked.

“Basically,” Loki answered making Amora groan into her pillow, “Or at least try to.”

“How are we supposed to do that?! We are students, moreover, we are seniors?! How the hell are we supposed to find an old man who has been missing for 15 years when we’ll have midterms in like 3 weeks!” Amora exclaimed sitting up before gesturing to Cobalt, “I’d rather be stuck with him! At least he’ll tell me if I’m failing my Trigonometry final!”

Cobalt shook his head before scoffing as Loki held in her laughter, clearing her throat, “Maybe you just need a little break for the ghost investigations,” the British girl posed, “Come with me into town tomorrow.”

“I thought you were going out with Lance,” Amora muttered.

Loki shrugged, “he said he wanted to hang out with Odis, and Luther said he was going to study with Iphigenie for their current events test, so I’m on my own tomorrow unless you come.”

Amora thought for a moment, spending 2 weeks on campus with Cobalt over her shoulder with no results in their little investigation seemed to put both of them on edge with each other. The thought was nice, being able to explore the town on Solostica would be nice too. The American girl looked to her ghostly companion who shrugged as if to say he didn’t care either way.

“I mean either way I’m going,” Loki remarked, holding a large strand of her hair, the green dye faded a good amount making it a sickly pale color, “I’m getting this hair dye!”

“I’ll go with you.”

Loki smiled, “Terrific!”

The next morning the two girls woke up after sleeping in, Cobalt did what he had been doing every morning, exiting the room to give them privacy, before they left. While walking down the paths leading to the exit of campus, Calliope passed by seeming running for her life.

“Calliope, everything okay?”

“Yeah,” She huffed, her cheerleading bag slamming into her side as she looked back at the two girls, “If anyone asked you didn’t see me!”

Loki and Amora looked at her confused as she ran to the main campus, she was already for cheerleading practice and yet she was running away from where they normally practice, the roommates looked at each other and shrugged before leaving campus, as Calliope ran through the halls of the large schoolhouse, slowing her pace as she reached the great music room were Odysseus, Lance, and Solomon resided inside. Solomon played the harp in the corner as Odysseus sat on one of the choir risers beside Lance, his light blue Guitar in his lap.

“Calliope, everything okay?” Lance asked, her panting at the door to the music room catching his attention.

Solomon stopped playing as all three of the boys waited for a response.

“I was the first one at practice today!” she huffed, “No one else was there. So, ha…. Huh… ha I left.”

“Calliope, if you want to quit the cheer team—” Solomon began because Calliope let out a laugh.

“And piss off Cassiopeia, not a chance!” Calliope replied, “I do that just by existing.”

“And skipping practice,” Odysseus commented, “Either way she is going to be pissed off at you.”

“The only reason she started the cheer team was to watch Roux practice football,” She huffed, “I don’t know why I had to be involved.”

She toddled over to Solomon’s place in the corner, dejectedly, “If it bothers you this bad, just quit,” Solomon remarked.

“If you quit, you can actually but in the campaign again!” Lance added with a smile, “I’ve missed Ruelle the cleric ever since the last time you played with us.”

Calliope smiled, “That’s a great idea.”

In the town center of Solostica’s city center with its cobblestone streets and its many small and hidden shops and convenience stores Loki and Amora stared at the many boxes, containers, tubes, jars, and pouches of hair on the shelf in front of them. All are color-coded and pleasing to the eye. Many brands Amora had never heard of before.

“I wish I had hair like yours,” Loki sighed.

“Mhm?” Amora hummed.

The British girl pointed to her roots, growing in a dark color of her roots where her green pieces used to be after tossing a boxed bleach in her little basket, “I need to get a bleach kit so the green will take on roots. If you dyed your hair any kind of fun colors, you wouldn’t have to worry about it.”

“Oh,” Amora replied, chuckling, “Bellamy dyed her once, it was purple. I remember asking my mom if I could dye my hair with her because she said it looked “so bad” and I remember it started a huge argument with my mom… she did not want me to dye my hair.”

Loki hummed, before pointing to all the boxes of hair dye, “Wanna give it a try?” she asked with a smirk painted across her lips, “’cause mummy isn’t here.”

Amora looked at all the hair dyes on the shelf, then back at Loki, who grinned down at her, “Alright! Let’s do it!” she replied, grabbing a random box off the shelf.

“Alright, but we don’t want to use that,” Loki replied, taking the box out of Amora’s hands and putting it back on the shelf, “If you want red, you should go with this one.”

Loki pulled a small box off the shelf with a simple pale green color and labeled named Deathly dyes, the color was called Lover’s Haze. Amora nodded as Loki looked at the green section before quickly grabbing a jar from the same brand but in a dark green color and walking toward the check-out counter.

They left the little convenience store before venturing around the town center some more, going into different little stores and shops not really buying anything but enjoying being off campus as well as each other's company.

Stopping by Vixen Café to grab a little something to eat, while also getting to see Iphigenie in action at work and Luther sitting outside working on a paper for one of his classes, aided by caffeine and chocolate croissant.

While stopped at an intersection, Amora stared at the beach which Loki noticed.

“You wanna go to the beach?” Loki asked.

Amora nodded and once the intersection was clear to cross, the two of them headed to the beach. Shoes were taken off and bags were dropped by the cement walk leading to the sands. Clean beige sand between their toes, with the smell of sea salt in the air and a light breeze.

Loki watched Amora from afar as she enjoyed the breeze and the salty air against her face. There is something so scenic about Amora, wearing a genuine smile as she heard the sounds of the ocean and waves crashing into the shore, enjoying the breeze as it moves her cardigan. Loki had never been fond of the beach, life events had turned memories of going to the beaches in England into reminiscences said rather not think about, however now staring at Amora the beach is no longer a place Loki wants to stay away from, rather a place she wants to stay if nothing above to keep seeing Amora smile a genuine smile.

But the skies won’t let wants become reality

“Amora we should get going!” Loki called, “It’s going to rain!”

Once at the back on campus, it was already drizzling, and when in the safety of their dorm room, pulling one of the girl's desk chairs into the bathroom, and sitting it in front of the sink and mirror.

“Is he around?” Loki asked, pulling out all the hair dye and other tools on the bathroom counter after bleaching the front pieces of her hair.

“No, he's probably still mad from yesterday,” Amora answered as she put on an old shirt the British girl gave her before hearing her scoff, “Or he’s just wandering.”

“Come sit,” Loki called as Amora made her way to the bathroom.

Amora entered the bathroom where Loki had some of her favorite music playing at a low volume, in an extremely old shirt covered in blotches of bleach and a pair of gym shorts, waiting for the young American girl a hand resting on the desk chair beside her and a foot resting against her calf.

“You wanna do the whole head or just a section?” Loki asked as Amora sat down.

“Uhm….I don’t know, what do you think?” Amora replied.

Loki hummed softly, “Let’s do your bangs, and your little front pieces, yeah?”

Amora nodded, as Loki opened the Lover’s Haze box and quickly read the instructions before plopping the dye into a mixing bowl, “Ready?” Loki asked.

“Yeah!”

Loki took the hair dye brush and began painting the pinkish dye on to Amora golden strains of hair, “Is Cobalt annoying at all?” the British teen asked.

