#shot myself on the foot by asking to talk to the one person i knew couldnt

[thestarkinternship]

Mine

Bucky Barnes x Female Reader: One Shot (Smut)

Summary: When you went out for drinks with the team one Friday, you had no idea that this was how the night would end: with your back pressed flush against your bedroom door, a shaking thigh hitched over your boyfriend's shoulder and his pretty mouth daring you to completely let go for everyone to hear.

Word Count: 2.3k

Warnings: no mention of Y/N, profanity, oral sex (female receiving), jealous!Bucky, posessive!Bucky, slight praise kink, slight exhibitionism (people overhearing), hickeys, MINORS DNI!

A/N: This is my first time writing anything like this and i was (still am) very nervous to post it. But I promised myself I'd get back into writing, even if this is how I'm doing it. Thank you @ellemj for encouraging me to do this <3

"What do you think you were playing at tonight, huh?" Bucky's low voice caught your attention the second the pair of you walked through the door to your room. Looking up from the dresser where you had set your purse down, you met his eye. What once were bright blue had now clouded over with something else, something darker. Jealousy.

A lot of things came from having a secret relationship with Bucky. You got to see the sweet, caring side that he showed to no one else. You got to be the one he trusted most, and in turn place your trust in him. Above all else, you got to love each other. Tenderly, passionately, consumingly. And to you, the best part of it was that the other Avengers were none the wiser. All of the love and shared moments were kept just for you, hidden in late night walks and early morning kisses. It was better kept that way, you had always thought. No one was able to interfere with what they didn't know about.

But Bucky's mind thought differently, even if he had never wanted to admit it. He would've shouted from the rooftop of the Avenger's tower how much he loved you if you would've asked him to. He'd wrap a strong arm around your curves in front of everyone and kissed you on the cheek, a proud grin on his face as he got to show off the fact that you were all his. But he'd suppressed how he really wanted to act in favour of keeping you happy. After all, that was what mattered to him most of all.

That was until tonight. Bucky knew he was in trouble from the second you set foot in the place. There you were, your skirt grazing the top of your thighs, your long sleeved black shirt clinging to your curves like an elastic band. His eyes were no longer the only ones on you, and there wasn't a damn thing that he could do about it. Until now that you were back home.

"What are you talking about?" You asked quietly, looking up at him.

"You know damn well what i'm talking about." He took a daring step closer to you.

With a mind of their own, your feet took a hesitant step back, the soft click of your heels dragging across the floorboard in the uncomfortable silence. It wasn't like you were afraid of him, you never had been. But there was a dangerous atmosphere surrounding him that made you nervous.

He closed in on you as you didn't answer. Leaning down, his lips hovered close to your own, leaving just enough space for his thumb to reach up and trace your quivering bottom lip. You'd always thought it felt more personal when he touched you with his right arm. As much as you loved the feel of the cool metal sliding acros your skin, it was like he craved the true feeling of the flushed heat from your skin as it reacted to his touch and his touch only. In between your shaky breaths, his thumb dipped between your parted lips. But you resisted the urge to suck on it in the way he liked until you got to the bottom of what was getting this much of a rise out of him. When he saw that you weren't giving in to him just as he wanted, Bucky's tongue rolled in his own mouth.

Fine, if that's how you were going to be. He thought stubbornly.

He withdrew his thumb from your mouth, dragging down your bottom lip as he leaned in to capture it in a hungry kiss. As confused as you were about the whole thing right now, one thing was certain - when it came to kissing Bucky Barnes, you were certainly not about to complain or ask him to stop. His metal arm flew to your hip, the soft material of your skirt bunching up in his fist. You shivered slightly as the vibranium unintentionally brushed against your bare skin. Still holding onto you, he guided your hips back until you heard the soft thud of your body against the door as your back pressed against it. His right hand slid from the side of your face and to the nape of your neck. Reaching up, Bucky tugged gently at the root of your curls, twirling the soft strands around his rough hand. A soft gasp left your mouth, giving him the opportunity to slide his tongue against yours. You welcomed the feeling, giving in to him completely as the curious thoughts about what had led you to this position slipped from your mind.

And just as quickly as it had began, his lips were gone. They trailed across your trembling jaw and down the soft juncture of your neck. His tight grip released your hair, and your head nearly fell slack against his at the sudden loss of the physical control over you. Bucky tilted your chin back up and to the side, his precise movements giving him all of the access to your exposed throat that he desired. Delicate kisses on your skin turned rough, and his teeth gently nipped at you to earn soft whimpers. He smirked against your skin, rolling it between his full lips even harder.

"Fuck, you're gonna leave a mark…" you whined, "Bucky, you're being too damn rough, you're gonna…"

Bucky finally let go off your skin, but kept dangerously close to your ear instead. There was a split second before he spoke where all you could here was his panting breaths, and that alone kept your heart pounding.

"Maybe I should mark you up," Bucky's voice was ragged, "send you down to breakfast tomorrow morning covered in hickeys that I gave to you, just to remind Steve every time that he sets eyes on your pretty face that you're mine."

Your hazy eyes shot wide open. There it was. That's what this whole ordeal had been about? Bucky was jealous of Steve?

"Wh-what do you mean?" You could barely stutter out.

"Back in the bar tonight."

You swallowed nervously as you cast your mind back over the events of the evening. Being excited to see everyone. Knocking back several drinks over the course of the evening. Bucky smirking as you found any excuse to get close to him without anyone noticing. Nodding politely in your conversation with Steve as you tried to distract yourself from the less than pure thoughts that arose whenever you made eye contact with Bucky. Thinking about how good he looked in that leather jacket. Wondering how long it would be before you'd be dragging him back to the tower and taking it off him- Fuck. You were doing it again.

Bucky's face softened when he realised that you truly had no idea what he was talking at. He chuckled slightly at your obliviousness. How could someone so intelligent miss the careless flirtation thrown her way from her teammate?

"He was flirting with you all night, you know?" Bucky pulled back slightly, his hand moved from your chin to cup the side of your face. His earlier confidence wavered as he suddenly felt a pang of guilt for getting so jealous. "Did you really not see how he was looking at you? I swear, he must've pulled every trick in the book to try and get your attention tonight."

Looking past the jealously, you saw a vulnerability. The fear that he might lose you to someone else. You hummed gently, stroking his cheek as he kept you so close.

"How was I supposed to notice when all of my attenion was on you?" You asked gently.

He smiled at your reassurance. "Really?"

"Of course, James."

"And what about right now? Where is all of your attention?" Bucky tucked a stray strand of hair behind your ear.

"Right on you." You murmured, watching him lean in again.

"Exactly where it should be." His hand left your face. It trailed down your neck, and then your arm, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake as it joined his vibranium one at your hips.

And suddenly, his lips picked up where they left off, kissing and teasing your skin. He bent his head down further to your collarbone, and then the crest of your cleavage as it peeked out of your lowcut top. Squirming, your back arched away from the door and into his waiting arms. The subtle movement of your body gave Bucky space to slip his hand up under your skirt to cup your ass. His fingers pressed into the soft flesh as he hooked your leg around his waist, pressing his hips against yours. A soft gasp echoed from your trembling lips as you felt just how hard he was through his jeans.

"Can't say I blame Steve when you look this good, doll. So fucking pretty. And it's all for me.. God, I don't know how much longer I can keep us a secret. Want everyone to know you're mine." He mumbled in quick succession as his lips worked their way back across your skin to capture you in another sweet kiss.

"What if I want that too?" You asked softly, biting your lip.

The corners of his lips tugged into a smirk. "You sure? I thought-"

"I'm tired of hiding us," you interrupted, "i'm yours, and it's time everyone else knew."

"If that's what you want…" He teased, an idea playing out in his mind as he dropped to his knees in front of you.

"Bucky, what are you-" Your own gasp cut you off as you felt him lift you leg, resting it over his shoulder. He kissed your inner thigh and your head fell back against the door.

Oh, that's where he was going with this.

Tracing lazy circles up your thigh, his mouth worked it's way up. Every movement made left you needy and wanting more. Soft moans from you filled the room, and his enhanced hearing heard every one as your thighs cushioned his ears. The sounds you made when he hadn't even touched you yet were embarassing. But you couldn't help yourself. Bucky knew how to push you closer to the edge better than anyone, and he wasn't afraid of showing it. By the time he reached the edge of your underwear, you were done for. Your arousal soaked through the thin material, and you knew he could feel it. Bucky chuckled slightly against the lace fabric, his heavy breath sending waves of pleasure straight to your core. Hips stuttering against his face, you grinded closer in a desperate need for him to do something else. Anything else.

"What's the matter, hm?" He murmured, licking right up to your clit. Even over your underwear, the touch was more than enough to make your body quiver.

"Bucky…" You whined, running your hands through his hair and tugging lightly.

"Someone's awfully needy," He tutted. Looking up at you, Bucky grinned like a devil as your wetness spread across his pink lips, "Who's got you like this?"

But you were so far gone in your own world that you almost didn't hear him. When you didn't immediately answer him, he grew impatient. Bucky's tongue rolled over the flimsy lace once again and your thigh tensed over his shoulder. The stem of your heel dug into his back slightly, drawing him in closer to you. To where you so desperately wanted him to be.

"Tell me." His voice was hoarse and demanding.

Another flick of his tongue. Another cry from your lips. "Y-you… always you."

"Good girl." He paused momentarily, hooking his thumb under the delicate edge of your underwear and ripping it to the side. You gulped nervously at the tearing sound of it as he finally set eyes on your bare core. "And now I want you to let everyone in this damn building hear it."

-

The next morning at breakfast was awkward to say the least. When you walked into the kitchen midmorning, legs still shaking, all eyes were on you.

"Morning." You mumbled, avoiding eye contact as you prayed no one would bring up the night before. You simply wanted them to realise you were dating Bucky now, and leave it at that, not another word mentioned. The few team members already there smiled politely, ignoring the obvious elephant in the room. As you wrapped your hands around a coffee mug, the sleeves of Bucky's sweater encase your hands. The cheeky bastard had insisted that you wear it today 'for good measure', because apparently the way you had screamed his name all night long wasn't enough. It still smelled like his cologne, marking both the jumper and you with traces of him. You kept your head down, hair covering the purple marks on your neck. As the strands brushed over the sensitive skin, you winced.

"Everything okay?" Steve asked quietly, glancing your way.

As you turned to meet his eye, your carefully placed hair shifted. Steve's gaze dropped to your neck, eyes widening at the sight he was met with. Looking over the purple that stained your skin, he swallowed nervously whilst trying to find the right words to say.

Eventually, he cleared his throat and spoke what was on everyone's mind. "So, uh… last night… was that you that we heard with… you guys are…"

"Yeah." Your head snapped up to the doorway of the kitchen. Bucky leaned against the frame, his arms folded across his chest and a smug grin plastered across his face, "She's mine. And don't you ever forget it."

[thatbanditqueen]

Bless Your Heart

An Elvis-o-Ween One Shot

A response to the month-long writing prompt for Halloween/Fall

Summary: It's 1957, and Jan's dreams come true when she gets invited up from the gate to join Elvis' parties at Graceland. But not all that glitters is gold, and this new social circle may have a few angels and demons among them.

Warnings: No real smut, suggestions of sex, but there is a teensy bit of scary gore at the end.... so no minors and be forewarned. This was a new experience for me, I easily could have written about Elvis romancing ghost girlies all month, but I wanted to challenge myself. Not sure if it worked but... here goes nothing.

You can check out last week's Elvis-o-ween here:

Little Blue Toes

WC: 6.8 K

6:05 p.m. Thursday, September 19, 1957

Graceland, Memphis TN

The evening sun was slowly turning red when Jan hopped off the bus, and it burned orange circles into the back of her eyelids. She shook them away, distractedly nodding at the driver as she turned her attention to the crowd down the block. The rolling hills of Whitehaven were still a deep green in the fall, but Jan hardly noticed and clutched her purse as she got closer to the gate. She tried not to be too obvious as she craned her head to see Graceland from the back of the crowd. It looked smaller than she had expected, a grey matchbox on a hill in the dusky twilight. Jan told herself that she would have to come back on the weekend, now that she knew how easy it was to get here. Now that she knew, after reading that article in the newspaper, that his fans regularly gathered in front of the house. She could plan her trip out better than she had today. After reading the newspaper at lunch, she had impulsively jumped on the bus to Whitehaven after work.  Feeling a pebble in her shoe, she was gracefully trying to hop on one foot and shake it out when two shadows loomed over her.

“See, told you it wasn’t Susie. She’s too dressed up.”

Jan squinted up at the girls in front of her.

“No, uh, not Susie.” She straightened her skirt and hesitantly stuck her hand out, grateful for the excuse to talk to someone. “Jan.”

“Heidi.” The blonde announced and tilted to the shorter brunette next to her. “And Arlene.”

“Y’all regulars?”

“Oh yeah, we come here all the time.” Arlene gushed. “We’re just waiting for him to finish breakfast and give Travis the signal.”

Jan looked through the white wrought iron gate up at house.

“What do you mean, wake up and give Travis the signal?”

“Oh, well, he sleeps through the day. Has breakfast round 4 or 5. Sometimes he’ll come sign autographs at the gate, but -” Arlene leaned in toward Jan and her eyes twinkled. “Uh, well, when he’s in town he likes us to be here in case he wants to have some people up for a party. He has parties most nights. We’re kind of in his gang -  OW.” Arlene grabbed her rib cage and hit Heidi back. “Hey, what gives?”

“You shouldn’t be bragging, Arlene, cuz we can't bring her with us and now she’ll feel left out.”

Jan smiled politely, and tugged at the pearl button on her white, linen gloves. “It’s ok - I gotta catch the last bus back home anyway.”

Jan wanted to ask the girls what Elvis was really like in-person. Before she could, though, a loud gasp filled the air and she was pushed into them as the crowd jostled closer to the gates. A tall dark figure strode down the drive dressed all in white. White dress shirt, white sport’s coat, white pants. He looked like an angel. Jan was absolutely mesmerizing and dropped her purse watching his hair flop up and down with each bounce of his white loafers. The kids around her shouted out “Hey Elvis” and cheered, but she couldn’t say a thing. She could barely breathe as her tummy flip flopped watching his mouth form into a crooked grin. She vaguely heard the other girls chatting next to her.

“I wonder if Anita Wood is up there?”

“Nah, she’s down in New Orleans at a beauty pageant, he told me last night.”

“You’re so lucky you don’t have a mom who treats you like a child, Arlene. What I wouldn’t give to stay until 2 or 3.”

