#she’s been x-rayed just now and only waiting for the doctor to look at it

[grrrfrogs]

she's not me.

homelander x supereader

warnings - mentions of death, stalking, angst

(covid doesn't exist in this universe)

based off of the song "she's not me" by lana del ray.

your pov:

you and homelander were the most popular superhero couple. atleast, you guys were 2 years ago.

2 years ago, you and homelander went on a mission, involving a heavily armed group and 3 supes that Vought called super terrorists, when it came down to fighting the last one, he threw you against the wall. as he walked towards you, you attempted to get up and fight him back.

you felt so weak from his throw but you knew you had to fight back, you didn't know where homelander was. as you finally gain back consciousness, the supe terrorist throwing what looked like lightning at you, groaning as you collapsed.

all you saw was the guy walking over to you and touched your body sending lightning through your entire body. electrocuting you to death.

atleast, that's what everyone else thought.

you woke up in some lab, you felt sore and weak, almost like you've just gone through hell and back. you groaned as you woke up from your coma, pulling off the tubes that were connected to your body.

"hello?"

you shouted out, you couldn't recognize the place you were in nor could you sense it being anywhere you or someone you know could have been.

you see a nurse walk towards your room, gasping at the sight before she shouts for someones name you couldn't recognize to come look.

you felt as some circus animal that kids wouldn't help but stare at, it made you feel nervous and self conscious, you were in the seven! what the fuck are you doing here.

you heard the doors open to where you back up, seeing two armed guards behind what looks like, an old nurse, not old enough to where she's brittle, but maybe im her late 60s. tilting your head at the sight.

"where the fuck am i."

you shout roughly, you narrowed your eyes at them, it was some Vought workers.. they asked you to sit down and if you cooperated, you would be let out in a month. nodding as all you wanted was to go back to your fiance, homelander.

"you got electrocuted to death, atleast that's what we thought. we were going to pull your plug today."

you were shocked, maybe that was an understatement but it was true. you.. died? that's impossible. Y/N doesn't die.

"how long was i out?"

you ask nervously, looking at the nurse with almost sad eyes, your mouth gaped open slightly. you saw the nurse look at the guards then back down to her hands, giving a small sigh.

"a year and a half. it's 2020 now.."

she said nervously. you began shaking your head, confused on how you could be out for so long. you stared back up at the nurse before mouthing "no" towards her, you were in deep denial.

homelanders pov:

when he saw your limp body fall, your veins becoming purple as your skin looked translucent. he looked at the supe terrorist, immediately lasering his eyes out, before walking over and ripping his body in half.

he picked up your limp body before flying away as quick as possible, flying to a Vought medical facility that was an hour away since it was the best hospital for superhero's. he stayed by you for months, always visiting you until when he heard the doctors whisper to themselves saying that you won't make it, he thought to himself that he better get unattached to you.

and so he stopped showing up, he stopped waiting for you.

the loss of you and translucent was definitely hard for not only Vought but for the seven, that was until he met storm front. every time he was around her he got reminded of the person who killed you, but he couldn't help but gain feelings for her.

he felt disgusting for it, for liking someone while you were in a coma, especially with someone's powers that caused it. but he tried disassociating powers from person, and that's when they started dating.

your pov:

you of course, didn't know about this. you thought that homelander didn't know where you were and Vought was hiding you from him, but you felt awkward asking, worried that maybe, there is a reason you weren't coming and seeing.

a week went by and you've been training on your strength, regaining your superpowers and this time, somehow in someway, they felt stronger.

you got to have access to some of the media, not really the news but that was only because the nurses knew you would freak out if you saw homelander with someone.

so for a month straight, you regained muscle, strength, and your powers. all you wanted was to see homelander so he could see how strong you were for fighting to wake up from that stupid coma, how strong you were for getting back your strength.

you didn't know how you recovered so fast, you assumed that the doctors were putting in small amounts of compound v in your blood stream.

homelanders pov:

he didn't know you recovered, in actuality he thought you died after a month of him not visiting. he would wake up from nightmares seeing you die over and over again, he would see you standing and staring at him in everywhere he went.

you haunted him.

when he would kiss storm front or when they would have sex, he would be visioning it was you under him, sometimes he would be shocked because it was your lifeless body or sometimes it was just you being alive.

he finally started to get the terrors away from him, he started focusing more on work and storm front, all of this was going well until he saw you in downtown NY. he stared freaking out again, you looked real this time. he blinked and you disappeared.

"fuck."

he muttered under his breath.

your pov:

it came to your release day, you were so deeply excited. they told you about some albums that were dropped and how they were going to give you some new clothes, what you were in right now was the replica of your super hero suit.

"will i see homelander?"

you asked awkwardly, giving a small smile. the excitement building up as you waited for their response.

"maybe."

they say nervously, not wanting to say no to you since you wouldn't understand why. "he is your fiance! why wouldn't you be able to see him." you thought to yourself.

you nodded at their response, feeling upset at the awkward maybe they gave you. it felt like they were hiding something from you, but you didn't know why or what it was.

as you sat in the back seat of the black car, you felt your excitement build up as you started seeing the tall buildings. you felt at home.

they dropped you off at time square where you excitedly smiled, this was the first time you were back at home after your coma.

it was all going well until you saw the big screen of homelander and stormfront, at first you were excited! seeing your fiance on television, but all of that went away, turning into confusion and anger when you saw them kiss.

"what the.. fuck..?!"

you shouted, you watched as she held homelanders hand as he smiled at her, they talked about their love life and you felt sick. utterly sick.

you had no one to show you around but you could hear somehow, through the honking, the talking, and the cars driving. you heard homelanders voice. you ran as fast as you could over to the set.

you felt adrenaline pumping through your veins, you ran as fast as you could, even shoving people down when they came in your way.

the pit in your stomach only deepening when the voices became louder, you walked up to set even when the producers told you to get off because they were filming, not realizing you were THE y/n.

you were about 20 feet away from them but you saw clear view of homelander, he looked.. inlove. but with her. you felt sick as your mouth dropped.

homelanders pov:

he had an interview with storm front today, they got to talk about their love for eachother and he felt happy!

he felt at peace, storm front comforted him about how you were dead, and that she was here for him.

when they got on set, storm front would kiss his cheek noticing your nervousness about me, they even fucked in his trailer 20 minutes before getting interviewed.

everything was going well, he kissed her on live TV he couldn't think on how anything could go wrong, he forgot about you for a minute, the first time in a year and a half.

all of that went away when he smelled your familiar smell, he felt his heart pumping as it began to get closer and closer, he started drifting off, trying to figure out where it was coming from.

"homelander?"

storm front said to him, looking at him confused as he finally gained consciousness, apologizing about him drifting off, making an excuse about saying he thought he heard someone in trouble.

your smell still lingered in his nose, getting closer and closer until.. you were right infront of him. he felt a pit in his stomach, he started blinking, trying to see if it was just a illusion or if it was you.

"Y/N..?"

he gasped out.

alright even if people don't want it IM MAKING A PART TWO! i really hope u guys enjoyed this because i def did writing this.

also i've been NEEDING homelander angst especially something that makes my heart hurt a little ;3

[xxgoblin-dumplingxx]

Do you think the kidnapping was the last straw for age gap!reader and that’s why she decided to become a housewife??

Not quite.

When you did faint, for real instead of pretending, Clark is not surprised. Your heart had started racing again and you were trying very hard to stay composed and sweet.

He was just glad he was there to catch you and keep you from cracking your head on the pavement when the rookie cop closest to you was too busy being start struck to realize you were about to collapse. EMT's were called and you were taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital.

He only hoped Bruce had a plan. And a damn good one. Because, as he looked at the sad little cell the would be kidnapper planned to keep you in his stomach turned. If it hadn't been for the tracker to put in your sneaker, they might never have been able to find you.

__________________

"Sweetheart," Bruce said, rushing into the room, "My god, I'm so sorry! I came as soon as I got your call."

The nurse taking your vitals again glanced up and sighed internally. She'd HAVE to tell the desk to pay attention. Your Agent, some co stars, managers- jesus a parade of people had traipsed through this room. Even a particularly intrepid tabloid journalist. But- At least this was one visitor that you didn't seem to mind.

"I'm okay, I think," you tell him. "I- nothing really had time to happen. I just have some bruises and a concussion."

"Do you need anything?" he asked, crossing the floor, smiling briefly at the nurse before kissing your forehead. "Are they keeping you or-"

"The doctor is just waiting on some x-rays," the nurse told you when you looked at her questioningly. "Once we have all our tests back you should be good to go."

"Thank you, Nancy," you tell her, "Could I have some more water when you get a second?"

"Absolutely," she answered. Mollified somewhat when Bruce set himself to fussing over you in that endearing, clueless way that men had. Uselessly fluffing pillows and petting your hair.

"What were they x-raying?" Bruce asked, perching on the end of your bed. Between you and the door.

"My abdomen. I had stomach pain and they wanted to make sure I wasn't bleeding or something- I don't know if it was a knee of a foot but-"

"I should have hit him harder," Bruce growled.

"Bruce-"

"I'm taking you back to Gotham tonight," he murmured. "And Alfred is working on your security as we speak."

You blink for a second and bite your lip, "I have work and contracts-"

"Not to stay," Bruce hummed. "But I pointed out that you would need a couple days of rest to recover. And pointed out that making you work would be "a bad look" once the story broke. They agreed. And decided to shoot things you weren't in for a couple days."

You look at him confused and Bruce smiles a little, "I'm having the security revamped in your Apartment while you're with me. And being a little selfish- I missed you."

"Brucie, you don't have to do all that."

"I do though," he murmured. "It scared me, that phone call. And I don't like being scared."

_______________________

That night, in his bed. Finally feeling safe enough to let go, you let Bruce take you. It was tender and sweet- even while both of you were desperate.

Cleaving to each other for comfort. Craving the sense of belonging that you felt joined together. No secrets, no lies, only met desires and realized longings.

Bruce smudged soft kisses on every bruise and nuzzled every sore spot. Lavishing attention on your sore stomach. Careful to read your body language. If you pulled away, he would stop. But you clung onto him. Worldless pleading. Telling him. Don't leave me.

"I'm here, Princess," he breathed. "are you okay?"

You nod and lean up to kiss him, "How do you do it?"

"Do what, beautiful?" he hummed, sliding his cock along your entrance before sliding inside you.

"Make me feel so safe, all the time."

"Is that how you feel now, sweet girl?" he hummed, "Safe? Loved?"

You nod, wrapping your legs around his waist to pull him closer to you.

He smiled and rubbed his nose against yours as he bracketed himself above you, "Marry me?" he blurted, "Let me make you feel that way forever."

"You- Bruce- I-"

"I mean it," he breathed. "Marry me? Let me keep you safe, Sweetheart. Make me the happiest I've ever been?"

"How could I say no to that?" you ask, stroking his cheek as you kissed him.

[samkerrworshipper]

i will wait for you | leah williamson x reader & barcelona team x reader

INCOMPLETE SPOILER !!!!!!!

i’m so sorry i’ve been inactive this weekend i’ve been trying my v harfest to catch up on my course work ☠️

haven’t written anything or even had a chance to look at my reqs so thought i’d bless y’all with a little draft that i can’t even manage to complete so enjoy a little spoiler of a req that i got x

it’s just pure pain, angst and probably going to end in smut but we’ll see 👀

You knew that this time when you went down it was different. All you’d been doing was sprinting up the sideline, your eyes focused solely on Alexia as she shot the ball a few feet in front of you. It was a good pass, a good line that had you heading straight for goal, hopefully it would secure your first in the Champions League final against Wolfsburg. It took a mere split second before you collapsed on the ground in complete agony. The umpire's whistle had blown almost immediately, your teammates huddling around you to give you some privacy whilst the medic made their way over to you, everyone trying to figure out what had happened. You were writhing against the pitch, screaming in pain that no one knew the source of. All you could do was sob and reach for your ankle as the medics tried their hardest to assess you and get you loaded onto a stretcher.

You were in unfathomable pain, resulting in the team's medics making the executive decision to pump you full of pain meds before they wheeled you off to the x-ray machines. You were a sobbing mess, the realisation kicking in that you were in so much pain and the realisation that your Champions League dream was over.

The x-rays confirmed your suspicions and you watched from the medical room as your team secured three goals against your opponents and when the whistle finally blew, they all became Champions. You watched as they all fell to their knees on the pitch, they were back to back champions, you were bedridden.

Instead of being out partying with the rest of the girls, you were put on the first flight back to Barcelona, you were in Bilbao, so they loaded you directly onto a medical helicopter and flew straight back to Barcelona. You passed out on the ride their, with the mix of disappointment and drugs mixing in your system to send you into a discomforting slumber.

When you woke up you were in a hospital in Barcelona. A series of doctors outlining to you the severity of your injury and what the coming weeks looked like for you. You tried your hardest to listen to their drawl, but it all went in one ear and came out the other. After they were done you insisted on being discharged, even with their warning words about the fact that it would be best if you stayed for another day or so, just before someone returned to take you back to your apartment and look after you whilst you were on such intense pain meds. You ignored their pleas, insisting that you go home by yourself, you didn’t want nor need their pity.

You got yourself home, in an uber, high off of the pain meds that were the only thing keeping you on your feet. You’d never liked crutches, found them extremely awkward and hard to use. You’d never believed that statement more than right now, as you attempted to crutch your way up the stairs of your apartment so you could make it to your bed. You were woozy on your feet, the drugs you were on making you sway as you tried your very hardest to focus on the step in front of you.

It took everything you had to make it to your bed, the pain, the tears, the pure need you had in your soul to just do it by yourself. You’d never felt more alone in your life, your team was too busy celebrating, your family was too busy doing other things to even think about you. By the time you made it to your bed you were completely spent, throwing yourself down into the sheets and falling into a deep sleep.

You awoke a horrific amount of times during the night, trembles of pain washing across your body directly from your ankle. It was gut wrenching pain, but you’d left your pain meds downstairs and you hardly trusted yourself on crutches during the day, let alone in the middle of the night. So you stayed in your bed, writhing in pain all throughout the night, willing for the sun to arise so you could finally get access to the medication you need so heavily. You knew there were people you could call, even if your teammates were in a different part of Spain. You knew that they would do anything to make you feel better, but you just couldn’t manage it, the guilt of taking away from their win was too much for you to bear.

When the sun finally did rise you tried your hardest to push yourself out of your bed and onto your crutches, but your legs felt like jelly. So instead of doing the rash thing and calling somebody, you pushed yourself down onto the floorboards of your room and started the gruelling process of pushing yourself against the floorboards and towards your stairs.

If crutches managed to hurt your ankle, then scooting yourself against the floors of your house was gruelling, a true struggle. Getting down your stairs was a nightmare, every single bump or nudge against the boot your ankle had been secured in was agony. The clunky thing was no help, it weighed down your ankle and made it a far bigger target for lodging itself on the edge of a stair.

Eventually, with tears flowing freely down your face you made it down the stairs and scooted yourself into the kitchen of your house, where you’d left the medications given to you by your doctors the day before. You reached up to your kitchen bench, clawing whatever you could reach for off of the ledge and brushing them down onto the floor beside you. It took all of your energy to get the medications down on the floor next to you, so you were relieved when you saw that you’d managed to scoop up the oxycodone pills from above you, which you knew would be enough to dull some of the pain you were feeling. You dry swallowed three pills, popping them into your mouth and forcing them down.

You looked across at the staircase in your apartment, your eyes were slowly becoming hooded and you knew you weren’t going to be able to make it back up the stairs, plus your apartment floor wasn’t that uncomfy right now?

You couldn’t help but slump against your kitchen bench, sleep and pain overwhelming you as you passed out on the floor of your kitchen.

“Y/n/n, babygirl, wake up for me.”

It was the feeling of a hand shaking against your face that brought you back to the world. In your drug induced haze it took a few seconds for your eyes to focus on the person responsible for your awakening.

“Ale, what are you doing here?”

You pushed her hand away from you, feeling a little bit vulnerable in your current position as she looked down at you from her position standing above you. Alexia was frowning down at you, and just as you’d finished taking her in you began to realise a lot of your team was piled into your apartment, you couldn’t make out everyone though.

“Bebita, we haven’t heard from you since the game, we’ve all been worried sick, you haven’t been answering anybody’s calls or texts.”

I tried my best to work up whatever courage and dignity I had, which was hard considering I was dressed in an oversized Barcelona champions shirt and whatever shorts the hospital must have been able to find to put me in.

“I’m fine, you can all leave, go back to celebrating.”

They all looked some form of hungover, they should be out partying, celebrating the win, instead they’d congregated in your house, which was honestly making you feel so much worse.

“I won’t have that tone pequeño, you clearly aren’t fine, if you were you wouldn’t be passed out on your kitchen floor after ghosting everybody for the last two days. I know you are in pain, but that does not warrant you pushing everybody out.”

Alexia’s voice was harsh, the voice she reserved for when she was making orders on the pitch, a voice that would normally have you quivering under her, but the mixture of the pain and embarrassment you were feeling was enough fuel for your drugged up state to use.

“Joder! I’m fine, go party, go celebrate, Estoy Bien, Déjame en paz.”

Your tone wouldn’t go over well, you knew that but the confidence from your statement was apparently fuel for you to stand yourself up from the ground on your own. You felt the shooting pain going up your leg almost immediately, as you struggled to balance with only one functioning foot. Alexia knitted her brows together, clenching her jaw as you watched her try to keep her composure, you never pushed a hungover Alexia, it never had a good result.

“I understand that you are in pain and that you don’t want to acknowledge. You need help though, and we have all come to give it, so please just let us.”

I looked at Alexia, she was standing a foot away from me, pure anguish and concern on her face.

“I’m fine, leave me alone, I know you all have celebrations to get back to, so please, go.”

I took a step on my injured foot, a big mistake that had me groaning in pain and Alexia’s arms coming up to my sides to stop me from going any further.

“Bebita, you are a part of that winning team, you deserve to be out celebrating with us, you clearly aren’t fine and we are all here to support you through that, however you need.”

You shook Alexia off of you, trying your very hardest to balance on a foot that wasn’t working,

“Vete a la mierda. Leave, get out of my house.”

You were getting annoyed and aggressive fast and quickly, something that your teammates seemed to pick up on.

“Leahhas called me, probably a 100 times, she’s worried sick about you, you can’t push everybody out forever, just because you are injured does not make you unlovable.”

Alexia’s words echoed against the walls of my house, her voice having risen to meet mine.

“Get out of my house, right now, before I call the police.”

Alexia exhaled deeply, she shooed the rest of the women that had piled themselves into my house out, leaving just you and her. You leant back against your kitchen bench, needing the assistance to keep you on your two feet, the pressure on your ankle becoming too much for you to be able to handle.