“I mean sometimes, he makes math harder than it should be,” Amora answered, “Honestly he acts like my dad. Not like my dad, but he acts like a dad, which I know he is one, but we’ve only known each other for like a month he’s very fatherly, protective almost.”

Loki hummed curiously, “Like when I was in the library trying to figure out how to help him the talk I told you about everything, the Librarian—”

“Iphigiene’s weird ass mom?”

“Yes! He knocked over a stack of books to help me escape just to yell at me when I was safe!”

Loki chuckled, “And he’s an ass!” Amora groaned, “Telling me my math isn’t right when I do my homework but he won’t tell me what I’m doing wrong! And and and he makes little comments when I’m talking to people like his commentary is soooo important!”

“Oh! What does he say about me?” Loki asked, walking around her to get the other side of her hair.

“Chickadee, do you know, Loki stares at you often?”

“Have you realized that you are the only person she actively smiles at?”

“Loki seems fond of you.”

“Aw, she gave you her jumper because you were cold.”

“You too are quite cute together.”

Amora’s face flushed, remembering just a few of the many things that Cobalt had commented over the past two weeks, the all-around consuming feeling of simply enjoying being around Loki. The overwhelming feeling of a crush!

“H-he just make comments about... how helpful you are,” Amora answered, fumbling with her words before jumping at her phone ringing.

A single windchime emoji on the caller ID for a video call, answering Bellamy’s call with a smile and rosy cheeks, “Hey girly, what does Edgar like to play he hates the puff balls Jane likes to play with. I--” Amora could only see Bellamy’s light blue roots once she answered the call, before she looked at her phone wide-eyed, “WOAH! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME YOU WERE DYING YOUR HAIR?! And where did you get that shirt?”

Amora looked down at the shirt she was wearing to protect her skin from bright red hair dye,  a faded black T, and the graph for the band Oasis horribly faded. “It’s Loki’s, we’re doing this kind of spontaneity.”

“ ‘Ello Bellamy,” Loki commented, grabbing Amora’s bangs.

“Shit, she’s British!” Bellamy squealed, “Eee, your girlfriend is such a cutie, Amora!”

“Girlfriend?” Loki mused, “What have you been telling her, lovely?”

“Bella! She isn’t my girlfriend, she is my roommate!” Amora shrieked her face turning the same color as her hair dye.

“Roommate, girlfriend same different,” Bellamy shrugged.

“I like her already,” Loki muttered with a smirk.

“Amora what does Edgar like to play with?”

“Uhm… He likes the crinkly toys.”

“Got it got it,” Bellamy replied while throwing a couple of toys in her cart, “Is ther anything else I need to get for the boy, besides his special wet food?”

“I don’t think so,” Amora replied, “How are things back home?”

“Reese got kicked out of school,” Bellamy answered nonchalantly.

“WHAT!”

“Yeah,” Bellamy shrugged, “Mortemore had been shit-talking him since everything happened, Reese decided to punch him out in the hallway, and he got his ass expelled.”

 Loki clicked her tongue, “Serves him right,” she mumbled.

“I told Mortemore I would bake him a coffee cake,” Bellamy added, “As a thank you.”

“Oh, he’ll love that!” Amora replied with a small smile.

“All right, I only called to see what Edgar liked to play with,” Bellamy remarked, “I’ll text you later!”

“Bye Bellamy,” Amora replied, hanging up her phone.

Loki finally set the hairbrush in the sink, “You need to sit with it for 30 minutes.”

Amora nodded, getting up and leaving the bathroom, “What have you been telling Bellamy, for her to call me your girlfriend?” Loki chucked putting her head in the sink bowl.

Amora’s face became hotter, before covering her face, “I HAVEN’T TOLD HER ANYTHING!” She yelped, “I just told her that I had a grungecore roommate that was nicer then I thought, and I told her about hanging out with you during school!”

Loki hummed raising her head out of the sink, “You look cute when are all flustered,”  she remarked with a smirk before putting her head back in the sink.

Amora blushed even more before going to sit on her bed and wait for the time to wash her the dye out of her hair as Loki dyed her hair green. Once everything was all said and done, Amora stared at herself in the mirror her bangs and the large chunks of hair that she kept resting off her shoulders a nice pinky-red color.

“You like it?” Loki asked.

“Yeah!” Amora said with a smile, “Thanks Loki.”

“Anytime, lovely.”

Once cozy in her bed in the early morning Amora left a heavy weight on top of her, groggily waking up to the intense stare of Cobalt an odd and wicked grin, “I have a lead!”

[final-girl96]

My Boyfriend's Back Chapter Thrity-Three

Hallie squeezed her hands around my throat tighter, cutting off my airway. My nails clawed at her skin before punching her in the side. It was enough of a distraction to get her to loosen her grip on me, the air rushing back into my lungs making me gasp and cough. I took no time in trying to suck more air into my lungs before punching her again, this time clocking her in the jaw.

I crawled away from her, slightly coughing from the burning in my lungs. I heard Derek grunt and turned my head to see Sidney going for the knife on the floor that he had dropped. When Derek looked up at her she swung but missed. He took the opportunity to tackle her to the floor in order to try and get the knife back.

I felt Hallie wrap her hand around my ankle, directing my attention back to her. I kicked my other leg out, pushing the bottom of my shoe into her shoulder and pushing her away. I pushed myself to my feet, Hallie following me. "I'm going to fuckimg kill you!" You hissed at me. "Still won't get him to fuck you! He wouldn't touch you if you were the last pussy on earth. You're nothing but a pawn in his game!"

She jumped at me and I stepped back away from her. I pulled the knife from my waistband and held it out towards her. "What? Did you actually think he likes you?" I let out a little laugh which only pissed her off more. Then she pulled a gun out and pointed it at me. I hate my fucking life. Why can't I just have a normal fucking life?!

"Once you're gone…" she took a step closer to me. "He'll forget about you. You'll fade away and it'll be like you never existed. He'll see I'm the better choice for him. I understand him unlike you!" She pressed the gun to my chest and took the knife from me. I looked around her to see Derek had a hold of Sidney again, knife to her throat. He was whispering something in her ear.

I looked back at Hallie and smiled. "That's cute. You actually think he'd ever forget about me. He doesn't want you. He never wanted you. He uses you so it was easier for him ro get to me. If I don't kill you…" I leaned a little closer, feeling the barrel of the gun press harder into my sternum. "He most definitely will. And it won't be quick and easy. He'll make you suffer by killing you slowly.” A gunshot went off and I flinched but there was no pain, I was still standing, and breathing. I looked up into Hallie’s eyes to see them wide with shock before her head turned towards the back to the theater where the doors were.

It didn’t appear like anyone had been hit and the gunshot was just a warning; a way to get everyone’s attention. It was too dark to see who was standing up there. But then they slowly descended towards the stage. Of course, another ghostface. They did say they had a third partner. “Hello, yn.” Fucking christ on a damn cracker. Why can’t these assholes just leave me alone. Why me? Why not Sidney? Okay, so that sounds bad, but that isn’t what I meant.