The gates opened, and Jan ended up right behind Arlene and Heidi in the semi-circle around Elvis. No one pushed or prodded to tried to sneak past the guard house. It was all very civilized, and a jovial atmosphere percolated between the open gates as Elvis went from person to person, signing memorabilia and teasing the folks he met. When he made it to Arlene, Jan watched in awe as he drew her to him and pecked her sweetly on the ear, asking if she brought him his favorite cigars like she said she would. Jan would give anything to be in his gang. She would bring him all the cigars and if it meant he would hug her and kiss her and tease her too. But when his blue eyes flitted over to her, she found that her mouth had gone completely dry and she couldn’t say a word.

“Who’s ya friend with the big brown eyes?”

“Oh, that’s Jan. It’s her first time here.”

Elvis’ smirk deepened. “Cat got ya tongue?” He winked, kissing the top of Jan’s glove. “S’ok, honey. I don’t bite.”  Then his teeth grazed over her knuckle. “Much.”

Jan felt the air hitch in her throat at the way he looked at her from under his eyelids. She no longer needed her hand. He could have it. He could have anything he wanted.

Elvis chuckled. “Why, you’re as shy as a mouse. Got anything for me to sign, lil mousy?”

Jan stuttered and fumbled about in her purse for something, handing Elvis the first thing she found. Her sweaty, monogrammed handkerchief.

“I didn’t know I was coming today.” She whispered slowly, and her voice trailed off as she watched Elvis wipe his forehead with her hankie and pocket it with a wink.

“S’ok, lil gal, bring something tomorrow.” Then he whispered into Arlene’s ear and moved on through the crowd.

Arlene snaked her hand through Jan’s arm and led her toward the house. “Elvis wants you to come up to the party with us.”

Jan squeezed Arlene with a giggle, smoothing her hand over her skirt as they walked. The house got bigger and bigger as they strode up the drive and Jan realized that the round curve of the hill created an optical illusion that made it look small from the road. But now she found herself in front of a grand, Neo-colonial mansion. Large, white columns flanked the front of the house, and two white marble lions stood guard at the entrance way. It was like standing in front of a magical castle. Jan felt that she ought to be wearing a silk, red evening gown instead of her belted navy shirt dress.

They did not enter the front door. Instead, Arlene led Jan around the front of the house towards the sound of music playing and people laughing on a patio surrounding a large, shimmering pool. There was a gay crowd of young people drinking pop and mingling around. Heidi adopted a hushed, intimate tone as she pointed out the others in the gang.

“That’s Lamar, he’s always eager to please Elvis and does anything he asks - and so is Alan - the shorter stout one. That skinny little creep is Gene, and that’s Mack, he usually drives us home. The guy next to him is Richard and that’s Frances, our friend, I’m not sure how she already got up here - “

“- is she going with Elvis?”

Arlene chimed in. “Well, he’s seeing a few girls. There’s a singer, Anita, who he steps out with pretty regularly. But me, Heidi and Frances, we’re just his friends. EP is a very physical person. Likes to love on all the gals. That’s just the warm, sweet kinda guy he is. Sometimes he’ll pull me on his lap, and give me a little kiss.”

“Lucky girl.” Jan murmured.

“Mmm.” Arlene answered. “I’d rather be friends with him than date him.”

 “Really? Why’s that? Don’t you find him attractive?”

“Of course, Elvis is the most!” Heidi looked at Jan as if she had questioned the existence of gravity. “But, well, once he goes all the way with a gal, he almost never wants to see her again. His dates come and go. But his friends, well, we’re forever.” Heidi exchanged a knowing glance with Arlene.

“Like Susie.”

Heidi clicked her tongue. “Pretty sure Anita’s got her knees sewn shut til she gets a wedding ring.”

“Well, I keep my knees shut too.” Arlene interjected. “I don’t even know why any girl would want to go to bed with Elvis when they can kiss him as much as they want. There couldn’t be anything better than kissing Elvis.”

Jan raised her eye brow, thinking of a hundred other things that she could imagine doing with Elvis. But she kept them to herself and smiled, hanging back to straighten the lines on her hose as the girls joined the party. She had just finished putting the right leg in place when she looked between her legs to find Elvis watching her. His cheeks flushed, and he bite his lip before walking over. All Jan could do was sigh as he grabbed her by the waist and introducing her to everyone around the pool.  His guests, his housekeeper, Alberta, and then his mother who was just about to go inside. Mrs. Presley hugged Jan tightly and thanked her for coming to visit them, adding in a high, chipper voice.

“I’m so glad my baby is making friends like you, I can tell you have a  kind heart, Janice. I really can.”

“Nice of you to say, Mrs. Presley ma’am. I like to think I have kind heart.”

“What’s this about a sweet lil ol’ heart?”

The two women turned to find a petite blonde in the doorway behind them.

“Oh Anita.” Mrs. Presley took the blonde’s hand. “I was just saying to Jan here, how glad I am to know her. She is a good, sweet girl. I’m so glad you get to meet her, I thought you were out of town. Can I get you some food.”

The blonde smiled and licked her teeth, her blue eyes looked Jan over with a cool smile. “Thank you ever so, Mrs. Presley, but I just ate and I’m fit to bust if I swallow another morsel.”

Mrs. Presley smiled. “Well, I just know you two will be thick as thieves. Be good little babies.” She hugged them together tightly once more before saying good night.

Jan could not stop herself from staring at Anita. Her platinum blonde hair shone in the silver light and her short, busty figure filled out a tight, pink wiggle dress. Her creamy white skin was so radiant Jan would have sworn it was glowing and the contrast made her luscious red lips stand out all the more. Some of Anita’s red lipstick had smudged around her mouth and on her front teeth, and Jan pointed to her own mouth to mime helpfully.

“Why, bless ya heart,  you really are the sweetest thang looking out for me. And you’re so pretty too. I could just eat ya up!” Anita squealed as she pulled out a compact and fixed her lipstick. “I cain’t tell you how many other girls would just let me walk around looking like a fool all night.”

“They’re probably jealous, I, uh, heard you’re Elvis’ girlfriend.”

Anita pursed her lips in a tight smile. “Sometimes I think everyone knows that ’cept him. Excuse me.”

Jan walked back over to where Arlene and some of the other girls were huddled around a bucket of pop watching Anita stomp over to where Elvis stood with his arm around a cute redhead while Lamar told stories about the drive home from LA.

Arlene handed Jan a Dr. Pepper. “I see you met Anita, I could have sworn she was supposed to be at a beauty pageant in New Orleans.”

“Look, I think she’s had her nose done.” Heidi gasped. “Or, well, something is different - she looks prettier than the last time I saw her. I wonder if there even was a beauty pageant. Maybe her plastic surgeon is in New Orleans.”

Jan looked at Heidi as she spoke. “You don’t like her very much, huh?”

“She’s too possessive, and she tries to chase us off. You should have seen her trying to convince Arlene that she should go back to Chicago.” Heidi kicked the pavement with her saddle shoe. “Too bad for her, Elvis wants us here. And I plan to hang around as long as I can.”

Just then, the record changed on the jukebox and The Five Satins song. “In the Still of the Night” began to play. Jan looked over and blushed when Elvis caught her eye staring at him. Yes, I plan to stick around as long as I can too, she thought to herself, looking down at her feet. The mischievous way Elvis raised his eyebrows at her made her feel funny and she couldn’t handle looking at him for too long without grinning like a mad woman.

The night went on and Jan’s whole body tingled from the heady mix of music, moonlight and raw, unadulterated exposure to Elvis under the stars at Graceland. Sitting out in the cool night air, caught between the twinkling night sky and the glimmering pool, Jan felt as though she had finally arrived. The evening had turned out to be more magical than she could ever have imagined. She hated to pull herself away, but she gave in at midnight and went to call a cab.

The kitchen was dim this late at night, illuminated only by the soft lights above the stove, and Jan finally found a phone book in a drawer under the cupboards. She was leaning against the counter, flipping through the pages when two hands startled her working their way around her waist. She glanced over her shoulder to find a dark mop of hair grazing her cheek. Then Elvis’ breath was warm on her ear.

“Looks like I caught a lil mousy.” He slowly turned her around to face him, grinning at the way she blushed. Then his eyes fell on the phone book and his lips turned into a frown. “Ain’t going, are ya lil gal? Why, it’s still early. Ain’t had the chance to learn all ya secrets yet.” He winked as he said this, and it made Jan’s heart melt.

She would have told him anything he asked. If she could talk, that is. It was difficult for to do that when she looked into Elvis’ earnest wide-eyed stare. She could hear the party out on the patio, there must have been over thirty people here who wanted to be near him. However, to look at his pouting lips and feel the needy caress of his thumb at her waist made Jan feel as though she was the only person in the world and she was letting him down by deserting him.

“I, um, I have to be at work at 7:30 tomorra.” She stuttered, staring at the floor just to be able to get the words out. “It’s time for me to turn into a pumpkin, I guess.”

Elvis rubbed her cheek. “Aw heck, I guess that’s s’ok. I’ll get Mack to drive you home.” He paused, eyelashes fluttering down for a moment. “But, uh,  you can’t leave before telling me a few of your secrets.”

“Like what?”

“Like, say, how old are you anyway, huh, lil mouse?” His thumb now rolled over her belt buckle, rubbing her stomach back and forth along the edge.

Jane’s face turned a bright, beet red as she stuttered out her response. “Um, I’m 18.”

“In school?”

She shook her head. “Just finished. I - I’m at Goldsmiths, in the steno pool.”

“Hate to think of these poor lil fingees, banging away all day.” Elvis took her hand, examining her fingers. “Didn’t even know a department store needed a steno pool.

“Um, well, uh - we’re in the business offices on the 18th floor. Most people, they, uh, they never see us.”

“That’s the only floor I wanna see, from now on. ‘specially if all the lil gals up there are as cute as you.” Elvis’ ran his hand through his hair, smirking at the way Jan blushed even harder. Their eyes were locked for a moment, and his forehead dropped on to hers as he murmured in a boyish voice.

“Sorry I didn't get to sign nothing for you, like ya wanted. Come back tomorrow?”

Jan nodded.  Elvis kissed her on the cheek and put her into Mack’s car, leaving her with a mouth stuck open in giddy disbelief the whole ride home. She pinched herself at least ten times to make sure she was really awake. That she had really been to Graceland and met Elvis Presley.  Then she fell asleep thinking of a pair of playful blue eyes glistening above her.

It was not long before Jan became a permanent fixture at Graceland. She would go home from work, change into a cocktail dress and take the bus to the Winchester Road stop.  Every time Travis or Vester let her through the gates she would shiver with anticipation for whatever the night would bring. It was more than just getting to be in the sunshine of Elvis’ affection, though that alone was something she lived for.  No, spending the evening at Graceland also meant trips to the skating rink, nights at the fairgrounds, bonfires, music, swimming or fireworks. It was like a never ending summer camp or a holiday resort, like the ones her cousins in New York told her about. And Jan never wanted to check out of this one.

During her days Jan would carry a little notebook around and write down clever things to say to Elvis that she thought would make him laugh, practicing them at her desk while she typed. She often was too shy to actually make these jokes. But she felt  more confident just having them ready when she went over. It was usually past midnight when she got home, but Jan just doubled her coffee, determined never to miss an evening at Graceland.

That is, until a big storm hit Memphis the following Saturday.

Jan considered taking a cab over, and called a few of the others to see what they were doing, but she couldn’t get through. The switch board operator told her the storm had knocked down several phone lines through town. Resigned to a night in, she had just made a kettle of hot tea and settled into watch Lawrence Welk when the phone rang and Frances told her Elvis was asking where she was.

The rain poured down on Jan’s cab all the way to Whitehaven. As usual, the curtains were all drawn for the family’s privacy, but tonight it made Graceland look more ominous and the exterior lights cast eerie shadows on a building with no visible life to the outside world.  Buckets of rain poured over Jan as she ran from the car to the door, and she stopped at the mirror in the entrance way to try and fix her face. She hated driving in the rain, even as a passenger, she was on edge the whole time and unable to relax until she got to her destination. It made her feel a bit off tonight, and then she felt silly for feeling off. Why, she could hear someone playing a Dean Martin song on the piano, the house was filled with enough music and laughter to block out the sound of the storm, and there she was, feeling like a stick in the mud. She shouldn’t have come. 

Jan was distracted from her thoughts of regret when she noticed that someone had put their cigarette out on the floor, staining the beautiful white carpet that lined the entry way. She had just bent down to pick it up when she heard Elvis’ voice, and looked up to see him leaning in the entryway with a few members of the gang.

“Silly lil mousy, scared of a few rain drops. Havta start calling you fraidy mouse.” He leaned his head back and the others joined in with his laughter. “Stead a fraidy cat, fraidy mouse.”

Jan’s eye twitched, and she looked into the mirror. She looked like a wet rat, not a mouse, and she felt like a silly child. She didn’t want to be here anymore.

“You’re not being fair, Elvis, have you even been outside today? I don’t have a car. And it’s a hurricane out there. If you thought about anyone other than yourself you’d know it wasn’t easy coming here.”

Elvis eyes widened and he jumped back as if Jan had slapped his face. “Not fair, huh? Don’t think of others, huh? I cain’t believe my goddamn ears. That’s all I do. You know all you have to do is call and I’d come get you.” His shoulders were back and his hands were at his hips as he roared to the ceiling. “Ain’t fair. aint’ fair. Well if you feel like that you should jus go on back home. No one wants you here anyhow.”

Jan could feel the tears welling up, and she ran past the staircase, through the kitchen and down to the basement so no one would see her cry. She had never seen Elvis loose his temper before. He could be cocky, teasing, oblivious, but now she knew what it was to feel the pummel of his brief, yet intense, bout of rage. Jan slammed her fists down on her knees, mad at herself for loosing her composure. She had immediately regretted what she said, and now she was sure that she had screwed everything up. Elvis would never let her come back. And the thought of loosing her membership in his special, secret club that she had only just began to experience brought forth another round of deep sobs.

Eventually, once she could breathe evenly without blubbering she found her compact and took a look and then promptly put it away. Her makeup was beyond repair. So instead, she began to think about how she could possibly leave without anyone noticing. Then she heard the floor squeak across the hall, and wandering toward the TV room to take a look. She stood in the doorway and looked around.

“Hello? Someone here?”

“Boo!” Elvis jumped out from the projection closet and grabbed Jan, eliciting a high scream that ricocheted through the rooms.

Elvis grinned and licked his thumb to clean off her runny makeup. “See, I was right. You really are a jumpy little fraidy mouse tonight. A pretty, silly, cute and wet lil baby mousy. Come on upstairs, honey, and let’s fix your face.”

Jan let herself slump into Elvis chest as he walked her up to his bathroom and sat her on the counter. Somehow Elvis had a drawer full of makeup, and she gave herself to him completely as he dried her hair and did her eye shadow.

“I’m sorry, Elvis. Bout earlier. I don’t know why I said that, you’re one of the most thoughtful people. It’s just. I’m just.” She sighed. “Driving in the rain and storms always scares me.”