“You need help, I don’t care whether or not you know it but you do, we found you passed out on your kitchen floor and if that isn’t a big enough indicator then I don’t know what is. You can push us all out till the cows come home but it’s not achieving anything. You're going to let me take you up the stairs and back to bed, I’ll set you up with your meds and ice packs, I don’t care how much you hate it but I am going to be here for you whether or not you want me to be here.”

You glared at Alexia, your jaw set as a stone as the older women that had quickly become your adoptive older sister at Barca looked at you pointedly. There was no room for argument in her voice, like a drill sergeant.

Alexia walked towards you, taking you in her arms and letting your silent tears drip onto her shirt as she lifted you up, removing the pressure from your foot and carrying you up your stairs and to your bedroom. You cried silently into her, annoyed by the loss of your dignity so openly in front of your teammates. She helped to tuck you into your bed, elevating your ankle onto a pillow and very gently easing it out of the boot it was strapped into. The doctor’s had wrapped it up in bandages to keep it secure, so you were able to remove it from the boot to ice it. Alexia pressed an ice pack to your ankle, before procuring your meds and a drink bottle out of nowhere and leaving them on your bedside.

“Anything else you need?”

You glared straight out at the wall in front of you, lying back in your bed and refusing to look at Alexia.

“Leave.”

Alexia tried her hardest over the next week to get you to let her in. You pushed her out. You refused to leave bed besides going to the bathroom, which was not just detrimental to your physical health but also your mental health. You weren’t on your phone at all, refused to even look at it because you didn’t want to see any of the pity that was being thrown your way. Alexia tried her hardest, she came into your room at 7am every morning, prepped with breakfast that you never ate and your meds that were the only thing keeping you pain free at the moment. She tried her hardest to get you out of bed to go to your recovery appointments, but you refused to leave. Alexia was at her wits end. You needed surgery but a part of your surgery prep was that you needed to do some kind of recovery, that you needed to be strong enough to withstand that kind of toll on your body. You were depressed, something that was detrimental to your wellbeing going into surgery, if you asked the Catalan, you needed a kick up the ass, but nothing was working. Eventually, after day seven, you’d become mobile enough that she didn’t have any excuse to stay in your house anymore, you’d been very vocal about that so she’d left, apprehensively, unsure about what more she could do for you.

“Alexia, I’ve told you to fuck off.”

The sound of somebody's shoes scuffing against your doormat downstairs and your front door closing behind you was enough to make you unhappy. After seven gruelling days you’d finally gotten rid of Alexia, but now she was back and it was making you stir crazy. You could just make out the sound of her bare feet trudging up the stairs, nearing your bedroom door and opening it up.

“Leave me alone.”

You buried your head further into your pillows, pillows that were now beginning to smell a little bit too much like your. You pulled your head as physically close to the pillows as you could, twisting your body as far as you could without dislodging your ankle from its spot elevated on your bed.

“I’m not Alexia, if that helps?”

Your head shot out of your pillow and for a split second you wondered if the oxy delirium was getting to you. Alexia had been weaning you off the hard drugs, giving you less each day and replacing it with ibuprofen, which had the reverse effect on you, making you more delusional than you had been on the full strength drugs, you had more energy now though then you had a few days ago, so you could have just blamed it on you being more awake and present.

“Leah?”

You’d been avoiding your phone for a number of reasons, but number one on the list had been your girlfriend. For some reason, she was always the last person you wanted to talk to when you got injured, it made you feel guilty, ungrateful, especially considering she’d just missed out on playing you in the final this year.

“Hey baby girl.”

She looked exhausted, like she’d just gotten off a plane and it made you feel bad. Leah had spent a lot of time in your home in Barcelona, international breaks, time off, injury time, every time was enjoyable, but this time felt different.

“W-What are you doing here?”

Leah made her way further into your room, walking over to your shades and opening them a little bit, allowing more light then the very little amount that was peaking through the bottom of your shades.

“Alexia called, she said that you were in bad shape, that you needed someone and that someone had to be me. So I got on the first flight I could. She said that what you’d done was serious, full ankle ligament tears, all four of them and that you were struggling, so I got here as soon as I could.”

You let your bottom lip worry in between your teeth, as you watched Leah make her way around your room, picking up the loose articles of clothing that were on your floor, memories of Alexia fighting with you to get changed ran through your mind, a daily battle that always ended with you crying and screaming at her. Leah flung it all into your laundry basket, a little task that she always gave herself, always scared that one of us would trip and fall on a piece of clothing in the middle of the night, that fear now having escalated with crutches being brought into the picture.

“I’m fine, I would have called if I needed you, you're supposed to be with the team, they need you now more than I do.”

Leah turned back around to you, shedding her hoodie and slinging it into the laundry basket before addressing your sentence.

“Would you have? Because you didn’t and you seemed to be struggling pretty hard, Alexia called me, balling her eyes out because she was so scared that you were going to never leave bed. The girls need me, but you need me more right now, whether you know it or not, so I’m here, whatever you need, I’m here, for as long as you need.”

Leah sat herself down on the opposite edge of my bed, the one that was cold and empty. You looked at her anxiously, trying to decide whether or not you could fall into her right now, if she would catch you.

“I’m fine.”

[hopelesslonelyghost]

kyle “gaz” garrick x DA!fem!reader

i know i promised more angst but i simply can’t get the right words. so here! have this cute lil gaz whip i wrote today 🫶🏻 again, not beta read, sorry for any typos!

this is completely self indulgent because i wish i had gaz as my patient. i also wish i could have my fingers in his mouth

kyle hates the dentist. ever since he was little he hated going. but what child likes going, right? he thought by now he’d grow out of his dental phobia.

but it’s that time of year again and his file needs to be updated and well… he needs to see a dentist.

his previous dentist retired and in his stead, a new doctor took over.

new doctor and new assistants by the looks of it. kyle sat in the lobby, waiting to be called. his leg bounced.

“kyle garrick?”

his head snapped up and now his stomach was fluttering for a different reason. the assistant was pretty.

her eyes crinkled as she smiled at him. pearly whites flashing him. kyle quickly stood up, subtlety trying to gulp without her seeing.

‘damnit, don’t make a fool out of yourself’

you introduced yourself, led him down a short halfway and then stood by a door to the left, motioning with your hand to step inside.

“have a seat kyle, we’ll be getting started shortly.”

after taking a seat and answering a few questions in regards to his health, you tore open a bag with yellow, blue, and red hooks, a gray circle, and two metal arms, one angled at a sharp 90 degree angle. both had two tiny metal tips at the very end.

you giggled.

“don’t worry, i’m just updating your x-rays today. after this, the doctor will come and do your exam. that okay with you?”

you must’ve caught him staring pretty hard at the instruments. kyle nodded at you and gave you a sweet smile.

“perfectly fine wit’ me, love.”

you clicked a few things in the computer behind him and then stood up, grabbing a blue lead apron and coming to stand beside him.

“gonna be a little heavy, okay?” you placed it down gently, “now i’m going to strap this around your neck. lean forward a bit for me…good thank you.” you whispered, right into his ear.

he couldn’t help the goosebumps that littered his arms. pretty and whispering into his ear? yeah, he’ll be thinking about today all night. maybe even all week.

quickly getting to work, you begun his x-rays. quietly asking him to open and close. gently angling his head in whichever way you needed him to. while the instruments and sensor in his mouth felt a little uncomfortable, it all felt worth it when you kept praising him after each beep! of the x-ray machine.

“open….good job… okay, now close. perfect. don’t move.”

he wouldn’t dream of it. he’d get on his knees right now if you asked him to. you already had your fingers in his mouth, might as well, right?

once you were done, you made quick work to get the apron off kyle.

“wow, that was fast.”

you smiled at him, “i try to be a fast as i can. i know getting your x-rays taken isn’t the most comfortable experience.”

you leaned over him for a split second, tying a bib around his neck. kyle was breathing in as you did, catching a whiff of your perfume. you smelled divine. sweetly floral, but not overwhelming.

fuck. you were pretty, empathetic, AND smelled good? yep. suddenly coming to the dentist’s office wasn’t that bad.

soon after, the doctor came in and checked out his teeth. humming and calling out notes which you were rapidly typing into the computer.

“well kyle! everything looks great! not seeing anything wrong in the x-rays or visually. you’re doing a great job. you’ll only have to come back for a cleaning! my assistant here can help you set up an appointment for that.”

the doctor thank you as they walked out. true to their word, you helped him set up at appointment for next week.

“you’re all set for today, any questions before I let you go?”

kyle stood up, “no doll, thank you. you’ve been wonderful.”

you gaped lightly at him, but quickly recovered. you flashed him a bashful smile.

you were so goddamn cute.

you led him out back towards the front and held the door open for him. you waved at him from the doorway as kyle made his way across the lobby and back outside, “have a good week! see you soon.”

kyle chuckled and gave you a two finger salute, “see you soon sweetheart.”

•••

n/a: just a lil disclaimer, not every dental office works the same. every place is different. this is just the way the office i work at does things. obviously i didn’t go into too much detail in regards to treatments bc i would be insufferable and i truly believe from the bottom of my heart that gaz flosses and brushes twice a day religiously. for the sake of fanfics being fanfics, reader isn’t wearing a face mask. realistically she should be wearing one.

DA= dental assistant <3

okay i’m done rambling!

thanks for reading!

[kinardsevan]

spare parts

(this is only part of a concept. who knows when i'll find time to actually write it.)

He falls asleep at some point. He’s not entirely sure when; he wasn’t really keeping track of time. But the sound of the front door opening rouses him, and when he sits up, Tommy is coming through the door. 

“Hi baby,” he greets. His voice is weary, but cheerful. He drops his duffel beside his shoes and leans down over the couch, pecks Evan on the lips. “How was your day off?” 

He doesn’t answer at first; lets the idea that he’s still waking up fill the moment instead as Tommy comes around the couch and sits down next to him. The sun is setting, but there’s still enough light left in the room that they can still see each other. 

Still, they’ve been together long enough now that they’ve memorized all the nuances about each other. Which means when Evan doesn’t start offering up an answer about anything, Tommy can tell something is up. 

“Evan, what’s wrong?” 

He inhales a deep breath. 

“I had a doctors appointment today,” he admits after a tick. He’s staring at his hands, wringing them tightly together. Tommy reaches out and slides his fingers between Evan’s, forcing him to stop. It makes him look up at his husband. 

“Tell me,” Tommy replies, his own tone gruff, but patient. Cut the bullshit and just tell me.

“M-my leg has been acting up,” Evan continues. “Thought maybe I pulled something, but it didn’t feel like it was getting better even after I took extra time off last week. So I called.” 

Tommy nods, watching him intently. 

“And?” 

He inhales another deep breath. 

“And it’s not good,” he replies, his voice trembling. When he manages to look up at Tommy, the tears in his own eyes are welled so high that half of his husband’s face is blurred, and his chin is quivering. Tommy just keeps watching him, waiting.

“Th-they did some x-rays, a-and then an MRI, and-and a CT,” he explains. 

“And they found,” Tommy prompts him. His tone is tight and gravelly. It’s like he knows what’s coming, but still needs Evan to say it. 

“Cancer,” Evan rasps when finally finds the strength to say the word. “Osteosarcoma, they think.” 

His tears fall then, and Tommy nods as he wraps his hand around Evan’s head, pulling him and pressing his lips to his husband’s temple. Evan cracks at that, unable to stop the silent sobs that fall out of him then. 

“Dr. Benton transferred me over to one of the orthopedic oncologists,” he continues, even as the tears keep coming. “Sh-she wants to do a biopsy in a few days.” 

“Okay,” Tommy replies, like it’s the easiest decision in the world. “Then we do that.” 

Evan lifts his head up, a pained expression in his eyes. “Tommy-..” 

Tommy shakes his head, his fingers still in his husband’s hair. 

“No. You are not somebody’s spare parts anymore, Evan,” Tommy tells him. “You do not need to operate on someone else’s schedule, especially if we’re facing a fight like this.” 

Evan doesn’t have the words to respond then. He’s not entirely sure how he feels about the whole process yet. It’s been almost three decades since Daniel passed away, but he still remembers enough of his childhood in hospitals to recall the pain of being the access point for anything his older brother needed while he was still alive. 

[pluto247]

The Four Mistakes - pt 2

Thinking about doing a part 3...

Katie McCabe x Reader

Warnings: Mentions of Injury

It seemed like every step was a chore, even with Katie supporting your entire body weight. You groaned with every step. Katie was basically dragging you, at least that is what you felt was happening as you could barely lift your feet. 

“I know y/n, I know it hurts but we are almost home.” Katie would reassure you, although you were pretty sure she was scared shitless and trying to keep you calm. Fun fact, you were anything but calm. 

The 10 minute walk back to Katie's house felt more like 2 hours with how slow you felt you were walking, but you have to give Katie credit, she can most definitely drag a 60 kg 17 year old like there is no tomorrow. When we did get back to the house, Katie practically threw you in the back seat and jumped in the driver's seat. Driving like a mad woman to the nearest hospital, you took notice of her right hand. It could have been broken, it was swollen with dried and fresh blood flowing down her arm. It seemed as though she hadn’t really taken notice, it was the least of her problems to be fair. 

“Don’t fall asleep on me back there, ya hear?”

“I’ll try my best” you whispered. Gosh, even talking hurt. 

“You’re going to be just fine y/n. Ya gotta be.”

Katie pulled right outside the emergency doors and threw open her door to grab you from the backseat. Once you were safely tucked into her side, the both of you made your way to the entrance of the emergency room. Surprisingly, the emergency room seemed to not be as chaotic as they portray in drama shows. So a nurse was on us the moment we came through the doors. 

“We will take her from here ma’am” she said while getting on my other side, “Tell us everything you know.” 

���Um.. I.. He..” Katie stuttered out, as they transferred me to a gurney and wheeled me away.

“Ma’am, your hand. You are hurt, let me help you.” She said gently grabbing Katies right hand,

Katie recoiled a little bit, hissing at the contact, finally realizing that she in fact was in a great deal of pain. Her pain only became relevant now that you were in the hands of people capable of helping you. 

“Ma’am, do you know who you brought in? Do you know who we can call? Can I please help you? I think you broke your hand” The nurse asked

“Um, she's my kid. I am the one who you would call.” She responded shakily

“Ok, good. Is there anyone we can call for you? You don’t seem to be doing ok.”

Katie thought for a few seconds before fishing out her phone and handing it to the nurse “Uh, yea me best mate. And yea me hand hurts help would be appreciated, if ya wouldn’t mind. Is she gonna be alright? What are they going to do?”

“We will not know until the doctor comes back, but we will let you know as soon as they come back. Now let's go over here and take a look at your hand.” The nurse said while leading Katie back into an examination room. She began to look at the hand in more detail before reaching over to grab some cleaning supplies and clean her knuckles.

“I’m Nancy by the way, what’s your name?” The nurse said after starting to clean Katies wounds.

“My name is Katie, do ya think my hand is broken?”

“Straight to the point I see. Well, we will need an x-ray to say for sure and what kind of treatment would be needed, but I am 80% sure you indeed have a broken hand Katie,”

“Damn, I was hoping you wouldn’t say that. Do I at least get a cool cast?”

“Of course, in any color you want. But let me go and put in for an x-ray and check up on the status of your child. What's her name? Nancy said while standing up

“Her names y/n, y/n McCabe” Katie responded tearfully

*****

A half hour had passed before another person burst through the emergency room doors. 

“I’m looking for Katie McCabe? Where is she?” Viv asked the front desk

“She is just about to come back to the waiting room, looks like she just got her cast done so the nurse will send her your way if you will just have a seat ma’am.” 

Viv nodded and turned around to look for an open chair perfectly positioned to see everything but not be so far away that she couldn’t hear if the nurse called your name. In the middle of her consideration, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her torso. She looked over and saw Katie, so she wrapped her arms around her shoulders. 

“Hey, are you ok?” Viv spoke after a minute

“I don’t know, I will be once I see her. Viv… she was in bad shape… I …” Katie said before being caught by a wave of emotion. 

“Hey. Look at me, she is going to be fine. She’s a McCabe, you all are a stubborn lot. Now lets sit down and tell me what happened”

*****

Katie was currently tucked into Vivs side, her leg bouncing in anticipation, impatiently waiting for the doctor to say your name. 

“So, why did you have them call me instead of Caitlin?” Viv wondered out loud 

“Well, Cait is out with Steph and Kyra. I didn’t want to ruin her night, and ya were the next person I could think of to help me.” Katie confessed. “Where's Beth? Ya guys are attached at the hip.”

“Ah, Steph called like 10 min before I got the phone call. She got invited to hang out with the Aussies.”

“God, that's trouble.”

Finally, your name was called, “Family of y/n McCabe?” 

Katie  and Viv shot up and made their way to the doctor.

“Hi, yea that’s us. Is she ok?” Katie rushed out 

“Yes, y/n is alright. If you follow me, we will go back and see her. She is a little out of it because we gave her some strong pain meds, just a warning.” They said while walking down the corridor. They walked past a few more doors until the doctor turned left and went through the door.

“y/n, how are you feeling?” The doctor greeted you.

As they walked in the room, Katie was finally able to see you. You were sitting up and looking at the door with a dopey look on your face. She took note of all the physical injuries she could see, you had a black eye, a few stitches around your eyebrow and a cut adorning your lip. As well as a bandage around your right hand. 

“I’m okayyyy. The funky juice ya gave me is makin me feel fuzy, but its all goooood becuz ya brought me Mum. Oh! And Auntie Viv!”

The doctor chuckled a little bit, “Mhmm, I sure did. They are gonna take you home soon, I just need to tell your mum a few things, is that alright?”

You looked flabbergasted, “pfffttt, of course. She already knows everything about meee”

“Alright, so I am sure you can see most of the damage. She has a few stitches in her face and quite a few in her hand. We have it covered so that nothing gets into her… incisions. You will have to come back to get all the stitches removed in about 2 weeks. We checked her torso area, and found that she has no broken bones, she did however have a few fractured ribs and severe bruising. That is the reason for the strong pain meds. I imagine she will be in quite a bit of pain for about a week or so because of that. Any questions?”

“Um, is there a way I can get you to send both my report and hers to our work? And I can take her back home tonight?” 

“Yea, that shouldn’t be a problem. Just need a medical release so that we can send those over and those can be there by the morning. Yes, you can take her home tonight. We don’t need to keep her for observation, but if anything changes please do come back and we can take a look.” 

“Ok, thank you very much.” Katie replied and then turned to you. “Hey kid, ya really gave me a scare there.” She continued, gently cupping your cheek.

“I’m sowry, I didn’t mean to” You replied looking tearful

“Hey, no. It’s alright, I… I just hated to see you like that, but you are alright now. Auntie Viv is going to take us home” She softly smiled before leaning in and placing a light kiss on your forehead. You leaned into her touch, closing your eyes briefly. 

*****

You all had arrived home far too late for Katie’s pleasure. It was nearing 3 am when you stumbled through the front door.