I just mean they all seem to want to come after me. The only one that went for Sid was Billy. Sure Stu helped him but he was more focused on me. And Derek was currently holding her at knife point, but he wasn’t going to kill her. I don’t think… “What did I say? She is mine.” Hallie looked at them and rolled her eyes.

“Well, maybe if you were here when you were supposed to be. Besides, she just continues to piss me off.” Her gaze turns back to mine and the next thing I know, I was being stabbed…again…close to where I was stabbed a few days ago. My hand wrapped around Hallie's wrist to try and keep her from twisting the knife.

"No!" Sidney yelled. Hallie pulled the knife from me and my hand went straight to my stomach. Blood seeped through my fingers and dripped onto the floor. "Oops. Looks like I stabbed you again," Hallie said, shrugging.

Derek grunted and Hallie looked behind her at him. I took a quick glance to see him falling to the ground and Gale standing behind him with a gun in her hand. She pointed it at Hallie and Sidney bent down to grab the knife away from Derek. I looked around when I noticed the third ghostface was gone. "Wait, where'd he go?" I asked.

Gale looked at me confused, "who?" She asked, the gun still pointed at Hallie. "There's a third person, Gale. They were just here before you came in!" Gale's eyes widened and just as she opened her mouth a pair of arms wrapped around my waist, lifting me off my feet, and pulling me backwards. Gale was pointing the gun at the person behind me, but didn't dare pull the trigger. She would hit me inside of the person behind me if she would.

I struggled against the tight grip around me. My legs kicked back and forth, nails trying to dig into the skin of their arms under the black material of the robe they were wearing. I tilted my head forward and threw it back so the back of my head connected with the mask covering their face. The grip they had on me loosened enough that I could get away from them.

I tripped over my own feet as I stumbled forward, falling to my knee, my hand shot out to help break my fall. Pain shot through my abdomen and I bit into my lip to keep myself from crying out. Hallie had cut me deep but not deep enough that it would kill me. My brain switched from the pain to survival when the sound of heavy boots sounded behind me. I scrambled to my feet, spinning on my heels.

"What? You too pussy to show your face? Or is it because you're the person who said he had nothing to do with any of this?! I knew I shouldn't have let a tiny piece of myself believe that you were telling the truth. Of course you would have something to do with this. Why don't you just fucking me kill me already? Get it done and over with, Stu! You keep saying you love me, but I don't think you do."

He tilted his head, right hand reaching up towards the mask, and began to pull it off. I would say I was surprised, but I wasn't. I should have seen It coming, honestly. "Oh, he loves you. He's obsessed with you, actually. Which is a huge problem for me. Because you see, yn…" I took a step back the closer he got to me. "I want you for myself. Like Derek has been with Sidney, I've been obsessed with you since I saw you on the news after what happened. And if I can't have you…well, then nobody can."

[woman-of-balnain]

Undone in Sorrow Part 5/10 (Alpha Rick x Omega Reader)

Previous Part | Collection Masterlist | AO3 Ver. | Next Part

Pairing: Rick Grimes/Fem!Reader

Summary: Rick returns to Hilltop and learns about the condition you're in.

A/N:

TW: The second flashback in this part involves premature stillbirth and is pretty angsty. Feel free to skip over it if you don’t want to read it.

There's some tension between Maggie and Rick here that wasn’t there in the show

Warnings: TW: premature stillbirth, Rick is a little broken and very raw and vulnerable in his emotions here, angst, sick and unconscious reader, pregnant reader, you and Rick are true mates but that is extremely rare and considered a myth, there are consequences to Rick’s behavior that are linked to the true mate bond.

Word Count: 3,684

Dividers by: @cafekitsune + @newlips

You might be holding the last light I see

Before the dark finally gets a hold of me

Now

Maggie was at your side again, her mind troubled as she held on tightly to one of your icy cold hands. Gregory’s attempt to get rid of you and hand you right over to the Saviors had rightfully angered her, but she was mostly just worried over you still not waking up. 

Her nose screwed up as she caught a trace of Negan���s scent again, as it clung to your body like a parasite. She hadn’t noticed it at first, but the longer you stayed unconscious, the more prominent it seemed to get.

It was hard, to sit there and smell him – the man who had killed her husband. But her concern over you, her sister who she loved... that allowed her to push it aside for now. Carson finished checking your heartrate and she glanced at him, seeing the tense expression he had.

“Still no better?” She asked him.

“No,” he answered. “It’s worse. If her heartrate gets any lower…”

He trailed off, but Maggie knew that it wouldn’t be good.

“She smells like… like him,” she said, changing the subject in an attempt to get her mind off your worsening condition. “I can’t smell Rick anymore… I know he scented her that… that night, but it should have faded by now, right?”

“Yes,” the doctor agreed with a tired sigh. “Even with just a regular mating bond, Rick’s scent should have overpowered another alpha’s. Maggie, I know you’re angry with him, but he should be here. He’s probably the only one who can help her.”

“Yeah, he should be here. The whole reason she’s like this is because of him.”

Carson went to reply, but he was cut off by a knock on the trailer door. He just gave her a nod, since she was closer, and she moved to open it. Sasha stood there, slightly hesitant.

“Maggie, you’ll want to see this…” the other woman said.

“Okay,” she replied, before turning to Carson. “I’ll come back later to check on her.”

When she stepped out of the trailer, Maggie saw that the gates were open, and her eyes fell on the person who had made everything harder than it had to be. It was bad enough with what Negan had done. She had lost enough people; she wasn’t about to lose the only family she had left. Especially not because of a stubborn alpha.

“Maggie,” he greeted her with trepidation, like he wasn’t sure what to say.

She regarded Rick coldly, her eyes narrowing at him. It annoyed her that he wasn’t completely sick with worry and guilt, like he should have been, when you, his omega, were in a dangerous condition.

“Where’s Y/N?” He asked when Maggie didn’t say anything back.

She bit back the countless snarky responses she could have said – the most prominent in her mind being to ask him why he suddenly cared. Instead, she looked away, back towards the medical trailer.

“She’s sick,” Maggie replied.

Rick didn’t waste time, already moving towards the trailer as he spoke his next words to her.

“Is it the baby?” He asked in frantic concern.

“No, Rick,” she reached out, grabbing hold of his arm and halting him. “The baby’s fine but… look, before you go barging in there, just let me explain.”

“What’s wrong with her?” He grit out, fighting his instinct to go to you straight away.

“We… we don’t know. But she’s been unconscious for days and – Rick!”

He had pulled himself out of her grasp at the words, not hesitating any longer before striding over and opening the trailer door. Maggie could only follow, taking in the shocked look on Carson’s face and the way Rick froze at the sight of you.

Then

You smiled while lying quietly in bed. Rick’s lips kissed along your shoulder, as his chest pressed against your back. One of his arms was wrapped around your waist, allowing his fingertips to ghost along the bump of your pregnant stomach. He was tracing loving patterns against the place where your unborn child lay.

You let out a content sigh as his lips moved up the curve of your neck before making contact with your mating gland and causing your body to arch back into him. You felt his lips smile against your skin before he continued to give attention to the sensitive spot and your body continued to react positively.