“Aw, honey.” He rubbed her cheek, then puckered out his lips as a cue for her to do the same. “S’ok. Cain’t bare to stay sore at you. You know I ain’t gonna let nothing bad happen to you, baby. Next time, you call me and I’ll come get ya. You’ll always be safe by my side.”

Jan nodded as Elvis drew her to him, holding her tight as he leaned in to kiss her forehead. He began to get a goofy look on his face, as if he might kiss her on the mouth, when Mack knocked on the door and pulled Elvis aside.

“EP, George just called about a story in the evening paper. I gotta tell you, right away.”

Elvis nodded at Jan to go back downstairs, where she found the other guests exchanging hushed whispers and nervous glances. Walking through the various rooms, she finally found Arlene, Frances and a few of the other girls with Gladys on the back patio listening to the rain thump against the green metal awning.

“Oh Jan, we had to get some fresh air. It’s just too awful for words.”

“What is it Mrs. Presley? What’s happened?”

Heidi took her hand and pulled her into the corner.

“It’s Susie, the police found her body in the woods off the Nashville Road.”

Jan’s brow crinkled. “Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. I never met her, but  -  but, ugh, how horrible. What happened?”

“They think she was attacked by animal.” Heidi leaned in closer to whisper in Jan’s ear. “Her heart was torn clean out of her chest. Mrs. Presley is very upset, she was over here all the time.” Heidi squeezed Jan’s hand. Tight. “She was one of us.”

The rest of the night was a blur. Elvis  asked most of the guests to clear out before gathering the gang in his bedroom, where he cried openly and asked Alberta to bring them a coconut cake. Then they sat around eating on the bed, sharing their favorite memories of Susie. Heidi left at midnight, and at three Jan looked over at Arlene and Frances and asked if they shouldn’t go to. Elvis’ soulful eyes looked over from where he was slumped across his bed.

“Aw, don’t leave me babies. I can’t bear to be alone.”

Frances. “What, a slumber party with all of us in your bed tonight? What will people think?”

“Fuck ‘em. Nah, people know y’all are good lil virgins, so who cares what they think.” Elvis’ eyebrows went up for a split second when Jan looked away at the word virgin. But if he thought anything of it, he kept it to himself.

The girls went into the bathroom to change in to some of Elvis’ pajamas shirts and get ready for bed. Jan cautiously asked if the others had ever slept over before.

“Oh yeah. A few times.” Arlene handed Jan her comb. “It’s all very innocent. You know Elvis, he hates to be alone. ”

Frances nodded, chiming in. “Yeah, hanky panky is the last thing on his mind. He’s proud that we’re good girls. And when he finds out someone isn’t -”

“Gosh I feel so bad.” Arlene looked at her self despondently as she finished rolling her hair. “I thought that was why Susie wasn’t coming back. I thought she had seduced him in a weak moment, and then he couldn’t bear to have her around anymore knowing she was fast.  Boy oh boy, I guess I was wrong.”

“You didn’t know, who would have thought she was dead? Honestly, your theory was the most logical explanation.” Frances rubbed Arlene’s shoulder as they consoled each other.

Jan smiled sympathetically, feeling very awkward because she wanted to share their grief but couldn’t, not really. She looked out into the bedroom at where Elvis lay in the center of his large mattress, staring off into space and wondered if he really banished girls after he slept with them. It seemed an anathema to everything she had learned over the last week about how kind and warm and instantly familiar and sweet he was with women.

Once they were ready for bed, the girls climbed in next to and Elvis he grinned a big crooked grin when Jan scuttled over to claim his right arm. The four of them cuddled in together, talking about Susie, and then musing about the things they wanted to do before they died. Arlene wanted to see the pyramids, Frances wanted to own a horse and Elvis said he wanted to go on a safari in Africa. When it was Jan’s turn, she murmured that this was her dream, to have friends who loved and embraced her so openly. And then she hid her face in Elvis’ chest, blushing as the others cooed over her.

The rain continued, and eventually the conversation moved on to happier topics, such as what people probably eat for dinner in heaven. Spaghetti and meatballs, if Arlene was to be believed. Every so often, Elvis would lean into and start kissing the side of Arlene or Jan’s forehead absentmindedly. Then Frances would claim she was left out and Elvis would make a big production of kissing them all. And then there would be another round of giggles and tickles and little kicks under the covers.

Jan wasn’t quite sure what time she fell asleep, but when she woke up she was nestled into Elvis armpit and the others were gone. Thick black curtains covered the windows and made it impossible to know what time of day it was from the sunlight, at least. Jan hoped it was Sunday morning but she suspected it may already be the afternoon. Pushing her cares aside, she leaned further into Elvis warm body and moving her hand over the cool silk of his white monogrammed pajamas, trying memorize exactly how this felt so she could play it back in her mind’s eye when ever she wanted

“Uh oh, looks like there’s a lil mouse in ma bed.”

Jan felt Elvis’ lips on her forehead, and turned to see his eyes dancing under half open lids. She let out a little snort as she pulled herself closer to him, savoring the cozy cocoon of sheets, blankets and Elvis that enveloped her.

“I wonder where the others are.”

“Probably downstairs stuffing their gob, if I know Arlene.”

Jan swatted Elvis playfully, and he chuckled, stretching his arm out around her with a yawn. She sat up to read the clock on the mantle, and thought of all the little things she had told herself she would do before work tomorrow. Elvis grabbed her pulled her back into his chest.

“Ughhhh, it’s almost 2 in the afternoon.”

“Huh, so, why hurry at this point?” He grinned and caressed her stomach, leaning on his side to hover over her.

“I’m glad ya here, lil gal. Glad we can comfort each other during hard times. An I’m glad you been coming over,  you one of my sweet lil girls now, Jan." He kissed her cheek, his lip spouting. "Now, you gotta promise you won't go on no dates when I’m outta town, it would break my heart.”

Jan nodded up, her mouth hanging open. “No, you can trust me Elvis. I won’t see anyone else.”

A lock of his black hair dangled over his forehead, and Jan flinched when Elvis’ hand moved over the low curve of her belly.

“Honey, you know you ain’t got nothin’ to worry about with me, though. I would never hurt you, or do anything wrong to you.”

Jan nodded. “I know - I just - I guess I’m just not used to being around men like this very often. But I like it. I like being around you.”

“Huh, well, that’s good. I don’t want you spending time with anyone else, lil mouse. You know I meant it when I say I’m glad all you girls are good lil virgins. You know I’m not like most guys, I respect you.” His fingers smoothed over the hair above her widow’s peak. “So you ain’t gotta worry bout that.”

Jan broke their eye contact and looked up at the dark blue ceiling.

“What - what is it, honey? Ain’t nothing to be embarrassed talking bout, should be proud that you’re a good girl.”

“I’m - I.” Jan hesitated and met Elvis eyes as she rolled over the pillow and looked into the mirror, watching his face as he nuzzled his chin into her from behind. He ran his fingers over her matching navy blue pajama shirt.

“What’s the word, lil mouse? You know you can tell me anything?”

Jan rolled back into him, murmuring into the white lining above his collar.

“I’m just afraid you won’t want me around anymore. You - the gang - spending time here. It’s the best part of my day. But I don’t want to lie to you, Elvis.” Her voice got even lower and she trembled. “I’m not a virgin.”

Elvis tilted her chin up to meet his gaze. “Ya not?”

Jan slowly shook her head. “But - but I’m not here to try to seduce with you.”

He let out a loud cackle.

“No? Don’t find me attractive, huh?”

“No, I do. It’s just that I know - I ‘ve heard. That is, they say once a girl goes all the way with you, she’s not allowed to come back.”

Elvis’ brows furrowed and Jan wasn’t sure if he was hurt or about to laugh again until chuckle rang out. “What? That’s the stupidest goddamn thing I eva heard. How would any of those lil hens know, anyway?”

“I - I - I don’t know, I never asked.” Jan’s voice trailed off as Elvis chuckled into her cheek as he kissed her.

“Well, don’ worry baby, I ain’t trying to take advantage of ya, virgin or not.” His hands roved over her sides as he looked deep into her eyes. “Man oh man, mousy gal, look so sweet and innocent though, never would ‘ave guessed.”

Jan felt a tingly warmth start to coil in her belly and she gasped as Elvis rolled his nose over hers. He moved closer, his hand roving under her pajama shirt and trailing under her bare breast.

“Thanks for not taking advantage of me, either way.” Jan muttered, slightly distracted by the nips at her ear and the succession of slow and firm kisses that followed on her neck.

“Naw, honey. Wouldn’t dream a it. Furthest thing from my mind.”

Jan didn’t know what would happen the next she arrived at the Graceland gate house, she half expected Uncle Vester to turn her away. But he waved her through, and she chided herself for being silly. Elvis was so kind and warm, she could never imagine him banishing her after what they had shared. He had been so sweet, so kind, so gentle. He had conjured a pleasure from deep within her that she had never experience before, and she felt as if she had only truly been with a man for the first time when she was with him. Still, as Jan walked up the hill to the house she vowed to resist the urge to experience that pleasure again. She didn’t want to loose her friendships with the other girls. And so, as she stepped in the door and removed her coat and gloves, she swore to herself she would never go all the way with Elvis Presley. Again.

Solemn oaths, however, are so very difficult to keep. And Jan found herself changing her mind the minute Elvis whispered in her ear to sneak up stairs and wait for him in his bed room when Mack went to drive the other members of the gang home. Heidi, Frances and Arlene said nothing, but Jan could tell they knew something was up. They must, have, she reasoned. Especially once Elvis started picking her up and dropping her off himself. Sometimes he would take her home alone, but when he picked her up most evenings he would park and honk outside her ladies boarding house with some of the other guys and ask if they had any available rooms for Lamar. Jan caught Arlene staring at her out of the corner of her eye all the next week, and then Heidi trapped her on the landing that Friday.

“Just be careful. ‘Member: keep your knees closed, that’s the only way to make it last now that you’re one of his girls.”

Jan’s brow furrowed “But we’re all his girls.”

“You know what I mean, Jan. Anita is coming back from New York in a few days, I hope you know what you are doing.”

Jan swallowed hard as she watched Heidi descend down the staircase. Had she just been a bed warmer during Anita’s absence? Was there a way to go back to how it had been at first, when the most she did in bed with Elvis was have pillow fights and tickling kisses? But then when he squeezed her hand and rubbed his thumb along the side of her palm she was powerless to stop herself from answering his silent call and going to wait for him in his bedroom.

It was Sunday, Elvis was going back on tour the next day. It was her last night with him and Jan ran out of her apartment the second she saw the winged tips on the back of Elvis’ white Eldorado outside her window. She slid down the banister and jumped off the end, soliciting a humpf and a stern glance from the boarding house matron at the front desk. Jan giggled. She couldn’t help it. But her gait slowed when she noticed the single blonde bob in the driver’s seat.

“Why hey there, Miss Janice, how are you?”

Jan frowned and leaned into the car. “Looking for me Anita?”

The blonde’s a tight fake smile grew across her face. Jan couldn’t help but notice that she had bags under her eyes and the rosy color that had animated her creamy pink skin when they first met had faded. Anita no longer had that radiant glow, she looked sickly and pale. This didn’t seem to dampen her energy, and she giggled and patted the seat beside her.

“Come on, honey, thought we could go for a lil ol drive, have a lil ol talk.” She winked. “You know, girl to girl.”  Jan sighed and rubbed her neck, looking around as she considered what she should do. What was the worst that could happen? Anita might yell at her, she might start a scene with Elvis later. Maybe Jan could stop her from doing that, could talk some sense into her or even convince her she was wrong. So Jan took a deep breath and got into the car.

“How was New York?”

They made small talk as Anita guided her car around the block and drove further from the lights of downtown Memphis into the dark, black night. “In the Still of The Night” came on the radio as the Eldorado made its way through the outskirts of Memphis. After a while, Jan stopped trying to come up with things to say, and awkwardly started to suggest maybe they should get back, unless there was something specific Anita wanted to discuss. Anita turned again to smile, and pulled the car on to the side of the road. She shut off the engine and Jan suddenly felt a tremor of fear rise up her spine. An owl hooted out in the woods, off beyond the shoulder. Other than that, there was no one around.

“I don’t know what you’re playing at, Anita. I thought we were friends.”

Anita shifted in her seat to look at her directly, and Jan could swear she saw a flash of yellowish green in Anita’s eyes.

“Why you must think I was born yesterday, to be friends with a lil tramp that goes doing the hanky panky with my man.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jan whispered, her voice stilted and unsure as she blinked at the ground. She shivered when Anita scooted closer along the front seat and leaned into Jan’s face, sniffing her cheek.

“Heavens to betsy, honey. I can still smell him on you.”

Jan began to mutter that was not even possible, but her voice trailed off and she swallowed hard in disbelief as she watched Anita’s mouth grow wider and wider and her teeth extend into a row of sharp daggers. Jan tried and failed to find the door handle, so instead, she opted to crawl out through the open window. Somehow Anita ran around the front of the car lightening fast and managed to tackled Jan to the ground before she could run. Her small body had the strength of ten men as she held Jan down by her shoulders on the cold dirt that lined the dark road.

“Please, please, I’ll stop, I promise. Cross my heart.”

Anita smiled down at Jan and her yellow eyes burned bright in the black night.

“Bless your heart, that’s just what I’m after too.”

Then, with a flash of her smile, Anita ripped through Jan’s chest with her teeth and devoured her still-beating heart in one gulp, savoring the way it throbbed down her throat. Jan’s screams echoed through the forest and down the Nashville road, but there was no human around for miles and miles to hear them.

Heidi, Arlene and the others looked for Jan at the gate over the following days and weeks. Once or twice, they thought they saw her walking down the street from the bus stop, but they were wrong.

“She must have slept with him.” Arlene explained, smoothing her skirt as they walked around the pool.

“I warned her, I said, once girls go all the way with him, they never come back.” Heidi tutted, looking across the patio and nodding her head at Anita. “Gosh, she looks even prettier than the last time. Must have had more work down when she was ‘at that job in New York.’”

“Oh fooey, to hell with Anita Wood.”

OK, but seriously, look at these photos from before and after she started dating Elvis. You cannot tell me Anita wasn't gobbling up the hearts of innocent gate girls when Elvis wasn't looking!

Happy Elvis-o-Ween.......

I am working on at least one more or two more Elvis-o-ween fics so let me know if you want to be tagged. For now just tagging randomly. So also feel free to tell me to fuck off.

taglist:

@whositmcwhatsit @arrolyn1114 @be-my-ally @missmaywemeetagain @ellie-24 @vintageshanny @peskybedtime @shakerattlescroll @lookingforrainbows @from-memphis-with-love @powerofelvis @ab4eva @kingdomforapony @ashtag6887 @dkayfixates @eliseinmemphis @waiting4brucewayne2adoptme @louisejoy86 @i-r-i-n-a-a @horror-movieshoes @everythingelvispresley @doll-elvis @j-v-9-2 @notstefaniepresley @richardslady121 @crash-and-cure

[bluejaysandblackbats]

Catch and Release

Fandom: DC Comics, Batfam

Summary: AU where Jason doesn't die in the explosion and he and Tim end up attending the same high school months later.

