#she's angry! she's gentle! she's hysterical! she's a lot of things! all at once!

[mewwile]

i realized i did not post this, my other Elden Ring tarnished oc- Rala.

she’s for the other end. very complicated woman, wants to end the world as a kindness but also because she has so much anger and bitterness. And now someone asks her to care?

[calmcoldevening]

Hey! If it’s okay, can I request a fic (or maybe head canons if you don’t want to write a fic) where the Sawyers and reader (reader and bubba are dating) are driving to a new location (cause a victim escaped and now have to relocate), but they need to stop for gas so they go to the gas station in Ambrose where they meet Bo. And once he sees reader, he starts putting on his charm, but bubba and the other sawyer brothers don’t like that (aside from drayton probably since he doesn’t really care) cause they are protective over reader cause the sawyers (aside from bubba for obvious reasons) sees the reader as their sister, it she manages to calm them down. So anyway, fast forward, bo and Vincent are trying to kill them, but the sawyers and reader either kills the sinclairs off or manage to run away. Sorry if this was a lot, I thought I’d be interesting!!

Hey there, kitten. I'm sorry you had to wait so long, I had little problems with my exams and everything like that. So here it is, I hope you like it 💗✨

Bubba Sawyer x reader.

The House of Wax

Tw: mention of murder, killing, blood, violence, kidnapping

It was Bubba's mistake. At least that's what the Sawyer brothers said when the last of the group of guys was thrown out of the first-floor window by the victim, laughing hysterically. Everyone rushed outside. Nubbins wanted to catch up with the girl as soon as possible, but you grabbed the guy by the collar in time, pulling him away from the road. A huge car drove right in front of your faces. The guy clung to you, snuggling against your chest and giggling nervously. It was the first time he was so scared, and you saved him. Now you watched together as the final girl jumped into the back of a pickup truck while Bubba chased her with a chainsaw. After a couple of minutes, the man was left alone in the middle of the road, muttering something and waving the chainsaw in different directions.

You've always been like a mom to the Sawyers, taking care of them and all that. They loved you, even in their own way.

You had to quickly pack the most necessary things. A few hours later, you were all in Drayton's car together, driving away from the Sawyer house. This place was full of memories, he had known several generations of Sawyers, but now you couldn't let yourself be discovered. Drayton suggested going to Florida, because there were some Sawyers there, you have the opportunity to wait a little while until this whole story with the last girl settles down.

The elder Sawyer, not surprisingly, was sitting at the wheel, looking at the road and frowning. Nubbins was sitting next to him, explaining something furiously while playing with his camera. You and Bubba were in the back seat. Bubba was looking nervously at the floor, his eyes were sad, and his hands were fiddling with the edge of an old mask. You gently touch his hand with your soft palm, stroking it soothingly. Bubba flinches at the sharp contact, but does not resist, letting out a sigh of relief. He mumbles something to himself, and you smile a little.

"Come on, honey. No one is mad at you. It was just an accident."

Your voice is gentle and soothing, the man's shoulders relax noticeably. But he's still upset. Bubba knows it's his fault, and he's terribly ashamed. He didn't want the whole family to have to leave home somewhere far away because of his mistake. And yet he whines, leaning on your shoulder. Bubba closes his eyes wearily. You've always been his safe place. He felt good with you, you didn't get angry, you didn't scream, but only gently hugged and comforted him. Just like Mom. Your gentle touches, gentle and honey-sweet voice, kind words. With you, he felt like just a Bubba, not a Leather Face.

The road was quite long. Such native golden landscapes of Texas were gradually replaced by greener ones, unfamiliar to this place. The road on both sides was now surrounded by tall trees, through the dense foliage of which it was difficult to see anything. The sun disappeared behind the green of Louisiana. The car was driving slowly, which made you feel a little seasick and sleepy, only occasionally a small crack could be heard under the wheels from the stones lying on the road.

You sat with your forehead against the cool glass and stared dispassionately at the changing nature outside the window. Bubba had been asleep in his seat for a long time, snoring a little. Sometimes you saw how his thick fingers, even in a dream, instinctively tugged at his homemade bracelet. Drayton sat at the wheel, frowning. His wrinkled fingers gripped the steering wheel tightly, digging his nails into the flimsy rim of the steering wheel. Nubbins was sitting next to him, but he was clearly in his thoughts, sometimes giggling strangely. Everything seemed to be going on as usual. At least Drayton had always been quite gloomy before. So it was impossible to think that some time ago you left home in a hurry because of an escaped victim.

You had long since left Texas when Drayton let out a grunt of displeasure, for the first time in a long time. You were running out of gas. The man turned off somewhere to the side, so now you find yourself in some kind of clearing. Tall trees with emerald-green leaves glistening in the sun stood in a thick wall around, the air here was humid but pleasantly fresh. The place itself was like a real fairy tale.

None of you knew where Drayton was going, but you all trusted his 'intuition' implicitly.

What was your surprise when, after only half an hour, you drove into a small town. Drayton parked the car at the curb, and you hurried to leave this stuffy hot place as soon as possible. A pleasant cool breeze hit you in the face, you inhaled a full chest of fresh air with pleasure. Your body ached from the long and decently uncomfortable car ride. Your muscles were asking for movement.

The city was small, but cozy. The roads were clean and relatively new, as if no cars had driven on them for a long time. All the streets were cleared, although there were no people around. Buildings with brightly flashing signs are located on both sides of a wide road. You immediately headed straight down the street, wanting to visit these interesting shops. The boys will probably be dealing with gasoline now anyway, you had at least fifteen minutes of free time to research.

The first thing you did was go to a small kiosk, probably with sweets, because your hungry stomach was making itself felt. The door opened easily, and a light, gentle bell tinkled overhead. You wandered over to the chocolate shelves. Because of your long life with the Sawyers, you didn't always have the opportunity to buy sweets, as you just stayed at home, so now it was a great opportunity to make small stocks. You grabbed a few dozen different sweets and headed for the cash register. Perhaps you should have taken a more responsible approach to choosing such a not very healthy snack, but now you just couldn't wait to feel this pleasant taste of milk chocolate in your mouth and fill your brain with a dose of dopamine. What was your surprise when the cashier's seat turned out to be empty.

"Hey? Is there anyone here?" You asked uncertainly, frowning a little. There is silence in response.

You were about to turn around and leave when you suddenly bumped into something big. Unable to keep your balance, you fell to the floor. The chocolate bars fell to the floor with a thud. You rubbed your bruised lower back and looked up at the obstacle that appeared, cauterizing it with a murderous look. It was a man. A handsome man with short hair in a dark suit.

"Oh my God baby, are you okay?" He asked with obvious concern in his voice and held out his hand to you, "I didn't notice you, I'm so sorry."

You frowned, but grabbed his hand, getting to your feet. The stranger was quite tall and sturdy.

"What are you doing here.. alone?" He asked with a slight smile.

"I just went into the store, but there was no one here," you replied, picking up the candy from the floor, "My family and I were driving by.. we ran out of gas."

"That's how it is. Well, you won't find anyone here right now, it's daytime prayer in the church. And I'll help with the gasoline, you can be sure," he babbles with a smug smile, "By the way, my name is Bo."

"..Y/N," you reply shortly, looking down at him.

"Y/N, right? God, what a wonderful name," he almost purrs and wraps his arm around your waist, "Come on, Y/N, why don't you see the city yet? We have a wonderful wax house just down the street."

You nod curtly, putting the candy back. Bo grabs your hand, smiling.

"Take it all, I'll pay for it."

"Thank you of course.. but I have to go. They're waiting for me," you say hurriedly, leaving the store. Bo is right behind you. His hand grabs your free hand with amazing tenderness. The man brings your hand to his lips and leaves a light kiss.

"Let's go together. You know, I work at this gas station."

You try to hide the obvious discomfort from his close contact and nervously swallow, but nod. Maybe this way you'll get out of here a little faster.

When the two of you approach the gas station, you see all three men at the closed doors. Now you're not trying to hide your obvious disgust that a man was holding your hand. The Sawyers notice you and their poses become more tense. You can see Bubba's brows furrowing through his mask, he nervously chews his lower lip.

"Gentlemen, I take it you need gas?"

Finally Bo lets go of your hand and heads forward to open the gas station. You run up to Bubba, hugging him and burying your face in his shirt. A man squeezes you in his arms, whispering all sorts of nonsense in your ear to calm you down.

"Sorry.. I was just scared."

You follow the others to the store together. There were a lot of different car parts here, although they looked relatively worn. You squeezed Bubba's hand.

Then everything is a blur. You clearly remember that Bo asked you to bring the keys to the cash register so that he could give change to Drayton. The key was in the back room. As soon as you went in there and started rummaging through the drawers, there was a dull pain in your head. It began to darken in his eyes, and a slight taste of blood appeared on his tongue. You woke up in a strange place, it was hot in here. You reflexively wanted to reach out to your face to wipe your sleepy eyes, but you couldn't. Your hands were tied. You were all tied to some kind of table with leather straps. A growing sense of panic instantly filled your mind. A man came up to you. He was strange and almost frightening. He moved his hands over your body with care and some strange tenderness, removing excess clothes from your body or rubbing something into your skin. It didn't hurt, but it was unpleasant. You basically didn't like being touched by strangers.

You don't know how much time has passed or how long you've been in this strange basement. You were just mentally begging Bubba to find you. A single tear rolled down your hot cheek, and the man gently wiped it away with his thumb. He began to make light soothing movements on your face, pushing excess strands of hair behind your ear and calming your flesh. You wanted to scream, but your whole body was so weak. It's like your body was drugged or drugged. The burning pain was nowhere and at the same time on every part of your body. Something hot was slowly covering your legs, making you lazily bite your tongue. It hurts like hell.

The last thing you remember is the smell of copper and a strange buzzing in your ear. The skin of your stomach was instantly covered with lingonberry drops of warm liquid, and then darkness.

Bubba was furious. When you had been gone for ten whole minutes, he really started to worry. Nubbins also realized that something was wrong, so now he was staring at Bo, clutching a knife in his pants pocket. This is not a time for cute Bubba, this is the job of a Leatherface. Perhaps becoming a victim of cannibals was the last thing this handsome man in a dark tuxedo expected. He told them exactly where they should look for you. Then Bubba tore out his tongue.

He quickly ran into the basement, clutching his beloved chainsaw. His sweet girl. He was furious when he saw you almost naked on that creepy man's desk. Bubba's blood boiled. He rushed towards the stranger, burying the chainsaw blade into the maniac's belly with special force. Nubbins watched this with wild amusement. He also figured out in time how to turn off this strange machine that feeds molten wax. The guy carefully cut the leather straps, and Bubba immediately picked you up in his arms, throwing the chainsaw on the floor. The man hugged you to his chest, muttering something and making a long whine. He was so sorry that he left you alone.

Already in the car, he carefully wrapped you in a blanket, cleansing your body of wax. A slight smile appeared on his lips when he felt the slow movement of your chest. The man desperately pressed you against his big body, cradling and guarding your sleep.

Drayton sat down in the driver's seat with an exasperated groan, starting the engine.

"Because of that bastard, I got my new trousers stained with his vile blood!"

[intheticklecloset]

Circuit Breaker (My Hero Academia)

Primary Universe

@veryblushyswitch​ Sounds like a perfect opportunity to combine a couple of requests if you ask me! Also a beautiful excuse to write some KamiJirou! I love these two together and thanks to both of these prompts I was able to write a fic that featured this couple! Hope you like it!

~

“Kaminari!”

“Whaaaaat?”

“You can’t just sneak up on me like that!” Kirishima tried to sound indignant, but it was difficult when he was grinning so big. He had his arms wrapped protectively around his torso after his friend had surprised him with extremely ticklish electric shocks to his ribcage.

Kaminari smirked. “I can, I did, and I’m definitely going to again. Can’t stop me, Kiri.”

Kirishima scoffed and turned his back, waving a hand. “Yeah, yeah – AIEEE!!” He shrieked and wrenched himself out of Kami’s radius, stumbling back with an even wider smile now. “Again?!”

“You turned your back!” Kaminari laughed, wiggling his fingers with tiny sparks of electricity shooting from them. “I can’t help it if you’re really that naïve.”

“Go pick on someone else,” Kirishima laughed, backing up with his eyes still on Kami this time. “Try out your ticklish shockwaves on Midoriya; I’m sure he’d love that.”

Denki chuckled, letting his friend get away for the moment, glancing around the dorm. Midoriya, huh? It would be fun to try it on him…but it would be even more fun to try it on a lot of people!

Thus the electric hero’s tirade began. As suggested by Kiri, he started with Deku, sneaking up behind him and graciously waiting for the boy to set down his stack of heavy books before grabbing onto his sides and igniting his quirk just the tiniest bit – enough to send a strong, ticklish jolt through him and make him shriek just as Kiri had.

“K-Kaminari?!” he cried once he’d turned around, covering his mouth, looking surprised and embarrassed by how loud he’d just been. “What was that?”

“Just trying out a new use for my power,” Denki replied with a confident grin. He wiggled his fingers. “Turns out the tiniest bit of electricity can be really ticklish if activated in the right spots. Want to see?”

“I-I-! N-No, thank you, I’m – I’m good!” Deku stammered and blushed, nearly tripping over himself in an effort to back up. “M-Maybe…some other time?”

Kaminari smirked. “I’ll hold you to that, Midoriya.”

After that, he started trying it on anyone he came into contact with on a regular basis. Sero, Mina, Ojiro…he even got lucky and was able to try it on Bakugou once. The blonde had shouted and cursed, but with determination Denki was able to wrestle him into a kind of bear hug and ignite the ticklish sparks on his stomach, forcing his angry friend to laugh for a few seconds before he broke the hold and then yelled at him for a solid minute.

Tokoyami was an interesting subject. He actually wasn’t intending to try it on him, but then curiosity killed the cat and he was able to manage a poke – just a poke – to the teen’s side. Tokoyami hadn’t made a loud noise like the others, but he had jumped out of his chair and whipped around to glare at him. That was an interesting note for later, Kami thought.

Finally, however, he decided he had to try it on the girl that – as it turned out – would bring about the end of his reign of ticklish terror and take the throne for herself.

Jirou was sitting outside, flipping through a notebook and jotting things down when Denki passed by the back doors and saw her out there. He glanced around to see if any others were about. When the coast seemed clear, he smirked and joined her, plopping down beside her.

“Hey, rockstar,” he said. “What are you working on?”

Jirou blinked at him in surprise. “Um…just jotting down some lyrics.”

“Writing another song?”

“Well, yes,” she replied hesitantly, closing her notebook. “But I don’t think I’ll perform this one.”

“Oh?”

“It’s just for me.”

He smiled at her. “What’s it about?”

Jirou gave him a withering look. “It’s just for me, Denki.”

“Aw, come on,” he whined, though internally he was elated. She’d walked right into this; he didn’t even have to be random about it this time. “You can tell me.”

“I don’t want to – hey!” Jirou yelped when he reached for her sides. “What do you t-thihink you’re dohohoing?!”

“Pleeeeeease tell me?” he begged, not using his quirk just yet. It was satisfying enough to tickle her normally for the moment. “Pleeeeease, Jirou?”

“You mohohohoron!” she laughed, though it seemed only half-forced. “Stohohohop!”

“If you don’t tell me, I’ll tickle it out of you~” he teased. Then – to his surprise – he felt fingers tickling him instead, making him spurt out a giggle. “Gah! Whahahat the--?”

Jirou smirked, shoving him away from her, digging into his sides and ribs. “Two can play at that game, you know.”

“H-Hehehehehey!” Kaminari found himself quickly losing composure as she pushed him back, now looming over him with her fingers still attacking him. “Dohohohohon’t! Plehehease, I’m reheheheally ticklish!”

“Should have thought of that before you tried to tickle me.” Jirou smiled down at him, moving her hands up into his underarms. “Besides, I know you’ve been trying out your quirk on people the last couple of days, and I am not about to be your latest experiment.”

“Whahahahahat? Whohohoho told you thahahahahat?”

“Don’t know if I should say. You might just seek revenge on them for it.”

“Y-Yohohohohou behehehet I am!” Denki squealed when one hand traveled down to squeeze at his hip. “Gahahahahaha, please, stohohohohohop!”

“Nope.” Jirou grabbed at one of his knees when it came up to kick the air. “You started—”

“NOHOHOHOHO!!” Kaminari suddenly exploded with laughter, his legs kicking more frantically now, pulling his knee from her grip. “Nohohohohot thehehehere, please, I’ll dohohohoho anythihihihing!”

Jirou stared at him incredulously, then grinned and quickly straddled his calves, effectively pinning him in place while she reached forward to squeeze at his knees again. When he tossed his head back and let out a loud scream of laughter, she laughed along with him. “Well that didn’t take much, did it, sparky?”

“PLEHEHEHEHEHEASE JIROU!!” He begged, flopping around helplessly as she kneaded into the sides of his knees. “STAHAHAHAHAHAHAP I’M SORRYEHEHEHEHEHE!!”

She tilted her head. “Hmm…are you, really?” Her voice was contemplative and teasing. “I don’t know, Denki. How do I know you aren’t just saying that?”

“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! FINE, I’M NOHOHOHOHOHOT SOHOHOHOHORRY!!” Kami admitted, his face turning from pink to red the longer she focused on that spot. “BUT I P-PROHOMISE I WOHOHOHOHON’T TIHICKLE YOU IF YOU LEHEHEHEHEHET ME GO!!”

“Ha! Bargaining now, are we?” Jirou laughed, sliding her fingers to his knee pits and digging in there.

“NO – CRAP – OH GOHOHOHOD NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!” Kaminari laughed so hard and so loud it sounded more like was being murdered than tickled. He tried to push himself up to shove her away but was too weakened by his own hysterics to do anything more than squirm. “NOT THEHEHEHEHEHERE JIROU PLEHEHEHEHEHEHEASE!! I’M SEHEHEHEHEHERIOUS!! STAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!!”

“You sound serious,” she teased, though she did notice the air around him beginning to spark a little.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!” The more she tickled, the more Kami laughed, and the more he laughed, the more he felt himself losing control of his quirk. “PLEHEHEHEHEHEASE I’M G-GOHOHOHOHOHONNA BLOW A FUHUHUHUHUHUSE!! JIROU!!”

Noticing the air around him growing more and more charged with each shrieking laugh she forced from him, Jirou finally stopped and allowed him to catch his breath. Denki gasped and let out some leftover giggles, his face dark red and eyes bright with unshed mirthful tears. “Th-Thank you…”

“Don’t relax just yet,” Jirou warned, smirking when she saw him look at her with horror. “I never said I’d let you go.”

“B-But…if you tickle me too much I’ll—”

“You’ll blow a fuse. I saw.”

He stared at her, eyes widening when she slid her hands beneath the legs of his sweatpants to make direct contact with the skin of his knee pits and scribble there lightly. Instantly he dissolved into hysterical giggles, falling back and clenching his teeth in a bright smile.

“But that doesn’t mean I can’t still tickle you. I’ll just have to go about it differently.”

“Jihihihirou,” Denki whined through his laughter. “Why?”

“Because you deserve it for being such a punk.” Jirou smiled at winked at him. “And because you’re totally adorable like this.”

Kaminari felt himself blush so hard the heat of it reached the tips of his ears, and between how flustered he was and the gentle, unbearable tickling, he found he could do nothing at this point except lay there and giggle and hope she’d have mercy on him soon.

Jirou’s smile widened. Denki may have been annoying at times and was definitely one to push buttons, but he’d also been the one to help her come out of her shell and follow her second passion for singing all the way to the stage during the festival. Between that and having him like this – giggly and blushy and begging her to tickle him anywhere else but there – she felt that her heart was full, and she didn’t know if she’d ever be able to stop making him smile like this.

Meanwhile, Denki Kaminari swore he’d never try to tickle her again.

Well…unless he really, really wanted to. Which he knew he did. So basically, he was doomed to constantly be at her mercy.

But he could live with that.

[mystic-shadows42]

Troubled

A/N: A lot of back and forth in the beginning. Sorry for my crappy writing.

Pairing: Hvitserk x reader

Summary: Being involved with Hvitserk has consequences that you weren’t quite prepared for. Hvitserk isn’t one to commit to anything serious unless it involves fighting.

Warnings: Language, some sexual content, and some violence

You cursed yourself at how stupid you had been that night with Hvitserk. It was unbeknownst to you that he had been the man-whore of Kattegat. 

You were only visiting on behalf of your brothers who were set to arrive a couple of days after you.

Hvitserk was the first to greet you to Kattegat. He seemed sincere when showing you around. He was nice and gifted you with presents when your brothers were late to arrive.

You were naive. 

Your brothers had always protected you from the outside world especially from men. This was the only time where you weren’t accompanied by them.

You were mad that you allowed yourself to succumb to him. You let Hvitserk take you to his room. He was gentle with you and whispered sweet words in your ear.

At that moment you were in bliss whenever he would thrust into you and hold onto your hips. His rough calloused hands were the only ones to ever touch your soft skin. All that has never been touched before besides your own hands.

You remember tracing your fingers over his scars when he intertwined his hands with yours and lifted them above your head. It was a night you wouldn’t ever forget.

A tear came out of your eye as you remembered that day.

When morning came, Hvitserk wasn’t in bed with you. It panged you but you looked for him nonetheless. You walked around until you were stopped by one of the Lothbrok brothers.

They had directed you in the direction where they knew he was. The strange thing was that the brothers gathered around and watched you knock on the door.

Hvitserk answered while looking down trying to adjust his trousers. When he looked up and saw you there, he was surprised. You were about to speak when you stopped yourself short upon seeing a woman come out and kiss his cheek.

She didn’t pay you any attention as she walked past. You looked at the floor at a loss of words. Who was she? What was she doing with Hvitserk? Could he have really been with another woman while you were sleeping?

The heaviness in your chest hurt at the thought that he’d used you. 

You looked up at Hvitserk confused. You shook your head not knowing what to say or to make of the situation. Hvitserk didn’t show any type of emotion.

Another woman emerged from the room who was barely clothed with the fine linen-wrapped over herself. 

You tried your best not to show how hurt you were feeling. As you looked at the woman, you noticed that she wore the same jewelry that Hvitserk had gifted to you.

Hvitserk looked like he was going to say something but stopped himself short. The woman looked at your face and took in the situation. “Didn’t you know honey? Hvitserk gets around.”

You felt humiliated and stupid for falling for it all. It didn’t help that you allowed a tear to escape from your eye and that his brothers were laughing hysterically from behind.

Hvitserk didn’t say anything. All he did was clench his jaw and look away. You walked away immediately and harshly wiped your tears away.

On your way back to pack your belongings, you noticed quite a few women were all wearing that same jewelry. It disgusted you. He was marking all the women he’d ever slept with. 

The jewelry he gave away was never a sign of him being chivalrous.

Needless to say, you left that very day and gave away everything Hvitserk had gifted to you.

****

Reflecting back on those days while you threw up only made you bitter. You hardened your heart since the day you left Kattegat.

Now here you were hunched over, thinking back on the days that led to this one. This can no longer be hidden or doubted.

All the sick days and the soreness of your body weren’t just a coincidence anymore, it was a fact. The proof was nestling in your stomach.

You shuddered when you placed your hand on your stomach. It was time to accept the truth for what you suspected weeks ago.

You immediately dropped your hand from your stomach once you saw your brother’s boats arriving back.

You kicked dirt over your mess and decided to settle inside. It pained you to keep such a secret from your brothers. You were a close family.

Halfdan would likely be ecstatic while Harald might be disappointed. He had hoped to marry you off someday to someone with power to ensure your future and to secure more troops. 

You started to become antsy and paced the room. The noise of the crowd grew closer.

When the doors opened you took a deep breath and turned to face your brothers.

Only the eyes you were looking at did not belong to your brothers. They belonged to the one person whom you despised. Hvitserk Lothbrok.