“Hey, careful there kid. Lets not have to go back to the hospital, alright?” Katie said, worry laced in her voice

“I am like sooo careful, ya don’t even know. Now where is the boi??? I am in need of cuddles” You retort back, head swiveling in search of cooper. 

Viv chuckled, as she grabbed your arm and pulled you into her side “God, she’s so high.”

“C’mon, we need to go to bed. Ya can sleep in my bed with cooper too.”

“Yayyyyy, now where is he??? And what about auntie Viv, where is she going to sleep?” you say, determined and confused.

Katie turned to Viv, “I actually did not think of that. We have practice tomorrow… Ya can sleep over obviously, I think Cait said something about spending the night at Stephs”

“Yea, that would be great. I can drive you both in tomorrow, you will have to talk to Jonas and the Physio. I can do that if it would make it easier.” Viv said while practically dragging you to Katie's bedroom.

“That would be great, I don’t know if I could talk about it again without breaking down. Would you mind taking us later, so everyone is on the pitch already, I don’t want the kid to be overwhelmed.”

“Yea, I will text Jonas now. I am in no shape to train tomorrow either, I am so tired.”

Viv helped you lay down in the middle of the bed, where you were now picking up cooper from where he was and placing him on your chest. Your quest of finding your furry friend now over. 

As Viv was sending a message to Jonas, Katie got into the bed and pulled the covers up. Cooper moving off y/n’s chest and onto her own. You however, were sad that cooper had left you so you moved to your side and cuddled into Katies side sighing contently as Katie wrapped an arm around you protectively. When Viv had turned around, she chuckled.

“May I join the cuddle pile?” 

“Of course, auntie Viv. Come on my other side, so that I am a sandwich!”

“What kind of sandwich?” Viv asked as she got into the bed, spooning you

“A love sandwich, silly” you said tiredly.

 “My bad, now go to bed kid, you have a long day tomorrow.” Viv said as she felt herself being claimed by the warmth of sleep. 

[redtsundere-writes]

Jinx | Sukuna Ryomen

mma fighter!sukuna ryomen x femalecoach!reader

Part 9. Don't Know

Beginning. ← Previous | Next →

Synopsis: Sukuna is a world champion with anger issues. It's believed by many that he is untrainable. Yeah, you can't train him, but you can dominate him. Contents: Fighting. Sukuna being Sukuna. Female reader being dom. Jinx AU (the BL, not the character from lol) Warnings: Cursed words. Fighting. Sexual harassment. I only read it once, lmao Word count: 2722 words. A/N: Shoutout to @ghosts-girl_ on IG for sending me a Sukuna fanart that was inspired by this fic! Tysm <3!

Btw I made a PLAYLIST

Going back to the hospital always scared me. I always enter the doctor’s office with sweaty hands while imagining the worst in my mind. The white and neat walls, decorated with informative posters about the importance of exercising regularly. The light gray floor was freshly waxed, I could see my scared face reflected in it. There were a few fake plants around to make the place look less intimidating.

The doctor was asking me questions about my lifestyle over the past six months while typing incessantly on the computer perched in the middle of the large desk. The doctor took out the new x"ray that had been taken of my neck and inspected it in front of the light screen. He didn't say anything, he just analyzed her very carefully to not make a wrong diagnosis. My manager, Mei Mei, came with me this time for support despite having a tight schedule. She noticed I was nervous, so she patted me on the back to calm me down.

“Do you think she can fight soon, Doc?" Mei Mei asked him my biggest concern.

“Her neck has completely healed, if she wanted, she could fight tonight,” the doctor answered with a smile.

A sigh of relief escaped my lips at the wonderful news I had awaited for so long. 3 years to be precise. I was out of the octagon for 3 years on medical recommendation so that my neck would heal completely and avoid future injuries. My face was about to cry with joy, so I hid it in my hands. I was about to reborn, I already wanted to return to the gym with my team to train like in the old days. Start again, conquer the battlefield and recover the title that was taken from me.

Mei Mei and I left the office to meet my friend and training partner, Nobara, who was waiting for us along with Mei Mei's younger brother, Ui Ui. I told her the good news, and she hugged me happily. We used to do everything together before I was injured, now we could go back to our routine as if nothing had happened.

“Everyone will be very happy when they see you back at the gym,” Nobara said excitedly.

“Finally,” I sighed heavily jokingly. “Mei Mei, shall I ask you to gather the team?” I asked her nicely.

Mei Mei was in charge of ensuring that my schedule was met without delays. She was the one who organizes my fights, gathers athletes for special training, hires doctors, etc. She was always busy, but she never let me out of her sight. Not only that, but she always took care of my my needs even though Team Black gives me everything I need. I told her not to worry so much in several occasions, but she always responded with “you never know.”

"I'm already on it, darling. Also, since your appearances with Ryomen, there are several sponsors interested in you,” Mei Mei reminded me of the unexpected kiss Sukuna gave me after his crushing victory against Naoya a couple of weeks ago. "Your life will return to normal in no time."

"When do you plan to come back?” Nobara asked me excitedly.

"I don't know yet, I have to talk to Sukuna's manager to agree on a release date and find a replacement,” I replied.

"When you have the date, let me know,” Mei Mei asked me without taking her eyes off her phone.

"When you return, could you bring me something signed by the King of the Ring?". Ui Ui asked excitedly.

"I'll see what I can do,” I answered honestly.

Mei Mei and Ui Ui left after that. Once we lost sight of them, Nobara took my hands to approach my face curiously. I moved away from her face at the unexpected proximity. When I saw her eyes sparkling from excitement, I could imagine what she wanted.

"So… You and Sukuna, huh?" she asked excitedly.

Since living with him, I have noticed that our relationship had improved, but only as a coach-athlete relationship. I haven't noticed that he treats me sweeter, that he gives me flirtatious glances or that he gets nervous when I am around. He continues to act as the same fearsome Sukuna as always.

My feelings towards him have also increased. When I have to watch him to make sure he does the exercises, my mind travels back to the passionate nights we've had together. I can no longer see his hands without thinking about how he holds me by the waist or his face without imagining him moaning my name. He made me blush without even trying, I was fed up. It was so frustrating not being able to do my job well.

"There’s nothing between me and Sukuna,” I answered, removing my hands from the grip.

"Don’t lie to me! Everyone saw that passionate kiss he gave you!" Nobara scolded while pretending to make out with herself.

"Sukuna only did it to annoy Naoya," I answered, trying to downplay it…

…but I couldn't ignore it. After that night, my perspective on Sukuna had completely changed. I wasn't surprised that I fell in love with him, I mean, I have a reputation for choosing the worst possible men. I had to get rid of this feeling as soon as I could. If I could do it while I lived with him, great, but I knew perfectly well that after asking for my resignation, Sukuna would throw me out and this feeling would go away on its own like a cold.

"And how are you so sure that he doesn't like you?" Nobara asked me.

The idea that Sukuna was interested in me in that way was tempting. It wasn't crazy considering we've already slept together twice, and he kissed me on international television, but I highly doubted that was the case. Yuuji had told me that Sukuna wasn't interested in having a girlfriend and I doubt that will change anytime soon.

“Impossible,” I answered without further ado.

"Oh, come on! Men never kiss woman just because,” Nobara argued.

"What do you know know about men? You're a lesbian,” I joked.

"I know how they behave when they like a girl, it's what we have in common," she challenged me.

My heart wanted to believe her, but my mind warned me with red flags that I shouldn't. Being in love is complicated.

At first, I had a hard time adjusting to living with Sukuna. I lived alone for so long that I forgot how it was living with someone. Quickly, I could adapt to his cold attitude in the morning, seeing him walk around the house wet and with a towel wrapped around his slutty waist, and listening to his complaints when we left the gym. Sukuna is the one who pays for everything, the only thing I could contribute to the house was to cook for him from time to time if the cook was not available. I couldn't help but feel like a sugar baby, but that feeling went away every time I used the magnificent indoor pool.

The microwave announcing that my popcorn was ready brought me out of my thoughts. I was preparing myself some popcorn as tonight's fights began. The schedule was not very exciting, except for the main fight. The fight for the heavyweight division championship between Toji Fushiguro and Aoi Todo. A battle between two powerful giants of the UFC.

I returned to the kitchen to prepare the popcorn to my liking in a bowl. I opened the refrigerator to look for the juice I had bought before I got home. Being a high-performance athlete, Sukuna's smart refrigerator only served to store large amounts of chicken breast, vegetables, and sparkling water. If I wanted something with sugar or “chemicals”, I had to buy it myself and hide it so as not to tempt Sukuna's appetite. As I closed the door, I noticed the new dietary regimen that Sukuna's nutritionist had asked hm to follow.

"Chicken, rice, and broccoli for 4 days straight? No wonder he's always so angry,” I thought out loud as I quickly scanned the sheet of paper.

No sugar. Do not eat carbs after 6 pm. Just an egg without yolk in the morning. I knew that Sukuna was a highly disciplined athlete, but going on such a demanding diet was ridiculous. If a nutritionist asked me to follow this regimen like a soldier, I would fire her in no time.

There were so many things I wanted to change about his extreme lifestyle, but I was sure I wouldn't be able to figure it out before my last day. Furthermore, I had to tell him that I would no longer be his coach and that someone else was going to take my place. I didn't know how he would even take the news. I just had to make sure to tell him when he is in a good mood. Who am I kidding? He is never in a good mood, that goes against his personality.

"Fuck this shit!" Sukuna yelled as he reluctantly entered the house. Now was not the right time to tell him.

He tossed his backpack onto the small stool at the entrance, where we kept our shoes and had a mirror for finishing touches. Sukuna slammed the door shut which offended my ears. I just watched him confused while I ate my popcorn.

"Things didn’t go well with the Olympian?" I asked, trying to understand where his anger was coming from.

While I was at the doctor, Sukuna went to the Olympic stadium to have an exclusive sparring with a boxing gold medalist. He insisted that I cancel my appointment to come with him, but I told him that even if I did that, I wouldn't be much help. My specialty is jujitsu, not boxing. I told him that Gojo knows more than me, and he stopped annoying me.

"That idiot asked for a break on the fifth round. Can you fucking believe that?! The best boxer in the nation?! My balls can last longer than that!” He exclaimed in annoyance as he ran his fingers through his hair in exasperation.

"Could it be because it was training and not a real fight?" I asked before putting a popcorn in my mouth, staying calm. If I got down to his level, he would only get more upset.

"If I had wanted to waste my time, I would have trained with one of the gym's rookies,"Sukuna mumbled.

He sat on the stool and sighed heavily as he unlaced his shoes to enter the house. I could see the helplessness in his eyes at not having the demanding training he wanted. Having a perfect streak of 28 overwhelming victories, he hasn't had a rival who can match his level in years. Always being the winner means that you are not learning, and you are staying stagnant while others moved forward, Sukuna was afraid of being left behind.

I sighed as I understood his anger, putting the bowl aside to approach him. I took advantage of the fact that he was at my level to gently massage his shoulders. Even though I didn't do it with a romantic intention, touching him like that after weeks felt like drinking water in the middle of the Sahara. A temporary pleasure that I had to take advantage as much as I could.

"Do you know what it means that he didn't last more than 5 rounds?" I asked him while massaging his neck.

"I'm not in the mood for your shit," he mumbled, focused on his shoes.

"Let me finish!" I barked. "It means you're better than an Olympic medalist," he looked at me again, calmer now.

"You think?" he asked me, looking at me to deduce if I was saying it out of pity or not.

"Of course! You are the king of the ring, not just in the UFC!" I cheered, giving him a friendly pat on the arm.

"Not everyone can go against the king," he said with an evil smile.

It was one of those few times I've seen him smile like that. I'm glad to know that I could be of use to him outside the gym. I wanted to be the cause for him to smile more often, even if it meant he didn't feel the same way about me. A reality that I was willing to accept for the sake of both of us.

The fight between Aoi Todo and Toji Fushiguro was about to start. The current champion, Toji, entered shining his glorious belt with Welcome To The Jungle by Guns N' Roses in the background while the commentators read his statistics. Aoi, the challenger, Todo looked forward to the fight from the octagon. The crowd was excited, music was blaring from the speakers, and commentators were debating who would take home the belt. It was an important fight that deserved to be seen on the room's beautiful 80"inch screen.

"That son of a bitch," Sukuna snorted behind me, referring to Toji. He was in my robe as always before going to sleep.

"A talented son of a bitch," I joked. "Sit down and watch it with me."

"I'll watch it until I get sleepy," Sukuna scoffed as he sat next to me on the couch.

After formal introductions and the referee's instructions, the first round took place. The two mastodons faced each other face to face in a rain of punches and jabs that seemed to have no end. They were like two bulls striking each other with their sharp horns, making the plaza resonate with the power of their tackles. It was clear that Aoi Todo was a born boxer who did not allow himself to be intimidated by the enormous presence of Fushiguro with those beastly hits. Before Toji could take him to the ground, like he had done in the fight against Sukuna, the bell rang.

“Who are you rooting to?” I asked Sukuna excitedly.

"I do not know, and I do not care." he answered with a yawn. That answer deserved me to throw my empty popcorn bowl at him.

"It's a very important fight! You should know!" I scolded him as the TV went to commercial break. "Todo and Fushiguro have been fighting for the division title for 2 years. Both have won twice simultaneously. This is their fifth fight. It's the fight for 3 out of 3!” I explained. Sukuna shrugged his shoulders, downplaying it the importance it deserved.

"And who are you rooting for?" He asked me to make conversation as they returned to the fight.

"Aoi Todo is a magnificent boxer like you…". At the comparison, Sukuna gave me a killer glance. "Obviously, you are the best," I corrected before he killed me.

"That is what I thought."

"But Toji is a complete fighter, I am team Toji for life," I replied with a proud smile. Sukuna gave me another killing look, this time it was more stern. I really don't learn from my mistakes, huh? "Obviously I'm Team Black before that," I said with a guilty smile.

The champion threw a quick jab, but the challenger easily dodged it. Aoi responded with a combination of quick strikes that made Fushiguro flinched. He stumbled back, but stayed upright. He threw a wild right hand, but the challenger blocked it with his forearm. The challenger took the opportunity to launch a flurry of jabs that Toji dodged like a master. Aoi continued entering her field, causing Toji's back to hit the fence. He threw one last desperate right hand, but Todo dodged it and responded with a left hook that sent the champion to the ground.

"¡No!" I exclaimed upon seeing the knockout.

"Too bad…" Sukuna mocked me.

After my champion couldn't get up easily, the referee ended the fight. The challenger had won the fight with a monstrous knockout. The crowd roared and Todo raised his arms in victory as he ran around the octagon. He had defeated his legendary opponent and became the new champion of the heavyweight division.

"First words after defeating such an important rival?". The interviewer asked Todo as he celebrated with his team supporting him behind him.

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[thepenultimateword]

Monstrous Part 2

Part 1

CW: Experimentation, injuries

Everything hurt. A thousand needles under the surface of Hero's skin, plunging deeper and deeper, into muscle, organs, bone.

She shrieked, surging against the many sets of hands pinning her to the gurney. Beakers and test tubes shattered; one of the monitors began to smoke. Hero caught a glimpse of hands over ears and the mess of blood and feathers blanketing the floor before being shoved back cheek first into the table.

"Where's my sedative?" shouted Dr. Penn. His familiar, harsh hands had Hero by the scruff of her neck, making her dizzy with the almost strangling pressure.

"I need stitches!" cried another voice.

"Shut up, Lancaster!" Penn barked. " You're the one at fault! Sedative then serum! How many times do I have to say it?"

"That thing attacked me!" Lancaster cried, voice as sharp as his blood on the otherwise sterile air.

A rush of rage surged through Hero's burning body, and she flapped her wings violently, breaking a few of her captors' hold.

"Will somebody bind those things down!" Penn said.

Another set of hands forced her wings into an expert fold, tearing loose a few feathers along the way, then wrapped the binding strap so tight it ached. "We should just cut the things off," the new scientist said. Dr. Sunfield. Hero shuddered involuntarily. The woman's threats were never empty.

"Yeah? And then how is she supposed to get around?" Penn snarled. "The bus? We all agreed on a mobility element."

Sunfield gave the restraints an unnecessary tug, causing Hero to shriek. "They weren't supposed to get so big. She looks like a blasted vulture."

"They're only going to get bigger. The rest of her too. Her growth plates are still showing on the x-rays."

Sunfield cursed. "This is a disaster."

"At least she's been useful data."

Something sharp and stinging plunged into Hero's neck, followed by a nauseating chill that washed from head to toe. The sedative at last. She wasn't sure whether to be scared or relieved. The pain would finally stop, but what else would they poke her with while she was under? The scientists loosened their grip, and she took advantage of that to swing her claws toward Penn's voice. Her limbs were already more sluggish than she'd realized. The doctor caught her wrist, giving her fingers a bone-cracking squeeze before stroking her limpening knuckles with his thumb. His other hand tucked her tangled hair behind her ears. "Besides, we were asked to give the city something to get rid of Supervillain, and that's what we did. She may be monstrous, but a monstrous masterpiece nonetheless."

"The city can't market monstrous. There's backlash from the citizens every day, and that cuts into our funding."

"Don't worry." Penn's voice seemed to slow and stretch, and he dropped Hero's arm with a dull thud. "The next ones will be heroes the city can trust."

Hero shot upright. A sharp pain shot through both temples, and the melty, slanted surroundings immediately slumped her back onto her elbows. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for her head to stop feeling to heavy for her neck.

"Oh! You're awake," came a drawling masculine voice. It sounded roaring. "How do you feel?"

Hero winced. "Floaty." She dared crack her eyes and squinted around the room. Shelves and shelves of alcohol and jarred olives glistened in the weak orange light. A faint electric buzz resonating from the metal door on the wall adjacent hinted at a refrigerated room. She rose slower this time, hoisting her aching wings shut and swinging her legs over the side of the rickety cot.

"Wait, wait! Don't pop your stitches; they're still fresh!"

A figure leaped up from the ground at the cot's head, and Hero slowly recalled his tangled hair and lean stature.

"Where am I?" she demanded, more threat than question.

The man held out his hands, the one she’d clawed now wrapped in bandages. Once again, he didn’t seem particularly put off by her behavior.

"Backroom at Foghorn. It’s a bar. Particularly for upstanding citizens like myself. People are always crashing here when they get into scraps. They have more medical supplies than my place. Better pain medication. That's probably what's making you feel floaty."

“You kidnapped me,” Hero snarled.

The man shrugged, a motion almost like rolling his shoulders, like brushing her off and getting ready to stand his ground all in one. “I hate to argue with a lady who could probably turn me inside out, but you did pass out in the middle of the street. So any 'kidnapping' on my part was really nothing more than a rescue effort."

Hero gave the man a hard look. Rescue effort? She wasn't buying that. People didn't rescue things like her. Not without a ten-foot pole. And this guy didn't look like the trimmed poodles the labs or the agency usually sent to spy on her.

“What’s your motive?"