Ever since you claimed one another, your bodies had become even more receptive whenever you touched the mark of each other’s mating bites. He knew exactly what he was doing to you as he kissed and licked and sucked along the delicate skin. It left your mind in a daze and caused you to feel like his scent was everywhere, as it conveyed his deep love and adoration for you.

But then there was a fluttering feeling that pulsed through your lower belly and you both became still.

“Did you feel that?” He asked quietly.

“Was that…?”

“Yeah, they’re kicking,” Rick let out a soft laugh, expressing his amazement at the precious moment you were both sharing.

Another bubbly feeling spread within your lower abdomen, and he flattened out his hand, pressing his palm against the skin to feel it more clearly.

“Do you think they’re a boy or a girl?” You asked him.

“I don’t know,” he answered gently, his thumb rubbing lightly against your stomach. “I don’t care either way.”

He rested his chin against your shoulder and continued to absentmindedly caress your skin, even now that the movements had stopped.

“I just wonder what they’ll be like,” you mused. “If they’ll be more like you, or me. Or if maybe they’ll be a perfect mix of both of us.”

“I hope they’re more like you,” he revealed.

“Why?”

Rick tilted his head to place sweet and affectionate kisses along your shoulder again.

“Because…” he murmured against your skin. “Because you’re perfect and beautiful and I love you.”

An uncontrollable smile spread across your lips at his words and your hand moved to rest on top of his own, the one still sitting on your stomach. He turned it until his palm was against yours, and then he linked your fingers together.

“You’re perfect,” you told him softly. “I love you so much, Rick.”

He moved you both so that you were lying on your back and he could look down into your eyes. His gaze conveyed how your words affected him, with his expression so soft and ardent. Then his head was dipping down so that he could capture your lips with his. Your heart fluttered and your arms wrapped around his neck to pull him closer.

Now

Rick’s chest tightened as he looked at you, so still and lifeless. He only paused briefly from the shock of it before he strode over to your side and took one of your hands in his. Then his head shot up to look at the doctor because of how icy your skin was.

“She’s freezing,” he snapped, his eyes narrowing and glaring accusingly at Carson.

“That’s the problem,” Maggie said from behind him, her tone as cold as your skin felt. “We’ve tried, but we haven’t been able to get her temperature back up.”

“We think it’s because of your bond,” Carson tried to explain, his voice far gentler than your sister’s.

“What do you mean?” Rick asked, forcing himself to calm down.

Every part of him was on edge as your icy hand burned coldly against his own. He didn’t miss the strong smell of Negan that was clinging to you, but he was relieved when it started to fade, gradually being replaced by his own, even without him scenting you.

“Well, it’s just theories,” Carson said uncertainly, but Rick nodded for him to continue. “I think it might be a mix of things. Everything that happened that night, along with Negan forcing his scent on her and then you leaving without scenting her yourself… her body might have taken it as a rejection from you.”

Rick hung his head, the guilt swirling through him instantly. If he had known something like this would happen, he never would have left you behind.

“But why is she so cold?” He asked, all the while noting that your hand had at least become slightly warmer as he held it in his own.

“I don’t know,” Carson replied. “But her scent has become worse, mixed with his, like her body is trying to force you to scent her and show that you haven’t rejected your bond. Or it could be countless other things. I mean, an alpha is always supposed to protect their omega, so maybe it’s just her body’s way of telling you that she needs you.”

Rick knew the doctor wasn’t trying to rub salt into the wound, but his words did that all the same. He tried to ignore it, focusing back on you instead. His thumb rubbed soothing circles against the back of your hand and then he realized, once again, that it didn’t feel as icy.

“She feels a little warmer,” Rick decided to tell him, hoping that maybe it was a good sign.

Carson got up, moving to test it himself. He felt your forehead and frowned.

“She feels the same,” the doctor said, not noticing what Rick did.

“Here,” he held your hand out to Carson.

The doctor took hold of it, feeling the slight warmth that had returned to your skin. Then his fingers moved to the inside of your wrist, checking your pulse.

“Her heart rate’s picked up again,” Carson said after a moment, turning his attention back to Rick. “You being here is good.”

Rick just nodded, not allowing himself to become too relieved yet. You still weren’t awake or even moving.

“Can I have a minute?” He asked the doctor. “Alone with her.”

“Of course,” Carson replied, understanding.

The doctor got up to leave and Maggie followed him out silently. Rick had almost forgotten she was even there. He focused all of his attention on you, lifting your hand up to his lips, pressing a soft kiss to your cold fingers.

“Sweetheart,” he murmured, his voice cracking on the word. “I’m sorry…”

You were so lifeless as you laid there, and it broke his heart. He moved his other hand to gently caress your cheek and stroke some of your hair as his emotions began to catch up with him. Guilt was the most prominent, as he remembered the way he’d spoken to you last. How he’d pulled away from your attempts to touch him.

Tears welled in Rick’s eyes at the hopelessness he now felt, because it was even worse than before. Just like the night Glenn and Abraham died, he believed – no, knew – that this was his fault.

“Please, Y/N,” he begged, choking on a sob. “I need you. Please wake up.”

But you remained the same, with your only movements being the slight rise and fall of your chest and stomach and you breathed in and out. Your hand at least felt almost back to its normal temperature, but Rick desperately needed you to be awake and conveying that same warmth through your gaze and words.

“Baby, I can’t do this without you,” he cried, the tears spilling over and his shoulders shaking from the sobs that left him. “I’m so sorry, please wake up.”

It was no use though, and Rick’s head fell heavily against the hand that still held yours, pressing his forehead against your joined fingers in despair.

Then

Rick felt weary when he returned after exiling Carol from the prison. He didn’t like having to make that kind of decision, but he knew it was the right one. As he headed inside, he turned his focus back to you and his worry over your sick condition returned.

You were nearing the end of your second trimester now, and the fact that you’d caught the flu going around was bad enough, let alone when you were pregnant. He hated not being able to see you, with you being quarantined.

So, when Rick caught sight of Hershel, he was relieved. He wanted to ask how you were and if there had been any improvement. But the relief was fleeting, because then he saw the traces of blood on your father and the heavy look of grief on his face as he looked back at Rick.

“Hershel…” he said hesitantly, already sensing that something had happened, he just hoped it wasn’t to do with you.

But when Hershel shook his head despondently, Rick knew that it was.

“We…” Hershel paused briefly, clearing his throat to hold back his emotion. “We lost the baby, Rick.”

Rick’s face twisted as a mix of denial, grief and agony washed over him.

“No,” he breathed out, unable to accept it, let alone the fact that he hadn’t even been there.

“I’m sorry, I did what I could,” Hershel continued, eyeing his son-in-law with a mix of pity and the hurt he was also feeling himself at the loss of his first grandchild.

“Y/N, is she…?”

“She’s okay, physically.”

But the words of assurance weren’t enough, and Rick had to see you himself. So, he began walking again, moving to head past Hershel and towards the quarantine area.

“Rick, you can’t see her,” Hershel tried to stop him. “You need to stay away from the sick.”

But he ignored your father, intent on seeing you. He wasn’t going to leave you alone after something like that. Hershel didn’t intervene again, seeming to relent to the fact.