He slowed his walk before stopping completely once he recognized you. He visibly swallowed before he spoke.

“What are you doing here?”

“I live here.”

A look of confusion crossed his face.

“Ahhhh I see you’ve met my sister.” Your brother Harald spoke up while he walked up to you and placed a kiss on your forehead.

“Sister?” Hvitserk said it almost as if that bothered him. “Seems as if your ‘sister’ never stuck around to tell me that.”

His words only infuriated you. He had no right to be irritated with you.

“You didn’t give me much choice.”

Harald stopped and watched the way you and Hvitserk exchanged looks. He was good at reading people.

“Both of you sit.”

Hvitserk shook his head. You knew he didn’t want anything to do with you especially when he finds out about the baby.

“I don’t want-“

“I said, sit down,” Harald said sternly making Hvitserk shut his mouth and sit down. “My dearest sister, is Hvitserk the father?” You had tried your hardest to keep the news from your brothers but nothing gets past Harald. “Don’t be so surprised. I’ve known from the start of your sickness. I’ve just been waiting for the bastard to reveal himself. Now that it’s come to my understanding that it may be Hvitserk.”

“Yes, it’s Hvitserk’s.”

Hvitserk stood up from his seat once he caught on. “No. I’m not-I can’t be. You have the wrong guy.” He was looking for any kind of excuse to get out of it.

“Are you suggesting my sister’s a whore then?”

Hvitserk gritted his teeth, not liking the position he was in. “I’m saying that perhaps your sister made a mistake.”

“I’ve been with no one else. Just because you go bed-hopping doesn’t mean I do the same.” You snapped as you stood up too.

“Well, you certainly did with me,” Hvitserk responded smugly.

All you saw was red. You pulled the sword from his side and held it up to his throat. Ivar walked in at that moment and stopped shortly assessing the situation.

Hvitserk was completely taken off guard, not expecting you to do that.

“I could kill you if I want to. You’ve been nothing but trouble since I met you. All you’ve done is degrade me.”

Harald rested his hand on your shoulder to calm you down. “Easy sister. I still have an alliance with these boys.”

You started to lower the sword in your hands. As you did, you pressed the tip of the blade in Hvitserk’s skin dragging it down his chest a bit before leaving him be.

He hissed at the contact but did nothing to stop you.

“Now return his weapon.” Your brother stated.

You threw the blade down and slid it across the room. Only Harald’s chuckle was heard echoing out the room. “Please excuse my sister. She has a worse temper than both me and my brother but I think the little one nestling in her belly is the one fueling the fire, don’t you think?”

Ivar shared a look with Hvitserk knowing what was finally going on. He didn’t look happy one bit.

“You’re with child?” Halfdan asked as he caught the last bit of what his brother Harald had said.

You only nodded, still feeling bitter towards Hvitserk. Halfdan engulfed you in a hug and lifted you from the ground much to Harald’s displeasure.

“Easy brother.”

“I can’t help it. I’m going to be an uncle! Now, who’s the lad?” His face turned serious once he asked his question.

“The one who has a new scar on his chest as a reminder of this day.”

Harald turned his head and looked unimpressed that it was Hvitserk.

“Let’s hope the baby has more of our traits.”

Harald was growing tired of all the distractions going on in the room. “Everyone sit.”

Sometimes your brother being your king annoyed you but you listened and obeyed.

“Now that we know that my sister is expecting, let’s get down to discussion. My sister and Hvitserk are going to be bound by their child. Why not make it official and have them marry. It’s an alliance forever forged under the eyes of the gods.”

Harald was making his case to Ivar more so than Hvitserk. You weren’t happy one bit but you weren’t about to interrupt until you were alone. Hvitserk on the other hand opposed it immediately.

“No, that’s not going to happen.”

Ivar tried to get him to sit back down but Hvitserk stormed off. Ivar looked angry and excused himself as he went after his brother.

When the doors closed you turned to face your brother. “How can you make a suggestion like that when you haven’t even discussed it with me? I’m already having a baby with that bastard of a man, now you want me to marry him?!”

“Sister, I’m looking after your best interest at heart. We secure two things out of this. You uphold your image having the father of your child by your side and we have an alliance with the Lothbrok’s.”

“I don’t care how people see me without the father of my child by my side. I don’t need him. Make an alliance regardless, just leave me out of it.”

“With you in it, it secures our alliance.”

“So you’re just using me?”

“Just think about it. You can make his life hell for all I care. Maybe he’ll die in battle but Ivar will still be bound to that alliance. Just as long as you don’t kill him yourself. This is for your safety as well as our people. Now you have more to think about with the baby on the way.”

“That’s a lot of self-restraint on my part,” you said bitterly.

Ivar and Hvitserk came back into the room and sat down in their seats. Hvitserk looked displeased and didn’t dare look anyone in the eye as he dragged his hand down his face. The wound you marked on his chest was bandaged and peaking a bit from under his shirt.

“We agree to your terms of an alliance by marriage.” Ivar smiled and nodded his head towards you. You briefly smiled back. You so badly wanted to scream and storm out of the room but you were taught better than to act like that.

“May I be excused brother?”

“Of course.”

You quickly left the room but not before you heard Ivar say something to Hvitserk about comforting his soon-to-be bride. You walked quickly feeling as if there wasn’t enough air for you to breathe.

You took long strides trying your best to be as far from everyone as possible. Knowing that Hvitserk was right behind only made you walk faster. You heard your name being called but you ignored it.

With each step, you could feel your heart beating faster and your throat constricting.

You would’ve kept on walking aimlessly but Hvitserk’s hand on your arm is what stopped you from falling into a ditch that you didn’t see.

He pulled you back and gave you an incredulous look.

You held up your hand to keep him from saying anything to you. You’ve heard enough for one day. You took a step away from him but Hvitserk wasn’t having any of that today either. He took two steps forward not wanting there to be any space between you both.

“Were you ever going to tell me about the baby?”

You rolled your eyes and scoffed at him. “Now you’re claiming the baby? Just earlier you were adamant it was another’s.”

Hvitserk placed his hands on his hips looking elsewhere. He looked frustrated as he took a deep breath then turned to look at you.

“I wasn’t expecting this to happen. I came here with my brother to regroup with Harald. Then I’m told that I’m going to be a father and I have to marry. I know you despise this as much as I do.”

At least both of your feelings on the matter were the same. “Do you really have no children with anyone else?”

“You’re the first.”

You were surprised to hear that. Hvitserk bedded a lot of women yet you were the one to have his child. You were secretly scared of all of it but put on a brave face.

If only your brothers and everyone else knew just how scared you really were. They wouldn’t think you were so confident.

Though you knew better than to show any kind of weakness. Your mother taught you that. People preyed upon weakness, especially men. They’ll take and take until there’s nothing left to give.

So you always smiled when you’re hurting inside, you take insults and bite your tongue, and take any opportunity that’ll benefit you in the long run, even if you don’t like it.

“I’ll only marry you to protect my baby and my people. You won’t be needed for anything more than that.”

He knitted his brows as he looked at you. “Do you expect me to leave?” Your silence was all he needed for an answer. He chuckled lowly to himself. “I hate to disappoint but I’m not going anywhere. Not while you carry my heir.”

“Don’t you understand that I’m trying to make things easier for you?”

“Easier for me or for you? By cutting me out? Look I don’t want to have a baby right now, I’m young, I want to do other things than take care of a kid, but I’ll do whatever it takes to be there for them cause I know what it’s like to have an absent father. I don’t want that for our kid. I don’t want them to resent me the way I did mine. I know I may not be the best father but at least I’ll be there for everything. That’s more than what I can say for some of the other men out there who’d definitely take this opportunity and leave.”

You were taken off guard by what he had to say in a short amount of time. The look he was giving you was one of irritation. You already made up your mind about him without getting to know him further.

It was a case of misjudgment on your part. Hvitserk was a pig, but he wouldn’t stand to be called an absent father.

At least there was one good quality to him.

Tagged: @belovedcherry​ @lordsexmachine​ @lol-haha-joke​ @mariaenchanted​ @ethereallysimple​ @bababasti​ @ir-abelas-telanadas​ @deans-ch-ch-cherrypie​ @solinarimoon​

[gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights]

Rating: G

Summary: 50 snapshot moments between Marinette and Chat Noir. (50 one-sentence marichat fics.)

Word Count: 1155

XXX

Password Marinette didn’t know Chat Noir’s birthday, so she made do with making her phone password the day they met.

Deal She swore Chat was trying to Cataclysm the cards instead of shuffling them; after he accidentally ripped the six of spades in half, she was sure to deal, even if he jokingly accused her of stacking the deck.

Trunk “Don’t look in there!” she shouted, throwing herself over the pink trunk before Chat could open it and discover the forty-nine birthday presents hidden inside.

Wealth He’d trade all his family’s wealth for just one night like this: lying on Marinette’s balcony, hand in hand, looking for shapes in the moonlit clouds above.

Pink Everything about her was pink: from her pants, to her room, to the blush staining her cheeks when he blew her a kiss goodnight.

Decide She couldn’t decide if the worst thing about Chat Noir’s visits was the way his boots always left stains on her bedsheets, or the fact that she couldn’t ask him to take them off.

Ribbon Whenever he gently tied back her hair, she could never bring herself to mind the uneven pigtails.

Fence Her preferred dueling with her empty fabric rolls to any traditional fencing exercises.

False “True or false: I am the most handsome and hilarious cat you know.”

Comfortable Chat Noir’s bell jingled loudly in her ear when she tried to make herself comfortable on his chest, but it was a small price to pay to feel his purr.

Reality She wondered if she had overreacted when using Trixx’s power; would Chat Noir really guess that his friend Marinette Dupain-Cheng was Ladybug?

Citizen He never treated her like a helpless civilian, which was nice for her pride, but concerning for her identity.

Sustain Chat Noir could only sustain eye contact after telling a pun for a total of two-point-seven seconds before bursting into hysterical giggles.

Broken “Uh.  Would you believe your planter was like this when I got here?”

Shame “When you said you were making a cone of shame, I thought you were joking!”

Waste When Chat Noir was around, no leftover pastries went to waste.

Press “PLAYER 1 WINS! PRESS X TO CONTINUE” was quickly becoming his least favorite phrase to hear.

Art Chat Noir made just sitting on her chaise look like an art; he laughed and told her that it was.

Edge “Chat, you’re even less edgy than a sphere.”

Sphere “If by ‘as edgy as a sphere’ you mean I have infinite edge, then thank you.”

Strength Super-strength was useful for a lot of things, like gently setting Marinette in her bed after she’d fallen asleep over her sewing machine again.

Tournament Marinette might beat him into the ground on Ultimate Mecha Strike, but he could redeem himself at Mario Kart.

Park Marinette’s floppy hat hid Chat Noir’s identity while they walked through the park, until he sneezed at a pigeon and the disguise flew off.

Redeem “You can’t just redeem your ‘free hug’ coupon when I’m angry with you,” Marinette grumbled, but soon her arms were crossed around him instead of herself.

Crosswalk She didn’t need Chat Noir to walk her home from school, but it was rather nice to be carried over rooftops instead of waiting at the crosswalk.

Sanctuary The bright walls of Marinette’s room were a respite; sometimes he wished he was the photo on her corkboard, never to be removed from her sanctuary.

New For his sake (and hers), she’d pretend that this view from the Eiffel Tower was new.

Basket It didn’t matter if the basket was full of yarn or pastries or discarded designs; Chat Noir would stick his nosy nose into it.

See “See?” Chat Noir said while twirling in her newly-finished skirt, “I told you I could pull off plaid!”

Half Her hand was about half this size of his, which gave her an unfair advantage in tickle fights.

Scorch Since when did her cheeks scorch just from one of his casual cat-eyed winks?

Panic He was going to buy Marinette a metal detector for her birthday, if only so she didn’t have to panic every time she dropped a needle.

Finance He dreamed of anonymously financing Marinette’s design business, but he knew she would see through him like a flimsy swatch of chiffon.

Thread If he licked that rose-pink thread one more time, she was going to scream and thread the needle for him.

Pigeon “When feather hits your nose, and you just need to blow, that’s a-llergyyyyy,” Chat sang before sneezing into her planter.

Rewind If he could rewind to the day she’d confessed her crush on him, he would have shaken his past self for turning her down.

Pencil She’d given her pastel pink pencil to Chat Noir; so why was Adrien writing with it the next morning in class?

Occur By the time it occurred to him which writing utensil he was using, he could already feel her eyes boring into the back of his head.

Lettuce “Lettuce not jump to conclusions, Purr-incess.”

Listen Squaring her pun-loving partner with her past crush should have been impossible, but when she closed her eyes and listened, every note in his voice was the same.

Hellish Hearing Chat Noir’s puns from Adrien’s lips was a new and beautiful type of torture, as was feeling her classmate’s gentle gaze under a coal-black mask.

Chicken Maybe if her kwami was Orikko she’d have an excuse, but her cowardice was all her own; would he still love her if he knew how many times she’d pushed him away?

Collect He had collected the pieces once, twice before; it was only natural that he would paint spots over her skin, see through the thin facades she would rather tear down anyway.

Spoon He had a way of scooping out the sweetest parts of her and ignoring the bitter, like a spoon scraping the flesh from inside a watermelon—only she feared her rind was far thicker.

Dirt When she threw potting soil at him after he told one too many terrible jokes, he knew they would be okay.

Stairs His favorite place to kiss her was on the stairs to her bed; his second favorite place was anywhere she would let him.

Window He didn’t have to climb through the skylight window anymore, but sometimes when felt particularly nostalgic, he’d press his face to the glass and cycle through silly expressions until she laughed.

Gloves With or without gloves, she could now recognize his touch anywhere; whether it was an encouraging squeeze on the shoulder or a teasing flick of her hair, she treasured every contact.

Clown He still wore the clown costume, but now he waited until after battles to really bring the circus.

Clock Time didn’t stop when she kissed him; it kept ticking on, on, unhindered by Miraculous Ladybugs or dissolving masks, and that was exactly how she wanted it.

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch21: Shards Of A Broken Soul

Summary: Katie is finally reunited with Steve, Tony and the rest of the Avengers, and the extent of her injuries become clear. Can Steve push his own feelings of anger and inadequacy to one side enough to help her focus on getting better?

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Warnings: Bad language, injuries, mentions of rape. Avoid if these upset you. Smut (NSFW) 18+

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

A/N: @angrybirdcr​ you are the best image provider EVER!!!

Chapter 20

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Both Tony and Steve were anxious, Bruce could tell. He also noticed the Soldier’s knuckles were angry and bleeding. Standing up, he headed to the back of the jet to check the medical equipment. It was fully stocked as much as could be, and picking up an ice pack and some gauze he headed over to Steve and tapped his shoulder.

“Thanks.” Steve took the gauze and wiping at his split knuckles before applying the ice pack “Be fine in a coupla hours”

“Tony, you wanna switch out?” Bruce asked, “I can fly if you…” “No, I got it, besides…” he said turning his seat and gesturing to the ‘Jarvis is my co-pilot’ sticker that Katie had gotten him a while back as a joke, which was stuck to the control panel “As the sign says, its JARVIS doing it really not me…I’m just supervising.” “So, I hate to ask…” Bruce said.

“Then don’t” Tony looked at him fiercely and Steve sighed.

“None of us want to hear it Tony but…” he took a deep breath “we need to be prepared…did they say how she was hurt or…” Tony ran his hand over his face, stroking his less-groomed than normal goatee “They said she was bruised, quite severely, her left hand is in a bad way…” Steve let out a low growl at that, and his right hand flew to his sweat pants pockets, which he unzipped and ran his hands across the smooth metal and stones. Her rings had been with him ever since they’d been returned by Coulson “…and she’s in and out of consciousness, has a nasty cough, but other than that…” Tony trailed off. “Ok.” Bruce stood up, “I’ll prep what I can to make her comfy until we get her home.”

The 2 hour flight to the airfield seemed to take an eternity, but finally JARVIS announced they were approaching and shortly after they touched down. Steve was out of his seat before the plane had landed, and half jumped off the ramp before it was fully down and Tony wasn’t far behind. Bruce opted to stay behind with the jet and Steve knew it was because the gentle man didn’t want to intrude on what was going to be an emotional reunion. 

The man waiting was a huge guy. Huge. Taller than Steve and equally as wide, but with the figure of a once welt built man that had slightly gone to seed. His eyes were a warm hazel and he gave of a friendly aura.

“Captain Rogers, Mr Stark.” The man greet them on the tarmac of the airfield as the various ATC staff bustled around, heading to the jet where they were greeted by Bruce.

“Sergeant Matkinson?” Tony asked, shaking the large hand extended to him in greeting.

“No, sorry Matkinson is the one who called you. I’m Dave Bellamy, the Duty Inspector.”

He turned as Steve and Tony followed him towards the waiting car. “I gotta admit, this wasn’t what I expected when I came in today.” “Has she said anything about…” Steve began as they approached the car, but the man shook his head.

“Other than asking for you and refusing to go to Hospital she hasn’t said much at all.” he said, stopping to open the driver’s side door. Steve climbed in next to him and Tony settled in the back. “The on duty medic has cleaned her up as best she could, but she got a bit hysterical at one point when she woke up. She calmed down as soon as she realised she was safe. She did mutter something about the leather jacket we found her with and her needing to keep it as it belonged to a friend but other than that she hasn’t said much at all.” Steve frowned and looked at Tony, the pair of them exchanging a puzzled look. “A friend?” Steve turned to the officer who fired up the sirens and pulled off with a screech of tires.

“Yeah.” Bellamy nodded “We figured that whoever broke her out gave it to her, on account of her having nothing else to keep her warm but all we know is that car was taken in Collorado. And someone drove it up here and dumped it with her in the back. Whoever it was, wanted her found and safe.”

No one spoke for a while until Bellamy chipped in again. “We tried to give her some food and a warm drink but she just stared at it, like it was going to poison her or something. She looks a lot better than she did when we found her on account of her being cleaned up but she’s still…” he shrugged “Well, the sooner you can call get her some proper medical attention the better.

"And you didn’t call a doctor?” Tony bit out.

“Of course we did Mr Stark.” Bellamy sighed, his tone a little annoyed “We called an ambulance but when the paramedics arrived she went crazy. And I mean, crazy. In the end we sent them away. Like I say, she let our medic, Sarah, look at her but…” he trailed off and once more the car felt silent.

With the sirens going it didn’t take them long to arrive. Steve walked into the station through the rear entrance with a lump in his throat, which got bigger every time he thought about what state his girl was going to be in. But she was there. In this building. Ignoring the obvious looks that Captain America and Tony Stark attracted in the busy corridors of the small station, he followed the large Inspector to a room and the Inspector nodded, opening the door. 

“She said the light hurt her eyes.” The Inspector said by way of explanation as Steve and Tony stepped into the room. It smelt clean, slightly clinical and was dimly lit. Steve blinked, his vision adjusting to the lower level of lighting and saw Katie was led on the little medical bench. At the sound of voices she raised her head to look at the door.

“Oh Jesus…” Tony muttered, his hand flying to his mouth, turning away clearly unable to look at her battered form any longer than he had to. But Steve remained still, his chest heaving as his eyes focussed on her face as she looked at him, almost as if she couldn’t see him. He swallowed as nothing but utter relief washed over him, drowning out the initial flicker of anger he’d seen at the state she was in. The medic may have cleaned her face but her hair was a tangle of dirt and dried blood. The entire left side of her gaunt face was a mass of bruises, some faded and yellow, some new and angry. There was a raised line of pink to the left side of her mouth where a cut had healed, another large one down the side of her right temple, a deep slash over the bridge of her nose which looked to be on its way to healing and Steve’s eyes then flew to her hand which was bent out of shape so badly. 

As Katie blinked, the two men came into focus. She noticed her brother, his face was utterly broken and then she looked at her soldier, and the first thing she saw was the growth of stubble on his handsome face that was well on its way to being a beard. His eyes, his brilliant ocean blues were dull with pain, worry, fright but there was nothing on his face but relief. 

They were both there, the two most important men in her life, the men that had always made her feel safe and loved, and the emotion crashed over her in a huge surge. Katie felt her face crumple up as she spoke softly “Stevie…” “Oh, Doll.” his voice cracked as he crossed the room, dropping onto the bench besides her and pulling her into his arms. His touch was familiar and comforting, she couldn’t remember how long it has been since he held her. She wound her arms around his waist, her face pushing into his chest as she began to cry.

He held her tight as he pressed his face into her hair. It was dirty but he didn’t care. “Sweetheart, I missed you so much. I’m so sorry we didn’t…we didn’t…” his words trailed off as they were replaced by a choking sob as his tears began to fall whilst he simply sat there, his arms around her. She felt small, much smaller than normal, and as his hands gently rubbed up her back and he gave a horrified swallow as he realised he could feel her spine. He took a shaky breath and loosened his grip ever so slightly and he looked up as Tony crossed the room, wiping the tears from his face as he sat on the other side of the bed and gently sat next to her. She pushed away from Steve slightly to look up at her brother.

“Hey Kiddo.” he croaked out “Place has gone to shit without you.” She let out a little jerk of a laugh as he reached out and tenderly cupped her face.

“Take me home.” she said, the tears pricking into her eyes as she pressed her face once more into Steve’s chest, his warm, familiar, comforting chest.

“Of course doll,” he choked out, looking up at Tony who wiped at his face again. “Of course.”

******

“Hi Bruce…” Katie managed to stutter when Steve carried her onto the jet, Tony doing the thankyous to the officer who had driven them back, handing Tony the leather jacket that Katie had made a huge fuss about not leaving without for some reason, but there was plenty of time to dig into that later.

“Hey Nova.” he smiled softly, as Steve set her down on the medical bench at the back. He kept her right hand in his, gently kissing her knuckles as Bruce took her in. He looked up at Steve who swallowed and nodded, understanding and the Doctor looked at Katie. “I’m just gonna take a look at you, that ok?” Katie had to stop herself from laughing “It aint gonna be pretty” she said, before she started coughing again, scrunching herself up at the pain and Steve’s hand gently dropped to her head as he crouched besides her.

“She’s running a temp.” he looked at Bruce who nodded.

“Probably an infection.” he surmised “Don’t worry sweetie, we’ll get you patched up and back to normal in no time.” he said as he gently hiked up the hoody they’d given her at the station.

“Told you.” she said, clocking the look on his face as he tried, but failed, to hide the gasp of shock and horror. Steve glanced over and his face paled at the mass of bruising on her sides. He could see her ribs, her hips. He knew she’d lost weight but this…

“I dunno when I last ate. Didn’t trust them.” She muttered as she lay back. Steve dropped a kiss to her forehead as Tony joined them.

“Well, on top of the obvious you’re probably a little malnourished.” Bruce sighed, as he leant to listen to her breathing with a stethoscope before letting out a small hum and a nod “Yeah, you have a nasty chest infection…and that hand is gonna need looking at.” “She gonna be ok?” Tony demanded as Bruce moved him out of the way to gather up some supplies. The jet was kitted out for quick missions, nothing like this, but he found what he was looking for.

“She is here.” Katie mumbled and Tony arched an eyebrow.

“Brat.” She let out a small smile and Steve dropped a kiss to her forehead, allowing himself a little chuckle at the fact her sassiness hadn’t been beaten out of her.

Beaten out of her. Jesus.

He straightened up, once more the tears stinging his eyes and looked away, composing himself. 

“Once we’re home I can start you on some IV anti-biotics and glucose.” Bruce said, drawing something into a syringe. “But right now I’m going to give you something for the pain, which should help you sleep too.”

She nodded as Bruce gently rolled up the sleeve on her top, Steve letting out an angry growl at the finger marks there along with the marks on her wrists from restraints, and Bruce pushed the needle into her arm. Once he was done, Bruce readjusted her hoody for her and Tony gently placed a blanket over her, smoothing a hand over her head. 

“I’ll get us in the air.”  he said, and Bruce nodded.