Chapters: 1/?

Characters: Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, Sebastian Ives, Jack Drake, Janet Drake

Relationships: TBA

Additional Tags: Jason Todd Lives, Jason Todd-centric, POV Jason Todd, POV First Person, Tim Drake Has Issues, Tim Drake is Not Robin, Jason Todd is Not Robin (Anymore), Bruce Wayne Needs a Hug, Alfred Pennyworth is the Best, Alfred Pennyworth Knows, Stalker Tim Drake, Jason Todd Has Chronic Pain, Jason Todd Has PTSD, Angst with a Happy Ending, Unlikely Friends, Injury Recovery, Emotional Baggage, Rage, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Communicating

Chapter One: Counting Backward

"Good," Bruce replied.

Despite Alfred begging me to use the stairlift, I came down the stairs on foot. It was a dumb idea, but I was tired of feeling broken. My leg still hadn't healed. Mostly everything else had. I wondered if Bruce would urge me to stay home longer and focus on my recovery. I know he meant well, but I was tired of wasting away in the manor. I felt like I was a living memorial of the Jason he lost in the explosion. I haunted the place every moment I was there. Even my laugh was a painful reminder of what was.

A wave of pain shot up my spine and into my lungs, and I missed a step. I wasn't as quick on my feet as I used to be, but Alfred managed to catch me before I could falter. That bothered me. I didn't want anyone helping me, but my body was so broken it couldn't be avoided. I wanted to return to how I was, but honestly, I wasn't even halfway there. I mumbled a word of gratitude to Alfred, and he escorted me down the few remaining steps against my will.

My crutches leaned against the baluster. I remember when it felt like a victory. It meant I could walk. After a few months on them, it felt more like a loss. I couldn't rush recovery, so I was stuck. I bitterly pushed forward and went to the kitchen to make myself breakfast. Bruce sat at the counter, sipping his coffee. Despite his silence, I knew what his presence meant. "I'm going to school today," I announced. Bruce nodded. "I don't want you checking in on me today."

"Jason, I'm not trying to baby you... I'm just worried that your return to public school is premature," Bruce replied. He set his coffee aside and looked at me, studying me with his eyes. "Healing takes time."

"I can only heal at home for so long," I muttered as I opened the fridge. Bruce didn't help me, as a rule. I didn't want him to. I poured myself a glass of milk, and Alfred started making breakfast. I knew it was the only way Alfred would let me go, so I ate. I was stubborn but not half as stubborn as Alfred. "Thanks for breakfast, Alfred."

He nodded and set my backpack and lunch on an empty chair. Bruce seemed displeased with all of it. Ever since I came home from the hospital, he'd examined my every move, documenting my every nightmare, every misstep. It felt like he was judging me, but I knew better. Bruce was frightened for me. "At least let me take you to school... It'll help me breathe easier if I can see you off," Bruce requested. I nodded.

I didn't feel like arguing with him about small things like drop off and pick up. I stood up and put on my backpack before grabbing my crutches. Bruce looked up, and before he could ask me, I nodded. "I was in an accident. I don't wanna talk about it... The fewer details I use, the better," I whispered.

I followed him to the garage and sat in the front seat. The drive was unbearably long and silent. Neither of us had anything to say that the other wanted to hear. I watched as kids poured into the gates, and I hesitated. "Second thoughts?" Bruce asked.

"No," I stubbornly answered as I got out of the car. I took a breath and braced for an imaginary threat. I hopped up the steps and went through the double doors. I walked towards the metal detector, and the security guard shook his head. I thought it was irresponsible for him to let me through, but that wasn't my business anymore. I went to the front office and knocked on the attendance door. The office attendant smiled and told me she'd help me in a moment. I sat down and waited for her to ask for me.

"You can come up now," she welcomed me. I told her my name, and she gave me my class schedule. "If you'd like-." I smiled and shook my head.

"I was enrolled here last year... I'll manage, but thank you," I interrupted as politely as possible.

My first class was halfway across the building, so I went there right after I left the office. The door was locked, so I stood there, waiting for the teacher to show up. That's when I noticed him. A wild-eyed kid with no backpack. He only had a notepad and pen. If I didn't know better, I would've mistaken him for an undercover cop. I caught him staring at me and immediately took offense, but I wasn't dumb enough to pick a fight on my first day. Besides, he looked out the window as soon as he noticed I was staring back. I could tell he was sheltered by the way he looked at people. Most people who grew up in the rougher parts of Gotham would've known better. Had he met me last year, he might've gotten a friendlier reaction from me. I might've even overlooked him, but something about him didn't feel right.

The bell rang, and the teacher came to unlock the classroom. "Nice to see you again, Jason," she greeted. I tried to grasp for a name, but I couldn't remember her. I couldn't remember a lot of things after the accident.

"It's nice to see you too," I smiled. It was better to fake it and glance at my class schedule later than to explain why I suddenly couldn't remember the name of a teacher who obviously noticed my absence. I was bitter, but I wouldn't be rude to innocent people.

She logged into the computer and pulled up the seating chart. I sat by the door where I was placed and watched as the creepy kid strolled in. He sat by the window, and I looked for his name on the roster. Tim Drake. I wrote it down in my notebook and caught him staring at me again. A few other kids came in. One of which knocked my crutches over without picking them up. I picked them up and sighed. I'd have to deal with that for another month, at least.

Then there'd be more physical therapy and exams... And more of Bruce's pained glances when I missed a step or took a sharp breath. I knew he felt guilty for not being there. I did my fair share of blaming him in the earlier days of my recovery. I wasn't proud of what I said but never apologized, especially after he took Robin from me. It was the only way I could cope. Bitterness protected me from the harsh realities of the accident. I felt like I was experiencing the five stages of grief backward like I was mourning the death I should've had.

The second bell rang, and the rest of the class rushed in, some narrowly avoiding the third and final late bell. Eventually, wandering eyes started to recognize my face beneath the scarring. That wasn't the thing that bothered me, though. It was the whispering that followed the stares. I could make out some of it, but my hearing wasn't as good as before.

"I thought he died."

"I heard he got shot in the face."

"No, Professor Pyg turned him into one of those Frankenstein things, and he spent the summer in Arkham."

I swallowed it because I had to, but I could hardly conceal my growing rage. "Jason," our teacher whispered. I looked up at her. "Are you alright?"

I smiled and nodded even though every lethal and violent scenario imaginable flashed through my mind. I only had a few more hours of self-inflicted mental and emotional torture, and then I could drive home in agonizing silence. It would've gone great had he not pushed me.

[joy-of-life88]

Damian Priest x Reader ONE SHOT

First published May 17, 2024 on Wattpad

I was just about to go into the pool when I heard my phone ring. So much for a relaxing evening. Annoyed, I grunted and went back into the house to see who was calling me. I could almost have guessed it. It was Rhea.

"Hey nightmare... What's going on?" I asked.

"Hi, sorry to interrupt, but have you heard from Y/N? We were supposed to meet for a workout this afternoon. But she canceled at the last minute and won't answer her phone now," she replied.

I could clearly hear how worried she was. And that was understandable, because Y/N wasn't like that at all. She was the most reliable, disciplined person I knew.

"No, not since I drove her home from the airport yesterday. Who knows... Maybe she's just having a bad day. Even she can have one," I said.

"Yeah, maybe you're right... But... well couldn't you stop by her place to see if everything is really okay? After all, you only live 4 blocks away." Rhea then replied.

"Let me guess. You won't stop bugging me until I do, right?" I asked as I went into the bedroom to change.

"How long have you known me, Damian? You knew the answer before you asked." she said with a laugh.

"All right, all right. I'll head there in a minute. But I'm pretty sure Mitch won't be happy." I replied.

"Oh fuck him. You're one of her best friends and if he hasn't accepted that by now, then he's dumber than he looks." Rhea grumbled.

"Yeah and I'm sure Y/N would love the way you talk about her boyfriend." I laughed.

"I just don't know what she sees in him. He's so different than her. But maybe it's the old 'opposites attract' thing. And as long as he makes her happy, I'll keep my opinion to myself." she said.

*****

The sun was already setting when I parked my car in front of Y/N's house. Luckily Mitch's car was nowhere to be seen. That probably meant he wasn't there. Part of me was relieved. Because to be honest, I wasn't his biggest fan either.

I got out and walked the few steps towards the door. There was no sound from inside. Not even music. That alone was very unusual for her. I rang the bell and waited with my hands in my pockets for the door to open. It took quite a while, but eventually she stuck her head out.

"Hi Feliz! What's going on? Have you been crying?" I asked when I noticed her puffy, red eyes.

"Go away, D. I'm not in the mood for company." she replied in a raspy voice and tried to close the door in my face.

But there was no way I could leave her alone like that. So I prevented her from shutting the door by pushing my foot in between.

"I'm not leaving until you talk to me. You know I'm stubborn, Feliz," I said.

"Stop with the stupid nickname. And if you don't have a bottle of whiskey with you, I don't want to talk." she growled and walked away.

She just left me standing there. Another thing she didn't usually do. If I annoyed her, it was more likely that she would have punched or kicked me.

"Oh hi Pom-Pom! How's my girl? What's wrong with Mommy, huh?" I asked as Y/N's little bundle of fur came running up to me.

She barked excitedly and spun around in circles jumping until I picked her up. The little Shih Tzu licked my nose as I started to go after Y/N.

I followed her onto the patio where I was amazed to see her tearing up photos of herself and Mitch. Then she put everything in a fire pit and lit it. I slowly realized what was going on with her.

"Okay... spit it out. You should get it over with, because I'm not leaving until you did," I said and put the dog back on the ground.

"We broke up. Or I should say he broke up with me. And I didn't see it coming. He didn't even give me a real reason. Just that it wasn't the life he wanted. Before I could ask him any questions, he had already left," she explained quietly, but didn't look at me once.

"Oh Feliz, I'm so sorry. Come here." I replied before pulling her into my arms without hesitation.

Y/N cried on my chest for endless minutes. It was hard to bear to see her like this. She was usually such a happy person. Nothing could spoil her good mood. That's why I had given her the nickname Feliz years ago. Even though she still couldn't really stand it.

Finally, we went back into the house together. Pom-Pom immediately jumped onto the couch and snuggled up between us. Y/N absent-mindedly petted her.

"Three years wasted. Just like that. Poof! Out of the window. That's what you get for falling in love." she grumbled to herself.

"Hey, you shouldn't think like that. Now... Get changed, we're going out! I won't let you wallow in here and mourn after that loser. We'll do something fun. Come on!" I replied.

"No, I don't want to. I'm not in the mood." she whined as I tried to pull her off the couch by her arm.

"All right... I'll let you be for today. But! I won't let you mourn him forever. I'll even get you a new date. Because as luck would have it, I know someone who will be thrilled to hear that you're back on the market," I said as I finally gave up.

"Oh yeah? And who would that be?" she wanted to know.

It looked like I had managed to steer her thoughts in a different direction, at least for a little while.

"Oh, you'll see. But for now, what do you say I get us a bottle of booze after all?" I replied.

[lunajay33]

New World🍂Part.12

Summary: You grew up in a crappy town with one friend who kept you going, everything started to fall into place, that’s until the world ended and the dead ruled the world, now you and your best friend Daryl Dixon had to stay alive but will you finally confess?

Warnings: This chapter contains light sh if you’re not comfortable don’t interact

Part.11

•Masterlist•

It’s been a week since I was shot and things have been off with Daryl and I, I could tell he felt nervous around me and we’ve barely talked but even though it hurt when he left he came back and that counts……..right? Plus I missed how he’d cuddle me at night and call me those sweet names

I got out of bed and went out to see Daryl working on his bike, I sat down on the bike as he looked up at me from the engine

“Hey” I said nervous

“Hey”

“Can we talk?”

He put his tools and rag down and looked up at me with squinted eyes from the sun beating down on us

“I’m sorry I’ve been so distant or if I was mean, it just really hurt when you left Daryl, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you how much I love you, what you mean to me, I can’t lose you”

“Ya ain’t got nothin ta be sorry for, I shoulda never left the moment I left and it settled I knew I shoulda gone with ya, and when I got back seein ya shot again I couldn’t stop blaming myself, I’ll never leave again i mean it” he said running his hands up and down my thighs

“I love you Daryl but……Don’t blame yourself for me getting hurt, you know I hate it when you put those burdens on yourself”

“Maybe not the gunshot but……..ya hurt herself cause of me, that’s my fault” my heart sank at that

“You……..you saw”

“Course, me and Hershel cleaned em”

“Sorry” I said looking down ashamed

“Ya gotta swear ya ain’t gonna do that again”

I nodded as he stood pulling me into his chest holding me tight, it felt so good to be in his arms again, I wrapped my arms around his waist breathing in the smoky smell that comforted me

Daryl helped me get over my depression as best he could, showing me that I could trust him and he wouldn’t leave again over the next few days

But now Merle was back with us and it made things tense with the group but I always made sure Daryl didn’t get caught in the middle knowing how hard that was on him

Things escalated over the week they’ve been back Merle told us we should leave and then him and Michonne go missing

“Where the hell are they?” Daryl groaned as we looked all over the prison for them

“Why would they be together?” I asked confused

“He’s gonna take her back to the governor, as a peace offerin……damn it” he started running out to his bike and I was quick to follow

“Where are you going?” I asked as he started up the bike

“I gotta get to em before they get there”

“I’ll come with you”

“I can’t risk ya out there”

“You promised Daryl, I’m coming with you”

“Fine then we’re goin on foot to not attract anythin” he said grabbing my hand and we were off

Running through neighbourhood sand forests we found Michonne alone telling us Merle let her go, we got to an industrial area filled with cyloes and rusty old machinery

“Do you think he might be here?” I asked looking around but only seeing walkers

He shrugged his shoulders continuing to lead me through the abandoned equipment until we came across a walker feasting on a clearly freshly killed person but that’s when we noticed

It’s Merle……..he’s dead, I heard the whimpers from Daryl as he swayed back and worth dropping his bow

Merle noticed us coming over to try and finish us off too until Daryl shoved him back, crying realizing his brother was dead when he just got him back, I placed my hand on Daryl’s shoulder pulling him back

“I’ve got it D” I said taking out my knife not wanting Daryl to have to kill his brother, I pushed Merle down to the ground, pushing my knife into the back of his head ceasing his movement, he was gone now fully gone

I ran over to Daryl where he was curled up on the ground crying, it hurt me to see him cry especially since he never does, I pulled him against me so he could let it all out

“I’m so sorry baby” I said feeling the tears well up in my own eyes

He didn’t say anything but continued to cry for an hour until he settled still gripping my shirt

“What do you want me to do for you D?” I asked as he looked up at me from my lap

“Wanna go home” that was enough for me to find a car, got wire it and drive us back home

The drive back was silent, I didn’t expect him to talk, I know he needs his time and being silent is his way of coping, when we got back he went up to a watch tower and the others gave me a look

“Just……..leave him alone for today” and they all let him be, going back to working around the courtyard

I went inside our block to get some water and a snack for him knowing he neglects necessities when he’s going through something, I went up in the watch tower sitting next to him leaning on the railing so our legs dangled over the edge

“Here i brought you something” I said placing the food and water down next to him

He looked at it and looked back out over the courtyard “thanks”

I sat there all night long with him until he moved so his head was resting in my lap so I could play with his hair hoping it was helping

“Peach?” He finally spoke

“Yeah D?”