Rick found something to cover most of his face before he entered the area, and then his eyes instantly found you, quiet and forlorn. He didn’t waste time, crossing the room in long strides to reach you. Your body sensed him through your bond after the first step, causing you to look up and then frown at his appearance.

“Rick,” you said, voice tired and weak. “You shouldn’t be here.”

He ignored you, getting down beside you and pulling you into his arms. Your head fell against his chest as your body gave in to the comfort it so desperately sought.

“I’m not going anywhere, ‘mega,” he murmured, blinking back tears as the reality crashed over him.

“Alpha, I…” you trailed off, unable to get the words out before your shoulders were shaking with sobs.

“Shh,” he soothed you. “It’s okay, I know.”

He tried to remain strong, to be there for you, but his own grief was taking over as he realized that it was undeniably true. Your baby was gone and there was nothing either of you could do about it.

“I–I’m sorry,” you stammered, your tears soaking through his shirt.

“Y/N…” he pulled back so that he was able to look you in the eye. “It’s not your fault, okay?”

He stroked your cheek and then tucked some hair behind your ear, looking at you with a mix of concern and sadness. Your own expression showed that you didn’t believe him though.

“I mean it,” he insisted, his concern momentarily overcoming his grief.

“I just…”

You couldn’t get the words out, your tears overcoming you again and he brushed his thumbs against your cheeks, attempting to wipe them all away.

“I know,” he said, understanding. “It’s okay, sweetheart, I’m here.”

You dipped your head down, looking away from him, so Rick pulled you back into his warm embrace and just held you. He gently ran his fingers along your back, trying to soothe you in any way he could, and eventually your tears calmed down and your body settled.

But he knew it wouldn’t be the last time your emotions got the best of either of you. So, he was determined to ensure that he was there for you through it all. For the time being though, Rick just continued to hold you and take his own comfort in the embrace, trying to sort through his emotions and overcome the overwhelming sense of grief within him.

Now

Your hand became clammy as it was still held in Rick’s own and he lifted his head back up, wiping away his tears with his free hand. Then he tested the skin further up your arm, finding it still just as icy as your hand had been.

He knew that his touch and his presence were doing something, because he could no longer detect Negan’s overbearing scent. So, he lifted your hand up and rubbed his cheek gently against the scent gland on the inside of your wrist, trying to see if it would help.

After a while, the skin there warmed up and he felt a small sense of relief at the fact. But the most important scent gland was your mating one, the one on your neck and he just knew somehow that it would have a greater effect on warming you up if he scented you there.

The idea gave him some hope, so he stood up and moved your body so that he could join you on the small medical bed. Rick slid in behind you, letting your back rest against his chest before he tilted his head down and pressed his nose to the claiming bite he had left long ago.

He froze as your body seemed to melt into him, and then his head snapped back up and his arms tightened around your waist in reflex.

“Y/N?”

You didn’t respond, either verbally or physically, but he still became determined to continue and see if it helped. So, Rick returned his attention to your mating gland, letting his cheek rub against the slightly raised skin there, scenting you and feeling your cold and icy body gradually regain some of its warmth.

“Baby, come on,” he murmured softly against your skin. “Please wake up.”

It wasn’t the desperate and helpless plea he had given you before. He had a renewed sense of hope at how your skin was warmer and the way your body was relaxed against him. Rick just instinctively knew that you had to come back to him sooner or later.

His scent had become mingled with yours again, exactly how it was always supposed to be. The fact gave him comfort and allowed his own body to feel at ease again. He was still like that, his face buried into the curve of your neck, scenting you over and over, when the door of the trailer opened again.

Rick looked up to see Maggie, still distant and reserved in the way she regarded him. He understood though, so he tried not to read into it too much.

“She looks a lot better,” your sister observed.

Rick shifted you both again, moving to get up and leave you for now. At least your body had returned to its normal temperature and as he got up from the bed and looked down at you, Rick saw that the color had returned to your skin.

“Maggie, I’m sorry,” he said, turning his attention back to your sister.

The words were simple, but they implied a lot, because he was sorry for numerous things. For inciting Negan’s anger, for failing to get her to Hilltop, for Glenn’s death and for leaving you and causing her to just have one more thing to deal with.

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to,” she answered coldly.

Rick just nodded, not wanting to push her even more.

“I shouldn’t have left her,” he admitted quietly, his hand seeming to have a mind of its own as it sought yours out again.

“No,” Maggie agreed tersely. “You shouldn’t have. We have enough problems already, so you’d better not leave her again, Rick.”

“I won’t,” he replied with conviction. “We’ll stay here until she’s better, then I’ll take her back to Alexandria.”

“And Negan?”

“What about him?”

“We need to fight back, Rick! Don’t tell me you’re just gonna let him walk all over you and force you – force all of us to submit. He needs to pay for what he’s done!”

“What do you want me to do, Maggie?” He argued back, his voice raising in frustration. “You want me to get us all killed?”

“Better that than letting him win!”

“Are you even hearing yourself? I’m not risking any more of us. Hasn’t he done enough?”

“Exactly!” She yelled, her anger coming out in full force. “He’s already done enough. We can’t let him have power over us and eventually do something worse!”

“He’s not going to do anything as long as we follow his rules.”

“Follow his – Rick, are you even hearing yourself? We are better than this, stronger than this! We always fight back.”

“Not this time, Maggie. I’m not losing anyone else.”

“And what about the people he’s already made us lose? What about Abraham? What about Gle – …what about Glenn?”

Rick’s anger died down at the mention of them, as he was reminded of the pain their loss had brought.

“Maggie… we don’t have the firepower, the resources to fight him.”

“Then we find it,” she insisted. “I’m not saying we have to go and fight him right now, but we can’t just let this be it. We can take our time, wait until we’re strong enough to beat him.”

Rick was about to answer, but then he froze in shock as he felt a pressure against his hand and the words died in his mouth. His eyes fell down to where your fingers were entwined with his and saw yours squeeze against his once again.

All other thoughts left his mind, as he slowly allowed his gaze to trail up your body and to your face. He just managed to catch the moment your eyes fluttered open, and your brow furrowed. Your gaze seemed to instantly focus on him, and he couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his lips.

“Rick?”

Your voice was weak and slightly hoarse from lack of use.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he gently replied, his smile widening into a relieved and happy grin.

--

Next Part

--

[ffxiv-f13ndish]

Trust in Me (Three)

collab drabble w/ @sorrel-haven (Kore) and @ro-valerius (Tofu, Callum). [cred. to @ro-valerius for gpose shot)

Tofu is welcomed home after his search for his adversary with Callum -- which had produced two fights. Miyu is sick. Tofu feels uncertainty in speaking about events... as Miyu hasn't been very upfront with him ..

By the time Miyu had returned home, their fever had gone up. As tempted as they were to go straight to the kitchen — the warmth of cooking soup drifting throughout the house — they needed to dress into something a little more comfortable. 

Between the simultaneous waves of sweating and chills, they didn’t know if dressing into something more comfortable was even possible. They cycled through four different clothing items, before they ended up laying on the floor and staring at the small pile of clothes as they gave up. They didn’t feel the least bit comfortable in the attire they picked, but they were too frustrated and too achy to change at this point. 