“Sooner we get home the better.”

It wasn’t long before Katie felt her eyes drooping.

“Stevie, I’m so tired.” she mumbled and he leaned over, kissing her head.

“Then sleep.” he said gently, his hand stroking her dirty hair “I’ll be right here.”

And this time, as she drifted off into the darkness, the last thing she saw were those blue eyes, and the last thing she felt was her man’s hand gently caressing her hair in the way that always soothed her.

*****

Katie was still out of it when they arrived back, Steve not once moving from her side the entire flight back and as soon as the jet had landed, they were greeted by the rest of the Avengers plus Sam, Rhodey and Pepper. As Banner wheeled the gurney down the ramp, Steve walking along side it, holding her hand, Thor’s face contorted in rage at the sight of his friend and there was loud clap of thunder which made them all jump. Clint gently patted his back as he swallowed.

“She gonna be ok?” It was Rhodey who spoke first as they wheeled her past, the sight of the little girl who he’d seen grown up looking so badly beaten and frail made him sick as Banner wheeled her past, Steve not even acknowledging the rest of the team as they passed.

“She’s not in a great way but…” Tony sighed as Pepper strolled over to give him a hug, her eyes brimming with tears “Bruce thinks she’ll recover physically, it’s the mental trauma I’m worried about.”

“She’s strong.” Natasha said, wrapping her arms around herself. “A lot stronger than we give her credit for.” Clint gently rubbed at her back as she turned to him, blinking back tears. He pulled her in for a hug which she took, pressing her face into her best friend’s shoulder. 

“Any idea on how she escaped?” Sam asked.

“No.” Tony looked at him “Not that it matters, main thing is she’s here.” he turned to Nat and Clint as the red head stepped back and turned to face him. “Cap was on about someone going back to check out where she was held…you wanna get on it?”

Clint nodded but Nat hesitated slightly. She was unnerved by the emotion she had felt upon seeing Katie and didn’t want to leave her. Sam instantly picked up on it and he turned to Clint. “I’ll come.” “And me.” Thor growled, the vein in his temple twitched slightly.

Clint nodded at the two men and Tony inclined his head to the jet. “JARVIS has the co-ords.”

With that he turned and the arm that wasn’t around Pepper gently draped over Natasha’s shoulder, giving her a quick squeeze before they headed inside, followed by Rhodey.

******

It was a good few hours before Katie came round again. When she did she sat bolt upright, panic flooding her system, a loud scream bubbling from her throat.

“Hey, hey…” she heard a voice and a gentle hand round hers and she took a panicked breath, instantly scrambling away across the bed as she felt it dip besides her. “Sweetheart, it’s ok…” 

That voice. It was Steve. Her soldier.

At that realisation she instantly calmed, as she turned to face him.

“You’re safe, you’re home…” he smiled softly, his hand gently cupping her battered face as she looked at him, swallowing.

“Sorry, I was a little out of it, thought I was still…” she trailed off, looking down at the warm, clean, comfortable sheets and blankets she was wrapped in. “You’ve nothing to apologise for.” Steve sighed, “If anything I’m sorry…sorry we didn’t find you sooner. We tried…” he hung his head slightly “God did we try…” “Stop it, you idiot.” She squeezed his hand “This is not on you. It isn’t on anyone other than Hydra…” “Huh…” Tony spoke as he walked into the room “Not what Cap was saying when he broke Fury’s nose.” “You didn’t?” Katie looked at him as Steve gave a small groan.

“Oh he did.” Tony said, pulling up a chair at side of the bed next to where Steve was sat by Katie, and turning it round so he was perched straddling the seat, his arms crossing over the back as he leant forward “Made a terrific noise.” “Did J record it?” She asked and Steve groaned again.

“Oh you bet he did.” Tony smirked “I’m intending on using it as a warning to everyone about what happens when Spangles loses his shit. Not to mention the amount of punchbags, doors, walls and windows we’ve had to replace or repair…”

“Is this really necessary?” Steve sighed and Katie grinned.

“It’s very necessary.” she said seriously and Steve snorted, shaking his head. “What did you punch Fury for?” Steve ran his hand over his face and scratched his chin, he really did need a shave. “Because he was lying to us again. SHIELD knew that Sceptre had gone missing and if they had warned us then Hydra might not have targeted you specifically.” “You mean they would have taken someone else?” She narrowed her eyes at him. He fell silent.

“I tried.” Tony said softly, I tried to get them to take me, but they…” “Ok, enough.” she said, a little louder and both men looked at her. “This stops, right now, the pair of you. I can’t cope with the display of masculine self-pity.”

“It’s not self-pity…” Tony started, somewhat indignantly and she cut him off.

“I don’t care what you want to call it. But we stop now with the blame, ok? This was no-ones fault, no one but those motherfuckers who took me. And if I hear the word sorry come out of either of your mouths again in relation to this, as soon as I’m well enough to I’m going to kick both your assess…”

At that point Bruce swept back into the room, smiling softly at her. “Can I take it from the threats you’re issuing that you’re feeling a little better?” “A bit” she nodded. “Still, not great but I don’t feel as faint anymore, and my head doesn’t feel as full of cotton wool.” “Your blood sugar levels will be picking up.” Bruce smiled as he nodded to the needle in the crook of her arm which she hadn’t noticed and began to explain to her “I’ve started you on a low dose of glucose and some antibiotics to fight that chest infection, which was my first concern. You’re malnourished but I’m afraid there’s no actual food for a while, couple of days we can look at introducing nutrients orally by liquids.”

Katie looked at Steve and smiled “Know what I need?” He smiled back “Ma’s Chicken soup?” “Damned right.” she grinned “That stuff was magic when I had a cold” “I’ll make you all the soup you want.” he said, gently, his hand running over her forehead. No one stated the obvious, that she had much more than a fucking cold going on.

“And then when I can I’m gonna eat the biggest portion of Mac and Cheese I can manage” she sighed “And a cheeseburger…” “Extra pickle, chilli fries, vanilla milkshake and a slice of apple pie” Steve and Tony recited her order perfectly and she grinned.

“Preferably all from the Diner round the corner.” she said with a decisive nod.

“Well, as soon as Bruce says its ok that’s what you can have” Tony said gently “For now let’s just concentrate on getting you healthy again.” “I hate to beak this up, I really do…” Bruce said, and he did. Seeing them reunited warmed his soul, but he needed to dig into what was going on. “But now you’re awake I need to run some tests, do a few scans. I can’t see any signs of internal bleeding or anything but I want to be 100% what’s going on.”

Katie nodded “Other than my ribs and my hand…” she trailed off and looked down at her left hand which was misshapen but wasn’t as sore as it had been on account of the fact Bruce had expertly bound it to give it some support. “They took my rings…” she said softly, before looking at her right hand this time “They broke my fingers, and took my fucking rings, bastards…” The thought of anyone breaking any bone in her body alighted a fire of anger in Steve’s chest, but he gave a small smile as he shook his head “Coulson found them.” he said, reaching into his pocket. He held them out to her and her eyes started to water.

“I thought I’d lost them…” “Baby they’re not important.” Steve shook his head “Lumps of metal and stone…but you…” he swallowed “Anyway, doesn’t matter, they’re here.”

“Gonna be a while before I can wear it again huh?” she gently ran her hand over the shape of her engagement ring which lay in Steve’s palm before she looked up at Bruce who gave her a sad nod.

“’Fraid so.”

“Not this one.” Steve held up her emerald and she grinned, gleefully holding out her right hand for him to slip it back on her finger before placing a kiss just above it.

“I’ll keep the other one safe, promise.” Steve smiled.

She nodded, and held up her right hand looking at her emerald before she sighed, somewhat happily, and then she frowned.

“Hang on, how did Coulson find them?” she looked at Steve. “They were in the first place you were held.” Tony said “It’s a long story but SHIELD got a tip off about an abandoned base being back in use and they raided it, but they were too late. You’d gone.” “I don’t even remember them moving me.” she sighed, and Bruce shook his head.

“Amnesia is common when you’ve been through some kind of trauma.” he said “Your mind’s way of coping.” Katie lay her head back on the pillow. “Pity I remember everything else they did. Well, mostly…”

Steve shook his head “Don’t think on any of that. You’re safe now, and I’m never letting you out of my sight again.” “Well that’s gonna be awkward when I need the bathroom.” she looked at him and he played along, pausing as if he was pondering something.

“Ok, well maybe I’ll just wait outside and listen to you pee instead.” “Kinky fucker.” she shot back causing him to snort a laugh. Thankfully the scans and tests showed nothing more serious than 6 broken ribs, 3 of which were well on their way to healing, a slight tear in the intercostal muscle between two and a small tear in her spleen which again, Bruce was pleased to see was also repairing.

“You’re normally fit and healthy.” he explained “So your body shouldn’t have an issue repairing itself, granted not as fast as Cap’s but…”

“Well we can’t all be Super Soldiers.” she shrugged.

“What is slightly more concerning is that hand.” Bruce said. “the bones have started to set, and they’re not realigned correctly and I’m worried about long term damage. So I’ve made a call to Helen Cho, the geneticist I told you all about that I met at the Convention a few months back. She’s going to fly in with an old colleague of hers, a Dr Wang Xui Ying…” Katie and Tony both snorted, because Wang, exchanging a gleeful look and Steve rolled his eyes at their blatant childishness, but he wasn’t really bothered. It was good to see.

“Yeah yeah…” Bruce shook his head, a smirk dancing on his face “For obvious reasons he goes by his middle name in the Western world…anyway, he’s a leading Orthopaedic surgeon. I’ve sent him your X-Ray results and he says he can fix it, but it’s going to need an operation. And I don’t want to put you under any form of anaesthetic until you’re stronger.” “How long?” Steve asked and Katie bit back a smile at his demanding nature.

“If you’re vitals keep improving then maybe 5 to 7 days.” Bruce said. “We’ll see how things go. They’re going to arrive over the weekend.” “I’ve wanted to meet this Dr Cho for a while, she sounds intriguing.” Tony nodded. “I’ll make sure he guest rooms are prepped.” Katie spent the rest of the day greeting her various visitors and flitting in and out of sleep, which was perfectly normal, so Bruce said. She woke later in the evening to Steve talking in a hushed voice to Clint, Sam and Thor, whilst Natasha, Bruce and Tony listened in, Rhodey who had to get back to work had left a few hours ago after popping in to see how Katie was doing the last time she had been awake.

“No idea.” Clint said as he finished giving Steve a debrief on what they had found, the Captain insisting they did it in the medical room, not wanting to leave Katie for a second if he could help it “Place was littered with bodies. Mostly gun shots, bar Jones, who we found in the cell they kept Nova in.”

“Yeah, he hadn’t been shot.” Sam said and he looked at Steve significantly “His neck was snapped, and when I say snapped, I mean crushed.”

“Good.” Natasha spat, and Steve had to say he was inclined to agree. He hoped the fucker had suffered, his only regret was he wouldn’t get to do it himself. And then the significance of what Sam had said hit him.

“Hang on, you say crushed?” Bruce asked and Clint nodded.

“Never seen anything like it Doc.” he shrugged “It was like someone had put him in a vice”

Sam looked at Steve whose eyes widened as his memory flicked back to the first HYDRA base they’d raided back in DC. 

No, it couldn’t be…

“There was one man.” Thor continued and Steve looked at him “He was in the laboratory area. His death was an execution.” “Bullet, straight between the eyes.” Sam levelled Steve with another look. “It was just like in DC…” he made a gun shape with his fingers and held it at the top of his nose, miming the action.

“Do you think…” Steve started to ask and then a soft voice cut him off

“You know you could just ask me.” Katie spoke as she suddenly realised that no one had asked how she had escaped yet. The group all looked at her, breaking up their huddle to move towards her. Thor, Clint and Sam, who hadn’t seen her since she had woken up all came over to drop kisses onto her cheeks, her head and Clint gently brushed her head with his hand.

“Good to have you back Nova.” He smiled and she looked at him, his face soft with emotion.

“Good to be back.” she said before she sighed “So I suppose you all want to know how I got out?” “It’s been puzzling us a little.” Nat smirked.

She looked at Steve who took a seat back by her bed and then she told him just what he had suspected “It was Bucky.” Steve swallowed, and looked up at Sam.

“How?” Tony frowned, “And I mean I’m beyond glad he did Kiddo but what we he doing there? It makes no sense.”

“Yes it does.” Steve said, looking up “When we were tracking him we found the same thing in DC. Bodies all over the place, windpipes crushed, but one had been shot straight between the eyes. When we found the footage he was one of the men strapping him into the chair before they…” he trailed off, taking a deep breath, it still hurt to talk about it.

“We think Ol’ Frosty was on some kind of revenge rampage.” Sam shrugged “I expect if we run that Doctor we found in La Ronge through the system, we’ll find he was connected to the Winter Soldier programme in some way too.” “And Jones?” Clint asked “Think he might have been too?” Katie gave a snort “No, he was trying to make a run for it and was dragging me with him, but I’d heard the shots and knew whoever it was wasn’t HYDRA. I thought it might have been you guys so I was screaming, Bucky must have heard…he snapped his neck like it was a twig. Then he gave me his jacket and carried me out.” “So that’s why you were making such a fuss about it.” Steve looked at her. She shrugged.

“He saved my life. Figured the least I could do was save his jacket, in case we ever do find him again.”

Steve’s mind was whirring. He wanted to ask her so many more questions, had he said anything to her, had he recognised her, but he knew now that wasn’t important. Instead, he’d save it for later, when she was stronger. And he added it to the huge long list of times Bucky had bailed him out. Only this sat right at the top of things his best friend had done for him. 

Right at the top.   He felt her hand on his and he gave her a small smile, gently reaching over to kiss the top of her head and she smiled, looking around at the assembled crowd in the room.

“You know, they threatened to kill you all unless I told them what they thought I knew. And I laughed.” she said, shaking her head.“I mean, I’d have loved that. Them to meet you lot…”

Thor made a noise that was halfway between a snort and a growl “I would very much like to meet them too. So would my hammer.”

“Told you that you should have let me put an arrow through Ward’s head.” Clint crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Oh no.” She spat fiercely, and Steve was pleased to see there was a fire in her eyes “If anyone is putting a bullet between that fucker’s eyes it’s me. And I want him to see me when I do it.”

“Someone’s clearly feeling better.” Natasha smirked and Katie winked at her friend.

“Loads, thank God.”  “You’re welcome.” Thor grinned and there were various chuckles around the room. Katie broke into a laugh which hastily descended into a coughing fit. As she took a sip of the water Steve offered her through the straw she glanced around, her eyes shining with humour.

“I love you guys!”

 *******

Steve camped on the couch in the corner of the medical room for the next 2 nights, refusing to leave. He made sure Katie fell asleep in his arms as he curled up behind her whilst the sedative Bruce gave her to help her rest went to work, and she always woke up in his arms, but the pillow and the blanket on the couch were tell-tale signs that he camped there when he was satisfied she was in a dreamless sleep. Steve knew the nightmares were going to come at some point when the sedation was no longer being used, but they’d cross that bridge when they got there. 

He’d finally been forced into going back to their floor for a shower, but first he decided to have a shave. He was glad to see his face looked a lot less tired, he certainly felt a lot less tired, having had the first two decent night’s sleep in weeks over the last 48 hours. Katie had told him all about Bucky, what he had said, how he had recognised her, carried her out and taken her to car, how she had tried to convince him to come back but he had refused, and she didn’t remember anything until waking up at the station in the back of the car. There wasn’t much to go on but Sam had departed at lunchtime the day before to follow up the leads. But as Katie had said, she didn’t think they’d see him for a while. Especially when Nat, who had been doing some digging, confirmed that all the men they had seen on the video strapping Bucky to the chair had been found, bullets between the eyes. With a sigh Steve wiped his face clear before turning on the shower. He was grateful to Bucky, he really was, but he couldn’t shake this horrible, hollow feeling of inadequacy that was balling in the pit of his stomach. He should have been the one rescuing his girl, and he’d failed. That said, as he stepped under the stream of scalding hot water he reminded himself that it didn’t matter. What did matter was the fact she was home, safe, and improving as each hour went by.

Katie could feel that she was improving too, although as she forced the last of the awful green concoction Bruce had given her to drink, she was seriously considering asking for her IV to go back in. The drink or smoothie or whatever it was, was fucking vile, but he’d assured her if she could manage it and her system didn’t reject it, then she could slowly start introducing different liquids into her system, starting with different nutrient packed juices and maybe, some soup. The thought of soup had never excited her as much in her life, but to be fair, Steve’s chicken soup was pretty damned tasty.

What was worse though, was the sheer boredom. At some point, whilst she was asleep, a huge flat screen TV had appeared on the wall, thanks to Tony as he had pointed out when he came to see her, and last night she’d curled up with Steve to watch the Wizard of Oz, but she was already going crazy led in the bed and she was desperate to get clean. She could still feel the dirt, and grime and them on her body. Steve had said he’d help her clean up when Bruce gave her the go ahead but she didn’t want him to. There was bound to be bruises on her thighs and she wasn’t ready for him to know about the fact they’d raped her. Not yet anyway. 

As Natasha was sat with her, popping in as she did a lot during the day, she decided to take her chance whilst Steve was in their apartment.

“Bruce, I need a bath or something!” She whined “it’s been 48 hours… Look, I drank all that disgusting green shit you gave me…and I feel much better…”

Bruce groaned. “Look, I’m not sure…” “My hair and…” Katie sighed leaning back, tears pricking her eyes “please…” “Alright, but someone needs to be with you. The temperature change might cause your blood pressure to drop and you could pass out.” “Rogers can take her.” Nat nodded but Katie shook her head and looked at Nat. 

“Can you?” “Me?” Nat frowned. She nodded and gave her a significant look, one Natasha could read instantly. There was something she wasn’t telling them. And as she looked into her friends eyes she had a horrible feeling she knew what. “Your hair?” She said, locking eyes with the brunette giving her an excuse and Katie nodded. “Alright. Bruce that ok with you? He sighed "fine. But not too hot, and you use the bathroom here on the medical floor.” Katie nodded and Steve chose that moment to walk back into the room.

“Hey handsome” she smiled and he dropped a kiss to her cheek as she pouted “You shaved.” “I told you, Captain America doesn’t have a beard” he chuckled. “You killed it. Murderer” He rolled his eyes. “Brucey says I can have a bath!” She said, almost excitedly “Can you go grab me some stuff? Toiletries, pyjamas, robe, towel?” Steve looked at her, then to Bruce "is that…” Bruce sighed. “It’s ok, yes. But just a short one and try not to get the bandages on that hand wet. They were fresh on this morning.” “Nat’s gonna help me” Katie said, looking at Steve. He frowned for a moment.

“I can do it.” he said, almost sullenly. She reached out with her good hand to squeeze his “It’s my hair. She can sort the tangles and braid it out of the way until I can get it cut…I think some of it might be beyond saving”

Steve looked at her, before he let out a sigh. "Alright. But at least let me help you to and from the bathroom?” She nodded and he looked at Nat who simply gazed back, her face passive.

As Steve gathered her things in their apartment, he tried not to take in personally that she didn’t want his help, he really did. It wasn’t like he knew how to braid her hair but she could always have done that once she was back in bed. He couldn’t shake off the feeling that she was pushing him away because she blamed him in some way. Blamed him for not finding her, for not being the one to help her. He grabbed her favourite pair of pyjamas, not just because they were her favourite, but because they were button up so would be easier for her to get on, and everything else she had asked for and headed back to the lab, and his worries temporarily flew from his mind when she smiled at him and held out her arms.

“Wanna carry me, Soldier?” Laughing he handed the items to Natasha and scooped her up easily into his arms as she pressed a soft kiss to his cheek.

“I love you.” she said softly and he smiled.

“Love you too, so damned much.” He said, deliberately exaggerating his Brooklyn drawl making her giggle, the sound music to his ears.

Natasha didn’t comment on the finger shaped bruising in between her legs and on the outside of her thighs when she helped her undress. Instead she’d handed Katie the wash cloth and soap so she could clean herself as best she could, and helped her reach the areas she couldn’t easily do like anything where she had to raise her arms too high. She’d washed her hair for her with infinite tenderness, telling her that she would get Pepper have a stylist to come and give it a cut soon. As instructed, Katie didn’t stay in the bath too long, the water was filthy so Natasha drained it and took the small shower attachment off the wall and carefully rinsed her off before helping her stand and wrapping her in a robe. Guiding her over to the small changing room off the side she gently sat on the bench in the middle as Nat carefully dried her hair. It was mass of split ends, brittle from the malnutrition and a fair bit of it fell out as Nat gently brushed it, but at least it was clean. "I want you to ask Pepper to call Dr Kellet my ob gyn.” Katie said gently, for the first time raising the issue “Tell her it’s just for a routine check- up after my less than adequate diet or something.”

Nat nodded. “Ok but you really should tell Steve”

“Not yet” Katie swallowed. “I can’t deal with more pity and sympathy. I don’t want anyone knowing. Not until…” she trailed off, tears forming in her eyes as Natasha gently braided her damp hair “Let me get some shred of dignity back please.”

Nat kissed the top of head in a rare display of affection and nodded before grabbing the pyjamas Steve had brought down for her, laughing as she looked at them “Tigger” “I’m a sucker for Disney”

“You wear these to bed? No wonder Rogers can’t keep his hands off you”

“I don’t wear much to bed.” She grinned back, wincing slightly as Natasha gently guided the top over her arms before buttoning it up, thankful to Steve for being so thoughtful to find ones she didn’t need to pull over her head. “Pyjamas serve as lounge wear” After cleaning her teeth she was pleased to report she felt fully human again. Natasha went to find Steve and he returned, smiling at the sight of his girl who looked a whole heap better. The only thing was that now her hair was out of her face, the injuries she’d sustained were far more noticeable but he tried not to dwell on it. Instead, he focussed on the relief in her face at finally getting clean. “Feel better?” He asked, gently grazing his fingers over the side of her neck. She nodded. “So much” she said and then shook her head as he went to pick her up “Let me walk.” "Katie…” he began but she shook her head

“Please.”

He looked at Natasha who took a deep breath “He’s right Katie, Bruce will go mad…”

“Like Hulk out mad or…” Neither of them laughed, instead Steve sighed “Please sweetheart, just…” he trailed off and she rolled her eyes.

“Fine.”

He swept her up, breathing in her once again familiar just showered smell, the vanilla of her shower gel and the oatmeal in her shampoo was like a tonic to his soul and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

All in all things seemed positive. That was until the next morning when Tony picked up a message which was meant for Pepper, saying that Dr Kellet would be arriving at Lunch. Unfortunately, her being Pepper’s Ob-Gyn too meant Tony knew who she was. And even more unfortunate was that her brother’s suspicious nature had led him to grilling Bruce about why she was needed, and of course Bruce knew nothing about it. And even worse than that, was that Bruce had asked why she was calling in another doctor without telling him, and it was the absolute worst thing ever, that Steve, with his impeccable timing skills, had walked back into the room at that point, clutching the flask of soup that Bruce had cleared her to eat and asked instantly what on earth another doctor was needed for.

She had tried to explain to them all that she just wanted some goddamned control in all of this, and that frankly calling her Ob Gyn was surely the right thing to do just to be on the safe-side after spending so long being practically starved, but their demeanour and reaction had guilt tripped her big time, even if he didn’t mean to. Bruce was hurt she hadn’t told him she was concerned, Tony was pissed that she hadn’t simply just asked him to call the Ob-Gyn instead of getting Nat to ask Pepper forcing her to go behind his back, and Steve was just upset she hadn’t told him she was worried in general. As they pushed her to the brink she snapped, and the tears flooded out of her, wracking her in hysterical sobs that she had tried and tried to stop and all 3 men had been absolutely devastated.