“I wanna have that baby” my heart stopped

“Are you sure? I thought…..you said it was too risky”

“Life’s too short, I wanna experience what I can with ya, I want that family we’ve dreamed ‘bout”

“I’m ready whenever you’re ready Daryl but I want you to just relax for now, get some sleep my love”

It’s been a few months and lots have changed, the governor abandoned his people at Woodbury and we took the rest in creating space for them, I was wary of them since they weren’t my family and I didn’t know if I could trust them so I kept my distance, Daryl did too for the most part

“Hey, wanna get some food?” Daryl asked as I was tending to our garden

“Sure!” I said as he took my hand helping me up

“How lil asskicker doin?” He asked as he placed a protective hand over my belly

“They’re doing fine, I can’t wait to meet them” we didn’t know if it was a boy or girl but I knew Daryl was secretly hoping for a little girl

“Me too sunshine”

Everything felt like it was falling into place, I just hope nothing ruins this

Part.13

How is everyone liking the story??

Taglist: @deansapplepie @ghostboneswrites2 @willowshadenox @thebadbatch2022 @writer-ann-artist @i-wear-wet-socks313 @thestonedwriter

[pocket-lad]

CH 4- Sarah

Prev

After Ian explained what happened at Hammond’s mansion, the group decided to stake out the new arrivals.

“I mean we kind of have to, right?” Nick urged. 

They started in the direction they saw the helicopters head toward and followed the sound to the best of their ability. For now, Adelaide stayed on Ian’s shoulder, but she kept her head on a swivel.

There was tension in the air and not much to talk about, which meant Adelaide was soon to be the topic of conversation. It was either that or silence, anyway.

“You said you’re a… borrower?” Eddie’s voice rang out directly behind Adelaide, making her jump. She turned around to face him.

“Yeah,” she said tentatively.

“Okay, so what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Adelaide shot for a teasing, lighthearted tone, but it came out harsh and defensive. She felt bad. Eddie wasn’t prying - he was just making conversation, trying to distract himself and probably the others from what they were about to face. “Um…it means what it sounds like. I borrow things. From Beans.”

“Beans-?”

“Don’t get her started on that one,” Ian warned. Adelaide hit his neck.

“Oh. That sounds…. cool.” Eddie didn’t really know what to think. Cool seemed like a decent enough word for it, but he still had a million questions. Few of them could be formed into coherent thoughts, and none of them made it from his brain to his mouth.

“Not really, but thanks,” Adelaide said.

Eddie gave her an awkward smile and nod, and they fell into silence again. Adelaide hesitantly turned to face forward, but she felt his eyes on her back every so often.

“Why?” Kelly asked after a long period of time. She hopped over a log and only glanced at Adelaide briefly, focused on maintaining her footing. It had been so long that Adelaide didn't realize Kelly was speaking to her and almost forgot what they were talking about.

“What do you mean, why?” Adelaide asked.

“Why do you borrow stuff? Why don’t you just ask my dad?”

Ian laughed underneath her. He listened intently, even though he knew the answer. He understood to some degree why Adelaide needed to feel independent, but she knew that he knew she could handle herself. She knew that he didn’t look down on her for asking for help, so Ian didn’t see the point in risking her life for things that were so easy for him to obtain.

“That’s how I was raised. I find my own stuff. Take care of myself. I can’t say I’d be anything more than a pet if I relied on him for everything,” Adelaide explained. She was vaguely aware that everyone listened as she spoke, but she had to focus solely on the person she was talking to or she’d start shaking again.

Three people in the group reacted to her explanation at the same time.

Nick laughed.

“Uh, I want it noted that I do not, um, agree with that,” Ian said.

“So you have a whole family living in the walls with you?” Kelly asked, awed at the image of a whole group of tiny people living in her dad’s walls, likening it to The Secret Life of Arrietty .

Since Nick’s laugh was condescending and since she’d heard Ian’s argument plenty of times, Adelaide chose to answer Kelly’s question, even if it was mildly painful.

“No, no, um… it’s just me,” she said, a hint of that pain peeking through.

“Oh...That sucks.”

Sarah piped up for the first time in a while. “You live in the walls? Like… in Ian’s walls?”

Shit .

Adelaide looked for any way out of this. She couldn’t just lie, though she was very tempted. That wouldn’t do in the long run. After trying to form a sentence multiple times, all that came out was a measly, quiet, “Yeahhhhh…….” followed by a sigh.

“Ian, how long has this been going on? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It wasn’t - it wasn’t my decision to make,” he shrugged, sending Adelaide into his neck, who punched him back in annoyance.

“As much as I’d love to blame him, it really wasn’t his fault,” Adelaide admitted. She felt herself getting twitchy and weird again, and she still couldn’t maintain eye contact. The best she could do was talk. “He’s been really excited for me to meet you, and I’ve been really excited to meet you too. I just get… nervous around Beans, so I never found the right time.”

“Well, I don’t think you have anything to be nervous about with us,” Sarah said pointedly. This would hopefully ease Adelaide, but let the others know that she was not to be messed with. A small and unexpected blossom of attachment had formed, and that meant Adelaide was now under Sarah’s protection. Maybe it was the way Sarah wanted to study her. Maybe it was the way she saw fear in both Adelaide’s eyes and in the way she held herself. Maybe it was simply the fact that they were both women, and women have to look out for each other in a male-dominated world. It was likely all three of those things.

Adelaide was oblivious to all of these thoughts bouncing around in Sarah’s head, but her shoulders released a hair of tension when she was sure Sarah wasn’t mad.

***

Adelaide was in the middle of borrowing when the front door swung open. She was over by the TV, picking at loose threads in the rug to weave into fabric or whatever else she could think of.

She tensed up, but didn’t make a break for the walls. For the longest time, Adelaide would do that when the door opened, regardless of who was there. Over time, and with a ton of assurance from Ian, she learned that the man rarely brought guests home. If by some chance he did, it was almost always a woman, and they almost always immediately went to the bedroom. So normally, Adelaide didn’t have to worry.

The only recent exception was his daughter, Kelly, but that’s something they’d talked about beforehand and she’d always gotten a heads up when it happened.

It was hard to suppress instinct though, especially after a decade, so when the front door opened, Adelaide’s senses automatically went on high alert. Usually it was useless. She’d calm down, she’d say hello to Ian, and continue on her way.

Never in her life had Adelaide been so grateful for this instinct until today. She heard Ian’s usual rumble, but this time, there was another voice in the mix. She could hardly believe it, so much so that she was rooted in place from the shock. Ian making friends? Unheard of.

Then reality set in. Adelaide had to hide. Fast. There wasn’t any time to speculate who it might be, but she’d find out soon enough anyway. The couch that concealed the closest entrance into the walls was too far away at this point. With so few options, Adelaide bent down and crawled underneath the TV stand.

Just in time, too. Multiple pairs of footsteps made their way into the living room and two giant beings sat down on the couch. Adelaide could only see their feet from her hiding spot, but if she wasn’t mistaken, those were women’s shoes. Great.

Why were they in the living room? Adelaide got the sense that she needed to be literally anywhere else right now, but she was low on options. However, the longer she took to make a decision, the more she realized the two giants were just talking. Interesting.

Regardless, Adelaide didn’t want to eavesdrop, and more importantly, the space under the TV stand was dusty and disgusting. She used to keep it clean back when she was regularly borrowing and Ian didn’t know of her existence. It was a good place to hide, and she’d actually used it a couple times when she was in a bind, but it had been so long since then, so it had plenty of time to accumulate mountains of dust.

“Let me - let me get you something to drink,” Ian said. Adelaide watched his feet and felt the normal shaking of the floor as he walked away. She decided this was an opportunity to take a good look at the woman so, very cautious, Adelaide’s head emerged from underneath the stand.

The woman had long red hair and a pretty face. Her clothes were simple and practical. Not super tall as far as Beans went, and she had a casual confidence about her. She glanced around, taking in every detail of Ian’s house.

That was all Adelaide had time to analyze before she felt Ian coming back. She heard him set two glasses down on the table, and it was then that she knew she’d be here for a while.

Eventually, Adelaide had to lay down, since her neck was getting sore from bending over for so long. The next hour was spent oscillating between guilt and boredom. She tried her best to tune the giants out, but boredom would win over and she’d tune back in. Then, she’d feel guilty for eavesdropping and tune them back out again, and the cycle continued for eons.

Adelaide busied herself with clearing the dust from underneath the stand and compiling it all into one corner so she could at least breathe. After that was done and with nothing else left to do, she begrudgingly layed back down again.

The parts of the conversation she did tune into were pretty interesting. Almost anything was interesting when you lived in the walls, though.

The woman’s name was Sarah. She was able to keep up with Ian’s wit, shooting him down every time he tried to make an advance and returning his snark every time he gave it to her. She asked about Jurassic Park a lot, to which Ian got quiet and uncomfortable.

She gathered that Sarah was some kind of scientist that specialized in dinosaurs. Something about an emerging field that had nothing to do with fossils and everything to do with the real thing. How that was possible, Adelaide had no idea. She thought dinosaurs were limited to that one island. She hoped they were limited to that one island.

Ian even tried his chaos theory bit with her - the one with the water.

“Now, let’s say a drop of water falls on your hand. Which way is the drop going to roll off?”

“I don’t know,” Sarah said. She knew Ian wanted an answer only so that he could prove her wrong, so she didn’t give him one.

Ian let the drop fall, and it rolled off her thumb. He wiped away the water. “Okay, freeze your hand,” he said. “Don’t move. I’ll do the same thing, start with the same place again. Which way now?”

Adelaide was positive he was saying this the same way, word for word, as when he did it to Ellie and when he did it to her. Did he have it memorized? She wouldn't doubt it.

“I don’t know,” Sarah said again.

“Give me a guess-”

“There’s too many variations. You drop the water again in what you think is the same place, but it has to be at least a little bit off. And rubbing the water away changes the landscape of my hand, not to mention the thousands of other things that have changed microscopically in the last ten seconds.”

Ian was at a loss for words. Adelaide nearly cackled, impressed with Sarah’s ability to shut him down like that. She wanted to commend the woman herself.

“Right, yes, exactly,” Ian said as if he was excited by her explanation. As if it didn’t tear his ego into pieces.

At some point, they put on a movie. It was then that Adelaide could no longer hear them, the TV overpowering everything with how close it was. This also meant she was in for at least another two hours. What was even more frustrating was that the Beans were almost definitely not watching the movie, too preoccupied with…other stuff.

Adelaide let out a frustrated growl. She could’ve gotten so much done today, but instead she would spend hours feeling cramped under a TV stand.

She thought about sneaking out multiple times. She was semi-confident she could get past Sarah if she timed it correctly and kept her senses about her, but Ian would see her immediately. He would either send Sarah home or start acting weird, and Adelaide didn’t want to do that to him. Plus, the longer she waited, the worse it felt.

Adelaide listened to the movie, trying to pull any meaning from what she could hear. There were lots of guns and fighting and car noises, and the dialogue was bad and nonsensical, so all her efforts were pretty useless.

The feeling of shoes caught Adelaide’s attention, and the sudden lack of sound meant someone turned the TV off.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Ian asked.

“We’ll see,” Sarah said, and Adelaide could have sworn she registered teasing in her voice.

That didn’t matter, though! Adelaide was getting out! Sarah was leaving!

Excitedly, Adelaide shot up from her sprawled out position on the floor, absolutely banging her head on the low ceiling of the furniture. Her body unintentionally let out a grunt at the impact, and she froze. The room got deadly silent.

Adelaide held her breath, waiting for something to happen.

“Let me walk you out,” Ian said distractedly, and Adelaide knew he knew where she was.

The footsteps receded and the sound of the front door indicated the departure of at least one of the Beans. She debated on sprinting across the living room now, but something about massive feet stomping around in the dark, Ian or not, stopped her.

Only a single pair of footsteps returned. A light flicked on, which did hardly anything from underneath her shelter, and the feet stopped right in front of her.

They were so close! If she wasn’t so eager, if she didn’t sit up so fast, they wouldn’t be in this situation. Adelaide would have waited for Ian to go to bed, then she was free to go home and pretend like none of this ever happened. Alas, she now had to face the consequences of her own actions.

“How long have you been there?” Ian’s voice rang out. He stood, unmoving, so Adelaide stared at his shoes.

Maybe if she didn’t respond, he’d think he imagined it. Houses made noises all the time. Her hopes were dashed when Ian kneeled down. He laid himself flat on his stomach and peered in. Seeing nothing in the dark space, he pulled something out and turned it on.

“Ow!” Adelaide cried when a sudden, bright light assaulted her vision. She squeezed her eyes shut and covered them with her hand. She wondered if Ian killed her and she was now staring at the bright, white light of heaven.

“Ah,” Ian realized. He shifted the flashlight so it was on an angle. It still illuminated Adelaide, but it wasn’t pointed directly at her.

Adelaide blinked her eyes open and spots danced across her vision. The light was still bright, but nothing worse than the average overhead room light. “What the hell?” she winced.

“How long?” Ian pushed. He didn’t sound mad, but he didn’t sound particularly happy, either. Exasperated was probably the right word for it.

“Uh, when did Sarah get here?”

Ian slowly closed his eyes and pinched his brow. “Around seven.”

“Then probably since seven,” Adelaide admitted.

“Can you come out here?”

Adelaide considered it. “No, you’re mad at me.” She didn’t think he would do anything, but after spending hours under a TV stand, her patience was wearing thin and she didn’t want to deal with a lecture.

“I’m not mad,” Ian said calmly.

“I don’t believe you.”

Ian’s face disappeared over the edge of the ceiling, and Adelaide thought he might actually leave her alone. Unfortunately, his face was replaced by his hand, and it was coming directly at her.