They wanted to melt into the floor and sleep between the floorboards for a bit. But first and foremost, they needed to get something to eat — and they needed to make sure Tofu got home safe. They peeled themself off the floor and started towards the kitchen, but paused at the door handle when they noticed the splotches of bruising along their wrist. Miyu squinted, attempting to recall where it came from, giving an experimental poke as they did so. 

Ah. Now they recall. It seems they missed a few spots healing. They huff quietly, putting on a sweater before heading out to the kitchen. Miyu rested a chin on Kore’s shoulder a moment as they peered into the pot.

“Looks good.  Need any help with anything, lovely?” they inquired, hopping up to sit on the counter nearby as they watched her cook. 

“No, I’m just about finished actually.” Kore looked over to them and raised an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t a blanket be better than a sweater right now?”

Miyu leaned closer, waving a hand over the steam to waft it towards them as they took in a breath. With a little kick of their feet, they gave an excited hum. 

“Hmm.. Yes. But then I’d have to hold the blanket, leaving no hands for soup,” they remarked, leaning back to grab a bowl and spoon nearby. They hopped down from the counter and went to the sink to wash their hands.

Kore watched Miyu push up their sleeves and noticed the bruises on their wrist. A look of concern fixed on her face as she gently took their hand. Miyu glanced at Kore with a raised brow in question when she took their hand. She ran her fingertips over the bruising lightly. Seeing as she noticed the bruising, they gave a nervous smile. 

“What happened here?” Her concern clearly showed in her voice.

“Not as bad as it looks, really,” they responded, reaching over with their opposite hand to turn off the faucet. Miyu dried it off on their sweater, then placed it on top of Kore’s hand.

“Just got caught in a bit of a situation at work in Ishgard last night. A little bit of scuffle, and then I got dragged off and locked up in one of those… chocobo transport carts I think?” They turned their head away to sneeze. “It's over and done with and I’m okay, so details aren’t important. But I’m fine.”

For the most part, at least. Unfortunately, they didn’t get out of this situation without getting sick. 

Kore brushed some hair out of Miyu’s face and cupped their face after. She then brought her hand back down over the bruise and channeled some aether into a small heal. Nothing that needed her astrolobe, just enough to fade the bruising. When she finished, she held the back of their hand to her cheek. 

“Let’s get you some soup?” she asked with a smile.

It was certainly convenient that Miyu was already feverish, the red tinge of their cheeks overshadowing the way they flushed bashfully from Kore’s gentle care. They smiled, wrapping their fingers around the hand which held their own.

“Thank you, love. Now, if only I wasn’t sick…” they began, before cheekily trailing off. Miyu brought her hand to their lips to give her knuckles a quick smooch. Then, they let go to free up their hands enough to get some soup. 

Miyu leaned up against the counter again, holding the bowl close to let the steam hit their cheeks. They circled a spoon in the soup to try and cool it down a bit. 

“Anything from Callum yet?” Miyu inquired, bringing a spoonful of soup to their lips to gently blow on.

“No, and I’m starting to question if he’s going to.” She pouted.

The door opened and the rabbit in question, and in turn Tofu as well, walked through. Tofu paused, eyes landing on Kore and Miyu, but his expression was hard to read. He turned to face Callum and shrugged. 

“See? They’re close, it would be fine,” he grumbled, before calling over his shoulder without facing Kore. “Kore, double check his healing job. He took a fireball to the chest.” And with that, he went upstairs to get cleaned up. 

“Wait, Tofu wha-” she started to ask but he got up the stairs too quickly. Callum narrowed his eyes after Tofu before sighing heavily. 

“That guy…”

She turned her attention to Callum. “What happened?” she asked, a touch too intensely, as she assessed his injuries. 

Miyu raised a brow, eyes following Tofu as he went upstairs. What was that all about? They turned their gaze back to Kore, then to Callum. Without a word, they ruffled Callum’s hair, then grabbed another bowl to fill with soup. Miyu made their way up the steps with two bowls of soup, then sat down in the hall outside Tofu’s door for the time being. Tofu glanced down at them as he crossed from his room to the bathroom.

“Go back downstairs,” he murmured.

Miyu gave a miniscule frown. They attempted to give an exaggerated sigh through their nose, only to find their nose was stuffed. Miyu set the soup down on the bookshelf in the hall – though they weren’t entirely sure if he’d end up coming across it. But, they wanted to leave it there if there was even a chance he would come across it. They grumbled quietly to themself as they went down the steps to the kitchen.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Callum gave Kore a sheepish smile.

“I…think it would be better for my health if I let Tofu tell you in his own time,” he said, holding up his hands defensively. 

“It also would have been better for your health to have called,” Kore said flatly as she began a minor heal spell.

“ListenIforgotokay.”

Kore gave him a look but said nothing. She finished and placed her hand on Callum’s chest as she ruminated. Callum looked down at her hand on his chest and contemplated being cheeky about it, but her expression told him he’d be a dead man if he did, so he shut his mouth and looked away, simply tapping the back of her hand with a finger in the hopes that would bring her back to earth.

She looked up at him. “How bad is he hurt?” That was the only detail she cared about.

“I’d rather not be skinned alive, please interrogate him on the matter instead of me, it would not be the first time he’s kicked my ass and while it won’t be the last I’d rather not have this one in particular if I can help it. He’s grumpier than usual today,” Callum said, still not looking down at her.

“If we even get the chance to interrogate,” Miyu mumbled, leaning back against the counter again. They set their soup down beside them to free up their hands, pressing their forehead into their palms as their head began to steadily throb again. 

Kore huffed, but went to Miyu’s side and ran her fingers through their hair. She didn’t understand this sudden turn in Tofu’s disposition. He was just fine the night before. She wished that he would talk about it, let her and Miyu in. But she knew forcing the matter would not be met with a good response. 

“The best we can do, at least tonight, is make sure he’s okay. And maybe tell him that he doesn’t have to hide things from us…” she said, losing confidence in that last sentence.

Miyu nodded in agreement. They leaned into the touch ever so slightly, physically putting effort to refrain from leaning forward entirely with the aching fatigue that crashed down on them from their fever. 

Callum had the decency to feel awkward standing there like a fourth wheel. He took a step back, pointing at the door with a forced grin. 

“I’ll just…see myself out you guys have fun,” he said quickly before turning and dipping out through the door. 

Meanwhile, upstairs, Tofu came out of the bathroom, towel laid lazily on the top of his head- the most effort he was willing to put into making sure the collar of his shirt stayed dry. He was relieved to see that Miyu had done as he asked and gone downstairs, or perhaps they had gone to bed. Whichever was the case, they were not sitting on the floor anymore. A bowl of soup on the bookshelf caught his eyes and his heart felt heavy.

He took a step towards it before his chest flared up; it wasn’t as bad as his last run in with a mage, but damn did it still suck. He swallowed a groan of pain and leaned heavily against the wall, pressing a hand firmly to his chest. Luckily, it passed quickly and he took a moment to compose himself. He didn’t want to face Kore and Miyu with the threat of another episode looming on the horizon, but he also knew it would be all the more suspicious if he avoided them entirely. He’d just have to be extra vigilant about not reacting to it around them. With a sigh, he picked up the bowl of soup and made his way downstairs. 