She slapped Steve hard when he tried to pull her into his arms, screamed at them all to leave her alone and a shocked Steve had called Natasha, his own tears clouding his eyes at the sight of his beautiful, strong girl breaking in front of him. Natasha had swept into the room, ordering them all out and sat on the bed, wrapping her arms round her friend, soothing her as she let everything out. 

But Steve was frightened. Frightened as to why she needed an ob-gyn and frightened as to why she hadn’t told him.

And then he pieced it together. The secrecy, why she’d wanted Natasha to help her clean up…

“Oh God.” His voice was nothing but a choked whispter as the corridor swam around him, his legs giving way. He slumped to the floor, back to the wall, praying he was wrong. “No…please no…”

Natasha stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her and she looked at Steve, he raised his head and she instantly knew he’d figured it out.

“You knew?” He spat, shaking his head “And didn’t tell me? You FUCKING KNEW?”

“Rogers she asked me not to say anything…” “Anything about what?” Tony asked as Bruce gave a small moan, the pieces slotting into place in his head too.

“You should have told me!” Steve roared as he got to his feet, his legs still shaky “That’s…she’s my fiancée…”

“Told him what?” Tony pressed as he looked between the two of them, Steve’s face contorted in rage as he glared at Natasha.  “I know, I told her to tell you but…don’t you think she’s owed this? To have some dignity and some control?”

“For fucks sake…” Tony began but he was cut off as Steve turned to him.

“She was raped, Tony.” Steve’s voice cracked as he spoke that word “Those bastards…” And with that he put his fist straight through the stud wall to his right. “They raped her…”

*****

Steve headed off to take his frustrations out on a punch bag, he felt sick. But knew it was nothing compare to how she must have felt when… he didn’t even want to think about it. But it all added to the fact that he hadn’t kept her safe. He had failed to do the one basic thing a man should be able to do for his woman. Especially when that man is a fucking Super Soldier. But the fact she hadn’t told him was what killed him the most. The tears poured down his face as he continued to pound the bag in front of him wishing he could take all this away from her.

Back in the medical wing, Dr Kellet was as sensitive as always. She softly examined Katie as Natasha stayed with her, and thankfully confirmed there was no lasting damage. She took swabs for tests and when Katie fearfully mentioned that she couldn’t remember her cycle coming in she’d smiled and shaken her head.

“You’re not pregnant.” She assured her, gently. “It’s perfectly normal in stressful circumstances, especially if you’re not in the best health too.”

It was a few hours later when tempers had calmed somewhat before Katie let Tony or Steve in the room. She hadn’t minded Bruce so much, but hearing Tony and Steve off loading at Nat out in the corridor before had pissed her off. The fact that they thought they had the right to know anything was annoying enough, but taking it out on Nat had made her even angrier. As Katie conceded they could come back in, Natasha stood up to leave and Steve shot her a positively filthy look as she left, before he turned back to his girl on the bed, unsure of how to even approach the subject, and slightly surprised to find her shooting daggers at the pair of them. Bruce left to give them some space and as her brother and fiancée both pulled up a chair, she didn’t even wait until they sat down before she spoke.

“You better apologise to Nat or so help me God Rogers, we’re gonna fall out big time.” She finished and turned to Tony. “You too,”

“She should have told us.” Steve sniffed quietly and Katie shook her head

“No, she shouldn’t because I asked her not to.” she said, “And the way you’re looking at me now is exactly why I didn’t want you to know.” “Looking at you like what?” Tony said.

“Like you feel sorry for me.” 

Steve wiped at his face “So what did…Dr Kellet say?”

“That I’m fine.” she said “no lasting damage, just like the rest of my injuries.” She took his hand and looked at him, then to her brother and spoke clearly to them both. “Now, I’m gonna say this, and it’s the last anyone speaks on the subject. I don’t want pity or sympathy or treating like I’m made of glass. I’m not gonna shatter. Those bastards tried to break me in there and I didn’t let them and I’m not gonna let them now, ok?”

Steve looked at his girl, and the fierce look in her eyes and despite himself he felt a glimmer of pride. Pride at how strong she was but he knew that despite her protestations she was going to be broken inside. That was inevitable. And it suddenly dawned on him that it didn’t fucking matter that he hadn’t been the one to save her, or that he hadn’t been able to stop it. What mattered was that he was there now to help her piece herself together.

He gave her a nod and as her tears started again, he looked at Tony before the scientist stood up and sat on the edge of the bed to wrap her in his arms. He dropped a kiss to her head, before he stood up.

“I’m going to find Natasha.” He sighed, before grimacing. “If I don’t survive, say nice things at my funeral.” Katie let out a chuckle as he tenderly placed a hand on her head and left.

Once he was gone Katie looked at Steve and he swallowed, before she gave him a soft smile and patted the side of her bed. He returned her smile and stood up, kicking off his sneakers.

“I’m sorry I upset you.” He gently sat on the bed, swinging his legs up so he was led besides her.  Katie lay her head on his chest and he gently carded his hand through her hair.

“This isn’t getting you out of apologising to Nat.” She sniffed “And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. It isn’t because I don’t trust you, because I do. With my life. I was scared, I supposed.”

“Scared, what of?”

“That all the sympathy would break me.” She shrugged, a tear escaping her eye. “And that you’d…”

“That I’d what?”

“Look at me differently, like…I dunno, like I was broken or something dirty or..”

“Woah, woah…no.” Steve moved a little, looking down at her, his hands cupping her face. “This was not your fault, okay? Nothing about any of this is your fault. And as for looking at you like that, no way. Fuck, baby I love you, I love you so much. None of this, what they did, nothing is gonna change that. You hear me?” His own tears gently trickled down his face as she gave a little nod, taking a deep breath as he pressed a kiss to her head. “Please don’t worry about that, Doll.”

He wrapped his arms round her, pulling her close as she pressed her face into his chest, gently crying. Steve held her for a while, his heart breaking at how she could possibly thing he’d feel like that towards her, nothing could be further from the truth. Eventually, he felt her shift a little in his arms and she looked up at him.

“Stevie, can you do something for me?”

“Anything, Sweetheart.” “Will you kiss me? I ain’t had one in a while.” Her lips curled up into a small, hopeful smile and Steve let out a soft chuckle and dipped his head, his nose brushing hers slightly.

“Think I can manage that.” His lips met hers in a gentle peck at first before it became slightly deeper, one arm round her shoulders, the other hand cupping her face gently as hers fisted in his shirt, ignoring the dull pain in her left hand. It was soft, gentle, both of them simply enjoying the first kiss they’d shared since the quick goodbye peck six weeks ago.

“I love you.” He pulled away, pressing his forehead to hers. “Tilt e end of the line.” “Good job.” She smiled, as he wiped away the tears that had trickled down her face. “Seeing as I’m marrying you aint I?”

“Yeah, yeah you are.” Steve’s own face broke into a smile as he lay back and she once more rest her head on his chest, settling herself in his warm embrace.

***** December 2014.

Katie and Steve still took their planned trip to Europe. They’d had to rejig their original schedule slightly as Katie had only been given the all clear with her hand on the 5th December to fly, meaning they had to miss the first week of . But they didn’t care, there was plenty of time to go another time. What they did care about was the fact that they got the time to themselves. Once things had settled down at the tower they’d stepped up the search for the Sceptre, jointly deciding that was their priority. But after the events of the last few months all the Avengers had decided to take down time over the holidays, and post a large, raucous thanksgiving, they’d gone their separate ways for the holidays. Thor heading to be with Jayne, Clint and Natasha to Clint’s family (although only Katie and Steve by-proxy knew that) Bruce had gone to Seoul for a few weeks to help Dr Cho with some research and Tony had whisked Pepper off to the Maldives. Each one of them taking the chance to recover in a sense if you will, from what had been the hardest time they’d had to face as a team so far.

Katie’s hand was still a little stiff but with the physio she was getting there, and was on track to make a full recovery. And the best bit was her big fuck off Tiffany Diamond was back where it belonged. Her bruises were well gone, she had put on most of the weight she had lost (she was still a little too slim for Steve’s liking so he made it his job to feed her as much as possible) and today had been no exception. They arrived early on the Wednesday morning into Bruges, and had wasted no time in dumping their bags and heading out to explore. Their day had been full of snow, hand holding, Christmas treats, beer, long kisses stolen in the large square as they were bundled up in coats, hats and scarves. It was just so fucking normal. 

And they’d never been so grateful for normal before.

Eventually, after a huge meal in a beautiful restaurant tucked away by the side of a canal, they’d headed back to the hotel. And they had every intention of just having one last drink from the mini-bar, led on the bed but things had started to get a little heated. It was the first time that either of them had pushed anything further than kissing since the incident they didn’t talk about, but whether it was the change of scenery or just the romance of being in a hotel room in Europe, surrounded by snow, they had no idea but it felt right, and they both just ran with it.

They undressed each other tenderly and Steve laid Kati down on the bed, and just took his time, making sure he worshiped every single inch of her body he could get his hands on. His fingers traced her slowly re-establishing curves, up her hips to her ribs which were no longer protruding, down to her no longer bruised thighs and across her belly, his lips simply brushing her skin just under her collar bone. He was gentle, and to some it would surprise them how a soldier made during a war to fight could be so soft and tender but Katie knew the man underneath it all and she wasn’t surprised in the slightest at how delicate he was being. He was never anything else when it came to her. What did surprise her however, was that whilst his touch was feather light and barely there she could feel it more than she ever had. It sent red hot fire spiking through her belly, and her heart swelled to the point she thought it would burst. She loved him, loved the way he touched her and felt and yet, underneath the fire there came something else. A sharp stab of fear. Fear, not of him, but fear that when it came to it, her body was going to betray her and do something stupid, involuntary, like make her freeze or lash out, or that it would feel different for either or both of them. Steve paused, his right hand gently hovering by her naval where it had been steadily making its way downwards. She was trembling. Shit. He frowned slightly and looked up to see her watching him, her green eyes shining in the soft, dim light of the room. "Sweetheart,” he said, his voice thick in his throat “if this is too much…” “No.” She replied quickly, “it’s not…” “You’re shaking” he said softly, his hand moving up to softly cup her face as his frown deepened. Was she scared of him? The thought of that was enough to destroy him and just as he was about to say something she laid her hand over his and moved her face softly to the side so she could place a kiss to his palm. And when she spoke, he was once again convinced she could read his damned mind. “These hands would never hurt me."  Not could not, but would not. And she wanted him to understand she knew the difference. "I’m not scared of you Steve. I could never be scared of you…” she swallowed “I’m scared of me.”

His brow creased, he was confused. “I don’t understand.” “I don’t know what my body is gonna do, I’m worried I’m going to react differently to how it used and that it’ll feel different…I can’t explain.” His face softened and he looked at her, pressing his forehead to hers he tried to offer her some reassurance. “I love you.” He drew back to press a kiss to the bridge of her nose “And we’ll take it slow, that is if you still want to.” his nose gently brushed hers as he looked at her “If you don’t then that’s fine, I can wait…we can wait.” “No, I do, I don’t wanna wait.” She shook her head, her lips sweeping across his, drawing a moan from him. “I missed this, being close to you, being with you.” He looked at her again before their lips connected in a soft kiss that grew more urgent, but still stayed tender as they both poured their souls into one another. Steve’s hand gently gripped her hip and she let out a soft moan into his mouth making him pull back slightly, and press his forehead to hers. “I got you, Sweetheart.” He said softly, “I got you…” “I know.” She replied, voice barely a whisper. “You always do.”

His hand gently slid down to her folds, and as his fingers gently began to play she let out a soft gasp at his touch, it felt right, so damned right. He was gently, took his time, watching her carefully as she softly writhed at his touch, and when she begged for him, to feel him, he adjusted himself between her legs and slowly pushed into her. Katie sighed in pleasure, and relief too because it felt like it always had done. 

Steve kept his movements slow, not thrusting but rolling, rocking softly into her over and over again, soft moans and whispers filling the room as her hands gripped round his biceps, his weight gently pressed on top of her, both of them needing to feel the other as they reconnected in the most intimate of ways possible. Katie gently moved her hands, dancing over his broad back, tracing between his shoulder blades feeling each twitch and flex in his muscles as he moved, the familiarity of it was so damned comforting. Steve’s large hands cupped her face as he kissed her, their tongues tangling together and even when he broke the kiss to let out a soft groan he kept his lips on hers, feather light in their touch.

“Katie…” Steve panted into her mouth, his hips continuing their gentle, deep roll into her “I’m not sure how much longer… are you close, baby girl?” She didn’t answer with words, instead he felt her tightening around him, her reactions the same as they always had been, and he gave another groan as she let out a soft whimper. Then, he heard it. The most beautiful sound ever to hit his ears, a sound he had heard so many times before but right there in that opulent hotel room in Belgium, the lights of the city bright and bouncing off the snow through the slight crack in the heavy, deep blue curtains, it sounded so much more sweeter, more significant almost than the first time she had said it.

"Stevie…” his name tumbled from her lips in a whisper and he felt the tears sting his eyes as he nudged her nose with his, making her look at him. She gave another soft moan before she tilted her head back and let out a gentle cry as her back arched and she came, her eyes fluttering shut. It was enough to make him tumble, gently rutting up into her he felt himself go and his movements became disjointed until he collapsed forwards, utterly blissed and consumed by her.

They both took a moment before Steve raised his head to look at her, and saw the gentle shine of a tear fall down her cheek. 

“Are you ok?” He asked, wiping at her face with his thumbs. For one horrible moment he was petrified he had hurt her until he realised she was smiling and nodding. But this wasn’t her usual post orgasm grin, this was a pure, unadulterated happy smile. And then Steve understood, they were tears of joy. “Well I’ve never made anyone cry after sex before.” He quipped, his voice thick with emotion and she spluttered a giggle, sniffing a little as his nose bumped hers before his lips gently mopped up the few stray tears that fell from her sparkling emerald eyes. “I just…” she started to talk but stopped. She couldn’t find the words to explain. Explain how that last 20 minutes or so of him lavishing attention on her, right from that first kiss to taking her to the edge of ecstasy and back had fixed that final part of her that was broken. He had taken the last shards of the fragmented, shitty mess that Hydra left and slotted them back into place. "I’m ok.” She finished, unable to word it any better. "I’m ok.” He gently placed his lips on hers and drew her into a long, gentle kiss, his own tears threatening to fall at those 2 simple words. Ok was lame, she hated it, said it was just a “shit phrase and you should never just be ok” but here he knew what it meant for her to be just be ok. Without a word he rolled off her and took her with him, pulling her so she was led straight on top of him, like they would do on the couch, in front of the TV and she gave a laugh. He pulled the covers up over them and she lay her head on his chest, his fingers lightly dancing up her spine “I love you, Sweetheart.” He said as she gave a hum of contentment “More than apple pie?” She asked and he gave a chuckle, he really had missed this. Their playful banter that came before, during and after the act. “Infinitely” “More than mac and cheese?” He hesitated on purpose and she gave a loud scoff and hit him on the chest. He laughed, rubbing at the spot even though she hasn’t hurt him, giving a soft “ow” as she levelled him with a playful glare. “Is it your mac and cheese?” He asked “because we all know it’s the best damned mac and cheese in the world” “Flattery will get you nowhere, Soldier.” she teased and he chuckled again, as she lay her head back down. “But seeing as I’m in a good mood how about when I get back I make us apple pie AND mac and cheese… and then we can have more sex and you can decide which one is better?” “That sounds like the best idea you have ever had Miss Stark…” They lay there in silence and it wasn’t long before he felt her melt into him, her breathing evened out and he gently glanced down and saw her eyes were shut, her lashes fluttering slightly as she slept. He thought about moving her, setting her down beside him but as her chest rose and fell, pressing into him he decided better of it. 

She could move herself when, or if she wanted to.

And if she didn’t, then that was totally fine by him.

**** Chapter 22

**Original Posting**

[adenei]

Day 13: January Word Challenge

A/N: I hope you’re ready for some angst! Here’s a one shot of Ron showing up at Shell Cottage...the first time.

*****************

Tea

Ron stumbled in the door of Shell Cottage, looking up to see Bill and Fleur sitting at the small table in their kitchen. Bill immediately stood up, his wand in hand and pointed at Ron. “What are you doing here?” he asked instinctively.

“You’re supposed to ask me a question only I know,” Ron said weakly.

“How were you so lucky the night of the battle at the Astronomy Tower at Hogwarts?” Bill asked.

“Harry gave us his bottle of Felix Felicis to split. I shared it with Ginny, Neville, Luna and Her- Her-” Ron broke down in tears. 

He’d left them. He fucking left them, and he couldn’t find them again. His fists were swollen, his eye most likely black and puffy. There was blood all over his clothes. He was sure he looked a mess, but he didn’t care. All the bones in his body could be broken and the only thing he’d still be focusing on was getting back to Hermione.

“Where are Harry and Hermione?” Bill asked, his wand still at the ready.

At the mere mention of Bill’s words, Ron broke down further, falling to his knees, and covering his face with his hands. Bill finally put his wand down, realizing something was very, very wrong. He walked over to his brother.

“Tell me they’re not dead,” he said quietly as he placed his hand on Ron’s good shoulder, not that Bill knew which was which. When Ron didn’t answer, Bill became more frantic. “Ron, please, tell me they’re not dead!”

Bill moved his hands to grip Ron by both shoulders now, in an attempt to get Ron to look at him square in the face. He immediately let go when Ron yelped in pain at Bill’s touch of his injured shoulder.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” Bill asked as Fleur rushed over now as Bill’s hands flew backward and Ron grabbed the splinched shoulder. 

“Ron, you’ve got to say somezing. We want to help,” Fleur said gently.

“I- I left,” he said, his voice barely a whisper. 

“You what?” Bill said, the tension in his voice cut through the still air of the cottage like a knife.

“I wanted to go back as soon as I’d apparated out of the wards,” Ron said as another round of sobs racked his body. 

“I’ll make some tea,” Fleur said immediately.

“And get some food out. It looks like you haven’t eaten in weeks,” Bill added.

“No! If they can’t eat, I won’t either,” Ron said stubbornly.

“Ron, you have to eat something!” Bill argued.

“I can’t! It’s bad enough I already left them. It’s not fair. I need to get back to them. I need to find them!” he was becoming more and more hysterical.

Fleur moved back to Ron after setting the tea kettle on the stove. “Ron, you must calm yourself. You will not be able to find zem if you cannot calm your mind.” Fleur’s gentle voice allowed Ron to finally take deep breaths and settle himself slightly. “Zat is good. Now, I know there is a lot that we want to know. Can you start with your shoulder?” she asked.

The tea kettle started to whistle as Fleur made her way back over to prepare cups for everyone. Ron took that time to get himself under control. The last twenty four hours had been an absolute whirlwind, and he hadn’t had time to process much of it. For now, he was safe, but Harry and Hermione were still out there, and he needed to get himself together if was going to figure out a way to get back to them. He was no help right now, blubbering on like a buggering idiot.

Fleur walked swiftly back over to the table and set a cup down in front of Ron. She didn’t say anything more as she waited for Ron to speak when he was ready.

Ron eventually took a deep breath in. “You heard about our Ministry break-in in September?” Ron asked as Bill and Fleur nodded. “Well, we were staying at Grimmauld Place, but Yaxley caught hold of us as Hermione apparated us back and compromised the location. She was able to shake him off and got us to safety, but in the process, I was splinched.”

“On your shoulder?” Bill asked as Ron nodded.

“May I see it?” Fleur asked gently.

Ron took a sip of his tea before reluctantly shedding his jacket. Taking off his sweater was still challenging. He felt a stab of pain in his heart as he thought of Hermione helping him undress in the tent. Fleur sensed his need of assistance and moved around the table to help him. Once his sweater was removed, it revealed the awful tear that Hermione had done her best to mend using the dittany. 

“Oh my!” Fleur said in shock.

“Ron, that looks awful,” Bill said as he shook his head.

“I know, but there wasn’t much we could do. Hermione-” her name caught in his throat, “she did her best to fix it, but we only had dittany. There were no other potions, and we had no means of getting anything else. We couldn’t take the risk after the Ministry debacle. So she’d apply dittany and I wore a sling.” Bill and Fleur looked at him, confused by his last word. “It’s a muggle thing to help stabilize the shoulder,” he explained.

Fleur disappeared up the stairs, no doubt to get potions and supplies to help the healing process. Ron sipped more of his tea while he waited for her to return. When she reappeared, she looked at him concernedly.

“I do not know how much zis will help, seeing as how it ‘as been over a month since ze injury, but I will do my best.” Fleur took one of the vials out. “Drink this first. It eez a blood replenishing potion, and you likely need it the most.”

“Why?” Ron asked. 

“Your body does not replenish its own blood after eet ‘as been lost. By ze looks of the wound, you lost a lot of blood, and zere has not been any replenishment yet. Drink,” she said sternly.

Ron did as he was told, and then took the other bottles Fleur had given him. Once she was satisfied, she pulled out one more bottle that had some sort of cream inside of it. “Zis may hurt, but it is necessary to help start ze healing process.”

He closed his eyes as Fleur rubbed the salve into the deep gash on his shoulder. She was right, it did sting significantly, but Ron powered through it with a grimace on his face.

“Now, I cannot say you will not scar, but zis will at least allow you to heal fully. You should apply a small amount twice a day.” Fleur placed the lid back on the container and handed it to him. 

He reached for his sweater, and Bill helped him put it back on. “Can you tell us what you’re doing here now?” Bill brought the subject back around to Ron’s presence at Shell Cottage.

“I- I can’t tell you everything, Bill. Just that- we’re dealing with Dark Magic. Really Dark Magic, and it got inside my head. Harry and I got in a fight and when he told me to leave, I- I did.” Ron was so ashamed of himself. “I need to get back to them! I should have never left! That wasn’t me. It wasn’t! How am I supposed to find them again?” He looked desperately at his brother.

Bill didn’t give much away. Ron could tell he was angry over what Ron had done, but anger wouldn’t fix this. “We’ll help you find your way back to them. Lee’s wireless show may be able to help give us clues. But Ron, you need to promise me you’ll stay here until you’ve healed or you’ve found them. It’s too dangerous to go disappearing out there on your own.”

Ron nodded. He appreciated his brother’s words, but at the same time he knew how monumental of a task it would be. Hermione had taken every precaution in her protective enchantments. He was sure they’d be travelling under the invisibility cloak, and even if they did slip up, how would he know where they’d be? It was impossible.

“I have one more question before you should sleep,” Bill said.

“What is it?” Ron asked.

“Did your fight with Harry get physical?” Bill asked.

“What? No! Why would you say that? We just yelled a bunch of shit at each other,” Ron defended. He knew his best friend. Harry would never intentionally hurt him, with or without magic.

“Then how did you come across that black eye?” Bill pressed.

“Oh, er, I ran into snatchers when I apparated away from the campsite.”

‘You WHAT?” Bill said angrily.

“Ron, you could have been captured and killed! What were you thinking?”

“How was I supposed to know they’d be in Diagon Alley?”

“They’re everywhere, Ron! I thought you were smarter than that!” Bill was angry, and it showed on his face and in his words. It took Fleur’s touch on his shoulder to ground him. He inhaled slowly. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. Honestly, you��re smarter than I ever thought of being at your age.”

Ron snorted. “Yeah, right. I know it was stupid. I didn’t know where else to go. If I went home, they’d know Mum and Dad were lying about the Spattergroit.”

“You know they’re being watched?” Bill asked, somewhat surprised.

“Yeah, Harry saw Umbridge’s notes when he raided her office. He was the one who tipped Dad off in the lift.”

A look of understanding crossed Bill’s face. “Ah, that does make sense now. Dad suspected it must have been one of you, but he had no proof. They did a good job covering things up quickly.” Bill looked at his brother. “So, you fought your way out, then?”

“Er, yeah.”

“How many were there?”

“Five, I think. Managed to get one of their wands, too,” Ron said as he pulled it out of your bag.

“Hold onto it, you never know when you’ll need it,” Bill told him.