Adelaide kicked at the grasping fingers, trying to get him to back off, but they just kept coming. One eventually snagged both her legs, pinning them together, and she gasped. Something about the way Ian couldn’t see her yet still grabbed at her made her nervous. Especially since he caught hold of a really delicate part of her body.

Before she knew it, Adelaide was being dragged backward, unable to stop such a strong force. She clawed at the floor, searching for purchase on anything, but it was hard-wood. Even if she managed to grab onto something, she’d probably end up hurting herself. The fact that her efforts meant nothing was humbling and a little scary.

The world opened up around her, and when the movement stopped, she found herself dangling upside down in front of Ian’s face. It was enough time to register the upset look he gave her, but she was abruptly lowered into his palm.

Adelaide sat there and crossed her arms, her hair disheveled and her clothes rumpled and her eyes still adjusting.

“Why?” was all Ian asked.

“Why? Why did you blind me and grab me and dangle me? Is that what you’re asking?” she clarified sarcastically.

Ian didn’t fall for the bait. “Why were you, um, underneath my TV?”

“Can you put me down?” Adelaide asked. She didn’t like being talked down to. Ian obliged, setting her down next to the TV. She was still below eye level, but much less so. And she could confidently stay standing now that she had solid ground under her feet.

Ian stared at her, waiting for an answer to his question.

“If it’s any consolation, once you turned on the movie, I couldn’t hear a thing.”

He still stared, and she shifted awkwardly. “What was I supposed to do? You came home with someone. I wasn’t near the walls, I had to hide, this was the best option, and I had to wait you out. There’s not really that much to it.”

“Uh, let me know next time and I’ll - and I’ll fix it.”

Adelaide felt like rolling her eyes at Ian ‘I’ll-Fix-It’ Malcolm. “You would’ve been weird about it. I didn’t want to ruin it for you. You never have real people over.”

“I uh, I appreciate the, um…the concern, but I’m a big boy.”

“I swear I wasn’t eavesdropping. Mostly. Believe it or not, I actually don’t want to hear your boring, weird Human Bean conversations……On a completely unrelated note, do we think we like Sarah?” Adelaide had to admit to curiosity. She only knew about ‘dates’ from brief glimpses at the TV back in the motel. Her parents didn’t do dates. Borrowers didn’t do dates. This was a completely foreign concept, and she wanted to live vicariously through the only person she could.

Ian raised his eyebrow. “I thought you weren’t eavesdropping.”

“I said mostly.”

“Yeah, I think…I think we like…Sarah. We’ll see.”

“She’s pretty.”

“Very pretty,” Ian agreed.

“What do you mean ‘we’ll see’?” Adelaide prodded.

“Ohhh, they never last. That Sarah is…that Sarah is smart. She’ll see through me in no time.” Ian said this unbothered, no trace of a negative emotion. He said it as if it were just a fact of life.

“Don’t say that!” He was giving up before he even tried!

Ian smiled at her pitifully. Adelaide was completely oblivious to the Human dating world, and even more oblivious to Ian’s bad habits within it. “You’ll see,” he said. He stood up and reached out to ruffle Adelaide’s hair.

On principle, Adelaide batted at the finger overhead. It always came so quickly and without warning. She spoke up about it a long time ago, telling him how it hurt, so ever since then, he’d been gentler about it. He didn’t realize (or didn’t care) that her gripe was with the fact that he did it to begin with. But since he was gentle and since it no longer hurt, Adelaide didn’t have any ammo to get him to stop.

“You want a lift?” Ian asked, holding out his hand and ignoring Adelaide’s protests.

Adelaide’s grumbling slowly came to a stop. “No, I’m okay, thanks.” She lightly kicked at his hand to push it away. “But you should invite her back sometime.”

“Why? You want to talk to her?”

“Haha, yeah. Really funny. But seriously, maybe she’ll be different. You never know.”

“I always know,” he said cockily.

“Sure, whatever you say, Mr. Chaos Theory.”

Ian looked dumbfounded, and since he didn’t have a comeback, he pointed at her and said, “I’m going to bed. Stop eavesdropping.”

Adelaide could tell he’d lost all power in the conversation, so he put an end to it. She chuckled, happy she had the ability to do that. It was a hard thing to pull off. “Roger that,” she said, and he walked off.

Once he was gone, Adelaide wasted no time pulling out her hook and scaling down the cliff. She wanted to go home as soon as possible.

While she did that, she thought about Sarah. Adelaide just assumed she’d automatically dislike any new Bean on principle, but Sarah was charming. She’d have to do more snooping, and she obviously wasn’t going to introduce herself until way down the road, if Sarah was still around. Strangely, Adelaide found herself hoping she would be.

Adelaide and Ian were on really good terms at this point, he was starting to reconcile with one of his kids, and now it was possible he’d just found himself a love interest. She was happy for him.

All her life, Adelaide was a stickler for routine. It was what kept her alive. But now, with her basic needs provided for and her life changing in so many different ways, she welcomed a little (emphasis on a little) spontaneity into her life. Whether it would all work out in the end - only time would tell, but she was nervous and excited and every other emotion possible for this new chapter in their lives.

.

Next

[quicksiluers]

spoilers under the cut cause I wanted to talk about how repeat viewings of this movie are just...so good

So obviously, with the ending, we know that the killer the entire time was Landor. The first time I finished this movie, I was floored. I couldn’t believe it. Were there clues that I had missed during the movie? and the answer is yes! I’ve gone back and rewatched this movie...3 times now (and read the book which is FANTASTIC, check it out for sure!) and I think one of the biggest things to point out is just how good Bale is. I mean, this seems obvious right? Bale has always been a great actor. But he makes these little choices in scenes that, once you know the ending, it’s like...”wow...how did I miss this?”

I have some screenshots from the movie, starting with this one: 

The start of the movie...now I won’t lie, the first time I watched this, for a moment I DID think he was washing blood from his hands! But then I noticed the leaves in the water and reassured myself that wasn’t the case....but actually, it was! Sneaky Cooper...very sneaky of you. And also in this scene, Landor is looking around. Like he’s checking to make sure no one else is around. 

Then we get to the scene at West Point. And I think Bale is great here because what he is doing is subtle. I think, for the first part of their conversation, Landor thinks he’s been caught. Why else would he be brought here? So when Hitchcock tells him that they are looking for someone to investigate something for them, his reaction is great: 

The screenshot doesn’t do it justice but he has this beat where he lifts up his hand, nods, and just goes “Huh” which is like “Ok...so you don’t know it was me.”. And then he goes on and continues to listen to what they have to say. 

Obviously this news doesn’t shock Landor cause, duh, he killed Fry. And he’s not too broken up about! For obvious reasons! And again, screenshots don’t do it justice, but Bale does very subtle things that you clue into when you watch it with the knowlegd of the ending. Landor is always trying to gather information. Not just for the invesitgation....but also for himself, to see what other people know (and if they know he was involved somehow)

Now he knows that the only person who would have seen him didn’t see him. Small moment again but it plays perfectly because not only does it help the overall invesitgation....it helps Landor know where he stands and what he has to worry about. 

And then we get back to Fry’s body and of course he asks Dr. Marquis about Fry’s head...because he knows he slammed the back of it with...whatever it was he was using, I never got a good idea of what Landor was carrying around. 

This scene, when Dr, Marquis says there is something there and he “missed it” also puts us, the viewer, on tto he idea of Dr. Marquis being....not all he seems to be, which is almost all the characters in this movie if you think about it!

Then we got back to the landing and Landor is looking around. I believe he’s looking around to see if he left any sign of himself behind. And he stumbles upon this foot print. 

I couldn’t find a really good shot of the shoes that Landor was wearing in this movie but from a few angles, it did look like the shape of this footprint matched his footwear. And watching the flashback sequence back when he attacked Fry, he was standing over and behind Fry, so it looks like Landor’s footprint over Fry’s....could be a stretch, but that was my thinking when re-watching!

Then we get to the scene where Poe decodes the message....and then when Poe gives up on the first two lines, Landor basically tells him what is said (cause he knows since he wrote it!) but makes it seem like he’s just helping Poe along....and Poe catches on that Landor knew the whole time

“I had an idea” aka “I wrote the thing I should know what it says”...as a side note, I love this scene. Landor and Poe are just so good. And I love how amused that Landor seems to be with Poe’s way of things. Makes the ending sadder! 

These next to two things, I wouldn’t call them clues...but they are important in another scene coming up. The scene where Landor is looking through Fry’s diary. So we got the necklace (which we know belongs to Fry) and then we have this shot of a covered bridge...

which brings us to what I think is the biggest clue. And they happen so quickly, it’s hard to put all the pieces together if you don’t pause and read it. The scene with Landor looking through the diary.

So I’ll type out what we can see in this diary entry:

“...caded has arrived who knew nothing of the young ladies who would be arriving for the pleasure of our acquitance.  There were some particularly lovely young ladies who we had had our eyes on and had promised a dance under the supervision of our officers. A young lady, who caught my eye, as well as the eye of several other cadets, agreed that she would gives us the pleasure a dance. My fellow cadet Ballinger and his good friend Stoddard had also se-” 

It cuts off there. But I think it’s a good guess that the young lady he is talking about is probably Mattie. And then we get to what Landor has written down as he’s looking through this book:

We have “covered bridge” (which is the bridge they showed a shot of), by the river (bridge was going over the river), necklace (Fry’s necklace), and I believe the last word is “locket”. 

and then the next time we have that shot, the words are: 

“Academy ball” (the ball that Mattie was so excited to go to and the one Fry talks about), and “Followed her” (which when I read that, just...yeah...)

None of that has to do with Fry’s heart. It all has to do with Mattie. Which is exactly what Landor was looking for because he only knew Fry from the necklace. But he knew there were others. And now he has names. A few scenes later, Ballinger is dead. And Stoddard makes a run for it. Now in the book, Landor mentions that he gave himself away to Stoddard cause he went to the mess hall and just glared at the cadet which spooked him. And I think we may have something like that in this movie, but the scene makes you think Landor is glaring at Artemus. But I’m not 100% sure on that so I’ll leave that out. 

So! Those are the breadcrumnbs I noticed on my rewatches. If anyone else has any, I’d love to hear them. But I think a lot of it comes from Bale’s protrayal. I watched an interview with Scott Cooper and he mentioned that they wanted see how far they could go without outright showing their hands on the first watch. And I agree with him that the movie is great on a rewatch because it makes you look at every scene differently. 

Anyway, this was wayyyy too long but I had a fun time. And I must say again, if you enjoyed the movie, you need to read the book! I loved it and it really adds to the movie. There is some stuff in the book where I’m like “yeah...I can see why that didn’t make it” cause the back half....a lot if happening in that back half of the book lol even though I loved it! And you can look for those same breadcrumbs in the book like the movie since Landor is the POV character.

I’m rambling, hope you enjoyed this silly long post. 

[blakelysco-pilot]

I just did the same for Winnie so I wanted to do the same for you, too. First off, your writing is brilliant and I look forward to seeing it every time you post. I've noticed that along with Winnie, you've been talking yourself down and I wanted to offer some suggestions.

1. I said this to Winnie too. Bring back the schedule. I love seeing the weekly installments of both of your fics and, while it isn't disengaging me personally, the lack of knowing when the next chapter is coming may be disengaging other's.

2. I also said this to Winnie in my anonymous ask to her, that I love the prompts and blurbs but I feel like they're taking away too much from the main stories you have going.

3. You're so talented and brilliant. Please stop telling yourself otherwise because your posts aren't gaining huge note numbers like others. Your style and substance carry you through, Winnie too. Stories like this need to be told.

It's so obvious you love your stories and characters and I want you to keep going! So please don't quit or give up ❤️

First of all, I wish I knew who you were because I’d like to hug you so tightly. Friend, thank you for these sweet, kind words. It’s been a rough go of things lately with my job, and some of that has put me in a funk all around.

First things first, the schedule is absolutely going to come back. It was sort of an experiment where we thought giving it away was giving others an upper hand to clog the tags and/or hide our hard work to their benefit. Turns out people will clog the tags no matter what you do LOL.

2. The blurbs have been fun, but, I miss the structure of my story. And I felt like people wanted to read short and sweet- instant gratification if you will- so I said, let them eat cake. Turns out I shot myself in the foot with that one.

3. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I am a writer first. Say what you will about that I have a 9-5 and spend my days plowing through corporate America, I truly in my bones am a writer. I went to college and got two degrees in English and writing. That’s who I am. It’s what brings me happiness and sparks joy in my days. These stories, these girls that we’ve created and given pasts, and histories, are pieces of ourselves that we are so happy to share with those who read and appreciate our hard work.

Your words could not have come at a better time, truly. Winnie and I have plans to put things back on track, and I am currently working on the next part of Rosie and Jo’s story, so I do hope you’ll be on the lookout for that. Thank you for taking a moment to remind me who I am and why I’m doing this. Whoever you are, chickie, you’re a real one 💗

[sikemajor]

change

relationships: Mammon/MC | Reader is into Mammon

content: unrequited crush, Reader isn’t MC (you’re just a fellow demon student), first person

synopsis: you waited too long :)

cross-posted from Ao3

“Look who walked in,” My friend whispered to me, a subtle nod over to the classroom door behind me. I laughed a little, my face warmed up as I playfully swatted her arm. I knew who she was talking about. She does this everytime he walks into class at the last minute. I couldn’t stand her for that, but that still doesn’t stop me from trying to steal a glance at him.

He walked past me, his eyes glued down at his DDD as he made his way to his seat. His uniform is a mess, like usual, but it adds to his charm. He really couldn’t care less about this class, could he? And yet, he still makes the effort to show up anyways. Maybe because of his eldest brother. Either way, I still get to see him at some point in the day.

I felt my friend nudge me. “Y’know, you should really talk to him at some point. You’ve had a crush on him forever by now,” She whispered to me. I shook my head. “No, I couldn’t. I feel way too shy to even try.” She rolled her eyes at me.

“I’m just saying. It’s better to put it out there than leave it bottling up. You’re gonna be hurt when he ends up with someone else.”

I should’ve listened to her.

It was little by little. The changes, that is. At first, he looked even more annoyed to be in class. I was worried. I had raised the courage to ask him if he was alright during this phase. He just brushed me off with “Don’t worry about it.” Fair enough, I didn’t have much of a right to ask to begin with. We weren’t especially close, despite running in the same social circles. Then, he started coming to class a little earlier than usual. He wasn’t the last person to show up. It seemed like a nice change, maybe he’s just interested in his grade. I figured this was maybe a good time to offer some study help. He shot me down. “Nah, I don’t do that.” Then, why was he coming to class early?

Then it was the homework. He never had the homework done before. I would let him copy off my homework every time he asked. He started asking less, eventually he stopped asking all together. He came to class with it done already. There’s no way his brothers would just let him copy their homework, if they even took this class to begin with. This was also the first class of the day. Maybe he’s just more serious. I was a little disappointed, but I tried to make up for this late by talking to him first thing in the morning. That’s when the next change came, he always came in with that… human exchange student. They talked like best friends, like they had known each other their whole lives.