Miyu’s ear twitched at the sound of footsteps. They peeled their face away from their hands and turned their head towards the staircase. For a moment, their expression was distraught, but they managed a smile in greeting. Kore leaned against the counter next to Miyu and looked at Tofu with a thinly veiled look of concern.

“So… you wanna talk about it now or later?”

“You don’t have to. But it would put our minds at ease to know what happened… Or at least tell us if we can do anything for you now?” she asked hopefully.

Tofu’s eyes flickered between the two of them before he decided to make his way over to the table, leaning against it and staring intently into the bowl of soup that had been left for him. 

“Nothing to concern yourselves over. As you can see, I am unscathed. If anything, worry about Callum for being reckless,” he said, mentally glossing over his own recklessness.

“I’m not oblivious, Tofu. Callum got hit with a spell. Meaning he must have took it for you.” She crossed her arms. She wasn’t angry, but the hurt she felt was evident in her tone. 

Miyu’s attempt to sustain their smile ceased as a sigh escaped them. 

“Tofu, dear — you are always welcome to talk to us. It's not just out of concern alone… I wanna hear things about you. About your day, and stuff ya do.” Their gaze flickered over his expression, lingering on the blooming bruise at his lip. They hopped down from the counter and went to the freezer, taking out a frozen bag of miscellaneous vegetables. 

“We want to be here for you,” they gently reminded, wrapping the cold bag in a cloth before handing it over to Tofu for his mouth. 

Tofu stared at the bag for a moment. “Can’t eat soup if I have that on my face,” he grumbled, turning back to the soup at hand. “You’re both right here, right now, aren’t you? I know you want me to open up more, but… It’ll take time. Besides, you’re not fully upfront with me, are you?” 

Miyu tensed, giving a raised brow in question. They stepped back a moment, looking up with a mixed expression between baffled and confused.

“Explain. Upfront about what?” they pressed, crossing their arms over their chest. 

Tofu took a deep breath and set down the half empty bowl on the table behind him, stubbornly looking away. 

“It has been a long day. I do not want to get into this right now and say something that I will regret- or rather, say more that I will regret.”

Kore closed the distance between her and Tofu and put a hand on his cheek. 

“Tofu please look at me,” she said softly. Tofu gave a small, but firm, shake of his head. “I know we’re both stubborn, and I know… that I don’t want to inadvertently push you away by holding on too tight. But I need just a little…” 

It was clear to see that he was struggling to find a way to put into words what he wanted to say. His brow furrowed and his jaw tensed as he thought. 

“Holding on will not push me away,” he murmured. 

Miyu stared at the ground for a long while in distress. What was it he had meant? 

“If I… If I did something to hurt you, I want to know. I want to be clear with you – I just need to know what it was. What it takes.” They stepped forward, embracing him from behind and burying their face into his back. “Then I will hold on for as long as it takes for you.”

His hand clenched at his side as he took in another deep breath. “Disregard what I said before. I’m sorry,” he whispered. 

Kore shook her head and took his hand. “Please don’t apologize for your feelings. We want to know them, even the bad ones. Especially the bad ones, then we can try to fix what’s bothering you, or just be there for you.”

Miyu gave a muffled hum in agreement. 

“Speaking freely won’t push us away,” the Miqo’te insisted, voice faint. 

Tofu dropped both hands to his sides, pulling out of Kore’s grip as gently as he could, his shoulders tense as he fought within himself- against his old self. He tensed further as, to his dismay, his chest flared up again. It wasn’t as bad as before, but it was only a matter of time before another bad episode. He was almost grateful that he had already been tense, since it made it easier to hide his discomfort.

“It has been a long day…” he repeated, though he couldn’t help but sound a little strained.

“Do you not trust us? Trust me?” Kore blurted out, unable to hold it in.

“Of course I trust you!” he snapped. “It’s me I don’t trust…”

“What… What does that mean? How do you not trust yourself? With what don’t you trust yourself?”

“Nothing you say will make us not trust you,” Miyu further insisted. Their hold remained firm. They buried their face away further. “Can you… trust us with you?”

“That’s not- Miyu is sick and I’ve had a long day, perhaps this can wait?” Tofu tried, gently trying to unwrap Miyu’s arms from around him to check on them. Given how weak they had gotten in their state, it wasn’t hard.

He had just begun to turn to face them when the pain in his chest spiked. He stumbled away from both of them, dropping to one knee with a harsh intake of breath and a muttered “fuck!” He pressed a hand to his chest, fingers gripping his shirt tightly. Kore pulled one of the talismans Tofu had given her from her inner shirt pocket and rushed to his side. She pressed it to his chest as she had seen Ro do before. 

Miyu dropped down to the floor with him, leveling with him as they tried to read his expression. Given the manner of his reaction and the use of the talisman, they could gather what happened. They said nothing, but remained kneeled beside him with a heated forehead pressed to his cheek as they gently rubbed his back. The most they could do was be there.

“It’s…fine. It’s not as bad this time…” he murmured, willing his muscles to relax as the talisman went to work. “Y-you’re burning up, Miyu. I’m fine, you should rest. Please…”

“Jokes on you I’m always hot,” Miyu grumbled, not moving away just yet – though it had less to do with trapping Tofu in place and more to do with the fact that their fatigue was crashing over them.

“You both should rest. Please. Let’s get to bed, maybe where I can look after you both?” She touched Miyu’s, then Tofu’s cheeks. 

“Sleepover? Mm?”

“I just…need a moment. I’ll follow after, go ahead…” 

“Don’t make me carry the both of you. I will.” It was almost hard to tell if Kore was joking.

Miyu gave a faint snort. “Alright, alright. I’ll get up. You both better be there though. If I’m gonna die from a fever, I don’t want to be alone,” Miyu joked with a dramatic sigh. They moved to stand.

Kore caught them when they stumbled, “Maybe I should carry you.”

“I’ll catch up, I just need a second,” Tofu said, trying to offer a reassuring smile. 

“I’ll get Miyu to bed, But I’m coming back to check on you,” Kore said firmly. He waved her off, motioning for her to get moving.

“Awe. You sure you want to sweep me off my feet?” Miyu cooed, leaning into Kore nevertheless. The way they wrapped both arms around her to keep themself steady said enough about how they were holding up. They turned their head away into her shoulder to hide their gaze from the overhead lights.

“Love you both… better be there… please,” they mumbled into her shoulder, voice barely audible.

Kore scooped up Miyu almost effortlessly. She gave one last look to Tofu before taking them upstairs. Tofu watched them as they left, his smile dropping as soon as they were out of sight. He pressed his hand more firmly against his chest and bit back a low, pained moan. 

Kore shifted Miyu in her arms to open the door to her room. She carried them over to her bed, trying to scooch Chauncey out of the way before gently setting them down. Miyu rolled over, burying their face into a pillow. They mumbled something to her, though it was inaudible. Kore leaned down to kiss them on the head.

“I’ll be right back.” she murmured before heading out of the room and back downstairs.