“You should get some sleep,” Fleur said as Ron finished his tea. “I will show you to the guest bedroom upstairs.

“Thanks,” Ron said. He slowly stood up and grabbed his rucksack. Ron began walking toward the stairs when Bill called to him.

“Ron,” he asked hesitantly. He didn’t continue until Ron met his eyes. “The snatchers didn’t use any Unforgivables on you, did they?”

Ron stared at his brother for a few moments. He owed it to Bill to not lie to him. Merlin knew he already couldn’t tell him enough because of the secrecy of the hunt. 

“Yeah,” Ron said quietly. 

He turned and walked up the stairs before Bill could question him more. Ron didn’t want to talk about it anyways. He’d never wish the Cruciatus Curse on anyone. He knew the Death Eaters would use violence, but he still wasn’t prepared for it. 

In all honesty, Ron allowed himself to believe he’d deserved it. If he’d never left, he wouldn’t have been in that position. Maybe it was punishment. Ron pushed the thoughts from his mind. He couldn’t dwell on that. The most important thing was to get back to Hermione and Harry. 

He belonged with his best friends, and he knew that now. The information he’d gained from his short stint on the street would be a matter of life and death for his best friends. Harry and Hermione would inch closer and closer to capture the longer it took Ron to get back to them. Of that he was certain.

[mybrokenpieces]

End. 

    “I think I might have done something stupid.” Placing the phone on the bathroom counter, I wipe my tears one last time and press send. Deep breaths, Beth, he’s never going to be able to tell your parents he’s a thousand miles away.  

I lay back into bed listening to the phone buzz repeatedly. With a heavy sigh, I pull myself up from the warmth of my mother's blankets to see what he had to say this time. 

“You dumb bitch, answer your phone.” Yep. Same, typical Alex.  

Just as id placed my cell back on the countertop I get an incoming call from Renee, my best friend. How could I have been so stupid! Of course, he’d tell her. My palms start sweating, I feel like I can't breathe. Quick, Beth THINK, hide the bottle; they can't find it. 

I hear the familiar creak of my mother shuffling across the wooden floors, with heavy and aggressive footsteps not far behind her. Must be my dad. They know. 

I scramble to tuck away the nearly empty bottle of aspirin and get back into bed, not a moment too soon. The door swings open, with a loathsome expression draped across her face.  

“Where is it?.” She demanded, I played dumb “wheres what.” She firmly places her hands on her wide hips and shifts her weight “where the fuck are the pills, Elizabeth? What did you take.” I stay silent and shift my gaze back to jerry springer getting flashed by his audience.  

She began to look around, pushing things around on her computer desk, and out of the corner of my eye, I see her lifting the once full aspirin bottle with a loud gasp. 

“How many did you take Elizabeth?” she paused before continuing “How could you do this to me?” She was hysterical at this point, my father was angry, the type of angry that used to scare me as a child. He has these veins on the sides of his neck and forehead that bulge out as he snarls like a Rottweiler when he shouts.  

My mother yanks the blanket off of me, her sobs and tears suddenly dried up.  

“Get up.” She said in a stern, low tone. Her jaw was clenched and I could tell she wanted to hit me, but they had company over. Dragging me out of the comfort of their bed and out to the truck she continues to shout. 

“What the actual fuck is wrong with you, Elizabeth?” She questions as we leave behind our guests and drive to the nearest hospital. “Your life is great, you get everything handed to you and this is how you repay us?” She grits her teeth and continues to berate me while I stare out the window at the passing wheat fields. “You’re such a fucking idiot, why would you do this now?!” My father was sobbing in the driver's seat. I had only ever seen him cry once before when she left us. I fucked up this time. 

 We pull up next to the hospital, go through the normal procedures, and were immediately taken to a large room with lots of curtains. The nurse clicks on a computer as I crawl into the bed next to the window, gazing at the light shining through the cherry blossom tree. 

“How many?” I hear a soft voice breaking my trance from the foot of my bed. “What?” I asked, “how many pills did you take?” I stared blankly for a moment, “24 aspirin.” His eyes widened, “you sure? 24?” I nodded in response as he added to my chart.  

Everything felt shiny; like a daydream, was I dreaming? Is this actually happening? My eyes scanned the room, finally coming to rest upon my mother. She was shaking her head, watching me in complete disgust.  

“You make me sick.” She practically spits on me from across the room, “I can't even look at you right now.” Her words rang in my ears as I turned to look at the kind, tearful green eyes hovering over me. My father reaches out and takes my hand, “we’re gonna get through this together.” 

After getting settled in, they step outside for ‘a break’ as they call it, so I ask the nurse not to let them back in. He gives a gentle nod then leaves the room. I was all alone. I find myself watching the light dancing through the trees again, and for the first time, I allowed myself to grieve. Today is the day that I finally die.  

As my tears silently fell down my cheeks, I could hear my parents shouting from the hall “what do you mean we can't go in? She's our daughter!” The sweet nurse from before comes back in to talk to me “are you sure this is what you want? You shouldn’t be alone right now, they care about you.” She must not have heard my mother's derogatory comments as we came in. I nodded, “you’re right, if I die today I want my father by my side.” The nurse exits the room once more to break the news to them.  

“Really Elizabeth?! Wow.” Her voice echoed through the hallway, as my dad came in and took his seat beside my bed. “You’ve really hurt her feelings this time” he states with a heavy sigh. “Why would I want her in here if she’s just going to keep talking down on me?” I ask.  

He lifts his shoulders and shakes his head with another heavy sigh.

[fallen-gravity]

Snow Day

13 year olds Dipper and Mabel decide they want to spend their winter break up in Gravity Falls with their Grunkles and experience their first blizzard. Chaos ensues.

Notes: Here's my submission for a Secret Santa I participated in on discord! It was so much fun and I'm so glad I decided to participate this year!

Happy new year, @anistarrose! I'm your Santa!

The prompt: "I will crave and enthusiastically consume any form of Pines family bonding, time travel shenanigans, Bill getting dunked on, or any combination of the above." I, of course, had to go with the former, because you can never have enough plotless fluff and shenanigans!

AO3

Having been born and raised in California, Dipper and Mabel never got to experience winter the way television always promised they would. They never got to experience snowball fights, sled races, or building snowmen the way all the kids on TV got to.

Sure, they’ve seen snow before, it’s dusted here and there, but it was never enough to stick to the ground overnight. When they were younger, they always hoped the spirit of the season would be enough to bring them a blizzard so they could get snow days like all the kids on the east coast got to have, but it never came to be. They’d just about given up hope on the idea of playing in the snow in their own backyard when they were around ten years old.

Regardless, they looked forward to winter break every year. Their parents used to always take time off work to take them on a short vacation, and when Dipper and Mabel begged them to let them spend their winter break after their thirteenth birthday up in Gravity Falls with their Grunkles, their parents had said yes, which only made Dipper and Mabel look forward to break even more.

They left by bus an hour after their school let them free, and they arrived at the Mystery Shack eight hours later to their attic bedroom already set up for them.

~~

Dipper awakens to the sound of Mabel shrieking her head off at six in the morning. He nearly jumps half a foot in the air, scrambling to turn his bedside lamp on.

“Mabel?” he squeaks. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“Dipper, look!” she beams, bouncing up and down on her feet and pointing out the window.

“Seriously?” he groans, rubbing at his eyes as he stands from his bed. “I thought we were already numb to Gravity Falls weirdness by now” he says, but can’t help the gasp that escapes him when he looks out the window to humor her. There’s so much snow falling from the sky that Dipper can’t even see the tree line of the forest beyond the shack, and there’s a layer of snow coating the ground so thick that it completely covers the steps of the back porch.

“Woah,” Dipper gasps. “I didn’t think it could snow that much in Oregon”

“That’s just the thing!” Mabel grins. “What if it can’t? What if the reason it snowed like, two feet overnight is because it’s all a part of the Gravity Falls weirdness? You remember what Stan said when he came to see Grunkle Ford, right? It was snowing!” she throws her arms up in the air dramatically. “Dips, do you know what this means? This could be our only opportunity to see snow like this without having to go to like, Alaska or something!”

“You know what else this means?” Dipper asks, frantically grabbing at her shoulders.

“What?”

He smirks, shoving her towards her bed as he books it for the door. “Race you outside!” he calls behind her, not even bothering to look behind his shoulder for her reaction.

“Hey! No fair!!” Mabel cries, scrambling to her feet and sprinting out of the room in an attempt to catch up with her brother. The young twins tumble down the stairs, and nearly collide with Ford on their way towards the kitchen where they’d last dumped their coats.

They yell a frantic apology in his general direction and unison, but they’re moving too frantically to hear his response. Dipper eventually makes it out of the shack first, and he’s standing with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face when Mabel meets him outside.

“You better not be telling me that I owe you any of my special cocoa for beating me out here” she pouts, crossing her arms over her chest to mimic Dipper. “Cheaters don’t get cocoa”

Dipper chuckles, his arms slipping to his side as he cautiously steps down the snow-covered steps of the deck. “Alright, fair enough.” He points an accusatory finger at her. “But it’s been eight years. You’re gonna have to tell me your recipe someday”

“In time, brother o’ mine,” she replies as she joins his side. “In time.”

For a few moments, neither of the young Pines twins say anything. In unison, they throw their heads back and lift their arms up into the air and let the snow fall gently on their face. Catching snowflakes on their tongues is a lot harder than TV makes it seem, but it feels good to just stand out in the snow and let it land gently on their face.

It’s peaceful. Dipper closes his eyes, and he knows if the snow weren’t so thick and wet and if his winter coat were better suited for it, he’d let himself fall back and lie down in it. But since it’s not, he settles for standing in place and just listening.

It’s peaceful, until it isn’t.

Something cold and wet smacks him in the back, and he’s so startled by it that he yelps. His eyes pop open, and he whips around frantically to see where that could’ve come from.

Dipper just barely misses the sound of Mabel’s maniac giggle before he’s pelted again, this time in the forehead.

“Yes!”  Mabel cheers, pumping her fists in the air. “Bullseye! Two in a row!”

“No fair!” Dipper pouts, brushing the snow off of his hat. “I wasn’t paying attention!”

Mabel smirks as she bends to prepare another snowball. “What, so now you’re against cheating? You seriously need to work on your moral compass, bro”

He just manages to duck in time as he bends to form a snowball of his own. “That was different! It’s not like I’m the one who woke you up unreasonably early this morning!”

“Pssh,” she waves a dismissive hand. “I just as easily could’ve come out without you if I wanted to”

Dipper takes her brief moment of distraction to pelt her in the arm with a snowball. “Nuh-uh,” he mocks, the same way he has since they were toddlers. “Admit it; you don’t have the heart. You love me too much”.

“Ewww, never” she cringes dramatically, and lunges the snowball she’d been solidifying between her hands directly towards his face. Dipper tries to duck, but miscalculates the force and speed of her throw and the snowball splats against his face so roughly and suddenly that it knocks him to the ground.

“Ohmigosh!” Mabel declares, the playful tone in her voice gone. “Dipper, are you okay?” she asks, running to his side. His response is an incomprehensible mumble, muffled by the snow he hasn’t wiped off his face yet.

“What was that?” she asks, leaning closer.

Underneath the snow, Dipper smirks, and balls the pile of snow sitting on his face and shoves it into Mabel’s. “I said you’re going down”

He stands to his feet, bunching his fists into the snow to gather a bunch of it at once, and Mabel half-shrieks, half-giggles as she makes a run for it.  Dipper almost manages to snag her right in the head, until she suddenly takes a sharp turn to hide behind one of the wooden columns supporting the roof of the shack.

“Hey!” he shouts, and just barely dodges a snowball she lobs at him from her hiding spot.

“What?” she calls, popping her head out from being her hiding spot. “Nobody ever said that hiding was against the rules! Besides!” she gestures to the column mirror to hers that’s closest to him. “It’s not like I’m hiding somewhere super-secret, or anything!” She lobs another ball in his direction.  “The longer you stand there the more vulnerable you become!” she singsongs, tossing a snowball back and forth between her hands teasingly.

Dipper makes a dive for it into the snow, and crawls along until he’s standing behind the wooden column, shoving fistfuls of snow into his pocket along the way. Mabel groans, like she can’t believe she didn’t think to crawl away before he did, and attempts to launch a snowball at him as he’s standing up. She misses, and Dipper can’t help but laugh as the snowball sticks to his wooden column and doesn’t budge.

He mashes the snow in his pocket into a ball, and grabs a bunch more snow to make it even bigger. He winds his arm back like throwing it harder is going to make aiming it any easier, and hears the back door creaking open just half a second too late.

The snowball flings out of his hand, but instead of hitting Mabel, his intended target, the snowball hits Ford as he’s coming out of the door with such force that it knocks his glasses off of his face.

Dipper freezes, looking absolutely horrified, and Mabel bursts into hysterical laughter.

“Grunkle Ford!” Dipper shouts, wiping his hands off on his jacket and running towards his great-uncle. He’s expecting him to look shocked, or sad, or even angry, but when Ford gets his glasses back on his face he’s nearly laughing as hard as Mabel is.

“I…” Ford starts, removing his glasses for a brief moment to wipe some of the excess snow from his lenses. “…came out to see how you were doing, because I saw you running by me in the kitchen, but I guess you’ve already answered that question for me”

“Grunkle Ford, I’m so sorry,” Dipper’s gaze falls to the ground, his cheeks turning pink in embarrassment. Ford only chuckles and places a gentle hand on Dipper’s shoulder, prompting him to meet his eyes again.

“There’s no need to apologize, my boy. I love the snow. Stan and I used to have snowball fights all the time when we were kids”

“Really?” Mabel beams, stepping out from her hiding spot.

Ford nods. “Every time we had the day off from school, he’d wake me up by sneaking a snowball into the house and throwing it at me while I was still asleep in bed.” He shakes his head affectionately.  “You could never wake Stanley up early for anything, but the moment school got cancelled on account of a blizzard, he was up an hour earlier than even Ma or Pa”

Ford takes a few steps forward and leans against the wooden pillar, gazing out at the falling snow. “I always did wonder what he was up to those first few winters after Pa kicked him out. I tried forgetting, I tried telling myself he wasn’t worth the time of day, but…”

For the briefest of moments his shoulders tense, like he’s suddenly overcome with the image of Stan freezing to death in his Diablo, but he shakes that image off with a deep breath and his shoulders relax as normal. He bends to pick up a handful of snow, and lets it fall between his fingers. “Now, though, I’m just happy to see it again,” he turns his gaze back towards the younger twins. “Haven’t had a chance to see it in thirty years”

“What?” the young twins ask in perfect unison.

“Not even in the multiverse?” Dipper asks, and Ford shakes his head.

“Most dimensions didn’t have a concept of weather. Even the dimension that was supposedly a perfect copy of our Earth was eternally summer” he muses, and steps down from the porch and into the snow. For a brief moment he too merely stands where he is and watches the snow fall, until an idea visibly comes to him and a devilish grin spreads across his face.

“I have an idea,” he says, grabbing two handfuls of snow, and disappearing back into the house.

There’s nothing but the sound of Ford’s boots on the hardwood and the whistling wind, and then nothing at all, and then the sound of Stan shrieking.

Ford comes running out the door again, grinning so hard that his smile could split his face in two. Stan follows close behind, but stops in front of the doorway, clad in his ratty tank top and boxer shirts with a large chunk of snow splatted against his chest.

Dipper and Mabel exchange glances, and can’t help the snickers that escape them.

“For your information, I was in the middle of something very important” Stan grumbles, jabbing an accusatory finger at Ford.

Ford only laughs, forms another snowball, and throws it at Stan, still in the doorway. “Mm, how dare I pull you away from your black and white Victorian era romances right?”

“Alright, that’s it” Stan growls, and slams the door closed. He’s only gone for a minute or two, and when he opens the door again he’s wearing a puffy winter coat and pants. “You want a fight? You’re gettin’ a war.”

He steps outside, sprinting down the porch steps and shoveling handful of snow onto the sleeve of his jacket until he’s got an entire armful. He bunches it all together until he’s got a singular giant snowball in his hands. Ford’s eyes go wide at the sight, and he takes a few cautious steps backwards.

“S-Stanley, I was just joking, you must understand that I’m not properly dressed for this” he chuckles nervously, raising his hands in the air in defeat.

“Y’got your turtleneck, don’t ya?” Stan grins devilishly, solidifying the snowball in his hands. “Besides, that never stopped me when we were kids, now did it?”  He steps cautiously towards Ford so as not to drop his snowball, and lunges it right in his brother’s face.

The hit lands, and Ford falls to the ground the same way Dipper had just moments ago.

The two young twins exchange glances, and can’t help but break into hysterical laughter.  Ford sits up, removing his glasses to remove the snow that had gotten shoved behind the frames, and wipes them off on his sweater before heading back towards the door.

“Fine,” Ford replies. “If you want a war, you’re getting a war”

“Hey, now wait just a minute, brainiac” Stan crosses his arms over his chest. “I recognize that tone. Don’t think I’m letting you use any of your fancy-schmancy interdimensional weapons against me. We got all the weapons we need right here” he gestures to the snow around him. “I may be a professional conman, but at least I have standards when it comes to these sorts of things” he closes his eyes, nodding sagely.  “If we’re waging a war on each other, it better be waged fairly”

He pauses for a few moments, his gaze turning to the young twins. “…and turn those two against each other!” He points towards them, and approaches the two of them. He picks Mabel up by her waist, and places her on his shoulders.  “I call Mabel! Girl’s got aim and can take you and brainiac junior down any day”

“Yes!” Mabel chants, pumping her arms in the air. “Team personality reigns superior again!”

“We reconvene here in five.” Stan says. “Go and get your coat on if you so insist to put any more layers on, and then all bets are off” he bows sarcastically to Ford, Mabel giggling on his shoulders.

“Best of luck to you, Sixer” he teases. “You’re gonna need it”

Dipper watches as Ford disappears inside, and Stan and Mabel run off to another part of the shack’s backyard. Stan kneels on the ground, and Mabel leap-frogs off of his shoulder to help him build a snow fort for defense. Upon seeing that he’s watching them, they both form snowballs in their hand and threaten him with them.

Dipper yelps, and runs back towards the porch before they can hit him. Something creaks, and Dipper nearly jumps a foot in the air, but his tension melts when he just realizes that it’s Ford coming back outside with a thick coat and winter hat.

“How are things looking?” Ford asks, placing a gloved hand on Dipper’s shoulder.

Dipper shakes his head. “It’s not looking good. Mabel’s got strength and sculpting abilities, and they’ve already started on their fort. By the time we can even start on our foundation they’ll already have a castle built”

Ford hums in acknowledgement.  “And we both know how Stan is with cheating” he taps at his chin. “What we’ll need is strategy”

“Hey!” Stan shouts from across the lawn. “Are we talking or are we fighting? Get a move on!” He tosses a snowball that lands in the space between Ford and Dipper.

“…Right,” Ford says. “We’ll strategize as we go along then”

Dipper drops to the ground where he stands, bunching armfuls of snow together to build a small wall. He silently gestures for Ford to help him, and he obliges, wordlessly kneeling to the ground and helping to pile snow onto the singular-walled fort. Once it’s tall enough to cover Dipper, he tugs Ford to a crouching position.

“Okay,” Dipper whispers. “So far, Mabel’s strategy has been to…not have one. She builds a bunch of snowballs at once, and then flings them all at once. If we want to knock her out, we need to wait until she needs to restock”

Ford chuckles affectionately. “She sounds just like Stan when he was a kid. He’d have to make the biggest snowball he could. I’m sure there’ll be an overlap between the two of them needing to restock at some point”

Dipper smiles. “They sure do have a lot in common, don’t they?”

Ford ruffles his hair. “I’m sure they say the same exact thing about us, my boy”

Dipper beams at that, but before he can respond he’s interrupted by the sound of Mabel screaming “CHARGE!” and snowballs being pelted at their small wall. Dipper and Ford dive out of the way, and Dipper starts shoving snow into his hands. Without lifting his head over the wall, he attempts to throw his snowball back at Mabel, but misses and only hits the edge of her fort.

“Hah! That the best you’ve got?” Stan taunts, popping his head out from behind cover. Beside Dipper, Ford flings a snowball back at him, and a soft oof escapes Stan as the snowball hits him in the shoulder. He grumbles something to Mabel that neither Dipper nor Ford can hear, and soon after Mabel pops her head out too. She and Stan start pelting snowballs at Dipper and Ford in unison.  A good number of them miss, but when Dipper pops his head up during a short pause to check and see if they stopped to reload, he’s pelted right in the forehead. Stan and Mabel high five, and Dipper groans as he attempts to scrub the snow away.

“Okay,” Dipper whispers, crouching to the ground once more. “I think they’re restocking.” He bunches some snow into his arms. “You ready?”

Ford nods. “I’m ready”

The two of them pop out from behind their wall, and start pelting as many snowballs at Stan and Mabel as they can manage. Some of them are tiny, some of them are huge, and Dipper doesn’t notice that one of them had a frozen acorn in it until it was too late, but they’re getting a good rhythm going. Dipper manages to knock Stan’s hat off his head, and Ford’s able to knock Mabel’s snowball out of her hand as she’s still trying to put it together.

“Yes!” Dipper cheers, and from across the yard Mabel crosses her arms across her chest.

“Booo,” she calls. “No fair! We never said anything in the rules about strategizing!”

“It’s a snowball fight, Mabel, there aren’t any rules!”

“Exactly!” she calls back. “Snowball fights are supposed to be about chaos!” She throws her arms in the air.  “Not calculating the best angle for wind trajectory, or whatever nerdy thing you and Grunkle Ford have been talking about!”

She chucks another snowball as hard as she can, and this one smacks against Dipper and Ford’s tiny excuse for a fort. It crumples to the ground with a pathetic splat, leaving them vulnerable from every angle.

“See?” She grins. “Just like that!”

“Hah! Nice shot, pumpkin!” Stan cheers, and he and Mabel high-five again. Even from where Dipper sits he can see their playful grins melt away into maniacal smirks, and just barely has enough time to see them shoveling snow into their hands before  Ford grabs his hand and begins sprinting to another part of the yard, doing anything he can to avoid being pelted with snow.

“New plan,” Ford whispers to Dipper as they run frantically around the yard as if it were a minefield. “Take down their fort. Once their defense is gone, they’ll be just as vulnerable as us, and it’ll give us a better chance at taking them down”

Dipper salutes him, trying and failing to keep the goofy grin on his face. “Understood”

With that, the two of them split off into different directions. Dipper doesn’t quite see where Ford disappears to, because as soon as he splits off from Ford he’s on his knees smushing together as many snowballs as he can in one go. Once he’s got enough, he stands to his feet and charges back towards the direction of Stan and Mabel’s fort.  He starts blindly lunging snowballs at them, not risking even a second to give them an opportunity to knock the snowballs out of his arms. Dipper knows that without Ford by his side he’s twice as vulnerable, but he also knows that once Stan and Mabel’s fort comes down they’ll all be on equal ground.

He misses every shot he takes at the fort, but finds malicious satisfaction in “accidentally” hitting Stan square in the face. He dives to the ground shortly after to avoid being hit by the retaliation attack, and his frantic recreation of more snowballs is frozen dead in its tracks at the sound of footprints crunching in the snow quickly behind him. Dipper curls in on himself, afraid of the possibility that Stan snuck away when he wasn’t looking to sneak up and attack him from behind.

The attack never comes, though, and when Dipper finds the bravery to sit up and glance behind him he sees Ford sprinting towards the three of them with a massive snowball in each hand. Stan and Mabel yelp in surprise, ducking beneath their fort for cover, but it’s no use, for when Ford hurls his snowballs at their fort it comes crumbling to the ground.

For a few moments, nobody says a word. Dipper, Stan, and Mabel sit in shock, exchanging glances. There’s nothing to break up the silence between them but the whistling wind and their heavy breathing.