I heard he was their guide in the Devildom, he had to protect them. Whatever, that didn’t mean much. Until I heard that they had a pact. That changed things. Maybe I didn’t want to see it. Actually, no, I didn’t even want to think about it. It was all there. His laughter first thing in the morning, the way his smile grew to show off those dimples of his, that shine in his eyes looking at them. He moved seats to sit next to them. They got him to actually study, to do his homework. He still didn’t become a stellar student, but he did better in class. He wasn’t surprised or confused by what the teacher was talking about when he got called on.

And I was just a bystander, watching him change. I couldn’t even get mad at the human student. How could I? He did better because of them. He seemed a lot better off. I was just mad at myself. I shot myself in the foot. I watched them get closer day by day. Their laughter turned into whispers, secrets I’ll never know about. When their hands brushed against one another in class, I could see it. I could see the bit of joy in his eyes, even though he would pull his hand away and pretend like he didn’t care. When the human student didn’t show up to class, he was quiet, but attentive to his notes that he probably shared with them after classes.

They meant everything to him.

He cared for them.

Loved them.

And I watched it all.

I watched that boat sail from the pier, thinking it was just tied up to the dock and I had the chance to board. Be part of that journey.

I had myself to blame. I should’ve said something. Or maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t say anything. Who’s to say he would’ve liked me? He could’ve still ended up with the human. I could’ve watched my heart get ripped out of my chest and torn apart by the crows, a front row seat to it all. I’m just filled with what-if’s at this point, but no amount of pondering will change any of this.

[bubblesthemonsterartist]

2022 Creator’s Self-Love Extravaganza

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 favorite works (fics, art, edits, etc.) you’ve created this year and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you’ve brought into the world in 2022. If you don’t have five published works, that’s fine! Include ideas/drafts/whatever you like that you’ve worked on/thought about, and talk a little about them instead! Remember, this is all about self-love and positive enthusiasm, so fuck the rules if you need to. Have fun, and tag as many fellow creators as you like so they can share the love!

@thelionshymnal dug this one up and while they didn't tag me, I felt the tag in my heart. Therefore, I pulled out the original rules with a little under 24 hours before the calendar flips over to a new year, I think I am safe in saying that my word count for the year is complete.

I did not write a lot this year! Comparatively, at least.* A mere 25,682 words have gone to publish. But it's also been a very disruptive year in that I quit my job of 5+ years, got rid of ALL of my stuff that couldn't fit into a tiny car, drove seven days cross country to a New Better Shinier Job (while writing a final paper), rented a 10 x 10 room above a garage for several months where my cat was very kind by not murdering me, dropped everything to sit at my dad's deathbed, went right back to work the following Monday, finished yet another graduate degree, went on a trip to Maine with friends, moved AGAIN to a much larger much more private space, and uhhh... signed up for yet another degree program. Because I have a problem. Clearly. Oh and I also broke a bone for the first time in my life! It's in my foot! I haven't gone out to do ANYTHING other than get groceries for the last two weeks and it sucks!

2022 has been a lot! More good than bad and overall improvement of everything, but a lot! And I've wanted to write. I've thought a lot about it in the moments before falling asleep! But any progress is still progress and my body comes first these days because in this house we practice self-care.

That being said, what I have put out, I've been immensely proud of. So, in no particular order and without further ado...

On the Event of the Annual Lilias Recruit Hazing Final Exam (ans, gen)

I wrote third person limited! For the first time! It was weird but also a fun to write something where the audience only has the interactions and body language to read.

2. where mended hearts meet (obiyuki, 🍋)

While I haven't been writing proper most of the year, I have been obsessing over @onedivinemisfit's camboy!obi au. It's been my personal problem, like, ever since she first introduced the concept for it and I've been screaming about it every chance that I get. Part of me much much wants to write the whole thing, but also acknowledged that I did not have the time. But also also I knew I was not going to be productive about anything at ALL until I wrote at least a little smutty smut for it. I mean, two consenting adults who are very accommodating of one anothers kinks and traumas? Sign me the fuck up, let's do this.

3. Drabble-Drabble 2022 Challenge (multiple fandoms, multiple pairings, all ratings)

Perhaps because I haven't had a chance to really focus on my writing this year, I wanted to do something uncomplicated. I remember loving drabbles back in my livejournal days. Just being absolutely laid out by 100 words precisely. But I'd never tried it myself so I wanted to give it a shot! I asked and y'all sent in around 30 prompts and I answered 26! It was a blast, highly recommend to anyone out there that wants to try their hand at it.

4. Seven Nights, Night 7 (Hakuouki, Yamachi, 🍋)

I had a moment when I went to see the timestamps of the chapters I worked on this year and it was literally just Night 7 of Seven Nights. It's split into three chapters, but it's 14k words just leading up to the final night, I don't even know what to say, y'all. Yamazaki is just real shy and writing two virgins was a lot harder than I thought (and I already thought it was going to be difficult!). I do really love it, though, they're adorable.

5. Stone Soup (Spy x Family, Yor & Yuri)

I would be remiss if I didn't include the final posted fic of the year (and my first foray into the sxf fandom!). Not only did I write a child's pov, I got to incorporate some real mean food feels into it. All together a real good time! XD

Okay! I've done it! I've said the nice things about me! Now I shall tag people, hmmm... @spoonyglitteraunt @sabraeal @claudeng80 @onedivinemisfit @infinitelystrangemachinex and anyone else who wants a go!

*Word count by year since 2016:

2016- 97,273 2017- 167,645 2018- 138,769 2019- 130,429 2020- 126,435 2021- 91,014 2022- 25,682

[slusheeduck]

I consistently hit a low after a big event that involves a lot of traveling. I know this happens every time, and I try to plan for it; it's taken the better part of 29 years, but I've finally been able to be like "if you feel low, this is normal, this is how you come down from stressors. Be gentle with yourself for the next week; if you're self-critical, that's the devil talking." Often it comes in the form of general malaise/melancholy and a fervent attempt to get involved with whatever online community I'm in at the time because I need to interact with people whose faces I can't see and who I don't need to be my irl self with. I write a lot, too (y'all saw my big-ass sad Vivec one-shot) for that same need to just escape myself for a bit.

Anyway, all that aside, this particular cycle hit at the same time an old ask blog of mine got some attention, and like I said in the tags of last night's post, I went through my very old ask blog. Like, babby's first exposure to Tumblr ask blog. And it was fun! Of course it was cringey and not at ALL something I would want to show anyone else (hence not giving the name; iykyk I guess, but I don't think anyone who followed me then is still around barring two people I would up refollowing whoops) but good lord, I could still feel the giddiness and glee surrounding every silly post. And that was great fun last night, but today it's instilled this bone-deep nostalgic melancholy. Which is silly, all things considered, but still.

And, like, I'm not about to try and relive the glory days or anything. Like fuck I'd touch that blog with a ten foot pole. But I suppose that's where some of the melancholy comes in. It's the whole "Can't repeat the past? Why, of course you can" theme from The Great Gatsby (another obsession from that same time period! My god, eighteen was sure An Age). It will never be the same as that one moment was, and it will especially never be the same as that one memory of the moment was.

I suppose, ultimately, that this scream into the void is to just point out how frustrating it is to have to sit with your nostalgia and know there's nothing that can be done about it. The people you knew are long gone, even if they're still out there--even if you still know them--and the you that was with them is gone as well.

Anyway, that's probably my one personal post for the next five years or so. I do feel better, which is nice. Maybe public navelgazing is what I need to do to get out of my usual post-travel funk.

[adequatealias]

Arendelle Adventures Chapter 6 - Work to Do

Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/35770243/chapters/89198221

Story Summary: The adventures and mishaps of the princesses of Arendelle: Elsa and Anna. one-shots.  Chapter Summary: Elsa has work to do, and Anna isn't being helpful.

Elsa leaned over her desk, her braid falling over her shoulder as usual. Her left arm supported her weight off the table, while her right hand gripped an ink pen. She dipped her pen in the small bottle of ink, and continued with her work.

When things had calmed back down in Arendelle, Elsa had resumed her Queen duties again, though they were slightly different than she had planned. The Queen still found it funny; to act and be as regal as she was, yet being open and talkative and . . . involved. She hadn't expected it. But now, Elsa had work to be done, so she turned to her letter and brought the pen down to the page.

. . . I would like to personally thank you for attending my coronation, and for your attendance at my parents funeral, which I myself could not attend three years ago. As well, I thank you for graciously dealing with all the troubles that occurred during your stay-

"Elsa!" Anna called in a singsong voice, holding onto her older sister's door and leaning into the room. Elsa jumped in surprise, and her pen scratched across the page; leaving behind it a long, black smear across her writing. The Queen signed, and turned in her chair to look at her sister.

Before Elsa could even speak, Anna tapped playfully on her door. "Do you want to build a snowman?" She sang, nearly laughing at the old, painful joke. Even after Elsa had opened the door to Anna, her sister still knocked, and still asked the same thing: do you want to build a snowman?

Despite herself, Elsa smiled at her sister. Anna always managed to bring a smile to Elsa's face, no matter how upset or busy she was. Anna skipped into her room, and over to her sister's chair, where she grabbed Elsa's hands. Two weeks before, the sentence would seem ridiculous. Elsa, willingly allowing Anna into her room, and to hold her hand? Unthinkable.

Elsa let Anna pull her to her feet, and over to the window. "Anna, I have work to do-"

"Yeah, well I have thirteen years of abandonment issues to make up for, so shush." Anna cut in, seating herself at the window seat. Well played sister, Elsa thought, before seating herself next to the younger girl. Anna pulled her legs up on the cushions in between the girls, and leaned forward.

"So," Anna said, wrapping her arms around her legs. She didn't say anything else.

"So," Elsa mocked lightly, lifting one eyebrow. I have work to do, letters to write, she reminded herself, but she didn't want to leave Anna. Even looking away from her sister before she did felt like she was shutting her out all over again.

Anna bit her lip, but was smiling. "I missed this." She finally said, gesturing wildly. Elsa knew what she meant. She had missed being with her sister as well. Just being able to sit with her, not saying anything was better than not being with her at all.

"I did too." Elsa said, grabbing her sister's hand again. "And this time, we'll make sure it can stay like this. Okay?"

Anna nodded eagerly. "Of course. We will just have to make sure you never get angry again!" Anna laughed, poking Elsa's hip with her socked foot. Elsa laughed too, and leaned her head against the cool window. With the hand that wasn't holding Anna's, Elsa touched the glass, letting frost spread from her touch. Anna giggled like a little kid, and pressed her fingers to the frost patterns the Queen made. Her warm touch melted small little frost circles away, but neither cared.

Elsa suddenly remembered her letters.

"Anna, I really do have work to do." She said, pushing away from the window and standing up. She straightened her skirt and turned to walk back to her desk before she felt Anna's arm against her own.

"What did I say about abandonment?" She asked, setting a fake pout on her lips. "I'll help you."

So, Elsa sat down at her desk again, and crumpled the ruined letter into a ball. "Can you throw this out?" She asked, already reaching for a new sheet of paper.

Anna took it from her, but instead of putting it in the waste bin only a few feet away, Anna threw the paper ball into the air, and karate chopped it down into the bin.

"Yeah!" Anna cheered, jumping up and down. Elsa raised an eyebrow at her childish sister, but shook her head and turned back to her work.

Dear Lord Perkin,

I, Queen Elsa of Arendelle, would like to personally thank you for your attendance at my coronation-

"Actually," Anna interrupted Elsa's thoughts. She leaned over the back of Elsa's chair, and gazed down at the letter. "I think you should write it as "Queen Elsa and Princess Anna of Arendelle," don't you think?"

"Will it make you let me do my work?" Elsa wondered.

"Yep."

"Promise?"

Princess Anna made an x with her finger over her heart, and then raised her hand. "I Promise."

Elsa handed the page to Anna, and motioned to the bin again. She dipped her pen into the ink and brought it down to the page again.

Dear Lord Perkin,

I; Queen Elsa of Arendelle, and my sister; Princess Anna of Arendelle- "Ha ha!" would like to personally thank you for your attendance at my coronation- A loud squeal came from the other side of the room, making Elsa wince. -and apologize for the events that had unfolded afterwards. We thank you for your patience- A loud thump, like something hitting the floor, interrupted Elsa's thoughts once more.

"Anna, what are you doing?" Elsa asked, turning up to her sister when she couldn't ignore the noise coming from the other side of her room.

Anna was on the floor, her feet hanging partly on Elsa's bed. Her eyes were wide, and her bangs were blown off her face. Elsa couldn't help laughing at the surprised expression on her sister's face.

"You fell off the bed?" She managed between chuckles. Anna rolled her eyes, and rolled onto her hands and knees, where she could finally push herself back onto her feet.

"Yeah, yeah I did." She admitted, climbing back onto the bed. She started jumping, and Elsa realized that was probably how she fell off. Anna giggled, using the bed as a trampoline. Elsa wondered quietly if Anna was going to hit her head, but when she didn't seem do, Elsa forced herself to stop worrying. Anna was just having a little fun. Why couldn't Elsa?

"Okay, move over." Elsa said, jumping up from her seat and rushing to the bed. Anna clapped in excitement. She helped Elsa onto the soft bed, and held onto her hands as she jumped. Elsa followed suit, trying to get over how ridiculous she looked. A grown women jumping on her bed like a little kid? Oh, the shame.

But Elsa got over it, and soon she and Anna were laughing and jumping and trying to get higher than the other, before Anna started to try and do flips, which ended with her hitting her head on the footboard.

Elsa grabbed a pillow, and turned to hit Anna with it, though she was still trying to stand after hitting her head. She squealed, and almost fell into the bedpost. Elsa laughed again, and covered her mouth with her hand to suppress it. Anna looked up at her older sister is surprise.

"Is that a challenge?" She asked, fake seriousness taking over her tone as she stood up fully. "Are you challenging my pillow-fighting skills?"

Elsa tried to shake her head, but she was laughing too hard to really do anything. Anna took this time to dive past the Queen, grab another pillow, and wack Elsa on the back.

Thus, a pillow fight broke out, and it was like they were little kids again. Elsa, hitting Anna so she'd nearly fall off the bed, then reaching for her in a panic to prevent her from actually falling off the bed. Anna laughed and tried to make Elsa laugh with funny faces and such.

When a maid came in to ask what all the noise was, and saw the two girls hitting each other with pillows and feathers flying around the room, she simply turned around and shut the door quietly behind her. There really was no need to interrupt the girls.

[skadee17]

VIII- Imminent danger

After saying goodbye to Alicia and Nick, the convoy set off. My mother was in another car behind, and I was stuck with Troy and his seemingly cheerful mood due to my presence. The tension between us had turned into a heavy and opaque silence after our argument.