“No motive," the man said. "I was in the area.”

“You said we’ve met?”

The man grinned whipping a business card from the inside pocket of his shirt and rolling it over his knuckles and--with a bowing flourish-- into her hand. “Villain. You killed my old boss.”

She blinked at the unimpressive piece of cardstock, blank but for a nicely typed name and a phone number. His words sank in slowly.

Ah. A criminal. And one of Supervillain's mess. She'd taken out all the big players, so he must have been telling the truth about being in the background.

“You want revenge then?” she said. That made more sense. Watching her die in the street would have meant nothing to him. He had to save her and break her himself. Inflict the same pain she inflicted on--

“No, we threw a nice little party after you left." Villain plopped crisscross at her feet. He rested his cheek in his hand and stared casually up at her. "Honestly, the boss was suffocating, but what can you expect from someone with a chokehold on your life."

"You...wanted me to kill him?"

"You mean did we want rid of the giant gun at our heads?"

Hero bristled a little at the sarcasm. What did she know about villainous politics? She was just given a problem, and she got rid of it.

"With Supervillain it was black or white," Villain continued. "Ally or enemy. And you did not want to be an enemy. So ally it was. Pawn is closer to the truth. No, we can finally spread our wings--if you'll excuse the analogy--without being seen as competition."

He leaned in conspiratorially.

"If I may be so bold, I think I've had a little crush since the moment I saw you."

Hero slammed the cot against the wall with a metallic crash as she stood, looming darkly over Villain's bony curled-up frame.

"Shut up."

Villain's brow knit together. "Of course, I don't expect anything from that confession, I simply wanted to say the way you just ripped into him was fantastic. And your voice. That precision! You were--"

"Shut. Up."

This time Villain did flinch. Hero took some satisfaction from that. It was a little frightening when the tired and true defenses didn’t work.

“I can take a beating. They make jabs about me every day on television, and that's fine. But I will not be made fun of. I won't be the butt of your sick, simpering jokes. Or are you trying to manipulate me? You think you can flatter me, and I'll fall over myself to help you? I am not an idiot."

Villain opened his mouth, and Hero braced herself for more lies. Maybe her guard showed on her face because slowly he shut it again, fixing her in a steady hazelnut stare. Eventually, he tipped his chin at her. "I'll get some ice for that wing."

Hero turned her head over her shoulder. The aching wing had begun sliding back toward the floor. She attempted to lift it against her back again but a sharp electric pain stopped her short.

"Here." Villain touched her lightly on the shoulder, drawing her out of her wince. He held out a frozen pack of fries from the refrigerator room. “It’s not much, but better than nothing.”

Hero glared but snatched the pack from his hand. The cot creaked as she dropped back on the edge and slowly extended her wings to the dusty concrete. Her feathers pulled a little against the dried grime, and she had to strain to press the cold to the aching joint where wing connected to back, but it did help.

Villain's eyes still didn't stray away; they actually looked more focused glued to her wings. What was his deal?

"Your wings," he said slowly. "Does it bother you... I mean...would you like something to clean them with?"

Hero glanced at greasy, blackened ends, dredged with oil and refuse. She fought down a grimace. Yes, it bothered her. It was sticky and crusted and uncomfortable, but it wasn't the first time she'd dealt with this sort of discomfort. At least it wasn't blood.

"I'm used to it," Hero grumbled. "They're always hard to keep clean."

"Can't you get them wet?"

What was with all the questions? If he really had no motive, why didn't he leave already?

"Yes... But most showers aren't exactly big enough for a full wingspan. And public shower rooms are not an option when you look like this." She gestured at herself brusquely. "The labs have a sanitizing room when I really need it."

Villain nodded slowly.

“I had to do the stitches to save you," he said. "But I didn’t want to touch you any more than I had to without permission. But if it's bothering you, and if you don't mind... You can tell me if it's too uncomfortable but..." He pointed to the dirty wing. "May I?”

Hero's first impulse was to blow up again. To shout a resounding no and ask what his real intentions were. Maybe he really was a spy, just biding his time before he incapacitated her. It was certainly up Sunfield's ally to force the labs' hand at retiring her. But then again, he could have done that when she was knocked out.

“Whatever.” Hero turned to the side so the grimy wing drooped more fully on the floor.

Villain hopped to his feet a little too giddily. "Don't move, I'll be right back." He skirted past the storage shelves and pushed out into the business side of the building, a sliver of the loud chatter and clinking glasses slipping inside before the door swung shut again.

Hero closed her eyes for a moment and imagined the bustle going on just on the other side of that wall. It was probably the closest she had ever gotten to a place like this, at least, without crashing it. How would they react if she were to step out? Would they leave? Would they try to finish her off?

Another bit of cacophony escaped through the swinging door.

"Ooookay!" Villain called. He set a large bowl of soapy water and clean washcloth on the ground and settled down beside it. As he outstretched his hands, he hesitated. "You're sure? You're not going to claw me to death or anything like that?"

"I only claw criminals who cause me problems," Hero said. "So you're safe. For now."

"Goody," Villain grinned. He carefully dragged the wing into his lap, squeezed the excess water from the washcloth, and gently got to work on the worst patch or street gunk.

Hero looked straight ahead.

Warm water trickled between her feathers, triggering a shudder that set each one on end. She fought the urge to close her eyes against the gentle rake of his fingers. She hadn’t known someone could touch her without pulling or prodding.

"Ok?"

"Mm," Hero grunted with a short nod. This wasn't just a quick swipe of the rag; he was sifting through each and every feather. A cleaning like this, by hand, could take hours. Hero never signed up for that. She didn't have that time. But for now--she fought another shiver--it was fine.

“I wasn’t making fun of you earlier,” Villain said quietly, dunking the rag into the bowl again. “I’ll shut up about it if you want me to, but I hate there being a misunderstanding. I really do think you’re beautiful. Like an angel.”

“More like a demon," Hero scoffed. Maybe the doctors had been right all those years ago. She was a disaster. Nothing like the pretty heroes in the limelight these days. She was only good for slaughter, and she hadn’t even done that right tonight. The agency would be mad when they found out her target got away, and her injured in the process.

“I don’t think so." Villain lifted a chunk of feathers with the back of his hand and wiped gingerly at the undersides. "Maybe everyone is just too narrow. And you need the space to fly."

Hero snorted. "Wooow, clever that one. Take you long to think it up?"

"As a matter of fact, it came right off the top of my head. I’m full of clever thoughts. With Supervillain gone, I’m going to use them for myself. Soon enough, I won’t be able to get off your radar even if I try.”

“And you’re excited about that?” Hero finally looked back him. He looked far too pleased with himself. “You know if I’m the one after you it usually means death, right?”

"Well…it would be nice to see you. Maybe you’ll change your mind. Or maybe I’ll escape.”

Hero crooked a disbelieving smile. “Not likely.” She abruptly withdrew her wing, pulling the numbed joint in so it folded properly against her back. As she stood and took a couple steps a new wave of dizziness rocked the floor but she shook it away. “Well, wing’s feeling better. I’m leaving."

“What?” Villain scrambled to his feet. “You shouldn't be flying on a sprain. Besides, there're all sorts of creeps ‘round these parts when it’s dark. You should stay here at least til sun up.”

"Creepier than you?"

“Ow, you don’t want to hurt my feelings, do you?”

“I’m pretty sure I can handle it.” Hero took a few more dizzying steps toward the door, but Villain jumped in front of her, arms spread.

“You have fresh stitches; moving around to much will be a bloody mess. That means no fighting. I forbid it.”

Hero rolled her eyes. “Well if a complete stranger says so, I guess I better listen.” She tried to dodge around Villain, but he echoed her steps with only a quarter of the sway.

“You’re not an idiot. You know I’m right. You shouldn’t fight in your condition, and if you go outside it will end in a fight.”

Hero hesitated, and Villain took the opportunity to press on.

“I might have said we appreciated what you did, but not everyone likes you like I do. So just a few more hours. When it’s light, it’ll be clear to go.”

Hero stared into his determined eyes. Really, what was his deal? She didn't even know him, so why did he care so much? Especially when he should see her as an enemy. But...he was right. She didn't really know where she was, and flying on this wing did not seem like the greatest idea. And she'd had enough scrapping for one night. Plus, the room would not stop tilting.

"Fine." She stormed back to the cot and rolled onto her side, cramming her wings against the wall behind her. If what Villain said was true, she didn't trust turning her back to the door. "I'll wait until sun up. And then what?"

"I'll escort you."

"Suit yourself." Hero squeezed her eyes shut, effectively ending the conversation. After a moment, she heard the rustle of Villain settle back down at the head of the bed.

She only meant to close her eyes for a moment. Just until Villain stopped looking at her. But before she knew it, she was sinking into the dark folds of sleep.

Master Taglist:

@moss-tombstone @crazytwentythrees @just-1-lonely-person @the-vagabond-nun @willow-trees-are-beautiful @cocoasprite @insanedreamer7905 @valiantlytransparentwhispers @whovian378 @watercolorfreckles @thebluepolarbear @yulanlavender @kitsunesakii @deflated-bouncingball @lem-hhn @office-plant-in-a-trenchcoat @ghostfacepepper @pigeonwhumps @demonictumble @inkbirdie @vuvulia @bouncyartist @lunatic-moss-studio @breilobrealdi @freefallingup13 @i-am-a-story-goblin @ryunniez @rainy-knights-of-villany @distractedlydistracted @saspas-corner @echoednonny @perilous-dreamer @blood-enthusiast @randomfixation @alexkolax @pksnowie @blessupblessup @wolfeyedwitch @thedeepvoidinmyheart @cornflower-cowboy @bestblob @a-chaotic-gremlin @espresso-depresso-system @prompt-fills-and-writing-spills @paleassprince @takingawildbreath @yindonessy @psychiclibrariesquotestoad @harpycartoons @pickleking8 @urmyhopeeee @goldenflame2516 @tobeornottobeateacher @talesofurbania1 @sweetsigyn @girl-of-the-sea-and-stars @kurai-hono-blog

[pensat-i-fet]

No excuses (Rúben Dias x Reader)

**Another fluffy slightly ansgty request for today. Hope you guys enjoy it ❤️**

Word count: 1623

Masterlist

Wattpad

Final matchday of the season. And it had been a long season. Especially once the team had nothing to play for and you could only think about what was happening once there were no more matches. It was football wedding season.

When you looked at the stands before making your way to the bench, you saw Rúben there. Last time he attended one of your matches as a fiancé. Next time, he’ll be your husband.

“You’re on”, you heard your coach say when there were only 20 minutes to go. You really expected him to not play you but you’d never say no to any game time.

“Ok”.

City had nothing to play for after a not-so-great season but your rivals were trying to avoid relegation, so the level of intensity was very unbalanced.

“Watch out!”, you said to one of their defenders who tackled you. She was being unnecessarily aggressive.

“Sorry”.

But her apology didn’t mean much when, a couple of minutes later, she tackled you again, twisting your ankle. The pain you felt was so horrible, you fell to the floor and tried to grab your foot. But touching it sent more pain to your ankle and leg, so you let go of it.

The team’s doctors were there quickly and ended up deciding to ask for the stretcher so you wouldn’t have to force your ankle more by trying to walk.

By the time you made it to the infirmary, Rúben was already there.

“How is it? You seem to be in a lot of pain”.

“Always so observant”.

He let your sarcasm slide, listening to what the doctors were saying.

“We’ll need to do an X-ray but don’t have the machines here so off to the hospital we go. You coming, Dias?”

“Of course”, he said, smiling at you but you didn’t smile back.

An hour later, you were still waiting for the results but you had been in this situation before. You knew it was bad.

“It needs surgery”.

The words no athlete wanted to hear. Rúben took your hand to squeeze it, showing he was there to support you.

“Will I need crutches after the surgery?”

“Yes, and a boot. For about…4 or 5 weeks I would say”.

“And if I don’t get the surgery now?”

“What?”, Rúben didn’t understand your question.

“With some rehab, you could move around without them but the longer we wait, the longer it’ll take for you to go back to training”.

“Can I think about it?”, you asked, surprising the doctor and Rúben again.

“Of course. We can’t force you to have surgery. It’s not a life-threatening injury. I’ll leave you alone so you can talk”.

The doctor could read the room well and knew there was a conversation that needed to happen between the couple in front of him. And three was a crowd.

“What are you doing? You need surgery now”.

“The wedding”.

“It’s in three weeks”.

“Yes, do you want your bride to walk towards you waiting at the altar in crutches? To not be able to dance?”

“Is that really the problem? You’re being ridiculous! Your career and your health come first!”

“Rúben! I’ve been dreaming about my wedding my entire life. And about our wedding since you proposed. I don’t want anything to ruin it and we're not cancelling it and waiting another year to get married”.

“As long as you’re there and say yes to the priest's questions, we’ll be fine”.

“Easy for you to say”.

“My love, the boot will be covered by the dress. We can sit during the ceremony and take the crutches away. There are solutions to this”.

“I won’t be able to walk well. How do I walk to the altar with my dad?”, your dad’s health wasn’t the best and he couldn’t walk you there if you were going to have to put a lot of weight on him.

“Mine can help”.

“I want my dad to walk me to the altar. That's non-negotiable".

“Both can do it. One for sentimental value and the other to help”.

When you started to cry harder, Rúben sat next to you to hug you. It wasn’t just the wedding that worried you.

“Stop finding reasons to make me do it”, you said, finally allowing yourself to cry.

“I won’t. I’m not letting you ruin your career for stupid reasons”.

“I can’t do all of this again”.

He already knew what you meant and felt his heart breaking. He should have guessed.

“If you could recover from an ACL injury, this should be so easy by comparison”.

“It took so long to feel confident on the pitch again after that injury. What if I can’t manage it this time? I’m tired of being injured. I’m scared the next injury will be the one that ends my career”.

“It won’t be. And I’ll be there every step of the way, ok? Should we…should we tell the doctor you’re getting the surgery now?”

You nodded, still afraid. And worried about your wedding. The happiest day of your life wasn’t looking to be so happy then.

                                       **

A couple of days later you were back home after your surgery. Rúben and your family had been spoiling you since the day you got injured. Treating you as if you were made of glass and while it was nice…it was also really pissing you off.

“I think I’ll take a nap”.

“Me too”, he saw your expression and it confused him. “Do you not want me here?”

“It’s not that Rúben. I just think I need some alone time”.

“Right”.

He nodded and left but you could tell he had been hurt by your rejection. You didn’t want to hurt him but…you also needed to be able to breathe for a second. Since the surgery happened, there was always someone by your side. And while it was nice to be looked after, your anxiety kept getting worse because of it. That plus all the wedding drama…it was too much.

However, a good three-hour nap did wonders and when you woke up, you felt like a new person. Hearing a light knock on the door brought a smile to your face.

“Come in”.

“Feeling better?”

“Yes, and I’m sorry. I’m a grumpy lady but I just needed a second alone. It’s been a crazy couple of days”.

“I get that. You just have to tell me and I’ll understand”.

You motioned for him to get closer so you could kiss him. “We can cuddle now if you want to”.

“I need to go get some food first. Anything you want?”

“Could you get me a coffee on your way back?”

“Sure”.

“It’s a long order, grab some paper”.

“I’ll manage. Tell me what it is”.

You weren’t sure he’d be able to remember but didn’t want to argue.

“Ready?”, he nodded. “It’s a Venti Salted Caramel Cream Cold Brew with an extra vanilla pump. You got it?”

“Sure. Easy”.

On the way out, Rúben wrote it down on his phone, trying not to forget anything. He was far from being a coffee expert since he didn’t even drink it. But come on. How complicated could it be to order one? Though that order of yours sounded slightly complicated to him.

When he got back, you were itching to get up and go help him put all the groceries away. But you were still stuck in bed. The frustration made you feel terrible again.

“Here is your coffee. And I got your favourite biscuits. Do you want some with it?”

“Sure! Thank you. You are the best”.

Rúben left to find a plate for your biscuits and you took a good look at the coffee he bought you. It clearly wasn’t the one you liked but it could be nice too. Even if the first sip tasted terrible. He couldn’t know you didn’t like it.

But when you needed to go to the toilet, Rúben was there to make sure you were fine and he saw the cup was almost full. You always took your time drinking your iced coffee but it looked like you barely had any.

"Was the coffee ok?"

"Yes, of course", you said, avoiding looking at him. "But I think it doesn't agree with the meds I'm taking".

"I got the wrong one, right?"

There was no point in lying. "Yes, but it's good too. And I always drink the same. It's fun to try new flavours".

"Don't treat me like a child".

"You are doing the same to me", you tried to laugh but he didn't see the fun side.

"Because you're injured. And I can't even look after you properly".

"Where is this coming from?"

"I feel useless. You have all this anxiety and I can't do anything to help. You might not even enjoy your wedding day and what can I do about it? Nothing".

"If you show up, that'd be quite helpful".

"It's not funny".

"It is. And I can't walk to where you are so come here and sit", you waited for him to do that and took his hand. "This injury is a pain in the ass. The timing couldn't be worse but I've made my peace with it. But I need you to relax. Even if I don't want to think about it, it all stresses me. So I need you to be the strong one who pretends to have it all under control".

"I could try and have it all under control too".

"Let's meet in the middle with a fake it till you make it?"

"Deal".

"Also, next time you can write down the coffee order".

"Or you could start drinking cappuccinos. That's easy".

"But I'm not".

[teddyeyeseddie]

To Hell I Go

If She Wants A Cowboy

✰ bull rider Steve x reader

masterlist

✰ cw: broken bones, an er visit, steve in a sling, an eddie debut, first kisses, straddling steve in a creek, smut, minors dni, oral (m rec), boot riding

✰ a/n: this series has been flopping but I am so in love with dandy and our boy that im gonna keep writing it bc they deserve to have their story told, thank you @lofaewrites for betaing :,)

now playing: If She Wants a Cowboy

Steve is rushed right back when he gets to the ER, grumbling an “I’m fine” when he sees the amount of sick kids in the waiting room. Despite his efforts to wait in the lobby, it only takes 30 minutes and he is sitting in a room awaiting his results.

Steve tears up at the news, knowing what this meant for his career. It came to an abrupt stop, throwing Steve forward into a mess of emotions. They did x rays to find that his shoulder was, in fact, broken. His coach eventually leaves, only able to offer so much reassurance and solace. 

He sits cooped up in the ER for what felt like hours, left alone to his devices, those emotions from earlier bubbling and breaching the surface now that he was alone. His dad was right, just like he always is. The job chewed him up and spit him out. Usually, a broken shoulder meant the gig was up, not many riders can recover from a serious injury like that. 

He wills away his spiraling, putting his head back in order to rest. When he’s about to fall asleep, a soft knock resonates through the room. 

“Hey cowboy,” the voice is like music in Steve’s ears, the sound flowing into the air and causing goosebumps to rise on his skin. 

“Dandy, they let you in here at this hour?” he questions, a small smirk on his face as he adjusts himself in bed, wincing when he disturbs his shoulder. 