Until Mabel stands to her feet, brushes herself off, and shouts “FREE FOR ALL!!”

She gathers a bunch of snow between her hands, throws it at Stan’s chest, and all chaos breaks loose from there. The rest of the family is on their feet in an instant, chasing each other around the yard in a blur of jackets and gloves and flying snowballs. Dipper gets knocked to the ground face-first by a snowball to the back of the neck, but he’s having too much fun to notice the cold feeling on his face. Ford manages to knock Stan’s glasses off of his face, and Stan retaliates by throwing a wad of snow at the only exposed part of Ford’s neck. The high-pitched squeak that escapes Ford at the sensation makes the kids laugh, and they form a temporary truce to team up against Stan to see if they can get similar results from him. It works, once they’re able to lunge a snowball at his exposed wrists, but comes at the cost of Stan turning and lunging snowballs at them in return.

Dipper’s laughing too hard from the chaos of it all to notice Ford approaching him until it’s too late. Instead of pelting him with snow, though, Ford picks him up by the waist. “I’ve got one more idea to take the others down, if you’re still willing to work with me” he whispers, and Dipper nods wordlessly. Ford places Dipper on his shoulders, gently bends to gather a snowball in his hands without letting Dipper slip off. He then offers it to Dipper, and even without saying a word Dipper can tell he’s got a smirk on his face.

Dipper glances between the snowball in Ford’s hand and Mabel and Stan, and finds a smirk spreading to his own face. He takes the snowball from Ford, and as soon as it’s out of his hand he starts charging towards the other two.

“Sweet moses!” Stan yelps, leaping out of the way of their path. He jumps to his feet, brushing the snow off of his coat, and looks to Mabel. She nods, and he picks her up and places her on his shoulder as well.

“Winner takes all?” Mabel smirks, leaning her elbows against Stan’s head.

“You know it,” Dipper grins, mimicking her gesture and leaning against Ford’s head. “If we win, you have to make us your special hot chocolate. If you win, I dunno, you just get the same old boring hot chocolate I always make because someone is too stubborn to share her recipe”

Mabel sticks her tongue out and blows a raspberry at him. At Stan’s call, the two pairs messily charge towards each other. Stan and Ford struggle to bend down to pick up mounds of snow without accidentally dropping the younger twin off of their shoulders, and Dipper and Mabel struggle to throw the snowballs handed to them by their Grunkles without almost falling backwards off of their shoulders. For the first few minutes Dipper wonders if this was a bad idea, but as soon as Stan and Ford figure out their balance and fall into a pattern with the respective twin on their shoulder, Dipper almost wishes that they’d been doing it this way from the very start.

From up here on Ford’s shoulders, Dipper feels like he can accomplish anything. He knows, logically, that Ford can’t be any more than two feet taller than him, and that he already has gone through the apocalypse and won, but there’s something about this height that just makes Dipper feel safe.

That is, of course, until Mabel pelts him in the forehead with a snowball and nearly knocks him to the ground.  Dipper grips onto the edge of Ford’s jacket just a bit tighter, and Ford nods silently to reach a hand up and gently squeeze Dipper’s hand in reassurance that he doesn’t intend to let go that easy.  The two pairs prove to be a near-equal match, and their battle lasts for nearly an hour until the moment that Stan misinterprets Dipper’s body language and ducks at the wrong time, and Dipper’s able to knock Mabel off of her grunkle’s shoulder with a soft thud.

“Yes!” Dipper pumps his fist in the air as Ford helps him to the ground, and goes to offer Mabel a hand to help her off the ground.

“Good game”

She tries to fake an angry pout at him, but it doesn’t stick. “Good game, you dork” she takes his hand to stand, and punches him in the shoulder as she stands. She walks to take Stan by the hand, and gestures towards the shack. “But you’ve made one fatal mistake, brother” she smirks over her shoulder as she and Stan make their way inside. “You never specified that I had to tell you the recipe if we lost, just that I had to make it for you”

Dipper splutters, and opens his mouth to respond, but she’s already gone before he can think of a good comeback. He pouts, crossing his arms over his chest. A gentle hand on his shoulder tears him from his thoughts, and when he looks up at the source he sees Ford smiling at him in amusement. He doesn’t say anything, just sort of shakes his head, and the two of them follow Stan and Mabel inside.

Once inside, Dipper runs up the stairs to kick off his wet clothes and to change into something dryer and warmer. While he waits for Mabel to finish preparing everyone’s cups of cocoa, he drags all of the blankets from their beds downstairs and drops them into a pile on the living room floor, climbing underneath it for warmth. To Dipper’s surprise, Ford kneels on the ground and joins him under the blanket pile, winding an arm around his nephew for warmth.

“It’s ready!” Mabel cheers, stepping carefully into the room with two nearly-overflowing mugs donned with whipped cream, chocolate shavings, chocolate sprinkles, and a straw-shaped cookie sticking out of the mound. Dipper takes his mug carefully, and Ford chuckles as he takes his own.

“You know, Mabel, the multiverse had thousands of different flavors of whipped cream. The Pines Family sweet tooth is a strong one, and I collected as many as I could without getting caught by their equivalent of customs”

“Really?” her eyes become stars, stopping in her tracks on her way back to the kitchen. “Did you sneak any back home?”

Ford nods. “I’ve got a lovely cherry cream locked away in the basement lab for safe keeping.” He takes a sip of the hot chocolate in his hands, leaving a white moustache of cream across his lips. “If you’d like, I’d love to experiment with making a cherry cordial hot chocolate sometime”

“Are you kidding?” She squeals. “I’d love to!”

If it weren’t for Stan’s soft grunt as he takes a seat on Dipper’s other side, he’d have been too distracted watching Mabel and Ford geek out over food experiments to notice his arrival. Dipper smiles at them one last time before shifting his gaze to Stan.

“Grunkle Stan?” He says, before taking a sip from his own cup.

Stan raises an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“I wish all of our winter breaks could be like this”

Stan smiles warmly, ruffling up Dipper’s hair. “Me too, kiddo. Me too”

[ophiexb]

Defensive

Based off a prompt from @jatpficprompts from this Prompt Here.

“While the boys are alive, Luke is always the one to get sent to the principal’s office, in school. He’s not actually a bad kid, though. He just gets really angry when people are mean to Alex or Reggie and has gotten into more than a few fights with the bully. He even once broke a boy’s jaw (who ended up having to get it wired shut) for calling Alex some not so nice terms for being gay.”

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

Luke...probably had the worst record out of all of them, and by probably he did. Between his grades and his disciplinary record there was no way the other was going to graduate without some serious intervention that he did not want. Better grades meant cutting way more back on practices and music, it meant less time to write, and less time to work on the things that actually mattered. This place was equivalent to a prison in his mind.

“It’s not that serious.” Alex said shutting his locker once all his books were packed up. “Bobby, Reggie and I all manage to keep up our grades and balance the band-and yes before you say anything I know you write the songs but Luke. They're not going anywhere.” Alex hummed. “The music is going anywhere, we aren’t going anywhere. You’ve got to graduate next year man.” 

“None of that’s going to matter! No ones going to care about any kind of diploma if they're famous! My music speaks for itself.” Luke countered. “And our band speaks even more and we’re going places.” He gestured dramatically as they waited for their other two band members. “And we’d be even better if school wasn’t in the way.” 

“You might not have any interest; but at least let us graduate.” Alex protested leaning against the wall of lockers as the people spilled into the halls and moved around. He could see them coming down and smiled waving the duo over. “I’m serious Luke, I actually really care about my grades.” He huffed. 

“Man; Ms.Hart assigned another paper. At this rate my hands are going to fall off.” Reggie groaned holding his hands up dramatically. “My wrists can only take so much more it’s going to impact my bass.” He added pitifully and Alex rolled his eyes with a gentle laugh. 

“Come on enough enough the papers can wait its Friday!” Luke beamed Friday meant band practice, it meant no homework and no studying that could wait for Sunday. He was radiant, gesturing for Bobby and tossing his arm around the other to pull his close.

“Alright alright-“ Bobby groaned, moving Luke off of him almost instantly to get to his locker. “I already told my Mom you guys were staying over and she's going to pick us up.” He laughed, the four of them heading out together with the rest of the school. 

Monday found Luke back in the office, his arms crossed over his chest and staring at the window with a blank expression on his face. “Lucas.” The man said slowly fiddling with his file. “This is the third fight this month.”

“It’s Luke.” He countered, finally giving the man some attention. His lip was split on the other side but overall he didn’t have any outward damage. “So what am I supposed to do Sir.  I told you last week that these guys keep hassling Reggie when he’s coming out of gym. Pushing him around and taunting him. I’m supposed to stand there? Just watch them?” 

“Well of course not, but violence isn’t the answer. You could go and get a teacher-Mr.Dennis was right in the locker rooms with the other boys….Mr.Patterson we’ve talked about this last time as well.” Luke could only roll his eyes.

“With all due respect sir; Mr.Dennis is useless. He lets them do whatever they want! He knows they’ve been coming after Reggie and he just tells them to stop and turns his back. I’m not going to let some punks keep hurting my friend.” He countered his fingers curling against the arms of the chair. He wanted to say a whole lot more but he was in enough trouble as it was, and the main anger had left him after the fight.

“Well I don’t know about all that, but this is your third fight this month Lucas, and don’t make me count up this year. You're treading a thin line to getting kicked out. I don’t want to see a bright future like yours ruined for something so simple such as using your words, and getting another teacher to help.” Luke’s mouth tightened into a thin line and he turned to stare back out the window again. “Your mothers here to pick you up. You can return Wednesday.” He sighed, climbing up to grab his bag tossing it over his shoulder and walking right past her to the car.

It gave him more time to write songs anyway. What did he care? Though-now the nagging feeling in the pits of his stomach came the entire time he was home. Because that was the downside to fighting. He couldn’t protect his friends anymore from home. No one would be there to stand up for them. It sure made it hard to focus on his songs until Alex called him after school to update him on the day.

Luke got better at hiding it after that, his attacks were more subtle and more calculated. He couldn’t get suspended because then who would protect the guys? Who would make sure no one messed with his friends if he was out? So he got better. He got smart about how he defended the moment, and sought his revenge later. The rumors were more than enough that much of the bullying and teasing had come to a halt for fear of Luke’s wrath. They were smooth sailing and Luke hadn’t had to have that stupid make better choice meeting in weeks.

Of course it didn’t last long; it never did for him. Something always had to happen and so damn close to their winter break. They were almost there and someone had to go and start something. At first it wasn’t a big deal, nothing serious. Until he started hearing the whispers. His mind zeroed in on the words from the other students before he was quickly moving through the halls. Ignoring their looks until he found them, laid eyes on them and that they were okay. Well physically okay. Alex was curled up, his fingers curled in his blond hair almost painfully. Reggie whispering softly to him and gently trying to unpry his hands from hurting himself. Bobby sat quietly to the side just rubbing soft circles on the drummers back.

“How’d they find out?” He demanded his voice sharp and Alex flinched slightly, and his anger left in a swoop. It wasn’t at Alex. It wasn’t at them and they didn’t deserve this side of him. “Lex…” He said softer moving to kneel in front of the other. “We can just-We can deny it. No one has any proof…” 

“They do.” Bobby said softly looking down for a moment and Luke’s brows furrowed looking at him and back at Alex. “A picture. Half the class has seen it.” By the end of the day they all knew the whole school would know.

Alex's breathing hitched and Luke shook off the trail of thoughts, his fingers gentle with Bobby’s to rub over the others shoulder a little. “Come on…” He whispered. “Deep breath Lex. We’ve got you.” He soothed, and Reggie finally got his hands to let go of his hair, and Luke quickly caught them before they could fly anywhere else. Before he could hurt himself. Pressing the others palm hard against his chest as they coached him slowly down.

They’d already missed more than half the day by the time Alex calmed enough to talk. His head laying on Bobby’s shoulder and face red. He looked worn, exhausted. “It was Tyler. From Science.” He whispered. “We’ve been lab partners since the start of the semester and he-“ He hesitated but Luke already knew. 

“The guy you liked.” He supplied softly. “The one who...who you thought liked you to.” 

“He asked to meet up after school yesterday.” Alex whispered his hands fidgeting but Reggie caught them curling his hands around his. “I said yes, foolishly. I should've known better, we were in his room and he asked me if I liked him. And I said yes.” His voice cracked. “He had his stupid baseball buddies in the closet.” He whined. “Luke my parents are going to find out there are friends with Tyler’s parents.” He rambled edging on the hysterics again. “Everyone’s going to find out-“ Which...was not great. Sure no one wanted for Alex to have to pretend and fake day in and out. But...but it was just a fact. A fact of life right now that being gay was dangerous. 

“I’m gonna kill him.” Luke hissed almost growled standing up abruptly. 

“Luke.” Alex protested quickly, his watery blue eyes looking at the other. “He’s not worth it. The damage is done already-It’s...you get in another fight there going to expel you it’s not worth it.” He shifted trying to untangle himself from the guys, but Luke could see. See the absolute distress and misery on the other face and knew he wasn’t going to let it go. For now he would. Only for now.

They got Alex to the studio, figuring the day was wasted anyway they’d take the detentions for missing a day and deal with it all later. Right now the focus was their friend, and his comfort making sure he didn’t see anyone else and he could fully calm down before going home. To come out. Because this whole ordeal jump started any plans or ideas Alex had for telling his parents he was gay. It had to come from him. Not some rumor-which mean right now….

Luke was going to kill Tyler Moore.

It really didn’t take much to set him off all over again. Coming into school the next day to see Alex. Trying to keep his crumbling life together because of this one asshole. It’s not a prank, it’s not funny. In Luke’s mind all he can think is this asshole has put Alexs life in danger. They watch the news, they see the media. It’s not funny-it’s real life and he’s pissed. 

Apparently the anger rolling off him is not enough to deter the other teen from approaching them in the hall. They’d been gathered around Alex trying to get an idea of how his coming out went, how he was doing when he heard the others' voices. 

“Luke.” Alex was already protesting. 

Luke was already moving, his eyes set on that smug face. With his letterman jacket and his group of friends behind him acting like they were better than the world around them. Like they weren’t slowly destroying an entire person. Not a care in the world for laughs right? Not on Luke’s watch.

“What you got feelings-“ Tyler didn’t even finish his sentence Luke was punching him hard across the jaw. Hard enough he felt the crack, saw the blood and he wasn’t done jumping onto the other and hitting him again. His group wasn’t behind him anymore-people like that aren’t real friends. All of them fled the moment Luke was on him. It took two teachers to pry him off the other boy, and Luke was yanking his bag up off the floor, shoving their hands off him.

“I’m going I’m going.” He snapped his eyes moving over to his friends. The wonder and amazement on Alex's face, on Reggie and Bobby’s face. Despite their protest Luke knew they appreciated it. That they could never tell him for fear of encouraging him getting in trouble. But having someone defend you to the lengths Luke went? It was pretty special.

It’s also how he ended up expelled the day before winter break. The catalyst to his relationship with his Mom finally dissolving and crumbling away. But his focus was pinpointed. It was zeroed in on his band, and his friends. He didn’t need anything else.

[secret-engima]

For the Night King AU, could we possibly see the thoughts of the Chocobros 1.0 when they meet/see their counterparts? We kinda got a vauge look at Regis' thoughts and a tiny glimpse of Clarus', but what do they think when they look at the Dark Retinue and see what could have been them? And does Clarus' realize that Iris is an Amiticia as well?

Hmmmmm lemme think. Not sure if this is gonna be what you want but- ramble? Not gonna do them all because my hands hurt but the ramble should be long enough to suit.

-Clarus sees the man with Amicitia gold eyes and brown hair stop Cor’s attack on the Accursed and his heart stops for several reasons. One- he fully expects Cor and the rest of them to die in the next there seconds by angry daemon, two- someone was actually fast enough to STOP Cor, in an instant, like it was easy and that’s never happened before, and three-

-That man looks like Clarus’s father. That man looks like CLARUS and it’s freaking him out. He wonders hysterically if the Accursed was using an illusion to make his guard look like an Amicitia as a joke, or if Clarus’s father had a brother that was presumed dead but was actually taken and molded into a servant by the Night King.

-Instead of turning violent though, the man just laughs a deep, quiet laugh and lets Cid and Weskham drag the breathless Cor back into their group, “Nice try kid, but you’re about three decades too early to pull that off.”

-Regis apologizes for Cor with a desperate edge that means he too fears reprisal, but the Night King just shrugs it off and summons another human (human!) to escort them to the dining room.

-The newcomer, named Prompto, mentions a “Gladio” a few times as they walk and Clarus wonders if that’s the Amicitia he saw.

-They learn ... quite a few things that night and the days following after, and when he’s not fretting over the others, Clarus is, admittedly, studying Gladiolus. Since learning that this Accursed is new, he’s been trying to figure out how far back in the family tree Gladiolus is. He acts like he’s known the Night King all his life, and there’s a brief mention of a childhood incident, which means the man is definitely not Clarus’s father’s brother.

-Honestly, Clarus can readily believe this Amicitia is ancient. Not in appearance, he only looks to be in his early thirties at most, but in soul? Oh yes.

-Gladiolus is old in a worn, battle-hardened sort of way that reminds Clarus of his few recollections of his grandfather. He’s friendly, not the violent, brutish thing Clarus expected of an Accursed’s Shield, but instead gentle. Tired. His temper rises fast as fire and snuffs as quickly as a candle, he answers questions patiently, and seems to keep his king on just as tight a leash as any other Shield (food and sleep seem to be the realm of Ignis’s care, but in other matters, Gladiolus keeps his king anchored, just as is tradition).

-Clarus wants to ask questions, desperately. He wants to ask how old Gladiolus is, where in the family tree he is, HOW he came to be the Shield of the Accursed’s Nephew but ... he doesn’t. He doesn’t dare. There is something dark lurking in Gladiolus’s gaze when they speak, something bleeding still, and Clarus does not want to further open a heart wound that is clearly still weeping.

-It doesn’t stop him from wondering, especially as the years go by and he lives in the Night Kingdom with Regis prior to Regis ascending Lucis’s throne, why a man as steady and unflinching as Gladiolus is nonexistent in the history records. In the family tree. Clarus has CHECKED. There is no sign of him even as far back as Gilgamesh.

-Clarus isn’t sure which is better, that Gladiolus was erased that thoroughly for whatever happened back then, or that no one in the family knew that he (or his SISTER and isn’t that a shock, one that takes much longer to realize since Iris is usually busy elsewhere in the Citadel and rarely sees Clarus) existed.

...

-Weskham doesn’t take long to decide he likes Ignis. There is a steadiness and experience to the blind man, and even though Ignis is very unnerving at times (the way he commands daemons, the way he effortlessly navigates and fights despite being blind), it is gratifying to have another who understands Weskham’s trials as a Hand of the King.

-After the treaty, after they have been kidnapped in all but name and intent (for Regis chose this, Regis agreed to this to spare his father and his kingdom), Ignis and Weskham take to spending afternoons in the kitchens together. Just the two of them, some new dish cooking in the ovens, and a cup of tea as they talk.

-Weskham enjoys their time, but he would also be the first to admit that Ignis is ... a little off sometimes. There is a jagged edge to him that will not smooth, it glitters in his words sometimes, in the fervent desperation that edges his shoulders when he spends too long apart from his King. There is a ... neediness there. A doubt. Like if he turns away for too long, Noctis will disappear into dust on the wind. All of the Dark Retinue (a silly nickname that Prompto insisted on using after hearing it) have that edge, but in Ignis it is the sharpest.

-“The last thing I ever saw,” Ignis tells him once, very quietly, on a rainy day where the tea has been spiked just slightly with wine, “was Noct. He was lying on the ground in the rain next to Luna, and he was ... he wasn’t moving. There was no sign-. I couldn’t see him breathing, and Ardyn was right there. I feared-.” Ignis goes silent and Weskham holds his breath despite himself. He still does not know how Luna was, she is someone they only mention in passing and in deep grief, but he knows enough about Noctis and his ... relationship with his now passed Uncle to feel a thrill of fear just at the retelling, “He was dead.” Ignis’s voice breaks just a little and Weskham feels his heart bleed for the older man, “I thought I had lost him. I swore to stay ever at his side. All his life I walked with him, since he was just a small child, and then I saw him, and he was so very still.”

-Ignis exhales, “I wonder sometimes, what he looks like now. I do not regret losing my sight, but sometimes I wish I could see him. Just once more. Just so that that is not the last moment.”

-Weskham tentatively touches Ignis’s hand in solidarity, and internally he shakes. Because he too was raised with his king from a young age. To have the sight of him almost dead on the ground be the last he ever saw of Regis, even if Regis survived... Weskham can’t imagine it.

-He doesn’t want to.

...

-Cid knows Iris is an Amicitia. He’s not BLIND and unlike Clarus he sees the girl a lot more often, since she and Talcott like to come sniffing around the workshop Noctis gave him.

-He’s more than a little sure the girl avoids Clarus when she can, because seeing him cuts up her insides even though she likes him.

-But she and Talcott don’t bother him, or get in his way, so he lets them visit. Sometimes they chat, either to him or over his head, and he learns a lot about their past from those cues.

-He learns Clarus looks like Iris’s and Gladiolus’s father. That Talcott’s family used to be retainers for Iris and Gladiolus’s. He learns that Iris can scrap with the best of them, but honestly prefers staying here and helping people with mending and fixing, because she’s seen too many things get broken in her life that can’t be fixed. Talcott is a busybody, but all his secrets he hoards to himself. He gathers gossip but never spreads it, and he likes learning things because when he was a boy, knowing things was the only way he could help. And even now that he’s grown, knowing things is his strongest weapon.

-Cid can sympathize. He didn’t grow up as one of Regis’s Retinue, and he doesn’t know a lot of courtly things or how magic works beyond the basics Regis taught him. But he does know the wilds, and the villages, and the common folk, and those were things Regis desperately needed to learn back in the day. He knows how to fight, but he prefers to fix because frankly there’s enough people going around breaking things and not enough fixing. Just look at how well Mors messed up Cor.

-Cid carefully doesn’t think about what it must have been like back when Iris and Talcott were small. How they had to help, had to KNOW things when they were only kids (or the nearest immortal equivalent). Cid was an adult when he met Regis, not a kid. He could shoulder that just fine. Them...

-Well. They’re adults now, and they seem happy enough, so Cid will let it go at that.

...

-Cor doesn’t like Older Cor.

-Oh he likes to FIGHT him, and he respects him a lot, but he doesn’t ... like him.

-Old Cor is too much like Cor, and so when Cor sees the ways Old Cor is broken, it means Cor could break in those ways too.

-But Cor is stubborn and curious, so he badgers Old Cor anyway, for fighting, for clues, for ... anything really. And here are some things he learns.

-Old Cor doesn’t like to be around Regis and the others. Not that he doesn’t like them (he loves them, Cor can see it in his eyes, that fervent burning edge that Cor sees in the mirror every morning) but being near them HURTS and both Cor’s tend to fight the things that hurt, so Old Cor stays away.

-Old Cor is protective. He’s protective of his home, of his kingdom, of the humans living in the Night Kingdom. But most of all he’s protective of Noctis and his Retinue, and despite his old joints and scars, he will kill anything that threatens them without hesitation.

-Old Cor is impatient. He’s like Cor, he wants to get things done NOW, but he’s got a much better control over that urge than Cor currently does, so he seems like he’s patient when he’s really not.

-Old Cor lost his King.

-It’s a bad realization. A harsh one that comes after Cor sneaks into the Accursed’s tomb when he shouldn’t have. But it makes sense. Old Cor walks like he is still following in someone’s shadow, two steps back and one to the left, even when no one is around. Old Cor still sometimes looks over his shoulder like he’s about to call someone, then stops and keeps walking. Old Cor spends some evenings nursing a bottle of wine, but for every glass he drinks he pours out two more.

-”Was it Noctis’s father?” Cor asks Old Cor once.