As she got downstairs, she saw Tofu getting up and offered him her hand. Tofu brushed his knees off and gave Kore a hesitant smile. He almost didn’t accept her hand, but realized it was something he probably should do, right? He made his way to her and reached out, drawing back slightly before taking her hand softly. 

“Sorry,” he mumbled, letting her lead him up the stairs.

“Nothing to apologize for…” she said quietly. “We all had an emotional night. Let’s talk about it in the morning.”

[megamattzx]

Dragon Ball New Frontier: Tales of the Time Patrol: A Father's Worst Fear Comes True......

The Time Patrol was operating in a timeline that was in desperate need of aid. Cities were on fire, battles were being fought, and people were screaming in fear and terror. Goku Black, aka Zamasu, had led his armies across various timelines in a massive crusade to conquer as much of the infinite Omniverse as possible. Killing all of those who stood in his way. As the Time Patrol continued to push back his forces, chaos could be seen all around. Eventually, it got to the point where battles were being won all over. Eventually, Goku and Goku Jr, or seen facing off against Zamasu himself.

"So the two Goku's that have always been a nuisance to me have continued to do so even after all this time……" Zamasu said pondering what to do that'll get Goku's anger to be unleashed. He then took a minute to look at Goku Jr and remembered something that gave him leverage to anger Goku. Of course. The perfect way to get Goku to snap. Killing his clone and adopted son. The son was raised alongside his "twin" brother, Goten. The pure-blooded Saiyan that everyone in their timeline cherished in that family. Possibly the most human of all the Saiyans. The heart and gold of the family. The persistence of Goku. The patience of Chi-Chi. The cunning of Gohan. The adventurous spark of Goten. All of which were passed on to him. If he could kill him, the boy that Goku spent raising alongside his other young son, with the help of Chi-Chi and her patience. That would be more than enough to break Goku, theoretically.

Realizing that his time was running out and that he was cornered, he quickly fired a ki blast that went straight through Goku Jr.'s chest but not before Goku Jr fired a destructive disc that decapitated Zamasu. Goku only saw the fact that Goku Black was decapitated by his son and he turned to congratulate him only to see the horrible truth of what happened. His eyes widened in horror as he saw his son slowly falling to the ground.

"No...." Goku quietly said in horror as he ran towards the falling body of his son. Catching Goku Jr before he completely fell, tears falling from his eyes as the grief-stricken father tried to heal his son to the best of his ability. "Please...." He begged. "Please Kaka, please don't die on me!" His voice sounded more broken and frantic as he continued. "You can't die on me! Please get up! Please! Wake up kiddo!" But it was too late. Goku felt his clone's energy slowly fade away and his breathing stopped. Goku felt Goku Jr didn't have a heartbeat. His son was gone. Tears fell at a faster rate, as he held his son closer in his arms crying in his grief. "I'm sorry kiddo....." The broken father heard himself say in a mixture of grief and guilt. "I'm sorry....."

"GOKU!!!!!" Yamelia screamed out for Goku Jr. She suddenly ran out towards him and Goku.

Yamcha looked over with wide eyes. "N-no...."

Goku just broke into tears as he held his son in his arms.

Chi-Chi gazed upon her beloved husband holding the lifeless corpse of their son. It was quiet for a moment, as if time stood still for her, as white noise filled her mind. Her legs shook to the point of them giving out on her, as she collapsed to the ground. Her breathing is quick, heart thundering in her chest. It was still so quiet.. Until a loud, agonizing scream of rage and sorrow ripped forcefully from deep within Chi-Chi's chest. Sobs following, along with yells for the son she once cradled in her arms when he was a baby. "No! My baby, not my baby please! Goku Jr!! My little Son-Ku!!!"

Gohan and Goten hear the screams of their mother as they rush to where everyone was as they tried to get out of the way as much as possible. Desperately trying to see what was going on cuz I couldn't understand or fully decipher what their parents were saying until eventually they saw their father holding their brother in his arms. His body was completely lifeless and his eyes were closed.

Not a single word was said at first as the two just stood there in horror. Their minds swelling like a massive storm and they cursed themselves internally as they tried to process what was going on. Gohan was the first to snap as he was just on the ground and breaking down into tears, frantically trying to hold his younger brother as well. Until the younger siblings were seen seeing this before he instinctively tried to emotionally comfort them barely able to keep it together.

The other siblings were breaking down crying as they saw the lifeless body of their older brother. With Chia just screaming in anguish as this happened.

Goten was hit the hardest by this. Tears fell from his eyes as his breathing became heavier and heavier. His biggest rival was dead. But this wasn't just his biggest rival. It was his best friend. His brother. His own family. Ringing similar to what his mother was hearing was present in his ears and in his mind as he just felt his heart racing and even his breathing becoming heavier and heavier. Eventually, he just broke, a scream of anger, pain, and sorrow was heard from the second biological son of Goku.

The memories he had with Goku jr with the various prank wars, competitions, and even bonding moments overwhelmed him as he dealt with his grief. "WHY!?" The Demi Saiyan cried out. Pain is evident in his broken voice. his sobs were light breaths until he eventually let out an agonizing scream of pain, sorrow, and anguish. At last, Son Goten broke.

Yamelia fell to her knees, tears flowing down her face. She screamed once again, calling out to him once again. "GOKU!!!" She called out, a clear pain in her voice. The... Love of her life, dead... Right in front of her.

Her father tried to comfort her and hold her and stay strong, only to break down himself. He hated seeing his daughter like this.

Videl was in genuine shock, blue eyes widening in horror at the sight of Goku Jr now deceased in his father's arms. He was family to her, her fun loving brother in law who she would often tease and train with. Now, he is gone. All she could do was let out loud sobs, as she held onto Gohan's hand. In an attempt to comfort both him and herself, as they went to comfort the younger siblings.. However, when she heard the broken scream of 'Why!!' from Goten... That was the straw that broke the camel's back, as Videl began crying harder. She threw her arms around Gohan's side, hiding her face against his shoulder. No coherent words were heard, just babbling cries, and soft screams of anguish. The only thought she had in her mind was of the two sons of the now-deceased Goku Jr... How would they react to this if they knew? Just thinking about that made her break down even harder, at the thought of those boys crying for their Papa Bear.

Gohan couldn't help but stare at his brother's corpse as he processed everything that was happening. His nephews having to deal with the fact that they lost their father was one thing but Gohan was about to deal with it even more. This was his baby brother. The one that he found all those years ago. The one that he rescued from Pilaf and his gang the day he and Goten were born. The pure-blooded saying he helped his mother raise. The one he watched his mother rap in her arms and named after his father. Both of his father's names. Finally, he finally collapsed onto the ground completely as he simply broke down into tears. The eldest son of Goku and Chi-Chi finally broke. "I'm so sorry Goku....." He said in a broken tone and the guilt was evident in his voice and in his cries. "I'm so sorry bud.........."

Videl felt Gohan collapse, but she still gently hugged him. She tries to comfort him and herself, pulling him into a more comfortable embrace; cradling his head to her chest as she tries to soothe him and his never-ending tears. "G-Gohan.... I'm sorry..." Was all she managed to croak out, as her sobs prevented her from saying any more.