“Jus’ had to tell them I was your wife,” she replies sheepishly, wincing slightly.

“I did give ya a ring, didn’t I darlin’?” he cracks a wide smile.

You settle yourself into a chair next to the bed, digging in your purse to find the small paper ring Steve had made you days prior. You slip it on your finger once you find it, flashing it at Steve causing him to let out a full-bellied laugh. 

“You kept it?” 

You offer a small nod, reaching your hand out to hold Steve’s free hand. The other slung up as the two of you waited to hear what the next steps are in Steve’s recovery. 

“What’s the verdict here?” you question softly, rubbing your thumb over Steve's calloused hand. 

“Shoulder’s broken. S’ a clean break but fuck if I know what that means,” he groans, throwing his head back as tears form in his eyes. 

“Shit Dandy- I’m sorry, don’t mean to turn into a mess while you’re here. It’s just this could be the end of the line for me,” he pulls his hand away from yours in order to wipe his eyes. 

He settles his hand back in yours, squeezing it as he stares forward at the wall in front of him. 

He didn’t ask you to come and the fact you did makes Steve’s heart flutter inside his chest. You came on your own, and that is more than Steve could ever wish for. 

“I’ll be right here with you, Steve,” you break the silence and lean up to kiss his cheek, the first time you had displayed any sort of affection aside from holding hands. 

He leans into your touch, relaxing and letting himself be loved on. 

The doctors come in moments later, setting his arm and immobilizing it with a fancy looking sling. 

Six weeks.

Six weeks of being rendered useless, Steve groans into the night air once he’s been released at the odd hour of 5 in the morning. Hand in yours as you guide him to your car, helping him get settled into the passenger seat. 

“I guess in the grand scheme of things, I’m lucky,” he says once you get situated. His head is leaned back, exposing the column of his neck as he turns to look at you. 

“How so?”

“A whole summer of being doted on by you? 

“Who said I was gonna dote on you?”

“Mmm I just gotta hunch, Dandelion,” 

Steve isn’t wrong, you are there every day you're off work, going on walks with him or helping his mother cook dinner. 

It’s been about 2 weeks of helping take care of Steve when you pull into his driveway at the early hour of 8am. You softly knock on the door, smiling when you hear a quiet, “come in” from the other side of the door. 

You and his mother, Donna you had come to learn, had become well acquainted, spending the evenings cooking dinner together giving you time to converse regularly. You got all the stories of Steve when he was younger, your favorite being the time he peed off the side of the pool when he was potty training. 

“Is he awake?” you question, setting the groceries Donna had requested you bring the night prior.

“He’s not, had a rough night last night. He said not to let him sleep in if you’re here though,” she says with a sly smirk on her face, like she knows something you don’t know. 

You ignore her look, not wanting to read much into it, trudging upstairs to wake Steve up. 

You smile when you see him, he’s propped up by some pillows, something his mom helps him do every night so he is more comfortable. 

You sit on the edge of his bed, extending your arm to caress his cheek. He stirs a little bit, waking with a small jolt when you begin to run your thumb across the expanse of his jaw. 

“Good morning, Dandelion,” he smiles, his voice thick with sleep, the groggy melody making your cheeks flush. 

“Good morning, Steve,” 

He sits up at the waist, using his free arm to push him up on the bed. He’s right beside you, free hand coming to rest on your thigh. His lips press a soft kiss to your temple.

“Didn’t think you’d be here this early, sorry I wasn’t up,” he mumbles, resting his chin on your shoulder. 

“S’ okay honey, liked getting to wake you up,”

You get up, turning back towards the bed to help him stand. His pajamas are slung low on his hips, soft hair traveling up his belly and to his navel. He looks peaceful like this, freshly woken up, sleep in his eyes and bed head- it makes your heart warm. 

He stretches once he’s standing, averting your eyes as his already impossibly low pants stoop even lower. 

“You gonna shower?” you question, picking at the comforter on Steve’s bed. 

He shakes his head, turning towards his closet and pulling out a pair of wranglers and a t-shirt. 

He turns away before dropping his pajama pants, your cheeks flushing at the sight of Steve in just his boxers. 

He grabs the clothes he laid out on the bed, shimmying his pants up his legs, frowning as he gets to the button. 

“C’mere,” You mumble, buttoning his wranglers, knuckles bumping into his soft belly. 

He smiles down at you, brushing a hair out of our face. 

“Gonna help me with the top now, dandy?” 

You nod, grabbing his top and sliding it up his hurt side, carefully threading his arm through  while it is still bent. He chuckles as he pokes his head through the top, easily pulling his other arm through. 

You wait on his bed after you get his sling back on his arm, Steve having perfected his one-handed bathroom routine. 

He peaks out of the bathroom once he is ready, padding across the room to grab his hat. 

“Ya ready?” 

You nod, following him downstairs. 

When you reach the living room, you’re surprised to see Charlotte and Eddie sitting on the couch. 

“Mudslinger! How ya been?” Eddie gets up, pulling Steve into a hug, Lottie shooting him daggers as he does so. 

“Careful with the man, Eds. He’s fragile,” Charlotte scolds, pulling Eddie away when he starts to get too rough. 

Eddie listens to the woman, settling in beside her with a protective hand on her thigh. 

“Wanted to come visit ya, see if there was anything you needed before I head down to the barn to get some lessons started,” 

The two of the men fall into easy conversation but you and Charlotte find yourselves stowed away in the kitchen, chatting about anything and everything. 

“So- You and Steve, huh? He’s never brought a girl around,” she says as she stirs her tea. 

“Yeah- He uh saved me from Billy Hargrove,” you take a sip from your mug, glancing into the living room to check on Steve. 

“Oof- Eddie used to work on Billy’s ranch breaking horses. Never got paid enough for the work he did, here though? He’s taken care of, Donna makes sure he is anyways,” 

You had learned that a lot of the ranch bonuses and raises used to come from Donna pestering Richard until he caved, that was until Steve came around and gave everyone their well deserved performance based raises.

“Steve’s running it right finally, taught his Daddy more things than he’s taught Steve probably, I can’t wait to see what happens when he finally takes over, maybe he will settle down now that he’s broke himself,” Charlotte rattles off, your stomach lurching at her words, remembering why you’re here.

Steve hurt himself. If he hadn’t been rendered useless in terms of bull riding he’d be off riding in other competitions and eventually nationals. He was kept at home by a broken shoulder, not by you. 

You shake the thoughts away, Steve would have wanted you wherever he was, you had to convince yourself. 

You and Charlotte continue conversing, finally steering the conversation away from you and Steve. 

“Dandy-” You hear Steve shout from the living room, you set down our mug and straighten out your skirt before making your way to him. 

“Whatcha need cowboy,” you question, smiling when you round the corner to see him standing, cowboy hat situated on his head. 

“Come to the creek with me?” he questions, smiling softly as he holds out his hand. 

You turn back towards Charlotte, who is now left alone now that Eddie has gone to the barn to start lessons for the day. She nods her head, shooing the two of you away and out into the summer sun. 

Steve laces your fingers with his, boots crunching on gravel as he makes his way to the stables.

“Wish we could take sonny today,” Steve says, frowning slightly when you pass them. You distract him with a kiss to the cheek, bumping into his hat causing him to let out a chuckle. 

“Tryna kiss me stupid here, honey?” he asks as he continues walking, dipping into some trees at the edge of the property.

“Just tryna kiss ya, cowboy,” he smiles back at you as he leads you through the trees, finally stopping and letting you settle in next to him once you reach the creek. 

You release his hand, kicking off your shoes in order to step in the creek, turning to Steve who is still on the bank.

“Comin’ in?” you grin, looking up at him. He scratches at the scruff that is forming on his chin, contemplating kicking off his boots and joining you.

“I dunno, Dandy,” 

“C’mon, don’t make me enjoy this all alone,”

With that, he toes off his boots as you step forward in the water in order to roll up his jeans for him. You hold your hand out, Steve taking it and stepping into the water with you. The two of you wade in the shallow creek, your back to Steve when you feel a splash of water hit the bend of your knees. 

You whip around, scowling at Steve who has a wide grin on his face. You bend over, skimming your hand in the water in order to splash him back. Steve walks backwards, tripping over his feet, sending him tumbling, falling on his ass. 

You rush to him, dropping to your knees in the shallow water next to him.

“Are you okay?” you question, looking him over as if you’ll see any physical damage. 

He simply smiles at you, on your knees-so close to his lap. He wishes he could pull you onto him and kiss you breathless.

That’s when he realizes there’s nothing stopping him.

He hooks his arm around your waist, pulling you towards him. He mumbles a soft, “C’mere,” as he motions with his head for you to get on.

You swing your leg over his lap, heartbeat high in your throat as you look down at him. It’s a little awkward, his sling taking up much of the room between the two of you, but it doesn’t matter.

Steve’s eyes travel to your lips, a smile forming on them as your hand raises to pet the hairs adorning the nape of Steve’s neck.

“I think you’re the one that’s trying to kiss me stupid,” you breathe.

“Just tryna kiss ya,” 

With that, he leans in, capturing your lips in a firm kiss. It’s slow–calculated, each movement well thought out as he guides you. You eventually crack a smile while kissing him, teeth knocking together as Steve begins to smile too. You finally pull away when it’s time to catch your breath. 

“Why’d you wait so long, cowboy?” you ask, hand still petting at his hair. 

“Kinda thought you deserved more, Dandy,” he breaths out, thumb rubbing at your hip as his eyes flash back towards your lips. 

“Well- why don’t you let me worry about that, mudslinger” you lean back down, kissing him sweetly before pulling away and getting off his lap. He looks up at you in a daze, lips pink and full as he cracks a smile. 

You help him up and out of the creek, using your now half soaked cardigan to dry your legs off before slipping back into your shoes. Steve gets along fine with getting his boots back on, but you can't help but giggle when you turn to see his jeans still rolled up. You bend down to fix them, Steve mumbling a soft thank you. 

You walk hand in hand back to the house, offering Eddie a small wave when you pass by the stables.

You’re both still sopping wet when you make it to the front porch, Steve groaning when he’s intercepted by Donna at the door. 

“I know you are not about to come in here with those sopping wet jeans on,” She scolds the two of you. 

Steve playfully rolls his eyes, nudging past her and making his way inside. 

“I’ll clean it Mama,” she playfully smacks his good shoulder before retreating back to the kitchen to continue cooking lunch for the Saturday workers. 

Steve opens the door to his room, closing the door after you. 

“Skirt’s pretty soaked, do you want some shorts and a new shirt?” he questions, turning towards his closet to grab himself a change of clothes. You squeak out a small “yes” as you kick off your shoes. He hands you a pair of sweatpants and a shirt, turning back towards the closet. 

In a surge of courage and confidence, your hands find the hem of your shirt, pulling it over your head while Steve’s back is to you. 

When Steve turns around, he feels like he’s been punched in the gut. His lungs are void of air as his eyes rake over your frame, drinking you in. He swears he sees stars when your fingers dip into the waistband of your skirt, dropping it to the floor with a wet thud. 

You stalk towards him, fingers hooking in his belt loops as you guide him to the chair sitting in the corner of his room. 

“Dandelion- sweetheart what are you doing?” Steve asks as you drop to your knees in front of him, eyeing him sweetly. 

“Just let me take care of you, Cowboy,” you push him back by his hip, satisfied once you force him to sit in the chair. 

Fingers come to unbutton his damp wranglers, cock already straining against the rough fabric. You pop the button, slowly unzipping his pants, tapping his thighs so he will lift his hips. 

He’s looking at you with glassy eyes, pupils blown wide as he watches your hand sneak into his boxers and pull out his hard member. 

“Fuck, darlin you don’t have to do this,” his hand reaches down to caress the your flushed cheek. 

“Want to,” your hand strokes him, the drag causing Steve to throw his head back, loud groans leaving his lips as he indulges in the feeling of you taking care of him. 

You suck the head of his cock, tongue swirling around the tip. Steve’s hand comes to thread through your hair, grabbing a fistful and pulling just hard enough to get you off of him. 

“You wanna feel good too?” Steve questions, free hand coming to stroke himself. You nod your head, pleading eyes meeting Steve’s. 

“Ride me then,”

“S-steve your shoulder,” He laughs, the hand that was stroking his cock now caressing your face. His boot begins tapping on the floor beneath you. 

Tap-Tap-Tap

You look up at him through hooded eyes, biting your lip as you lower yourself onto his boot. You let out a soft mewl when the rough leather catches on your clothed clit. You begin to rock back and forth, riding his boot as you take him back into your mouth. 

You take him to the back of your throat, nose bumping into the soft pudge of his tummy, being tickled by the pubic hair that adorns the area. 

He groans, the deep growl echoing off the walls causing you to pull back and shush him. Steve chuckles as he guides his cock back towards your lips, you greedily sucking him in. 

Your hands come to rest on his hairy thighs, your own shaking from the impending orgasm, the coil in your tummy tightening as you use his boot to get off. 

“Jesus, Honey. I’m gonna come if you keep takin’ me so deep like that,” he moans as you release his member with a soft pop, a giddy smile on your face as you look up at him. 

“Kinda the point, Honey,” you begin to stroke him, hand slippery with your spit and his precum.  

“Gonna come,” he grits out, your mouth enveloping him as his hips stutter and his cock twitches in your mouth, hot cum running down your throat. 

You pull off him once he winces at the overstimulation. Your hips are still moving, your sopping cunt still dragging across the ridges of Steve’s boots. 

“You close honey?” Steve asks, a little hint of pity lacing his tone. You whine when he begins to mock you.

Three more thrusts of your hips and you’re coming undone, panties now soaked with your release and seeping onto his cowboy boot. You slump forward when you’ve finished riding out your high, face resting on his thigh mere inches from his now softening cock. His hand pets your hair, letting you rest there for a while before breaking the silence.

“These pants are still wet darlin, need to change,” he taps your cheek, causing you to rise from the spot in his lap and pull yourself off of his boot. You wince when you disconnect from him, blushing when you see the wet spot you left on the leather. Steve however, props his foot up on the ottoman that you were just wedged between and admires the slick spot on his boot-proud of what you’d done to him.

“Might keep it there,” You whine at his words, embarrassed you’d just come undone so easily for him.

“Hey- don’t pout,” he says as he gets up, a soft grunt leaving his lips as he does so. Tall frame towering over yours, his hand coming to brush your unkempt hair out of your face. 

He presses a soft kiss to your forehead, pushing down his pants and stepping out of them. He digs around for a pair of boxers before turning and offering you a pair. 

“Figured you’d soaked your-uh,”

“Panties?”

“You just had me ride your boot, now you’re shy about my wet panties?” you question, a small smirk forming on your lips as you take the pair of boxers from him. 

Now he turns bright red, cheeks flushing at the mere talk of your underwear. 

“I’m a gentleman, Dandy,” you roll your eyes, mumbling a soft, “not in the sheets” as you walk by him. 

“Come on mudslinger, let's get dressed. I’ll make us some lunch once we get downstairs,” 

[ikyoudreamofme]

BY YOUR SIDE

A/N:ibsr I got this idea because I fucked up my back in dance🌚. Idk how I feel about this one it kinda goes on I fear.

Summary: your a dancer and have an important comp but get injured badly and have to go to the hospital.

—————————————————————-

Y/N POV

Today I had a really important dance competition, there would be scouts for scholarships to some of the best dance academy’s in the country. I’ve got a trio small group and a group dance with my whole team.

I called Matt this morning before I left, he wished my luck and told me I’d do amazing as always. Knowing that he’s in the audience makes me feel somewhat relieved.

I get to the arena going to the changing rooms putting my costume on and asking a teammate to put my hair into a high ponytail while I do my makeup. The trio gets called to the wings, we stretch and mark the dance quickly before the team before us comes off stage smiling and wishing us luck. This is a friendly competition but I still needed to win. “Now with Stars Elite Dance Company! Number 2354, Dream On!” The commentator shouts as the crowd cheers, we walk on, into starting position waiting a few seconds before the music starts.

Matts POV

Her dance starts, she moves perfectly in sync with her two other teammates, her kicks are perfect, she does a set of turns and the crowd claps when she comes out of them without tripping. The dance is near the end and close to the part she’s been pushing herself to perfect, her two teammates kneel down beside her y/n steps on their knees then their shoulders before they stand up. Just before the music ends she drops back (it’s like the picture at the top). It’s perfect until she looses balance and falls. I stand up, her coach,Sam, runs on stage as the curtains close. “Matt shes okay.” Nick tried to reassure me I don’t listen to him and walk towards the backstage doors ignore the protests of my brothers who are following behind me.

Y/N’s POV

The second i dropped back something was wrong a wave of pain spiked through my back and I fell. “Y/N what happened!” Sam shouts “something.. with my back.” I mumble holding back tears. She gets someone to call 911 and we wait. “where’s Matt? Can you get him please…” i ask now letting my tears fall, Sam turns to look at me going to speak when Matt walks in. His eyes soften and he sits down beside me holding my hand and wiping my tears. “baby..” he whispers kissing my cheek. “Matt I ruined it. It was so good.” I cry; he shakes his head “no, no you didn’t y/n/n.”

The paramedics walk in and everyone moves out of the way except Matt. “Sir you need to step back so we can check her out.” The paramedic talks. Matt listens and stands beside his brothers who hug him and tell him I’m going to be fine. The paramedics ask what happened in which I explain. They tell Sam and Matt that I need stronger pain meds and some further checks at the hospital. Matt walks over to me “Nick’s going to go with you and I’ll drive Chris to come and meet you. yeah?” I smile and say okay before leaving I say bye to my dance partners “if we don’t place I’m so sorry.” They smile at me “its not your fault y/n”

We get to the hospital and the paramedics take me inside while doctors run up to the stretcher. They take me to a room stopping Matt, Nick and Chris at the door showing them the waiting area. I get an IV to manage my pain and i get taken to X-ray. The x-ray took a few minute before they took me back to a room.

“When your x-ray comes through we’ll come and see you. How are you for pain?” A doctor asks “I’m okay right now. can I see my boyfriend please.” I ask, the doctor nods getting Matt.

Matt walks in sitting at the chair beside the bed, he places his hand on my thigh and asks me how I’m feeling. “I’m okay I think, today was my only chance to get a scholarship Matt.” I say turning my head to look at him.