-Old Cor ... LOOKS at Cor and there is a sharpness there that comes less from a honed blade and more from the broken shards of one, “Yes.” Then, before Cor could ask more, Old Cor says, rough and hoarse and fragile “The original Accursed killed him. I was sent away to protect Noctis.”

-I was sent away, he didn’t let me die at his side why didn’t he LET ME STAY WITH HIM- screams between them, maybe Cor’s heart, maybe Old Cor’s. It doesn’t matter, they are close enough in everything else for this reaction to be shared too.

-Cor doesn’t ask about it again.

-One days when Old Cor is too broken and rough, when he genuinely has no tolerance for even looking at Cor, Cor goes and bothers Prompto instead. The man is always willing to fight him, or tell him stories, or just laugh at something Cor did that shouldn’t be funny but is anyway. Cor knows he should probably hunt for clues on Prompto too, but he caught a glimpse of Prompto’s wrist once, the black tattoo that looks suspiciously like a Niflheim slave brand, and even Cor knows that THAT is a line of questions he shouldn’t breach.

...

-Regis has a lot of thoughts on Noctis. At first, it’s terror. Terror at what he thought was the original Accursed, terror for what would become of his Retinue and himself at this monster’s hands.

-Except Noctis is no monster, he is painfully, achingly human, and that perhaps is even worse.

-After that he is wary of Noctis, and refuses to let himself think the words “Lucis Caelum” because if he does THAT then he’s going to ask questions and Noctis doesn’t deserve questions.

-It comes about anyway. There’s no denying his looks, his blue eyes, his magic. And the thought of the OG Accursed being related to the Lucis Caelum line in any way makes Regis’s skin crawl, but Noctis is sweet and kind and patient, and Regis cannot help but love the man like family even before the day he works up the nerve to ask if Noctis is really a Lucis Caelum and gets a soft “yes” as his answer.

(gonna stop there sorry because my hands hurt rn and just hgdhgfds)

[nerdyfangirl67]

Lean On Me - Criminal Minds Reader Insert

Pairing: Emily x reader (platonic - best friends), Rossi x reader (platonic, almost fatherly relationship)

Warnings: Emily’s death, feelings of sorrow, anger, and denial, angst, includes headcanon thoughts about Emily and Morgan gaming duo, generally dark and kinda angsty.

Word count: 1238

The reader doesn’t know how to process Emily’s death and a mysterious friend online just might be the answer.

A/N: The URL , hotzzforHotch, from the story belongs to the reader, with the other URL, vonnEgutgrouPi70, belonging to the “myserious” stranger. Hope you guys like the story! If y’all want to see something written, let me know and I’d gladly give it a go!

“Everybody needs somebody to lean on.” She had told you that once and you had found out quickly that you always had her to lean on. She was easily your best friend and the person you trusted most in the world. You hadn’t known each other exceptionally long, only four years. But the two of you had hit it off the moment you met and ever since then, you spent much of your free time together, quickly becoming the closest pair on the team. But, she was gone now, leaving you broken, lost, and angry. 

You couldn’t find relief from the pain. Everywhere you went reminded you of her. The bullpen held the whispers of past conversations carried on long into the night. Clinging to the walls of your apartment were secrets passed between close friends after a few too many glasses of wine. Lingering in the dark recesses of your favorite bar were the intoxicated giggles that followed stolen glances at attractive bar patrons. 

Despite your knowledge that every other member of the team was hurting just like you, you couldn’t bring yourself to reach out to them. The only one you had been in contact with since her death was Rossi. Somehow he knew how hard it would be for you to go back to your apartment and he had gently insisted you stay with him. He had even had someone go to your apartment and gather some of your things. 

Even though you had spent days in his mansion, which he conservatively called a house, you hadn’t stepped foot outside the bedroom. He had made sure to leave meals outside your door two times a day, many of which you left untouched. He had even tried to talk to you and get you to leave the room, and as much as you didn’t want to be a burden to Rossi, you couldn’t bring yourself to reenter reality. 

In fact, you had pulled further away from reality in the little cave you had created out of blankets and pillows in the constantly dark room. You spent much of your time either sleeping or playing the online video game you’d heard Morgan and Emily talk about animatedly several times on the jet. For some reason, playing that ridiculous game helped you feel closer to her and became the sole focus of your time. 

Rossi, however, was not a fan of your self-isolation and after over a week of being secluded in one of his guest rooms, he had apparently had enough. After sharply knocking on your door three times, he pushes it open, earning a half-attempted protest from you. 

“Alright, bella, I’ve been patient enough. You can’t live the rest of your life like this. I don’t want this for you and Emily certainly wouldn’t have wanted this for you.” His words, although gentle, serve as a harsh wake-up call to you. You let out a harsh breath before a sob seizes in your chest. And just like that, the dam holding back all of your intense sadness breaks and you are crying uncontrollably. 

A guilty expression takes hold of Rossi’s face as he steps forward, kneeling next to the bed and grabbing you in a tight embrace. You cling to his expensive button-down, unable to properly catch a breath through the hysterical crying. You are unsure of how long you weep in Rossi’s arms, but when you are finally able to stop the sobs, you utter a soft “Thank you.”

“Mio caro, you have nothing to apologize for.” He whispers, one hand moving to brush a strand of hair away from your eyes. “Come join me for dinner. We don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. You can get intoxicated if that’s what you want or you can simply sit there and we can enjoy one another’s presence.” His voice betrays the worry he is feeling. You let out a simple nod, afraid that you’d start crying again if you spoke. He presses a soft kiss to your temple, before leaving you to get cleaned up for dinner.

Rossi makes an intricate pasta dish, with steamed veggies and freshly made garlic bread for dinner. You help set the table, choosing one of your favorite wines from Rossi’s extensive collection to go with the meal. After each of you dish up your plates, you settle into a comfortable silence. Neither of you speaks through the entire main course, aside from simple questions of “Can you pass the salt?” and “Would you like more wine?” When Rossi spends the entire dessert portion of the meal stealing glances at you, you know he is more than worried. 

“Rossi, I’ll be okay. It will take me a while, but I’ll get there.” You murmur, laying down your fork on your dessert plate. 

“I know, mio caro, I know. We all will, at least as best we can.” He responds, moving one of his hands to rest on yours. 

The two of you lapse into silence, only speaking again when Rossi suggests going to sit out on the balcony with a glass of wine. You agree and as the sun slowly sets, one glass of wine becomes two, which in turn becomes three.

By the time the two of you come in from the balcony, you were closer to intoxication than a light buzz. Rossi assists you in stumbling back to your room, getting you a clean shirt and sleep pants, and even getting you a fresh towel for you to wash your face with. After pulling on fresh clothes and wiping off your makeup, you clumsily crawl into bed.

You don’t expect to be awake for long but after half an hour of tossing and turning, you can’t fall asleep. Letting out a long sigh, you pull out your laptop and open up the game you had quite quickly become obsessed with.

Usually, you play the game solely with the goal of defeating the various levels. Tonight is different. You don’t know if it’s because of the wine or because you were tired of feeling so lonely, but when a random individual reaches out, you respond.

vonnEgutgrouPi70: OMG! I <3 ur URL

hotzzforHotch: thnks. 

vonnEgutgrouPi70: howd you come up w/ it

hotzzforHotch: i’ve been crushing on my boss for ages. we call him Hotch at work

vonnEgutgrouPi70: cUtE! ;) im guessing he doesn’t play?

hotzzforHotch: oh no! I’d be sooo embarrassed :0 if he did

hotzzforHotch: i’ve actually nvr told anyone else that b4. Just my best friend.

vonnEgutgrouPi70: well im honored, thnks for sharing 

hotzzforHotch: i’m guessing u r a vonnegut fan?

vonnEgutgrouPi70: :)) yes! Huge nerd, i am 

vonnEgutgrouPi70: wanna partner up and play in team mode?

-----

Days pass and for some reason or another, vonnEgutgrouPi70 finds an excuse to talk to you. And something in you always has you responding. You and the Vonnegut loving, cyber individual become friends. Somehow this individual manages to distract you from the pain you had been feeling since Emily’s death. The more you learned about them, the more you found out that the two of you had a lot in common. And although you weren’t looking to replace Emily, you soon came to the realization that you could easily become close friends with vonnEgutgrouPi70, maybe even best friends. 

What you couldn’t shake though, was the feeling that this person gave you, a feeling you’d only ever felt once before. With Emily.

[sleephyjhs]

Internal Tigress (Special Post)

pairing: cheater!yoongi x reader

genre: heavy angst

summary: he’d been disappearing for longer each time. your voicemails haunted his inbox. you were way past the point of return, but your suppressed emotions made it hard for you to confront him. however, an elastic band can only stretch so far before it snaps.

word count: 1.9k

notes: this is so late it’s past fashionable, but thank you for 500 followers! next time i’ll have a much better surprise, i promise. i’d also like to add that this au doesn’t reflect my actual beliefs of yoongi as a person

tw: heated arguments, cheating

rules | m.list | 500 followers special

For hours, melted candle wax had dripped from the stand onto the marble kitchen counter, and for hours, you had failed to stop it. Somehow, watching the candlestick melt was less tedious than waiting for him. The burning scent of jasmine and sandalwood hung bitter in the air, not too dissimilar from Yoongi’s earlier promise.

Three years of devoting your love to him had come to this; a one-person dinner date. On such a monumental day for you as a couple, announcing he was going out by himself was reasonably unexpected. It had become apparent to you within minutes of waking up that morning that Yoongi was in fact clueless over the sentiments of that day. Not a single romantic gesture had reached your vicinity. Not even a card.

And yet you still made the effort to celebrate for him. Earlier that week when he had questioned your extra, unusual groceries, it still didn’t prod the event in his mind. The lower the candlestick burned, the more you pondered on your idiocy. Why had you even bothered? You could have bet money on Yoongi being none the wiser.

Just as the wick curled into the ceramic stand, you reminded yourself just why you made the effort. He’d become more and more distant in the last weeks. Some nights, he walked out the door without a word and wouldn’t return until the early morning. But your efforts came from not wanting to believe he had fallen out of love with you. A small part of you refused to accept your romance was virtually over.

Too many nights ago, you’d wondered if you were unreasonable. Of course, he was a grown man and you were nobody to stop him from going out. But refusing to answer his phone, or even telling you where he’d be? It became too suspicious too quickly.

With only the light from the television, you ate your half of the anniversary meal you’d prepared in the familiar silence. Even the quiet was a better conversation than what you would have had anyway. Ironically, you were usually a fan on the meals you made for yourself, but you just couldn’t bring yourself to enjoy it.

To make a point, you left your used dish on the island counter opposite the full one meant for your partner. Your wine glass had stained red by the little residue left at the bottom; the wine in the other glass sat stale. Waiting for him to arrive home was a tedious couple of hours, but the saturday night shows managed to get you through it.

The monotonous beeping of the keypad outside your door led your heart to beat faster. Confrontation was a secret weapon you wielded well, but the few seconds that laid between you and Yoongi were too few to think of the right words. Really, you weren’t sure whether you were angry or disappointed, or both.

You focused your attention on the screen before you as he pushed the door open and sneaked through the gap. From the corner of your eye, you watched him glance at you before turning to the kitchen. An audible sigh echoed in your silence. Already, a few angry tears began to gather at your eyelids.

“I got you these.” Yoongi offered, walking closer to the couch. Your eyes glared to the side to see his outstretched arm holding a box of your favourite chocolates, “Listen, I’m really sorry. There’s been a lot on my mind lately and-“

“You aren’t sorry at all.” You replied bluntly, turning back to the screen. It was painful even just to be in the same room as him; there were no words you could say to him that could ever deliver your full anger in that moment, “If I hadn’t made you a whole anniversary meal then you wouldn’t have said anything to me when you walked through that door. You and I both know that.”

Another tense silence was broken by the box of chocolates landing next to your seat, “Fine. Take them or leave them.”

His blunt remark confirmed to you that he no longer cared for your relationship and prompted your growing distaste for his new character. You’d told yourself earlier that evening that a heartfelt apology might have changed your mind about your dead-end love, but all of your hope was lost. His feelings were clear enough, “I’ll leave them.”

You breathed sharply, rushing from the couch towards your shared bedroom. The tears wouldn’t stop themselves, and the last thing you needed was for him to see you so vulnerable, “Where are you going?” He asked sternly, grabbing a hold of your arm as you stormed away.

Without hesitating, you yanked your arm from his grip and swivelled to face him. Maybe seeing you so distraught would tell him a thing or two, “Get the fuck off of me. It’s obvious you don’t want to be near me, so why would I put you through it?” Raising your voice is something you hated doing, but targeting your anger at the man who caused it all was much needed.

“I just went out to get you those chocolates, I don’t see what the problem is.” But he knew what he’d done wrong. After however many years you’d known Yoongi, not once had he admitted he was wrong so quickly. If anything, he’d only confirmed what you first said; he wasn’t sorry at all.

“It doesn’t take four fucking hours to go to the convenience store. You disappear so much now, I never know where you are. I’d thought that on our anniversary you’d want to spend time with me for a change, but you didn’t remember.” He stuttered , fumbling for the words to defend himself with, “Dont bother. You’ve been done with me for a while, it was just never convenient for you to drop me.”

Salty tears burnt your throat as they smeared the mascara you’d applied generously earlier in the evening. Looking at Yoongi was torture. The man who you placed so much faith for your future in was stood before you, clearly unable to defend himself. For the second time, you headed for your bedroom, believing he wouldn’t follow.

When his hand reached your shoulder to turn you around again, the stretching elastic band in your brain snapped, “I told you to get the fuck off of me! All you had to do was be honest with me, and even that much is too hard for you? You’re unbelievable, Yoongi. Just unbelievable.”

“You do know that I’m an adult, right? You’re nobody to stop me from going anywhere, nor do you need to have tabs on me all the time.”

The ignorance of his statement dragged a scoff from your lips, “I never stopped you. You have no idea how worrying it is when I can’t get a hold of you. If there was an emergency you wouldn’t have known any better. You never used to be like this, I just don’t understand!”

Through your blurring tears, you caught Yoongi reaching for you for a third time, “Look, you’re just being hysterical now. Calm down, seriously.”

“Don’t fucking touch me.” You cut his speech from the beginning and leaned over your bed to reach one of his pillows, “Sleep on the couch, on the floor. Wherever, I don’t care. I’m too angry to even look at you. Wherever you were, I hope you had a better night than I did.”

The next morning, you walked out into the crispy air of your apartment to be greeted by a cleaned living space. The dishes from last night were gone, and the pillow you almost threw at Yoongi was rested on top of the folded blanket. A pounding headache had woken you from your disrupted slumber, and trying to remember what had been happened the night before was no remedy.

After you were sure he was gone once again, you thought ahead to reviving your willingness to socialise. In response to Yoongi’s disappearances, you organised a quiet night out with your best friend, on the town. Your attempts to equal his absence would be appreciated by nobody but yourself; perhaps a bit of self-care was what you needed.

Instead of sharing an anniversary meal with your ‘partner’, you treated your best friend to a bigger, more fulfilling meal just out of gratitude. She’d picked you up in your lowest points, and there she was doing it all over again.

Before you left the restaurant, you visited the bathrooms just to retouch your makeup. But in the midst of reapplying gentle blush, you caught your attention on the several jewellery items you were wearing that had been purchased by Yoongi. More coincidentally, the necklace he bought you for your first birthday as a couple and the promise ring he’d given you last year for your second anniversary.

In light of trying to bring yourself to a happier state of mind, you pushed any thoughts of him to the side and focused on the present. As hard as it was, the light humour your friend provided soon distracted you.

An activity both you and your friend enjoyed was walking through Seoul nature parks late at night. Cherry blossoms glowed humbly under moonlight, and the trickling of clear river water set the perfect atmosphere for evening strolls. Luckily, you were within walking distance. It wouldn’t have taken you long to get there.

Your friend had linked her arm with yours to guide you to the park; it was one of her ways of looking after you, making sure you couldn’t stray away from the given path. As you both giggled from another one of her lighthearted jokes, she paused in her track and gazed across the wide city road, “There’s no way that’s Yoongi over there.”

You lined your eyes parallel to hers to observe across the road, where a man and woman stood body to body in a close embrace illuminated by bright cafe lights. It was clear to see their fingers interlaced as the man leaned down to seemingly whisper in her ear. When he stood erect again, the cafe casted a light upon his face so perfect it was clear it was him. It was Yoongi.

“No, where are you going?” Before your friend could say anything to stop you, you turned back for the pedestrian crossing and stormed across with the ocean of moving citizens. In your sudden despair and anger blocked her calling for your name as you ploughed across the road. That’s where he’d been all these times. He’d been with some other woman.

As you approached Yoongi and his new fling, you unfastened the necklace that hung around your neck and slid his promise ring from the base of your finger. They were only bad omens anyway, “So this is where you’ve been? All these fucking times, you’ve been with somebody else?” You confronted him, watching in disgust as he made eye contact with you, “Here, have these back. They’re no use to me anymore.”

Without double-crossing yourself, you threw the jewellery at him, watching it fall the the dirty pavement below. You witnessed as his face fell void of thoughts. If you knew Yoongi, you knew there’d be nothing for him to say. He’d been caught by you, the worst person to be caught by, “Your shit will be outside the apartment. If it’s not gone in 3 days it’s going to charity. Thanks for the heartache, I appreciate it.”

[lihikainanea]

Can we talk about subdrop? I've experienced it twice in my sexual life. The first time, it felt like the worst hangover. I was exhausted and there wasn't an ounce of energy left in me. The second time was horrific. It's amazing what the mind can convince you of when you deplete the body in such an extreme way. I was angry, depressed, hysterical, snappy, needy and exhausted all at once - and it lasted a while too. How would Tiger and Bill work through that more 'horrific' type of subdrop?

*dons 1960s wig*

*adjusts microphone*

ahem--

SOCK IT TO ME SOCK IT TO ME SOCK IT TO ME SOCK IT TO ME

Ohhhhhh baby, I could talk about this all day. And now I’m all up in my feels, now I’m all sensitive in every way, and I just...mmm, let’s talk.

First of all, I’m sorry you had to experience that and I sincerely hope you have a loving, supportive partner who is able to help bring you out and give you what you need. Sub drops are awful, yes, but they just...they happen, you know? It’s part of it. When you are doing something that intense, when you’re enjoying it, when your emotions are so high and you’re in so deep you don’t know which way is up--sometimes there’s the inevitable crash after. The euphoria and the agony. Things get really messed up in our minds, we’re in physical pain, we’re really fucking confused at what we just let happen. We’re in real bad shape if we’re jarred from that safe space suddenly, but even if we’re coaxed out of it gently, adrenaline is a hell of a thing. Heightened emotions are a hell of a thing. It’s awful.

And look, tiger has had her share of bad drops. Bill knows that he needs to stay extremely calm, needs to give her something to latch on to even as she recoils. Sometimes she can’t stand his touch--either because her nerve endings are so on fire that her skin is burning, or because she’s associating his touch with the pain that she’s feeling, she’s scared of him,  she’s just spooked in general and her fight or flight instinct is kicking in and she just wants to run.

Sometimes it happens immediately after a particularly rough round, Bill will help bring her out of it--lots of very gentle touches, a ton of whispered praise, soft kisses. His voice is one of the strongest anchors that helps bring her out, she listens to him and he just keeps talking, tells her that she’s so good for him, to just come out of it slowly and when she’s ready, that she might be in pain but he’ll take care of her. And that--that is SO key. He’s acknowledging what she might be going through; he was damn rough so he knows she’s going to be a bit bruised or a bit sore, and he’s telling her that’s okay--that he’ll take care of it for her. He’ll help her feel better. He tells her that he loves her--over and over again--and if she can stand it, he’ll hold her so close as she comes down. Keeps her chest pressed to his, tries to get her looking at him.

But you know....sometimes it goes wrong. Sometimes after a good night’s sleep tiger wakes up all kinds of fucked up about the previous night. She’s confused, she doubts him, doubts his feelings for her--how can somebody say they love you, and then hurt you that way?--she’s in pain and panicking and her mind is getting away on her. It’s fucked up, but during a sub drop--man, your mind is your enemy. It’s so fucked.

And Bill just...he has to be ready. Because she depends on him for this. Their entire dynamic works because she trusts him with this, trusts him to break through and to break her out of it, and he can’t ever let her down. Not even once. So when she recoils from him, when she shoves him away with a heaving sob and curls in on herself, he takes a deep breath. He doesn’t approach--he doesn’t ever approach, because it would terrify her in that moment--but he just stays steady, doesn’t make any sudden movements. And he’ll talk--if she can’t get a breath in, he might tell her to focus on that. He might tell her to try and just focus on his voice, not even the words he’s saying to her, but just the sound of his voice around her. He’ll tell her to breathe, if she can. He’ll tell her that she’s safe where she is, that it’s just the two of them, and that she’s safe with him. He’ll repeat that over and over and over again.

And when he sees she might be calming down, he doesn’t ask to touch her yet. It would send her spiralling again. But that’s when he starts to tell her...not what she’s feeling, definitely not, but he starts to tell her what she might be experiencing. That she’s terrified. That she thinks he’s going to hurt her. That she’s in pain, and that she’s angry that someone who said they loved her and wanted to keep her safe hurt her this way. She might feel betrayed, ashamed, anxious, confused. He tells her all the things she might be feeling because it’s an acknowledgement, and it helps her start to break things down more rationally. He’ll tell her that this is part of it--that emotions so intense often swing the other way--and that he’s there, that she’s safe again, and that he wants to take care of her and help her through it when she feels okay enough to let him. He tells her to take her time, that he’ll just keep talking to her, keep telling her that she’s safe and loved because it’s the truth.

Sometimes, she might start to frantically reach for him and Bill moves a tad--just close enough--and asks if he can hold her. He always asks. 

Sometimes she’ll just stay still, crying, and when Bill asks if he can touch her she’ll say no. And he’ll tell her that’s okay, to let him know when she’s ready or wants to be held. Sometimes tiger can’t even decide that for herself, can’t take the initiative to tell him when she needs it--so Bill will keep asking. Every few minutes, just keep asking if he can touch her.

Sometimes she’ll tell him no, but also tell him that it’s because it hurts. Her skin is just on fire, and she can’t move. That’s progress, though--and he’ll help her work through that too. He’ll ask her if there’s any part of her that he can touch, that she doesn’t think would hurt. Anything at all. He’ll ask her to just take a deep breath and focus on that--to tell him where it really hurts, which is often her neck or her ass or her stomach or her back or the inside of her wrists, all the places she’s usually so sensitive--and then he’ll ask if maybe he can just run a finger or two over her face. If maybe he can just hold her hand. He might just tell her to put her hand on the bed, and he’ll very gently place his hand over it. If she flinches, he’ll remove it immediately--still calmly though--and he’ll ask for something else that they can try, that won’t hurt her.

Tiger’s sub drops can last anywhere from 15 minutes to like...a few days. Usually if it’s days, then tiger gets simultaneously really withdrawn while also clinging to him. She panics if he’s not in the same room as her, but when he is she kind of also just wants to be left alone. Sometimes she’s insanely needy for his touch, his reassurance, his comfort (GAH GOOD DUDE BILL) and he always has to have her on his lap, or have his arm around her, or just be holding her or touching her in some way. Sometimes she cries a lot, incessantly, and Bill just needs to hold her and keep murmuring praise to her. She needs to be in his clothes, surrounded by his scent and his warmth. Bill has had to cancel plans to stay home and care for her, if she wasn’t yet in the right mindset to know that he was gone and that she’d be alone for a few hours.

But it all comes down to trust. Tiger trusts him to do this for her, and the reason why she trusts him so much and why she can let herself go so deep into sub space is because he has never let her down. She knows that if she drops then he’ll be there to drag her out, and he’ll be the first one she reaches for when she’s back on solid ground.