For Troy, this situation was perplexing. He believed he was convinced of his hatred towards Bella, but something within him rebelled against this feeling. He found himself feeling the urgent need to protect her, even though he refused to admit it. Torn between his resentment and this instinctive desire to watch over Bella, he found himself in an emotional deadlock. Every time he met her gaze, he felt torn between wanting to talk to her and fearing to show any vulnerability.

We had been driving for a while when Troy noticed a penitentiary bus on the side of the road. He deemed it necessary to stop and take them down, considering the proximity to the ranch in case the infected decided to migrate. Cooper wasn't particularly in favor, saying it would waste our time, and I agreed. That wasn't the mission's goal.

But that was without counting on my mother's intervention, who believed we should do it and supported Troy's request. What was she thinking, damn it?

We all got out of the vehicles. I saw my mother approach me and pull out a gun, but before she could load it, Troy handed her an axe, claiming it was more discreet. As for me, I took out my sharp knife from my pants, and we set off.

Upon reaching the bus, a putrid smell invaded my nose—hell, they must have been there for a while. The bus was overturned, bloody handprints on the windows, and undead scattered everywhere. This was going to be an interesting story.

Troy led the way and began his butchery, cutting, tearing, blasting the zombies. My mother joined in, and the rest of us followed suit. I didn't take pleasure in killing things, but the more we killed, the fewer there would be near the ranch. Anyway, those monsters didn't deserve to live. I eliminated a small group of zombies, and the others did the same. One person seemed to take extreme pleasure, and it was obviously Troy. Our relationship had changed; I couldn't say how, but it was different. However, that didn't mean he had changed, and I tended to forget that these days. He was still the same.

Once the clean-up was done, he couldn't help but ask how long it had taken us. Someone answered one minute; I couldn't help but sigh before looking at my mother. I didn't understand why she encouraged him to do all this; she was feeding the monster.

I found myself facing a similar reality. Despite my annoyance with certain aspects of Troy's behavior, I realized that the protective presence he exerted over me reassured me in a way. Yet, I wasn't ready to admit that deep down, this protection brought me a sense of comfort that I found difficult to ignore. It was simply impossible; I must not feel anything for him. He had committed unforgivable acts; he was dangerous. And yet, our dynamic was gradually changing, and I didn't like it.

After the incident, we all continued on to the location of the helicopter crash in the mountains. Once there, we set foot on the trail.

"What a mess is this?" Mike asked.

"Are you sure this is it?" Cooper questioned in turn.

"It's pretty obvious it's here, idiot," Troy replied.

My mother approached the edge and explained that someone must have taken the helicopter wreckage. It changed a lot of things; if the person or group that had shot down the helicopter had the technical means to move such a load, it was no longer a small threat but quite the opposite. Something was wrong; we lacked information, and that's probably why my mother insisted on coming. She knew.

My stomach churned; something was wrong, and we weren't going to be long before finding out what.

"From a 223, it was shot," a man said, handing the cartridge to Troy.

"This smells bad, man. I don't like it," Mike said.

"Keep your cool, Mickey," Cooper added. "What does Phil use as a weapon?"

"An automatic usually," Troy explained.

"A .223 caliber?" I asked.

"Yeah, he must have opened fire on someone before retreating to the outpost. Let's go right away; I want to find those who shot down the chopper and killed Charly," Troy said.

"And Travis," my mother finished.

She turned around and took the lead towards the vehicles. I followed closely, and the others looked at my mother before following her, except Troy. He stayed for a moment before joining me in the pickup.

Disturbed by the lack of communication, I began to feel increasing anxiety. I felt that Troy was hiding something from me about the expedition, vital information he kept to himself. This silence became unbearable for me, fueling my suspicions and mistrust towards Troy.

"Do you know who it is?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"No idea, no," he concluded before falling silent again.

"Troy, I know you're hiding something from me about this expedition. I can't stand this silence anymore. I want to know what's going on," I said, my eyes shining with a mix of determination and frustration.

Troy remained silent, and my blood began to boil with anger; I hated being kept in the dark, and he was deliberately ignoring me.

"You're lying to me, Troy. I can feel it," I insisted, my tone filled with determination and concern.

The oppressive silence seemed to stretch, each unspoken word increasing the distance between us. I saw Troy clench his jaw and grip the steering wheel tighter. I struggled between my thirst for truth and the desire to preserve the fragile peace between us.

Troy finally parked; we had reached the outpost. It looked like a vast area with sheet metal sheds, laundry still hanging on clotheslines, but there was a problem—it was quiet, way too quiet.

Troy signaled his men to go in certain directions, and he forced me to follow him. He advanced cautiously on his guard before arriving near a small house; he stopped, kicked the door, and went in. Nothing there, but I still took a look around, and Troy grabbed my wrist. I was about to free myself when he handed me a weapon before letting me go.

"You follow me and stay ready, clear?" he said.

I nodded and followed him; we exited the building and rejoined the rest of the group. I looked around; there were numerous traces of blood on the walls but also on a white pickup in front of a big one—what a mess?

"What's this smell?" I asked, sniffing the strange odor.

"Damn it," Troy said, quickly heading towards the back of the barn.

A pile lay there, charred. Men, the men we were looking for, they were all piled up, burned. But what the hell was happening? Who could do such a thing, who was inhuman enough to do this! Disgust swept over us at the sight of this carnage; it was indescribable, and the smell, it was straight out of hell.

"He wasn't here today either. I wish, I wish he leaves from here, at three o'clock this night when I came back..."

A man seemed alive, sitting on a chair, speaking. We moved towards him, a crow seemed to be eating something at the back of his head, I couldn't see well.

"Phil?" Troy asked cautiously.

My throat tightened; the old man had been scalped, the crow was feeding on his brain. What monster could have done such a thing? Troy didn't move; he looked at Phil, lost. I approached the man, took my knife and ended the poor man's suffering.

I had come in hopes of helping these men, and here I was killing one.

"We have to leave right now," my mother ordered.

"But you've just arrived," an unknown voice replied.

We all turned at the same time to face a tall man with long hair surrounded by his men. So, it was this man who had brutally slaughtered these men.

"You've gone crazy or what, Walker? Do you realize what you've done?" Troy exclaimed.

"I defend our territory," the man replied without any remorse.

"This is barbaric," I groaned.

"McCarthy and I go way back, to a time before you were even born. He himself has been barbaric more than once; he killed two of my men just yesterday."

"Yeah, and we're going to kill the others; you know you're a dead man, right!" Troy yelled.

"Lower your tone with me, Troy, and lower all your weapons."

"Troy," my mother said.

"Give the order," my mother ordered.

Armed men stood in front of us, waiting for a signal from their leader. We were about to end up like the burned men.

"For God's sake, okay, we'll lower our weapons!"

"The woman saw what escaped you when you arrived; we are more numerous, abandon the ranch."

"Well, I think you're dreaming," Troy said, laughing ironically, "there have been too many sacrifices."

"I know there have been sacrifices; that's why you have to leave, or I will deliver each of you to the crows," the man threatened.

"Do you want us to relay your message, let us leave," I suggested.

"What's your name?" he asked me.

Troy stood in front of me, and I heard him whistle through his teeth, his jaw clenched.

"Isabella Clark," I replied.

"You're defending a lost cause, Isabella Clark."

"It became our cause when you shot down the helicopter; you took someone dear to us," my mother added.

The situation was more than tense, and our lives depended on the whims of this crazy Walker; I had a premonition that something terrible was about to happen, but if I had learned anything from all the situations I had faced, it was that men were more dangerous than the dead and, therefore, we should never show that we were afraid.

"Now we're going to take your weapons and your resources."

"What?" a man from our group shouted, "That's out of the question; we're all going to die!"

"Trevor, calm down! Put down your damn weapon," Troy shouted.

Trevor raised his weapon towards the enemies and discharged it at them, and the others did the same under the opponents' attacks. Everything was happening way too fast. Cooper took my mother and led her towards the cars, and Troy shielded us with his body, taking my hand and following Cooper.

Bullets were raining everywhere, gunshots echoed throughout the valley, and I was terrified. I couldn't see where this could lead us other than certain death. My heart was pounding, my hands clung to Troy's like glue while he fired towards the enemies who were getting too close to our hiding spot. My mother and Cooper reached their car safely, that was already something, she was safe, and that was the main thing.

Facing the imminent threat, Troy, worried, ordered me to follow his instructions to the letter, even if it meant restricting his freedom of movement or taking draconian precautions.

"Bella, listen carefully," Troy ordered in a urgent but determined voice. "I'm going to create a diversion to draw them away from us. You're going to run towards the car, I'll join you as soon as possible. Don't look back, don't stop, okay?"

I nodded, fear in my eyes, but I started running following Troy's instructions. However, despite my efforts to reach the car safely, the situation suddenly went awry.

BOOM

As I reached the car, a loud noise sounded, followed by a sharp pain. I collapsed, hit by a projectile from the attackers. Panic seized Troy as he saw me injured. He ran towards me, his heart pounding, his mind in terror."

[pennyserenade]

Listen, I always want to talk about your fics I’m a gluttonous gal when it comes to your writing. Therefore I have TWO requests:

Can you tell me a bit more about my favourite guy ex-husband!dieter - what do you have planned for him?

Would you please be able to share a snippet from your Dave York fic? 🙏🙏 it is one of my favourites and I must be fed 🧎‍♀️

Bye, love ya 💖

ask me about my WIPS

ella i adore you to bits <3

about ex-husband dieter: i currently have a story i'm working on that covers the history of ex-wife!reader and him: where they met, how they married, why they divorced, etc, etc. i don't have any definite plans for him, not really. he sorta came to me one day and i've just been riding that wave as it strikes my fancy. i will maybe shoot myself in the foot here and tell you that he and his ex-wife aren't getting back together. i think they are much more interesting as two people who have grown apart, but still love each other immensely, sometimes platonically, sometimes a little more than platonically. it goes even beyond romantically, at times. as a writer i find it nice to explore different types of relationships like that, especially with a character like dieter bravo.

as for the dave york story: i'm SO happy to hear you like that one. it was a lot of fun to conceptualize and its got a special place in my heart. having said that, i did kinda abandon it in favor of other stories, so i don't have much for what comes next with that one. i was putting my hands in a lot of cookie jars and not finishing much, so i've decided to narrow in my focus on in one story and then gradually go back and finish the others. i'm happy to tell you that after fade into you is done, goodbye, baby is definitely the next one that will be finished. i plan for it to be on the shorter side, maybe six chapters max, and i think i might just finish it all and then post it, a chapter a week or something like that.

here is something that i wrote though, just for you:

The city is sticky, clogged with dirty air and a bored indifference Dave has never been able to really stand. He turns the amber liquid in his tumbler and frowns at his mirrored reflection in the window pane. There’s a dull, ceaseless thud in the back of his skull. Ada Perez. The circulatory nature of his thoughts regarding her gives him pause. Really, it’d be easier he just killed her. Fired her. Ruined her. Instead he anticipates her. At first it had been simple, explainable: he liked the power, relished her the way a cat does when they meet a worthy advisory in a too-quick mouse. Intellectually, he found her stimulating. She was quick witted and sharp, had a professional stoicism that bore none to well with his brand of sadism -- which only made it that more inciting. He knew from the moment she had stepped into his life that she was going to be an asset. Dave had recognized the glimmer of her narrowed focus when she stuck out her hand for him to shake. She had been so little in that made-to-wear suit of hers, but already she had mastered what had taken him a lifetime to understand: big personality. In equal measures, he hated her for what she was and relished her for what she wasn't. He knows that it's beyond the simple strokes of hate and disgust now -- even beyond the shades of like and love. It's muddied by lust, by want, by human fallibility. Desire is as good as a self afflicted gun shot to the temple. He needs to squash it, get rid of her.

[my-youthsbookmark]

brisk

i was active a LOT today. 

i played volleyball n badminton, at school and then i ran. 

i ran, i don’t know why. i kinda strained my foot when i played badminton, i tried to hit the shuttle back and the my foot slipped and bent then i fell. it’s not that bad, well, earlier it wasn’t. 

i walked a lot today as well, even before i got to the field. i went to the mall on my own and bumped into a friend, said friend then talked with me while walking around until he got picked up and i was alone again. i walked around until i reached the crosswalk outside the mall, another friend saw me; so i talked with them for a bit, they were eating so i ate some fries too. i walked with them until we had to separate because they have places to be. so i walked back to the crosswalk, crossed the street and walked to the big building i've been curious about.

i asked someone outside the building what was up there and he told me to check it out myself, so i did. there was a long staircase, the walls had plants and greenery lining every inch. it was so pretty. when i reached the top there was a greenhouse, a small field, rooms? (i think they're spaces for storage, i wasn’t there for long), and more plants. i stood there for a bit, it was quite high up and the wind felt nice. there were people on the grass field, there was food so it was probably a picnic. they were laughing, loud and carefree; it made me smile a bit, i should take my friends there too.

i took some pictures and went on my way, i stopped by a coffeeshop and ordered a drink. i tried something i haven't tried before, it was alright; kinda like if you put in a shot of espresso into a chai latte.

then i walked again, i kinda went on a circle. twice. there was a volleyball match going on in the sandy court, it was open gate and a lot of people were watching. there was even a lady with a cameraman filming it. i watched for a bit before walking again, i ended up at the field. where yet another friend saw me, they were playing volleyball too. i decided to run, there's no entrance fee anymore anyway. why not? right? so i left my bag with my friend's friends and began walking.

i only had my phone and earbuds with me, there was a ballpen and mask in my jacket pocket but there's nothing i can really do with that. i put on my earbuds and listened to the album i downloaded this morning. i walked at first. it turned into a jog. then a run. then slowed back into a jog. then a brisk walk. then a jog again.

before i knew it i had done a lap during the chorus of the second song. i took off my glasses and used it as a headband, the wind was nice and cool on my face. and that's what i did for like, two hours and a half.

i didn’t have my glasses on, all i was hearing was foreign words i barely understood, the wind was hitting my face and i felt so at peace. i was just running till my couldn’t anymore, when i got tired; i walked, i didn’t stop moving. it was a wonderful experience. i was just, gone.

there were people on the same pace of me, there were so many kids in athletics there. there was this one kid that was always infront of me, i'm pretty sure he's in track--or atleast soon to be. his posture was great and he was fast, his shoes were really bright. bright red it looked like a light.

i stopped at around six fifteen maybe, then i walked to the convenience store and got a pocari. then instant noodles because i'm hungry, sat at a four person booth by myself and waited. for my noodles too cook. and for my mom to pick me up. then she did and that was my day.

i'll probably try to stay up and do some schoolwork but honestly i'm really tired. i'll still try though.

[gjkennedy]

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