Before Matt can reply the doctor’s walks in with a clipboard in his hand. “Your X-ray is clean no breaks or fractures you can go home after the rest of your paperwork is signed off.” The doctor says. I sigh loudly relieved my backs not broken. “When can I go back to dance?” I ask only focused on the answer “4-6 weeks time.” My smile drops at his reply and he walks out I look at Matt shaking my head. “no, Matt I can’t miss dance for that long I have another competition in 2 months and need to practice.” He frowns at me and takes my hands holding them. “Maybe you should have a break for a while, you push yourself so hard sweetheart.” I have nothing to say to him.

~~~~~~

We get back to Matts house the doctors said I need to come back in a week for a check up. Matt wrapped one of my arms around his shoulder and his arm around my waist slowly walking me upstairs. “Matt I’m fine you don’t need to do this.” I protest he just shakes his head helping to his room placing me on his bed. He lays down beside me letting his head fall on my shoulder. “do you need anything baby?” He looks up at me. I shake my head looking at him and smiling “thank you Matt.” I say kissing him. He kisses me back “I love you. So much y/n”

“I love you more.” I reply

[filthyjoetini]

Stumblin' In

a/n: Part 2! Enjoy! Likes, reblogs and feedback are always welcome. The usual thank you goes out to @barfightzanddiscolightz for taking her time to beta read and edit and giving input &lt;3

warnings: none

wordcount: 2.6k

part 1 - part 3 - part 4

Part 2

Just as you had finally made yourself somewhat comfortable in the unforgiving embrace of the hospital bed, your bladder made itself known once again. Groaning, you pressed the call button for the fifth time in the past three hours. How much can one person piss? Stupid I.V. drip, you thought to yourself.

-

When they had first wheeled you into the emergency room, you were quickly surrounded by a flurry of nurses and a doctor. They had palpated your neck and spine as well as the back of your head and damn, did it hurt like a bitch. Because of your reaction to the examination and to be on the safe side, the doctor had ordered an x-ray of your neck, spine, and ribs.

You had immediately been pushed out of the emergency room, down a very long and bright corridor and into the x-ray room. In the x-ray room, you had bravely endured the examination, even squeezing your eyes shut, despite the x-ray technician telling you that nothing would happen. Your inner child, however, was hoping for at least one laser beam. Later, you blamed the concussion for your strange behaviour.

Back at the ER, the doctor had checked your results and fortunately found nothing more than a big bump and that your obvious concussion could be diagnosed. Additionally, they had confirmed what the paramedics had already told you: you would have to stay in the hospital for at least a 24-hour observation, and the worst part of it all was that you were not allowed to eat. So, they had put you on a drip, which fed you all the nutrients and medication directly into your bloodstream. The actual procedure turned out to be a mammoth task. It had taken them several tries to find a vein, and when they finally did, they had managed to pop one, turning your arm all bruised and blue. It looked like someone had twisted your arm.

-

“Hi. Do you need to go to the toilet again?”, the nurse asked with a smile, as she stepped into the room.

You nodded and pushed yourself up a little. Immediately, the nurse was at your side, tutting you.

“Dear, I’ve told you not to overexert yourself. I’m here to help you with that. Come on, take my arm.”

You grabbed her arm, and she pulled you into a standing position before taking the IV pole in her other hand and slowly leading you to the small adjacent bathroom.

Once the nurse had brought you back to your bed, you decided to scroll through TikTok, which you got bored with rather quickly. You thought about calling your best friend and your dad again but decided against it. Firstly, because they had both been alerted by the lady at the desk after she had entered you in the system, that you had been admitted to the hospital. You had insisted on giving her both names and phone numbers as emergency contacts and so they had both been waiting for you in your room as soon as ER had transferred you. Secondly, because it was already nearing midnight, and you were sure that they both would be asleep by now.

Before you closed your contact list, you saw it again. The short three-letter name that had only been on the list for a few hours: Joe.

Gingerly, you tapped on the name and a new iMessage chat opened.

Hey...

The three dots immediately appeared, and you almost threw your phone at the wall opposite your bed.

Hi there. How are you?

Blushing, you began typing your reply, your fingers gliding thoughtlessly over your phone’s touchscreen.

I’m fine, all things considered. I have to stay for a 24-hour observation, and I’m not allowed to eat solid food. They have me on a drip, which makes me piss like a horse...

Oh wow. Sorry to hear that 😉

Oh no! Oh fuck. Totally TMI.

Sorry! That was TMI!

Haha. No worries.

Chewing on your lips, you started typing again. You had one burning question to ask him.

OK. Cool. Um. Also. HOW THE HECK DID YOU PUT YOUR NUMBER INTO MY PHONE? DID YOU HACK IT?

Hahaha...do you seriously think I could hack a phone?

Yes?! I mean, it could be your job for all I know!

Hahaha. It’s far from what I do for a living.

Your phone was unlocked. I believe you turned off your auto-lock-thingy or whatever...

You quickly opened your settings, and he was absolutely right, you had it turned off. Snorting, you reopened the chat.

Wow there, IT-God, you were right.

IT-God...good one, Humpty Dumpty.

Stop calling me that!

What else am I supposed to call you. I don’t know your name. You’re Humpty Dumpty in my phone now.

Omg...noooo.

What’s your name, Bambi on ice?

Another one? Is he serious?, you thought with a groan but, quickly let him know your name.

Alright, changed it. See! *attachment*

Smiling at the visual confirmation, you let out a small yawn. Your eyes suddenly became very heavy.

I’m going to get some shut eye, I’m really tired.

Totally understandable. You had a rough day.

Bye Joe x

Bye...sleep tight. Keep me updated. x

---

You woke up from what you considered was the worst night’s sleep you had ever had. If it wasn’t the weird position you were forced to sleep in waking you, it was when a nurse would come check on you from time to time or help you when you needed to use the loo for the gazillionth time.

You were relieved when morning finally came. The first thing the nurse did, was to take you off the I.V. That meant no more peeing every 30 minutes. Thank fuck. She even brought you a small, stomach-friendly breakfast and informed you that the doctor would come by to discharge you soon.

Less than an hour later, the pleasant doctor handed you the discharge form as well as a prescription to take to the hospital pharmacy. You hadn’t shown any unusual symptoms which meant that your brain was working as intended. Therefore, the doctor decided that you could leave the hospital early.

Quickly, you informed your best friend and your dad about the good news, and they both asked you if they should come and pick you up. You told them they didn’t need to; you could find your way home just fine. Your dad, in his usual dad-manner, replied with a thumbs-up emoji whilst your best friend sent you the side-eye one. You knew exactly what she meant with it. Girl, if you fall again, I’ll kick your arse.

You chuckled and exited the message feed when another one caught your eye. It was the one you had started with Joe yesterday. His last message taunted you. He had asked you to keep him updated. So, you did.

Hey Joe!

Hey Tumbleina!

Stop it!

I’m being discharged early!

That’s great news! When?

You hurriedly checked your form. It said that you needed to pick up your medication from the in-house pharmacy and that it would be ready for pick-up at 12:45pm, which was in an hour from now.

I’m still waiting for my medication to be ready for collection which won’t be until 12:45...so, I think around 1-ish?

Cool! 👍

Yeah, I’m glad. Can’t wait to crawl into my bed.

I bet. Hospital beds are the worst.

Tell me about it.

Anyway, I thought I’d let you know. Because you were so adamant about it.

Thank you, very considerate of you to keep me, your saviour, in the loop.

You laughed out loud at his reply and responded with a series of laughing emojis before putting your phone down on the bed.

Too hastily, you changed out of your hospital gown and into your clothes. Your dad had brought you an overnight bag with comfortable clothes when he had come to visit you yesterday. However, the quick movement was too much for your bruised body and you hissed in pain. Slow down, you scolded yourself and continued to get ready at a slower pace.

You packed your few belongings into your duffle bag, cautiously slung it over your shoulder, and quickly glanced back to make sure you hadn’t forgotten anything.

When you arrived in the lobby, the receptionist asked you to wait in the waiting area until your name was called. Nodding, you sauntered over to the nearest available seat and ungraciously plopped down onto it. You retrieved your phone from your joggers to kill some time. You read the news and played some word-based online games.

You were just about to solve a rather tricky one when your name was suddenly called. Letting out a sigh that you hadn’t really intend to let out, you got up and trudged over to the chemist’s counter. The old lady behind it handed you a small plastic bag with your medication. It was ibuprofen and some sort of gel that you were supposed to rub on your neck and back. How you were supposed to do that yourself was beyond you. You quietly thanked the old lady who gave you a dismissive nod in return.

Slowly, you turned around and walked away from the counter towards the hospital’s exit. You were just checking your next tube connections on your phone when you heard someone clear their throat. Looking up, you saw a man standing by the litter bin, tapping his cigarette into the bin’s built-in ashtray. Why was this man trying to get your attention?

You squinted at him and all he did was stare back at you, with big brown chocolate button eyes. You let out a loud gasp.

“Joe?”

“Hey there, Bambi. Good to see you up and about.”, he chuckled, as he took the last drag of his cigarette.

“What the hell are you doing here?”, you asked in complete bewilderment, entirely ignoring his nickname for you and taking quick steps towards him.

Putting out his cigarette, he let out another chuckle.

“Well, I thought I could take you home...you know, make sure you don’t stumble over your own feet and fall again.”

“What makes you think I don’t have a ride home?”, you inquired, your hand now on your hip and his smile instantly began to falter.

“Oh shit! I didn’t think of that! Do you?”

“Nah.”, you giggled and he visibly relaxed, but his cheeks already held a red, embarrassed tint. “My dad and bestie asked me if they could come pick me up, but I declined.”, you continued. “It’s only a couple stops on the tube.”

“A few stops too many, if you ask me.”, Joe concluded, back on his confidence-track. He took a few steps towards you and held out his arms to you. “Let me accompany you home.”

“Fiiiine.”, you groaned, rolling your eyes and eventually linking your arm with his. “You’re insufferable.”

---

Your 20-minute ride home was the most eventful tube journey you had ever had. Joe made sure you held on to every railing, and if there wasn’t one available, his arm. He fussed over you like an overprotective boyfriend, which made your cheeks flush a little. No, you gotta stop thinking like that. He’s just helping!, you reminded yourself, shaking your head to get rid of those intrusive thoughts.

Still arm in arm with Joe, you exited the tube station closest to your block of flats and led the way down the street towards it.

“This is me.”, you announced, suddenly shy as you began to slow down your pace. Joe smiled down at you and let go of your arm.

“Nice house.”, he looked up at it. It was anything but nice. It was one of those ugly buildings straight out of the seventies and most of its residents had lived there since the beginning.

“Ah...it’s nothing. Most of my neighbours are elderly people. I basically live in a retirement home.”, you chuckled lowly, and Joe’s grin grew wider.

“Could be worse.”, Joe determined. “You could have a funeral parlour on the ground level.”

You gave him a puzzled, questioning look.

“Not that I have a funeral parlour in the building I live in.”, Joe clarified, giggling softly. “I just think that’s worse than living with the elderly.”

“You’re very strange, Joe.”, you snorted, shaking your head again.

“I’ve been told that before.”, he smiled broadly and shoved his hands into his trouser pockets.

“Hmmm...”, you hummed, glancing quickly at him. His eyes were fixed on your face, and you quickly averted your gaze.

“Uhm...thank you.”, you started, blushing once more. “For helping me yesterday and bringing me home just now. I really don’t know how I could make it up to you.”

“Hmmm...”, he copied you. Wanker. Then his face lit up like a thousand suns. “You know what? You could make it up to me by going on a date with me.”

Snorting, you threw your head back in laughter and rolled your eyes at him. When you looked at him again you saw him looking at you with anticipation. His big puppy eyes on full display. Fuck.

“Aaaalright. I’ll go on a date with you.”, you relented. How could you not? He could ask anything of you with those fucking adorable eyes.

“Brilliant!”, he replied, grinning from ear to ear, pulling you into his arms. Stunned, you wrapped your arms around him as well. He smelled just like he had yesterday: so damn good. Who needs air when you could live off his smell?

When he, too soon for your liking, pulled back a little, he winked at you and said: “I’ll let you know when and where.”

Gently, he let go of you completely and you nodded in agreement, head still too wrapped up in his scent to give him a vocal response.

“Shall I help you upstairs or are you good?”

“Huh?...”, you questioned, not quite hearing what he had said but since his thumb was pointing at your door you assumed you knew what was asking.

“Oh...uhm. I’m good. Thanks though.”, you smiled and slowly stepped towards the entrance of the house.

“Perfect.”, Joe said with a nod and slowly took a few steps back. “I’ll text you.”

“Yeah, alright. Let me know, when you get home.”, you requested without thinking, whilst rummaging through your duffle bag. Then you saw it, his trench coat. Before he could respond to your demand, you gasped and shouted:

“Joe! Wait!”

“Huh?”, he questioned, swiftly turning around and walking back to where you were.

“Your coat!”, you clarified, pulling it out of the duffle bag. Luckily, for once, it wasn’t accompanied by its other contents which would have spilled out all over the floor any other day.

Joe looked at you, confusion evident on his face but then he saw you pull out the familiar fabric and he suddenly remembered.

“Oh right! I gave it to you.”, he chuckled, and you carefully placed the coat in his outstretched hands, “Thank you.”

“It’s nothing.”, you dismissed him with a polite smile, “you asked for it back and I gave it back.”

Your pathetic attempt at indifference didn’t go unnoticed and it made him grin from ear to ear. Then he skilfully threw the coat over his shoulder and took the three steps down the stairs backwards, eyes locked with yours

You put your key in the lock and opened the door, bashful eyes on his now slowly retreating figure.

“Joe…let me know when you’re home, yeah?”, you repeated your request, just loud enough for him to hear.

“Will do. Bye, Bambi.”, he returned, almost shouting as he waved at you.

“Bye Joe.”, you called back, louder than him, rolling your eyes at his repeated use of the new nickname he had given you. Giggling, because to be honest, you thought the name was very cute, you entered your house and gently closed the door behind you.

---

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[satansapostle6]

X

Josh Futturman has always had a crush on his beautiful coworker, the sharp, sexy scientist he thought he could only dream of talking to.

Warnings: Mature themes/language. Sexual content.

Part Five

Part Six: Merry Happy

Friday couldn’t come soon enough. After telling Ray about his successful asking-out of Brynne Johansson, Josh couldn’t wait until the Kronish Ball that night where he would essentially get to show off to the entire office that Dr. Johansson was his date. That morning, he’d come into work with an entirely different attitude, genuinely smiling and honestly telling people ‘good’ when they asked how he was doing.

At exact ten, he’d stopped by Brynne’s office while she was still busy in the lab to drop off a little plant of beautiful purple, almost royal blue orchids on her desk, with a card attached that read ‘From Josh’. He felt like a baller.

On top of that, later that afternoon as he got home from work, he received a text that made him giddy like a teenager.

This is Brynne. Got your number from Ray. Pick me up at 5:30.

Beneath it was her home address. Josh loved how direct she was. He resisted the urge to start yelling and celebrating on the drive home from work. But a part of him felt as if, in that moment, he could’ve crashed the car and died happy. Josh quickly ran into his parents’ house, eager to remind his parents of his accomplishment.

“Hey, Mom! Hey Dad!” he called.

“Hi, Joshy!” his mom called from the dining room table.

“Ready for your big date tonight?” his dad added.

“That’s what I’m about to do right now!” Josh called, running up the stairs.

He had a little while before he was going to leave to pick up Brynne, and he intended to utilize every moment of it to prepare for their date. The first thing he did was rummage through his closet, looking for his good(and only) suit. He laid it out on his bed, examining it with his hands on his hips, satisfied with himself.

“Josh,” his mother called through the open door. “Want me to iron that for you?”

“Sure, Mom,” he nodded gratefully, “Thanks.”

“Of course,” Diane smiled, taking the suit off of his bed, “So, when do we get to meet the famous Dr. Johansson?” she asked giddily.

“Mom,” Josh sighed, “This is my first date with her.”

“Okay, okay, I won’t pry!” she exclaimed humorously. “But I really would love to meet her. Your father would, too. We’d love to have her over!”

“Yeah, I’m sure you would,” he agreed, shutting the door behind her as he prepared himself for a shower.

Josh took an extra long, steamy shower, as if he’d somehow come out extra clean. He got out and immediately dabbed on some of the cologne that Brynne had complimented before, knowing she liked it. He spent the next couple of hours on random things he thought might help, like brushing his teeth twice just to make sure his breath smelled good.

Once he felt he was ready, he carefully put on the suit that had been neatly laid out on his bed for him, putting extra care into tucking his shirt in and tying his tie. Josh came downstairs, fully dressed and ready to pick up his beautiful date, who he couldn’t wait to see.

“Oh, Joshy, you look so handsome!” Diane exclaimed as she helped cook dinner.

“Agreed. Looking sharp, Joshy,” Gabe said with a proud smile.

“Can I please take a picture?” Josh’s mother asked, running to grab her phone, “For the photo album?”

“Mom, I’m running late,” Josh sighed, checking his pockets to make sure he had everything, “I’ll see you guys later.”

“Alright, bye, Joshy, have fun!” she called happily.

“Be safe!” his father waved as he rushed out the door.

Josh had never been more nervous in his life. He’d cleaned out his car the day before just in case, going so far as to vacuum. He already knew his car was nowhere near as cool as Brynne’s, so he tried his best to still impress her with how pristine everything was.

He eventually arrived at the address she’d given him, a nice house in a nice neighborhood. It definitely looked like a doctor’s house. Josh parked his car out front, deciding to walk up to her door and knock like a gentleman. He felt like he was taking her to the prom. Josh rang the doorbell, waiting for just a moment before the door opened.

“Hachi machi,” he gasped.

He’d seen Brynne dressed up for work before, but this was something else entirely. She came out onto the porch in a stunning emerald green gown, perfectly complimented her features.

“I take it I look okay?” she asked humorously.

“More than okay,” Josh assured her, unable to close his mouth completely.

He knew the first thing he had to do was compliment her, but he felt overwhelmed by her beauty, as if she was too beautiful to even adequately compliment.

“You look… Amazing,” he breathed. “Absolutely beautiful.”

“Thank you, Josh,” she smiled. “You look very handsome.

He blushed at the compliment, still taking her in as he stood there in front of her. The dress was perfect on her, backless and form-fitting, showing off just how beautiful and elegant her body was. Her strawberry blonde hair fell in soft waves, looking perfect as usual.

“Thanks,” he breathed, looking back at the car. “Shall we?”

“Yes.”

She smiled in surprise as he nervously offered her his arm, walking her to the car like a gentleman, exactly as he’d been taught. He opened the car door for her, watching her smile as she got in.

“Thank you,” she chuckled, appreciative of the gesture.

As she got into the passenger’s seat beside him, Josh had to come to a complete stop for a moment as he took in the faint difference in air in the car.

“Brynne… you smell amazing,” he breathed, sounding winded from trying to breathe in as much of her perfume as possible.

She chuckled, knowing there was a reason she had a designated ‘secret weapon’ perfume, “Thank you,” she responded warmly. “You, and Nina Ricci.”

“No, Brynne, I’m serious,” he insisted excitedly, “You smell… like freaking heaven.”

“Well,” she nearly whispered, leaning in toward him with a dangerous smile, “I think you’re the most handsome guy in the world.”

Josh cleared his throat loudly to mask the sound of a surprising and involuntary groan of appreciation.

“Th-Thank you,” he managed, a pleading look in his eyes.

“Hey,” she said softly, her hand cupped against the side of his face, “Are you okay?”

Josh quickly composed himself, feeling guilty for concerning her. “Yeah, yeah, I’m good,” he promised, feeling weak against her touch, “You’re just… really, really pretty. Like unbelievably pretty.”

“Oh, you’re so sweet,” she gushed, “You know. I’ve always thought you were adorable.”

“Adorable? Really?” Josh laughed, caught off guard by how much he liked the compliment.

“Yeah,” Brynne nodded, “You are.”

“I-I think I like the way you talk to me,” he said candidly. “You—You give nice compliments. It’s sweet.”

“You’re one of the few people I’ll be sweet to,” she shrugged.

“Good,” he smiled, starting the car. “You know, I feel special.”

-

[samkerrworshipper]

i will wait for you | leah williamson x reader, barca women x reader

!!! completed !!!