[imagineredwood]

Part 1   Part 2   Part 3   Part 4   Part 5    Part 6    Part 7    Part 8   Part 9       Part 10    Part 11  Part 12   Part 13   Part 14  Part 15  Part 16   Part 17  Part 18   Part 19  Part 20  Part 21   Part 22  Part 23  Part 24   Part 25

Pairing: EZ Reyes x Camila (OC)

Warnings: Insecurity, worries of infidelity, emotional hurt, EZ having to see the result of his actions.  

Word count: 3.1k

**Yall really sold me on this ex plot curve. Time to start being messy planning the next chapters**

The house was spotless when EZ walked back inside. It was going on midnight and he was thankful that he hasn’t stupidly given her a time to expect him back by. He closed the door behind him softly and gave a sigh as he toed off his shoes, leaving them on the mat by the door. He pulled off his kutte next, laying it on the counter and walking through the house to find his girl. Peering into the living room, the tv was on but the couch was empty and EZ’s brows knitted. He walked through the living room and saw the light on out on the patio. With an even deeper sigh, EZ started making his way out to the garden. Finding her out there relaxing on any other way was a good sign. Finding her there so late at night after finding out he was talking to Emily was not and the prospect swallowed before he placed his hand on the sliding door and pushed it open, stepping outside. There was a soft breeze, the light from the hanging lamps providing a glow. He looked at the chairs and found them empty as well. The only other place she could’ve been was the hammock and when he looked over at it, sure enough there she was. Resting, eyes closed while her body was curled up in the yellow woven fabric. She had an open book laying on her tummy and EZ reached for it, grabbing her bookmark and sticking it into the binding before closing it. His hands were gentle as he touched her, on raking the hair out of her face, the other gently stroking her cheek as he spoke to her.

“Cam, baby, wake up. Wake up, mami.”

Her eyes fluttered open and he wasn’t sure if it was his touch or his voice. She smiled softly, something she always did when she first opened her eyes and saw him, but it wasn’t nearly as bright as it usually was and EZ knew he was in for it. He held his hands out to her and she took them, allowing him to help her out of the hammock safely. Once on her own two feet though, she removed her hands from his and pointed into the house.

“Can we,”

EZ nodded and so did she, making her way back into the home with EZ trailing behind her. Shutting the door and the light outside, he followed her into the living room and took a seat on the couch next to her. She didn’t cuddle up into his side as she usually did, in fact, she wasn’t even touching him. She sat in her own seat and turned her entire body to face him, legs crisscrossed as she sat sideways on the couch. She hadn’t even said anything yet, but her body language already had him sweating.

“Have a lot that I wanna say so just…let me say it before you but in please.”

EZ nodded. Basically, the Camila way of saying shut the fuck up and listen. He turned his body toward her some just so she knew that he really was listening to what she had to say and cared. Getting scolded wasn’t something he was used to, and he knew that the next hour was likely going to make up for it.

“You’ve been talking to Emily.”

It wasn’t a question, more a statement. EZ nodded once and Camila continued.

“I told you that I didn’t mind when Kevin brought her up. I didn’t mind that she was your ex. I know that she was the mother of your first child. I know how important you were to each other, I get that. But you said that she didn’t matter anymore and that clearly isn’t true.”

EZ opened his mouth to deny but Camila held up her hand, her voice missing the warmth it usually held.

“Let me speak, Ezekiel.”

EZ frowned but nodded and closed his mouth, his hands itching to reach out and touch her to at least offer her any comfort that he could. Convinced that he understood, she continued.

“You said that I didn’t have to worry about her, that she was just someone from your past and you had nothing to hide. Yet you denied knowing her when we first saw her. Then you left me alone at Marcus’ party to catch up and I let it go. Now you’re sneaking around, having secret calls with her and I’m getting tired of it. I know that there’s shit you can’t tell me because of the club or whatever, but things are getting more and more cloudy and I don’t like it. Club business is one thing. That doesn’t concern me, but you constantly keeping contact with your ex does. That doesn’t have anything to do with the club and yet you’re still keeping it a secret.”

EZ swallowed at that. It was true, she knew there were things that he couldn’t tell her because of the club and while an ex in generally didn’t fall into this category, this one did. Emily’s baby had been taken and he had been terrified for her. Even if it wasn’t his kid, it was the kid of the woman that he used to love. He knew it was foolish at best and unhealthy at worst, but he couldn’t help but feel responsible for the child in some regard. Like he needed to keep that child safe since he couldn’t protect the one that Emily had aborted. It was stupid, Angel had made sure that he knew that much, but he couldn’t help it. The fact that Emily was now with Miguel and tied to the business side complicated things even more.

Emily was more than just an ex. She was his ex who was married to the cartel leader that was putting money in his and the club’s pocket. And the mother of the child his brother’s side project had kidnapped. EZ had been prepared to stay out of it, but when Emily had called him in hysterics, begging for his help in finding her baby, he couldn’t find it in himself to just say no. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. He had told Angel, who had made it very clear that if EZ told the truth about where the baby was, they could all kiss their asses goodbye at the hand of the club. Telling Emily the truth wasn’t an option and so instead EZ had given half-truths. That he didn’t understand what was happening, but he would try to figure it out. That he didn’t have any answers right now, but he would still help her out. EZ was angry because now his personal life had bled into his club life and Camila was getting the short end of the stick. She didn’t even know that he was participating in illegal acts as is, there was no way he could come clean about working alongside a cartel. It would be too much laid on her at once and as much as he knew she loved him, he was sure that she would bounce. Who wouldn’t?

Camila could feel the pain coming from him as he sat in front of her and she sighed, forcing herself not to reach over and comfort him. She knew she needed to be strong, to force him to see that she wasn’t going to stand for whatever type of bullshit he was trying to feed her.

“I’m trying to be patient with you EZ, I am, but you’re not making it easy. I’m trying to understand and give you the benefit of the doubt but with all of this, I trusted you and now I’m starting to feel…stupid.”

EZ’s breath caught in his throat. He knew how she felt. He knew that was all she had asked of him.

‘I’ll hold you down. Just don’t make me look stupid.’

That was all she had asked and now he wasn’t delivering. He watched as her shoulders deflated and he finally lost the battle of his will, reaching forward to take her hands in his. He leaned toward her then and spoke quickly.

“Don’t feel stupid. I know that that’s how you feel but don’t. Everything is just so fucking complicated. I want to tell you everything, even the club shit but I just can’t. I want to be totally honest and have you know everything, but I just can’t do that right now. I know you’re pissed and hurt, and you have every right. You do. I’m just asking that you give me some more time. I’ll cut all the Emily shit. I’ll stop that. And once things settle, I can sit down with you and tell you the truth about everything, even if maybe I shouldn’t, but right now isn’t an option. I know you don’t believe me but I’m telling you that I don’t have anything going with Emily. She’s my ex and that’s how it's going to stay. She’s married and I’m with you and neither of us are trying to change that. I’m not interested in her, she just…”

EZ looked down and blew out a long breath, squeezing Camila’s hands. When he looked back up, he looked defeated and Camila winced but let him continue.

“She needed my help. Every time I go out you tell me to be careful, same with Angel. I know that I haven’t given you full details, but you have a feeling about what goes on anyway and…you’re not wrong. She just needed my help. I’m helping her and then once that’s done, so is interacting with her. I promise.”

By the time EZ had finished, Camila’s brows were now the ones drawn together. She felt like she somewhat understood what he was getting at. There was something dangerous going on and Emily needed help presumably getting out of it. Camila understood that. What she didn’t understand was why it had to be EZ that helped. No doubt it was because she trusted him more than the others, but why did EZ feel the need to take that on? He was a prospect. He had no power or weight, he just did what he was told right? So why was he now being the only one capable of taking on the task? It didn’t make sense and Camila wasn’t going to continue to lie as if it did.

“She needs help with what, Ezekiel? She has a whole husband, what could she possibly need from you that he can’t help her with? Why is it that you can never say no when you need to?”

There was frustration on her face and in her voice and she pulled her hands out of his, EZ quickly making a grab to take hold of them again.

“I’m sorry, Cam.”

He didn’t offer her anything else and she shook her head. There was sadness in her eyes when she looked back at him.

“I don’t know what it is that you do that makes you keep all of these secrets, but I’m not here for it. I don’t like it and I don’t want a relationship consumed by lies and hidden secrets. I just want what we have to be real and right now it feels,”

She stopped herself short, not wanting to say anything that she couldn’t take back. Instead, she took in a deep breath and finished her thought of concisely.

“I’m gonna give you a couple of days to square away whatever ‘this’ is. Figure it out and figure out how to get things back to normal. Back when you would come home to me and didn’t hide your phone. Back when things felt open and I wasn’t wondering when trusting you is going to blow up in my face. I just want that back.”

Her longing was tangible and EZ reached forward, practically snatching her into his arms. He held her tightly, one arm wrapped around her while the other was up, a hand softly cradling the back of her head. He leaned his head down until his cheek was resting against the top of her head. She wasn’t crying, but he knew she felt like it and that alone broke his heart. Silently he vowed to himself. Tomorrow he was going straight to Angel and letting him know that he needed to get Adelita to cut the kidnapping shit out and give Emily back her son. Her selfishly stealing a child was now causing problems for everyone and EZ wasn’t going to stand for it. Not anymore. Too little too late, he realized as he held the woman that he loved. This was affecting her now and that was something he wasn’t going to allow. He had lied and kept the phone calls a secret for her benefit but now he realized that he had only made things worse. Camila was hurting now because of everyone else’s actions. The innocent one in all of it was hurt because once again, he placed Emily before himself. It had backfired when he had broken up to protect her then and it was backfiring now. The only difference was that Camila was getting caught in the crossfire.

Pulling Camila into his chest more, he continued to stroke her hair and rock her, wishing that he could take away whatever negative emotions she was feeling right now. The fact that he had put them there was only making it worse and he felt a wave of anger starting to boil. At Angel for dragging him into the link with Los Olvidados, at Adelita for kidnapping an innocent child, at Emily for seeking him out for help after what she had done to him. Mainly at himself for letting all the bullshit touch her. It was never supposed to have gone down like this, but it did, and he was going to put an end to it.

Pulling away, Camila sat up on her own and EZ gave a small sigh of relief when he saw there were no tears. He didn’t trust himself to keep the truth to himself long enough if she began to cry. He hadn’t even seen her cry yet and he already knew that it was going to be a weakness of his. His relief was short-lived though as Camila got up from the couch and stood there in front of him awkwardly. He looked up at her through puppy eyes, dreading hearing what she was going to say next. He was already expecting it but that didn’t make it hurt any less when the words tumbled quietly from her lips.

“Maybe you could spend the night at the trailer.”

It was simple. There were plenty of undertones and hidden translations within that sentence, but the meaning was clear.

She didn’t want him there right now.

All these nights that he had spent with her, so many that it almost felt as if he lived there with her. Sometimes he forgot that he didn’t. Having an empty spot beside him in bed had become a rarity and EZ could only hope that despite his stupidity, it stayed a rarity. With a nod, he stood from the couch as well and hesitated in front of her. She kept her eyes trained on his chest and his bet was that she didn’t trust herself to look at him. Any other time he would’ve tried but not this time. This time he was going to give her all that space that she needed. He had messed things up enough, he wasn’t going to defy her on this too.

Taking a small step forward, he kept his hands to himself but leaned down and pressed the gentlest kiss her could muster against her forehead, right between her eyebrows. He felt them twitch beneath his lips in a small frown, but he held them there anyway, lingering for a second more before he pulled away. When he did, she finally looked up at him and he pulled his eyes from her, not wanting to see her have to force another smile.

“I’m sorry.”

With that, he removed himself from her entirely and made his way toward her front door. He turned to look back as he heard the sliding door open once more and watched as she went back outside, slipping off her chanclas and climbing back into the hammock. EZ’s shoulders felt heavy as he turned back and slipped his shoes on again, doing the same with his kutte. He was out of her house quickly then, using his own keys to lock up for her. If felt weird, locking himself out rather than in and he turned, his jaw set firmly. He was frustrated and angry, and he was sure that sleep wouldn’t come easy to him tonight. Not with Camila absent from his side. He was on the bike quickly then, riding back to the trailer almost in a daze. It was a surprise to himself when he pulled into the lot. He went through the motions of getting into the trailer, removing everything unnecessary until he was down to just his jeans. His mouth was dry and he walked over to the fridge, pulling the door open and leaning down to look inside, groaning immediately as the first thing he laid eyes on was the glass bottle of homemade juice Cam had given him a couple days ago. He closed his eyes momentarily and then opened the backup grabbing the bottle and walking over to the couch to sit.

He plopped himself down and opened the bottle, taking a sip as the fresh sweetness of apples and blueberries hit him. All he could see was her face then and he reached over to grab his kutte. He pulled his phone out from the pocket and stared down at it as he held it in his hand. It was going on 1 am and he wasn’t even sure if she was awake or not. Unlocking the phone, he opened their text thread and typed into the bar, hesitating for a couple of seconds before he hit send.

‘Te amo.’

He tossed the phone over onto the table, convinced that she was probably asleep by now and wouldn’t respond. Even if she was awake, she still probably wouldn’t respond. EZ continued drinking the juice, more for the comfort it brought rather than his thirst now. He was surprised when his phone beeped. Picking it up he looked at the screen and felt his worry settle just a little.

‘Te amo igual.’

Tag list:  @caramara3   @lostgirl219 @mrsjaxtellerfan   @actuallyazriel   @vannabanana1995   @unnecessarypineapplesstuff  @thegreat-annamaria @negansdirtygirl22 @svintsandghosts @piccasoe @tobesurroundedbysplendidthings @jadert15  @lovejn29 @may114   @meltingicequeen

[keijifairy]

synopsis. Yuuei's notorious bad boy Bakugou Katsuki was the student you crossed off your potential secret admirer list without reluctance. Because surely, the explosive foul mouthed boy knew nothing about the flowers you receive anonymously, right?

pairing. Bakugou Katsuki x Reader

genre. fluff

author’s note. first imagine lezzgoo!! inspired by a comic post i saw on tumblr long ago and immediately thought of my man kacchan

You love a lot of things.

From chocolates, to flowers, to your lovely group of friends, and to a certain classmate of yours named Bakugou Katsuki; you love them all dearly.

You thought that only your friends returned that love, but it seemed like even the flowers came to love you back as well.

When you entered your classroom on a normal school day, the students were louder than usual with their shrieks and coos instantly greeting you. 

Almost the whole class of 1-A (Todoroki simply didn't give any care and Bakugou looked pissed off more than usual) were huddled around your assigned seat, all babbling excitedly to each other about some secret admirer that didn't make any sense to you at all. Eyebrows wiggling suggestively and knowing smirks were all directed towards you. Confused out of your mind, you approached the small buzzing crowd to see what they were so incredibly excited about. 

Turns out a delicately beautiful red tulip was left on your desk by a classmate of yours that was yet to be named.

Days passed and nothing changed. Endless teasing, the lovely flowers awaiting you, and no one still admitting they were the anonymous person planting a smile on your face.

Everyday, different kinds of the prettiest flowers were always present in places you were at the most: your classroom desk, your usual table in the cafeteria, and even on the doorstep of your dorm room. You stored the various flowers on vases, some taped on the wall serving as decoration, and some just idly laying around. Even with the majority of the flowers wither, you still thought it gave more life to your once plain room.

This small act indeed flattered you to no extent and you do enjoy receiving all these little gifts, but it was starting to get frustrating as you unfortunately have no idea who could have been giving you flowers. No notes, no clues, no anything given to help you know even a name!

Midoriya? Yeah, he is adorable and makes your heart swoon, but you are pretty confident your ultimate ship with him and Uraraka stands real.

Todoroki? Honestly, that boy is too perfect for you

Kirishima? Your right hand man in investigating.

Bakugou? 

You could only laugh, as if.

Ever since you stepped foot in Yuuei, Bakugou Katsuki's aggressive and arrogant personality managed to make you harbor some kind of romantic feelings towards him. With his mindset on becoming the Number One Hero as his only priority, and the clear annoyance and hatred he shows to each student, you couldn't admit to yourself that you admired him more than a classmate and future pro hero even though it was clear as day.

You were quite sure he hates your guts more than anyone in this school. Surprisingly, maybe even more than the sweet Midoriya. For some awful unknown reason, he just seemed to plant a deeper, special kind of hatred only for you. Death glares, aggressive cursing, and the unusual deep flush of red you thought justified his petty anger, yet still made you fall harder and harder for him as each day passed.

Bakugou Katsuki hated you.

You had enough evidence then.

You crossed off Bakugou on your list with a sigh.

Bakugou trailed behind you alongside some of his friends, the chatters of your classmates barely reaching his ears as it instead chose to listen to the soft chuckle that left your plump lips as you joined in, with his gaze not seeing anything around him but the pretty smile that stuck like glue on your face which he thought only added charm in your personality.

From your annoying hysteric laughter whenever Kaminari tries to woo you with a lame joke, to the charming smile you shoot him whenever you enter the classroom, the stupid pouting of your lips and the scrunching of your brows when you fail to execute a new move and even to your annoying sound of your voice that does peculiar things to his heart, Bakugou absolutely despised just the thought of your stupid face.

But with a small hint of hesitance masked by a scowl and a push by Kirishima, he still accepted your invite to join you and your classmates on a small study group session in your room.

It seemed like those were all the more reasons for Bakugou to hate you.

You suddenly stopped in your tracks, with everyone following suit in front of your room door. 

The boy held his breath as he turned his head to the side, eyes darting everywhere when he saw how the growing smile on your lips reached up to your eyes as your cheeks suddenly kissed pink like the spring rose — the same color as the flower sitting at your doorstep.

You bent down, gently grabbing the stem of the rose in your hands, quietly examining it with the soft smile still planted in your lips — and Bakugou's eyes were fixated, yet again, to you.

"Aww! Your secret admirer is so sweet!" Uraraka gushed from behind you, peeking from your shoulders and her statement only making the redness on your cheeks brighter.

You bashfully tucked the stray strand of hair behind your ear, eyes setting down on the floor. "I love the flowers and this person too, to be honest."

"A mysterious romance is blooming in Class 1-A!"

Unbeknownst to any of you, Bakugou clutched his hands into fists, biting the insides of his cheeks as his face turned into an embarrassing reddish hue. He wouldn't know what to do if someone saw him in such a flustered state.

You only giggled quietly as you started to unlock your door. The moment it opened, the floral scent of your own personal flower garden welcomes your guests.

They slowly waltzed in, some jaws dropping in surprise as they examined the room heavily decorated with all different kinds of flowers. To the walls, tables, and bed; from lilacs, to carnations and roses, your room was practically transformed into a cute little flower shop.

At this point, Bakugou's heartbeat couldn't be felt anymore when he spotted the first ever flower your secret admirer had given you weeks ago, — a red tulip, a symbol of declaration of one's love to another, still alive and flourishing in the prettiest vase you owned on your bedside table.

"Holy smokes!" Ashido exclaims in amazement, "You're like a-a... magical flower...fairy princess!"

You giggled, walking towards your table that had a minimal amount of flower decorations. Thankfully, you had one last vase left without its own flower complementing it standing lonesome on that table. "I'm flattered to become a magical flower fairy princess."

"Or maybe I'll be a florist instead of a hero in the future." you joked, causing soft chuckling to stir.

You placed the pink rose in the simple white vase, the soft colors of each item perfectly suiting each other. You opened the drawer on the table, a long enough pink ribbon just idly laying there along with different scrapbook materials. You daintily tied the ribbon on the stem of the flower to make it more pleasing to look at. 

For a finishing magic touch, just like what you do to each flower you were gifted, your lips touched the pink petal for a soft kiss. 

"Told you she's a flower fairy!" 

"Come on now, let us start studying." Iida stated, already starting to take out his textbooks from his backpack.

"That's boooring~"

With the image of a flower garden and its flower fairy tending to it with soft love as a gentle caress, Bakugou was finally aware of one thing. 

You unknowingly planted a seed in his heart, and just your smile could make flowers — and even him grow.

Perhaps, Katsuki Bakugou liked you more than he planned.

"Damn it, I forgot my book."

You sighed to yourself, reluctantly standing up. Present Mic would surely annoy the hell out of you for the whole English period, especially that you forgot your textbook in your dorm room. As to avoid anymore of your teacher's antics, you had no choice but to drag your lazy ass all the way to the dorms in less than five minutes just before homeroom starts.

The fact that your oh so lovely crush still hasn't made his presence known in some way dramatic only added to your already sour mood. 

With the little energy left on your body, you ran all the way back to the dorms, mumbling in annoyance to yourself every so often.

Hey, he is your motivation after all.

But when you finally approached your room, you quickly came to a halt. Your eyes shifting on a certain item and your jaw dropping in surprise.

That spiky ash blond hair that belongs to someone you were too familiar of.

There he was, Bakugou Katsuki, Class 1-A's infamous bad boy who seemed to hate you, standing at your doorstep with a gardenia, a flower that symbolizes secret love, held delicately in his hand.

Unfortunately for you (and him), before you even found the chance to hide, he had already felt your presence stood frozen behind him. He swiftly turned around, his eyebrows already scrunched in annoyance like an instinct. 

When his gaze caught yours, his eyes started to twitch. His teeth gritted against each other as veins started to visibly appear on his fists with the poor flower slowly getting crushed. You didn't miss the smoke coming out his clenched fists, and you swore you even saw some from his ears. The beetroot color of red painted his face, and you knew Bakugou wasn't angry, perhaps embarrassed. Or maybe he was angry because he was embarrassed? Which one was it, really?

But it surely did look like he was going to kill you, then himself.

"Bakug—"

And without even letting you finish whatever you had to say, the unusually blushing teen quickly fled the scene, not bothering to finish the business he was about to do.

"So.. he's the...secret....admirer...?"

You spent all night freaking out about your latest discovery that you barely slept a blink. You were too occupied screaming into your pillow and giggling alone in your room like the crazy high school girl absolutely head over heels over some cute boy.

And all was true in that.

Bakugou Katsuki standing at your doorstep with a flower surely wasn't a coincidence and your eyes weren't just making tricks, right?

My head hurts. You groaned quietly, fingers tiredly rubbing your temple. 

Today, there were still no signs of the hot headed teen and none of the pretty flowers that greeted you every morning. And that only added to your depressed mood; the literal opposite of what you were feeling just last night.

Just as you were about to continue sulking to yourself, the door slammed open, revealing Bakugou himself with the infamous ticked off expression of his you were all used to seeing which was a complete contrast to Kirishima who stood beside him, cheerfully greeting a good morning to your classmates.

With Bakugou's hands shoved in his pockets, back hunched, and the seemingly permanent scowl and glare etched on his face, he perfectly portrayed the bad boy title as he trudged over to your desk. Instead of a flower, he clutched a crumpled piece of paper in his hand.

He stopped in front of your chair, eyebrows furrowed and jaw clenching, tilting his head to the side to avoid your curious eyes. This time, you didn't miss the red painting his cheeks. 

Without uttering a word, he opened his fist, allowing the paper ball to land on your desk.

"Wha—"

"Shut up."

And with those two sharp words, you obeyed with your eyes quickly averting on the paper as he sat on his desk just behind yours, of course not forgetting to curse at Kirishima who only asked him what just happened.

With shaking hands, both in fear because who knows, he might want to kick your ass after class, and excitement because whatever was written here might prove he is your secret admirer, you slowly unfolded the paper to read Bakugou's scribbled handwriting. 

fuck you 

it isn't me 

you didn't catch me leaving you a flower yesterday 

don't be delusional and think i'm your stupid ass admirer or some shit like that

dumbass

But when you came back to the dorms after class, a daisy which was widely used to predict whether one returns another's feelings, sitting at your doorstep and a certain figure hurriedly scurrying away from your room said otherwise.

You guessed that not only the flowers loved you, but it seemed like Bakugou Katsuki did as well.