uploaded a spoiler a week ago but this is it all done xo

You knew that this time when you went down it was different. All you’d been doing was sprinting up the sideline, your eyes focused solely on Alexia as she shot the ball a few feet in front of you. It was a good pass, a good line that had you heading straight for goal, hopefully it would secure your first in the Champions League final against Wolfsburg. It took a mere split second before you collapsed on the ground in complete agony. The umpire's whistle had blown almost immediately, your teammates huddling around you to give you some privacy whilst the medic made their way over to you, everyone trying to figure out what had happened. You were writhing against the pitch, screaming in pain that no one knew the source of. All you could do was sob and reach for your ankle as the medics tried their hardest to assess you and get you loaded onto a stretcher.

You were in unfathomable pain, resulting in the team's medics making the executive decision to pump you full of pain meds before they wheeled you off to the x-ray machines. You were a sobbing mess, the realisation kicking in that you were in so much pain and the realisation that your Champions League dream was over.

The x-rays confirmed your suspicions and you watched from the medical room as your team secured three goals against your opponents and when the whistle finally blew, they all became Champions. You watched as they all fell to their knees on the pitch, they were back to back champions, you were bedridden.

Instead of being out partying with the rest of the girls, you were put on the first flight back to Barcelona, you were in Bilbao, so they loaded you directly onto a medical helicopter and flew straight back to Barcelona. You passed out on the ride their, with the mix of disappointment and drugs mixing in your system to send you into a discomforting slumber.

When you woke up you were in a hospital in Barcelona. A series of doctors outlining to you the severity of your injury and what the coming weeks looked like for you. You tried your hardest to listen to their drawl, but it all went in one ear and came out the other. After they were done you insisted on being discharged, even with their warning words about the fact that it would be best if you stayed for another day or so, just before someone returned to take you back to your apartment and look after you whilst you were on such intense pain meds. You ignored their pleas, insisting that you go home by yourself, you didn’t want nor need their pity.

You got yourself home, in an uber, high off of the pain meds that were the only thing keeping you on your feet. You’d never liked crutches, found them extremely awkward and hard to use. You’d never believed that statement more than right now, as you attempted to crutch your way up the stairs of your apartment so you could make it to your bed. You were woozy on your feet, the drugs you were on making you sway as you tried your very hardest to focus on the step in front of you.

It took everything you had to make it to your bed, the pain, the tears, the pure need you had in your soul to just do it by yourself. You’d never felt more alone in your life, your team was too busy celebrating, your family was too busy doing other things to even think about you. By the time you made it to your bed you were completely spent, throwing yourself down into the sheets and falling into a deep sleep.

You awoke a horrific amount of times during the night, trembles of pain washing across your body directly from your ankle. It was gut wrenching pain, but you’d left your pain meds downstairs and you hardly trusted yourself on crutches during the day, let alone in the middle of the night. So you stayed in your bed, writhing in pain all throughout the night, willing for the sun to arise so you could finally get access to the medication you need so heavily. You knew there were people you could call, even if your teammates were in a different part of Spain. You knew that they would do anything to make you feel better, but you just couldn’t manage it, the guilt of taking away from their win was too much for you to bear.

When the sun finally did rise you tried your hardest to push yourself out of your bed and onto your crutches, but your legs felt like jelly. So instead of doing the rash thing and calling somebody, you pushed yourself down onto the floorboards of your room and started the gruelling process of pushing yourself against the floorboards and towards your stairs.

If crutches managed to hurt your ankle, then scooting yourself against the floors of your house was gruelling, a true struggle. Getting down your stairs was a nightmare, every single bump or nudge against the boot your ankle had been secured in was agony. The clunky thing was no help, it weighed down your ankle and made it a far bigger target for lodging itself on the edge of a stair.

Eventually, with tears flowing freely down your face you made it down the stairs and scooted yourself into the kitchen of your house, where you’d left the medications given to you by your doctors the day before. You reached up to your kitchen bench, clawing whatever you could reach for off of the ledge and brushing them down onto the floor beside you. It took all of your energy to get the medications down on the floor next to you, so you were relieved when you saw that you’d managed to scoop up the oxycodone pills from above you, which you knew would be enough to dull some of the pain you were feeling. You dry swallowed three pills, popping them into your mouth and forcing them down.

You looked across at the staircase in your apartment, your eyes were slowly becoming hooded and you knew you weren’t going to be able to make it back up the stairs, plus your apartment floor wasn’t that uncomfy right now?

You couldn’t help but slump against your kitchen bench, sleep and pain overwhelming you as you passed out on the floor of your kitchen.

“Y/n/n, babygirl, wake up for me.”

It was the feeling of a hand shaking against your face that brought you back to the world. In your drug induced haze it took a few seconds for your eyes to focus on the person responsible for your awakening.

“Ale, what are you doing here?”

You pushed her hand away from you, feeling a little bit vulnerable in your current position as she looked down at you from her position standing above you. Alexia was frowning down at you, and just as you’d finished taking her in you began to realise a lot of your team was piled into your apartment, you couldn’t make out everyone though.

“Bebita, we haven’t heard from you since the game, we’ve all been worried sick, you haven’t been answering anybody’s calls or texts.”

I tried my best to work up whatever courage and dignity I had, which was hard considering I was dressed in an oversized Barcelona champions shirt and whatever shorts the hospital must have been able to find to put me in.

“I’m fine, you can all leave, go back to celebrating.”

They all looked some form of hungover, they should be out partying, celebrating the win, instead they’d congregated in your house, which was honestly making you feel so much worse.

“I won’t have that tone pequeño, you clearly aren’t fine, if you were you wouldn’t be passed out on your kitchen floor after ghosting everybody for the last two days. I know you are in pain, but that does not warrant you pushing everybody out.”

Alexia’s voice was harsh, the voice she reserved for when she was making orders on the pitch, a voice that would normally have you quivering under her, but the mixture of the pain and embarrassment you were feeling was enough fuel for your drugged up state to use.

“Joder! I’m fine, go party, go celebrate, Estoy Bien, Déjame en paz.”

Your tone wouldn’t go over well, you knew that but the confidence from your statement was apparently fuel for you to stand yourself up from the ground on your own. You felt the shooting pain going up your leg almost immediately, as you struggled to balance with only one functioning foot. Alexia knitted her brows together, clenching her jaw as you watched her try to keep her composure, you never pushed a hungover Alexia, it never had a good result.

“I understand that you are in pain and that you don’t want to acknowledge. You need help though, and we have all come to give it, so please just let us.”

I looked at Alexia, she was standing a foot away from me, pure anguish and concern on her face.

“I’m fine, leave me alone, I know you all have celebrations to get back to, so please, go.”

I took a step on my injured foot, a big mistake that had me groaning in pain and Alexia’s arms coming up to my sides to stop me from going any further.

“Bebita, you are a part of that winning team, you deserve to be out celebrating with us, you clearly aren’t fine and we are all here to support you through that, however you need.”

You shook Alexia off of you, trying your very hardest to balance on a foot that wasn’t working,

“Vete a la mierda. Leave, get out of my house.”

You were getting annoyed and aggressive fast and quickly, something that your teammates seemed to pick up on.

“Leahhas called me, probably a 100 times, she’s worried sick about you, you can’t push everybody out forever, just because you are injured does not make you unlovable.”

Alexia’s words echoed against the walls of my house, her voice having risen to meet mine.

“Get out of my house, right now, before I call the police.”

Alexia exhaled deeply, she shooed the rest of the women that had piled themselves into my house out, leaving just you and her. You leant back against your kitchen bench, needing the assistance to keep you on your two feet, the pressure on your ankle becoming too much for you to be able to handle.

“You need help, I don’t care whether or not you know it but you do, we found you passed out on your kitchen floor and if that isn’t a big enough indicator then I don’t know what is. You can push us all out till the cows come home but it’s not achieving anything. You're going to let me take you up the stairs and back to bed, I’ll set you up with your meds and ice packs, I don’t care how much you hate it but I am going to be here for you whether or not you want me to be here.”

You glared at Alexia, your jaw set as a stone as the older women that had quickly become your adoptive older sister at Barca looked at you pointedly. There was no room for argument in her voice, like a drill sergeant.

Alexia walked towards you, taking you in her arms and letting your silent tears drip onto her shirt as she lifted you up, removing the pressure from your foot and carrying you up your stairs and to your bedroom. You cried silently into her, annoyed by the loss of your dignity so openly in front of your teammates. She helped to tuck you into your bed, elevating your ankle onto a pillow and very gently easing it out of the boot it was strapped into. The doctor’s had wrapped it up in bandages to keep it secure, so you were able to remove it from the boot to ice it. Alexia pressed an ice pack to your ankle, before procuring your meds and a drink bottle out of nowhere and leaving them on your bedside.

“Anything else you need?”

You glared straight out at the wall in front of you, lying back in your bed and refusing to look at Alexia.

“Leave.”

Alexia tried her hardest over the next week to get you to let her in. You pushed her out. You refused to leave bed besides going to the bathroom, which was not just detrimental to your physical health but also your mental health. You weren’t on your phone at all, refused to even look at it because you didn’t want to see any of the pity that was being thrown your way. Alexia tried her hardest, she came into your room at 7am every morning, prepped with breakfast that you never ate and your meds that were the only thing keeping you pain free at the moment. She tried her hardest to get you out of bed to go to your recovery appointments, but you refused to leave. Alexia was at her wits end. You needed surgery but a part of your surgery prep was that you needed to do some kind of recovery, that you needed to be strong enough to withstand that kind of toll on your body. You were depressed, something that was detrimental to your wellbeing going into surgery, if you asked the Catalan, you needed a kick up the ass, but nothing was working. Eventually, after day seven, you’d become mobile enough that she didn’t have any excuse to stay in your house anymore, you’d been very vocal about that so she’d left, apprehensively, unsure about what more she could do for you.

“Alexia, I’ve told you to fuck off.”

The sound of somebody's shoes scuffing against your doormat downstairs and your front door closing behind you was enough to make you unhappy. After seven gruelling days you’d finally gotten rid of Alexia, but now she was back and it was making you stir crazy. You could just make out the sound of her bare feet trudging up the stairs, nearing your bedroom door and opening it up.

“Leave me alone.”

You buried your head further into your pillows, pillows that were now beginning to smell a little bit too much like your. You pulled your head as physically close to the pillows as you could, twisting your body as far as you could without dislodging your ankle from its spot elevated on your bed.

“I’m not Alexia, if that helps?”

Your head shot out of your pillow and for a split second you wondered if the oxy delirium was getting to you. Alexia had been weaning you off the hard drugs, giving you less each day and replacing it with ibuprofen, which had the reverse effect on you, making you more delusional than you had been on the full strength drugs, you had more energy now though then you had a few days ago, so you could have just blamed it on you being more awake and present.

“Leah?”

You’d been avoiding your phone for a number of reasons, but number one on the list had been your girlfriend. For some reason, she was always the last person you wanted to talk to when you got injured, it made you feel guilty, ungrateful, especially considering she’d just missed out on playing you in the final this year.

“Hey baby girl.”

She looked exhausted, like she’d just gotten off a plane and it made you feel bad. Leah had spent a lot of time in your home in Barcelona, international breaks, time off, injury time, every time was enjoyable, but this time felt different.

“W-What are you doing here?”

Leah made her way further into your room, walking over to your shades and opening them a little bit, allowing more light then the very little amount that was peaking through the bottom of your shades.

“Alexia called, she said that you were in bad shape, that you needed someone and that someone had to be me. So I got on the first flight I could. She said that what you’d done was serious, full ankle ligament tears, all four of them and that you were struggling, so I got here as soon as I could.”

You let your bottom lip worry in between your teeth, as you watched Leah make her way around your room, picking up the loose articles of clothing that were on your floor, memories of Alexia fighting with you to get changed ran through your mind, a daily battle that always ended with you crying and screaming at her. Leah flung it all into your laundry basket, a little task that she always gave herself, always scared that one of us would trip and fall on a piece of clothing in the middle of the night, that fear now having escalated with crutches being brought into the picture.

“I’m fine, I would have called if I needed you, you're supposed to be with the team, they need you now more than I do.”

Leah turned back around to you, shedding her hoodie and slinging it into the laundry basket before addressing your sentence.

“Would you have? Because you didn’t and you seemed to be struggling pretty hard, Alexia called me, balling her eyes out because she was so scared that you were going to never leave bed. The girls need me, but you need me more right now, whether you know it or not, so I’m here, whatever you need, I’m here, for as long as you need.”

Leah sat herself down on the opposite edge of my bed, the one that was cold and empty. You looked at her anxiously, trying to decide whether or not you could fall into her right now, if she would catch you.

“I’m fine.”

Your tone betrayed anything you said, your voice wavering and shivering like a leaf in the wind.

“It’s okay if you aren’t, you know that I’m here for you no matter what.”

Leah’s hand came down to rest on your bicep, squeezing your arm gently.

“Leah, I told you, I’m fine, I’m good, I don’t need a doting girlfriend here trying to tell me that I’m fucking lovable, I don’t need you.”

You sniffled softly as you tried your very hardest to continue to block Leah out, a task that was proving to be a little bit harder than you’d thought. You loved the woman, with every single part of your body and soul, she was your home. But right now, everything felt so.. Wrong. You didn’t feel like yourself, you didn’t feel like the woman that Leah loved, you felt so fucking worthless.

“I don’t believe you honey.”

Leah’s voice was insecure, this wasn’t her girlfriend, this wasn’t the sweet, loving, kind woman that she loved so much. Everything about you was different, she knew all too well how injury could change a person, but never had she expected it to look like this for you.

“I don’t give a flying fuck what you believe, get out, leave me alone, I don’t want or need you.”

Your anger rose, fat, angry, hot tears leaking down your face as you pushed Leah away from you, removing her hands from your body, trying your hardest to get away from her.

Leah recoiled immediately, jumping up from the bed, while she knew you needed her she didn’t want to push you, she knew that injury’s not only broke your body, but your mind and she wasn’t ready to do that to you, not when she wasn’t sure how mentally out of it you were.

“Baby, I know that you are in pain, I know you are struggling, let me be here for you, don’t push me away because you feel like you have to.”

Leah’s words ricocheted off of your brain, not even managing to pierce a little bit of your brain. You were suffering, and there was something so poetic about suffering, something so lonely. It felt like you were drowning in a sea of nothingness, but you were too proud to try and tread water, you just let the pool of nothingness swallow you whole.

“Leah get the fuck out of my house, leave me alone. I don’t need or want you, I don’t love you, just leave, get out.”

Your voice was no longer quiet and sad, it was completely absorbed with pure anger and it hurt Leah’s heart. You’d been there every single step of the way for her when she’d done her ACL, you’d done the hard nights and days, you’d seen her at her very lowest and you’d stayed. She wanted to stay, but she knew that she couldn’t force you to rely on her, she couldn’t force you to realise that you needed your family most right now and that killed her, it hurt every single bone in her body, like she’d jumped off of a parking garage and shattered herself into pieces.

“Okay, okay, I’ll go. I’m going to go and stay at Lucy and Keira’s for a few days, if you need me I’m here.”

You shook your head at her, pointing towards the door. It was only now that you noticed Leah had her own tears brimming up in the back of her eyes.

“We’re done Leah, get the fuck out of my house and life, I don’t want to see you.”

When the words left your mouth you instantly regretted them, it was funny what anger and annoyance could do to a person. Leah’s face dropped immediately, and the tears that had been brimming up suddenly fell, silent little tears trickling down her face as she walked towards your doorway. You were the love of her life, and yet here you were pushing her completely out. It killed her, she felt like she was being gutted from the inside out and she knew that it was because you were hurt. Hurt people, hurt people. You were hurting so much, and the one person who was your last hope you were forcing out, it hurt her soul.

“I’m going to Lucy and Keira’s, if you need anything call me, or them, or Ale, we all are here for you.”

Leah’s voice broke as the words left her mouth, a muffled sob leaving her mouth as she made it to the doorway of your bedroom.

“I love you y/n.”

You let the words become empty space in the room, empty words, empty space, empty life. That was how you felt, like everything to do with you was just empty.

You’d lost faith in the world, in your world. If you asked Alexia that was the worst thing that could ever happen to a person, losing faith in yourself. When it got to three days without any correspondence from you she broke. She wasn’t going to let you kill yourself. She’d heard from Lucy that your interaction with Leah had been not great and it hurt her heart knowing that the woman who had saved you in the first place was now the person that you were pushing out.

She barged into your house, noticing how your kitchen was the same level of cleanliness it had been when she’d left a few days ago, leading her to believe that you hadn’t cooked at all. Your house was like a ghost town, eerily silent to a concerning level. She made her way through the house, tiptoeing up the stairs and into your bedroom. The door was hanging open, an invitation to Alexia, and she was a little bit taken aback to find your bed completely empty. Then the worry set in, because if you weren’t in bed or downstairs then where were you?

Alexia navigated through your bedroom and then into your ensuite, where she sighed in relief when she found you passed out on the bathroom floor. You looked like you’d been there for a while, and the consuming fear absorbed Alexia as she took in your body. You’d lost so much weight in the time since you’d be injured and you looked so much smaller then she’d ever seen you, like a little kid. Alexia felt so consumingly guilty for ever having left you, for letting you push her out and made the decision that even if you would hate her for it, she was going to force you to sort your shit out, and that started with getting you out of your house and moving in with her.

It took a lot to get you awake, and even more for Alexia to pack you a bag and then get you downstairs and into her car. You were weak though, and still fairly immobile, something that Alexia used as an advantage, hauling you over her shoulder and down into her car.

The first few days were nothing short of hell, but Alexia refused to give into you. You were force fed three meals a day, she dragged you out of her house with the assistance of Mapi everyday to go and do your recovery and she cracked down on your meds, rehab and alcohol consumption. You felt like a child, a six year old who had absolutely zero say in what was happening in her life.

After two weeks of Alexia’s crackdown the physical therapists at Barca made the decision that you were ready for surgery and your date was set for three weeks later. You had three weeks to sort out your shit, and Alexia made that clear to you.

She forced you into therapy, two sessions a week with the Barca therapist and you hated it, hated every single minute of it. Or you pretended to hate it, for the first two sessions. But the psychiatrist, as much as you hated to admit it, knew what she was talking about and during your third session you had a massive breakthrough, admitting that you had been struggling. She prescribed you anti-anxiety meds and some antidepressants and the result was almost immediate. Alexia watched the smile that had been absent from your face for the last month, return. No longer did you fight her everyday when she woke you up, you were even organising meet ups with teammates and that was the real breakthrough.

You knew that you’d hurt people, people including yourself and that to repair that you needed to get better, to prove yourself and the people around you that you could do better.

Alexia was there for you every single step of the way, and slowly you worked as hard as you could to rebuild the bond between you and your sister.

You talked about Leah with your therapist, for the first time since it all happened. You knew that you should reach out to her, should apologise, at least let her know you were doing better. But the part of you that had hurt her and yourself was terrified that the woman had moved on, that she was over you, that she didn’t trust you anymore.

So you kept your radio silence. Alexia had practically confiscated your phone, social media was the absolute worst thing for your mental health so you’d removed yourself from it. You were building a life where you were no longer reliant on the opinions or thoughts of the people around you, what mattered most was your feelings.

So you stayed isolated, relied upon yourself and Alexia and the people who truly loved and supported you. It was great, it was everything you’d ever needed and a part of you had become grateful for you injury, grateful that something had happened to make you realise that before your injury you were miserable, clinging to the opinions of the outside world to make you feel whole.

It wasn;t until the night before your surgery that Alexia got sick of you refusing to mend the one part of your heart that you needed to. In the three weeks you’d ticked off every other box, celebrated the team's win like you should have, made amendments with your teammates and coaches, worked tirelessly at your strengthening, got out of Alexia’s house and taken Narla for a walk. You were slowly working on mending your spirit, and a part of that was confronting the part of your heart that still yearned for Leah. Whether you wanted to deny it or not, Alexia knew that everyday without her was an internal struggle for you, that until you actually dealt with the situation you were never going to fully be yourself. She’d broached the subject a series of times, and every single time she was met with a brick wall, Leah was everything and nothing to you. She was the reason you woke up but also the reason you hated getting out of bed. She was your meaning to life and also the meaning to ending your life. Everything began and ended with that woman and Alexia knew it. She’d known since you’d brought Leah home for the first time when you were both only twenty two, so young, so stupid, so in love. She’d known from that night that the two of you were meant to be. That wasn’t to say that you hadn’t both had your struggles, you were both stubborn, headstrong, could never be wrong and incredibly independent, to a fault. But she’d just known that the two of you would make it, that even through thick and thin it was meant to be.

She was still certain of that. Even though she knew there was a chance you’d hate her for it, she called Leah the morning before your surgery, even if the woman couldn’t be there she should at least know that her person was having life altering surgery. Leah had been gutted, whether she had admitted it or not Alexia could just tell by the stutter that left her mouth as Alexia explained the events of what was happening to you the following day. Leah was torn to shreds. She’d spent every single day for the last month kicking herself, sitting by the phone, waiting for any kind of text or call from you and it had killed her, every single person around her had seen just how much the blonde had been affected by your absence. She’d tried getting over you, tried to remove the painful tumour that you had become to her body, but it was impossible, from the matching tattoos you both had, to the memories that were all over her house, you were a part of her life and she could never get away from it.

So when Ale had called her she’d picked up immediately, and sat gobsmacked as Alexia had explained the delicacy that was your emotional and physical status. If Leah was sane she probably would have just nodded along, wishing you a quick recovery, but Leah wasn’t. Instead, she found the first flight to Barcelona and packed together a bag before rushing to the airport, with absolutely zero idea of what she was doing.

When she touched down in Barcelona it was mid afternoon and Mapi and Ingrid were waiting at the terminal for her. Leah was flustered, tired and stressed, something Mapi could tell as soon as she saw her. She didn’t ask any questions, didn’t try and mention anything about you to her, just shepherded Leah straight out of the airport and into the car that was waiting for them.

Leah fidgeted the whole ride to Alexia’s, her fingers toying furiously with the rings around her fingers as she bit down on the inside of her cheek. Sometimes Leah thought that she didn’t think things through enough, this was exhibit A for that. Sometimes she hated it, sometimes she loved it. Even though parts of her were screaming to her that this was a bad idea, she just felt a part of her chest being tugged back towards you. That was how she’d fallen in love with you, following you around a world cup because it just felt right, you just felt right. She wasn’t ready to give that up yet, because you were just right for her, you were her forever, or you had been.

And she knew that she couldn’t force you to love her, she couldn’t even try if she wanted. But a part of her just felt so wrong about letting you go all those weeks ago, by walking out the door and not putting up a fight, like you deserved. You deserved to feel loved, and she’d left you, when you were at your very lowest point and nothing about that had sat right with her.

When the car pulled up to Alexia’s familiar house Leah felt a part of her stomach sink. What if you hated her? What if you never wanted to see her again? There were so many possibilities, so many options and variations of what could occur and it made Leah terrified, more terrified then she’d ever been in her entire life.

Mapi pushed her out of the car, Ingrid leading her towards the door of the threshold and swinging it open, forcing Leah into Alexia’s abode. It was the same as every other time she’d been in the Catalan’s house but this time felt so different, the context of the situation making it so much more gloomy and harder to face. Alexia was waiting for her, pacing back and forth in the kitchen and never in her life had Leah been more terrified of the older woman. She’d been fairly scared when she’d met her for the first time, even more scared when she’d been introduced as your girlfriend, but this topped the scale of horror. Leah felt as if she was walking into the bear's cave, a fate that she was not ready to face and wasn’t sure if she ever would be.

“She’s in her bedroom, she’s had a big day, there’s been a small change in her surgery plan and she’s stressing about it. She doesn’t know that you are here, and there’s a good chance she's not going to be happy you are here, just wait her out for me? She’s been working hard to fix everything with everybody, and you're the only person left on the list, she’s been working with a therapist, she’s trying her goddamn hardest and we’re all proud of her. She needs structure, tough love, that’s what we’ve been giving her and it's what works. There’s a chance she’s not going to want to talk to you at all, if that happens then we’ll try again some other time, but she needs you, I need you around, she’s not herself with you.”

Leah was taken aback by Alexia’s word vomit, nodding wordlessly at the older woman as she placed her luggage down on the floor. Leah felt so out of place, she’d been in Alexia’s house hundreds of times, for an array of reasons, but this whole situation made it all so different.

“I love her Ale, your sister is a hard person to love but I love her, and I genuinely believe love is the most powerful thing in the world and if it can’t get us through then I don’t know what will.”

Alexia stopped her pacing, to look at Leah.

At the beginning of your relationship she’d been disapproving, she knew that you were made for each other but that didn’t waiver the red flags that she’d seen with Leah. To her, Leah had been a playgirl, a surface person who wasn’t necessarily in it for the connection. Alexia wasn’t wrong very often, but that day she had been.

“Leah, I can’t even explain how glad I am you came. She makes it hard sometimes, sometimes I wonder why I stick around. But you and I both know just how far she’s worked her way into our chests. Head on through, she should be awake.”

Leah let Alexia wrap her arms around her, in a big warm hug. It was perfect, everything that Leah had been craving for the last month. She found herself leaning a little bit too much into Alexia’s embrace, when she realised she jumped out of Alexia’s arms like a scared cat.

“Go on kid, go get your girl.”

Leah focused on putting on foot in front of the other, as her feet scuffed against the wood floors, slowly inching towards the door that felt like it held so much behind it. When Leah finally did arrive at the barrier she raised her fist anxiously, rapping on the door three times before lowering her hand back to her side.

“It’s open Ale.”

Leah reached for the door knob, fuck it. She twisted the metal knob in her hand and pushed the door open slowly. She’d stayed the night in Ale’s spare room a series of times, but she could tell as soon as she got her first glimpse of the room that it was far more lived in when she had inhabited it in the past. Her eyes scanned the room as more was revealed, with every centimetre of door she pushed further away from herself. She was rewarded the most when she got a view of the bed, giving Leah her first glance at you.

Your whole face dropped almost immediately, with the complete shock of being face to face with a woman who you’d never expected to see again, let alone in your bedroom.

“Hey angel.”

Leah’s voice was so soft, so perfect, so gentle and it made you feel so wrong, like Leah was giving you something that you didn’t deserve. She had become a mere figment of your imagination, and even though it felt so wrong you couldn’t let her slip away this time, not without getting to hug your ex-girlfriend one last time. So you jumped off of the bed, as well as you could with the moon boot still clinging to your lower leg, catapulting yourself directly into Leah’s arms, a flurry of ‘sorrys’ falling from your lips as you pulled Leah directly into you.

The English woman was shocked, Ale’s talk having led her to believe that you were angry at her or with her, but you seemed far from it and it made Leah’s guts twist.

“You’ve got nothing to be sorry for hon.”

Leah’s words again came out so indescribably soft, like a piece of satin against your skin. You pushed yourself out of Alexia’s arms, sitting yourself back down on your bed and looking up at her.

“Yes I do, and I’d like to apologise properly to you. You didn’t deserve the way I treated you, all you’ve ever been to me is supportive and I pushed you away, because I was scared. Everyday for the past month I’ve regretted it, and I will spend the rest of my life regretting it. I understand if you’ve moved on, but if you’ll take me back then I will spend every single day of our lives together proving to you that I am worthy of your love.”

Leah sat herself down beside you on the bed, her hands coming to rest on top of your own.

“I’d like to apologise as well, I ran away, when it got hard when I should have stayed. I’m sorry I left, especially when you needed me most. How about we make the decision to just work from it. I love you y/n, more than anything else in the entire world and I know that we can make it through this. From now on, I am going to be here everyday, thick and thin, the good and the bad, the hard and the easy. I’ll be there every step of the way through your recovery, if you’ll have me.”

You both looked at each other, really looked at each other, for what felt like the first time in years. Just iris to iris, blue to green.

“I love you Lee.”

Leah just smiled at you, opening her arms up and relaxing as you climbed into her arms, your body intertwining with hers so familiarly.

“I’m so scared Lee, what if I never play like I used to, what if I never play at all?”

It was an admission that you’d been terrified of vocalising, but with Leah you couldn’t hide, you’d never been able to.

“Then we’ll figure it out together, side by side. I know one thing and that is that you are going to work your fucking ass off and if that isn’t enough then maybe it isn’t supposed to be, maybe there is another calling for you somewhere. You are going to be fine, this surgery is what you need and I’ll be there when they put you to sleep and when you wake up, I am here every step of the way for you.”

She was right, so incredibly right and that made you feel that little bit safer.

“Your my girl, my y/n, my lover girl, you’ve got this.”

For the first time in weeks you felt like maybe she was right, maybe you were going to be fine, maybe you did have this and even if you didn’t you knew Leah would be there to pick up the pieces, to glue you back together again when it all became too much.

[finneyfinland]

I Think We're Alone Now preview

Eccentric billionaire industrialist Sir Reginald Hargreeves adopts 8 children all born on the same day of the same year, all born from mothers reportedly not pregnant as early as an hour before the time of their delivery. 7 of which were soon introduced as the umbrella academy, a seemingly private institution producing superheroes instead of children. To you, the umbrella academy was nothing more than a man with too much money using his power to psychologically and physically traumatizes children. You'd know, as you were number 8. (Y/N) Hargreeves, The Vampire

Vampirism isn't what most people make it out to be. Most 'repellents' don't work, or are just allergies. Take garlic for example, it doesn't kill you and doesn't hurt you, just a minimal allergen. Crosses or crucifixes? Absolutely nothing, although nice decorations or jewelry. Sunlight? Now that's an actual problem. It's not really a turn into ash thing but more like a severe allergy. Because of that, you tend to travel during the day with an umbrella, or a ton of sunscreen if you've had just fed. Oh that's another thing, food. Your main source of nutrients does happen to be within blood. But because of the extensive amount of 'scientific experiments' you we're put through as a child, your feeding days are far apart, with only the minimal amount of blood needed to sustain you. Besides, regular food just tastes like chalk. The only reason you know all this is because of your father. Looking back, your childhood wasn't anything more than one giant experiment. But those days are long behind you, you went to an actual school, got your doctorate, and now work in the ER department. Your therapist always makes a show of telling you how far you've gotten. Most people wouldn't assume you're a vampire, just a paler young goth person trying their hardest to not get a sunburn.

Tonight you're helping secure and adjust an older women's iv. She took a nasty fall, and is waiting for her x ray results back. Just as you've set the iv stand near her bed and you've made sure to double check her comfort your supervisor pulls her room curtain back and smiles apologetically. "Excuse me Mrs. Jones, I just need to borrow your nurse for a quick moment" he turns to you and you rush to sign out of the computer in the room. "Is there anything else I can do for you Mrs. Jones?" you ask. She smiles and shakes her head no. "Ok well I'll just be a moment, make sure to push that button if you need any assistance from us" with a smile you walk to the curtain and follow your superior out, closing the curtain behind you. You're lead back into the office spaces before you're superior finally turns to you with a saddened smile. "We're all very sorry to be the barer of such unfortunate news but, your father, Mr. Hargreeves has passed tonight" wait…. wait that's not the truth, no way. This must be a prank, there's no way the old man has finally died. "As a representative of the company we can extend your vacation days to allow you better time to mourn for your loss". You clear your throat and nod. "You're hours have been adjusted, you're free to clock out and head home for the night". You thank him for his condolences and he awkwardly pats your shoulder before walking back to the front. If you're left standing in the same place for a moment, no ones there to see you. In a blur of time you walk back to your locker, grab your belongings and clock out for the night, or for a week apparently. Walking out of your work place, you're met with faces of pity, and passing apologies. That night as you walk home, hunger pangs your stomach, it's nowhere near your feeding day, so your stomach goes ignored. Once you reach your apartment you take off your nurse uniform and change into some slacks you got off your floor. A sigh leaves your lips and you drop you body onto your bed, feeling as if you've turned to stone. The next day you check your mail box and find a letter. Bringing it back to your apartment you place it on your kitchen counter, staring at the sender. The letter is addressed in the name of the Umbrella Academy with the matching stamp and everything. You take in a deep breath and open it, pulling out the letter to read the contents of your summons. "Back to the Umbrella Academy" you sigh to yourself and set the letter back down, pacing into your room. Time to meet the family.

[finnglas]

wanted to update peeps on Luna, cw pet health, under a cut. (Spoiler: She's better, but dear god what a journey we are still on.)

She's doing better. We're still getting a handle on what happened over the weekend, but the best guess we have right now is that she might have gotten into a toxin that crashed her kidneys. The vet says she looks like she is in Stage 2 kidney disease, which is common in cats of her age (she'll be 14 in July). And despite being called "Stage 2" it's the earliest kidney disease can be reliably detected in cats, actually.

Anyway, it's manageable and she should be fine for several more years. What happened was:

Friday, she had diarrhea. I knew she'd had a bit of kitten chow and she has a sensitive stomach, so I assumed that's what we had on our hands. By Friday night, I knew that wasn't the case. She was frantic and it just kept going, long after she didn't have anything left to poop out. She also was absolutely not interested in food. My vet had long ago recommended I keep an OTC 'kitty pepto' on hand - you can buy it easily, called Pro-Pectilin, or any similar product that has both kaolin and pectin in it - and I thought I had some, but what I had was a product with different active ingredients that was almost expired. I gave her that anyway, and promptly ordered a new Pro-Pectilin.

Saturday, it was getting worse. I took her to the emergency vet, who did bloodwork and told me she was running a fever and her kidney levels were ever-so-slightly elevated. They gave her an antibiotic shot, a vitamin shot, fluids+electrolytes, and an anti-nausea medication.

The diarrhea did not stop. I borrowed my mother's Pro-Pectilin while I waited for mine to arrive. It had been 48 hours since she had anything to eat, and yet every few hours she was in the litterbox. Saturday night there was blood. I called the emergency vet; they said to give her overnight to see if the meds kicked in.

Sunday, there was no more blood, and the diarrhea at least had color instead of being water-and-mucus, but it wasn't any more solid. It also started to slow down, to every 5-6 hours instead of 1-2. But she still wasn't eating. We went back to the emergency vet that night. More antibiotics, more fluids+electrolytes, more vitamins. They gave me an oral appetite stimulant. She had lost almost 3 pounds.

Monday, she only pooped twice - 11am and 2pm. She hated the oral appetite stimulant - it made her drool - but it seemed to work a tiny bit. She lapped at some broth, which was the first thing she'd willingly consumed since Thursday. I put some broth in a syringe and fed her about 5 teaspoons' worth. She didn't enjoy it but was too weak to really fight me. She seemed kind of vague and nonresponsive. I was sure I was losing her.

Tuesday I got her in to see our regular vet that afternoon. He was horrified. New bloodwork, scheduled for X-rays the next day, and a new appetite stimulant - Mirataz, a little ointment you rub into the inside of their ears once a day.

Let me tell you something: Mirataz is a miracle drug. If a vet tries to give you Entyce for your pet who isn't eating, you hand that shit back and you tell them to give you Mirataz. Not only did it not make her drool, not only was the application extremely stress free, an hour after rubbing it into her little ear, she was eating. During our DnD Discord call, she got up from her bed of her own free will and ate a small amount at a time, five or six times. A far cry from me dribbling broth down her throat with a syringe. Her fur was already starting to look better. Her eyes were brighter. She had energy. She wasn't as vague. If she'd been at 0%, she was now at a solid 55-60%.

Wednesday's adventures with the vet weren't fun. We had to see a different doctor for the X-ray appointment as the other one was out, and she and I did NOT get along. Jumbled information, terrible bedside manner, two seconds into the conversation, drops the phrase, "We have to consider her quality of life." Quality of life? Ma'am! Why do you think I have dropped $1800 over the course of the weekend? This was acute onset, not chronic, and we still don't know what it was! We are not talking about euthanizing this cat unless you can give me a reason why! She also was like "She hasn't pooped since Monday afternoon? That's a concern. I'm sending you home with a laxative." MA'AM. she only started eating again at 8pm last night! After not eating + pooping her guts out for four days! I am not giving her a fucking laxative!

Anyway. Thursday, good vet called me back to talk about the X-rays, and that's when he told me about the Stage 2 kidney disease. There are still some things he doesn't understand from her raw numbers and X-rays, so he wants to do an ultrasound, but those aren't cheap so we're talking about it. In the meantime, Luna is much improved. It's clear she went through an Ordeal and still isn't fully Well, but she's eating (and as of today, pooping normally!), and has at least been drinking normally this whole time, so we have some time to figure out the next steps with her, and I can finally sleep at night.

Honestly. Worst holiday weekend ever in a long time, and that's including the year I had RSV from Christmas to New Year's and was leaking mucus out my eyes. Thank everyone for their thoughts and vibes and prayers.